Thursday, March 31, 2005

Extreme Unction


I wonder what it's like to give last rites to a pope.

Vatican source: Pope given last rites

Ailing pontiff suffers from high fever with urinary tract infection

Thursday, March 31, 2005 Posted: 2156 GMT (0556 HKT)

The pope tried to speak Wednesday, but his words were not clear.

VATICAN CITY (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II was given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church late Thursday night as his health deteriorated, a Vatican source has told CNN.

The sacrament does not necessarily mean that the pope is dying. Last rites -- also known as the sacrament of anointing the sick -- are commonly given to people who are seriously ill as well. The pope received the sacrament after he was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.

The pope is suffering from a high fever caused by a urinary tract infection, the Vatican confirmed earlier Thursday -- one day after revealing he had been put on a nasal feeding tube for nutrition.
LINK

I just turned on the news to hear about the Pope, but Tom (The Bug Man) DeLay is on every cable channel, insulting the Judiciary for ignoring the US Congress in the matter of Mrs. Terri Schiavo.

32 court rulings, I think. 25 or 26 before DeLay decided to use the case as an excuse to divert attention from his Big Time Ethics Problems.

Hey, Bug Man!

That "Judiciary" includes the US Supreme Court, you Asshat Helmet-Headed Lepton!


And In Other Deathwatch News...


The Pope has taken a turn for the worse.




MSNBC's Chris Jansing has had to suspend her Roman shopping spree to cover some actual news today.

She went to Rome for Easter Week and stayed. And shopped (Haven't you noticed the new earrings each day?) And stayed. And stayed.

Her reports have been pretty boring: The Pope is sick; the Pope is sick; the Pope has a feeding tube now; the Pope is sick; yada yada yada.

Finally, she can report that the Pope has a urinary tract infection, which could signal the onset of an irreversible condition.

I can't help but imagine that Ruini, Re, and Ratzinger aren't too pleased that Il Papa wants to veg out on life support indefinitely.

I also can't help but wonder if the three R's aren't down in the catacombs hunting for that famed silver hammer.

A little investigative journalism and a few hundred thousand Lira might produce some real news, Chris.



There's One Thing I Can Be
Pollyanna Glad About Today...


I don't have to listen to Jerry Falwell bitching and moaning about a young woman's choice to die with dignity.



Jerry Falwell & Pal, Sun Yung Moon


Who can forget how this famous old fart Reverend Falwell and his pal Pat Robertson offered their brand of spiritual guidance to America after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks?

"You Helped This Happen"

Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson react to the September 11 terrorist attacks on American soil.
Partial transcript of comments from the Thursday, September 13, 2001 edition of the '700 Club.'

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters - the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats--what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact--if, in fact--God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.

JERRY FALWELL: Pat, did you notice yesterday the ACLU, and all the Christ-haters, People For the American Way, NOW, etc. were totally disregarded by the Democrats and the Republicans in both houses of Congress as they went out on the steps and called out on to God in prayer and sang "God Bless America" and said "let the ACLU be hanged"? In other words, when the nation is on its knees, the only normal and natural and spiritual thing to do is what we ought to be doing all the time--calling upon God.

PAT ROBERTSON: Amen

LINK

Here's a high school History class quiz clue for you, Jerr...

Before you lapse into a persistent vegetative state or depart this world, know these facts about attacks on our soil:

As the British army of approximately 4,000 approached, the majority of Washington residents fled the city. On August 24th American defenders, with President James Madison in attendance, were quickly routed by the invaders in a battle at Bladensburg a few miles from the city. A messenger was dispatched to the White House to warn First Lady Dolly Madison of the impeding arrival of the British. She and her staff fled by carriage across the Potomac - taking with her the full-length portrait of George Washington that had been torn from a White House wall.

That evening, the vanguard of the British army reached Capitol Hill and began its systematic destruction of all public buildings in the city.
LINK


Ahem.


The British Burn The White House

(Aug. 24, 1814)

Our fourth president, James Madison (1809-1817), moved quickly after the British burned the White House. During the War of 1812, the British attacked the nation’s capital. James and Dolley Madison escaped capture, but enemy troops torched the President’s House on August 24, 1814. Some members of Congress discussed the possibility of completely rebuilding the President’s House in another location, perhaps in another city. Madison wanted Americans to know that the British invasion was not a serious threat to the capital. By rebuilding the White House to appear exactly as it did before the war, it would symbolize America’s determination. The message would be that the nation and its government were permanent. LINK

Heavy, (public school) educated sigh.


And Now The Civil Suit Circus Begins...



According to Brother Paul, Mrs. Terri Schiavo's body has died.


Welcome To The Schiavo Matrix!


Earlier this week, I posted a quote from Jerry Falwell, who said he wanted to be kept alive by artificial means as long as possible.

Today, Jerry is breathing via ventilator tube.

Two weeks ago, someone in the Vatican speaking on behalf of Pope John Paul II remembered a papal speech, in which Ill Il Papa had declared feeding tubes "normal treatment" and not "extraordinary means."

Today, the Pope gets all of his nutrition via feeding tube and breathes via the tube in his throat.

Pope's 'Living Will' Wants Life Support to the End

Thu Mar 31, 2:06 AM ET
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope John Paul, now being fed through a nasal tube because of his throat problems, effectively wrote his own "living will" last year in a speech declaring some life-extending treatments a moral duty for Roman Catholics.

The ailing Pontiff sharply narrowed Catholic guidelines for treating patients nearing death in March 2004 when he described tube-feeding as a normal treatment rather than an extraordinary measure that can be stopped if all hope of recovery fades.

This indicates he would want to be kept alive by artificial means even if he fell into a coma or a persistent vegetative state, such as the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo in the United States whose feeding tubes have been removed after 15 years.

"The Pope's statement would have to be considered the equivalent of his living will," said Father Thomas Reese S.J., editor of the Jesuit weekly America in New York. "It would be very difficult to unplug him if it came to that." --snip--

Holy Catholic Career Killer, Batman!

If the Pope is allowed to linger indefinitely, bishops and archbishops and cardinals (Oh My!) could be stuck in middle management mode for decades.

As the Schiavo case shows, modern medicine can extend basic body functioning for years -- a worrying prospect for the world's largest church if that means its elected-for-life leader is incapacitated indefinitely.

The Catholic Church has traditionally taught that doctors and families could end artificial life-extending measures in good conscience if a dying patient's prospects seemed hopeless.

Look! Look! Look For A Loophole!

The problem was that he (the Pope) expressed this in a speech, not in a doctrinal document that made it official Church policy.

"The Pope can say any number of things but he has to tell the bishops' conferences when they have to change something," added Father James Keenan S.J., ethics professor at Boston College. "He hasn't done this."

Aha!

As a result, he (Keenan) said, the U.S. bishops' conference and the Catholic Health Association have not renounced the more flexible earlier position even though many Catholic leaders support Schiavo's parents' demand to continue feeding her. --snip--

"It doesn't seem good for the Church to rethink how to die when the Pope himself is ailing," he said. "The dying of a Pope should not set our agenda." LINK

But for the grandiose grandstanding going on in Florida, we wouldn't be facing a possible end-of-life tube feeding farm existence...

Because these fascist fundies see the Schiavo case as an opportunity to define once and for all when life ends.

If they ever succeed, you can bet the ranch that the next step is defining when life begins.

Do you want this woman defining when life begins and ends?




Imagine a world with an infinite supply of new babies and tube fed end-of-lifers.


Who benefits from warehousing and caring for, well, potentially all of us?

Not our families, who will be forced to bear both emotional and financial burdens that could choke a horse.

Who actually benefits then?

Plastic tube makers, BigPharma, Nursing Homes, Insurance companies, and the heavily invested BushCo beat goes on...

The term Undead used to be reserved for works of fiction...

No wonder Zombie Movies are so damned popular!


Wednesday, March 30, 2005

James D. Guckert
On A Milk Carton!


Be on the lookout for this man!



When last sighted, James D. Guckert (aka Jeff Gannon) was inviting even more ridicule from the blogosphere by accepting a spot on a National Press Club panel called Who's A Journalist?

Yes, you read that right!

No, it didn't read, "Who's NOT A Journalist?"

And that's not even the funny part...

Press Club Keeps Gannon -- But Adds Others to Panel

By E&P Staff

Published: March 29, 2005 5:00 PM ET

NEW YORK

Despite criticism in some media circles, the National Press Club is standing by its decision to feature James Guckert -- a.k.a. Jeff Gannon, the former correspondent/ escort -- on an April 8 panel discussion about journalism and blogging called "Who is a Journalist?" But it has added others to the panel. --snip--

Gannett News Service's Mike Madden and co-chair of the NPC Professional Affairs Committee will moderate the program.

"We've been looking for a balance and a diverse panel all along, and I'm sure we'll get one," Madden told E&P Tuesday morning after criticism of the panel had begun and before the final group had been named. "It's great that people are taking an interest, but we did not set out to fill the panel to fill an agenda." LINK

A Balance and a diverse panel?

Hm.

Is it really fair to showcase only one gay porn hooker?

Where's the balance and diversity in that?

Keep that spotlight on Jim/Jeff!

His saga is far from over!


Silly Me! I Thought
You Had To Die Before
Being Resurrected!


What was I thinking?

I guess our
brilliant homegrown terrorists, the Michigan Militia, know better than I!

Norm Olson: Parents' lawyer thwarted plan to send militias to aid Terri Schiavo

BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 12:39 PM EST

Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.

Olson said he needed only the OK from Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, either directly or through his attorney David Gibbs, to put the plan, called "Operation Resurrection," into action on Sunday.

But Olson said Gibbs contacted the FBI instead of passing his message on to Schindler.--snip--

Olson said that last Thursday he phoned Gibbs' secretary with a message that he had organized 1,500 to 2,000 militia members from Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and Michigan, who were ready to remove Schiavo from the hospice and take her in a convoy to a safe house. LINK

Either The MI Militia Morons believe Mrs. Schiavo actually is brain dead, or they're just smart enough to know that a rescue would kill her, and they think they can bring her back to life.

Either way, it's a truly stupid plan developed by truly stupid people who are so stupid that they forget that the FBI is monitoring their every move.

Truly heavy sigh.


If Sister Wendy Had A Blog...


... What would she say about this photo?




First of all, I strongly suggest that the viewer NOT visit the website responsible for this photograph unless s/he is a connoisseur of pornographic images and enjoys the daunting task of PC cache clean up!

That having been said, let's move on to the figures in this image...

Two young men have apparently infiltrated this scant number of zealots, and the young woman sporting an armband of some sort... whose gaze is turned to read the words on a piece of posterboard... is just awakening to the sentiment crudely written on one of the placards.

Note her eyes. Any second now, she will realize that this young man is not a true believer in keeping a brain dead woman alive for her parents to exploit for monetary and rag doll reasons.

"We Are Idiots!" reads the placard in question.

The young woman's own poster has been carefully crafted with copyrighted images of 3 men, whom she has judged to be murderers: O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson, and Michael Schiavo. Her poster reads, "3 Of A Kind."

To the young man's right stands his obvious comrade-in-arms, whose placard reads, "Judge Greer = Pooh Head!"

The carnival atmosphere at work in this photo adds to the overall dichotomy of beliefs demonstrated by the various figures captured for our scrutiny.

The woman with the carefully teased and lacquered mullet believes "She Wants To Live!"

The children with mouths agape appear ready to pick their noses and eat their buggers in front of God and creation, a dour life-weary woman with a snow cone treat glances, unmoved, at the young woman as she passes by, and the entire ensemble's Wal-Mart opulence draws us into the narrowly defined existence of these self-proclaimed soldiers of Jesus.

In the end, we are left with the knowledge that at least two young men were willing to risk verbal abuse and potential bodily harm in order to express their opinion of misguided martyr makers.

Your scrivener would like to thank Sister Wendy for her valuable insight into the tiny world of the tiny-minded hospice care protesters in Florida.

Carnival chuckles & assorted sighs.


Tuesday, March 29, 2005

White Smoke & Mirrors:
Plastic Tubes For Everyone!


Il Papa may get a Schiavo Tube.

Falwell is on a ventilator.

Soon, everyone is gonna want these nifty little gizmos!

Pope may need feeding tube, reports say
Associated Press
March 29, 2005 POPE0330

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II may have to return to the hospital to have a feeding tube inserted, an Italian news agency reported today. It stressed that no decision had been made.

The APcom news agency, citing an unidentified source, said the 84-year-old pope might have to have the tube inserted to improve his nutrition since he is having difficulty swallowing with the breathing tube that was inserted Feb. 24.

APcom said the idea of inserting a feeding tube was a hypothesis that was being considered. The procedure involves inserting a tube into the stomach to allow for artificial feeding. LINK

Whatever happened to the days when they banged a silver hammer on the pope's forehead and called his name out 3 times before announcing his death?

Honest to GAWD!

They used to do that, then they used the same silver hammer to break the Pope's Fisherman's Ring and his Papal Seal.

I know what you're thinking...

Bang! Bang!
Maxwell's silver hammer

Came down upon her
head.

Bang! Bang! Maxwell's
silver hammer

Made sure that she
was dead.




While you're trying to remember the lyrics
to
Maxwell's Silver Hammer, here's an idea...

When Ron Popeil starts selling ventilator tubes and
feeding tubes for the low, low price of $19.95, it'll be
Time To
Panic!



Feeding Tube-----------------Ventilator Tube


I'm all for employing these medical devices if they
improve my quality of life; however, I want no part of
these plastic wonders being used to prolong my
braindead existence, thank you.


You, of course, have to make that decision for
yourself...


While you still can.


Terri Schiavo's Blog


Believe it, Baby!

It's real(-ly a blog)!


Excerpt:
Sunday, March 27, 2005
mmmmmnegh
nggnugh

posted by terri at 12:25 PM 294 comments

Friday, March 25, 2005
nnnnguh
AHHHHHHH WAAAAAAAA

posted by terri at 5:24 PM 130 comments

nnnnngnhgngnh
*blink*

posted by terri at 3:40 PM 32 comments

Be sure to check out the Comments...

Excerpt:

Anonymous said...

No, I think a better solution would be harsher penalties for parole violators.

6:38 PM

Cynical-Chick said...

You're going to hell.

You just became way cool in my book. :D

And no, I don't think George Bush is a lovely man. Why do you ask?

9:08 PM

Anonymous said...

Damn funny. I posted it on I Hate My Cubicle!!!

Later...
RAT

12:54 PM

Danny Howard said...

AMEN.

3:46 PM

Anonymous said...

Wow. So cruel!

5:38 PM

meeple said...

and i thought i was going to hell for thinking that of course a woman with an eating disorder would want her feeding tube removed.

And don't forget to check out The Archived Posts!

Best of all, you'll learn loads from the sidebar links!

Especially revealing is Blogsforterri...

Excerpt:
Michael Schiavo and the autopsy scam

Just a quick post to ask a couple of "off the cuff" questions.

Michael Schiavo and George Felos now say that they want an autopsy to "prove" the extent of Terri's brain injuries. Can anyone please tell me why a rational person wouldn't have found out for sure through PET and MRI scans before they starved and dehydrated her to death?

A post mortem PET scan is useless, and an MRI after she dies will be of minimal value. Are Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and George Greer also directing the details and the extent of the autopsy by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner like they have everything else so far?

Are we hearing that a full blown autopsy by a known and neutral forensic pathologist is going to do bone scans, and extensive evaluation for abuse? Is Governor "weak knees" Bush going to blink again before the powerful George Greer and the culture of death, by failing to step-in and investigate the murder of Terri Schiavo?

Just a couple of things that I'd like to know - but I bet you can think of a few yourselves.



Read
Terri Schiavo's
Blog!



Karma v Falwell




Jerry Falwell is back in the hospital.

Rumor has it that he has suffered a massive heart attack and is currently in critical condition.

Right now, news services are reporting the cause as "an undisclosed medical condition."


Thanks to the miracle of television, Falwellians have this to comfort them...

But I've already given my living will.

Don't you dare pull the plug on me.

I want to wake up in 14 years and say, "What day is it? What time is it?"
LINK

Hear that, Fallwellians?

Guess who's gonna pay for all of those extraordinary measures to keep old Jerry catalogued in a hospice in the manner of Sunny Von Bulow?

Karma was unavailable for comment at the time of this blog entry.

But Tinky Winky has already reported for pallbearer duty...






What's In A Name?


Plenty, if your name is Schindler!

Pundits and newshounds and bloggers (Oh My!) have all been salivating while waiting for an excuse --any excuse-- to use this particular historical allusion during the Terri Schiavo Death Watch Circus.

I even considered it when I researched the Schindlers' monetary demands on their son-in-law early on in the 15-year death process of their daughter; however, the deeds of these two men named Schindler are, in my opinion, as different as night is to day, and I could find NO REASON WHATSOEVER to elevate Bob Schindler's actions to the level of Oskar Schindler's.

The New York Times wins the prize today for finding a somewhat acceptable reason to use the words Schindler's and List in a headline...

And not succumbing to temptation...
List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: March 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 28 - The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

"These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri," says a description of the list on the Web site of the firm, Response Unlimited, which is asking $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo's father. "These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!"

Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, if ghoulish.

So, who bought Bob Schindler's donor list?

Executives of Response Unlimited declined to comment.--snip--

Mr. McCullough said he was present when Mr. Schindler agreed to the arrangement in a conversation with Phil Sheldon, the co-founder of a conservative online marketing organization, RightMarch.com, who acted as a broker for Response Unlimited.--snip--

"So the Schindlers do know the details," Mr. McCullough said on Monday.--snip--

Mr. Sheldon - whose father, the Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, has also sent appeals urging support for Ms. Schiavo - apparently played a dual role as a partner in RightMarch.com, which is working with the anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, and as a broker for Response Unlimited. Mr. Sheldon did not respond to phone calls yesterday. LINK

Response Unlimited...
Response Unlimited soon became the nation's best and most comprehensive source of mailing lists for conservative and Christian mailers and tele-marketers. Since then, it has expanded far beyond those markets into helping catalog, auto dealers, business to business mailers and companies in many areas. We believe God has given us the gift and ability to help your direct marketing program succeed!


RightMarch.com...
In response to the left's "Virtual March on Washington", RightMarch.com was formed in March of 2003 to lead the "Virtual March from the Right". RightMarch.com is a conservative organization dedicated to giving hundreds of thousands of hardworking, patriotic Americans across the country a strong collective voice in the political process. Our goal is to counter the well-financed antics of radical left-wing groups like MoveOn.org, by appealing to the grassroots "silent majority" to take action -- contacting government and business leaders; placing newspaper, radio and television ads; and holding the Left accountable for their anti-American antics. Our members have been responsible for literally MILLIONS of messages to our leaders since our beginning.


Randall Terry(NOTE: randallterry.com has been disabled, but he's easy to google)...
History of Operation Rescue West

March 12, 2004

In 1986, a cadre of men, including Randall Terry and ORW principle board members Rev. Joseph Foreman and Ken Reed, founded Operation Rescue. More of a movement than an organization, Operation Rescue led the largest social movement involving civil disobedience in American history. During those early years, thousands of men and women willingly sat in front of abortion mill doors to prevent the killing of innocent children and paid the penalty in arrest and prosecution on trespassing charges.

Arrest?
Trespassing charges?

OK, but did you pay with your life?
Of course not.
Did you incite unstable snipers to murder physicians?
I believe you did.
Bite me, you misguided monsters!


Traditional Values Coalition...
With an emphasis on the restoration of the values needed to maintain strong, unified families, Traditional Values Coalition focuses upon issues such as education, homosexual advocacy, family tax relief, pornography, the right to life and religious freedom.

While Traditional Values Coalition is a lobbying organization, its sister organization, Traditional Values Education & Legal Institute, is a foundation dedicated to educating and supporting churches in their efforts to restore America’s cultural heritage.


As for Oskar Schindler...




Schindler never developed any ideologically motivated resistance against the Nazi regime. However, his growing revulsion and horror at the senseless brutality of the Nazi persecution of the helpless Jewish population wrought a curious transformation in the unprincipled opportunist. Gradually, the egoistic goal of lining his pockets with money took second place to the all-consuming desire of rescuing as many of his Jews as he could from the clutches of the Nazi executioners. In the long run, in his efforts to bring his Jewish workers safely through the war, he was not only prepared to squander all his money but also to put his own life on the line.

I applaud the editors at The New York Times for their decision not to equate the actions of Terri Schiavo's father with those of Oskar Schindler by stooping to a ghoulish play on words.


Sigh of relief.


Monday, March 28, 2005

White Smoke Watch Update




"Pay no attention to the man
behind the curtain," said Ruini, Re, and Ratzinger.


Pope Skips Appearance at His Window

Mar 28, 6:05 AM (ET)
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II skipped his traditional appearance at his window overlooking St. Peter's Square the day after Easter, following a Holy Week during which he was unable to speak.

An appearance Monday - a national holiday in Italy - had not been confirmed because of John Paul's convalescence from throat surgery to ease a breathing crisis, although he had kept the appointment to bless pilgrims throughout his 26-year papacy.

Vatican TV cameras zoomed in on the pope's window at noontime, but the curtains remained closed.

On Easter Sunday, John Paul managed only a few sounds before he gave up and delivered his Easter blessing with a sign of the cross.
LINK

Hm.

My theory...

Late arrival of the Henson Team and/or George Lucas forced these shuttered window shenanigans.





Probably just a simple mechanical malfunction.

Just kidding.



The Passion Of Fashion


The tradition of Easter fashions is obviously on life support...



Barbara (L) and Jenna Bush, the twin daughters of U.S. President George W. Bush, leave an Easter Sunday church service at Fort Hood in central Texas, March 27, 2005. The President and other members of his family including his parents, former President George Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush attended an Easter Sunday service at the army base before returning to his ranch in Crawford. REUTERS/Jason Reed


Fortunately, traditional Easter fashion has gone to the dogs...




Dakota, wearing her Easter bonnet, rests on New York's Fifth Avenue while her owner Paul Scheier takes in the Easter parade, March 27, 2005.
REUTERS/Jeff Christensen



Sunday, March 27, 2005

Just In Time For Easter:
Your Virtual Pope!





Yes, it's Stepford-ish!

Yes, one might suspect secret midnight meetings with George Lucas!

But you've just gotta love the fact that Vaticanistas are making these comments with Oh, So Seriously Straight Faces!

Limited role for virtual Pope

By Peter Gould
Religious Affairs analyst

--snip--

His recent health scare means that the Catholic Church may be witnessing the start of a "virtual papacy".

With doctors urging caution over public appearances, the Vatican will make greater use of video links to enable the Pope to be seen by the faithful.

Risk of relapse

"The primary concern is the risk of infection," says John Allen, Vatican correspondent of the National Catholic Reporter.

"They are trying to keep as many people as possible away from him, and increasingly his contact with the outside world will be mediated.

"When he is present, it will be symbolic - virtual rather than real. Papal functions will be carried out by others, and endorsed by the Pope." BBC LINK


I'm virtually sighing.


Oops! I forgot to give you
your Easter Card!





Today's Sermon: Resurrection Rag


Osiris Jesus Is Risen!

The resurrection story is as old as the hills.

Every Spring, dead branches sprout buds.

A new generation of Spring lambs dots the pastoral landscape (and our Easter Luncheon tables).

And humans want to believe that resurrection is possible.

Each generation, at some point, comes to realize that human life is finite.

But folks still want to believe.

What you want and what you get are two different things!

For example...

A Tisket, A Tasket

Here' What I Want
In My Easter Basket...

Good chocolate...

Now, this is an Easter egg!




Yum! Belgian chocolate!


If I can't have the world's largest Belgian chocolate Easter Egg, I'll settle for...




THUS ENDETH TODAY'S SERMON.

Go forth and eat candy, dress in pastels (if you must), and celebrate the life you have...

And live it like it's the only one you'll have.

I mean it, damn it!


Happy Fertile Rabbit Day!




Saturday, March 26, 2005

I Don't Care
If It Rains Or Freezes...


... I just don't want any of these things
in my Easter basket!






Virgin Mary & Jesus Lollipops





Chocolate Cross





Crucifixion Barbie






The Original Jesus Saves Bank







Baby Jesus Butt Plug







Resurrection Easter Eggs


Normally, I would never turn down chocolate, but the chocolate used in those lollipops and the cross looks like that cheap waxy crap pseudochocolate.

The rest of the stuff is just plain weird.


Tomorrow, I'll post what I'd like to find in my Ester Basket...

And an update on our New & Improved Virtual Pope!


The Only Thing Missing
Is A Bare Light Bulb


Is the person propped in the chair really the Pope?

Or Norman Bates' mother?

Hm.



Pope John Paul II makes
Good Friday "appearance."


Pope makes video link appearance

Pilgrims were delighted by the Pope's appearance

Frail Pope John Paul II has used a video link to appear to pilgrims at a Good Friday procession in Rome.


The 84-year-old is convalescing after throat surgery and has been absent from Vatican ceremonies for Easter weekend.

But on Friday night, images from the Pope's private chapel were beamed to giant TV screens at the Colosseum, to the delight of thousands.--snip--

He was shown from behind, wearing white robes and watching a live broadcast of the event.

He did not speak, but held up a small wooden cross towards the end of the ceremony. --snip--

And a guy running for Pope had this to say...

A top cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger, told Italian television the Pope, though weakened, remained "lucid".

"And, given the physical trials John Paul II is going through, even this is a gift from God," the cardinal said. BBC LINK

Heavy sigh.


This Week's
Backside
Of The
Bell Curve

Winner(s)!


Those Pesky Pilate
Bush Brothers,

George & Jeb



Dangerous Duo... In a Deliverance sort of way.


What if gOVERnor Jeb Bush (R-Doofus) ordered his state-level flying monkeys to seize a brain dead woman, and no one carried out the order?

Police 'showdown' averted

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@herald.com
Posted on Sat, Mar. 26, 2005

Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted -- but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Herald has learned.

Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to resume her feeding.

For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called ``a showdown.''

In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice. LINK

Hm.

Hours after...

If you read the rest of the story, you'll learn that Jeb's trial lawyers were too stupid to know that...
The exception in the law allows public agencies to freeze a judge's order whenever an agency appeals it.

And then, there's this...
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said he does not think DCF officials knew of the window of opportunity they had created until well after they filed their appeal.

You'll have to decide for yourself whether George and Jeb washed their hands of a potential constitutional crisis...

Or are just plain Pure D. Stupid.

Either way, Judas was not in Florida during this stand off.

Atticus Finch was there, though.

And cooler heads prevailed.


Friday, March 25, 2005

In The End,
It's All About The Money
After All


I usually paste 4 paragraphs from news articles (per fair use restrictions) and a link to the rest of the story.

However, this Miami Herald background story on the Schiavo/Schindler split, which should have been published weeks ago, is worth a slap on the blogging wrist!


FAMILY HISTORY

Husband, in-laws once were united in caring for Terri

Before the fighting, Michael Schiavo and his in-laws cared for Terri Schiavo together. The Schindlers urged him to date, and later agreed on the extent of her damage.

BY CARA BUCKLEY
cbuckley@herald.com

PINELLAS PARK - For years, even after suspicion drove them apart and pitted them in a fierce legal fight, Michael Schiavo and his in-laws seemed to agree on one thing: that Terri, his wife and their daughter, was in a persistent vegetative state.

During a January 2000 court battle in which Bob and Mary Schindler sought to wrest Terri's guardianship from Michael Schiavo, the Schindlers repeatedly conceded that their daughter's brain damage was extreme.

''We do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state,'' Pam Campbell, then the Schindlers' lawyer, told the court. Later, Michael Schiavo's lawyer, George Felos, asked Mary Schindler, ''Is Terri in a vegetative condition now?'' to which she replied, ``Yes. That is what they call it.''

Whether or not Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state has become a hotly contested flash point in the raging debate surrounding the severely brain-damaged Florida woman, whose feeding tube was removed last week.

Many of the Schindlers' supporters insist Terri is very much alert. Michael Schiavo has also been cast by detractors as an adulterous, heartless husband who wanted to remove Terri's feeding tube in order to access her trust fund.

But testimony from court files documenting the 12-year struggle over Terri Schiavo's fate tells a far more complex story.

Beyond accepting that their daughter was in a vegetative state, the Schindlers had, years earlier, encouraged Michael to date. When the Schindlers later accused Michael of greed, he offered to donate Terri's entire trust fund to charity.

Up until a bitter falling out in 1993, Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers were united in efforts to rehabilitate Terri.

They moved in together after Terri's collapse in February 1990, and Michael called the Schindlers ''Mom and Dad.'' A year later, the Schindlers encouraged their son-in-law to get on with his life and date. They even met some of the women he saw.

''I looked at that as maybe he was starting to take a step in the right direction and get his life back together,'' Bob Schindler said in a 1993 deposition. ``He's still a young man. He still has a life ahead of him.''

WORKED TOGETHER

The Schindlers later said that they urged Michael to see other women because they ultimately hoped to gain guardianship of their daughter. But they still worked feverishly with Michael to ensure Terri had the best possible care.

To raise funds for medical costs, they sold hot dogs and pretzels on the beach, threw a Valentine's Day dance and made appeals on local news stations. In 1991, the city of St. Petersburg Beach declared Feb. 17 ``Terri Schiavo Day.''

Terri was frequently moved between hospitals, hospices and nursing homes. Each rehabilitation facility treated her with aggressive physical, recreational, speech and language therapy, moving her arms and legs, trying to rouse her with scents.

But according to court filings, Terri was not responsive to neurological or swallowing tests. Mary Schindler testified that a neurologist told her, ``This might be where she's going to be for the rest of her life.''

Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers brought Terri home briefly in the fall of 1990, but were overwhelmed. Then they sent her to California to have experimental platinum electrodes implanted to stimulate her brain. Michael slept by her bedside for five weeks. Terri sat up and her eyes burned brightly when the implants were turned up high, Michael testified, but the doctor told him the reactions were mere motor responses.

Meanwhile, Michael filed a malpractice suit against two of Terri's doctors, unwittingly setting into motion events that tore him and the Schindlers apart.

Michael initially expected a multimillion-dollar award, and the Schindlers said he promised them a share, which would enable them to care for Terri at home.

By then, the Schindlers were almost broke. After selling his share of a successful industrial equipment company, Bob Schindler lost his savings in a Florida business venture that went sour. The couple declared bankruptcy in 1989, Bob Schindler testified. He told a court that Michael Schiavo promised to help.

But Michael said he never committed to sharing any award money with the Schindlers, especially when the award ended up being far smaller than hoped. Roughly $700,000 was earmarked for a trust fund for Terri, and $300,000 for Michael.

The Schindlers still expected part of Michael's share to help care for Terri. On Valentine's Day 1993, they confronted Michael in Terri's hospital room. The discussion quickly turned ugly. Michael said the Schindlers demanded the money, so he lied and said he did not have it. Disgusted, the Schindlers left, their trust in Michael irrevocably breached.

''The fact that he was going back on his word upset me,'' Bob Schindler testified in 1993. ``I was devastated.''

Michael soon began believing doctors who told him that Terri had effectively died in 1990. In a 1993 deposition, he testified that Terri had said she would never want to live by artificial means. He imposed a ''do not resuscitate'' order. Hospice staff challenged the order's legality, so he reversed it.

Horrified, the Schindlers launched the first of many exhaustive battles to become Terri's legal guardians. They accused Schiavo of being abusive, citing his admitted belligerence to hospice staff. They also said he wanted to kill Terri for her money.

But in 1998, when one of Terri's court-appointed guardians noted this conflict of interest, Michael offered to donate Terri's estate to charity, as long as the Schindlers stopped fighting his decision to remove Terri's feeding tube. The Schindlers rejected this proposal. All but $50,000 of the award has since gone to Terri's care and court costs.

NUMEROUS PROBLEMS

By the mid-1990s, Terri's physical therapy had been stopped, enraging her parents.

Court guardians concluded that Terri was cared for extremely well, but her condition still led to numerous complications and hospitalizations. She suffered from bile stones and kidney stones, according to court papers, and had to have her gallbladder removed. She has ''drop foot,'' where her foot twists downward, and the ensuing pressure resulted in the amputation of her left little toe. She frequently developed urinary tract infections, diarrhea and vaginitis. Several cysts were removed from her neck. Several times, her feeding tube got infected.

In 2000, despite conceding their daughter's persistent vegetative state, the Schindlers said they still believed she knew when they were there. When Felos, Michael Schiavo's lawyer, asked Bob Schindler if he thought Terri would be tormented by her current state, he replied ''Yes,'' but added, ``she's not that cognizant to be aware of it.''

Several years ago, a few doctors said Terri was, in fact, responsive, evidently causing her parents to believe that the Terri they knew could at least partially be brought back. But judges repeatedly sided with the medical opinion that their daughter's chances for improvement were nil.

The Schindlers never stopped believing. Mary decorated Terri's room during holidays and saw light in Terri's eyes when she softly sang, ``Terri, it's Mommy.''

''I think she understands. I think she knows I'm there,'' Mary Schindler told the court in 2000. ``She just . . . I just want her to live." LINK


Heavy sigh.


More MSNBC Graphic Blandishment


Earlier this week, I posted this graphic from MSNBC...




Well...

The MSNBC Hits Just Keep On Coming!







Pure D Propaganda.

Plain & Simple.

Honk If You Hate MSNBC!

What drives MSNBC's biased reporting?



Darwin's Easter Basket


"My, my!" they sigh.



Biologist discovers 2 species of octopus attempting to walk

BY BETSY MASON
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - (KRT) - Looking a bit like a cartoonist's effort to make strange sea creatures seem more human,
two species of octopus have been caught on tape walking on just two of their eight legs.

One species wraps six of its legs around itself in a tight ball as it jogs backwards across the sea bed on the other two, somewhat like a little green video game alien trying to avoid being eaten or shot. The other holds six arms up in frozen, crooked poses like tree branches as it moves on two arms that seem to act like mini conveyor belts.
LINK

And, of course, there's this...

Biomechanics: Independent evolution of running in vampire bats

DANIEL K. RISKIN AND JOHN W. HERMANSON

Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
dkr8@cornell.edu

Most tetrapods have retained terrestrial locomotion since it evolved in the Palaeozoic era, but bats have become so specialized for flight that they have almost lost the ability to manoeuvre on land at all. Vampire bats, which sneak up on their prey along the ground, are an important exception. Here we show that
common vampire bats can also run by using a unique bounding gait, in which the forelimbs instead of the hindlimbs are recruited for force production as the wings are much more powerful than the legs. This ability to run seems to have evolved independently within the bat lineage. LINK
I want honesty and a healthy helping of the scientific method in my Easter Basket, damn it!

Tomorrow, Blogger.com willing and the creek don't rise, I'll post a list of items I DON'T WANT in my Easter Basket.


White Smoke & Feeding Tube Watch:
The Pope Is Serene


The Pope is dying.

The Pope has no plans to return to the hospital.

Let's fact it...

The men running for Pope don't want John Paul hooked up to machines.

That would put their career advancement opportunities in a persistent vegetative state.

Yet, The Pope 'says' Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinserted, allowing her to live a longer persistent vegetative life, which she doesn't want.

There are 35000-45000 other Terri Schiavos hooked up to machines via plastic tubes today.

Yet, The Pope is serene.

Must be nice.
Pope is ‘serenely giving himself
to the will of God’


March 25, 2005
By Ruth Gledhill Religion Correspondent

THE POPE is “serenely abandoning” himself to God’s will, according to a senior Vatican cardinal. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the head of the Congregation of Bishops, made his comments during a sermon at a Maundy Thursday Chrism Mass at St Peter’s, in Rome, where he was standing in for the ailing Pope John Paul II.
Senior Roman Catholic sources in London emphasised last night that the comments referred to the Pope’s spiritual rather than physical health, but acknowledged that his health was deteriorating.

The Cardinal’s comments came at the end of a week where the Pope’s health has worsened further, with reports by Italian news agencies that he has been vomiting, suffering strong headaches and not responding to medication.

However, the doctors treating him said that there were no immediate plans for the Pope to return to hospital, although just one public engagement, an Easter Sunday blessing, is scheduled for him this weekend, making this the first year in his papacy that he has missed the traditional Holy Week services.--snip--

Cardinal Re said: “We want to thank him for the witness he continues to give us even through his example of serene abandonment to God, which he links to the mystery of the Cross.” At the start of the Mass, the Cardinal read a message from the Pope. It said: “I am united ideally with all of you who are gathered in the Vatican basilica. Via television from my apartment, my dearest ones, I am spiritually with you.”
LINK

They say timing is everything.

The Pope is "serenely giving himself to the will of God."

And it's Good Friday.

Now, that's timing.

What better day to admit that the pope is dying?

Expect the Vatican to be strangely silent on the subject of a papal feeding tube.

Heavy sigh.



Thursday, March 24, 2005

Now They're Speaking In Tongues?


This is just too weird for Color TV...
Protesters' tactics dispel lawmaker's doubts

The experience of one wavering Miami lawmaker during the debate over Terri Schiavo's fate hardened her stance.

BY BETH REINHARD
breinhard@herald.com

TALLAHASSEE - After casting an anguished vote last week against a bill to keep Terri Schiavo alive, state Sen. Larcenia Bullard said she began to reconsider, thinking to herself: I will not have her death rest on my shoulders.

Word that the Miami Democrat was on the fence spread among protesters who have descended on the Capitol.

But instead of pushing Bullard to their side, the protesters' aggressive tactics pushed her away. When the bill to keep Schiavo alive came up for another vote Wednesday, Bullard again voted not to intervene in Schiavo's case.

Bullard told her colleagues how one group of protesters, initially claiming they were staffers from Gov. Jeb Bush's office, bowed down to her and spoke in tongues in her office Monday. They called her ''our Esther,'' referring to the Old Testament figure who saved the Jews from death. LINK (BugMeNot login: biteme@ireland.com; password: greengoblin1)

Quick!

Somebody, call the Inquisitor General!

Meanwhile...





Pat Robertson Is Evil!


Pat Robertson doesn't need facts.

Pat Robertson doesn't need 25 (and counting) judicial rulings.

Pat Robertson has his own brand of GAWD to sell to the uneducated masses, and facts and laws just get in his way.

Pat Robertson just claimed on CNN that Michael Schiavo is a murderer.

Pat Robertson also claimed that Terri Schiavo is now dying a horrible, painful death.

Pat Robertson is evil!

That's my opinion, Pat!

The US Supreme Court has turned this case away four times now, Pat.

People don't want your brand of GAWD telling them to keep Grandma hooked up to your personally approved, family budget-busting tubes for forty years, Pat.

You and your fascist fundies are like Ahhhnold in the original Terminator movie...

REESE

(slow, but intense)

Listen. Understand. That Terminator is out there. It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear... and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. LINK

So, Pat...

I'm calling you out, you evil bastard!

You and your kind are a serious threat to humanity.

Don't like my opinion of you and yours?

Bite me, you pig ignorant sanctimonious asshole!


What's Wrong With This
MSNBC Graphic?





As the smart kids say...

Duh!


Safety Begins At Home!


Does that childhood lesson explain why George W. is sporting a bulletproof vest at the Crawford pig farm?






Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox walk with U.S. President George W. Bush as he gives them a tour of his ranch following lunch on the presidential property in Crawford, Texas, March 23, 2005. President Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico earlier announced Wednesday a broad plan to strengthen economic and security ties among the three countries. REUTERS Photo by Jason Reed LINK

Actually, bulletproof vests would be more appropriate attire for Paul Martin and Vicente Fox!

Also, upon closer inspection of the middle photo, I suspect Barney is planning something.

You can only be dropped on your head so many times before you take action.





Deepthroat Explains
The Schiavo Scandal


I found this little gem over at Daily Kos...
The Terri Schiavo Case: Following the Money

The Recorder
By Jon B. Eisenberg
March 4, 2005

Have you ever wondered who is bankrolling the seemingly endless courtroom effort to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube attached?

During the Watergate scandal, investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were famously advised to "follow the money." In the Schiavo case, the money leads to a consortium of conservative foundations, with $2 billion in total assets, that are funding a legal and public relations war of attrition intended to prolong Terri's life indefinitely in order to further their own faith-based cultural agendas.

For the past 12 years, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have been locked in a bitter dispute over whether to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Terri, whom the courts have determined is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Schindlers want the doctors to keep Terri alive; Michael does not. Late last year, in Bush v. Schiavo, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush violated the constitutional separation of powers when he attempted to overturn a court order to remove Terri's feeding tube. A few weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

I filed an amicus curiae brief in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of 55 bioethicists and a disability rights organization opposing the governor's action. Two months later I participated in a public debate on the case at Florida State University. Among the participants supporting Gov. Bush's position were Pat Anderson, one of multiple attorneys who have represented the Schindlers, and Wesley Smith and Rita Marker, two activists whose specialty is opposing surrogate removal of life-support from comatose and persistent vegetative state patients. I found myself wondering: "I'm doing this pro bono; are they?"

I did some Internet research and learned that many of the attorneys, activists and organizations working to keep Schiavo on life support all these years have been funded by members of the Philanthropy Roundtable.

The Philanthropy Roundtable is a collection of foundations that have funded conservative causes ranging from abolition of Social Security to anti-tax crusades and United Nations conspiracy theories. The Roundtable members' founders include scions of America's wealthiest families, including Richard Mellon Scaife (heir to the Mellon industrial, oil and banking fortune), Harry Bradley (electronics), Joseph Coors (beer), and the Smith Richardson family (pharmaceutical products).

I found a Web site called mediatransparency.com which tracks funding for these foundations. Using just that Web site and the Schindlers' own site, terrisfight.org, I learned of a network of funding connections between some of the Philanthropy Roundtable's members and various organizations behind the Schindlers, their lawyers and supporters, and the lawyers who represented Gov. Bush in Bush v. Schiavo.

Here are a few examples:

Schindler lawyer Pat Anderson "was paid directly" by the anti-abortion Life Legal Defense Foundation, which "has already spent over $300,000 on this case," according to the foundation's Web site. Much of the support for Life Legal Defense Foundation, in turn, comes from the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay rights group which collected more than $15 million in private donations in 2002 and admits to having spent money on the Schiavo case "in the six figures," according to a recent article in the Palm Beach Post. Mediatransparency.org states that between 1994 and 2002, the Alliance Defense Fund received $142,000 from Philanthropy Roundtable members that include the Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation and the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.

Wesley Smith and Rita Marker also work for organizations that get funding from Roundtable members. Smith is a paid senior fellow with the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that advocates the teaching of creationist "intelligent design" theory in public schools. Between 1993 and 1997, the Discovery Institute received $175,000 from the Bradley Foundation. Marker is executive director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia, which lobbies against physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Marker's organization received $110,390 from the Randolph Foundation, an affiliate of the Smith Richardson family.

Roundtable members also played a role in financing the Bush v. Schiavo litigation.

The Family Research Council, which uses its annual $10 million budget to lobby for prayer in public schools and against gay marriage, filed an amicus curiae brief in Bush v. Schiavo supporting Gov. Bush, at the same time its former president, attorney Kenneth Connor, was representing the governor in that litigation. Between 1992 and 2000, the council received $215,000 from the Bradley Foundation.

Another amicus brief backing Bush was filed by a coalition of disability rights organizations that included the National Organization on Disability and the World Institute on Disability. The former received $810,000 between 1991 and 2002 from the Scaife Family Foundations, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, and the JM Foundation; the latter received $20,000 in 1997 from the JM Foundation.

These connections may be just the tip of the iceberg. I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. I got this information using only the most rudimentary Google skills. I imagine that a thorough search by a seasoned investigator would yield quite a bit more.

With this kind of big bucks behind them, it's no wonder the Schindlers and their allies have been able to keep the legal fight over their daughter going for so long. And it's still not over. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene, the Schindlers' lawyers are now trying to prolong the litigation yet again through a series of post-judgment motions which, regardless of their merit, could yield stays that would continue to forestall the removal of Terri's feeding tube.

Maneuvers within the past few months have included requests for a new trial based on something the Pope said in a speech criticizing the removal of feeding tubes from persistent vegetative state patients, and on a newly minted claim that Terri was deprived of the right to independent court-appointed counsel. Those maneuvers achieved the desired delay but were ultimately unsuccessful. On Feb. 25, the trial judge, George Greer, ordered Terri's feeding tube to be removed March 18.

On Feb. 28, however, the Schindlers struck back by filing 15 written motions and requesting 48 hours of court hearing time. These motions run an extraordinary gamut, from a suggestion that Judge Greer should order Terri and Michael Schiavo be immediately divorced, to a request for "limited media access" to Terri, to a proposal for a 20-hour evidentiary hearing on Terri's "medical/psychiatric/rehabilitative status." The ploy is obvious: still more delay.

There is something wrong here. The Florida courts have ruled repeatedly -- based on her doctors' testimony and evidence of statements she previously made about her end-of-life wishes -- that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, would not want her life to be prolonged under such circumstances, and should be allowed to die as the courts have determined she would wish. But the conservative foundations, with their massive funding, have turned the Schiavo case into a war of attrition, where delay is victory.

They have met defeat in the U.S. Supreme Court. But they won't give up, and they have the cash it takes to out-gun Michael Schiavo on every front. It is going to take yet more judicial courage to ensure that the rule of law prevails over big money. That will require Judge Greer to reject the latest round of delaying motions, and the Florida Court of Appeal and Supreme Court to back him up.

Mellon Scaife, DeVos, Bradley, Coors, et al...

They send their bleached blonde bimbos out to tell you that "No one speaks for poor Terri."

(cough) Bullshit! (cough)

The courts have spoken for Terri about 24 times now.

The obvious pathology at work here is stunning: Terri's bulimia (the original cause of her brain damage) has barely been mentioned.

Why is that?

The VRWC (The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy) doesn't want anyone questioning the Schindlers' role in Terri's eating disorder.

That's why.

The two family variables associated with bulimia, which I find the most telling, are Parental Control and The Family' Positive Public Persona.

Terri's mother scares the shit out of me (and not in a bulimic sort of way).

This woman jumped into bed with Mellon Scaife for her own Positive Public Persona enhancement.

I admire Michael Schiavo more each day. He has fought the Schindlers for 15 years, doing everything possible to see that Terri's wish (to end her parents' control of her life) is realized.

He could have walked away long ago.

But he didn't.

Like the courts, Michael Schiavo speaks for Terri.

As for those who "speak for the Schindlers"...


These are the same fascist fundies who want to control your reproductive systems (You have to keep having babies to fund the fascists), voucher your public schools until they disappear (Stay stupid!), build the electronic devices that will keep your family paying for your nigh-onto -eternal life support systems (long after the $250K limit on your malpractice suit runs out) and supply the sky high priced pharmaceutical wonder drugs which keep the whole ball (your body) rolling/paying them.

Exasperatingly heavy sigh.