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March 31, 2005
A final cruelty?
Michael Schiavo tossed Terri's birth family out of her room rather than let them be around in her final moments on earth. And now the Shindler family may never know what happens to Terri's body.
Terri Schiavo's ashes will be buried in an undisclosed location near Philadelphia so that her immediate family doesn't show up and turn the burial into a media spectacle, a member of the Schiavo family said Thursday.My question, where are the Women's Rights groups?
....
Asked about perhaps never knowing where his sister might be buried, Bobby Schindler said, "We've already said goodbye. ... He's been doing this kind of stuff for 15 years. What would make him stop now?"
Posted by Darleen at 06:12 PM | Comments (4)
Terri Schiavo has just died
and her birth family had been barred from her room during the last moments.
My heart goes out to them. May they find peace.
Posted by Darleen at 06:55 AM | Comments (1)
Terri Schiavo -- Chicken Little on Xtians, Cranford as Moderate and the $100,000 challenge
I sense we are moving into a post-Terri realm where some of those on the Left who have watched Terri's imposed death with gleeful anticipation are going to use Terri as "red-baiting" of anyone who questioned Greer's decision. "Mainstream" media has been in the forefront of misinformation, selective reporting, editorializing from the newsroom and conducting pushpolls in order to get a results that coincide with the politics of their members. No where better than the NYTimes itself can this new focus-to-come be found than in the latest screed from former Enron advisor Paul Krugman. Absolutely every sentence of his excreable piece drips with falsehoods, contempt and faux alarm. Do you think that Terri may not have had a fair shake at the trial level? You're really the same as the Islamist extremists in the Netherlands murdering infidels. Worried that the profoundly disabled don't have the protection they should in Florida? You're really part of the drooling God Squad out to flaunt the Constitution and impose a theocracy. Summing up, Chicken Little Krugman runs in circles screeching "The Xtians are coming! The Xtians are coming! Lock up your children, bar the door! The Xtians are coming!"
On the heels of Krugman's piece comes this editorial from Star Tribune protraying Krugman's screed as mere "musing" on the "inherent in the rise of religious extremism in the United States."
It's extremist to worry about the rights of someone that has been legally declared a non-person? It's extremist to support appeal to higher courts when there is a dispute in order to protect the rights of the profoundly disabled?
Ah, but to do think such, the ST charges, means one does so "in order to impose upon the nation an extremist religious ethic that looks more Iranian than American."
If that's extremist, who is a moderate in the ST's eyes? Why, Dr. Ronald Cranford, of course! Cranford who is in favor of killing people who are not even PVS. Cranford had testified in the Robert Wendland case it didn't matter that he was minimally concious, only that his wife had the right to get rid of him and "move on" with her life. Cranford is forthright in his pro-euthanasia on "quality of life" and "personhood" definitions and is dismissive of the Constitutional rights of the profoundly disabled.
That's who the Star Tribune lauds as "an antidote to [Xtian] lunacy."
Dr. Cranford is making the talk circuit defending his 45 minute evaluation of Terri. A transcript of his interview on MSNBC's "The Abrams Report" can be found here and I'd direct you to look at the picture that accompanies this transcript of Terri's 2002 CT scan. Cranford is absolute in his statements.
So there's just no doubt about the diagnosis. I know there's sympathy for the family. When you see those pictures, it looks like Terri is interacting, but do you know what? She's really not. That's what the vegetative state is. It looks like they're interacting, but they're really not.He's again dismissive of a modern MRI or PET. And here's where the $100,000 challenge comes in, from Code Blue blog
I'm getting tired of hearing what neurologists have to say about Terri Schiavo's CT of the brain. Real Tired. ...Do read his full post, but here's where he puts his money where his mouth is:I've watched a steady stream of neurologists, bioethicists, and neurologist/bioethicists from Columbia, Cornell, and NYU interviewed all week on Fox and CNN and MSNBC. They all said about the same thing, that Terri's CT scan was "the worst they'd ever seen"or "as bad as they've ever seen."
Here's the problem with these experts: THEY DON'T INTERPRET CT SCANS OF THE BRAIN. RADIOLOGISTS DO.
*Oh*
You see, a neurologist will look at the CT of the brain of one of his patients, but this is entirely different from interpreting CT's of the brain de novo, for a living, every day, without knowing the diagnosis and most times without a good history. In addition, whereas I heard Dr. Crandon say he's "seen" a thousand brain CT's... well I've interpreted over 10,000 brain CT's. There's a big difference. ...
To prove my point I am offering $100,000 on a $25,000 wager for ANY neurologist (and $125,000 for any neurologist/bioethicist) involved in Terri Schiavo's case--including all the neurologists reviewed on television and in the newspapers who can accurately single out PVS patients from functioning patients with better than 60% accuracy on CT scans.Don't hold your breath, though, that any of the Felos/Cranford/pro-euthanasia crowd will take the challenge, because, obviously this radiologist is nothing more than the point man of the American Taliban.I will provide 100 single cuts from 100 different patient's brain CT's. All the neurologist has to do is say which ones represent patients with PVS and which do not.
If the neurologist can be right 6 out of 10 times he wins the $100,000.
Right?
hattips to all those who directed me to these articles: Kevin at Wizbang, Michelle Malkin, Mieke and bdwalsh
Posted by Darleen at 05:45 AM | Comments (7)
March 30, 2005
James Kirk would kick Shatner's a**
... if he knew the background of Invasion Iowa. The character as protrayed in the original series was sharp, instinctive, a bit of a player, sometimes disrespectful of authority, loyal to friends and had a justice button about a mile wide. There is no way Kirk would try a perpetuate a joke on a bunch of innocent people to try and make 'em look like fools.
"We went to pull one over on the people of Riverside, and the joke ultimately ended up being on us," says Kevin Kay, EVP of Programming and Production for Spike TV. "We were amazed by not only the kindness and openness of the townspeople, but their understanding of the complexity and comedy of this project."That's right, numbnutz, be amazed that those rubes you were yukking it up about at story conferences are actual living breathing human beings. Wow! The hicks in overalls living miles and miles from :::ahem::: "culture" actually can grasp complexities and the high-brow nuances of comedy!!
Now, who said Hollywood was free of bigotry and prejudice??
Eric and I love the original Star Trek and I'm looking forward to springing for the complete DVD collection sometime this year. But I was so startled by the premise of this show I decided to skip it. I've never liked mean-spirited practical jokes meant to embarrass the victims. I have some very bad memories of junior high and this kind of thing is right out of some "McFly with a 'kick me' sign" scene. Eric was even more incensed telling me if he had been one of the Riverside, Iowa, city fathers he would have sued the pants off Shatner and company. Ooooo! The production gave $100,000 to the town! No hard feelings, rubes, right? We really really LUV U! Look us up when you find yourself in El-Lay and we'll do lunch. Kisses!
Wow. What generosity. Shatner may have to give up buying a new Hummer next year.
Posted by Darleen at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
Terri Schiavo - what game is the court playing now?
Could someone explain this to me?
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - With time running out for Terri Schiavo, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected her parents' latest attempt to get the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reconnected.W.T.F.The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to consider an emergency bid by Bob and Mary Schindler for a new hearing in their case, raising a flicker of hope for the parents after a series of setbacks in the case. But the court rejected the request 15 hours later.
Posted by Darleen at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)
Fluttering through Saturday and this week
On Saturday, one of the first warm days we'd had in quite a while after enduring the heaviest rainy season in 100 years, I took the twins over to visit with my parents and sister who live behind the Orange Curtain in So. Cal. The sun was bright and I marveled at how lushly green the hills were, with the higher San Gabriel mountains still topped in snow. As I traversed through Brea Canyon I wondered at the drifts of leaves across the road.
Then I realized they weren't leaves but butterflies.
Millions of butterflies. From all over California.
Spurred by wet weather, followed by sunny skies, portions of Southern California are in the midst of a butterfly population explosion, bug experts say.We stood in the backyard and watched in awe. So. Cal is naturally arid so even a handful of butterflies in the garden is an event to pause and enjoy. This was a glutton's delight."Everyone should stop and take a look," said Gebork Arakelian, the entomologist for Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner. "They are beautiful creatures."
The most commonly sighted butterfly so far is the painted lady scientific name, Vanessa cardui. ...
Painted ladies look a bit like small monarch butterflies, and they travel in caravans that fly about 10 feet above ground.
Even if the explosion isn't as dramatic as Saturday, I'm thrilled even as I drive to and from work, sitting at stoplights, watching groups of 5 to 10 butterflies flit above the cars, inexorably moving northward in their migration.
Posted by Darleen at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
How'd that go? 'Terri supporters' are nothing but a bunch of theocratic whackos of the Religious Right'?
I've heard Jesse Jackson called many things, but "member of Religious Right" wasn't among them.
Ditto Joe Lieberman.
Posted by Darleen at 06:55 AM | Comments (2)
Social Security ad ...
Over the last few days I've seen the crassest anti-Social Security reform ad and it's so insulting I've been unable to watch it all the way through to find out who is funding it.
It has a woman with a clogged sink, the plumber then tells her they'll have to destroy the house to fix the sink, then through scenes of heavy machinery wrecking the house (all furniture still in house, etc) one hears the narrator intone "why wreck Social Security when a few simple fixes ..."
It's at that point I grab the remote and change the channel before I chuck the remote through the screen.
F**kers.
More accurate analogy:
The "house" of Social Security is about to slide off the hill it was built on, because the hill was nothing but fill dirt and a heavy rainy season (which shows no sign of abating.. ie retiring boomers) has undercut the already questionable foundations. And the simple fix of few sandbags may delay the inevitable, but at what point does one rebuild on solid foundations or just demand every abled bodied person in the area to give up huge portions of their life to fill sandbags to save a house they'll probably never live in?
Posted by Darleen at 06:47 AM | Comments (2)
Put the blame on Plame, boys ...
In the midst of yet another Left generated vapors attack of "Republican hypocrisy" over Schiavo, tip-toeing quietly in the background is this WaPo story about the latest in the Valerie Plame affair. Y'all recall that bit of "Republican hypocrisy" right? Undercover CIA agent is "outed" by a reporter via a "Whitehouse official"? Suddenly the Left explodes with cries of "crime! crime! Get the Special Prosecutor!" Any questioning of the facts involved, indeed, even asking if Valerie Plame was "really" outted or not engendered the usual charge of "hypocrisy." One even found in during the Left Cult attacks on Jeff Gannon (via dailykos and ameriblog) their attempts to justify their blatant gay-bashing with tieing Gannon with Plame's "outting." Yet ...
A federal court should first determine whether a crime has been committed in the disclosure of an undercover CIA operative's name before prosecutors are allowed to continue seeking testimony from journalists about their confidential sources, the nation's largest news organizations and journalism groups asserted in a court filing yesterday.Now, when certain sober media types advanced that same line of questioning way back in 2003 it was shouted down as spin or puny posturing.The 40-page brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, argues that there is "ample evidence . . . to doubt that a crime has been committed" in the case,
Looks like it's been the Left that has been whirling like Dervishes in this affair.
Posted by Darleen at 06:04 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2005
I've been tagged!!
Alrighty THEN (aw geez and I don't even like Jim Carey but suddenly I'm channeling him).... I'm up for this challenge courtesy of Jeff (??I need to post MORE?? hmmmm!). I actually love the questions so HERE GOES (please play along)
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Heck, if Jeff gets to cheat, so do I. There are two books on my shelf that I probably read at least once a year. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. My parents let me read just about anything I could and they had a ton of books. Louis L'Amour westerns, detective stories. When I was about 11, "Valley of the Dolls" appeared in the house and I was stunned it was the first book my mom decided not to let me read. So I settled for the dense looking paperback The Fountainhead. I was so intrigued because I had never read anything like it. I later went to the library to find other books by Ayn Rand, read Atlas Shrugged fell in love with the book. It was in high school I discovered Robert Heinlein as two particular books were making the rounds of popular reading among us students the Hobbit and Stranger in a Strange Land. I was bored to tears and never finished the Hobbit but after reading Stranger proceeded to hunt down every Heinlein book I could.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Back to my books again, it would be Hank Reardon from Atlas Shrugged. Rand is always accused of having cardboard characters and some of them are since they really are more symbolic than just people. However, Hank is one of the most well-rounded of her main characters ... he's flawed, he doubts, he loves fiercely and he is capable of great anger and sorrow.
Course, I've had a crush on the rogue Lazarus Long, too. Bad boys can be quite attractive! heh
The last book you bought is:
Strangely, it was a book for Siobhan's AP English class -- White Noise. Weird book. Well written but leaves you with a vague uneasiness when you're finished with it.
The last book you read:
Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West This is such a delightful read on so many levels. Dark at times and occassionally uneven in the pacing, the journey of green Elphaba in an OZ unlike any one you've ever known before is more than just a gimmick. Recommended by my eldest daughter, Jennifer, I was happy to discover a new writer to read.
What are you currently reading?
Actually, I'm in between books. It's kind of hard for me to be in the process of reading because I consume any book in huge chunks. Heck, I needed to catch up on the Harry Potter series after reading only the first one, so I spent one weekend and read books 2-5. Yep, one weekend and four books.
Anyone have anything to recommend? Just one thing... I don't do romance genre. [shudder]
Five books you would take to a deserted island
Well, definitely Time Enough for Love not just for the stories but for the practical advice of how to live off the land. The Complete Sherlock Holmes because I love stories that contrast the oh-so-civilized English public person with the savagery lurking just under the surface. And speaking of English, I'd also pack my well flagged Norton Anthology of English Literature. Did you know I had gone back to college to be a high school English teacher before falling in love with computers? Almost 2,000 pages of poetry (Browning, Shelley, Keats, et al) and Short stories (Conrad, Woolf, DH Lawrence, et al). Guilty pleasure book -- It by Stephen King .. because, if you can totally forget the really awful tv movie made from it, it's one of the scariest books King has written. And he also writes "kid" better than just anything else. The book still grabs me fresh whenever I read it. And last, one non-fiction...my well thumbed Think a Second Time by Dennis Prager..cause the guy really knows how to cut to the quick of an issue and his clear thinking does make me stop and examine my premises.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Let's see...Michele because she's been mostly about the music lately and I'm curious how her reading habits coincide or contradict her taste in music. Jeff Goldstein because I'm curious to see how many porn related books make his list and Roger L Simon because just who/what does a writer of novels read himself? Inquiring minds and all that!
Thank you, Jeff, this has been fun, and the tagging moves on from here. I haven't broken the chain!
Posted by Darleen at 09:03 PM | Comments (4)
'All your gays belong to us'
In yet another jaw-dropping example of Leftist jihadism, Charles Johnson covers the story of the silencing of Gaypatriot.org
As many of you know, Rogers is the host and agent of a widely publicized "outing campaign" at BlogActive.com targeting closeted gay Republicans. One of the most notable results of this campaign was the dramatic retirement of a Republican Virginia Congressman, Ed Schrock. The most recent outing was that of Ken Mehlman, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatever you believe about the practice, it is difficult to ignore the political impact the campaign has had over the past year.I feel GayPatriot's only mistake was calling Rogers a "terrorist" when he really is a jihadist who believes he is doing his Left Cult's duty in pursuing gay apostates. I agree with Christian's post that if Rogers were truly concerned about his safety he would not have started harassing GP's employer. But as we have seen in other venues, jihadists have no shame in using law/ethics/morality they have no personal use for against the infidel.According to GayPatriot, who is also a client of mine, Michael Rogers called GayPatriot's place of employment on Friday immediately following the post above and spoke to GayPatriot's secretary and boss. GayPatriot had no idea Rogers would go to such measures and shared with me that both he and his secretary were very upset by the calls but that his boss was understanding.
Later on that day, Rogers personally called me and recounted much of the same account, adding that he had also called the police and is working with the authorities on the matter.
UPDATE: Please note in my comments Dan (aka GayPatriotWest) points out that the website is still up and running strong even though the blogger known as GayPatriot has withdrawn. I'm happy, too, to add the site to my blogroll.
UPDATE 2: Jay at Wizbang claims the Left has repealed the 13th amendment in regards to gays
That amendment no longer applies to gays. As noted here, gays are now the property of the left. They own your prissy little asses. So if you don't toe the party line and get too uppity with your massas, they will do all they can to destroy you.Ouch.
Posted by Darleen at 10:34 AM | Comments (2)
Well, DOAH!
Last week, in opposing the Congressional bill that would give Terri Schiavo standing in Federal courts to have her rights reviewed, Barney Frank said:
"This is a terrible, terrible personal situation. I cannot think of one less suitable for intervention by 536 elected officials -- the president of the United States, the Senate and the House."But now, it seems Rep. Frank is backpeddling from his grandstanding:
WASHINGTON, March 27 - After a string of fruitless legal and legislative efforts, the central question in the Terri Schiavo case - Who makes end-of-life decisions when the patient's wishes are disputed? - is headed back to Capitol Hill, where debate over broader legislation has already begun.As I have consistently maintained, this issue has been about the protection of rights of the profoundly disabled, and the drumbeat in the MSM, leftist blogs and from Democrats like Barney Frank that Terri was already dead and that Republicans were "using" her has, at best, been a cynical club of political revenge (right down to the anonymous "talking points" memo that attributed to Republicans but only circulated by Democrats).On Sunday, lawmakers of both parties agreed that Congress has a role to play in such cases and should contemplate legislation that would give added legal recourse to patients like Ms. Schiavo. While it is difficult to predict whether such a measure could pass, the Schiavo case has clearly pushed thorny questions about end-of-life care to the fore on Capitol Hill, as well as in state legislatures around the nation.
The Republican-controlled House already passed a bill that would allow the federal courts to review cases like Ms. Schiavo's, in which the patient has left no written instructions, the family is at odds and state courts have ordered a feeding tube to be withdrawn. That bill evolved into one that was narrowly tailored to Ms. Schiavo.
Now some Democrats, prodded by advocates for the disabled, say Congress should consider whether such a law is needed.
"I think we should look into this and very possibly legislate it," said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who opposed Congressional action in the Schiavo case. Mr. Frank was speaking on Sunday on the ABC News program "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." Mr. Frank added: "I think Congress needs to do more. Because I've spoken with a lot of disability groups who are concerned that, even where a choice is made to terminate life, it might be coerced by circumstances."
And because the rhetoric has been so heated and out-of-bounds over this, I want to state explicitly and for the record I take no issue with those bloggers who have written in support of "letting Terri go" with their considered and thoughtful prose on the difficulties of watching the terminally ill or aged die. I understand and respect their views even if I disagree with their assessment of the issues in Terri's case.
Posted by Darleen at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2005
Ghoul watch
Save and read until later if you're having a nice day. In a post I'd add under the Vicious for the sake of Viciousness category is this ugly rant with some even uglier applaudings in the comment section.
I wouldn't call such people part of a "Culture of Death" but I might label them as the "Culture of Convenience." And those living "inconvenient" lives can, indeed, be worried.
hattip Michelle Malkin who has other links to Culture of Convenience Ghouls making ridiculous comparisons
Posted by Darleen at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
Joyous Easter
My wish to you and yours, whatever this Sunday means to you -- from the faith that Christ is Risen to merely a day of family and reflection --
May Peace and Joy be yours.
We'll be gathering at my parents home later today and I know I'm going to eat way too much chocolate!!
Posted by Darleen at 09:56 AM | Comments (1)
March 25, 2005
Terri Schiavo's lessons for us
It seems strangely fitting if Terri were to die today. It is both Good Friday, the Christian observance of the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus as He was crucified, and also the holiday of Purim, that ends at sundown today and is the Jewish observance of the Jewish people of ancient Persia being saved from extermination due to the courage of Esther, who risked her life to approach the king and plead for her people. As I stepped back to think back over all the writings and discussions I observed and participated in this last week or so I wanted to distill out what I have learned and I feel both these holidays allow for appropriate perspective.
First, as a disclaimer in order to be perfectly clear, I am not making the comparison of Terri to Jesus Christ. Rather I am looking at the public reaction towards Jesus the Man and looking at the public reaction to Terri the woman. Similarly, in looking at Terri through the perspective of Purim, I'm not putting Terri in Esther's shoes.
Throughout the last week, the rhetoric grew ever more heated and some of the salient points of Terri's plight were lost in the personal emotions of the arguers. Many of those desperate to save Terri savaged Michael Schiavo while those invested in Terri's death savaged Terri herself.
I myself began my first post on Terri divorced from commenting on Michael or even commenting on Terri's condition. I still maintain my original position that when there is a dispute over a non-terminal person who has left no written instructions over their care, the Law should err on the side of life. Period. I recognize that judge Greer was allowed the leeway by Florida law to discern Terri's wishes by what she allegedly told others. I don't dispute that as the only trier of fact in this case, Greer had the legal right to find as he did. I'm not a conspiracy monger. I don't attribute nefarious motives to Greer. However, I believe he made a wrong decision. And judges, who are still, like us all, human beings, can be just as emotionally vested in protecting their conclusions as anyone else. Sometimes, though, that emotional investment can profoundly affect others.
Let me move beyond the immediate facts of the case to the reactions we've seen this past week.
Jesus was not a particularly popular man. He had His friends and followers but He certainly made a lot of enemies of those who felt He threatened the status quo. Even on His way to the crucifixion He was confronted with a mob composed not just of weeping followers besides themselves because they were forbidden to help but by a larger crowd of mocking and jeering people who were taking no small measure of delight in His suffering and death. And much of the cruelty was directed towards His supporters, too.
Terri has polarized the public into similar reactions. I've been disheartened by the sneering tones directed at her not only within the blogsphere but by members of the so-called MSM who really should know better. Peter Jennings has been unable to contain himself this last week and each time he has approached this story has made clear his disgust he even has to report on it. Maureen Dowd plumbed new depths of taunting tastelessness by referring on air to supporters of Terri as "Republicans pulling a 'Weekend at Bernies'" There's been an almost capering, gleeful tone to those that trash Terri as a "vegetable" or "animated corpse" or any number of vicious and cruel imagery I've had the misfortune to run across. And as Terri's imposed death comes about such nastiness gets directed at Terri's supporters, too. The intellectuals at DU have referred us, one and all, as "fascists." Of course, read the DU for any length of time and one does have to wonder is there anyone outside of the DU they do not consider fascists?
This is not to say the rhetoric from some who support life for Terri is less flaming, even if one doesn't find it in the MSM. Charles Johnson refers to some of the hate mail he has received due to his ambivalence on this matter. Even if it were moby hate mail, it points to the extreme emotions this case has engendered.
Esther fasted for three days in order to prepare herself for what she knew could be her own death for approaching the king unsummoned. She knew, though, not to approach the king would mean the extermination of her people at the hands of Haman. Haman had basically annoyed the king with tales of the Jewish people's unsuitability as subjects. As threatening lesser beings, why should they be tolerated to even live? The king did not order the exterimination, he merely refused to review Haman's case and told him to do whatever he wanted. Esther was successful with her appeal and the holiday is a celebration of life.
Terri seems to represent some sort of threat to the well-being of the people who are animated to see her die. I've been unable to pinpoint what kind of threat, mostly because they themselves are unwilling or unable to articulate it in a logical, dispassionate manner. It's like asking Haman what is it about the Jews merely living that threatens you? and having him babble about their "differences" when you really suspect it's much baser and darker a motivation.
Terri is not much different than tens of thousands of other Americans who are profoundly disabled in one manner or another. Many of us have been personally touched by the struggles of these differently abled people. But we don't dismiss their basic humanity. Through accident or birth life at a different state of being then ours occurs, but it is still life and still human life and deserves our respect and protection as the default position of the law absent specific context. Unfortunately, there are some people who don't look at the disabled and see a human being, they look at the disabled and see an embarrassment.
Merely go to the mall sometime (a great venue for peoplewatching) and observe people's reactions to the profoundly disabled. It could be a field trip for a group of cognitively disabled adults enjoying the stimulating sights, sounds and colors of the mall. Watching others react to these adults is fascinating. Some seem embarrassed by the disabled, trying to look everywhere but at them. Some will smile and wave in response to the open smiles and waves of the disabled. And some will throw glances of barely disguised disgust at the backs of the disabled as they pass.
I believe it is the last demographic of people who produce the George Felos's and Dr. Ronald Cranfords of the world. They are sincere in their belief that the profoundly disabled are not truly human and therefore should not suffer to live if other abled people so decide. Cranford, in the Robert Wendland case, was quite clear that even as Wendland was not vegetative and could minimally speak and interact with his environment, his right to his own life was forfeit. The decision to put him to death should not his own.
We've come a long way from the Quinlan case of the late 70's which was a case about brain death and being removed from life support as most people define it (which does not include mere food and water, though the Cranford clan does semantically argue if one is too disabled to feed oneself, even spoon feeding is "artificial life support").
And as we move towards an ever larger senior demographic, with all the attendant health concerns of dementia, stroke and ALS, the concerns on how we, as a society, view these differently-abled human beings' rights will take on increased urgency. The Law many times lags behind technology and medicine and the ethical questions raised with the advances. Of the many important lessons Terri has taught us recently about ourselves as society and as individuals, the most important may be the catching the "ear of the king", our collective conscience, to really address and consider and legislate to define and protect the rights of the differently abled rather than just leaving their fate at the hands of the Hamans of our society.
-------------------
UPDATE 1:42 pm As a friend so gently reminds me, we are all the sum total of our experiences and cannot be truly objective. I confess I’ve wrestled with posting the details of my personal experiences in this regard, in no small part due to the hate directed at me over this issue. However, if you are interested in what motivates my concerns, you’ll find it over the jump.
My maternal grandfather was hooked on making home movies. About 1958 he bought a Bell& Howell camera and every holiday/birthday/family gathering he’d be cranking that steel-gray chuck of metal and lenses and directing us “Look at me! Smile! Wave!” Viewing these silent testaments to middle class life of the late 50’s – 70’s one would have a hard time grasping that all was not Pleasantville.
There were four of us cousins that figured large in the early years of family movies. There was me, the oldest, my cousin Kathie (four months younger), my sister Val (two and a half years younger than me) and Kathie’s sister Debbie (about Val’s age). Four bouncing little girls (though, I looked slightly out of place, being the only brunette in a gaggle of blondes). There is one short segment I remember so well when I view it. We were at my aunt and uncle’s home and grandpa catches the scene of us in the bedroom Kathie and Debbie shared, all piled into Kathie’s bed giggling, hiding our heads underneath the blankets then out again to laugh at the camera. What is just outside of the camera is Debbie’s bed across the room. Debbie’s bed -- enclosed with an oxygen tent.
Debbie was born with cystic fibrosis. A large word that made no sense to young me other than Debbie couldn’t play as long or as hard as the rest of us. It meant, too, at meal times Debbie had to eat along with her meals a whole handful of pills, some so large I stared in awe as she swallowed them and didn’t choke. It meant that her playtime was interrupted on a regular basis when she had to sit in her bedroom and breathe into this noisy machine filled with medicine, a clamp on her nose that left little swirly marks for an hour or so later. It meant her being laid over her mother or father’s lap and having her back pounded on and pounded on until she sat up to cough up whatever had been dislodged by the pounding. But for young me, outside of that she was just my cousin who had a great smile and a funny laugh and was fun to play with.
I was 13 when I attended my first funeral and I can still see Debbie, dressed all in pink with her pale blonde hair brushed just so laying on the white silk of her small pink casket.
Through the years as I have related stories about my cousin I’ve always been taken aback by the few people who express the sentiment “Oh, that’s so sad. How sad for your family. Too bad she didn’t die as an infant and have spared you all.” I’ve never known how to react. Part of me wants to grab them and shake and say “What do you mean, spare us? Spare us of Debbie’s smile? Her laughter? Her love?” The other part of me says “Just walk away, they really don’t know what they are saying.”
Well, that latter part of me is almost gone because I no longer believe such people are ignorant of what they are saying.
Maybe my experience with Debbie contributed to how I acted through the travails of junior and senior high. I found myself in comfortable friendships with the “outcasts.” I didn’t aspire to be a member of any one of the “popular” cliques. I reveled in my theatre geekdom.
As an adult, I’ve never been quiet in the face of bullying of the weaker members of our society. And as an adult, I’m concerned in yet other very personal ways.
My sister-in-law is a cognitively disabled person. She’s high functioning, somewhere around a young adolescent level, and lives fairly independently with her boyfriend of many years (who is both similarly cognitively disabled plus physically disabled) in their own tiny apartment. They have family members and a social worker that watch over them. Their needs and their joys are simple and they travel all over their city via mass transit. They harm no one by their existence and bring the joy to their families as Debbie brought to mine all those years ago.
Then there is my husband’s late uncle and aunt, who through a great many years adopted, loved and raised quite a number of profoundly disabled (both cognitively and physically) children. Some of them were very low functioning. But they still deserved the dignity of a family that loved them and wanted them and the enjoyment of whatever simple grace and happiness could be found in just the act of living each day with the sun on their face or the loving touch of a mom and dad.
In addition, I remember standing in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after the twins were born almost six weeks premature. Nikolas was all of 2 lbs 14 oz and he looked like a little old man lying inside that plastic box. He couldn’t feed himself by suckling and had a feeding tube through his nose and his only manner of communication was faint crying and wiggles. But oh, he knew his surroundings! The nurses were always testing his blood levels and it got so each time they held his tiny foot and started wiping the heel with a alcohol pad he’d start wailing and trying to yank his foot away. He knew what was going on.
All of my experiences came into play when I finally examined Terri’s plight. On one hand we as a society have made great strides to accommodate and support the disabled among us. Most of us look with admiration at accomplishment of just living by Steven Hawking or the late Christopher Reed. Yet, the darker side of our society has moved from the reasonable position of allowing people to define the treatment they get in extraordinary circumstances, to one where the definition of what constitutes “personhood” continually slides farther from the context of the terminal or brain dead to encompass those with minimal cognitively or physically ability. It is startling to me that their rights are shifting that they are allowed the right to choose death but not allowed to choose life for themselves. The choice of life is not theirs by right, but their guardians right to dispose.
I look at my sister-in-law, I remember my cousin, I think of all the people I have known throughout the years and I fear for them. I fear for a portion of the family of man being stripped of their membership because others don’t view them as true human beings.
Some may indeed view my fear overblown, but I look at Europe and how so many people here embrace Europe's ethos towards “saving” others from “suffering” and I believe I have every right to worry.
Posted by Darleen at 08:08 AM | Comments (26)
March 24, 2005
The buzz of the book biz in Turkey
shows that Mein Kampf is the page-turner that all the best Turkey for Turks hoi polloi are snapping up
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish bookshops have a best seller, but some of them are hesitant about giving it too much display. ...Lina Filiba, executive vice president of Turkey's 25,000-member Jewish community, called it "disturbing."
She said price and media attention were major factors, but also pointed to a "worrying trend" of anti-Semitic publications such as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" being sold even in bustling department stores.
"Metal Storm" by Orkun Ucar and Burak Turna, a novel imagining a war between Turkey and the United States, is Turkey's top seller. Conspiracy theory books sell well and the press is extremely critical of the United States and Israel.
Filiba tied the phenomenon to the European Union's Dec. 17 decision to open membership talks with Turkey, a move long sought by Turkish governments but unpopular among those who fear it will expose their country to permissive European influences.
"I think there's an increase in anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-foreigner feeling that has paralleled Dec. 17," Filiba said.
Posted by Darleen at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)
Live blogging on Ward Churchill press conference
being offered by Michelle Malkin
We have concluded that allegations of research conduct related to plagiarism HAVE SUFFICIENT MERIT TO WARRANT FURTHER INQUIRY. Will refer to Boulder Campus Standing Committee on research misconduct.My, aren't they just bold in Boulder!Q&A:
Review could take up to seven months.
Posted by Darleen at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)
Hey, sometimes we gotta laugh
and one can certainly count on McGehee for eliciting a some really appreciative guffaws while making an important point. He's turned the "Living Will" on its head. Choice excerpt
If you want me to die before I’m good and ready, fuck you. ...Read the whole thing. Good show, McGehee!
Posted by Darleen at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
I have the same questions
that Peggy Noonan asks:
Everyone who has written in defense of Mrs. Schiavo's right to live has received e-mail blasts full of attacks that appear to have been dictated by the unstable and typed by the unhinged. On Democratic Underground they crowed about having "kicked the sh-- out of the fascists." On Tuesday James Carville's face was swept with a sneer so convulsive you could see his gums as he damned the Republicans trying to help Mrs. Schiavo. It would have seemed demonic if he weren't a buffoon.Indeed. Why are some of you so committed to Terri's death? What harm is her living doing to you?Why are they so committed to this woman's death?
They seem to have fallen half in love with death.
What does Terri Schiavo's life symbolize to them? What does the idea that she might continue to live suggest to them?
Why does this prospect so unnerve them? Again, if you think Terri Schiavo is a precious human gift of God, your passion is explicable. The passion of the pull-the-tube people is not.
Posted by Darleen at 09:17 AM | Comments (2)
SCOTUS refuses hearing
Terri allowed to be "put down"
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, rejecting a desperate appeal by her parents to keep their severely brain-damaged daughter alive.Unsurprising, but still tragic.
Posted by Darleen at 08:04 AM | Comments (0)
In other matters ...
Digger covers the constant whine from Vicente Fox about us nasty Norte Americanos.
Power Line is hot on the "GOP talking points memo" that is beginning to look more like a Dem dirty trick and has the MSM backpeddling in a way Rather never did.
Michele Malkin writes about the bizarreness of the Minnesota school shooter. Warning the opening on her post is very disturbing. Actually, everything about that horrible incident is disturbing. In addition, Kevin at Wizbang covers a piece of flash animation created by the shooter. One really has to wonder how this kid operated under the radar for so long.
Smash asks "Free Speech or vandalism?", you decide.
Just adding to the mountain of evidence that the UN is much more dangerous than merely ineffective -- A U.N. report on peacekeeper sex abuse released Thursday describes the U.N. military arm as deeply flawed ... Well, DOAH!
In the category of "Headlines I really don't want to see" is from Editor&Publisher Wolfowitz Gets a 'Tongue Bath'
Posted by Darleen at 07:16 AM | Comments (1)
Dred Scott lost
at the Supreme Court level with their decision that black Americans were property not people and that Scott had no standing to sue in the courts. It was a SCOTUS decision that shocked people out of complacency even as a great many other people applauded the decision as the courts keeping Congress from "intefering" with their rights to own "sub humans" as they saw fit.
Terri Schiavo may indeed die, losing her standing to review of the courts de novo of her case (something that happens in capital cases where trial court proceedings have been revealed as suspect), but maybe her death will stir the national conscience as Dred Scott's loss did.
Certainly the viciousness of the "Terri is a no more than a potted plant" crowd speaks to an almost defensiveness that must declare severely disabled people as "subhuman" and is disturbingly familiar.
Hugh Hewitt posts one of the very few new quotes from pro-eugenics Dr. Cranford, and it's not pretty. Rather than explain why he never did even the minimal medical standard for a PVS diagnosis, he's lashing out at even his medical critics as "religious fanatics." It's as if having any religious connection is an automatic dismissal of credibility.
Such people as Cranford would have us ignore the history of religion in America as being the moving force behind abolition and civil rights for those people considered less-than-human.
Posted by Darleen at 06:30 AM | Comments (2)
March 23, 2005
The historic face of euthanasia
SCOTUS Justice Kennedy indicated not long ago that American jurisprudence should take into account What.The.Europeans.Think. We know already that in the Netherlands that infants are being euthanized with little oversight. In light of the deliberate efforts to bring about Terri Schiavo's death because, well let's be frank, because she's less than what some would deem proper "personhood" let's remember the Euros have ...
The term "euthanasia" (literally, "good death") usually refers to the inducement of a painless death for a chronically or terminally ill individual. In Nazi usage, however, "euthanasia" referred to the systematic killing of the institutionalized mentally and physically handicapped, unbeknownst to their families. ...Please, oh heavens please, pay attention to the bolded in the next paragraph.Planning for the Euthanasia Program is thought to have begun in July 1939. In October 1939 Hitler signed a secret authorization in order to protect participating physicians, medical staff, and administrators from prosecution; this authorization was backdated to September 1, 1939, to suggest that the Euthanasia Program was related to war measures. The secret operation was code-named T4, in reference to the street address (Tiergartenstrasse 4) of the program's coordinating office in Berlin. Six gassing installations were eventually established as part of the Euthanasia Program: Bernburg, Brandenburg, Grafeneck, Hadamar, Hartheim, and Sonnenstein.
The victims of the Euthanasia Program originally included both children and adults with physical disabilities or anomalies or with mental illnesses. Patients were selected by T4 physicians for death. These doctors rarely examined the patients in this process, but often based their decisions on medical files and the diagnoses of staff at the victims' home institutions.
In August 1942, the killings resumed, albeit secretly. Victims were no longer murdered in centralized gassing installations, but instead killed by lethal injection or drug overdose at a number of clinics throughout Germany and Austria. Many of these institutions also systematically starved adult and child victims. The Euthanasia Program continued until the last days of World War II, expanding to include an ever wider range of victims: so-called asocials, geriatric patients, bombing victims, and foreign forced laborers.Hitler had to carry out his elimination of the mentally and physically disabled in SECRET. Felos and Cranford are not only doing it out in the open, they CELEBRATE IT as a "greater good."
Lord help us all.
Posted by Darleen at 12:57 PM | Comments (1)
Let's keep in mind as Terri is sacrificed
in the name of eugenics, this is not just a case where her feeding tube was pulled ...
it is forbidden by the court that she receive any food or water BY MOUTH
Posted by Darleen at 06:45 AM | Comments (11)
March 22, 2005
Sometimes your children can make you proud ...
Parenting is much more art than science. If you have more than one child it becomes readily apparent that what ever your game plan was for number one, odds are you'll have to scrap it for number two and reinvent.
And after you've spent years bobbing, weaving, cajolling, talking, laughing and trying your darnedest to pass on the values you believe are important, you still stand to the side, breath held, fingers crossed hoping you've raised a good human being. Sometimes, when you least expect it, you're awarded with a flash moment that makes you go "wow."
Last night Siobhan and I were playing with the twins and half paying attention to the television. Just reruns, but I'm hooked (to the never ending amusement of my husband, considering I work at a DA office) to shows like CSI, Forensic files, Cold Case Files (the real one), American Justice, etc. We had on CSI reruns on "Spike" TV. This was an episode where a skeleton is found and during the recontruction of a face on the skull, the victim is shown as a Down's Syndrome person.
Siobhan's face was one of shock. "Ok, mom, I know it's just a story. But how could anyone hurt such a person?" Not a short time later, the story shows the character in flashback, cruelly nicknamed "Stubby" and one of the other characters (who is later proved murderer) viciously ridiculing him and saying things like "effing REE-tard."
It was if a dark cloud went across Siobhan's usual sunny face. You don't really want to be on the receiving end of that look. Through gritted teeth she said, "I just don't understand how someone could act like that."
"Sweety, unfortunately there are some people in this world that find people like 'Stubby' less than human."
"Well, it's not right. I'll never understand. It's Just.Not.Right."
Please excuse me for a sudden flash of maternal pride. Boo* done good.
*Siobhan's nickname
Posted by Darleen at 06:12 PM | Comments (3)
An RN speaks
I'm reprinting part of an email (I asked and received permission from the writer to do this) I received this afternoon. She eloquently underlines the alarm I've been feeling and trying to articulate.
I am sure that all medications (parenteral) are being withheld from Terri. An untreated infection will likely facilitate and hasten Terri's death....Now, let's hear from another RN that was much closer to Terri's case:
It is my own professional opinion (as a nurse with 20+ years experience, including neurological-neurosurgical nursing) that Terri Schiavo is in no way, in a condition that could be truthfully described as a persistent vegetative state.This is a lie, and I am bewildered as to why the term has been repeatedly used in reference to Terri Schiavo in the media, the courts and some members of the Medical community.
Teri Schiavo is awake, alert, responsive to verbal stimuli and self-aware. She is physically and cognitively impaired (similar to someone with Cerebral Palsy). She attempts to communicate and responds approiately to commands... In no way is this woman in a " coma or a persistent vegetative state"
These are dark days for the people of the United States. Our government and our courts have chosen to reject the recognition of the human soul. We are all bearing witness to institutionalized murder of a helpless woman.
Terri Schiavo's case is precedent setting on a number of levels.
Mandated euthanasia can now be ordered by the courts on the grounds of diminished mental, emotional and physical capacity, especially if significant improvement is not probable for the long term.
All children who are born with impaired physical and cognitive abilities are now in jeopardy. So are those children with various forms of Autism, Downs Syndrome and genetic abnormalities. All brain damaged individuals are now at risk at being court ordered to death. Elderly stroke victims can euthanatized by court or medical mandate---
Future emphasis for care giving, will be change from rehabilitation to euthanasia--- (All the aforementioned examples are already the case in Europe, especially the Netherlands)
This is where Nazi Eugenics began... and it progressed to the elimination of all peoples deemed "undesirables" by the State.
Pray for Terri Schiavo.... then pray for the rest of us.
G-D help us all----
AFFIDAVIT
STATE OF FLORIDA )
COUNTY OF PINELLAS )
BEFORE ME the undersigned authority personally appeared CARLA SAUER IYER, R.N., who being first duly sworn, deposes and says:
1. My name is Carla Sauer Iyer. I am over the age of eighteen and make this statement of my own personal knowledge.
2. I am a registered nurse in the State of Florida, having been licensed continuously in Florida from 1997 to the present. Prior to that I was a Licensed Practical Nurse for about four years.
3. I was employed at Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center in Largo, Florida from April of 1995 to July 1996, while Terri Schiavo was a patient there.
4. It was clear to me at Palm Gardens that all decisions regarding Terri Schiavo were made by Michael Schiavo, with no allowance made for any discussion, debate or normal professional judgment. My initial training there consisted solely of the instruction “Do what Michael Schiavo tells you or you will be terminated.” This struck me as extremely odd.
5. I was very disturbed by the decision making protocol, as no allowance whatsoever was made for professional responsibility. The atmosphere throughout the facility was dominated by Mr. Schiavo’s intimidation. Everyone there, with the exception of several people who seemed to be close to Michael, was intimidated by him. Michael Schiavo always had an overbearing attitude, yelling numerous times such things as “This is my order and you’re going to follow it.” He is very large and uses menacing body language, such as standing too close to you, getting right in your face and practically shouting.
6. To the best of my recollection, rehabilitation had been ordered for Terri, but I never saw any being done or had any reason at all to believe that there was ever any rehab of Terri done at Palm Gardens while I was there. I became concerned because nothing was being done for Terri at all, no antibiotics, no tests, no range of motion therapy, no stimulation, no nothing. Michael said again and again that Terri should NOT get any rehab, that there should be no range of motion whatsoever, or anything else. I and a CNA named Roxy would give Terri range of motion anyway. One time I put a wash cloth in Terri’s hand to keep her fingers from curling together, and Michael saw it and made me take it out, saying that was therapy.
7. Terri’s medical condition was systematically distorted and misrepresented. When I worked with her, she was alert and oriented. Terri spoke on a regular basis while in my presence, saying such things as “mommy,” and “help me.” “Help me” was, in fact, one of her most frequent utterances. I heard her say it hundreds of times. Terri would try to say the word “pain” when she was in discomfort, but it came out more like “pay.” She didn’t say the “n” sound very well. During her menses she would indicate her discomfort by saying “pay” and moving her arms toward her lower abdominal area. Other ways that she would indicate that she was in pain included pursing her lips, grimacing, thrashing in bed, curling her toes or moving her legs around. She would let you know when she had a bowel movement by flipping up the covers and pulling on her diaper.
8. When I came into her room and said “Hi, Terri”, she would always recognize my voice and her name, and would turn her head all the way toward me, saying “Haaaiiiii” sort of, as she did. I recognized this as a “hi”, which is very close to what it sounded like, the whole sound being only a second or two long. When I told her humorous stories about my life or something I read in the paper, Terri would chuckle, sometimes more a giggle or laugh. She would move her whole body, upper and lower. Her legs would sometimes be off the bed, and need to be repositioned. I made numerous entries into the nursing notes in her chart, stating verbatim what she said and her various behaviors, but by my next on-duty shift, the notes would be deleted from her chart. Every time I made a positive entry about any responsiveness of Terri’s, someone would remove it after my shift ended. Michael always demanded to see her chart as soon as he arrived, and would take it in her room with him. I documented Terri’s rehab potential well, writing whole pages about Terri’s responsiveness, but they would always be deleted by the next time I saw her chart. The reason I wrote so much was that everybody else seemed to be afraid to make positive entries for fear of their jobs, but I felt very strongly that a nurses job was to accurately record everything we see and hear that bears on a patients condition and their family. I upheld the Nurses Practice Act, and if it cost me my job, I was willing to accept that.
9. Throughout my time at Palm Gardens, Michael Schiavo was focused on Terri’s death. Michael would say “When is she going to die?,” “Has she died yet?” and “When is that bitch gonna die?” These statements were common knowledge at Palm Gardens, as he would make them casually in passing, without regard even for who he was talking to, as long as it was a staff member. Other statements which I recall him making include “Can’t you do anything to accelerate her death - won’t she ever die?” When she wouldn’t die, Michael would be furious. Michael was also adamant that the family should not be given information. He made numerous statements such as “Make sure the parents aren’t contacted.” I recorded Michael’s statements word for word in Terri’s chart, but these entries were also deleted after the end of my shift. Standing orders were that the family wasn’t to be contacted, in fact, there was a large sign in the front of her chart that said under no circumstances was her family to be called, call Michael immediately, but I would call them, anyway, because I thought they should know about their daughter.
10. Any time Terri would be sick, like with a UTI or fluid buildup in her lungs, colds, pneumonia, Michael would be visibly excited, thrilled even, hoping that she would die. He would call me, as I was the nurse supervisor on the floor, and ask for every little detail about her temperature, blood pressure, etc., and would call back frequently asking if she was dead yet. He would blurt out “I’m going to be rich!,” and would talk about all the things he would buy when Terri died, which included a new car, a new boat, and going to Europe, among other things.
11. When Michael visited Terri, he always came alone and always had the door closed and locked while he was with Terri. He would typically be there about twenty minutes or so. When he left Terri would would be trembling, crying hysterically, and would be very pale and have cold sweats. It looked to me like Terri was having a hypoglycemic reaction, so I’d check her blood sugar. The glucometer reading would be so low it was below the range where it would register an actual number reading. I would put dextrose in Terri’s mouth to counteract it. This happened about five times on my shift as I recall. Normally Terri’s blood sugar levels were very stable due to the uniformity of her diet through tube feeding. It is my belief that Michael injected Terri with Regular insulin, which is very fast acting.
12. The longer I was employed at Palm Gardens the more concerned I became about patient care, both relating to Terri Schiavo, for the reasons I’ve said, and other patients, too. There was an LPN named Carolyn Adams, known as “Andy” Adams who was a particular concern. An unusual number of patients seemed to die on her shift, but she was completely unconcerned, making statements such as “They are old - let them die.” I couldn’t believe her attitude or the fact that it didn’t seem to attract any attention. She made many comments about Terri being a waste of money, that she should die. She said it was costing Michael a lot of money to keep her alive, and that he complained about it constantly (I heard him complain about it all the time, too.) Both Michael and Adams said that she would be worth more to him if she were dead. I ultimately called the police relative to this situation, and was terminated the next day. Other reasons were cited, but I was convinced it was because of my “rocking the boat.”
13. Ms. Adams was one of the people who did not seem to be intimidated by Michael. In fact, they seemed to be very close, and Adams would do whatever Michael told her. Michael sometimes called Adams at night and spoke at length. I was not able to hear the content of these phone calls, but I knew it was him talking to her because she would tell me afterward and relay orders from him.
14. While at Palm Gardens, I became fearful for my personal safety. This was due to Michael’s constant intimidation, including his menacing body language, vocal tone and mannerisms.
15. I have contacted the Schindler family because I just couldn’t stand by and let Terri die without the truth being known.
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT.
CARLA SAUER IYER, R.N.
The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me this _____ day of September, 2003, by CARLA SAUER IYER, R.N., who produced her Florida driver’s license as identification, and who did / did not take an oath.
Notary Public
Posted by Darleen at 05:44 PM | Comments (26)
The new 'memogate'?
From Power Line
We have received the following message from a reader regarding the purported talking points memo distributed to Republican senators that was reported yesterday by the Washington Post and ABC:I worked on the Hill for some time and now work for the State Department. The SOP for moving memos around is that you have a cover sheet that has a "distribution" list on it. Also on the cover sheet is a "Drafter" space where you enter the person's name who drafted the Memo. You cannot just walk around distributing memos to people on the hill. There is a strict protocol on how staffers/interns deliver memos to another congressman's office.
This appears to be an anomaly. I cant say that it is fake. But it most certainly does not mesh with the SOP of moving memos around. I would love to see the actual memo.
Posted by Darleen at 01:15 PM | Comments (1)
From the email
I've been busy carrying on several email conversations, some with RN's over Terri's unnatural dying. I'm waiting for permission to post here a very poignant piece of writing from one email I received. In the meantime I'll post here what I wrote to one of the RN's I've been conversing with ..
Where are the "women's rights" groups that supposedly are in the forefront against domestic violence? Where are the families of people who suffer from Down's Syndrome, Cerebal palsey or severe Autism? Don't they know that the killing of Terri just cracks the door open even further to allow those that recoil at the sight of the disabled to legally rid society of them????The whole "death with dignity" part used to be applied to the TERMINALLY ILL. Or those who had already suffered brain death and just applied to extraordinary medical measures..Not food and water. Terri was never terminally ill, she was not in any pain from disease and she is not brain dead.
We have moved from a position of allowing the dying to die to a position of imposing death on those we find eugenically inconvenient.
Posted by Darleen at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)
I'm tired of the lies
The next person I hear sneer about "GW Bush's law that allows hospitals to kill patients that cannot pay their bills" will be b*tchslapped by me and I'll happily pay the misdemeanor fine.
Ironic, that some spreading this libel via cut-n-paste from nihilist pro-death sites didn't even have a clue what the phrase "Section 166" was. Funny, since they keep repeating it means "No money for the bill? YOU DIE!!"
Read here. And Brad? Knock yourself out finding the "death penality for a due bill" portion here.
Otherwise SHUT THE F**K UP. I'm am fed up to HERE with the GLEE people are taking in Terri's unnatural dying.
Posted by Darleen at 12:52 PM | Comments (3)
Dems back away from Bu$Hitler meme
pick up a new one, as Sen. John Corzine D-NJ says Dick Cheney = Saddam Hussein
Anyone got a rulebook handy? I want to know if there is a subsection to Godwin's law that would cover this.
Posted by Darleen at 12:01 AM | Comments (4)
March 21, 2005
I hope James Lileks forgives me
but I'm still wrestling with some writing trying to fully explain why I'm so appalled at the contingent of people who seem anxious to see Terri die. Then along comes this. I just have to repost the paragraph --
The Schiavo matter is the Elian Gonzalez case of 2005, a person who stands at the nexus of a variety of irreconcilable issues. Some people wouldn’t care at all if she died, unless she had been the sole occupant of a hospital in Baghdad leveled by an errant Tomahawk; then you’d see her face in every protest march. Some see another step towards the triumph of euthanasia – they stop at the idea of someone being starved against the wishes of her parents, and there’s not another fact that matters. Then there are the people for whom this is an opportunity for horrid mockery, the people who care about nothing (but will find someday that nothing cares so much about them it has taken over their hearts completely.) Others demonstrate their enthusiasm for pawing through the casket to find the silver lining. Then there are those who brim with passion not just for the state-approved quietus, but with fury for those who oppose it. Fury and impatience. I’m not talking about the people who regard Schiavo as brain dead and believe her guardian should be allowed to carry out what he insists are her wishes, without the state’s intercession – I mean those who show up on message boards and comment forums sneering about vegetables-in-pampers, and have a good larf pointing at the christers with their imaginary friend in the sky who tells them that an angel will come down and give her a brain like the Wizard of Oz or somethin’. It’s this combination of nihilism, cynicism and a flat nasty refusal to even consider the possibility of transcendence, puffed up with that brackish snarkier-than-thou style that makes the Comic Book Guy the patron saint of the Usenet.I want to write like that when I grow up.
Posted by Darleen at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)
snark alert
Posted by Darleen at 07:07 AM | Comments (1)
March 20, 2005
Killing Terri - courtesy the American Eugenics Party
Welcome to the modern Democratic Party with eugenics and euthanasia as the new values of anointed elites. Paul at Wizbang is live-blogging the debate on Terri's value as human being or potted plant to the nation and it looks like they are really anxious to see her die.
I'm aghast.
UPDATE I guess this bears reposting as some are as unaware now as I was a couple of months ago just what is considered medically standard in determining PVS.
Terri’s diagnosis was arrived at without the benefit of testing that most neurologists would consider standard for diagnosing PVS. One such test is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). MRI is widely used today, even for ailments as simple as knee injuries — but Terri has never had one. Michael has repeatedly refused to consent to one. The neurologists I have spoken to have reacted with shock upon learning this fact. One such neurologist is Dr. Peter Morin. He is a researcher specializing in degenerative brain diseases, and has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University.In the course of my conversation with Dr. Morin, he made reference to the standard use of MRI and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans to diagnose the extent of brain injuries. He seemed to assume that these had been done for Terri. I stopped him and told him that these tests have never been done for her; that Michael had refused them.
There was a moment of dead silence.
“That’s criminal,” he said, and then asked, in a tone of utter incredulity: “How can he continue as guardian? People are deliberating over this woman’s life and death and there’s been no MRI or PET?” He drew a reasonable conclusion: “These people [Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer] don’t want the information.”
Dr. Morin explained that he would feel obligated to obtain the information in these tests before making a diagnosis with life and death consequences. I told him that CT (Computer-Aided Tomography) scans had been done, and were partly the basis for the finding of PVS. The doctor retorted, “Spare no expense, eh?” I asked him to explain the comment; he said that a CT scan is a much less expensive test than an MRI, but it “only gives you a tenth of the information an MRI does.” He added, “A CT scan is useful only in pretty severe cases, such as trauma, and also during the few days after an anoxic (lack of oxygen) brain injury. It’s useful in an emergency-room setting. But if the question is ischemic injury [brain damage caused by lack of blood/oxygen to part of the brain] you want an MRI and PET. For subsequent evaluation of brain injury, the CT is pretty useless unless there has been a massive stroke.”
Do read the whole thing, ok? Do learn that a 1996 study by the British Medical Journal found a 43% error rate in misdiagnosis of PVS. Do realize that "Dr" Cranford is a published advocate of euthanasia for eugenics reasons. Do understand that Terri is most certainly NOT PVS because she does respond to her environment.
Posted by Darleen at 07:52 PM | Comments (23)
Closeups from San Diego
A few more images gleaned from my adventure in San Diego yesterday. I went back to the raw images and focused in on a few things. These are thumbnails, so click for the larger image.
Yes, nothing quite says Loons in View like the giant paper-mache puppets! The Burka thingy on the left was one of a few in the area and the one on the right seems to be an escapee from a different protest. Probably one where the Left was protesting Western Civilization's horrible interference in bringing indoor plumbing to the humble people's of South America. Who are we to interfere with the happy life of dirt floors and high infant mortality rates? Notice how all the faces in the pic are really really happy!
On the left we get a glimpse of what the well-dressed "I'm here to oppose The Man!" protestor wears. Leave aside her happy, attentive demeanor for the time being and look at the studied care in which she brings together a couple of t-shirts, carefully ripped olive green skirt, varied bunches of necklaces and bracelets, fishnet stockings, black socks pulled up over the stockings and sensible black shoes. Add the fashion accessory of the pithy "No War" sign pinned to her chest and one must pause in awe. Just behind her on the right we find the ubiquitous all-in-black androgynous look so popular with this demographic.
The picture on the right is a close up of the Saddam Iraq flag I had posted earlier. The smaller image taken with the sun almost directly behind the flag had washed out the Arabic writing Saddam added to the Iraq flag. This closeup shows, indeed, the flag had the writing.
Oh! And don't miss the Devil GW pic in the previous post.
Posted by Darleen at 09:33 AM | Comments (1)
The gift that keeps on giving
Seems Howie the Deanster is in Canada explaining why Dems lost the last election. It isn't just that Howie can't help letting his hatred of All.Things.Republican spill out everytime he opens that considerable piehole, but he actually slips and directly attacks the electorate too.
"Keep it simple" is the key to the White House, failed Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told members of his party from around the world last night.One major reason his party lost the 2004 race to the "brain-dead" Republicans is that it has a "tendency to explain every issue in half an hour of detail," Dean told the semi-annual meeting of Democrats Abroad, which brought about 150 members from Canada and 30 other countries to the Toronto for two days.
Not surprising since the movers and shakers of the Dem party truly think the citizenry is way too stupid to be trusted with any amont of responsibility for themselves and Howie just confirmed it. As Howie proclaims, "Brain-dead" Republicans appealed to the drooling masses because they understood how to pitch to the dumbf**ks. Dems have just got to realize that their minority superior selves have got to stoop low to get results.
Yeah yeah. And here we have a demonstration of Howie style Left intellectualism on parade! (click for larger image and enjoy the inaneness up close and personal!)
hattip Charles Johnson
Posted by Darleen at 08:26 AM | Comments (1)
Ooo! This is cool!
One of the very first songs I learned to play on the guitar is the simple and sultry "House of the Rising Sun." And in a moment of sheer serendipity, it looks like archeologists may have located the famous bordello.
... a collection of pottery shards pulled recently from the ruddy soil of the French Quarter could prove to be the key that would unlock that beloved mystery...The archeologists, who plan to launch a more exhaustive study on Tuesday, found that a hotel called the Rising Sun appeared to have operated on the site from the early 1800s until 1822, when it burned to the ground.
In an 1821 advertisement from the newspaper La Gazette, a company called L.S. Hotchkiss explained that it had taken over the hotel but offered reassurance to customers: "No pain or expence [sic] will be spared by the new proprietors to give general satisfaction, and maintain the character of giving the best entertainment."
The next sentence: "Gentlemen may here rely upon finding attentive Servants." Similar language, Gray said, was used in old bordello advertisements to make it clear — without explicitly saying so — that extracurricular services were available.
Posted by Darleen at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2005
More on San Diego
Hi all. Eric and I arrived home just a bit ago. I really enjoyed meeting some great people in "the flesh" after knowing them via cyberspace and that includes Smash himself. I've gotten some requests about my pictures. Please feel free to copy and pass around. I just hope y'all would kindly credit me. Ok? Ok! I've gotten lots of requests for a closer up from Finger Female ... I was resizing for quick upload from Really.Big.Pics. So I went back to the raw image and cropped just her without resizing.
I captured Her Gloriness just as she was lunging at our line of "USA USA" chanting patriots. But a really great frontal shot was had by Larry and is posted at Smash's place here. Smash is also starting to publish some of the transcripts of the "speeches" done at MoonbatTown where some of our number had blended into the attendees to capture it. Word was that the speeches this year were fairly tired and boring. The groups that kept coming across the street to our side were fairly clueless and lacking in basic intelligence. The two major demographics I personally got (and remember, this is just MY personal observation) were the 60's hippy refugees feverishing trying to recreate the fire-in-the-belly of their misbegotten youth and the under 20 crowd of "hey, this is cool to be out protesting The Man!" I could almost feel some pity for these guys except they are so openly hostile to America and Israel (there were a few aggitators screaming about "Free Palestine" wandering about) it just makes me ill.
Toward the end of their "rally" they gathered to march again and desparately were trying to coordinate their chanting. I couldn't quite make them all out, but one of our group told me that he heard a brief flurry of "Die Bush Die." If true, I hope the FBI was here and taking pics!
UPDATE midnight: Ok, I'm calling it a night. I'm going to go through my raw images and repost some cropped closeups tomorrow of some of the things that may have gotten lost in the far shots.
Posted by Darleen at 10:32 PM | Comments (3)
Live from San Diego!!
Hi guys ... I'm blogging live from the SE corner of Sixth and Laurel in San Diego across the street from moonbat central. I've met Da Goddess and there is a nice group of people here holding American flags and getting a good response for the drivers along the street. My husband and I are still getting settled and we're going to get some photos of the really strange loon signs and post them in a bit. Please stay tuned!
UPDATE 1:37 pm: PICS!
THE GOOD GUYS!
UPDATE 2:13 PM MORE PICS
Notice this loony female with her middle finger in purple ink. This is the distilled sentiment of the Left -- FUCK YOU, to all the rank and file Iraqi's who braved terrorists to VOTE. Does anyone really need further proof of how the Left really is supportive of totalitarianism and is anti-Western Civ values?
MORE GOOD GUYS
My Best Guy - hubby Eric manning my laptop while I'm taking pics
UPDATE 3:01 pm
Good lord, it's like the worst part of the 60's again. There's a breeze blowing and a couple or times the smell of pot was quite evident. The San Diego PD has been pretty good in keeping the more hostile moonbats from our side of the street. A contingent of pimplyfaced all-in-black with spiked hair anarchists sauntered by. A couple of our group went to the booths in Moonbat land and got flyers..from the communists with pics of Lenin (not John) and several fliers still spreading the totally bogus "100,000 innocent Iraqis killed by Bush". Infact, one female was in my face about the number and when I loudly told her the Lancet article had been thoroughly discredited she fled across the street with her last phrase "Well, then if only ONE innocent Iraqi died it was WRONG!"
Yeah. Real intellectuals with the Left.
UPDATE 3:32 pm -- Get a load of this picture
Now, I pointed out to this female she was carrying Saddam's Iraq Flag but she didn't even flinch. Yep, more proof that these people really want Saddam in power. They LOVE their kind of dictator!
UPDATE 4:00 pm -- Nothing says "protest" like rainbows and giant puppets
Notice the guy in the "GW" mask with devil horns, holding a golden cross and a bloody hand at "sieg heil" level. Nice.
UPDATE 4:20 Wow... the clouds have really gotten thick and our group is pulling up tent stakes to retire for a some more laughter and a few brewskies. I'll write some more later on the events and people. Take care of yourselves and check back soon!
Posted by Darleen at 01:01 PM | Comments (30)
The dying of Terri Schiavo
Looks like my post onTerri is getting some recent traffic in the comments. I'm sad it's come down to one judge who has decided that the personal inconvenience to him of Terri's existence trumps the wishes of the people who are willing and able to take care of her.
And it really does come down to Greer's own hubris. I find his behavior from the bench of recent quite unfathomable from a legal standpoint, but sadly in line with his own quoted annoyance at the "inconvience" of Terri's persistence in living. Take a moment to read and wonder why.
Terri’s diagnosis was arrived at without the benefit of testing that most neurologists would consider standard for diagnosing PVS. One such test is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). MRI is widely used today, even for ailments as simple as knee injuries — but Terri has never had one. Michael has repeatedly refused to consent to one. The neurologists I have spoken to have reacted with shock upon learning this fact. One such neurologist is Dr. Peter Morin. He is a researcher specializing in degenerative brain diseases, and has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University.In the course of my conversation with Dr. Morin, he made reference to the standard use of MRI and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans to diagnose the extent of brain injuries. He seemed to assume that these had been done for Terri. I stopped him and told him that these tests have never been done for her; that Michael had refused them.
There was a moment of dead silence.
“That’s criminal,” he said, and then asked, in a tone of utter incredulity: “How can he continue as guardian? People are deliberating over this woman’s life and death and there’s been no MRI or PET?” He drew a reasonable conclusion: “These people [Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer] don’t want the information.”
Indeed.
Posted by Darleen at 09:10 AM | Comments (6)
Of life and death
Thursday was the memorial service for our dear and sorely missed friend, Jennifer. It was an intense day and even Friday all I wanted to do when I got home was to get into comfy sweats and lump in front of the tv.
Memorial services are really for the living. While the grieving and mourning will still continue as we all learn to live without this wonderful woman (who I would describe as Doris Day with a JD) the service brought a certain amount of closure at the end of a week of other worldliness.
I confess, sitting in the church near filled to capacity, the overflowing flowers at the front, large photos of her on easels and on some projection screens, I had a couple of moments of unreality myself -- I half expected (knowing Jen) to see her bursting from behind the curtains and throwing out her arms saying "Hey everyone! Laugh! It was all a joke!"
Then they started the service with "Danny Boy" and that was all it took.
Oh, there was quite a bit of laughter, as close friends and family members stood to relate some stories about Jen. Her sorority sister spoke how Jen, lover of travel, was always up for adventure "She was willing to go anywhere at anytime with you ... and she always brought snacks." Her best friend from high school stood to tell the tale of when they went to prom, and being all decked out in finery decided at the last moment to drive into Los Angeles for dinner to strut their stuff ... and he hadn't made reservations. He related how they ended up driving through a McDonalds and laughing themselves silly at the expression on the server's face. Her sister related several stories of how close they were, "us against the world, even sometimes our parents" but as typical teenaged girls they used to fight over the bathroom. Jen's only act of revenge was when she snuck into the bathroom and watered down her sister's prized Georgio perfume.
Stories overflowed. Jen made and kept friends close. As a trial lawyer she even had the admiration and utmost respect of defense counsel and judges (very much in attendance at the service ... our courthouse pretty much shut down).
Afterwards, there was a reception at one of our other DDA's homes in the area, yet another gathering we all agreed would be one Jen would have loved to attend. Yet, this gathering in her honor was really for us. To informally swap Jen-stories and try and find comfort in each other as move on with our lives.
And that's what it comes down to, doesn't it? Not our death or the manner of our dying but how we have lived in the time given us. We don't have any idea the length of our own life, whether or not that morning, after the coffee is poured and our teeth are brushed and we buckle ourselves into the car, whether we will make it to work or not. The question is not "why" but "how." What are we putting off because there's "always tomorrow?" Even as Jen was a meticulous planner for the future, she lived the now to its fullest, with a sweetness and grace too rare in this world. It is a fool's errand to grow bitter about what the future would be like if she were still here. It is a comfort to realize that her life goes on in the lessons she taught others in how to live in the short time she was with us.
Posted by Darleen at 08:01 AM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2005
Another reminder
Patriot's Picnic at Balboa Park in San Diego is this Saturday, March 19. Eric and I will be attending and I hope (weather permitting) to "live blog" it. I've never done this before, but I got my hands on a wireless card and this promises to be fun. Do visit me here a little after 1 pm! And spread the word to any other people in the San Diego area to come and enjoy this maginificent park and show the CodePink moonbat contingent what Americans are made of.
Now, looking at the weather report I really need to locate a red/white/blue umbrella!
Posted by Darleen at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)
BTW, sorry if I seem a bit distracted ...
The funeral is tomorrow and we're all busy at work today both trying to clear our desks of work and finalizing the memory book/charity collection/reception plans. Pretty much the office shuts down tomorrow afternoon. So my blogging will be non-existent most of tomorrow.
Hey. Take care out there!
Posted by Darleen at 01:15 PM | Comments (3)
CoTV #130 - talk about your diversity
Hosted this week by The Bird's Eye View the Carnival of the Vanities has 60 entries and as Bird observes, there are 60 entries with so few overlaps of subject one gets 57 distinct subjects to peruse.
And kudos to Bird for taking the time to read each post and write a bit about each one of them.
Posted by Darleen at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2005
Frisco judge -- you just knew
the irrational ruling on California's family statute that defines the public institution of marriage as "unconstitutional" would come from there.
This just makes me weary. You would think the decades of intercine social warfare since of wrong-headed Roe v Wade would teach people something.
The judge's decision is a study of irrationalty and personal advocacy. The equating of gender and race is particularly striking. "Race" is a myth, gender is not. The Law in many areas (ie labor and privacy laws) recognize that the genders are significantly different.
What the same-sex advocates through the judiciary argue is that the Law must recognize their love relationship. They argue that it is their "right" to be admitted to a public institution (no one is interfering with their private relationship) based on "love."
No family law statute I've read requires "love" as a condition of the institution.
The government, through representatives of The People (who this judge dismisses) has determined the parameters of a PUBLIC institution that government will support as optimal for the general welfare of society. It has rejected other forms of the institution (polygamy, etc) as not being optimal.
The Law defines the INSTITUTION, not the participants. Same-sex advocates demand the judiciary redefine the institution based on the participants eschewing any rationale on whether or not such a change falls within "general welfare" considerations.
This is an end-run around the People by a set of advocates that generally are saying "eff you" to their fellow citizens.
IMHO, same-sex marriage may indeed be the order of the day (and may benefit society as a whole), but I resist this tactic of demanding it via judicial fiat.
If our judges now wish to act like Iranian mullahs and make decrees with no tangible connection with the rule of Law or their actual judicial role, then why the hell have a Legislature in the first place?
Posted by Darleen at 06:29 AM | Comments (30)
March 14, 2005
$75/hour for what Grandma gave for free ...
Yet another NYTimes article where as I'm reading about what some people think are problems and their search for solutions I'm filled with a bizarre emotional mixture of dismay and sadness. The tone of the article was foreshadowed by the title:
With Mayhem at Home, They Call a Parent CoachA parent coach? Come on, people!
Parent coaching, the newest self-help approach for overstretched parents, is catching on for several reasons. It is cheaper than counseling, with many coaches charging $75 an hour and at least one Internet coaching service charging $30 a month. It is usually done by phone, letting parents squeeze in sessions without hiring baby sitters or taking time from work.Well, it's not quite as self-indulgent as paying someone to rearrange the furniture for optimal Feng Shui, but, good god, it comes close. So just what mayhem are we talking here? Kids that are performing blood sacrifice of neighborhood pets under a full moon?
Uh. No.
On the sword-fight day, Ms. Levey was full of questions for her coach, Jennifer Mangan of Wheaton, Ill.Reading the article one finds not disturbed or mentally ill kids that parents indeed should have in therapy. One reads tales of kids being :::horrors::: kids. Rambunctious, whining, physical, tantrum-throwing KIDS.What should she do when Skylar resists doing chores? Should there be limits on how he spends his allowance? Should Forrest get dessert if he does not eat a healthy dinner?
And how should Ms. Levey deal with all that little-boy mayhem?
"There's a piece of grieving for me that I don't have girls," she told her coach. "For me, I'd be reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and drinking tea, and that's not what they are going to do."
Many parent coaches are quick to say - and to write into their contracts - that they are not experts in mental health and do not consider themselves therapists.
... it is capitalizing on the parental penchant for seeking secrets from pros - the tendency to call in the super nanny depicted on reality TV instead of calling your mother.There you go. After decades of gender-feminists downgrading motherhood into "unskilled" and "unthinking" labor, we now have parents desperate for information from a "professional" rather than ringing up mom or grandma. Stay-at-home new moms used to network, exchanging tips on potty training, teething and how to handle tantrums. Someone always had a passed on family tactic or an older relative to call. Someone who would listen to the panicked parent and say "Dear, that's normal. I remember when li'l Winston was three and the way I handled it was ...."
I wish I could be shocked. I'm just wondering when the NYTimes will run an editorial demanding these "coaches" be a government "freebie."
I will tell you right now that I will offer my own experiences and possible advice on parenting to anyone that wants it. Here. For free. [Of course, I won't turn down a tip if my advice does the trick and you want to thank me!]
But consider me a Cyber Parent Coach and take that $75/hr and plan a nice family vacation to a place with open spaces and no tv.
I'll be back for my first advice a bit later.
Posted by Darleen at 04:46 PM | Comments (6)
Idiocy in the details from Kos
Sometimes I wonder why I submit myself to reading the Cultist Blogs of the Left. Certainly I don't need the incentive to buy any more shares of Reynolds (got enough incentive during the election from the Bu$Hitler crowd). Sometimes they actually can pick a legit point but before the end of the sermon they'll work in the obligatory (and many times non-sequitor) slams against the infidel non-Leftists. Screw 'em Markos can't help himself today while making some good points about Frisco Supervisor Daly's addition of a blog on the SF website and the snarking about it from SF Chron. Kos rightly takes note
Daly has a running fued(sic) with the Chronicle. ... there is a deeper significance to Daly's blogging -- he's using the technology to get around the media filter to communicate directly with his constituents. No need to call a press conference, hope reporters show up, hope they write the story, and hope they don't editorialize or lose your original point in a quest for "balance".Yes. That's the demonstrated power of the 'net and the ire it has raised in the MSM. People themselves can now bring attention to stories that are ignored or dismissed via political agenda. This has diminished the tremendous and abused power of MSM as "gatekeepers" of information. From Dan Rather to Eason Jordan to Trent Lott, stories buried or based on fraud have been exposed and found their legs in the blogsphere.
However, Screw'em can't help the cheapshot as he gives "advice" to Daly about blogging
Oh, and add comments to your blog. Only right-wingers are afraid of adding comments to their blogs.So sez the Grand Mufti of the echo-chamber that bans any poster even mildly challenging the dogma. Yeah, Screw'em, tell me another.
Update - PS and I wasn't disappointed to find dKos and minions ignoring the anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon. These guys are totally into cheerleading the destruction of Iraq.
Sometimes the "opposition" is really just "the other side."
Posted by Darleen at 09:27 AM | Comments (1)
Why I 'blog' & wrestling with a 1950's sensibility
Jeff Harrell starts this morning with a good piece entitled How I blog. It contains solid, common sense advice to building and maintaining a successful blogging endeavor.
Me, I have a bit of trouble with point 2. Let me back up a bit.
I caught the politics bug when I was 10 due to my dad, a former newspaper man of the old school. He would get up at 5 am to read the paper from front to back (still does), I would come home from school and do the same thing then over the dinner table our conversation would start something like:
Dad: did you read the article on page A10 about the ...
Dar: Yes, and I have some questions about ...
This was routine just about every night until I moved out of the house after high school. Still, everytime we get together my dad and I hash current events and politics.
And I love to write. It has always been one of my ways to "talk back" to the articles I've read or to clearly articulate my thoughts on any particular subject. Mom has clippings of the few of my "letters to the editor" that actually made it into print at the LATimes.
Making the full leap into bloggership was both fun and scary. My participation on political message boards had become unsatisfactory (especially as the boards at Yahoo became clogged with trolls and flamers who hijacked threads with increasing regularity). Thus I launched this blog in August of 2004 eager to participate in both the election and to write about whatever subject I found interesting (including being able to post some of my fiction pieces!) I love the freedom my blog provides.
And I hoped for an audience who would find my writings just as interesting to read and comment on as I found when I visited other blogs and writers.
Now this is where I find point 2 a bit difficult, and for a rather silly reason (and I admit the silliness on my part). My parents, married in 1951 (I came along 3 years later) raised me with a 50's sensibility. And that includes a bit of humility where it comes to "self-promotion." Make no mistake, I use the backtrack facility with regularity and I participate in forums like the Carnival of the Vanities, Storyblogging, and Redstate.org, but I haven't quite got myself up to emailing other bloggers with links to my articles (except on very rare occassions). I guess I figured "if I write it they will come" and it has worked as I've seen my audience grow month by month. The stats from my hosting company (Hosting Matters) show I have crossed the 50,000 visits threshold and my daily average visits have grown from about 30 (8/2004) to about 425 (3/2005). I'm thrilled even though I know I could do better.
So I think, after reading Jeff's post, that I'm just going to have to take a deep breath and add email to my efforts in building my readership. I just gotta stop hearing my mom's voice about "not tooting my own horn" in my ears as my cursor hovers over the send button.
Posted by Darleen at 06:59 AM | Comments (2)
March 13, 2005
Ok, now I'm really worried ...
Wizbang is hosting the video of FEC chairman Scott Thomas' speech at the Politics Online Conference. If you can, I urge you to view it.
I came away from the speech with the distinct impression that this guy thinks the whole online blogging thing is a massive joke.
And bloggers are retarded stepchildren whose concerns need no more addressing than a perfunctory pat on the head and the assurance "Don't worry, we'll take care of it."
I don't know when the last time I heard someone who is given the privilege and opportunity to clear the air spend almost 15 minutes addressing the assembled in such condescending and smug tones. And Thomas had some really bizarre "examples" .. his really angry Aunt Betty ... blogger Billy in the basement in his Lyndon LaRouche shirt ... the Saddam Hussein Missile Corporation ...
What the hell? Scott Thomas is exhibit number one for the complete abolishment of the FEC and a concerted effort to get McCain-Feingold repealed and its sponsors defeat at the next election.
Posted by Darleen at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2005
Linky goodness
I'm still finding myself pretty shook up and not quite to full blogging status (as you know from my previous post). So this weekend I'm going to take it easy -- delight in my family, read and surf the net in mostly lurker/commenter mode. But I want to bring a few things to your attention that interested me:
Jeff Harrell and Paul at Wizbang both have the followup of the Apple/trade secrets/Internet lawsuit. Both laud the decision in Apple's favor and point out this is not a First Amendment issue, but one of property rights.
Glenn Reynolds blogs about his speech at a Politics Online Conference and he's even more worried after listening to the bloviating from members of the FEC about their approach to bloggers. Related post from Mike Krempasky at Redstate.
In line with the above, Jeff Goldstein highlights the salient points of this article from TCS revealing the true impetus (and $$$) behind the ostensible "grassroots" campaign reform.
In the interests of always promoting linky-love I give you Bill at INDC. I'm not quite up to a full left/right thing but, heh, the day is young.
Michele has a timely reminder of a great new holiday and even kindly offers some downloadable greeting cards. I sent my husband the one on the right.
Sherri is in Florida. My thoughts and prayers with everyone there.
Geez, Digger posts about an event happening practically in my backyard. I have to say for anyone in the area, it'll be really easy to boycott that Home Depot as there is a newer Lowe's right across the street. Related: Hugh Hewitt has a very serious warning that the illegal immigration matter looms to fracture the GOP.
And in the continuing saga of Little Faux Churchill, LGF is hot on the research that Wardy not only has faked his heritage, his "research" and his "art", but also his Vietnam experience.
Posted by Darleen at 09:30 AM | Comments (3)
March 11, 2005
Trying to make sense of the senseless
Flowers. Just because.
One of my attorneys, Jennifer, stopped by my desk on Wednesday afternoon to comment on the bright arrangement of spring flowers my husband had sent me.
"Special ocassion?"
"No. Just because he likes to be unpredictably romantic."
Jennifer laughed, a bright sound that always got everyone around her laughing too. She looked at my co-worker, Karoline, and cocked an eyebrow "We just gotta do the Internet thing."
Bright, intelligent, beautiful and 33, Jennifer was still single. It didn't stress her much but a couple of months back she realized that she just wasn't meeting anyone. Her career as a deputy DA was something she was fiercely dedicated to, and as one of those giving souls she always had some charity or event on the horizon she was organizing or participating in. Last Monday she sent us all an email about the cardiac care unit her non-profit group had adopted and that she was going to raise funds for. Add to that she had just reached the one year mark on her new home (which she worried about during our bad rains) and we never missed an opportunity to kid her about not yet having a house-warming party like she had thrown for her first house three years ago. Karoline and Jennifer's sister roomed with Jennifer and the three gals had decided they were going to dedicate March to meeting and dating new people. Jennifer and her sister had questioned me closely about Internet dating because that is how I met Eric (whom they both know and admire).
I kept hearing Jennifer's laugh all afternoon yesterday even though she wasn't at the office. Even though she had died in a car crash on her way into work.
In Groundhog Day the premise is having Bill Murray trapped into living the same day over and over again until he gets it right. Yet, we all do live each day as if tomorrow will be just the same and we take a measure of comfort in that. You get up, shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, pour coffee in your commuter mug, get to work, go home from work, dinner, bed and do it all over again the next day. If you're lucky, you work with neat people who are friends as well as colleagues.
People like Jennifer. No one was beneath her radar. She had none of the "class" distinction between attorneys and non-attorneys that some exhibit. She talked to everyone, from court security to clerks to attorneys with the same warm care and friendliness.
Thursday morning the earth shifted on its axis. Jennifer was rarely late for work and always called when she was going to be late. But in the hustle and bustle of the morning it was a mere wondering, not alarm.
Not yet.
It was if someone had dimmed the lights in the office even as the sunlight streamed into the windows. We started gathering in groups near the reception area.
"Have you heard?" "Jennifer's been in a car crash." "What happened?" "Don't know." "How bad?" "Who can we call?" "I heard she was airlifted out." "I heard there was a fatality." "No!" "We don't know for sure."
We all tried pulling what strings for information we could. My liason for the agency that was on scene started phoning her office. I called my daughter who works EMT services in the area to see if she was on shift or if she had heard the call. Someone else called the hospital. Information was fragmentary, contradictory, missing.
It wasn't numbness I was feeling, but pressure -- as if I was an empty container with only vacuum inside and the whole of the atmosphere pressing inexorably on me.
Finality came at 11. Word passing like lightening through the office, the sounds of sobs as heralds of her passing.
Her office is still there, with files waiting on her desk, a sweater flung across her chair. Shouldn't she be walking in the door? Shouldn't she just be?
Jennifer was a woman of many small favors. She knew the pressure I was under when I was assigned to clean up someone else's malfeasance. A few weeks ago I get to work and there's a card and a plant for me. In the card she remarks about our friendship and encourages me and asks "let me know if I can help." The card is in my desk and I took it out to read again ... and weep.
But I want to HELP HER, and I can't. There won't be any more lunches or parties or girltalk. I don't get to be her friend with dating stories and tips. She was doing nothing more than what she had done uncounted days before.
Living. Just because.
This morning the office is one of the walking wounded. No one really wanting to go into her office to get files and cover her calendar. That means she's never coming back. Ever.
And the cards started coming. A plant. And an arrangement from the same local florist that sent the flowers to me that Jennifer so admired on Wednesday.
All white flowers. This time for Jennifer.
Just because.
Posted by Darleen at 12:38 PM | Comments (5)
March 10, 2005
What I wish Condi would do ...
... but I'm not holding my breath. Dr. Rice is on the road to Mexico
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a 14-hour visit to Mexico today to polish up the sometimes testy U.S.-Mexican relations before a summit later this month between President Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada.Testy? Would that be due to the millions of illegal aliens pouring across a border and sucking up American taxpayer supported services?
U.S. Ambassador Antonio ''Tony'' Garza, a South Texas native, agitated Mexicans by criticizing the nation's ''inability to come to grips'' with organized crime and by talking tough on economic reform.Poor babies, upset by the truth.
Since this seems to be a "fine tuning" mission I don't think Dr. Rice will be talking tough with Vicente Fox. In my dreams I would wish she would be sending the same message to Fox we are sending to Syria and Iran -- Shape up or suffer the consequences.
:::sigh::: A native of So. Cal can dream, can't she?
Posted by Darleen at 06:48 AM | Comments (1)
March 09, 2005
Quote of the day from Prof fired for TWBC
From a CU Professor (no, not faux Indian Ward), one who actually has a PhD, but not quite the :::ahem::: proper political attitude, so has been fired for Teaching While Being Conservative.
"People say liberals run the university. I wish they did," Mitchell says. "Most liberals understand the need for intellectual diversity. It's the radical left that kills you."hattip Kevin at Wizbang
Posted by Darleen at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
COTV #129 - that time of the week!
A great smorgasbord of writing to be had at Solomania. Kudos to Solomon for taking the time to read the many and varied submissions. I always look forward to the COTV to discover new writers and viewpoints.
Posted by Darleen at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
Jihading into the judiciary
Latest from the state of Washington on same-sex marriage.
Two homosexual advocacy groups -- Lambda Legal and the Northwest Women's Law Center -- believe they have a good chance of forcing the same type of social change in Washington as activists did in Massachusetts.The "activists" are not interested in persuasion, in making their case to the vast majority of their fellow citizens about a change to a PUBLIC INSTITUTION. The lawsuit is an eff you to anyone who disagrees.
"Many of the justices clearly understand that same-sex couples are being discriminated against because they cannot marry, and that this discrimination deserves their attention," said Lambda Legal's Jennifer Pizer, one of the attorneys involved in the case.Well, then if not qualifying under the requirements to avail themselves of PUBLIC INSTITUTION of marriage is "discrimination" then I guess the state also discriminates against wannabe polygamists, underage participants, and family-related participants.
"When judges appreciate the human dimensions of our cases, we often have good results," Pizer said on Tuesday.That is not the role of the judiciary.
Good lord, why even have legislatures as respresentatives of The People who meet to decide the scope and qualifications of PUBLIC life? Obviously judges are much more enlightened than The People. Why not take the next step and let them officially operate just like the mullahs of Iran, where THEY and they alone with their obviously superior sensibilities will tell the rest of us what is good for us?
This is infuriating. And I say this as someone who supports the idea of same-sex marriage. You'd think the assatollahs of Same-Sex activism just might consider the years of intercine social warfare in this country post-Roe v Wade before jihading into the judiciary.
Posted by Darleen at 06:17 AM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2005
Picking up the discussion - Morality & God
Michele picks up today a a discussion on morality and God that she began yesterday. It is yet another great piece of writing by Michele and I wish to answer it at length. I do agree that a personal belief in God is not necessary to live a moral life. I also believe that a personal belief in God is not a guarantee that one won't live an immoral life.
Michele takes as her jumping off point in the discussion a column by Roy Moore. I'd like to add into the mix some columns by Dennis Prager who is writing at length about the value of Judeo-Christian values.
Now, Roy Moore claims there is "no morality" without God. Patently offensive and unsupportable as very moral people like Michele clearly demonstrate. Dennis Prager offers a different argument
Though most college-educated Westerners never hear the case for the need for God-based morality because of the secular outlook that pervades modern education and the media, the case is both clear and compelling: If there is no transcendent source of morality (morality is the word I use for the standard of good and evil), "good" and "evil" are subjective opinions, not objective realities. ...Years ago, I debated this issue at Oxford with Jonathan Glover, currently the professor of ethics at King's College, University of London, and one of the leading atheist moralists of our time.
Because he is a man of rare intellectual honesty, he acknowledged that without God, morality is subjective. He is one of the few secularists who do.
Understand, Prager doesn't argue that without God morality is impossible, he just says it's subjective.
In my arguments with leftists who decry what they see as "legislating morality" I state -- it is NOT a matter of legislating morality or not..all legislation is a statement of morality. The true question is WHOSE morality is going to be legislated.
More later. Discuss at will.
Posted by Darleen at 06:51 AM | Comments (3)
March 07, 2005
Not without a bit of controversy
The trustees of the South Orange County Community College District have ended their schools' summer study-abroad program in Spain, saying the country is dangerous and citing its withdrawal of troops from Iraq.The district, comprising Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College, voted 5-2 last week to cancel the 14-year-old program.
Posted by Darleen at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2005
Your turn at a Hollywood pitch
Yesterday Jeff Harrell broke the news of yet another tragic trashing of an innocuous kid flick. This time it's the old Disney series of the VW Beetle, Herbie, in a "new" turn for the 21st century as Herbie, Fully Loaded. Oh. My. God.
As a rule I avoid remakes of pictures for a good reason. Almost without exception they ... how do I put this politely? ... SUCK. And the time I have to spend watching them and mentally comparing them (not favorably) with the original is time I can never get back. Consider -- I absolutely adore the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street and while viewing the 1994 remake all I could wish for to improve the movie was a sudden appearance of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park to pursue Richard Attenborough down the streets of NYC and gobble him up in a frenzy of spraying blood and bits of flesh.
Unfortunately the raiding of old films will not cease. Hollywood is a strange town with many "brave" and "innovative" poseurs who are out looking for a "sure thing." And what better than to just pitch ideas based on successful past vehicles and play up the built-in audience that will come out to see their old flame? Such stuff leads to bizarre excercises like the Scooby Doo and Garfield movies.
So, this morning, I'd like you to pitch Hollywood your idea of a remake of an old film. It can be a line or two, or give it a full treatment including casting suggestions. Be as bizarre as you like. Across the jump is my pitch to get this started.
The Death Wish of Bambi
Bambi is all grown up and has never forgotten the life altering horror of his mother's senseless murder. In a film for the modern era and combining the technical innovations that make for seamless live action and computer animated characters we can draw in all those that grew up with Bambi and were the young audience that fueled the highly successful Death Wish series as Bambi leaves the forest with his loyal friends to search down and eliminate the murderers of his mother. His mission is triggered by the senseless burning of his forest home (our opening nail-the-audience-to-their-seats scene) and nothing will stop his quest.
Cast:
Bambi: Clint Eastwood
Thumper: Samuel L. Jackson
Flower: Kevin Spacey
Friend Owl: James Earl Jones
Posted by Darleen at 07:18 AM | Comments (1)
March 05, 2005
Ya just can't make this stuff up ...
In the words of Jeff Goldstein, "The Democrats' march into self-parody continues"
Dear Colleague:Please join us in introducing the attached resolution, which requires the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to turn over all documentation in their possession about how James Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon) gained access to White House press events.
For nearly three years, the White House has been granting Mr. Guckert, a right-wing activist with no press credentials, access to the White House briefing room and presidential press conferences. This appears to violate long standing practices of carefully screening contacts with the president.
Blah Blah Blah. I'm not surprised to see Charlie Rangel signing onto this "get the gay conservative" tag team effort. I mean the man has got to fill his time with something important seeing as how he has assured everyone that there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. And getting Gannon is so, so important BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY.
Posted by Darleen at 08:33 PM | Comments (8)
It was the strawberries ... the strawberries ...
For good reason the blogsphere is rightfully alarmed by the threats coming from the FEC in regards to free speech on the Internet. Transcripts of the interview with FEC commissionar Bradley Smith can be found at Redstate.org.
She [Judge Koller-Cotella] orders us to regulate the Internet, again what I point out is -- it is in no way limited to paid advertising. In fact, it would be contrary to the tone of the opinions limited only to paid advertising. In another part of the opinion, she struck down one of our regulations where we exempted unpaid advertising. So, I, you know, this was, it’s – it’s in no ways limited to unpaid advertising ...The McCain-Feingold Campaign "reform" bill was conceived and passed before I became a blogger. At that time, I posted on message boards, some on Yahoo!, where I argued vehemently against the bill as a direct assault on free speech. The idea that somehow if some speech could be defined as having "monetary value" then it could be regulated as "in-kind" contributions struck me, not as a noble exercise to keep so-called corruption out of elections, but as a fortification of the incumbents' ramparts against the challenging rabble. Indeed, the restrictions on all ads within the immediate time-period before an election is particularly egregious. Of course, one didn't see any particularly hard-hitting newspaper editorials opposing McCain-Feingold because such free-speech regulation reinforces the newspapers' traditional King-making power. Newspapers can still run their own editorial endorsements and, as we clearly saw in the last election, can slant their "news" coverage of the candidates in support of their editorial position.I note that we didn’t have enough votes to muster up an appeal of the judge’s decision, uh, on this particular issue, so obviously, uh, half of my colleagues [the 3 Democrats] at least feel that we should be doing more regulation of the Internet.
The McCain-Feingold Incumbents Protection Act got its impetus during the 2000 campaign as John McCain railed, shrieked and gnashed his teeth over "dirty Texas money" financed independent ads sullying his sainted and clearly not-to-be-questioned record in Arizona. McCain was so incensed over individuals exercising their First Amendment rights on their own dime he figured it had to be a conspiracy that must be stopped. The MSM embraced the "maverick" McCain who's ostensible mantel of Republicanism allowed them to use his intemperate remarks and attacks on fellow Republicans as a figleaf for their own anti-Republican bent. They rarely questioned his red-faced podium pounding about "reforming" campaign "finances" and certainly didn't ask the tough questions on squaring the outright bans on "advocacy" with the First Amendment.
And now, in the wake of the 2004 elections and the success of the blogsphere, the sights of those who can't stand independent speech has been set upon the Internet and bloggers. The language of the McCain-Feingold used to piddle all over the Constitution in regards to "in-kind contributions" is being geared up as a firehose aimed at people who are using the Internet as a virtual townhall. It's not only Free Speech but Free Association that has arroused the continued ire of Capt. John McQueeg (as evidenced by his disingenuous attacks on the Swiftboat Vets who spoke out against John Kerry). For McQueeg and his fellow travelers in the FEC, people are allowed only to associate, trade information, debate the merits and demerits of issues and candidates when such activities ineffectual. There is little difference in kind between my advocacy speech in puting up a "Bush-Cheney 04" sign in my front yard and having the same graphic on my weblog. But McQueeg wants my weblog defined as a "monetary contribution." If I host a cocktail party for 25 neighbors to share campaign literature I received from a presidential candidate or I send an email to 25 people in my address book with the same information, McQueeg wants the FEC to "regulate" the latter.
As long as us little-people know our place on the good ship [Mc]Caine, Cap'n John won't punish us.
I call bovine excrement. This is a direct assault on the Constitution. And I don't want to hear about "end runs" around the regulations that call for bloggers to have to do something to "qualify" as the press so they can get an exemption. I have the right under the First Amendment to Free Speech and Free Association. No one, no McQueeg, no Judge Koller-Cotella, no FEC Democrat can take that away. My blog is my own piece of virtual real estate and if I can have a sign on my lawn or a cocktail party in my house than I can damned well do the same thing here.
I will not be shutup or shutdown. The last thing all the McQueeg's want to fool with is a pre-menopausal woman. I just am in no mood to suffer such mendacity.
Others discussing the issue:
Jeff Harrell rightfully points out that the Federalist Papers (a series of public relation advocacy releases written under a :::gasp::: pen name) would have been banned under McCain-Feingold.
Capt. Ed writes an open letter here
LaShawn Barber notes that this issue unites bloggers across the political spectrum here.
Powerline has been running with this across several posts, the latest on how McQueeg's mouthpiece is trying to deceptively quiet the great unwashed bloggers.
Michelle Malkin posts a nice roundup of related links.
You know, hyperlinks which the FEC thinks represents in-kind "contributions". Gosh, ya'think if I put a bunch of charity hyperlinks on my blog the IRS will let me deduct them as "in-kind" monetary contributions??
Of course, the irrepressible CITIZEN JOURNALIST weighs with a mini-manifesto and an update.
UPDATE Capt. Salty, while disclaiming any endorsement of McCain-Feingold, skates around the semantics of "advocacy" and "activism" while asking why shouldn't "activist" Screw-'em-Markos be regulated by campaign "finance" laws. Let me be perfectly clear and this is where my libertarian side (do notice the small "L") comes to the fore. As long as all financial arrangements are disclosed and transparent, IMHO any further "regulation" of campaign "finances" are an assault on the First Amendment. Limiting MY ability to use MY money, whether it's for a backyard BBQ for Bush or a weblog for the Governator, is a direct contradiction of everything the Founding Fathers were thinking when they drew up the Constitution.
Posted by Darleen at 08:58 AM | Comments (5)
March 03, 2005
the mouse and the elephant
The problem with moral equivalency arguments is that they are not really designed to facilitate critical thinking but to stop it. It's as if in a debate on the unsuitability of having an elephant as a pet someone pipes up ...
"But what about a mouse? If an elephant is unsuitable you certainly can't have a mouse for a pet either. I mean, they are both mammals, with eyes, four legs, a tail, breathe air, have ears, eat plant materials...why you can't condemn the elephant and not condemn the mouse!"
Such is not meant to be helpful but meant to divert the discussion, if not shut it down. Usually because people of good will then go off on the tangent and focus on the mouse thereby dropping the ball on the examination of the elephant.
This argument is used often when ever the subject of Islamism and Islamic terrorism comes up. Get into a discussion of the ideology of radical Islam and start examining the phenomenom that while not all moslems are terrorists, almost all contemporary terrorism is Islamic in origin and soon someone will bring up Christian "terrorism." Point out 9/11/01 and someone will say "what about blowing up an abortion clinic?" Discuss the theocratic regimes of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Taliban, et al, and someone will counter, "But what about those that want a Christian theocracy?" And thus the thrust of the discussion will focus on Christian "terrorists" and wannabe "theocrats."
Let me be clear. I don't discount that there are people who have taken their beliefs into fanaticism, and that includes Christians. Heck, for any belief under the sun one can gather a group to follow. From Jim Jones to the group near San Diego that committed suicide in order to hitch a ride on the comet Hale-Bopp, "think it up, they will follow."
But there the equivalency of Christianity (or Judaism) to Islamism stops.
You either recognize the difference between an elephant and a mouse, or you get stuck rationalizing the mess the elephant left in the living room.
Posted by Darleen at 06:51 PM | Comments (7)
March 02, 2005
Some days you're the dog ...
... some days you're the hydrant.
Yesterday was a hydrant kind of day. Can I tell you how much I loathe office politics? I wasn't quite in the line of fire yesterday, but the lazy-ass bitch who alternately had people (who are my friends) enraged or in tears and I know I, too, am on her sh*tlist. This gal has had now three different positions in the office and she creates chaos wherever they place here (say "Hello" to a government employee covered by a union). That's how I ended up being moved first of January. She had so screwed up her last position that I was brought in clean up the mess and organize (can we say six banker boxes overflowing with police reports going back six or more months?). The agency liasons are so tickled with what I've done with the desk in the last seven weeks, they've taken me to lunch. In fact, one laison's sargent said he was footing the bill for lunch for us because he's so happy.
Bitch found out and was thoroughly pissed. She doesn't get it on why she was moved. Nothing is ever her fault. It's all a big conspiracy against her. Blah blah blah.
Needless to say, I lock my desk when I leave at night.
One very large bright spot last night was it was babysitting night! Sean and Nick are 29 mos old now and I just get such a kick out of having 'em part of the week.
Lots to blog about ... my list is growing! Here's some random thoughts
I want to return to the subject of education. Jeff Harrell has given me much to muse on in the last few days and I want to respond to what I think the ideal high school system should look like.
Kleagle Byrd flapped his gums again and while on the Senate floor compared Repubicans to Hitler. Let's add that audio clip to the "I hate evil Republicans" schtick from Dean. My my..."Party of Tolerance" is as funny as "Religion of Peace"
Reader Ethical Werewolf asks if we can call a person who blows up an abortion clinic a "Christian terrorist". Sure can. Does that make Christianity and Islamism equivalent? Unequivocally, no.
Back to Scream Dean again and his "litany of Democrat values." Notice how they revolve around economic policy rather than the tough questions about morality. Indeed, he got his [briefs, boxers] in a knot about a person of the cloth just might talk about shalls/shall nots to a woman! Wow, who would have thunk that!
Looks like the tipping point in the ME has been reached and the Left is adament about pissing on it.
More later.
Posted by Darleen at 06:37 AM | Comments (10)