I love writing letters to people I admire. i mean, I really love it. So, when I found this website I just had to dash off a note proclaiming my support. Below is the link and the letter I sent out this morning:
http://64.233.161.104/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=cache%3Awww.halturnershow.com
Hi Hal, I just wanted to compliment you on your fabulous website. You certainly have a way with one-syllable verbalisms. Plus, all of that angry red you've splashed everywhere just like the very blood you're demanding from those who think the government should keep its nose out of private family business. I think you personally should blow that truck bomb up.In fact, it would be really neat if you were to make it a suicide bombing. In this manner you would become a martyr and symbol to the right-to-have-no-life-of-any-meaningful-kind crowd. You could become the "face" of the "Culture of Fright" groups. Even better, go down to Texas (if you're not there already) and fight the law put in place by George Bush, Jr when he was governor there.You're familiar with it, right? It's the one that allows hospitals to cut off medical services to patients they deem terminal, especially if the patients' families do not have the money or medical coverage to pay for said services. This can be done to patients who are conscious and cognitive.
But back to your website. You wrote:"Conscious but brain damaged American citizen Terri Schiavo is being starved to death in a Florida hospice. Cried when told feeding tube was being removed, yelled "I want to live.""
Well now, and which radio personality did we possibly get that from? Was it Limbaugh, perhaps? He IS a Paragon of unbiased news. I don't know why those filthy Liberals are always ranting about him. Just because he calls them Communists, terrorist sympathizers, smelly, dumb,unpatriotic, idiots, etc. Doesn't mean he's not correct, right? Just mean and blinded by his own sense of morality.
Or did you get the quote from Terry Randall? He's believable, too. His unfettered access to Mrs. Schiavo would give him the inside scoop on any utterances she might have made...oops, he didn't have access, did he? In fact, he's never met the woman, has he? In fact, he's a bit of a screamer himself, isn't he? I don't think I've ever seen a picture of him in which his face isn't contorted into a Gollum-like appearance, flooded red with the bitter knowledge of his rightness in the face of the masses that ignorantly disagree with him or certain facts that pop up and slap him across the kisser (but he doesn't strike me as much of a kisser).
Anyway, I just want you to know that I support you in getting in that bomb-laden truck, driving it somewhere nice and quiet and remote and far, far away from the madding crowds. Then, I support you as you reach down between your thighs and caress that special "button" until suddenly you no longer exist. Remember to leave a note.
I really am not a violent person, but your cause makes me want to getmywaron. You go, boy!Kisses and Candy,
Joel Dyer
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Plum Island
Plum Island (to which much noteriety was attached in Silence of the Lambs) is real and it is now a top level bio-hazard lab.
http://www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/14-3plumisland.html
Lyme disease is often said to have been created there (the city of Lyme, for which the disease is named, sits only 12 miles away). Now, rumors float that it was the genesis for West Nile virus. They, of course, poo poo that...I take no sides without more evidence. But today I heard on Pacifica Radio that this lab has been granted access to tissue from victims of the 1918 Flu pandemic in order to revive the virus (the corpses were naturally frozen by the elements until exhumation except for the lady who was buried in a lead-lined coffin) and bring it back to life (they say they can with many frozen viruses), ostensibly to infect monkeys, cats and pigs. Ostensibly to find a vaccine for it and study how it mutated into a deadly disease that killed millions. With the Avian bird flu now crossing over into humans and being passed from human to human contact( with a few deaths being recorded so far), concern is rising among medical professionals that a new pandemic is a matter of when and not if. However, it seems to me that reviving a virus that was so virulent it killed millions of humans is not the wisest thing to do considering that they will have no immediate way of killing it (ahem, no vaccine). Also, according to Pacifica Radio, Plum Island has had a variety of mishaps occur in the past, including: infected employees, virus escapes and laboratory meltdowns (or bio-hazard collapses in which the lab had to be shut down and quarantined). All this under the vigilant watch of the Department of Defense...maybe that was a bit of an oxymoron. I apologize.
Oh, by the way, Plum is not the only lab being given Flu victim tissue. There seem to be three or four that are going to be yelling "Frau Blucher" soon (if not already).
Also, I didn't know that the 1918 flu began here in the USA and is thought to have been transported abroad by soldiers of WW I. Now, I do.
And this is the man who found remnants of the virus in Alaska:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/17/CM40502.DTL
I went further than I thought I would in looking for info on the virus being rejuvenated and ran into a website that is very fun, but not for that reason. It is fun, because these people are even wackier than I ever have been. Sylphs and chemtrails abound. It's damn fun reading about why those pesky chemtrails aren't actually being allowed to attack us:
http://educate-yourself.org/ct/
And, then, I find this blog, which I find interesting, but will have to look into. An Iraqi scientist was employed by Plum Island Large Animal Laboratory(which has a Bio Level 5 since 1970) to head up a project researching mycoplasma. He later left to go back to Iraq and work at the University of Baghdad before the first Gulf War and was murdered sometime later, supposedly by the Israelis. We all know now that our country provided Iraq with bioterrorism organisms and equipment with which to incubate and procreate them:
http://www.rense.com/general2/up.htm
Then, I stumble onto another blog, which names the Iraqi guy again and goes even further as it states that Plum Island (well, a "representative") denied any mycoplasma research, then admitted that it was done under the Iraqi scientist (I guess this type of research is supposed to be illegal in the US). Plus, it mentions 40 micro-biologists who have died mysteriously in the past few years, who were all somehow related to bio-weapons research:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=64146
Then, ConsumerHealth Canada weighs in about the those chemtrails. The fact that the writer won an award from Project Censored is an indication of possible credibility:
http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=20000830164825
but it leads me astray of the reason i started this blog, so I go back to looking for Plum Island and if there is any reason to believe that the 1918 flu virus is actively being resuscitated. And, somehow, I remembered that I had forgotten to mention that Plum Island now has a new owner: The Department of Homeland Security:
(excerpt)
On the face of it, DHS says it is "committed to positive community relations"; but in a recently-published notice in the Federal Register, it proposed to grant itself authority to make secret the environmental assessments of government activities that are required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The change would make it possible for DHS to conduct activities on Plum Island (and other facilities) without divulging risks, effects or even their existence under NEPA. Plum Island is poised on the bleeding edge of DHS’ research program on biological weapons, a program that includes activities that independent observers conclude are practically indistinguishable from offensive biological weapons research.
Which brings us back to Plum Island’s institutional biosafety committee (IBC), the local committee that, according to the Bush administration, forms the government’s major line of defense to review dual-use research projects and to ensure their safety and security. Thus, if there is a place where the government might demonstrate that IBCs can in fact be an effective mechanism to review the conduct of dual-use bioweapons research, it is at facilities like Plum Island, which are under direct government control and which have missions that are focused on biodefense.
What has DHS done with the Plum Island Institutional Biosafety Committee? Nothing. Since DHS took over the facility more than a year ago, the Plum Island IBC has not met. Not once. The committee whose responsibility it is to ensure that research is safe and secure appears to be moribund. Not only has there been no committee review of Plum Island’s new and ongoing research projects, the committee has not met to review safety conditions in laboratories nor to perform any of the other duties incumbent upon it.
Bush administration biodefense policy leaders claim that IBCs can take responsibility for the conduct of dual-use research with biological weapons agents; but the Department of Homeland Security itself does not maintain an effective institutional biosafety committee at Plum Island.
http://sunshineproject.org/biodefense/bb.html#3
But, again, I feel I am still on a tangent. I want to know about the flu virus. Unfortunately, the beer is kicking in and I am beginning to giggle as I surf amid the detritus of the bottles and expended cigarettes. I am now feeling like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theaory except for the fact that I don't yet appear to have any ADD-like symptoms and there is no Julia Roberts for me to drool over...yet. So, I soldier on even as the dead soldiers pile up around me (no war is won without casualties, but this time I have gone to war with the army I want, not- like Rumsfeld- the army I have. My army is from Newcastle and it's coals they want to return).
Where was I? Oh yes.
Soldiering on and kicking the dead out of my way. So, then I run into the name Beth Lautner who became head of Plum Island Animal Disease Center (new name, I guess) in 2003. Previously, she had been involved with various organizations, including the USDA, and specialized in swine diseases. Which might be a good thing, because the most deadly flu viruses (to humans) come from pigs. The new avian flu is an exception. Evidently, the most virulent forms of human flu have had to transfer from bird to pig (where it was forced to mutate in order to survive, because the pig's immune system is extremely close to ours, but once it mutated it then had an inside track to infecting us). So, Lautner has spent a lot of time studying pig sickness and working through how it mutates. Promising...until I read this:
http://thehamptons.com/group/newsletter/fall04/plum_island.html
in which a local community group contacted Plum Island in order to express its concerns. They were eventually rewarded with a meeting with Lautner, but later found out that Plum Island had had another "accident" and failed to report it to anyone. Also, she was vice-president of the National Pork Board, which means she would have been instrumental in pushing the business-friendly side of the pig (which side I'm not sure, because I've been to pig farms and both ends of the swine can be dangerous).
But, then, I find this:
http://www.borrull.org/e/noticia.php?id=22711
which still has nothing to do with the flu. But it does mention the fact that Plum Island employees are owned by a private contractor and that Senators (including that hottie Hillary) are concerned. So, that was fun. However, after 2 and 1/2 hours my attention begins to wane and I begin to yawn and I suddenly remember what Generik told me about blogging: "welcome and get ready to give up of your free time". Hell with that, I'm going for a beer. I must really hate my internal organs. Then again, I always root for the underdog and skin is outnumbered by like a lot to one.
Maybe more later.
http://www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/14-3plumisland.html
Lyme disease is often said to have been created there (the city of Lyme, for which the disease is named, sits only 12 miles away). Now, rumors float that it was the genesis for West Nile virus. They, of course, poo poo that...I take no sides without more evidence. But today I heard on Pacifica Radio that this lab has been granted access to tissue from victims of the 1918 Flu pandemic in order to revive the virus (the corpses were naturally frozen by the elements until exhumation except for the lady who was buried in a lead-lined coffin) and bring it back to life (they say they can with many frozen viruses), ostensibly to infect monkeys, cats and pigs. Ostensibly to find a vaccine for it and study how it mutated into a deadly disease that killed millions. With the Avian bird flu now crossing over into humans and being passed from human to human contact( with a few deaths being recorded so far), concern is rising among medical professionals that a new pandemic is a matter of when and not if. However, it seems to me that reviving a virus that was so virulent it killed millions of humans is not the wisest thing to do considering that they will have no immediate way of killing it (ahem, no vaccine). Also, according to Pacifica Radio, Plum Island has had a variety of mishaps occur in the past, including: infected employees, virus escapes and laboratory meltdowns (or bio-hazard collapses in which the lab had to be shut down and quarantined). All this under the vigilant watch of the Department of Defense...maybe that was a bit of an oxymoron. I apologize.
Oh, by the way, Plum is not the only lab being given Flu victim tissue. There seem to be three or four that are going to be yelling "Frau Blucher" soon (if not already).
Also, I didn't know that the 1918 flu began here in the USA and is thought to have been transported abroad by soldiers of WW I. Now, I do.
And this is the man who found remnants of the virus in Alaska:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/17/CM40502.DTL
I went further than I thought I would in looking for info on the virus being rejuvenated and ran into a website that is very fun, but not for that reason. It is fun, because these people are even wackier than I ever have been. Sylphs and chemtrails abound. It's damn fun reading about why those pesky chemtrails aren't actually being allowed to attack us:
http://educate-yourself.org/ct/
And, then, I find this blog, which I find interesting, but will have to look into. An Iraqi scientist was employed by Plum Island Large Animal Laboratory(which has a Bio Level 5 since 1970) to head up a project researching mycoplasma. He later left to go back to Iraq and work at the University of Baghdad before the first Gulf War and was murdered sometime later, supposedly by the Israelis. We all know now that our country provided Iraq with bioterrorism organisms and equipment with which to incubate and procreate them:
http://www.rense.com/general2/up.htm
Then, I stumble onto another blog, which names the Iraqi guy again and goes even further as it states that Plum Island (well, a "representative") denied any mycoplasma research, then admitted that it was done under the Iraqi scientist (I guess this type of research is supposed to be illegal in the US). Plus, it mentions 40 micro-biologists who have died mysteriously in the past few years, who were all somehow related to bio-weapons research:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=64146
Then, ConsumerHealth Canada weighs in about the those chemtrails. The fact that the writer won an award from Project Censored is an indication of possible credibility:
http://www.consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=20000830164825
but it leads me astray of the reason i started this blog, so I go back to looking for Plum Island and if there is any reason to believe that the 1918 flu virus is actively being resuscitated. And, somehow, I remembered that I had forgotten to mention that Plum Island now has a new owner: The Department of Homeland Security:
(excerpt)
On the face of it, DHS says it is "committed to positive community relations"; but in a recently-published notice in the Federal Register, it proposed to grant itself authority to make secret the environmental assessments of government activities that are required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The change would make it possible for DHS to conduct activities on Plum Island (and other facilities) without divulging risks, effects or even their existence under NEPA. Plum Island is poised on the bleeding edge of DHS’ research program on biological weapons, a program that includes activities that independent observers conclude are practically indistinguishable from offensive biological weapons research.
Which brings us back to Plum Island’s institutional biosafety committee (IBC), the local committee that, according to the Bush administration, forms the government’s major line of defense to review dual-use research projects and to ensure their safety and security. Thus, if there is a place where the government might demonstrate that IBCs can in fact be an effective mechanism to review the conduct of dual-use bioweapons research, it is at facilities like Plum Island, which are under direct government control and which have missions that are focused on biodefense.
What has DHS done with the Plum Island Institutional Biosafety Committee? Nothing. Since DHS took over the facility more than a year ago, the Plum Island IBC has not met. Not once. The committee whose responsibility it is to ensure that research is safe and secure appears to be moribund. Not only has there been no committee review of Plum Island’s new and ongoing research projects, the committee has not met to review safety conditions in laboratories nor to perform any of the other duties incumbent upon it.
Bush administration biodefense policy leaders claim that IBCs can take responsibility for the conduct of dual-use research with biological weapons agents; but the Department of Homeland Security itself does not maintain an effective institutional biosafety committee at Plum Island.
http://sunshineproject.org/biodefense/bb.html#3
But, again, I feel I am still on a tangent. I want to know about the flu virus. Unfortunately, the beer is kicking in and I am beginning to giggle as I surf amid the detritus of the bottles and expended cigarettes. I am now feeling like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theaory except for the fact that I don't yet appear to have any ADD-like symptoms and there is no Julia Roberts for me to drool over...yet. So, I soldier on even as the dead soldiers pile up around me (no war is won without casualties, but this time I have gone to war with the army I want, not- like Rumsfeld- the army I have. My army is from Newcastle and it's coals they want to return).
Where was I? Oh yes.
Soldiering on and kicking the dead out of my way. So, then I run into the name Beth Lautner who became head of Plum Island Animal Disease Center (new name, I guess) in 2003. Previously, she had been involved with various organizations, including the USDA, and specialized in swine diseases. Which might be a good thing, because the most deadly flu viruses (to humans) come from pigs. The new avian flu is an exception. Evidently, the most virulent forms of human flu have had to transfer from bird to pig (where it was forced to mutate in order to survive, because the pig's immune system is extremely close to ours, but once it mutated it then had an inside track to infecting us). So, Lautner has spent a lot of time studying pig sickness and working through how it mutates. Promising...until I read this:
http://thehamptons.com/group/newsletter/fall04/plum_island.html
in which a local community group contacted Plum Island in order to express its concerns. They were eventually rewarded with a meeting with Lautner, but later found out that Plum Island had had another "accident" and failed to report it to anyone. Also, she was vice-president of the National Pork Board, which means she would have been instrumental in pushing the business-friendly side of the pig (which side I'm not sure, because I've been to pig farms and both ends of the swine can be dangerous).
But, then, I find this:
http://www.borrull.org/e/noticia.php?id=22711
which still has nothing to do with the flu. But it does mention the fact that Plum Island employees are owned by a private contractor and that Senators (including that hottie Hillary) are concerned. So, that was fun. However, after 2 and 1/2 hours my attention begins to wane and I begin to yawn and I suddenly remember what Generik told me about blogging: "welcome and get ready to give up of your free time". Hell with that, I'm going for a beer. I must really hate my internal organs. Then again, I always root for the underdog and skin is outnumbered by like a lot to one.
Maybe more later.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Pay No Attention to the Snake Behind the White Horse
ABC News Poll shows that most Americans are in agreement that our politicians are merely trying to stop Terri Schiavo from dying in order to garner votes in 2006. Finally, a bit of common sense from the commoners:
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/978a1Schiavo.pdf
You need Acrobat to read it, but who doesn't have Acrobat? Right? Word, on the other hand...
I still say that this is a Republican attempt to lead us away from other, more pressing issues like: Tom DeLay, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gannongate, our UN ambassador, our Iraq Ambassador, Haiti, all very boring nothing to see please let's move on we're walking hey look isn't that a pretty white Floridian woman being starved to death by her mean old husband who's been screwing around behind her comatose back and probably only wants her estate money to spend on his whore hussy girlfriend and her little illegitimate brats? Bright klieg lights, please. Ta ran tara. We must save her in the name of the "(Ann) Culture of Life".
Barf.
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/978a1Schiavo.pdf
You need Acrobat to read it, but who doesn't have Acrobat? Right? Word, on the other hand...
I still say that this is a Republican attempt to lead us away from other, more pressing issues like: Tom DeLay, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gannongate, our UN ambassador, our Iraq Ambassador, Haiti, all very boring nothing to see please let's move on we're walking hey look isn't that a pretty white Floridian woman being starved to death by her mean old husband who's been screwing around behind her comatose back and probably only wants her estate money to spend on his whore hussy girlfriend and her little illegitimate brats? Bright klieg lights, please. Ta ran tara. We must save her in the name of the "(Ann) Culture of Life".
Barf.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
BO, You Don't Know Gritz
(I sent this a few minutes ago to that paragon of freedom, Bo Gritz- you know the guy. He intervened at Ruby Ridge after all the death, then claimed he was there before it happened. He went in to the Freemen ranch , but walked out with no agreement in hand. He is a gladhander and a camera hog. Now he is in Florida making up lies, as far as I can tell by researching the media, in order to score new points off of the Terri Schiavo case)
I have a few words for you, Bo. You have not done your homework before jumping on the "Save Terri" bandwagon. First of all, she IS in a coma. While her eyes do open from time to time (which is normal for comatose patients-it's an involuntary reflex of the muscles) she does not recognize anyone. Both private and court-appointed physicians have attested to this. And don't start talking about any conspiracy. It's Jeb Bush's state after all. She is not able to swallow, which just might explain the feeding tube. Were she able to swallow on her own, I think this would be a different story. But she can't. She CAN breathe on her own. That has never been a question. Michael Schiavo seems to love her very much and has maintained that she told him she would not want to live this way. Neither you or I can dispute that. He's either lying or not. But neither of us were there and I would rather trust that they loved each other enough to share their wants. Of course, you seem to be attracted to any kind of public division that will garner you a camera in your face. How're the Freemen doing by the way? As for Terri, she was deprived under suspicious circumstances of oxygen? She was already comatose. Her husband then "dis-allowed" corrective action? Explain, please. Are you accusing him of wanting her estate as soon as she fell ill and comatose? Did he connive at such an early date? Is this all it's about in your eyes? A man wanting money as opposed to an end to his wife's vegetative state? By the way, your assertion that Michael is refusing to allow the brushing of her teeth is an absolute lie. In fact, he was chastised by the hospital staff for being too demanding in her care. He had someone come in every day to change her clothes, do her makeup and make sure she was cleaned regularly until the hospital told him to knock it off. They were feeling as if they weren't doing enough. So, shut it about that.Yes, he does have a girlfriend and they do have children. Gasp. Oh my. He has not allowed divorce so that he may stay in control of what he feels are Terri's wishes. I don't know the veracity of it, neither do you. So, shut it about that as well. I will if you do. The fact that he has a girlfriend I can't complain about. He has lived in this situation for a long time. He has been told by every physician that Terri will never regain consciousness or any cognitive state remotely approximating that of a human. I understand. You should, too. After all, didn't you try to kill yourself when your wife filed for divorce? In a way, it's somewhat the same. Please prove the following (which you wrote)by providing your sources (credible or not) to me:
"Michael Schiavo is 6'-3" tall and weighs 250-pounds. Here is reported evidence of abuse concerning Terri: Terri's medical records show multiple broken bones. When she collapsed in 1990 he failed to perform CPR. He has had her medical records sealed -- even from Terri's parents. Seven months after receiving $1.3-million for Terri's medical care, Michael prohibited antibiotics for infection which could have killed Terri (1993 & 1995). Despite medical records and witness reports that Terri is responsive, Michael has not allowed therapy since receiving the cash. He has prevented swallowing tests, despite medical testimony that Terri can be taught to eat. Ordered caretakers not to clean Terri's teeth (five teeth removed in 2004). Since 2000, refuses to allow Terri to leave her room. Refuses to fix her wheelchair. Orders the window shades down at all times in Terri's room, denying natural sunlight. Removed family photos from Terri's room, denies flowers, won't allow her to hear music. Won't allow visitors unless approved by him. Denied visits by her parents for eight-months. Denies all requests for Terri to attend nursing home functions and refuses to allow therapeutic animals to visit, knowing she is an animal lover."
I can access articles and testimonies which refute each and every one of these assertions. Let me know how you come by your beliefs.
Sincerely,Joel Dyer
I have a few words for you, Bo. You have not done your homework before jumping on the "Save Terri" bandwagon. First of all, she IS in a coma. While her eyes do open from time to time (which is normal for comatose patients-it's an involuntary reflex of the muscles) she does not recognize anyone. Both private and court-appointed physicians have attested to this. And don't start talking about any conspiracy. It's Jeb Bush's state after all. She is not able to swallow, which just might explain the feeding tube. Were she able to swallow on her own, I think this would be a different story. But she can't. She CAN breathe on her own. That has never been a question. Michael Schiavo seems to love her very much and has maintained that she told him she would not want to live this way. Neither you or I can dispute that. He's either lying or not. But neither of us were there and I would rather trust that they loved each other enough to share their wants. Of course, you seem to be attracted to any kind of public division that will garner you a camera in your face. How're the Freemen doing by the way? As for Terri, she was deprived under suspicious circumstances of oxygen? She was already comatose. Her husband then "dis-allowed" corrective action? Explain, please. Are you accusing him of wanting her estate as soon as she fell ill and comatose? Did he connive at such an early date? Is this all it's about in your eyes? A man wanting money as opposed to an end to his wife's vegetative state? By the way, your assertion that Michael is refusing to allow the brushing of her teeth is an absolute lie. In fact, he was chastised by the hospital staff for being too demanding in her care. He had someone come in every day to change her clothes, do her makeup and make sure she was cleaned regularly until the hospital told him to knock it off. They were feeling as if they weren't doing enough. So, shut it about that.Yes, he does have a girlfriend and they do have children. Gasp. Oh my. He has not allowed divorce so that he may stay in control of what he feels are Terri's wishes. I don't know the veracity of it, neither do you. So, shut it about that as well. I will if you do. The fact that he has a girlfriend I can't complain about. He has lived in this situation for a long time. He has been told by every physician that Terri will never regain consciousness or any cognitive state remotely approximating that of a human. I understand. You should, too. After all, didn't you try to kill yourself when your wife filed for divorce? In a way, it's somewhat the same. Please prove the following (which you wrote)by providing your sources (credible or not) to me:
"Michael Schiavo is 6'-3" tall and weighs 250-pounds. Here is reported evidence of abuse concerning Terri: Terri's medical records show multiple broken bones. When she collapsed in 1990 he failed to perform CPR. He has had her medical records sealed -- even from Terri's parents. Seven months after receiving $1.3-million for Terri's medical care, Michael prohibited antibiotics for infection which could have killed Terri (1993 & 1995). Despite medical records and witness reports that Terri is responsive, Michael has not allowed therapy since receiving the cash. He has prevented swallowing tests, despite medical testimony that Terri can be taught to eat. Ordered caretakers not to clean Terri's teeth (five teeth removed in 2004). Since 2000, refuses to allow Terri to leave her room. Refuses to fix her wheelchair. Orders the window shades down at all times in Terri's room, denying natural sunlight. Removed family photos from Terri's room, denies flowers, won't allow her to hear music. Won't allow visitors unless approved by him. Denied visits by her parents for eight-months. Denies all requests for Terri to attend nursing home functions and refuses to allow therapeutic animals to visit, knowing she is an animal lover."
I can access articles and testimonies which refute each and every one of these assertions. Let me know how you come by your beliefs.
Sincerely,Joel Dyer
First, We Kill All of the Embryos...
I'll just highlight what I perceive to be the main idiocy here. And mention that I found the Republican "insult" to not be insulting at all. We live in an era of "you're not allowed to talk about what my grandfather went through if I don't agree with you politically and I'll call you a racist/bigot/sexist/philanderer/chauvinist/whatever, because your toes are touching the grass I call hallowed". Hence my reticence to possibly malign the idiots who live in cellophane houses and piss on those of us "unlucky" enough to have witnessed the Holocaust (not that I did, I'm 40). I can still reference Tonya Harding, can't I?
Friday, March 18, 2005 · Last updated 4:49 p.m. PT
Republican leader apologizes for Holocaust remarks during stem cell debate
By REBECCA COOK ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State House Minority Leader Bruce Chandler apologized Friday for remarks other Republicans made earlier in the week comparing embryonic stem cell research to the Holocaust.
"The references made to the Holocaust were regarded by some, understandably, as insensitive and inappropriate," Chandler, R-Granger, said on the House floor.
However, one of the representatives who made such a comparison said he did not mean to disparage the mass murder of Jews in Hitler's Germany, and saw no reason to apologize personally.
Chandler said he'd spoken with Jewish community leaders about the stem cell debate. "I offer my apologies to them and to people who have committed their lives to using science to improve humanity."
Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, D-Normandy Park, who sponsored the bill endorsing embryonic stem cell research and who is Jewish, said she believed Chandler's apology was heartfelt, sincere and appropriate.
"We need to take this as an opportunity now to continue to educate and inform," Schual-Berke said.
"I don't know anyone who thinks the horrible events of the Holocaust were anything but an affront to humanity," she added. Comparing the murder of 6 million Jews to stem cell research, she said, "is just unthinkable."
Schual-Berke's bill passed by a vote of 59-36 in the House after an emotional, sometimes tearful debate late Tuesday night. A couple of Republican representatives - not Chandler - referred very obliquely to the Holocaust, but Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, drew the most direct comparison.
"Life sciences, biotech research - it sounds warm, sounds progressive. The potential is there, we hope, we're betting on it," Anderson said Tuesday on the House floor. "But the cold look of history really does require sobriety. Sixty years ago in Nazi Germany, it was state policy in order to perfect humanity it would be required to destroy humanity. And the medical experiments at Auschwitz were carried out for that explicit purpose. We all say no, that's not us, that would never happen, that's not why we're doing this." [blogger's note: I actually like the tone of care given here. He states later that he voted in favor of the law, but asks for vigilance so that this research will not be abused. It is exactly what I argued for here in California while getting ready to vote for our own embryonic stem cell research law.]
Schual-Berke leapt to her feet and objected, and House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, quickly called for a break to let both sides cool off. They returned about 15 minutes later and passed the bill after more debate.
The embryonic stem cells in question come from human embryos created through in-vitro fertilization. The embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted. Researchers believe this research may someday lead to cures for diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes.
Anderson did not apologize on Friday, and told reporters he saw no need to do so. He voted for the stem cell bill, and said he meant his comments as a warning that as Washington state encourages stem cell research with its possible applications of genetic engineering, it should not "drift down that road" that led to the Holocaust.
"This is not about any diminishment of that experience," Anderson said. "It's about actually honoring that experience as we move forward."
Comments such as Anderson's trivialize the Holocaust, said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. The Holocaust was a uniquely horrific event, he said, so any comparison inevitably cheapens the memory. [blogger's note: If it's so damned unique I think you should be glad to have people reference it in order to keep its memory alive. But it seems you want it all for yourselves. An anti-Semite might agree with you and tell you to keep Christ's death as well.]
"I understand people use it to get the shock effect," Foxman said. "Either they are totally ignorant about what the Holocaust was all about, or they're insensitive, or they're bigoted." [Blogger's note:No, we are not all any of the above. Quit claiming sole ownership to something that affected many more people than just you and yours. I understand the Holocaust, I know what happened and why. I am not insensitive. But i know a need when I see one to relate the horrors of that experience to what may now be going on or to help show the dangers of what could happen to something in the now if we don't take heed and guard against it.]
Foxman said he believes inappropriate references to the Holocaust are becoming more common as the event recedes into history and connections to actual Holocaust survivors and victims fade over time. [Blogger's note: Inappropriate references may be popping up more frequently. I don't know. I think i've seen racists and bigots misuse the Holocaust fairly evenly throughout my 40 years in terms of frequency. What I do know is inappropriate defense of the memory is popping up much more frequently. As if the farther certain segments of our society get from the actuality of the event, the more afraid they get of their children forgetting it. That may be so. I don't know. But it doesn't make a case for condemning others for using it as a learning or warning tool.]
Earlier this month the Anti-Defamation League criticized U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., for comparing a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering to the tactics Hitler used in his rise to power. [Blogger's note: Again, why the bristling? Did Byrd bring up the Holocaust? Evidently not. He brought up certain fascist attempts to exert power at the expense of the people and the nation. The Anti-Defamation League does have a problem with Byrd rooted in history. Byrd has not always been the champion of civil rights. But he has, in recent years, stood up and apologized for it and promised to make up for it. Let it go and listen to what he is saying. He is comparing the current Republican party to the Nazis- an accusation I could make after 30 minutes on the Internet.]
Washington state Jewish leaders plan a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday to emphasize that the Holocaust shouldn't be used as a rhetorical device.
"We're going to try to use this as an educational opportunity," said Remy Trupin, lobbyist for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. "You're talking about science, about a bill, and you're talking about the systematic extermination of the Jewish people and of other people. You have to be very careful with that history and honor that history."[You should also be careful about appropriating history for yourself and locking everyone else out. There are many instances throughout recorded and unrecorded history that are as horrific and worse. The only people I hear whining about theft of pain is the German Jew. That reads as callous, but it is not from where I sit. I will never forget what happened. I will always tell what I know to those who don't. But I hate it when anyone puts up fences around a memory and says "hands off".]
Friday, March 18, 2005 · Last updated 4:49 p.m. PT
Republican leader apologizes for Holocaust remarks during stem cell debate
By REBECCA COOK ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- State House Minority Leader Bruce Chandler apologized Friday for remarks other Republicans made earlier in the week comparing embryonic stem cell research to the Holocaust.
"The references made to the Holocaust were regarded by some, understandably, as insensitive and inappropriate," Chandler, R-Granger, said on the House floor.
However, one of the representatives who made such a comparison said he did not mean to disparage the mass murder of Jews in Hitler's Germany, and saw no reason to apologize personally.
Chandler said he'd spoken with Jewish community leaders about the stem cell debate. "I offer my apologies to them and to people who have committed their lives to using science to improve humanity."
Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, D-Normandy Park, who sponsored the bill endorsing embryonic stem cell research and who is Jewish, said she believed Chandler's apology was heartfelt, sincere and appropriate.
"We need to take this as an opportunity now to continue to educate and inform," Schual-Berke said.
"I don't know anyone who thinks the horrible events of the Holocaust were anything but an affront to humanity," she added. Comparing the murder of 6 million Jews to stem cell research, she said, "is just unthinkable."
Schual-Berke's bill passed by a vote of 59-36 in the House after an emotional, sometimes tearful debate late Tuesday night. A couple of Republican representatives - not Chandler - referred very obliquely to the Holocaust, but Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, drew the most direct comparison.
"Life sciences, biotech research - it sounds warm, sounds progressive. The potential is there, we hope, we're betting on it," Anderson said Tuesday on the House floor. "But the cold look of history really does require sobriety. Sixty years ago in Nazi Germany, it was state policy in order to perfect humanity it would be required to destroy humanity. And the medical experiments at Auschwitz were carried out for that explicit purpose. We all say no, that's not us, that would never happen, that's not why we're doing this." [blogger's note: I actually like the tone of care given here. He states later that he voted in favor of the law, but asks for vigilance so that this research will not be abused. It is exactly what I argued for here in California while getting ready to vote for our own embryonic stem cell research law.]
Schual-Berke leapt to her feet and objected, and House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, quickly called for a break to let both sides cool off. They returned about 15 minutes later and passed the bill after more debate.
The embryonic stem cells in question come from human embryos created through in-vitro fertilization. The embryos are destroyed when stem cells are extracted. Researchers believe this research may someday lead to cures for diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes.
Anderson did not apologize on Friday, and told reporters he saw no need to do so. He voted for the stem cell bill, and said he meant his comments as a warning that as Washington state encourages stem cell research with its possible applications of genetic engineering, it should not "drift down that road" that led to the Holocaust.
"This is not about any diminishment of that experience," Anderson said. "It's about actually honoring that experience as we move forward."
Comments such as Anderson's trivialize the Holocaust, said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. The Holocaust was a uniquely horrific event, he said, so any comparison inevitably cheapens the memory. [blogger's note: If it's so damned unique I think you should be glad to have people reference it in order to keep its memory alive. But it seems you want it all for yourselves. An anti-Semite might agree with you and tell you to keep Christ's death as well.]
"I understand people use it to get the shock effect," Foxman said. "Either they are totally ignorant about what the Holocaust was all about, or they're insensitive, or they're bigoted." [Blogger's note:No, we are not all any of the above. Quit claiming sole ownership to something that affected many more people than just you and yours. I understand the Holocaust, I know what happened and why. I am not insensitive. But i know a need when I see one to relate the horrors of that experience to what may now be going on or to help show the dangers of what could happen to something in the now if we don't take heed and guard against it.]
Foxman said he believes inappropriate references to the Holocaust are becoming more common as the event recedes into history and connections to actual Holocaust survivors and victims fade over time. [Blogger's note: Inappropriate references may be popping up more frequently. I don't know. I think i've seen racists and bigots misuse the Holocaust fairly evenly throughout my 40 years in terms of frequency. What I do know is inappropriate defense of the memory is popping up much more frequently. As if the farther certain segments of our society get from the actuality of the event, the more afraid they get of their children forgetting it. That may be so. I don't know. But it doesn't make a case for condemning others for using it as a learning or warning tool.]
Earlier this month the Anti-Defamation League criticized U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., for comparing a Senate GOP plan to block Democrats from filibustering to the tactics Hitler used in his rise to power. [Blogger's note: Again, why the bristling? Did Byrd bring up the Holocaust? Evidently not. He brought up certain fascist attempts to exert power at the expense of the people and the nation. The Anti-Defamation League does have a problem with Byrd rooted in history. Byrd has not always been the champion of civil rights. But he has, in recent years, stood up and apologized for it and promised to make up for it. Let it go and listen to what he is saying. He is comparing the current Republican party to the Nazis- an accusation I could make after 30 minutes on the Internet.]
Washington state Jewish leaders plan a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday to emphasize that the Holocaust shouldn't be used as a rhetorical device.
"We're going to try to use this as an educational opportunity," said Remy Trupin, lobbyist for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. "You're talking about science, about a bill, and you're talking about the systematic extermination of the Jewish people and of other people. You have to be very careful with that history and honor that history."[You should also be careful about appropriating history for yourself and locking everyone else out. There are many instances throughout recorded and unrecorded history that are as horrific and worse. The only people I hear whining about theft of pain is the German Jew. That reads as callous, but it is not from where I sit. I will never forget what happened. I will always tell what I know to those who don't. But I hate it when anyone puts up fences around a memory and says "hands off".]
Works-based Salvation? Huh? As in "do as I would do"?
I gotta stop drinking and surfing. The waves are getting choppy indeed. By the way, this article speaks for itself. As for me, I'm still trying to figure out how Donald Rumsfeld can say that "old Europe" denigrates no one over there (another article).
Mar 19, 2005 : 8:38 am ET
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A church has withdrawn its support for a food pantry serving the needy because the pantry works with Roman Catholics.
Central Church of God explained its decision in a letter March 1 from minister of evangelism Shannon Burton to Loaves & Fishes in Charlotte.
"As a Christian church, we feel it is our responsibility to follow closely the (principles) and commands of Scripture," the letter said.
"To do this best, we feel we should abstain from any ministry that partners with or promotes Catholicism, or for that matter, any other denomination promoting a works-based salvation."
Loaves & Fishes isn't the only ministry with which the large church has cut ties, and Catholics have not been the only reason they've given.
The Rev. Tony Marciano, executive director of Charlotte Rescue Mission, said Burton told him the church could no longer support the agency after it allowed three Muslim students from UNC Charlotte to help serve a meal.
Doug Hartjes, director of development for Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte, said Central Church of God told them it will not provide financial support this year. Crisis Assistance provides emergency financial aid and other help to people.
Hartjes said 200 congregations representing Christian, Jewish and other faiths donate money and volunteer time, as do people with no religious affiliation.
The church also ended funding for Love Inc., which provides services for the poor, elderly and disabled in Mecklenburg County.
Anna Burton, a spokesperson for Central Church of God and the minister's wife, said church leaders decline comment, letting the letter speak for itself. She said there was no animosity toward any of the organizations.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte released a statement Friday, saying, "This apparent attempt to divide the faith community is most unfortunate."
With some 6,000 members, Central Church of God is known for its huge crowds and electrifying sermons by the Rev. Loran Livingston.
Mar 19, 2005 : 8:38 am ET
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A church has withdrawn its support for a food pantry serving the needy because the pantry works with Roman Catholics.
Central Church of God explained its decision in a letter March 1 from minister of evangelism Shannon Burton to Loaves & Fishes in Charlotte.
"As a Christian church, we feel it is our responsibility to follow closely the (principles) and commands of Scripture," the letter said.
"To do this best, we feel we should abstain from any ministry that partners with or promotes Catholicism, or for that matter, any other denomination promoting a works-based salvation."
Loaves & Fishes isn't the only ministry with which the large church has cut ties, and Catholics have not been the only reason they've given.
The Rev. Tony Marciano, executive director of Charlotte Rescue Mission, said Burton told him the church could no longer support the agency after it allowed three Muslim students from UNC Charlotte to help serve a meal.
Doug Hartjes, director of development for Crisis Assistance Ministry in Charlotte, said Central Church of God told them it will not provide financial support this year. Crisis Assistance provides emergency financial aid and other help to people.
Hartjes said 200 congregations representing Christian, Jewish and other faiths donate money and volunteer time, as do people with no religious affiliation.
The church also ended funding for Love Inc., which provides services for the poor, elderly and disabled in Mecklenburg County.
Anna Burton, a spokesperson for Central Church of God and the minister's wife, said church leaders decline comment, letting the letter speak for itself. She said there was no animosity toward any of the organizations.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte released a statement Friday, saying, "This apparent attempt to divide the faith community is most unfortunate."
With some 6,000 members, Central Church of God is known for its huge crowds and electrifying sermons by the Rev. Loran Livingston.
Ahem...I did announce in my very first post that I wouldn't write unless I was imbibing. Today, I broke that promise. I would like to apologize to all none of you reading this and make up for it right now. The following article is enough to make me drink (if i wasn't already):
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=595860
---"Bush mentioned Saddam's use of chemical weapons in the past, but not the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons — a key U.S. prewar justification for military action — that were not found after the invasion.
"On this day two years ago, we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to disarm a brutal regime, free its people, and defend the world from a grave danger," Bush said.
"We knew of Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew of his long history of pursuing, even using, weapons of mass destruction, and we know that September the 11th requires our country to think differently," he said.
"We must, and we will, confront threats to America before they fully materialize," Bush said. "Now, because we acted, Iraq's government is no longer a threat to the world or its own people."---
...Yeah. What he forgot to mention was that he and his boys had a plan in place before 9/11 to take out Saddam and were actively working on putting it into action. He forget to mention his very callous comment about "winning the Trifecta" after 9/11, because the event allowed him to declare war without Congress's approval, circumnavigate our civil liberties and take ownership of all monies not being used for a military build-up.
And when did Saddam retake his role as uber-boogeyman? He had been proven to be a toothless tiger (except to his political opponents inside Iraq). He beat up and had killed large numbers of his fellow countrymen (we do the same thing, but more slowly with the aid of regressive and repressive laws that make the bleeding barely noticeable). BUT Saddam had NO weapons of mass destruction, he was not involved with al-quaeda, he was not successfully pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Remember the "yellow cake" incident? The so-called evidence was forged (think Bush's national Guard papers that got Dan Rather screwed). Remember the drone planes that we were told were capable of loosing a nuclear weapon on our soil within 45 minutes? They couldn't fly more than 500 miles and weren't capable of carrying the kind of weight required for a nuclear missile. Remember the guy who exposed the "yellow cake" fiasco? His wife's undercover CIA status was leaked to the Press by our government as retaliation (but I digress).
Remember how the majority of Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 were convinced that Saddam was 100% responsible for it? Guess what: they still do. Why? Because Bush and group won't give up on it. They have given out "proof" that they say is definitive. Every time their "proof" is struck down as false. Remember when Colin Powell went before the UN and argued that Iraq could kill us all? Remember when Condoleeza Rice talked of the "mushroom cloud" as did Rumsfeld, Bush and Ashcroft? Remember when the UN agency in charge of maintaining monitors on Iraq and its weapons manufacturing said just before our invasion that the sanctions were working? And, then, they were told to get out by us? Remember how our government spun that to suggest that it was Saddam's fault that the UN workers were almost put in harm's way? Saddam had caved in to us and the UN a month before we invaded. But we didn't care, because we wanted a war. We needed to kill in order to revenge the 9/11 victims and our government needed a war, because Bush's poll numbers were in the tank (remember when he said he never read poll numbers? Remember when he said he disdained them? Remember when he called the tens of millions protesting the invasion across the world as a "focus group" not to be taken seriously?).
Remember when? Do you?
Do you, also, remember Tom DeLay's legal problems? Do you remember that he has had his hand slapped three times within the last year or so for improprieties? Do you remember his involvement with the Texas redistricting scam? As a Congressional head? Getting involved with state politics?
Do you remember the Enron scandal and Vice President Cheney's refusal to disclose which energy companys' hatchetmen were at the meetings he held? And that he said disclosure would somehow compromise national security? Do you remember the California energy crisis and the emails found that suggested it was a set-up by the energy companies to create a fake crisis and, thereby, drive their profits to obscene heights? Remember "let grandma burn"?
Do you remember how we crucified Bill Clinton for getting his knob polished while on the clock? Do you? Because, if you do, you seem to have developed a late sense of amnesia or forgiveness for these types of transgressions.
Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Thompson, et al have proven themselves to be the biggest group of liars in the history of our country. Some say since the Nixon administration. I say, no. Nixon got caught and his fellow liars rolled on him for much less. This ain't gonna happen this time. We have become too pacific in nature, We have become so jaded that we just accept they are liars and shrug our shoulders. We ask what we as individuals can do. And it's pathetic. We used to believe our vote counted. We used to believe in standing up to the powers-that-be and make them account for their deeds. We used to...
Now, we accept "fair and balanced" to be the unvarnished truth. We accept that Janet Jackson's tittie (what we saw of it after repeated internet searches. don't shake your head, most of us went looking, because we missed it on the live feed) as the ultimate arbiter of communications decency. Never mind that we let a guy smack his wife around on "Amazing Journey". Don't worry about the dog-eat-dog ethics of "Survivor". Let's focus on a breast, a Super Bowl commercial, and the fact that "Saving Private Ryan" wasn't be aired by a host of network television stations, because it includes "indecent" language that is used in context in the movie and is used hourly by teenagers in front of their own parents. Let's focus on the rights we have lost, the inability we've been told we have to come to our own conclusions regarding what is acceptable and what isn't.
Aw, the hell with it. let's focus on the next war game coming to us on the XBox, because it's not really about killing. It's about hand/eye coordination. Right?
Remember when Pong was destroying the next generation? Neither do I.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=595860
---"Bush mentioned Saddam's use of chemical weapons in the past, but not the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons — a key U.S. prewar justification for military action — that were not found after the invasion.
"On this day two years ago, we launched Operation Iraqi Freedom to disarm a brutal regime, free its people, and defend the world from a grave danger," Bush said.
"We knew of Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew of his long history of pursuing, even using, weapons of mass destruction, and we know that September the 11th requires our country to think differently," he said.
"We must, and we will, confront threats to America before they fully materialize," Bush said. "Now, because we acted, Iraq's government is no longer a threat to the world or its own people."---
...Yeah. What he forgot to mention was that he and his boys had a plan in place before 9/11 to take out Saddam and were actively working on putting it into action. He forget to mention his very callous comment about "winning the Trifecta" after 9/11, because the event allowed him to declare war without Congress's approval, circumnavigate our civil liberties and take ownership of all monies not being used for a military build-up.
And when did Saddam retake his role as uber-boogeyman? He had been proven to be a toothless tiger (except to his political opponents inside Iraq). He beat up and had killed large numbers of his fellow countrymen (we do the same thing, but more slowly with the aid of regressive and repressive laws that make the bleeding barely noticeable). BUT Saddam had NO weapons of mass destruction, he was not involved with al-quaeda, he was not successfully pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Remember the "yellow cake" incident? The so-called evidence was forged (think Bush's national Guard papers that got Dan Rather screwed). Remember the drone planes that we were told were capable of loosing a nuclear weapon on our soil within 45 minutes? They couldn't fly more than 500 miles and weren't capable of carrying the kind of weight required for a nuclear missile. Remember the guy who exposed the "yellow cake" fiasco? His wife's undercover CIA status was leaked to the Press by our government as retaliation (but I digress).
Remember how the majority of Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 were convinced that Saddam was 100% responsible for it? Guess what: they still do. Why? Because Bush and group won't give up on it. They have given out "proof" that they say is definitive. Every time their "proof" is struck down as false. Remember when Colin Powell went before the UN and argued that Iraq could kill us all? Remember when Condoleeza Rice talked of the "mushroom cloud" as did Rumsfeld, Bush and Ashcroft? Remember when the UN agency in charge of maintaining monitors on Iraq and its weapons manufacturing said just before our invasion that the sanctions were working? And, then, they were told to get out by us? Remember how our government spun that to suggest that it was Saddam's fault that the UN workers were almost put in harm's way? Saddam had caved in to us and the UN a month before we invaded. But we didn't care, because we wanted a war. We needed to kill in order to revenge the 9/11 victims and our government needed a war, because Bush's poll numbers were in the tank (remember when he said he never read poll numbers? Remember when he said he disdained them? Remember when he called the tens of millions protesting the invasion across the world as a "focus group" not to be taken seriously?).
Remember when? Do you?
Do you, also, remember Tom DeLay's legal problems? Do you remember that he has had his hand slapped three times within the last year or so for improprieties? Do you remember his involvement with the Texas redistricting scam? As a Congressional head? Getting involved with state politics?
Do you remember the Enron scandal and Vice President Cheney's refusal to disclose which energy companys' hatchetmen were at the meetings he held? And that he said disclosure would somehow compromise national security? Do you remember the California energy crisis and the emails found that suggested it was a set-up by the energy companies to create a fake crisis and, thereby, drive their profits to obscene heights? Remember "let grandma burn"?
Do you remember how we crucified Bill Clinton for getting his knob polished while on the clock? Do you? Because, if you do, you seem to have developed a late sense of amnesia or forgiveness for these types of transgressions.
Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Thompson, et al have proven themselves to be the biggest group of liars in the history of our country. Some say since the Nixon administration. I say, no. Nixon got caught and his fellow liars rolled on him for much less. This ain't gonna happen this time. We have become too pacific in nature, We have become so jaded that we just accept they are liars and shrug our shoulders. We ask what we as individuals can do. And it's pathetic. We used to believe our vote counted. We used to believe in standing up to the powers-that-be and make them account for their deeds. We used to...
Now, we accept "fair and balanced" to be the unvarnished truth. We accept that Janet Jackson's tittie (what we saw of it after repeated internet searches. don't shake your head, most of us went looking, because we missed it on the live feed) as the ultimate arbiter of communications decency. Never mind that we let a guy smack his wife around on "Amazing Journey". Don't worry about the dog-eat-dog ethics of "Survivor". Let's focus on a breast, a Super Bowl commercial, and the fact that "Saving Private Ryan" wasn't be aired by a host of network television stations, because it includes "indecent" language that is used in context in the movie and is used hourly by teenagers in front of their own parents. Let's focus on the rights we have lost, the inability we've been told we have to come to our own conclusions regarding what is acceptable and what isn't.
Aw, the hell with it. let's focus on the next war game coming to us on the XBox, because it's not really about killing. It's about hand/eye coordination. Right?
Remember when Pong was destroying the next generation? Neither do I.
Compassion(?) Redux
As a postscript to the previous post, here is an article discussing Congress's heartwrenching and oh-so-compassionate attempt to win votes for the 2006 elections. Hey, vote for me. I wasted untold amounts of taxpayers' money to keep a person who is considered unsaveable breathing:
http://www.courant.com/hc-schiavo0320.artmar20,0,7981398.story
"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., stepped into a nearly empty chamber at 6:15 p.m. Saturday and said Congress "has been working nonstop over the last three days to do its part to uphold human dignity and affirm a culture of life."Frist said he is committed "to see this legislation pass and give Terri Schiavo one last chance at life.""
"Republican officials declared, in a memo that was supposed to be seen only by senators, that they believe their attention to the issue could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006."
These two quotes from the article particularly fill me with anxiety. Bill Frist wants to give Terri Schiavo a last chance at life? What the hell does that mean? How exactly does Frist define "life"? Breathing? Involuntary muscle spasms? Or is he perhaps cleverly disguising another meaning? Maybe he wants to give Terri one last chance at furthering his political life. I mean, really. This is the same politician who is in favor of .50 caliber guns being sold on the open market; a weapon that can kill at one mile, a weapon too heavy for most to hold thereby requiring a bi-pod.
Then there's the memo. Memo, memo, memo. It's this piece of paper that puts the reality of this whole mess in its proper light. "Pay dividends with Christian conservatives". Tom DeLay (whose last name is quite appropos in light of what he's trying to do with his career problems) has denied all knowledge and denounced it as disgusting. No one is coming forward to take credit for it. But everyone on Capitol Hill would agree that its truth is unassailable. And if I'm a Democrat, I'm jumping all over it as a way to encroach on the Republicans' turf come 2006.
And, in all of this, a White, Floridian woman continues to deteriorate with or without her feeding tube.
http://www.courant.com/hc-schiavo0320.artmar20,0,7981398.story
"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., stepped into a nearly empty chamber at 6:15 p.m. Saturday and said Congress "has been working nonstop over the last three days to do its part to uphold human dignity and affirm a culture of life."Frist said he is committed "to see this legislation pass and give Terri Schiavo one last chance at life.""
"Republican officials declared, in a memo that was supposed to be seen only by senators, that they believe their attention to the issue could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006."
These two quotes from the article particularly fill me with anxiety. Bill Frist wants to give Terri Schiavo a last chance at life? What the hell does that mean? How exactly does Frist define "life"? Breathing? Involuntary muscle spasms? Or is he perhaps cleverly disguising another meaning? Maybe he wants to give Terri one last chance at furthering his political life. I mean, really. This is the same politician who is in favor of .50 caliber guns being sold on the open market; a weapon that can kill at one mile, a weapon too heavy for most to hold thereby requiring a bi-pod.
Then there's the memo. Memo, memo, memo. It's this piece of paper that puts the reality of this whole mess in its proper light. "Pay dividends with Christian conservatives". Tom DeLay (whose last name is quite appropos in light of what he's trying to do with his career problems) has denied all knowledge and denounced it as disgusting. No one is coming forward to take credit for it. But everyone on Capitol Hill would agree that its truth is unassailable. And if I'm a Democrat, I'm jumping all over it as a way to encroach on the Republicans' turf come 2006.
And, in all of this, a White, Floridian woman continues to deteriorate with or without her feeding tube.
When Is Enough Too Much?
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7952284
As I write, Congress is supposedly in session (on a Sunday, no less) to pass a bill that would take the Terry Schiavo case out of the hands of the state of Florida and into those of the Federales. This is being supported by President Bush and it was instigated by politicians who are in fear of being seen as anything less than in favor of Life at any cost. Are you surprised? I'm not. In our climate of politics through fear, ignorance and repression we have arrived at a milepost: both Parties are willing to shed their priciples for any chance to curry favor with those special interests who can give or take away votes.
Also, has Bush rescinded his support for a Texas law that he signed into being while Governor of that state, which allowed for removal of feeding tubes by hospital staff against the wishes of the patient's family? I can find no evidence that he has. I can find no evidence, either, that a member of the Press has bothered to ask him about this. Perhaps, it's a different situation morally when the family in Texas can't pay for the continuation of a person's life, because that's what that law is, in part, based on. If you're poor and your medical coverage runs out and the hospital says the patient is never going to get better, then it's time to yank life suport. The only difference between a Texas vegetable and a Florida vegetable seems to be the money factor. And, maybe, the fact that Florida voted for Bush and is governed by his brother. Maybe.
Ans why is this such a big story? Why has our nation become caught in its grip? It's a case of a single human whose cerebral cortex has literally turned to liquid and whose doctors (including court-appointed ones) have steadfastly maintained that recovery is not going to happen. In effect, the decision to let her die should be a no-brainer (yes, i wrote that one on purpose).
But here we are, transfixed as a nation, on what's going to happen. Here we are, while two wars rage on that we have no exit strategy for; while the government continues to repress any scientific information that does not gibe with its fantastical view of the world as brought to them by Ronco
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1358
and which can affect the health and lives of thousands, even millions; while the government continues to nominate radical activists to judgeships, World Bank seats, UN and Iraq ambassadorships, etc.
By the way, does anyone know the score of the Clinton v. Bush nomination defeats? Under Bush, the Dems have defeated ten nominees. Under Clinton, the Reps defeated them in the hundreds. And, yet, the Reps are screaming about ending filibusters and using the "nuclear option" if the Dems won't stop being so damned partisan. And, instead of finding new nominees to replace the ones the Dems rejected, Bush is recycling them. He's bringing almost all of them back for a second try now that he feels he has the votes to get them by Congress.
And the Dems? Well, a few of them are crying "foul" about this and the many other infractions commited by the Reps and Bush, but most of them are too busy voting for protection of the credit card companies and the medical establishment (both of which make it almost impossible for a normal, working-class citizen to exact justice and claim protection from these huge corporate special interest groups).
But back to Terry. Because that's what we really want to know about. Right? Screw the Iraqis and soldiers dying in Iraq. Screw the Afghani women we were sworn to protect and give new rights to (which we no longer are now that attention is elsewhere). Screw the Asian victims of the recent tsunami (our government, so far, has given less than 5% of what it promised for emergency aid. It seems to have stopped right about the time that the Indonesian government informed ours that it would not allow our military to use its airspace for Air Force "flight training" missions). Screw global warming. And (absolutely) give it up the poop shute to anyone who might argue that we are a less-than-all-compassionate culture. We're proving it by spending millions of dollars on one individual to answer that age-old moral question: when is a vegetable not a vegetable? In our current climate, most likely the answer would be: when it's a fruit.
As I write, Congress is supposedly in session (on a Sunday, no less) to pass a bill that would take the Terry Schiavo case out of the hands of the state of Florida and into those of the Federales. This is being supported by President Bush and it was instigated by politicians who are in fear of being seen as anything less than in favor of Life at any cost. Are you surprised? I'm not. In our climate of politics through fear, ignorance and repression we have arrived at a milepost: both Parties are willing to shed their priciples for any chance to curry favor with those special interests who can give or take away votes.
Also, has Bush rescinded his support for a Texas law that he signed into being while Governor of that state, which allowed for removal of feeding tubes by hospital staff against the wishes of the patient's family? I can find no evidence that he has. I can find no evidence, either, that a member of the Press has bothered to ask him about this. Perhaps, it's a different situation morally when the family in Texas can't pay for the continuation of a person's life, because that's what that law is, in part, based on. If you're poor and your medical coverage runs out and the hospital says the patient is never going to get better, then it's time to yank life suport. The only difference between a Texas vegetable and a Florida vegetable seems to be the money factor. And, maybe, the fact that Florida voted for Bush and is governed by his brother. Maybe.
Ans why is this such a big story? Why has our nation become caught in its grip? It's a case of a single human whose cerebral cortex has literally turned to liquid and whose doctors (including court-appointed ones) have steadfastly maintained that recovery is not going to happen. In effect, the decision to let her die should be a no-brainer (yes, i wrote that one on purpose).
But here we are, transfixed as a nation, on what's going to happen. Here we are, while two wars rage on that we have no exit strategy for; while the government continues to repress any scientific information that does not gibe with its fantastical view of the world as brought to them by Ronco
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1358
and which can affect the health and lives of thousands, even millions; while the government continues to nominate radical activists to judgeships, World Bank seats, UN and Iraq ambassadorships, etc.
By the way, does anyone know the score of the Clinton v. Bush nomination defeats? Under Bush, the Dems have defeated ten nominees. Under Clinton, the Reps defeated them in the hundreds. And, yet, the Reps are screaming about ending filibusters and using the "nuclear option" if the Dems won't stop being so damned partisan. And, instead of finding new nominees to replace the ones the Dems rejected, Bush is recycling them. He's bringing almost all of them back for a second try now that he feels he has the votes to get them by Congress.
And the Dems? Well, a few of them are crying "foul" about this and the many other infractions commited by the Reps and Bush, but most of them are too busy voting for protection of the credit card companies and the medical establishment (both of which make it almost impossible for a normal, working-class citizen to exact justice and claim protection from these huge corporate special interest groups).
But back to Terry. Because that's what we really want to know about. Right? Screw the Iraqis and soldiers dying in Iraq. Screw the Afghani women we were sworn to protect and give new rights to (which we no longer are now that attention is elsewhere). Screw the Asian victims of the recent tsunami (our government, so far, has given less than 5% of what it promised for emergency aid. It seems to have stopped right about the time that the Indonesian government informed ours that it would not allow our military to use its airspace for Air Force "flight training" missions). Screw global warming. And (absolutely) give it up the poop shute to anyone who might argue that we are a less-than-all-compassionate culture. We're proving it by spending millions of dollars on one individual to answer that age-old moral question: when is a vegetable not a vegetable? In our current climate, most likely the answer would be: when it's a fruit.
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