Pay the Money or the Kid Dies!

Is there no end to the despicable behavior of the life for cash profit oriented hospitals? It used to be when someone held your loved one hostage; they would cut the ransom note from old magazines and glue them to a nondescript piece of paper. Nowadays, it seems more convenient to use an insurance document. ABC13 Eyewitness News in Houston, TX reports the story of little Knya Dismute-Howard who was diagnosed with leukemia just weeks after her birth. Five months old now, it seems that her time is up! Not because God has chosen to call her to His kingdom, but because there are no more pieces of silver left.

Her parents have 10 days to find another hospital for Knya or her medical care will stop. "We will not give up," said Charles Howard, the baby's father. "We are going all the way."
"Her mind is fully there," said the baby's mother, Tamiko Dismuke-Howard. "She knows when we are there. I can't give up because she won't give up."

Jesus told us that the poor and sick would always be with us. Some people seem to have other designs for our society. Is this a way to eliminate both by the same policy?

Thanks to Hyscience and BlogsForTerri for the Hat Tip.

A special thanks to Tom at Time Hath Found Us for a related editorial.

Right Wing Nut Job


TIME TO PULL OUT THE MEDIA EMAIL LIST:

Rush@EIBNet.com, kherman@statesman.com, 19Latest@daily.misleader.org, greenpartyusa@igc.org, pjnyden@wvgazette.com, ellengoodman@globe.com, shadowland@newsweek.com, news@reedbusiness.com, MyWord@FoxNews.com, REvans@mercurynews.com, JHubner@Mercurynews.com, prez@usa-exile.org, Malibunews@malibutimes.com, Margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com, FNS@FoxNews.com, Beltway@FoxNews.com, Hannity@FoxNews.com, Colmes@FoxNews.com, alan@alan.com, jim.mills@foxnews.com, Newswatch@FoxNews.com, Oreilly@FoxNews.com, Special@Foxnews.com, latenight@nbc.com, tdp@nt.net, Newswatch@foxnews.com, letters@nypost.com, Moneyline@CNN.com, cushman@nytimes.com, abramsreport@msnbc.com, Hardball@MSNBC.com, evening@cbsnews.com, weekends@cbsnews.com, Questions@MSNBC.com, Joe@msnbc.com, Imus@MSNBC.com, Question@msnbc.com, Nightly@NBC.com, MTP@NBC.com, Crossfire@cnn.com, Wolf@CNN.com, CapReport@cnbc.com, Reliable@cnn.com, newsroom@bergen.com, Jeff.newsstand@cnn.com, Rwallace@herald.com, Arobinson@herald.com, babingtonc@washpost.com, newhnews@ncia.net, Letters@prospect.org, letters@cmonitor.com, inquirer.letters@phillynews.com, letters@detnews.com, DYJackson@tribune.com, ddefenoyl@globeandmail.ca, valley@latimes.com, business@latimes.com, ventura@latimes.com, metrodesk@latimes.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, the-arts@nytimes.com, bizday@nytimes.com, metro@nytimes.com, national@nytimes.com, washington@nytimes.com, online.editor@thetimes.co.uk, rcribb@thestar.ca, foreign.news@thetimes.co.uk, dbrazao@thestar.ca, ldiebel@thestar.ca, 2020@abc.com, thisweek@abc.com, nightline@abcnews.com , mike@mikemalloy.com, rrhodes@airamericaradio.com, info@alternativeradio.org , info@alternet.org, talk2us@americasblackforum.com, feedback@ap.org, msilverman@ap.org, rfournier@ap.org, hunt@ap.org, bsenftleber@ajc.com, bsteiden@ajc.com, hklibanoff@ajc.com, rnarayanan@ajc.com, atrios@comcast.net, newsonline@bbc.co.uk, anita@mindgallery.com, jfetzer@d.umn.edu, hprzybyla@bloomberg.net, hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net, ombud@globe.com, kcooper@globe.com, oliphant@globe.com, brelis@globe.com, lettersbwol@businessweek.com, richard_dunham@businessweek.com, buzzflash@buzzflash.com, query@cambridgeforum.org, 48hours@cbsnews.com, 60m@cbsnews.com, bpc@cbsnews.com, ftn@cbsnews.com, sundays@cbsnews.com, grain@cbsnews.com, aweathersbee@suntimes.com, cledbetter@suntimes.com, showcase@suntimes.com, jcruickshank@suntimes.com, sneed@suntimes.com, ddouglas@suntimes.com, rkemper@tribune.com, cgarrett@tribune.com, GWashburn@tribune.com, jzeleny@tribune.com, MPossley@tribune.com, jcrewdson@tribune.com, bmccauley@enquirer.com, dhorn@enquirer.com, jborgman@enquirer.com, jloven@ap.org, kcarroll@ap.org, npickler@ap.org, sjohnson@ap.org, cwarmbold@ajc.com, wilsonc@timesrecordnews.com, drudge@drudgereport.com, news@worldnetdaily.com, letters@worldnetdaily.com, Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com, me@glennbeck.com

Also: Contact Focus on the Family

Where Are You, George Greer?

Try this out:
1. Man strangles wife.
2. Wife suffers oxygen deprivation brain damage.
3. Wife receives food through feeding tube to stay alive.
4. Court considers removing tube.

Say, haven't we seen this story before? But now there is a new twist. According to a story published by ABC News International, it seems that in Melbourne, Australia, it is considered a crime to murder your wife and move in with a floozy. So unlike Michael Schiavo, who was being encouraged by the court of Judge George Greer to finish the job, Joe Korp is desperately trying to keep his wife, Maria alive. Oh what a difference a couple of hemispheres can make!

There is a brilliant stroke of logic that eluded the Jurist Marquis De Sade of Pinellas County. In the Land Down Under, Dr. Leslie Cannold, a bioethicist at the University of Melbourne openly questions whether Joe Korp is capable of acting in the best interests of his wife, Maria. She said Korp's husband "clearly has a conflict of interest" because he could face a murder charge if she dies.

But in the Pinellas County, Florida, U.S.A., that logic does not apply.

Right Wing Nut Job

John Mason is Guilty! But No Crime Committed.

The first story I read this morning has already upset me. Not the story, but the exacerbations of the feelings I had last night.

Jennifer Wilbanks, the bride-to-be from Duluth, Ga. is safe. That is really good news. She just got cold feet, staged an abduction - not very well, I might add, obviously faked, and ran away to Las Vegas, then Albuquerque.

Here is what really pisses me off. John Mason, her fiance, was already tried, convicted, and executed by the media for her murder. The Scott Peterson fiasco all over. The police say they had investigated thouroughly. What, didn't anybody bother to check the local bus depot? (Insert Napoleon Dynamite voice here - IDIOTS!). I believe that the police had already made up their minds that it was Mason and any evidence that didn't fit that theory would be disregarded.

Because Mr. Mason did not trust the police, he must be guilty. Because he wanted to have his lie detector test with the police videotaped, he must be up to some shenanighens. Because he has already hired an attorney, he must be a murderer. Not once, on any news story, did I hear anybody speak up and say there was insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed. Never did any reporter or analyst say that there is no reason to believe John Mason is guilty. The presumption of guilt makes me sick!

Right Wing Nut Job

Finally, From the HEART: I Found the Words About My Trip To Florida and How Terri Died for Me, Just as Christ Died for Me.....

My trip to Florida was NOTHING as I expected. I have often tried to write about it, but always failed to truly express what happened to me there. I could try again, reaching for every morsel of writing ability I have to ensure the piece be BETTER and MORE PROFOUND than the rest, but instead I have chosen to just share the spontaneity of what I really feel- brought on by the right questions, at the right time, by the right people. This is not a perfected piece- or even a writing that I have bothered to try and "fix" in order to make every word carry impact and meaning. It is just a sharing of my heart. It is a copy of the email I just sent to Bobby Schindler...


Bobby

We met in Tallahassee. I know you have met many people in the last few years, so let me just refresh your memory. I am a blogger- short- red hair- talk too much- and we got to chat again in the hotel restaurant....

I have thought many times of writing to you and your family about how much Terri meant to me, about how she changed my life, to offer sympathy.... but the pain was too fresh for words to ever convey..... I guess it is finally time...

I first heard about Terri through Glenn Beck. It was after 9/11 when I first started listening to talk radio. I listened to Neal Bortz (I late found out what a moron he is)- when he finally ticked me off enough by belittling my faith- I found Glenn..... it was fall of 2003.

There was a woman in a coma......or was she....and her husband wanted to starve and dehydrate her to death.....but yet- he wouldn't allow a swallow test- for fear she might choke? HUH? I learned more and more each day..... I wasn't all that familiar with Glenn yet, but when he started his BOBO the dog stunt- I knew something was amiss. This guy just seemed way too MORAL to do this, let alone too smart to BROADCAST IT. Then the day came and he made his point.....I was so PROUD! He had a listener FOR LIFE!

The days that Terri went without care in 1993 were hard to bear, forgive me- I know not nearly as hard for me as it was for your family. When Governor Bush stepped in and saved the day, I went back to my life. After all, this was just a "rare" case. But it ended well, and all was right in America again.....Forgive me for being so WRONG!

Fast forward to 2004. Election season is upon us, and the likes of John Kerry is staring me in the face. AAAAHHHHH! I am a single mother of 3. I hadn't seen nor heard from my husband in 3 years - my son is 14, my daughters are 5 and 3 (neither in school- so day care is astronomical). I am working myself through school by taking care of an elderly woman- I plan her meals- shop for her, cook for her, make sure she is bathed, wash her hair, invite her friends over for birthday parties, etc. I also care for a man paralyzed form the waist down. Clean his house. I mow lawns and scrub toilets for anyone who will let me. All while raising 3 kids (no father taking them every other weekend. Just me- 24/7, 365- for 3 years- no child support). I somehow earn a 4.0 the whole way through school, and now have been named student of the year. I even went on to state competition and made the top 12. A man at my church asks me to run his campaign for his run for State House of Reps. We are out financed by 7-1- but we lose making the run-off by 20 votes! I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING WHEN I STARTED, and it was just the two of us- BUT I had a knack for promotion, politics, and people.....he saw something in me that I never knew was there.... I was then sought after by many candidates- from city council to US Congress for the run offs. Suddenly politics was my life. Also- my dream of being a writer from when I was a child had been rekindled by attending school. So what did I do... I started a blog.....

WRITING and POLITICS! I WAS IN MY ELEMENT! The blog was just a way to "practice" and "develop" my writing skills. Within 3 months of writing my blog- I had a higher readership than my church teacher who had been sowing his for years.....Then- then- in December- my best friend's husband committed suicide... I didn't write for 3 weeks...... I finally found the strength to write again... within a week I had twice the readers than when I stopped.... HOW? WHY? I was NOBODY! I certainly had not 10% of the knowledge or experience this AWESOME man had!

Income tax came in.... God told me-- I had 3 months to pursue my blog- then back to real life if it didn't work..... but how do you make a living at blogging? how do you "make it work?" I just said okay-- and went to it..... The elderly lady's granddaughter got pregnant and needed a job- I was let go- with love and appreciation- but still, let go.... The handicapped man moved to Florida- closer to his parents.....my income tax was paying my bills....

Within a week I wrote a story about Sarah Scantlin... someone left a comment on my blog....it was about BLOGS FOR TERRI..... TERRI? What? I thought she was safe? I thought all was well in America?

I spent the next two months living and breathing Terri. I was up 'til 5:00 am many mornings reading court transcripts... I think you may remember.. I could rattle off dates and the pages of the testimonies.......

This time... was going to be different... this time I was going to have a voice (the blog), this time I was armed with info and facts ( the court transcripts), this time I was part of a team (Blogs for Terri and the readership that I had acquired), this time............I would not ever stop- not until Terri was safe.... be that with God- or as your family as guardians.. this time.. I would not stop... 'til Terri was safe....

Funny how life works.......Terri is safe..... but I have not stopped..... Not only have I not stopped.... I have found a new purpose for my whole life..... it is Terri's legacy....

My whole life I have had PASSION! I am one of those that has the drive beyond all others... just needs it to be focused..... how do you harness a firework...?

Rather than sit here and fill you with well thought out words..... manipulating the art of words... let me share with you something I wrote from the gut... purely spontaneous... to a friend....
HERE IT IS:

Let me just share this....

When I went down to Florida- I was kinda torn on my role. Part of me was there to Support Terri- but part of me was also there to "cover the story." This was so awkward for me. I wanted to be there to pray. I wanted to be there to support the family. I wanted to be there to talk to people about the FACTS that I knew on this case.

I also wanted to keep you all informed on inside information and bring you the experience. When I talked to the people (just casual talk with other supporters) about the FACTS- I would cite the things like "On November 19, 1993 Michael Schiavo stated in court..... (blah blah blah)."

It was amazing to watch. There were some in the media that came looking for me after my conversation- asking me for an inteview. They "overheard" my conversation. Who were they? They were mostly radio or small print orgs. Then the others would avoid me like the plague. I was sensible and articulate and factual. The TV cameras didn't want this.

The images people saw on TV were NOTHING like what was really going on. Most of us were just down there to support Terri. PERIOD! When you see the HUGE demonstrations on TV -the ones that get the coverage are RADICALS! In fact- If you look back at the TV coverage- you see few people really. Because some people were running around saying- "The cameras are on. Come over here and hold this sign." People were like, "HUH? Who cares. I am not here for the cameras." Others just did as they were told- just wanting to know WHAT to do....

Most of the people were sharing meals, blankets, praying, singing, etc. Others were maneuvering themselves ANYWHERE a camera was. The TV media was very apt in deciding who to cover. This is what they do. I avoided the cameras- and they avoided me. The cameras chased the NUTS. And the whole time- the REAL CIRCUS (until the dern juggler showed up- a very special shout out to that moron) WAS THE MEDIA!

Most of us came and went quietly. Most of us prayed and gathered around for information when Gibbs or Randall came out to fill us in on Terri's situation. Yet some sought out attention- knowing their "passion" would be what "made the news."

I learned a LOT there. When I was there- I would never picture myself carrying a blood-spattered sign. This was about Terri. Nothing else.- at least not to me. Don't get me wrong- I know there is a much bigger thing here- the euthanasia movement, etc. But THAT fight needs to be done in a different way- a different battlefield- the field of ideas and thought. Fighting for TERRI was about Terri. Being down there was about TERRI. Not politics.

The line may seem very blurred and thinned. But Terri was personal to me. She was real- not a political football. As with most of us. Many believe in the cause behind Terri- but it is Terri's story- her family- her whole ordeal that inspired our passion. Now that the cameras have gone away- who is still fighting the fight? The ones that were there- FOR TERRI. The ones that drew Terri and her family near to their hearts.

The ones that thought Terri was about politics have gone back to their lives. A battle lost. If Terri had lived- If she had been SAVED in the 11th hour- the politicos on pro-life would still be touting the win. Just as some in the media continue to use her name in the headline- just to catch the eye of people. But those that fought for Terri- would now be going back to their lives- of worship and raising families, etc. (NOT IN ALL CASES OR ON ALL LEVELS- but we would have derived a sense of security in the fact that America had done the right thing in the end and all was well.)

But instead- it is much like the story of Jesus. His death brought the strength of true believers to take notice and look around. His resurrection brought them the movement to spread the word. If he had lived- spared in the 11th hour- haw many would have said, "psssst, Jesus. Look- I like what you are doing here- but that was a real close call. Hanging out with you is just a little too risky these days. I got a wife and kids to think about. Wish ya the best- glad God spared ya- but I better get back to my "real life"- and.... uh.. keep in touch! Send me a post card from Damascus...."

By Straight Up with Sherri, at 5:45 PM


I know this is a lot to read... But I finally found the words... I am usually so full of words.. but when it came to Terri, and how she touched me.... How she changed my life... it was just so hard to really convey it.... How do you convey that someone's selfless suffering finally woke you up from your selfish little life? How do you ADMIT that someone you come to LOVE and CARE about MUST SUFFER SO HORRIBLY before you finally take a stand for what is right....?

It is shameful that Terri had to suffer, you had to suffer, your family had to suffer, before I BOTHERED to INTERRUPT MY LIFE! GOD FORGIVE ME! I can't imagine the strength and faith that your family have come to know.....Please forgive us all..... especially me.....I am so sorry for your pain and loss...... I promise to never let Terri's legacy be in vain- as long as I live.... these are not words... I promise.....

Thank you

Sherri

Don't Change Minds....Change LIVES!

ACTION ALERT! RALLY FOR TERRI!

Via email from Olive Branch Press

ACTION NEEDED NOW

(pass this info on to everyone that you know)
Please remember to send it bcc so that everyone's emails are NOT distributed throughout the internet.

Attend Rally (do everything you can to be there)

Rally Info

Purpose: To send the message that we will NOT allow this to happen again and that we will hold accountable those who are responsible for Terri's murder

When: Monday May 2nd

Where: 2 locations
Tallahassee Capital Building
Washington DC at the Supreme Court Building

Time: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

Please do all that you can to attend. Bring your own RESPECTFUL signs to convey these messages.


email/write AND call your representatives

Respectfully tell them:
You want those who are responsible for the murder of Terri to be held accountable You want laws passed in your state that will respect life and that will ensure that this travesty will not happen again

Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers we must keep this fight alive, and not allow it to be swept under the carpet


Visit www.olivebranchpress.com for action updates daily keep us informed of any activities in your area


and most importantly
PRAY

Glenn Beck Goes to Columbus Ohio, Raises Money for Handicapped Girl

Glenn Beck has been an overwhelming influence in my life for over 2 years. Glenn has inspired me to put my children and family first, pursue my dreams, and just flat out be the woman I want to be. Last night Glenn traveled to Columbus Ohio for a performance created to raise money for a 16 year old handicapped girl. The money is earmarked to help her escape the public school system that not only allowed her to be sexually assaulted, but afterwards refused to contact police about the incident for fear of "media attention."

Here is one article about the event (with just a tad bit of commentary from yours truly):


Radio Host Discusses Alleged Assault In Columbus

Beck, Coleman Continue Verbal Sparring

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- After weeks of talking about Columbus Public Schools and after having a verbal altercation with Columbus' mayor, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host appeared in the city Thursday night.

Glenn Beck, a Philadelphia-based conservative talk show host, spoke at the Riffe Center Thursday night. Beck has berated Mayor Michael Coleman and district officials after an alleged sexual assault of a disabled student at Mifflin High School and the district's handling of the case.

On Thursday morning, Beck laid the groundwork for his Columbus rally, NBC 4's John Ivanic reported.

"Mayor Coleman, you suck beyond belief," Beck said during his show.

Beck has criticized the school district and the mayor for what Beck perceives is a lack of leadership on the issue, Ivanic reported.

Beck told Ivanic Thursday afternoon that "it's been pretty easy" to be tough on Coleman. (oh, and it has! It has been VERY EASY! One school administrator has claimed that sex in the school is a common thing. On top of all this, Mayor Coleman, the host of a conference for Black Mayors, invited 300 school students to get out of school in order to attend a Ludacris concert for Youth Day. Ludacris is a popular rap artist known for lurid lyrics of which actually talk about rough sex in the school classroom. NICE, HUH?)

"My daughter has a learning disability," Beck said. "So when I first read this story, I saw my daughter, and I felt the way I would as a parent."

More than 800 people paid $15 each to listen to Beck Thursday night, and the radio show host had plenty of material ready for the audience.

"If something goes wrong, please, I beg you, no one call 911 for at least an hour," Beck told the audience. "We wouldn't want media attention here." (not only did they wait an hour to call anyone- but it was the teacher of the girl that called the father. It was the father that called the police from his cell phone in the school hallway once he got there. The school administrators NEVER called the police. They actually asked the father not to call the police and to let the school officer handle it the next morning! During the entire incident, the principal refused to leave her meeting in order to deal with the situation!)

Beck has supporters in Columbus.

"I think Glenn is doing a good job of drawing attention to some things that need to be addressed," fan Erin Thomas said. (The key here is that these things need to be ADDRESSED, not swept under the rug and hidden.)

"All the mayor had to do was simply say, 'Hey, you know, I'm outraged,'" Beck fan Frank Malony said. "If he would have said those two words, we wouldn't be here tonight."

Much of the 1 ½ hours of commentary, comedy and conversation dealt with Beck's ongoing battle with Coleman.

Tension between Beck and Coleman boiled over during a live interview eight days ago.

"Don't question my manhood," Coleman told Beck during the exchange. (This part was ASTOUNDING! The principal of the school was fired, but the 3 assistants were put on 10 days of administrative leave, and then just transferred. NONE OF THIS EVEN HAPPENED until a MONTH afterwards- when the story hit the media- thanks much to Glenn. As Glenn asked the Mayor if these people just being farmed out to other places, still in decision making roles affecting the safety of children offended the mayor as a man and as a father, the mayor retorted with this? This is all about HIM? I wouldn't want this guy being a crosswalk guard for my kids, let alone the mayor of a city!)

Beck's verbal assault against the mayor continued Thursday morning.

"Who is running your (gubernatorial) campaign, you moron?" Beck said. (This is also very key. I mean, really- what on earth is this guy thinking?)


Go ahead and read the rest of the story. Note that the mayor claims that Glenn is only in town for ratings. Glenn is already number one in Columbus. This is about Glenn's outrage over how children have become pawns in our schools, not the focus. Our schools have become government programs intent on protecting jobs, despite the horror inflicted on our children. The entire purpose of schools has not only been lost, but the atmosphere in schools is dangerous to our children's health and well-being, not to mention their futures. To Glenn, this is about a handicapped girl being attacked, and school officials more worried about their image and jobs, than the child- let alone FIXING the problems that allow something like this to happen- and a mayor more interested in political support of the schools than making the schools safe for children.

As the story mentions that the mayor met with Superintendent Gene Harris within the last 2 days. We still want to know if there was a meeting with him at anytime during the entire month between the actual incident and the story hitting the media. (crickets chirping)

Glenn Beck affiliates

UPDATE: Amazingly enough- Ludacris was a NO SHOW for his YOUTH DAY concert yesterday! LOL!!! WHEW- The mayor dodged a media bullet on THAT one!

Another GREAT Piece by One of My Heroes!

Distressed

I had my 43rd birthday last week and it's official: I have turned into my father.

The world makes less sense to me every day. My fellow man puzzles me more every day.

I cite exhibit A: crappy stone walls. I know a woman who recently paid $10,000 to have a stone retaining wall built along her driveway.

Now I used to be a stonemason -- I rebuilt close to 200 such walls during my college years -- and I was shocked to learn that hers was a NEW wall. It was buckling and full of gaps. Not one stone was properly cut or faced.

It’s the latest craze, she told me -- walls that have an old, authentic look. This is because people suddenly want the outside of their homes to look as “distressed” as the inside.

“Distressed furniture” is the latest trend in interior design. People are buying brand new tables and dressers, bringing them into their garages, kicking and scratching them, then covering them in a lumpy, flaky paint.

I called my sister, an interior designer, to learn more about this peculiar activity. She said people want the antique look, but because real antiques are hard to come by, then the next best thing is to buy something new and make it look scuffed and tired and worn.

This causes my father to rise up in me as I say, "What the…”

But nothing is more puzzling than our next item of distress: distressed jeans. That’s right, there is actually a product the fashionistas refer to as “distressed jeans.” These are jeans with tears and gaping holes that, according to the New York Times, sell for upwards of $600 a pair.

Even in Pittsburgh, land of common sense people, a lousy pair of trendy jeans run upwards of $200. I talked with the owner of an upscale jeans store and she told me the jeans with holes in them aren’t as popular as the ones with paint splattered all over them.

“Jeans with paint on them?”

“Yes, they’re all the rage.”

“But they have paint on them!”

“Yes!”

Just as I was ready to concede that the American experiment is spent and all will soon be lost, she told me about another jeans trend: dirt washed jeans. That’s right, the jean manufacturer washes them in dirt. They have pebbles and clumps of clay in the pockets. And Americans, many of them educated and from good homes, willingly exchange their hard-earned dough for them.

The dirt washed jeans are almost as popular as the grease-smeared jeans, she continued (and I’m not making this up). The jean manufacturers actually smear grease all over the jeans, so that people who buy them can be as fashionable as the guy in the pit down at the Jiffy Lube.

I asked the jean shop owner to help me understand why people are buying such products. She said that the manufacturers are always trying to be hip. When something hits -- when the trendy crowd just has to have it -- the manufacturer can charge huge markups.

Well, I understand that, I told her. But WHY? WHY are people dumb enough to buy these things? Why are Americans spending so much money for items that sensible Americans used to donate to Goodwill or toss in the garbage?

She had no answer. Let me take a stab at it.

As we work exhausting hours in gray cubicles doing bland service work -- as we move into cookie-cutter houses in the thick of suburban sprawl -- and as fewer of us know any sense of craftsmanship or what it is like to sweat or work with our hands, we long for ANYTHING authentic, even if it is fake.

But what do I know. At 43, I have effectively become my father. Puzzled as I am by the latest trends, my thoughts have shifted to more practical matters.

Such as finding a couple of suckers willing to give me $200 bucks for my dirty, greasy, paint-stained jeans.

(Tom Purcell’s e-mail address is TomPurcell@aol.com; his web address is www.TomPurcell.com)
Tom Purcell

Writer

TomPurcell@aol.comwww.

TomPurcell.com

571-216-6265

43 percent of Democrats Believe Abortion to be Manslaughter!

Are Democrats Softening on Pro-Life Issue?
by Terry Phillips, correspondent

Liberal Democrats in the House appear to be easing off on the abortion issue in an attempt to appeal to the more conservative in their party.

Congressional Democrats revealed their legislative agenda this week and along with an array of long-time favorite liberal issues, there was a definite surprise. Some Democrats are taking on the abortion issue from what is very much a pro-life mindset.

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, is a key sponsor of what's being called the "95-10 proposal"—legislation designed to reduce abortion by 95 percent within 10 years. The bill will be introduced in the House as early as next week.

"We want to reduce abortions in the country," Ryan said. "We need to all recognize that it's not going to be just one issue, one law that's going to do it. It's going to be this broad approach."

The 95-10 proposal will offer a host of mechanisms, including health care for mother and baby and would even outlaw partial-birth abortions, though it does not make abortion illegal.

Congressman Ryan says he's not going left or right on this bill, but believes there are eight or ten elements within the abortion debate that almost all Americans agree on.

{snip}

Day said pro-lifers are now welcomed by many of the party's rank-and-file.

"They know our party can't be known as the party of 'abortion on demand' any longer," she said.

A Zogby poll done last year showed 43 percent of Democrats believed abortion to be manslaughter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Democrats for Life Web site explains more about the 95-10 proposal.

Mature Enough? At Age 13?????

ACLU appeals state decision barring abortion for 13-year-old
By JILL BARTON
Associated Press Writer

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The state's social services agency went to court to block a 13-year-old girl who is pregnant and living in a state shelter from having an abortion, and the girl wants to challenge the judge's decision.

The ACLU filed an emergency appeal on Wednesday asking a judge to overturn the ruling that would essentially force the girl to become a mother, said Howard Simon, the organization's executive director for Florida.

The girl, named L.G. in court documents and described as a longtime ward of the state, learned she was pregnant two weeks ago and had planned to have an abortion Tuesday. Her caseworker arranged for transportation and help for the girl.

But the state Department of Children & Families asked a Palm Beach County juvenile judge Tuesday morning to block the abortion. The agency argued that L.G., who is 13 1/2 weeks pregnant, was too young and immature to make an informed medical decision, according to the appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

A judge granted a temporary injunction to block the abortion and ordered a psychological evaluation of L.G.

L.G.'s appeal cites Florida law that protects a minor's decision to decide on an abortion.

In 2003, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a 1999 law requiring parents to be notified if their minor daughters seek an abortion.

Florida's high court also cited state privacy rights in 1989 when it tossed out a law that would have required parental consent for a minor's abortion.

"DCF and the circuit court have instituted a process whereby the state will make a decision for L.G. based upon its own evaluation of her best interest. This it cannot do," the appeal said.

DCF spokeswoman Marilyn Munoz said state law prohibits the department from consenting to an abortion for a minor in any instance.

"If a child in our care requests to have any procedure prohibited under Florida statute, we cannot give consent," Munoz said. "It's not our decision. "We stand in different shoes. We're held to a higher accountability."

{snip}

"If she's not old enough yet to decide if she should have a tattoo, or drive, or vote, how in the world is she old enough to make such an important decision on her own?" Kottkamp said.

But Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, said she doesn't think DCF should be making such a decision.

"I think this is merely the governor playing politics once again," she said.

"I think that a 13-year-old who is mature enough to make the decision to have sex is mature enough to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy," she added. "The reality is, I don't want 13-year-olds having sex. But I want them to have access to accurate information and education."


Mature enough to make the decision to have sex? HELLO!? Obviously she is NOT mature enough to make that decision, is she? IT WAS A BAD DECISION! DUH! That kinda explains your not wanting 13 year olds having sex, doesn't it? If they mare mature enough to make the decision to carry a gun to school then are they mature enough to decide weather or not to use it? Give me a BREAK!

Government Wants TEACHERS to Diagnose YOUR Child's Mental Health!?

The Alliance for Human Research Protection published Government sanctioned Assault on Children and Pregnant Women back in July of 2004. (ya just gotta love Illionois!)

I received a tip on this from Sally Vee today:

BRAVE NEW WORLD?
Part One
By Kathleen Deoul
( Part Two)

Aldous Huxley's classic 1932 novel, "Brave New World," depicted a world where the population was drugged - by the government - drugged to keep it happy and docile. Children were subjected to Pavlovian conditioning from birth to ensure that they conformed to societal norms dictated by 10 "Controllers."

Huxley's novel was a work of fiction, but if some people in Washington have their way, life will soon follow art.

The President's "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health" has issued its final report, and it's a bombshell! If the nation's mental health mavens have their way, every living American from infants in the crib to the elderly will be screened for mental disease, and if they have their way, have a treatment regimen prescribed. As disturbing as the general concept is, its emphasis on children is frightening.

There is already an epidemic of over-diagnosing mental problems such as ADHD among children. Most often, these diagnoses are made by untrained teachers using a checklist that includes such signs of deep mental disturbance as failing to sit still, not completing work on time and forgetting their homework - these mind you for five year-olds!

One consequence of the rush to label our children as mentally disturbed is that the number on psychotropic drugs tripled between 1987 and 1996 with at least 6.2% of all children and adolescents taking at least one psychiatric drug. Since the period covered by the study, the numbers have gotten even larger. In some high schools as much as 20% of the student population is taking a psychiatric drug!

But if the mental health mavens have their way it's going to get worse - much worse.

Their intentions were made clear by one brief paragraph in the Commission's final report.

"Schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems early and to provide a link to appropriate services. Every day more than 52 million students attend over 114,000 schools in the U.S. When combined with the six million adults working at those schools, almost one-fifth of the population passes through the Nation's schools on any given weekday. Clearly, strong school mental health programs can attend to the health and behavioral concerns of students, reduce unnecessary pain and suffering, and help ensure academic achievement."

In plan English, what they are recommending is that every child in the nation's schools be screened by their teachers for mental health problems. Never mind that the teachers have no medical credentials. Never mind that they may have ulterior motives, such as wanting to keep children docile so that they don't have to work to hard. Never mind that their unqualified diagnoses could follow a child for the rest of their lives. To the mental health mavens, their advocacy of intervention is more than justified:

"Without intervention, child and adolescent disorders frequently continue into adulthood. … If the system does not appropriately screen and treat them early, these childhood disorders may persist and lead to a downward spiral of school failure, poor employment opportunities and poverty in adulthood. No other illnesses damage so many children so seriously."

In fact, the mental health mavens think that it's so important that they don't even want to wait until a child enters school. They advocate a program (which has been adopted in Illinois) that has nurses make home visits to pregnant women and then monitors the child's mental health during its first year of life - no I'm not kidding, the first year of life.

As outrageous as this may sound, it actually is merely an indication of the growing trend toward diagnosing children as having mental health problems at ever-younger ages.

One of the latest examples of this is the latest fad in psychiatry - diagnosing preschoolers as bipolar.

A fundamental problem with such diagnoses is that there is no accepted test for bipolar disorder - in children or adults. Instead, as with ADHD, psychiatrists use a "checklist" of more than three dozen behaviors to diagnose juvenile bipolar disorder

And what are these behaviors?

Well, they include such things as silliness, night terrors, carbohydrate cravings, fidgetiness, bed-wetting, lying, social anxiety and difficulty getting up in the morning.

So if your five-year old sticks a French fry up his nose, call a shrink! If the child asks for a second cookie get a straight-jacket! And, heaven forbid, the child says they really didn't break Grandma's vase, get out the commitment papers!

If all this seems extreme to you, you're in good company. In Houston, Texas, Dr. Laurel L. Williams estimates that she has "un-diagnosed" between 50 and 75 cases of bipolar disorder in young children.

PLEASE READ IT ALL!!!!

AND PART TWO!

Aborting the Disabled

Aborting the Disabled


A bill before the Senate hopes to better inform mothers about diagnosed disabilities, while a study confirms that women can feel pressured to terminate their pregnancy if tests find a disability.
by Rob Moll

Women whose babies are prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome report that "their obstetricians had failed to provide enough up-to-date printed material" and "felt rushed or pressured into making a decision about continuing the pregnancy." The study of mothers whose children have Down syndrome was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

One woman quoted in the study said that in 1999, when her child was diagnosed with Down syndrome, the doctor "showed a really pitiful video first of people with Down syndrome who were very low tone and lethargic-looking and then proceeded to tell us that our child would never be able to read, write, or count change."

In response, senators Sam Brownback and Ted Kennedy are sponsoring legislation that would require doctors to provide current medical information about any diagnosed disability after a prenatal test, along with treatment options, the expected development of the child, and information about local support communities.

Prenatal testing
Testing babies while still in the womb is normally offered by doctors, and often recommended to women more than 35 or couples with other risk factors. Many states require doctors to offer prenatal genetic testing to all pregnant mothers. However, there are no treatment options for the genetic diseases tested for, such as cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, or Down syndrome.

"A lot of the testing is done for disease processes that we really can't do anything about," says Stephen Nelson, staff neonatologist and director of the Neonatal Transport Service at MeritCare Children's Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota. "Our ability to diagnose diseases prenatally exceeds our ability to treat."

Prenatal testing is a way of learning valuable information about a baby, but just as important is what parents will do with that information, says John Kilner, president of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. "It is usually used to find out if there is something there you don't want so you can abort." According to the study, many doctors assume that women who undergo testing would choose to abort. But there are other reasons to learn about the health of a fetus. Kilner says, "If the purpose is to be able to prepare as best one can for the well-being of the fetus and the mother, that's a more noble rationale."

Because there is a minor possibility of miscarriage and other problems caused by the tests, prenatal tests should only be used if other factors, such as the age of the mother or a family history of genetic diseases, outweigh the risks, say doctors and bioethicists. Kilner said that when he and his wife had trouble conceiving their second child, doctors offered prenatal tests. "It was just offered to us as obvious in the normal course of things," Kilner said. "It was only in response to our questions that we discovered there was any risk at all. And then when we realized that we would only be getting information that would lead us to abort, it was like, wait a minute."

Often, doctors feel they must offer prenatal tests in order to avoid malpractice lawsuits. "There's a great deal of fear on the part of obstetricians that if they don't offer genetic testing and the baby does have one of these conditions and it's recognized after birth, that the obstetrician can be sued for wrongful birth," says Nelson.

A parent files a wrongful birth suit if she says that had she known her baby would have a genetic disease, she would have aborted. Doctors have been successfully sued for the costs of raising a disabled child if they didn't offer tests that would have discovered the disability, or if they didn't discover a disability even with prenatal testing.

Unfortunately, there are currently no standards for how the information obtained from a prenatal test should be used. "We've got policies that mandate the tests to be offered, but we have no public policy to shape the ethic of how you respond," says Carrie Gordon Earll, senior policy analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family.

Pressure to abort
"We have been able to screen for certain conditions in the womb for quite some time now, but I'm concerned that we don't have a great track record for handling that information very well," Sen. Brownback, R-Kan., said announcing his legislation. "For some conditions that can be detected in the womb, we are aborting 80 percent or more of the babies who test positive."

According to the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology study, 20 percent of doctors said when a prenatal test discovered Down syndrome, they encouraged mothers to abort, or they emphasize the negative aspects of the disease "so that parents would favor a termination." Most doctors, however, tried to remain unbiased in telling parents the results of a prenatal test.

Still, "there's a lot of unspoken pressure to abort once you've had the testing done," says Nelson. Throughout the medical literature, "parents are blamed if they have a baby with Down syndrome." Parents who decide to give birth to a Down syndrome child " say that they feel like outcasts, they feel blameworthy."

Because abortion is seen as the preferred option, "Soon, it will be seen as unnecessary to fund therapy and care for the disabled," says Amy Laura Hall, assistant professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School. "There is no will to care for the disabled."

Eugenics by abortion
The Brownback/Kennedy bill could help alleviate cultural pressure to abort. "The effect of this sort of 'weeding out' is creating new eugenics, a form of systematic, disability-based discrimination," said Brownback. "We don't want a world where parents feel driven to justify their children's existence. We need to link parents with these programs so that they are equipped with all the information they need to hopefully make a life-affirming choice."

Our culture's image of the nuclear family encourages people to abort children that don't fit the model, says Hall, who is working on a book on the rise of medically enhanced children and scientifically standardized families. "We have the model of family life with two kids who look like their parents. We have our kids appropriately spaced to fit the model of the ideal family. This has contributed to the abortion culture."

READ IT ALL!

Securing Our Borders: Sign the Petition!

Urge President Bush to Secure Our Borders Immediately



Click the SIGN THE PETITION button to add your name to our computerized list.

We hope to be able to deliver a million names and the Petition to the White House by Memorial Day. We will also deliver them to the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate.

Planned Parenthood Gives ILLEGAL Abortion, and Faces Lawsuit

Lawsuit: Teen's abortion illegal

By Luke E. Saladin
Post staff reporter

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said on Thursday that his office was investigating whether Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio illegally granted an abortion to a 14-year-old girl without her parents' consent.

In a civil suit filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on March 29, the unnamed parents say that the abortion would not have taken place if the organization had followed its statutory duties and sought consent from the parents for the abortion.

Deters said his office is considering filing civil charges as well. At a minimum, his office would likely file additional felony charges against the 21-year-old man who impregnated her because such a sexual act would have constituted rape under Ohio laws.

In Ohio, any sex by a person under the age of 16 can be considered rape if the perpetrator is over 18. If the victim is under 13 it is automatically rape.

"If a 13-year-old in Ohio is pregnant, a crime has been committed," Deters said. "You can rest assured that this individual is going to face some additional criminal charges."

What isn't known is to what extent liability will fall on Planned Parenthood. Sue Momeyer, president of the Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio region, declined comment Thursday.

She has stated in the past, however, that her agency's policies adhere to Ohio statutes.

According to the civil suit, the girl was 13 when the 21-year-old man impregnated her in December 2003 or January 2004. The man is now serving a prison sentence after he was convicted of sexual battery for having sex with the girl.

All parties in the suit - now under seal - were referred to with a pseudonym to protect their privacy. According to the suit, the man called Planned Parenthood and attempted to arrange an appointment for the girl in March 2004, but the office instructed him that only the girl could make the appointment.

The suit said the man directed her to call and arrange for the abortion the next day.

He drove the girl - who had turned 14 by that time - to the agency's Mount Auburn facility March 30 for the abortion even though the girl "did not want to have the abortion."

Because the man told Planned Parenthood workers he was her stepbrother, the agency didn't contact her parents - even though she gave her father's name and address to the agency, the suit noted.

Performing the abortion without notifying or getting permission from her parents is illegal, the suit says.

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages in excess of $25,000.

Deters said his office hasn't yet spoken with Planned Parenthood or its workers but intends to do so. He said the office would also investigate whether other similar cases were not reported to police.

"We are proceeding as rapidly as possible and we intend to aggressively research this case," Deters said.

Supreme Guns

Okay, I'm Right Wing, but I'm not extreme.
Right now, I am confused. Very confused!

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed down a ruling on Tuesday that absolutely puzzles me.

In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people convicted of crimes overseas can own guns in the United States. See WorldNetDaily for the whole story.

Don't misunderstand. I think this is a terrific ruling - in fact one of the best that SCOTUS has handed down in a long time.

But rather who did what???????

Thomas, Scalia, & Kennedy voted against it.
I see Kennedy - okay, but not the other two.

Meanwhile, Breyer, Stevens, O'Connor, Souter, & Ginsburg voted for it.
Absolutely amazing! I would expect Breyer & O'Connor - but the other three? These are the ones who seem willing to use "Foreign Precedents and Foreign Law" to determine the Constitutionality of American Laws!

For Thomas & Scalia to put the "will of Congress" above the Constitution demonstrates a side of them I never saw coming. It represents a leftist migration of their attitudes and understanding of the power of Congress within the purview of the Constitution. This Court already misses Rhenquist! He would have put more rationality to the discussions - like herding cats, if you will.

The decision is a great one - as I say, one of the best the Supremes have made in a long time. But the rationale and logic stink! And the who-did-what is terrifying!
The battle for control of the Supreme Court is the civil war in which we are already engaged.

That's my rant of the day. Keep your powder dry!

Right Wing Nut Job

Another Mentally Handicapped Girl Raped- Did the Bus Driver HELP the RAPIST?

Driver Suspended After Incident on School Bus

APRIL 26, 2005 -- There's a new development in the investigation into a report of rape on a school bus in Pender County.

A teenage student says she was sexually assaulted by another student on the bus. Now the bus driver is temporarily off the job.

Two students were heading home from Heide Trask Senior High School last Tuesday, when a 17-year-old mentally handicapped girl says a 16-year-old boy raped her.

The girl told the Pender County Sheriff's Department that the boy told he was going to rape her and that's when the bus driver turned the rearview mirror so she could not see what was happening in the back of the bus.

The Pender County Board of Education said the driver has been suspended with pay until the investigation is concluded.


Here are some SCARY statistics from US Department of Justice:

• A survey of 1,700 11-14 years olds found that

- 51% of boys and 41% of girls believe that a man has a right to force a woman to kiss him if he had "spent a lot of money on her."
- 32% of boys and 32% of girls say it is not improper for a man to rape a woman who has had past sexual experiences.
- 87% of boys and 79% of girls said rape is okay if a man and woman are married.
- 47% of all those surveyed said it was okay for a man to rape a woman he has been dating for more than 6 months.
(Acquaintance Rape: The Hidden Crime, edited by Andrea Parrot & Laurie Bechnofer)

Autistic Student Dies While Being Restrained at School

Prosecutor won't pursue school restraint case

Charges against both school staff and the mother of a student who died while being restrained at Parchment High School were considered by authorities who ultimately decided against charging anyone.

Evidence that 15-year-old Michael Renner-Lewis III, who had autism, hadn't taken medication for at least two days before he died prompted prosecutors to consider charging his mother with child neglect, a letter from the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office shows.

Michael had a seizure on the first day of school in August 2003 and became combative, prompting four school staff members to pin his arms and legs to the floor, according to police and witnesses.

He lost consciousness while being restrained, and efforts to revive him at the school and a hospital failed.

Kalamazoo County Sheriff Mike Anderson announced Monday that no charges would be filed in connection with Michael's death.

The prosecutor's office informed Anderson in an April 20 letter that there is insufficient evidence of criminal misconduct or neglect, and agreed with an autopsy report that ruled the death "accidental."

Former County Prosecutor Jim Gregart, who conducted the review, wrote that he did not find the "gross, willful and wanton" conduct necessary to support a charge of manslaughter. Much of his three-page letter to the sheriff, however, discussed potential for a charge of child neglect.

Michael's doctor had prescribed several medications for "behavior management," according to Gregart. Prescription drugs Ativan, Deseryl, Paxil and Risperdal were to be administered to the teen by his adult caregiver daily, including the morning of the day he died, the prosecutor wrote.

Laboratory toxicology tests indicated no detectable levels of any of the four medications in Michael's blood, according to Gregart. Manufacturers reported that each of the drugs has a "significant half-life in the human body" and tests indicated Michael had not taken the prescribed medications for at least two to three days prior to his death.

"The death of Michael Renner-Lewis was a tragic event," Gregart wrote. "It is my opinion that no overwhelming societal interest would be served by the initiation of child neglect charges associated with the reported absence of prescribed medications in his system at the time of his death."

The Kalamazoo Gazette was unable to reach Michael's mother, Elizabeth Johnson for comment.

"The family is extremely disappointed in the decision of the Kalamazoo County prosecutor," Johnson's attorney, Paul Broschay, said. "Our discovery into our (civil) case reveals that the events of Michael's death were totally unnecessary and certainly unjustified."

Broschay filed a $25 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Johnson's behalf alleging negligence in her son's death by Parchment Public Schools and the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, which provided special-education services to Michael.

Standards differ for criminal and civil negligence. Broschay said authorities' decision not to file criminal charges has no bearing on the civil suit, which is set for trial in August.

"The toxicology findings regarding the level of medication in Michael's body have nothing to do with either the events that day or of his death," Broschay said.

"Instead of responding to a medical emergency by calling for EMS, they called a wrestling coach and assistant principal to hold him down on the ground until he died."

Attorneys for school staff denied the use of excessive restraint.

Prosecutor Jeff Fink said he agreed with Gregart's decision that no charges are warranted.

Gregart, who retired in January and has stayed on as an unpaid assistant to Fink, had extensively reviewed the case by the time Fink took over. "He had had it for a year and we figured there was no sense in having me go through everything," Fink said.


ACCIDENT? No negligence here? The medication was supposed to be administered daily. Why did the school not call 911 when the child started having seizures? The 16-year-old, 6'0" tall, 200 pound autistic teen had a grand mal seizure. The student had seizures first, and when he recovered from them, he then became "combative." A wrestling coach was called to help restrain the boy, and not until he was unconscience, did they call for help? If these are truly the facts, EVERYONE FAILED THIS CHILD! EVERYONE!

I LOVE Tom Purcell!

Take 'em to grandma's instead

By Tom Purcell
Sunday, April 24, 2005

"Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work" day is on Thursday, but I have a better idea: Let's take our daughters and sons to grandma's.

In response to a study by the American Association of University Women saying schools were shortchanging girls, the Ms. Foundation established the "Take Our Daughters To Work" program in 1993. The idea was to bolster self-esteem and encourage girls to think beyond "traditional roles and expectations."

Though such encouragement is a grand idea, some argued that it is boys, not girls, who are in a shambles. Boys are more likely to struggle in school, fail to graduate and eventually wake up in a pile of dirty laundry clutching an empty tequila bottle.

So in 2003 the Ms. Foundation retooled the program. They decided to not only include boys, but to refocus the debate. Their new goal, according to their Web site, is to broaden the discussion about the competing challenges of work and family.

"For girls to achieve their full potential, whether it is in the home, workplace or community," the site says, "boys also must be encouraged to reach their potential by participating fully in family, work and community."

In other words, it is employers and males who must change to allow women to attain fulfilling careers, come in to work late and leave early, as their families' needs dictate, and women better not have to pick up dirty socks or cook dinner when they get home.

I think it's great that women are free to choose "fulfilling careers," but I never understood what is fulfilling about most of them. I've been in the workplace for more than 20 years, and most of the people I've encountered would rather to be at the beach or on a bar stool than in a lousy office cubicle.

I've especially never understood the various women I've met and dated in Washington, D.C., who routinely log 60-hour weeks -- giving up their best energy and their best years -- to some paper-pushing job that would be filled within a few weeks were they hit by a bus.

If you are a doctor and save lives, that is fulfilling. Or if you are an artist, writer or performer who changes hearts, that is fulfilling. Or if you're a teacher who nurtures minds and souls, or the head of a charitable organization that helps folks around the world, all of these jobs are fulfilling.

But most jobs? They may be necessary and even important -- American productivity is good for the economy and therefore everyone -- but fulfilling? If my clients no longer paid me for the corporate work I do, I'm fairly confident I'd cease doing it.

That's why we need to send our kids to grandma's, not the workplace, on Thursday.

Instead of encouraging "fulfilling careers" in this rat race, grandma would take them for a long walk in the sweet spring air, read them a book, and tell them stories about the colorful and cherished family members who have passed on to a better world.

Grandma, after all, is the only person on earth who knows the difference between what is and isn't really important in this fleeting life, and she knows that nobody ever left this world wishing they'd spent more time at the office.

And instead of demanding that employers change -- or that our government create new laws to force them to -- why don't we demand less? There is no nirvana in this life -- things only get so good -- and more laws and regulations can never change that truth.

If we're going to demand anything, why not insist that our government tax families less so they can get by on less -- so that both mom and dad have more time and flexibility to take the kids for a walk in the sweet spring air, read them books and nurture their souls?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my days doing that than working in a "fulfilling" corporate career.

Tom Purcell, a free-lance writer, lives in Mt. Lebanon. E-mail him at TomPurcell@aol.com. You can also visit him on the Web at http://www.tompurcell.com/

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to Enforce Born-Alive Act

NewsMax.com reports that Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), said his department had notified "relevant entities that we aggressively enforce federal laws that protect born-alive infants." He also said the agency would "take proactive steps to educate state officials, health care providers, hospitals and child protection agencies about their obligations to born-alive infants under federal law."

{skip}

An infant is considered alive, according to the Act, if he or she "has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion."

It's about time!
Read the whole story here!

Special thanks to the Culture of Life Foundation

Right Wing Nut Job

North Carolina Bill Would Protect Pro-Life Pharmacists on Drug Scripts

From Life News:

North Carolina Bill Would Protect Pro-Life Pharmacists on Drug Scripts

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 26, 2005

Charlotte, NC (LifeNews.com) -- Legislation in North Carolina would protect pro-life pharmacists who want to opt out of dispensing drugs that could cause abortions. The bill would allow pharmacists to join doctors and nurses in following their conscience on refusing to be involved in abortions.

Rep. Jeff Barnhart, a Republican in the lead sponsor of the legislation, which allows a pharmacist to decline to fill a prescription on moral, ethical or religious grounds.

Rep. Mitch Gillespie, another Republican who co-sponsored the bill, says it would help protect pharmacists from facing legal or employment concerns resulting from their actions.

John Rustin, director of government relations for the North Carolina Family Policy Council, says his group will support the measure while Paige Johnson, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, says the abortion business will urge lawmakers to oppose it.

"I have to say this is really pure discrimination against women," Johnson said.

Karen Brauer, president of Pharmacists for Life, applauded introduction of the bill and says it will help women make better decisions in pregnancy situations. She disagreed with Johnson's view of the bill.

"If she can go down the road [to get the prescription], there is no infringement on the woman," Brauer said.

Pro-life pharmacists across the nation are finding themselves under tremendous pressure to prescribe drugs such as the morning after pill.

A pharmacist in Wisconsin was recently disciplined for refusing to fill a script and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich issued an order requiring all state pharmacists to fill all prescriptions. That order has been taken to court.

Meanwhile, pharmacists in Texas have been fired for their refusal to dispense such drugs.

Can YOU help Baby Charlotte?

Juleni has been an incredible force and light to us all in the fight for life of those in need. I asked her what I can do to help Charlotte, so here it goes.


"At the moment we're trying to get specifics on what sort of equipment
would be needed for her to come home, and exactly how much it would cost.
There are some other practical things we're not sure about... she will
probably need at least some nursing care, and we don't know if the NHS
might provide a nurse or not. And currently they are in a two bedroom
flat with the two little boys, but Charlotte would require her own room,
so they would have to find a three or four bedroom place.
But her parents really want to get her out of the hospital,and they would
like to get a reassesment of her condition, for they feel the hospital has
not done well by her.

Darren & Debbie are asking if it would be at all possible to bring in a
pro-life doctor from elsewhere, with some knowledge in this field, to do
an independent assessment on Charlotte. Would you know of any leads, or
how we might go about this? They feel strongly that the NHS is not
working for her best interest, and just now it seems as if maybe an
American doctor might be able to make a less politicized assesment than a
British doctor.

It would be a great deal better if a doctor could come out here (to England) to assess her (rather than trying to bring Charlotte to another country). If that was completely impossible she might be able to be flown out, though it would probably involve more difficulties. She has never left the hospital, and is right now in 45% oxygen.

At the moment we don't have her full medical records; though her parents
and their solicitor have asked for them from the hospital, so far it has
been without result. I think we can get some material; but I'm not sure
about how much.

Let me know if there are any other questions... I'll try my best to answer
them. Thanks so much for doing this.


I will let you know as soon as we find out more specifics. Thank you for
working for her."

From Hannah, website blogger at savecharlotte.com.
Email: hannah@savecharlotte.com

Testimony of Diane Coleman (of Not Dead Yet) before Congressional Committee

It is long, but DANG, it is worth the read!!!

Diane Coleman,
J.D.President,
Not Dead Yet

Testimony:


When I was six years old, my doctor told my parents that I would not live past the age of 12. A few years later, the diagnosis changed and so did my life expectancy. Over time, I learned that respiratory issues would probably develop. I have friends who've used nighttime ventilators for years, so I knew what symptoms to watch for, and three years ago, started using a breathing machine at night. I had two other friends in Nashville, one in her 30's and one in her 50's, who needed the same thing. But their doctors discouraged them from it, reinforcing their fears, and either didn't know or didn't disclose what the medical journals said would happen as a result. At an early age, they each went into respiratory distress, and died within a month from infections. A number of my other friends have been pressured by hospital employees to sign do-not-resuscitate orders and other advance directives to forego treatment, coupled with negative statements about how bad it would be if they became more disabled. Frankly, I'm becoming worried about what might happen to me in a hospital if I have a heart attack or other medical crisis. I have appointed my health care proxy, but will the decisions I have entrusted to him be followed by my health care providers? I am not at all convinced that decisions to live are any longer treated with the same respect by health care providers as decisions to die. In fact, I am sure they are not.

Nine years ago, I was on my way to testify before the House Constitution Subcommittee about the opposition to legalized assisted suicide coming from national disability rights organizations. Many of us were worried about Jack Kevorkian, whose body count was 70% people with non-terminal disabilities, and we were worried about two Circuit Courts declaring assisted suicide a constitutional right. We had begun to think that we needed a street action group like ADAPT to address the problem, and it was actually the head of ADAPT who thought of our name, taken from a running gag in Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Not Dead Yet. From our viewpoint, assisted suicide laws would create a dangerous double standard for society's response to suicidal expressions, an unequal response depending on one's health or disability status, with physicians as gatekeepers. That sounds like deadly discrimination to us and, frankly, we've been disappointed that the U.S. Dept. of Justice didn't use our civil rights law, the Americans With Disabilities Act, to challenge the Oregon assisted suicide law. Like other minority groups, we feel that discrimination is best addressed on the federal level, and states rights have too often meant states wrongs. To date, eleven other national disability rights organizations have adopted Not Dead Yet's position opposing legalized assisted suicide.

It wasn't long before the problem of non-voluntary and involuntary withdrawal of food and water also moved onto Not Dead Yet's radar screen. Before Terri Schiavo, there was Robert Wendland in California. Both his wife and mother agreed that Mr. Wendland was not in a persistent vegetative state, and that he had not left clear and convincing evidence of his wishes. Nevertheless, his wife argued that she should be able to remove his tube feeding anyway, and Dr. Ron Cranford was on the scene to support her. A state statute, based on a national model health care decisions code, gave her the right to starve and dehydrate him, and forty-three bioethicists filed a friend of the court brief in agreement. Ten disability rights organizations filed against the general presumption that no one would want to live with his disabilities, being used to justify lowering constitutional protections of his life. Ultimately, the California Supreme Court agreed with us that his life could not be taken without clear and convincing evidence of his wishes.

By the time the Schiavo case reached major national attention in 2003, twenty-six national disability organizations had taken a position that Terri Schiavo should receive food and water, due to the highly conflicting evidence of her wishes and the fact that she had not chosen her own guardian. Attached to my written testimony is a three page statement issued by twenty-three such groups in October 2003, and a more recent article co-authored by Steve Eidelman, head of the Arc of the United States, and Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet. We were deeply disturbed to see court after court uphold questionable lower court rulings. This time, 55 bioethicists supported the removal of food and water. We were also disturbed that the court allowed most of Terri Schiavo's rehabilitation funds to be spent on her husband's lawyers, that she was denied a properly fitted wheelchair, a swallowing test, swallowing therapy, the potential for oral feeding, speech therapy, and the freedom to leave the hospice with her parents, even temporarily. And we were concerned that adult protective services did not intervene, and the state protection and advocacy agency tried but proved powerless. It would appear that the prevalent prejudice that no one would want to live like Terri Schiavo translated into her guardian's unfettered right to treat her at best as a prisoner, at worst as though she was already dead.

Nevertheless, the perspectives of such prominent national groups as The Arc of the United States (formerly the Association for retarded Citizens), the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, the National Council on Independent Living, and many others were consistently ignored by most of the press, as well as the courts.

Unfortunately, the anecdotal evidence suggests that Terri Schiavo's case may be the tip of a very large and almost fully submerged iceberg. I've been a health care advocate for a couple decades, often joining street protests against government health cuts. One mission of the end-of-life care movement is a good one, to educate health care providers about how to provide good palliative care, but another mission is to shape public policy on health care. It appears that a certain line of thought in bioethics has pretty much taken over the policy-making work. This line of thought involves a lifeboat approach, deciding who gets thrown out.

When we analyze, why have the pro-life and religious advocates received such disproportionate attention, we are forced to conclude that disability rights advocates don't fit a script that everyone else seems determined to follow. For the last three decades, certain bioethicists have told the press and the public that euthanasia is about compassionate progressives versus the religious right. Never mind that these bioethicists are actually talking about the legal parameters for statutory guardians and health care providers to medically end the lives of people with disabilities on a discriminatory, non-voluntary or involuntary basis. Never mind that it takes more documentation to dispose of our property than to dispose of our lives. Concerned disability groups don't fit the script and so we have been marginalized or ignored entirely.

Here's how I'm beginning to look at things. The far right wants to kill us slowly and painfully by cutting the things we need to live, health care, public housing and transportation, etc. The far left wants to kill us quickly and call it compassion, while also saving money for others perhaps deemed more worthy.
The lifeboat bioethicists who have shaped this debate apparently think of themselves as progressives, but they never seem to discuss cutting unnecessary health care marketing costs or profits before cutting lives. My sister recently started a new career as a medical assistant at a practice with 25 doctors in Michigan. She said that four days out of five, she doesn't have to buy lunch because it's catered in by pharmaceutical companies. Marketing costs. But rather than spending all that professional brain power on conquering the waste and inhumanity of a profit-driven health care system, these bioethicists are pushing new health care decisions laws to kill disabled people who aren't going to die soon enough for their taste without a little push.

Why make it easier for guardians to refuse food and water on behalf of persons who cannot speak for themselves? In a l983 article, over two decades ago, reflecting on the possible outcome of this food and water debate, Daniel Callahan, then director of the prestigious Hastings Center, wrote that "...a denial of nutrition, may, in the long run, become the only effective way to make certain that a large number of biologically tenacious patients actually die." He further predicted, "Given the increasingly large pool of superannuated, chronically ill, physically marginal elderly, it could well become the nontreatment of choice." [Daniel Callahan, "On Feeding the Dying," Hastings Center Report, October 1983, p. 22.] The script was written long ago.

And please note, many people in nursing homes are on feeding tubes not because they can't eat orally, but because there are not enough staff to help them eat. One study also found that in for-profit nursing homes, African-Americans with dementia will be taken off hand feeding and put on a feeding tube sooner in the disease process than their white counterparts. Abracadabra, they're on "life support," the kind that can be removed. One of the leaders of the end-of-life care movement, Dr. Ira Byock, was interviewed by Ragged Edge Magazine, a leading disability rights publication. He stated that Partnership for Caring and Last Acts, national leaders in the movement until they disappeared under a cloud late last year, had excluded the disability perspective, and that this exclusion was "deliberate and irresponsible." What's especially disturbing is that they had fifteen years and hundreds of millions in funding from prominent foundations, and set up surrogate decision-making protocols to end the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, without seeking the input of such individuals and the established organizations that address issues of self-determination for people who have less typical ways of receiving, processing and communicating information.

What might other disability groups have brought to the discussion table?

I recently read a journal article about the problems with advanced directives. A consistent finding in several funded studies is that people change their minds about what treatments they want, and what level of disability they will accept, as they move through the experience of having increasing disabilities. The disability community has a response to that, to use a popular phrase, "well, DUH."
And you may have seen reports of a new Alzheimer's study last year. It confirmed previous studies that caregivers have a lower opinion of their relative's quality of life with Alzheimer's than the persons themselves have, and found an explanation for the discrepancy. It seems that the caregivers project their own feelings of the burden of care-giving onto the person they care for. Once again, the disability community response is "well, DUH." And these are the very caregivers who make life-ending decisions.

And if that's not enough conflict of interest for a statutory guardian, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that a public guardian may deprive life sustaining treatment from a man labeled mentally retarded, despite the financial conflict of interest for a state guardian of a ward on Medicaid.

And don't forget Professor Peter Singer, who holds an endowed chair in bioethics at Princeton, and believes that legal personhood should be subject to a cognitive test. Those who don't pass are eligible for killing if their families prefer, or for society's greater good. In fact, Arthur Caplan has repeatedly spoken about Terri Schiavo's autonomy, but I am including as an attachment to my testimony an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer in which he supports a presumption of non-treatment in ICU for people in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious state, and limiting the information and choices provided to patients and families. This is one example of a futility policy permitting the health care provider to make the decision about treatment.

In the face of these developments, the disability rights movement has expertise to bring. But we also have an attitude about disability that diverges from the mainstream, especially the mainstream of bioethics. Frankly, I think that's why we were deliberately excluded from the last decade of policy making conducted off the public radar screen, why the right-wing-left-wing script was so important to these bioethicists, no matter how untrue and exclusionary.
Basically, the bioethicists have warped the palliative care movement into a life-ending movement. They've had hundreds of millions of dollars to work with, and they've used it to build a steamroller that's decimating the civil and constitutional rights of people in guardianship. This affects more than the disability community of today, it affects everyone, directly or through family, sooner or later. There are rules being made for who lives and who dies, but the rule-making and the medical killing are happening behind closed doors. Many things are private family matters, like parental discipline of children, for example, until they go too far. It's time to call "time out," to go back to the table and talk about how to build a health care and legal system that respects us all.

On a more practical level, what can you do to help?

MEANINGFUL FEDERAL REVIEW
Under Medicare and Medicaid law, you could provide for meaningful federal review of contested third party decisions to withhold treatment in the absence of an advance directive or personally appointed surrogate. Uphold a clear and convincing evidence standard with teeth in it. Uphold a presumption for food and fluids.

CONGRESSIONAL STUDY
Ever since the Cruzan decision in 1990, people with disabilities, old and young, have been starved and dehydrated based on surrogate or health provider decisions, but we don't know who, why, how or what factors were involved. We also know that physicians are overruling patient autonomy and denying treatment under futility policies. You could ask for all hospitals to send you their futility policies. Congressional examination of the impact of existing policies is necessary.

STATE-BY-STATE REVIEW OF LAWS AND POLICIES
Funding for a disability-rights-based state-by-state review of guardianship and health care decisions laws is needed, along with comprehensive efforts to develop reforms to safeguard against non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia.

PUBLIC EDUCATION BY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
There should be funding for public education about the perspectives of people living with significant disabilities on the difference between end-of-life decisions and decisions to end the lives of disabled people who are not otherwise dying.

OLMSTEAD IMPLEMENTATION, PASSAGE OF MICASSA
The civil rights of people with disabilities to long-term supports in the community under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead should be implemented. We call for passage of the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act, which would allow people receiving Medicaid funding to have a life in the community instead of being forced into a nursing home. This bill also includes consumer-directed options that maximize personal responsibility and reduce costs.

SUSTAIN GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH CARE PROGRAMS
Conservatives who honestly supported efforts to protect the life of Terri Schiavo should work on a bipartisan basis with moderates and liberals to ensure continued appropriate funding of Medicare and Medicaid. Thank you for defeating the latest round of proposed budget cuts that threaten to result in a less-public, but very real, increase in the numbers of deaths of older and disabled people, even more prolonged and agonizing than the one experienced by Terri Schiavo, through lack of access to needed healthcare. I can't help but note that much of the power of the end-of-life movement has come from the fact that Medicare did not cover prescription drugs, including pain relievers. It was pure extortion to require people to agree to forego curative treatment in order to get pain relief, and I've been terribly disturbed to see that the new Medicare prescription drug coverage does not include pain relieving medication, continuing the pattern of extortion that forces people to accept a potentially premature death in order to receive pain relief.

To conclude, regardless of our abilities or disabilities, none of us should feel that we have to die to have dignity, that we have to die to be relieved of pain, or that we should die to stop burdening our families or society. Cognitive abilities must not be allowed to determine personhood under the laws of the United States. Reject the script you have been given by the right to die and the right to life movements. Instead, listen to the disability movement. We are your advance guard, in anticipation of the aging of our society, with decades of experience in living with disability. We want to help build a society that respects and welcomes everyone.

Material accompanying testimony:


Issues Surrounding Terri Schindler-Schiavo Are Disability Rights Issues, Say National Disability Organizations

All Lives Are Equal Under The Law By Steven Eidelman, Executive Director, The Arc of The United States, and Stephen Drake, Research Analyst, Not Dead Yet. From Washington Watch: Volume 3 (2005)

Penn hospital to limit its care in futile cases: Severely brain-damaged patients won't get certain treatments, as a rule. By Stacey Burling (Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 4, 2002)