I've been offline for nearly a week now while I upgraded my computer and reinstalled the OS and programs. What a time to be out of things. While I've been distracted my other pressing matters and haven't been motivated too much to post lately, there's has been some outrageous stuff being tossed about in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
Charges of racism coming into play in the failure to evacuate New Orleans. The person with the primary responsibility for the safety and security of N.O., mayor Ray Nagin, is black. Why then, if racism is an issue, didn't he swiftly and decisively act to ensure the safety of New Orleaneans?
Slow evacuation. Why did Nagin refuse to use the 500+ school and city transit buses immediately at his disposal to evacuate those in the Superdome and the Convention Center per the established disaster plan? His excuse...they weren't good enough. He wanted "...every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country..." brought in, no matter how long it took, no matter how many people were raped, beaten and killed in the interim.
Nagin was not so slow to respond to the need for emotional relief for city officials, first responders, and their families. He decreed September 4 that "five-day vacations - and even trips to Las Vegas - to the police, firefighters and city emergency workers and their families would be paid for by the citizens of New Orleans." Nagin first tried to get FEMA to pay for his largesse, but they correctly refused. No doubt that will be the subject of a future foul-mouthed diatribe, the likes of which we come to expect from C. Ray.
Charges of failure to address the levee issues are mis-leading at best, some would call them out right lies. Others would say they are "smoke" to obscure the real failures of the liberal local and state officials, as well as the Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu.
That Louisiana is the leading recipient of federal Corp of Engineering dollars is unquestionable, some $1.9 billion in the last five years. The question is, how were those taxpayer dollars spent? Of the more than $590 million in the 2006 budget, millions are designated for projects of questionable merit.
The Washington Post (Registration Required) reports Sen. Landrieu inserted language in an Iraqi spending bill that forced the Corps for "cook the books" to justify a project studies had considered of little cost/benefit.
It seems Sen. Landrieu had little regard for the people of New Orleans and what she describes as the widely known problems with the levee system. Otherwise she would have inserted language to force the Corps to accelerate the work already in progress on that issue.
Speaking of the levees, there have been some wild charges that the levees were intentionally breached by operatives of the Bush administration. No one of a sane mind would give this theory any credence, but who said those desperate souls on the left are sane? Of course, in the U.S., everyone loves a conspiracy theory.
Is the federal response to little? As as of right now, more than $62 billion has been approved for Katrina disaster relief. That is more than $200,000 per each of the 300,000 evacuees. Even if you spread it over the estimated 1 million affected people in the area, that corresponds to $62,000 per individual. Too little, hardly.
Certainly there were failures on the part of FEMA to ramp up response. But when dealing with the largest natural disaster in United States history. A disaster covering an area of 90,000 square miles and involving over 1 million people, response cannot be instantaneous.
Logistically there is a huge process of mobilizing an effective response. That is why the state and local officials are the primary responders. That is why emergency preparedness begins with local planning. It was those plans that were ignored by Mayor Nagin and others, opting to wait for Federal response instead of taking responsibility for their constituency.
If there are lessons to be learned it is that:
1) Government cannot protect citizens from all possible harm.
2) The Liberal line that government will be the father protector is untenable.
3) When faced with hard decisions, human nature will prefer to do nothing.
4) When difficult events happen, those in charge will blame instead of protect.
5) Those best equipped to respond in a disaster are in the private sector.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
While the world has been slow to acknowledge, much less respond to the devastation wrought by Katrina on the Gulf coast, response is beginning to trickle in. Granted it is mostly in the form of condolences, but that is better than some of us expected.
As expected though, the Islamic terrorists of the world have responded in character, rejoicing “in America's misfortune, giving the storm a military rank and declaring in Internet chatter that "Private" Katrina had joined the global jihad, or holy war. With "God's help," they declared, oil prices would hit $100 a barrel this year.”
I understand that the United States is one of the wealthiest nations on the earth and is always called on to respond, and we do so willingly, to disasters in less fortunate areas of the world. What I don’t understand is the callous and vindictive nature of many of the citizens and governments around the world.
Germany's Minister of the Environment, Jürgen Trittin is typical of many elitist, both internationally and domestic. He takes space in a paper chummy with the Social Democrats to bash what he perceives as US President George W. Bush's environmental laxity. “Until now, the US has kept its eyes shut to this emergency (greenhouse gasses). (Americans) make up a mere 4 percent of the population, but are responsible for close to a quarter of emissions."
There’s other “reasons” given for the lack of compassion by the world, our infrastructure, our well-developed weather service, the immediacy of federal assistance, even the size of the U. S. Army.
Americans are not pleased with the callousness shown by Trittin and other critics of the United States, especially during this time of crisis. Writing to the German news website, Spiegel Online, Mike Patton pretty well sums up the feelings of Americans saying,
David Falloure adds,
Of course Germany isn’t the only country to show it’s soulless behind. After French President Jacques Chirac expressed the sympathies of the French people, he reportedly said, “France stands ready to respond, if asked.”
"If asked?" That smacks of arrogantly waiting around for the U. S. to come on her knees begging for help. But that is the kind of action, err, inaction, we’ve come to expect from the French.
Had the U.S. waited around for France to "come begging" for help when the Nazis invaded their soil in 1940, they would still be arrogantly "sniffing" their disdain and Chirac would be making his sympathies known in German.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
As expected though, the Islamic terrorists of the world have responded in character, rejoicing “in America's misfortune, giving the storm a military rank and declaring in Internet chatter that "Private" Katrina had joined the global jihad, or holy war. With "God's help," they declared, oil prices would hit $100 a barrel this year.”
I understand that the United States is one of the wealthiest nations on the earth and is always called on to respond, and we do so willingly, to disasters in less fortunate areas of the world. What I don’t understand is the callous and vindictive nature of many of the citizens and governments around the world.
Germany's Minister of the Environment, Jürgen Trittin is typical of many elitist, both internationally and domestic. He takes space in a paper chummy with the Social Democrats to bash what he perceives as US President George W. Bush's environmental laxity. “Until now, the US has kept its eyes shut to this emergency (greenhouse gasses). (Americans) make up a mere 4 percent of the population, but are responsible for close to a quarter of emissions."
There’s other “reasons” given for the lack of compassion by the world, our infrastructure, our well-developed weather service, the immediacy of federal assistance, even the size of the U. S. Army.
Americans are not pleased with the callousness shown by Trittin and other critics of the United States, especially during this time of crisis. Writing to the German news website, Spiegel Online, Mike Patton pretty well sums up the feelings of Americans saying,
- “The majority of German brains have been adversely affected by global warming - they're definitely fried.”
David Falloure adds,
- “Europe does what it does best, looks on with no action or expression. Same as usual. Thanks for nothing.”
Of course Germany isn’t the only country to show it’s soulless behind. After French President Jacques Chirac expressed the sympathies of the French people, he reportedly said, “France stands ready to respond, if asked.”
"If asked?" That smacks of arrogantly waiting around for the U. S. to come on her knees begging for help. But that is the kind of action, err, inaction, we’ve come to expect from the French.
Had the U.S. waited around for France to "come begging" for help when the Nazis invaded their soil in 1940, they would still be arrogantly "sniffing" their disdain and Chirac would be making his sympathies known in German.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Sunday, August 28, 2005
With a third of domestic crude oil supply and 40% of US gas and oil production facilities located on the Gulf coast, we can expect severe disruptions to the flow of gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil as Katrina blows through the region.
I have little doubt that by the end of the next few weeks prices at the pump will be pushing an average of $3.00 per gallon if not higher. For the coming winter months, the northeast, which heavily relies on home heating oil, will see devastating increases in costs.
You can keep track of the average pump prices at AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
US Department of Energy Gas & Diesel Report
All of this can, and probably will, have a hugely negative impact on the economy. Al Qaida will be pleased. So should Cindy Sheehan. Seems like she is rooting for the "freedom fighters" who killed her son Casey. And they are all for anything that causes damage to the United States.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
I have little doubt that by the end of the next few weeks prices at the pump will be pushing an average of $3.00 per gallon if not higher. For the coming winter months, the northeast, which heavily relies on home heating oil, will see devastating increases in costs.
You can keep track of the average pump prices at AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
US Department of Energy Gas & Diesel Report
All of this can, and probably will, have a hugely negative impact on the economy. Al Qaida will be pleased. So should Cindy Sheehan. Seems like she is rooting for the "freedom fighters" who killed her son Casey. And they are all for anything that causes damage to the United States.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Cindy Sheehan’s experience as the mother of a deceased veteran of Iraq gives her no more credibility as a geo-political critic than Jeffrey Dahmer’s experience gives him credibility as a food critic.
It gives her a forum, but credibility comes from life experience, education, or professional status. It appears Ms. Sheehan has none of these in the area of domestic or international politics or the war on terror.
She can speak, perhaps even credibly, all she wants to a mother’s pain at the loss of her child. She can opine on any other issue but her opinions alone make her no more credible than mine validate me.
An individual’s opinions are validated by that individual’s experience in the relative area. While Albert Einstein has earned credibility for his opinions on the physical universe, I don’t think one could trust his credibility in the area of memory enhancement.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
It gives her a forum, but credibility comes from life experience, education, or professional status. It appears Ms. Sheehan has none of these in the area of domestic or international politics or the war on terror.
She can speak, perhaps even credibly, all she wants to a mother’s pain at the loss of her child. She can opine on any other issue but her opinions alone make her no more credible than mine validate me.
An individual’s opinions are validated by that individual’s experience in the relative area. While Albert Einstein has earned credibility for his opinions on the physical universe, I don’t think one could trust his credibility in the area of memory enhancement.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Last night I was listening to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. He covers a wide range of topics, some really strange, some very disturbing and some quite interesting. Last nights topic, space, planetary discoveries, NASA and the Space Shuttle missions was right down my "alley" of interests.
One comment guest Richard C. Houghland made really got me thinking and at the same time was pretty upsetting. Houghland, a former space science museum curator; a former NASA consultant, and during the Apollo Missions to the Moon, was science advisor to Walter Cronkite and CBS News, made the comment that NASA has known for years the insulating foam on the shuttle external fuel tank was a serious problem.
The foam problems, at least in part, have their genesis in radical environmentalism. In 1997, during the Clinton administration, the EPA, under the leadership of Carol M.
Browner, put pressure on NASA to switch from a freon based foam application to a more environmentally friendly method. While government agencies, at least at the time, were exempt for many of these regulations, NASA complied, most likely under heavy pressure.
Immediatedly, with the first post change shuttle mission, they saw dramatic increases in the number and severity of damage to the heat tiles from insulating foam disintergration. While over the intervening years the engineers attempted to alleviate the problem, they were not able to eliminate it. The 2003 Columbia disaster is directly linked to these fundamental technological changes brought on by a desire to "save the ozone" from the minimal amounts of freon emitted during the application process.
I can't totally blame the Clinton administration for the Columbia disaster though. Long after the radicalism of the Clinton era, NASA maintained and continues today to use the use of the non-freon foam application process, despite the reams of data documenting the problems with it.
This culture, perhaps hindered by governmental, burecratic, corportate inertia; perhaps infected itself by that same radical environmentalism that tend to permeate much of elitist scientific thought; perhaps simply in an act if self-preservation and seeking a course that would be non-confrontational with the environmentalists and the media; refused to take another look at the pre-1997 technology the, while not perfect, worked much better that the current system.
The problem is, even after Columbia, and now the problems discovered in the recent launch of Discovery, NASA, both publically and according to insiders privately, refuses to reconsider the fundamental problems with the current foam application system.
All it will take is someone with the guts and gumption to think outside the comfort zone of bureacracy and push the issue. Will it take another Columbia disaster to really get their attention, I hope not.
Related articles:
Did PC Science Cause Shuttle Disaster? FoxNews February 07, 2003
Fixing the Foam: Preventing Disaster, Getting Clear Picture FLORIDA TODAY
5 July 2005
Shuttle Foam Loss Linked to EPA Regs NewsMax July 28, 2005
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
One comment guest Richard C. Houghland made really got me thinking and at the same time was pretty upsetting. Houghland, a former space science museum curator; a former NASA consultant, and during the Apollo Missions to the Moon, was science advisor to Walter Cronkite and CBS News, made the comment that NASA has known for years the insulating foam on the shuttle external fuel tank was a serious problem.
The foam problems, at least in part, have their genesis in radical environmentalism. In 1997, during the Clinton administration, the EPA, under the leadership of Carol M.
Browner, put pressure on NASA to switch from a freon based foam application to a more environmentally friendly method. While government agencies, at least at the time, were exempt for many of these regulations, NASA complied, most likely under heavy pressure.
Immediatedly, with the first post change shuttle mission, they saw dramatic increases in the number and severity of damage to the heat tiles from insulating foam disintergration. While over the intervening years the engineers attempted to alleviate the problem, they were not able to eliminate it. The 2003 Columbia disaster is directly linked to these fundamental technological changes brought on by a desire to "save the ozone" from the minimal amounts of freon emitted during the application process.
I can't totally blame the Clinton administration for the Columbia disaster though. Long after the radicalism of the Clinton era, NASA maintained and continues today to use the use of the non-freon foam application process, despite the reams of data documenting the problems with it.
This culture, perhaps hindered by governmental, burecratic, corportate inertia; perhaps infected itself by that same radical environmentalism that tend to permeate much of elitist scientific thought; perhaps simply in an act if self-preservation and seeking a course that would be non-confrontational with the environmentalists and the media; refused to take another look at the pre-1997 technology the, while not perfect, worked much better that the current system.
The problem is, even after Columbia, and now the problems discovered in the recent launch of Discovery, NASA, both publically and according to insiders privately, refuses to reconsider the fundamental problems with the current foam application system.
All it will take is someone with the guts and gumption to think outside the comfort zone of bureacracy and push the issue. Will it take another Columbia disaster to really get their attention, I hope not.
Related articles:
Did PC Science Cause Shuttle Disaster? FoxNews February 07, 2003
Fixing the Foam: Preventing Disaster, Getting Clear Picture FLORIDA TODAY
5 July 2005
Shuttle Foam Loss Linked to EPA Regs NewsMax July 28, 2005
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, June 25, 2005
WorldNetDaily: Government tyrants get stamp of approval: "the recent Supreme Court decision has essentially given its backing to city governments becoming tyrants – unrestrained power in allowing municipalities to seize private property to make way for commercial development."
For many if not most Americans this ruling will go right over their heads, until it's too late. I've traditionally sided with the idea that government and the courts will ultimately do the right thing. The furor over the Patriot Act had me in the government’s corner siding with the necessity of taking exceptional measures because these are exceptional times. Trusting the system and the courts would reign in abuses. But I'm starting to be concerned.
The Terri Schiavo case where the justice seemed to fail her and her family was but a shot over the bow. Failing to take an unblinking look at the serious questions surrounding that obviously murky situation was an utter failure to protect the rights of the weak in our society.
The seeming insatiable hunger spending that used to be limited to the liberals and Democrats has now turned into a ravenous feasting of uncontrollable gluttony at the expense of the American people.
Couple the failure of the judicial to protect the rights of the week with the gluttony of government spending and what do you end up with? The answer is found in last Thursdays ruling by the court.
Only eight states, Washington, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Maine, South Carolina and Florida, where laws have been on the books protecting the rights of property owners, all but prohibiting eminent domain. But given this ruling and the ever increasing hunger of states and municipalities for revenues, look for legislation to be introduced to overturn those laws.
They tried it last year in Florida but the bill was killed through the efforts of Libertarians, who I often disagree with. I don't expect that to be the end of the issue here. Time after time those who think they can do more with our private property than we can will seek way to take it away from us...now with the approval of the Supreme Court.
It looks like Zimbabwe president Mugabe is on the cutting edge of what is about to become US government policy, if they don't agree with you, take their property. Look out churches, conservative organizations, liberal organizations, and advocacy groups. Depending on who is in power, your assets will be next.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
For many if not most Americans this ruling will go right over their heads, until it's too late. I've traditionally sided with the idea that government and the courts will ultimately do the right thing. The furor over the Patriot Act had me in the government’s corner siding with the necessity of taking exceptional measures because these are exceptional times. Trusting the system and the courts would reign in abuses. But I'm starting to be concerned.
The Terri Schiavo case where the justice seemed to fail her and her family was but a shot over the bow. Failing to take an unblinking look at the serious questions surrounding that obviously murky situation was an utter failure to protect the rights of the weak in our society.
The seeming insatiable hunger spending that used to be limited to the liberals and Democrats has now turned into a ravenous feasting of uncontrollable gluttony at the expense of the American people.
Couple the failure of the judicial to protect the rights of the week with the gluttony of government spending and what do you end up with? The answer is found in last Thursdays ruling by the court.
Only eight states, Washington, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Maine, South Carolina and Florida, where laws have been on the books protecting the rights of property owners, all but prohibiting eminent domain. But given this ruling and the ever increasing hunger of states and municipalities for revenues, look for legislation to be introduced to overturn those laws.
They tried it last year in Florida but the bill was killed through the efforts of Libertarians, who I often disagree with. I don't expect that to be the end of the issue here. Time after time those who think they can do more with our private property than we can will seek way to take it away from us...now with the approval of the Supreme Court.
It looks like Zimbabwe president Mugabe is on the cutting edge of what is about to become US government policy, if they don't agree with you, take their property. Look out churches, conservative organizations, liberal organizations, and advocacy groups. Depending on who is in power, your assets will be next.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
The past few weeks have been busy, leaving little time to write. Karen and I had the privilege to participate in the creation of the directory for our church. I was tasked with taking photos (in a hurry) and we had to really focus to try and depict all the ministries of the church. I ended up shooting about 1700 photos in 2 weeks.
Of those 1700, about 350 made the preliminary cut and after the committee review we settled on 38 for placement. I was so thankful for the new camera I bought in March, a Canon G6. It takes great pics in the auto mode, which I used a lot, and has the versatility to do great under low light conditions in fully manual mode.
There's a lot to learn about it, but this was a crash course taking photos that really had to count.
Then there was a change in committee leadership and with one day to go Karen and I assumed the lead. Having to get up to speed, finalize the layout and copy, and figure out the process of submitting the project was a challenge.
After it was over, it wasn't. There were several days getting the final reports and copies of the submission documents and rosters to the appropriate folk at church, prepare disks of all the photos for an archive and create an album of all the unused photos.
During all that our sister site, Front Line Report, was down for a week and as soon as that was up I began receiving letters and photos from SSgt. Michael Carnes who is deployed with the 391st Engineering Battalion to Afghanistan. He had some great photos and interesting letters.
They had to go up and so I began creating the pages and photo galleries to feature him. Visit the site and read about things from the perspective of "eyes on the ground."
With that all caught up, now I have to concentrate on the business of the home, about a months worth of financial transactions to be recorded, basic maintenance around the house, and back to the task of the daily regimen of taking care of my aging body.
Ah well...the excitement was fun while it lasted!
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Of those 1700, about 350 made the preliminary cut and after the committee review we settled on 38 for placement. I was so thankful for the new camera I bought in March, a Canon G6. It takes great pics in the auto mode, which I used a lot, and has the versatility to do great under low light conditions in fully manual mode.
There's a lot to learn about it, but this was a crash course taking photos that really had to count.
Then there was a change in committee leadership and with one day to go Karen and I assumed the lead. Having to get up to speed, finalize the layout and copy, and figure out the process of submitting the project was a challenge.
After it was over, it wasn't. There were several days getting the final reports and copies of the submission documents and rosters to the appropriate folk at church, prepare disks of all the photos for an archive and create an album of all the unused photos.
During all that our sister site, Front Line Report, was down for a week and as soon as that was up I began receiving letters and photos from SSgt. Michael Carnes who is deployed with the 391st Engineering Battalion to Afghanistan. He had some great photos and interesting letters.
They had to go up and so I began creating the pages and photo galleries to feature him. Visit the site and read about things from the perspective of "eyes on the ground."
With that all caught up, now I have to concentrate on the business of the home, about a months worth of financial transactions to be recorded, basic maintenance around the house, and back to the task of the daily regimen of taking care of my aging body.
Ah well...the excitement was fun while it lasted!
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Thursday, May 05, 2005
I've been out for a while, on vacation, and found myself enjoying the time too much to even think about writing. However, I saw this today and had to post a brief note.
The article on WorldNetDaily was actually on another issue but this statement by Congressman Jim Moran, D-Va, couldn't be left unanswered. Speaking on Social Security and the President's campaign to address the problems coming...
"In 1983 it was fixed, and the Congressional Budget Office says we're good up until 2052. ... Social Security is the only solvent fund we have in the government today really, it's got 1.7 trillion dollars of surplus today. We're going to have a surplus of two to three hundred billion for every year until the next 30 years."
Yeah Mr. Moran, Congress did do something with Social Security in 1983, they set up a Trust Fund that was supposedly established to provide funds for the coming deficits. The problem is that you, Congress, couldn't keep your hands off it.
You've spent those funds, writing IOU's that are essentially worthless since to pay them back into the fund you will have to tax the American people again to repay Social Security funds they have already paid through payroll taxes.
Since Congress cannot control their spending, the fix is in alright, it's in for the American people. If Congress was goverened by the same laws and rules they thrust on American business, every one of them would be in jail for embezzelment and extortion of the American people and their trust.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
The article on WorldNetDaily was actually on another issue but this statement by Congressman Jim Moran, D-Va, couldn't be left unanswered. Speaking on Social Security and the President's campaign to address the problems coming...
"In 1983 it was fixed, and the Congressional Budget Office says we're good up until 2052. ... Social Security is the only solvent fund we have in the government today really, it's got 1.7 trillion dollars of surplus today. We're going to have a surplus of two to three hundred billion for every year until the next 30 years."
Yeah Mr. Moran, Congress did do something with Social Security in 1983, they set up a Trust Fund that was supposedly established to provide funds for the coming deficits. The problem is that you, Congress, couldn't keep your hands off it.
You've spent those funds, writing IOU's that are essentially worthless since to pay them back into the fund you will have to tax the American people again to repay Social Security funds they have already paid through payroll taxes.
Since Congress cannot control their spending, the fix is in alright, it's in for the American people. If Congress was goverened by the same laws and rules they thrust on American business, every one of them would be in jail for embezzelment and extortion of the American people and their trust.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, April 16, 2005
An article on WorldNetDaily perplexed me this week. It was about an item for sale (since pulled) on Internet marketplace Cafepress.com. It was a t-shirt with the image show to the right and the logo:
For Gods Sake ...
KILL BUSH
Save the United States
and the Rest of the World
The article also referred to a display at Columbia College of a mock postage stamp, seen on the left,
of President Bush with a gun pointed at his head. The message is that killing the President of the United States, if he is conservative, is an act of patriotism. According to those on the left, these are merely free expression and or works of art.
It seems like the left is amazingly replete with free expression involving killing authority figures with which they disagree. Consider this poster photographed at an illegal San Francisco anti war rally March 15, 2003.
The message on the banner, “We Support Our Troops, When They Shoot Their Officers.”
Apparently war and the killing of enemy combatants and terrorists who are trying to kill our soldiers is a bad thing, yet the cold blooded murder of military officials is good, even an act to be commended, if the left is to be believed.
Yet, it would be these same people no doubt who sanction, even glorify, the killing of innocent children in the abortion clinics, 3000 daily. It is these same people who stood shoulder to shoulder with Michael Schiavo and Florida Judge Greer as they together pulled the source of sustenance from Terry and caused her death.
It is these same individuals who would devalue the life of a human, both too weak and inconvenient or to imperfect for their sensibilities, and in their distorted sense of compassion cause the destruction of these innocent lives. All the while crying and protesting over the legally prescribed penalty for the criminal taking of innocent life (acts they apparently support and defend) and the administration of the death penalty. Their sense of radicalized freedom allows them to do anything they want.
There is such an obvious disconnect and dichotomy on the left. When one tosses out absolutes for relativism this is the result. When one ignores moral absolutes and moral leadership to follow their own selfish weaknesses and desires, the result is anarchy. It’s not a new problem. But it is a problem, for the left, and for America.
(Jdg 21:25) At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
For Gods Sake ...
KILL BUSH
Save the United States
and the Rest of the World
The article also referred to a display at Columbia College of a mock postage stamp, seen on the left,
of President Bush with a gun pointed at his head. The message is that killing the President of the United States, if he is conservative, is an act of patriotism. According to those on the left, these are merely free expression and or works of art.It seems like the left is amazingly replete with free expression involving killing authority figures with which they disagree. Consider this poster photographed at an illegal San Francisco anti war rally March 15, 2003.
The message on the banner, “We Support Our Troops, When They Shoot Their Officers.”Apparently war and the killing of enemy combatants and terrorists who are trying to kill our soldiers is a bad thing, yet the cold blooded murder of military officials is good, even an act to be commended, if the left is to be believed.
Yet, it would be these same people no doubt who sanction, even glorify, the killing of innocent children in the abortion clinics, 3000 daily. It is these same people who stood shoulder to shoulder with Michael Schiavo and Florida Judge Greer as they together pulled the source of sustenance from Terry and caused her death.
It is these same individuals who would devalue the life of a human, both too weak and inconvenient or to imperfect for their sensibilities, and in their distorted sense of compassion cause the destruction of these innocent lives. All the while crying and protesting over the legally prescribed penalty for the criminal taking of innocent life (acts they apparently support and defend) and the administration of the death penalty. Their sense of radicalized freedom allows them to do anything they want.
There is such an obvious disconnect and dichotomy on the left. When one tosses out absolutes for relativism this is the result. When one ignores moral absolutes and moral leadership to follow their own selfish weaknesses and desires, the result is anarchy. It’s not a new problem. But it is a problem, for the left, and for America.
(Jdg 21:25) At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, April 09, 2005
There is currently a discussion (some would say “bombs being thrown”) here in Florida regarding a bill Representative Dennis Baxley proposed and passed through committee. House Bill 837, the “Academic Bill of Rights,” would guarantee a students right to "free inquiry and free speech" in the classroom.
Many on the right have worried about the increasing influence of leftist ideology on college and university campuses and the suppression of centrist or conservative ideology that contradicts the professorial line of thought. Many students have related stories of being marginalized on campus and targeted academically for holding to views different from their professors.
The situation has concerned some to the extent that websites and organizations have been formed to organize the effort to increase diversity of thought and ideology on the university campus. David Horowitz’s Students for Academic Freedom is on the forefront of this effort helping to craft model legislation.
But the problem isn’t limited to student marginalization. Many conservative thinking professors, researchers, scientists and administrators complain of a wall of ideology and intimidation barring them from freely expressing their ideas. This has been seen recently in the prestigious Smithsonian Institute when Richard Sternberg had his standing as a researcher at the Institute called into question when an article favorable to Intelligent Design was published in a journal he edited.
It didn’t matter that Mr. Sternberg didn’t write the article or that it is a peer reviewed study. The article sites biologists and paleontologist who question the Darwinian theory. But the real story is that it was the messenger, the publisher of the article, who is being brought to task.
As Mr. Sternberg’s complaint cites, the chairman of the Zoology Department called his supervisor and questioned his religious and political affiliations, assuming he was both a “religious fundamentalist and a right-winger.” Sternberg, who describes himself as a Catholic with lots of questions, says that though he was able to beg a small office in the Institute, his colleagues ignore him in the halls and old colleagues at other institutions now refuse to work with him.
The interesting thing in this particular case is that it was Sternberg, the messenger, who has been attacked for allowing diversity of thought, peer reviewed thought, in an academic journal. Of course the problem is that this particular thought brought into question the “holy grail” of elitist, liberal academia, Darwin’s evolution.
The automatic response that Sternberg was surely a “religious and political fanatic of the conservative bent” tells the tale of those ensconced in our institutions of higher learning. They don’t wish a debate of ideas; they wish only their ideas to be the rule of the classroom. While this is certainly a broad brush, it is a brush with substance. According to a Washington Post article, 72% of university professors describe themselves as liberal, while in the elite universities 87% of faculty labeled themselves as such.
Here in Florida, a debate on TheSky97.3 on Friday between Mr. Baxley and a representative from the University of Florida (I truly wish I could recall his name) was essentially cordial, but the true underlying issue was revealed when Baxley’s opposite charged that his bill was merely a ruse to push Christianity and Creationism in the guise of intellectual freedom in the classroom.
Baxley countered that the purpose is to truly open the university setting to diversity of ideas in the same way the left has opened it to diversity of gender, color, race, sexual preference and so on. If diversity is good in those areas, why not in the area for which the university was created, the expression of thought and ideas?
Were HB837 truly designed for the purposes of promoting Christianity, so what? Isn’t the opposition’s reaction proof of the problem the bill is designed to deal with? Are not thoughts and ideas, from all sources, valid for discussion and exploration? How can one fully understand their position on any idea or issue until they are challenged?
It would appear the left is all for diversity until that diversity challenges their ideology. To suppress full and open discussion is an admission of fear of the potential validity of the idea.
Perhaps that is what the elitist academians fear, a challenge for which they can provide no rebuttal.
Futher reading:
The Branding of a Heretic
Science's new heresy trial
Fighting in Florida
A Victory in Florida
College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds
Summers Storm
Who Stole Harvard?
Colleges need intellectually diverse professors
Why an Academic Bill of Rights is Necessary
Academic Freedom
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Many on the right have worried about the increasing influence of leftist ideology on college and university campuses and the suppression of centrist or conservative ideology that contradicts the professorial line of thought. Many students have related stories of being marginalized on campus and targeted academically for holding to views different from their professors.
The situation has concerned some to the extent that websites and organizations have been formed to organize the effort to increase diversity of thought and ideology on the university campus. David Horowitz’s Students for Academic Freedom is on the forefront of this effort helping to craft model legislation.
But the problem isn’t limited to student marginalization. Many conservative thinking professors, researchers, scientists and administrators complain of a wall of ideology and intimidation barring them from freely expressing their ideas. This has been seen recently in the prestigious Smithsonian Institute when Richard Sternberg had his standing as a researcher at the Institute called into question when an article favorable to Intelligent Design was published in a journal he edited.
It didn’t matter that Mr. Sternberg didn’t write the article or that it is a peer reviewed study. The article sites biologists and paleontologist who question the Darwinian theory. But the real story is that it was the messenger, the publisher of the article, who is being brought to task.
As Mr. Sternberg’s complaint cites, the chairman of the Zoology Department called his supervisor and questioned his religious and political affiliations, assuming he was both a “religious fundamentalist and a right-winger.” Sternberg, who describes himself as a Catholic with lots of questions, says that though he was able to beg a small office in the Institute, his colleagues ignore him in the halls and old colleagues at other institutions now refuse to work with him.
The interesting thing in this particular case is that it was Sternberg, the messenger, who has been attacked for allowing diversity of thought, peer reviewed thought, in an academic journal. Of course the problem is that this particular thought brought into question the “holy grail” of elitist, liberal academia, Darwin’s evolution.
The automatic response that Sternberg was surely a “religious and political fanatic of the conservative bent” tells the tale of those ensconced in our institutions of higher learning. They don’t wish a debate of ideas; they wish only their ideas to be the rule of the classroom. While this is certainly a broad brush, it is a brush with substance. According to a Washington Post article, 72% of university professors describe themselves as liberal, while in the elite universities 87% of faculty labeled themselves as such.
Here in Florida, a debate on TheSky97.3 on Friday between Mr. Baxley and a representative from the University of Florida (I truly wish I could recall his name) was essentially cordial, but the true underlying issue was revealed when Baxley’s opposite charged that his bill was merely a ruse to push Christianity and Creationism in the guise of intellectual freedom in the classroom.
Baxley countered that the purpose is to truly open the university setting to diversity of ideas in the same way the left has opened it to diversity of gender, color, race, sexual preference and so on. If diversity is good in those areas, why not in the area for which the university was created, the expression of thought and ideas?
Were HB837 truly designed for the purposes of promoting Christianity, so what? Isn’t the opposition’s reaction proof of the problem the bill is designed to deal with? Are not thoughts and ideas, from all sources, valid for discussion and exploration? How can one fully understand their position on any idea or issue until they are challenged?
It would appear the left is all for diversity until that diversity challenges their ideology. To suppress full and open discussion is an admission of fear of the potential validity of the idea.
Perhaps that is what the elitist academians fear, a challenge for which they can provide no rebuttal.
Futher reading:
The Branding of a Heretic
Science's new heresy trial
Fighting in Florida
A Victory in Florida
College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds
Summers Storm
Who Stole Harvard?
Colleges need intellectually diverse professors
Why an Academic Bill of Rights is Necessary
Academic Freedom
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, April 02, 2005
There are so many perspectives on the tragedy of the death of Terri Schiavo. Surely it can be argued that an arrogant judiciary has run amuck. Deliberately ignoring the constitutional authority of Congress to determine the jurisdiction of the judiciary.
At the same time one can argue that Congress has no business involving itself in the personal matters of one family. Yet, if the purpose of our government not to protect her citizens, what is it?
Our Declaration of Independence declares, “…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men…”
This founding document of our nation established the fact that the purpose of government is to protect and ensure those “inalienable rights” given to each of us. If Terri Schiavo was in the condition described by her husband, if she suffered from such great damage to her brain that there was no hope, it was still the responsibility of her government to ensure her right to live until such time that her creator took her to be with Him.
Sadly, her government and finally her husband failed in their sacred vows to protect her.
Many in the disabled community watched the drama of the past few weeks and years with alarm. If one man, and a government sworn to protect this woman, would turn on her and not only fail to protect her but actively seek her death, what will protect them, the disabled, when someone decides their lives have no more value. When they are no longer “convenient” to have around?
This was inadvertently brought home to me a few days ago when listening to a news roundtable on Fox News, one of those in the discussion made a comment that went something this.
“But she had a feeding tube. What kind of life is that?”
I wish I could remember who the speaker was. I would want to ask him, “Who are we to decide what determines quality of life for someone? What gives us as individuals, as a nation, as judges and politicians, even as medical professionals the right to determine when someone’s life no longer has value?”
If living with a feeding tube begs the question, “what kind of life is that?” what of a life tied to a dialysis machine? What of life tied to an oxygen tank because of emphysema? What value is there in a life tied to a wheelchair or bedridden? What of the blind? The deaf? Those who live in pain from carpel tunnel or arthritis? “What kind of life it that?”
Where do we draw the line? Who do you want to draw the line? An overburdened medical profession who feel compelled to pour their efforts on those they think have a better chance at a normal life? Who find their professional lives assaulted daily by those in the worst dire straits medically?
Do you want a legal system, seeming bent on extracting the last bit of blood and coin from the doctors, determining when you no longer have value? If a doctor has value to these circling vultures only as a source of income, what value will your life have for them when they’ve extracted every last trial and appeal from you?
Do you want a judiciary to sit in distanced, unmoved judgment of your life’s value without so much as a single visit? Who hide from your humanity behind a shield of withdrawal and aloofness?
What will happen next, once we decide those with chronic medical problems no longer have value in our society? Who will be the next target for easing our discomfort? Will it be the immigrants, the blacks, and homosexuals, those whose ideas don’t line up with those in power? What of the Jews, the Catholics, the Christians and Muslims. What if they will not surrender their values to a secularism that devalues life and determines it worthy only if it is acceptable and convenient?
You say, “No, not in America, that will never happen here!” I dare say those living in Germany in the 1920’s and ‘30’s too thought such a notion was unimaginable. Yet history now tells us they were wrong.
Hitler instituted sterilization and euthanasia measures to enforce his idea of racial purity among German people and caused the slaughter of millions of Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Slavic peoples, and many others, all of whom he considered inferior. Among those thought to be inferior were the physically and mentally disabled. They soiled the purity of his idealized Aryan race.
Has our nation started her decline down the path made clear by the Nazi purge? Are we, in the name of “mercy” heading where only tyrants and despots dare?
The demagogues for euthanasia declare and emphatic NO! Certainly Hitler avowed his honor and purity of purpose as well, and history declares his shallowness thereof. Have men really changed all that much since?
Those in the Christian faith who opposed Hitler either did so weakly or out of self-interest. The one Christian leader who took a firm stand, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was put to death by the Nazi regime just days prior to the end of the war. Even in today’s debate in the Schiavo drama we see reflections of the Churches influence, or lack thereof, in Nazi Germany. The church is either weak in it’s response, or marginalized by the liberal media.
Those who sued for the “right” to legally abort the unborn argued it was a medical necessity. Women should not be required to carry diseased or deformed children to term. They should not be required to place their lives in danger, even lose their lives, to birth a child.
We now know that “medical necessity” has become a “choice” of convenience where 96% of those who “choose” abortion do so for purposes of “social” convenience. How long will it take for the “necessity of mercy” to become the “convenience of society?” It took abortion less than 20 years, in today’s fast paced, self worshipping society I surmise it will be much sooner.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
At the same time one can argue that Congress has no business involving itself in the personal matters of one family. Yet, if the purpose of our government not to protect her citizens, what is it?
Our Declaration of Independence declares, “…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men…”
This founding document of our nation established the fact that the purpose of government is to protect and ensure those “inalienable rights” given to each of us. If Terri Schiavo was in the condition described by her husband, if she suffered from such great damage to her brain that there was no hope, it was still the responsibility of her government to ensure her right to live until such time that her creator took her to be with Him.
Sadly, her government and finally her husband failed in their sacred vows to protect her.
Many in the disabled community watched the drama of the past few weeks and years with alarm. If one man, and a government sworn to protect this woman, would turn on her and not only fail to protect her but actively seek her death, what will protect them, the disabled, when someone decides their lives have no more value. When they are no longer “convenient” to have around?
This was inadvertently brought home to me a few days ago when listening to a news roundtable on Fox News, one of those in the discussion made a comment that went something this.
“But she had a feeding tube. What kind of life is that?”
I wish I could remember who the speaker was. I would want to ask him, “Who are we to decide what determines quality of life for someone? What gives us as individuals, as a nation, as judges and politicians, even as medical professionals the right to determine when someone’s life no longer has value?”
If living with a feeding tube begs the question, “what kind of life is that?” what of a life tied to a dialysis machine? What of life tied to an oxygen tank because of emphysema? What value is there in a life tied to a wheelchair or bedridden? What of the blind? The deaf? Those who live in pain from carpel tunnel or arthritis? “What kind of life it that?”
Where do we draw the line? Who do you want to draw the line? An overburdened medical profession who feel compelled to pour their efforts on those they think have a better chance at a normal life? Who find their professional lives assaulted daily by those in the worst dire straits medically?
Do you want a legal system, seeming bent on extracting the last bit of blood and coin from the doctors, determining when you no longer have value? If a doctor has value to these circling vultures only as a source of income, what value will your life have for them when they’ve extracted every last trial and appeal from you?
Do you want a judiciary to sit in distanced, unmoved judgment of your life’s value without so much as a single visit? Who hide from your humanity behind a shield of withdrawal and aloofness?
What will happen next, once we decide those with chronic medical problems no longer have value in our society? Who will be the next target for easing our discomfort? Will it be the immigrants, the blacks, and homosexuals, those whose ideas don’t line up with those in power? What of the Jews, the Catholics, the Christians and Muslims. What if they will not surrender their values to a secularism that devalues life and determines it worthy only if it is acceptable and convenient?
You say, “No, not in America, that will never happen here!” I dare say those living in Germany in the 1920’s and ‘30’s too thought such a notion was unimaginable. Yet history now tells us they were wrong.
Hitler instituted sterilization and euthanasia measures to enforce his idea of racial purity among German people and caused the slaughter of millions of Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Slavic peoples, and many others, all of whom he considered inferior. Among those thought to be inferior were the physically and mentally disabled. They soiled the purity of his idealized Aryan race.
Has our nation started her decline down the path made clear by the Nazi purge? Are we, in the name of “mercy” heading where only tyrants and despots dare?
The demagogues for euthanasia declare and emphatic NO! Certainly Hitler avowed his honor and purity of purpose as well, and history declares his shallowness thereof. Have men really changed all that much since?
Those in the Christian faith who opposed Hitler either did so weakly or out of self-interest. The one Christian leader who took a firm stand, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was put to death by the Nazi regime just days prior to the end of the war. Even in today’s debate in the Schiavo drama we see reflections of the Churches influence, or lack thereof, in Nazi Germany. The church is either weak in it’s response, or marginalized by the liberal media.
Those who sued for the “right” to legally abort the unborn argued it was a medical necessity. Women should not be required to carry diseased or deformed children to term. They should not be required to place their lives in danger, even lose their lives, to birth a child.
We now know that “medical necessity” has become a “choice” of convenience where 96% of those who “choose” abortion do so for purposes of “social” convenience. How long will it take for the “necessity of mercy” to become the “convenience of society?” It took abortion less than 20 years, in today’s fast paced, self worshipping society I surmise it will be much sooner.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Painting a very different picture from that told by her parents, pro-death attorney George Felos described Terri Schiavo’s appearance as “very peaceful, the most beautiful since I’ve known her” (paraphrased). I’m sorry, but death, no matter how it comes, is not “beautiful.”
But that kind of propaganda is to be expected from Felos who is the leading proponent of assisted suicide in the U.S. legal profession. Painting images very different from their actual appearance is his specialty.
Consider, judicial independence is vital to our system of justice in the United States. Yet it has been reported that last year, the day following a favorable ruling for Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer received a $250 donation for his re-election campaign from Felos. The amount is not important, the appearance of quid pro quo and conflict of interest is. Was there a duplicitous move to influence the “independent judiciary.”
There are so many questions swirling around this case, questions that should cause the judiciary to pause and at a minimum become dubious of the claims of Felos and Schiavo.
Yet, the greater question is what is happening in our country? What has happened to us that we are running headlong down the path of death for the convenience of the living?
Argue how you may, of the 46 million abortions reported in America since 1973, the vast majority were not for medical reasons. The primary reasons given for these abortions amount to personal convenience
The reasons given for abortion are as follows:
Social Reasons (given as primary reason)
- Feels unready for responsibility 21%
- Feels she can't afford baby 21%
- Concern for how baby would change her life 16%
- Relationship problem 12%
- Feels she isn't mature enough 11%
- Has all the children she wants 8%
- Other reasons 4-5%
TOTAL: 93%
"Hard Cases" (given as primary reason)
- Mother's Health 3%
- Baby may have health problem 3%
- Rape or Incest 1%
TOTAL: 7%
From National Right to Life
Fully 93% of abortions are for matters of social convenience, not medical issues or rape/incest as the pro-abortion lobby consistently touts as the reason abortion should be easy and legal. Consider that the reason given, “Baby may have health problem” is based on what “may” be and the underlying difficulties and inconvenience of caring for a sick or disabled child, and the “Social Reasons” category can be reasonably increased to 96%.
That is, 3600 abortions per day in 2004, or every day more than twice the total number of American casualties since the beginning of the Iraq war are killed in the abortion mills of the United States. The liberals wail over the former while demanding that the American taxpayer, including those who find abortion morally wrong, pay for abortion on demand.
Now the battle line is shifting to include physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, two closely related but distinctly different acts. While the generalities of the Schiavo case may be closer to the act of allowing nature to take its course, the specifics paint a different picture. In that Schiavo does not specifically qualify as physician assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia, it is an early skirmish on the field of battle that will surely lead to more of these types of situations.
Do not be deceived; while those proponents of PAS and euthanasia speak passionately to the dignity of the individual, mercy and so on, the deeper reasons are both societal and economic.
It is painful to watch a loved on ravaged by disease, to see their bodies waste away, the vibrant spark of life slowly diminish as they edge towards death’s door. It is never easy, for some it is impossible. While advocates often speak of easing the pain of the dying, they also want to end their own pain.
Consider the concept of a funeral. They are not for the deceased. While we speak of honoring them, of paying a final tribute and honor to those who have passed on, the real purpose of the funeral is to help ourselves in dealing with the pain of loss. The dead don’t care, they’re not crying. It’s us, the living.
In the same way PAS and euthanasia are a palliative solution to the pain of the friends, family and caretakers of the injured, diseased and dying. It speeds the process so we can move on with our lives.
Consider Michael Schiavo. What are his stated plans when Terri dies? To marry his 10 year live in lover.
What about economics? This was brought home to me today as I discussed Schiavo with a co-worker. His arguments ran to the waste of money being spent on keeping her alive and to the financial ability of her parents and siblings to care for her were they to receive custody.
The cost of care in the final year of life comprises 18% of lifetime medical costs, 30% of Medicare expenditures. With the increasing pressures on hospitals, insurance companies and government medical programs to reign in costs, the availability of end-of-life care is certainly to become a much-debated issue while PAS and euthanasia will become viewed as a solution.
Listen to the current debate and you will hear these and other reasons given to “pull the tube” and get on with it.
The bottom line is that abortion and PAS/euthanasia are bound together in the politics and ethics of the culture of death in America. To acknowledge one as morally wrong inherently weakens the arguments for the other. Thus you will not find a pro-life/pro-euthanasia advocate or a pro-abortion/anti-euthanasia apologist.
Both abortion and PAS/euthanasia find their foundation in the social self-centeredness of our society. They reflect the focus of the “me” society where the important things of life do not include sacrifice, delayed gratification and giving of one’s self to others.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
But that kind of propaganda is to be expected from Felos who is the leading proponent of assisted suicide in the U.S. legal profession. Painting images very different from their actual appearance is his specialty.
Consider, judicial independence is vital to our system of justice in the United States. Yet it has been reported that last year, the day following a favorable ruling for Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer received a $250 donation for his re-election campaign from Felos. The amount is not important, the appearance of quid pro quo and conflict of interest is. Was there a duplicitous move to influence the “independent judiciary.”
There are so many questions swirling around this case, questions that should cause the judiciary to pause and at a minimum become dubious of the claims of Felos and Schiavo.
Yet, the greater question is what is happening in our country? What has happened to us that we are running headlong down the path of death for the convenience of the living?
Argue how you may, of the 46 million abortions reported in America since 1973, the vast majority were not for medical reasons. The primary reasons given for these abortions amount to personal convenience
The reasons given for abortion are as follows:
Social Reasons (given as primary reason)
- Feels unready for responsibility 21%
- Feels she can't afford baby 21%
- Concern for how baby would change her life 16%
- Relationship problem 12%
- Feels she isn't mature enough 11%
- Has all the children she wants 8%
- Other reasons 4-5%
TOTAL: 93%
"Hard Cases" (given as primary reason)
- Mother's Health 3%
- Baby may have health problem 3%
- Rape or Incest 1%
TOTAL: 7%
From National Right to Life
Fully 93% of abortions are for matters of social convenience, not medical issues or rape/incest as the pro-abortion lobby consistently touts as the reason abortion should be easy and legal. Consider that the reason given, “Baby may have health problem” is based on what “may” be and the underlying difficulties and inconvenience of caring for a sick or disabled child, and the “Social Reasons” category can be reasonably increased to 96%.
That is, 3600 abortions per day in 2004, or every day more than twice the total number of American casualties since the beginning of the Iraq war are killed in the abortion mills of the United States. The liberals wail over the former while demanding that the American taxpayer, including those who find abortion morally wrong, pay for abortion on demand.
Now the battle line is shifting to include physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, two closely related but distinctly different acts. While the generalities of the Schiavo case may be closer to the act of allowing nature to take its course, the specifics paint a different picture. In that Schiavo does not specifically qualify as physician assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia, it is an early skirmish on the field of battle that will surely lead to more of these types of situations.
Do not be deceived; while those proponents of PAS and euthanasia speak passionately to the dignity of the individual, mercy and so on, the deeper reasons are both societal and economic.
It is painful to watch a loved on ravaged by disease, to see their bodies waste away, the vibrant spark of life slowly diminish as they edge towards death’s door. It is never easy, for some it is impossible. While advocates often speak of easing the pain of the dying, they also want to end their own pain.
Consider the concept of a funeral. They are not for the deceased. While we speak of honoring them, of paying a final tribute and honor to those who have passed on, the real purpose of the funeral is to help ourselves in dealing with the pain of loss. The dead don’t care, they’re not crying. It’s us, the living.
In the same way PAS and euthanasia are a palliative solution to the pain of the friends, family and caretakers of the injured, diseased and dying. It speeds the process so we can move on with our lives.
Consider Michael Schiavo. What are his stated plans when Terri dies? To marry his 10 year live in lover.
What about economics? This was brought home to me today as I discussed Schiavo with a co-worker. His arguments ran to the waste of money being spent on keeping her alive and to the financial ability of her parents and siblings to care for her were they to receive custody.
The cost of care in the final year of life comprises 18% of lifetime medical costs, 30% of Medicare expenditures. With the increasing pressures on hospitals, insurance companies and government medical programs to reign in costs, the availability of end-of-life care is certainly to become a much-debated issue while PAS and euthanasia will become viewed as a solution.
Listen to the current debate and you will hear these and other reasons given to “pull the tube” and get on with it.
The bottom line is that abortion and PAS/euthanasia are bound together in the politics and ethics of the culture of death in America. To acknowledge one as morally wrong inherently weakens the arguments for the other. Thus you will not find a pro-life/pro-euthanasia advocate or a pro-abortion/anti-euthanasia apologist.
Both abortion and PAS/euthanasia find their foundation in the social self-centeredness of our society. They reflect the focus of the “me” society where the important things of life do not include sacrifice, delayed gratification and giving of one’s self to others.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The past several weeks I’ve withheld comment as I, along with the nation and the world, stood by while the drama of Terri Schiavo’s struggle was waged. Fact of the matter is that I’ve been aware and casually watching for the past several years when this struggle first came to light.
Quite frankly, at first I thought, why are they doing this to her? She’s not there, she’s only a shell, let her go. Pull the plug and let nature take its course. But then I learned more.
Terri is not on life support as the liberal media claim. She is not unconscious. She is aware. She feels pain. She laughs and cries. She responds to her family, friends and caretakers. It’s only that she needs a feeding tube to supply nourishment, and therapy that holds the promise of taking food normally and so much more.
While the liberal media persists in denying the things Terri is able to do, they also actively deny a voice to those who see value in Terri and hope for her life. It was only on FoxNews "Hannity & Colmes" that we heard of Dr. Bill Hammesfahr, and Nobel Prize nominee who has examined Terri extensively and claims there is great hope for her.
He has seen amazing recoveries in his work with patients with injuries and damage beyond Terri’s condition. Yet the liberal media and their political allies turn a deaf ear, a blind eye and say, “there’s not hope, she cannot understand anything, she’s in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’” With a PVS comes the inability to comprehend and react to any beneficial or effective stimulus. Someone in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ cannot understand even the obvious.
It would seem while Terri apparently can, the left either cannot or will not. Perhaps they are the ones in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’ not Terri Schiavo. Should they be denied life? Not even I would suggest that!
Is there really hope for Terri? Consider this.
I have a friend, she is also a Terri, who several years ago suffered a severe blow to the head and terrible damage to her brain. This vibrant, jubilant woman in an instant became unable to speak, eat, walk and all the other wonderful, creative and joyful things she had done for years. Many would say she was like Terri.
Yet she was allowed and encouraged in therapy and while there remain difficulties, she lives! She walks, with difficulty. She talks and converses, with difficulty. She struggles to live as normally as she can, with difficulty. But the point is, there was no expectation that she would, yet she does.
Is she 100% as she was before the accident? No, she never will. But she was given the opportunity to become all that she could. No one tried to deny her that.
There is a hell bent determination by the liberal left to condemn Terri Schiavo, to end her life, despite the evidence of hope. This I cannot understand.
Were Terri Schiavo a convicted murder on death row and a tiny bit of evidence came to light that might exonerate her, the liberal media, politicians and activists would walk through the coals of hell to stay the execution and save her life. They understand that once she was gone it was too late.
Why are they so determined to kill her now?
If Terri was anorexic and starving herself there would be cries of her need for treatment, her life would be of worth and need saving. Appeals of the horror of self-starvation could not be quieted.
Yet she’s not and it’s ok for someone else to starve her.
The pervasive culture of death in our country is determined to make Terri Schiavo as their “cover girl,” their “Miss Death.” Yet from all indications there is at best strong disagreement whether Terri would want that “honor.”
Has the minister of this “culture of death,” Attorney George Felos, co-opted an unwitting Michael Schiavo in his unrelenting quest for free wheeling, anything goes death in America? Felos history on this matter speaks for itself.
Has Michael Schiavo enlisted Felos in his struggle to quiet Terri, to prevent her from possibly recovering enough to speak? I only ask this last question because of the circumstances.
Terri suffered her trauma, what ever it was, 15 years ago. Ten years ago Michael moved in with his girlfriend, sired two children, all while in control of a million dollar judgment in Terri’s case. Over that time he denied her therapies and treatments that held hope for her improvement.
Now, with his common law wife at his side, who he says he will marry as soon as Terri is out of the way, he claims she wanted to die rather than live in this “condition.” We have his word on it.
In interviews and affidavit, a former caretaker of Terri’s, Carla Sauer Iyer, has quoted him asking when “the bitch was going to die?” The same person tells of finding Terri overdosed on insulin immediately after Michael left her. An overdosing that could have resulted in her death. While these accusations have not been dealt with in a court, they are very troubling.
While Terri’s parents and siblings are pleading for the chance to sacrifice their lives to care for Terri, it seems Michael would sacrifice Terri, the one he stood in front of an altar and promised to love and care for in sickness and health.
I have to ask, what sacrifice would Michael have to suffer by Terri’s living that is so great she must die? Does Terri know something that Michael does not want, cannot possibly allow, to be made known?
As terrible as divorce is, I know, I’ve been there, death of a spouse is so much worse. I know, I’ve been there. So what is it about the call of Terri’s death that tastes so sweet to her loving husband Michael Schiavo?
Would if be a hard life, a struggle and sacrifice to care for someone in Terri Schiavo’s condition? Absolutely! But it would be a struggle and sacrifice of honor and love. Can every one do it?
All can, not all will. My friend Terri? Her husband of 15 years divorced her and left her with her loving parents to care for her while he took their children. Did I agree with him? No. But in light of what Michael Schiavo wants to do to his Terri, I honor my friend’s husband.
At least he had the honor to admit he couldn’t handle it and allow someone who loved her more and was willing to make the necessary sacrifices care for her.
All Michael Schiavo wants is death.
More on Terri's condition:
Facts Versus Michael Schiavo by Cherly Ford RN
Disabled Woman Would Cry 'Help Me,' Caregivers Claim - CNSNews.com
If only Terri had murdered someone - Burt Prelutsky
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Quite frankly, at first I thought, why are they doing this to her? She’s not there, she’s only a shell, let her go. Pull the plug and let nature take its course. But then I learned more.
Terri is not on life support as the liberal media claim. She is not unconscious. She is aware. She feels pain. She laughs and cries. She responds to her family, friends and caretakers. It’s only that she needs a feeding tube to supply nourishment, and therapy that holds the promise of taking food normally and so much more.
While the liberal media persists in denying the things Terri is able to do, they also actively deny a voice to those who see value in Terri and hope for her life. It was only on FoxNews "Hannity & Colmes" that we heard of Dr. Bill Hammesfahr, and Nobel Prize nominee who has examined Terri extensively and claims there is great hope for her.
He has seen amazing recoveries in his work with patients with injuries and damage beyond Terri’s condition. Yet the liberal media and their political allies turn a deaf ear, a blind eye and say, “there’s not hope, she cannot understand anything, she’s in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’” With a PVS comes the inability to comprehend and react to any beneficial or effective stimulus. Someone in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ cannot understand even the obvious.
It would seem while Terri apparently can, the left either cannot or will not. Perhaps they are the ones in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’ not Terri Schiavo. Should they be denied life? Not even I would suggest that!
Is there really hope for Terri? Consider this.
I have a friend, she is also a Terri, who several years ago suffered a severe blow to the head and terrible damage to her brain. This vibrant, jubilant woman in an instant became unable to speak, eat, walk and all the other wonderful, creative and joyful things she had done for years. Many would say she was like Terri.
Yet she was allowed and encouraged in therapy and while there remain difficulties, she lives! She walks, with difficulty. She talks and converses, with difficulty. She struggles to live as normally as she can, with difficulty. But the point is, there was no expectation that she would, yet she does.
Is she 100% as she was before the accident? No, she never will. But she was given the opportunity to become all that she could. No one tried to deny her that.
There is a hell bent determination by the liberal left to condemn Terri Schiavo, to end her life, despite the evidence of hope. This I cannot understand.
Were Terri Schiavo a convicted murder on death row and a tiny bit of evidence came to light that might exonerate her, the liberal media, politicians and activists would walk through the coals of hell to stay the execution and save her life. They understand that once she was gone it was too late.
Why are they so determined to kill her now?
If Terri was anorexic and starving herself there would be cries of her need for treatment, her life would be of worth and need saving. Appeals of the horror of self-starvation could not be quieted.
Yet she’s not and it’s ok for someone else to starve her.
The pervasive culture of death in our country is determined to make Terri Schiavo as their “cover girl,” their “Miss Death.” Yet from all indications there is at best strong disagreement whether Terri would want that “honor.”
Has the minister of this “culture of death,” Attorney George Felos, co-opted an unwitting Michael Schiavo in his unrelenting quest for free wheeling, anything goes death in America? Felos history on this matter speaks for itself.
Has Michael Schiavo enlisted Felos in his struggle to quiet Terri, to prevent her from possibly recovering enough to speak? I only ask this last question because of the circumstances.
Terri suffered her trauma, what ever it was, 15 years ago. Ten years ago Michael moved in with his girlfriend, sired two children, all while in control of a million dollar judgment in Terri’s case. Over that time he denied her therapies and treatments that held hope for her improvement.
Now, with his common law wife at his side, who he says he will marry as soon as Terri is out of the way, he claims she wanted to die rather than live in this “condition.” We have his word on it.
In interviews and affidavit, a former caretaker of Terri’s, Carla Sauer Iyer, has quoted him asking when “the bitch was going to die?” The same person tells of finding Terri overdosed on insulin immediately after Michael left her. An overdosing that could have resulted in her death. While these accusations have not been dealt with in a court, they are very troubling.
While Terri’s parents and siblings are pleading for the chance to sacrifice their lives to care for Terri, it seems Michael would sacrifice Terri, the one he stood in front of an altar and promised to love and care for in sickness and health.
I have to ask, what sacrifice would Michael have to suffer by Terri’s living that is so great she must die? Does Terri know something that Michael does not want, cannot possibly allow, to be made known?
As terrible as divorce is, I know, I’ve been there, death of a spouse is so much worse. I know, I’ve been there. So what is it about the call of Terri’s death that tastes so sweet to her loving husband Michael Schiavo?
Would if be a hard life, a struggle and sacrifice to care for someone in Terri Schiavo’s condition? Absolutely! But it would be a struggle and sacrifice of honor and love. Can every one do it?
All can, not all will. My friend Terri? Her husband of 15 years divorced her and left her with her loving parents to care for her while he took their children. Did I agree with him? No. But in light of what Michael Schiavo wants to do to his Terri, I honor my friend’s husband.
At least he had the honor to admit he couldn’t handle it and allow someone who loved her more and was willing to make the necessary sacrifices care for her.
All Michael Schiavo wants is death.
More on Terri's condition:
Facts Versus Michael Schiavo by Cherly Ford RN
Disabled Woman Would Cry 'Help Me,' Caregivers Claim - CNSNews.com
If only Terri had murdered someone - Burt Prelutsky
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Monday, March 14, 2005
In an article on WorldNetDaily Washington Post editor Philip Bennett is quoted in an interview in China’s People’s Daily that, “I don't think U.S. should be the leader of the world.”
He went on to elaborate. “I don't think you can imagine a world where one country or one group of people could lead everybody else. I can't imagine that could happen. I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world.”
Further in the article Bennett laments what he sees as a coming period of US imperialism and characterizes that it will be an unhappy time.
Interestingly, in a recent article in World Magazine, Andree Seu writes about NYU professor Niall Ferguson’s book, Colossus: The Price of America's Empire where he broadly defines “imperialism” and “nation-building” as “the benevolent influence of a powerful nation on other nations for mutual self-interest.”
The argument is made that we should not deny the benefits of a country becoming an empire, both to ourselves and to those other nations of the world with whom we interact both politically and fiscally.
Mr. Bennett seems to be mired in the muck of self-denial and self-abuse the liberal left finds itself in recent years. They, the left and the liberal press, cannot allow themselves to see the good things about America and her people. They, in fact, actively look for and imagine the worst possible scenarios and assume government will naturally do damage to the world. At least conservative government will. Liberal government always seems to get a pass.
Mr. Bennett admits this in his declaration of the “mission statement” of his staff, to “tell our readers what the Bush administration is trying to hide.” He further reveals his disconnect when he in a rare moment of transparency reveals, “American mainstream media has been slow to appreciate how important the religion is in America. We don't cover it very deeply and extensively. So I think there are areas we are out of touch.” Duh!
Perhaps Phil Bennett and the rest of the liberal media would do well to read Colossus: and learn from the past when this country pressed for self-determination under Wilson in the late 19-teens. The end of European colonialism resulted not in strong wealthy democratic nations, but in corrupt dictatorships, a poor citizenry and wasted and misused foreign aid provided by the US and others.
Imperialism is good, if recognized as such and used to advance democratic societies, freedom and national wealth in other countries. Bennett’s denial about this is as damming of the liberal media which he represents as the blind eye he’s turned towards the people of “fly over” America.
America is “good” Mr. Bennett, not perfect, but she is good.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
He went on to elaborate. “I don't think you can imagine a world where one country or one group of people could lead everybody else. I can't imagine that could happen. I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world.”
Further in the article Bennett laments what he sees as a coming period of US imperialism and characterizes that it will be an unhappy time.
Interestingly, in a recent article in World Magazine, Andree Seu writes about NYU professor Niall Ferguson’s book, Colossus: The Price of America's Empire where he broadly defines “imperialism” and “nation-building” as “the benevolent influence of a powerful nation on other nations for mutual self-interest.”
The argument is made that we should not deny the benefits of a country becoming an empire, both to ourselves and to those other nations of the world with whom we interact both politically and fiscally.
Mr. Bennett seems to be mired in the muck of self-denial and self-abuse the liberal left finds itself in recent years. They, the left and the liberal press, cannot allow themselves to see the good things about America and her people. They, in fact, actively look for and imagine the worst possible scenarios and assume government will naturally do damage to the world. At least conservative government will. Liberal government always seems to get a pass.
Mr. Bennett admits this in his declaration of the “mission statement” of his staff, to “tell our readers what the Bush administration is trying to hide.” He further reveals his disconnect when he in a rare moment of transparency reveals, “American mainstream media has been slow to appreciate how important the religion is in America. We don't cover it very deeply and extensively. So I think there are areas we are out of touch.” Duh!
Perhaps Phil Bennett and the rest of the liberal media would do well to read Colossus: and learn from the past when this country pressed for self-determination under Wilson in the late 19-teens. The end of European colonialism resulted not in strong wealthy democratic nations, but in corrupt dictatorships, a poor citizenry and wasted and misused foreign aid provided by the US and others.
Imperialism is good, if recognized as such and used to advance democratic societies, freedom and national wealth in other countries. Bennett’s denial about this is as damming of the liberal media which he represents as the blind eye he’s turned towards the people of “fly over” America.
America is “good” Mr. Bennett, not perfect, but she is good.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian reporter for the communist newspaper Il Manifesto, describes the incident that resulted in the death of one of her rescuers as a cold American attempt to silence. She quotes her captors as warning her of the American's probable intent. (See "Wounded Italian journalist recalls ordeal")
While the incident is very unfortunate, one has to remember they were in a war zone on a road that is extremely dangerous. The differences in recollection of the incident could be chalked up to perception, adrenaline and/or faulty recall.
But one has to keep in mind that Ms. Sgrena's ideological bent can, and most probably does, play into her comments. She works for a communist newspaper and therefore it can be assumed she shares that ideology.
As such she would have no sympathies for the United States and would craft any recollection in such a way as to paint the US in the most negative light possible.
Does that make the injury and loss of life any more acceptable? Certainly not. But we must remember that if someone has a history of opposing the United States and her activities. If they can be documented through their writings to twist the facts to support their own ideology and world view. That is not going to change and they suddenly become honest, objective reporters just because of an incident such as this.
To the contrary, they will use just such an incident to further their cause by formatting it in such a way as to support their world view and move popular opinion through disingenuous reporting.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
While the incident is very unfortunate, one has to remember they were in a war zone on a road that is extremely dangerous. The differences in recollection of the incident could be chalked up to perception, adrenaline and/or faulty recall.
But one has to keep in mind that Ms. Sgrena's ideological bent can, and most probably does, play into her comments. She works for a communist newspaper and therefore it can be assumed she shares that ideology.
As such she would have no sympathies for the United States and would craft any recollection in such a way as to paint the US in the most negative light possible.
Does that make the injury and loss of life any more acceptable? Certainly not. But we must remember that if someone has a history of opposing the United States and her activities. If they can be documented through their writings to twist the facts to support their own ideology and world view. That is not going to change and they suddenly become honest, objective reporters just because of an incident such as this.
To the contrary, they will use just such an incident to further their cause by formatting it in such a way as to support their world view and move popular opinion through disingenuous reporting.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Yesterday was one of those more difficult days. We had to put our cat, Keisha, to sleep when she began a decline after contracting a rare, in cats, skin cancer. Now it wasn’t as though she had a short life. To the contrary, she lived nearly 17 years, a very long and pampered life for a cat.
Just the same, it was difficult. Now, I’m not one of these people who place a value on the life an animal above that of a human. In fact I tend to hold those who do, i.e. PETA et. al., in deep contempt. Still, I think we have a responsibility to care for those creatures which we call our pets, those domestic animals we have removed from the wild and brought into our homes to care for and provide for ourselves the un-mitigated love at which they excel.
It was in October of 1988 when Keisha came into my life. My wife Carol discovered her outside the office door on the parking lot of the church she where she worked as receptionist at the time. This tiny pure black ball of fur was estimated to be only 6 weeks old, barely had her eyes open and Carol, a cat lover brought her home to the townhouse we were living in at the time against my protests.
We already had a special exemption to the rule against pets for our toy poodle; another animal in the house just wouldn’t fly. But Carol said it was just going to be long enough to find her a home. By December we had found her a new home in the country. It was a brand new rental house outside town in a somewhat remote area. When we moved in Keisha immediately made herself at home.
My relationship with Keisha ran the gamut. When she came into our home as a 6-week old kitten she immediately stole my heart, even though I had never had a cat and swore I never would. She would ignore my protests and just crawl on my chest and go to sleep.
Over the years as she grew, she developed that independent nature we find so familiar in cats. That attitude that says, “You feed me, you give me a bed and a home, you love me, I must be god.” She was the queen of the house and didn’t require a lot of attention, but when she wanted it you had better pay attention. She wouldn’t let you pass until you recognized her presence and provided the requisite “lovin’.”
She never went outside, we had de-clawed her as a kitten, an act I will never impose on another animal. But she never acted very interested in going out. At the home she lived in the longest we had a back porch fully screened floor to ceiling and she loved to sit out and watch the animals, birds, squirrels butterflies and other critters come to visit the garden pond and feeders.
Her tail would nervously twitch as she flattened herself to the ground, her ears against her head, trying to disappear into the decking as her “prey” passed by. She never tried to leave the porch, though she could have easily broken though the screen. And had she ever caught one of her larger “prey” I don’t know she would have know what to do with it. Still, she never stopped playing her part in “the hunt.”
Around our area of central Florida we have these small lizards we call skinks. These 3-6 inch critters love to hang out in the sunshine warming themselves and doing “skink things.” They were some of Keisha’s favorite prey, mostly because they often would get inside the porch where she could actually chase them. On those occasions when she did catch one, she would pester it and carry it around until she had finally killed it. At that point there was almost a sorrow, not that she had killed the animal, but more likely that the play was over. On many occasions I found the dried “lizard jerky” of a dead skink days after Keisha had finished with it.
One thing she didn’t tolerate was another cat in her territory, that is, anywhere she could see it. It was as though she went into a “Mr. Hyde’ persona. She became wild eyed and out of control, attacking anything that came within reach. Since she couldn’t get at the interloper, it was often her humans who felt the sharp end of her rage.
More often than I can count I’ve headed out to the back porch with protective footgear and a broom to both fend her off and herd her towards the door, into the house and away from the animal that had set her off. It usually took her 30 minutes or more to regain control at which time she would come around and apologize for her breech. I don’t think she so much felt sorry for the fear and oft times damage she caused us, it was more that she had been seen in a state other than her regal self, a terrible breach of protocol.
As disease ravaged Carol, and she begin to decline, Keisha became her constant companion. She always stayed close to her and never failed to wait outside the closed door to the room where Carol took care of her medical needs. At night, as Carol pulled her dialysis cart through the house to her bedroom, Keisha would follow along, stopping with her in the kitchen as she when through her nightly routine. Finally, just before entering the bedroom, Keisha would flop on the floor in front of the cart and refuse to let it pass until Carol petted her with her bare foot. She became totally compliant as her mistresses foot caressed her from nose to tip of tail, often sweeping the floor as she was pushed around in circles, soaking up the attention and love, and somehow knowing that Carol, too, needed to know her contribution to this ritual was needed.
When Carol passed away, Keisha became morose for a period of time. She would come into the bedroom and sit on the floor by Carol’s side of the bed, waiting to see if she would suddenly appear. She would jump on the bed and nuzzle around Carol’s pillow, smelling her and I’m sure wondering where she was.
After a while she became accustomed to the absence and moved on, even as I did, but the behaviors and routines she had established with Carol continued in many ways. When I remarried, Keisha, as she always did with unfamiliar humans, had a cat fit, unwilling to accept this new person in the house. To make matters worse, this person brought with her a four-legged friend, a dog no less. In time Keisha learned to tolerate Susie and the two made a game of antagonizing each other. She learned to tolerate Karen too, then to accept and finally to love and look to her for love.
When Susie died just over a year ago, Keisha seemed to go into a period of mourning. She walked the house looking for that wildly enthusiastic white ball of fur with the maddeningly wagging tail she loved to bat. She spent much of her time in Susie’s bed as though she was trying to stay close to her. And perhaps sensing Karen’s loss, turned more of her attention to her while Karen assuaged her grief by loving on this cat who had been so reluctant toward her at first.
Keisha began to greet her in the morning and follow her through the day, much as Susie. Always quiet, rarely meowing, Keisha seemed to find her voice and would often “meow” sometimes where you could even hear her but usually just mouthing the “words.” In the last six months her behavior patterns again changed.
She seemed to need us more. After kittenhood where she loved to sit with, or on, you, to be near, she became hotly independent. She didn’t require, nor want, to be held by or sit with anyone except on her terms. Then only for moments at a time. As she matured these last six months she began to want to be near us again. I’ll never forget my amazement the first time she jumped in my lap and made herself comfortable.
It became almost a routine where she would jump on the chair where one of us was sitting and settle either on us or beside us. Just needing to be near. Perhaps she sensed her time was short and needed the reassurance of her people. Or maybe she knew her people needed her.
As the disease disfigured her face and tail, while we fretted, she carried on unaware of what was happening to her. She tolerated a few procedures but we had no desire to subject her to the indignities of excess medical attention. The disease was not reversible. She pretty much remained her self up to the final few weeks when she spent more and more time sleeping in out-of-the way spots. Perhaps she was getting us used to not having her close by.
In the final week and a half she became uninterested in food and returned to the top of the cedar chest to rest in the sunlight overlooking the garden where Susie used to do the same. Then the last couple days she sequestered herself to the laundry room to spend her days sleeping on Susie’s bed. She would express an interest in food but was unable to eat.
On that final day it was as if she sensed she needed to leave us a picture of her in better times. She met Karen in the morning and walked with her to the kitchen like old times to wait on her meal. But she couldn’t eat it. When I got home from work she was on the cedar chest resting and when I sat by and began to pet her, her “motor” started right up as she purred her acceptance of my attention.
As I wrapped Keisha for that final trip to the vet, she didn’t struggle but submitted in quiet trust and acceptance. She remained alert and curious as we drove but never showed the nervousness or fear past trips to the vet had produced.
When it was over I mourned for her, for the loss of that fiercely independent yet needy friend. But I realized it wasn’t just Keisha’s passing I mourned, but once again that of Carol.
After all, it was Carol who had brought this black ball of fur into our home, who had defended her, cared for her and through her love crafted Keisha into the cat she became. Embodied in Keisha was that last tangible bit of Carol, and though I would like to think I had moved on and even remarried, having Keisha around was like having a bit of Carol around too.
So as I lowered her into the cold earth and covered her, I said good-bye to this little friend, this one that I had not wanted in my life, but forced her way in regardless. This one who could elicit so many divergent emotions yet always seem to stay above the fray. And as I said good-bye to her, I again said good-bye to Carol and thanked her for bringing Keisha into our lives.
Be sure to visit our new site FrontLineReport
Just the same, it was difficult. Now, I’m not one of these people who place a value on the life an animal above that of a human. In fact I tend to hold those who do, i.e. PETA et. al., in deep contempt. Still, I think we have a responsibility to care for those creatures which we call our pets, those domestic animals we have removed from the wild and brought into our homes to care for and provide for ourselves the un-mitigated love at which they excel.
It was in October of 1988 when Keisha came into my life. My wife Carol discovered her outside the office door on the parking lot of the church she where she worked as receptionist at the time. This tiny pure black ball of fur was estimated to be only 6 weeks old, barely had her eyes open and Carol, a cat lover brought her home to the townhouse we were living in at the time against my protests.
We already had a special exemption to the rule against pets for our toy poodle; another animal in the house just wouldn’t fly. But Carol said it was just going to be long enough to find her a home. By December we had found her a new home in the country. It was a brand new rental house outside town in a somewhat remote area. When we moved in Keisha immediately made herself at home.
My relationship with Keisha ran the gamut. When she came into our home as a 6-week old kitten she immediately stole my heart, even though I had never had a cat and swore I never would. She would ignore my protests and just crawl on my chest and go to sleep.
Over the years as she grew, she developed that independent nature we find so familiar in cats. That attitude that says, “You feed me, you give me a bed and a home, you love me, I must be god.” She was the queen of the house and didn’t require a lot of attention, but when she wanted it you had better pay attention. She wouldn’t let you pass until you recognized her presence and provided the requisite “lovin’.”
She never went outside, we had de-clawed her as a kitten, an act I will never impose on another animal. But she never acted very interested in going out. At the home she lived in the longest we had a back porch fully screened floor to ceiling and she loved to sit out and watch the animals, birds, squirrels butterflies and other critters come to visit the garden pond and feeders.
Her tail would nervously twitch as she flattened herself to the ground, her ears against her head, trying to disappear into the decking as her “prey” passed by. She never tried to leave the porch, though she could have easily broken though the screen. And had she ever caught one of her larger “prey” I don’t know she would have know what to do with it. Still, she never stopped playing her part in “the hunt.”
Around our area of central Florida we have these small lizards we call skinks. These 3-6 inch critters love to hang out in the sunshine warming themselves and doing “skink things.” They were some of Keisha’s favorite prey, mostly because they often would get inside the porch where she could actually chase them. On those occasions when she did catch one, she would pester it and carry it around until she had finally killed it. At that point there was almost a sorrow, not that she had killed the animal, but more likely that the play was over. On many occasions I found the dried “lizard jerky” of a dead skink days after Keisha had finished with it.
One thing she didn’t tolerate was another cat in her territory, that is, anywhere she could see it. It was as though she went into a “Mr. Hyde’ persona. She became wild eyed and out of control, attacking anything that came within reach. Since she couldn’t get at the interloper, it was often her humans who felt the sharp end of her rage.
More often than I can count I’ve headed out to the back porch with protective footgear and a broom to both fend her off and herd her towards the door, into the house and away from the animal that had set her off. It usually took her 30 minutes or more to regain control at which time she would come around and apologize for her breech. I don’t think she so much felt sorry for the fear and oft times damage she caused us, it was more that she had been seen in a state other than her regal self, a terrible breach of protocol.
As disease ravaged Carol, and she begin to decline, Keisha became her constant companion. She always stayed close to her and never failed to wait outside the closed door to the room where Carol took care of her medical needs. At night, as Carol pulled her dialysis cart through the house to her bedroom, Keisha would follow along, stopping with her in the kitchen as she when through her nightly routine. Finally, just before entering the bedroom, Keisha would flop on the floor in front of the cart and refuse to let it pass until Carol petted her with her bare foot. She became totally compliant as her mistresses foot caressed her from nose to tip of tail, often sweeping the floor as she was pushed around in circles, soaking up the attention and love, and somehow knowing that Carol, too, needed to know her contribution to this ritual was needed.
When Carol passed away, Keisha became morose for a period of time. She would come into the bedroom and sit on the floor by Carol’s side of the bed, waiting to see if she would suddenly appear. She would jump on the bed and nuzzle around Carol’s pillow, smelling her and I’m sure wondering where she was.
After a while she became accustomed to the absence and moved on, even as I did, but the behaviors and routines she had established with Carol continued in many ways. When I remarried, Keisha, as she always did with unfamiliar humans, had a cat fit, unwilling to accept this new person in the house. To make matters worse, this person brought with her a four-legged friend, a dog no less. In time Keisha learned to tolerate Susie and the two made a game of antagonizing each other. She learned to tolerate Karen too, then to accept and finally to love and look to her for love.
When Susie died just over a year ago, Keisha seemed to go into a period of mourning. She walked the house looking for that wildly enthusiastic white ball of fur with the maddeningly wagging tail she loved to bat. She spent much of her time in Susie’s bed as though she was trying to stay close to her. And perhaps sensing Karen’s loss, turned more of her attention to her while Karen assuaged her grief by loving on this cat who had been so reluctant toward her at first.
Keisha began to greet her in the morning and follow her through the day, much as Susie. Always quiet, rarely meowing, Keisha seemed to find her voice and would often “meow” sometimes where you could even hear her but usually just mouthing the “words.” In the last six months her behavior patterns again changed.
She seemed to need us more. After kittenhood where she loved to sit with, or on, you, to be near, she became hotly independent. She didn’t require, nor want, to be held by or sit with anyone except on her terms. Then only for moments at a time. As she matured these last six months she began to want to be near us again. I’ll never forget my amazement the first time she jumped in my lap and made herself comfortable.
It became almost a routine where she would jump on the chair where one of us was sitting and settle either on us or beside us. Just needing to be near. Perhaps she sensed her time was short and needed the reassurance of her people. Or maybe she knew her people needed her.
As the disease disfigured her face and tail, while we fretted, she carried on unaware of what was happening to her. She tolerated a few procedures but we had no desire to subject her to the indignities of excess medical attention. The disease was not reversible. She pretty much remained her self up to the final few weeks when she spent more and more time sleeping in out-of-the way spots. Perhaps she was getting us used to not having her close by.
In the final week and a half she became uninterested in food and returned to the top of the cedar chest to rest in the sunlight overlooking the garden where Susie used to do the same. Then the last couple days she sequestered herself to the laundry room to spend her days sleeping on Susie’s bed. She would express an interest in food but was unable to eat.
On that final day it was as if she sensed she needed to leave us a picture of her in better times. She met Karen in the morning and walked with her to the kitchen like old times to wait on her meal. But she couldn’t eat it. When I got home from work she was on the cedar chest resting and when I sat by and began to pet her, her “motor” started right up as she purred her acceptance of my attention.
As I wrapped Keisha for that final trip to the vet, she didn’t struggle but submitted in quiet trust and acceptance. She remained alert and curious as we drove but never showed the nervousness or fear past trips to the vet had produced.
When it was over I mourned for her, for the loss of that fiercely independent yet needy friend. But I realized it wasn’t just Keisha’s passing I mourned, but once again that of Carol.
After all, it was Carol who had brought this black ball of fur into our home, who had defended her, cared for her and through her love crafted Keisha into the cat she became. Embodied in Keisha was that last tangible bit of Carol, and though I would like to think I had moved on and even remarried, having Keisha around was like having a bit of Carol around too.
So as I lowered her into the cold earth and covered her, I said good-bye to this little friend, this one that I had not wanted in my life, but forced her way in regardless. This one who could elicit so many divergent emotions yet always seem to stay above the fray. And as I said good-bye to her, I again said good-bye to Carol and thanked her for bringing Keisha into our lives.
Be sure to visit our new site FrontLineReport
Monday, February 07, 2005
Just a short note, near the end of last year the Langa List posted a link to "The Island" under "They Loaded the Code." This internet radio station plays some of the best smooth jazz and I loved it so much I posted the link prominently on our home page.
Just before Christmas I received an e-mail from Mike Powers, the owner, thanking me for posting our link and telling a bit about himself. After Christmas I began to explore The Island site a bit deeper and found a link to Mike's personal site and discovered he is located in Thailand, Phuket to be exact. Right in the heart of the area hit by the Christmas tsunami.
I've written Mike and received no response. I'm praying he's simply too busy with relief efforts and/or unable to respond having lost his computer. Either way, I'm sure my inquiry is wa-a-a-y down the list of priorities.
While you read this, take a moment to send up a prayer for Mike and all those struggling with recovering from this disaster. They will be at it for months and years to come.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
Just before Christmas I received an e-mail from Mike Powers, the owner, thanking me for posting our link and telling a bit about himself. After Christmas I began to explore The Island site a bit deeper and found a link to Mike's personal site and discovered he is located in Thailand, Phuket to be exact. Right in the heart of the area hit by the Christmas tsunami.
I've written Mike and received no response. I'm praying he's simply too busy with relief efforts and/or unable to respond having lost his computer. Either way, I'm sure my inquiry is wa-a-a-y down the list of priorities.
While you read this, take a moment to send up a prayer for Mike and all those struggling with recovering from this disaster. They will be at it for months and years to come.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
It's been a long time since I've posted here. Christmas just about wore me out, to the point I needed time to recoup and gather my thoughts again.
After that we were gone a week, then back into the fire,though at a slightly reduced pace. We've been catching up around here, while trying to work on a new look for our pages honoring service men. It will become it's own site soon.
I took a ride today to the little hamlet of Horseshoe Beach on the gulf near the "Big Bend" area. While Cedar Key is tourist oriented with shops, restaurants and historical sites, Horseshoe Beach has remained fixed in time until recently.
Located on a spit of land, it's dozen or so streets following the land to the waters edge with small fisherman's shacks, a couple restaurants (cafes really), the post office and town hall with fire house, and a small grocery to complete the town.
Looking out over the gulf you see a couple small keys (islands) the fishing boats pass by as they follow the channel to work up the days catch. Traveling down the main road, CR 351 or Main St, the fishing boats dock next to the road.
One resident, apparently out of his love of fishing, has built his pier home in the shape of a fully keeled boat. Perhaps thinking that should another "blow" (hurricane) come through he'd be prepared for the worst.
But this quiet, lost in time community is about to lose it's innocence. Developers have found her and gulf side lots are selling in the range of $100-120,000 and new, pier built homes are going for $300-400,000. A series of pier built condos in currently under construction and will dominate the gulf views.
These tower over the original homes of the community nestled under tall southern pines and outstretched live and water oaks. These original homes probably sold in the range of $10-40,000, depending on when they were built and house the hard working fishermen, businessmen and those who wanted to leave the rush of city life behind them.
Now it's catching up to them, and with it the increasing property values carry a double edged sword. While their net worth skyrockets, so are the property taxes. Many of these folk are most likely living on subsistence wages and as taxes begin to pressure them, they may have to leave their homes for lack of ability to pay "the man."
And so those, the wealthy out of towners, build and move in, and in the process the quiet, lazy, nostalgic out of the way settlement that attracted them morphs into something different and perhaps not so attractive as they imagined.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
After that we were gone a week, then back into the fire,though at a slightly reduced pace. We've been catching up around here, while trying to work on a new look for our pages honoring service men. It will become it's own site soon.
I took a ride today to the little hamlet of Horseshoe Beach on the gulf near the "Big Bend" area. While Cedar Key is tourist oriented with shops, restaurants and historical sites, Horseshoe Beach has remained fixed in time until recently.
Located on a spit of land, it's dozen or so streets following the land to the waters edge with small fisherman's shacks, a couple restaurants (cafes really), the post office and town hall with fire house, and a small grocery to complete the town.
Looking out over the gulf you see a couple small keys (islands) the fishing boats pass by as they follow the channel to work up the days catch. Traveling down the main road, CR 351 or Main St, the fishing boats dock next to the road.
One resident, apparently out of his love of fishing, has built his pier home in the shape of a fully keeled boat. Perhaps thinking that should another "blow" (hurricane) come through he'd be prepared for the worst.
But this quiet, lost in time community is about to lose it's innocence. Developers have found her and gulf side lots are selling in the range of $100-120,000 and new, pier built homes are going for $300-400,000. A series of pier built condos in currently under construction and will dominate the gulf views.
These tower over the original homes of the community nestled under tall southern pines and outstretched live and water oaks. These original homes probably sold in the range of $10-40,000, depending on when they were built and house the hard working fishermen, businessmen and those who wanted to leave the rush of city life behind them.
Now it's catching up to them, and with it the increasing property values carry a double edged sword. While their net worth skyrockets, so are the property taxes. Many of these folk are most likely living on subsistence wages and as taxes begin to pressure them, they may have to leave their homes for lack of ability to pay "the man."
And so those, the wealthy out of towners, build and move in, and in the process the quiet, lazy, nostalgic out of the way settlement that attracted them morphs into something different and perhaps not so attractive as they imagined.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - U.S. Headlines: "U.S.-based relief groups report an overwhelming response from donors moved by the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with more than $200 million raised as of Tuesday."
Who said Americans are stingy? This article, and many others like it, support my previous posting regarding American generosity.
See also:
Profound shift in US culture of giving from The Christian Science Monitor
U.S. arrives with aid in hard-hit Indonesia from the San Francisco Chronicle (note the massive infusion of logistical support by the US)
We are a nation blessed with freedom and wealth that comes from hard work. We believe in opportunity and earning that which we have. In giving others the opportunity to better themselves. The old adage, "give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day, teach him to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime" is rooted deep in the American psyche.
Even so, we also are a compassionate people who are willing to give of our resources to help those truly in need. When misfortune visits others we open our hearts and our wallets to help them through the struggle. We give them a shoulder to cry on, then the resources to rebuild on.
We don't need a government to do this for us or to tell us to do it. We do it out of a heartfelt compassion that, too, is deeply rooted in the American psyche.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
Who said Americans are stingy? This article, and many others like it, support my previous posting regarding American generosity.
See also:
Profound shift in US culture of giving from The Christian Science Monitor
U.S. arrives with aid in hard-hit Indonesia from the San Francisco Chronicle (note the massive infusion of logistical support by the US)
We are a nation blessed with freedom and wealth that comes from hard work. We believe in opportunity and earning that which we have. In giving others the opportunity to better themselves. The old adage, "give a man a fish and you've fed him for a day, teach him to fish and you've fed him for a lifetime" is rooted deep in the American psyche.
Even so, we also are a compassionate people who are willing to give of our resources to help those truly in need. When misfortune visits others we open our hearts and our wallets to help them through the struggle. We give them a shoulder to cry on, then the resources to rebuild on.
We don't need a government to do this for us or to tell us to do it. We do it out of a heartfelt compassion that, too, is deeply rooted in the American psyche.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Early in the SE Asia tsunami disaster, UN General Under Secretary Jan Egeland criticised the US Government for being "stingy" in relief support. Statements were even made that US citizens were undertaxed, implying higher taxes were needed to provide more relief funds. Since then he has backtracked somewhat as the relief effort as developed.
What Mr. Egeland and others fail to understand, and what news organizations have failed to report, is the difference of perspective Mr. Egeland and others have when considering US aid.
Finland, Mr. Egeland's home country, Sweden, Iceland, France, England and many other European nations have a form of government that is either socialist or has socialist leanings. Taxes are high, caretaker government is expected and because of high taxes, personal disposal income is much more limited.
In the US we have a tradition of a more limited government involvement, preferring and championing individualism and personal responsibility. We provide the individual with the freedoms and tools needed meet their own needs and more. With that comes the opportunity to become wealthy, should the individual have to desire and motivation to do so. With that wealth comes an individual generosity seen in no other nation.
In addition to the US government's current, and fluid, pledge of $350 million, the Boston Globe reported a few days ago the top 10 US private aid agencies had already received $97 million and it continues to grow. There are 100's of other agencies, charities and church organizations providing relief services and collecting funds in addition to those mentioned.
More over, the US has deployed a Navy battle group to the area to provide support and fresh water, 90,000 gallons a day per ship, at a cost of $2.9 million per day and a Marine Expeditionary Force is being mobilized to provide logistical support at an estimated cost of $1 million per day.
Additionally, no other nation on the earth has the logistical resources of the US and those are now being employed and more will be sent. Aircraft, helicopters, ground support and transportation, it all comes with a cost that will be borne by the US and her generous citizens.
So, the early criticisms of US aid were premature and unwarranted. Will the criticism of the US end? Certainly not. There are some in the world who, for various reasons, despise the wealth of the US. For them there can never be enough given by the US, nor enough taken from the US in a effort to diminish or even destroy her capitalist economy. Of course they fail to understand that without the US, the engine of the world economy, the ability of other nations would be greatly curtailed if existent at all.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
What Mr. Egeland and others fail to understand, and what news organizations have failed to report, is the difference of perspective Mr. Egeland and others have when considering US aid.
Finland, Mr. Egeland's home country, Sweden, Iceland, France, England and many other European nations have a form of government that is either socialist or has socialist leanings. Taxes are high, caretaker government is expected and because of high taxes, personal disposal income is much more limited.
In the US we have a tradition of a more limited government involvement, preferring and championing individualism and personal responsibility. We provide the individual with the freedoms and tools needed meet their own needs and more. With that comes the opportunity to become wealthy, should the individual have to desire and motivation to do so. With that wealth comes an individual generosity seen in no other nation.
In addition to the US government's current, and fluid, pledge of $350 million, the Boston Globe reported a few days ago the top 10 US private aid agencies had already received $97 million and it continues to grow. There are 100's of other agencies, charities and church organizations providing relief services and collecting funds in addition to those mentioned.
More over, the US has deployed a Navy battle group to the area to provide support and fresh water, 90,000 gallons a day per ship, at a cost of $2.9 million per day and a Marine Expeditionary Force is being mobilized to provide logistical support at an estimated cost of $1 million per day.
Additionally, no other nation on the earth has the logistical resources of the US and those are now being employed and more will be sent. Aircraft, helicopters, ground support and transportation, it all comes with a cost that will be borne by the US and her generous citizens.
So, the early criticisms of US aid were premature and unwarranted. Will the criticism of the US end? Certainly not. There are some in the world who, for various reasons, despise the wealth of the US. For them there can never be enough given by the US, nor enough taken from the US in a effort to diminish or even destroy her capitalist economy. Of course they fail to understand that without the US, the engine of the world economy, the ability of other nations would be greatly curtailed if existent at all.
Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq
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