Monthly Archives: March 2005

Theirs

THE TERRI SCHIAVO INFORMATION PAGE(s)

Abstract Appeal — by Matt Conigliaro

THE TERRI SCHIAVO INFORMATION PAGE
As a Florida law blogger, I have created this page to help people understand the legal circumstances surrounding the Terri Schiavo saga. In my view, there continues to be a need for an objective look at the matter. There is an unbelievable amount of misinformation being circulated.

[via NewMexiKen]

Background: Terry Schiavo’s Right To Live or Die By Andrew Somers, Your Guide To Civil Liberty

Death and Dying II
Lawrence Schneiderman, M.D.
Bioethicist, University of California, San Diego

If you allow patients to die without being given glucose or other sources of carbohydrates, they then begin to use their protein and fat as energy sources. This creates ketones, a chemical in the body that seems to have an analgesic effect. More than that, metabolic acidosis seems to have a euphoric effect. A professor of English, a friend of mine, called me one day, and said that her mother was dying of cancer in a nursing home, and there was a big fight in the family about whether or not to put a feeding tube in her in her last week so that she would live longer. In talking with my friend, I strongly urged against putting in what we call a peg tube, a subcutaneous feeding tube. About a month or so later, she called me and said she was so grateful. Her mother died, she said, an ecstatic death. She had this wonderful kind of peaceful, serene vision that accompanied her dying days. And it occurred to me that that’s what we have been depriving modern patients of, that possibility, by insisting on replenishing their food and fluids.

Theirs

Bush’s Flip Flop

News Hounds: Bush Hypocrisy on Terri Schiavo Ignored by FOX, the “Real Journalism” Network

While FOX News reporters fall over each other trying to prove their concern for the life of Terri Schiavo, nobody is reporting about the cases in Texas where life support is being removed by hospitals over the objections of family members. The law allowing that to happen was signed in 1999 by then-governor George W. Bush.

Lest anyone thinks this is a case of Bush “evolving” in his opinions, just five days ago a Texas hospital removed life support from a baby over the objections of his mother. Yet Bush never made a peep. Neither did FOX News.

Congress.Org — Issues and Legislation

For the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
03/21/2005
House Roll Call No. 90
109th Congress, 1st Session

Vote Map: House Roll Call No. 90
Votes For : 203
Votes Against : 58
Not Voting : 174

Dump Duhbya

Propaganda doesn’t help America

Propaganda doesn’t help AmericaBy Andres Martinez

[It is] troubling to those of us who have lived in other countries and always admired the distinctive candor of public discourse in this country.

Spin is nothing new in American politics, but the Bush administration has not contented itself with trying to influence the news. It’s in the business of producing the news itself, in the hopes of passing it off as generic, third-party reporting. This is propaganda parading as journalism, in the finest PRI (or Soviet) tradition. …

This clumsy branding of George W. Bush’s vision of America to Americans will not only backfire at home, it invariably subverts efforts to brand America overseas. Public candor and transparency are supposed to be one of the American brand’s distinguishing assets. Because the administration insists on operating in its imagined version of reality, the United States and American credibility begin to look rather commonplace — and unreliable — to the world. You can imagine how many conspiracy theories are fed and validated on the streets of Cairo and Tehran when word gets out that U.S. government agencies produce their own propagandistic “news” reports.

Monday’s naming of Karen Hughes as the State Department’s global spinmeister — the undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs — should make matters worse. She is close to Bush and closely associated with his remarkably evasive communications strategy. This White House stays relentlessly on message, even if the facts mock its discipline. …

It must be tempting for the leader of the sole superpower to imagine that he can define reality and impose it on the rest of world. But it’s a dangerous temptation as the United States, for all its might, depends to an alarming degree on the trust of foreigners — increasingly the trust of a handful of Asian central banks — who are financing the nation’s rising debt. The United States borrows $2 billion a day from overseas to maintain Americans’ lavish lifestyle — a factoid you won’t hear about in any taxpayer-financed fake news report.

Foreign central banks buy U.S. currency, in the form of Treasury notes, the way you buy stock in a company. Trouble is, they also can sell it the way you can dump stock when you lose faith in a company. The plummeting dollar is a global vote of no confidence in Brand U.S.A. and its current management. This decline is likely to accelerate if the administration doesn’t begin to be more candid about the nation’s real problems, such as the government’s budgetary shortfalls, and take them on. Foreign investors don’t want to trust their money to a country governed by propagandists. That’s why they invested in the United States in the first place.

Mine

Radio Postscript

The show went fairly well as judged by many; the hour flew by. It was fun — nice bunch of folks, lively, bright and friendly. Thanks to those of you who listened, those who called in, and to the many folks behind the scenes, like Skip, Angela, Alicia, Kara, et.al..

johnny_mango wins for being the first to blog after our time on the Real Side radio show. He’s got pix & thoughts.

I’m catching up here with my own pix: radio.

I do have a thought I couldn’t get out during air time. Jim opened with the APD evidence scandal. APD dismisses the hub-bub, calling it political. Jim called this “the Guilty Man’s Defense” (ignoring our tradition of innocence until proven guilty). Jim didn’t mention that’s the same defense employed by Tom “The Hammer” Delay (“I am the federal government.“) in brushing aside his own scandals, while crushing the House Ethics Committee under his bloody thumb. mjh

mjh’s Blog: Listen to Bloggers (Updated 3/18/05)

Mine

How to Read a Blog

If you’re new to this, let me point out a couple of things. Blogs are organized in reverse chronological order — newest first, oldest last. You will see things that refer to older matters you may not have seen yet. In a sense, you could start your first visit to a blog at the bottom of the page and read up. Some blogs start over at the first of the month, so you should look for references to “archives.” Most blogs also have categories, so if you have a specific area of interest, look for those.

Links are what make the Web the Web, but they pose an interesting challenge. If you follow each link as you encounter it, you’ll never get to the bottom of the blog. Indeed, you might never get back to that blog. You might read through once for content and then pass through again to follow links. Or, what I do is open those links in separate windows as I encounter them, staying with the blog. When I’m done, all those links are open and waiting. In case you’re not familiar with this, if you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can hold the shift key down as you click on a link. Other browsers may use the Control key instead. All of them let you click the right mouse button (Mac: cmd + click) for a menu that includes Open in new window or tab.

Studies indicate people skim Web pages in ways they don’t skim other print. So, you’re not even going to see these words, are you? Find a few blogs to visit a few times over a week — get a sense of how much work it is to keep up with the blog and how much it is worth it. The best blogs are worth your time.

Finally, bloggers want to hear from you. We do this to open discussions; we want to know our efforts are worthwhile. mjh