Civilized society

I ate lunch today and washed it down with a soda, thus successfully delaying my own death by avoiding starvation and dehydration.

I can feed myself. I can speak, walk and move. I work and pay taxes, which means I am considered a productive member of society and cannot be disposed of.

But I’m being harsh. That Terri Schiavo was lucky. Her husband was merely carrying out her wishes when he denied her the supremely unnatural and heroic intervention of food and water. I’m sure that a man who is living with another woman and has two children by her can be trusted to make life-and-death decisions regarding his helpless wife.

And anyway, Terri Schiavo was given morphine at the end to ease her painless and elegant death. And she was beautiful at the end. I know it’s true because a lawyer said so.

That lucky duck. What a great blessing to have your unfaithful husband and a phalanx of lawyers and judges say to hell with your heartbroken parents and siblings, your husband is boss and if he says you once told him you wouldn’t want to live in this "state," then by golly what he says goes.

We wouldn’t want those pesky Republicans and right-wing Christian zealots possibly interfering with the sanctity of your marriage. No, no, no, we wouldn’t want anyone to further their political career by having the audacity to say that maybe you should be kept alive and given a chance to be rehabilitated rather than warehoused or killed.

After all, who but a knuckle-dragging, Bible-thumping IDIOT would want to care for someone like Terri Schiavo?

Excuse me now … I’ve got to go join the protest over serving foie gras in Oregon. No ducks are going to be mistreated on my watch! Hell, no ... we're a civilized society.

QotD

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me, I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

"And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

(Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern)

A GGB must read

Dennis Prager gives us an overview of why the Judeo-Christian tradition is to "choose life."

In light of Prager's comments, George Felos' statements about Terri Schiavo looking "beautiful" in her dying takes on an added dimension of creepiness.

(Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern)

So who's really suffering here?

I visited the official Terri Schiavo Web site yesterday. Watched the videos. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but here's the official GGB diagnosis:

Prior to having her feeding tube removed, Terri Schiavo was not suffering.

She didn't appear to be in pain or agitated. I think Terri is unaware of the fact that she is disabled. In fact, I think she's one happy camper as long as she's kept comfortable and has human contact. (Her "lighting up" at seeing her mother was an unmistakable emotional response and not just a reflex, IMHO.) Meanwhile, her family seems to be devoted to her care.

So ... who's really suffering here? Michael Schiavo.

Terri's beating heart stands in the way of his marrying his longtime fiancee' and the mother of his two children. Her beating heart stands in the way of whatever financial benefit he may gain from her death. Michael doesn't want Terri to be put out of her misery, he wants to be put out of his own misery.

The fact that the judicial system has not declared him unfit to be her guardian is a crime, an absolute crime. And all the mewling about how often this case has been run through the courts is making me ill. The fact that some people consider judges the final arbiters of TRUTH scares the dickens out of me.

Time for Jeb to call in the cavalry. If it's not too late.

If C.S. Lewis knew about the Schiavo case

Just read it.

"Screwtape Revisited" by Meghan Cox Gurdon in National Review Online.

What she said

Mincing no words as usual, Rachel Lucas at Blue-eyed Infidel has some of the most potent and cutting statements I've seen about Terri Schiavo's slow death by starvation and dehydration:

Would it be okay if someone walked up to her bed right now and punched Terri in the face? Why not? Why can't someone just physically beat on her until she dies. She can't defend herself any more than she can feed herself. The courts have declared that she is to die, so why not speed it up? Choke her. Put a pillow over her face. You don't even have to be violent about it, just use tape to close off her nostrils and cover her mouth completely. It will only take a few minutes.

And this:

If society thinks it's okay to let her die, then fine. Let her die. I'm a big fan of not letting living things suffer when they don't have to. Which kinda is the main reason I think starving her to death is wrong.

And it's also the reason why I think that you are completely [expletive deleted] insane - not to mention a rotten human being - if you truly think it's wrong to let her live in a PVS state because she is capable of suffering by persisting in that state, but it's okay to starve her to death, because she is incapable of suffering from the long, slow, painful death of dehydration and starvation.


Read the whole thing here.

Don't hand me no lines, and keep yer hands to yourself

Undies and T-shirts for the chaste:

Fox Features - Fashion Takes a Vow of Chastity

OK ... the T-shirts I can understand, but if you're down to your skivvies before your date gets the message ... ???

(Hat tip: Boar's Head Tavern)

Other voices on Michael Schiavo

Michael Schiavo's behavior leaves much to be desired. According to Evangelical Outpost, the Schiavo case also exposes some horrendous problems with family law.

And the Jollyblogger gives us another perspective on Michael Schiavo -- this time from the Cross.

All things considered -- the Terri Schiavo case

The coverage of the Terri Schiavo case is driving me nuts.

I honestly don't know what to believe about this poor woman's condition. Each side has accused the other of cherrypicking witnesses and "experts" to support their own agenda. I don't know enough about the science of brain injury to ascertain whether Terri is still "with" us at all and, if she is, to what degree.

Nevertheless, there are a few things I just cannot in good conscience overlook:

1. We should not be starving human beings to death. I don't care if Terri has the mental capacity of a turnip, you don't do that to human beings.

2. I find the testimony of those involved in therapeutic and rehabilitative services compelling. I don't understand why a judge hasn't ordered and enforced some sort of regimen of therapy to try to improve her condition. (If any readers know of such an order, let me know.)

3. Michael Schiavo cannot mock his marriage to Terri by living with and having children by a live-in girlfriend and yet simultaneously claim that as her "husband" he has first dibs on her life-or-death decisions. That just doesn't wash.

It's this last point that haunts me. Yes, he has turned down cold, hard cash to keep his wife alive, but please ... why doesn't he just divorce her, live happily ever after with his cupcake and wash his hands of the whole mess? If Michael Schiavo had cared for this woman in his living room for the past 15 years instead of locking her away in a hospice (which is for people with six months or less to live, by the way), I'd be much more inclined to believe that he has this woman's best interests at heart.

But I just don't believe it. I just don't.

It looks like this may be the last stop for Terri. She's been without food and hydration for five days now.

God have mercy on us all.

End those nasty litterbox odors with ... Jesus!

I'm still deciding what I think about this:

NBC10.com - News - Couple Sells Candles That Smell Like Jesus

Buckblogging

Veering from the usual politics and religion ...

I'm renting the entire 10-disc series of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century from Netflix. Keep in mind that I was 9 when this series went on the air and probably 11 or 12 the last time I saw an episode. Oh, my, my, my ... the things you pick up a quarter-century later ...

1. A lot of the episode titles sound like porn movie names: "Unchained Woman." "Planet of the Slave Girls." "Planet of the Amazon Women." (I have a feeling that was deliberate.)

2. The show's writers apparently thought music wouldn't develop much in five centuries past disco and Earth, Wind & Fire.

3. Those food discs they eat in the 25th century must contain Cortislim or something. No one except the bad guys have any body fat. Even Dr. Huer looks pretty buff for a dude his age.

4. Gil Gerard's wardrobe is a laugh riot. It's either that white spandex Federation uniform or tunic-and-leggings combos that make him look like a refugee from Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Not to mention that in every other scene, he must show his chest hair or be (practically) naked. Not that I'm complaining.

5. Speaking of which, I still think Gil Gerard is hot.

I'm back ... I think

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately, sports fans. The GGB's schedule has ratcheted up a few notches, and my home computer has serious "issues." I try to keep the day-blogging to a minimum, so ....

DUH of the Day

Canadian tourist discovers that Communist dictatorships actually try to control the lives of their citizens, and CNN has the story.

(Hat tip: Babalu Blog)

Babalu Blog: The Honeymoon is Over

The gospel according to Coppertone

This is an actual excerpt from Revolve, a Bible repackaged to look like a teen fashion magazine, complete with beauty secrets like this one:

As you apply your sunscreen, use that time to talk to God. Tell him how grateful you are for how he made you. Soon, you’ll be so used to talking to him, it might become as regular and familiar as shrinking your pores.

I kid you not.

Revolve was the best-selling "Bible" of 2003. Its publisher, Transit Books (division of the usually dignified Thomas Nelson ), said this ain't your daddy's NIV. They created this bible-zine because teens said traditional Bibles were "too big and freaky looking."

I could comment further, but I think you know what I'm thinking.

Connecting the Oscar dots

Now, don't get me wrong. I like movies. Liberals make some of the best of them. But do you think they're getting the picture, so to speak? Note these two headlines:

Rock Can't Prevent Oscar Ratings From Sinking Like a Stone

Oscar Audience Applauds Louder for Fahrenheit 9-11 Than Passion

As Ben Stein would say, "Anyone? Anyone?"

Agence France Presse: Bin Laden a "Dissident"

::: groan :::

lgf: AFP: Bin Laden a "Dissident"