right to life

I was listening to Art Bell the other night...he declared how easy it was to analyze the whole Terri Schiavo case: "...if there is no signed declaration to the contrary, you have to continue her feeding tube/life support..." (paraphrase)...Art is obviously correct...her so-called "husband" should have been eliminated from any caretaking decisions when he abandoned Terri and shacked up with his current mistress, as pointed out by my friend, Hugh Hewitt



but this all got me thinking about what I would want to have done for me if I were in Terri's place...my initial inclination is I would never want to live like that...it just seems like it would be a horrible existence and an awful burden on my family and friends...situations like this often end up financially bankrupting families...I made plans to draw up living wills for my wife and myself

and then I started thinking about the human capacity for adapting to life's situations...how, when people are thrown into an environment that seems unbearable, unliveable, they rise above our expectations and survive and often even thrive...think about that soccer team that crashed in the mountains and survived by eating their dead teammates...think about innocent people imprisoned and even placed on death row...think about p.o.w.'s like John McCain who survived horrible conditions...in a lesser degree, consider those who were once wealthy adjusting to an average or poorer lifestyle...the human animal has an extraordinary ability to adapt

and so, could it be that Terri, or some remnant of her being, is surviving, even thriving in the shell that we see?...could whatever is in there actually still be enjoying her life?...may she be progressing, healing, advancing in some way?...and even if she is not, might someone else in her position, maybe even you or I, survive or overcome such an illness or condition?

so you see, this is yet just another gray area, of so many gray areas, in the human existence, our decision trees...abortion, euthanasia, suicide, right to die, obligation to die...Solomon would be challenged

even those who cry that taking out the feeding tube is tantamount to murder, recognize the compromise of their position...if you truly believe someone is being "murdered" you take whatever means is necessary to stop it...if the President truly believed it, if the Governor truly believed it, they would send in police or troops to put the feeding tube back...if the rest of us truly believed it was murder, we would heartily support that action

but we don't...we acquiesce to the courts...we tacitly acknowledge that it is a judgment call...largely because most of us think we would not want to live as Terri does now

but still, I wonder...

you can't listen to the news

lately, I find myself turning off the news more often than not...radio and tv seem obsessed with stories that are so reprehensible, so disturbing, that I find myself unable to listen...moreover, I have an adolescent child, and often in the car the news comes on the radio and with no warning at all we are hearing in detail about the rape, torture and murder of juvenile children by some deranged sicko...I don't want to listen to that report, and I really don't want my son hearing that story...yet, we hear these reports over and over again, leading every newscast with every unseemly detail imaginable...michael jackson, scott peterson, muslim decapitators, teachers having sex with students, the list just goes on and on and on



I'm not asking for a ban on reporting disgusting stories...but can't we cut back on throwing them in the public's face at the top of every newscast?...can't there be some restraint in assaulting us with the horrible details?...can't there be a warning that this "item" may not be suitable for children?...can't we report on rapists and murderers from the point of view that these are god awful crimes committed by sick whacko inidividuals, rather than report from an "objective" standpoint?

I used to just turn off the commercials

progress continues in Iraq

can you believe seeing thousands of muslims in the streets protesting AGAINST islamic terrorism????



this is a photo that seems to be disappearing from view...hopefully the Baltimore Sun will keep it available...the accompanying article by Qasim Abdul-Zahra seems to be vanishing as well, but the piece makes it clear that these Iraqis are chanting "NO TO TERRORISM" the day after the horrific whacko islamic suicide car bombing (28 Feb 05) killed 125 Iraqi police recruits...the article also observes: "...braving the threat of another attack as they waved fists, condemned foreign fighters and chanted..."

this is a scene for the ages...who would have predicted this show of force among Iraqi citizens a year, or even just a few months ago?...let the MSM ignore the fact and try bury the article, but the Iraqi people are speaking bravely and without fear...freedom is starting to take hold in the heart of the middle east, and it is spreading

just like W said