Political Body Parts II

Socialized medicine continues to politicize body parts. (See earlier post: Political Body Parts )

Add Mrs. Valerie Halsworth’s seven teeth to the list.

Another contentious issue for British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the upcoming election. From a Sun (U.K.) article, I pulled out my own teeth :

TONY Blair yesterday faced a woman who pulled out SEVEN of her teeth after failing to find an NHS dentist.

Great-grandmother Valerie Halsworth, 64, removed them with her husband’s pliers. [/] She pulled out a seventh tooth over the weekend before meeting the PM in Coventry yesterday. [ … ]

Mr Blair told her: “I can’t suddenly just produce more dentists. We have to train them. I can’t force them from the private sector into the NHS.”

Valerie said: “Mr Blair didn’t seem as though he had an answer. [/] “The ten teeth I have got left are OK. But in another month or two I’m going to need a dentist. [/] “It would be nice for somebody to take them out properly for me.”

She added: “The only way to get rid of the pain from my teeth was to pull out the infected ones. [/] “I had a few pints of lager then screwed up my face, put the pliers against the tooth and yanked. [ … /] “My husband can’t stand to watch. But he’s lucky — he had all his teeth pulled out 30 years ago and got a set of false teeth for about a fiver.”

The confrontation came on a live question and answer session with the PM on Sky TV. [/] Mrs Halsworth — who cannot afford private dentistry — said three foreign dentists in her home town all proved unsatisfactory. [/] Last March 3,000 people queued for a new NHS dentist in the town.

TNIV: The Feminist Tet?

In the midst of a forum post, it occurred to me that the "gender accurate" language of Today's New International Version (of the Bible), better known as the TNIV, may be a sort of Tet offensive of the fading crusade to modify human language.

Will the gullible modern West snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this time?

[Link to forum hidden to protect alleged perpetrator(s).]

Thanks for your illustrations of the foolishness of the TNIV (and the NIV, actually, the same principles of translation were used).

{{_ I am glad they are finally correcting}}

One difficulty here is discerning what it is that they are correcting: the revealed Word of God, the texts in the original languages, or the post-reformation modern language [literal] translations.

It looks like all of the above to me.

A second difficulty is discerning what it is that they are using as a standard:
1 The laws of God specially given to the hearts and minds of the meta-nominal Christian (Heb. 10.16).
2 The providentially supplied wisdom of mankind as enshrined in the structure of language.
3 The common central teachings of the generality of baptized humanity throughout church history.
4 The wisdom of the feminist movement and their fellow travelers, as enshrined in their crusade to modify the meanings and usages of modern languages.
5 The current popular understanding of words, religion, doctrines, etc.
6 The peculiar notions of the translators.

It would appear that they are guided more by 4 through 6 than 1 through 3.

{{_ gender problematic statements.}}

There are problems only because of the current crusade to redefine gender (redefine sex actually, but to use a one syllable word of natural, not artificial, meaning would make their silliness rather obvious. I have heard that the cutting edge of the movement now defines seven, count them, seven genders. My weak stomach prevents me from seeking the seven definitions.).

It is interesting that as the generality seems to be responding more to the battle cry of the opposition to the gender redefinition crusade, "Person the lifeboats! The language is sinking!"[-- The forces of political correctness are making] an all out assault on the Bible. It may work. The Tet offensive in Viet Nam caused America to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

{{_ The biggest problem I have had, is Matt 5:32. "But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery."
{{_ I dont know if that one would be corrected. But, I hope they put Jesus' intended meaning there. "...anyone who who divorces their spouse, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes them to commit adultery, and anyone who marries one who has been divorced commits adultery". }}

As the World War II German soldier in the Rowan and Martin Laugh In used to say, "Very interesting, but [uninformed]". Only husbands had a right to divorce (and a very liberal right to divorce because, according to the Lord, "of the hardness of their hearts" {Mar 10 2-9}) under the law of Moses. (Deu 24 1-4, referred to in Mat. 5 31, interestingly enough). In this context the Lord's words have been correctly reported. To change them is to falsely change His words (for a supposedly noble purpose, no doubt) and to promote an erroneous understanding of the cultural standards of first century Israel and [the standards of] of the law of Moses.

More later. Lord willing. I still have not gotten to the crux of the matter, the NIV principles of translation, as opposed to the principles of truly literal translations.

The thinking of the person responded to in this post is all too common. C. S. Lewis foretold this result of late twentieth century education in "Scewtape Proposes a Toast" (found in the later editions of the Screwtape Letters), The Abolition of Man and That hideous strength;: A modern fairy-tale for grownups . (The titles, like the envisioned future, are not very cheerful.)

More later, Lord willing, on the "gender" war and on the TNIV in this space. Stay tuned.

The Important Scandal at Harvard

[Spoken:] These are the times that try men's souls. In the course of our Nation's history, the people of Harvard have rallied bravely whenever the rights of Man have been threatened.
Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Dining Hall Managers, better known as the DHM, are threatening student nutrition in the form of the generification of breakfast foods. The DHM have replaced Harvard's (and America's) traditional favorites with cheap, crummy, soggy, sloppy, ill-tasting, generic brands such as: Tootie Fruities for Fruit Loops and Colossal Crunch for Cap'n Crunch.
[N.B. This is a political statement and the disparagement of worthy and splendid generic breakfast foods is allowed, as part of free speech, even under the McCain-Feingold Act.]
Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!

[Sung:] Well let me tell you the story of some Lowell diners,
On a tragic and fateful day,
They thought they had Fruit Loops, but it tasted like garbage,
They immediately ran away.
[Chorus 1]
But did they ever return?
No, they never returned,
And their fate is still unlearned.
[Bass sings: "Poor old Harvard"]
The best and the brightest are exiting Harvard,
They’re the group that never returned.

The best and the brightest who are reading the Globe,
Are preparing to go elsewhere.
They're applying to Fram’nham, Dartmouth, or Columbia,
Where dining hall managers care.
[Repeat chorus 1]

Now you citizens of Harvard, don't you think it's a scandal?
How the students have to pay and pay,
For some stinking soggy mush, in the place of Krispies
Get those Fruit Loops back on the tray.
[Chorus 2:]
Or else they'll never return,
No, they'll never return,
And their fate will remain unlearned.
[Bass sings: "Poor old Harvard"]
The best and the brightest have exited Harvard,
Get those Fruit Loops back on the tray.

Remember the story of that great Tea Party,
When the heroes, of old, got their way,
Impound those generics! Dress up as -- whatever!
Dump that soggy mush into the bay!
[Repeat chorus 2, repeating last line twice.]

My apologies to the Kingston Trio and all others concerned with that great song, MTA.

Some Crimson links: Love It/Hate It: Generic Cereal and Lowell Dining Hall Vandalized, subtitled: "Intruders cause $1,000 in damage to door, spill cereal across floor".

The Boston Globe's excellent and detailed story is linked and summarized in the excellent WSJ Opinion Journal article, Best of the Web Today (bottom of page, registration required). (Globe articles are not free after the first two days.)

Personal message: For the Mother of Brilliants.

(Expanded and modified, 1:40 pm est, despite the lack of popular demand.)

This just in, 1:45 pm Mar. 30, from World Net Daily Page 2 links:

Harvard students most unhappy / Student satisfaction ranks near bottom of group of 31 elite colleges --Boston Globe

Fruit Loop deprivation has its downside.

As "Scotland on [Easter] Sunday" Sees Us

From a Scotsman.com, Scotland on Sunday article, Time for a moral revolution:

[ ... ] Last week, before the eyes of the whole world, the nation that has pledged to export its values to the rest of the globe set about starving and dehydrating one of its citizens to death. That it did so against the wishes of the president, Congress and the people only added to the horror of the situation. [my emphasis] If Terri Schiavo is still alive by the time you read this and there has been no new intervention, it will be her ninth day deprived even of water.

The Schiavo case has been hugely misrepresented in the media, not least by the BBC, which has reported it under a 'Right to Die' caption. It is not about the right to die: it is about the right to kill. The weasel term 'persistent vegetative state' has been attached to Mrs Schiavo, although her husband has refused to have her tested to establish her clinical status. Terri Schiavo is not a vegetable; she is not on a life-support machine; she does not have any tubes attached to her body. She has received visitors, out of bed and fully dressed. Her feeding tube was not "removed", since it had never been a permanent attachment: doctors, constrained by court order, stopped connecting it to her at mealtimes.

The Schiavo family has put some startling videos on the internet which show Mrs Schiavo making eye contact with her mother, smiling and visibly reacting to her. There is strong evidence she is not in a so-called persistent vegetative state. Dr William Hammesfahr, a Nobel Prize-nominated neurologist who has an international reputation for treating brain-injured patients, said earlier this month: "We, and others I know, have treated many patients worse than Terri and have seen them regain independence and dignity."

Hammesfahr was not speaking speculatively, as his further remarks show: "There are many approaches that would help Terri Schiavo. I know, because I had the opportunity to personally examine her, her medical records, and her X-rays."

Yet Mrs Schiavo's medical records show she did not receive any rehabilitative therapy after 1993. Michael Schiavo, her husband, not only failed to procure such therapy but in 1993 tried to have antibiotics withheld from his wife when she was suffering from an infection; he was overruled by staff at the nursing home.

Schiavo, who has entered into a relationship with another woman by whom he has fathered two children, is the instigator of the move to end his wife's life, despite the opposition of her parents and siblings. Where are the feminists in this fight for a woman's life? What credibility does the "justice" system of the US retain when Judge George Greer presumes to make a clinical judgment that overrules Hammesfahr and hands down a death sentence on an innocent woman?

What must it be like to watch, helplessly, while food and water are denied you and you start to die by inches? If they did it to a laboratory rat, outraged activists would storm the building. Morality aside, this is being done on the authority of juju medical science. Some years ago, the British Medical Journal reported a study by clinicians of 40 patients referred to as being in a vegetative state; 43% were judged to have been misdiagnosed, although seven had been in this supposed state for more than a year and three of them for over four years. [ ... ]

"I thirst" was among the last words on the Cross. A human being dying of dehydration in Holy Week has an apocalyptic resonance. This Easter we must pledge ourselves to moral regeneration, reasserting our human dignity and the inviolability of all innocent life. [my emphasis]

Have we no shame?

(Article published Easter Sunday, 27 Mar 2005 in Scotland on Sunday, title: "Time for a moral revolution", by Gerald Warner, first two paragraphs: "Abortion 'on demand' and the scandalous Schiavo case have resonance in the week we celebrate the triumph of life over death [/]EASTER is a celebration of the triumph of life over death and of right over wrong. So it is peculiarly poignant that issues of life and death should be dominating the news this Easter, most dramatically so in the United States.")

Would that God the gift would gie us,
To see ourselves as others see us.
- Robert Burns

Send In the Black Helicopters

Chock full of Special Forces commandoes.

Extricate Terri Schiavo and her parents.

Fly them straight to Guantanamo.

(Warning Castro not to interfere with the overflight.)

And let all be done under the Great Banner of the American Revolution,

The Union Jack presently flown on all United States warships for the duration of the War on Terror,

The Flag with the Rattlesnake,

Rattling the Words: “Don’t Tread On Me”,

(”Or On the Creator Endowed and Congressionally Declared Inalienable Right to Life of my Fellow American” is strongly implied.)

Then let Congress decide whom to impeach:

The judges who flouted and ignored specific Congressional legislation,

Or the President who enforced it.

As the man said at Lexington in 1775:

"If they mean to have a war, let it begin here."

(Just a thought.)

Global Warming Dries Up Quagmires

Trying out theories that might be appealing to some. We report. You decide.

From a Yahoo! AP article, Afghanistan Emerges From Horrors of War:

By DAVID GUTTENFELDER, Associated Press Writer [/] KABUL, Afghanistan - After a generation of conflict, Afghans are slowly emerging from darkness. In the afterglow of last fall's presidential election, there is hope in Kabul.

Violence in the capital is now rare. Record numbers of children, including girls, are returning to rebuilt schools. U.S. trainers are forging a multiethnic Afghan army. Aid money is flowing in, and relief groups are helping put the health service and other institutions back on their feet.

Millions of refugees have returned after long years of exile in Pakistan or Iran (news - web sites). Some are confident enough of the country's stability to sink their savings into roomy new villas, fueling a breakneck construction boom.

Still lots of problems according to the story, but the lead is that “there is hope in Kabul”.

Praise the Lord!

And He might just be using Global Warming to do it. Who can tell?

Iraqi Insurgents Seek Exit Strategy

Demonstrating to many on the left the moral, ethical, and cultural superiority of the Iraqi Freedom Fighters to the likes of Bush, Rice, and Rumsfeld.

From a Financial Times article, Iraq's insurgents ‘seek exit strategy', by Steve Negus in Baghdad:

Many of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician.

Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

“Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali, who last week hosted a pan-Sunni conference attended by tribal sheikhs and other local leaders speaking on behalf of the insurgents.

Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forces' raids, he said. [ … ]

Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.

Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.

But many on the left will find the moral superiority of the insurgents disappointing, for some odd reason.

Sevan’s Swag & Kojo’s Mojo

From the New York Post | editorial of the same name:

Kofi Annan would like the big news from the United Nations this week to be his new "reform" package. [/] He can forget it.

Yes, it has all the bells and whistles one should expect — a new Human Rights Council, proposals for expanding the Security Council and lots of flowery language about "freedom." [/] Who knows? Perhaps some of the suggestions should be taken seriously.

Yet that shouldn't — indeed, can't — happen until Annan acknowledges, and deals with, the elephant in his living-room: the Oil-for-Food scandal. [/] For that matter, the more recent scandals involving sexual abuse and harassment by various U.N. personnel also demand immediate resolution. [ … ]

This week, however, two significant developments continued to undermine Annan's credibility. [/] First, the Financial Times revealed that his son, Kojo Annan, received $300,000 in payments — nearly double what had previously been reported — from Cotecna, a Swiss firm at the heart of the Oil-for-Food mess. [ … /] Second — and far more outrageous in many ways — is the news that, despite its previous denials, the U.N. has been paying the legal fees of disgraced Oil-for-Food overseer Benon Sevan.

Outrageously, those fees are coming from the escrow accounts of the self-same Oil-for-Food program. [/] Does that sound somewhat close to an accused embezzler being allowed to pay his lawyers by dipping into the accounts of the very institutions that he's ripped off?

But again, the question has to be raised: How is it possible that United Nations manages to financially support the legal defense of its disgraced employee — yet the secretary-general himself knows nothing? [/] It defies credibility.

In short, Kofi Annan & Co. can publish a report that might garner universal acclaim — unlikely as it might be — and it would still mean nothing. [/] The organization has zero moral authority left. [ … ]

Bad news for those whose Hope for Man is in the United Nations.

The Triumph of the Worms

Some Terri Schiavo links:

Deacon at Power Line, has posted a concise indictment of those members of the judiciary who have flouted the Law that the People’s representatives in Congress assembled had established.

I agree with Hugh. Congress intended (and said) that the federal courts would decide de novo whether Terri's federal rights were being violated. De novo review basically means a fresh review that does not defer to factual findings made by other courts. The federal courts prevented de novo review from occurring because they refused to stop the court-ordered termination, by de-hydration, of Terri's life. She will die before there is time for the de novo review mandated by Congress to occur. That would not be the case had [the] temporary relief that was sought been granted. Thus, in my view the courts flouted the law that Congress passed.

Wesley Pruden, Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Times has titled his regular Friday column The worms triumph and a woman dies:

Or maybe the judges are the worms. The justices of the Florida and federal courts, who ordinarily revel in their ability to make up laws when they can't find one in the law books to suit their purposes of the moment, have decreed that there's no legal way to save Terri from the death by starvation and dehydration that convicted serial killers, murderers of children and others on death row would be spared.

World Net Daily has had some of the earliest and has some of the most complete coverage. Their recent article The whole Terri Schiavo story puts the important events of a 15 year time line in perspective.

Major media organizations paint the pitched battle over the life of Terri Schiavo as a clear- cut debate between pro-life and right-to-die advocates, bankrolled by big money activist organizations on both sides. But the case of the 41-year-old brain-injured Florida woman is anything but clear cut.

The little-publicized nuances of her 15-year saga often get lost amid the smoldering, post-election political warfare reignited by the intervention of Congress on behalf of Terri. But as President Bush pointed out in a statement on Terri Schiavo, "there are serious questions and substantial doubts" in her case.

Blogs for Terri is remarkably well organized and terse. It gives continuing evidence of the character of the non-worms amongst us.

Prior posts on In Two Cities give our take and link to important anti-worm voices: Send In the Florida State Police and State Police Intervention II .

The Power of the Internet

Interest! ALERT News has a UPI story that illustrate the awesomeness of the new technology:

Principal apologizes for smoking at school

PROVIDENCE, R.I., March 25 (UPI) -- A Providence high school principal who suspended a student for posting a picture of her smoking on his Web site has apologized to the student body.

Eliazar Velasquez, 17, caught Elaine Almagno lighting up on the grounds of Central High School, a violation both of Rhode Island state law and school district policy, the Providence Journal reported. She ordered him to remove the photograph from his Web site and suspended him when he refused.

On Tuesday, the sophomore was offered reinstatement but only if he complied with the removal order. On Wednesday, Superintendent of Schools Melody Johnson went public, saying that Almagno, "a veteran administrator with a 25-year unblemished record," had made a mistake.

Johnson said that she ordered Central High officials to remove the suspension from Velasquez's record and that Almagno had apologized over the intercom for smoking on school grounds. [ … ]

At the great military ceremony with which the British army surrendered to the colonial forces at Yorktown, the British band appropriately played “And the World’s Turned Upside Down”.

And today’s hi-tech revolutionaries would do well to remember the instructions that General Washington gave to the colonial forces before that ceremony:

My brave fellows, let no shouting, no loud huzzahs, further increase their mortification. It is sufficient for us to witness their humiliation. Posterity will huzzah for us.

Apologia Pro Vita Sharona

A Formal Defense of the Life of Sharon, for those in Rio Linda. (On the model of Cardinal Newman’s great work Apologia Pro Vita Sua or A Formal Defense of My Life.)

Actually the defense of Israel Prime Minister Sharon’s life is only partial, dealing with his controversial recent actions. And the defense is not quite formal since it includes the claims of the daughter of the author that her father’s mind has been invaded by aliens from outer space.

But Norman Podhoretz, Editor-at-large of Commentary is a man of wisdom with special knowledge of the subject of his article in that magazine entitled, Bush, Sharon, My Daughter, and Me . Excerpts below:

[ … ] Hence it was at this fourth annual Herzliya conference in December 2003 that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confirmed the rumors about his intention to put a “disengagement plan” into effect.

The plan had three components. The first was to accelerate construction of the security fence that had recently begun going up between “Israel proper” and the territories it had captured from Jordan on the West Bank in the Six-Day war of 1967. Already some 800 Israelis had been murdered by Palestinian suicide bombers who had infiltrated into the country from the West Bank, and the main (indeed, Sharon insisted, the only) purpose of the fence was to make it harder for these monstrous human missiles to do their grisly work.

The second component of the plan was to dismantle a number of Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. “I know,” Sharon said, “you would like to hear names, but we should leave something for later.” All he would divulge for the moment was that the settlements to be “relocated” would be “those that will not be included in the territory of the state of Israel in any future agreement.” [ … ]

All this had been sweet music to my ears. But a jarringly cacophonous note was sounded when the State Department took over the job of producing a blueprint that was supposed to put Bush’s policy into practice; and to make matters worse, State then proceeded to join with the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia in what came to be designated in diplospeak as the Quartet. Had there, I wondered, ever been a better case of the fox being invited into the henhouse?

In due course the fox emerged from the henhouse with the road map—another diplospeak coinage—clenched between its teeth. [ … ] [That] the Quartet had no compunction about forging ahead even while Arafat remained in power certainly did conflict with Bush’s vision.

Why, then, did Bush endorse the road map? [ … ] [W]as it really necessary for Bush to play along with the fiction that the new leadership he had called for had materialized in the person of a prime minister appointed and controlled by Arafat?

Here, I thought, the answer lay in what I had come to see as Bush’s characteristic modus operandi. Thus, just as he had challenged the UN to enforce its own resolutions on Iraq; just as, far from “rushing into war,” as his opponents charged, he had waited many months before taking action without the blessing of the Security Council; and just as he would later do in backing the negotiations aimed at keeping Iran from developing and North Korea from deploying nuclear weapons—so in this instance he was giving his critics every chance to show that they could attain the goals they claimed to share with him by means other than the use of force, or at least without rocking every boat in sight.

It was because I had come to place so much faith in Bush that I was able to overcome my misgivings about the road map. And it was partly because Sharon was also putting his money on Bush that I was ready to bet on Sharon. Unlike most Israelis, Sharon seemed to understand that the Bush Doctrine was already changing the entire context in which the Arab/Muslim war against the Jewish state had always been waged, and that in this new context, there were things Israel could do that it would have been too risky to do before. [ … ]

State Police Intervention II

A prominent pastor has called upon Florida Governor Jeb Bush to disobey a state judge’s order to preserve the life of Terri Schiavo.

A position taken here in Send In the Florida State Police.

World Net Daily reports.

STARVATION: DAY 7 [|] Minister to Jeb Bush: [|] Disobey court order

D. James Kennedy says governor must 'disregard' judge to save Terri With all legal remedies apparently exhausted, a prominent evangelical Christian leader is urging Jeb Bush to disobey a judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo.

In a statement shortly after Judge George Greer's decision today, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., minister D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo. " Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said Bush "must act and he must act immediately on her behalf."

"He must disregard the order of Judge Greer," Kennedy said. "He has both the authority and the duty to do so under the state constitution." This afternoon, Greer rejected Bush's request to grant the governor protective custody. Yesterday, he barred the Department of Children & Families from taking custody.

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, for an emergency order allowing Schiavo's feeding tube to be reinserted.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Bush appeared to be clearing the way for unilateral action when he appeared at a news conference yesterday afternoon to confirm the DCF, under his authority, has the legal right to remove Terri Schiavo, by force if necessary, from the hospice where she has lived the past five years. [ … ]

"Neither the state legislature nor the courts, state or federal, have been willing to act on behalf of this helpless woman who is now within hours of death," Kennedy said.

Kennedy points out the Florida constitution states in Article I, Section 2, that "[a]ll natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law, and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life ... ." According to the Constitution, "no person shall be deprived of any right [including the right to enjoy life] because of ... physical disability."

As governor, Jeb Bush has the "supreme executive power," and the constitutional duty, stated in Article IV, Section 1, to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed," Kennedy said.

The governor, who is sworn to uphold the constitution, is obligated to safeguard this constitutional guarantee of the "inalienable right ... to enjoy and defend life," regardless of physical disability, he argued.

"The governor may not disregard that obligation even if a member of the judiciary has ordered otherwise," Kennedy said. "He is not bound by a court order that is at odds with a constitutional guarantee."

Kennedy cited Thomas Jefferson, who said, "[T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions [is] a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy."

Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy pointed out, disregarded the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Dred Scott when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

"Governor Bush has tried patiently to work with the courts and the legislature but to no avail," Kennedy said. "Now, at the very last moment, he has a constitutional duty to protect Terri Schiavo’s 'inalienable right ... to enjoy and defend life.'"

After all the "praying, petitioning, and lobbying," it comes down to this, Kennedy said: "Jeb Bush must choose between the clear mandate of Florida's constitution and a judiciary which, in this case, has acted in defiance of that state supreme law."

Similar arguments were brought to Florida's capital this morning by former Judicial Watch chairman Larry Klayman and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes.

Yesterday, religious and political groups banded together to urge Gov. Bush and his brother, President Bush, to use their executive powers to order police to take Terri Schiavo into protective custody. [ … ]

Schindler family spokesman Randall Terry, however, who also was on the phone with Hannity, contended Bush does have statutory authority.

"The question is, can a judge tell a governor he can't obey the law," the pro-life activist said. "The law allows the DCF to intervene. Even by asking [whether or not a judge should be defied] we are playing into the hands of judicial tyrants ... ."

Editor's note: WorldNetDaily has been reporting on the Terri Schiavo story since 2002 – far longer than any other national news organization – and exposing the many troubling, scandalous, and possibly criminal, aspects of the case that to this day rarely surface in news reports. Read WorldNetDaily's unparalleled, in-depth coverage of the life-and-death fight over Terri Schiavo, including over 150 original stories and columns.

Send In the Special Forces

Have changed my mind since the last post .

A military attack on the Florida judiciary would show that the United States is not just against Muslim dictatorial groups, but against all forms of denial of basic rights by any group, irregardless of race, creed, sex, ethnicity, or previous condition of servitude.

Besides it was George, not Jeb, who successfully slaughtered the dragon that was threatening a young woman.

Send In the Florida State Police

I was working on a detailed diagnosis but Ann Coulter has written the obvious prescription in Starved for Justice, excerpts:

[ … ] In two of the three cases mentioned above, the Democrats' use of force was in direct contravention of court rulings. Admittedly, this was a very long time ago – back in U.S. history when the judiciary was only one of the three branches of our government. Democratic Gov. Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard expressly for purposes of defying rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal courts.

The decadent buffoon Bill Clinton sent armed agents from the INS to seize a small boy from an American family – despite rulings by the majestic and infallible Florida courts granting custody of the boy to that very family. [ … ]

To the contrary, what has gone down in history as a glorious moment for the republic was when President Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) called out military force of his own. In response to Gov. Faubus' abuse of the National Guard, Eisenhower simultaneously revoked Faubus' control of the National Guard and ordered the 101st Airborne Division to escort black students to school. (Minutes later, Democrats pronounced the Arkansas public schools a "hopeless quagmire" and demanded to know what Ike's exit strategy was.)

As important as it was to enforce the constitutional right to desegregated schools, isn't it also important to enforce Terri Schiavo's right to due process before she is killed by starvation? [ … ]

As a practical matter, courts will generally have the last word in interpreting the law because courts decide cases. But that's a pragmatic point. There is nothing in the law, the Constitution or the concept of "federalism" that mandates giving courts the last word. Other public officials, including governors and presidents, are sworn to uphold the law, too.

Just once, we need an elected official to stand up to a clearly incorrect ruling by a court. Any incorrect ruling will do, but my vote is for a state court that has ordered a disabled woman to be starved to death at the request of her adulterous husband. [ … ]

[State judge] Greer has cut off the legal rights of Terri's real family and made her husband (now with a different family) her sole guardian, citing as precedent the landmark "Fox v. Henhouse" ruling of 1893. Throughout the process that would result in her death sentence, Terri was never permitted her own legal counsel. Evidently, they were all tied up defending the right to life of child-molesting murderers.

Given the country's fetishism about court rulings, this may be a rash assumption, but I presume if Greer had ordered that Terri Schiavo be shot at her husband's request – a more humane death, by the way – the whole country would not sit idly by, claiming to be bound by the court's ruling because of the "rule of law" and "federalism." President Bush would order the FBI to protect her and Gov. Bush would send in the state police.

What was supposed to be the "least dangerous" branch has become the most dangerous – literally to the point of ordering an innocent American woman to die, and willfully disregarding congressional subpoenas. They can't be stopped – solely because the entire country has agreed to treat the pronouncements of former ambulance-chasers as the word of God. The only power courts have is that everyone jumps when they say "jump." (Also, people seem a little intimidated by the black robes. From now on we should make all judges wear lime-green leisure suits.)

President Andrew Jackson is supposed to have said of a Supreme Court ruling he opposed: "Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." The court's ruling was ignored. And yet, somehow, the republic survived.

If Gov. Jeb Bush doesn't say something similar to the Florida courts that have ordered Terri Schiavo to die, he'll be the second Republican governor disgraced by the illiterate ramblings of a state judiciary. Gov. Mitt Romney will never recover from his acquiescence to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's miraculous discovery of a right to gay marriage. Neither will Gov. Bush if he doesn't stop the torture and murder of Terri Schiavo.

The medical profession has a commitment to a basic principle, “First of all, do no harm.”. The Congress of 1776 declared as a foundational principle. of the Republic, “All men … are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, … “ The Constitution gives specific authority to the legislative and executive branches of government as well as to the judicial branch.

If judges act as though they are above those principles, they are indicating a need for correction.

“Why weren’t we told?”

From a Commentary article on the unprecedented Harvard faculty vote of no confidence in the Harvard President (described earlier here in Professors Dis President ).

Indeed, many things have happened since the advent of women’s “liberation” to complicate its peculiar idea of progress, and one of those things is that the ideological drive for equality has outstripped many women’s enthusiasm for the project. As the columnist David Brooks has reminded us, the fraction of women over the age of forty and without children has nearly doubled over the past quarter-century, to about a fifth of the cohort. According to the Gallup poll, 70 percent of these women now regret that they are childless.

As it happens, a friend of mine who is a member of this same group recently attended her 25th reunion at one of the “seven sister” colleges. She told me she went with misgivings, since she had dropped out of the work force to raise four children. Though she is exceptionally clever, and her volunteer work exceeds in creativity what most of us do professionally, she was afraid she would feel outperformed by her old schoolmates, the majority of whom had become successful professionals. But instead of flaunting their achievements, many of these classmates resentfully took the occasion of their reunion to rail at the school’s administration and faculty for not having encouraged them to aim for husbands and families while they still could. “Why weren’t we told?” My friend was stirred by their misery, but struck by the futility of their complaint. One can sooner recapture the lost snows of yesteryear than the chance to bear and raise children.

Let us ask the One who turns the hearts of kings like rivers of water to turn the hearts of those in authority over today’s young that they might better inform them of the realities of our natural life.

Must Reads Again

Just cannot resist them. Go to Lucianne.com for links.

Schiavo Appeal to Reconnected Tube Denied
Slippery Slope time upon the land

Casting Angry Eye on Courts, Conservatives Prime for Bench-Clearing Brawl in Congress.
Bring...it....on. Our bench is deeper than their bench

After All Its Denials, U.N. Admits It Paid Oil-for-Food Program Aide's Legal Fees
UN has been paying Benon Sevan's bills until last month. The eyes roll, the mind reels

Cheney Defends Bush Appointments
Vice President Says Loyalists in Diplomatic Posts Will Strengthen U.S. Position

Between Travesty and Tragedy - Dr. Krauthammer
Particularly valid coming from a source who could write a book about suffering

McCain Takes Shots at AARP at Bush Rally
Like him or not, McCain stepped up to the plate

Glass Castle Freedom
Lucianne reviews Jeannette Walls' startling new memoir

Your Blog Giggle for the Day
The news is so depressing we need this. We shamelessly lift from Instapundit every chance we can

The Bandwidth Beast Red Meat and Chew Stick Fund
Fabulous Ldotters rallying like troopers. We're thanking as fast as we can

From the Editor's Desk...Our Rules and How They Work
Featuring a different version of 'Jaws'

Important Subject

At Blue Letter Bible, an Outline Study, The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity by Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

Some excerpts below, but got to the Study for links to the Bible references and sections:

10. What Difference Does the Doctrine of the Trinity Make?

>>> Sovereignty: Because the three persons have each other, we can be assured that God created us only to share the love they have and not as a means to His own end: Act 17:25; Jhn 17:21-26.
>>> Mystery: The triune God is totally unlike anything in our world, and therefore greater than anything we can comprehend: Rom 11:33-36; Isa 40:18.
>>> Salvation: God alone planned our salvation, came to save us, and dwells in us to complete our salvation: 1Pe 1:2; Eph 1:3-18; etc.
>>> Prayer: We pray to the Father through the Son, and also pray to the Son directly, in the >>> Spirit: Jhn 14:13-14; Eph 2:18; etc.
Worship: We worship Father and Son in the Spirit: Jhn 4:23-24; Phl 3:3; Hbr 1:8; etc.
>>> Love: The love among the three persons is the basis and model for our love for one another: Jhn 17:26.
>>> Unity: The unity of the three persons is the basis and model for the unity of the church: Jhn 17:21-23.
>>> Humility: As the persons of the Trinity seek the glory of each other, so we should seek the interests of others above our own: Phl 2:5-11; Jhn 16:13-14.
>>> Sonship: We are "sons of God" as we are united with the Son of God by the work of the Holy Spirit and the adoption of the Father: Jhn 1:12-23; Rom 8:14-17.
>>> Truth: All those who wish to worship and love God must seek to know Him as He is in truth, for God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is truth: Jhn 4:24; 14:6, 17; 15:26; 16:13.

[Table of Contents]
1 There Is One God
2 This God is Known In The OT As Jehovah/Yahweh ("The Lord")
3 God Is A Unique, Incomprehensible Being
4 Is God One Person?
5 The Father Of Jesus Christ Is God
6 Jesus Christ Is God
7 The Holy Spirit Is God
8 The Father, Son, And Holy Spirit Are Distinct Persons
9 Conclusion
10 What Difference Does The Doctrine Of The Trinity Make?

Bowman, Robert M. "The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity". The Blue Letter Bible. 2004. 22 Dec. 2004. 23 Mar. 2005. http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/robert_bowman/trinity.html.[ | ]Originated at] The Center for Biblical Apologetics.

Air America Exposed

By Left of the Dial, an HBO movie to be shown March 31 according to the Drudge Report's flash3aa Report filed by Matt Drudge..

It sounds as though Air America has achieved an unintended and undesired show biz pinnacle by inspiring the most bizarre movie since Blazing Saddles.

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE MARCH 23, 2005 20:32:45 ET XXXXX [/] HBO MOVIE SHOWS RADIO 'AIR AMERICA' CHAOS [/] **Exclusive**

HBO is set to air a behind the scenes look at the launching of liberal radio network AIR AMERICA. [/] The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a director's cut of LEFT OF THE DIAL, a grossly entertaining docu-drama of life on the other side of the AIR AMERICA microphone. [/] The doubts. The lies. The bounced checks. The heartbreak. [/] The viewer is taken upclose to witness the ugly business of media ambition.

The main character, Evan Cohen, founding chairman and main investor, is depicted as a complete fraud. [/] The documentary shows Cohen arriving in the middle of night at AIR AMERICA offices to sign over the company and disappear again, but not before lying about how many ads have been sold and how much money is the bank [zero].

Dead Air. [/] It shows how AIR AMERICA executives lied and lied again about not bouncing checks to their Chicago and Los Angeles affiliate owners. [(]The network was quickly thrown off the stations.[)] [/] The film captures AIR AMERICA staff first learning about the Chicago and LA nightmare by reading a DRUDGE REPORT exclusive on their computers.

It shows midday host Al Franken at a staff meeting being told there is no money left, hilariously, just moments after ranting about George Bush's ethics. [/] The HBO crew is told to shut down their cameras -- but they don't -- and the 'We're Broke!' meeting is filmed raw. [/] LEFT OF THE DIAL shows an angry meeting of the writing staff being told how money was deducted from their checks to pay for health care -- but the money was never paid to the HMO and they were never covered!

Host Janeane Garofalo looks suicidal in nearly ever scene which she appears. [/] "What am I going to do, just ramble on and on," panics stand-up-comic-morning-drive-host Marc Maron, as he deals with the reality of becoming a talkshow host.

But every drama must have a hero: Enter Randi Rhodes. [/] Highlight. The camera captures pm drive Rhodes in her classic PMS mood, but this time at home, in her newly rented NYC apartment. [/] Wearing a leopard-spotted robe, bra-less, smoking and crying "I'm so f**ckign lost," the relocated Floridian steals the show. [/] Talking to herself in the bedroom mirror, Rhodes whispers "You can do this." [/] She bemoans throughout how she is not being featured in any AIR AMERICA press. "No CNN. No USATODAY. No YAHOO wire story." How she is the only one hired at AIR AMERICA that's even been on radio before. [/] When she attempts to introduce herself to director Michael Moore [rushing out of a Franken Radio interview], Rhodes quickly realizes he does not even know who she is. [/] The heartbreaking scene is easily a frontrunner for this year's EMMYs.

The HBO film is set for air March 31. [/] Developing...

Trust that I may be forgiven for copying more of the Drudge Exclusive than is exactly proper. It is just too well written to resist.

The Corrupting of the Sleazo-Cons

Masters of Sleaze, today's David Brooks column, summarizes the sad, sad, sad, descent of the sleazo-conservatives into depths of K Street depravity. (K Street is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., with a horrible reputation.).

But Brooks can explain these things better than I, I have a rather weak stomach. Some excerpts:

Down in the depths of the netherworld, where Tammany Hall grafters and Chicago ward heelers gather amid spittoons and brass railings, a reverential silence now spreads across the communion. The sleazemasters of old look back into the land of the mortals and they see greatness in the form of Jack Abramoff.

Only a genius like Abramoff could make money lobbying against an Indian tribe's casino and then turn around and make money defending that tribe against himself. Only a giant like Abramoff would have the guts to use one tribe's casino money to finance a Focus on the Family crusade against gambling in order to shut down a rival tribe's casino.

Only an artist like Abramoff could suggest to a tribe that it pay him by taking out life insurance policies on its eldest members. Then when the elders dropped off they could funnel the insurance money through a private school and into his pockets. [ ... ]

Back in 1995, when Republicans took over Congress, a new cadre of daring and original thinkers arose. These bold innovators had a key insight: that you no longer had to choose between being an activist and a lobbyist. You could be both. You could harness the power of K Street to promote the goals of Goldwater, Reagan and Gingrich. And best of all, you could get rich while doing it! [ ... ]

Before long, folks like Norquist and Abramoff were talking up the virtues of international sons of liberty like Angola's Jonas Savimbi and Congo's dictator Mobutu Sese Seko - all while receiving compensation from these upstanding gentlemen, according to The Legal Times. Only a reactionary could have been so discomfited by Savimbi's little cannibalism problem as to think this was not a daring contribution to the cause of Reaganism [ ... ]

As time went by, the spectacular devolution of morals accelerated. Many of the young innovators were behaving like people who, having read Barry Goldwater's "Conscience of a Conservative," embraced the conservative part while discarding the conscience part.[ ... ]

[ ... ] And remember: Abramoff didn't do it on his own.

It took a village. The sleazo-cons thought they could take over K Street to advance their agenda. As it transpired, K Street took over them.

He Died

The Blue Letter Bible has an article on the medical aspects of the Crucifixion. (Terasaka, David. Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Blue Letter Bible. 22 Mar. 2005. http://blueletterbible.org/Comm/terasaka/crucify.html)
Some of the sections are of special interest:

One. He died.

DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION: [/] HASTENED by the breaking of the legs, so that the victim could not push up to take a good breath.

John 19:32-33: The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

CONFIRMED by a spear thrust into the right side of the heart.

John 19:34: Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. Death in crucifixion was hastened by the breaking of the legs of the victim. This procedure, called crurifracture, prevented the ability of the victim to take in a good breath. Death would quickly occur from suffocation. In Jesus' case, He died quickly and did not have His legs broken. Jesus fulfills one of the prophetic requirements of the Passover Lamb, that not a bone shall be broken.(Exodus 12:46, John 19:36)

To confirm that a victim was dead, the Romans inflicted a spear wound through the right side of the heart. When pierced, a sudden flow of blood and water came [from] Jesus' body . [ … ] The important fact is that the medical evidence supports that Jesus did die a physical death.

The Roman centurion is an important witness of this. Centurions rose from the ranks through competence, zeal, and experience. This man had almost certainly seen death, and death by crucifixion, a great number of times.

A man dying of suffocation does not give a loud shout immediately before dying. He cannot get enough breath to live, let alone shout. And there are universal signs of death that are not mentioned in polite company.

Mar 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Truly this Man Is the Son of God.

Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, [ … ]

11 [ … ]and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Truly this Man Is the Son of God.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

The Imitation of Brain Deadness

PowerLine's Rocket Man is encouraging the Chair (I am certain that the National Organization of Women has seen to it that "Chair" is the official title. The widely reported "Chairman" is just a prime example of the descent of the media into inexcusable sloppiness.) of the Democratic National Committee to implement the stategy that the Chair, Howard Dean, recently outlined in Toronto.

Howard, I think you're on to something. Please keep promoting this insight wherever you go: Americans are really dumb, and the Democrats' only problem is that they are so extraordinarily brilliant. If the Dems can just pretend to be "brain dead," like the Republicans, they will sweep to victory. That is a great strategy, Howard. Please pursue it.

Foundations Against Free Speech

Say it aint so, Pew!

Actually Joe may have been innocent, as the book linked above suggests, but Pew and its fellow Charities look much, much worse than “Shoeless” Joe Jackson ever did.

Joe was only accused of throwing sports events.

The present allegations reported by John Fund in OpinionJournal.com (registration required) involve corruption of the legislative process with a resulting serious infringement of free speech rights leading to unfree elections.

Astroturf Politics | How liberal foundations fooled Congress into passing McCain-Feingold.| Monday, March 21, 2005 12:01 a.m.

If a political gaffe consists of inadvertently revealing the truth, then Sean Treglia, a former program officer for the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, has just ripped the curtain off of the "good government" groups that foisted the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill on the country in 2002. The bill's restrictions on political speech have the potential for great mischief; just last month a member of the Federal Election Commission warned they could limit the activities of bloggers and other Internet commentators.

What Mr. Treglia revealed in a talk last year at the University of Southern California is that far from representing the efforts of genuine grass-roots activists, the campaign finance reform lobby was controlled and funded by liberal foundations like Pew. In a tape obtained by the New York Post, Mr. Treglia tells his USC audience they are going to hear a story he can reveal only now that campaign finance reform has become law. "The target audience for all this [foundation] activity was 535 people in [Congress]," Mr. Treglia says in his talk. "The idea was to create an impression that a mass movement was afoot. That everywhere [Congress] looked, in academic institutions, in the business community, in religious groups, in ethnic groups, everywhere, people were talking about reform."

The truth was far different. Mr. Treglia admits that campaign-finance supporters had to try to hoodwink Congress because "they had lost legitimacy inside Washington because they didn't have a constituency that would punish Congress if they didn't vote for reform."

So instead, according to Mr. Treglia, liberal reform groups created a Potemkin movement. A study last month by the Political Money Line, a nonpartisan Web site dealing with campaign funding issues, found that of the $140 million spent to directly promote liberal campaign reform in the last decade, a full $123 million came from just eight liberal foundations. Many are the same foundations that provide much of the money for such left-wing groups as People for the American Way and the Earth Action Network. The "movement" behind campaign-finance reform resembled many corporate campaigns pushing legislation. It consisted largely of "Astroturf" rather than true "grass-roots" support.

If we cannot trust America’s elite charitable foundations, who can we trust?

Hint: The answer may be found on every American coin.

Liberal Left Devouring His/Her Children

As Carlyle described the course of an earlier Revolution:

They arose to regenerate France, these men; and have accomplished this. Alas, whatever quarrel we had with them, has not their cruel fate abolished it? Pity only survives. So many excellent souls of heroes sent down to Hades; they themselves given as a prey of dogs and all manner of birds! But, here too, the will of the Supreme Power was accomplished. As Vergniaud said: `The Revolution, like Saturn, is devouring its own children.

Flash Exclusive from the Drudge Report.

'PLAYGIRL' EDITOR FIRED AFTER OUTING SELF AS REPUBLICAN
Mon Mar 21 2005 10:09:48 ET

**Exclusive**

PLAYGIRL editor-in-chief Michele Zipp has been stripped of her duties after she revealed how she voted Republican in the 2004 election.

Zipp, in an e-mail, claims she was fired after an onslaught of liberal backlash.

"Hello Drudge,

"After your coverage of my article about coming out and voting Republican, I did receive many letters of support from fellow Republican voters, but it was not without repercussions. Criticism from the liberal left ensued. A few days after the onslaught of liberal backlash, I was released from my duties at Playgirl magazine.

"After underlings expressed their disinterest of working for an outed Republican editor, I have a strong suspicion that my position was no longer valued by Playgirl executives. I also received a phone call from a leading official from Playgirl magazine, in which he stated with a laugh, "I wouldn't have hired you if I knew you were a Republican.

"I just wanted to let you know of the fear the liberal left has about a woman with power possessing Republican views."

Developing...

Government Regulation of Cheerleaders?

Recent AP article:

Lawmaker Seeks End to Vulgar Cheerleading

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Friday night lights in Texas could soon be without bumpin' and grindin' cheerleaders. Legislation filed by Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston, would put an end to "sexually suggestive" performances at athletic events and other extracurricular competitions.

"It's just too sexually oriented, you know, the way they're shaking their behinds and going on, breaking it down," said Edwards, a 26-year veteran of the Texas House. "And then we say to them, 'don't get involved in sex unless it's marriage or love, it's dangerous out there' and yet the teachers and directors are helping them go through those kind of gyrations."

Under Edwards' bill, if a school district knowingly permits such a performance, funds from the state would be reduced in an amount to be determined by the education commissioner.

Edwards said he filed the bill as a result of several instances of seeing such ribald performances in his district.

J.M. Farias, owner of Austin Cheer Factory, said cheerleading aficionados would welcome the law. Cheering competitions, he said, penalize for suggestive movements or any vulgarity.

"Any coaches that are good won't put that in their routines," he said. And, most girls cheering on Friday nights were trained by professionals who know better, he said.

"I don't think this law would really shake the industry at all. In fact, it would give parents a better feeling, mostly dads and boyfriends, too," Farias said.

There is a failure here to consider the naturally acquired physical responses to emotions of ecstatic enthusiasm.

If the cheerleader has acquired through rather common experiences, automatic responses in terms of various specific physical movements to emotions of ecstatic enthusiasm and if the cheerleader is genuinely emotionally involved with the success of the team, the behavior described may be difficult to contain.

Theoretically the experiences of cheerleader candidates could be investigated and only those without such experiences accepted.

But I am inclined to believe that this would not be a very good idea either.

Specific problems should be addressed by the lowest level responsible official, the faculty member in charge of cheerleading. Gang up on him if you do not like what is going on Friday nights.

Party of Death?

Bush Signs Bill That May Let Schiavo Live

47 Democrats voted in favor, 53 against and 102 did not vote [[not broken down between abstentions and absences]]; [ ... ]

Many Democrats who opposed the bill said the congressional vote placed lawmakers in the middle of issues best left to state courts and family members.

"Today, congressional leaders are trying to appoint Congress as a judge and jury," said Rep. Jim Davis, D-Fla. "If we do not draw the line in the sand today, there is no limit to what democratic principles this Congress will ignore or what liberties they may trample on next."

(Interfering with the liberty to terminate a spouse’s life without effective judicial review might just lead to limitation of the supremely declared rights of the penumbra: “privacy” and “choice”.)

Those who chose death this day will be remembered.

It is Holy Week, after all, and some appear to be saying “What is truth?”.

Party of Life

Bush Signs Bill That May Let Schiavo Live

"In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life," Bush said in a statement after signing the bill.

After flying back to Washington from his Texas ranch, Bush had waited at the White House to sign the measure permitting a federal review of the case, which could trigger the reinsertion of feeding tubes needed to keep the brain-damaged Florida woman alive.

The House passed the bill on a 203-58 vote after calling lawmakers back for an emergency Sunday session for debate that stretched past midnight.

The measured was backed by 156 Republicans to 5 who voted against it and 71 who did not vote [[not broken down between abstentions and absences]]; [ ... ]

Republican supporters said the "Palm Sunday Compromise" seeks to protect the constitutional rights of a [specific] disabled person and rejected suggestions that political motives lay behind the last-minute maneuver.

"When a person's intentions regarding whether to receive lifesaving treatment are unclear, the responsibility of a compassionate nation is to affirm that person's right to life," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. "In our deeds and public actions, we must build a culture of life that welcomes and defends all human life."

There is something awesome about a Nation whose President and Congress will interupt a weekend and return to the Capital to preserve the right to Life of one severely disabled woman.

And on a day commemorating the return to another Capital in order pay the price of eternal Life for All that will accept that gift.

Must Read Must Reads Daily

Start the day with a grin or two or more.

Link if you have time.

Today's list.

Two Years After Iraq Invasion, Protesters Hold Small Rallies
The one in New York had 13 old communists, a poodle, a man dressed like Martha Stewart, Al Sharpton and a hot dog vendor

Conservative's Book on Supreme Court Is a Bestseller
How cool is this for our Mark Levin? Five years ago no one would publish

A Weekend Trip Down Memory Lane
In case you forgot what a true dork Kerry was

The Bandwidth Beast [[Red]] Meat and Chew Stick Fund
Our fund raiser continues as future looks brighter

From the Editor's Desk...Our Rules and How They Work
Its Spring on our Rules page as well

Choosing Life

There is something rather magnificent about something that the American People through their Congress are doing these days.

In the case of one starving woman in Florida,

America has chosen life.

And their servants in Congress assembled are doing their best in their convoluted ways to implement that decision.

In contrast:

The judge who recently chose death in this case has found it wise to leave his local Baptist fellowship.

And Crown Prosecutor England recently chose death in West Mercia.

Deuteronomy 20:19 (KJV) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

The Courage of the Free

Grenada became a "land of the free" after the American invasion of 1983.

Now from a post in Power Line, reporting on a Guardian article we learn that Grenada has become a "home of the brave".

The Allies We Want...

...are, fortunately, for the most part the ones we have. The Guardian reports that a British private from Grenada has been awarded the Victoria Cross for heroism in Iraq--the first such award since the Falkland Islands war, and the first VC given to a living soldier since 1969. The citation describes Private Johnson Beharry's bravery in two separate engagements last summer, when he was driving a Warrior armored vechicle in southern Iraq:

The Warrior was hit again by RPGs. It caught fire and filled with thick, noxious smoke.
Pte Beharry, continues the citation, "assessed that his best course of action to save the lives of his crew was to push through, out of the ambush. He drove his Warrior directly through the barricade, not knowing if there were mines or improvised explosive devices placed there to destroy his vehicle. By doing this he was able to lead the remaining five Warriors behind him towards safety."

Another RPG hit the Warrior. "The flames and force of the blast passed directly over him, down the driver's tunnel, further wounding the semi-conscious gunner in the turret."

Pte Beharry was "forced to drive the vehicle along the rest of the ambushed route, some 1,500 metres, with his hatch opened up and his head exposed to enemy fire, all the time with no communications with any other vehicle."

A 7.62mm bullet penetrated his helmet and remained lodged on its inner surface.

Pte Beharry then climbed on to the turret of the burning vehicle and, "seemingly oblivious to the incoming enemy small arms fire, manhandled his wounded platoon commander out of the turret, off the vehicle and to the safety of a nearby Warrior".

Remounting his burning vehicle for the third time...

Well, you get the picture. In the second engagement, Beharry's convoy was ambushed again, and an RPG exploded six inches from his head. One thing I like about the Guardian's account is that, like most very brave men, Beharry has a sense of humor:

He was asked what was going through his mind at the time. "An RPG", Pte Beharry promptly replied.

As the end of the old song has it:

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And perhaps other flags are flying over other such land these days.

And perhaps "government of the people, by the people, for the people" is flourishing, not perishing.

But this is in the hands of a just and merciful Providence.

May His Name be praised.

Personal note: This story was of special interest because I was reminded of a special friend from the Carribean of similiar character, wit, and good looks.

Penny Dreadfuls for SEC Archon

Not to worry, Archon.

Check the date of the Business Week (registration required) articles:

Dr. No Digs In At The SEC

What Gets the SEC's Atkins Riled Up


Although Penny Dreadful is defined by most as a melodramatic paperback novel the term has also been applied to the viciously satirical cheap insult cards of yesteryear that the tough kids of the tough thirties sent to one another on February fourteenth.

(This was, of course, part of the Dark Ages:

(Before the vital emotional prophylactic importance of absolutely unsullied self-esteem enhancement had been revealed to all thoughtful persons.

(Today all right-minded lexicographers have evidently removed even the mention of this sense of the term, Penny Dreadful. A practice undoubtedly begun in 1984.)

The writers of Business Week are undoubtedly aware of this Great Tradition of yesteryear.

And actually have great affection for you.

Just as the tough kids of the tough thirties had great affection for one another.

Partial Disclosure: My dad had a subscription to Business Week back in the happy days of the golden fifties.

Billionaires Into the Breech

The continuing ordeal of Terri Schiavo together with Compassion Fatigue by Susan Moeller have inspired this post.

(Compassion Fatigue has long been known to the scientists as a syndrome of "secondary stress disorders" found in those that "treat the traumatized".

(Compassion Fatigue now appears to have jumped that population boundary and is spreading rapidly to the general population via the compassion focused media)

It is much better for individual billionaires to champion individual compassionate causes that require concerned attention (and money) than to ask all of us to worry about all of them (and to force the taxpayers and those coerced by unfunded mandates of governments run amock to put up the funds).

Encourage the wealthy to fund and manage the many worthy causes through specialized charitable foundations.

Such as a Reasonable Extended Life Support foundation.

I, and I expect, the vast majority of Americans, are enthusiastically in favor of the funding by the wealthy of whatever causes they may find worthy.

And we are all getting sick and tired of the too often picking of our pockets through governmental action under special interest activist and media pressure.

And sick and tired of gross governmental mismanagement of both our money and the compassionate causes used as a sort of bait and switch.

And sick (sub-clinical Compassion Fatigue Syndrome, actually) and tired of the media telling us that we ought to be real, real worried about each of the multitudinous specialized varieties of causes of suffering in the world today.

Billionaires Into the Breech. I expect that they will be better managers of compassionate causes than the government.

And if not, who cares? It is their money and their cause.

Hey, Compassion is working for the political conservatives.

Billionaire! Lead the Fight against Compassion Fatigue Syndrome!

Put Compassion to work! And do it Your Way!!!

Lucianne.com in Top Form Today

Must Reads are outstanding today, both L-dot scintillating comments and linked important content.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Split Panel Sends Renominated Candidate to Full Senate
Tick....tick...tick. Note to Libs: Check to see if full-battle gear is back from the cleanersa

House Panel Seeks to Keep Schiavo Alive
Lot of ripple coming from this one

The Syrians Slip Away - David Ignatius
Syrians tip-toe out of town and George Bush politely holds the door

An Inspiring Story's Loose Ends
Writer needs to spend some time with Ashley Smith She'll sort him out

What's Left? Shame - Dr. Krauthammer (on a roll)
'Euro-snobs forced to acknowledge that brutish Americans led by their simpleton cowboy might have been right'

Home-Run Hero Bats a Big Zero
At hearing, McGwire stops crying long enough to tell us he's retired (107 times)

Stay of Execution for Terri?

Stay of Execution for Terry

From the DrudgeReport

**Exclusive Fri Mar 18 2005 00:50:07 ET** The Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual.

Members of Congress went to the U.S. Attorney in DC to ask for a temporary restraining order to be issued by a judge, which protects Terri Schiavo from having her life support, including her feeding and hydration tubes, removed... Developing...

Later Update from AP:

In a two-pronged approach, a House committee was issuing congressional subpoenas to stop doctors from disconnecting the tube, while an attorney for the parents of the woman, Terri Schiavo, said he would ask a federal judge in Tampa to block the removal and review the actions of state courts.

Such habeas corpus appeals seek to require the government to justify its actions.

"We are going to ask him to issue a stay because in this case, state action would be used to end the life of an innocent, disabled woman," the attorney, David Gibbs said.

The Billionairs Into the Breech post previewed here earlier will be posted separately. Stay tuned.

Power Line recommends this Terri Schiavo BLog (In Two Cities does too.).

Peggy Noonan's column (registration required) is magnificent.

Mini-Micro Doomsday Plan

"Doomsday plan for London revealed"

By Ross Lydall Local Government Correspondent, Evening Standard | 17 March 2005

The first details of how London would cope with a terrorist atrocity on the scale of the September 11 attacks can be revealed today.

They include setting up prefabricated mortuaries and using Tubes, trains and buses for a mass evacuation of the capital.

The plan contains details of how to evacuate Heathrow, the Square Mile and Canary Wharf, and how roadblocks would be placed around the M25 to direct people fleeing the city by car. [ ... ]

The actual Doomsday will be a bit more fearsome and requires different, but simpler and much more effectual, individual preparation.

Revelation 20.11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 22.17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

The water of life is the theme of LivingWater.org - Open Door and the free Gospel of John that they provide.

Or email JimSmiling@verizon.net for more.

North Dakota Kids Have More Fun

From AP article: Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule

BISMARCK, N.D. - Saje Beard's half-hour commute to class is the envy of her four classmates at a one-room schoolhouse just south of here. Most mornings, the third-grader makes the trek on Ruth the mule.

"She's called many things, but Ruth is what we call her in public," Saje said of the 4-year-old gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's really nice and gentle. And she sure is smart."

Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules. She's been doing it since she was in first grade.

"I feel more safe with her riding a mule than having her ride in a car or on a bus," said her father, Marty Beard.

At the Manning School, about 15 miles south of the North Dakota capital, Saje "parks" Ruth by tying her with a bowline to a tree near swing sets and monkey bars. Ruth then gets some leather hobbles attached to her front legs, a routine Saje began after her other mule, Shirley, got loose and ran home from school last year.

Saje's classmates, who are in kindergarten through fourth grade, help take off Ruth's saddle and tack. It's stored in the school's cloakroom, next to basketballs and other playground equipment.

The five children then run to the school's flagpole to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the national anthem. The mule, named Ruth, prances and kicks up dirt as the children sing.

"It's cool," Lucas Irving, 10, said of his classmate and her mode of transportation. "She's cool."

Saje would ride Ruth every morning, but her dad won't let her if the temperature is below zero — "even if she insists." [ ... ]

Saje gets up at sunup to prepare for school. She brushes Ruth and feeds her grain, then hoists an old saddle that weighs nearly as much as she does over the chubby mule.

Saje has corn and sweet peas stuffed in saddlebags for Ruth's lunch, and for treats during the school's three recesses. Her homework and a tuna fish sandwich are in her backpack, tied to the mule.

Saje and Ruth follow a gravel road and pass dozens of horses from other farms during the two-mile trip. Ruth is fitted with special carbide-studded shoes to make the already sure-footed animal even more so, especially on ice.

Mules are known for protecting themselves and their riders. Marty Beard said the mule would likely attack anyone who hassled Saje along the route.

"She would probably implant those special shoes on their forehead," he said.

The trip home always is a little faster: Ruth knows she'll have some grain waiting, so she picks up the pace without prodding, Saje said.

Kris Beard, Saje's mother, said even some of their rural neighbors find her daughter's mule commute unusual.

"It's not strange for us, but for other people it is quite different," she said. "We're very fortunate to live here."

Personal Message: This one is for the North Dakota Cheery-O.s: A., J., and especially E.

The Inner Witness

Romans 1.19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

And this undeniable inner witness is sometimes providentially enabled to speak effectively.

Despite the world, the flesh, and the devil.

From an OpinionJournal.com article by Peggy Noonan (registration required).

Flannery O'Connor Country

The amazing story of how Ashley Smith stopped Brian Nichols's killing spree.

Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols were together for seven hours. This is Nichols's mug shot. This is Nichols's face after he gave himself up to police Saturday.

Something changed.

Something happened.

This is from the transcript of Ashley Smith's testimony when she met with reporters in her lawyer's office on Sunday, March 13: [ ... ]

Choosing Death

England has mercy on the unmerciful in West Mercia.

As reported in The Guardian.

Cleft lip abortion done 'in good faith'

Doctors and health officials will consider whether more guidance on abortions is needed following the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute two doctors who authorised a late abortion on a foetus with a cleft lip and palate.

Jim England, the chief crown prosecutor for West Mercia, said the doctors believed, in good faith, that there was a substantial risk the child would be seriously handicapped. "In these circumstances, I decided that there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that there should be no charges against either of the doctors," he said.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (KJV) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Show Trial Design 101

My recent post titled Send In the Clowns! reminded me of the basic principles of Show Trial Design Theory and Practice as developed by the most celebrated practitioners of the art in the last century.

There are two major schools of Show Trial Design Theory and Practice.

One is script centered and reached its greatest development and achievements in the late great Soviet Union.

The other is action centered and continues to demonstrate splendoriferous growth, both in quality and quantity, particularly in the United States of America, particularly in California.

Some might ascribe the better track record of action centered design to the innate superiority of the political ideology that nurtured it.

But the better informed have studied the application of the advanced knowledge of the effects of the dominant media on the general culture as developed by Marshall McLuhan and realize that it is the technological advancements of the animated media that have led to the increasing dominance of live (or pseudo-live) action over the mere written word.

Script centered Show Trial Theory and Practice hold that the script is inviolate.

Unless, of course, modified by the Director or an official specifically given specific license by the Director.

The central goal of action centered Show Trial Theory and Practice is the maximization of bizarreness.

To this end, the casting manager is directed to find the most bizarre victims, alledged perpetrators, witnesses, barristers, jurors, and judges available.

And all involved in show trial production should be fully aware that these ingredients, like the ingredients of 007's martinis, are to be shaken, not stirred.

Signs of reaching the highest pinnacle of Show Trial Design success are varied.

But if the activities of the judge directly inspire a dance troupe that is a smash hit on its first appearance on network television, Everest has been conquered.

Send In the Clowns!

(Never mind that the cup runneth over already.)

From ABC News report:

Jay Leno Appears to Contradict Jackson Accuser

'Tonight Show' Host Told Investigators He Remembers Speaking With Alleged Victim, Said He Sounded 'Rehearsed' [ ... ]

Mar. 16, 2005 - A source close to the Michael Jackson child molestation case has exclusively shown ABC News what he says is a transcript of a tape-recorded interview with Jay Leno, and in that transcript, Leno appears to contradict the alleged victim's testimony that he never spoke directly to "The Tonight Show" host. [ ... ]

"Awhile back the mother called," Leno says in the transcript. " 'Oh, my son, he's 12 years old. Oh, he loves you.'"

Leno told authorities he was suspicious of the mother's claims.

"I'm not that much of an egomaniac," Leno says. "I don't know why a 12-year-old boy would be infatuated with a 55-year-old guy who does political jokes and things. And I said, 'Well, what can I do for you?' Or, well, I can't remember the exact [inaudible] of the phone call. But essentially, [they were] sort of looking for money." [ ... ]

"I don't know if he's reading from a script, but it just sounded coached," Leno says.

In the transcript, Leno tells investigators he did not remember the conversation until he watched "Living With Michael Jackson" and heard the boy's name mentioned. [ ... ]

Leno is among the potential defense witnesses in the case. Judge Rodney Melville last week relaxed a gag order on Leno and allowed him to tell jokes about the case on "The Tonight Show" as long as they do not relate to his potential testimony at trial.

Professors Dis President

[[N.B. See Usage Notes 1 and 2 at the end of the post.]]

This episode in what Lucianne.com Must Reads has described as a continuing "sandbox squabble" has concluded.

The Crimson reports a summary of the action. (Not a blow-by-blow unfortunately, The well composed and delivered verbal assaults quoted in the report have left this onetime varsity debater desiring a transcript.)

In a sharp and unexpected rebuke of University President Lawrence H. Summers, members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) voted yesterday that they lack confidence in his leadership.

Voting by secret ballot in a Faculty meeting at the Loeb Drama Center, 218 faculty members affirmed a motion put on the docket by Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory ’82, stating that “the Faculty lacks confidence in the leadership of Lawrence H. Summers.” One hundred eighty-five voted against and 18 abstained from the motion, which was tantamount to a vote of no confidence.

A second motion, expressing regret for Summers’ Jan. 14 remarks on women in science and certain “aspects of the President’s managerial approach,” also passed the Faculty. [ ... ]

The two non-binding motions, unique in Harvard’s history, are largely symbolic gestures—only the Harvard Corporation, the University’s top governing body, can force Summers to step down.

While last month’s Faculty meetings focused on Summers’ adversarial leadership style and his controversial remarks on women in science, yesterday’s discussion leading up to the docketed motions focused instead on what the two votes would mean for the Faculty, and whether the votes should take place. [ ... ]

“This is not theater, albeit it has its comic and tragic elements,” Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn said at the meeting. [ ... ]

Like Summers, Faculty members seemed shocked by the result of the lack of confidence vote. After the meeting, professors contacted by The Crimson—including Matory—said that they did not expect the lack of confidence motion to garner so much support. [ ... ]

At the end of the meeting, which extended a half-hour beyond the allotted time, Summers made another plea for reconciliation.

“I have done my best these last two months to hear what has been said, to think hard about what has been said, and to make the appropriate adjustments, to learn from what has been said and what’s been done. And I will continue to do that,” Summers said. “My hope would be that this Faculty will now be in a position to move on to address the vital issues that it faces.” [ ... ]

But even if his job is secure, yesterday’s motions have strong, long-lasting implications for how much power Summers will have in areas of FAS governance. [ ... ]

“I think this also gives us a mandate to do more,” said Ryan, noting in particular that the Faculty Council—the 18-member governing board of the FAS, of which she is a member—will now be able to wield greater power. [ ... ]

“There is no noble alternative for him but resignation,” Matory said. [ ... ]

Sandbox squabble episode details:

“It would seem unwise to detour this motion by parliamentary maneuver. It or a ghostly incarnation would come back and leave us no peace. Whether the motion passes or fails, it is important to face and not deflect it,” English and American Literature and Language Department Chair James Engell said. [ ... ]

“Academic freedom is on trial, and...a victory for President Summers’ critics will be a very significant blow to academic freedom in American higher education,” said Winthrop Professor of History Stephan Thernstrom, who likened criticism of Summers to McCarthy-era tactics of suppressing free speech.

And Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature Ruth R. Wisse quoted extensively from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, in which the 19th-century philosopher defends the freedom of speech.

But Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and Professor of Comparative Literature Susan R. Suleiman rejected Thernstrom and Wisse’s argument that Summers’ critics were silencing free speech.

“The one thing that really pushes my buttons is when people try to paint every legitimate action as a form of political correctness. I really find that that is a blunt instrument and that is McCarthyite tactics,” she said, provoking applause from many faculty members. [ ... ]

Usage Note 1: President and Crimson are, of course unqualified. This tradition goes back at least to the famous Harvard staff response to a telphone call from the White House: "Mr. Wilson is on the line for the President." [[For those in Rio Linda, "Mr. Wilson" is U.S. President Thomas Woodrow Wilson and "the President" is the President of the Hub of the Universe (the Hub being more accurately placed in Cambridge than in Boston and being readily identifiable because of the lack of linear movement and the dizziness resulting from the speed of rotation.]]

Usage Note 2: Dis is, of course, free of quotation marks. To discriminate against dis through quotation mark ghetto-ization is an egregious outrage of the politically incorrect variety. Actually, quotation marking dis would, horror of horrors, dis dis.

Personal Message: Mother of Brilliants, this one is for you.

Person the Lifeboats Again

From a forum post, regarding the publishing of Today's New International Version of the Bible (TNIV):

The big point of contention over the changes seems to be gender inclusiveness or whatever they are calling it this time round.

Several years ago the publisher's brought out the NIV(R), I think they called it, and World Magazine started a crusade to expose what they had done in the name of anti-sexism.

Dr. Dobson and the Southern Baptists joined the crusade and the publisher's backed off to some extent.

The involvement of my then pastor and myself in the effort is recorded on my essay website in the entry titled Person the Lifeboats, the Language is Sinking.

Most of the oposition to gender accuracy or gender inclusiveness has been based on sound principles of Bible translation.

But I believe that the issue is broader.

There are semantic, philosophical and theological issues to be considered.

The use of "man" and masculine pronouns in an inclusive sense seems to have been accepted in Hebrew, Greek, English, and as far as I know most other languages.

And to quote from the page linked above:

"But "gender accuracy" does not just do violence to the revealed nature of God and man, it directly assaults God's plan of salvation. Romans 5:12-21 reveals the truth of Adam's headship of the human race and its results, together with the possibility, through the headship of Christ, to receive eternal life. The use of masculine terms in an inclusive sense in the original languages of Scripture, and, as far as I know, in all languages, is, a providential additional witness that little girls may enjoy the incomparable blessings of being included in the crucified, risen, and exalted Man, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the last Adam, the second Man."