Around the web: Confederate Yankee, Reformed Politics, Pajama Hadin, Outside the Beltway, Captain’s Quarters, Wizbang, Sierra Faith, GOP Bloggers, The Political Teen (video), Michael King, Alternaview, Michelle Malkin, HyScience, JackLewis.net, Mudville Gazette, ARGGHHH!, The Anchoress…
More bloggers: Three Bad Fingers, Jackson’s Junction, Blogical Conclusions, Polipundit (and here), Jeff Jarvis, Right Wing News, Don Singleton, Scott Ott, Wittenberg Gate, Bird’s Eye View, HCS and Gen’s Pad, Double Toothpicks, Kobayashi Maru, Biblical Christianity, Chaos Central, Adrian Warnock, Air Force Voices, My Sandmen, Sisu, Jerry McClellan, Baldilocks, Lifelike Pundits, MartiniPundit…
Previous obituaries: Johnnie Cochran, Ossie Davis, Johnny Carson, Shirley Chisholm, Rick James, Ronald Reagan and Superman.
Update: Hating the “Religious Right”
Update II: Kate Adamson, a woman once diagnosed as being in a Persistent Vegetative State, will be on Larry King Live tonight. Dory at Wittenberg Gate interviewed her.
Update III (4/1): James White, my favorite Christian apologist, travels across the country debating on such topics as the doctrine of the trinity, solo scriptura, predestination, papal infallibility, etc. He also won Best Overall Evangelical Blog in the 2005 Evangelical Blog Awards. Yesterday he blogged about Terri Schiavo. It’s a must-read.
Check out the Blogs4God round-up.
Significant numbers of people were outraged in 1973, when the Supreme Court placed its “holy” imprimatur on the murder of babies in the womb and overstepped its bounds by tying up states on the issue through a constitutional right it manufactured.But over the last several decades, despite a virtual monopoly by leftist forces in academia, the major media and Hollywood, the public’s sentiment toward protecting babies in utero has matured, and its aversion to judicial activism has grown.
People have a sense, if not any particular sophistication in constitutional analysis, that there is something radically wrong with the Orwellian propaganda that “social change” ought to emanate from the courts rather than legislative bodies.
{ 28 trackbacks }
{ 74 comments }
Now I am sad and angry
Let’s hope she is now feasting with her King.
I pray her family can be at peace.
Be not deceived: G-d is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Farewell, Terri. You’ve touched more people than you could possibly imagine.
I hope she rests in peace finally.
RIP Terri
“A shy woman who avoided the spotlight, Schiavo spent her final months as the focus of a media frenzy and an epic legal battle between her husband and parents over whether she should live or die.”
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/brain_damaged_woman
a shy woman? that is terrible writing
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like something was lost in America today? I am not simply talking about the life of an individual, but the absolute loss of trust and faith in a judicial system that is supposed to support family and life :(.
Our society deliberately tortured and persecuted the Schindler family, for the crime of loving their daughter and sister. No person should ever be killed, and family tormented, because of the will one estranged husbandand a obsessed state judge. This is not how civilized society treats her citizens.
“Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty I’m Free At Last”
…is probably what HE is thinking….
Terri Schiavo died today. Some say “it’s over”, some say “it’s done”. I’m willing to bet it’s just beginning. Those things that went unsaid out of “respect” because she was withering away in a hospice bed will now be unleashed as people stop holding back. The criminal allegations will run rampant. Some questions may finally be answered.
I don’t think this thing is over by a longshot. I think the real fight is only about to begin.
I hope that the medical examiner does a very, VERY thorough job on the forthcoming autopsy, and if ANY evidence is found that Michael was responsible for her condition, that he faces the justice that he denied Terri in life. I do not want that [redacted to spare La Shawn's sensibilities] to get away with murder.
“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28 HCSB)
Rest in peace, Terri.
Rest in peace Terri. You’ve touched us all–well at least most of us.
The lesson is clear, throw the GOP out of office.
I am very sad about this and my thoughts and prayers go out to her family. I do have a question
or fifty. Why was Terri placed in a Hospice in the first place? and why was she kept there when she was not dying?
As much as I disagree with them, my long-shot hope is that Michael Shiavo and George Greer are as they claim to be, two people who believed they were carrying out Terri Shiavo’s wishes according to law. I have a hard time believing that, based upon the small amount of factual information I have, and we’ll probably never know whether or not their motives were above board. The doubts will linger, and the actions they have taken in this case will continue to confound any rational explanation.
May Terri Shiavo rest in peace.
This unfortunate case of Terri Schiavo has brought forth a great deal of compassion and caring from millions of people concerned about the well-being of one individual.
Death is a natural part of life; every person and every living creature will die some day. Some die after a long, productive, and satisfying life, and others are cut short before their time.
Every day on planet earth, 29,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday. Most of these deaths are of preventable. Pneumonia kills millions every year, yet it can be cured with a dollar’s worth of antibiotics. Diarrheal dehydration kills over a million children every year, and most of these lives could be saved if the parents had access to a ten-cent packet of oral rehydration salts and knew the procedure for administering oral rehydration therapy. Tuberculosis kills over two million a year, and is curable with a course of drugs costing just $10.
I hope that the outpouring of compassion for Terri Schiavo will be channeled, or broadcast, to the millions of children in the world living and dying in poverty, whose lives are needlessly snuffed out for want of ten cents’ worth of oral rehydration salts, a dollar’s worth of antibiotics, or a two dollar mosquito net that prevents the spread of malaria during sleep.
In addition to the uncivilized practice of killing babies, the “powers that be” have just sanctioned another form of murder. Now anyone who wants to kill someone they hate can say “they wanted to die–they told me,” and the courts will believe it.
Like hell it is.
David L,
We’re not a civilized society. There may have been a few years where we were, but for the most part we’ve been uncivilized. We have allowed the slaughter of 43+ million babies in the safety and security of their mothers’ wombs. We are mass murderers, who put Sadaam to shame.
At long last her suffering is over. What an absolutely MISERABLE way for a woman to die, brain-damaged or not. May her parents find peace in time, and may Terri’s death be avenged, so that we can have some assurance that others might not be snuffed out without consequences.
I hope you all will excuse me if I’m more furious than grievous right now.
Terri fought the good fight…only a very few came to her aid. A few brave souls tried to get food and water to her and were arrested, including several brave children. All the conservative “talkers” and legislators stood by in the safety of their offices far away and cheered them on. None, except Sean Hannity came. The great Evangelical “leaders” wrung their hands crying, “What have we done, what have we done?…” But none came, none tried to gather a group to engage in civil disobedience to rescue Terri. That would be against the law…good Christians don’t believe in civil disobedience. I’m afraid to go to jail…I have a wife and children…I have a ministry, I have a church…Good Samaritans none…Dr. Martin would have known what to do…the civil rights protesters would have known what to do…
Over 4,000 innocents are being slaughtered today. Who is standing in front of the killing chambers to offer their mothers help one last time? A couple of dozen folk stayed by Terri’s side all the way. My guess is that most if not all have stood duty in front of abortion clinics as well. Is this what we’re down to…a couple of dozen brave folks? Where were the Florida evangelicals and their pastors? Where were the conservative Florida legislators?
My hope, my prayer (literally) is that this is not the end, but instead a beginning. My hope is that from her death, we would now unify to choose life.
Michelle Malkin’s use of a poem by Dylan Thomas is extremely inappropriate. To use it in conjunction with Scripture is even more so. The poem is hopeless nonsense and should be a comfort to no one.
I hope you’re sharing all that with Michelle, Stan.
Sigh
R.I.P.
La Shawn,
Tell me how to reach her and I will. Her blog doesn’t have a place to respond to her.
malkin@comcast.net
Sorry La Shawn…she doesn’t have live blogging like you but she does have Email and I’m sending one off…
Only in comfortable, materialistic Western countries can starving someone to death be referred to as “merciful” and a “right”. In this brave new world we are now living in I fear the worst is yet to come.
Rest in peace dear sister of ours, may God be your rest. God grant His abundant grace upon the family of Terri Schindler.
May God have mercy on us as we sort out what is left to be done.
Ok, I’m confused. Why is it wrong to post both secular and religious quotations dealing with this subject?
Anomalocarsis,
Exactly right…I work in Cambodia and it is as bad and even worse than you say. And trying to get medicine and low-cost water purification systems…I just got a request for $4,000 worth of medicine from our clinic yesterday and am off to try to get funding. And you’re so right…diarrhea takes so many young lives. In the villages where we work, our doctor estimates that at least 50% of our kids have it and the medicine is as cheap as you say.
I tell you–I voted for President Bush twice, supported him, given him the benefit of the doubt even when I disagreed with him. But Terri Schindler’s murder shakes my faith in the federal government–even with GWB at the helm–right down to the core. The U.S. Goverment has blood on its hands, right down to the lowest back-benching Congressman and the most obscure federal judge. They could stop this. They didn’t.
If they can starve a helpless woman to death, what about getting rid of other undesirables? Christians? Jews? Minorities? Political dissenters? What is to stop the federal government from bringing their awesome power to bear to bend us all to their twisted will?
I feel just as powerless (but not ‘disenfranchised’) today as a Democrat must have last November 3rd–and my party holds the MAJORITY!
Mark my words–a political re-alignment of mass proportions will be one result of Terri’s death. From here on out, pro-life is going to be my political litmus test first and foremost for ANY federal candidate, at any level… OUT OF SELF-DEFENSE!
Steve
DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS
Yep. The lesson is clear. If you want the culture of death to continue to hold sway, Actus, get the democrats back into Washington.
Hirez, I share your sense of profound loss. I still cannot comprehend the fact that a court in this land cleared the way for a citizen of the United States to be legally starved to death AGAINST THE WILL OF HER NATURAL FAMILY: her mother and father, sister and brother. It is staggering. I feel that this is an absolute betrayal of all that is human, decent and sane. I grieve for Terri, for her parents and for every soul that has become so hard and loveless that they can condone what happened to Terri Shindler. I grieve for the decieved, those who naively trusted the mainstream media to give them an objective account of this story. Also for those decieved by Judge Greer’s title, “The Honorable”. I grieve for our nation because we are being drug through the entrance way to a dark and hideous and unsafe place and we don’t seem to know that we ought to be terrified
nice tribute at evangelicalunderground.com
I think it’s contingent upon all people to get a Living Will with a trusted designated driver. This was a personal story made public by opportunistic politicians.
The Liberals Rage Satisfied
Liberals have been losing philosophical ground for years now and they have finally gotten their revenge on Terri Schiavo. They have created a world where by if I starved a dog or a cat to death like they did Terri, I would be jailed. You can watch this happen to people everyday on “Animal Planet”. Micheal Schiavo’s lawyer described her death as “dignified” and “beautiful.” This is straight out of the movie “Logan’s Run”. In this movie, once you reached the age of 30, your life is terminated in a lavish event called the “Carousel”. Carousel was “promoted” as a “beautiful”, “spiritual” transition. The word “death” was never used. I was offended by this lawyer’s attempt to sugar coat the agony that this woman endured the last 12 days of her life.
I have never made extreme statements about “liberalism” before and frankly I felt that sometimes LaShawn’s comments sometimes crossed the line in her criticism of liberalism. Now I think I can see a lot better. Liberalism is deadly.
What do liberals have to do with this! A conservative judge in FL, a conservative stacked Supreme Court and a large percentage of conservatives came out against the state of FL getting involved in this woman’s life.
Listen, this is not a partisan issue. We have to be responsible adults, responsible for the lives we lead and how long we want to fight to live if we’re injured or somehow unable to carry on as usual. Living wills can be downloaded and are completely legitimate and legal. You don’t have to go to see a lawyer to protect whatever rights you want to have in a compromised situation.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Terry Schiavo has passed away….
It is a sad day in America when a women is murdered for the sole reason of being mentally disabled, not terminally ill, not in the process of dying at all, but merely because she doesn’t have the ability to feed herself. Terry Schiavo passed away today of starvation and dehydration, she was only 41 years old….
Several aspects of this case are troubling. One is the willingness of the “authorities” to stop ANY food and water when the feeding tube was removed. Assuming for the sake of argument that the decision to remove the tube was justified in the first place, the subsequent decision to not even attempt to feed her water and give her food orally, to stop ALL food and water, is inexplicable. Likewise, the disinterest I saw in the “authorities” to remove all doubt as to whether or not Terri was really in a persistent vegetative state is just as troubling. Nobody in authority demanded the necessary tests (MRI, CAT scan, hands-on neurological exam) that would’ve proved whether or not her brain was in the condition claimed. It’s almost as if the decision was made first, then any evidence to the contrary was deemed undesirable.
The logic that judicial process is more important than determining the truth is a case of being blind to the fact that LAW and JUSTICE are frequently not synonymous. This kind of warped logic led to the Dred Scott decision. From 1846-1857 slave named Dred Scott sued for his family’s freedom, based on his having resided for many years in non-slave states. Beginning in the Missouri courts system, a series of lawsuits and appeals from 1846-57 wound up in the US Supreme Court, which declared him (and his family) “personal property” and therefore without the right to sue in the courts. The Supreme Court then directed that he be returned to his owners (who subsequently freed him). You might say LAW was administered, but JUSTICE was missing. Many historians believe the Dred Scott decision (scarcely a proud moment for the High Court) irretrievably embarked the nation on the road to civil war.
There are parallels between Dred Scott and the Terri Schiavo charade. In each, the judiciary used ivory tower arguments to arrive at a decision a substantial part of the population viscerally disagreed with. In each case, passions were so engaged, and the population so polarized, that a satisfactory outcome for one side would only enrage the other.
Final point that really troubles me…where were the voices of Jewish citizens and the elderly in this debate? Jewish silence is puzzling: if someone had described the scene in terms of armed uniformed personnel surrounding a facility wherein a citizen was being methodically starved to death, with no further elaboration, one could be excused for thinking Auschwitz, Dachau, or Bergen-Belsen were being described…not a Florida hospice. [For non-historians, those were Nazi concentration camps in World War II]. Likewise, the lack of outcry from the elderly, tens of thousands of whom are bedridden and on feeding tubes/ventilators, is equally mystifying. If the State is willing to countenance such a death for someone only 41 years old, for no better reason than her spouse claims she said as much in the vague past, then what prevents a like fate for an elderly Alzheimer’s patient?
In Nazi Germany, and now in Pinellas, Florida, USA, the power of the State was used to strip individuals of their rights, declare them unfit to live, and then killed them. Reduced to its most brutal frankness, that’s essentially the case with Terri Schiavo, hard as you may try to soften it.
Hektor
I know its a little off topic, but the Pope was just given Last Rites. On CNN’s front page. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/31/pope1/index.html
Stan, slightly off-tangent, but what would you attribute the appalling conditions in Cambodia, among other 3rd worlds? Filthy Lucre?
Welcome back, Andy.
To echo someone earlier, we ain’t seen nothing yet in the storms yet to come.
In a way, I think it’s interesting how various lines are being drawn and gaunlets thrown down all over the political and moral spectrum.
Prepare to stand and be counted for something or another.
In response to Terri Schiavo’s passing, I have posted my essay about grief over at Lifelike Pundits. The essay is written from a Christian perspective. If you would like to read it, click on my name just below this post.
I agree Andy. The lines are being drawn.
I was just thinking, all those who are for Government sponsored healthcare should think about this…
Who will decide who gets what care and when to stop paying funds? What disabilities will be considered to “costly” to cover?
There are already some in the “elite” who have written about the cost of Terri’s care and complaining because medicare was paying for part of it (and to quote them, she was “unproductive”).
Just food for thought.
NoIvory:
I beg to differ with you on “What do liberals have to do…” With respect to the judiciary, they close ranks around one another just like doctors. If Judge Greer’s real name had be Torquemada (of Spanish Inquisition infamy) they’d have refused to reverse or censure him. Of course, they’ll overrule subordinate judges on minor points of law, but when it comes to saying outright that a judge misruled or otherwise botched the trial, you won’t hear it. When it comes to judges ans sensitive cases, they decide based on what’s best for the institution, NOT what’s just.
When it comes to the judicial institution itself, there’s no such thing as conservative or liberal…just judges and their personal interest in protecting the institution.
Hektor
The Supreme Court set the precedent in the Cruzan ruling of 1990. Terri’s case and the outcome is little surprise if you read Rheinquist’s majority opinion. He held that the government only has an interest in protecting life, and that interest must be weighed with other interests. Becuase of that, we are not going to see any change in policy in this regard. When life, to the Supreme Court, is just an interest, and not a right or principle, we are all in trouble.
There’s more in Michael Franck’s column at National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/franck200503300802.as
Between Helene Ball McGhee in 1998 and Terri Schiavo now, George Greer’s judicial incompetence has now cost two innocent women their lives at the hands of their abusive husbands. How many more?
I’ve heard a lot about the “hatred” Evangelical Christians have been displaying. However, if you’ll check out some of the liberal websites, the contrast between the quality of the dialogue is amazing. DailyKos’ commentary is disgusting…they’re doing everything but high-fiving one another.
If you want a real thrill, google for Judge George W. Greer’s biography…he could give Huey P. Long a run for his money when it comes to shady dealings. I don’t know what’s in the water down in Florida, but I recommend you drink bottled water next time you’re down there.
Hektor
I am saddened by Terri’s death and angered by the seemingly arrogant and stuborn attitudes of her husband and Judge Greer.
I am challenged by a poem by William Cullen Bryant.
So live, that when thy summons comes to join the innumerable caravan wich moves to that mysterious realm, where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death. Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, scouraged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Already asked, but worth asking again. Where were the feminist groups in this matter? Are we naive enough to believe that they are willing to stand pat while a husband makes the decision whether a woman lives and dies?
What if the woman had desired to live, but the husband, as guardian had decided to starve/dehydrate her to death? What would have happened then? The feminist silence is expected, but hypocritical.
One other point. Now that two, three or more cases have been logged (Cruzan, Schiavo and others) it will be far more easy for this event to happen again, and again, and again.
I’ve taught many students whose conditions were not much better than this. They too needed feedign tubes. The only thing that separated them from Terri Schiavo was what limited vocal affirmation they could give. What if they were silent? This is now more than ever a disability rights issue in addition to a right to life issue. The rights of those who cannot protect themselves have been indignantly taken away.
LB- Wasn’t the moral of “A Few Good Men” the need to protect those who cannot protect themselves. The ending scene where the young private kept stating that they followed orders, they did no wrong, and the older Lance Corporal telling him that they should have looked out for the “little guy.”
I guess that it’s just entertainment, so the value of that lesson is worthless, just like the other values Hollywood espouses?
But then again, Terri Schiavo isn’t the right “little man” to protect, so I guess Hollywood will keep on making movies about cheating spouses with a suicide wish becuase of their paralysis.
You’re all missing the point. This case wasn’t about Terry dying or her right to die!
This case was about SPOUSAL ABUSE! Michael probably (I strongly suspect) put his wife in the medical position in which she found herself. He won a malpractice suit, shopped for a ‘right to die’ lawyer who has a coterie of ‘right to die’ doctors who want to speed up the dying factories. They all colluded and Terri paid the price. But underlying it all was the spurious allegation heard by only one person, Michael Schiavo, that Terri allegedly wanted to die if she were ever incapacitated. With $1 million to pay lawyers and doctors who’d see it his way, Michael has been able to get adjudication from a legally blind judge (Judge Greer) who can barely see his hand in front of his face, to the dubious allegation that Terri apparently said she would want to die rather than remain in a PVS. That’s why Michael didn’t want an autopsy and wanted the body cremated asap. But the medical examiner is going to be performing an autopsy after all. So we’ll see what we see.
Michael has wanted to cover the tracks of his abuse which is why the ‘gatekeeping’ antics of his legal team and the medical staff at the hospice. Now he can’t do that anymore. I just hope the M.E. isn’t corrupt.
I have many mixed feelings about the entire scenario. We may not agree on things. But I still broke down in tears when I heard she had died. It is unfathomable, regardless of party, or position, to have had no empathy when she passed. This poor woman’s life should not have ended as it did. I know that a piece of her will carry on in my heart as long as I live.
Terri Schiavo died as I was getting ready for work this morning.
As I was coming home, I heard about the close call the Pope had had all day (And indeed, he’s still critical)
And I hear what people are saying about the two.
It brings to mind the deaths of Princess Di and Mother Theresa, so close together. How shocking to see the “world’s” reaction.
I had hoped that the passing of Mrs. Schiavo would help purge some of these so-called religious blogs of the hate and vitriol, but I see it’s just as bad as ever.
I’d like to see a little humility on the part of the people who are so convinced they’re morally superior to the Schiavo family, the entire court system, all the non-charlatan doctors in the world, the vast majority of the American people and the Florida legislature.
I mean, did it occur to you hate-merchants for even one second that you might be wrong and Terri Schiavo really didn’t have any wish to live at the mercy of a food pump for fifteen years?
When the whole world is against you, you just might be wrong. Weird as it seems, it’s possible.
I’m not particularly religious, yet I still have grave doubts about the motivation of those who pushed so hard to see Terri Shiavo killed. I strongly suspect that a large chunk of “the whole world” is of a like mind.
“Hate and vitriol” are not words I can easily associate with the vast majority of religious folks who opposed this action. A few grandstanding fools fighting one another for tv camnera time do not represent the larger group of genuinely principled people.
This was truly a sad case, but if you think it was an example of judicial activism, think again. See my thoughts here: http://www.davidopderbeck.com/archives/2005/03/terri_schiavo_a.html
Mr. Bennett:
If what you’re reading on the conservative sites can be characterized as “hate and vitriol”, I have to wonder (1) What sites you’re visiting and (2) How you’d characterize what I’ve seen on Democratic Underground, DailyKos, etc. Gleeful exuberance at an innocent person’s death seems in remarkably poor taste. At what point did scoring a point in the wastelands of American judicial process become more important than someone’s life?
Also, I visited your site (mossback.org) and found the lead sentence of this morning’s post and found your lead sentence “Now that Terri Schiavo’s heart has stopped beating” rather clever (and extremely tacky/tasteless). Remember this, sir…one day your heart will “stop beating” and the only thing you’ll be remembered for is what you leave behind. Clever punditry about an innocent death isn’t the legacy I’d choose to leave.
Hektor
Hektor I don’t know if you understand what I was saying above. I want to express my v.p. regarding liberals to you. On this site and elsewhere liberals and conservatives become synonymous with evil. I just don’t think that’s the case. I don’t like generalizing. And in this case where liberals like Jesse Jackson (regardless of why you may think he supported Terry staying on the feeding tube) came to her birth family’s defense it’s not fair to say liberals got what they wanted. This was not a liberal/conservative issue. This was an issue of “Hey do you have a living will, cause if ya don’t things are gonna get ugly”. Like Rev. Jackson, some conservatives argued against the state of Florida’s involvement in this case. When posters on this site attack liberals to get some of the pain out of their system it makes me cringe. I hope people will stop looking for punching bags and just get their own house straight.
I attack liberalism all the time, and if you’re cringing now, I must warn you that it’s only going to get worse. There are plenty of bloggers out there who don’t attack liberalism. In fact, some love it. Perhaps you should spare yourself the pain and start reading some of those blogs. - Admin
I’m not quite back yet till next week
NoIvory:
Thanks for the comeback. I was addressing your first post (03.31.05 @ 4:21 pm), not the later one. I wasn’t addressing living wills at all (BTW, they’re a good idea…I have one). I was saying that this was mostly about judges (liberal and conservative) closing ranks to protect their institution. From this viewpoint, Terri Schiavo was just “collateral damage”–what was important was protecting the institution.
I accept what Jesse Jackson did at face value. I disagree with much of what he says, but until proven otherwise, I believe he’s sincere and that in this instance he and I agree. Which raises a very pertinent point…whence cometh the popular idea that liberals and conservatives cannot find common ground? You won’t read it anywhere these days, but their points of view are not always mutually exclusive. This “all or nothing” approach to dialogue is what’s destroying the fiber of this nation.
At the risk of dating myself, I remember a high school Civics textbook (yes, I know…What’s Civics?) that taught democracies are strengthened by two kinds of people: Liberals and Conservatives. When did you last hear something like that? I submit that much of the problem stems from liberals’ decision in the late ’60s to substitute court edicts for persuasive dialogue to obtain their ends. This is why Prohibition failed…court edicts, legislation, and police power cannot, in the long run, force people to change their behavior when a substantial portion of the population objects.
Finally, if you want to cringe, go to the liberal blog sites and see what they’re saying. They’re practically high-fiving one another over this.
Hektor
Perhaps some of the “liberals” who came to the defense of Terri Shiavo aren’t really liberals in today’s loopy leftist mold, but legacy liberals who might now find more in common with conservatives than they previously thought. If all this causes them to re-evaluate their philosophical positions, good.
But the moonbat wing of leftism has been particularly vicious in promoting Terri Shiavo’s death, making fun of her condition, and ridiculing her defenders. Those people are beyond reason, and need to be attacked as the miscreants they truly are.
Hektor,
Exactly right.
Andy,
Re: Cambodia…I didn’t quite understand your question? Could you pose it to me again?
There was once a man on the road to Jericho. He was robbed, beaten and left to die. A number of folks passed by and looked at his face with horror. He’s still alive…he’s trying to talk…he’s reaching out for help! And so they hurried back to their computers and radio booths and legislative offices. And they tried to go on TV. Some wrote strongly about it and some spoke strongly. Some asked for money so they could help keep it from happening again. “Why aren’t the liberal judges doing something to help him? What is wrong with our government? Why doesn’t the King and his brother the Prince send soldiers to rescue him? What is going to happen to the rest of us if we get attacked on the road? Are we even safe any more? The steep road to Jericho is a slippery slope…what horrors will befall us if we go farther down the road?” And they wrote and talked and wrote and talked. Some little children tried to take food and water to the beaten man. The Prince’s soldiers stopped them and tied their little hands behind their backs and took them away. And the talkers talked and writers wrote…”Look what the “liberals” did to those children! Shame, shame on the “liberals”! But few came to help the man. A few dozen came and tried but the Prince’s soldiers stopped them. So they watched and prayed. But the talkers still talked and writers still wrote. “They are murdering him! Can’t someone go to help him? He’s been on the road without water for 5 days…7 days…10 days…12 days…Why doesn’t someone help…” Then a certain man with dark skin came to help. The writers and talkers had always despised him and hated him. “He’s a phony! He’s an adulterer! He’s trying to get publicity for himself! He’s a “liberal”! But the man tried. He talked to the man’s family and prayed with them. He talked to the men in the Prince’s government and tried to have them change their minds and make a new law. But only two would change…the rest said, “Let him die. He wants to die. His wife said so. Let him die. The judges said so.” So the dark-skinned man tried but failed. He had no soldiers to help him. The talkers and writers talked and wrote. They wished he wasn’t the one to help. Some finally said it was OK. But the man died because no one came to give him food and water and take him to a safe place. And the writers wrote and the talkers talked.
Excellent words, Stan! “As you’ve done to the least of these…”
Hektor
Stan, I guess I’m asking what are the contributing factor of Cambodia’s misery, aside from being plagued by the devil.
Andy,
Probably too many to mention….but here’s a few…a lack of democratic traditions and a very strong history of corruption…French colonialism…U.S. involvement in Vietnam that spread to Cambodia ….U.S. led overthrow of King and installation of hated general, which gave rise to Khmer Rouge…Khmer Rouge slaughter of most educated folks, including teachers and doctors, in the professions (those who didn’t die, fled to other countries)…Vietnamese occupation from 1979-1991…U.S. support of Khmer Rouge 1975-1991(U.S. let Khmer Rouge have seat at U.N. and provided funds and weapons, along with China, for them to fight Vietnamese)…UN failure to force Hun Sen to lay down arms and abide by election results in 1993…UN troops, especially Europeans, introducing wide-spread prostitution to the country leading to massive import of Vietnamese prostitutes (this also involved using under-age sex-slaves, a condition that continues today)… a corrupt government that siphons off millions of dollars of foreign aid…the Japanese, Australians and Euros who let them get away with it…no exports to speak of…dependence on rice…land plots too small…theft of farmers land by high-ranking government and military officials…lack of water and electricity and healthcare and schools in the countryside…a civil service system that is still communistic in that employees make from $20-40 per month, inviting massive corruption and bribery…(for example, we pay our teachers in the countryside about $35 a month, about double the government rate. We pay every two months, the government pays twice a year because the villages are so remote)…so many reasons, so many to blame but we keep trying any way in hopes of bringing poor rural kids literacy, healthcare, good water to drink and safety for the girls from kidnappers and deceivers, who take them into sex-slavery. Good question, too long an answer and thanks for asking.
Thanks for the info, Stan.
Off topic, and I might ask it again elsewhere, but has anyone noticed that the discussions online seem to be more stimulating than in “real” life? Why is it hard to have interesting convos?
Comments on this entry are closed.