Time to let go...

More proof??

Here's what I don't understand..

-The Court initially found that the tube should be pulled
-Even after Congress, the Senate and the President RE-WROTE the law .... the courts: County, State, Appellate, State Supreme, Federal Appellate and the US Supreme Court still said "no.."

So even after you re-write the law, re-litigate the same issues, argue differently because you now have a different law in place -- the answer remains the same.. I'm glad to see that the black robes took the incredibly bold move to finally admit: it's not their place to decide such matters.. Even that is a twinge of hypocrisy because they make life/death decisions everyday for criminals..

Everyone is condemning the Bush brothers for failing Terri when in fact, it further proves the point they shouldn't have gotten involved to begin with.. I'm dismayed at Dubya's hypocrisy, but he's a consummate politician -- as are all of the others in D.C.. No sense of decency, moralistic or consistency.. That bothers me how people can end up on both sides of the issue arguing just as hard and fast as when they were on the counter-point.. *BAH*

It should've been a very easy case of family making the difficult choice.. If you can't make the choice, you should not have any authority in the decision process.. This is where you bring in someone who can arbitrarily look at the situation and determine what was right for Terri.. Obviously this voice seems a bit muted in comparison to the thralls of folks who are voraciously defending Terri's right to live.. What if she gave up that right?? What if she *had* communicated to her husband that she had no desire to be left in a vegetative state?? It's not as though Michael is acting in haste.. This has been evolving for 15 years - 7 of which in the legal system..

But even as Dubya maintains for his logic of the war in Iraq, he's had to make tough choices - and one of the most glaring ones was to put American lives in harm's way.. One of the hardest things to do if you're in such power is to be able to make some very unpopular choices if it remains to be the last choice on the board.. As much as I applaud Terri's parents for fighting for her daughter's life - they lack the foundation of reality to make any such decision.. Now that this has exploded into the pro-life/pro-choice debate, expect to see this not going away very soon..

I'll admit that the laws are incredibly vague regarding non-fetal right to die vs. right to live.. Unless you have it in writing, you're basically at the whim of whoever.. If anything positive were to come from this it gives the rest of America the wake up call: it can happen to you, anytime, any place, anyhow.. This means that unless you take corrective action soon - you could be in the same twisted fate that Terri and her family has gone through..

What every protester doesn't realize is the fact that any such mandate that guarantees the level of survival for Terri would've had far reaching implications for every person who is in a comparable state.. Where's the battle for those people?? Or for those people who have been hogtied with all of the health insurance red tape?? Where's Bush and the protesters for those people?? Hundreds of people die each day - and if we went to such elaborate lengths to save each and every single one of us - the country would collapse..

The single most important thing to consider is: "where would the $$cha-ching$$ come from??" Because the more $$ you have, the longer you're going to live.. Terri's money has been drained - only because her husband used it to pay the lawyers so to secure what appears to be her final wish.. He didn't spend it on a brand new SUV, a new house, or lavish gifts.. He secured the money to guarantee what she wanted: not to be left in a vegetative state..

It's amazing to think that her parents had all of this money just lying around, but if she's been in this state for 15 years, and the legal fight has been going on for 7 of those years, it sounds like to me her husband gave her the chance to recover before making the decision..

No one wants their child to die..

I'm not advocating that every person put in that position should have their plug pulled.. That's up to the individual.. And if it was Terri's wish - then why are we still talking about it?? The courts are obviously compelled.. When you go through so many levels - and each time you get denied .... there's more to the story that is getting printed or viewed..

I wish Terri peace, the family peace and hopefully there's a positive lesson people are taking to heart here..

Tomato, tomahto... potato ... potahto.....

It represents the balance of the equation..

I don't care if your name is Rush..

I don't care if you're an Air America follower..

I don't care if you read the Economist or the Washington Post..

The equation is balanced somewhere in between..

There is no longer (if there ever was) a liberal bias in the media.. Instead, the media has been perverted to some distant relative.. It's unidentifiable.. It's no longer about content as much as it is about editorializing one's view in the world..

The Drudge Report went on a seemingly predictable diatribe about the upcoming HBO special on Air America.. Using such phrases as "witness the ugly business of media ambition" to describe the sullen part of what "liberal media" must be about.. One should talk so boldly, Matt.. Clearly anyone with enough braincells realizes that Drudge is the Republican puppet and will always remain as such..

Asserting himself as some sort of legitimate media organization is laughable at best, scary at worst..

But it's not as though liberals don't have a counter-weight of their own..

But this isn't the point of the rant today..

It's about truth ... or rather the lack thereof..

It's about the abandonment of moralistic coverage regardless of who occupies the White House.. There's a feeding frenzy of outlets scrambling for market share and profit margins - that the media, the press that we have relied on to give an impartial view of the news at hand - is being whored for one political juggernaut or another..

I haven't seen the Air America special -- but I'm looking forward to it.. I actually applaud them for being forthcoming and opening up a potential PR nightmare .... even if it's meant to open up new markets.. You don't see anything similar from Fox News or any of the other republican pundits because they have finally secured a foothold on the airwaves and publications through out the nation -- and they don't want to endanger that precarious position..

I'm not oblivious to the liberal slant on things.. I got my fill of Al Franken sounding completely distraught that there wasn't more mayhem and bloodshed over the recent Iraqi elections.. I know the left is as much to blame for their own political machine as the right side is..

But what we have is a nation that resides somewhere in between.. Instead of trying to gather people into their collective positions, both sides continue to polarize the landscape creating a tremendous amount of indifference and irrational justification for voting/supporting the policies they are..

What's more sad is the fact that if I have a moderate position: I'm boring.. No one wants middle of the road anymore even though it's probably represents the majority of how all Americans feel.. It's also not incredibly shocking to find statistics that will resonate that a figure well over 80% or higher does not believe totally or completely with the party they generally support..

It's the tug-of-war attitude that pisses me off the most.. Both sides are shaking the fence so hard, people are scurrying for cover right and left.. Even if they don't fully identify as republican or liberal, they are often left with no choice because the parties, the media and the pundits have shaved the middle road so much - there isn't much of a strip to stand on..

--If you're against the war, you're a liberal..
--If you're anti-gay, you're conservative..
--If there's no immediate crisis in social security, you're liberal..
--If you believe in Schiavo's rights -- you're conservative..

The list will go on and on..

Both sides will have a score card once you reach the end of the road and that will decide where you fall.. From there you're cast into the throngs of the various misfits that happen to reside on your side of the aisle..

I despise Drudge.. Yes I admit that I admire Air America.. That makes me a liberal.. It doesn't mean I'm happy about it.. I don't like a lot of the things liberals do - but I like them more than I like what the conservatives have done..

I'm a realist.. And whoever can paint the most accurate picture on any given issue - will generally have my support.. Anything less is smoke and mirrors.. Karl Rove, Al Franken, and everyone else on *both* sides of the aisle need to realize that America is somewhere in between..

Want to win in 2006, 2008??

Start thinking about those in the middle and quit being so incredibly decisive.. The nation is already split - and neither party is grasping that concept...

The Right To Die...

I don't know where I'm coming from on the Schiavo matter.. I'm partial to her well-being which no one can seem to understand.. Now that it's "gone political" - I have real disdain for those that want to further their political lobbying on someone else's hardship -- who probably never wanted to have the attention she's getting..

Euthanasia is one of those issues that I really believe resides in the individual.. It's assisted suicide.. Now if we're going to legalize suicide -- which by itself seems to be an oxymoron because if one really is successful in suicide, the law is really meaningless....

...but if we're going to make a law saying it's okay to take one's life - then shouldn't we be examining "all life" (i.e. those on death row, abortion, etc)?? I know I'm cutting across the grain on this one, but if someone doesn't like it here - I'm not really inclined to keep them alive to make me feel better.. It's not MY choice to make, it's not YOUR choice in the matter, -- it's THEIRS -- Michael and Terri.. In Terri's case, we don't know what her choice is -- or what she ultimately would want.. Her husband says that they talked about it before the accident and she said then she didn't want to be kept alive by artificial means.. And if that were true, and if she said don't keep me alive, then this shouldn't be an issue..

Opponents believe that it will become an elderly free-for-all.. Old people, young people, every person on the planet will spontaneously go out and take their life.. Well guess what?? That happens on a daily basis anyway.. Making it a law doesn't mean God is going to reconsider sending someone back down from heaven because we've said so!! Even if that was the case, what government has the right to ordain that it's proper for a person to kill themselves or not??

A very personal example: my grandmother was very sick of living.. Her friends were dead, she couldn't care for herself anymore, and there was parts of her life that were dead already.. She wasn't active as she once was, and she wasn't adjusting that well to being an elderly citizen.. She was alone.. She was sick.. She was prone to accidents.. She became incontinence.. She was alive, but she wasn't living..

I remember when her and I talked several years before she died that she didn't understand why God was keeping her alive.. In her eyes, God was really pissed at her for some reason because she really wanted to go - she felt tired and no longer wanted to be here.. Spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, physically.. When we explore the whole aspect of "quality of life" ... what are we really saying?? Are we even listening?? What about the part of a kind and compassionate God?? If we're to be absolutely protective of all life - regardless, shouldn't we be re-writing the laws that condone the death of people who are incarcerated?? What about those thousands of people in Iraq, in the Sudan, in the Congo?? What about the Right to Live in those countries??

And which definition do we care to use to determine "quality of life??" Just because my grandmother wasn't hooked up to a feeder tube 24 hours a day doesn't mean her life wasn't miserable.. She *wanted* to go.. She felt her time in this existence was over and she wanted to be up in heaven.. No one assisted in her death - and she had a DNR on her chart.. When she reached that point - she was going to die, and she did..

On the otherhand, my other grandmother really lived life to its fullest - despite the fact she was legally blind and was going through many of the struggles my other grandmother was going through.. She managed to do what she could, and was very happy with that.. She was active, seemingly happy, and enjoying what she could manage.. Clearly we can measure the differences in the quality of life between them and I think it's totally appropriate that they have the choice as to how they wanted to live the remaining years of their life..

Even though it's a purely personal decision to make, why are we allowing the government to step in to make the choice for us?? And why?? It should be a personal decision to make.. No one should be forced to stay alive for the benefit for the rest of us.. That's intolerably cruel..

Here's what it boils down to for me:

-Terri's been alive for the last 14 years.. The quality of her life hasn't been the greatest.. She's been classified as "permanently vegetative.." What kind of quality of life is that??

-If I were to subscribe to the belief that Terri would get better if she was going under more intense treatment, I do not know it's our choice to make.. That's something that had to have been considered by Terri and her husband.. Because if there had been this miracle treatment that was never pursued - why?? No promise, not a very good percentage, no real guarantee??

-Moreover, I haven't heard much, if at all - about this "intensive treatment" and what it would ultimately mean.. If this therapy has been available, then WHY hasn't it been given to her?? Too expensive?? If they can't afford it - then they can't afford it.. Forcing her to live isn't going to solve the fact they can't afford the intensive treatment..

-It's not as though her husband has been denying her medical treatment.. She's being fed through a feeding tube for the last 14 years, hello!

-If Terri really measured out that it's not worth the struggle she has gone through for 14 years, then is anyone really listening to her?? We've preserved her life 14 years beyond that which was probably her time to go.. Regardless of all the treatments, surgeries, and options - nothing has made Terri better..

Are we playing God here??
Are we going places we really shouldn't be going??

When we can keep someone alive beyond their personal capability, beyond their desire to live, then why must we mandate that she must live?? Why must the Congress, the Presidency, all of the various religions and the rest of the world intervene on behalf of the life of one woman who is in a permanent vegetative state??

This really shouldn't be a political issue.. Nor should it be a religious issue.. It's a personal issue.. A personal issue between one person and her fate.. If she wants to live - then the tube should go back in; end of story.. But if she doesn't - then let her live the remaining days of her life so that she can move on..

Drop the political subpoena bullshit..
Cut all the media hype, the radio pundit rhetoric, and the evangelical manipulations..
Rip the religious duct tape from your hypocritical mouths and let's strongly, deeply consider what Terri wants..

It's her life..

If she's spoken - then let it go..

The Martha Phenomenon

As we all know by now -- Martha Stewart was recently released from prison after serving her punishment for her little insider trader fiasco.. Now I need to preface that I'm not a huge fan of Martha.. She represents the stereotypical snobbish-type lifestyle/attitude that I find particularly discouraging.. Regardless of her crimes, it's her attitude I don't like the most..

I watched one of the E! Hollywood Stories on her - and I'll confess that I walked away from watching that she is a bigger flake than I already had her pegged for.. She just grates on my nerves.. Granted, it's E! - and let's face it, they want to sell their show, so I fully understand how they trump up certain facts and mitigate others so that they can get better ratings..

...and papers can sell more advertising...
...and TV can sell more slots...
...radio...
...etc...


So when I wake up to check out the news of the day I see this picture.. "All is well, and this is good..." Almost like she's on some sort of parade, doting on members of the press so she can become yet another coddled product of some twisted public distortion..

She's riding a public relations high right now.. And it's very possible, if not expected/predicated/probable that she will come out of this perfectly cleaned and pressed.. As though she has been completely absolved of any wrong doing because her persona and the masses that follow her believe it's so..

But it's just not Martha - take any celebrity who has been through any portion of a public relations nightmare and spin it successfully into a PR juggernaut..... It's impressive to see it in action.. Irony: hot cocoa, handful of lemons, wearing "an ecru quilted coat and matching knit scarf...."

I don't know what in the hell ecru is - nor does it really bother me that her scarf may or may not be matching her ensemble.. What bothers me is how it was staged, anticipated, and otherwise predicted that something like this would happen once she was released.. After all, there was a count-down by the media: "Martha Stewart will be released from prison 12 hours from now, for a live report let's go to....."

Now hold on a sec.. Can't anyone else see what's going on here?? The nice spin cycle happening?? Remember not so long ago how the press portrayed her as this really evil, manipulative monger?? Now that she's been incarcerated, she's seen the error of her ways and therefore, she's given a clean slate ... to match her ecru quilted coat and matching knit scarf.. (however I don't know if it was HANDWOVEN knit, or machine processed knit.... but who cares....)

So as the Michael Jackson case looms, the Robert Blake case is in the hands of the jury, and the Phil Spector trial due to start later in the year -- we're constantly wrapped in a distorted spin of PR and reverse PR.. When it spins at full-cycle it really takes off.. Otherwise the waves will eventually crush your celebrity and send them to the bottom of the ocean.. (circa Courtney Love, Robert Downey Jr., Mike Tyson, etc.....)

A typical day in today's life:

(no wonder Bush never reads the paper - I'd be a bit depressed too...)

Bush: Lift Roadblocks to Faith-Based Help Programs.. Very interesting.. Skewing that very fine line between church and state..

Bush Accused of Playing 'Chicken' Over Judge Picks.. I don't even know why this should bother people anymore.. Look at his record - no matter what conventional wisdom says, Bush just doesn't fool around; he takes what he wants and that's that.. Some people find that to be appealing because it's a "tough," "no non-sense" kind of approach is what we need at the helm of our nation.. But like any spoiled child who doesn't get his way - all he has to do is wait for the right time to do what he wanted to do to begin with.. This President lacks the moral fortitude, that frontal lobe speed bump that most people have.. I'm not surprised by this, nor should anyone else.. It's who he is - and that by itself is a scary prospect..

Lastly, Judge, Lawyer on Saddam Tribunal Killed.. Okay, anyone else NOT surprised about this?? Look, they kept his name private for a reason.. This is why anyone who looks even remotely favorable for the Americans is TARGETED.. Justice for Saddam?? Right.. Are there marches over in Iraq over the slain Judge and lawyer who were going to prosecute this matter?? Any vigils?? No..

That's how you gauge whether or not you have a society that is backing your propaganda machine.. It's not happening in Iraq - yet let's continue to delude ourselves from reality...

I think I'm going back to bed - it's much safer there..