Open thread

Don't think I need to pump-prime this thread. Read More......

Paging Dr. DeLay...

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Why do Bush and the GOP want all the other Terri Schiavos to die?

Atrios points us to a rather brilliant Digby post:

By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terry Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.

Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schivos because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

Where is the sanctimonious Family Research Council on this? Or are fundamentalist radicals only permitted to be outraged over one life per year, and then only when they see in it partisan gain? Read More......

Family Research Council politicizes Terri Schiavo's illness

Pigs.

"If Congress fails to act in time, Terri's demise will be the legacy of those Democrats who have chosen to march to the beat of the radical, anti-life drumbeat of the left." - FRC email update, tonight.

Included in that email is a link to a sound file of Terry Schiavo allegedly responding to her father in the hospital last week. I have to say, it is one of the most disturbing things I've ever listened to. To my ears, this hardly bolsters their case. Whose hospital bed will Tom DeLay and the Family Research Council enter next? Read More......

Nancy Pelosi rocks

From the DCCC:

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on Congressional involvement in the Terri Schiavo case:

"The case of Terri Schiavo is a sad and tragic situation. Congressional leaders have no business substituting their judgment for that of multiple state courts that have extensively considered the issues in this intensely personal family matter. The actions of the majority in attempting to pass constitutionally-dubious legislation are highly irregular and an improper use of legislative authority.

"Michael Schiavo is faced with a devastating decision, but, having been through the proper legal process, the decision for his wife's care belongs to him and to God.

"This rush to exploit a personal tragedy is not fair to those involved and will not create good policy."

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Dear Tom DeLay, Only YOU can save us from our sins

We can only hope that Tom DeLay will intervene in all of our family crises, too.

Words of wisdom from the ethically challenged one, according to Associated Press:

"Time is not on Terri Schiavo's side," DeLay said. "The few remaining objecting House Democrats have so far cost Mrs.Schiavo two meals already today."

And, as he makes clear, this is NOT a political issue. Read More......

GOP brags that Schiavo's plight is "a great political issue"

Well, I'm glad Terri Schiavo being a barely-alive invalid was able to make the GOP's day. So much for this being about saving a woman's life. It's always about screwing the other guy with the current Republican leadership in Washington. And if they have to play games with a dying woman's life to do it, so be it. Which God again do they claim to worship?

More from the Washington Post:

An unsigned one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year.

"This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."

This shouldn't be a tough issue for Democrats at all. It's an easy issue, and one that is begging to blow up in the Republicans' face. I'll bet lots of Americans have no desire to be kept alive in a vegetative state, and the last person they want deciding whether they should live or die is Tom DeLay and the partisan children who wrote that Republican memo.

This issue is easy for any Democrat with the balls and conscience to stand up and say "enough already" to an increasingly over-reaching immoral majority. Read More......

Open thread

Joe and I have been off technology shopping. Anything new? Read More......

"My question is: What kind of man is he?"

This from Tom DeLay, the biggest crook in the House of Representatives, speaking of Terri Schiavo's husband.

And if Tom DeLay can involve himself in any American family's most intimate decisions about life and death, why not have DeLay decide whether you get an abortion, whether you conceive, whether you go for surgery, what kind of cancer treatment you select, whether you marry that special girl or guy in your life. Which got me thinking, and penning, the following:

"First they came for gay marriage, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't gay. Then they came for the right to choose, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a woman. Then they came for Muslim-Americans, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't Muslim. Then they came for the Schiavo family, and I didn't speak up because I didn't have a family member who was dying. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."

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Why does George Bush hate Veterans?

CNN:

"If the president's proposed budget cuts are enacted, nearly 60 percent of the 1,600 veterans will lose their daily stipend that allows them to stay in our state's nursing homes, literally forcing them out into the cold."

Vet co-payments for prescription drugs were tripled two years ago, Rendell said, and "now the president is proposing to again double those increased co-pays."

"In the midst of a war, when many new men and women will join the legion of veterans, does it really make sense for the president to increase the cost of vets' prescriptions by 100 percent?"

Rendell criticized a proposal calling for a $250 fee "to be paid by every vet wishing to participate in the Veterans Administration health care program. "

"There may well be some veterans who can afford to do so, but can all vets come up with an extra $250 a year to pay for health care? I doubt it."

In all fairness to Bush, he might have thought he was sending the troops on a suicide mission anyway, no armor and all that. So he didn't REALLY think they'd notice the cuts in veterans' benefits since they wouldn't be around. Read More......

Open Thread

Chat away... Read More......

A "Great Political Issue" and Randall Terry is Working for Schiavo's Parents

Okay, the Republicans are making this story extremely creepy. The fact that Congress is stepping in to a intensely personal matter is so wrong. Now the President is flying back to D.C. to save the day.

All weekend, I have talked to people across the spectrum who have had some kind of experience with a dying family member. To say that no one would want Congress involved is a bit of an understatement.

Today's New York Times reports that the GOP is letting their members know this is really a political issue for them, despite all the moral talk:

Republican senators had been provided with talking points about how to respond to requests about the Schiavo case, which was described by party aides as a "great political issue" that resonates with Christian conservatives.

This case has drawn out all the whackos, led of course by Tom DeLay, who is reeking of moral purity. But my favorite piece of news, from the Associated Press, is that Randall Terry, from Operation Rescue infamy, is working with Terry's parents, to help them save their daughter. Yes, Randall Terry is concerned about the family.

Randall Terry really just sums up the whole mess. He showed his true colors about family when he kicked his son out of the house because the kid is gay. Love those family values. Read More......

Where death is a high growth business

An interesting read in the Baltimore Sun about the death industry in Malawi, though it could be just about anywhere in Africa. When I visited Malawi and other southern African countries the same point struck me. The death industry, whether it's making coffins or offering burial services, was about the hottest business I saw. TV ads, newspaper ads, billboard signs...the advertisements for such services were everwhere. Pass any town, village or hamlet and you will always see signs of recent burials. One mayor of a town of 10,000 people told me her village burried 50 people per week though nobody ever said it was AIDS. (People die of tuberculosis but never AIDS, when you ask.) In a region where HIV rates can exceed 30% of the population, I guess this industry should not be much of a surprise, as shocking as it may be to outsiders. Read More......

European anger over Wolfowitz

Unfortunately though, the EU will probably cave in like the Dem's always do and let Bush bully his agenda through. Read More......

MI6 to Blair: US fixed case for war

Yes, who would have guessed that the left was onto something about Bush building his case for war and making massaging the facts on Iraq to make a square peg go into a round hole? This also confirms to me that Blair is a bloody liar. I'm sick and tired of hearing Blair apologists over here talk about how the poor guy was manipulated by Bush and how he's really a great guy. Screw that, he's been part of the problem all along acting as an enabler. Read More......

Independent election observers need not apply

Boot lickers and apologists, this way please.

The Carter Center is a terrorist organization? Boy, things are pretty bad if Zim is saying that. Read More......

Leave Terri Schiavo alone

This entire circus has gotten absolutely disgusting. Have these people no shame? Read More......