Hitmen of Babies

Vide.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 08:58:51 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Schindler and Schiavo

A reader writes:

In all the years that Michael Schiavo has been trying to get his wife put to death, why have no Florida agencies been investigating the fraud on the court he has committed with the money awarded to Terri for her rehabilitation? He has spent it on attornies to petition the courts to end her feeding. Doesn't he have to give an accounting to someone for those expenditures? Surely, the state has some agency to oversee such matters.

One gets the impression that Michael Schiavo has important friends.

Esquire blogs today on the subject:

.... The husband's potential conflict of interest in an insurance policy and his expressed intent to remarry once Terry is dead, the alleged failure to attempt rehabilitation, the ludicrously convenient statement that she spoke about being in a coma raise a serious concern. I think that most of the critics of the removal of the tube are simply reaching for something like "clear and convincing" evidence of her intent.

I'm not sure I buy the idea that a policy allowing for suicide on the part of the "worthless" and "valueless" is prudent. The abuses that can follow from that principle are quite apparent. In fact, I would argue that they have been manifested in the Terry Schiavo case where it seems that there has been a general tendency to "dumb down" the proof requirement to support the termination of life....

A thought occurred to me:

Not exactly to the point. But why on earth would a woman want to marry a man who would do this to his wife? I think we may be referring to the wrong woman as being "brain disabled".

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 08:12:51 PM
Categorized as Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Ya Coulda Fooled Me

The Corkmeister blogs, yesterday, a statement of the Diocese of St. Petersburg concerning Terri Schindler Schiavo, Oct. 21:

.... We share the agony being felt all over the world on Terri’s behalf. Terri’s spiritual well being continues to be of paramount importance to Bishop Lynch and all those serving within the Diocese....

Let's see. The only priest who has been ministering to Terri has been a retired monsignor in his eighties. The bishop's statement last week was so tepid as to have hardly been worth the words. (Any member of St. Blog's chosen at random could have done much, much better.) And, as far as I can tell, the only priest anywhere in Florida willing to give monsignor a hand has flown in from Michigan.

Sure, I'm in Pennsylvania, so I don't get a first-hand look at what's going on where it's actually going to be warm any time in the next four months. But I'm not stupid, either. I know there are many individuals in the diocese who care deeply. But it seems to me that the sentences I have quoted from Tuesday's statement are simply. not. true.

Frankly, I was ashamed to read them.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 01:51:50 PM
Categorized as Religious & Terri Schindler Schiavo.

Finally, Something Really Important

"People who say 'Pop' are much, much cooler."

Well, we already knew that.

If anybody can tell me where I got this link, I'd appreciate it. I saw it somewhere yesterday, but now I can't find where. I must be spending too much time in front of the monitor........

P.S. Eureka.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 01:10:52 PM
Categorized as Other.

There's Leaking and Then There's Leaking

Here's the memo from SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, Oct. 16, published at USA Today, Oct. 22.

Funny, isn't it? How the "leak" of some CIA "operative" is simply outrageous, but the "leak" of a memo from the secretary of defense to his immediate subordinates is jim-dandy. It seems to me that the former was outrageous because outrage over the "leak" could be used to make the Bush administration look bad, but the latter is not outrageous because the "leak" can be used to make the Bush administration look bad.

I think what we really need are "leaks" of memos and e-mails from, say, NYT and WaPo and USAT about how the editorial staff decided to handle these particular "leaks". I think they would be much more revealing, and much more useful, to the American public.

By the way, if you really read and understand the Rumsfeld memo, you see that it reveals him as a thoughtful, reasonable leader and planner asking tough questions to help to make sure we're doing, both strategically and tactically, the right things in the War on Terrorism.

See also David Warren:

.... My impression from speaking with several administration, especially Pentagon, insiders, and by observing what one can discover of the extension of U.S. operations overseas (through the securing of basing and landing rights and other joint agreements), is that we should expect the field struggle against international terrorism to disappear off our television screens. The media have been discovered to be an enemy, pure and simple, and no attempt to brief or include them in operations makes any sense. Indeed, shaking off media attention is now intrinsic to the strategy....

(Thanks, Bryan.)

P.S. David Tucker has a good analysis of the memo, at the Ashbrook Center:

USA Today has published a remarkable memorandum from Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld on the war on terrorism. The newspaper or whoever leaked it to USA Today may think publishing the memo will harm Rumsfeld or the Bush administration. The paper’s headline on its accompanying article is "A Grim Outlook." The article itself says the memo contradicts "upbeat" accounts of the war on terror by Rumsfeld and the administration. But this is exactly the opposite of what the memo shows. In fact, the memo is a cause for optimism about the war....

P.P.S. Thanks, Dust in the Light.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 09:31:01 AM
Categorized as Media.

Remembering the Blood of Heroes

Thanks to my friend Leslie for sending this. (It's loud.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 10/23/03 07:46:29 AM
Categorized as War.