21.3.05

HoustonChronicle.com - Life support may be cut based on pay, prognosis:
"A similar case is still in the courts. Texas Children's Hospital wants to discontinue life support on 5-month-old Sun Hudson, who was diagnosed shortly after birth with a fatal form of dwarfism. His mother, Wanda Hudson, wants her son's care to continue at the hospital."

Unlike the Terri Scivaro case, many Texas families are losing family members against the wish of the patients' families. Keep your eyes on the ball.
From Digby:
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 Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

And those of us who read liberal blogs also know that this grandstanding by the congress is a purely political move designed to appease the religious right and that the legal maneuverings being employed would be anathema to any true small government conservative.

Those who don't read liberal blogs, on the other hand, are seeing a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" mimicking the unctuous words of Tom Delay as they grovel and leer at the family and nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious phonies who are using this issue for their political gain.

17.3.05

14.3.05

Why do they hate freedom?:
"[Seymour Hersh] said that after he broke Abu Ghraib people are coming out of the woodwork to tell him this stuff. He said he had seen all the Abu Ghraib pictures. He said, 'You haven't begun to see evil...' then trailed off. He said, 'horrible things done to children of women prisoners, as the cameras run.'
He looked frightened."
Nice Quote.:
"'This is a village full of ghosts, not of people, but of nature, a paradise lost.'"
Always read the fine print.:
"AOL ?> [has} the right to 'reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote' all content distributed across the chat network by users.
'You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the content or to be compensated for any such uses,' according to the AIM terms-of-service."

1.3.05

The Politicization of Social Security: More of the same: propaganda for the sheep. God Bless George Bush. Just think what a wanker he'd be if he didn't have Jesus in his heart.