Thursday, March 31, 2005

History Lesson:  Google Struggles in 1979

Democrats, Republicans and Bears . . . Oh My!

Disclaimer: The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of this blog's creator or the rest of this blog's writers.

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Let the political games begin!

The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction has issued its report about how America’s intelligence community erred in its reporting on Iraq’s ability to create weapons of mass destruction.

In short, what the American intelligence community had reported to the Bush Administration was wrong.

So do Democrat politicians admit that the President was misinformed? Of course not. They would rather throw dirt at the President. Fox News is reporting the following:

"In an implicit swipe at the Bush administration, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the report did not review how federal policymakers used the intelligence they were given."I believe it is essential that we hold both the intelligence agencies and senior policymakers accountable for their actions," Reid said.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said not only was the intelligence about Iraq's weapons wrong but "the president's decision to go to war in Iraq was also dead wrong — the intelligence never supported his claim that Saddam was an imminent threat to the United States.""

The actions of President Bush and his administration were based on their belief that they had received correct information about Iraq. Reid and Pelosi act as if President Bush could have used psychic powers to determine that he had been given false information.

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Democrat politicians aren’t the only ones on Capitol Hill who prefer to throw dirt than to admit the truth.

Regarding the political response to the death of Terri Schiavo, Fox News is reporting the following:

"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Thursday after receiving news of Schiavo's death. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today.”"

Contrary to what DeLay claims, what happened to Terri Schiavo was not the result of judicial error. It was the result of spousal rights. Neither Florida law nor federal law stripped Michael Schiavo of his rights as Terri Schiavo’s husband.

When it came to Michael Schiavo’s spousal rights, his wife’s state of health was irrelevant. As long as she was not competent to speak for herself or take care of herself, Terri’s husband had the sole jurisdiction over her fate. If law officers had determined that Terri had been the victim of abuse, then they could have removed her from her husband’s custody. However, law officers did not make such a determination.

If any judge, either state or federal, had stripped Michael Schiavo of his spousal rights, then that judge would have been guilty of legislating from the bench.

The Law was on Michael Schiavo’s side, and the courts knew it. Courts are not supposed to make laws; legislatures are supposed to. If Tom DeLay wishes to point fingers in accusation, then he needs to point to himself and his colleagues.

Terri Schiavo, RIP

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.



'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.



Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far

And grace will lead me home.



The Lord has promised good to me

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.



Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.




When we've been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we've first begun.

If Terri Was So Peaceful…

then why wasn't anyone allowed to see how "at peace" she was?

George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, said some shocking things during these last weeks of Terri's life. Saying she "never looked so beautiful" as she starved was revolting enough. Today, in a speech after her death, he had this to say:

"Mr. Schiavo's overriding concern here was to provide for Terri a peaceful death with dignity. This death was not for the siblings, and not for the spouse and not for the parents. This was for Terri."

Of course, seeing as Terri never had a written living will, we'll never really know what her wishes would have been. And to say that her death was "not for the siblings and...not for the parents" was simply absurd. Her siblings and parents wanted to take care of her until she died a natural death.

You know, people get upset when they think of deer starving because of overpopulation (and yet wouldn't think of preventing them from starving by allowing more hunting), yet Terri starving to death was somehow natural and beautiful? Ugh, the thought turns my stomach.

And for "husband" Michael to have barred Terri's parents and siblings from her final moments was truly cruel. In my opinion, it was all about the power he had over Terri. There have been allegations that the marriage was abusive, but unless he were to confess to it, we'll never know. However, they say actions speak louder than words...and the way he treated Terri's demise and her family during it tells us all we need to know.

Let us hope that this incident has brought such barbaric tactics into the light where they can be examined. How it has become legal to "dispose" of ill and incapacitated people without prior written permission from the individuals affected should be discussed...and changed.

May Terri and her family finally find the peace they deserve. As for Michael, well, he'll get his sooner or later.

GRIEF (A CHRISTIAN’S PERSPECTIVE)

In all the world nothing feels worse than the grief that we feel when a loved one dies. During such a time, words alone cannot alleviate our grief. The most that someone can do for us is to cry with us and to lend a shoulder to cry on.

The Bible tells of the time when a man named Lazarus died. His sisters Martha and Mary grieved. Lazarus had a friend named Jesus who went to Martha and Mary after Lazarus died. How did Jesus respond to their grief?

”When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, ”Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ”Where have you laid him?” he asked. ”Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ”See how he loved him!”*

Jesus wept. The ultimate preacher did not respond to Mary’s grief with words from a religious text. He cried instead. As the Jews pointed out, Jesus loved Lazarus. It would be correct to say that Jesus loved Mary, too. The one who claimed that he was “the way, the truth and the life” felt the same grief that Mary felt. And it would be reasonable to believe that Jesus gave Mary his shoulder to cry on.

What does this story mean to us today? Well, if God loves you like people say that He does, then He is going to be crying with you during your times of grief. He will do so even if you deny that He exists, because His love for you does not depend on you believing in Him.

In short, when you grieve, you do not grieve alone, whether you know it or not.



*John 11:32-36 (NIV)

Terri has died.

 

Zimbabweans “Vote” Today

Citizens of Zimbabwe are headed to the polls today to fill 120 elected parliamentary seats, while President Robert Mugabe gets to appoint MPs to the remaining 30 seats. It is being said that these elections are rigged to keep Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party in the majority.

Mugabe, of course, is known for kicking white land owners off of their farms and giving the land away to his family and friends. Anyone who dares to oppose him faces dire consequences. He says the "reclaiming" of the land is to reset the balance thrown off during British colonial rule.

And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Despite 70% unemployment, a collapsed agricultural economy and dire poverty of most of its citizens, there are still some who continue to fight the good fight. During the last election, the Movement for Democratic Change actually won 57 parliamentary seats in the face of violence in the region.

Something needs to be done about Zimbabwe, but what? I'd suggest the U.N., but I can't stop laughing long enough to actually think about it. After the way Kofi and Co. have handled things in other African countries, not to mention Bosnia and the Oil for Food business, I don't think they are best fitted for the job.

Sigh...sometimes we just have to sit and wait.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Contest:  $100!

I will pay a hundred bucks to anyone who can honestly prove that the liberal media does not make up news after this:


With worldwide attention focused on Terri Schiavo, the brain-injured Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed March 18, CBS News reportedly published news of her death on Monday of this week, even though she had not died.

The online obituary began: "Surrounded by stuffed animals and medical equipment in her small hospice room in Pinellas Park, Fla., Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo died. ... "

"Known as Terri Schiavo, the severely brain damaged Florida woman spent her last months in the glare of the public eye as a few still images and several seconds of video of her repeatedly broadcast around the world. She appeared made up and dressed, although the 41-year-old had not enunciated a word nor made any choices since the 1990 heart attack that left her body and mind ravaged."

The story, written by CBSNews.com's Christine Lagorio, even prognosticated the precise location of Terri's husband.

• Michael Schiavo, who was at the bedside of his wife Terri when she died, told Larry King that he lives now with another woman with whom he has two children.



• "I can love more than one person," he told King. "Everybody can do that."



• According to friends and relatives, Michael Schiavo was Terri's only love. His big-but-tight-knit family took in Michael's bride, and she befriended his siblings, including his brother, Scott.



• "It's so sad they've turned this wonderful person into a sideshow," Scott Schiavo told the [Washington] Post. "It's such a shame. It really is. The one that's hurt the most here is Terri."

You can read the entire press release from CBS here (Adobe Acrobat required).

Since Terri Schiavo is still alive, why did CBS choose to say that Michael Schiavo was at her side? Why not the parents? I'll tell you why! The media is LIBERAL and chooses to represent Michael Schiavo as sympathetic--REGARDLESS OF FACT!

Rodger? Paul? Where are you now? What if FOXNews (!) did this?

This was on the CBSNews website! This is wholely more authentic than the "GOP" Talking Points Memo that, in all honesty, is a fake. Please, liberal readers, explain this away. The winner who can prove that Terri Schiavo in fact died before this post will receive 100 bucks, delivered by me, in cash.

Canada is a Junkie’s Paradise

A couple of weeks ago on my blog, I posted about Canada's new program available for heroin addicts. A rehab program? you ask. Nope. Free heroin for addicts. All addicts have to do is show up at medical centers three times a day, seven times a week, and a kindly medical professional will shoot them up with a fresh dose in a clean needle.

It seems hard to believe, but it's true.

Well, I guess I'm not the only one who thinks it's a crazy idea.

Rachel Marsden, writing for the Canadian Free Press, calls this the Junkification of Canada by the Left. Within her article, she quotes Dr. Peter Cohen, who is apparently for the idea:

“[O]piates are remarkably non toxic and impose very little health hazards. However, the junkification of users that happens to some of them is not a result of the opiates, but of the social conditions in which people land. Intense marginalization under conditions of prohibition 'creates' junkies…Now, if you supply heroin to users, you relieve them from the black market and you supply self esteem to them which creates all sorts of possibilities…But, compared to the social conditions that create junkification, the conditions inside the maintenance program are more humane and more promising.”

I see...

Marsden then uses his reasoning with her scenario of a fat woman who has difficulty in losing weight, and is given free fast food from the government:

“The lardification of fast food eaters that happens to some of them is not a result of cheeseburgers, but of the social conditions in which people land. Intense marginalization of cheeseburger scarfers under conditions of cheeseburger badmouthing as a result of movies like ‘Supersize Me’ ‘creates’ fatsos.”

Now that sounds more reasonable!

What does a bonafide, ex-heroin addict think? Billy Weselowski, a former 20-year heroin addict who now runs a rehab clinic and is working on his Ph.D., had this to say:

"Everyone has copped out to the degree of reducing a little bit of crime and a little bit of harm at the expense of human beings. They’re just throwing these people away...No one’s going to be able to maintain [their addiction on the three prescribed hits per day] because you can’t maintain heroin. You build a tolerance to it. Inside a few months, you’ll need more of it to get the same sort of punch...Someone’s going to end up killing somebody [while on government heroin], and they’re going to blame the government and use that as a legal defense. The addict has got a gun to the citizenry’s head. It’ll be, ‘You created this. You put me in this position, and now you’re going to pay for it.’”

Like any government program (those in the U.S. included) that is supposedly a temporary, stop-gap measure usually ends up being the status quo. Look at what it took to make changes to the welfare situation in this country! As Marsden says, "Leave it to the Canadian 'harm reduction' leftists to advocate in favor of using Canadian citizens as guinea pigs to essentially duplicate a failed experiment. And while the government is funding heroin injections for junkies, diabetics can’t afford needles, and addicts who want into treatment centers to get off heroin end up on a waiting list."

This last statement ties into my earlier post today on the perils of national health care.

Who pays for these drugs? Why, Canadian taxpayers, of course.

Remember this story when someone you know talks about what a great healthcare system Canada has, and how many great services are available for Canadian citizens.

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

In his article titled The Three Cardinal Sins Of Blogging, John Hawkins of Right Wing News states the following:
”You have got to be distinctive enough so that readers can pick you out of the herd. If there are 50 other blogs out there talking about the same things you're talking about and saying roughly the same things -- well to put it bluntly, why should a reader bother with reading your blog?”

John Hawkins is correct. In order to stand out in the blogosphere, Lifelike Pundits needs to be unique. Thus, Lifelike Pundits will now offer its readers . . .


Free Crabby Patties!

What is a member of the MSM doing on top of a Crabby Patty?

Posted by Dodo David on 03/30 at 08:21 PM in Blogging
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Would You Rather Be O.J.’s Girlfriend or Michael Schiavo’s Fiancee?

Here is a nice roundup of Ann Coulter's latest piece: The Emperor's New Robe.

Opinions about the Schiavo case seem to break down less on morals than on basic knowledge of the facts of the case.

From my PURELY anecdotal evidence, everyone that complained about Bush and the Republicans intervening have changed their minds when they learned more about the case. Their first impression was simply that a woman was on "life support" and her loving husband wanted to keep his promise not to keep her alive as a vegetable. Her parents are fighting to keep her alive because they cannot let go. Religious fanatics in congress will not respect her wishes and inserted the government into a family's private decision.

After two weeks of the facts of the case finally filtering down, they all are sick at what's happening. They find out about the wife and children; they find out that only one judge reviewed the facts of the case; they find out she did not have her wish to die in writing; they find out she is not on "life support" but simply needs feeding; they find out that doctors disagree about her diagnosis; they find out, they find out, they find out.

On the basis of these facts, Pinellas County Judge George Greer found that it was Terri's wish to be starved to death. She requires no life support; all she needs is food and water. If being (a) on a liquid diet, and (b) unresponsive to one's estranged husband are now considered grounds for a woman's execution, wait until this news hits Beverly Hills!

Well, well, well! It seems the news DID hit Beverly Hills and Ann's prediction was spot on. Ben Stein pointed out in his great American Spectator column: The local newspaper here in Beverly Hills expressed it best in a headline: "Terry Schiavo Sentenced To Death." Deep down, I disagree with the assertion that some like Rush Limbaugh made that all the people who are against Republicans are wishing Terri dead. While some of the silence is calculated, I also believe that many people in Hollywood actually agree with Terri's parents, but cannot go public because it would put them on the side of Bush. The Left's hero, Michael Moore, did come out against Bush and wishes Terri dead. This simply demonstrates he is a horrible bastard. Where was his film crew for "Sicko" (the movie on the travesty of health care)? I also want to say, without caveat, that Jesse Jackson (and even Al Sharpton) saw past the partisanship in this instance.

She also takes time to solidify the claim that this is nothing but the religious right "imposing" life on Terri Schiavo...


On the anti-killing side, to one extent or another, are: former Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis, former Gore lawyer David Boies, former O.J. lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, McGovern and Carter strategist Pat Caddell, liberal blogger Mickey Kaus, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader and Rainbow Coalition leader Jesse Jackson, as well as several of my friends who are pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage but not Pro-Adulterous Husbands Who, After Taking Up With Another Woman, Suddenly Recall Their Wives' Clearly Stated Wish to Die.

In a tribute to our wonderful Kitty, Ann Coulter notes that even Ted "Chapaquiddick" Kennedy didn't even stumble in from the Dubliner (pub in DC) to object.

Surely, if anyone would defend the practice of being on a liquid diet, you'd think Ted Kennedy would.

I tend to agree. Read the rest. Bush needs to send her to the Senate for confirmation as the next Supreme Court justice.

Krugman Rounds the Bend

That's Superhawk's diagnosis over at Right Wing Nuthouse, based on the latest column from the Times' supposed oped columnist on economic matters.


According to sources at the Times, representatives in white coats from Bellevue were dispatched to haul Krugman away after he accused a co-worker of sabotaging his tinfoil hat by making the antenna pick up signals from Karl Rove’s office at the White House. While pummeling the co-worker – rumored to be Times house conservative David Brooks – Krugman was heard to scream “What’s the frequency, Kenneth,” time and time again while foam and drool oozed from the side of his mouth.

Krugman's column was indeed an exercise in severe lunacy as his finish reveals:

America isn't yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren't sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here.

As I commented on SH's post, one of the reasons that liberals are so wedded to their lunatic theories about what really happened to JFK (that he was killed by the CIA, or the generals, or a cabal of Texas oilmen), is that it allows them to avoid admitting the obvious: that JFK was killed by an extremist left-winger.

DAY 13

Terri: the legal wife	Jodi: the live-in

John Hawkins has posted a list of FAQs:
*** Note: There's an enormous amount of conflicting information floating around about the Terri Schiavo case. So in an effort to clarify some of the particularly controversial points, I took the time to do some heavy research.
While I have a very strong opinion about this case, I consulted numerous sources on both sides of the issue & tried to be as fair and balanced as possible. ***

1. When and how was Terri Schiavo injured?



2. Was Terri Schiavo beaten by her husband?


3. Did Michael Schiavo provide rehabilitation for his wife?


4. Has Michael Schiavo dated other women since his wife's injuries


5. What happened to cause the split between Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers?


6. Did Terri Schiavo say she wanted to die if she were in this condition?


7. Is Terri Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state?

Hat tip AnkleBitingPundits!


World Net Daily offers a comprehensive look at the case. It's an excellent print'n'read piece.
LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR
The whole Terri Schiavo story 15-year saga of brain-injured woman no clear-cut, right-to-die case.

Hat tip Blue!

Chris, from the now closed KerryWaffles, has put together a "strong" video. WARNING: A couple of graphic pictures. "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Kitty on 03/30 at 12:00 PM in
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