Let her go…

I have been fighting the urge to comment on the Terri Schiavo story that has been front and center in the news for the last 10 days or so. But, hey, if Jesse Jackson can show up and throw his hat into the ring, then it must not be too late…
Bottom line: She should be allowed to die. It is, according to her husband, what she wanted. And, the courts have been right all along in either staying out of it or backing the husband. According to polls, most people agree. They are also ticked off that the government has tried to intervene, which they shouldn’t have. This MSNBC story echos a lot of my thoughts about the situation.
The thing that gets me in these situations are those wacky ‘right-to-lifers’ who will chuck just about anything aside for the ‘sanctity’ of life. Remember, these are the same folks who have been freaking out and preaching about the ‘sanctity’ of marriage while protesting the concept of gay marriage. In this case, they’re willing to chuck all that marriage stuff aside in order to preserve life. They want the government, any government, to intervene, even though they don’t realize that doing so tramples on the rights of the individual.
I’m not saying this is an easy subject. Heck, even the Catholic church is divided on the subject, which is very scary considering there is news about inserting a feeding tube in the Pope. Granted, the situation is significantly different when you have a person whose mind is sharp and whose body is failing him. But, what if, God forbid, he has a stroke/heart attack/whatever that puts him in the same state as Shiavo. And you thought the press over the Schiavo case was crazy…
But, in my opinion the ‘right-to-lifers’ have an ulterior motive in all this. If they can ever get the government to take the bait and pass some sort of legislation that would preserve life at all costs, then they have leverage to push for legislation on their other favorite topic — abortion.
Fortunately, if that ever happened, the courts would eventually strike it down. Florida has already tried to interfere with the Schiavo case. In one case the law was passed and struck down by the courts. And the second attempt last week never got past the state senate.
Here’s the question for those of you still in favor of putting that tube back in her. If you were in the same situation, would you want to live like that? If you said no, and if you’ve even gone so far as to take steps to ensure that this situation would not happen to you (like set up a living will — which, by the way, may or may not help you), then, why on earth would you think it is okay to put another human being through that?
Part of the Christian doctrine is about life, but it’s also about compassion for your fellow man. Who are you really being compassionate for? The woman who’s been living in a persistent-vegetative state for 15 years? Or, the parents/family who simply won’t let go?

The only good ‘liberal’…

I came across this article a couple of weeks ago.
Can Liberalism Survive?
I thought it was an interesting read. To some extent, when I think of what happening to the democrats, I think of this poster from despair, inc. Persistence, because in spite of the fact that they lost the election they just can’t seem to get over it.
I don’t think that one party or the other should go away. But, the democrats just can’t let it go. I’m not talking about the more moderate folks. I’m talking about the far left folks that have taken over the democratic party. These are the folks who have basically decided that most of Americans are too stupid to make intelligent decisions, so we should put them in power so they can make all of those hard decisions on our behalf.
Instead of reflecting on why this attitude didn’t sit well with the American people, these folks continue to throw tantrums, even writing crap like this Fuck the South and use the fact that Bush won the election as evidence of the stupidity of the majority of the U.S. population.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that most politicians on both sides believe the average person to be too stupid to figure out what’s really going on. They’re wrong, because most people simply don’t care either way.
But, the democrats can’t seem to figure out that their current approach isn’t working. As long as they stay the course, republicans will continue to gain support and win more elections.
Get over it. Let it go. Better luck in 2008, guys.
PS BTW – Hillary isn’t the answer either. I personally don’t have a problem with a woman as the president, but I don’t think the majority of the country is ready for that. And, I’m pretty sure they won’t bite on Clinton. Martha Stewart, maybe. Oprah, maybe, but not Hillary.

farkin’ hilarious

For those of you who have never heard of fark.com, you should really drop in sometime. You don’t have to click on the “boobies” links, just read the headlines. Some of them are classic. Some links are not safe for work (NSFW), but they usually will label them as such.
The best one I saw tonight:
Bill Clinton sleeps on floor of plane during tsunami tour, allowing elder Bush to sleep on bed. Political analysts believe this is first time Clinton has seen bush in a bed and declined to jump in
Some others:
Body of Christ to get new and improved flavor
Boeing CEO fired because he couldn’t keep his plane out of a colleague’s hangar
Green Day wakes 9 year old from coma. First words are “Turn that sh*t off.”
America’s 10 most powerful women. Surprisingly, your wife did not make the list
Scientists develop new battery that can recharge in 6 minutes and can last 50 times longer than conventional batteries. Vibrator manufacturers said to be abuzz with delight