Doctor Who Diagnosed Schiavo Was "105%" Sure But Got It Wrong For Other Patient

Here is something for all you Pull-The-Tube absolutists to think about. Remember, Terri Schiavo had not had tests, MRI, PET, CAT-scan, ANYTHING! since 1992.

(CNSNews.com) -- A neurologist hired by Michael Schiavo to confirm that his wife Terri was in a persistent vegetative state said he was "105 percent sure" of that diagnosis, but Dr. Ronald Cranford expressed similar certainty about a patient he examined in 1980 who later regained both consciousness and the ability to communicate.
...
Cranford expressed similar certainty about another patient he declared to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) in 1980, former Minneapolis Police Sgt. David Mack.

''Sergeant Mack will never regain cognitive, sapient functioning,'' Cranford said six months after Mack was shot..on Dec. 13, 1979. ''He will never be aware of his condition nor resume any degree of meaningful voluntary conscious interaction with his family or friends.''

Based on Cranford's unequivocal diagnosis of Mack, the officer's relatives removed him from a respirator in August 1980 ...

But Mack did not die.

On Oct. 22, 1981, 18 months after Cranford declared Mack's case hopeless, doctors at the advanced care facility where Mack was being treated noticed that he was awake. The Associated Press described Mack's recovery.

"A policeman considered 'vegetative' after being shot in the head in 1979 has come out of his coma and, although doctors caution he may never recover fully, he is spelling out some of his desires: 'TALK. WALK. SKI. DOG,'" ...

Cranford insisted at the time that his initial diagnosis was correct.
...
In an interview last week with Cybercast News Service, Cranford acknowledged a "mistake," but maintained that his original assessment of Mack was accurate.

"At the time I said that, he was in a vegetative state," Cranford said. "But, I did make that misstatement about Sgt. Mack and I was wrong and I did make a mistake in that case."

Cranford argued that Mack's case is different from Terri Schiavo's because a CAT scan of Mack's brain showed no atrophy, while Schiavo's CAT scan showed severe deterioration.
...
Cranford also told reporters in 1991 that he wanted to be known as "Doctor Humane Death." He has since publicly claimed to have facilitated the deaths of between 25 and 50 disabled patients by removing the feeding tubes that provided their nutrition and hydration.
...
Cybercast News Service found more than two dozen cases where published news reports document patients diagnosed as being in a persistent or permanent vegetative state, or coma "waking up," including:

--Recovery after three years - Marcello Manunza suffered a brain injury during a car crash in November 1987. In July 1990, relatives noticed that he was following them around the room with his eyes and appeared to be trying to read encouraging signs that had been placed in his nursing home room. Within days he was able to eat, control the movement of his limbs and speak;

--Recovery after seven years - Hawaii resident Peter Sana lapsed into a coma after contracting meningitis, an inflammation of the membrane that encloses the brain and spinal cord. He was in a Honolulu nursing home in September 2001 when he began responding to commands from nurses. Sana's father visited him every day during the seven years. His caregivers credit visits by family members with giving Sana the will to wake up;

--Recovery after eight years - The first thing Conley Holbrook said after rousing from a PVS in 1991 was "Momma." He then identified the two men who had beaten him unconscious with a log on Nov. 27, 1982. Holbrook awoke while he was hospitalized for pneumonia; and

-- Recovery after 18 years - In 1983, Patti White Bull of South Dakota was diagnosed as being in a coma or PVS due to complications from a Caesarean section. Two months later, her husband and other family members removed her from life support. On Christmas Day 1999, White Bull woke up and asked to see her children. A day later, she was walking around her nursing home room with assistance.

A 1996 study published in the British Medical Journal found that 43 percent of patients in the United Kingdom thought to be in a PVS had been misdiagnosed. Of the 40 patients whose cases were reviewed, 17 were later found to be "alert, aware and often able to express a simple wish."

A 1993 study of 49 patients found that 18 of them, or 37 percent, "were diagnosed inaccurately.
...
Stevens said this is all the evidence that should be needed to call for a higher standard when it comes to diagnosing a patient as being in a persistent or permanent vegetative state.
...
"Your intent is not to remove a burdensome therapy," Stevens concluded. "Your intent is to remove a burdensome patient."

Or in Michael Schiavo's case, using the patient to hurt those who he despised.

Gowain

New York Times, Others Scheme to Oust Tom Delay

Robert Novak has a story on the efforts of the MSM to remove Tom Delay from Congress

Notice that NOBODY says that Tom Delay ever did anything illegal. Just trying to create smoke, and eventually fire, from non-flammable tinder. If they convince enough people that there actually is smoke, they won't have to produce the fire.

"WASHINGTON -- On March 24, former Congressman Bob Livingston was sent an e-mail by a New York Times editorial page staffer suggesting he write an op-ed essay. ... In a subsequent conversation, it was made clear the Times wanted the prominent Republican to say DeLay should step aside for the good of the party.

...this remarkable case of that august newspaper fishing for an op-ed piece makes it appear part of a calculated campaign to bring down the single most powerful Republican in Congress. The Democratic establishment and left-wing activists have targeted DeLay as the way to end a decade of Republican control of the House.

...The assault on DeLay did not begin until he redistricted Texas congressional seats, which changed the 2004 election from a net loss to a net gain for House Republicans.

At least 18 news organizations now have assigned reporters to cover DeLay, but the quest by The New York Times for a prominent Republican to suggest his resignation may cross a line....

New York Times editorial page staffer Tobin Harshaw sent the March 24 e-mail to Livingston...

...Harshaw's e-mail suggested Livingston might want to write "a short op-ed on DeLay's political future." Terrell said he telephoned Harshaw, saying his boss would "write a favorable piece," then asked: "Is that really what you're seeking or is that what you would print?"

It clearly was not. While Harshaw asserted "we would welcome any thoughts" by Livingston, Terrell quoted him as saying "we are seeking those who would go on the record or state for the good of the party he [DeLay] should step aside."

...Would this editorial start a chain reaction of Republican House members abandoning DeLay, much as Democrats turned against Speaker Jim Wright in 1989? Those defections doomed Wright, whose fall was followed in five years by the Republican capture of the House. Since Bob Livingston would not get the ball rolling, the campaign to get DeLay still needs a major anti-DeLay Republican to go public."

Novak's Article

Gowain

Do Not Allow Her to Perform Oral Sex On You

She may get another craving for "bite size chunks"

ALAMOSA, Colorado -- A woman accused of killing and cannibalizing her boyfriend will be allowed to leave a state mental hospital as long as she continues to take her medication and undergoes therapy, a judge ruled. Psychiatrists at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo had recommended the release of Jane Lynn Woodry, 51, who changed her name from Carolyn Gloria Blanton in 1999. Prosecutors opposed the request.

After reviewing two outside evaluations, District Judge Pattie Swift on Friday agreed to release Woodry under certain conditions.

Woodry had been held at the hospital since her 1994 arrest for the murder of her boyfriend, Peter Michael Greene, 51, whose mutilated body was found at his home near Alamosa. He had been shot several times.

During a February 1995 hearing in which she pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, investigators testified that they found "bite-sized chunks of human flesh" in a cooking pot at Woodry's home.

Gowain

It Is Time for You To Die, Grandma

The Terri Schiavo case has set the stage for things like this.

Granddaughter yanks grandma's feeding tube
81-year-old neither terminally ill, comatose, nor in vegetative state

April 7, 2005

...an 81-year-old widow, denied nourishment and fluids for nearly two weeks, is clinging to life in a hospice in LaGrange, Ga., while her immediate family fights desperately to save her life before she dies of starvation and dehydration.

Mae Magouirk was neither terminally ill, comatose nor in a "vegetative state," when Hospice-LaGrange accepted her as a patient about two weeks ago upon the request of her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, 36, an elementary school teacher.

Also upon Gaddy's request and without prior legal authority, since March 28 Hospice-LaGrange has denied Magouirk normal nourishment or fluids via a feeding tube through her nose or fluids via an IV. She has been kept sedated with morphine and ativan, a powerful tranquillizer.
...
The dehydration is being done in defiance of Magouirk's specific wishes, which she set down in a "living will," and without agreement of her closest living next-of-kin, two siblings and a nephew: A. Byron McLeod, 64, of Anniston, Ga.; Ruth Mullinax, 74, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Ruth Mullinax's son, Ken Mullinax.

Magouirk's husband and only child, a son, are both deceased.

In her living will, Magouirk stated that fluids and nourishment were to be withheld only if she were either comatose or "vegetative," and she is neither. Nor is she terminally ill, which is generally a requirement for admission to a hospice.

...

Claiming that she held Magouirk's power of attorney, Gaddy had her transferred to Hospice-LaGrange, a 16-bed unit owned by the same family that owns the hospital. Once at the hospice, Gaddy stated that she did not want her grandmother fed or given water.

"Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus," Gaddy told Magouirk's brother and nephew, McLeod and Ken Mullinax. "She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?"
...

Gaddy, however, was not dissuaded. When Ken Mullinax and McLeod showed up at the hospice the following day, April 1, to meet with Todd and arrange emergency air transport for Magouirk's transfer to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, Hospice-LaGrange stalled them while Gaddy went before Troup County, Ga., Probate Court Judge Donald W. Boyd and obtained an emergency guardianship over her grandmother.
...

So, when are you going to wake up and realize that the Culture of Death now has its foot in the door? And if you don't take action, the "right to die" will become the "obligation to die" whenever those who have control over you decide it is time for you to go. Whether you want to or not.

www.worldnetdaily.com

Gowain

Man Arrested, Handcuffed for Using $2 Bills

Looks like this fellow may have a basis for suing the pants off Best Buy and Baltimore County, Maryland.

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.
...

After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.
...

"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money – like she's doing me a favor."

Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.
...

Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.
...

Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

www.worldnetdaily.com

Gowain

Valerie Has Plamed Out

The Valerie Plame covert-operative-who-has-been-outed-by-nefarious
-Republicans story was BIIGGG NEEWWWS! back in the day.

I said then that that no crime had been committed. But the-vast-left-wing-conspiracy machine convinced most of the country that "Karl Rove should be frog marched out of the Whitehouse, in handcuffs" etc.,etc. This is eeerily similar to the present Tom Delay smoke/mirrors tar/feathers exercise.

"The special prosecutor investigating whether Bush administration officials illegally revealed the identity of a covert CIA operative says he finished his investigation months ago, except for questioning two reporters who have refused to testify."

...

"That special prosecutor's characterization of his efforts led to indignation among press advocates who learned of the filing yesterday. They said it bolsters their suspicion that Fitzgerald has put two journalists in jeopardy of incarceration though he may not have sufficient evidence to indict someone for the felony he was appointed to investigate."

Oh, the irony! Seein' as how it was the reporters who beat the drum for a special investigation in the first place.

Anyway, it turns out I was right. There WAS no crime committed. I am waiting for an apology from all you Lefties who made hay back then..........but, of course, I will not hold my breath.

www.washingtonpost.com

Gowain

Leftist American Loon Kills Cop

I guess throwing a pie isn't the worst thing the Left can dish out.

How very, very disgusting!

"At 1:27 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2002, Officer David Mobilio of the Red Bluff Police Department... As he stood beside the car, the 31-year-old husband and father of a toddler was shot three times, twice in the back and once in the head, at very close range...

Beside Mobilio's dead body, someone left a handmade flag with a picture of a snake's head and the words "Don't Tread on Us."

...No station attendant on duty. No witnesses. It was a killing that might have never been solved.

That is, until a confession appeared on the Internet...

It began: "Hello Everyone, my name's Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country. Now I'm coming forward, to explain that this killing was also an action against corporate irresponsibility."

The tract -- which managed to mingle an almost chirpy tone with leftist cant -- was signed by "Andrew McCrae," later found to be an alias for Andrew Mickel, a student at a liberal arts college..."

Gowain

Moneybags Soros Funds Tom Delay Critics

It turns out that Democrat Moneybags George Soros is behind most of the attack stories about Tom Delay. A story in "The Hill", a Washington newspaper, details the efforts of these critics to smear Delay, and through association, all Republicans.

When you read, or hear, about Tom Delay and what a scum-bag he is, consider the source.

"The research shows that members of these groups’ boards have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and political organizations and several of their staff members have previously worked for Democrats. The groups have also accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Open Society Institute, an organization founded by Soros, who spent millions trying to defeat President Bush in last year’s election."

"Over a five-day span, ending last Thursday, TV and radio stations and print publications from around the country featured at least 290 stories either about a controversial junket he took to Scotland in 2000, his response to criticism about the propriety of that trip or his offer to discuss the matter with the House ethics committee, according to a survey. The articles by The Associated Press, Reuters, Knight Ridder and The Washington Post were picked up by news outlets around the country."

READ THE WHOLE STORY

Gowain

Reagan and Pope John Allied to Protect Poland from USSR

Just another brick in the monument that will eventually be built to honor Ronald Reagan.

After forming a close alliance with Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan was prepared to go to war with Russia to stop a planned invasion of Poland...

Judge William P. Clark, President Reagan's National Security Adviser (1982-1983), revealed just how close the world came to the brink of war and possible Armageddon in the early 1980s. ...

The Russians had become unnerved by the discontent brewing in Poland, a nation that had remained a Soviet satellite since Russia "liberated" her from Nazi occupation after World War II.

As early as 1981, the Reagan administration had warned both Moscow and the Polish government against taking action against Poland's growing Solidarity movement.

When the Russians appeared to be on the brink of an invasion - similar to ones they had launched to crush freedom movements in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, President Reagan's White House made clear the U.S. would not be acquiescent again....

"We in the Reagan administration were prepared to recommend the use of force if necessary to stop such an invasion."...

Richard Allen, Reagan's first National Security advisor [was quoted as declaring] ‘This was one of the great secret alliances of all time.'"

Judge William P. Clark, Reagan's national security adviser, said that the alliance between the two men emanated from a shared common view on the nature of the Evil Empire.

"The pope and the president shared the view that each had been given a spiritual mission - a special role in the divine plan of life," Clark told NewsMax. "The two men shared the belief that atheistic Communism lived a lie that, when fully understood, must ultimately fail."

Both also shared the remarkable experience of almost dying at the hand of an assassin - and miraculously surviving the ordeal....

In the end, however, Soviet domination of Poland and Eastern Europe ended, along with the Soviet Union itself, without a shot being fired, thanks to the alliance between Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II - an alliance formed between two men who understood the evil nature of communism and knew how to bring it down.

89 Allegations Against Shiavo Sealed

I wonder if we will ever know the whole story? Not if Judge Greer has anything to say about it!

"Florida's Department of Children and Families had received nearly 90 allegations that Michael Schiavo had abused his wife in recent years - but a Florida judge ruled yesterday that DCF summaries of those allegations must remain secret.

The St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune had filed suit for the release of the abuse summaries, which covered 89 reports - the Times said Friday.

But state Judge George Greer ruled Friday the records belong to DCF, and although Terri Schiavo's husband can have access to the abuse files, the records cannot be made public, The Associated Press reported.

During a hearing Thursday, just hours after Terri Schiavo died, DCF attorney Jennifer Lima-Smith asked Greer to keep its records sealed, saying, "It's time to end this case."

Just a few weeks ago, however, the agency was pressing for a full-blown abuse probe.

In the petition filed with Greer's court in early March, the DCF asked him not to remove Schiavo's feeding tube until the agency could investigate 34 pages of materials documenting allegations of abuse, the Orlando Sentinel reported at the time.

The DCF petition said the materials were sent to its abuse hotline on Feb. 18 and Feb. 21, and by law, the agency had to conduct an investigation. "The allegations in the abuse reports go to the heart of whether abuse, neglect and/or exploitation has been perpetrated by the guardian [Michael Schiavo]," the DCF's 10-page petition said, according to the Sentinel. The allegations were based partly on bone scans showing Terri Schiavo suffered fractures, as well as statements she made to family and friends that she was unhappy in her marriage, the AP reported Friday.

Responding to allegations of abuse in 1992, Michael Schiavo told the Tampa Tribune: "I've never, ever struck a woman, especially my wife. I was raised better than that." He called the abuse allegations "utterly ridiculous," suggesting instead that Terri's injuries may have been caused during physical therapy sessions."

Newsmax.com, 4-2-2005

THE NEWSMAX VERSION

Gowain

64 Days Ago, John Kerry Promised to Sign Form 180...

As of this morning, he still has not signed it.

Terri Schiavo, In memorium

Phishing Alert, Fake E-mail

Phishing is the term used to name the practice of sending legitemate looking e-mails with links to a website that has been specially set up in order to harvest the victim's passwords and other info.


Below is a screenshot of one I have recieved many times in the last few days.






Beware, if you own a PAYPAL account. Do NOT click on the link provided. Use some other path to go to your account.


GOWAIN

Well.......SHIT!

It's crap like THIS that makes you wanna bawl and beat your head against a wall. How do these incompetent, ignoramuses get appointed to these positions? And why didn't anyone say anything about it. If it were not for the curiousity and tenacity of a single congressman, this would have probably never come to light.

"Ambassador Nancy Powell, America’s representative in Pakistan, refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America’s $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Instead, thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material — printed at taxpayer expense and translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages — remained “impounded” on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004, according to Rep. Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois." New York Sun

Score One...No, Three for the Good Guys

These civilians turned the table on the bad guys.

Ordinary Iraqis Wage a Successful Battle Against Insurgents
By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: March 22, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 22 - Ordinary Iraqis rarely strike back at the insurgents who terrorize their country. But just before noon today, a carpenter named Dhia saw a troop of masked gunmen with grenades coming towards his shop and decided he had had enough.

As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their own AK-47's and opened fire, police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's young nephews and a bystander were injured, the police said.

"We attacked them before they attacked us," Dhia, 35, his face still contorted with rage and excitement, said in a brief exchange at his shop a few hours after the battle. He did not give his last name. "We killed three of those who call themselves the mujahedeen. I am waiting for the rest of them to come and we will show them."
...
The battle was the latest sign that Iraqis may be willing to start standing up against the attacks that leave dozens of people dead here nearly every week. After a suicide bombing in Hilla last month that killed 136 people, including a number of women and children, hundreds of residents demonstrated in front of the city hall every day for almost a week, chanting slogans against terrorism. Last week, a smaller but similar rally took place in Baghdad. Another demonstration is scheduled for Wednesday in the capital.
...
Just hours before the gun battle this morning, an Interior Ministry official was gunned down in Doura as he drove to work, officials said.
...
After a group of insurgents fled, leaving the Honda and three of their dead behind them, one was left behind, said the Doura police chief. The gunman broke into a nearby house and hid there, holding the residents at gunpoint, until his friends arrived and drove him away, the police chief said.

The owner of the house, who spoke on condition that he not be named, said the gunman entered through the garage and made his way to the living room.

"I heard the screaming of the women, so I went to see what was the matter and I saw a guy holding an AK-47," the man said.

The homeowner said the gunman then shouted: "Keep me here for a short time until I can leave the area or I will kill you all. I don't want anyone to leave this room."

They obeyed. The gunman telephoned some friends, and stayed for about an hour until they arrived to pick him up. Before he left, the owner of the house said, he issued a final warning: "If you scream or call the police, my friends will come and kill you. They know where you are."

Two of Dhia's nephews who were with him during the attack, one aged 13, one 24, were wounded, family members said. After the police arrived, they recovered the bodies of the three dead insurgents, who were identified through documents in their clothing as Abdul Razzaq Hamid, Abdul Hamid Abed, and Zaid Safaa, officials said.

Hours later, Dhia was still furiously cursing the mujahedeen when he spoke to a reporter in his carpentry shop. A Shiite cleric quickly told him to stop talking, and he complied.

Meanwhile, a group of armed neighborhood men stood watch on the roof of the house, guarding the streets leading to the Husseiniya mosque and Dhia's shop.

"I am sure they will be back," one of the guards said. "We killed three of them."

Censorship Coming Soon to the Web?

The McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Law may one day be interpreted so YOU can't comment on anything political.

"The problem facing the FEC is that McCain-Feingold broadly restricts coordination with, and contributions to, political candidates. So what is the agency to do with all those people who use their Web sites to praise a candidate? Computers and Web access cost money, which could be construed as a financial contribution to a campaign. Ditto bloggers who link to politicians' Web sites, or any individual who forwards a candidate's press release to a list of buddies. All this is to say nothing of blogs that are affiliated with political campaigns and coordinate their activities.

To its credit, the FEC tried to avoid this headache in 2002 by exempting the Internet from campaign-finance rules. This proved far too sensible for the sponsors of the law, who sued the commission for allowing "loopholes" and got a federal judge to strike down the exemption. The FEC must now decide just how it intends to monitor and penalize all those attempting to corrupt the U.S. political system via modem."

Read the whole story.

When the time comes, remember who sponsored the bill and remember who sue sued to make it apply to YOU.

Gowain

Congress has the power to curb Judicial overreach.

The federal courts have grown too big, even for robes as capacious as the ones they inhabit! They have overstepped their bounds time after time with decisions that have thwarted the will of the People, have been made up out of whole cloth, and, in some cases, put the People in jeopardy (i.e. War on Terror). It is time for this to stop!

The United States is governed at the behest of the the People through their representatives (Congress). Congress has the power to configure (make or dissolve lower courts) and REGULATE the Supreme Court.

With the power vested, by the Constitution, in the U.S.Congress, they can decide, through legislation, what kind of cases the Supreme Court can review, the parameters the Court can use, and the existence, or non-existence, of lower courts.

Section 2 of Article 3 reads " ...with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make." This gives Congress the power to decide what cases can be reviewed by the Courts, and under what criteria. Congress should remove the power of the courts to review "enemy combatant" cases so the war on terrorism can be fought, unhampered. Congress should also stop the Courts from using precedents from foreign sources, as in the recent decision removing the threat of execution from criminals who committed their crimes before they turned eighteen.

Section 1 of Article 3 gives Congress the power to "ordain and establish" lower courts. Throughout the history of this nation, lower courts have been dissolved and established as needed. If a lower court keeps making decisions without regard to the preceden! ts set by the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals comes to mind, then that court could and should be abolished by Congress.

The fact that Congress has these powers at it's disposal is not new, or hidden. It was used to stop the supreme court from reviewing Ex parte McCardle, in 1869 and several times before and since. It is routinely used to protect pet legislation. In the 107th Congress (2001-2002), Congress used it on 12 occasions to limit the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

It is time for our representatives in Congress to, take a deep breathe, step up to the plate, take the bull by the horns, and exercise the Constitutionlly granted right to put the Courts back in their place.

gowain

It's Their Nature

James S. Robbins writes in NRO that the Jihadis do what they do more out of the desire for violence than any high minded conviction. A point that I've tried to make many times. Robbins conclusion about Mohammed Atta;

He was a sociopath who found a compelling vehicle in radical Islam to legitimize and externalize his need to destroy.

It is useless to wonder why, or to cavil with these guys. They must be met with force and neutralized one way or another.

Gowain

Ronnie Earl, moralizing hypocrite and Nut.

I think most people would agree that Ronnie Earl, District Attorney of Travis County, Texas, is kinda nuts. He once indicted, pleaded guilty, and fined HIMSELF $200 for untimely reporting of campaign finances. A fine, by the way, that is the lowest assessed to any public official "convicted" by Earl in his career. I also think that he sometimes uses his office to accomplish political goals. He once indicted then State Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison then dropped the charges in the middle of the trial. Nearly all of his "convictitions" are the result of plea bargaining. And the total jailtime served by ALL officials he has prosecuted is 60 DAYS! When an indicted official goes to trial, eg, Hutchison, Mattox, they are acquitted, or the charges are dropped. Earl, the DA in the only blue county in Texas, Travis County, has written an opinion piece for the New York Times. My responses are in [brackets].

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

By Ronnie Earle, Special to the New York Times

AUSTIN - It is a rare day when members of the U.S. Congress try to read the minds of the members of a grand jury in Travis County. Apparently Tom DeLay's colleagues expect him to be indicted. [ With Earl's past record of using his office for political hatchet jobs, can they be blamed??]

Last week, congressional Republicans voted to change their rule that required an indicted leader to relinquish his post.[ After a review by a committee, to determine if the indictment actually has merit and was not POLITICALLY motivated. He forgot to add that little detail.] They were responding to an investigation by the Travis County grand jury into political contributions by corporations that has already resulted in the indictments of three associates of DeLay, the House majority leader.

Yet no member of Congress has been indicted in the investigation, and none is a target unless he or she has committed a crime. [I suspect that now, they will not be indicted. Since Ronnie can't accomplish his goal of knocking out Tom delay from the leadership position.]

The grand jury [Composed of partisan Travis County Democrats, just like the DA.] will continue its work, abiding by the rule of law. That law requires a grand jury of citizens, not the prosecutor, to determine whether probable cause exists to hold an accused person to answer for the accusation against him or her. Politicians in Congress are responsible for the leaders they choose. Their choices reflect their moral values. [ It certainly does! And I don't think Earl can stand it because Tom Delay did the same thing for the Republican's in 2001 that Martin Frost did for the Democrats in 1990.]

Every law enforcement officer depends on the moral values and integrity of society for backup; they are like body armor. The cynical destruction of moral values at the top makes it hard for law enforcement to do its job. [He wraps himself in the mantle of a law enforcement officer. What a disgusting load of cynical, self serving CRAP!!]

In terms of moral values, this is where the rubber meets the road. The rules you apply to yourself are the true test of your moral values. [Hmmm. Would that you would apply the same to yourself.]

The thinly veiled personal attacks on me by DeLay's supporters in this case are no different from those in the cases of any of the 15 elected officials whom this office has prosecuted in my 27-year tenure. Most of these officials -- 12 Democrats and three Republicans -- have accused me of having political motives. What else are they going to say? [If they said anything else, it would not be the truth.]

For most of my tenure, the Democrats held the power in state government. Now Republicans do. Most crimes by elected officials involve the abuse of power; you have to have power before you can abuse it. [He should know. He has the power, and he abuses it.]

There is no limit to what you can do if you have the power to change the rules.[ Or apply them selectively. Eh, Ronnie?] Congress may make its own rules, but the public makes the rule of law and depends for its peace on the enforcement of the law. Hypocrisy at the highest levels of government is toxic to the moral fiber that holds our communities together. [ This statement is simply jaw-dropping in it's hypocricy!]

The open contempt for moral values by our elected officials has a corrosive effect. It is a sad day for law enforcement when Congress offers such poor leadership on moral values and ethical behavior. We are a moral people, and the first lesson of democracy is not to hold the public in contempt. [ Thus concludes the lesson in morals from a person who does not possess a single strand. He would not know a moral if it jumped out and bit him in the ass!!]

Gowain

I Am Thankful...

I am thankful. I believe that I, and all Americans, have won the Lottery of the Human Race. To have the phenomenal luck to be born in this country, at this point in history defies all the odds.

Consider:
At no other time, and in in no other nation, has the standard of living for the average person been higher than it is in America now.

Food. In my lifetime, and I am nearly 60 years old, no one, in America, has starved to death because food was not available. In the entire history of the USA no one has died in America because of famine. The biggest health problem faced by our "poor" is obesity.

Home Ownership. More people own their homes in America than there are people who rent places to live.

Automobiles. There are more cars in America than people. The gasoline to propel them is cheaper than in any other industrialized country. And we have the finest, longest, widest road system in the world and in the history of the world to drive them on. We can travel distances in a day that takes weeks in other parts of the world.

Longevity. At no other time and no other place on Earth have ordinary people had the prospect of living as long and healthily as in the USA. Conditions and diseases that would have been a death sentence 40 years ago are routinely dealt with and the patient sent home, cured.

Freedom. In America, we have the right to say almost anything we want, do almost anything we want to do, and go almost anywhere we want to go. The civil rights of the average person is protected and looked after more closely than in any other country at any time in history.

Choice of rulers. We have the right to select the people who govern us, and if they don't please us, we can throw them out and choose someone else. It is called voting.

We are blessed with more material wealth,long life, and freedom than any other group of people in the history of Mankind.

Thank you GOD!

Gowain