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Website of the Week
For those who are gluttons for listening punishment, here is my official myspace musician page.
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last modified May 11, 2008 at 18:16
My brother David may be on to something... (or up to no good, depending on who you ask!)
The State has effectively taken Terri Schiavo's life today through starvation and dehydration. I hope that she is now resting with the Saviour. May God have mercy on all of us for allowing this to happen.
The Pope may be dying, too, apparently. He received his Last Rites last night. This is sad news for Catholics and many others who have benefitted from his advocacy for human rights and other moral issues.
Okay, I've tried to quit. I have resolved myself a thousand times to no avail. I have even hidden the darn thing, but it always exudes its sphere of influence upon me again and again, showing up in my living room and demanding our constant attention and adoration. Giving it attention was easy at first. You see, there was still the magic, the newness, the novelty, but after a while of years, even those have begun to fade to black and oblivion.
So, we are at an impasse, the TV and I. I want to kill it but cannot stand the thought of losing it. What does it have to offer? News, Sports, Entertainment! What are the opportunity costs? Writing, Reading, Studying, Enrichment, Accomplishment, Satisfaction, Happiness!
I guess it's not even close. Are we sane, then, to settle for television? Have we been lulled to sleep? Are we watching TV just to be watching something? When I flip through the channels, I realize that I am not a 'doer'. Brad Pitt is more of a doer than I am. Then, I realize that I don't have time to watch television. If I want to live, I can no longer sit.
Meghan Cox Gurdon has a brilliant take-off of Lewis' Screwtape Letters that captures the Left's obsession with a Culture of Death and shows who is really behind it.
Screwtape stands in one corner behind a magnificent expanse of polished wood. "These desks are only given to the highest ranks," he says proudly. "Solid wormwood!" At the familiar name, the visitor flinches and slows his approach. Screwtape chuckles. "Shame about your brother, really," he murmurs, and just the tip of a red tongue flickers from his lips. "But let us hope you are made of more ambitious stuff?"
I wrote this e-mail to John Derbyshire, who likes to play the devil's advocate at NRO, and who, for now, is taking Michael Schiavo's side.
*****
Derb of the Shire,
The similarities between this case and that of Elian Gonzalez are astounding, but one thing in particular has been strikingly similar: my initial impression vs. my final impression.
My initial impression with the Gonzalez case was "Damn it! The father knows what's best for his kid. The government needs to stay the hell out!" Then, as the facts came out, it was discovered that the father had initially wanted his son to stay, but when the Cuban government became involved (i.e. "tightened the vise"), he did a quick 180 and decided that he wanted his son to be returned to the loving arms of Fidel. These facts, coupled with his American relatives' desire to care for Elian, caused me to gradually reverse myself and then, to join those who argued for keeping him in the US.
Hence, with Terri Schiavo, my initial impression was that her husband, being her soulmate and confidant, should have the final say as to her wishes. Once again, the facts started to come out, and we discover that the husband sued and won a sizable settlement to provide for Terri's potential rehabilitation. Then, we find that the husband used the money to put her in a hospice and provide her with only minimal care. Then, we find out that her husband starts living with another woman and has children with her, and suddenly remembers that Terri did not ever want to live out her life on a feeding tube. He says that she is in a Persistent Vegetative State, but has never allowed an MRI to confirm this. Like Elian, her family wants to take guardianship and to provide for her care. As her guardian, he has a clear conflict of interest in the life and death decision of his wife Terri.
So, you see, Derb, my final impression is vastly different, now that some of the facts are known. I would encourage you to delve into the facts and not to make philosophical stands on first impressions.
All the best,
Joseph Hogue
These Congressional hearings into the charges of steroid use in Major League Baseball are a sham and a waste of taxpayer money. Why don't we have hearings looking into Hollywood? What, you say? If we are so worried about baseball players using drugs to unfairly enhance their careers, why don't we look into those actors and actresses who have received cosmetic surgery and have "unfairly" enhanced their careers?
*****
Victor Davis Hanson does a wonderful job in exposing the utter foolishness of the Left's Bush/Hitler analogy and the harm such a comparison could lead to.
Is there a danger to all this? Plenty. The slander not only brings a president down to the level of an evil murderer, but — as worried Jewish leaders have pointed out — elevates the architect of genocide to the level of an American president. Do the ghosts of six million that were incinerated — or, for that matter, the tens of millions who were killed to promote or stop Hitler’s madness — count for so little that they can be so promiscuously induced when one wishes to object to stopping the filibuster of senatorial nominations or to ignore the objection of Europeans in removing the fascistic Saddam Hussein?
There is something profoundly immoral for a latte-sipping, upscale Westerner of the postmodern age flippantly evoking Hitler when we think of the countless souls lost to the historical record who were systematically starved and gassed in the factories of death of the Third Reich.
*****
And finally, Peggy Noonan lays down the law for Republicans and the political ramnifications of inaction and ineffectiveness in regard to saving Terri Schiavo's life.
Here's both a political and a public-relations reality: The Republican Party controls the Senate, the House and the White House. The Republicans are in charge. They have the power. If they can't save this woman's life, they will face a reckoning from a sizable portion of their own base. And they will of course deserve it.
This should concentrate their minds.
We must fight for the good.
Hey, Mr. Crow, there upon my window
You had us wondering why you were here
And we were trying to know just what
Was the purpose of this
Or was it meaningless.
The Eagle's flying high
And soaring over me I've got
I've got no worries
I've got no worries at all.
United Auto Workers has decided to not allow Marines who drive "foreign-made" vehicles or who have pro-Bush bumper stickersm, who had previously been using their parking lot, to continue doing so. The UAW, to its credit, is building a $300,000 home for the VFW in Detroit. This is great, but is it good to kick someone in the behind while patting them on the back? Besides, the UAW is in a several decades-long membership slide, and cannot afford to present itself as an enemy to free speech and to the armed forces.
In regard to the large number of dead skunks on the sides of roads and highways that I have noticed over the last month:
Methinks
The possibility
Is quite distinct
That the skunk species
May become extinct.
Giuliana Sgrena: Which type of government, Giuliana, free democracy or islamic fundamentalist, would most likely restrict you from entering the profession of your choice because of your sex? Which government would most likely provide severe repercussions for criticism of its actions? Which form is most likely to support and aid terrorists like the ones who kidnapped you and would have taken your life had your own free country not paid a dear ransom for your life, hmmmm?
As a journalist who traveled with Sgrena to Iraq said:
With her bias Sgrena did not only jeopardize herself, but due to her behavior a security officer is now dead, and the Italian government (prime minister Berlusconi included) has had to spend millions of euros to save her life. It is to be hoped that Sgrena will decide to have a career change. Propagandist or MP perhaps. But she should give up journalism immediately.
This is hilarious and possibly authentic.
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