Thursday, March 31, 2005
Vatican Conspiracy. OK you heard it here first... the Pope has been dead for a week and they are timing the announcement of his death to coincide with the Terri Shiavo story.... Well maybe not. But I would like to extend my personal thanks to the judiciary system of the United States.They have been thus far able to keep the Tsunami-sized wave of religious zealousness at bay.
Judge Birch, who has a reputation as being quite-conservative and was one of the last judges to rule on the final Terri Schiavo appeal said: "When the fervor of political passions moves the executive and legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene. If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow."
Judge Birch, who has a reputation as being quite-conservative and was one of the last judges to rule on the final Terri Schiavo appeal said: "When the fervor of political passions moves the executive and legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene. If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow."
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
MUSINGS: Well who would have thunk'?!? In the State of Massachusetts... no let me qualify that... in the democratically entrenched State of Massachusetts (even if it does have a Republican governor [Mitt Romney {2008 President wanna'-be}])... no let me qualify that further... in the democratically entrenched State of Massachusetts which is the first state in the union to recognize gay marriage (how is Mitt going to wiggle out of that one with the conservatives?)...No, wait, more qualification is needed: In the democratically entreched State of Massachusetts where one finds a "perk" parking lot adjacent to the subway station where democratically entrenched state employees like myself get doled out free parking stickers to which they are most certainly not entitled since 99% of those who park in the parking lot sure as hell don't work for the [xxx] Highway Dept. whose property we park on, WHAT do you think I spotted today????? I couldn't f***** believe my eyes. It was a bumper sticker attached to the bumper of an innocuous red Ford something-or-other that read: JEB BUSH 2008. The owner of said red Ford either has a sick sense of humor, a death wish, or it's really over I tell you...
Also quite amusing... (or not). Lately even my private Comcast email account has started to get more spam than I would like. Which I guess would account for an email from Christian Dating: Meet Real Christian Singles i.e. meet like-minded Christian singles in your area. How did I get on THAT spam list?
Also quite amusing... (or not). Lately even my private Comcast email account has started to get more spam than I would like. Which I guess would account for an email from Christian Dating: Meet Real Christian Singles i.e. meet like-minded Christian singles in your area. How did I get on THAT spam list?
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Subject: ASPO - The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas.htm
Consequences: Uh, oh...
Lesson: Need I ever say more about SUVs!
Upside: Well at least according to the Univ. of Uppsala in Sweden, "oil and gas will run out too fast for doomsday global warning scenarios to materialize..."
Adieu: adieu once and for all to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...
The Zealous One in New York. Who knew I had such a fervently religious cousin in NY? Over the last few days, she has been mass-blasting urgent emails appealing to us all to save Terri Shiavo. Said I to her:
I'm afraid we couldn't be more profoundly at opposite ends of the spectrum on this issue! But thank you for sharing your views. It is always good to see and hear different perspectives and it certainly makes one realize just how many different realities are out there. There are no easy answers to any of this. Unfortunately this particular case has been grossly politicized and I certainly feel very sorry for everyone closely involved just because it's a no-win situation; one or the other is going to be demonized and perhaps even hurt (e.g. some of the judges who have done nothing else but try to uphold the law of the land have received death threats because certain groups aren't getting their way). So why not just let the parents take care of Terri if that's what they want to do you ask? Well perhaps Terri's husband (who has also been demonized by people who don't even know him) has put himself through all the expense and tribulations of court battles because he is trying to respect the wishes of his wife expressed to him and some of Terri's friends fifteen years ago! And while many religious folks may not want to hear this, Terri's wishes must be considered under a constitution which seperates church and state. And for that I am very thankful to the judiciary who has so far been able to keep the Jeb Bush's of the world from imposing their religious ideology on my death bed thank you very much.
If you close your eyes and think about yourself being in a vegetative state not only from a quality of life perspective but also from the standpoint of the burden it puts on family, friends, and health care professionals, could you really say, "Yes, I want to spend the next fifteen years starting tomorrow like Terri Shaivo?" Maybe your answer is yes. Mine would be an emphatic no. I would want to move on. And I would want my loved one's to be able to move on. Were something like this to happen to me, my only natural recourse would be to to starve to death. Which seems like a rather peaceful way to go actually, particularly if my brain were in a completely vegetative state.
I rather like what the Rev. Margaret Graham, rector at St. John's, said. For years, she has visited hospitals to look after the terminally ill and their families. Ms. Graham said that human interference with God's will and the natural progress of a human life starts not with the removal of a feeding tube, but with its insertion....
As to the video clips, I do not think you and I can possibly judge whether they prove anything. We have simply not enough information to say how much of Terri's 'reactions' are involuntary or voluntary on these brief clips i.e. what does she look like or what does she do when no one is around, or when the nurse comes in to roll her body over so she doesn't get bed sores....? There may be any number of reasons why her face seems to "light up" (not the least of which is the desperate hope that her parents want to believe she is responding). The leg jerks oddly and the family thinks she is trying to communicate with them. They swear she smiled at a joke. She grunts and the family wants to believe she is trying to tell them she wants to live! All the while the doctors who have extensively examined her (as opposed to some of the ones who have only seen the video clips or read her case file) say that she is in a complete and utter vegetative state...
I hope that Terri passes peacefully and soon so that she might die the dignified death she requested and deserved fifteen years ago. So I'm afraid we have to agree to disagree on this one! Take care.
I'm afraid we couldn't be more profoundly at opposite ends of the spectrum on this issue! But thank you for sharing your views. It is always good to see and hear different perspectives and it certainly makes one realize just how many different realities are out there. There are no easy answers to any of this. Unfortunately this particular case has been grossly politicized and I certainly feel very sorry for everyone closely involved just because it's a no-win situation; one or the other is going to be demonized and perhaps even hurt (e.g. some of the judges who have done nothing else but try to uphold the law of the land have received death threats because certain groups aren't getting their way). So why not just let the parents take care of Terri if that's what they want to do you ask? Well perhaps Terri's husband (who has also been demonized by people who don't even know him) has put himself through all the expense and tribulations of court battles because he is trying to respect the wishes of his wife expressed to him and some of Terri's friends fifteen years ago! And while many religious folks may not want to hear this, Terri's wishes must be considered under a constitution which seperates church and state. And for that I am very thankful to the judiciary who has so far been able to keep the Jeb Bush's of the world from imposing their religious ideology on my death bed thank you very much.
If you close your eyes and think about yourself being in a vegetative state not only from a quality of life perspective but also from the standpoint of the burden it puts on family, friends, and health care professionals, could you really say, "Yes, I want to spend the next fifteen years starting tomorrow like Terri Shaivo?" Maybe your answer is yes. Mine would be an emphatic no. I would want to move on. And I would want my loved one's to be able to move on. Were something like this to happen to me, my only natural recourse would be to to starve to death. Which seems like a rather peaceful way to go actually, particularly if my brain were in a completely vegetative state.
I rather like what the Rev. Margaret Graham, rector at St. John's, said. For years, she has visited hospitals to look after the terminally ill and their families. Ms. Graham said that human interference with God's will and the natural progress of a human life starts not with the removal of a feeding tube, but with its insertion....
As to the video clips, I do not think you and I can possibly judge whether they prove anything. We have simply not enough information to say how much of Terri's 'reactions' are involuntary or voluntary on these brief clips i.e. what does she look like or what does she do when no one is around, or when the nurse comes in to roll her body over so she doesn't get bed sores....? There may be any number of reasons why her face seems to "light up" (not the least of which is the desperate hope that her parents want to believe she is responding). The leg jerks oddly and the family thinks she is trying to communicate with them. They swear she smiled at a joke. She grunts and the family wants to believe she is trying to tell them she wants to live! All the while the doctors who have extensively examined her (as opposed to some of the ones who have only seen the video clips or read her case file) say that she is in a complete and utter vegetative state...
I hope that Terri passes peacefully and soon so that she might die the dignified death she requested and deserved fifteen years ago. So I'm afraid we have to agree to disagree on this one! Take care.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Never in a Hundred Years... Never in a hundred years did I think I would see the day when such religious-fervent agendas would permeate the political agenda the way they do today in the U.S. i.e. may the brain-dead vegetable called Terri Schiavo please die in peace as she wished long, way-too-long ago. This is a pivotal moment folks; the day the Jeb Bush's of the world can decide whether you live or die is a scary day indeed...
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Half Moon Resort, Jamaica. Once a sugar plantation, the Half Moon Resort is a 400-acre retreat located on a beautiful crescent beach near Montiego Bay. Built in 1954, the resort has a grandeur that most of the newer resorts do not and you are thus transported into a world-that-was -- a world before the devastating effects of rampant unemployment, crime, and tacky architecture turned a good part of the island of Jamaica into a place that is pretty rough and tumble. In fact while there, a local paper reported a man having been brutally hacked to death with a machete... But that was outside the resort. Inside the resort, you are surrounded by polite and friendly staff -- all of whom bend over backwards to be helpful (without being obsequious) to the point that you begin to understand why the Brits loved their colonialism for so long. Some people with whom I spoke had been back to this resort five, six times under the motto: 'heh if you've found something this nice, why go anywhere else?'
The 11am Rum Punch and Pathetic Parenting. But for a change it wasn't my pathetic parenting. I'm talking about drinking a rum punch at 11am on the beach and me watching other parents' pathetic parenting. Except that they don't really parent at all as far as I can tell. These mommies and daddies are more like wound up Energizer Bunnies whose sole function is to make sure that their children never have a moment in the day that is not filled with constant onslaughts of entertainment and enticements to eat. What happened to plopping a toddler down on the beach and letting it eat fistfulls of sand whereby soon his imagination takes hold and he begins to build troughs and turrets? But no. The child is rather bombarded by the frenetic parent with a dizzying array of beach balls, shovels, pails, plastic sharks, inter-tubes, rafts, and toy boats. Overwhelmed by all the choices, tears begin to well in the child's eyes. Cue for the Energizer Bunny parent to pop a straw into a juice box and offer the child a granola bar. The best in show was the family sitting at dinner one evening with their kids -- each of the children had his very own DVD player and was watching a movie -- completely oblivious to the star-lit evening above and gentle lapping of waves nearby. Conversation and laughter? Huh?
Star Gazing. "I know that guy," I kept saying everytime the little man peddled past us on our way to breakfast. "I just can't think of who that is but I know I know him. Maybe he's someone from the gym..." "That's Paul Simon, Mom," said the son with a sigh. "Oh my gosh of course!" "And guess who that is over there Mom." "I have no idea. He looks familiar though. Who is it?" "Harry Connick, Jr., Mom...." Sigh. There was also a drop-dead gorgeous photo model doing a photo shoot in a string bikini. So gorgeous was she that the daughter and I surmised that the nine-month-old baby in tow must have been adopted or carried to term by a surrogate mother....What, is there some unwritten law that gorgeous, drop-dead models get to stay a smooth and flawless size two after child birth?
The 11am Rum Punch and Pathetic Parenting. But for a change it wasn't my pathetic parenting. I'm talking about drinking a rum punch at 11am on the beach and me watching other parents' pathetic parenting. Except that they don't really parent at all as far as I can tell. These mommies and daddies are more like wound up Energizer Bunnies whose sole function is to make sure that their children never have a moment in the day that is not filled with constant onslaughts of entertainment and enticements to eat. What happened to plopping a toddler down on the beach and letting it eat fistfulls of sand whereby soon his imagination takes hold and he begins to build troughs and turrets? But no. The child is rather bombarded by the frenetic parent with a dizzying array of beach balls, shovels, pails, plastic sharks, inter-tubes, rafts, and toy boats. Overwhelmed by all the choices, tears begin to well in the child's eyes. Cue for the Energizer Bunny parent to pop a straw into a juice box and offer the child a granola bar. The best in show was the family sitting at dinner one evening with their kids -- each of the children had his very own DVD player and was watching a movie -- completely oblivious to the star-lit evening above and gentle lapping of waves nearby. Conversation and laughter? Huh?
Star Gazing. "I know that guy," I kept saying everytime the little man peddled past us on our way to breakfast. "I just can't think of who that is but I know I know him. Maybe he's someone from the gym..." "That's Paul Simon, Mom," said the son with a sigh. "Oh my gosh of course!" "And guess who that is over there Mom." "I have no idea. He looks familiar though. Who is it?" "Harry Connick, Jr., Mom...." Sigh. There was also a drop-dead gorgeous photo model doing a photo shoot in a string bikini. So gorgeous was she that the daughter and I surmised that the nine-month-old baby in tow must have been adopted or carried to term by a surrogate mother....What, is there some unwritten law that gorgeous, drop-dead models get to stay a smooth and flawless size two after child birth?
Monday, March 21, 2005
What do Paul Simon, Harry Connick Jr., super models, rum punches, DVD players, and the hat-that-fits have to do with one another? Ten days in Jamaica that's what. Boy do I have some bloviating to do. Stay tuned. But at 1:08 am, not tonight...
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
M&M Candies and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Marriage a BAD, BAD Idea. It works like this: M&M Candies will donate .50 cents to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for every 8 oz. bag of the special 'pink & white' candies sold. Is it again just Anna who thinks this is the worst idea ever? With 50% of the US population overweight, why would the Breast Cancer Foundation encourage us to make ourselves even fatter (which brings with it a whole other bag of health risks including a higher risk of certain kinds of cancer) by eating M&M's in order to help the breast cancer cause!!? And shame on M&M's Candies for piggy-backing on the color craze for cancer causes. What next: 'Blue' M&M's for prostate cancer? 'Yellow' Support the Troops M&M's?
Eating chocolate for a 'cause' is simply an oxymoron. Everybody knows that eating chocolate is all about 100% SELF-gratification...
Eating chocolate for a 'cause' is simply an oxymoron. Everybody knows that eating chocolate is all about 100% SELF-gratification...
Monday, March 07, 2005
In the Old Old Days it Happened at Age Twenty-Seven. But now the moment arrives at age forty-five (or there abouts) and I find myself writing this to a friend: Nice hint of spring today what? Too bad another storm front is on the way... Yes an imminent suntan a la Jamaica will certainly do a lot for the body esteem and lord knows I need it. Mind you I'm fit and trim as they come. But the problem is two-fold: it's the pasty pallidness of a half-year of winter and the fact that even though I'm a size 2, there seems to be this new-and-never-experienced-before skin shift that is getting me down... I believe in aging terminology that's called sagging... And working out more doesn't work. Then you just get that unattractive muscled/veiny look that only forty-something women who are trying too hard to stay in shape acquire. Hubby predicts that when I'm seventy I'll be a size -2. Oh great. Won't that look attractive... However seventy-something men have their own bed to sleep in. Or they go for the woman half their age.... Hmmm. I obviously need to let some things go here that can no longer play a role in my life going forward eh what?
Saturday, March 05, 2005
She's Dead. She's Not. She's Dead. She's... Walking shoes, jackets, hats and gloves on, we were ready to walk out the door for the dog walk. And then the phone rang: "The medics say it doesn't look good," said my brother-in-law. They're taking her by ambulance to the emergency room now. She might not make it..." So we waited. Each time we unpeeled an article of clothing now making us hot, so too was unpeeled a glimpse of our reality ahead. Hubby's trip to Chicago tomorrow nixed. A last minute flight to Vienna (over $2,000). Logistics of a burial. What to do about our planned vacation to Jamaica at the end of the week and oh wait what about dinner tonight with friends? Life without Erna.
Then came the second call. The other brother-in-law. "It doesn't look good." Hubby and I look at each other. "I guess I'll have to go to Vienna tomorrow. Right?" he asks. "Well yes dear. If your mother dies you'll have to go to Austria for the funeral. Of course." We both begin to transcend the thorny realities of immediate logistics to try on the cloak of what-it-feels-like-without-a-parent. "Well hey she had a pretty good life and it will be ok." Hubby is looking paler and paler by the interminably long minute.
And then the third call came. A miraculous recovery. A woman on the 'brink of death' is now well and resting comfortably. We are told that the situation wasn't as critical as originally thought. 'Well I guess not!' I think to myself. On this end there is a brief pang of guilt that we had for all ostensive purposes already buried the poor woman... "Well shall we go for our walk now?" I asked. "I think we could both use some sun..."
Then came the second call. The other brother-in-law. "It doesn't look good." Hubby and I look at each other. "I guess I'll have to go to Vienna tomorrow. Right?" he asks. "Well yes dear. If your mother dies you'll have to go to Austria for the funeral. Of course." We both begin to transcend the thorny realities of immediate logistics to try on the cloak of what-it-feels-like-without-a-parent. "Well hey she had a pretty good life and it will be ok." Hubby is looking paler and paler by the interminably long minute.
And then the third call came. A miraculous recovery. A woman on the 'brink of death' is now well and resting comfortably. We are told that the situation wasn't as critical as originally thought. 'Well I guess not!' I think to myself. On this end there is a brief pang of guilt that we had for all ostensive purposes already buried the poor woman... "Well shall we go for our walk now?" I asked. "I think we could both use some sun..."
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Whopping Productivity...Today another whoppingly exciting and productive day at the State House. Or...your tax dollars hard at work:
HOUSE SESSION – THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2005
CONVENES: The House convened at 11:05 am with Rep. X
(D-Needham) presiding.
FATHER QUINN’S PRAYER: The prayer was offered by Father Robert Quinn, chaplain of the House. It read, in part: "As legislators, in analyzing complex critical and often emotional issues, inspire us to be objective in our search for truth, knowledgeable in evaluating proposals and ethical in our decision-making process. In addressing the issues of the moment, may we be guided by Your gift of wisdom, Your precepts and our own principles and religious teachings and traditions."
GUESTS: Reps. XX and YY welcomed and congratulated the 2004 Division 1 varsity soccer champs from XXX High School.
SICK LEAVE: The House admitted a late-filed bill establishing a sick leave bank for Trial Court employee Sean XX.
ADJOURNS: The House adjourned at 11:39 am to meet next at 11 am Monday in an informal session.
HOUSE SESSION – THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2005
CONVENES: The House convened at 11:05 am with Rep. X
(D-Needham) presiding.
FATHER QUINN’S PRAYER: The prayer was offered by Father Robert Quinn, chaplain of the House. It read, in part: "As legislators, in analyzing complex critical and often emotional issues, inspire us to be objective in our search for truth, knowledgeable in evaluating proposals and ethical in our decision-making process. In addressing the issues of the moment, may we be guided by Your gift of wisdom, Your precepts and our own principles and religious teachings and traditions."
GUESTS: Reps. XX and YY welcomed and congratulated the 2004 Division 1 varsity soccer champs from XXX High School.
SICK LEAVE: The House admitted a late-filed bill establishing a sick leave bank for Trial Court employee Sean XX.
ADJOURNS: The House adjourned at 11:39 am to meet next at 11 am Monday in an informal session.
