Blumenthal on Schiavo

Just for the record, I do sympathize with Terri Schiavo's parents' feelings in this terrible situation. No one should have to lose their child like this, in this drawn-out, agonizing way. But the poor woman is GONE. All that's left is her former shell, and the most humane thing to be done for her, and for that matter, for her parents and husband, is to let the shell die too. The politicians trying to make hay with this should be ashamed of themselves, but that pre-supposes that they have the capacity for shame.

Terry Schiavo

I got the following entry from here.

The Days Of Our Lives

Tom DeLay of Texas says:

"Mrs. Schiavo's life is not slipping away - it is being violently wrenched from her body in an act of medical terrorism," DeLay said. "Mr. Schiavo's attorney's characterization of the premeditated starvation and dehydration of a helpless woman as 'her dying process' is as disturbing as it is unacceptable. What is happening to her is not compassion - it is homicide. She doesn't need to die, and as long as Terri Schiavo can breathe and her supporters can pray, we will not rest."

By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terry Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.

Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

And those of us who read liberal blogs also know that this grandstanding by the congress is a purely political move designed to appease the religious right and that the legal maneuverings being employed would be anathema to any true small government conservative.

Those who don't read liberal blogs, on the other hand, are seeing a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" mimicking the unctuous words of Tom Delay as they grovel and leer at the family and nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious phonies who are using this issue for their political gain.

This is why we cannot trust the mainstream media. Most people get their news from television. And television is presenting this issue as a round the clock one dimensional soap opera pitting the "family", the congress and the church against this woman's husband and the judicial system that upheld Terry Schiavo's right and explicit request that she be allowed to die if extraordinary means were required to keep her alive. The ghoulish infotainment industry is making a killing by acceding once again to trumped up right wing sensationalism.

This issue gets to the essence of the culture war. Shall the state be allowed to interfere in the most delicate, complicated personal matters of life, death and health because a particular religious constituency holds that their belief system should override each individual's right to make these personal decisions for him or herself. And it isn't the allegedly statist/communist/socialist left that is agitating for the government to tell Americans how they must live and how they must die.

One of the things that we need to help America understand is that there is a big difference between the way the two parties perceive the role of government in its citizens personal lives. Democrats want the government to collect money from all its citizens in order to deliver services to the people. The Republicans want the government to collect money from working people in order to dictate individual citizen's personal decisions. You tell me which is the bigger intrusion into the average American's liberty?

This post stolen from American Progress

An Unhappy Anniversary

This weekend marks the two-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Two years ago, the White House had waged an aggressive campaign for invading Iraq. Since that time, however, all of the rationales posed by the White House as justification for the war have been thoroughly debunked. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam had no collaborative ties to al Qaeda. Even more egregious, however, is while there was a comprehensive plan for getting into the war, the White House never implemented a real plan for winning the peace and establishing a secure Iraq. Today, more than 1,500 American soldiers have been killed. There still is no exit strategy for U.S. troops. There is no standard for determining when Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over responsibility for their own security. Corruption is rampant, reconstruction is woefully behind, and the American public is becoming increasingly disillusioned with this "war of choice." (According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 53 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting and 70 percent said the number of U.S. casualties is an unacceptable price.)

COST OF WAR, THEN AND NOW: In the days after the invasion two years ago, the Bush administration famously predicted the war would pay for itself. Andrew Natsios, head of USAID, remember, told Congress: "In terms of the American taxpayers contribution, [$1.7 billion] is it for the US. The rest of the rebuilding of Iraq will be done by other countries and Iraqi oil revenues." Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz backed him up, saying Iraq was a country "that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon." Today, the U.S. is on track to spend more than $300 billion to maintain our troops.

INSURGENCY, THEN AND NOW: Two years ago, the White House claimed U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators by an overjoyed Iraqi people. In July 2003, there were an estimated 5,000 insurgents fighting against U.S. troops. Today, that estimate is closer to 18,000. And while a year ago, there were an average of 14 attacks against U.S. troops per day, now there are more than 70.

IRAQI FORCES, THEN AND NOW: The Pentagon has long been saying Iraqi security forces are on the cusp of taking over responsibility for their own security. It's a lot of politics with very little truth. A new report by the Government Accountability Office found "U.S. government agencies do not report reliable data on the extent to which Iraqi security forces are trained and equipped." For example, the number of Iraqi security forces is consistently overstated. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said, for example, that there are 145,000 Iraqi troops trained; Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, puts that number at closer to 4,000.

RECONSTRUCTION, THEN AND NOW: Two years ago, the White House promised to restore prosperity to Iraq. However, instead of sending seasoned experts to lead the massive reconstruction, the administration instead sent very young, inexperienced ideologues, chosen for their loyalty rather than their training. Money was bottlenecked; contracts were botched. And that lack of attention had serious consequences. AP reports, "Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the tattered and dangerous country has become one of the world's poorest, ranking at the level of Haiti and Senegal." Today, Iraq produces about 700,000 barrels of oil a day less than before the invasion. Electrical capacity has gone backwards. Last June, Iraq was generating less electricity than before the war, leaving most Iraqis with only 12 to 14 hours of power a day. Today, that's fallen even further. According to State Department figures, "Iraq now averages just 8.5 hours of electricity a day, with some provinces getting as little as five hours."

USING CONTRACTORS, THEN AND NOW: The administration put the burden of reconstruction on the shoulders of private, no-bid, outside contractors, many of whom saw it as an easy way to make a quick buck. Today, for example, Pentagon auditors have discovered Halliburton has overcharged American taxpayers by $108 million. Just this week, in the first criminal case of contracting fraud in Iraq, a former manager for Halliburton subsidiary KBR was indicted on 10 counts by a federal jury for cheating the government out of nearly $4 million in Kuwait. A separate audit also found Halliburton can't account for $1.8 billion in a separate contract to repair oil fields in Iraq. It's not just U.S. money missing: the Coalition Provisional Authority also can't account for almost $9 billion in spent Iraqi funds.

Yep, that's it in a nutshell...

Saw this and thought it pretty much hit the nail on the head...

http://www.comics.com/comics/soup2nutz//archive/images/soup2nutz2008137650316.gif

Who knew comics.com hates America (ie: thinks the Iraq war was an idiotic mistake)?

Bankruptcy "reform" in the USA

Here's a little follow-up on the Bush admin's bankruptcy legislation.

If there are any Americans who ever read my blog, these are Democrats who sold out the interests of their constituents for a paycheque from the credit card industry. Remember this next time they send you a letter soliciting donations. In fact, why don't you write them a letter and tell them how you feel about having MBNA's whore for a representative.

I'm (again) so glad I don't live in the 'States.

Way to go Lloyd!!

Now, this is what I like to see!

Monday morning - a resolution

Well, it's Monday morning. I was just reading my morning news, including a daily missive I subscribe to from American Progress. They sift through the news media so I don't have to do so as much. I sometimes think I should read more of what the other side of the political spectrum has to say, but when I do, it makes me kind of nauseous. Especially when I go to a site like Free Republic, the level of discourse is so terrible. If there was anything like a reasoned, even passionate argument of facts, it would be one thing, but it's just a litany of hatred and ignorance. I REALLY hope that the viewpoints typical of sites like that represent the right-most fringe of American politics, but really, except for the atrocious spelling and grammar, it's basically White House party line. OK, even the terrible grammar is the same... The greed and hatred is the same, just couched in fewer obscenities.

You know, it's not lost on me just how ironic it is that I find American politics so interesting, given that BC is the 3-ring circus of Canadian politics. I actually caught myself thinking about how I'd volunteer for my local Democratic party candidate if I lived in the states, something I've NEVER done here. So I've decided to put my money where my mouth is (so to speak) and volunteer to work on the campaign of my local NDP candidate, Jenny Kwan. I just called and gave my contact information. Hopefully I can make a positive impact.