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hkellickAlot of interesting things happening around the world and I wanted to touch base on some of them.
Everyone's talking about Terri Schiavo. I've seen two people, so far, commenting about how terrible it is for the religious right and the republicans to be backing the parents, instituting a law that gives the parents a chance to save Terri's life... well, except that the judge wants nothing to do with it.
Let's move past the politics. The politics is, to me, a smoke screen for what's really going on.
Not that I have any idea what's really going on. I don't think anyone does.
It's difficult to get the real story here and that's truly worrisome. If you listen to Terri's husband, the facts are... Terri's a vegetable, incapable of knowing what's going on around her. If you listen to Terri's parents, she's.. half-baked? She's capable of knowing and understand what's going on around her, but not responding fully. And of course.. no one REALLY knows what's going on inside Terri's head but Terri and she can't tell anyone.
I question everyone's motives.. ESPECIALLY the husband.
So.. we have Mike. Mike has been suffering for 14 years, taking care of a wife who is severely brain damaged. Except.. he hasn't been. He hasn't taken care of his wife... she's received no treatment, per se, just a clean bed and a feeding tube... also Mike has been getting some on the side.. enough, apparently, to have given birth to two new children.
And then there's the manner of her "execution": dying by starving to death.
This is the part that twists in my stomach.. and why I agree (and god knows, I nearly never do) with the religious right.
Terri's husband, Mike, wants her to die by starvation. That means unless the judge changes his mind that the WORLD will watch Terri get weaker and weaker, less and less present.. for WEEKS.. until she dies.
I can't quite wrap my mind around how ANYONE.. how Mike, how the judge, how ANYONE could be OK with Terri Schiavo dying by Starvation. What an inhumane way to die. For god's sake Mike, you assumedly loved her once, can't you let her find a better way to die?
So, for the record, Mike wins the "Heartless Bastard of the Year" award. This guy goes into my personal hell. I know, Mike, that if I was your lady love, I'd take the kids and run. Because I'd hate to be your wife if I should have some sort of catastrophic accident.
Anyways.. my point is.. I agree with the right wingers this time around. What Mike wants to do is wrong. This is just wrong. I know that eventually that law might come around to bite someone else in a different position, but right here, right now, it was the right thing to do.
And, by and by, guys and gals, if you don't have a living will.. consider making one. Seriously. You never know WHEN something life threatning could happen to you. K and I talked about making living wills once we move in together. I plan to hold her to that.
Then there's Buffalo.
I wrote a post a couple weeks about the sad state of Erie County.
It's not getting better.
I check up on buffalonews.com as often as I can to see what the latest county scandal is.. and there's plenty.
The latest scandal.. and this one hits the bottom hard.. is about the county building in Buffalo running out of Toilet Paper because the vendors were paid late. Apparently things got so bad that, for a day or two, people brought in their own wipes.
Yes, i am serious. Here is a link to the story. or this editorial.
But never fear.. because the county figured out a way to keep it's golf courses open.
Good to see where our priorities are.
Then of course, there's the fact that Legislature Chairman George A. Holt Jr., a big champion of raising Erie County Sales Tax, couldn't bother to pay sales tax on his restaurant.
And that the County Comptroller has probably been mishandly loans, costing the county even more money.
All in all, many of these things are small and stupid. The restaurant owner, the mishandling of loans.. but right now.. well.. put yourself in the shoes of a typical citizen. Six months ago, the county proposed a 1% hike in sales tax (bringing it to 9.25% Sales Tax), it gets voted down and suddenly the county shuts down. The local paper has made a point of keeping tabs on every move Erie County makes.. 150 jobs lost at the Medical Center, closing of DMV offices, closing of county parks.. and then the scandals begin... County Executive Joel Giambra was paying some guy $80,000 a year to be his driver (this one's my favorite)... allegations of abuse while Joel Giambra screams "No, it's not that. It's that we suddenly have to put down a lot more money to pay for medical coverage of our citizens!"
Two new taxpayer advocacy groups have sprung up: Primary Challenge and Free Buffalo. Their ranks are bloated and there's still a whole bunch of people volunteering their time and efforts to help these groups clamp down on fiscal abuse.. and to kick the incumbents out of office.
I feel a certain sort of glee reading through this news. Buffalo and, more or less by extension, Erie County have been spiraling down the tubes for a while now. It reminds me of something Dr. Lockwood said.. She said Washington DC was a city of imports.. you weren't FROM DC.. you just lived there. Buffalo is a city of exports.. you're from Buffalo.. but you don't live there. There's no jobs, the city school district sucks and everyone in that city knows it.. and that's a huge shame because Buffalo is a NICE city. If a blizzard happened in DC and I got stuck in a snow bank, I seriously doubt anyone would help get me out.. but that HAS Happened in Buffalo because we have a small town mentality. In a lot of ways, Buffalo reminds me of a big college town... Buffalo has the Sabers, the Bills... and a whole lot of pride, but not much else.
I don't know if clamping down on fiscal irresponsibility will ever bring jobs back to Buffalo/Erie County.. or people back to Buffalo.. but it might help slow the decline. And that, for me, is a good thing.
OK. I'm done rambling for now.
Everyone's talking about Terri Schiavo. I've seen two people, so far, commenting about how terrible it is for the religious right and the republicans to be backing the parents, instituting a law that gives the parents a chance to save Terri's life... well, except that the judge wants nothing to do with it.
Let's move past the politics. The politics is, to me, a smoke screen for what's really going on.
Not that I have any idea what's really going on. I don't think anyone does.
It's difficult to get the real story here and that's truly worrisome. If you listen to Terri's husband, the facts are... Terri's a vegetable, incapable of knowing what's going on around her. If you listen to Terri's parents, she's.. half-baked? She's capable of knowing and understand what's going on around her, but not responding fully. And of course.. no one REALLY knows what's going on inside Terri's head but Terri and she can't tell anyone.
I question everyone's motives.. ESPECIALLY the husband.
So.. we have Mike. Mike has been suffering for 14 years, taking care of a wife who is severely brain damaged. Except.. he hasn't been. He hasn't taken care of his wife... she's received no treatment, per se, just a clean bed and a feeding tube... also Mike has been getting some on the side.. enough, apparently, to have given birth to two new children.
And then there's the manner of her "execution": dying by starving to death.
This is the part that twists in my stomach.. and why I agree (and god knows, I nearly never do) with the religious right.
Terri's husband, Mike, wants her to die by starvation. That means unless the judge changes his mind that the WORLD will watch Terri get weaker and weaker, less and less present.. for WEEKS.. until she dies.
I can't quite wrap my mind around how ANYONE.. how Mike, how the judge, how ANYONE could be OK with Terri Schiavo dying by Starvation. What an inhumane way to die. For god's sake Mike, you assumedly loved her once, can't you let her find a better way to die?
So, for the record, Mike wins the "Heartless Bastard of the Year" award. This guy goes into my personal hell. I know, Mike, that if I was your lady love, I'd take the kids and run. Because I'd hate to be your wife if I should have some sort of catastrophic accident.
Anyways.. my point is.. I agree with the right wingers this time around. What Mike wants to do is wrong. This is just wrong. I know that eventually that law might come around to bite someone else in a different position, but right here, right now, it was the right thing to do.
And, by and by, guys and gals, if you don't have a living will.. consider making one. Seriously. You never know WHEN something life threatning could happen to you. K and I talked about making living wills once we move in together. I plan to hold her to that.
Then there's Buffalo.
I wrote a post a couple weeks about the sad state of Erie County.
It's not getting better.
I check up on buffalonews.com as often as I can to see what the latest county scandal is.. and there's plenty.
The latest scandal.. and this one hits the bottom hard.. is about the county building in Buffalo running out of Toilet Paper because the vendors were paid late. Apparently things got so bad that, for a day or two, people brought in their own wipes.
Yes, i am serious. Here is a link to the story. or this editorial.
But never fear.. because the county figured out a way to keep it's golf courses open.
Good to see where our priorities are.
Then of course, there's the fact that Legislature Chairman George A. Holt Jr., a big champion of raising Erie County Sales Tax, couldn't bother to pay sales tax on his restaurant.
And that the County Comptroller has probably been mishandly loans, costing the county even more money.
All in all, many of these things are small and stupid. The restaurant owner, the mishandling of loans.. but right now.. well.. put yourself in the shoes of a typical citizen. Six months ago, the county proposed a 1% hike in sales tax (bringing it to 9.25% Sales Tax), it gets voted down and suddenly the county shuts down. The local paper has made a point of keeping tabs on every move Erie County makes.. 150 jobs lost at the Medical Center, closing of DMV offices, closing of county parks.. and then the scandals begin... County Executive Joel Giambra was paying some guy $80,000 a year to be his driver (this one's my favorite)... allegations of abuse while Joel Giambra screams "No, it's not that. It's that we suddenly have to put down a lot more money to pay for medical coverage of our citizens!"
Two new taxpayer advocacy groups have sprung up: Primary Challenge and Free Buffalo. Their ranks are bloated and there's still a whole bunch of people volunteering their time and efforts to help these groups clamp down on fiscal abuse.. and to kick the incumbents out of office.
I feel a certain sort of glee reading through this news. Buffalo and, more or less by extension, Erie County have been spiraling down the tubes for a while now. It reminds me of something Dr. Lockwood said.. She said Washington DC was a city of imports.. you weren't FROM DC.. you just lived there. Buffalo is a city of exports.. you're from Buffalo.. but you don't live there. There's no jobs, the city school district sucks and everyone in that city knows it.. and that's a huge shame because Buffalo is a NICE city. If a blizzard happened in DC and I got stuck in a snow bank, I seriously doubt anyone would help get me out.. but that HAS Happened in Buffalo because we have a small town mentality. In a lot of ways, Buffalo reminds me of a big college town... Buffalo has the Sabers, the Bills... and a whole lot of pride, but not much else.
I don't know if clamping down on fiscal irresponsibility will ever bring jobs back to Buffalo/Erie County.. or people back to Buffalo.. but it might help slow the decline. And that, for me, is a good thing.
OK. I'm done rambling for now.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:28 pm (UTC)Also, according to http://www.terrisfight.org, the reason "Terri can't get a divorce" is because her husband is her legal guardian, therefore she can't do anything unless he allows it.
Ugh.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:37 pm (UTC)That's a horse of a different color.
Why didn't they put THAT out in the public eye? Say THAT to a reporter, and watch Michael Schiavo's public rep go down the toilet.
Instead of "culture of life", how about culture of "her husband's an asshole!"?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:46 pm (UTC)The right wingers are behind the parents (again, I agree with them.) So the liberal media has to be against it.
No one has come out and said what an asshole her husband is. But... again, go to http://www.terrisfight.net/ and read another side.. her husband won't let her get any sort of treatment. He's got two kids by another woman.. you have to ask yourself what his motives ARE?
My answer is.. he's a low life scum.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:54 pm (UTC)This should not be a political issue.
I think Terri's parents are being manipulated too.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 02:57 pm (UTC)This isn't about euthanization versus respect of life. This is about how Terri's husband wants to be a widower so he can marry the other woman in his life and Terri's parents just want their daughter to live.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:08 pm (UTC)I can't say for sure what I would do if I were in that situation, but I would hope that someone would fight for me... not just give me up to a slow and very horrible death--morphine or no morphine.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:07 pm (UTC)Possibly some of the money from the lawsuit, but I highly doubt it anymore. I imagine taking care of Terri is VERY expensive.
Possibly losing the money drain involved in taking care of Terri.
I'm not sure I fully get his motives either, but as I said.. it's hard to figure out what's really going on.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:13 pm (UTC)You're right, there are so many factors that make it impossible for us as outsiders to know what's truly going on, but there are other options for her. She has two loving parents who are willing to shoulder her responsibility. It takes a very strong person to give up their life to help take care of a loved one... They should have that right if they are willing to face all the consequences involved. Terri will probably never get better, but she shouldn't be starved to death just so the husband can go on with his new woman and their two kids with a less burdened conscious.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 03:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 04:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 04:56 pm (UTC)I'm just not used to having people agree with me :-P
Even my boyfriend likes to argue with all my points... though I think he just does it to see how long it takes to get a rise out of me :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-23 04:46 pm (UTC)That's just disgusting! So basically he wants Terri to die? It's not even a matter of having had enough of taking care of her?
That's... that's... I'm at a loss for a word strong enough. Disgusting, vile, evil don't even begin to cover it.