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Today's Topical Commentary
Friday, 2005 March 18 - 12:23 am
Rambling on current events.

Tomorrow Terri Schiavo is set to have her feeding tube removed. Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are attempting lots of desperate last-minute legislative and legal maneuvers, but most of it seems futile. So perhaps, finally, Terri will finally get the peace she deserves.

I feel bad for the Schindlers, really. I feel bad because they are so deluded that they actually still believe Terri will recover. That kind of delusion only comes from real emotional stress. It's funny how the fear of death can make us irrational. It makes us reach to believe in things that are probably not real... like, say, heaven. Or in this case, that Terri's involuntary grimaces are evidence that she's "trying to smile".

I only hope that when this is all over, the Schindlers will get some therapy so they can come to grips with it. I fear, though, that they will instead choose the destructive path of trying to ruin Michael Schiavo's life. If Terri were alive, I'm sure she would be greatly saddened by that.

What I hate is how Republican legislators are trying to jump into this personal affair, for the sake of making headlines and political hay. Come on, you're supposed to be the party that believes in a smaller and less invasive government. Now you want a law that tells us whether we're allowed to die? Come on.

Don't even get me started about the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. Sarah said exactly what I feel, in her post today.

An ex-Halliburton worker has been indicted for fraud. Apparently, the U.S. government has been bilked for about $3.5 million. Is anyone at all surprised by this? We dump hundreds of billions of dollars into Iraq with very little oversight, and we don't expect some money to get pocketed along the way? Riiiight. Hey, I think you could probably find a few million more if you looked under the heading "executive bonuses".

"Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" is coming in May. I'm wondering, from the trailer, if they'll have enough cool light-sabering to overcome the nauseating package of stilted melodrama that is Hayden Christensen. Shoot, they should have replaced him with Zach Braff; at least Zach has some chemistry with Natalie Portman.

So far, the script looks like it has some potential. I don't think I heard the phrase "my young apprentice" in the trailer. In Episode II, I found it unbearable how everyone started calling each other "my old master", "my young Padawan", and so on. Can you imagine if people talked like this in real life? "Will that be paper or plastic, MY YOUNG SUPERMARKET CUSTOMER?"

I only hope that I'm still alive when someone decides to remake this entire series with better actors and better dialogue. I wonder who would have the nerve to do something like that. (Javi?)

A South American Snail has been discovered in Georgia. Or, as the headline read: "Damaging Alien Snail Found In Georgia". Somehow the idea of alien snails does not frighten me very much. It wouldn't take too much to run away from them. If they're really all that much of a concern, maybe we should find a way to extract oil from them. That would get the Republicans interested in this problem.
Permalink  7 Comment   Bookmark and Share
Posted by Ken in: commentary

Comments

Comment #1 from Jenn (Guest)
2005 Mar 18 - 12:20 am : #
Between the drilling in Alaska, Halliburton, Terry Schiavo and George Bush in general, I've been so irritated with my TV that I can't get coherent words out. I sit there and sputter endlessly, except when I see Michael Jackson show up late for court in his pajams, and then I laugh until my sides hurt.
Comment #2 from Nicholas (Guest)
2005 Mar 18 - 11:19 am : #
We recently had to put a 15 year old pet to sleep. So that colors my opinion of Terri's case. Our pet started slowing down. We took him to a vet and they found a tumor in his abdomen. Within 3 days his condition worsed and he was unable to walk and just not his old self. We did a lot of research and read lots of peoples opinions. It was tough, but we think we made the right decision to help him along. I'd prefer death to constant suffering.

The humane thing for Terri would be an overdose of barbituates. Unfortunately starving her seems to be the only legal way to let her go, for now. I'd like to think that if I were her parents that I could let her go. But the parent-child relationship is pretty strong. If her husband really did not care he would divorce her and walk away, but he hasn't.

After having our first child we had a will written up. Also included a living will. I've told my wife to give me maybe a month to recover, then pull the plug and distribute my organs.
Comment #3 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Mar 18 - 3:44 pm : #
This is turning into such a circus. Republicans on a House committee tried to subpoena Terry Schiavo. To that, Howard Simon of the ACLU said, "I am not sure how a subpoena, which is ordinarily done to produce records or somebody to testify, can essentially have the effect of an injunction overriding the orders of a court." Right on, Howard. Howard, by the way, used to be married to a friend of my mom.

Then, a judge who is not presiding over the case issued a temporary stay. Weird.

Judge Greer appears to be tired of the nonsense. He's ordered that the feeding tube be removed.

Stay tuned.
Comment #4 from Tim Ross (Guest)
2005 Mar 18 - 4:17 pm : #
I have a similar living will, but thanks to my dyslexia it says to distribute the organs, pull the plug, and then wait a month.
Comment #5 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Mar 18 - 5:59 pm : #
Tim, so I guess that process has already started, then? That would explain a few things. ;)
Comment #6 from Tim (Guest)
2005 Mar 18 - 8:55 pm : #
Yep.

I gave away my heart when I was too young to know better.

I lost my liver in college.

My brain is still in the process of being remove... one cell at a time.
Comment #7 from Javi (Guest)
2005 Mar 19 - 3:36 am : #
thanks for the shout out ken, for what it's worth, i spend nights up wondering how those scripts could be better. l

ast week i actually watched phantom menace again wondering if i shjould digitize it and attempt a re-edit. maybe i'm not the best guy for the job, i might be a little close to the material.

re: euthanasia, i've said this before, i'll say it again, my gift to myself on my 75th birthday will be a DNR forehead tattoo -- but the way these cases are going i might do it sooner.

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