Terri Schiavo's Family Calls for Observance of Terri's Day to Honor Disabled Woman

>>I think that Hillary Clinton is a rapist-enabling communist who looks like she was kicked in the face by a mule, but I still think she deserves food and water (though it should be served to her by a guard at a “Supermax” prison).

You expressed a concept rare these days, the meaning of Charity, a word such anathema to the left, they have battled it, trying to reduce it to donations at the local chin-up club or replacing it with a more ambiguous "Love". For Charity is the love of God and we do such deeds because of love of God transcending love all else hence offering aid to an injured enemy.

I don’t know if you’ve seen this (there might even be a thread on FR about it). It is a Nazi doctor who they are still hunting for; as inhumane as he was, he was not noticeably from the death doctors of today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24373158/

Thanks, Leslie...

...........................

Monday, April 28, 2008

Keeping Granny Alive for the Money

There are many reasons that patients and surrogates request life-sustaining medical treatment that providers deem inappropriate. They may be hoping for a miracle or compelled by religious rules. They may be mistrustful that the diagnosis is really that dire. But sometimes it is for the money. Over at the Estate Planning Blog, NJ attorney Henna Shaw recommends that people demand any and every medical intervention to keep them alive until 2010, when the tax laws change.

Ms. Shaw observes that "under the current estate tax structure, the federal estate tax exemption amount is $2 million in 2008, $3.5 million in 2009, and there is no federal estate tax in 2010." Therefore, she suggests "counseling clients to include . . . language in their current health care directives instructing that they be kept alive by any means necessary until January 1, 2010 (or maybe a few days later, just to be safe). This would effectively permit a client to achieve maximum estate tax savings, assuming the client might otherwise pass away before 2010."

Ms. Shaw gives this example: "Assume we have a single client with a taxable estate of approximately $13.5 million. If that client were to get into a fatal car accident on December 1, 2009, her estate would be subject to an estate tax of approximately $4.5 million. If the client could be kept alive until January 1, 2010, however, there would be no estate tax, and her beneficiaries would inherit the entire $13.5 million."

I am not sure what the IRS would make of this. But this could potentially create a whole bunch of futility disputes. Agents and surrogates may be particularly motivated to honor the patient's wishes since they will be the beneficiaries of any tax breaks. But health care providers may be particularly unwilling to maintain a patient's low-quality, zero-quality, or negative-quality corporeal existence merely to avoid taxes.

Leslie Hanks

V.P. Colorado RTL

"Endowed by their Creator with certain

inalienable rights, that among these

are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And again!

..........................

Doctor - Patient "Matching" to Avoid Conflicts

In her forthcoming book, Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care: An Institutional Compromise (MIT 2008), Holly Fernandez Lynch suggests that patient-provider conflicts can be eliminated or minimized through patient-doctor matching. Here is the publisher's abstract:

Physicians in the United States who refuse to perform a variety of legally permissible medical services because of their own moral objections are often protected by "conscience clauses." These laws, on the books in nearly every state since the legalization of abortion by Roe v. Wade, shield physicians and other health professionals from such potential consequences of refusal as liability and dismissal. While some praise conscience clauses as protecting important freedoms, opponents, concerned with patient access to care, argue that professional refusals should be tolerated only when they are based on valid medical grounds. In Conflicts of Conscience in Health Care, Holly Fernandez Lynch finds a way around the polarizing rhetoric associated with this issue by proposing a compromise that protects both a patient’s access to care and a physician’s ability to refuse. This focus on compromise is crucial, as new uses of medical technology expand the controversy beyond abortion and contraception to reach an increasing number of doctors and patients.

Lynch argues that doctor-patient matching on the basis of personal moral values would eliminate, or at least minimize, many conflicts of conscience, and suggests that state licensing boards facilitate this goal. Licensing boards would be responsible for balancing the interests of doctors and patients by ensuring a sufficient number of willing physicians such that no physician's refusal leaves a patient entirely without access to desired medical services. This proposed solution, Lynch argues, accommodates patients' freedoms while leaving important room in the profession for individuals who find some of the capabilities of medical technology to be ethically objectionable.

I look forward to reading Lynch's book. But at least in the futility context, Lynch's proposal may meet with very limited success. The basis for provider refusal is not idiosyncratic but widespread. Therefore, there may be insufficient providers available to match with surrogates who demand the use of all available technology. Indeed, the opportunity to transfer mechanism is a sort of post hoc matching mechanism. And it often fails to produce a match.

Leslie Hanks

V.P. Colorado RTL

"Endowed by their Creator with certain

inalienable rights, that among these

are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

It would infuriate the leftists to make the comparison, but consider the heartless acts of Tiller the Killer and the sheer number of young ones submitted to ghastly death. Yet is ok in the minds of the left.

But that is the insanity of evil, of people who can weep over a wilted carrot and laugh over a slaughtered baby.

Haleigh's story will help save other lives. I hope somebody writes a book about her - with at least part of the royalties going to her. What an incredible story.

The sect in Texas is similar to sci-fis and to the deathbots. They’ve found children with broken bones, there is a graveyard and brainwashing is part of their upbringing. Intimidation and isolation are tools of their trade in Texas...and those prairie dresses are no different than burkas. ugh

Prayers needed!

Today, our founder, Jim Robinson, is going into surgery and needs our prayers.

Prayer requested for Jim Robinson (Update @ #820)

8mm

Mayday, Mayday, what it can mean to us...

Traditionally, those with faith in the far left and dark gods use the date of May 1 for their nefarious celebrations. Many now look at May 1 as a time and moment of prayer and today is the National Day of Prayer. Thread by wagglebee.

STATEN ISLAND, Ny., April 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, today urged Christians to participate in tomorrow's 57th Annual National Day of Prayer, and to include the unborn in their prayers.

"On this National Day of Prayer, we turn to God in Jesus' Name, and His blessing on our nation, our leaders, and our fellow citizens. Moreover, we pray for an end to the most pervasive form of violence, that which occurs against children in the womb."...

Fr. Pavone on National Day of Prayer: Let Us Pray for an End to Abortion

8mm

Haleigh Poutre...

...............................

Last winter, just as the state’s highest court was about to rule that a girl in an "irreversible vegetative state" should be removed from life support, 14-year-old Haleigh Poutre started to breathe on her own.

Haleigh, who spent the past two years at a pediatric rehabilitation hospital in Brighton, Mass., suffered a near-fatal head injury in September 2005.

Communicating with simple words and hand gestures and by spelling out full sentences by pointing to alphabet letters on a board Haleigh in December described to police the intense physical abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her adoptive mother and stepfather, Holli and Jason Strickland, The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday.

Incidentally, Haleigh’s sister, Samantha Poutre, has given police a new statement about Haleigh’s injury, which put her in a coma. Samantha initially told investigators that Haleigh was practicing a back flip when she hit her head on a basement pipe, according to defense lawyers.

Now, Samantha is saying that Jason Strickland kicked Haleigh down a flight of stairs.

Haleigh would not give investigators specifics about the events surrounding her injury. She only said that the Stricklands used corporal punishment regularly during her childhood.

Jason Strickland brought a bruised and unconscious Haleigh to the emergency room of Noble Hospital in Westfield, Mass., on Sept. 11, 2005. He told medical professionals she had become unresponsive after suffering flu-like symptoms.

The Department of Social Services took custody of the Stricklands’ two other children within two days; one week later the couple was criminally charged with assault and battery in connection with Haleigh’s injury, according to the newspaper.

Prosecutors described Holli Strickland as the harsher of the two abusers, although Haleigh expressed fond feelings of her adoptive mother, whom she has lived with since she was 4.

Then, a day after being released on bail, Holli Strickland died of gunshot wounds; police believe it was a murder-suicide incident involving Holli Strickland’s grandmother.

Jason Strickland’s defense lawyer, Alan Black, indicated in court records that he will question Haleigh’s mental competence due to the severity of her injury.

The case is set to go to trial this fall.

Click here to read the full story from The Boston Globe.

Girl in Vegetative State Gives Abuse Testimony

8mm

Any time I get just a flicker of warm thought about the State of Florida, the death lovers dash it. They insist their right to slaughter not be bothered by truth.

....................

TALLAHASSEE - A proposed law asking a woman to look at an ultrasound image of her fetus before having an abortion in Florida was defeated by a tie vote in the Senate Wednesday after nearly two hours of passionate debate.

J.D. Alexander - R-lake wales
YES

paula dockery - R-lakeland
NO

ronda storms - R-Brandon
YES

"A woman making the decision that she wants to abort, that decision should be honored. She shouldn't have to go through more hoops imposed by government to give her a granted constitutional right," said Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, who voted against the bill. "We should not impede that decision and we should certainly - we should certainly - not impede the relationship between the treating physician and the woman seeking the service."

Steeped in reproductive choice and small-government sentiments, the legislation formed an unusual alliance between some pro-life Republicans and pro-choice Democrats that ultimately led to its demise.

The bill needed at least 21 votes to pass the Senate, which has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats. It failed 20-20, with 7 Republicans voting against it and one Democrat voting for it.

It was a crushing defeat for conservatives who had never gotten further with the measure they have worked for years to pass, and some of them said they will try again to pass it in the future. While the House has passed the ultrasound bill the past two legislative sessions, this was the first time it made it to the Senate floor, largely because of its powerful sponsor, Majority Leader Daniel Webster.

"Didn't I say 50/50?" said Webster, R-Winter Garden, who has called those odds on the vote for the past week. "Next year, it will be easier to do."

The proposed law would have required any woman seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound and to sign a waiver if she did not want to see the fetal image. Women who could prove they were victims of rape and incest would be exempted from the requirement. Three states have such a law - Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi - according to the reproductive rights group, the Guttmacher Institute.

Currently, Florida requires pregnant women to have ultrasounds only in the second and third trimesters.

The House sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Anthony Traviesa, R-Tampa, viewed the tie vote in the Senate positively, and vowed to continue pushing the measure.

"It suggests to me that the tide is turning," Traviesa said. "And we won't quit. We'll come back year after year after year, and we will get this done."

Pro-choice advocates praised the failure of the bill that they said would restrict women's access to abortion and disproportionately impact poor women, who use the measure most often, by raising the cost of an abortion up to $250.

Adrienne Kimmell, executive director of Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said she hopes rather than trying again with the ultrasound legislation, the Legislature will pursue family planning and sexual education policies to reduce the number of abortions.

"This bill does nothing to reduce unintended pregnancies and to reduce abortions," Kimmell said. "It is the newest in anti-choice legislation."

About 95,000 abortions a year are performed in Florida.

Supporters of mandating an ultrasound for women seeking an abortion in the first trimester - when the majority of abortions are performed - say it would help women make more informed medical decisions and hope it may change their minds.

"This debate is about abortion: it's about whether you're pro life or pro-choice. I am pro-life," Sen. Alex de la Portilla, R-Miami, said during debate. "If this bill will eliminate just one abortion in this state, it will make me proud."

Senators who argued against the bill Wednesday, including Republicans who voted for a ban on partial birth abortion and for parental notification laws, disagreed.

"This is not a pro-life or pro-choice issue. This is a freedom issue, and we should not be telling women in the state of Florida what they need to do with their bodies," said Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who says she is pro-life.

Other lawmakers who voted against the bill called it an unfunded mandate on poor women, and said it would be an intrusion in right to privacy. Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, likened the situation to the right-to-die case of Terry Schiavo.

"In some respects this is very similar," Saunders said. "The law of the land is that women have a constitutional right to have an abortion. That's embodied in Roe v. Wade, and until that's changed I think it's a mistake for the Legislature to start talking about ways to restrict that."

In the last of his 28 years in the Legislature, Webster made passing the abortion bill a top goal.

After 16 senators spoke about the bill - five in favor of it and 11 against it - Webster gave a six-minute plea for his colleagues' support.

In the end, he urged them to vote for it because of University of Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow.

Webster said doctors told Tebow's mom to abort when she was pregnant with the future quarterback because medication she took when she was ill had harmed the fetus. She carried the baby to term.

"There may be other Timmy Tebows that if just the mom could just see the ultrasound," Webster said, "that's all we're doing is offering information that doesn't exist today."

Moments later his bill was defeated.

Fla. Senate Defeats Abortion Bill in a Tie

8mm

Mor on King and the Schiavo nine...

...................

TALLAHASSEE --

In a surprising rejection of conservative election-year politics, the Republican-controlled state Senate on Wednesday defeated a measure requiring women to get an ultrasound exam and view the results before proceeding with an abortion.

The rare 20-20 tie vote -- and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to it -- pitted Senate Republican leader Dan Webster, who sponsored the bill, against former Senate President Jim King, a Republican who built a coalition of GOP moderates and Democrats to kill it.

''Unless you ovulate or have ovulated, we have no business as males interfering with your female decision on reproduction,'' King said. ``A woman making a decision that she wants to abort, that decision should be honored.''

Webster, clearly disappointed, wasn't surprised.

''I have lost more bills on the floor of the Senate than the entire Senate [membership] combined,'' said Webster, who is leaving office due to term limits after 28 years in the Legislature.

Key to the bill's defeat were members of a GOP Senate coalition known as the ''Schiavo Nine,'' named for joining Democrats in 2005 to block the Legislature from intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose family fought over ending her life support. Seven Republicans and 13 Democrats voted against the abortion bill, creating the 20-20 tie that meant it failed. One Democrat, Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando, voted with 19 Republicans in favor of the bill...............

Senate sinks abortion bill requirement... A proposal that would have required all Florida women to have an ultrasound before an abortion failed in a tie vote in the Florida Senate.

8mm

More...

................................

Republicans outnumber Democrats 26-14 in the upper chamber, but seven GOP senators voted against the bill. One Democrat voted "yes."

The seven Republicans were all among those who also strayed from party leadership on the issue of keeping Terri Schiavo alive artificially in 2005. The St. Petersburg woman, considered in a permanent vegetative state by the courts, eventually died after a drawn-out effort to keep her alive against the wishes of her husband, including failed legislation to force-feed her.

Republican Dennis Jones of Seminole repeated his support for privacy rights in the abortion debate, just as he and his like-minded GOP colleagues did in the Schiavo case.

"My lord, you look at this bill, and where did that right to privacy go?" Jones said. "It takes everything away."

Sen. Jim King, the influential former president of the upper chamber, also objected to government intrusion.

Tie Vote Kills Ultrasound Abortion Bill

8mm

And more...

.......................

The Ghost of Terri Schiavo, the brain dead woman who’s case sparked a national debate on end of life decisions was invoked by Senator Burt Sanders of Naples..

“I felt that it was inappropriate for the legislature to be involved in those very personal types of issues and I think in some respects, this is very similar.”

Democrat Senator Steve Geller urged Senators to see the bill for what it really was.

“We should not be relying on emotions, on looking at the pictures to dissuade her.”

In the end, even pro life women like Sen. Paula Dockery couldn’t push the yes button......

Abortion Bill Vote

8mm

Dramatic conversions happen, lest we forget. Thread by wagglebee.

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United Methodist pro-life ministry Lifewatch recently hosted a free luncheon featuring former abortion clinic owner Carol Everett.

Everett spent six years working in the abortion industry in the early 80s, before experiencing a profound conversion. In 1995 she founded the Heidi Group - a group of inner-city crisis pregnancy centers named after one of Everett's own children that she aborted in 1973......

Ex-Abortion Clinic Owner Tells Pro-life Group Truth about Abortion Business

8mm

"The law of the land is that women have a constitutional right to have an abortion. That's embodied in Roe v. Wade, and until that's changed I think it's a mistake for the Legislature to start talking about ways to restrict that."

By definition a "law" is something that is either legislated by a legislature or decreed by a monarch or ruler. Courts can ONLY interpret or enforce laws, they CANNOT enact them.

bttt

Thanks, Leslie...

............................

CRTL 'Ultrasound Bill' Letter in the Gazette

Colorado RTL's Letter to the Editor in the 3-6-08
Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper:

Regulating Abortions Doesn't End the Practice

I never said that a bill requiring Colorado abortionists to offer an ultrasound to women, "would have done nothing to stop women from getting abortions" ("Abortion sides agree," The Gazette, Feb. 12; "Corrections," The Gazette, March 1). Of course such a law would have the possibility of saving the lives of some precious children.

Colorado Right to Life opposes every law that regulates the killing of unborn children
because regardless of the intention, such laws violate God's enduring command, "Do not murder;"
because they merely prune the abortion weed and strengthen its root;
because such laws make abortion seem more palatable to the public and to politicians;
because our conservative judges who uphold such laws become increasingly hostile to the right to life of the unborn; and
because if Roe v. Wade is overturned, such laws will keep abortion legal in Colorado,
because they end with the meaning, "and then you can kill the baby."

Joe Riccobono
President, Colorado Right to Life
Denver

because they end with the meaning, "and then you can kill the baby."

Absolutely right! The culture of death has proven time and time again that they have doctors available to them that are more than happy to sign any death warrant that is presented to them.

What the legislators who voted to kill Terri and now this ultrasound bill have done is solidify once and for all that (the nine GOP rats led by Jim King) that abortions from conception and also aborting adults is okay by them.

Their admissions in the article show they are pro-murder all the way. The morons linked the taking of innocent life together, haven't they? 1. a woman's right to choose abortion and 2. a woman's husband's right to starve and dehydrate her to death.

PS: DC Madam came to Tarpon Springs north of Clearwater to commit suicide. Tarpon is rich with Greek heritage. Back in Greece, Socrates committed suicide as well. feloser, a Greek former goat milker. too bad he didn't keep milking goats instead of milking Terri's rehab monies, likely hide the rest so he could say "the money is gone". (sure gone as in hidden, not as in spent).