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Somehow NRO is more like NKR (Not Quite Right) these days, lacking the punch and the spark it had years ago when Buckley was at the helm and T'wit was editor. Still it is mostly ok.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, you have social conservatives who want government to stop distributing condoms in schools and preventing their children from praying; you have home schoolers who want to teach their kids on their own without government interference; you have gun owners who want to keep their guns; you have entrepreneurs who want fewer regulations, and you have taxpayers who want their taxes low. Grover Norquist called this the "Leave Me Alone Coalition." Only when you run into a gun owner who wants to distribute condoms in schools do you run into a problem... or something like Terry Schiavo, which pit the pro-life and small-government wings against each other.

It happens on the GOP side, but that's a result of circumstances. On the Democratic side, it's "baked in the cake" in the way their party is set up....

How Axelrod's Comment Spotlights The Democratic Civil War

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We have noted before the blog on Medical Futility by the fine law professor, Thaddeus Mason Pope. Here is more on the subject, with thanks to LesforLife for the tip...

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With the end of classes, I am catching up on some reading. I just read this article from the February 8, 2007 New England Journal of Medicine. Curlin et al. show that "14% of patients -- more than 40 million Americans may be cared for by physicians who do not believe they are obligated to disclose information about medically available treatments they consider objectionable."

I find this troubling. While futility policies (and laws) are aimed at enabling providers to avoid providing treatment they deem ethically or professionally inappropriate, those policies and laws always inform the patient/surrogate and allow the opportunity to transfer. The objective is to allow specific providers to decline to provide some treatments, not to altogether prohibit the patient from getting the treatment. The objective is to allow providers to extricate themselves from the administration of interventions.

But Curlin et al.'s study suggests that many physicians' refusals look more like evangelism or proselytism. They never even mention some alternatives (even life-preserving or life-sustaining alternatives). Therefore, these physicians' patients/surrogates do not even know to look for a transfer or to seek review.

Posted by Thaddeus Mason Pope at 1:07 PM

Conscience and Gags

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Just a friendly political reminder. I am CONCERNED that McSane is going to pick Charlie Crist for VP. This would be terrible for the country. Florida is in dire straits right now so the little bit of time Crist has been governor here, the state is totally blanked up.

He also stuck with the deathbots, gave Greer and Whittemore kudos for killing Terri for their not backing down! He gave a keynote speech for Greer and Whittemore. This death cult governor who would be McSane's VP did not just cause Terri suffering and death. Many Floridians are suffering of one sort or another.

CHARLIE CRIST FOR VP? Put a warning label on that idea. He's been acting very coy on cable news shows. No matter who wins in 09, we will have deathbot leadership. McCain would torture an innocent disabled woman but don't lay a feather on a terrorist.