Let Lauren Live!

ChristtheKingMaine ^ | May 7, 2008 | Judie Brown

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LAUREN RICHARDSON - YOU CAN HELP!
By Judie Brown

It has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson’s father has had over the course of the past several months. For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation and, as a result of the overdose, is now in a coma and unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose, Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to keep her healthy and comfortable until the child was born. Today, though Lauren may not be aware of it, she is the mother of Ember Grace, who was born in February 2007.

Since the birth of her daughter, Lauren remains unable to speak of her concerns, but she has a loving father who is doing all he can to protect her from suffering the same fate as Terri Schiavo. However, Lauren’s mother, who has been named her legal guardian, is sadly not of the same opinion and is working with attorneys to pressure the courts to permit Lauren’s starvation.

Lauren’s father has kept hope alive, even at times when there appeared to be no hope in human terms. Lauren’s father is a man of hope in Christ and is dedicated to spending every breath he has on defending Lauren, regardless of what it might cost him in physical exhaustion and worldly goods. The most recent update for those concerned about Lauren tells us the following:

We struggle at times as we seek to share with the public the details of what is happening with Lauren because of the disagreement we have with Lauren’s mother. We cannot understand her reasoning in refusing a path of hope, healing and restoration for Lauren and insisting on causing her death by withholding food and water from her. The issue in Lauren’s case is the eternal truth that all people, no matter what their medical condition, bear the image of God and deserve basic care and an opportunity to be restored to health.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, has written about Lauren in an editorial earlier this year, "False Compassion," and is working closely with Lauren’s father in order to provide expertise that he is uniquely qualified to share during a trying time like this.

There are many links on the Life for Lauren web site that will assist you in tracking this case and learning who is supporting Lauren’s ongoing care and who is opposing it. More importantly, there is something you can do to express your concerns.

ACTION NEEDED NOW

The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death. I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren’s life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor’s e-mail address is governor.minner@state.de.us.

Further, it would mean a great deal to Lauren’s father, Randy, if you sent him a copy of your e-mail to Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Randy’s e-mail address is Lifeforlauren@aol.com. 

During a recent visit to Anchorage, Alaska where Bobby Schindler was invited to speak, he told a reporter from The Catholic Anchor, "Once we accept that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering, we lose any type of parameters. Euthanasia is a form of abandonment. It is not compassion."

Truer words were never spoken. As I frequently tell people who argue that we pro-lifers are being heartless and cruel for fighting to defend the rights of a "hopeless case," "God is the author of every human being’s life, and He has never given permission to a single one of us to arbitrarily rob another human being of life for any reason including disability or illness."

As Flannery O’Connor once wrote on the subject of false compassion, "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber."

Lauren Richardson is not terminal – she is severely disabled. Lauren Richardson should not be murdered.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

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What a contrast we have in governors and in behavior of our states these days! Please note the huge contrast with the Governor of Alaska and note what LesforLife suggests in post #355 upthread.

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Wagglebee has a thread on the Colorado Personhood Amendment news which is published in LifeNews...

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- A constitutional amendment that would define unborn children as persons under law and could lead to a major abortion battle will appear on the November ballot. The Colorado Secretary of State's office notified leaders of Colorado for Equal Rights that enough valid signatures were submitted to qualify it.

The measure would define unborn children as persons under state law from the moment of fertilization and it could set off a statewide battle over abortion, embryonic stem cell research and other practices that kill people before birth.

The pro-life group submitted almost twice as many signatures as necessary.........

Colorado Abortion-Personhood Amendment Will Appear on November Ballot

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And speaking of Governor Palin of Alaska, are we ready to ponder this? Thread by OnRightOnLeftCoast with thanks to narses for the ping.

Via the Standard, Wizbang’s got a hot tip that the head of McCain’s VP search team is on the ground in Juneau. If it’s true, though, then why not advertise that fact? It’d kick up some buzz … although maybe that’s the problem. If they finally end up going with some more predictable choice, like Ridge or Mitt, it’ll feel like a letdown....

Are you ready for Vice President Sarah Palin?

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[Dante3]

BUMP

[floriduh voter]

Pls repost this for the weekend. Florida violation starving horses and donkeys near Orlando. http://www.local6.com/news/16432139/detail.html
People are fair game in Fla though. www.judgegeorgegreer.com, www.michaelschiavo.org

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We have seen our share of doubters, that life or death in a hospital is purely ethical and decisions are made on ethics, not dollars. We might be entitled to our fifteen minutes of fame, but nineteen years of life just may cost a bit depending on our dollar value. Andy Warhol proved it.

Thanks, Leslie, for the tip to this article by Professor Pope.

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Tuesday is the 40th anniversary of the attempted assassination of Any Warhol. On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas strode into the Factory, in Manhattan, and shot Warhol three times in the chest and belly with a 32-caliber pistol. Thirty minutes later, Warhol arrived by ambulance at the emergency room of Columbus Hospital.

Interestingly, at the hospital, Warhol was pronounced "clinically dead." Not until minutes later, allegedly after providers were apprised of the identity of their patient, did they resuscitate him.

According to Victor Bockris' 1989 biography (301-02), after examining Warhol's wounds, the physicians muttered "Forget it" and "No chance." But Mario Amaya, who had also been shot by Solanas at the Factory (but less seriously injured), was on a nearby operating table. Amaya shouted, "Don't you know who this is? It's Andy Warhol. He's famous. And he's rich. He can afford to pay for an operation. For Christ's sake, do something!" "Spurred on" by Amaya, lead physician Guiseppe Rossi massaged Warhol's heart and saved him.

Warhol lived another 19 years, until February 1987, when he died apparently as a result of nurse malpractice after gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

Posted by Thaddeus Mason Pope at 8:04 AM

The First Death of Andy Warhol

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This comes from The Moderate Voice...

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Three years after posturing over Terri Schiavo’s right to be kept alive after brain death, members of Congress are faced with real end-of-life questions in proposed legislation to force the FDA to speed up its drug-approval process and give terminally ill patients access to investigative drugs.

Last week they had to look into the eyes of a 12-year-old Maryland girl with inoperable liver cancer as her mother pleaded on her behalf.

“Finding help for a sick child should be easy, but it isn’t,” said Anna Tomalis’ mother, who told them her daughter had been turned away from drug studies because she is not healthy enough. “For Anna, time is running out. She doesn’t have years to wait for these drugs to become available.”

The new bill is sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and California Democratic Rep. Diane Watson. “What we need is a system that looks at the patient and their life-or-death situation, not at a bureaucracy and its needs,” says Brownback, a melanoma survivor. “This is deadly neglect, and it can’t continue.”

From the other end of the political spectrum, Rep. Watson cites the grass-roots movement that demanded experimental drugs for terminally ill AIDS patients, arguing that “anyone whose diagnosis amounted to being handed a death sentence” should “have an opportunity to try these drugs.”

Read the rest of this entry,

Playing God in Washington

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Grate Scott!!

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And no, I’m not fooling, but I do apologize in advance for asking a question that I knew would merely trigger one of Scott McClellan’s rote little speeches. But I couldn’t help it. I was so stirred by the report that came out yesterday from Bush’s Presidential Commission to Blame Everyone But the White House for the Sexed-Up Intelligence on Iraqi WMDs, that the question wouldn’t be denied. Anyway, it was a quiet Friday afternoon in the half-full briefing room. I’d come in that morning for the very brief gaggle, during which there were a couple of good questions about Bush’s response to Tom Delay’s threat against the judges that ruled in favor of Michael Schiavo. Scott’s answer was that the President supported the ‘culture of life,’ though, when pressed a little harder, he did admit that, yes, Americans should “follow laws” and “adhere to rulings of courts.” That was reassuring. During the break before the scheduled 12:30 briefing, I strolled around Lafayette Square, enjoying a beautiful Washington spring day. Back in the White House, the televised briefing began with four or five questions related to the Pope’s precarious health and one from Helen Thomas, who asked whether the President was unhappy about being misled by the CIA about Iraqi WMDs (wink wink). I finally got my chance near the end. I said (with a very shaky voice, I’m afraid)..............:

BTC News asks the White House a question

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What remains...

From GetReligion.org

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Several years ago, I wrote a Scripps Howard News Service column about one of the more obscure disputes linked to the death, or death by starvation, of Terri Schiavo — whether or not her body should be cremated, against strong opposition of her devout Roman Catholic family.

I knew, of course, some of the territory here, in terms of how many religious groups — including Eastern Orthodox Christianity, my own church — view the care of the body after death. I had written, in the past, about the Mennonites and my studies of Jewish and Catholic culture exposed me to a number of different points of view on these issues.

So, trust me, I have a lot of sympathy for the task faced by reporter Benedicta Cipolla, writing the Religion News Service story that went out onto the wires with this headline: “9/11 families sue for right to religious burials.” Here’s the top of the story:

NEW YORK — After the memorial Mass on Oct. 26, 2001, for her son Christian, a probationary firefighter who died in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Sally Regenhard didn’t proceed to a cemetery.

There was no cemetery because there was no body. Christian’s remains were never found......................

Faith and doctrine made flesh

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This thread from Diago is a powerful statement of what is happening to our country.

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Three news items this week again highlight the corrupt manner in which our tax dollars are doled out to evildoers throughout our country. These three items also hammer home why the GOP is known as the Stupid Party. If the Planned Parenthood is going to spend $10 million a year to elect Democrats, why do so many Republicans continue to vote to give $330 million a year to Klanned Parenthood? Never mind that giving money to Klanned Parenthood is like donating sand to the Sahara Desert. But with one hand Planned Parenthood accepts $330 million of our tax dollars from the Dirty Dozen Republicans and their Democratic friends , and with the other hand they write $10 million dollars worth of checks to beat the candidate these same Republicans are backing.

First we read that Democrats Give a Discount to Planned Parenthood by using a bill designed to help fund our troops. According to CitizenLink.com, on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate voted on an amendment to the War Supplemental Appropriations Bill. Democrats, led by Sen. Barack Obama, had inserted language to help Planned Parenthood into the domestic-spending portion of this troop-funding bill. The Senate passed the amendment 75-22.

Next a note from Father Pavone of Priests for Life concerning what we can expect from the billion dollar Big Abortion Lobby: ..............................

Obama Helps Slip Planned Parenthood $ into Troop Bill; PP to Spend $10Mil to Elect Pro-aborts [Open]

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[Sun]

“These three items also hammer home why the GOP is known as the Stupid Party.”

We need to tell our Republican reps to stand up and FIGHT!

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From The Passionate Prolifer...

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Just ask the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology
who in 1965 redefined pregnancy to be, "the implantation of
the fertilized ovum" in the womb. According to the great Baylyblog, article on morning after pills and Christian pharmacists, ACOG was simply manipulating facts to suit their ideological agenda - allowing for the IUD.

So, interestingly, although they were guilty of fudging on the definition of pregnancy, even they admit a "fertilized ovum" is the beginning of life. While the Denver Post persists in mocking the Colorado for Equal Rights Personhood Amendment as the "fertilized egg effort," it seems as though the experts recognize the truth. In fact, in a recent survey sent to 112 ACOG members, 70 of 96 (73%) said conception was a synonym for fertilization and only 23 of 96 (24%) said conception was a synonym for implantation in their own clinical practices.



Miracle of mother who gave birth to baby girl after a nine-month ectopic pregnancy
By RICHARD SHEARS and NICOLA BODEN
Last updated at 12:18 AM on 01st June 2008

Doctors are calling her a 'miracle baby' - the little girl who was delivered alive and well after growing in her mother's ovary instead of the womb.

For nine months, Meera Thangarajah and her husband Ravi were completely unaware their baby was anything but normal.

It was only during the birth, at just before full term, that midwives realised they were dealing with a medical phenomenon.

Her parents have called the little girl 'Durga' meaning Goddess, because 'she is our little deity', a beaming Mr Thangarajah said today.

British experts say the chances of a baby being carried for so long in this way and both mother and child surviving unharmed are a million to one.

Million to one: Ravi Thangarajah cuddles her miracle baby daughter Durga who grew inside her ovary for almost nine months

Professor James Walker, spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said Mrs Thangarajah was 'very lucky'.

Posted by Leslie at 7:46 PM 0 comments

MIRACULOUS IMPOSSIBILITY!

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We echo it ad nauseum as the media perpetuated the outrageous lie, loud and often, that decent Americans wanted innocent Terri dead and abhorred anyone who would try to save her. Sometimes it is a blunt message, sometimes it is caged in cute camouflage, or maybe just echoed by the ignorant dupes.

“I was very upset during Memorial Day weekend. We couldn’t go anywhere because of the cost of everything, so we stayed home to watch the Indianapolis 500. I have never seen so many commercials in my life. Watching television is becoming so commercialized that we are being robbed of 20 minutes every hour for watching everything, even old movies. We are being robbed anytime of money. We plan to cancel our cable June 1.”

“I had seen two different political ads advertising what religion they are planning on inserting into our government. Although I appreciate knowing what these people are planning to do, I think it shows the wrong direction we are going. Just like the Terry Schiavo case, religion has no place in our government. I hope our voting reflects that.”

Rants and Raves

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Mercifully we are spared the whole brief article as we may only extract from Boston.com. It is all matching words and phrases, though, mindless rattling of a liberal reciting memorized talking points. Naturally it just has to refer to Terri, too.

I can only imagine Missy shed her shoes and spread her hands to start the count to eighteen or twenty.

Forget, for a moment, our hard-fought battles for the right to vote, and consider just a few of the valid reasons we all have for voting this time around (mind you, this list barely scratches the surface): the Iraq war, healthcare and the lack thereof, Halliburton, Karl Rove, the Minnie Lou statue, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, stem-cell research, big oil, the Christian right wing of the GOP, God as science, Terri Schiavo (remember her?), women's reproductive freedoms, Katrina, Roe, your children.

GOP, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways

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Kottkamp in the news...

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TALLAHASSEE - The Memorial Day weekend that Gov. Charlie Crist spent at Sen. John McCain's Arizona ranch has kept political gadflies buzzing about the prospect of Florida's governor running for vice president alongside McCain this fall.

Rarely mentioned is the man whom Crist would leave behind to lead Florida, should he run with McCain and win.

"Everyone in Florida would say, 'Jeff who?'" said Darryl Paulson, a political scientist at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.

That's Jeff Kottkamp he's talking about, Florida's soft-spoken lieutenant governor from Cape Coral who has remained deep in Crist's shadow since the two took office in 2007.

~Snip~

In 2006, he brought key conservative credentials to the gubernatorial ticket that Crist lacked. Primary rival Tom Gallagher had attacked Crist for being too liberal, and attacked his positions on abortion and gay rights for being too nuanced.

Kottkamp, meanwhile, was a recognized pro-life conservative who voted in 2005 to reinsert brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, a move that Crist had opposed. Kottkamp received the Christian Coalition's Faith and Family Award in 2004, and the Florida Catholic Conference's Defender of Life award in 2006...............

Kottkamp Agenda Can't Be Predicted

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More wisdom from Professor Pope...

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I blogged last week about the Kalamazoo Gazette's profile of Dr. Kenneth Fisher. One of his specific suggestions for curbing the overuse of technology at the end-of-life is "to revise the Patient Self-Determination Act and Americans with Disabilities Act so they ensure appropriate and beneficial medical care rather than provide patients the right to demand any level of care."

Disability activists like Not Dead Yet showed some concern about such a proposal: "Got that? Fisher wants to go after the ADA specifically to weaken or eliminate our legal rights to direct our own care and determine what we think is appropriate."

While I am no ADA expert, I do not think Fisher's proposal is very radical. First, the federal PSDA provides no real substantive rights. As I explain in Health Matrix, it just helps ensure that patients are aware of their decision making rights under state law.

Second, the ADA appears to be not much help for patients whose physicians have a medically-documented basis for thinking requested treatment is inappropriate. See generally Schiavo v. Schiavo, 403 F.3d 1289, 1294 (11th Cir. 2005) (noting that “[t]he Rehabilitation Act, like the ADA, was never intended to apply to decisions involving the termination of life support or medical treatment.”); Grzan v. Charter Hosp., 104 F.3d 116, 120‐21 (7th Cir. 1997) (reviewing cases and legislative history); Rideout v. Hershey Med. Ctr., 30 Pa. D. & C.4th at ¶ 95 (1995) (quoting Anderson v. Univ. of Wis., 841 F.2d 737, 740 (7th Cir. 1988) that “the Rehabilitation Act forbids discrimination based upon stereotypes about a handicap, but it does not forbid decisions based on the actual attributes of the handicap.”); Johnson v. Thompson, 971 F.2d 1487, 1492‐94 (10th Cir. 1992).

Posted by Thaddeus Mason Pope at 6:56 AM

Is the ADA an Obstacle to Appropriate EOL Care?

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Protests can be highly effective...

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Planned Parenthood fundraiser a night to remember

What a perfect evening on the greens of Denver Country Club in a multi-million dollar
mansion. Joris Brinkerhoff planned to treat Planned Parenthood contributors to an
evening of cocktails, music and a seated dinner on the terrace. And then there were
pro-lifers.



Jay, Mr. Abortionist, greeted the fancy cars as they drove up the street toward the
entrance. "It's a big job, I can't kill all these babies without your help. Thank you!"
He dropped the bloody baby dolls, dismembered them, no different than a real
Planned Parenthood abortionist. As the cars approached the mansion entrance...




We forced them to drive under signs exposing them for what they really are: Baby
Killers. They would usually drive by 1-2 times before turning in under our signs. They
would do anything to not have to drive under our signs. But we wouldn't let them.



And then the night got even more exciting. We did our homework at the Collaborators
Project and a public alleyway led us down to a completely unobstructed view down
on the garden party. It was a protesters dream. After they thought they made it
through the worst of it, the pro-lifers party had only just begun...



We were right on top of their party. I mean RIGHT on top...



The guests came out with their cocktails to peruse the terrace and sightsee all the
plants, fountains and the like when suddenly a loud noise came from above...



We all chanted "Life, yes! Abortion, no! Planned Parenthood has to go!" over and
over again. The terrace cleared within minutes and everyone went inside.



The catered meal was delayed for an hour and a half as the millionaire pro-aborts
hoped we would leave. We didn't budge. We knew the greatest opportunity was
about to unfold...



It was practically dark when they finally came out for dinner. It was after 8:30pm.
One of the pastors protesting did something absolutely classic. As the fifty pro-abort
collaborators sheepishly ventured outside and sat down to dinner, he said, "Now, we
will say grace. Let us pray."

Another minister opened the dinner in prayer and continued to lead the event in a night
of prayers, worship and chants, including, "No child killing with tranquility." Their
dinner was ruined. Their party was ruined. All in a days work here at the
Collaborators Project. Thanks for your help and support Bob.

Will Duffy

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It is from Collaborators Project, PO Box 800, Englewood, CO 80151, USA via email.

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Governor Miller, we watch and wait

[floriduh voter]

DEVELOPING....I got two voicemail messages in a row from OVERSEAS. 1. Please call so and so to "help John McCain." 2. Please call so and so to "help Charlie Crist help John McCain".

IMO, McCain can't get phone bankers so I got calls from Southeast Asia.

If I call so and so. The RNC gets zero from me unless ANTI-EUTHANASIA has its own plank on their platform.

The asian caller should have said "help Charlie Crist help himself". If I call so and so (local), the Terri lecture is always ready for delivery.....

[floriduh voter]

It happened in - you guessed it -- FLORIDA. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/23/st-lucie-teacher-has-class-vote-whether-5-year-old/

(why do commie teachers prefer Fla?)