Thursday -- March 24, 2005
 WHAT
POLITICAL PRICE WILL REPUBLICANS PAY?
I was absolutely astounded yesterday when Florida Governor Jeb Bush held that
press conference and talked
about the State of Florida taking custody of Terri Schiavo. He
presented to the media the opinion of a doctor that Terri Schiavo was not in a
persistent vegetative state .. but rather just in some sort of a period of
reduced consciousness. This doctor has never seen Terri Schiavo, except on
videotape, and he's issuing findings that are completely at odds with doctors
who have been personally examining Terri for many months.
Think about this for a moment. Attending physicians conduct their
examinations and make their reports. The matter moves into the courts and
is adjudicated ... adjudicated extensively. Nineteen state judges, one Federal
District Court judge, one Court of Appeals, and three now four trips to the U.S.
Supreme Court. Still, politicians aren't happy with the results ... so now
the State contemplates using its police power to seize the body of Terri Schiavo
so that she can be forced to endure this horrible existence for years to come.
Across America there are thousands of families who have faced similar
situations and made their difficult decisions without political
interference. There are tens of millions more who have expressed their
wishes, both in writing and in words, that they never be kept alive in this
manner. Now these people are watching this hideous spectacle of
politicians plotting the literal kidnapping of Terri Schiavo. And
why? To please a powerful political constituency .. the ant-abortion
lobby.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that there are many people out there
who, when faced with medical disaster, want to be turned over to politicians to
be used as political pawns. I'm wondering if these people will be anxious
to keep Republicans in power.
Don't let this happen to you. Here are a few resources:
partnershipforcaring.org
- advance directives for each state (save this link, the site is down right now)
uslivingwillregistry.com
- electronically stores advance directives
agingwithdignity.org
- advice and legal tools
healthdirectives.org
- will scan and store your living will
FROM
TODAY'S TOWNHALL.COM
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh yesterday when he asked his listeners a
question. Here .. read it for yourself. A column I wrote for today's
Townhall.com
Because
she's earned it
Neal Boortz (archive)
March 24, 2005
I signed off my talk show
yesterday, stuffed unused newspaper articles in my briefcase, and headed
home. As I pulled out of the studio parking garage I did what I
usually do ... I tuned in to see what Rush was talking about. On
this particular day I had no doubt as to what the subject would be, but
I wanted to hear his latest thoughts.
My studio getaway was so
efficient, so swift that I was on the road in time to hear Rush come out
of his hourly newsbreak. Now ... before I go any further, let it
be clear; I'm a Rush Limbaugh fan. Nobody does talk radio
better, not even me. I love what he's done for our radio format,
what he's done for America, and what he's done to the left.
Liberals hate him. I love him for that too. Rush has made me
money by elevating the talk radio format to the top of the heap, and
saved me even more through the tax cuts that came from his promotion of
the Republican agenda.
As Rush opens the hour he has a
question; a question for "you liberals." He wants to
know "Why do you want Terri Schiavo to die?"
I'm on the opposite side of
this issue from Rush, Hannity, Liddy and most of my not-liberal talk
radio colleagues. So the question intrigued me. Why, indeed,
do I want Terri Schiavo to die?
Rush's question deserved an
answer. Not some glib response, but an honest, heartfelt
answer. So, ... here's mine.
I want Terri Schiavo to die
because I believe she's earned it.
I don't view death as the end
of the journey of a human soul. I view it as a transition.
The God I believe in would not waste the total life experiences of a man
or woman made in his image on a total and complete death; a dead end, if
you will, with nothing to follow. I cannot believe that it is
God's plan that the life experiences of a man; wisdom gained, lessons
learned and love experienced, should, upon death, disappear as if they
never were. I believe that there's something to follow the
life we know on this earth; and I believe that most of the people
fighting to keep the body of Terri Schiavo alive feel the same
way.
These feelings give rise to
some questions of my own; questions for the devoutly religious people
who are fighting to keep Terri Schiavo alive. Do you believe in
God's promise of everlasting life? Do you believe that the reward
for a life well spent on this earth is a life with God in heaven after
you die? If you do, then a few more questions if you will.
Do you believe that the human
soul can make the transition to everlasting life while the human body
that carried that soul through life clings to life on this earth?
If you do, then you must surely believe that Terri Schiavo has earned
and is already enjoying her reward in heaven. That being the case, why
is it so important to you that the now-unneeded body of Terri Schiavo is
kept alive?
But perhaps you believe, as I
do, that the human soul is so connected to and integrated with its
earthly body that any transition will not be made until that body ceases
functioning -- until death occurs.. That being the case, why do
you so ardently desire that the soul of Terri Schiavo spend five, ten,
perhaps 30 years or more trapped in a useless and non-functioning body,
unable to move on to whatever reward awaits her? Isn't 15 years
enough?
Where do your concerns truly
lie, with the eternal soul of Terri Schiavo, or with her earthly body?
Most of us are aware of the
stories related by people who have near-death experiences. The
usual scenario is a surgical procedure or some other medical
emergency. These people describe a sensation of leaving their body
at the very time the heart stops beating and the brain ceases
functioning. They tell of floating above their body while watching
doctors below working hard to resuscitate, to bring them back to
life. As the heart once again starts beating and as the brain
resumes its functions, they tell of a sensation of falling back into
their own bodies to resume life.
We don't hear from the patients
upon whom resuscitation efforts are not successful. We don't hear
from them because they've left us. They're gone to experience
whatever lies beyond. They died.
Is it possible that the soul of
Terri Schiavo has been floating – held in some prolonged and
excruciating limbo – waiting for doctors to stop interfering with the
process of her death? I believe that this is so, and that is why I
have supported her husband's desires to have her feeding tube
removed. Terri Schiavo isn't being murdered. She's
being allowed to die. Death will not be an end for Terri Schiavo,
it will be a beginning. She will finally be allowed to claim the
reward that ultimately we all seek, a reward she's earned and deserves.
Neal Boortz is a lawyer and
nationally syndicated radio talk show host.
©2005 Neal
Boortz
|
BUSH
REFUSES TO POLICE BORDER
 Speaking
yesterday after a summit meeting with Mexico's Vicente Fox at Baylor University
in Waco, Texas, President Bush addressed
the issue of illegal immigration. He said he opposes the Minuteman
Project, which is a group of 1,000 people, including 30 pilots and their private
planes who are going to police the border. Oppose it? Why? It
isn't as if the federal government is doing too good of a job....a recent survey
found that there are 11 million illegal aliens in this country.
Furthermore, the president called for relaxing the border even further...and
promoted his guest-worker program. Make no mistake: the guest worker
program is a full-blown amnesty program for illegal aliens. Want to break
the laws of the United States and skate .. maybe that should be swim right in
the back door? Just tell the feds you've got a job, and you're in.
This, of course, is exactly what Mr. Fox wants, because he advocates an open
border. These people send money back home. Over $15 billion a
year. That's $15 billion that Fox doesn't have to come up with to take
care of Mexico's social needs.
Illegal immigration is just that, illegal. It drains the resources and tax
dollars as illegals are given driver's licenses, health care and just about
everything else that costs taxpayers money. Illegal aliens make a mockery
of the laws of the United States and are a slap in the face to those who come to
the United States legally, through proper channels.
We're supposed to be fighting a war on terror....how can we keep terrorists out
if they can just walk across the Mexican border? Republicans are going to
start paying at the polls for the Bush administration's stand on illegals, as
you've seen already with the Hildabeast taking a tougher stance.
SOCIAL
SECURITY GOING BROKE SOONER
For months now, we have heard from the Democrats and the AARP that there is no
problem with Social Security. Why, we're told there is plenty of money in
the "trust fund." Actually, you can set that lie aside (yes,
they are lying,) because not only is there no money in the "trust
fund," but there is no trust fund. Politicians have borrowed and
spent it all. Sadly, this point hasn't sunk in for most Americans.
Well ... look how they were educated.
Since there is no money, it may be a bit difficult to grasp the concept of how
the program is going broke. The only way to gauge that is when the point
is reached where more money is going out than coming in. We will
reach the point where there are not enough actual workers paying into Social
Security to cover benefits owed in about 2017, not 2041. So, you
younger workers out there don't have much of a chance at all, do you? The
Democrats will, of course, have a solution. They will want to raise the
retirement age and increase taxes.
Private accounts and reduced benefits are the only way out of this one, folks.
To make the program truly solvent, the government would have to confiscate so
much wealth it would destroy the economy. Maybe the Congress will make the
right choice and fix the problem.
I doubt it.
JUST
WHAT WE NEEDED
An
explosion at the BP Oil Refinery in Texas City, Texas this morning.
Watch the gas prices.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
The biggest question the right-to-lifers have is what's the big rush to starve
to death the body formerly known as Terri Schiavo? Your
Talkmaster answers the question in this week's Townhall column. Don't
miss it.
Ann
Coulter calls the left's newfound devotion to federalism a bit disingenuous,
and presents her point of view on the Terri Schiavo case with her usual
eloquence.
The U.S. Government wants to bury its nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain in Nevada,
and the residents of Nevada don't want it in their back yard. George
Will looks at the science behind the move, and whether it really poses a
threat.
The media has called the war in Iraq "one of the most unpopular wars in
history." Larry
Elder opens the history books and starts with the popularity of the
Revolutionary War. His findings may surprise you.
In today's column, Professor
Mike Adams responds to a letter from a feminist. He was in a bit of
pain when he wrote it, so no punches were pulled. Check it out.
Republicans have had control of the budget and appropriations process for a
decade now, and the only difference between them and the Democrats is that the
party labels have changed.
Cal Thomas says the Republicans are just as big of spenders as the Democrats
were.
Is Social Security reform as unpopular as we are led to believe? David
Hill says you have to look at the polls...including what questions are asked
and how they are asked. He says the polls will shift.
George Bush would have more success in the Social Security debate if he would
talk up reform for the sake of the poor. After all, they're the ones that
will really get screwed when they retire. Mort
Kondracke explains.
Speculation has already begun about Dick Cheney's plans for 2008....and whether
he might run for president. In
an interview with Larry Kudlow, he seemed to slam the door, but maybe left
it open just a bit. You be the judge.
While the media is obsessing over the Terri Schiavo case, U.S.
and Iraqi commandos raided and insurgent base and killed 80 Islamic terrorists.
Good news from the front in Iraq.
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