Saturday, October 23, 2004
Two Women -- Margaret Hassan and Terri Schiavo
One wonders about the terrorists who are holding Margaret Hassan as a pawn against their demands which are not likely to be or cannot be met. Are they dumb or just plain fanatics, blinded by hatred? Margaret Hassan served Iraq and the Iraqis long before President Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. What a name for an unjustified war based on lies and deceptions! Talk about fanatics.
Mrs. Hassan, the chief of Care International's operations in Iraq, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and has lived in Iraq for 30 years. Considering what the terrorists did to other hostages, we must face the possibility that she would meet the same gruesome fate. Would that bring the terrorists more support or earn them respect? Perhaps only in a very limited circle...among their own.
The Schiavo case continues. On October 21st the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear Governor Jeb Bush's request to reconsider its decision against a state law created solely to prevent withdrawal of life support from a brain-damaged women described by medical authorities as being in a "permanent vegetative state for 14 years". The right to lifers have not given up. The next act could very well be played out in the nation's Supreme Court.
Two women in completely different situations. Yet there are similarities. The mind sets of the terrorists in Iraq and the opponents of Right-to-Die in America who want to keep a brain-dead Terri Schiavo hooked up to tubes are not that far apart.
"A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case."
----Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936)
Election 2000 (November 2nd)
Just 10 more days to go but the announcement of the winner could conceivably take many more days.Legal battles, as in 2000, are possible. While the candidates are doing their thing, the media continue to report instances of wide-scale fraud in
the electoral process. It is not a new phenomenon but the degree of it is alarming
in its scope. In the past,Democrats have done their share of manipulating lists of voters. However, the feral intensity with which the Republicans are engaged in disenfranchising large blocks of voters is unprecedented. It is a brutal display of "win at any cost" policy that cannot be matched by the Democrats. When it comes to dirty tricks, the Republicans wrote the book on it.
"Fraud is the ready minister of injustice."
----Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
A new book by John Updike
The Washington Post's magazine section(October 24) contains a review of Updike's "Villages",his 21st book. Should be worth reading. Few can describe the nuances of interactions between men and women against a backdrop of small town America as Updike can.
"We are most alive when we are in love."
----John Updike (1932)
Mrs. Hassan, the chief of Care International's operations in Iraq, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and has lived in Iraq for 30 years. Considering what the terrorists did to other hostages, we must face the possibility that she would meet the same gruesome fate. Would that bring the terrorists more support or earn them respect? Perhaps only in a very limited circle...among their own.
The Schiavo case continues. On October 21st the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear Governor Jeb Bush's request to reconsider its decision against a state law created solely to prevent withdrawal of life support from a brain-damaged women described by medical authorities as being in a "permanent vegetative state for 14 years". The right to lifers have not given up. The next act could very well be played out in the nation's Supreme Court.
Two women in completely different situations. Yet there are similarities. The mind sets of the terrorists in Iraq and the opponents of Right-to-Die in America who want to keep a brain-dead Terri Schiavo hooked up to tubes are not that far apart.
"A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case."
----Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936)
Election 2000 (November 2nd)
Just 10 more days to go but the announcement of the winner could conceivably take many more days.Legal battles, as in 2000, are possible. While the candidates are doing their thing, the media continue to report instances of wide-scale fraud in
the electoral process. It is not a new phenomenon but the degree of it is alarming
in its scope. In the past,Democrats have done their share of manipulating lists of voters. However, the feral intensity with which the Republicans are engaged in disenfranchising large blocks of voters is unprecedented. It is a brutal display of "win at any cost" policy that cannot be matched by the Democrats. When it comes to dirty tricks, the Republicans wrote the book on it.
"Fraud is the ready minister of injustice."
----Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
A new book by John Updike
The Washington Post's magazine section(October 24) contains a review of Updike's "Villages",his 21st book. Should be worth reading. Few can describe the nuances of interactions between men and women against a backdrop of small town America as Updike can.
"We are most alive when we are in love."
----John Updike (1932)
