Time to get somewhat controversial ....

I've posted this at protein wisdom and would appreciate your views:

"You justify to me, based on the following, whether you would give guardianship to the Schindlers:
P. 14 of the Guardian Ad Litem 2003 report:

” Testimony provided by members of the Schindler family included very personal statements about their desire and intention to ensure that Theresa remain alive. Throughout the course of the litigation, deposition and trial testimony by members of the Schindler family voiced the disturbing belief that they would keep Theresa alive at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb, and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open heart surgery. There was additional, difficult testimony that appeared to establish that despite the sad and undesirable condition of Theresa, the parents still derived joy from having her alive, even if Theresa might not be at all aware of her environment given the persistent vegetative state. Within the testimony, as part of the hypotheticals presented, Schindler family members stated that even if Theresa had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it. Throught this painful and difficult trial, the family acknowledged that Theresa was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state."

ed. only for emphasis

... and the band plays on!

From Revolt to Democracy

... The Bush administration has rightly urged Mr. Bakiyev to work closely with the OSCE, which is dispatching a team to Kyrgyzstan. The European election monitors can help to ensure that new legislative and presidential elections are fair to all sides and produce a government with a genuine popular mandate ...

... Yet if its revolution ends in pluralism, tiny Kyrgyzstan could have a crucial influence on the half-dozen other former Soviet republics where autocrats still rule. At a minimum, surviving dictators may conclude that the old trick of staging a rigged election is no longer safe.

Rev. Jackson Preys On Schiavo's Family

AP

" If he could sway votes — and I'm certain he may be able to — it would have been helpful if he had done that a little earlier" said Webster, a Republican. "We're running out of time. To do it now is not as timely as a couple of weeks ago would have been. "

Back stroke of genius?

U.N. Decides Not To Pay Legal Bills Of Ex-Oil Official
By Colum LynchWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, March 29, 2005; Page A11

" UNITED NATIONS, March 28 -- The United Nations reversed a commitment to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for a senior U.N. official who was accused of ethical lapses while administering the $64 billion oil-for-food program in Iraq. ... "

You can't make it up

Grilled Pork Chops (in a nose candy marinade) on Spiced up PETA :

" Of three groups of pigs in the study, one will be given cocaine, one will be shocked with the devices, and one will be given both cocaine and electric blasts. Some will be subjected to Webster's "SuperTaser," up to 30 times as powerful as the model police use. All pigs will be on anesthesia so they won't feel pain. "

"It was a toy banana with a smiley face"

Skirts Up!

"... Cambridge University has come under intense criticism after banning Scottish students from wearing kilts at graduation ceremonies. ... "

" ... A university spokesman said it wanted all graduates to be seen as equals. ..."

Well ... some are more equal than others.

Happy Easter!

Oops!

"Harmony Brands said consumers who have these unused products should return them to the place of purchase for a refund."

Terri Schiavo Case:

The Legal documents (FYI) and much more (from FindLaw, Legal News) -

• A Second 11th Circuit Opinion affirming the lower federal court’s March 25 Order (March 25, 2005)
• A Second Federal Court Order denying another attempt by Terri Schiavo’s parents to reinsert her feeding tube (March 25, 2005)
• U.S. Supreme Court Order denying the application of Schiavo’s parents for a stay of enforcement of the Florida judgment (March 24, 2005)
• Michael Schiavo’s Opposition to application by Terri Schiavo’s parents (March 24, 2005)
• Emergency Application for Stay of lower court orders filed with U.S. Supreme Court by Terri Schiavo’s parents (March 23, 2005)
• Rehearing Denial The 11th Circuit denies Terri Schiavo’s parents’ request for a rehearing (March 23, 2005)
• 11th Circuit Opinion In 2-1 vote, a federal appeals court denies a legal request to reinsert a feeding tube into Terri Schiavo (March 23, 2005)
• Court Order denying the request of Terri Schiavo’s parents to reinsert a feeding tube into their daughter (March 22, 2005)
• Michael Schiavo’s Opposition (March 21, 2005)
• Government’s Statement of Interest in support of Schiavo’s parents (March 21, 2005)
• Motion by Schiavo’s parents for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”), declaratory and injunctive relief (March 21, 2005)
• Congressional Bill Signed into Law concerning Terri Schaivo signed into law by Pres. Bush after being passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (introduced March 19, 2005; signed into law March 21, 2005)
• Order U.S. Supreme Court Order rejecting a request to consider arguments on the case (March 17, 2005)
• Emergency Motion by Schiavo’s parents to the U.S. Supreme Court (March 16, 2005)
• Order setting March 18, 2005 as the day to withdraw Schiavo's feeding tube (Feb. 25, 2005)
• Order by Fla. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denying motion for a stay (March 16, 2005)
• Opinion Florida’s Supreme Court rules that the law enacted by Gov. Jeb Bush to reinsert a feeding tube into Schavo “violate[d] the fundamental constitutional tenet of separation of powers” between Florida’s executive branch, the judiciary, and the state’s legislature. (Sept. 23, 2004)
• Guardian ad Litem’s Report on Terri Schiavo -- Prepared by Jay Wolfson, DrPH, JD, (Dec. 1, 2003). Schiavo’s guardian ad litem concluded:
  

  “...that the trier of fact and the evidence that served as the basis for the decisions regarding Theresa Schiavo were firmly grounded within Florida statutory and case law, which clearly and unequivocally provide for the removal of artificial nutrition in cases of persistent vegetative states, where there is no advance directive, through substituted/proxy judgment of the guardian and/or the court as guardian, and with the use of evidence regarding the medical condition and the intent of the parties that was deemed, by the trier of fact to be clear and convincing.”

• Gov. Jeb Bush's Executive Order that feeding tube be reinserted for Schiavo; Subsequently ruled unconstitutional (Oct. 21, 2003)
• Text of Fla. Bill SB35e a/k/a “Terri's Law”; Subsequently ruled unconstitutional (Oct. 21, 2003)
• Order by Judge Greer setting Oct. 15, 2003 as the date when removal of the feeding tube can begin (Sept. 17, 2003)

You can't make it up ...

Easter Bunny Gets Pummeled " ... kept his cool during the attack, deeming it inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to fight back. " Be vewy, vewy cautious when you let the little bastards sit on your lap.

U.S. Forest Service in deep doo-doo over wildfire started by flaming cow dung

Darfur - the numbers game

By Russell Smith BBC News

• "Amnesty International's best estimate for how many may have died from violence since the conflict began - which took account of attacks on hundreds of villages - is 50,000."
• "The UN's emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland has admitted the total death toll in Darfur could be much higher than the 70,000 WHO figure but says he does not know."
• "US academic Eric Reeves estimates the figure at 340,000 at the beginning of 2005."
• "UK-based Dr Jan Coebergh, who once worked in Darfur, has examined a range of aid agency health surveys. He puts the figures slightly lower at about 300,000 - but he admits it is little more than a stab in the dark."

"The US is standing by its claim that Sudan is committing genocide in the Darfur region, despite a UN report stopping short of using the term. "

What's it going to take?

'bout time ...

"Iraq's insurgents ‘seek exit strategy' By Steve Negus in Baghdad"

"Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process."

This ... from a journalist

... but not terribly surprising.

"Newspapers are dead. They will never come back. By the end of this decade, the newspaper industry will suffer the same death rate — 90-plus percent — that every other industry experiences when run over by a technology revolution."

Via Bourque

Above the fold

3/24/05 "Don Imus's Ranch For Sick Children Draws Scrutiny" WSJ
The Wall Street Journal editors were actually bold enough to think that Mr. Imus would lie down and stop breathing! Then they could get away with a faux exposee (front page, mind you) of the "world renowned" Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer (above the fold, fer crissake!).

Are they nuts!?

Brave Voices

Syrian Dissidents Find Their Voice As Lebanon Provides a Megaphone
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT - Special to the SunMarch 23, 2005

" ... In biting metaphor and with blunt fury, he describes how, under 42 years of Baathist rule, Syria's media has performed as a tin pot press. Reporters and editors have been required to stage Orwellian stunts in which the cruelties and depravities of the Baath Party are described as glorious deeds, in which "their corruption is turned into achievements, and their profligacy into profits." Mr. al-Baba reminds his audience of the days before Baathist tyranny, when Syria had hundreds of lively magazines and newspapers instead of a few orchestrated, official ones. He calls for a press in Syria that would be free to "learn and make mistakes, get it right, fail and succeed" and write the truth instead of trumpeting on cue the party line ... "

" ... Mr. El-Zein notes that these articles became significantly more daring following the overthrow two years ago of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The neighboring Syrian regime, he says, was "very afraid of a popular upheaval in Syria" and somewhat loosened its grip. Syrian writers seized the chance to express themselves via the Lebanese press, "more and more freely." These days, seeing the democratic spring in Lebanon, "They dare more and more." ... "

" ... In Beirut this week there was a chance to meet with Mr. Sharafeddine, a robust 27-year-old man with a neat goatee and blue suede shoes. He is first and foremost a poet, not a political commentator, he explained, "But it is our destiny, we Syrians, to write on politics, because our situation is intolerable." His hope right now is that inside Syria, "The situation is better than before. They are starting to talk." And he traces the shift back to "when the Americans came to Iraq. This is the beginning of freedom and democracy.""

The Economist weighs in ....

"Love at second sight" Mar 23rd 2005 NEW YORK From The Economist print edition

"A new ambassador and a new reform plan go down better than expected"

"IF JOHN BOLTON, intellectual scourge of woolly multilateralism, became America's ambassador to the United Nations, it would be a signal that George Bush wanted to lower the scandal-ridden body into its grave. That was the general view at the UN when Mr Bolton's name was first mooted. Now that the shock of his actually being nominated for the job on March 7th has started to abate, some senior UN types are beginning to argue that such a conservative heavyweight could, if properly handled, prove rather useful."

That man "can" turn a phrase

Mark Steyn opines on the evolution of western cultures ..

"The martyrdom culture of radical Islam is a literal dead end. But so is the slyer death culture of post-Christian radical narcissism. This is the political issue that will determine all the others: it's the demography, stupid."

Let's throw the baby out with the bathwater !

UN under pressure over legal fees By Mark Turner at the
United Nations Published: March 23 2005 00:21 Last updated: March 23 2005
00:21

"The United Nations on Tuesday admitted that it had offered to pay the legal fees of Benon Sevan, the former head of Iraq's oil-for-food programme, from an account originally designed to pay that programme's administrative costs, funded by Iraqi oil receipts...... "

Rather tedious ...

"Could Dan Rather be in trouble again? A new book on Castro tells of a staged Dan Rather interview that was master-minded by a Clinton lawyer." (via Drudge)

It can always get worse ...

Unknown artist

Things I've learned

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "lunacy."

Mmmmm! I'm thinking ... multiple husbands!

"Monday, 14 March 2005Terry O’Neill" ***

"Abubaker Abusbeaa, the manager of Vancouver’s Islamic Information Centre, says that there’s a lot more talk amongst his Muslim friends these days about the possible legalization of polygamy. After all, they figure, if marriage is being redefined for the purpose of allowing two men to marry, then why not a man and two women? “It’s not a priority for them right now,” he says of his acquaintances. “But I know there are several cases where people are trying to push it,” including a Calgary man he knows, who is eager to get formal approval for polygamous marriage..... "

Still rolling ... and impressive!

"Looking Closely at 'Yuri' 3/17/05
This picture from the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover opportunity is a mosaic of a target called "Gagarin" on a rock referred to as "Yuri." Opportunity brushed the target with the rock abrasion tool during the rover's 401st martian day, or sol, (March 10, 2005) and then took the individual images that are combined into this mosaic. The rock abrasion tool ground into the same target on the following sol. The circle from which the tool's wire brush has scoured dust off the rock surface is about 5 centimeters (2 inches) in diameter. This rock is near the rim of "Vostok" crater. Yuri Gagarin was the first man to orbit Earth. The Russian cosmonaut's spacecraft was named Vostok 1."

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS

Just humming along ...

Some interesting developments!

"Hamas has decided to participate in next July's election for the Palestinian Legislative Council so it could destroy the Oslo Accords and fight corruption in the Palestinian Authority, the movement's leader in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Zahar, said over the weekend. "

"Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad organization announced on Saturday that it was considering taking part in the legislative election."

Canadians Face Long Waits for Health Care

"TORONTO -- A letter from the Moncton Hospital to a New Brunswick heart patient in need of an electrocardiogram said the appointment would be in three months. It added: "If the person named on this computer-generated letter is deceased, please accept our sincere apologies.""

Well, I'm headed for Watertown!

(link is too long to include, but article is from:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-canada-wait-your-turn,0,543208.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines )

A little under the weather

Reuters

"....local activists such as the actor Danny Glover gave speeches at a rally police said was much smaller than the previous year due to the rain."

"The organizers of the London protest, the Stop the War Coalition, said they had tried but failed to deliver a letter to the U.S. Embassy insisting that Bush and Blair" forestalled their efforts to get a stamp.

Breaking !

Ottawa, Canada

In Ottawa, about 100 protesters, mostly young students, took over a major intersection a block from Parliament Hill to protest the war.

War is Terrorism with a Bigger Budget, said one sign. Dead Iraqis Don't Vote, said another.

Cheryl Clark, 19, said she came to support the Iraqis. "We have to show our solidarity with the Iraqi people who are being killed by the occupation," Clark said.
Mark Donald, 18, agreed. "We have to show George Bush that the world opposes what he's doing in Iraq."

Protests in Fredericton and Halifax also drew about 100 people each.

Who said the UN couldn't manage anything?

Above the fold from The Globe and Mail today. What a dismal performance.

Photo: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

"Charlotte's Web" Spins in Soho

"It was as if the animals were saying 'Eureka! I've found out how to solve the problem'."

Shame!

"A Lebanese, amid a sea of a million other Lebanese, raises a placard reading "Thank you, George W. Bush," and all that Euro-pretense, moral and intellectual, collapses." ***

H/T

Things I have learned

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "committee".

Above the fold

CNEWS: MacKay: Merger in jeopardy (this is not good news!)
Globe & Mail: MacKay warns against Alliance takeover
The Montreal Gazette: Quebec man declared dangerous offender for raping, torturing prostitutes (um ... one would think it an obvious conclusion!?)
National Post: Softwood lumber talks slated to begin next week (when did they stop?)
Ottawa Citizen: Sub inquiry wraps up for second time (they didn't get it right the first time?)
Ottawa Sun: Leader asks party to 'come together' ("One thing I can tell you is you got to be free")

Any bets?

Maureen Dowd won't get her press pass back 'til about ... ooooh ......2020. ***

"Suddenly, W. turned around, stopped and looked right at me. Then he flashed a wink, not a flirty wink but a mischievous Clark Gable "I've got your number and you think you've got mine but I win" wink .......... "

Oh, Great! Easy targets

Another setback to US/Canadian relations !

Thule Ride in Jackson Hole

What is a Yankee?

The same as a quickie, but a guy can do it alone.

"Syria Coup?" (via Bourque)

DAMASCUS REBELLION UPDATE

Update:
False Alarm

Heh! "The Camel That Came in Second"

Mar. 7, 2005

"IN SAUDI ARABIA LAST WEEK, A CAMEL NAMED " NO TO TERRORISM" finished second in the annual race that begins the Janadriya cultural festival. That was probably heartening for Crown Prince Abdullah, who watched the race, since it reinforced the message of his current antiterrorism propaganda campaign. The word is everywhere. There are electric billboards in downtown Riyadh flashing slogans like ISLAM IS MODERATION and SAY NO TO TERRORISM. Indeed, after the camel race--and a banquet featuring tables groaning with whole lambs (one animal for every 10 diners, I estimated)--there was an opera celebrating the..."

Tearing up my tickets!

Marcos of Zambia

"What they have done is to bring my underpants out to the general public...." !

Above the fold

There's a strange quiescence in the Canadian ether! Where the hell is the reporting on the Gomery Commission?

Robert Blake and Scott Peterson get more headlines!

AdScam! Currently, one of the most important controversies Canadians should be reading about! Alleged corruption and the disappearance and/or mismanagement of mega millions (probably billions) of our tax dollars. Virtually nowhere to be found above the fold.

So-called premier Canadian newsprint is avoiding (of course) any responsibility it might have to readers. They're playing it so safe, you could put a condom on it.

CNEWS: Air India defendants cleared
Globe & Mail: Air India Verdict: Both Not Guilty
The Montreal Gazette: Bagri and Malik found not guilty
National Post: Bagri and Malik found not guilty
Ottawa Citizen: Owls Sneak Up on You (ok, this one actually made me sneeze)
Ottawa Sun: No Doubt About Illness (Huh?)

What a lame bunch of paper jockeys!

sigh

Just Checking

You won't believe your ears!

“Bill and Jeff’s Excellent Adventures in Radioland”
...or “The Raspberry Chronicles”

"Welcome to Canada!" Ouch!

h/t Kate

From the Weekly Standard
...

"If we have bothered forming opinions at all about Canadians, they've tended toward easy-pickings: that they are a docile, Zamboni-driving people who subsist on seal casserole and Molson. Their hobbies include wearing flannel, obsessing over American hegemony, exporting deadly Mad Cow disease and even deadlier Gordon Lightfoot and Nickelback albums. You can tell a lot about a nation's mediocrity index by learning that they invented synchronized swimming. Even more, by the fact that they're proud of it." ....

Oink!

This little piggy went to market ...

Well, so it begins!

We'll see what happens here. Won't be the first time I've started a project with absolutely no idea of where it's going to go. Bonus is, though, that I learn something new every day! I'm wondering how soon I can blow this thing up!?

I'm trying to work out the format and focus for this idiocy, so please bare with me for a while.