Here's Another Way to Help Terri -- Let's Do It

Recently I had been told that the Florida Legislature could do nothing more for Terri Schiavo. Turns out that is not true at all. Turns out there's a lot we can do to help Terri by contacting Florida legislators before they re-convene on March 8.

Here's the situation and it's even worse than I had thought (which is worse than I had imagined but nevermind about that!)

Three times Judge Greer has ordered Terri's feeding tubes removed. In 2001 the execution was delayed by new evidence which Judge Greer subsequently refused to hear. In 2003, Governor Bush and the Florida Legislature enacted "Terri's Law," which acted as a stay of execution. That law, however, was pronounced unconstutional by the Florida Supreme Court because the court said it was a violation of the separation of powers doctrine since it addressed the needs of only one person rather than an entire class, and because it interfered with the court’s ruling in one specific case.

However, a more generalized bill that alters Florida law to create a general presumption for nutrition and hydration for those who cannot speak for themselves. This bill would not face the challenge of the separation of powers doctrine.

The Florida Legislature may be able to pass a new bill in time to stop Michael Schiavo from withdrawing Terri's feeding tube at Greer's new appointed time and execution date of March 18 at l p.m.

Rep. Dennis Baxley has introduced HB701: "Withholding or Withdrawal of Nutrition or Hydration from Incompetent Persons: Declares that an incompetent person is presumed to have directed health care providers to provide the necessary nutrition and hydration to sustain life; prohibits a court, proxy, or surrogate from withholding or withdrawing nutrition or hydration except under specified circumstances; provides that the presumption to provide nutrition and hydration is inapplicable under certain circumstances; conforms provisions to changes made by the act; declares that the act supersedes existing court orders otherwise applicable on or after the effective date of the act."

The bill has made its way through appropriate committees and is expected to be presented to the full house when it meets on March 8.

Email from Bobby Schindler:

We have very little time left. As you read through this bill, realize this will protect the incapacitated. Hearsay and casual conversation will not be enough to starve and dehydrate a person to death in this state if this passes. Protecting the vulnerable, the brain injured, the elderly, those with disabilities will benefit from this bill.

By the time you read this it will be almost March 1. We have one week to email each of the members of the Florida legislature and the governor in support of HB701. PLEASE, everyone contact as many of the Florida legislators as possible. You'll find the House members LISTED HERE. Members of the Florida Senate are here.

It doesn't matter if you're not a Florida resident -- contact them anyway. This is a national issue. This Florida judge must not be allowed to set such a terrible precedent in our courts.

Please Ask Amnesty International to Help Terri

- via email from fight4terri.

Please send an email to Amnesty International at aiusaso@aiusa.org on behalf of Terri Schindler-Schiavo and ask for their intervention in saving this woman from a death by torture. Pass this email to get the word out that it is apparent in the state of Florida that they do not value the life of disabled Americans. Time is running out for Terri Schindler-Schiavo as Judge Greer has set a deadline of March 18 to commence starving and dehydrating Terri by the request of her self-serving estranged husband.

Should Terri be tortured to death per the actions of Pinellas County Florida circuit court, this could set a presentence for euthanizing disabled American men, women and children....especially babies who are born with disabilities. As any human being has the will to live, no Earthly court has the right to decide an innocent persons quality of life, whatever the circumstances.

Thank you for reading this and please pass it along.

-00-
Here's a sample if you want to copy and paste:

To Whom It May Concern:

Do the handicapped have human rights - the basic freedoms and protections that people are entitled to simply because they are human beings?

The State of Florida in the United States doesn't seem to think so. The State, its political representatives and judges are getting ready to murder a young woman in cold blood by starving her to death.

Terri Schindler Schiavo is a living, breathing, speaking human being who responds to music and the people around her. She has been confined in a hospital bed by her husband for 15 years -- a husband who has tried to have her killed in a variety of ways and has finally convinced a judge to order her murder.

Surely Terri has a right to live.

Please intervene in her behalf.

Sincerely,

Oh, Come OFF It, Europe

In his Christian Science Monitor piece about President Bush's "listening tour" of Europe, Howard LaFranci says the President also had a message for Europe.

. . . the George W. Bush who in his first term snubbed international organizations and pursued a war in Iraq,(I don't think that's an accurate portrayal of someone who begged Hussein to obey the UN, then begged the UN to follow through on their threats) but now he was spending most of a week in Europe, smiling widely and listening.

The German daily Die Welt had its own way of characterizing the visit: "The Empire Smiles Back."

But Mr. Bush came with more than just open ears. He also came with a message, with the good news of democracy and its liberating power - a message Bush discovered in the days after the Iraq war, and which he made the hallmark of his second inaugural address. It was this message - and its accompanying invitation to Europeans to join America in spreading democracy around the globe - that made Bush's interlocutors, his "partners in shared values," a bit uncomfortable.

There are several reasons for this discomfort - all of which reared their head along the president's stops in Brussels; Mainz, Germany; and Bratislava, Slovakia, and all of which will influence Europe's cooperation with America as issues from the Middle East to the former Soviet republics move forward.

Most simply, America's traditional allies that are now are grouped in the European Union feel they have been doing a version of the democracy development that Bush is touting for a long time. One EU official pointed out that Europe has been working with the Palestinians for a decade now on building institutions and a civil society - hinting that perhaps it was that long, slow work that was now bearing fruit in the form of a new Palestinian mentality.

And who was it who went into Europe after World War II and built it up to make the EU possible in the first place? Who sent money and food and people to put the UK, Germany, Italy, and France back on their feet after they were brought to their knees because of a few brutal dictators who subjugated them in pursuit of world domination?

The Palestinian problem, by the way, is looking better because Arafat died. The little bit of work the EU has done may have helped in a small way, but the United States has been working along those lines as well -- and for longer than a decade.

I'm just a little tired of the Europeans snubbing our President. I remember the difference the Marshall Plan made (and the Brits, bless their hearts, do too -- at least their leadership does). I remember the Berlin air lift. I saw the mountain in Berlin that is the rubble from the bombings and wondered that they could ever recover from such devastation. They would still be at it if it weren't for the US.

It's not that we want thanks. Not at all. Just a little respect, please, for our President and none of this sarcastic "Emporer Smiles" stuff from Die Welt.

We have ALL been trying to help the Israelis and the Palestinians work out a co-habitation deal that pleases everyone. We need to work together to help them; not stick our noses in the air and snub each other.
Then, of course, we have the widely non-reported Putin put-down of our President, accusing the government of firing Dan Rather. Hey, Vladimir -- the President didn't fire him, the people did. Bloggers, who held his feet to the fire until he almost told the truth.

Europe has a small memory. They would all be in the tank (and we probably would, too) if it wasn't for American lives and initiative -- and for more than a decade.

Hey, Europe -- CHILL.

YOU can Help the Fair Tax NOW

Please vote in the Wall Street Journal vote of the day
as to which change to the tax code
you prefer.

If you support getting rid of the income tax, social security tax, employment taxes andcapital gains taxes yet supporting social security, medicare, etc. and sustaining government programs, please vote for the national sales tax.

If you're interested but want more information, please check out the Fair Tax at http://www.fairtax.org.

Hope we can count on your support. Thanks.

http://www.wsj.com/question/

This Is So Special

I received this note last week and it is so special that I want everyone to see it. It's a story of trust, faith, persistence and courage. I know you'll love it...

Sunnye:

I just wanted to tell you that I admire your persistence in fighting
for Terri. I know that I can always go to GOPInsight for new
developments, and your story of your son touched my heart.

In 1996, I became pregnant during a rape. Due to complications, I was
advised to terminate my pregnancy. I refused all the way through. He
was born dead after being trapped in the birth canal and strangled by
the umbilical cord, but they resuscitated him. The social workers
told me that he needed to be institutionalized, that he may have
cerebral palsy after being deprived of oxygen. He needed a
craniectomy at 2 months to stop his seizures. They tried everything
to make me give up my son. I kept him, prayed for him every day, and
believed that my God could work a miracle.

Today, Alex is almost 8. He is happy, healthy, and at the top of his
first-grade class - reading at a fourth-grade level. He's my miracle
baby, and every day I wonder how much joy I would have missed out on
had I given him up, or terminated the pregnancy.

People like Terri deserve our compassion, our love, and our prayers -
but most importantly, they deserve someone who's willing to stand up
and fight for them. They can't do it themselves. Thank you for
keeping the faith - and for continuing to fight.

God bless you.

Sincerely,

Kit Lange

Greenspan Agrees

Alan Greenspan Testifies -- Windows Media File

Thanks to Dr. Riggins, volunteer district director in California who brought this exciting clip to our attention. As a reminder the FairTax will not only help the savings rate which has tremendous implications for the US Economy but a few of the benefits of the FairTax also include:

Ending federal paycheck deductions of all kinds; the workingman or woman gets a full paycheck. The plan is a total replacement for all federal income and Social Security taxes: Personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, earned income tax credit, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes.

The FairTax plan is revenue neutral; it neither raises nor lowers taxes. The rate is set to raise the same revenue the replaced taxes raise today. For many taxpayers, that means no overall loss or gain.

The FairTax is a progressive tax. Only the biggest spenders pay the maximum rate; those at or below the poverty level pay an honest and transparent nothing. No one living at or under the poverty level, according to guidelines set by the Department of Health & Human Services, pays any federal tax (hidden or obvious) on any of their spending. Today our working poor are burdened with the most regressive tax of all, Social Security, which they pay with every paycheck their entire working lives. The FairTax ends that.

The FairTax end the hidden imbedded taxes in everything we buy. According to Dale Jorgenson, Harvard economics professor, people on fixed incomes (and every other consumer in America) pay an average of 22 percent in hidden corporate taxes and compliance costs with every good they buy. Hidden taxes on services average 25 percent. The FairTax ends this. Competition forces the prices on goods and services to come down once the providers of these goods and services find that they can produce them at lower cost. The FairTax does not tax used goods.


The FairTax encourages American manufacturing, creating good jobs at home. By removing the embedded cost of the income tax system, American-made goods are more affordable at home and more competitive overseas. This brings good jobs back to our shores, as well as keeping those we have, here. In addition, the FairTax is levied on imports sold in this country. The preference that our current system provides to foreign producers in both our own market, as well as foreign, ends. This has enormous implications with respect to our trade deficit.


Taxpayers decide how much tax they pay above the poverty level. The wealthy are finally taxed according to their lifestyle, which the income tax has miserably failed to do since its inception; those who choose to live modestly pay less (both as a percentage of spending and overall taxes paid). And the FairTax successfully taxes accumulated wealth, which the estate tax usually fails to do.


The FairTax triggers a very significant economic expansion. Dr. Dale Jorgenson, former chairman of Harvard University's economics department, forecast a 10.5 percent GDP growth in the first year after enactment with decreases each year thereafter, leveling off at a rate that is slightly higher than under a continuation of the current system. That leveling off occurs after the economy has increased to between 1/4 and 1/3 larger than under a continuation of the current system. This has enormous implications for the federal budget deficit and the job picture, among others.

For more detail, go to Americans for Fair Tax.

Three Persistent Lies About Terri

I don't understand why media like the Associated Press, TV news reports and some newspapers insist on telling the public that Terri Schiavo is in a vegetative state and is totally helpless. That's simply not so and it's not only documented thoroughly by first-hand witnesses but by court documents that are public records. Yet the media persists as if just saying so will make it so. Look at this:

February 19, 2005
Terri Schiavo's documented vocabulary
From the Empire Journal (please read the whole article), a list of Terri Schiavo's documented vocabulary references:

Witness: Nurse Heidi Law
* mommy
* momma
* help me

Witness: Nurse Carla Sauerlyer
* pay (meaning "pain" when she was in discomfort)
* Haaaiii (meaning "Hi" in response to "Hi Terri")
* mommy
* help me ("Help me was, in fact, one of her more frequent utterances. I heard her say it hundreds of times."

Terri's Mediplex records:
* stop (in reference to one medical procedure being done on her)

Terri's family members:
* ugh-hugh (meaning yes)
* ugh-ugh (meaning no)
* yea ('yea' was a word she reportedly first re-learned to speak in 2002.)
* No

All this, despite being refused any rehabilitative services, such as speech therapy.

There's another lie I've heard repeated several times over the media in the past two days:

Media repeats misrepresentations in Terri Schiavo case:Clearwater, FL -- On February 24, 2005, Associated Press released a report penned by Vickie Chachere which cited an eating disorder as the cause of Terri Schiavo’s mysterious collapse and ensuing brain injury on February 25, 1990.
Contrary to the account of writer Chachere, there was never a determination by any court nor the Florida Department of Health that Terri Schiavo ever suffered from any eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia or compulsive behavior that would lead to a heart failure at the age of 26.

Another persistent lie, perpetuated by Michael, is that Terri wants to die. But a woman Michael dated the year after Terri was hospitalized testified, under oath in a deposition for the court:

Regarding Terri’s care, according to Cindy Shook, Michael Schiavo said

"How the hell should I know we never spoke about this, my God I was only 25 years old. How the hell should I know? We were young. We never spoke of this."

The Hon. John Linder on The Fair Tax

The FairTax by Cong. John Linder (R-GA)

I have argued for years that April brings mixed emotions -- Braves' opening day, the Masters, blooming dogwoods -- and the dreaded burden and frustration of Income Tax Day on April 15th.

On the first day of the 108th Congress, I reintroduced my "FairTax" bill. I did this to ensure that you will never again have to worry about confusing tax forms, stacks of tattered receipts, or traumatic IRS audits. My bill creates a national retail sales tax to replace all income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate taxes -- eliminating the need for the Internal Revenue Service entirely.

Today, IRS agents employed to ensure "taxpayer compliance" have the opportunity to abuse and harass American citizens. In addition, over 50 percent of Americans have to pay others to decipher the code and do their taxes for them. In an effort to show how complex the IRS code had become, Money Magazine created a fictional American family and asked tax professionals to prepare an IRS tax return. Incredibly, every one of the tax professionals came up with a different tax total, and not one of the tax professionals calculated what Money believed to be the correct income tax. The Treasury Department's own investigators declared that 47 percent of the advice that the IRS gives out to Americans calling its offices is erroneous.

After 89 years of income taxes in this country, the tax code has become so complex that even the agency assigned to oversee it cannot fully understand its complexities. That should indicate to all of us that it is time to try a new way to fund our government operations and programs.

The bill I introduced will not only eliminate your personal income tax, it will also do away with corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, payroll taxes (including Social Security and Medicare taxes), the self-employment tax, the gift tax, and the death tax. In the place of these assorted burdens, the government would impose a sales tax on all retail sales of new goods and services. Many people are in high tax brackets today, but many of the taxes are hidden from view. For example, in addition to income taxes, all workers pay 8% in payroll taxes and other taxes are hidden in every item we buy, costing us up to 20% more when we pay for the item at the checkout counter.

With the FairTax, all of these hidden taxes are abolished. Additionally, every family would receive a rebate of the sales tax on spending up to the Federal poverty level, to be paid monthly in advance. This would allow a married family of four to spend $24,680 annually without having to pay a single penny in Federal taxes.

I am also excited that the FairTax would revolutionize our economy. Without the income tax’s stifling impediment to growth, Americans will be able to save more, and businesses will be able to invest more. Individuals will have incentives to engage in capital formation -- the real source of job creation and innovation -- more than ever before. Businesses will have incentives to direct large amounts of capital back into the United States.

Because income and payroll taxes are embedded in the prices of every good and service we buy today, prices will drop by an average of 20 percent. Anytime you make a purchase from a store, its cost has already been inflated by the seller to compensate for the added costs imposed on his business that result from being forced to fill out reams of paperwork and keep track of payroll and corporate income tax payments. Without these hassles, retailers can reduce prices across the board, so that even with the sales tax added to the final price of a good or service, you will end up paying about the same amount as you do today.

While my bill would eliminate the payroll taxes used to fund Social Security and Medicare benefits, the benefits themselves would not change in any way. The source of the revenue in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds would simply be sales taxes rather than payroll taxes.

The most important aspect of the FairTax is that it is fair for every American. You would have ultimate control over how much you wanted to spend and, therefore, how much you wanted to be taxed.

You should know that most lobbyists in Washington, D.C. are registered to lobby the tax code and -- since they are the only people who apparently understand it -- they will be fighting this proposal fiercely. Nonetheless, I am enthusiastic about this bill and its prospects for success, and we need you to join us in this fight. This is the beginning of an historic debate that will ensure that April 15th is just another spring day for you and your family.

Terri Has Three More Weeks

TAMPA, FL (AP)-- A judge on Friday extended for three weeks a court order keeping Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in place, the latest in a series of legal developments in the bitter right-to-die case.

Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer made his decision after pleadings from the woman's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, that they need more time to pursue additional medical tests which might prove their brain-damaged daughter has more mental capabilities than previously thought.

The woman's husband, Michael Schiavo, says he is seeking to carry out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially.

This seems to me to fit under the legal term: "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" for Terri's parents.

Michael Schiavo's original quote about whether Terri had specified what she desired in case of a medical emergency was "How the hell should I know we never spoke about this, my God I was only 25 years old. How the hell should I know? We were young. We never spoke of this."

Now that he's anxious to kill Terri as fast as possible, he has changed his story and the really terrible thing is that the media helps him by insisting that Terri is in a vegetative state, which she is not.

They make it look like this is a tug-of-war between Terri's parents and Monster Michael. It's not. It's Terri's right to live.

The real point is -- if they kill her, they can't get her back if medical science comes up with something to help her. If she lives, there is hope. Death is irrevocable.

Media Keeps Getting It Wrong

February 25, 2005
Media repeats misrepresentations in Terri Schiavo case
Clearwater, FL – On February 24, 2005, Associated Press released a report penned by Vickie Chachere which cited an eating disorder as the cause of Terri Schiavo's mysterious collapse and ensuing brain injury on February 25, 1990.

Contrary to the account of writer Chachere, there was never a determination by any court nor the Florida Department of Health that Terri Schiavo ever suffered from any eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia or compulsive behavior that would lead to a heart failure at the age of 26.

Indeed, Florida's Department of Health had completely and absolutely cleared Terri’s general practitioner of any negligence or wrong-doing in her case. This was after the physician had been accused by Terri's husband of ignoring evidence of an eating disorder.

Additionally, at the time of her mysterious medical episode, Terri Schiavo stood 5'3" and weighed somewhere between 115 and 118 pounds -- a slim, but normal stature and weight.

Associated Press writer, Vickie Chachere cites not ONE medical document that would affirm her careless contention that Terri Schiavo was an irresponsible dieter or a compulsive victim of an eating disorder. The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation asks Ms. Chachere to readily produce the facts upon which she penned such assertions.

The parents and siblings have repeatedly offered to media and press a copy of a bone scan conducted on Terri Schiavo just one year after her incident that reveals multiple sites of trauma and broken bones throughout Terri's body. Neither the law enforcement agencies nor the media or press have made any effort to investigate why Terri Schiavo's body was seemingly broken by battery.

Instead, they perpetuate the unsubstantiated claims that Terri Schiavo suffered from an eating disorder that rendered her healthy, 26-year-old heart incapable of carrying on.

Statement of Robert Schindler, Terri's Father: "This is a slanderous accusation against my daughter with no basis in fact. Certain members of the press seem determined to spread misinformation to kill Terri."

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation is calling upon all of media and press to take up the task of investigating allegations of serious abuse against Terri Schiavo as are evidenced in the 1991 bone scan and well as ongoing violations against Terri under Florida's Guardianship Statutes.

Source: email from Schindler representative

Waiting, Watching, Praying

It almost seems to me as if nothing else is happening in life except trying to keep Terri Schiavo alive. I guess I care that much.

Why, you wonder? Because I had a son who suffered an aneurysm in his brain that killed him. But he was alive, totally paralyzed, on feeding tubes for six weeks before his kidneys, liver, lungs and brain gave out. He could communicate only by blinking once for yes, twice for no. And during that entire six weeks no one once -- not even one single time -- suggested that we should kill him. If they had, I probably would have pitched them out the sixth story hospital room window.

We read to him and talked to him, sang to him, prayed with him. We treated him as though he would someday be well -- and we believed he would. I still believe he would have gotten well if God hadn't decided to take him (or, medically, if his organs hadn't quit.)

So I know what Terri's parents are going through. I can't help but empathize. And, more important, I remember my shock when I saw the difference between life on machines and pure, cold, hard, irrevocable death.

The attorneys and medical experts who say Terri is reacting only because of "involuntary subcortical response," are applying book medicine to life and that is irresponsible.

Terri's story is amazing -- although her husband has $2 million awarded for her therapy and care, he has refused even the most basic medical care for her for 10 years. She has made fantastic improvements; with therapy and medical help she would have improved immensely more than she has.

Read another version of a first-hand witness to this case at the Ragged Edge, here.

Michael Schiavo says Terri is brain dead. He wants to remove her feeding tube and end her life. Her parents maintain that their daughter smiles, turns her head, vocalizes and tracks with her eyes. They say she would improve with treatment.

To date, the husband has refused to OK antibiotics or dental work -- "Her teeth are fine; she doesn't eat," he has said. She has not had physical, occupational, recreational or speech therapy for years. She has not had a mammogram or pap smear for four years. When a complete physical was ordered for her in preparation for the current hearing, a urinary tract infection was discovered.

The major issue involved in this round of the fight for her life is what is meant by "new" treatment. The hubby says it means untried, pointless care. The parents say they want the kind of care she hasn't gotten yet.

The husband's doctors maintain that she does not feel pain, yet have prescribed pain medication for her "to make the nurses feel better," they say. Terri's moaning and crying is only primitive brain stem activity, it's said.

When she smiles at her mother coming in the room, it's just primitive stem cell activity, say the doctors hired by Michael.

I attended the hearing in Clearwater, Florida to determine whether Terri Schiavo should have her feeding tube removed. She is stable. She is not terminally ill.

The hardest part of that first day was watching videos of Terri. "That could have been me," I thought.

On one of the videos, a doctor asks Terri to open her eyes as widely as she can. While she was doing this on tape, I looked around the courtroom. Everybody in the courtroom was doing the same widening action . . . including the husband, his attorney, the sheriffs and the judge himself.

In the videotape of Terri, she is responding to doctors and family. Sometimes she is responding to music. Frequently she can be seen clearly responding to spoken requests to move parts of her body.

A snip of the tape was shown on Tampa's ABC--V affiliate: At its end, the news anchor said, "I guess it seems a matter of semantics, but it doesn't look like a coma.""

Throughout the hearing, Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, has been trying to doctors to agree that Terri is not "with it" enough to be allowed to continue her life. One of the doctors seemed to consider message boards a rare thing, and claimed to have never heard of the most famous computerized message board user of all -- Stephen Hawking. While examining Terri's videotaped interaction with her mother, he had to be asked twice to please look at his monitor, and to put his glasses back on so he could see his screen clearly.

We read about torture of terrorists who have tried to kill our citizens and our soldiers and the ACLU screams "injustice," "what about rights," etc. ad nauseum. But Terri, who has every right to live? Where are the indignant shouts when attorneys try to take her life?

Remember when Janet Reno sent the troops in to send the little boy back to Cuba?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to storm the hospice care home (it's not a nursing home where they help people live, by the way. It's a dying place). If I were her parents I would go in there and get her. I'd take her to Scotland or Portugal and I'd hide her so Monster Michael and his Death Troopers could never find her.

I know the difference between death and life -- intimately. And I wouldn't sentence Terri Schiavos' parents to a lifetime of grieving for their daughter for anything on this earth.

What Are We?

The recent national interest in the Sarah Scantlin/Terri Schiavo cases speak a lot to the morality of our age as well as to innovations in medical science.

Sarah Scantlin is the young Kansas woman who was hit by a car when she was 18 and has been in a coma for 20 years. Suddenly, a few weeks ago, she began to speak.
Terri Schiavo is the young Florida woman who has been in a coma for 15 years -- only she is awake and responsive. She can sit in a chair and even managed to stand last week for a few moments. Her husband wants the court to pull her feeding tube so that she will die.

The Kansas case has been a delight and a joy. The national media as represented by ABC went bonkers with delight as did we bloggers -- and half the nation, I dare say. We celebrated Sarah's miracle. . .and, logically,. . .wondered if it might happen for Terri.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, Terri's case is being tried as a "right to die" case. Although he has no directive saying so, her husband, Michael Schiavo, has spent the entire past 15 years trying to convince the court she doesn't want to live. Her parents have fought with all their resources to keep her alive. Terri, herself, seeems to be struggling for life. Everything she has tried to do has emphasized her will to live.

It is amazing that, in a country dedicated to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" would have even one judge who would rule in favor of death over life. To be fair to the judge, we will assume that he didn't avail himself of the opportunity to see Terri for himself, but took the word of Michael's attorney, a known "right to die" advocate. But isn't it the responsibility of someone who takes anothers life in his hands to avail himself of first-hand information? Possibly not.

Fortunately Americans from all over the country have turned to Terri's case and done all they could to save her. We are a nation of light and life.

Comes now news of what's going on in the medical profession.

The Omaha Herald reports "Even in a coma, brains often work."

Thousands of brain-damaged people who are treated as if they are unaware may in fact hear and register what is going on around them but be unable to respond, a new brain imaging study suggests.

The findings, if confirmed in follow-up experiments, could have sweeping implications for determining the best care for these patients.

Some researchers said the report, which appeared this week in the journal Neurology, also could affect legal cases in which parties dispute the mental state of an unresponsive patient.

They said the research showed that brain-imaging technology could be a powerful tool to help doctors and family members determine whether a person had lost all awareness.

"This study gave me goose bumps, because it shows this possibility of this profound isolation, that these people are there, that they've been there all along, even though we've been treating them as if they're not," said Dr. Joseph Fins of New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Center. He was not involved in the report but collaborates with its authors on other projects.

We learned that from Sarah. It was widely reported that although she still felt like she was 18, she knew a few things about modern life. She knew, for example, as Boston.com reports,

Family members say Scantlin's understanding of the outside world is mostly from news and soap operas that played on the television in her room.

On Saturday, her brother asked whether she knew what a CD was. Sarah said she did and knew it had music on it.

Then there's the case of "Kimmie."

Kimberly Anne is a 28 year old school teacher from Manhattan, Kansas. She worked hard for her Master's Degree in teaching and her "kids" adored her. She and her fiance have been together since she was 18 years old. He finally proposed to her last Christmas. He bought her the Jeep as a surprise birthday present last New Year's Eve (her birthday). He "wanted her to be safe"...and oddly enough, he probably saved her life...and her brother's. The Jeep has "side crumple zones" and a sturdy construction...that is most likely the only thing that saved her...the Jeep took most of the impact instead of her.

In June, 2001 Kim sustained severe brain injuries ... shearing of the brainstem & diffuse brain injury mostly from the initial impact, some from the swelling afterwards. These injuries left Kimberly in a very deep coma, unable to sustain her own breathing, etc. She was placed on life support. . .

Kimmy is now awake, alive, well and teaching. Read her story at Kimberly Anne.com At the bottom of that page you'll find interesting comments about the Terri Schiavo case.

The rest of the story in the Omaha Herald goes more deeply into the research that was recently published.

Other scientists cautioned that the new research was more suggestive than conclusive - and that it did not mean that unresponsive people with brain damage were more likely to recover or that treatment was possible.

Still, they said the study opened a window on a world that has been neglected by medical inquiry.

"This is an extremely important work, for that reason alone," said Dr. James Bernat, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth.

Bernat said findings from such studies would be relevant to cases like that of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman with brain damage whose relatives are disputing whether she should be kept alive.

The patients in question have significant brain damage. Between 3 million and 6 million Americans live with the consequences of serious brain injuries, neurologists say. . . . A better understanding of brain patterns in minimally conscious patients also should help cut down on misdiagnosis by doctors, Fins said. He said one study found that up to 30 percent of patients identified as being unaware, in a persistently vegetative state, were not. Instead, they were minimally conscious, like the men in the imaging study.

Moreover, mental states can change over time, and some patients have almost completely recovered function after being thought vegetative. Brain imaging would be one way to track these changes.

"The most consequential thing about this is that we have opened a door, we have found an objective voice for these patients, which tells us they have some cognitive ability in a way they cannot tell us themselves," Hirsch said.

The patients, she said, are "more human than we imagined in the past, and it is unconscionable not to aggressivey pursue research efforts to evaluate them and develop therapeutic techniques."

Can a humane society, based on human rights and respect for life, do less than support life over death? The question Terri's attorneys should be looking at is a right-to-life one rather than a right-to-die.

Reprieve!

AND there will be a hearing at 1 p.m. EST tomorrow. Sunnye

February 22, 2005
Judge Greer Issues Stay Until Tomorrow - Updated
Judge Greer Issues Temporary Stay till 5:00 pm tomorrow!

Attorneys for the Schindlers have just been notified that Judge Greer has granted their Emergency Motion for a Temporary Stay. The new Stay will hold over until after tomorrow's hearing and by its terms will remain in effect until 5:00 pm, February 23.

2nd DCA Issues MANDATE Without Further Instructions
As expected, the 2nd District Court of Appeals issued its Mandate this afternoon at 1:00. The stay protecting Terri's life has now expired by its own terms. A motion for a new stay is set to be heard by Judge Greer tomorrow at 2:45. [more]

Attorneys for the Schindlers have been advised that Judge Greer is in possession of the 2nd DCA's Mandate and their Emergency Motion for a Temporary Stay, and that he intends to rule on that motion this afternoon as soon as possible.

In the meantime, Terri is being fed. Her family is with her and she is doing well.

Source: email from Schindler Family

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO ASK PRESIDENT BUSH TO INTERVENE IN TERRI'S BEHALF: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/PresPardon

Terri's Parents to Speak

Terri Schiavo's Parents Will Make a Statement to the Press at 1 PM at the Woodside Hospice
Press release directly from the Schindlers via email.
Received 11:38 AM

Going out on Christian Wire Service.

Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri's Schindler Schiavo's parents, will make a statement to the press on Tuesday, February 22, at 1 PM., in front of the Woodside Hospice, located at 6774 102nd Avenue N. (near 66th Street N and 102nd Avenue N) in Pinellas Park, Florida.

Who: Bob and Mary Schindler

When: Tuesday, February 22, at 1 PM

Where: In front of the Woodside Hospice, located at 6774 102nd Avenue N. (near 66th Street N and 102nd Avenue N) in Pinellas Park, Florida.

Why: To make a statement in regard to saving their daughter.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO ASK PRESIDENT BUSH TO INTERVENE IN TERRI'S BEHALF: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/PresPardon

Wishing Doesn't Make It So

February 22, 2005
Latest Update on Terri Schiavo situation: Media reports are wrong
Flash:

At this moment, there is no stay. All of media are reporting that there is.

The problem is that yesterday, the court's media relations department issued a release and included all three documents that were filed. Amongst them was a *proposed* order, penned by the Schindlers' attorney. This was, however, not signed by Judge Greer. Therein lies the confusion.

Even AP has reported that there is a stay in effect until hearing tomorrow. Unfortunately, that is not true.

We will know sometime around 1.00pm ET today whether or not Judge Greer will sign that proposed order. If he does not, it is possible that Terri's food and water will be withdrawn as early as this afternoon.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO ASK PRESIDENT BUSH TO INTERVENE AT http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/PresPardon OR CLICK HERE.

Petition the President for Terri Schiavo

Click on the above title to Petition President Bush to save Terri Schiavo. Since the report in the Empire Journal saying that Judge Greer had issued a stay until after a hearing turned out to be untrue, a request to the President of the United States would seem to be "the last straw."

Since Terri proved that she wants to live by actually rising from her chair and standing for a few moments when an attorney told her that she would die if she didn't stand up, this is no time for her supporters to give up.

Please sign the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/PresPardon and give Terri what may be her last chance to live.

Michael Schiavo: "I'm going to start killing Terri..."

Previously we communicated that Judge Greer barred Michael Schiavo from withholding food from Terri Schiavo until Wednesday based upon an Empire Journal article. Lifenews reported the same information. It now appears that the information is in error and that Michael Schiavo will have the ability to remove Terri's feeding tube tomrrow at 1 pm. Read on.

Reproduced with permission from Thrown Back

I've been on the phone most of the evening with Bob & Mary Schindler and Msgr. Ted Malanowski, regarding Terri's situation and their strategy in light of Michael's announced intention to remove Terri's feeding tube tomorrow afternoon. As the linked story relates, upon learning that the Florida Second DCA would not delay issuing it's mandate tomorrrow, George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, informed the Schindlers that Michael was going to make good on his intention to begin starving Terri. It seems that no sooner than I asked the question "What will Michael Do?" that Michael, in effect, answered saying "I'm going to start killing Terri at the earliest possible moment."

So I was surprised to see a follow-up story at BlogsForTerri and Hyscience claiming that Judge Greer had issued a stay barring Michael's removal of the feeding tube until Wednesday's hearing "is held to determine if the stay in effect from Greer�s 2000 death order should remain in place."

I've spoken to Bob again, and he assures me that NO such stay has been issued. These reports are apparently based on a story in The Empire Journal. Bob told me that after their attorney, David Gibbs, filed his emergency motion against the removal of the feeding tube, a reporter mentioned something to Mr. Gibbs about Judge Greer "issuing a stay." Mr. Gibbs immediately went to Judge Greer's chambers to find out what was going on, and was told that Judge Greer had not and would not issue a stay, and, furthermore, that the Judge "refused to make any ruling until Wednesday's hearing."

I have e-mailed the people at BlogsForTerri, Hyscience, and Empire Journal to apprise them of the true situation.

So, Terri's life is still hanging in the balance, and at this point, barring something stopping him, Michael will follow through on his murderous intent tomorrow afternoon.

Terri Will Die Tomorrow If We Don't Help Now

Petition opened February 16, 2005, 2,189 Signatures

Without 11th-hour help Terri Schindler-Schiavo will soon be starved to death. Husband Michael Schiavo -- thanks to yet another outrage by an activist judge, again has permission to execute this courageous woman by removing her feeding tube.

Act NOW to spare Terri's life! Join with Alan Keyes, Fr. Frank Pavone, James Dobson, Randall Terry and other caring Americans in an army dedicated to protecting innocent life and ending judicial tyranny.

Here's your chance to not only right the wrong being done to Terri, but to fix the system. First, sign this petition demanding Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature act immediately to void the court's unconstitutional violation of Terri's unalienable right to life. Second, sign an accompanying petition that urges President George W. Bush to nominate only U.S. Supreme Court Justices who will faithfully interpret the Constitution as written. Then stand ready to help fight for Terri's life as encouraged by subsequent email alerts!

Want more information?
Please click "read the background" and "read the body of the petition."
Ready for action?
Please click HERE and select the option right for you.

PETITION GOVERNOR, LEGISLATURE!
Join 11th-hour fight to spare
Terri from starvation death

NOTE -- Send your petition by fax as well as email!
Look for your opportunity after signing this petition.

A grotesque outrage is being perpetrated by power-drunk judges, a greedy and callous man, and the insufferable, evil indifference to innocent life of far too many of our fellow Americans! And this is despite the direct intervention of the people's elected representatives and the chief executive of their state.

I'm speaking about the death sentence recently handed down upon an innocent young woman, Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

But we can act together to save her life IF YOU HELP US MOVE QUICKLY! First, sign this petition! Then prayerfully support an 11th-hour effort being made on her behalf.

I am honored to join with Fr. Frank Pavone, James Dobson, Randall Terry and other caring Americans to organize an army of defense for Terri's life! Stand with us in protecting innocent life and ending such outrageous judicial tyranny. Won't you please join us in this vital fight?

Terri Schiavo has been fighting for her life for more than 10 years, and her family has been fighting alongside her. But not her husband, Michael Schiavo, who is aggressively doing all in his power to end her life.

Terri is not on special life support. Denied by her husband all rehabilitative therapy, she must receive nutrition and hydration through a tube. Without it, she starves to death.

Michael has persistently attempted to get Terri's food and water stopped. Perhaps he has a better use for the more than $1 million he received for Terri's medical care (although he's spent much of it on lawyers, campaigning to end her life).

What's worse, Florida state courts have generally endorsed Michael's wishes, without even determining Terri's condition or what care she requires. In fact, Terri is so easy to care for, her parents and siblings have repeatedly petitioned the court to take her home and care for her there!

Thankfully, the courts' cruel indifference to Terri's fate prompted a public outcry when the judge last ordered Terri's feeding tube removed. The whole legislature met in special session in October 2003 and passed -- and Gov. Jeb Bush signed -- "Terri's Law." This law has kept her alive until now.


BUT as badly as the Florida courts have behaved, it took "Terri's Law" to reveal this heart-rending case as yet another instance of the judicial tyranny that is afflicting America and corroding our nation's decent heart. Because, you see, the Florida Supreme Court (the same one that ruled Al Gore won the Presidency in 2000!) decided it is unconstitutional for the legislative and the executive branches to authorize a law that overrides a court ruling.


This is unconstitutional! If we are to remain truly a "government of the people," then the people's elected representatives must retain the ability to correct disordered, vicious and unjust rulings by unelected judges. Otherwise, we no longer have a Republic -- we have a judicial dictatorship!

The Schindler family continues to try to stave off the day when some judge says, "pull the tube, Terri must die." But you and I can help, by pressing Florida's legislature to pass a new law that applies AT ONCE to ALL disabled persons.

This law must REQUIRE that courts rule in favor of basic, lifesaving medical treatment unless a patient has stipulated in advance, in writing (such as a "living will"), before witnesses, that he or she does not wish such treatment.

Only such law can prevent in time a shocking miscarriage of "justice" upon Terri by her husband, and enforced by power-drunk, secularist judges who care nothing for what the people believe and want in the decent protection of innocent life.

And by the way, because Michael Schiavo is Terri's court-appointed guardian, her individual interests cannot even be protected through divorce -- without permission he continues to withhold. Meanwhile, he's been living for years with another woman, by whom he has children. Yet, the courts see no conflict of interest in his desire to see Terri die!

My friend, I can't go into all the terrible injustices perpetrated on Terri Schindler-Schiavo and her long-suffering, deeply religious family -- but we must raise our voices advocating for protecting her life NOW!

So please, help me today:

1) To save Terri's life with a national hue and cry!
2) To STOP judicial tyrants who blithely order the death of an innocent, handicapped woman, while denying her the right to be fairly represented in court, refusing to honor her family's love or religious convictions, or even taking objective expert medical or forensic opinion into account.
3) AND HELP ME SEND A MESSAGE TO "ACTIVIST" JUDGES EVERYWHERE, BY SETTING A PRECEDENT IN THIS NATIONALLY PUBLICIZED CASE.

My friend, we MUST reclaim from an out-of-control judiciary the co-equal balance of power of the people's elected officials -- the legislative and the executive branches. As envisioned for them by our Founders, let's return law-making to the legislators, not UN-elected and UN-accountable judges. Please read the petition, and if you agree with it, immediately take this first step toward helping Terri by signing it today!

This is one of two petitions that not only will right the wrong being done to Terri, but to fix the system which allows such outrageous judicial tyranny. If you haven't already, please sign an accompanying petition that asks President George W. Bush to nominate only U.S. Supreme Court Justices who will faithfully interpret the Constitution as written. Look for that link on the "thank-you" webpage immediately after signing this petition.

In a subsequent email, I will call on you to help the Declaration Alliance flood Florida with mail and emails, phone calls and faxes, pushing Gov. Bush and the legislature to act courageously TODAY! Let them re-establish legal precedent in favor of innocent life!

You see, they're afraid the courts will slap their wrists again in protection of judicial activism -- WHILE FOR TERRI SCHINDLER-SCHIAVO AND HER FAMILY, THIS MEANS LIFE OR DEATH.

Thank you for acting QUICKLY. Even a day's delay could prove devastating. God bless you for caring!

With victory for life and the defeat of judicial tyranny,

Alan Keyes
Declaration Alliance

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!
Then email everyone you know!

Watch Out, Hillary -- Here Comes The Big Gun

The buzz on the Hill is that Veep Cheney may well step down next year. If he does, the rumor continues, Condi Rice will take his place.

In his blog, To The Point, Dr. Jack Wheeler says an insider "Congressional Committee Chairman," "We all know that Dick Cheney has been the best Vice-President of modern times, perhaps in American history, and we know that he absolutely will not run for President in 2008. Further, he has an unfortunate history of heart trouble. So let's just say none of us will be surprised if, sometime next year, he will step down from the Vice-Presidency due to his health.

"Should this happen, President Bush would need to appoint his replacement, just as Richard Nixon chose Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew. It is quite clear to us whom the President would choose should he need to: Condoleezza Rice."

As Wheeler points out, that would certainly put Condi on the fast track to the Presidential nomination in 2008. That move, says Wheeler, "sucks every breath of wind from Hillary's sails. Historically, it's hard for a party to keep the White House after they've had it for eight years. This is George Bush and Dick Cheney's way to buck history -- and make it."

If that is true, we come to the issues of what Condi supports and what she doesn't. Is she, for example, proChoice or proLife? What's her stand on the marriage amendment?

We need to know more about her positions on domestic problems before we decide whether she gets our support for President. We sure like the idea of pitting her against Hilary, though.

Money For Monster Michael Is Not The Issue

Thanks for the link, Cao.

Richard at Blogs for Terri writes:

February 19, 2005
Blogs For Terri Attack Plan -- Reminder
This is a reminder to all BlogsForTerri bloggers. The BlogsForTerri action plan has been posted below.

Please help to see that it is distributed to all of the members of the BlogsForTerri blogroll. The plan has been prepared by those of us that have direct contact with the Schindlers and that are closest to what is going on. We encourage Terri's bloggers to help us address the items in the plan and not lose focus or waste precious time by doing something that could be completely counter-productive to Terri's survival.

Money for Michael Schiavo is not the issue.

The issues that we can address pertain to the Legislature and public opinion. All three of these are addressed in the plan. Let the attorneys and the Schindlers deal with the financial matter. Things are going on behind the scenes that many are not aware of.

Stay the course, work together as a team, spend your talents and energies on the things that will do the most good. We need everyone's help, but we need everyone working together.

I wish I knew what "the things that will do the most good" are. I hope we're doing them.

Whatever Works!

For a painful but funny look at Terri Schiavo's situation, check out "Terri Schiavo Spared by 'Endangered' Designation" on Scott Ott's blog, Scrappleface.

Regarding Monster Michael

Frustration deepens in Schiavo case. Bloggers who have sympathized and empathized and agonized over this case are getting more and more desparate -- and these are people who don't even know Terri. Imagine what her parents are suffering!

Paul Deignan has the idea that raising money to pay Michael Schiavo off might make it possible to free Terri from her monster husband.

It seems clear to me at least that the motivation of the "husband" was originally monetary and is now both monetary and pride. If offered enough money (something over $50,000), would the "husband" relinquish custody of Terri to her parents? I will put forward $100 myself to test this idea.

If anyone else is interested, reply in comment here with your proper e-mail address, name, and amount you are willing to make available by PayPal to the Schlindlers or a third-party trust for this offer. We will go through the logistics of collecting and offering the money Monday should we reach an amount pledged of over $60,000. The money would not we collected unless the offer would be accepted by all parties involved.

Please be assured that you will only be asked to make good on your pledge should we have a workable proposition where trust is verifiable to all. Naturally, this is at the cost of some privacy (name, amount, and e-mail). That is a facet of the proposition.

I would like to encourage discussion here about this idea.

My first reaction is utter repulsion but on second thought, everything about this case is deeply repulsive and Terri has the right to live -- a right guaranteed to her by the Constitution of the United States. Since the courts won't honor that right and her parents have tried everything else, perhaps paying off Monster Michael is simply the last great hope.

One thing for sure, Michael won't take any money, no matter how much, if his fear is what I suspect it is: That Terri will remember that he tried to murder her and will communicate that fact to her family, who would then bring the Monster up on attempted murder charges.

The way Terri got into a coma in the first place coupled with all of Monster Michael's behavior since then has led me to believe that this is his fear -- attempted murder charges. If that IS the case, there's not enough money on earth to pay him off and Terri will die.

Her parents have certainly tried everything to let him off the financial hook to get Terri back. On October 26, 2004, their attorney wrote a settlement letter to Monster Michael promising that if he would divorce her and give her back to her parents:

1. The Schindlers would never seek any money from Michael. He could retain any monies or other assets that might remain to him, either from their married life together, from the malpractice awards for himself or for Terri, or any other assets he might have received in the past. They would not seek any financial help from him for any care, therapy, or rehabilitation for Terri.

2. The Schindlers fully understand and appreciate that Michael now has a new life with Jodi and their two children. If he would desire to divorce Terri, the family would sign any necessary legal documents to assure Michael that, upon Terri's natural death, he would receive any of Terri's estate that he would inherit were he to remain her husband. Whether or not Michael would choose to pusue a divorce from Terri, the Schindlers would guarantee that he could retain whatever visiting rights he might desire with Terri for the rest of her life.

3. The Schindlers would permit Michael's attorneys to draft any agreement regarding this matter that Michael would desire, including the above referenced terms and any other terms he and his attorneys would find appropriate, excluding payment of Michael's previous legal fees or costs.

Now that Michael is a father himself, the Schindlers are pleading with him to consider their love for their daughter and sister and to permit them to take over Terri's care, with their blessings on Michael as he continues to live his own life with his new family.

As far as I can tell, Monster Michael ignored this and continues to nip at Terri's legal heels like the attack dog he is. If indeed he is guilty of attempting to murder her, he will pursue this until she is dead. If he is innocent of such a charge, he will back off, divorce Terri, and get on with his life.

Here's Your Chance To Do Something About Your Tax Problems

The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform met for the first time yesterday (Feb. 16) and as a result of the meeting they issued a request for comments from the general public. That's us, folks.

Request for Comments
The President has clearly outlined the mission of this Advisory Panel in Executive Order No. 13369. During this process of examination, the Advisory Panel is committed to ensuring that all interested parties have an opportunity to share views and concerns. Throughout the course of the Panel's work, comments will be solicited on specific matters. Interested parties are strongly encouraged to submit comments within the scope of these questions.

Request for Comments #1 (Posted February 16, 2005)
At this time, the Panel is soliciting comments on the following questions:

Headaches that taxpayers -- both individuals and businesses -- face because of the existing system. By headaches, we mean unnecessary complexity and burdens.

Aspects of the tax system that you believe are unfair.

Specific examples of how the tax code distorts important business or personal decisions.

Goals that the Panel should try to achieve as we evaluate the existing tax system and recommend options for reform. At this point, we are not looking for specific proposals.

Comments outside the scope of these specific matters will be considered separately, however, the Advisory Panel requests that the comments to these specific questions follow the format and guidelines described below.

To facilitate the Advisory Panel's consideration and review, we have established two methods by which statements can be submitted. Please use only one of the methods when submitting comments.

Transmission by Email as a MS Word attachment to comments@taxreformpanel.gov.

Typewritten statements may be mailed to the panel at:
The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform
1440 New York Avenue NW
Suite 2100
Washington, DC 20220

Page Limit - The Advisory Panel strongly encourages parties to limit their statements to a maximum length of 5 pages of double-spaced written text in 12 point font. Any statement exceeding 5 pages in length should be accompanied by a one-page "executive summary."

Identification and Cover Sheet - Each page of the submission should be clearly marked with the submitter's name or organization name. Each submission should also include a cover page with the submitter's name (and organization if applicable), date of submission, and contact information (if the submitter chooses to provide it). Each submission should be clearly marked as originating from one of the following categories of submitters: Individuals, Business, Government, or Organizations and Associations.

Statements submitted in connection with the panel's first request for comments must be received by the Advisory Panel no later than 5:00 p.m. on March 18, 2005. Please be aware that all comments will be made available to the public.

Let's Get This Judge Off The Bench Before He Murders Terri

Subject: Please sign petition HERE to impeach judge in terri shiavo case

Here are twelve of the 38 points of the argument for the petition:

To: Florida House of Representatives

Whereas the Florida Constitution Article III Section 17 provides for the impeachment of judges for misdemeanor in office, misdemeanor being defined as a misdeed or offense less than a felony.

Whereas Judge George W. Greer is a judge in the 6th Circuit Court of Florida and bound to rule in agreement with Florida Statutes and the Judicial Code of Ethics,

The undersigned are petitioning Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and the Florida House of Representatives to impeach Judge George W. Greer pursuant to the provisions in the Florida Constitution for the following violations of Statutes and Judicial Canons, which prove justification for impeachment.

Judge George W. Greer has caused public confidence in the judiciary to deteriorate due to his rulings regarding Terri Schiavo and thus violated Judicial Canon 1.

Judge George W. Greer has made rulings, which advance the private interests of Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Senate President Jim King by allowing the
statutes, which apply to persons with terminal illness, to order the death of Terri Schiavo by dehydration and starvation at the request of Michael Schiavo and thus is in violation of Judicial Canon 2B.

Judge George W. Greer has not ruled according to law in the case of whether to remove Terri Schiavo's tube by which she receives nutrition and hydration. The
rulings, which are inconsistent with Florida Statutes and Constitution, are:

1. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(2) for failure to discharge his duties as guardian. The statute requires that the guardian
protect the rights of the ward, provide for her health and safety, properly manage her financial resources and help her regain her abilities to the maximum extent possible.

2. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(3) for abuse of his powers as evidenced by his denying her any significant sensory stimulation and his efforts to have her life ended.

3. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(7) for wasting, embezzling, and/or other mismanagement of the ward's property; one example is Michael's statement on national television that he had Terri's wedding rings melted down and made into jewelry for himself.

4. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(11) because of a conflict of interest between the ward and the guardian due to Michael Schiavo living with and fathering children with another woman.

5. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(13) for failure to comply with the guardianship report.

6. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(14) for failure to file annual guardianship reports in a timely manner.

7. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(16) for improperly managing the ward's assets by using Terri's money which was awarded by a court to be used for her rehabilitation but at the authorization of Judge Greer is being used to pay legal fees in an effort to end Terri's life.

8. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(17) because there has been a significant change in Terri's assets due to the actions of her guardian. Terri's assets have likely increased since her accident and Michael Schiavo is denying Terri the benefit of any assets accrued after the malpractice
award which would be equally hers as Michael's legal spouse.

9. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri’s guardian even though he should be removed as Terri's guardian pursuant to Florida Statute 744.474(18) because Michael's adulterous relationship (which is a misdemeanor under Florida law) with another woman ought to disqualify Michael as a suitable guardian for Terri as the interest which Michael said (in malpractice trial court proceedings) he had toward Terri is directed to another woman who is not his wife and has two children by said other woman of whom he is the father.

10. Judge Greer has allowed Michael Schiavo to remain as Terri's guardian and has aided Michael in abusing, neglecting, and exploiting Terri, a vulnerable adult,
by appropriating funds that were awarded for her rehabilitation to pay legal fees, and has aided in exploiting Terri by denying the money to be used for her benefit. Both these infractions were committed with the knowledge that Terri lacked the capacity to consent and explained in detail in Florida Statute 415.102.

11. Judge Greer's rulings to date have deprived Terri Schiavo of her constitutional right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property which are detailed in Section 2 of the Florida Constitution by ordering her life to be ended by denying her hydration and nutrition.

12. Judge Greer has deprived Terri of her constitutional religious rights by allowing Michael Schiavo to prevent Monsignor Malonowski from visiting Terri, by allowing Michael to prevent Monsignor Malinowski from administering last rites when her feeding tube was removed in October 2003, and by allowing Michael to prevent Terri's blood relatives from placing pictures of religious figures in her
room.

Step up and sign this petition to get rid of the murdering judge.

Taking A Good, Hard Look at Michael Schiavo

You may or may not remember that Michael Schiavo is Terri's husband.

Terri Schiavo is the young woman who was discovered near death under mysterious circumstances in her home in 1990. She has been in a near-coma ever since but is now able to communicate by blinking an eye once or twice in answer to questions. She recognizes friends and relatives when they come into her room and responds appropriately (but within her serious limitations)to stimuli. She reacts lovingly to her parents but in sheer terror to her husband.

Michael Schiavo is trying to legally murder her. He has gotten a court order to have her feeding tube (which keeps her alive since she can't swallow) removed on February 22. Terri's parents are fighting for her life. Their latest move, and possibly last hope, is a petition to the US Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, back at Michael: ever since he won a couple of lawsuits (nearly $2 million worth), he has done everything he could to get rid of Terri. First he refused to allow her to have therapy recommended by her doctors -- and he has refused consistently for the past 15 years. When she got sick, he posted a notice on her door saying "Do Not Resuscitate." Once he asked a nurse, "Isn't the bitch dead yet?"

"The funds that were ordered to be used for her rehabilitation are instead being used to facilitate her death. Although the money was supposed to be for rehab for Terri, it has also been used for Michael's own interests, including his mistress and the two children he has had with her over the years."

Now, in his latest move, Michael Schiavo is suing Terri's parents (the Robert Schindlers) who are fighting to keep her alive)to keep them from showing video streams on the Internet that show Terri interacting with nurses and family. He is also directing a lawsuit against moneys contributed to Terri's cause via the Internet, charging that the Schindler's have not provided an accounting as directed by Florida law..

Euthanasiaadvocate George Felos of Dunedin, Fla. has been representing Michael Schiavo in a decade-long legal battle in which Schiavo seeks to cause the death of his wife, Theresa Marie Schindler-Schiavo, by a court order which would result in her death by starvation and dehydration. Schiavo is the legal guardian despite having allegedly violated numerous provisions of the guardianship law including the filing of an annual guardianship report and plan.

Informed sources say that the DACA investigation (of the Schindlers) was prompted by attorneys representing Michael Schiavo, attorneys which apparently are practicing a double standard by demanding the filing of an annual report by the Schindlers although their client has failed to file the annual reports required of him as guardian. Such would appear to suggest that Felos and Bushnell may be more interested in Terri’s financial support than they are in her life support and health care.

While the Schindlers and others involved in the Schiavo case have long requested a criminal investigation into the actions of Michael Schiavo and others in the case, they have been stonewalled at every turn. However, it appears that the husband’s attorneys had no problem in pulling strings to get state officials to take action against the Schindlers for a paperwork snafu.

Everything seems to go against Terri -- because Michael Schiavo uses the money intended to save her to move the system toward killing her. And it certainly does not speak well for the State of Florida, even though to be fair, we must admit that Gov. Bush has done his best to help save Terri.

Michael Schiavo has reached a new low in villaindom. His name may forever be associated with coldhearted, slow and painful murder. How horrible to die by Schiavo.






Sources:
© The Empire Journal By June Maxam and Ginger Berlin
Valentine's Day Saving Terri Rally
MICHAEL SCHIAVO’S ATTORNEY STATEMENT GIVES FURTHER CAUSE FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Congress: Don't Play Politics With Our Money

Americans for Fair Taxation recently called for a debate on tax issues. The goal was to discuss new ways to improve the country's tax structure to make it fairer and more equitable for citizens and businesses, yet revenue neutral so that the taxes collected continue to fund current programs already in place. A plan was presented to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and AFT anticipated a dynamic nonpartisan discussion, with no rancor or negative politics.

However, the Democratic staff of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, using taxpayer dollars, issued a partisan criticism of their political opponents along with a defense of the current income tax system. They had been charged with the responsibility of a dispassionate discussion of tax issues, a charge they obviously ignored in favor of a report full of errors and misrepresentations of the proposals involved as well as a defense of the current income tax system. It seems as though the Democrats if the committee have decided the current 60,000 page tax code is the best the American people can do. That's not surprising -- Democrats are forever calling the rest of the country "dumb" and "stupid."

So let's look at the issues they addressed along with actual facts.

First, the goal of the Fair Tax is to replace current income taxes and payroll taxes. It isn't helpful to reject that out of hand without discussion in favor of the status quo as suggested by the Democratic staff. Fixing the broken tax structure can only lead to more confusion in an already hopelessly confused situation.

Part of the reason members of Congress (especially those who have been there for some time) are not interested in changing the system has to do with their vested interest in the current system. “There are so many vested beneficiaries for each sentence in each Code that the Code itself represents an employment security act for many members of Congress who represent those special interests (of lobbyists) and for legions of accountants, tax collectors, and others necessary to prop up the unstable system."

Thank goodness there are people in Congress who put the people and the nation before their own personal interests. Most of them you'll find on the co-sponsor list of the two bills, HR 25 and S 25. However, it's time we citizens took over the control of our government and insisted on responsible debate on changing the income tax system. The nation was intended to be "by the people and for the people." Not by Congress and for Congress.

The income tax got into the mess it is with the help of both parties, so one can't put the blame entirely on the other. And we, the people, let it happen. So let's get on with changing it.

So let's look at the Fair tax as an alternative to the present income tax structure. The first step would be to repeal the income tax, the payroll tax and the capital gains tax. There!

In spite of what the Democrats would have you believe, the Fair Tax would revitalize American manufacturing for several reasons, among them the fact that it's the only plan that places the same tax on imports as on domestic production. The current tax structure gives the advantage to imports.

The Democrats' report claimed that the Fair Tax would hurt farmers and ranchers, overlooking the fact that the Fair Tax plan is already listed in the American Farm Bureau Federations policy book -- the book that presents that organization's legislative intentions and preferences.

Now, online HERE is an Acrobat file you can download. It compares middle class taxes under the current law with the fair tax law for families with incomes of $65,000 a year and $130,000 a year. It's certainly worth examining. The bottom line: Both wage earners have a lower tax burden under Fair tTax than they do with the current income tax structure.

With your help we can get the Fair Tax passed. Support grows daily and we need YOU. Learn more at www.fairtax.org.

The Day of the Useless Treaty

Today is the day the Kyoto Treaty goes into effect.

Or, to be totally accurate -- this is the day the rest of the world goes under the knife of political hackism and pseudo-science. Now don't misunderstand, there is such a thing as global warming. It's been happening (although not consistently) since the end of the last ice age. If the premise of the Kyoto Treaty is correct, dinosaurs must have run on heavy-emission fuels.

And the earth needs a good house cleaning, too. Rivers polluted by industry, air quality in all our major cities and most of our minor ones destroyed by our narcissistic need for poison-emitting vehicles, roadsides, parks and seashores strewn with trash. We are a nasty species; we need to learn to clean up after ourselves.

But not because of hysterical politicians and poor science. Truth would do just fine, thank you.

The Kyoto Treaty is more of the somewhat questionable
work of the United Nations.

The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty on global warming. It also reaffirms sections of the UNFCCC. Countries which ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases, which have been linked to global warming.
If the Kyoto Protocol is fully implemented and successful, it is predicted to reduce the average global temperature by, given the widest range of estimates, between 0.02 degrees C and 0.28 degrees C by the year 2050.

That's all very well and good, except that the science referred to there is politically biased and irresponsible.

An example of the futility of this approach can be seen in the mathematics of the 1990s IPCC-recommended lowering of the US "contributed share"' of atmospheric CO2 by reducing its emissions to 30% below the 1990 levels. Given that the global atmosphere contains about 5% CO2, and the US is considered as having contributed about 20% of that amount, a 30% reduction would amount to a grand total of three tenths of one percent, a miniscule, totally meaningless reduction that would be accompanied by extreme dislocation of our domestic economy. And all the while Mount Erebus in the Antaractic would continue spouting tons of CO2, along with China, India and other large populations exempt from the Kyoto requirements.

The scientists of the Science & Environmental Policy Project -- and others -- don't agree. Dr. Fred Singer of SEPP has testified before The Senate Committee on Commerce, Transportation and Science, saying:

The post-1980 global warming trend from surface thermometers is not credible. The absence of such warming would do away with the widely touted "hockey stick" graph (with its "unusual" temperature rise in the past 100 years) [see figure]; it was shown here on May 17 as purported proof that the 20th century is the warmest in 1000 years...regional forecasts from climate models are beyond the state of the art and are even less reliable than those for the global average. Since the NACC scenarios are based on such forecasts, the NACC projections are not credible.
. . . Currently available scientific evidence does not support any of the results of the NACC, which should therefore be viewed merely as a "what if" exercise, similar to the one conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment in 1993 [5]. Such exercises deserve only a modest amount of effort and money; one should not shortchange the serious research required for atmospheric and ocean observations, and for developing better climate models.

The NACC should definitely NOT be used to justify irrational and unscientific energy and environmental policies, including the economically damaging Kyoto Protocol. These policy recommendations are especially appropriate during the coming presidential campaigns and debates.

Fortunately for American workers, President Bush has been listening to real science rather than the politically correct pseudo-science. He is also conscious of the pollution problems of the nation and is willing to work toward control.

"We'll be working with our allies to reduce greenhouse gases," (President)Bush told reporters ahead of (a recent) meeting with German Chancellor Hermann Schroeder. "But I will not accept a plan that will harm our economy and hurt American workers."

The gobal-warming-by-emissions myth was perpetuated by the Clinton administration, who didn't bother to send scientists to Kyoto, but sent Al Gore (who made huge political hay out by promoting environmental hysteria) instead. Meanwhile, back in the halls of science, caution was being urged.

However, at the same time, serious cientists were talking about the benefits of global warming. In National Policy Analysis #165 "Cure to Global Warming Could Be Worse Than the Disease," David Ridenour writes,

While the scientific community is divided over many aspects of the global warming theory, the effect of global warming on precipitation levels is not one of them: Global warming would mean more condensation and more evaporation, producing more and/or heavier rains. Global warming, therefore, could offer the answer to the water scarcity problem that the Worldwatch Institute has been seeking.

If history is any indication, greater precipitation may be only one of many benefits of global warming. For example, between the 10th and 12th Centuries, when the temperature of the planet was roughly 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than it is today, agriculture in North America and Europe flourished and the southern regions of Greenland were free of ice, allowing cultivation by Norse settlers. Evidence of this was found in 1993 when scientists from the National Science Foundation-sponsored Greenland Ice Sheet Project II extracted an ice core from Greenland's ice sheet that spanned more than 100,000 years of climate history. Samplings from the core suggest that a Little Ice Age began between 1400 and 1420, blanketing the Vikings' farms in ice and forcing them to abandon their farms in search of more hospitable climates. Prior to the onset of this Little Ice Age, temperatures were comparable to the temperatures general circulation models used by the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ((IPCC) have projected for 2030-2050. Yet, the world's leaders stand poised to take dramatic steps to curb the risks of this kind of climate change.

Global warming could also mean greater agricultural productivity and greater water conservation. CO2 acts as a fertilizer on plant life while reducing plant transpiration (the passage of water from the roots through the plant's vascular system to the atmosphere). Thus, with global warming, agricultural output could be expected to increase while making less demands on the water supply.

And there's more...much, much more.

Stay tuned for more posts on the subject.

The Homicidal Judge

Well, folks -- my blood pressure is rising and I am heading for one furious rage. We HAVE to do something about the judges in this country!

Look at this from THE CHRISTIAN POST:

Despite the miraculous recovery story of Sarah Scantlin a 38-year-old woman who awoke from a near-comatose state after 20 years of silence, a Pinellas County judge turned down Friday a request to set aside his order allowing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube to be removed. Circuit Court Judge George Greer's refusal to reconsider his controversial ruling could potentially make the painfully slow death-by-starvation of Schiavo begin as early as February 22.

Dr. James Dobson, the evangelical founder of Focus on the Family, said Scantlin's return should prompt a renewed hope for Terri's future as well.

"Terri Schiavo deserves the same chance at life that Sarah Scantlin was given. Both cases have involved women who suffered debilitating injuries and continued to live in a disabled state. Today we celebrate the news that Ms. Scantlin has regained her memory and ability to speak, and is apparently on the road to recovery," said Dobson, who reiterated his push for the preservation of Shiavo's life.

"Mental disabilities do not damage a person's worth -- the preciousness of life is not defined by one's abilities. Those who suffer a disabling injury are entitled to the same right to life as we all are. Those seeking to take away Mrs. Schiavo's right to life should have second thoughts after hearing Sarah Scantlin's story."

The Schindlers, Terri's parents who have been fighting against husband Michael Schiavo over the custody of their daughter since he tried to legally starve Terry to death for nearly a decade, agreed that Scantlin's story was a hopeful sign for their daughter's fight.

"In light of the miraculous awakening of Miss Sarah Scantlin in Kansas and the success of the new brainwave test reported in the New York Times this week, my daughter deserves to have this test before she is starved to death by judicial decree," said Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schindler Schiavo.

The Schindlers will be traveling to Hutchinson, Kansas to meet with Sara and her family.

Now I'm getting serious about this. Isn't there ANYONE among our readers who can get to President Bush? Surely the President, who has Presidential Pardons at his disposal and some of the best attorneys in the country, could come up with some legal way to save Terri from homicide.

Meanwhile, where's the justice for a murdering judge?

We Should Be Ashamed

"Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it... It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger." Theodore Roosevelt, 1894

So who is this who shames our nation by second-guessing the actions taken by our troops in war? It is the media -- like Kevin Sites, who photographed a soldier shooting a wounded insurgent. Never mind that the soldier had seen a similar situation shortly before where the insurgent had killed a buddy. Sites didn't bother to find out about that part -- reporters (and especially photographers) don't have time to find out "why." It is the war protestor. It is Senator Boxer, Senator Kennedy and their ilk.

It is the leftists who want us out of the war at any price who prompt "investigations" into every little detail of killing on the battlefield and try to find incidents to blame our troops.

It is those in the military who won't stand up against accusers who attempt to demoralize our troops by accusing them of murder -- even on the battlefield.

The situation has gotten so bad that now the parents of soldiers and other interested parties have had to band together to defend the defenders.

Another example: 2nd Lt. Ilario G. Pantano, a young and loyal Marine, is charged with the murder of two Iraqis

"during the peak of insurgent violence in mid-April of 2004, with hundreds of fellow Marines and soldiers being killed and wounded throughout the "Sunni Triangle." Terrorists, captured while trying to recover a vehicle used in an earlier attack on the Marines, had given detailed information about a supply of weapons and terrorist hideout that (Pantano) and his platoon were hastily dispatched to search. Their search revealed weapons, ammunition, mortar equipment, bomb-making material and two fleeing terrorists. In an ensuing search of the terrorists' vehicle, (Pantano), concerned for his safety and the safety of his men shot them both in self-defense and then disabled their vehicle so it could not be used in further attacks. He and his men went on to fight with distinction and honor in Falluja and the surrounding areas and, when possible, aided in the reconstruction effort. Months later, the government began an investigation that only now, 10 months after the fact, alleges an evil intent. . . ."

That account is on the Defend the Defender's website, which you can access by clicking on the title of this blog. In another section of the site, an article published in The Wilmington Post, titled "Marine's hearing may give hint at future of U.S. military," says,

"Murder accusations against a Wilmington Marine, arising from a 2004 shooting of two Iraqi men during combat in Iraq, foretell a trend military defense lawyers say could endanger service members still operating overseas.

Marine officials acknowledge that 2nd Lt. Ilario G. Pantano will face a military hearing to address the fatal April 15 shootings, but his attorney says trying a Marine for killing the enemy is wrong.

I suspect (although it's never stated anywhere in the articles and pieces on the website) that Lt. Pantano shot the insurgents as they were running away. So what? Was it wise for him to allow them to leave, only to fight again another day? That would be utterly and overwhelmingly stupid. In war you get rid of the enemy.

Those two incidents, the soldier who shot a wounded insurgent when he moved and the Marine who shot an enemy guilty of manning and insurgent's vehicle in a war zone, are indicative of something terribly wrong with our society.

We need these young men, fighting in a war, to be held UNaccountable for their actions in a war zone. If they had been in a bar, drinking and partying, that would have been different, but an Iraqi battlefield is a killing place. If a soldier kills the enemy, that's his job.

My husband and I will be donating to the "Defend The Defenders" fund. I don't hesitate to ask you to do the same. The money is to provide civilian attorneys to aid and support the defense of these soldiers.

We should be ashamed that our society has come to this point. And we all know where to look to place the blame. They march, with straggly hair, torn jeans and scruffy beards, in our streets with placards demanding that we leave any war zone. They rant on Capital Hill about looking for WMDs and not finding them. They do everything they can to make fun of and downgrade the world-wide fight against terrorism.

We mustn't let them demoralize our troops by hauling them into military courts when they think they can accuse one of killing. War is killing and when war is necessary like this one is, the military -- AND ALL OF US -- should stand firm against those who would demoralize the troops.

Woman Wakes After 20 Years in Coma

On the news tonight was a story about someone who suddenly came out of a multi-decade coma and began to speak. That reminded me of Terry Schiavo, so I went to google and began to search for the story. I found. . .well, look what I found.

A UK publication, The Salford Advertiser,reports the story of a Latvian man who has been in a coma since he was stabbed in the head repeatedly by gang members on December 3.

When Sergejs Pacejs, 38, first arrived at Hope Hospital for treatment doctors feared the worst and believed the injuries were so severe they could cause catastrophic brain damage.

Since the brutal attack on Friday, December 3, Sergejs spent weeks on a life support machine.But he has now come off the apparatus and is said to be making good progress.

Medical staff now hope to be able to move him to a regular ward in the near future and hope he will now make a good recovery. The investigation into the attack is continuing.

The Coma Recovery Association'swebsite has quite a bit of information about vegetative-state comas and people who have recovered after varying lengths of stays in that condition. (PVS means Permanent Vegetative State, by the way.

In a five year follow-up, 116 of 30 patients in PVS, five recovered from PVS between one and five years though only two recovered to a level where they could communicate.

One was a 61-year-old lady who was vegetative for three years following a subarachnoid haemorrhage. The other was a 26-year-old man who was vegetative for 8 months before beginning to respond. Both reached levels where they could read, watch television, write, calculate simple mathematical addition and subtraction, tell the time, feed themselves, were wheelchair independent and could speak well.

The report I was looking for originally concerns a Kansas woman. Sarah Scantlin, "was 18-years-old when a drunk driver hit her in 1984. She'd been in a coma ever since, that was, until a nurse showed her a children's book for the pictures and Sarah suddenly started to read it out loud."

I hope SO HARD that Terry Schiavo's parents, lawyers and judge see this and take heart. Read more of Ms. Scantlin's story at CKCTV 5 News Kansas City.

It's a great story and living proof (along with a whole bunch of others) that a "vegetative state" does NOT equal death.

Kansas City Star Letter to Editor Feb. 10, 2005

This letter to the editor in the KC Star today really warmed my heart so I thought I would share it with you. It's headlined "Sharing Iraqis' joy."

The piece begins: "I thought you would like a real firsthand account of the happiness of the Iraqis' on their first voting day. My daughter, Erin Boyle, a teacher at the US Army post in Bamberg, Germany, wrote this email to me:"

January 29, 2005
Dear Mom,
Today was a remarkable day. On the train from Bamberg to Munich, we met up with some Iraqis. We had heard them clapping and dancing around in the back of the train. They were quite entertaining, so I began to watch them. They had a flag, so we thought they were maybe a soccer team or something. At one point, I got (a friend's) recorder and taped them. They smiled and waved. . .They told us that they were celebrating their first voting experience with Saddam gone. They were so happy. There were about 20 of them, all men. We sang and danced and clapped with them. It was so amazing to be part of that. . . They said they loved Americans. To tell Mr. Bush "Thank You." It gave me a completely new perspective to see it first hand. . .They were voting right outside Olympic Park, which is where we were heading, too. "It's a new day," they said. How amazing to experience history first hand.
Love from your daugher,
Erin

The letter is signed "Kara Hawkins."
How great to share that moment -- in Germany, which didn't help take Iraq from Hussein -- with Americans, who did.

The invasion of Iraq was, without a doubt, the bravest step toward World Peace that has ever been taken.