Unsolicited email
 

Same outside the Chinese consulate in Houston, which is not too far from my house. My dog once startled one of the meditating demonstrators by suddenly barking out of the car window, and the guy fell over. I'm ashamed to say I laughed.

Modest Hank
 

The Dog of Love post was cribbed from the radio talk show you hear on a boat in GTA.

Modest Hank
 

I remember something about PT Boats, but only because Hank has reminded me of it fairly regularly since I wrote it.

Modest Hank
 

A legacy is important.

Senate Vote to Approve Drilling
 

Nobody's willing to build one, despite the screaming lack of refining capacity, because of the horrendous guaranteed environmental exposure. Basically, the industry's willing to wait out a bye from congress in the national interest. Plus, they make so much fucking money on the upswings that it outweighs the lower, albeit more predicatble margins they'd earn on greater throughput.

Modest Hank
 

Or, it could just be that the post wasn't all that good to begin with.

Woo hoo!
 

Senate Kills All Medicaid Cuts From Budget

"By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

"WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to strip all proposed Medicaid cuts from the $2.6 trillion budget for next year, killing the heart of the plan's deficit reduction and dealing an embarrassing setback to President Bush and Republican leaders."

AP's adjectives, not mine.

This should be fun.
 

link

The circus is coming to Florida.

• Former Green Beret Commander Bo Gritz is trying to conduct a citizen's arrest of Terri Schiavo's husband and the judge who ordered the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube removed so she can be legally starved.
  
  The 66-year-old retired Army Lt. Colonel with his wife, Judy, arrived in Florida from their home in Nevada yesterday with the intent of arresting anyone involved in removing the life-sustaining tube.
  
  Gritz came bearing a notarized "citizen's arrest warrant" addressed to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist.
  
  His intent is to "paper" state and federal law enforcement offices with his warrant today – one day before Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer's deadline to begin denial of food and water to Terri Schiavo.

Nice. I almost hope this guy decides to take the law into his own hands and apprehends Schiavo, or a nurse, or a judge. It'll give us something to watch besides the Jackson trial.

• Citing his officer's oath of allegiance to "defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic," Gritz says while he doesn't know Terri Schiavo personally, she nevertheless represents an American in danger of citizen-rights abuse, and he feels an obligation to act while she remains alive.

There are no similar cases between Nevada and Florida, with citizens whose rights are endangered? Odd, that.

• Besides a "Terri Bill" under consideration in the U.S. Congress, the Florida Legislature votes tomorrow on a modified measure to keep Schiavo's life support in place. A previous Florida bill allowing Gov. Bush to intervene was ruled unconstitutional.

This part I don't get. Why is this case different than any other number of similar cases around the country where relatives want to end life support for patients in a vegetative state? I mean, having the opportunity to be arrested by Rambo must be something special.

Woo hoo!
 

"Because it involves the halt, the lame, the poor, the blind, the needy, those who have no recourse."

The halt??

This should be fun.
 

Two days ago, Texas Children's Hospital in Houston removed a baby from life support contrary to the mom's wishes. The baby was born with a type of dwarfism where his lungs and heart weren't going to grow, and he was on artificial breathing for six months. According to the hospital, his death was only a matter of time, and there was nothing anyone could do for him. Everything was done in accordance with Texas law (finding that treatment is inappropriate by a physician, careful review and agreement by the facility ethics committee), and the mom had ten days to find alternate care for him. Apparently she contacted 40 neonatal units and no one would take him.

The case brought a lot of attention to local media, but I didn't really see any national coverage, which sort of surprised me in light of the Shavio case. Poor baby.

ETA: I always find an interesting dichotomy between the right-to-life and right-to-healthcare. No one ever talks about how much it costs to keep the life support systems going, and yet losing the cuts on Medicaid was a major hit to the Republicans today.

This Should be Fun
 

From my girl Ann:

• How many people have to die before the country stops humoring feminists? Last week, a defendant in a rape case, Brian Nichols, wrested a gun from a female deputy in an Atlanta courthouse and went on a murderous rampage. Liberals have proffered every possible explanation for this breakdown in security except the giant elephant in the room – who undoubtedly has an eating disorder and would appreciate a little support vis-à-vis her negative body image.
  
  The New York Times said the problem was not enough government spending on courthouse security ("Budgets Can Affect Safety Inside Many Courthouses"). Yes, it was tax-cuts-for-the-rich that somehow enabled a 200-pound former linebacker to take a gun from a 5-foot-tall grandmother.
  
  Atlanta court officials dispensed with any spending issues the next time Nichols entered the courtroom when he was escorted by 17 guards and two police helicopters. He looked like P. Diddy showing up for a casual dinner party.
  
  I think I have an idea that would save money and lives: Have large men escort violent criminals. Admittedly, this approach would risk another wave of nausea and vomiting by female professors at Harvard. But there are also advantages to not pretending women are as strong as men, such as fewer dead people. Even a female math professor at Harvard should be able to run the numbers on this one.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/a...20050317.shtml

This should be fun.
 

Only real difference is that, in this case, you have some people who arguably have some standing in the case (parents) who don't want her turned off, and who have raised some (interesting? strange?) questions about the hubby's motivations for getting her turned off. Plus, the court is supposed to give her wishes great weight, and the only evidence of her wishes is hubby saying, she told me to unplug her if something like this happened.

This kind of case happens a lot. Messy, all. Go sign a Durable Health Care POA tomorrow.

This Should be Fun
 

I'm sure that the police in Atlanta developed their procedures with the goal of humoring feminists foremost in mind. That Coulter -- sharp as a tack.

This Should be Fun
 

Just last month, my b-i-l (a dep county sheriff) was complaining that he had been told to staff night jail rotations with a more gender-balanced mix than what he had been doing.

So, I don't know about "humoring feminists", but, maybe, "not getting sued"?

(ETA - So, I guess, yeah, sharp as a tack.)

This Should be Fun
 

Not that it will change anything Ann or any other antifeminist will say, but as I understand it, the Atlanta courthouse guards didn't carry guns for precisely the reason that prisoners could try to take them. The guard did have keys to a lock box which had a gun. What happened was that dude subdued the guard, took her keys, unlocked the box, took the gun, and then went on his rampage. All of these actions were observed by security cameras -- but no one was monitoring the cameras. That's more the problem, it seems to me, than the fact that the guard was a woman. If it was a guy, the same thing could have happened.