Author: MichaelPellegrini

Terri Schiavo Should Be Allowed To Die

Bush the Savior
There you are, and the worst happens: your wife dies after a sudden heart attack.

Somehow, you get through the surreal nightmare of the funeral and all the rest, and begin the grieving process.

Several years down the road, if you’re lucky, your life has more or less returned to normal.

But not for Michael Schiavo. For him, the nightmare has continued for all of the last fifteen years.

As a side-effect of bulimia in February 1990, Terri Schiavo suffered a heart attack and sustained severe non-reversible brain damage as a result of prolonged oxygen deprivation during resuscitation.

The doctor’s diagnosis was that she was in a persistent vegetative state, with no hope of rehabilitation. She had almost no cerebral cortex left – it’s just gone, apparently as a result of the heart attack and oxygen deprivation. She could not feed herself; she had to wear diapers. She was, for all intents and purposes, “brain dead.” She had no cognitive abilities left; she was not self-aware.

Michael Schiavo disregarded the doctor’s advice and retained some hope she could get better. Against all odds, for the next eight years, different rehabilitation therapies were tried – but all to no avail.

So then after eight long years of torture, finally convinced his wife was truly not coming back, Michael Schiavo reluctantly petitioned the court to have her feeding tube taken out – allowing Terri to finish the process of dying.
But Terri’s parents opposed this in court, and she was kept alive, against the wishes of her husband.

And the un-ending nightmare for Michael Schiavo continues.
Terri remains today in the persistent vegetative state she entered fifteen years ago, with no improvements at all. Nothing has changed from 1990. The doctors all agree that barring divine intervention, there is no hope whatsoever for any recovery.

But her parents, the Schindlers, persist in their mindless quest to keep her body alive.

This is so sad.

I really and truly feel sorry for the Schindlers. I can understand the pain they are suffering; no parent wants to see their child die. It’s inconceivable a child should predecease a parent.

Continue reading “Have You No Shame, Mr. Bush?”

Bush and an advisor in a stratgey session.

Looks like we’ll soon be headed into Iran.

The hysteria about possible nukes in the hands of the Iranians has been building and building in the past few weeks.

The Bush administration has been making a much more subtle case than they did with Iraq – drawing the “bad” news out slowly, trying to shape public opinion, making it so the public can only make one conclusion: that Iran has nuclear weapons and it’s the United States’ job to go in there and disarm them – to save the world from the Iranian menace.

Bush, a true schizophrenic, in one breath termed the idea of invading Iraq “ridiculous,” and then flatly stated the US was “keeping all options open.”
Talk about mixed messages.

One small problem with all this: can you say WMD? In the words of President Ronald Reagan, “There they go again!”

Continue reading “Next Stop Tehran? ver 1.1”

Washington Governor’s Race

At right, Dino Rossi, at Today’s Press Conference

Dino Rossi continues to plunge boldly ahead, working towards his dream of becoming Governor of Washington state.

Too bad it’s all just in his mind.
Although they won’t admit it, Republicans lost bigtime when Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges, ruled that he had no power to order a revote.

The ruling means that if Bridges does eventually set aside the election, his possible options could then include either declaring the office vacant – which would mean Lt. Gov. Brad Owen could take over as interim Governor – or, Bridges could declare Rossi governor.

Those options are, however, a long shot, and the Republicans know it. The standard of proof in getting the election results tossed out is very high. It’s unlikely that the Republicans have enough evidence to sway the judge.
At a news conference today, Rossi downplayed the ruling, saying that if the Judge vacated the election results and appointed him Governor, he would not take the office, but would instead ask the legislature to call a special election.

Continue reading “The Race That Would Not Die”

Washington State Governor’s Race

The Saga Continues

In an election fraught with problems and strife, now new charges of impropriety have come to light.

The dead have spoken, seemingly, and their clear choice for governor is Christine Gregoire.

According to the King County elections manager, as many as 22 dead people voted in the election last November. These cases are under investigation and criminal charges may be filed in at least three of the instances.

That tidbit, problems with provisional ballots and also the fact that King County may have had several thousand more votes than actual registered voters all has the state Republicans throwing a hissy fit.

Continue reading “Dawn of the Dead”

Washington Governor’s Race

So Dino Rossi wants a new election?

Give me a break!

This guy has obviously been spending way too much time with Chris Vance (who is a world-class moron).

Take note, Dino: There is no legitimate basis whatsoever for a new election. None, zero, zip. The election is over, and you lost! And that is all she wrote.
It’s hard to imagine how the Republicans think they could justify a new election. Perhaps they’ve been smoking something?

Stop the madness, Dino, and concede the election now!

Washington Governor’s Race

So now the King County ballots are in, and it’s Christine Gregoire by 10 votes? What a deal!

Tomorrow, when King County includes the hundreds of disputed ballots – as they are allowed under today’s state Supreme Court decision – that lead may grow wider.

So maybe it’s finally over…

I guess Chris Vance can safely commit suicide now, or whatever it is he needs to do.

He does need to do something.

Over the past week or so, it’s become increasingly apparent that Vance and his Republican buddies have no interest at all in determining the real will of the people, and I find that truly appalling.

The Republican’s bid to exclude ballots from King County that were mishandled by election workers has shown their true colors – their whole objective was to exclude the predominately Democrat ballots, thus unfairly stealing the election, though legalistic machinations.

Continue reading “Governor Christine?”

Washington State Governor’s Race

Poor, Poor Republicans.
The way these guys are whining, you’d think the end of the world was just around the corner.

The furor is over the 561 ballots from King County that were incorrectly tossed-out in the first count. It now appears the Democrats will succeed in getting the ballots counted in the ongoing hand recount, and that juicy fact has the Republican’s blood boiling.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance, is particularly offensive with his holier than thou pronouncements about how this action of the Democrats will destroy the very fabric of our nation.

“I’m now becoming very worried that the Democrats are going to try to turn this into Florida,” said Vance.

Really.
Vance, obviously, is a mental giant.

Then another really great line was from Dino Rossi, who said something to the effect of, “If you go to court over the outcome of an election, pretty soon you’ll have the courts determining who gets elected, and that’s just wrong.”

Of course Rossi must be unaware of the 2000 presidential election where the US Supreme Court handed George Bush his victory. Or perhaps it was just okay when the courts decided that one because it went in their favor.

What a bunch of hypocritical bullshit.

If someone votes, it should be counted, period. They can’t be disenfranchised simply because some election worker screws up.

The must count all the ballots – and let the chips fall as they may.

Vance and Rossi need to take a lesson from Al Gore. All through the 2000 election fiasco, he never whined even once about Bush’s putsch.

Now what Gregoire is doing is actually legal – unlike what Bush did…

So stop whining Dino! Be a man!