Dionne: A Thin View of 'Life'

[MountainLaurel]

What does it mean to be pro-life?

The label is thrown around in American politics so blithely that you'd imagine it refers to some workaday issue such as a tax bill or a trade agreement. Might the one good thing to come out of the rancid politics surrounding the Terri Schiavo case be a serious discussion of the meaning of that term?

snip

There are countless decisions made every week when a family member removes someone they love from life support. Just over a week ago, a 5 1/2-month-old baby named Sun Hudson died after doctors at Texas Children's Hospital removed the breathing tube that had kept him alive. It was removed over his mother's opposition under the provisions of the 1999 Texas Advance Directives Act signed by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

snip

ow has Terri Schiavo's care been financed? The available information suggests that some of the money came from one of those much-derided medical malpractice lawsuits and that the drugs she needs have been paid for by Medicaid.

The irony has not been lost on Democrats. Just a few days after most Republicans in both houses of Congress had supported cuts in federal funding of Medicaid, here they were erring "on the side of life" in a single case. The same issue has come up here in Florida, where Gov. Jeb Bush, a strong supporter of keeping Schiavo alive, has been proposing cuts in Medicaid spending.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64568-2005Mar24.html

:wow:

Could it be that someone in the MSM is pointing out the hypocrisy of all those government officials who got involved in the "Save Terri" movement but who don't hive a fuck that elderly cancer patients are dying because they can't afford the treatments they need through Medicare?

[peacetalksforall]

1. One of the few last WP journalists with a rational American mind..

On second thought, maybe Dionne is the last one at WP.

[MountainLaurel]

2. There are a couple

Unfortunately, most of them are columnists: Donna Britt, Colbert King, Dan Froomkin. And, there was Anthony Shadid, who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of Iraq, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who was one of the few journalists who was fluent in Arabic and spoke to Iraqis on the street about the occupation of their country. I'm not sure if they're still writing.

[rodeodance]

3. and they do not hit the front page sensational headlines--so not noticed

[peacetalksforall]

4. And they don't get to appear on MTP or Tweety or Hannity n/t