The Age of Irony (and thoughts)

[jayctravis]

Caught a commercial on CNN in the break room at my workplace yesterday. It was the ticking stopwatch one, accusing Democrats of playing partisan politics with Social Security. Isn't an attack ad partisan politics? I haven't seen similar ads accusing the Republic party, (especially not on CNN) but I vaguely recall one or two about G.W. and not the Republics in general.

Schiavo is a HUGE distraction. DeLay is probably thanking his stars for this, and I'm reminded of a child who's done something bad helping old ladies across the street to make the parents forget about him peeing on the carpet. So we also forget SS for a while (besides the administration sponsored propaganda) and are reminded that Dubya is awesome for caring so much and stripping SS and the partisan Liberals hate old people. Anyone heard about Bush's Rainbow Tour lately? Gannon fades to the sidelines. Even Michael Jackson has gotten short shrift in this.

Schiavo is a sad issue, but it disgusts me that there's wall-to-wall coverage of this which also blanked any mention of protests on the anniversary of Bush's war. CNN is making us watch her die.

And I'm also torn. I can't imagine what being in a vegetative state is like, and I can understand a living will specifiying non-heroic means to save someone's life. But feeding is not heroic. If you're in the hospital overnight with a stubbed toe, they still feed you dinner. Removing a ventilator is one thing. I've also read that the hospital will not let Schiavo be given a drink of water. If she can ingest water or liquid food orally, and the parents want to help her out with an occasional squirt of water, wouldn't that be a quality of life issue that they should not interfere with? If she could swallow water, isn't that actual recovery? Should the parents be allowed to comfort their daughter while she slowly starves to death?

[cynatnite]

1. Terry Schiavo does not have a stubbed toe

And to many of us this is of great importance for so many reasons. The issues are personal and reaches across party lines into how our government was intended. The framers had no intention for the judicial branch to be ignored and made powerless by the legislative branch. By involving themselves into such a personal matter Congress did just that.

Terry Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state. A feeding tube is artificial life support just as is a ventilator. Whether the patient is aware of it or not, it is still considered artificial life support. She has no consciousness, no thought and no pain. She does not feel thirst or hunger. She cannot swallow and any attempt to get her to drink through her mouth puts her life at risk.

Her husband is her next of kin and by right he can speak for her which he has done and the courts have agreed in the years this has been litigated.

www.abstractappeal.com for the specifics.

[Avalux]

2. Huge distraction, yes, but also relevant

Tom DeLay may be thanking his stars for this, but I think it's backfiring and he'll wish he'd kept his mouth shut.

I admit the whole water thing is confusing and CNN should stop showing these crazy people trying to give Terri Schiavo a drink. She can't swallow voluntarily. Water or liquid food introduced into the mouth /throat will cause an involuntary reaction and she'll aspirate it into her lungs and drown. She has absolutely no control over swallowing. Turn off your TV.

[jayctravis]

3. You're right.

The "hospital won't let her mom give her an ice cube!" thing was something I heard in a short-lived drive-by of Hannity's radio show. I didn't understand that it could kill her, (irony meter - tick!) Bad me for not thinking that through.

[Avalux]

4. their objective -

by making rediculous statements like this, they incite an emotional response from people, not rational thought. They don't want people to THINK, they want hysteria.

The media's sinking to a new low by airing this stuff.