Proletarian

Monday, March 21, 2005

Wanna hear a Funny?

Here, I have a Funny for you. I was pretty floored by it.

Last night, I had put DD to bed, and was waiting for DH to get home from my dad's house. So, with little to do, I took myself off to the kitchen, and I began washing dishes. I was elbow-deep in soapy water when DH walked in the door, all dirty and tired. He was in a good mood though. :o ) Having some uninterrupted time to ourselves, DH sat down at the kitchen table so we could chit-chat while I washed dishes.

While I was trying to wash glasses without getting my hands stuck or anything, DH tried to pick a playful fight with me! *laughs* I couldn't believe him! You wanna know what he said to me? He laughingly complained that I'm too nice and giving, that I don't fight with him enough. He's so strange. You can imagine the look that I gave him, in my astonishment. I just looked at him and said, "You want me to fight with you?! Ok, you're just weird." *laughs* I guess he figures that we need a little bit of somethin'er other to fire things up. lol That silly guy. If he wants excitement, I'm sure that we can find better ways to accomplish it without me acting like a shrew.

*chuckles*

Posted at 03:12 pm by Jenna
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Terri's Death Wish, or Michael's?

LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR
Terri's death wish or Michael's?
Schiavo contradicts himself in Larry King Interview

SOURCE ARTICLE

Michael Schiavo gave contradictory stories about whether disconnecting his estranged wife from feeding tubes was his wish or her wish in a Larry King interview on CNN.

Asked why he has persisted in his decade-long effort to end his wife's life despite the wishes of Terri Schiavo's parents and others who love her, Schiavo said: "Because this is what Terri wanted. This is her wish."

"I won't give it up," he said. "Terri is my life. I'm going to carry out her wishes to the very end. This is what she wanted. It's not about the Schindlers. It's not about me, not about Congress. It's about Terri."

Schiavo has been living with another woman for the last 10 years and is raising two children with her.

Under mysterious and still unexplained circumstances, Terri Schiavo lost consciousness and blood flow to her brain for a period of time some 15 years ago. Her parents suspect foul play.

While she remains conscious, she is unable to speak. The family says she has been denied treatments that could help her regain the ability to eat and speak.

Shortly after saying his determination to end Terri's life was about her wishes, Schiavo changed his story in the King interview. Asked if he understood her family's feelings, he said: "Yes, I do. But this is not about them, it's about Terri. And I've also said that in court. We didn't know what Terri wanted, but this is what we want. ..."

The interview aired Friday.

Edited to Add: Transcript: A Doctor Who Has Examined Terri Talks with Hannity & Colmes

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," Mar. 21, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

Watch "Hannity & Colmes" weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: As we continue on "Hannity and Colmes," I'm Sean Hannity. Right now, we're broadcasting live outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo (search) is right now. Of course, her feeding tube has not been reinserted as of this point.

Joining us now is Dr. Bill Hammesfahr. And Dr. Hammesfahr, thanks for being with us.

DR. BILL HAMMESFAHR: Thanks for having me.

HANNITY: You were nominated for a Nobel Prize (search) in medicine?

HAMMESFAHR: Yes.

HANNITY: In 1999? For your work...

HAMMESFAHR: ... in patients like Terri. For brain injury and stroke patients. We discovered how you get these people better, and we did it for 10 years with Medicare. We got evaluated by the state of Florida and we first discovered a technique that works in people like Terri.

HANNITY: This is what I want to talk about. You have spent, unlike Robert Wexler, who was commenting on medical issues this weekend, you spent how many hours with Terri?

HAMMESFAHR: I spent about 10 hours with Terri across three separate occasions, and I spent a lot of time with videotapes, the medical record which is in boxes and boxes and boxes. for about a year. And of course, you know, I spending time interviewing the family and people who actually have seen her. So I've spent a lot of time with her.

HANNITY: Do you believe she is aware, conscious and responsive?

HAMMESFAHR: Terri is completely aware and conscious and responsive. She is like a child with cerebral palsy. We have kids in the Pinellas County school system every day that are much worse than her, that we're educating.

HANNITY: Doctor, wait a minute. I've got to get this straight here.

You were nominated to get a Nobel Peace Prize in this very work. Are you saying that this woman could be rehabilitated?

HAMMESFAHR: Absolutely.

HANNITY: Could she talk one day?

HAMMESFAHR: Yes.

HANNITY: Then how is it possible we're in this position if you have examined her, you were up for a Nobel Prize. I -- this is mind boggling to me.

HAMMESFAHR: I don't understand it myself. You know, this is a -- this is a case of a terrible error that's happened and it's a grievous case.

You know, what struck me about Congress, in the last couple of days is that there we have physicians who examined the videotapes, examined the same evidence I had, examined my records, my evaluation of her, stepped forward and said, this is not a person in a coma. This is not a person in PVS (a persistent vegetative state). We have to stop this.

HANNITY: All right.

HAMMESFAHR: It just goes to show, you do not want your medical care delivered by a judge.

HANNITY: Well, this is what I want to understand. This is your area of expertise that got you nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in medicine, the Nobel Prize.

And you're saying after a thorough examination of 10 hours total with her, and an examination of records and an examination of records and an examination of tapes regarding her, that she could be rehabilitated. What about all of these other people that have said that that's not possible, how can we have disparaging?

HANNITY: It's not all of these other people. There's four people on the other side, who say she can't be rehabilitated. All were paid individuals. Three by George Felos...

HANNITY: ...and you're not paid?

HAMMESFAHR: I was not paid. Now, if you look at the people who are on Terri's side and stepped forward, at last count, two weeks ago, 33 M.D.s, brain injury specialists from around the country, places like UCLA, Tulane, LSU, Boston University --Thirty-three physicians has stepped forward to say that this person can be rehabilitated. She's not in PVS, not in a coma. And the -- Judge Greer ignored this.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Dr. Hammesfahr, it's Alan Colmes in New York. Thank you for being with us.

One of the other doctors who examined her, and by the way, among those doctors there were those who were not paid, who were independent, who were not on either side. --

Dr. Ron Cranford, who'll be on this show tomorrow night. I want to put up what he said:

He said, "She's vegetative. She's flat out vegetative. There's never been a shread of doubt that she's vegetative, and nothing's going to change that."

"This has been a massive propaganda campaign, which has been very successful, because it deludes the public into thinking she's really there."

Explain to me, as a lay person, what I'm supposed to believe, hearing medical authorities saying what you say and saying what Cranford says?

HAMMESFAHR: Well, I think you need to go and look at the videotape of Dr. Cranford. Dr. Cranford's videotape compliments Terri on following commands. At one point he moves a balloon around in front of her and he again compliments that she is able to see it that she can follow commands.

And I also think that you need to look a little closer. Dr. Cranford's work has been attacked by other medical professionals in peer reviewed journals such as "Lancet." So I think that we to look a little bit deeper at Dr. Cranford.

COLMES: Well, he's going to be here tomorrow night. We'll ask him. But Judge Greer also said that you said you've have treated patients worse off than Mrs. Schiavo but have not produced any case histories. Can you tell us of one?

HAMMESFAHR: Oh, that's not true. That's not true.

COLMES: You didn't produce any evidence?

HAMMESFAHR: Well, the specific request was to produce a videotape of a person exactly like Terri Schiavo. No two patients are exactly alike but, in fact, we have videotapes and we're releasing them tomorrow and have released them previously, if you call my office, you'll get informational videotapes of people much worse than Terri who are better, one of them three months into their treatment is talking.

COLMES: All right. We would love to know of a similar case where somebody got cured. Thank you for being with us.

Posted at 02:19 pm by Jenna
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Like A Kick To The Gut

Wow.

I did finally get around to calling my mom last night, though I didn't really want to. I love my mom, and I normally love to talk with her. However, I knew that this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. Mom was mad at me over an email that I sent her, expressing my concern over some things that she had said to me concerning divorce.

So, you know that it's going to be bad when the conversation starts out with "I want you to know that no matter how mad you get with me, I still love you". For as much as we talked, there was still that big division between us. She kept trying to get me to say that God would be understanding about divorce if the husband is a lazy jerk. I said no, she said that we would have to agree to disagree. Yeah, she wasn't very happy with me. She even brought up the fact that I had been ready to run at one time in my marriage, for reasons other than adultery. So, I did remind her that I am still here, that God convicted my heart on the matter, and even went so far as to give me the resources that I needed to improve my marriage. When she couldn't knock me down there, things got pretty nasty.

Even though mom had repeatedly said that she would take in my sister and her kids, but not my sister's husband, she suddenly began denying that she said that. I tried to keep the peace and suggest that while I clearly remember her saying that (even during this same conversation!), that I thought there must just be a miscommunication. She must have said one thing, and just meant it to come out in a different manner. It's happened to everyone from time to time. However, mom was not so kind as to keep it peaceable. She outright called me a liar, and then didn't understand why I was so upset by it. I told her that I refused to say the same about her, though I felt that there could be grounds for it. Instead, I respected her enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. However, it really hurts that she has such low esteem of me to repeatedly and blatantly call me a liar.

I thought that she was out of ammunition after that, and truth be told, I was pretty ready for the conversation to be over. However, then she started telling me how awful I am because I tell people that I am such a great Christian, as though I never sin, that I think I am better than everyone else. To illustrate her point, she brought up the emotional affair that I had with a male friend, whom I allowed to kiss me one day.

Yes, yes, I've never claimed to be anything but a wretched sinner, deserving of death. I have never once said that I am better than anyone else, or that their sin is worse than mine. In the reverse, I've always been pretty open when sharing and talking with people about the changing power of the Lord, using my own shady past to illustrate my points. I can't even count the number of people who know how close I was to leaving my husband, and possibly shacking up with any guy who would pretend to love me for a while.

I've made some bad decisions in my life, and I have never denied them. I don't seek to hide my sin from other people, because it was so integral in my growing process. To varying degrees, I am always learning and growing as a result of the Holy Spirit convicting my heart in any number of areas where I sin. I guess that the difference is that when I repent and ask forgiveness from God, He remembers my sin no more. However, my mother sure remembers, and isn't above punishing me for it years later. I just told her that both my husband and my Lord have forgiven me for it, and that it isn't anyone else's place to judge me or punish me for it now that I have repented and recieved forgiveness. That didn't make her too happy.

So, the long and short of it is- Salutations from me. I am a sinner. I always have been, and will be for as long as I walk this earth. I am always in a state of change, working to live my life according to God's Will for me. God's Word is my instruction manual, and I stick by it even when people call me names and insinuate that I am crass and unfeeling. What I am not, is a liar. I see no point in lying, and it serves no purpose but to bring on trouble, all aside from the fact that God sure doesn't like lying.

I think that what gets to me the most is that after mom was done rebuking me, after saying that I do not accept rebuke from anyone (I hadn't noticed), she expressed that she wanted this to be the end of the mess. She would like us to continue on as though nothing had ever been said. Now, while I think that it is admirable to want to have a good relationship no matter the hardships, I'm still struggling to see how I can feel that comfortable after she ripped me up one side and down the other. She was not sorry in the slightest over calling me names, and accusing me of being a liar. For as much as she may not like it, that is going to affect me. She thinks very low of me, and of course that is going to make things more difficult than they were. Maybe in time though, the edge will come off of it, and I'll forget.

Posted at 10:00 am by Jenna
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Sunday, March 20, 2005

Another Day, Another Post

Here we go, another day for Terri Schiavo to suffer through without her nourishment. I pray that she is brought relief very soon. Today, there is a great article over at Wittenberg Gate. I agree with the premise of the post completely, that many times we have been asking the wrong question.

While I have been following the news reports closely and was pretty down about what I was reading earlier, Reuters now has some better news to report in Senate Intervenes in Right-To-Die Case.

I will still challenge that this is not a "right to die" case. Terri is not in a state of dying, or rather, she wasn't until her husband and Judge Greer decided that it was in her best intrest to go on and die already. (pardon the gnashing of teeth over here)

Posted at 05:12 pm by Jenna
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