Terri Schiavo

So weighing in on Terri.

I am getting sick on both my left and right sides at all the political jockeying in this case when it really boils down to a very unfortunate woman and what we are obligated to do with her.

I think she should be allowed to live and I think custody should be given to her parents. I also think that Mr. Schiavo should be awarded the insurance payment and divorce that will allow him to move on.

Mr. Schiavo is clearly the bad guy in this case made more clear to me by the lack of care or therapy that this woman has been given. If it was my sister and no one had tried to help her beside drop her in a bed and wait for the courts I would be pretty pissed off too. That said, he is also a victim here. He lost his wife of 6 years forever, and no one with a scientific mind really thinks she will "come back" although they say it has happened. In this light I think that Mr. Schiavo deserves whatever recompense society geives those that are bereaved be it insurance payments or Social Security assistance. It would appear that he is holding out for that and frankly I can't blame him.

It also appears that his desire for closure or recompense or whatever is guiding his decisions and not what is really in the best interests of his wife. She has never had therapy or other type of rehabiliative care that could help her regain something. She is able to breath on her own and she may have other abilities if we only tried to find them. Even massage and loving tough can trigger synapses to rebuild and abilities to come back. I had a cousin who was severely disabled and looked a lot like Terri. He has physical therapy, loving caer from his parents and showed limitied signs of improvement. Did he learn to drive a car or do math? Of course not, but he was alive and none of us could bear the thought of him starving to death. I think she deserves this chance.

I am dissapointed in Democrats for looking at this as another political fight to take it to Republicans, and I am sickened by Republicans calculating the "effect" it will have on the Evangelical Right. I don't think Congress should have gotten involved, but I think our system should be giving more weight to what her parents and family want and not just her spouse. I think the only legislation (aka not the time for an anti-abortion fight) should be on this very matter spouse vs. parental rights.

She deserves a chance and I say let her live under the care of her parents and give Mr. Schiavo what is rightfully his. Then we can move back to what government was set up to do.

PS: it sure is depressing to think about but we should all get to work on that living will. I would hate to be in this position as a spouse, parent, sibling or the person in the bed.

I'm still here

Well folks (or folk as the case may be) I am in the middle of GMAT and CFA preparation as well as trying to enjoy my last few months here in Mexico. The blog has suffered.

But I wanted to get these points down on paper:

1) why is the President saying to older workers that they do not need to worry about their benefits. If we really are in a crisis shouldn't everyone pitch in. When 9/11 happened everyone sacrificed and chipped in to get everyone back on their feet. Well why would older workers be exempt? It's a crisis right?

Clearly, I do not think it is a crisis and this telling oversight/politcal jockeying defines clearly the dismantlers goals. You can't say don't worry you won't lose anything out one side of your mouth and Hey you guys are going to get a great opportunity out the other. The goal is clear: end Social Security and be the FDR of Republicans. Well we all know this guy couldn't ride in FDR's wheelchair.

2) Where the hell are the disabled in all this!? Who the fuck is going to cover the disabled and the bereft. Kids whose parents die, people who lose eyesight. This is not some government run 401 (k) it is an insurance policy against the unforeseen and against the pitfalls of what old age means to the modern world.

Why does no one from the bloggers to the MSM to the President himself ever talk about the disabled who in my understanding receive about 1/3 of all SS benefits.

I guess no one gives hoonanny if you happen to lose a limb in the new (Your-on-Your) Ownership Society. Those are the breaks.

Well not to this guy and I don't think most people think we should all be forced to fend only for ourselves. Let's keep the fight up and move from a tentative defeat to a full on, bar stools flying brow-beating. Let's put the A__holes in their place and show them who America really belongs to.