ELSEWHERE

An email from one of my medical correspondents about Terri Schiavo: "The court record for Terrri Schiavo says she has "no cortical function" -this means that her brain waves show a flat electroencephalogram (EEG). A neurologist - a very trustworthy man - told me that this means that she has no cognitive function or awareness; The "following the balloon" test is meaningless - it can't be reliably reproduced; and even patients with only lower brain (brainstem) function do it sometimes. And such patients also show some reaction to sounds and touch. If this is true, there just isn't much to save. And Terri is NOT awake. And she is NOT going to "get better", as her parents have said. Terri's condition is NOT the same as the lady who "woke up" and "talked" after being in a coma for 20 years. The neurologist described this as a "locked in" syndrome. This is often the result of damage to the brainstem without "cortical" damage - this is caused by mechanical injury or stroke or bleeding. Terri, in contrsast, suffered "ischemic" damage - lack of flow of blood and oxygen to the brain - the cortex (thinking, consciousness, pain) is the first to be damaged - the most sensitive part of the brain to oxygen lack. The "locked in" patients may have normal brain function and be alert, as noted by EEG studies - which may demonstrate changes with stimulation and sleep patterns etc.. To the untrained eye, these two may look similar. Terri's condition is NOT the same as those who report "waking up" after years in a "coma". I believe a lot of well meaning people are sorely misinformed about Terri's condition".

Antiwar movement runs out of puff: "MoveOn.org, the Berkeley-birthed online hub that fueled anti-Bush sentiment before the invasion and now boasts 3 million members, has moved on. Critics on the left complain that it is spending too much energy on such issues as Social Security reform and Bush's judicial appointments, and not enough on opposing the occupation. MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser told liberal-leaning media critic Norman Solomon recently that the group "is seeing a broad difference of opinion among our members on how quickly the U.S. should get out of Iraq. As a grassroots-directed organization, we won't be taking any opinion which a large portion of our members disagree with."

Still some opposition to homosexuality: "Warning of divine retribution and possible violent protest, evangelical Christians and rabbis from the United States have joined forces with ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel to fight plans to hold an international gay festival in Jerusalem this summer. The WorldPride Parade, last held in Rome in 2000, is a 10-day event including street parties, workshops and a gay film festival. Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish mayor, Uri Lupolianski, says he is powerless to interfere, as public events are licensed by the police, not City Hall. At a news conference Wednesday, California pastor Leo Giovinetti said hosting the 10-day World Pride event could bring divine retribution upon Jerusalem, citing the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorra as a precedent."

Muslims kick out Christians: ""Christian groups and some other private relief agencies are being asked to halt their work in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh and leave the area by March 26, Indonesia's defense minister said yesterday. The decision likely will target Western and smaller church groups as the government moves to tighten control over reconstruction work in Aceh, the home of a decades-old separatist insurgency. 'We want each of the relief agencies to be transparent in their programs: Some of them are not clear about their mandates,' said Juwono Sudarsono during an interview in a Washington hotel. 'Aceh is mostly Muslim, and some church groups from Australia and the United States are too eager to be there and do their part,' he said. Sudarsono said his government had set March 26 some weeks ago as a target date for moving from the disaster-relief phase of post-tsunami operations to the reconstruction phase."

Israel does its part: "Israel handed control over security in this quiet desert town back to the Palestinians yesterday after weeks of haggling, highlighting the improving relations between the two sides but also the lingering suspicions after more than four years of fighting. The Israeli army dismantled the westernmost of three checkpoints surrounding Jericho and eased travel restrictions in and out of the West Bank town, but kept troops poised along a main highway nearby. ... A number of Palestinian checkpoints were erected following the Israeli moves. The handover, complete with a small signing ceremony and the lowering of an Israeli flag at the checkpoint west of Jericho, marked one of the first practical steps toward restoring Palestinian security control over the West Bank since Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian president two months ago."

Well, it is clear now that Saddam DID have WMDs. Even the NYT admits it. GWB vindicated yet again. But as Christopher Hitchens asks: "This Was Not Looting. How did Saddam's best weapons plants get plundered?"

Wicked Thoughts now has a second blog -- called "Strange Justice" -- which records some of the more appalling miscarriages of justice that are happening. Very disquieting reading.

My latest posting on MarxWords notes again Engels showing his contempt for Russians. My latest posting on "A scripture blog" deals with the Bible view of the death penalty.

For more postings, see EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and LEFTISTS AS ELITISTS. Mirror sites here, here, here, here and here

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That power only, not principles, is what matters to Leftist movers and shakers is perfectly shown by the 2004 Kerry campaign. They put up a man whose policies seemed to be 99% the same as George Bush's even though the Left have previously disagreed violently with those policies. "Whatever it takes" is their rule.

Leftist ideologues are phonies. For most of them all that they want is to sound good. They don't care about doing good. That's why they do so much harm. They don't really care what the results of their policies are as long as they are seen as having good intentions and can con "the masses" into giving them power.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist"

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