DaveTown

Virginia Postrel is a very intelligent writer and commentator, but she completely missed the mark just now on MSNBC. She said anyone who believes in individual liberty and federalism and separation of powers must side with Michael Schiavo and the court in their insane desire to kill Terri Schiavo.

How, exactly, are these goals met by starving a woman to death? The court ruled. The court is wrong. It would be (not the first) dereliction of duty for the legislature and executive branch not to jump into action.

Just as important as separation of powers, Ms. Postrel, is the idea of checks and balances. The court has overstepped its bounds; the other branches have to step in and make it right.

Though, it saddens and enrages me to say, I’m not confident they’ll be able to do so.

I just heard a Democrat legislator from Florida, on MSNBC, have the GALL to say that he was concerned about Big Government interfering with Terri Schiavo’s life.

Democrats in this country want Big Government to do EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY. They want to tell you how to eat, how to spend your money, what car to drive, you name it. But they DON’T want B.G. to save the life of an innocent lady who is about to be starved to death by her husband, with the full cooperation of the Florida judiciary and Florida law enforcement apparatus.

Starved. To. Death.

I keep hearing the phrase “extraordinary measures”. Feeding someone and giving them water is not an extraordinary measure.

Look, let me give you my advance directive now, just so you know what to do if I ever wind up in a situation like poor dear Terri.

First. Feed me. Okay? That’s not tough. Feed me. Every meal. It’s the least you can do for me if you love me.

Second. Really, feed me and don’t stop. If it starts getting expensive, I promise to pay you back when I come back to the point where I can talk and move and all that. I promise. If I never get to that point, keep in mind, I would do the same for you.

Third. Love me. Don’t abandon me and keep my parents, my friends, and my PRIEST, for the love of God, away from me.

Fourth. Whatever you do, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, are you to take me to @#$%& Florida.

Okay, we clear now?

That’s not unreasonable is it?

Oh, one more thing. At some point during my convalescence, go find Michael Schiavo and punch him in the neck for me. And kick his lawyer in the groin.

Thank you for concern in this matter.

God have mercy on us all.

This is from Drudge:

**Exclusive Fri Mar 18 2005 00:50:07 ET** The Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual. Members of Congress went to the U.S. Attorney in DC to ask for a temporary restraining order to be issued by a judge, which protects Terri Schiavo from having her life support, including her feeding and hydration tubes, removed… Developing…

So help me if this works to save Terri’s life, I’ll never criticize Congress again. Okay, that’s not true, but I will cut them much more slack than I ever have. That’s a promise.

Let me ask you a few questions:

• Are you smart?
• Are you geeky?
• Do you have way too much time on your hands?
• Are you obsessive/compulsive?
• Are you afraid you’ve reached the end of the internet?

If you answered yes to all these questions, I have the solution for you (heck, even if you answered yes to four of them; I’m not picky).

Wikipedia

WARNING: DaveTown, its parent company DaveTown Conglomerated Universal Industries, and its employees, shareholders, groupies, and/or minions, disclaim any responsibility for any and all breakdowns in either your social life or employment status caused by excessive use of Wikipedia.

From Summa Minutiae comes this challenge, to describe one’s self with three quotes, be they literary, cinematic, or whatever.

So, here goes:

To begin with: though it was probably the case that he was ill, and that it was his illness – depression – which made the world seem farcical, it was impossible to prove the case. On the one hand, he was depressed. On the other hand, the world is in fact farcical. (Walker Percy)

We must know the truth, and we must love the truth we know, and we must act according to the measure of our love. (Thomas Merton)

No quiero morir sin antes haber amado, pero tampoco quiero morir de amor. (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs)

Judge Andrew Napolitano is the newest member of the 1% club, that exclusive group of individuals who set themselves apart from the 99% of us who don’t know what we’re talking about. Read this interview with Judge Napolitano in Reason magazine’s online edition, then consider buying his book.

Reason: The Born-Again Individualist

After you’ve read that, and if you’re up for a dose of metaphysical heartburn, here’s an interesting project: find your copy of the Constitution of the United States of America (you do have a copy, don’t you?) and read it start to finish. Then, go to the website for The Congressional Record or Thomas.gov and read up on the following:

• any or all of the bills currently before Congress.
• recent decisions of the Supreme Court
• executive orders of the Bush or Clinton administrations.

When finished, compare what you’ve read in the Constitution to what you’ve seen of your government in action.

If you really want to get depressed, go to law school and take a course or two in constitutional law. The bits on the commerce clause alone will send you running for a 40 oz. bottle of Pepto-Bismol.

On second thought, don’t do that. It’s expensive. And hard. And not a great deal of fun.

But do the other parts of my little project. It will be an invaluable education in civics, government, and cynicism.

But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

(tip of the cyber-hat to Old Oligarch for the link to the Reason interview)

I didn’t read the article, but the headline grabbed my attention:

Jackson Accuser Explains Earlier Denial

I didn’t even know he was in trouble.

I gotta get out more.

Oh, yeah, like I don’t have ENOUGH to worry about

Randy put a gratuitous cute kittycat picture on the Fred Hotline
so I thought I’d reciprocate.

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Jimmie Walker is a columnist for Jewish World Review.

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Students in Cambridge doing everything they can to dispel the old “you gotta be smart to get into Harvard” myth.

Here’s an excerpt from today’s Daily Crimson, from an article about a recent speech by Jada Pinkett-Smith:

BGLTSA Co-Chair Jordan B. Woods ‘06 said that, while many BGLTSA members thought Pinkett Smith’s speech was motivational, some were insulted because they thought she narrowly defined the roles of men and women in relationships.

Some of the content was extremely heteronormative, and made BGLTSA members feel uncomfortable, he said.

Calling the comments heteronormative, according to Woods, means they implied that standard sexual relationships are only between males and females.

“Our position is that the comments weren’t homophobic, but the content was specific to male-female relationships”, Woods said.

Margaret C. D. Barusch ‘06, the other BGLTSA co-chair, said the comments might have seemed insensitive in effect, if not in intent.

“I think the comments had a very strong focus for an extended period of time on how to effectively be in a relationship; a heterosexual relationship,” Barusch said. “I don’t think she meant to be offensive but I just don’t think she was that thoughtful.”

On the other hand, I don’t even go there and I learned something from Harvard today (i.e., who knew their was such a word as “heteronormative”, and who knew it was considered a bad thing?).

Maybe I owe them 30 grand now.