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archived: 20 - 26 Mar, 2005 Back Next UPDATED: March 22, 2004 SCHIAVO The tragic circumstances of Terri Schiavo raises profound questions; morally and legally. The facts, law and philosophical debate can be approached from many points of view. Bush and the Republicans, however, are using Schiavo for political gain. Ignore the hypocrisy; and there is much hypocrisy in Bush’s position. The federal law that President Bush signed early Monday in an effort to prolong Terri Schiavo's life appears to contradict a right-to-die law that he signed as Texas governor, prompting cries of hypocrisy from congressional Democrats and some bioethicists.
In 1999, then-Gov. Bush signed the Advance Directives Act, which lets a patient's surrogate make life-ending decisions on his or her behalf. The measure also allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a physician, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes that the patient's condition is hopeless.
Bioethicists familiar with the Texas law said Monday that if the Schiavo case had occurred in Texas, her husband would be the legal decision-maker and, because he and her doctors agreed that she had no hope of recovery, her feeding tube would be disconnected.
"The Texas law signed in 1999 allowed next of kin to decide what the patient wanted, if competent," said John Robertson, a University of Texas bioethicist. – Yahoo Ignore the fact while Bush has championed Schiavo’s case, Bush and Republicans failed to utter a word in defense of a child that a Texas hospital permitted to die by disconnecting life support: With the permission of a judge, a Houston hospital disconnected a critically ill infant from his breathing tube last week against his mother's wishes after doctors determined that continuing life support would be futile.
"The mother down in Texas must be reading the Schiavo case and scratching her head," said Dr. Howard Brody, the director of Michigan State University's Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. "This does appear to be a contradiction."
Brody said that, in taking up the Schiavo case, Bush and Congress had shattered a body of bioethics law and practice. – Yahoo Americans cannot and should not ignore the fact that Bush’s Republicans would promote Schiavo’s case literally to a federal issue for political gain. Unbelievable? Not from these radical Republicans. Immediately prior to the vote in the US Senate, Republicans circulated these “talking points:” ABC News obtained talking points circulated among Senate Republicans explaining why they should vote to intervene in the Schiavo case. Among them, that it is an important moral issue and the "pro-life base will be excited," and that it is a "great political issue -- this is a tough issue for Democrats." -- ABC News (emphasis added) A number of Congressmen, including Rep. Tom Delay, disavowed these dispicable talking points. Yet, TPJ has been unable to find where ABC, or any other reporter, has identified the Republican source for the talking points. Today, Shiavo’s case is headed to the US Supreme Court. Outside of Schiavo’s facility, protestors are being arrested for trying to take bread and water to Schiavo, who could not drink or eat the offerings. Schiavo’s parents, who are devout Catholics, frantically do everything within their power to, from their standpoint, save their daughter. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, it is a Shakespearean tragedy. The final chapters are being brought to Americans for the sake of partisan Republican politics. _____________________________________________ UPDATED: March 22, 2005 $4.00 Is the price of gasoline headed to $4.00 a gallon? Bush aides are developing “worse case” plan for just that eventuality. Bush has quietly asked for a review of any and all economic fallout on the nation if gas prices continuing racing up and over the psychological line of $3 a gallon, as they have in recent weeks in some locations, the source explains. – Drudge Report Gas may not be headed to $4.00, but Bush’s economic policies will push the price of gasoline higher than the over $2.00 average pump price Americans are paying today. U.S. drivers found more pain at the pump on Monday, as the retail price for gasoline hit a record high of $2.109 a gallon, the government said.
The national pump price for regular unleaded gasoline rose 5.3 cents over the last week and is up 37 cents from a year ago, according to a weekly survey of service stations by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The previous record, set last May, was $2.064 a gallon. – Netscape News That is a 22% tax on every gallon pumped. More price hikes are to come: Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics in Boulder, Colorado, called February's import price rise "just the tip of the iceberg.
"We are starting to see what is the start of what will be a period of oil strength," he said. . . .
Petroleum prices jumped 3.9% last month and were nearly 30% higher than a year earlier. Higher prices for commodities also fuelled a 2% rise in industrial supply prices from the previous month and a 19.2% increase on the year. – One News (emphasis added) How is Bush economic policy tied to the price of oil? Bush has been the first United States President in history to permit the US DOLLAR to devalue so greatly against other international currencies; particularly the EURO. It is no coincidence that: [t]he dollar has lost about a third of its value against a basket of currencies since early 2002. – One News (emphasis added) The US DOLLAR is worth about one-third less and the price of oil is up by some 30%. While the correlation is an over simplification, Bush’s failure to defend the US DOLLAR against the EURO is taking its toll on your earnings, every day with every gallon of gasoline you buy. The effect is much larger than just gasoline. Higher energy prices mean that prices for products and the transportation of those products rise too. Rising prices equate to inflation. In order to guard against inflation, the Federal Reserve is increasing interest rates to slow spending. The Federal Reserve has already raised interest rates seven times. As you read TPJ today, the Federal Reserve is meeting. It should come as no surprise that at the end of today the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates for an eighth time. As gasoline, energy, prices move even higher there are more interest rate hikes in store for Americans. TRIFECA BUSH TAXES; more money out of your pocket for gas, more out of your pocket to pay the higher cost of goods and more out of your pocket for everything you buy on credit cards and mortgage loans. _____________________________________________ IT WAS THE OIL Weapons of mass destruction; the end of tyranny; and democracy. All have been given as justification for the war in Iraq. The BBC is breaking a story that Bush initiated planning within weeks of his election to overthrow Saddam. An Iraqi-born oil industry consultant, Falah Aljibury, says he took part in the secret meetings in California, Washington and the Middle East. He described a State Department plan for a forced coup d'etat.
Mr Aljibury himself told Newsnight that he interviewed potential successors to Saddam Hussein on behalf of the Bush administration. – BBC (emphasis added) After Bush decided to invade Iraq, the disposition of Iraqi oil assets became a central issue. Neoconservatives within the Bush administration developed a plan to privatize Iraqi oil. The neoconservative’s objective was straight forward; break OPEC. The plan: was crafted by neo-conservatives intent on using Iraq's oil to destroy the Opec cartel through massive increases in production above Opec quotas.
The sell-off was given the green light in a secret meeting in London headed by Ahmed Chalabi shortly after the US entered Baghdad, according to Robert Ebel. . . .
Ariel Cohen, of the neo-conservative Heritage Foundation, told Newsnight that an opportunity had been missed to privatize Iraq's oil fields.
He advocated the plan as a means to help the US defeat Opec, and said America should have gone ahead with what he called a "no-brainer" decision. -- BBC American oil producers flatly rejected the neoconservative concept of privatization: Philip Carroll, the former CEO of Shell Oil USA who took control of Iraq's oil production for the US Government a month after the invasion, stalled the sell-off scheme.
Mr Carroll told us he made it clear to Paul Bremer, the US occupation chief who arrived in Iraq in May 2003, that: "There was to be no privatization of Iraqi oil resources or facilities while I was involved." . . .
New plans, obtained from the State Department by Newsnight and Harper's Magazine under the US Freedom of Information Act, called for creation of a state-owned oil company favored by the US oil industry. It was completed in January 2004 under the guidance of Amy Jaffe of the James Baker Institute in Texas.
Formerly US Secretary of State, Baker is now an attorney representing Exxon-Mobil and the Saudi Arabian government. -- BBC Big oil companies have been unable to achieve what Democrats have been unable to successfully accomplish – defeat of the neoconservatives. The BBC story is a must read. The implications of the story are profound and disturbing. If the central assertions of the BBC story are true, Bush was planning the overthrow of Saddam well before the events of 9-11. A LEGACY OF DEBT Bush claims that he want to tackle the big problems. In the Social Security debate, Bush argue that we should not leave future generations saddled with problems that our generation should have addressed. Bush is obviously not referring to the massive federal debt that he is imposing on future generations: What was once expected to be a $5.6 trillion surplus over 10 years is now projected to be at least a $4 trillion deficit by 2015, if Bush's tax cuts are made permanent and his Social Security suggestions adopted.
Analysts suggest one-party dominance of the government is working against serious efforts to address the red ink, providing little incentive for bipartisan compromises on difficult choices to narrow the deficit.
"Everybody recognizes that deficits are unsustainable. And I don't think anybody takes the current deficit-reduction effort serious," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that advocates eliminating federal deficits.
Bixby said it might take some major outside force - a financial market collapse, foreign investors deciding to flee U.S. government securities - to force action.
Bush talks about the need to curb federal spending and has sent Congress what he calls a "lean budget." It proposes many cuts in health, education and other domestic programs. Yet it is short on specifics for how he would meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his term. That is a target that few analysts expect to be met.
Combining to keep the deficit growing are rising costs for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; homeland security expenses; tax cuts pushed through Congress by Bush; and an expensive Medicare prescription drug program. And that does not include the cost of restructuring Social Security.
The Republican-controlled Congress, leery of making politically unpopular cuts, has not been much help. – Associated Press The Associated Press article is a wonderful set of talking points for Democrats: America’s debt continues to grow.
Bush talks about cutting America’s debt in half; his budget does not deliver.
Bush’s tax cuts ensure that our debt grows and Bush is advocating even more tax cuts for the wealthy.
Republicans have been irresponsible in managing America’s economy. TUMBLING TUMBLE WEED? Polls are emerging that Bush’s overall approval ratings are starting to fall. the president’s overall approval rating has slipped below the 50 percent mark, his lowest score since being sworn in again in January. Forty-five percent of all Americans approve of the way he is doing his job, a five-point dip from early February; 48 percent disapprove, up six points. Bush's approval numbers have fallen the most among the demographic at whom his Social Security overhaul is targeted at: just 43 percent of 18-29 year olds approve of his performance (down from 56 percent a month ago). – MSNBC (emphasis added) In fact, Bush’s 45% approval rating is tied with the lowest rating he has received from Newsweek since February 2001. The Newsweek article suggests that Bush’s approval ratings are falling because of Social Security. There is support for that suggestion. Congressional approval ratings are also falling. For the details of that story, see today’s THEM DEMS. In actuality, Bush’s apparent fall in approval maybe attributable to a number of critical issues. Certainly, Social Security is one of these issues. Almost all polling services are showing that support for Bush’s Social Security privatization plan is stuck in the mid 30% range. Republican approval of oil drilling in ANWR does not follow public opinion. Gallup has just released a poll on the issue. “According to the poll, conducted March 7-10, 53% say ANWR should not be opened up to oil exploration, while 42% say it should. These views represent a slight shift in opinion from three years ago, when Americans opposed oil exploration by 56% to 35%.” – Gallup Public opinion is always weighing against the planned Republican power grab in the US Senate. Republicans are preparing to end the historic tradition of filibuster. Some 52% of Americans oppose the Republican plan while only 32% support the Republican power grab. – Polling Report Most recently, Republicans are intervening in the horrible tragedy of Terri Schiavo. Bush and Congressional Republicans will enact legislation to permit Federal Courts to review not only Schiavo’s case, but others like it. The legislation represents horrid public policy on a number of fronts. First, Republicans are simply stripping the States of their powers on issues that Republicans deem an interest in doing so. Second, the Republicans are now imposing the Federal Government in personal issues. Americans individually support the removal of artificial nutrition and would want the feeding tube removed if they were in such a condition by 74% to 15%. – Polling Report The essence of Bush and the radical Republicans is that their thirst for power knows no bounds. Perhaps the American public is finally catching on.
Last Update: 03/27/2006 |