OK... Terri Schiavo....Now I've had my say too...
I've been following Media Matters and been stupified at the hoopla and saddened for the family.
Best "low down" I've found (thanks to Media Matters) is a brief of the case ...
thanks Abstract Appeal.

It just amazes me how the truth is so warped and twisted by the flapping jaws.

And meanwhile, we continue killing in the name of "democracy", and religion, and greed.
As Terri would say: ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHHHHHHH !!!!!!!

Yesterday I was going to post news headline that underscored the distressing "state of the union"... issues included: Mercury poisoning of the planet, governmental bald faced LIES, egregious behaviors by leaders, horrors of war, etc.

I couldn't understand how all this didn't elicit response and outrage from the mainstream media....

But today, Tom Dispatch, explains a lot with his: Entries for a Devil’s Dictionary of the Bush Era

"For the last few years we have been ruled by lexicographers. Never has an administration spent so much time creating, defining, or redefining terms, perhaps because no one (since George Orwell) has grasped the power and possibility that lay hidden in plain sight in the naming and renaming of words."
"The way gunmen once reached for their six-guns, so the various legal and other counselors of this administration reach for their dictionaries. The lawyer-authors of the various tortured memos about torture that came out of the White House Counsel's office and the Justice Department, for instance, expended much effort acting as if they were part of a panel for a new edition of some dictionary.
It seems they sat surrounded by the Webster's New International Dictionary (sometimes the 1935 edition, sometimes later ones), the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary, medical dictionaries, and who knows what else, as they decided just how much pain wasn't actually pain for the benefit of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the President. "
"While they consulted piles of dictionaries and other reference materials to draw the pain out of a global torture regime, their true definitional focus was on removing all fetters, all checks and balances, from George W. Bush's power as president."

The article, with links, is worth reading, keeping and remembering...

"My Sister" litmus test...
From http://highclearing.com/

"Ethical arguments of the form “We should torture [other people] if . . . ” will be rejected out of hand. Ethical arguments of the form “I should be tortured if . . . ” may be entertained. Or, maybe better, “My sister should be tortured if . . . ” That is all."

Steve Gilliard is correct, this is a good read:

Exerpted From:
Being Silent On The Things That Matter
by The Truth (Daily Kos)

Dr King's quote: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter."

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of no longer having a free press, freedom of expression or the freedom to participate in political dissent, because dissent is essential to having true democracy?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of a government whose sole mission is to continue to reward the wealthy at the expense of the poor?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of not having a guaranteed, fundamental, inalienable right to a quality education, affordable, liveable, sustainable housing, not to mention a sustainable and replenishing environment, quality healthcare and jobs that pay liveable, sustainable, family-supportable wages?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of a woman's right to control reproductive choice, or quality, comprehensive education and information on health issues such as preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, developing sexuality, diabetes, hypertension, mental illnesses, not to mention the need to educate about medical treatment of all with sensitivity and awareness in a cultural and linguistically competent manner, while teaching the need for staying healthy, eating right, being active?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter of our elderly - their quality of life, now that they have earned the right to retire and rest from their labors, while being attacked on an economic scale in terms of eliminating access to medicines that would enhance their quality of life, as well as sustaining the trust fund into which they have paid in preparation for retirement and enjoyment of their golden years?

Can we continue to be silent on the matter that this government has sought to divide rather than unite; facilitates an inherent contempt for the poor, the elderly, the downtrodden, men and women of color, homosexuals, by initiating programs, initiatives and policies guaranteed to steal, kill and destroy life as we now know it?"