An unbelievable story...

I couldn't believe this story...but it IS for real.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/03/04/mich-high-school-basketball-star-dies-winning-shot/

No one in that high school will ever forget that day, or that young man...It is such a sad loss -- but you KNOW that the young man died happy, probably as happy as he had ever been...An unbelievable ending for a short life, that was well-lived.

God bless his family, and his many friends...

It really happens...

Canadian Hospital Agrees to Let Boy in Vegetative State Die at Home

The Canadian hospital under fire for ordering parents to remove their young son from life support because he is a vegetative state has backed down and agreed to one of the family's requests: to let the boy die at home.

London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying that it will bring 13-month-old Joseph Maraachli to his family's home, but it then insists that staff members remove the boy from a respirator, possibly giving him only minutes more to live, the London Free Press reported.



“London Health Sciences Centre is and always has been willing to organize and pay for a medical transfer home to Windsor (where the family lives) for Baby Joseph, accompanied by LHSC physicians and staff,” the hospital said.



But the hospital still will not agree to the parents' request to perform a tracheotomy on Joseph, a measure the hospital calls needlessly invasive but the family has said helped their older child who suffered a similar condition live another six months.



The announcement comes as the hospital finds itself on the receiving end of threats sent by e-mail and phone calls, many of them said to come from the U.S. The hospital has since beefed up its security.



Joseph's parents had hoped to transfer him to a hospital in Michigan to perform the tracheotomy, but the Michigan hospital declined to accept the boy as a patient after reviewing his medical files.



The boy suffers from a rare, progressive neurological disease which, Canadian doctors say, has left him in a vegetative state beyond recovery.



A spokesman for Maraachli’s family told FoxNews.com the family is "working on an appeal" to the Michigan hospital's decision. The hospital declined to comment on "any matters surrounding the case."



Canadian health care allocation officials already ruled that Joseph had to be taken off life support and allowed to die in the hospital.  (Emphasis mine.)



There ARE people in socialized medicine that have to decide how care will be allocated...
A tracheotomy is not experimental treatment, or exorbitant in cost...
The way this has been handled seems wrong...The parent's should decide about their child's life -- but if the state is going to pay the bill, they take the authority.

Sad.



I found it here:
/www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/28/canadian-hospital-agrees-let-boy-vegetative-state-die-home/

A Somali Pirate's lament...

I was stunned when I read the following quote, the response of a modern-day pirate to the recent tragic ending of the Americans aboard the Quest...

"We had no intention of killing the hostages until the Americans began shooting at us," Muse said. "Our preference is only to take ships and ransom money, not to kill. But governments are targeting and killing our people."

Um -- perhaps governments are targeting and killing your people because you are taking innocents hostage and threatening to kill them...I mean, MAYBE this could be the reason why. Perhaps the Americans started shooting at you because you had no regard for human life and property. Generally speaking, this kind of activity makes one a target of military or police action. Make note of that, okay? For future reference, you know...

I know that what Mr. Muse is trying to do is to blame the US for the deaths. If the US had not taken action against the pirates, the hostages would have lived. "We won't kill unless other people MAKE us do it..." Right -- I'm sure your statement will change the whole discussion on piracy.  So -- when you take people hostage on threat of death, we're not supposed to believe you...We're just supposed to realize that you need to make money SOMEHOW and so, we well-supplied Americans are supposed to hand it over peacefully, and we'll all live happily ever after. If Americans just wouldn't be so unreasonably attached to their property and freedom, you would never need to get close to carrying out your supposedly disingenuous threats. It's always the HAVE NOT's against the HAVE's...

I 've heard that there's nothing new under the sun...


I read the quote here: Nation & World Lure of ocean, adventure drew sailors till death Seattle Times Newspaper

February is...

Black History Month...and in various places I have been seeing this:

"BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY"

I've been wondering who said it wasn't.

I hope it's not the same people who created Black History Month...Hopefully they weren't saying they should have their own history separate from other cultures in our country...

I thought it was Black History Month because there were many Black American's whose contributions had been overlooked, and we as a nation needed to recognize them, and appreciate them, and celebrate them.

What's the question, folks? Of course Black History is American History...and I am blessed to live in a place where that is not questioned, and to have had a family that raised me to know that people are people whatever their skin color.

I wish it were so all over this country.

Let's have the kids pick our school board...

A new proposal being floated in our state legislature is to allow students, age 14 and above, to vote in school board elections. Shouldn't they have a say in something that affects them more than most other voters?

I say NO. Teenagers are not wise enough to choose the people who should direct their education, and we are foolish if we think that they are. They are in school to become those kind of people, and their parents should be tasked with choosing the wise men and women who direct the course of a school district's plan to accomplish those ends. Be real! Fourteen to seventeen year olds don't even understand the scope of the issues that are a school boards' responsibilities! Yet -- we want to let them have a large voice in making these choices?

Sure....great idea! Maybe we should run it like home-coming...make it a lot more fun...crowns, fancy clothes, and a dance afterward. Oh, I know once in a while there are elections in the high school where block voting occurs in an effort to elect the most UNLIKELY candidate...but surely 14-17 year olds would take this more seriously -- wouldn't they? They would never be vindictive, or base their vote on whose dad or mom they liked, or who was more likely to relax rules, or less likely to punish bad behavior, or even who seemed coolest...I can just picture the write-in campaigns...

Which brings me to a second concern...I believe that allowing these young people to vote for their own leaders demeans the position of a school board member. We don't allow these kids to vote in general elections because they are considered too young to be responsible for choices that affect the governing of our country. Apparently, school board elections aren't important enough to warrant this restriction. We can take a chance on letting the kids vote in this case because it won't matter that much...

I couldn't disagree more...Is there a position that is more influential in our every day lives than that of a school board member? I think it should be treated with the same respect as any city council position. This is government as close to home as you can get -- and it matters! Issues decided there affect our kids, and therefore affect our future.

Not all teenagers are full of foolishness, yet even those who are showing signs of wisdom have much to learn about life, and the individual's responsibilities to the common good. Much as I have teenagers in my life that I love and respect, I don't trust their judgement enough to consider allowing them a vote in the election of the school board. They can learn about the process, and have an appropriate amount of influence, by participating in student government at school.

The latest scourge...

Have you heard this ad on the radio? Or seen it on TV? Check it out...

Some adjectives that come to mind: inane, asinine, elementary, embarrassing, CHEEZ WHIZ!!

And now you're gonna hate me, because it's in your head, isn't it?

Sorry! I just can't believe that our tax dollars are going for something like this. Aside from the fact that this campaign is highly deserving of the adjectives above, I wonder if we need to spend money to tell people to wash their hands. Really? People don't know the benefits of hand-washing? Really? Does this ad make it more clear? Really -- how many people over the age of 4 don't know you should wash your hands? How many over the age of 4 don't wash their hands when necessary?

And how much money are we throwing at this dubious problem?

And, honestly, I don't want this to be part of the definition of a Washingtonian...I reiterate: embarrassing!

I think the whole concept is as ridiculous at the song...

And the song is SO annoying that I think a continuous loop could replace water-boarding as torture...

It's been a while...

...but didn't I say something just like this?

Just not quite as well...

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-3-2011/san-francisco-s-happy-meal-ban