The Rake Magazine

It's about George Bush. Here's his comment today when told of the death of Schiavo.

"I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected," the president said, "especially those who live at the mercy of others.

"The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life."

These preposterous words from the man who signed death warrants with gusto for juveniles, mentally handicapped and sincere penitents while governor of Texas. These from a man who presides over the torture to death or indeterminate imprisonment of people unlucky enough to be rounded up in Afganistan or Iraq. These from the man who blithely sends our soldiers to Iraq without body armor or armored vehicles. These from a man who manufactures evidence to precipitate a war.

Shame.

To anyone who has ever built a business, the logic of Bill Bradley's op-ed piece in today's NY Times is second nature. Build a strong base, add creative theorists, and hire great strategic sales people. From a strong organization, strong leaders will emerge. And such an organization will continue to grow and prosper.

I've always said the reason the Republicans continue to kick Demo butt on a regular basis is that Republicans take a purely business-like approach to politics. They've built an organization. They have the thinkers who can construct cogent arguments for their positions. And, they have great marketers who understand how to make their positions attractive to the mass market. If you have such an organization, the actual top leadership is often secondary--indeed, if the presidency of the current moron in chief tells us anything, it's that anyone can be a leader when the only thing he has to do is sit at the top of the heap and take credit for the work of the organization.

Today, Bradley, one of the few people who seem to understand just what the Republicans have wrought, calls on Democrats to do the same thing. It will never happen though, because unlike the Republicans, Democrats have no patience. They'll never have the "Emotional Intelligence" top business people possess in abundance. And that's why they're doomed.

Well, if you didn't already believe the people who run the National Rifle Association are crazier than a hummingbird on crack, read this from NRA first vice president, Sandra S. Froman.

It seems that if only the teachers at Red Lake had been totin' heat themselves, they could have protected their students from Jeff Weise's rampage. I bet the good folks of Red Lake wish they'd thought of that themselves. Yup, all we need to do to make our school safer is bring in more guns.

Damn near as funny as Ms. Froman's pronouncements were those of President Bush, who this morning talked of how committed the federal government was to the people of Red Lake. If you've ever been to Red Lake, and I have, you'll know what an utter crock that is. Of course, maybe W will introduce an amendment to the No Child Left Behind act that would fund body armor for all students. We could use the money that we're not spending on the body armor for our soldiers in Iraq, perhaps.

P.S. If you want to read a good series on what life is like for some people on an Indian reservation, look what the Strib did here.

I've been thinking a lot about Terri Schiavo, which, I think, puts me in some pretty good company--that of people who believe life is sacred and we shouldn't allow it to end without good reason.

Like the abortion and death penalty debates, poor Terri has become a nexus of American confusion among our nation of laws, our nation under God, and our nation currently being run by the people who only believe in the law or God when it suits their political purpose.

As for what I think of whether Terri Schiavo should die, I couldn't put it nearly so well as Harriet McBryde Johnson did on Slate yesterday. If Terri can live, like any profoundly injured or ill person--with care and feeding--she should. What's being done to let her die is wrong, but it does have a rationale I can understand. It is not murder theologically unless Michael Schiavo believes it to be. He doesn't. Unlike DeLay, Frist and Bush, he's not a cynic. And whether Michael Schiavo is right or not, someday he will know when his own time comes.

What makes the political right's attempt to keep Terri alive even more vile than her husband's desire to let her die though is beautifully summed up by this piece by Dahlia Lithwick, also posted on Slate yesterday. She points out the irony of the right's signature "defense of marriage" at the same time they are willing to put government firmly between a man and his wife. (Lithwick also notes that the money which has paid for Terri's care came from a malpractice lawsuit of just the sort Congress wants to limit.)

When it comes down to it, I think I'd rather have someone like Michael Schiavo representing my interests than DeLay, Frist or Bush. I can only hope that that epiphany I spoke of above comes, too, to that unholy trinity. It would be great if it came early in November 2006, but I can wait for St. Peter if I have to.

We’ve been on vacation in Florida this week and for us news junkies it’s been a pleasure to partake of the St. Petersburg Times, and ignore the usual suspects. In consequence, we’ve been able to read the local, rather than national, coverage of the Terri Schiavo case, and get the perspective of the people who have been covering the story since way before DeLay and Frist decided to play God.

One story today noted the outrage of Florida Republicans at DeLay referring to Florida judge George Greer as a murderer and terrorist. It happens that Judge Greer is himself a Republican, and has a lot of Republican friends who have rallied to his defense. The irony of the Republican Congress violating its own oft repeated mantra of states' rights to interfere in a Florida matter is not lost on the people down here. Say what you want about Florida (and we are certainly guilty of calling them names ourselves on many occasions,) but the folks here, even many right-to-lifers, don’t care much for DeLay’s cynical grandstanding.

Also today, an editorial pointed out that President Bush's pronouncement that he should "err on the side of life" rings a bit hollow when one takes a look at the executions he approved while governor of Texas, including that of Gary Graham, the last American to be executed for a crime committed while a juvenile. As the Times points out, Graham was almost certainly innocent, and yet Bush rationalized his execution by asserting that he was guilty of other crimes. Actually the Times didn’t equivocate at all on the topic of Bush’s pronouncement: "That is a contemptible hypocrisy," is the exact language they used.

Finally, columnist Howard Troxler asked today why DeLay and Frist waited during a legal procedure that has been going on for years before they acted “to say our [Florida’s] law does not count.” He recounts the story of Thomas More, albeit the fictionalized one of A Man for All Seasons. You may remember Thomas More as a genuinely religious man who gave his life for his principles when he refused to approve the divorce of Henry VIII. Troxler notes that the government of Henry was willing to trample its own laws for its political ends.

No matter what you think of whether Terri Schiavo should be kept alive or allowed to die, it is clear that the Florida judiciary did not take the matter lightly. The litigation has been going on for years. All sides have had their day in court, and the Florida legislature has had ample opportunity to make its wishes known.

In that context, the self righteous Thomas DeLay stands out in sharp contrast to the righteous Thomas More. One can only hope the Christian voters in Florida remember the difference the next time they get a chance to make their opinion known as to which sort of religion they prefer.