Yup, Mr. "Right-wing" libertarian has some interesting commentary. He is at odds with the Limbaughs and the Hannities of the world. He wrote this piece for townhall.com yesterday.

quote:

Because she's earned it Neal Boortz (archive) March 24, 2005 I signed off my talk show yesterday, stuffed unused newspaper articles in my briefcase, and headed home. As I pulled out of the studio parking garage I did what I usually do ... I tuned in to see what Rush was talking about. On this particular day I had no doubt as to what the subject would be, but I wanted to hear his latest thoughts. My studio getaway was so efficient, so swift that I was on the road in time to hear Rush come out of his hourly newsbreak. Now ... before I go any further, let it be clear; I'm a Rush Limbaugh fan. Nobody does talk radio better, not even me. I love what he's done for our radio format, what he's done for America, and what he's done to the left. Liberals hate him. I love him for that too. Rush has made me money by elevating the talk radio format to the top of the heap, and saved me even more through the tax cuts that came from his promotion of the Republican agenda. As Rush opens the hour he has a question; a question for "you liberals." He wants to know "Why do you want Terri Schiavo to die?" I'm on the opposite side of this issue from Rush, Hannity, Liddy and most of my not-liberal talk radio colleagues. So the question intrigued me. Why, indeed, do I want Terri Schiavo to die? Rush's question deserved an answer. Not some glib response, but an honest, heartfelt answer. So, ... here's mine. I want Terri Schiavo to die because I believe she's earned it. I don't view death as the end of the journey of a human soul. I view it as a transition. The God I believe in would not waste the total life experiences of a man or woman made in his image on a total and complete death; a dead end, if you will, with nothing to follow. I cannot believe that it is God's plan that the life experiences of a man; wisdom gained, lessons learned and love experienced, should, upon death, disappear as if they never were. I believe that there's something to follow the life we know on this earth; and I believe that most of the people fighting to keep the body of Terri Schiavo alive feel the same way. These feelings give rise to some questions of my own; questions for the devoutly religious people who are fighting to keep Terri Schiavo alive. Do you believe in God's promise of everlasting life? Do you believe that the reward for a life well spent on this earth is a life with God in heaven after you die? If you do, then a few more questions if you will. Do you believe that the human soul can make the transition to everlasting life while the human body that carried that soul through life clings to life on this earth? If you do, then you must surely believe that Terri Schiavo has earned and is already enjoying her reward in heaven. That being the case, why is it so important to you that the now-unneeded body of Terri Schiavo is kept alive? But perhaps you believe, as I do, that the human soul is so connected to and integrated with its earthly body that any transition will not be made until that body ceases functioning -- until death occurs.. That being the case, why do you so ardently desire that the soul of Terri Schiavo spend five, ten, perhaps 30 years or more trapped in a useless and non-functioning body, unable to move on to whatever reward awaits her? Isn't 15 years enough? Where do your concerns truly lie, with the eternal soul of Terri Schiavo, or with her earthly body? Most of us are aware of the stories related by people who have near-death experiences. The usual scenario is a surgical procedure or some other medical emergency. These people describe a sensation of leaving their body at the very time the heart stops beating and the brain ceases functioning. They tell of floating above their body while watching doctors below working hard to resuscitate, to bring them back to life. As the heart once again starts beating and as the brain resumes its functions, they tell of a sensation of falling back into their own bodies to resume life. We don't hear from the patients upon whom resuscitation efforts are not successful. We don't hear from them because they've left us. They're gone to experience whatever lies beyond. They died. Is it possible that the soul of Terri Schiavo has been floating – held in some prolonged and excruciating limbo – waiting for doctors to stop interfering with the process of her death? I believe that this is so, and that is why I have supported her husband's desires to have her feeding tube removed. Terri Schiavo isn't being murdered. She's being allowed to die. Death will not be an end for Terri Schiavo, it will be a beginning. She will finally be allowed to claim the reward that ultimately we all seek, a reward she's earned and deserves.

I guess it's finally resolved. The Supreme Court said no way, Jose.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka I guess it's finally resolved. The Supreme Court said no way, Jose.

No way she's gonna die or no way she's gonna live?

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira No way she's gonna die or no way she's gonna live?

The SC refuses to intervene, so the feeding tube is to remain out so she'll finally go in peace.

Actually, in my view she left in peace 15 years ago. Her freakin' cerebral cortex is nothing but liquid (spinal fluid). She's been gone long ago.

As for Boortz, personally I think he’s full of shit, and I can’t help but be a little callous in saying that. Despite the fact that I think he’s an absolute conservative hack, I honestly don’t think he means a fucking word he’s writing. It’s rare, very very rare that he disagrees with the party line rhetoric. But this issue is clearly not a party line talking point, at least not anymore. The public was onto Santorum, Delay, Frist, and the rest of the fundie turds immediately, and it quickly separated the conservatives between the fundies and the rest. The polls were overwhelmingly against the Republican’s actions on this, and here’s another poll from CBS news that demonstrates that even further:

quote:

Congress Job Approval Approve 34 (41) Disapprove 49 (44) Bush Approval Ratings Approve 43 (49) Should Congress and the President be involved in the Schiavo matter? Yes 13 No 82 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...ain682674.shtml

The Republicans are getting their asses handed to them, even though the vast majority of them love nothing but to stroke their fundie activist nutbag base who are more loyal than any other group going to the voting booths. Bush’s numbers are continuing to slide. His job in Iraq is sliding vast too, despite all the stupid fucking purple fingers waving around by the Republicans, this GOP Congress’ numbers are absolutely atrocious and are sliding fast too. And this Schiavo case only made things worse for them, BAD.

The pundits know this and most live and die by the polls. Boortz is no exception. I have no fucking doubt in my mind that Boortz would be singing a different tune IF this Schiavo case actually improved Bush and the GOP’s numbers. You honestly think he would have such sincerity about her, and that his sentiments would be unshaken if the political polls were different? Call me skeptical as hell.

___________________
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I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

quote:

Originally posted by MisterOpus1 You honestly think he would have such sincerity about her, and that his sentiments would be unshaken if the political polls were different? Call me skeptical as hell.

Dude, you are skeptical as hell!

Boortz is a libertarian and does tend to side with conservatives(I did not say Republicans, though that may be debatable) on many issues. He does often take issue with them as well. What he doesn't believe in is the liberal ideology of the far left, and frankly, neither do I.

He's been commenting on this case since it really hit the hot plate a couple of weeks ago and his opinion on the matter has not wavered. He may not be the most sensitive guy, and by that I mean he is exxxtremely (XXX meaning extremely extreme) blunt on his talking points. I don't doubt that he is genuine in what he is saying.

Opus, from what I've gathered, your opinions on the guy have been formed by reading the opinions of others(based on a couple of responses in the past to some of my postings of his material), and not so much on listening to the guy first hand. I'm not saying he's always right, but I'd rather base my opinion on someone when I hear things straight from the horse's mouth as opposed to reading the various slanted rants of a few horses' asses. Perhaps you don't like what he said here because, while you agree with him in that she should be allowed to die, you disagree with him because he invoked the name of God. Maybe not, I'm just sporting a guess. I will concede that he is awfully hard to listen to on the radio, which is why I prefer to read his comments rather than hear him speak them.

In any event, I agree that this whole event has been decidedly negative for the right and they have played their cards poorly. However, Randi Rhodes is still a worthless kunt(rightly spelled with a capital "C").

I think if they wanted her to go in peace instead of removing her feeding tube and dying of starvation and thirst over the course of a week, it would be more humane to just inject her and have her die in her sleep.

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quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Dude, you are skeptical as hell! Boortz is a libertarian and does tend to side with conservatives(I did not say Republicans, though that may be debatable) on many issues. He does often take issue with them as well. What he doesn't believe in is the liberal ideology of the far left, and frankly, neither do I. He's been commenting on this case since it really hit the hot plate a couple of weeks ago and his opinion on the matter has not wavered. He may not be the most sensitive guy, and by that I mean he is exxxtremely (XXX meaning extremely extreme) blunt on his talking points. I don't doubt that he is genuine in what he is saying. Opus, from what I've gathered, your opinions on the guy have been formed by reading the opinions of others(based on a couple of responses in the past to some of my postings of his material), and not so much on listening to the guy first hand. I'm not saying he's always right, but I'd rather base my opinion on someone when I hear things straight from the horse's mouth as opposed to reading the various slanted rants of a few horses' asses.

On the contrary, I have listened to him on the radio, although admittedly not for the last few weeks. My local radio station switched formats from an all-sports talk radio (which I loved because it was mostly on KU and Big12 sports) to an afternoon of conservative talk radio. Boortz is one of the shows they have. Why they switched is another matter, but why they switched to an all-conservative talk show format in a very liberal town (Lawrence, KS) which was one of only 2 counties in KS that went towards Kerry in '04 is frustrating and fucked up IMO. So I have listened to him, just as I listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, and occasionally Savage.

Paraphrasing the Art of War - how do you know how to fight if you do not know thy enemy?

(okay, the Dems. still suck at fighting well, but they are slowly learning...)

quote:

Perhaps you don't like what he said here because, while you agree with him in that she should be allowed to die, you disagree with him because he invoked the name of God. Maybe not, I'm just sporting a guess.

No that's not it at all. I actually don't mind people on either side invoking God on this issue. From that perspective I'd say that God has had Terri next to him for the past 15 years or so. And it's not that I don't agree with his overall points on the matter - I actually do. But my lack of trust in him and his motives are well-founded, whether it be me listening to him outright or reading his distortions that are clearly posted on blogs or on David Brock's MediaMatters. The source is irrelevant - if there are clear distortions, errors, or flat-out lies, then those falsities completely stand on their own regardless of the source.

And that goes just the same for factual reporting when it occurs on rare occasion in NewsMax, Weekly Standard, Limbaugh Letter, etc.

quote:

I will concede that he is awfully hard to listen to on the radio, which is why I prefer to read his comments rather than hear him speak them.

Hannity and Limbaugh are way worse, IMO.

quote:

In any event, I agree that this whole event has been decidedly negative for the right and they have played their cards poorly. However, Randi Rhodes is still a worthless kunt(rightly spelled with a capital "C").

So's Maureen Dowd, but I loved her column today:

quote:

DeLay, Deny and Demagogue By MAUREEN DOWD Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy. Are the Republicans so obsessed with maintaining control over all branches of government, and are the Democrats so emasculated about not having any power, that they are willing to turn the nation into a wholly owned subsidiary of the church? The more dogma-driven activists, self-perpetuating pols and ratings-crazed broadcast media prattle about "faith," the less we honor the credo that a person's relationship with God should remain a private matter. As the Bush White House desperately maneuvers in Iraq to prevent the new government from being run according to the dictates of religious fundamentalists, it desperately maneuvers here to pander to religious fundamentalists who want to dictate how the government should be run. Maybe President Bush should spend less time preaching about spreading democracy around the world and more time worrying about our deteriorating democracy. Even some Republicans seemed appalled at this latest illustration of Nietzsche's observation that "morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose." As Christopher Shays, one of five House Republicans who voted against the bill to allow the Terri Schiavo case to be snatched from Florida state jurisdiction and moved to federal court, put it: "This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. There are going to be repercussions from this vote." A CBS News poll yesterday found that 82 percent of the public was opposed to Congress and the president intervening in this case; 74 percent thought it was all about politics. The president, who couldn't be dragged outdoors to talk about the more than a hundred thousand people who died in the horrific tsunami, was willing to be dragged out of bed to sign a bill about one woman his base had fixated on. But with the new polls, the White House seemed to shrink back a bit. The scene on Capitol Hill this past week has been almost as absurdly macabre as the movie "Weekend at Bernie's," with Tom DeLay and Bill Frist propping up between them this poor woman in a vegetative state to indulge their own political agendas. Mr. DeLay, the poster child for ethical abuse, wanted to show that he is still a favorite of conservatives. Dr. Frist thinks he can ace out Jeb Bush to be 44, even though he has become a laughingstock by trying to rediagnose Ms. Schiavo's condition by video. As one disgusted Times reader suggested in an e-mail: "Americans ought to send Bill Frist their requests: 'Dear Dr. Frist: Please watch the enclosed video and tell us if that mole on my mother's cheek is cancer. Does she need surgery?'" Jeb, keeping up with the '08 competition, vainly tried to get Florida to declare Ms. Schiavo a ward of the state. Republicans easily abandon their cherished principles of individual privacy and states rights when their personal ambitions come into play. The first time they snatched a case out of a Florida state court to give to a federal court, it was Bush v. Gore. This time, it's Bush v. Constitution. While Senate Democrats like Hillary Clinton, who are trying to curry favor with red staters, meekly allowed the shameful legislation to be enacted, at least some Floridian House members decided to put up a fight, though they knew they couldn't win. The president and his ideological partners don't believe in separation of powers. They just believe in their own power. First they tried to circumvent the Florida courts; now they're trying to pack the federal bench with conservatives and even blow up the filibuster rule. But they may yet learn a lesson on checks and balances, as the federal courts rebuffed them in the Schiavo case. Mr. DeLay moved yesterday to file a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court asking that Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube be restored while the federal court is deciding what to do. But as he exploits this one sad case, Mr. DeLay has voted to slash Medicaid by $15 billion, denying money to care for poor people in nursing homes, some on feeding tubes. Mr. DeLay made his personal stake clear at a conference last Friday organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. He said that God had brought Terri Schiavo's struggle to the forefront "to help elevate the visibility of what's going on in America." He defined that as "attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others." So it's not about her crisis at all. It's about his crisis. E-mail: [email protected] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/opinion/24dowd.html?

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
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I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

Ah, my bad then. I don't really listen to him much. Funny I drive home listening to the left while you listen to the right---knowing the enemy indeed! IMO, everyone on talk radio has a head that's a few sizes to large, and an ego to match.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Ah, my bad then. I don't really listen to him much. Funny I drive home listening to the left while you listen to the right---knowing the enemy indeed! IMO, everyone on talk radio has a head that's a few sizes to large, and an ego to match.

I'll agree with you on Randi Rhodes. I agree with her on a number of issues, but she has a way of contorting a lot of things and leaving out some relevent facts. E.G. She once said that Pat Robertson's website had a message that was praying for Justice Rehnquist to die so that a younger conservative justice could be appointed. Upon actually visiting his site, he was simply stating that he hoped the court maintained its conservative presence.

You need to become an advisor to the GOP, because I think on the Terry Schiavo case, they violated your frequent statement that I'm paraphrasing "emotions should not be part of legislation." A lot of Delay's statements sound like he would be someone arguing for increasing Medicare, which he adamantly supports cutting funding for.

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Hey Opus(or anyone else for that matter)--since you seem to be one of the kings of point/counterpoint, perhaps you can validate or invalidate some of the points your gal Ann Coulter had to say in the following column. This doesn't change my stance on this issue, but they are some interesting points if they are indeed true. I have already heard many sources say that her cerebral cortex has basically disintegrated(though I'm not even sure how that happens).


Coulter

quote:

...Florida state court Judge George Greer – last heard from when he denied an order of protection to a woman weeks before her husband stabbed her to death – determined that Terri would have wanted to be starved to death based on the testimony of her husband, who was then living with another woman. (The judge also took judicial notice of the positions of O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson and Robert Blake.) The husband also happened to be the only person present when the oxygen was cut off to Terri's brain in the first place. He now has two children with another woman. Greer has refused to order the most basic medical tests for brain damage before condemning a woman to death. Despite all those years of important, searching litigation we keep hearing about, Terri has yet to receive either an MRI or a PET scan – although she may be allowed to join a support group for women whose husbands are trying to kill them. Greer has cut off the legal rights of Terri's real family and made her husband (now with a different family) her sole guardian, citing as precedent the landmark "Fox v. Henhouse" ruling of 1893. Throughout the process that would result in her death sentence, Terri was never permitted her own legal counsel. Evidently, they were all tied up defending the right to life of child-molesting murderers. Given the country's fetishism about court rulings, this may be a rash assumption, but I presume if Greer had ordered that Terri Schiavo be shot at her husband's request – a more humane death, by the way – the whole country would not sit idly by, claiming to be bound by the court's ruling because of the "rule of law" and "federalism." President Bush would order the FBI to protect her and Gov. Bush would send in the state police. What was supposed to be the "least dangerous" branch has become the most dangerous – literally to the point of ordering an innocent American woman to die, and willfully disregarding congressional subpoenas. They can't be stopped – solely because the entire country has agreed to treat the pronouncements of former ambulance-chasers as the word of God. The only power courts have is that everyone jumps when they say "jump." (Also, people seem a little intimidated by the black robes. From now on we should make all judges wear lime-green leisure suits.) President Andrew Jackson is supposed to have said of a Supreme Court ruling he opposed: "Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it." The court's ruling was ignored. And yet, somehow, the republic survived. If Gov. Jeb Bush doesn't say something similar to the Florida courts that have ordered Terri Schiavo to die, he'll be the second Republican governor disgraced by the illiterate ramblings of a state judiciary. Gov. Mitt Romney will never recover from his acquiescence to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's miraculous discovery of a right to gay marriage. Neither will Gov. Bush if he doesn't stop the torture and murder of Terri Schiavo.

quote:

Originally posted by wolverine16 You need to become an advisor to the GOP, because I think on the Terry Schiavo case, they violated your frequent statement that I'm paraphrasing "emotions should not be part of legislation." A lot of Delay's statements sound like he would be someone arguing for increasing Medicare, which he adamantly supports cutting funding for.

lol. Thanks. Your paraphrase is pretty close to how I feel. I guess I could say it more clearly in that rational thinking is easily distorted by emotions. Or something like that. This is definitely an instance where there is a lot of emotion on the line and objectivity has been given the back seat.

quote:

Originally posted by Shakka Hey Opus(or anyone else for that matter)--since you seem to be one of the kings of point/counterpoint, perhaps you can validate or invalidate some of the points your gal Ann Coulter had to say in the following column. This doesn't change my stance on this issue, but they are some interesting points if they are indeed true. I have already heard many sources say that her cerebral cortex has basically disintegrated(though I'm not even sure how that happens). Coulter

Crap, ran out of time today, so I can't get to the guts of the matter with Coulter. I find it very very disingenuous, if not flat out lying when she says things like they haven't done the most basic of medical tests, though admittedly I haven't read in detail the court documents on the matter. Occ may be able to fill you in with the details as to what exactly the tests and observations the doctors have done (5 of them altogether, I think, maybe more), as well as what exactly the courts have examined and concluded in detail. To say none have been done, however, as well as Jeb grabbing a doctor at the last moment that counters all previous statements and observations by doctors, and this doctor refusing to have a full medical exam of Schiavo even when Michael asks him to do so tends to say a little bit right there about Coulter, Jeb, and the fundie's case.

What I do know is if you're cerebral cortex is full of spinal fluid, you're toast. Any and all cognitive functions and awareness are history. The amount of time she spent without oxygen fully ensured the irreparable brain damage she now has to her cognition and self-awareness.

This is not about Greer, that much is certain. It's always wise to ask what are the motives for a given pundit's argument? What lies underneath? This is fair to do for any pundit on both sides of the aisle, and often times these ulterior motives are revealed eventually. I've already argued that one underlying motive is to strike up the fundie base. I'll still contend that one, but now we're seeing another underlying motive come through - Coulter is attempting to make the case for the conservatives pushing the nuke option and getting those far-right wing questionable judges in for Bush, which go much further away from mainstream views. This is the next line you'll hear from the conservative talking heads - that these "liberal" activist judges killed Schiavo, and that this wouldn't happen with Bush's judges in place.

A quick search on the liberal blogs didn't have anything up yet in detail on this, other than the Salon blog which doesn't specifically address the medical points Coulter's attempting to make. Again I'm merely speculating without examining the detail, but I think it's safe to conclude that full medical exams have, in fact, taken place. I mean, Christ, we're talking 32 judges that have examined this, and the Supreme Court turned them down too. Are we gonna try to conclude that the SC is full of activist liberal judges now, Anne, going down your slippery slope a bit further?

I doubt she'll attempt to make such a case.

Oh yeah, here's that Salon blog post:

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/2005/03/24.html#a1579

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...