Brain-Dead Woman's Pregnancy Maintained

URL: Brain-Dead Woman's Pregnancy Maintained

A brain-dead woman is being kept on life support in hopes that her 21-week-old fetus survives, and the woman's husband said he is certain that's what she would have wanted.

Jason Torres said doctors believe the fetus could have a chance if Susan Torres lives another month and her cancer stays away from her uterus.

He said he decided to keep his wife on life support when doctors at Virginia Hospital Center offered him the chance to disconnect the machines after concluding she would not recover.

I have told my husband and family that if I am ever pregnant and brain-dead, as this woman is, I would definitely want to be kept alive under these very circumstances.

The baby is far enough along to have this be a viable option, to have the mother, the natural incubator, continue to function in this capacity.

She may be gone, but there is another life here that may well be able to continue on. This life would be lost were the artificial life support turned off.

Press Conference Terri Schindler Shiavo Autopsy

Autopsy Report here (Via Michelle Malkin) You can request a copy of the autopsy request here. Liveblogged. Focus was the etiology of the initial collapse and allegations of abuse... Full autopsy performed April 1st. 274 images were taken. Cause of collapse: Did she have an eating disorder? Low potassium was probably caused by heart attack and treatment prior to blood draw. Unreliable measure of pre arrest potassium level render diagnosis of bulemia nervosa suspect. No evidence indicates she used or was given drugs. Caffeine toxicity is unlikely. Did she have a heart attack? Her heart was normal. Was she strangled? No trauma was noted on the day of, the day after, or months later. Autopsy did not show trauma, but after 15 years, it might not be seen. Bone scan one year after Terri's attack was to look for hetertopic ossification. Autopsy supports this diagnosis. Tissue testing also confirms. Could she eat by mouth? Records indicate that she would not have been able to eat. She was at high risk for aspiration. After the feeding tube was removed, she would have died whether or not nutrition and hydration were given orally. After her collapse, was she given something to speed her on her way? There is no evidence to support that Terri was given substances in 1996 and 2004. No drugs caused her to die or assisted her to death. Was she in a persistent vegetative state. Brain was profoundly atrophied. Due to neurological damage. Irreversible. No amount of therapy would have helped. She was blind, could not see. She died of marked dehydration. She did not starve to death. Manner of death will be recorded as undetermined. Receipt of credible information will be considered if necessary.

Terri Schindler Schaivo Autopsy Report Due Today

According to the AP, the autopsy report is due out today.

Bill Pellan, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office, said Tuesday that Thogmartin reviewed police reports, medical records and other documents in trying to determine the cause of her brain damage. The issue of whether she was in a persistent vegetative state "will be addressed," Pellan said, although he would not comment further Tuesday.

More when known.

Not Guilty

And that's all I have to say about it. More at Fox News.

Anchoress found an IQ test

Anchoress found this Quick and Dirty IQ to take. I thought I'd give it a try too.

Your IQ Is 135

Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Genius

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Didn't do too badly, though the 10 weeks of Algebra I just finished sure did help with the Math section!

Arianna Huffington vs Bill O'Reilly

On the O'Reilly Factor last night...

O'’REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I'’m Bill O'’Reilly. In the Great Debate segment tonight, is the left wing press undermining the War on Terror by blowing charges of US abuse out of proportion? President Bush thinks so, yesterday he said this to Neil Cavuto: {begin video clip} PRESIDENT BUSH: And I will tell you that we treat these prisoners in accordance with international standards. And that's what the American people expect. When somebody put out that Amnesty International report, they asked me about it. I said it's just absurd ... {end video clip} O'’REILLY: With us now is pundit Arianna Huffington who sees things a bit differently. You want to close down Gitmo. You know I'’ve looked at this. I'’ve looked at all the stats we could possibly get a hold of. We sent Colonel David Hunt, our chief military analyst to interview a detainee in Pakistan, he was released. I see no evidence to why we should shut this place down. HUFFINGTON: Well there is evidence. There is evidence in FBI reports, there is evidence of abuse. And there is the overwhelming evidence that it'’s being used as a recruiting tool for terror. O'REILLY: But they'’ll find another recruiting tool. HUFFINGTON: But what is very important, Bill, is that the most important thing for government to do is to protect its citizens. And right now any kind of evidence of abuse, any kind of evidence that we are not abiding by the Geneva Convention, that we are not abiding by the human rights standards that America is proud of, is really turning against the safety of our own citizens. O'’REILLY: But they're making the abuses up. Don'’t you get that? HUFFINGTON: But we've released 234 people from Guantanamo Bay who had nothing to do with terror. 234 people. O'’REILLY: Who? Wait a minute. I have never seen the government make a statement that they have released one person from Guantanamo who had nothing to do with terrorism. HUFFINGTON: they say 234 who were not enemy combatants... O'’REILLY: What they say is, the release quote is "“we no longer need them in detention, we have what we need from them."” If you can give me one name of one detainee who was released because he was in there mistakenly, I'’ll check it out. HUFFINGTON: Bill, do you really think that guilty people are released? O'’REILLY: Can you give me one name, Arianna? HUFFINGTON: Yeah. I'd say that all 234 people must have been released because they did not pose a threat to the United States. O'’REILLY: Because their use in interrogation is through. Can you give me one name of somebody who'’s been there who'’s completely innocent? HUFFINGTON: If somebody is a danger to the United States then surely they should not be released. O'’REILLY: It depends what they know. It depends what they did. HUFFINGTON: If they are not a danger to the United States then why are they being held as enemy combatants? O'REILLY: I'’m assuming you can'’t give me one name. If anybody out there... HUFFINGTON: I'’m giving you all 234 names. O'’REILLY: I'’m sorry, that's not going to cut it. If anybody out there, including you Arianna, can give me a name of somebody the government says was mistakenly swept up and put in Gitmo I will put that person'’s name and picture on the air and I will give them a donation. Now let'’s move on... HUFFINGTON: Let me say one more thing which is that if the United States government is releasing people who are guilty then they are doing something wrong to undermine our security. O'’REILLY: Why can'’t you understand this? I know you'’re very smart. They are releasing people who they have no more use of detaining. They have gotten all information they can out of them. That'’s who they release. Alright, let'’s move ahead. Say Arianna'’s President of the United States, which you may be someday. HUFFINGTON: No I can'’t be. I wasn'’t born here. O'REILLY: Okay. Say someone you know is President and they listen to you. And you close Gitmo down. What do you do with the 500 plus people who are there now? What do you do with them? HUFFINGTON: Well there are many places where you can put detainees. Remember when Abu Ghraib... O'’REILLY: Where do you put them? HUFFINGTON: There are many places, I'’m not going to decide where you put them. There are many facilities around the United States. Remember when Abu Ghraib scandal... O'’REILLY: So you want to move them here, on the US mainland? HUFFINGTON: There is no reason why they shouldn'’t be here. You remember when there was the Abu Ghraib scandal? O'’REILLY: Right. HUFFINGTON: There was a tremendous emphasis at the time on the need to close down Abu Ghraib... O'’REILLY: And they didn't close it because it would have been insane. HUFFINGTON: But I don'’t know why it'’s insane. I think anything... O'’REILLY: Because they need prisons to put people who are killing other people in. HUFFINGTON: I understand. O'’REILLY: But wait, let'’s stay on this. So you don'’t know where you'’d put them but you'’d move them someplace in the USA, right? HUFFINGTON: It'’s not my job to decide where to ... O'’REILLY: But wait a minute, it is. If you're a pundit and you'’re saying close Gitmo down, it is your job to have an alternative. That'’s responsibility. HUFFINGTON: No, it is my job to say that the highest priority of the US Government is to protect the security of its people. And right now we are conducting the War on Terror in a way that makes us less secure. We are spreading... O'’REILLY: In your opinion. But not in my opinion. HUFFINGTON: Everything is in my opinion. But it'’s also based on facts. O'’REILLY: But don'’t you feel if you and Joe Biden and whoever is saying "“close Gitmo"” you should have "“and then put them here"” but you don'’t have "“and then put them here"”. This is what drives me crazy. That'’s why Kerry lost the election. Because he was criticizing, criticizing and then you said "well what would you do?" and he goes "“go to my website"” and everybody goes, "“no. we want to know what you would do." HUFFINGTON: I will tell you what I would do first of all. I would have an exit strategy to get us out of Iraq because that'’s the beginning of a lot of the major, tragic problems. O'’REILLY: And what would that exit strategy be? HUFFINGTON: It would involve draw out of the troops in a phased way. O'REILLY: And you would tell the enemy when you would do that? HUFFINGTON: I believe that right now we are an irritant. O'REILLY: Wait, wait. We are an irritant. We'’re an irritant to terrorists. They don'’t like us. But you would tell the enemy when you would withdraw, we'’re going to withdraw this many on this day? HUFFINGTON: We are actually running a, we are actually a recruitment tool for terrorists right now. O'’REILLY: Okay, I'’ve got that. Let'’s stay in the real world. So you would have an exit strategy, so you would tell the enemy in February we're going to pull out thirty thousand troops. You would tell them that? HUFFINGTON: I would give a phasing of when we leave and I would not be building military bases in Iraq. O'’REILLY: So you would tell the enemy we'’re going to come out there. So the enemy would say, "“Okay, we'’ll wait '‘til you leave and then we'’ll blow the country up." HUFFINGTON: But you don'’t understand Bill, one of the main reasons why the insurgency is so strong at the moment is because they want America out. If you had the referendum in Iraq right now they would want America out. You know that. O'REILLY: That'’s true, that's true, but they want the Sunni Ba'’athists want to run the country the way Saddam ran it. That'’s what they'’re doing Arianna. HUFFINGTON: Twenty-five thousand innocent Iraqis have died. What do you think that does to the spread of anti-Americanism? O'’REILLY: It'’s a war. It'’s a war. People die. HUFFINGTON: But it'’s a war for what? There were no WMD. O'REILLY: For what? Did you miss the election in Iraq? That they voted? Did you miss it? HUFFINGTON: Do you really think that the American people 58 percent of whom right now consider the war in Iraq wrong, do you think the American people believe it is the function of our government, our military, and our resources to spread democracy abroad? I don'’t think so. O'’REILLY: Maybe you'’re right on that. Maybe, that is a debatable issue. HUFFINGTON: Because Pat Buchanan and I agree on that. O'’REILLY: That'’s right, Pat is an isolationist. HUFFINGTON: It'’s not about isolation it'’s about security. It'’s not about peace, it'’s not "“make love, not war"” it'’s about security. O'’REILLY: Let me give you one tip. If you want security then you'’ve got to think about what you'’d do rather than just taking shots. We'’ve got to go. Good debate. I enjoyed that by the way. Go to Arianna'’s website. Warren Beatty. You can read what Warren has to say. HUFFINGTON: Huffington Post dot com.

Close Gitmo and put the detainees somewhere else. This implies that the "place" is to blame, not that the detainees shouldn't be detained, not that some personnel may have been to blame. How would removing detainees from a physical location (which from many reports is quite nice for a prison) and moving them somewhere else solve anything at all? Arianna quotes a poll showing 58% of Americans consider the war wrong. That poll was debunked by Ankle Biting Pundits here. And Arianna, the "insurgents" who want America out of Iraq are not Iraqis! Bill, why didn't you mention that? And one more point Arianna, you mention 25,000 innocent Iraqis killed. How many more were killed by Saddam? On whims? Or because they didn't agree with him? Arianna, just how many Kurds did Saddam gas? How many Iraqis have been found in mass graves? Update: Arianna's take on her appearance on O'Reilly last night is here. Update 2: Edited for spelling of Arianna's name. My apologies for missing an "n". Update 3: Ian at the Political Teen has the video. Welcome Opinipundit readers! - please look around. Welcome Oh How I Love Jesus readers. And thanks for the compliment Jeanette. Welcome Anchoress and Beautiful Atrocities readers!

McKeague Confirmation

David McKeague (6^th) Yea: 96 Nay: 0 CONFIRMED Not Voting - 4 Alexander (R-TN) Biden (D-DE) Jeffords (I-VT) Murkowski (R-AK) Roll Call will be is here.

Griffin Confirmation

Richard Griffin (6^th): Ayes: 95 Nays: 0 CONFIRMED Not Voting - 5 Alexander (R-TN) Biden (D-DE) Jeffords (I-VT) Murkowski (R-AK) Obama (D-IL) Roll Call should/will be is here.

Pryor Confirmation

As they were calling the votes, I was able to predict individual votes pretty easily. Nelson of NE voted Aye. Salazar of CO voted Aye. Chaffee, Snowe, Collins Nay Jeffords, Murkowski did not vote Confirm Them:

We won, Ted Kennedy lost Oh frabjous day, Callooh, Callay!!!!! Bill Pryor has a lifetime appointment to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals! We won! Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer and all their smear jobs failed. They lost. We won, they lost. Pryor is a lifetime judge. I can’t stop saying it. This is so cool. We won, they lost. We beat Teddy K. Oh frabjous day! Callooh, callay!

William Pryor (11^th): Ayes: 53 Nays: 45 Roll Call will/should be is here.

Janice Rogers Brown - 56-43 Confirmed!

The Senate voted to confirm Janice Rogers Brown 56-43. Bill Frist is calling for cloture on William H. Pryor. Update: All Republicans and Ben Nelson (NE) voted for Judge Brown. Update: Roll Call results will be are here. Update: Final tally on cloture for Judge Pryor: 67-32 to agree to cloture. The final up or down vote is scheduled for tomorrow at 4 pm EDT. Update: Roll Call result are here. Dems voting for Cloture on Judge Pryor: Bingaman (NM), Byrd (WV), Carper (DE), Conrad (ND), Inouye (HI), Johnson (SD), Landrieu (LA), Lieberman (CT), Nelson (FL), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), and Salazar (CO). Welcome Scared Monkeys readers. Please take a look around.

More on He Gets Life, She has the Right to an Abortion

Charmaine Yoest at Reasoned Audacity has more on this story as well as links to the Pro-Abortion side. In comments on my first post He Gets Life, She Has the Right to an Abortion, Elisa asks, "How are the abortion rights people spinning it?" They had named the twins Eric and Gerardo, Jr. after their parents. Does this mean that they'd had ultrasounds? They knew the sex of the children that they then deliberately and violently destroyed? I've also noticed that the Entrenched Media is saying that Gerardo merely "stepped on" Erica's stomach. This report from the Houston Press says:

Erica lay on the bedroom floor, and Jerry, about five foot eight and 180 pounds, stepped onto her stomach, just above the navel. Then he pressed his K-Swiss sneakers into her flesh. Their statements vary as to how often they repeated this process. Jerry said it was two or three times during the week leading up to the miscarriage; Erica said he stepped on her twice in the two weeks prior to the miscarriage.

Stepped on her stomach and then pressed his sneakers in. 180 pounds. That's not just stepped on, that's stood on. Debate Link has a post with quotes and links from others on the Pro-Abortion side.

Immigration Blog Thought Experiment

The Immigration Blog is looking for bloggers "who support guest worker programs and/or for those who don't strongly oppose illegal immigration" to answer a few questions and trackback to the Immigration Blog post with their answers.

If we absolutely had to deport a significant portion of the illegal aliens currently in the U.S. as quickly as possible, how could we do it? If you need numbers, assume 1 to 2 million within 6 months. Please give a specific plan and succinctly describe two or three scenarios (favorable, unfavorable) for how that plan might work out from beginning to end.

For rules and more information click here.

Freedom of Choice

Over at The Corner, K.J. Lopez has a post with a survey from NARAL showing that 80% of respondents say that pharmacists should not be able to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control based on their religious beliefs.

Should pharmacists who personally oppose birth control for religious reasons be able to refuse to sell birth control pills to women who have a prescription for them, or should pharmacists not be able to refuse to sell birth control pills? Should be able to refuse .............................16 Should NOT be able to refuse...................80 (Don’t know).................................................4

The problem that I have with this, as well as IL Gov Blagojevich's emergency rule to require pharmacists to supply "birth control" to patients with prescriptions is that they are including "Morning After" prescriptions. I believe that the complaint in Illinois that precipitated Gov Blagojevich's action was that a pharmacist wouldn't fill a prescription for "Morning After" pills. "Morning After" pills are meant to terminate a possible pregnancy right in its tracks. Birth Control pills are meant to prevent ovulation, thereby preventing conception in the first place. Lumping "Morning After" pills in with contraception is incredibly misleading. "Morning After" pills are an abortificant, not contraception. Why don't they try their question again, worded this way:

Should pharmacists who personally oppose abortion for religious reasons be able to refuse to sell "morning after" pills to women who have a prescription for them, or should pharmacists not be able to refuse to sell "Morning After" pills?

There are plenty of pharmacists and pharmacies across the US. If one won't fill your prescription, go to another. Free market. Doctor's offices are also capable of stocking and filling prescriptions right in the office. Don't force pharmacists to fill prescriptions that they would rather not. Addendum: But, of course, to NARAL abortion is birth control. I mean, you're controlling whether or not someone is born, no?

Milestone

We just had our 25,000^th visitor! According to Sitemeter he or she was from somewhere in Europe. Thanks to all our vistors and regular readers!

Congratulations to the Ransoms

Greg Ransom of Prestopundit welcomed his daughter Lillianne Grace Ransom into the world today! 8 pounds, three ounces. Congratulations Greg! You are blessed.

He Gets Life, She Has a Right to An Abortion...

Gerardo Flores was convicted on two counts of murder for helping his girlfriend kill their unborn babies. After about four months, she decided she'd rather have had an abortion, and started to hit herself and tried other methods to induce a miscarriage. When she was unsuccessful, she enlisted the help of her boyfriend in terminating the pregnancy. The defense argued that his jumping on her stomach wasn't necessarily the cause of the miscarriage, it might have been her hitting herself or a combination thereof. She wasn't charged because of her "right to an abortion." Gerardo got life in prison. They both should have been charged, convicted and sentenced. AP story here. Welcome Slobokan's Site O'Schtuff readers. Please take a look around. An update to this story is located here.

Entrenched Media Strikes Again

From GOP Bloggers comes this story: Media Bias is Insidious The UK Guardian has the AP lead:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police stormed a disputed Jerusalem holy site Monday, hurling stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinian worshippers who were throwing stones at police and Jewish visitors.

GOP Bloggers suggests that the lead could be rewritten:

JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of Palestinian worshippers hurled stones at Jewish visitors to a holy site Monday, prompting Israeli police to intervene and employ stun grenades.

I agree with this. But, in the entrenched media, Palestinian misbehavior is not misbehavior and Israeli intervention is misbehavior. Somehow, even though the Palestinians were the instigators of violence, it is the fault of the those who were the real victims.

We Don't Know for Sure....

Transcript of the Chris Wallace interview with William Schulz here.

SCHULZ: ...So we don't know for sure what all is happening at Guantanamo, and our whole point is that the United States ought to allow independent human rights organizations to investigate just as Sudan, Pakistan, and many other environments around the world... WALLACE: But in fact hasn't the International Red Cross -- sir, hasn't the International Red Cross been allowed to go to a number of these facilities? SCHULZ: They -- yes, they have. And, indeed, the CIA tried to prevent them from finding out about certain so-called ghost detainees. Furthermore, they... WALLACE: Wait, Mr. Schulz, excuse me, you're switching subjects. I asked you whether the ICRC has been allowed access to every place from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay. And the answer is yes, correct? SCHULZ: Oh, Chris, I have no idea whether the Red Cross has been given access to the secret detention facilities that the U.S. is maintaining. Have they been given access to the Syrian prisons and the prisons where the United States is rendering prisoners? I have absolutely no idea and I suggest you don't either. I think we don't know.

Talk about secret prisons, that they don't know if they actually exist or where they are, because they're .... secret... and then...

WALLACE: But Mr. Schulz, and we do have to wrap this up. I mean, you're hardly just a bystander here. You're the one, who in your presentations, specifically called Rumsfeld and Attorney General Gonzales high-level torture architects. And I'd like to finish, if I might, by quoting The Washington Post, which has hardly been a supporter of President Bush's and the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners. This is what they had to say in a recent editorial. And let's put it up on the screen, if we may. "Turning a report on prisoner detention into another excuse for Bush-bashing or America-bashing undermines Amnesty's legitimate criticisms of U.S. policies." Is it possible, sir, that by excessive rhetoric or by your political links, that you have hurt, not helped, your cause? SCHULZ: Chris, I don't think I'd be on this station, on this program today with you if Amnesty hadn't said what it said and President Bush and his colleagues haven't responded as they did. If I had come to you two weeks ago and said, "Chris, I'd like to go on Fox with you just to talk about U.S. detention policies at Guantanamo and elsewhere," I suspect you wouldn't have given me an invitation.

They had to say this stuff so they could get on TV.

Sign The Online Coalition's Response to the FEC

The Online Coalition.

Safe Driving Tip of the Month

When waiting to make a left turn, do not turn your wheels in anticipation of turning, keep them straight. If someone should rear end you, they will push you right into oncoming traffic. If your wheels are straight, you will be pushed ahead, in the same lane.