Oregon to cancer patient, Just kill yourself!

The State of Oregon has told a cancer patient that they will not pay for his chemotherphy, but they will pay for doctor assisted suicide. The patient got a letter from the state of Oregon after requesting care from their state run health system. The letter said that they did not believe he meet the requirement of having at least a 5% chance of living more than five years. However they listed possible comfort care that could be provided including doctor assisted suicide. This is not an isolated event in Oregon.

Dr. John Sattenspiel is in favor of Doctor assisted suicide saying, "I have had patients who would consider knowing that this is part of that range of comfort care or palliative care services that are still available to them, they would be comforted by that. "It really depends on the individual patient." However Sr. William Toffler disagrees. "It's chilling when you think about it," said Dr. William Toffler, a professor of family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. "It absolutely conveys to the patient that continued living isn't worthwhile." Toffler calls it a callous practice that goes against medical convention. "It corrupts the consistent medical ethic that has been in place for 2,000 years," he said. "It's absolutely breathtaking."


Oregon is the only state where doctor assisted suicide is legal. It became legal after the citizens of Oregon voted to make it so in 1997. There have been two more votes on it since then both coming down in favor of doctor assisted suicide. It is pitched has an compassionate way to help a person struggling with a terminal illness to "die with dignity." However it looks like a fast way to make, or save a cheap buck to me. Just a note to all the people who want a nationalized healthcare system this kind of thing would be happening all the time under that plan.

Good thing for Stroup's family, suicide was never an option for him. He fought back, and the Oregon Health Plan reversed its decision, in his case, and is now paying for his chemotherapy. Now maybe he'll be around a little longer to care for his 80-year-old mother and play with his five grandchildren. But what about all the others who have been told their better off dead by the State of Oregon?

read the whole story here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,392962,00.html

Obama's trip will hurt his campaign

Obama's current overseas trip is going to end up hurting the Freshman Senator in the long run. Americans don't like their political candidates going overseas to get votes from people who don't even live in the country. It looks arrogant and presumpuous. Plus while Obama has been overseas McCain has been hammering him and talking to people in swing states about issues they care about. Americans generally like having their candidates in the place they want to govern. For instance If I was running for governor of South Carolina going to Arkansas, even to meet with the governor, probably wouldn't help me in my campaign.

Obama at the very best stayed pat during this trip. He may have even lost ground. The truth is if Obama is going to win this election he should be up double-digits. I may have said that before but it bears repeating. I think it's safe to say that McCain will pick up a majority of the undecideds, also known as people who don't want to say their voting Republican, on Election Day. Obama believes he will bring new voters to the polls and maybe he will, but will it be enough? I doubt it. Alot of people think I am crazy, but I still think McCain could win forty states. With Obama saying things like "Israel is Israel's closest friend." It's only a matter on time before he has one of those flubs on the national stage. Perhaps during a debate with McCain, if he ever accepts McCain's challenge.

Obama's other problem is that he comes off more and more has an ordinary politican. He changes his views when it's conveinent, claims he didn't say something or that people misunderstood what he meant. Of course for a candidate with an extensive background on issues this wouldn't be a big deal, but for someone like Obama where all you have to look at is what he has said over the last year and a half, it matters when he switches positions. It makes it easy to paint him as a person who can't make decisions and who lacks judgement. I expect Senator McCain to hit Obama with exactly those two charges from now until the election. Trust me by the first Tuesday in November the shine will have come off the golden boy.

Oil down another $5 a barrel

Oil continued to drop this week. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $2.23 today to $123.26 a barrel. Retail prices have dropped about ten cents per gallon in the past week. Of course I'm sure the President will get no credit for this.

England wants new laws prohibting knives.

That's right apparently some citizens in England our campaigning for tougher laws against knifes. I guess this is what happens if you don't have a problem with guns.

Judge Robert Connor of England was trying a case involving a teenager who is accused of wounding another teen with a knife. In England it is against the law to carry a blade longer than three inches. I'm sure that wouldn't go over well in America especially here in the South. After the Teen said he needed only one hand to open the knife the judge spoke up and asked, "It happens I have a folding knife in my pocket. You need two hands to open it, don’t you?" That's where the trouble started

Under English and Welsh law it is an offense to carry in public a blade longer than 3 inches without good reason. Furious anti-knife crime campaigners called last night for the judge to be fired for bandishing a knife. Lyn Costello, co -founder of the Mothers Against Murder and Aggression campaign took the lead saying, “He should lose his job. One teenager a week is being murdered on the streets of Britain and here he is brandishing a knife.” Ms. Costello also asked judges in Great Britian for tougher sentences for those carrying knifes saying that they should not be carrying their own knives.

“Enough is enough – we need to get tough on knives in this country and our judges should be handing out tough sentences, not brandishing their own.”

Why the New York Times refuses to publish McCain's Op-Ed response to Obama

The liberal New York Times showed their bias once again by refusing to publish an op-ed by John McCain in response to an Op-Ed by Barack Obama on the Iraq War. The New York Times told the McCain camp that their piece had to include timetables, something that McCain vigerously opposes. Times op-ed editer David Shipley, who was a speechwriter and special assistant for President Clinton from 1995-97, wrote in an e-mail to the McCain camp, "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the Senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan."

I'm sorry you want a piece that mirrors Obama's piece, sure I'll call Obama and ask him what he thinks before I rewrite my article. Maybe Obama could write my piece too. Maybe we can get rid of the First Amendment while we're at it. Why bother allowing people to hear opposing views? Your editorial board is far smarter than anyone else in America. I'm sure that response would satisfy The Times.

The truth is the two editorials are different because (gasp) the candidates have different views. The truth is if Obama had his way we would've left Iraq disgraced, leaving behind a sectarian war that would've resembled the slaughtering of the Cambodians after Vietnam. Now there are zero sectarian deaths being reported in Iraq. "In his report to the United Nations Security Council, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the 15-nation council that there were no confirmed ethno-sectarian deaths in Baghdad last month compared with the more than 1,600 such deaths in December, 2006. The number of civilian deaths throughout Iraq have dropped by 75 per cent since July 2007." Yes you read that right zero sectarian deaths, and a 75% drop in civilan deaths. If we had withdrawn early as Obama wanted to this could not have happened.

Here's a question why weren't these statistics on the front page of every newspaper in the United States? Here's a story that does more than suggest we're winning, and possibly may have won, the Iraq War, and it's treated as if it's not news. How can it be news when were losing, but not be news when were winning? How can bad news constantly make the front pages, but good news is almost impossible to find. Those of us who are conservative already know the answer to this question, but for those less enlightened I'll explain it to you. It's not news if it makes President Bush look good. It's not news if it makes America look good. It's not news if were not torturing prisoners, or killing civilans, or comitting other types of unspeakable war crime. All that would be news, but when our soliders do their job and flawlessly execute a strategy that liberals said would never work, and that gives Americans cause to be proud of their country, to the liberal media that's not news.

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They took away my tomatoes for no reason.

The FDA has found a strain of salmonella in a jalapeno pepper that caused a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The real problem is that I couldn't have tomatoes for a month and they weren't even the problem. I don't even like jalapenos! I'm glad the FDA found the problem, but it doesn't make up for the month long tomato famine I endured. I want those responsible for this egregious error prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I also want a dozen free tomatoes provided at government expense.

Oil Prices Fall $20 in a Week

The Price of oil dropped from a record high of $147 dollars a little over a week ago to $128.88 on Friday. The drop marked the largest ever drop in a price of oil recorded in a week. Some anaysis have siad that a nationwide average of under $4 a gallon could be fast approaching. The average is currently $4.10 a gallon.

There could be several reasons for this sudden drop in prices: people driving less, buying cars with better gas millage, oil inventories being up, but I go back to what I wrote a couple of days ago President Bush lifting the moratorium on drilling off shore. Notice that we didn't start drilling, or even lift the congressional ban on drilling. Which we would have to do before we could start drilling. Still, the Price of a barrel of oil has dropped almost $20 a barrel since that announcement. I've read in some places that if Congress would follow suit we could have gas prices back between $2- $2.50 a barrel. This is without touching Alaska or the oil shell in the Mountains.

Alot of the Price of oil is psychologically drive. If traders believe the oil will go higher they bid the price of oil higher. With wars in Iraq and Afgahnistan, problems with Iran, and the constant threats made on Israel. It's no wonder that traders bid oil higher since we have to get so much of it comes from that region of the world. However when those traders believe that we will start drilling for our own oil and our serious about adopting new forms of energy then the price drops as it has this week. So when President Bush lifted the Ban on drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans it caused a sell off which drove prices down at a record rate. The fact that American's having been using less oil recently also helped.

Americans need to continue to use less oil from here on out. No matter what the price is. We cannot forget the lessons we have learned during the past two years and go back to what we were doing before. However we will need oil for the foreseeable future. We need for that oil to be affordable for every American so that they can live their lives. Right now the best way to get to price of oil back to an affordable level is to follow President Bush's lead and drill. I don't know if their will ever be a time where we will not need oil at all. However I do believe we can make our need for oil significantly less than it is now with innovation and American ingenuity. However make no mistake about it right now we need oil!

Unfortunately the Democrats in Congress are more interested in sabataging Bush's Presidency than they are doing what's best for America. Their worried about how their liberal base will react if they allow a vote on lifting the moratorium on drilling, which would pass both the House and Senate. So right now Speaker Pelosi is the only thing standing between Americans and lower prices at the pump. So what's it going to be Speaker will you hold our wallets hostage to the environmentalist, or will you do what's in the best interest of your country. We're waiting for the answer.

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you can vote for it there.

U.S. to restore Diplomatic relations with Iran.

O.K. Obviously something is going on here. When I heard that the U.S. was sending a diplomat to listen to Iran's response to the latest proposal I got to be honest no red flags went up for me. Now the U.S. is rumored to be planning to announce their intention to put an interest section inside Iran. This announcement allegedly will occur next month. This would be the first time since the hostage crisis in 1979 that the U.S. has had diplomatic relations of any kind inside the country. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has said he "welcomes any attempts to expand ties."

The only thing I can think of his that Iran has already informed the U.S. it will stop enriching uranium and accept this latest deal. If that is not the case I am looking forward to hearing President Bush's reason for this dramatic shift in policy. "The Guardian," a liberal paper out of London apparently broke the story.

However this story is about 5 minutes old right now and could easily be wrong by the time I wake up tomorrow. If that is the case ignore everything you just read.

General believe they will be able to cut troops in Iraq soon.

Admiral Mullen has said he was likely to recommend further U.S. Troop drawdowns in Iraq this fall. These troops would most likely be sent to Afganistan due to a recent uptick in violence in that front of the war. "It's a tougher fight, it's a more complex fight, and they need more troops to have the long-term impact that we all want to have there," Mullen said.

The bottom line here is that Iraq has become remarkably safer since the surge. While there are still attacks they are much smaller in number. This improvement is why the U.S. Millitary will be able to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to stop the uptick in violence that has recently occured in that Country. Of course this may not be necessary if our Allies in Afganistan were willing to fight the terrorist, but many of them aren't. So we will send our forces from one front in the war on terror to another. I hope that other countries don't have to go through what we went through to realize that this is a war, but I'm afraid they will.

Israel trades live prisoners for dead soliders

The Israeli government today traded five Hezbollah terrorist for the bodies of the two soliders that were kidnapped in 2006 which started the war with Lebanon. Israeli intelligence had suspected the soliders were dead, but only got confirmation when Hezbollah pulled the caskets out of the van. One of the terrorist released, Samir Kantar, killed a four year old girl by mashing in her head with the but of a gun after shooting her father in front of her. Hebozlah celebrated his return has he had been in a Isreali prison since 1979. "Samir Kantar is a brutal murderer of children and anybody celebrating him as a hero is trampling on basic human decency," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Isreali Prime Minister.

The Israeli people believe that it was important to bring the soliders home and that the deal was worth it, I disagree. Trading live terrorist for dead soliders makes it more likely that the terrorist will kidnap and kill soliders again to get their comrades released. If the Soliders had been kept alive I wouldn't have such a problem with the switch, even though it would have still have encouraged Hezbollah to do it again. Israel puts it's soliders and it's people in greater danger with this deal. What reason is there for Hezbollah to keep hostages alive?

Favre wants to play football

Brett Favre held a very emotional retirement press conference a couple of months ago. Even has I was watching it I was thinking, this guy really wants to play why is he retiring. Turns out he's now thinking the same thing. The Packer Legend has decided he wants to go one more round has a quarterback in the NFL. However the Packers are saying, "not so fast there Brett." Aaron Rodgers has waited in the shadow of Brett Favre for three full seasons. I remember when he was drafted I thought to myself that he would back up Favre for a year and by the next season, two at the most be staring for the Packers. Now he has waited three full seasons and Brett wants him to wait for another year. It appears that the Packers have decided that neither they nor Rodgers can afford to wait another year. Let's face it the kid deserves a chance to play. However it also appears that the Packers don't want to let Favre go either, and this is where the problem lies.

Brett Favre will always be a Packer in the eyes of the fans of the NFL. He's undoubtably go into the Hall of Fame has a Packer, and have his number retired in Lambou Field. However if the man still wants to play who are the Packers to say that he can't. Although I can see the problem with having him in the same divison so here's what I purpose. I think the Packers should release Favre and allow him to sign with any team outside the NFL Central. This way they don't have to see him two times a year and he can still sign with almost any team he wants.

As far as has Legacy goes it doesn't matter. Joe Montana spent his last years with the Kansas City Chiefs, Michael Jorden played for the Washington Wizards and Johnny Unitas signed with the L.A. Rams for their last seasons. However if I went out and asked who Joe Montana played for everyone would say the 49ers, Johnny Unitas the Baltimore Colts, and Michael Jordan the Chicago Bulls. These athletes did not hurt their legacy by switching teams at the end of their career and neither will Favre. Whatever happens here we'll see Favre as a Packer at least one more time at his Hall of Fame induction.

President Bush lifts Executive ban on oil drillling.

On July 14th President Bush lifted the ban on drilling off the our coast by executive order. This of course means nothing unless congress also lifts its ban on drilling, or does it. In the two days since Bush lifted the drilling ban oil prices have dropped $10 a barrel. That's right President Bush said the word drilling and prices dropped $10 in two days. This also led to a 276 point jump in the Dow today. Imagine what would happen if we were to actually start drilling.
We need to produce our own energy in this country. Sending billions of dollars a year to countries that aren't exactly our best friends is not good policy. I would like to see us eventually be off of oil completly, but how long that will take is anyone's guess. If you want to know more about my opinion on this issue read Let's Drill.

Sorry for the long break between post.

Sorry that it's been awhile since I've added a new post. I'm been consumed with trying to find a new job and have been spending all my energy on that. I'm going to try to get you caught up on all the happenings today 7/16/2008. There is alot going on in the world.

More good news for Iraq

Update 7/7/08

Nouri Al-Maliki said today that Iraq has defeated terrorism, "They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it," al-Maliki said. "But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them." He said this while speaking at cermonies honoring the five year anniversary of the death of one of Saddam's fierces opponents, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. Al-Hakim was killed by a truck bomb in Najaf after returning from exile. He continued his optimisic view by stating, "Under the national unity government, the Iraqis have achieved national feats ... that are now lighting the course of our march," al-Maliki said.

This is very significant news coming from the President of Iraq. I hope it is not just hyperbole and that we will be able to bring additional troops home before November. I hope that this war is really as close to being won as I feel it is. Understanding we will need to maintain a troop presence in the region for sometime I pray that the worst of this war is really behind us, and we will be able to return our troops in victory sooner than we had originally thought. However we do need to stay until the job is done. Make no mistake about that.

Iraq has increased electricity by ten percent from this period last year. While it doesn't sound like a lot to me it is progress. The director of energy in Iraq said the recent downturned in violence had allowed them to repair damaged power structures and allowed them to begin to build new ones. However as with everything in Iraq it will take a while to get enough power to run the whole country, "it will take many years of major investment to meet the rising demand."

In more good news the United Arab Emirates has canceled all of Iraq's debt to that country. The debt totaled four billion dollars without interest and seven billion with interest. The President of the U.A.E. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that he hoped this would help the economy of Iraq.

It was also noted in this story that violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years.

Iraqi's score 15 out of 18 on latest report.

The latest news from Iraq is that the government there has achieved satisfactory progress on 15 of the 18 benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress. This is up from eight of eighteen last year. Only two benchmarks, distributing oil revenues and enacting laws to disarm millitas were ruled unsatisfactory. The final benchmark had mixed reviews with the Iraqi army scoring high marks, but the Iraqi police still having problems.
I looked for a list of the 15 benchmarks that had achieved satisfactory progress, but I couldn't find one. If anyone sees one let me know.