lowercase thought.

Turns out that not only was Terri not abused by her husband, but the medical examiner of Pinellas County has determined in relation to her brain damage that, "this damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."

So I suppose the right-wing crackpot doctors can refute this evidence? Or are we just going to see a new wave of attacks by their leaders (i.e. Tom DeLay and Pat Robertson) claiming that the Pinellas medical examiner is somehow anti-Christian and therefore cannot be trusted?

I wait with baited breath.

Update (6/16) -- The Houston Chronicle reports today :

"A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician who said during the fierce debate over the issue that he did not think Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, did not return a call seeking comment."

Interesting that Dr. Frist refuses to back up his medical opinions, huh?

Rwanda. The word alone conjures up images of death and destruction. To most Americans, it signifies more than just an Oscar-worthy performance of Don Cheadle. You would be hard-pressed to find a college-educated person in the U.S. these days who doesn't equate the word Rwanda with genocide. The coverage of Rwanda since the 1994 tragedy has been extensive, including not only "Hotel Rwanda" but numerous documentaries and major network specials on ABC's Nightline and CNN just to name a few. But hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and the common chorus since then has been "never again".

Never again? Sure.

Darfur. I asked a co-worker recently if the word Darfur rang a bell. She asked, "Isn't that the guy from Al-Qaeda in Iraq?" I don't think a clearer example can be made of just how derelict in their duties a number of American institutions have been in not bringing this genocide to the forefront of our social discussion.

First and foremost, the Bush administration must be held accountable for their utter lack of leadership. A piece in the NY Times by Nick Kristof again highlights the negligence of the world's most powerful government. Too engulfed in its own misadventures in Iraq, Bush and his crew are shying away from serious engagement in Sudan in much the same way the Clinton administration did in Rwanda. With political criticism currently aimed at a failing overseas deployment (Somalia then, Iraq now), the administration is loathe to allow political opponents the opportunity to use another military operation as a means of pointing out shortcomings elsewhere. It's terrible to think that after President Bush gloated about his amassed political capital following re-election in November, he is unwilling to spend just a bit of it on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Darfurian refugees and would rather it be wasted on a Social Security privatization scheme.

Second, the American media deserves an almost equal amount of blame. While it may be true that our nation's political leadership hasn't exactly do its part to put a spotlight on Darfur, our mainstream media has been complicit in following whatever frivolous story it is led to. Darfur? Not when Paula Abdul is sleeping with Idol contestants! Christ, let's waste twenty minutes on American Morning talking about how this alters her work relationship with Simon and Randy. Wait, we've still got a half-hour left...oh, just run another story on how fat Americans are and how we're not eating enough fruits and vegetables or drinking red wine. And if there is a minute or two remaining, fill it with clips of the President splitting logs at Crawford while uttering the words "freedom" and "liberty" randomly.

Finally, America's (and the world's for that matter) religious establishment should be absolutely ashamed at their silence. Sure, some leaders have stepped up and at least mentioned to their flock the disgusting atrocities being done upon the populace of Darfur. However, for the most part they've been mum whilst jumping up and down over judicial nominees. I'm also skeptical as to whether they'd even give a damn if it weren't a situation where Muslims were killing Christians.

Shame on all of you.

That advice today was so eloquently offered to young Republican activists by UNC-Wilmington Professor Mike Adams at a leadership seminar in Rayburn HOB. This suggestion comes as his solution to the abundance of on-campus progressive organizations gaining official recognition or support from colleges and universities.

Once again this points out a fundamental hypocrisy among today's conservatives--while decrying "judicial activism" of what they consider a liberal judiciary they concurrently push for an activist jurisprudence in favor of their political positions. Finding gay marriage to be a protected right is supposedly "extremist activism", while vacating years of legal precedence in order to prolong the life of a single person in a vegitative state is not.

This of course all leads back to the lingering fight over the next Supreme Court nominee. A piece in today's Sun points out President Bush's plan to place nominees of "a certain temperament" on the Court. Translation: those who won't require John Cornyn and Tom DeLay to whip them in order to take the far-right's position on any issue.

I still get miffed by the hypocrisy of the extreme right, I suppose I'm just a bit more used to it now.