Posted on 03/25/2005 7:01:25 PM PST by quidnunc
Religion — that is to say "popular" religion, old time religion, the kind of thing that will drive huge numbers of men and women into American churches this Sunday to sing out loud and be glad — is not practiced well in Europe. Church attendance is low, headed south, and a revival of any kind is out of the question. In France especially religion simply has no place in public life.
France considers itself a secular republic. This means that in France, Catholicism is just another cultural ornament — a collection of old music and pleasant buildings and the provenance of long holiday weekends, like this one. Practically speaking, modern secularism in Europe is forced de-Christianization in favor of humanism's new convictions. Meanwhile, the most avid followers of faith on the continent these days are all those imported Muslims, many of whom zealously follow their beliefs outside the mainstream of daily life — forever destined to be Muslims first and Frenchmen second. In the 21st century, a "devout Frenchman" for example, is either a Muslim or an oddity, if not an outright oxymoron. Religion is for children and Yanks. If Americans didn't exist, Europeans would have to invent them, because otherwise, they'd never talk about God at all.
To our traditional allies — them perfidious, unbelieving Frenchies and their Euro-kin — the controversy swirling around poor Terri Schiavo is yet another example of dumb American over-simplification grown fat, an outbreak of lunacy inspired by Upper Room Baptists and the like. The attempts by the Congress and the president to limit the damage done by a judiciary that is unresponsive, elitist, arrogant, dictatorial, self-protecting — something very much like the government of France, come to think of it — looks, to Eric Fottorino, writing in Le Monde, like proof that Bush will do anything, including rushing to the "bedside of an almost-dead person" in a "coma," to cement his relationship with the Bible-thumping, gel-haired, tele-mullahs of the right. To the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the congressional intervention was a drama of "Life, Death and Power" with a grandstanding U.S. president bestirring himself from his Crawford ranch, something the paper claims he'd never do for a crisis or a mere war. In the leftwing Independent, the slow starvation of Terri Schiavo is how the paper's correspondent describes a death with "dignity," something Americans can't get right — no doubt because of what Tony Blair described to the Daily Telegraph as the "unhealthy" American penchant for giving religion a prominent role in election campaigns. For Libération, the whole save-Schiavo spectacle was enough to merit a sneering headline on a piece or two, but nothing more.
-snip-
Leni
He evidnetly thinks the nation's spiritual health looks strong, but I doubt it. I think the e-mails that Rush has cited are a better indicator of what the Schiavo case has revealed about us. Many people--and perhaps the MAJORITY--are demanding her death. Is that a better situation than the French apathy toward the elderly that he cites in the article? I don't think it is.
Starvation and death with "dignity," in the same sentence. Hmmmm, yep, crapweasels.
"...The lapse of time between the various offenses and the indictment of defendant on July 27, 1967, is considerable but is adequately explained by the record. The murder weapon in each case was unique, insulin. The deaths of each of these victims were initially attributed to causes other than a criminal agency. Suspicion of insulin and of defendant as the person administering the insulin was not aroused until the death of Zella in 1956. It was not until years later, after much painstaking and persistent investigation by law enforcement officers, and the discovery of advances made in {Page 3 Cal.3d 621} medical knowledge and techniques, that sufficient evidence could be accumulated to charge defendant with these deaths. Unfortunately, by then other of defendant's victims had lost their lives. This is the only known reported case of murder by insulin poisoning in the United States. Only one other, reported world-wide, occurred in England in 1956. ..."
"...Dr. Grace Fern Thomas, a psychiatrist and an expert in insulin shock therapy, and director of the insulin shock department at the time defendant was at Camarillo, testified as to the procedures on the ward. A precise dosage of insulin was measured for each person at a particular time. At a specific level that patient would go into shock in approximately two hours after the injection. Patients do not progress at the same level. Careful watch must be kept of the pulse, color, blood pressure, general condition, and neurological signs, such as pupillary changes and body motions. When a patient is going into progressive stages of coma he sweats very profusely and breathes very heavily. Saliva is secreted in large amounts, mucous flows freely and mixes with the saliva, and the patient must be carefully watched, turned, or assisted so that he does not aspirate the fluid into his lungs. Otherwise bronchopneumonia may develop, leading to death. The gag reflex and the cornea reflex are lost. Convulsions may occur, and medication is given to prevent this. The extremities may stiffen. At a relatively deep level of coma the Babinski test (scatching the sole of the foot in a certain manner) will cause a reflex known as the Babinski response (toes fan out). The patient must be brought out of the coma within 10-15 minutes thereafter. This is done by administering glucose through gastric tubes, and if this is not effective, glucose is administered intravenously to raise the blood sugar.
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