Let Lauren Live!

ChristtheKingMaine ^ | May 7, 2008 | Judie Brown

[8mmMauser]

LAUREN RICHARDSON - YOU CAN HELP!
By Judie Brown

It has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson’s father has had over the course of the past several months. For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation and, as a result of the overdose, is now in a coma and unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose, Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to keep her healthy and comfortable until the child was born. Today, though Lauren may not be aware of it, she is the mother of Ember Grace, who was born in February 2007.

Since the birth of her daughter, Lauren remains unable to speak of her concerns, but she has a loving father who is doing all he can to protect her from suffering the same fate as Terri Schiavo. However, Lauren’s mother, who has been named her legal guardian, is sadly not of the same opinion and is working with attorneys to pressure the courts to permit Lauren’s starvation.

Lauren’s father has kept hope alive, even at times when there appeared to be no hope in human terms. Lauren’s father is a man of hope in Christ and is dedicated to spending every breath he has on defending Lauren, regardless of what it might cost him in physical exhaustion and worldly goods. The most recent update for those concerned about Lauren tells us the following:

We struggle at times as we seek to share with the public the details of what is happening with Lauren because of the disagreement we have with Lauren’s mother. We cannot understand her reasoning in refusing a path of hope, healing and restoration for Lauren and insisting on causing her death by withholding food and water from her. The issue in Lauren’s case is the eternal truth that all people, no matter what their medical condition, bear the image of God and deserve basic care and an opportunity to be restored to health.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s brother, has written about Lauren in an editorial earlier this year, "False Compassion," and is working closely with Lauren’s father in order to provide expertise that he is uniquely qualified to share during a trying time like this.

There are many links on the Life for Lauren web site that will assist you in tracking this case and learning who is supporting Lauren’s ongoing care and who is opposing it. More importantly, there is something you can do to express your concerns.

ACTION NEEDED NOW

The governor of Delaware, Ruth Ann Minner, is being asked by pro-life Americans across this nation to intervene in this case in order to save Lauren from what many fear is an imminent court order dictating that Lauren be starved and dehydrated to death. I am asking you to be one of those who communicates your passionate belief that Lauren’s life is sacred and deserves to be protected from those who would order her death. The governor’s e-mail address is governor.minner@state.de.us.

Further, it would mean a great deal to Lauren’s father, Randy, if you sent him a copy of your e-mail to Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Randy’s e-mail address is Lifeforlauren@aol.com. 

During a recent visit to Anchorage, Alaska where Bobby Schindler was invited to speak, he told a reporter from The Catholic Anchor, "Once we accept that killing is an acceptable answer to human suffering, we lose any type of parameters. Euthanasia is a form of abandonment. It is not compassion."

Truer words were never spoken. As I frequently tell people who argue that we pro-lifers are being heartless and cruel for fighting to defend the rights of a "hopeless case," "God is the author of every human being’s life, and He has never given permission to a single one of us to arbitrarily rob another human being of life for any reason including disability or illness."

As Flannery O’Connor once wrote on the subject of false compassion, "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber."

Lauren Richardson is not terminal – she is severely disabled. Lauren Richardson should not be murdered.

Judie Brown is president of American Life League and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

[8mmMauser]

Bigots call people they hate bigots. Thread by wagglebee on some hand outs...

Washington, DC (24 June 2008) – When Catholic youth around the world converge in Sydney, Australia for World Youth Day, they will be handed condoms in an attempt to protest the Pope’s unwavering opposition to abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

The NoToPope Coalition, a group of abortion, homosexual and atheist activists, including Raelians and the Socialist Alliance, will reportedly number between 1,000 and 5,000 protestors. They plan to distribute condoms to pilgrims en route to the Papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse July 20....

Abortion Activists Vow to Harass Pilgrims, Distribute Condoms at World Youth Day

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Jonah Goldberg in a thread by Diago...

Margaret Sanger, whose American Birth Control League became Planned Parenthood, was the founding mother of the birth-control movement. She is today considered a liberal saint, a founder of modern feminism, and one of the leading lights of the Progressive pantheon. Gloria Feldt of Planned Parenthood proclaims, “I stand by Margaret Sanger’s side,” leading “the organization that carries on Sanger’s legacy.” Planned Parenthood’s first black president, Faye Wattleton — Ms. magazine’s “Woman of the Year” in 1989 — said that she was “proud” to be “walking in the footsteps of Margaret Sanger.” Planned Parenthood gives out annual Maggie Awards to individuals and organizations who advance Sanger’s cause. Recipients are a Who’s Who of liberal icons, from the novelist John Irving to the producers of NBC’s West Wing. What Sanger’s liberal admirers are eager to downplay is that she was a thoroughgoing racist who subscribed completely to the views of E. A. Ross and other “raceologists.” Indeed, she made many of them seem tame....

A Dark Past: Contraception, abortion, and the eugenics movement

8mm

[wagglebee]

"Mr. Golubchuk won," Kravetsky said. "He didn't die because they pulled him off life support. He died when his time had come."

Amen!

Godspeed Samuel.

[wagglebee]

I wonder if the culture of death will realize that this is ALL that the Golubchuk family was asking for. NOBODY was suggesting that some “miracle cure” would keep him alive forever, it was a simple desire to allow him to pass on at the time and in the manner of God’s choosing and not theirs.

[BykrBayb]

"Mr. Golubchuk won," Kravetsky said. "He didn't die because they pulled him off life support. He died when his time had come."

Since when is that too much for a WWII vet to ask? Or anyone, for that matter.

Rest in peace, Samuel Golubchuk.

Þ

[8mmMauser]

Samuel Golubchuk, R.I. P. in the wake...

He died on his own terms, was not snuffed like the death team demanded and they are now wailing and gnashing their teeth.

The death of Samuel Golubchuk ended a legal fight over who has the final say in stopping medical life-support.

Yet to be decided is whether the doctors and hospital involved in the controversial case will continue to be the subject of a lawsuit....

Will Golubchuk lawsuit continue?

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Samuel Golubchuk aftermath...saving Grace.

There but for the gods of Grace goes life.

...........................

............................Both Mr. Kravetsky and one of the three physicians said the death left key legal questions unanswered.

"The issue really comes down to this: Do you want to give up your right to make a decision on an end-of-life scenario?" Mr. Kravetsky said.

The physician said it was unfortunate there will be no further legal guidance. "We need resolution on this issue. These cases are just occurring over and over again."

The head of the local health authority said there will be discussions but no formal change in guidelines on dealing with end-of-life cases.

"As a community, we have to work towards an answer to this issue. I think there are ways to do that outside of the courts," said Dr. Brian Postl, president of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

A source said the three doctors are expected to accept shifts at the Grace ICU again.

The source said a fourth doctor had prepared a resignation letter in recent days. But officials said they weren't aware of such a development.

"Were there other members of the health-care team at the Grace ICU who had concerns about the case? Absolutely. But there were just the three who resigned from the shift schedule," WRHA spokeswoman Heidi Graham said.

The case drew the attention of ICU specialists across the country. Some said it underlined the public misperception of critical care.

Intensive-care systems can prop up a patient's life functions, boosting the heart with an aortic pump, using a ventilator to pump oxygen into the lungs and helping kidneys with a dialysis machine.

But the technology cannot sustain people for long stretches, especially if the patient is already weak, said Dr. Yoanna Skrobik, an ICU practitioner at Hospital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal.

A ventilator would not save a patient whose lungs are too swollen with liquid because of renal failure or infections, she said.

Among patients who have to have a tube inserted for breathing or feeding for more than a week, 25 per cent will develop infections, she added. "Most people think a ventilator is a therapeutic tool. It's only a bridge to survival, until you can have another treatment."

In Mr. Golubchuk's case, court hearings were told that he arrived at the Grace ICU last November, already frail and suffering from pneumonia. In recent weeks, his infections were complicated by kidney failure, and the courts were told that it was unlikely he could ever leave the ICU.

Man's ICU death ends legal fight

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Samuel Golubchuk, more from Nova Scotia...

............................

......................Kravetsky said hospital officials called the Golubchuk family late Tuesday morning and asked them to come to the Grace, but he died before they arrived.

The Golubchuk case sparked debates on a variety of topics related to end of life, including the costs of keeping terminally ill patients alive and the ethical responsibilities of physicians.

It drew international attention, and support for the Golubchuk family from the family of Terri Schiavo, whose end-of-life battle sparked the intervention of a United States president.

Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, said he believed the situation facing the Golubchuk family was actually worse than the one his family faced trying to keep his sister alive.

Terri Schiavo died in 2005 after her feeding tube was removed. Her husband, Michael, had persuaded the courts that she had no hope of recovery from the persistent vegetative state she was in.

She had suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped due to a chemical imbalance.

During the seven years before Schiavo died, her parents, who opposed having the feeding tube removed, garnered the support of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Golubchuk suffered a brain injury in 2003, but he could still understand and communicate.After being admitted to hospital last October suffering from pneumonia and pulmonary hypertension, his condition deteriorated.

Man at centre of life support controversy in Winnipeg hospital dies

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Wilting abortuaries in a thread by Coleus...

Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics

24 hours a day, 7 days a week ecumenical effort was organized, with more than 800 people from 89 churches and several denominations

The Catholic Pro-Life Committee, the Respect Life Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, has reported that Aaron Women's Health Center, a late-term abortion facility in Dallas will be closing its doors on June 28. Aaron's was one of three abortion clinics in Texas authorized to perform late-term abortions on unborn babies older than 16 weeks gestation. When Bishop Charles Grahmann began leading a monthly "Second Saturday Rosary" outside Dallas abortion clinics in 1990, there were 13 abortion clinics in the city. Seven clinics closed between 1990 and 2001, and after Aaron's closes there will remain only five freestanding abortion clinics in Dallas. The Catholic Pro-Life Committee and others have vowed to continue to pray and offer alternatives to abortion outside those remaining five clinics....

Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics

8mm

[8mmMauser]

And another! Thread by Coleus.

WASHINGTON, DC - "We rejoice with pro-lifers in Rockland County, New York today," said David Bereit, national campaign director of 40 Days for Life, "as they celebrate the closing of an abortion facility that was responsible for ending the lives of untold numbers of innocent unborn children over its many years of operation. The unceasing prayers of these faithful people have been answered."

Abortion Services at 200 East Eckerson Road in New City, N.Y., was one of more than 50 clinics across the nation where 40 Days for Life prayer vigils were conducted this spring. "My family and I visited that particular clinic vigil on a snowy night earlier this year," said Bereit. "My wife and children were photographed alongside a young man who carried a sign reading, 'Nothing is impossible with God.' That is certainly the case here. The prayerful efforts of many pro-lifers over the years have won this victory. We are humbled to know that people participating in the 40 Days for Life campaign may have played a role in the peaceful closure of this abortion center."....

New York Abortion Clinic Closes Today; Was site of 40 Days for Life Vigil

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Too much to pass up. In this thread by NautiNurse, Green Charlie joins the Gang Green in a sea of grass, from sweet to tart.

Florida will buy every bit of land now owned by the nation's largest sugar company and use it to restore the River of Grass.........

U.S. Sugar deal was Crist's idea

8mm

[wagglebee]

During the seven years before Schiavo died, her parents, who opposed having the feeding tube removed, garnered the support of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Huh?

[Lesforlife]

As daughter Miriam questioned earlier,
“Is this any way to treat a veteran?”

[Dante3]

He could have but didn’t save her.

[wagglebee]

What “could have” happened is of little solace to the Schindlers and everyone else who loved Terri.

[8mmMauser]

Some readers and visitors may wonder why I rail over and over about the dark thunderstorm of Marxism brewing. I repeated time and again about the troika, Marx brothers, Grouchy, Harpy and Karl, and especially Karl and his Marxist Obama Nation of Islam. For those of you too young or somehow shielded from the threat of the communism of Karl Marx, I simply state I can grasp no worse fate to us pro-lifers or to our America than the advent of this cloud.

I am posting only an excerpt from the middle of this essay due to its length, but it summarizes much of how the march of communism may affect the Terri Schiavo's still alive.

........................................

....................Our Left is apoplectic because we are not loved and embraced at the UN. We Conservatives take the fact that we are in opposition to thugs and dictators as a firm validation of the moral foundations and greatness of the United States of America.

The Left has spewed hatred on President Bush and the United States military ever since the Iraqi people were freed from the barbarous dictator Saddam Hussein. Liberal Marxists were just beginning to recover from the defeat of their beloved Soviet Union and its Gulags. President Bush and our military taking out a beloved tyrant like Saddam, someone who had the courage to intimidate his citizens and kill them by the hundreds of thousands, was just too much for the Left.

In addition, President Bush and his fellow Republicans almost spoiled the Marxists’ test execution of Terri Schiavo. It has been a tough time for Marxists. There is a lot of Liberal angst with so many retiring Baby Boomers who will need to be eliminated in order to keep Medicare and Social Security solvent.

Just like the hatred of the rich and the corporations by the Democrats, there is much resentment of the United States because of our economic achievements and energy efficiency. The domestic Marxists plan to bring us down to size, thinking this will make all nations love us because we have poverty and misery just like they do...............

Providing Additional Aid and Comfort to Our Enemies

8mm

[8mmMauser]

To punctuate my above observations on the great threat of Obamunism, I commend this thread by tcg on this grim joke foisted upon America. Thanks, narses and PhilDragoo for the ping.

I noted especially Phil's post #7 and now have a sneaking suspicion of who is the father of this being, the father of lies.

With that said, there's no way to nuance this: Barack Obama's record puts him on the extreme wing of the abortion movement, and has already been labeled by one critic as the "infanticide candidate." Despite this, polls show Obama gaining traction with Catholic voters, and Catholics in general are trending toward the Democratic Party.

Barack Obama’s stances on life and marriage issues are simply antithetical to Catholic social teaching. From the beginning of his candidacy, this has been Obama's greatest vulnerability in attracting Catholic voters ("Why Barack Obama Will Not Win the Catholic Vote," 1/7/08). In the primary fight against Hillary Clinton, for example, Catholic resistance to Obama's candidacy was obvious from the election numbers...........

Deal W. Hudson:The Case Against Barack Obama

8mm

[8mmMauser]

We remember Diane Coleman's formidable group from Pinellas Park, tough vociferous fighters putting the lie to the propaganda that defenders of Terri were merely extremists of some cult.

Although they never formed formal alliances (and Not Dead Yet takes no position on prebirth issues, such as genetic selection), Ms. Johnson and her fellow activists often found themselves on the same side of the ramparts as conservative Christians: Not Dead Yet marshaled the support of 25 national disability groups to oppose the attempts of Terry Schiavo's husband to "starve and dehydrate her to death," for example, and defended congressional efforts to intervene in the case. As Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, told a group in Tampa, Fla., during the Schiavo controversy: "Surely, it will not be argued that the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and all the rest are now or ever have been puppets of religious conservatives." Indeed, Ms. Johnson, an atheist, once chastised Mr. Singer for describing his enemies as a monolith of religious faithful focused solely on "the sanctity of human life."....

A Life Worth Living

8mm

[8mmMauser]

ProLifeNews posts a summary of recent activity in our interest, well worth browsing.

Pro-Life News: Morning After Pill, Oregon Assisted Suicide, Mexico, India, Abortion

8mm

[8mmMauser]

Jesse Ramirez update...

Remember Jesse? It has been quite awhile. Well this cloud had its silver lining. Thread by wagglebee.

PHOENIX, AZ, June 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Tuesday, the State of Arizona passed a bill known as "Jesse's Law", which will help protect incapacitated patients from being euthanized. The new law, inspired by the ordeal of Jesse Ramirez, closed a loophole in the decision-making process for patients who are physically unable to communicate their wishes regarding medical care.

House Bill 2823 establishes a court process to obtain an emergency order to prevent a surrogate decision-maker from withdrawing the administration of food or fluid from an incapacitated patient....

Arizona Law Forbids Easy Withdrawal of Food and Fluids from Patients

8mm