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I had the privelege of getting to know Brandi Swindell just a bit, traveling with her and Reverend Mahoney to various events during those dark days in Florida. She made an astounding impression on me, a vivacious young lady one could scarcely imagine even involving herself on such activities on first glance. Her passion was sincere and her success already reflected, not as one would expect a desire to promote oneself, but much higher, a drive to battle the evil forces on the front lines. A rare quality indeed....

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Reverend Bryan Fischer, a Parks and Recreation Commissioner filed suit against the city, along with pro-life stalwart Brandi Swindell. The case was thrown out of court and the city asked for court costs from its citizens, and was granted more than $10,000, which they did not attempt to collect for four years.

Fischer, Swindell, and hundreds of grassroots activists stood against the capriciousness of Boise Mayor Dave Bieter for 70 days, until, at the end of the March, the city moved the Monument to a local church. Fischer and Swindell proposed a citizen's initiative to place a new monument in the park. This monument, like the old one, would not be paid for by the city and would also feature Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom. In the heat of July and August, volunteers worked desperately to collect enough signatures. Many wondered if ragtag volunteers could do it, but they did. The city responded by saying they wouldn't allow a public vote on the legally qualified initiative.

~Snip~

Bryan Fischer and Brandi Swindell are some of those rare counterweights. They fight for conservative values every day.

Ms. Swindell has spent the prime of her life traveling the country trying to get the post-Roe generation involved in the pro-life issue. While many people her age are living out HBO and MTV shows, she's chosen to be a voice for sexual purity and biblical values in a confused time.

She went to Florida to fight for the life of Terri Schiavo. She has stood for traditional values at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. She fought for conservatives to get a fair shake in the selection of speakers at Boise State University rather than being presented a slate full of nothing but liberal speakers.

In recent months, Swindell has appeared in the newspaper far less, because her work has been so positive. Her long time dream has been to do more than activism: to help women in crisis pregnancy situations, and that's just what she's done through her new organization, Stanton Health Care Services. She's personally gotten involved in the lives of these young women.

Through her involvement in the lives of these women, she became a leader in the fight for Idaho's landmark law against coercing women into getting abortions that was opposed by the state's extreme liberals..............

How will you hang?

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[8mmMauser]

From Professor Pope, with thanks to Leslie for the tip...

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Today's Dallas Morning News reports on APPEAL – A Progressive Palliative Care Educational Curriculum for the Care of African-Americans at Life's End, a program developed at Duke University to promote better end-of-life care for African-Americans.

Blacks are more likely than whites to seek aggressive life-support treatments for loved ones facing terminal illness and less comfortable making decisions about withdrawing medical technology. Fewer blacks than whites state personal preferences with tools such as living wills or documents designating who should make their medical decisions when they can't.

Good deaths do not happen enough for African-Americans, because of discrimination, cultural and economic barriers, and lingering distrust of the health-care system. When clinicians tell black families that treatments aren't helping, they often fear they're being cut off for lack of money or insurance.

"You see patients struggling to come to terms," said Dr. Richard Payne, director of Duke University Medical Center's Institute on Care at the End of Life. "Minority families and African-Americans in particular have to cope with thoughts of, 'Would I be in this fix if I had better access to care?' Or, 'Can I trust this system that hasn't treated me very well?' Or, 'Are they treating me well, or is it a cost-saving measure?' Just to acknowledge these questions is a big step."

Posted by Thaddeus Mason Pope at 1:03 PM

Better End-of-Life Care for African-Americans

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