trenth00

I am sure none of us have all we need to decide what Mrs. Schiavo's future should be. But Jaguar is right; there is not enough evidence to justify starving her to death. And if there were, ONE judge makes the decision? I would think a panel of, what are they called again? Oh, DOCTORS! should make the call. Even without all the info Jag has divulged on this topic it occured to me that Mr. Schiavo's motivations in the state of his wife may be nefarious. Now knowing there's been no MRI, and the cancelling of her rehab, I am even more convinced. My Grandmother had Parkinson's. We never tried to have her feeding tube removed; nor would we want to. I imagine most people are compassionate like that about their loved ones. But what if we weren't? Or we wanted her money? This Schiavo case could set up a scary legal precident. Oh, BTW Wolferz are you sure about that feeding tube theory of yours? "I don't think that the "tube" is shoved into your breadbasket and a funnel is hooked to it for pouring in chicken soup." I got a C-note that says you're wrong. But I don't think SC wants any betting on this forum so I'll just go ahead and tell you; They do put a tube into your stomach. They don't put in chicken soup through a funnel but they do use an 'Ensure' type nutrient solution in a hanging bag. One could use chicken soup but it'd have to be a liquid suspension with very small particles so as not to clog the tube. They supplement a patients fluids if/when necessary via IV saline sol. Jag, do you have any more info on Schiavo's malpractice suit?

Touche! What a great debate this could be. I obviously miscommunicated several things. I'd respond and sort them out but I don't want to get booted for being off topic (religious persecution of art, right?). Can we start a thread in the Religion arena?

Hey Greyfox, here's an idea: Get chumy with a high level person in a bank. Then make up a special nonfunctional account number he or someone at the bank would recognize. Give this number to one of these scam spammers. When the shaisters (sp?) run the account maybe he/she could get their account number. And now the beauty part comes in. Take their account number and respond to another scam spammer ad: it's great! Like feeding a dog to a dog!

Dude, blowing things out of proportion is the church's sole (no pun intended;) function. They do it anytime something threatens their control over their flock. As a christian, it sickens me to no end. Thankfully many of us have evolved spiritually and do not need religion (or the church) to touch God...all it takes is some high grade hallucinogens jk But I will say this: Spirituality and the unkown is all about faith, not proof. Proof is for p@$&%y's. If you need proof there is something beyond your senses then, "all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be". The issue of proof is why churches react they way they do; they provide their followers with 'proof' if you can call it that. Doc you make a good point; why bother imagining anything at all if it doesn't fit into the schema of established religion...or anyone's schema for that matter. There's a simple solution I think all people and organizations of people can benefit from: IF YOU DON'T F$%@&G LIKE IT, DON'T F#@%&$G READ/WATCH/LISTEN TO IT!! 'Duuuhhhhh, I've got a wooden spoon...duuuuuhhhhh'

Too much to quote! I think everyone has good points and everyone is missing some points WHICH (not witch, dude) needs to be addressed: 1) Oil is not only used to make our machines go vroom vroom; oil is used to make most plastics and lubricants (hu-hu, you said lubricants) and more. 2) Oil powers our economy; if the military has it and we don't: it doesn't matter. We buy all the bullets, armour, etc and without an economy EVERYTHING shuts down even if every fighter, bomber, tank, ship and rocket has gas in its tank. Two things spark invention: necessity and boredom. I am sure many scientists have been bored enough to think of some cool energy alternatives. But even if they have them, releasing them now would destroy our economy. The conspiracy theorist in my would say that a new technology will 'spring' up when it is economically feasible. But who knows. Sorry about the bail out on the hydrogen fusion research: we're too busy playing 'world cop' to care. Besides, we got all the energy we need in Iraq-provided by our friendly neighboorhood oil company and or course Haliburten (sp?) The upside to all this crap? The US's position is weakening and we can finally go back to being Americans once the EU starts running things...unless you mess with our crack, I mean oil. Now, lets get back on topic: Oil vs the environment: your position?

Hellbinder? Hello? Where's your witty retort; I have a slow day of work to pass along. I know this is repetitious but, IT'S FICTION!! Yes, it does have factual basis-read the pages before the first chapter; they tell you what is fact and what is not. The fact (in the novel)that Jesus and Mary M. were 'married with children' is not listed as a fact here in the real world. Besides all the good Cardinal is doing by whining like a little girl about a (again, read this part very carefully) FICTIONAL NOVEL, ok, one more time: FICTIONAL NOVEL, is giving Mr. Brown and his publishers some free advertising and enticing more people to check the book out. I am sure an omnipotent being can look out for his/her own well being without the help of a cardinal or you or me.