The Meaning of Life

Eluana Englao, a vivacious young woman has allegedly been in a PVS since a care crash in 1992. She receives nourishment through a feeding tube (in other words she is breathing on her own). Her father claims that Eluano was opposed to being kept alive artificially, but in reality what does that mean? The provision of food and water through a feeding tube can hardly be called keeping a person artificially alive. On the other hand, I would argue that being hooked to a machine to help the person breathe, or keep the heart pumping is a different matter and would fall under the “keeping someone artificially alive” rule.

I have not seen a lot about this case. I do not know if this woman had the same level or ability as Teri (even though the MCS of Teri was denied). Therefore, I cannot comment upon certain aspects of this case.

What the court did in this case is also wrong because unless this is a written request no one can say for certain that she would not want to be fed. Regardless, where I object to the proposals is the claim that once the tubes are withdrawn Miss Englaro would not feel a thing. That is an outright lie and it is one that needs to be consistently challenged until people understand the precise pain of someone who is healthy being forced to die in such a fashion. Forcing someone to become dehydrated is totally inhuman and expecting the person to last up to two weeks in that conditions is extremely cruel.

Well, the Italian government has stepped in again in an effort to stop the murder by cruelty of this young woman. This action will cause problems in Italy because the President is opposed to the action but the Parliament will continue to move to prevent the murder taking place.

If we have learned anything from the shabby way that Teri Schindler was treated by her adulderous, murderous husband it is the fact that death by dehydration and starvation is anything but pretty. It is a disgusting way to die and it should be opposed.

If this woman had been hooked to breathing apparatus and the removal meant a quick death because she could not breathe on her own then that would be a very different story.

You have to admit this is a very cute picture of a baby koala. The poor thing had been suffering from the heat. His mother had become disoriented and the baby was “abandoned”. The owner of the property gave him some water, and once he realized the source of the water he decided to hop into the tub.

Here are some other pictures of the same koala:

Abortion fears over cheating women who use paternity tests to identify their baby’s father | Mail Online

In some ways I think that the development of this test is totally scandalous. It has been introduced as yet another reason for abortion. Since abortion has been liberalized it seems that women are no longer capable of thinking about the consequences of their actions prior to going ahead and cheating on their spouses or lovers.

In my view abortion on demand has always been a slippery slope, and from this same angle I see the pill in the same light. These are things that see women degrade themselves by indulging in illicit activity. They seem unable to bear the consequences of their own bad behaviour so they make the decision to abort the innocent life that has been created.

What is really wrong about the whole situation is the introduction of these paternity tests because they also increase the risk of miscarriage – especially when taking amniotic fluid.

I have to blog this story because I have seen how a dog and cat can also love each other and be together in harmony.

The cat’s name is Ranj and he is a lovely ginger tom. Can you tell I am partial to ginger cats?

Apparently it is nothing new for two cross breeds to bond like the cat and rat or like Skittles and Ruby. Below is an example of an orphan elephant bonding with a sheep.

Themba the elephant, pictured above, became attached to Albert the sheep after he became orphaned at just six months of age.

In other cases, different species connect after the loss of a mate.

‘It’s amazing what animals do when they want to bond and be close to each other,’ Mark Bekoff, a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, told Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly.

The flight data recorder has been examined and has confirmed the story of the pilots that a bird-strike caused the double engine failure which led to the crash landing on the Hudson River.

photo courtesy BBC NEWS

You can read the story here.

photo courtesy BBC News

Hudson River plane crash covered live on Twitter, Flickr | News.com.au Top stories | News.com.au

It is not often that a pilot manages to act in such a calm way that he manages to land a plane that has gotten into difficulty through bird strike and saves the lives of all passengers on board. However, this morning, my time this is exactly what happened when a plane with 153 passengers on board crash landed in the Hudson River. It can only be described as a perfect landing.

Flight 1549, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, was airborne less than three minutes, according to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown.

The pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that he had experienced a bird strike and declared an emergency, a New Jersey State Police source said.

Sources identified the pilot as Chelsey B. “Sully” Sullenberger.

The pilot thought that the plane might flip over and was expecting the aircraft to break up, but he managed the perfect landing on the water, and the passengers on board managed to escape. The coast guard and passenger ferries were very quick to arrive on the scene and to pick up the stranded passengers.

“I had a long conversation with the pilot,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and assures us there were not.”

“It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out,” Bloomberg said.

The mayor said he did not believe there were any serious injures. Dr. Gabriel Wilson, associated medical director of the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital, said 55 survivors were checked out and cleared to leave from the scene.

The CNN reports

Passenger Alberto Pinero said that within a few minutes after takeoff, “you just heard a loud bang and the plane shook a bit.”

Passengers could smell smoke, and “the plane just started turning. … We knew something was going on, ’cause look, we were turning back,” he said. Watch passenger say he heard a loud bang »

The plane’s captain came on the speaker and said, ” ‘Brace for impact,’ ” he said. “That’s when we knew we were going down and into the water. We just hit, and somehow the plane stayed afloat and we were able to get on the raft. It’s just incredible right now that everybody’s still alive.”

“We circled around … the captain came on and said, ‘Look, we’re going down. Brace for impact.’ Everyone looked at each other and we said our prayers. I said about five Hail Marys,” said passenger Kolodjay, who is from Norwalk, Connecticut, and was headed to Charlotte to play golf.

Jerry Wallis, who said he was a private pilot, said he watched the plane go into the water.

“I’ve got to tell you, the people flying that airplane deserve all the recognition and commendation they can get,” Wallis said.