David Limbaugh wrote a (for him, and, I suppose, for me also) long post on the Schiavo that has been so much in the news of late, and so much of the focus of my own writing. He expressed some of the concerns that I have felt, but, perhaps, not adequately expressed. Many things that resonate strongly with me. I highly suggest you read it at “Schiavo Writ Large.” I really can’t express things better than he has. He hits the nail on the head with the disquieting way that evidence in favor of her recover-ability, of her consciousness, is being ignored. He hits the nail on the head at the way that the abortion movement is pro-death, not pro-choice. He hits the nail on the head that saving the life of this woman is more important to many of us who pray for her than the possible damage to our governance the efforts to save her may cause. We the living can take care of any damage done later. We can worry about it after we ensure that we will be alive to do it, that our children will be alive to do it. That the next generation will not be aborted, that we will not be killed by a government or “health care” industry that no longer values life.

Ann Coulter looks at some of the numbers, and lack there of, involving female cops in “Freeze! I just had my nails done!.” Chris once asked me a question about what sort of cop I would be more afraid of, we came to the same conclusion her numbers do: the female cop is scarier, because she is more likely to shoot you, being unable to apply what Ann Coulter calls “intermediate force.”

In “For boys and girls, go single sex,” Rich Lowry looks at some differences in the way boys and girls learn, and from that, extrapolates some of the flaws in our current education system. In doing so, he highlights the reasoning that led to the popularity of single sex high schools a generation ago. This conforms to the common sense test. William and Michael, coming through high school, had trouble reading a book if it did not include action or sports in the first few pages. The more restrained classical literature, or, even more, the books assigned in class, had little interest. Why do we read Romeo and Juliet but not Henry V? If you wanted to pick a Shakespeare play likely to encourage guys to get past the unfamiliar verbiage, you would have trouble picking one more likely to appeal to guys than Henry V. Which is not to say that I am not in favor of assigning classical literature. It is something that high school students should be presented with. I just do not remember the grade school texts well enough to use them as an example.

Pat Buchanan’s “Restore the rights of clergy in America” takes a thoughtful look at the loss of tax exemption that faces any Priest or pastor who gives a politically charged sermon.

Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court in Tampa Florida refused to order Mrs. Schiavo’s feeding tube. He thinks that the parents did not, perhaps could not, prove a significant likelihood of wining further court battles, a likelihood they apparently have to prove to get a temporary order from the Judge. I am mostly seeing this AP News article linked to, perhaps because it does not require registration. This NY Times article has the most details on the federal court’s decision though, and this Washington Post article has more background on why she is said to be in a “persistent vegetative state.” I cannot help but note that the details in the Post article are rather more restricted than the details in the lawyer’s writeup that I linked to yesterday. The Post describes her interaction as being restricted to facial expression, but the lawyer has her responding audibly if not really intelligibly as well. I also rather question the use of the person’s ability to track visually and respond to commands as the sole criteria of consciousness, especially after having read Mr. Chuck Colson’s article, posted here. Michelle Malkin continues to track this, and her sources do not rate the odds of success very highly. ☹