J's Cafe Nette

Archive for June 13th, 2007

Ruth Bell Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham, slipped into a coma this morning while fighting pneumonia.

I had heard this news from an aunt earlier today, but since she’s not Paris Hilton or Anna Nicole Smith, the news sites are not reporting it.

It was only when I decided to check World Net Daily that I was able to confirm the story.

Following is the press release from the official Billy Graham Evangelistic Association site.

Billy Graham Statement on Selection of Burial Site

MONTREAT, N.C., June 13, 2007 — “Earlier this spring, after much prayer and discussion, Ruth and I made the decision to be buried beside each other at the Billy Graham Library in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

We have held this decision privately and only decided to announce it now that she is close to going home to Heaven.

Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College.

Ruth and I appreciate, more than we can express, the prayers and letters of encouragement we have received from people across the country and around the world. Our entire family has been home in recent days and it has meant so much to have them at our side during this time. We love each one of them dearly and thank God for them.”

Ruth Bell Graham was the daughter of a doctor missionary and his wife, and was born in China, where she spent much of her youth.

May God take His servant peacefully and welcome her Home. May her husband’s faith sustain him during this painful time.

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I recall thinking a while back when this story was first reported how odd it seemed that no one in a hospital would assist a woman who was in obvious distress. Perhaps they had dealings with her before and thought her to be a chronic complainer and brushed her off as such. Unfortunately for the hospital and this poor woman it ended in her death.

According to 911 tapes now released even dispatchers would not send assistance to have Ms. Rodriguez moved to another facility to attain assistance.

It seems to me a whole lot of heads should roll over this matter. Regardless of what any nurse, doctor or dispatcher thought this woman was a human being in need of help. Here are a few of the quotes from todays article.

“I’m in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the nurses don’t want to help her out,” he said in Spanish through an interpreter.

“What’s wrong with her?” a dispatcher asked.

“She’s vomiting blood,” Prado said.

“OK, and why aren’t they helping her?” the dispatcher asked.

“They’re watching her there and they’re not doing anything. They’re just watching her,” Prado said

and:

Experts have said Rodriguez could have survived had she been treated early enough. The head of the county’s Department of Health Services, which oversees the facility, has called her death “inexcusable.”

or this

“What’s real confusing … was that she was at a medical facility,” Sheriff’s Capt. Steven M. Roller, who is in charge of the Century Station, which handled the calls, told the Times. “That poses some real quandaries.”

But perhaps the most telling is the last paragraph of the article:

Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital formerly was known as Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. The name was changed as part of a reorganization after years of problems including patient deaths blamed on sloppy nursing care and hospital mismanagement that has threatened its federal funding.

Well, not only do I hope they lose their federal funding but they close the doors of this so called hospital forever. Then perhaps a few people should be charged with something..I am not a lawyer so I cannot say what, but the mere fact that this woman would have been alive today with proper care should leave someone answerable.

What a disgrace.

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Sleep. One would suppose it is the time the mind and body regenerate themselves and prepare us for another active day.

It seems as though we need this article to inform us why someone who pulls an all-nighter preparing for an exam might do poorly. Would you assume an insomniac might perform at less than their potential? I mean no disrespect to those who do suffer from medical difficulties which affect their days and nights but I would hope that a study such as this would produce information useful to those who may need it.

I have never known a new mother or a mother of a few toddlers not to be tired. How about the man who commutes an hour each way to work each day and toils so his family may exist?

Daily life in and of itself lends itself to wearing us all down a bit, no study can offer a cure for that.

I did find this portion of the article interesting as I have personally dealt with children suffering with attention deficit disorder. While it peaked my interest, even it did not come to a conclusion, just supposition.

Snoring link to hyperactivity
CHILDREN who snore may have an increased risk of behavioural problems including hyperactivity, attention problems and even perfectionism, according to a study.

Researchers at the University of Louisville, Illinois, interviewed the parents of 52 children between the ages of five and eight who were identified as snoring “frequently” or “almost always”.

The results showed many of the children had symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The researchers said: “While no causation can be inferred … this deserves further study.”

Personally I found this post on sleep (or lack thereof) a bit more entertaining.

I have an idea though, they should have a study on the sleep habits of bloggers and political junkies…boy could they get some juicy tidbits there.

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Ovarian cancer is a very deadly disease. This is what killed Gilda Radner.

Now doctors have determined a set of symptoms to watch for and check with your doctor if you meet the standards.

Thanks to the New York Times for reporting this today: [Free registration required.]

Cancer experts have identified a set of health problems that may be symptoms of ovarian cancer, and they are urging women who have the symptoms for more than a few weeks to see their doctors.

The new advice is the first official recognition that ovarian cancer, long believed to give no warning until it was far advanced, does cause symptoms at earlier stages in many women.

The symptoms to watch out for are bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and feeling a frequent or urgent need to urinate. A woman who has any of those problems nearly every day for more than two or three weeks is advised to see a gynecologist, especially if the symptoms are new and quite different from her usual state of health.

Doctors say they hope that the recommendations will make patients and doctors aware of early symptoms, lead to earlier diagnosis and, perhaps, save lives, or at least prolong survival.

But it is too soon to tell whether the new measures will work or whether they will lead to a flood of diagnostic tests or even unnecessary operations.

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As any Boy Scout will tell you, their motto is “Be prepared”, and like good Boy Scouts the announced Republicans are preparing for a Fred Thompson run by digging up anything they consider unsavory for a Republican presidential candidate in the primaries.

Here are the roles into which opponents will likely try to cast Thompson and the ways in which he may seek to inoculate himself:

Tricky clientele

– Lobbyist: Thompson made nearly $1.3 million over about two decades of lobbying both before and after his eight-year Senate stint, according to government documents and media accounts from his successful run for the Senate in 1994.

Though Thompson won in a landslide, that was in a watershed Republican year and before the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal helped Democrats effectively wield the culture-of-corruption theme against Republicans.

Some of Thompson’s clients could prove tricky to explain, from a British reinsurance company facing billions of dollars in asbestos claims to deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

If Thompson formally enters the race next month, as his aides have signaled, his campaign will likely try to minimize his lobbying.

Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo called the list “incredibly old news and incredibly stale news” and stressed that lobbying was but a small part of Thompson’s legal practice.

“He had a law practice for over 30 years and he had about half a dozen lobbying clients,” Corallo said.

Trial lawyers are bogeymen?

– Trial lawyer: Before Thompson won his Senate seat, published reports said his private law practice handled personal injury cases and defended people accused of white-collar crimes. And in the Senate, he opposed some legislation intended to rein in escalating jury verdicts and attorneys’ fees.

Trial lawyers are bogeymen for some conservative groups, which consider them Exhibit A for a legal system that rewards greed over industriousness.

But Thompson appears likely to tout the public service aspects of his legal career, including stints as an assistant U.S. attorney and Watergate congressional counsel, as well as a case in which he uncovered a payoff scheme that landed a Tennessee governor in prison.

“This is a guy who was an incredibly accomplished attorney,” Corallo said.

As for the Senate record, Corallo pointed out that Thompson supported some tort reform measures.

He voted against others because he felt they infringed on states’ rights, Corallo said, asserting, “He was consistent in voting against measures that provided the federal government powers that the federal government shouldn’t have. … People understand that.”

And as the guy on the infomercials says, “But wait! There’s more!”

One thing Republican voters need to get out of their minds is that he is Reagan incarnate. He is Fred Thompson and not Ronald Reagan.

If they don’t measure him by the Reagan standard he should stand a good chance of winning the nomination. Otherwise they can settle for a pro-choice liberal in conservative’s clothing.

Democrat Camille Paglia thinks Thompson would be the easiest Republican to beat.

Who knows what the primaries will bring, how excited the electorate on either side will be after this marathon presidential campaign, and what will happen in November 2008, except we will have at least one day without campaigning.

Oh, how I look forward to that one day!

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Republican presidential wannabe John McCain is losing steam according to the latest polls.

Conservatives don’t consider him conservative and have been angry with him over McCain-Feingold, the Gang of 14 Senate filibuster deal, and now his support of the Immigration Reform bill.

From reports I’ve read his donations are drying up and he spent a lot of money early on instead of waiting until later in the campaign.

I’ve always considered McCain to be a rather hot tempered man, even though he speaks softly when discussing what was done to him as a POW in Vietnam.

No one actually knows where he stands and a lot of people still remember he was a member of the Keating Five.

He has never been popular with the conservative base and in a primary it’s the conservative base that counts, just as in a Democratic primary the candidates must play to the left and then make a sharp turn to the middle after the nomination.

Sooner or later he’ll see the writing on the wall and will drop out of the race.

As angry as his constituents in Arizona are about the immigration bill he’ll be lucky to retain his Senate seat when it comes up for re-election, and he may very well just retire.

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Imagine being a fifteen year old girl in a war torn nation whose father was savagely taken from her and the only home she knew burned to the ground. That was the beginning of a long journey for Jennifer Anyayo a native of Uganda, who was a beneficiary of both the medical expertise and kindness of Americans.

Just before Tuesday’s sunset in Philadelphia, Jennifer Anyayo boarded a jet and ended 15 magical months.
Her life’s next phase began after the sun rose Thursday over her Acholi homeland in Uganda, where war and the wounds the 16-year-old suffered in it are shaping her life in unexpected ways.

I met Jennifer Anyayo on a December 2004 trip to report on a war in northern Uganda that has brutalized children for 21 years.

The combatants are the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, fills its ranks by kidnapping tens of thousands of children. Boys become soldiers. Girls become sex slaves.

About 1.3 million northern Ugandans remain displaced; countless civilians have died.

Then, there are youngsters like Jennifer. She and her father were at home about seven years ago when LRA rebels attacked. They shot him dead and set the hut on fire with her inside.

Jennifer was rescued after suffering severe burns on her face and left hand. The episode was so horrific, all she can remember are screaming and hearing the rebels laughing outside.

How proud I am to be American and reside in a country which gives so much of its time, experience, dollars and love to a virtually unknown individual, so she may live a relatively normal life as she returns home to reunite with her Mom and siblings. We sure may have our faults in this good old USA, but we also have many with God given talents who perform miracles like this every day. Good luck Jennifer, I am sure those who had the pleasure of knowing you will never forget this experience.

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When the immigration debate began which now seems like an eternity ago, it appeared to be the general consenus here at “J”’s that calm should prevail and we would wait and see if and when legislation was actually offered for consideration and then offer reasoned opinions.

This certainly did not mean that after reading the preliminary work which was offered we did not find areas which we felt deserved another look and major revision.

As I look back now to those first few nights, I remember feeling like an outsider within my own party as many immediately went on the attack, both against the crafters of this legislation and the President. I asked myself how can you be so critical of something which has not taken more than just baby steps? Why would we vilify those who had worked tirelessly on this complex issue? Was this again going to be the issue which ripped out the heart of the Republican party?

AJ Strata has written a post which explains exactly how I feel now on the immigration issue. He does so with a link to Lorie Byrd whose piece is a worthwhile read.

These two paragraphs from AJ define exactly how I perceive those who “jumped the shark” a few weeks ago and I thank him for saying it so eloquently.

I stand proudly with Bush, Kyle, McCain, Kennedy, The Anchoress and many others. And I will not ever stand with the Buchannans, Tancredos, and the Ingrahams. I do not care if occasionally their blinders lift and they agree with me on Iraq or lower taxes or any other issue. I don’t care if they can be civil and gracious on other topics. The fact is they cannot maintain the facade on all issues, and that means problems. Great for them when they concur and they do so civilly. But the test is when you don’t agree – that is what defines strong alliances.

They exposed a side of them that showed so much anger and vitriol I cannot ever see a way to align my good name with their withering hate. We could ally again – but the mea culpa required on their side is way too much for them to swallow to bridge the gap. Not to gain the limited support of this small blogger. I know this. I am fine with this.

Again, we will never solve the illegal immigration problem in this country by wringing our hands and stabbing each other in the back. We complain when Congress does nothing meaningful and yet when they attempt to offer something we condemn to the point that legislation dies. That old tired word compromise creeps into this conversation always. I think that for some members of the Republican party this time though, it is just to late…not for a new bill and meaningful legislation but for the fences among ourselves to be mended.

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