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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tsigprofit who wrote (16104)	3/23/2005 9:06:01 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 20773

Yep, it is a complete pile of bs. All they want is face time. The old Madison Av marketing scheme at work again, brainwash the stupid and they will follow you due to a single issue. Old Tom boy should have his hair colorist lighten his dye job up a bit, he looks silly.

To: tsigprofit who wrote (16104)	3/23/2005 1:34:12 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Good read>Pakistan Is Booming Since 9/11, at Least for the Well-Off nytimes.com

To: tsigprofit who wrote (16104)	3/23/2005 1:37:59 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

WASHINGTON - The Army expects to miss its recruiting goals again this month and next, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey said Wednesday, and it is developing a new sales pitch that appeals to the patriotism of parents who have been reluctant to steer their children toward the Army. "There is a forecast that we will not meet the monthly goal" for March and April, Harvey said at his first Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference since becoming the Army's top civilian official last November. In February the Army missed its monthly recruiting goal by 27 percent. That was the first time it had fallen short for any month since May 2000, and it underscored the difficulty the Army faces in signing up young men and women during time of war. One of those is designed to persuade more parents to steer their children to the Army. "We're going to appeal to patriotism," he said. The Army already has taken other steps to improve recruiting results, including increasing the number of recruiters on the street by 33 percent and offering larger signup bonuses.

To: tsigprofit who wrote (16104)	3/23/2005 6:42:51 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 20773

Gov. Bush Seeks to Take Custody of Schiavo: Gov. Jeb Bush and the state's social services agency filed a petition in state court to take custody of Schiavo and, presumably, reconnect her feeding tube. It cites new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo's diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state. The request is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her. The Florida Legislature also jumped back into the fray, but senators rejected a bill that would have prohibited patients like Schiavo from being denied food and water if they did not express their wishes in writing. The measure was rejected 21-18. The Legislature stepped in before, in 2003, and Schiavo's feeding tube was reinserted. But "Terri's Law" was later struck down by the state Supreme Court as an unconstitutional attempt to interfere in the courts. The Senate vote Wendesday came after a bitter debate, with Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, watching from the gallery above the floor. He covered his eyes with his hands and lowered his head during the debate. "I'm here pleading for mercy. Have mercy on Theresa Marie Schiavo," said bill sponsor Sen. Dan Webster, a Republican. But Senate Democratic Leader Les Miller warned: "By the time the ink is dry on the governor's signature, it will be declared unconstitutional, just like it was before." dunnconnect.com _________________________________ Cost of Schiavo's care may exceed $1 million BY PATRICK KAMPERT Chicago Tribune CHICAGO - (KRT) - At Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where Terri Schiavo edges closer to death each hour, her care costs between $150 and $200 a day. "It can get higher," said Jay Wolfson, the University of South Florida professor who served as Schiavo's court-appointed independent guardian 16 months ago and asked hospice officials about the cost. "But there's very little medical care." Over a 15-year period - Schiavo collapsed in February 1990 - that calculates out to a cost between $821,000 and $1.1 million. In 1992, Michael Schiavo received a settlement from a malpractice case in which he pledged to take care of his wife for the rest of her natural life, and she was expected to have a normal life span. After costs, Terri Schiavo's guardianship account netted $700,000 and her husband received $300,000 for loss of consortium. Little is left of the guardianship money. Some of it has gone to Schiavo's care and much of it has been used to press the legal case as Michael Schiavo has sought to fulfill what he says were his wife's end-of-life wishes. But even if all the money had gone to Terri Schiavo's care, it wouldn't have been enough. Back in fall 2003, George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said he had an agreement with the hospice to settle Terri Schiavo's bill when the case was over. That day appears to be coming soon. Gary Karr, spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the agency hasn't seen a request for payment of any kind for Schiavo's care in three years. "The care is being paid for privately," he said. "She's spending her own money." Wolfson welcomed the wider discussion on end-of-life issues because of the Schiavo case, noting that the costs of such care will grow as the Baby Boom generation swells the senior population. "My mother's 97; I could live to be 103," he said. "Who's going to pay for this? We don't talk about that part of it. These are real decisions we have to make." Michael Schiavo made his decision in 1998 when he tried for the first time to have his wife's feeding tube removed. Wolfson, who has extensively interviewed the principals in the case, says only Michael Schiavo could answer definitively why he waited so long to make his wife's wishes known. "I can't jump inside Michael's head. I talked to him a lot," Wolfson said. "Part of an answer might be that he didn't want to believe it for a long time, even as her parents don't want to believe it. One interpretation, and it's not a fashionable one, is that he was able to let go finally. Her parents were not, and that's understandable." While the cost of her care has been high, it pales next to another price tag: the personal toll the case has taken on its key figures. The close relationship between the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo irretrievably broke down in 1993, shortly after the malpractice settlement. Michael Schiavo claims that Bob Schindler asked for a share of the money. The Schindlers say their son-in-law stopped rehabilitation efforts and blocked them from seeing their daughter. In a letter dated July 16, 1993, Bob Schindler wrote: "Since you have excluded us from caring for Terri, the least you can do is keep us informed about her medical and neurological condition. ... Simply drop us a note telling us what is happening. It will only take you a few minutes. I am sure we will all sleep more comfortably." The Schindlers' frustration was growing, but court records from that period, when the Schindlers first attempted to have Michael Schiavo removed as their daughter's guardian, do not indicate neglect.

To: tsigprofit who wrote (16104)	3/23/2005 6:54:31 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

Army Orders Further Involuntary Troop Call-Up Wed Mar 23, 2005 06:13 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army is ordering more people to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan involuntarily from a seldom-used personnel pool as part of a mobilization that began last summer. They are part of the Army's Individual Ready Reserve, made up of soldiers who have completed their volunteer active-duty service commitment but remain eligible to be called back into uniform for years after returning to civilian life. The Army, straining to maintain troop levels in Iraq, last June said it would summon more than 5,600 people on the IRR in an effort to have about 4,400 soldiers fit for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan after granting exemption requests for medical reasons and other hardships. Lt. Col. Pamela Hart said on Wednesday the Army has now increased the number of IRR soldiers it needs to about 4,650, which means a total of about 6,100 will get mobilization orders. The IRR differs from the part-time Army Reserve and Army National Guard, whose soldiers train regularly as part of units. People on the IRR have no such training requirements. Hart also said 370 IRR soldiers had not reported to the Army by the date ordered and have not requested an exemption from service or a delay in reporting. Hart said none have been declared absent without leave, or AWOL, and the Army was trying to determine whether all of them actually had received their mobilization orders. "We're giving them all ample opportunity to comply with their orders," Hart said. The Army has approved 1,866 requests for exemptions or delays in reporting, Hart said. There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, but the number is slated to decline to about 138,000 this month. The Army has defended tapping into the IRR, saying it was a legitimate personnel tool to find soldiers in a time of need. Army officials have said that they expect to launch a second round of mobilizations from the IRR this summer on the scale of the current round to provide soldiers for future force rotations into Iraq and Afghanistan. reuters.com