Prolific Punditite

Did I mention I would be busy?

2006-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Each week I receive an email in which I'm told how many views my blog has received each day in the past week, usually ranking about one hit a day! Woohoo! I say as I realize that's not bad, given that it hardly exists, was written in for less than two weeks and was the start over from an earlier blog which left me bored and uninspired.

Today, I received a reply to my last post from March of 2005 ... from someone I do not know but who was undoubtedly wanting his site promoted so since I am here, I might as well pass of the Juicy Fruiter himself and give him a pat on the back for making me take a look at my blog once again.

Perhaps I'll be back and chronicle my journey through PhD land as I embark on my newest adventure! Until then...

In the End...

2005-03-31T15:43:00.000-08:00

Did we really learn anything by the life and passing of Terri Schiavo?

So he'll prove he was right......

2005-03-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

after she's gone. And if it doesn't prove that Ms. Schiavo was in a permanent vegetative state? Then what? I've tried to remain nuetral where Michael Schiavo was concerned, but this is one scary slope he just slid down. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Just a few words....

2005-03-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

I have to wonder just for a moment if the degree or absence of Ms. Schiavo's pain introduces the right to eliminate basic human needs such as food and water. Does permanent vegetative state equal non-human? --Les (Prolific Princess)

2005-03-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

Something lighthearted and humorous, may you all share a blessed and joyful Easter...and find peace in your part of the world this morning. --Les (Prolific Princess)

2005-03-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Easter to all, see you Sunday Night.

Not necessarily weird, but new to Austin.

2005-03-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

Talk Radio Turns Blue is the headline in this weeks article in the Chronicle. New talk radio comes to Austin and the fresh wind blowing through brings a little juice to the State Theater.

Sorry I missed its debute. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Inalienable Rights

2005-03-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

ClayCalhoun may be correct that Terri Schiavo is not being given the opportunity to exercise such "inalienable rights"; but one should remember this is an atrocity that frankly is only remembered in times of convenience.

Let us not forget as well that the only thing that stands between any of us and this circumstance is our health in this moment and our ability right now to make clear what we would want done and in what way.

One of the most significant questions that I am drawn back to are not that of the convicted criminal being treated humanely but rather those that fight for their right to choice in matters of death with dignity.
Had Ms. Schiavo been diagnosed with a terminal illness, the courts would be ruling to force her to eat. The irony of this seems lost on so many. If she had asked that a feeding tube not be put in or that she be allowed to refuse medical intervention, the same courts that are now refusing her sustenance are the ones that would have intervened had she taken active steps to end her own suffering.

Equitable and consistent ruling on the law needs to be carefully evaluated. What is right on one day should be right on another; that means if someone chooses not to eat, we can't make them eat. If they choose to die, we can't make them live, if they choose to live we do not have the right to actively kill them. The questions don't seem so hard when reduced to basics. Keep it simple, stupid. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Amber Alert

2005-03-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

This 10-Year-Old Iowa Girl was Abducted by known Sex Offender and an Amber Alert in Iowa has been issued to assist in what law officials hope will end is a successful reunion.

I hope so too.

UPDATE: A body was found in Johnson County which officials are speculating as that of the young girl reported missing earlier Friday. My prayers are with the family. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Okay, just for the fun of it.

2005-03-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

My daughter and I have more fun on this site so I just thought it was worth a cyber mention. Cockeyed.com presents: How Much Is Inside? is the most scientifically questionable but entertaining way to kill some time. It's worth a peek. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Harvard isn't a supporter of Free Enterprise?

2005-03-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

Thank God I didn't attend Harvard; and so much for their MBA program if the premise of free enterprise and capitalism isn't part of their curriculum. --Les (Prolific Princess)

What Roe didn't battle, Jane Doe takes on.

2005-03-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

If nothing is personal any longer, then surely nothing is sacred either.

I don't care if you are pro life or pro choice; life is somewhat wrapped up in whether you are giving birth to a viable human life or the shell of such. Let's not fight those sides of the debate. Jane Doe made a painfully, thoughtful and heartfelt decision some two years ago when she pleaded that her military medical program pay for her abortion.

Jan Doe is quoted: "I understand that even if the baby is born alive, it will probably die after it takes a few breaths. I am really terrified of the prospect of giving birth, then watching the baby die."

Yes, I'm sure she made her decision lightly and totally for her convenience. Who are you kidding? This terrified young woman could not imagine spending five months of her life preparing for the death of her unborn child. I challenge anyone to do the same.

Now its over. She and her military husband, who has put his life at risk for you and your safety no less, asked that given their lower income level, be allowed to use their medical insurance to do what nature was going to do in a less painful and less emotional manner than had Ms. Doe let nature take its course.

But let's not let them grieve their loss and go on. No way. Instead the Federal government intervenes to recoup the $3000 loss to make an example when of the Doe's; stating "when we say no federal funds for abortions, we mean it". What they aren't saying is..."no matter the emotional or physical cost to those involved."

God Bless you Jane Doe for your suffering, your heartfelt and honest decision and the manner in which you have shown our government to be what it appears to be while your husband continues to selflessly serve it...not a government for the people and certainly not one by the people; unless you are the right people or the lucky people. --Les (Prolific Princess)

And I am given even more reasons to question our educational system?

2005-03-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

On her March 23rd post Joanne Jacobs commented on a student's reprimand for posting pictures of his High School principal smoking on school grounds.

I'm always amazed when our constitional rights apply only to those of the age of majority. A young man observed and recorded illegal activity and was not only chastised but threatened by legal action by exercising his right to free speech. Had he been a journalist things would have been quite different. It saddens me the alleged offender only received a slap on the hand for breaking the law so blatantly in a place where our children are taught and influenced. What did the students learn at her guidance?

Where do we draw the line? Why was his photographic journalism squelched? Where were his rights in exposing illegal activity? Do pictures lie? Were they tampered with or altered? I think not.

What was altered was the definition of slander to suit the adult. Shame on them. --Les (Prolific Punditite)

2005-03-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Easter

Peter Cotton-tail, Little Bunny Foo Foo and other Easter thoughts.

2005-03-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Easter weekend it coming up and yet here I sit blogging instead of getting ready for the weekend and planning my Easter dinner party for 12. I can sit and look at "to do's" all day long. In fact, I am. Jack, our noisy beagle is driving me insane with his howling but I ignore even that as I find reasons to continue reading online and watching CNN on tv. Man, there are a ton of blogs out there. I could spend days and hours reading. Oh, you already knew that.

H-E-B has specials on hams this week, go figure. Its been years since I've made potatoe salad. Or deviled eggs for that matter. My best friend, Jodie and her family will be out for the day. I'm excited to have my first real dinner party in god, how long? this weekend. I don't even have enough plates for that many...gotta head to Wal-Mart for that on Saturday. I don't have wine glasses either (okay I have two stems) so for the wonderful Texas Hills Moscato I'll be serving I have to rectify that. Coffee, tea and pineapple upside down cake, what else? Any suggestions? Hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Sexuality hasn't changed, our attitudes have.

2005-03-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Finally someone who gets it. Human sexuality hasn't changed, simply our society's take on when we can be sexual and when we can't. Ignore human nature, hormones and normal human sexual development, I applaud Dr. David Wiley in recognizing what I knew when I married at age 18.

But Dr. David Wiley, a Professor of Health Physical Education and Recreation at Texas State University in San Marcos, and a recognized expert in the field, told the conference that abstinence only doesn't work. "Today our average first marriage in the U.S. is between 26 and 27. In our grandparents day teen pregnancy wasn't an issue because they were married at fourteen," he said.

--Les (Prolific Princess)

Confessions of a smoker.

2005-03-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit it....I am a smoker. Not the "carton a week" variety but a pack a week kinda, social and nervous smoker. And admittedly I am used to smoking when I shoot pool, play darts or gamble...its part of the social ambience. So to think that while I wile away the hours at my favorite casinos I might actually have to take it outside would really hinder my play. Do casinos really want to make our focus more on when and where we can smoke rather than staying put at a gaming table? --Les (Prolific Princess)

Schiavo -- would I be a blogger if I didn't go there.

2005-03-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

I tend to keep up with Clayton Cramer's blog. Remember, I have this horrible crush on the man based soley on his pic here and the fact that he once wrote me back when I told him how handsome I think he is...but that aside, I was interested to see even Cramer has something to say about the one headline we have pervading us at present (which is a nice break from Micheal by the way). So in Clayton's latest post I am reminded of my earlier ethics studies in health care where one of our main focuses was around issues of right to die and dignity in death.

I'm concerned! As I went through Health Care Ethics over two years ago in my graduate studies we spent a great deal of time reading and discussing a now historical Texas case of the "right to die" issue now known as Dax's Case.

In this case:

In 1973, "Dax" Cowart, age 25, was severely burned in a propane gas explosion. Rushed to the Burn Treatment Unit of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, he was found to have severe burns over 65 percent of his body; his face and hands suffered third degree burns and his eyes were severely damaged. Full burn therapy was instituted. After an initial period during which his survival was in doubt, he stabilized and underwent amputation of several fingers and removal of his right eye. During much of his 232 day hospitalization at Parkland, his few weeks at Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research at Houston, and his subsequent six month's stay at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he repeatedly insisted that treatment be discontinued and that he be allowed to die. Despite this demand, wound care was continued, skin grafts performed and nutritional and fluid support provided. He was discharged totally blind, with minimal use of his hands, badly scarred, and dependent on others to assist in personal functions.

Dax clearly states his desire and right to die. There are no questions as to what THE PATIENT'S desires are!

Not so with Ms. Schiavo!

First, I have not read (and I could be wrong) that there is in existance any Advance Directives to Physicians or a Living Will which would clearly direct those involved as to what Ms. Schiavo would desire. Secondly, testimony of nurses and others seem to negate the physical and mental condition of Ms. Schiavo as "vegatative" which would clearly reduce the presumptions of no hope and no further treatment options.

However, the similarity of this case and Dax's situation appears quite clear to me; there are various interests at stake, that of her husband and that of her family, which are not in agreement. Doctors, the care staff and the hospital itself all have a stake in the decisions. No one can agree and no one can be certain, without a doubt as to whether Ms. Schiavo desires to continue or is in a state to even cognitively judge her own outcome. And since we cannot clearly ask Ms. Schiavo, we have to depend on her family to make some determinations on her behalf; but those folks don't agree! So who wins?

No one wins here.

That's more than clear and as I type this post I realize that I am yet another baffled by who gets to decide what for whom; but the feeding tube is gone and Ms. Schiavo is on the fast track to a rather gruesome starvation death which few of us can know or imagine. The graphic descriptions of this aside, would you really want to make such a decision and who are we going to turn such decisions over to that would insure human error not be a factor in the final outcome. We can't.

I keep the Schiavo family in my prayers, it's all I can do.

And you are still one cute blogger, Clayton. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Have we given up on Grandma and Grandpa?

2005-03-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

I wonder at why the questions would even be posed that Seniors suffering from depression were treatable or untreatable as though age and years hinder the ability to treat an emotionally and sometimes chemically charged condition. USA Today, in a recent article discussing a study at Indiana Univeristy pose what they beleive an epiphanic observation that Grandma and Grandpa suffering from depression might actually have some hope. But what is this double talk that USA Today sees as journalistically accurate?

The findings suggest that doctors more ggressively identify and treat seniors with depression, an illness that puts people, especially the elderly, at risk of suicide. Many doctors mistakenly believe that treatment doesn't help older people suffering from depression.

Do Doctors see the elderly as a treatable patient or a non treatable patient? Do they agressively treat the elderly or do they believe they are not treatment candidates?

So do we need to justify why treatment is important?

Treatment of the depression may interrupt a downward spiral of abilities that can put seniors at risk of nursing home placement, says Dan Blazer, a geriatric-medicine expert at Duke University who wrote an editorial in the journal. Depression may interrupt a senior's routine, which may be further disrupted by a physical problem such as a bad fall. But if the health problem clears up and the depression remains, a senior is at risk of not going back to his or her former pattern: They may stop paying bills or preparing meals and may suddenly need help every day, Blazer says. (By Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY)

What is it we want to accomplish? Treat only those most apt to be successfully treated? Treat those with the highest chances of success? Or do we treat those that seek or need treatment when the indication is there that treatment is appropriate, not based on success possibilites but on the fact that it is medically and morally appropriate?

So I wonder, should I withhold any care until I determine if it will be successful or well received? Hold on, Grandma, I'll hug you when I'm sure it will help. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Pornography and the blase-ness of sex!

2005-03-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Monday I mentioned the absurd legislation regarding the ban on bump and grind cheerleading in the Great State of Texas. Today I was scanning a recent article in the Mercury News that tells us of the risks inherent in the availability of pornography on the internet to teens, those developing their sexuality during this often confusing time for young men and women. The article, quite short and "concise?" is shown below in its entirety:

After the Internet became widely available, pornography also became just a click away for minors -- every day, whatever the time. ``Before the days of the Internet, kids would sneak a peek at Playboy,'' said Paul Roy, a psychologist and dean of the residential division at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. ``Internet porn is much more harmful, because it gives people access in a way they've never had.'' Roy suspects that most teenagers visit Internet porn sites to satisfy curiosity or for the thrill of doing something wrong. However, viewing porn frequently can have serious side effects, such as becoming desensitized to sex.
``If you keep looking at something long enough, you will believe that it might be OK,'' said Wendy Packman, a psychologist and professor at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in Palo Alto. ``You get desensitized and think it's not a big deal.'' Teenagers may also develop corrupted views of sexuality and women. ``It perpetuates a kind of attitude in the way people think about women,'' Roy said. "It gives teenagers a distorted view about the sacredness of human sexuality. Together, it creates a good deal of confusion.'' -- Anna Tong, Gunn High, Palo Alto

As a student of human behavior I've read both sides of the often biased and political journalistic views of pornography. Constitutional rights aside for the moment on whether pornography is a freedom of speech issue or an issue of the moral protection of our society; this article truly baffles me. Earlier works attempted to dissuade the viewing of pornography based on the exploitation of women. It caused boys to grow up violent and turn into predatory rapists. Even this article intimates toward the idea that it perpetuates a distorted view of women and in the same "study" or discourse tells us that viewing pornography desensitizes us to "sex". So which is it? Are we creating sexual monsters or those desensitized to sex. And if pornography is desensitizing us to "sex", exactly to what degree are we becoming desensitized? How are we defining this desensitization? Is it sending a message of "sex is okay" or a message of "sex is no big deal"? How do these messages differ and who is deciding which message is the issue?

My position remains the same; sex is okay. In fact, its more than okay and young men and women are becoming increasingly removed from some basic rights of passage, at least in our Texas schools where hand holding, kissing and any forms of affection are considered grounds for reprimand. I'm concerned that our normal developmental phases of sexuality and interactions with romantic/sexual overtones are being interupted by an over zealous group of frightened adults who forgot what hormones feel like in their early stages. It reminds me of some rather zealot religious groups who feel all school dances are the root of all evil in our children. Children HAVE to grow up and HAVE to develop sexually as well as physically and cognitively. Restrict the former and the latter developments necessary will be interupted to such a degree as to insure that we have a society of adults unable to cope emotionally with relationships outside their office cubicle.

If any message is sent out in Texas, it is to be ashamed of our sexuality and the budding of our youth into young adults and perpetuating the rather unhealthy squelching of their sexual development most appropriately occurring during their pubescent years. Squelch ones sexual development, even by reprimanding their peek at a Playboy, and I guarantee you will be creating the sexual monsters you are sure are created through a healthy curiosity about something secret and taboo that should be otherwise openly discussed.

Go ahead and take this post to its outer limits; tell me I'm endorsing the distribution of pornographic materials throughout our educational systems and within the rights of every hormonal young man sneaking their father's Oui and Playboy magazines. You would be dead wrong. Instead take a good long look at how healthy you view sex, sexually charged images, and the sexual education of your own children. Quit blaming your lack of comfort in discussing such intimate issues with your child such as what they can see on the internet and the porn industry that has been tried and tried over and over. Talk, explain, share honestly your thoughts on sex and sexuality, pornography and sexually laden artistic expression. Take into your parental hands the responsibility of either creating or extinguising the budding animal inside the child; take your first job seriously in assisting any child, yours or others into viewing the sanctity and sacredness of the most intimate of bonds and sharing. Then take a cold shower. What magazines are under your bed? --Les (Prolific Princess)

Finding Wisdom or Rationalizations for Comfort

2005-03-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

Given many current circumstances in my own life and how hard it is to deal with the angst of daily living and dealing with relationships as they come and go, I ran across a quick witted article in Psychology Today that tells me just about every side of the coin.

Does absence truly make the heart grow fonder, or are loved ones out of mind when they're out of sight? And isn't variety the spice of life?....Do opposites attract, or do birds of a feather flock together? Should you love the one you're with, or would that be like changing horses in midstream? We all know that he who hesitates is lost, but doesn't haste make waste, and isn't patience a virtue, and don't fools rush in, and aren't you supposed to look before you leap?

And, sure, money is power, but aren't the best things in life supposed to be free? And since time is money, and money is power, and power corrupts, does that mean time also corrupts? Well, maybe so. After all, the Devil finds work for idle hands.

Is Grandma wise or did she just come up with comforting words so she could then go about her day without having to obsess in the newest, unhealthiest of 21st century coping skills we have become so fond of in our daily lives? My guess is she was just flat too busy to do much else but refocus on the immediate.

Our lives have in some ways become increasingly complicated while we have managed to carve out larger and larger fractions of time for relaxation, hobbies and stress relievers. But we still seem to be finding unhealthier ways to deal with change, loss and in some ways...the inevitable.

Looking back over the last week of my life and that of the headlines, I watch as only one thing remains true; none of us are doing any better dealing with the sands in our hourglasses than they did a hundred years ago...we aren't even any more articulate about it. We kill more, scream more, produce more ways to avoid love and life with those that mean the most to us; we find ways to leave our lovers, partners, families all in the name of progress and yet we fall apart over the smallest of changes in our lives.

I have never done well at saying goodbye, perhaps because all the goodbyes I've had to say were never ones I would have chosen to say in the first place. Are they ever really? I have trouble deciding if I should love the one I'm with or find my soulmate; something Grandma probably never thought about or if she did, she never let anyone know. Think of The Thorn Birds where lives were changed and lived without ever owning up to the most important relationships that were right in front of all the players.

I can't decide if my absence will make his heart grow fonder or if he's already forgotten me. I am not even certain if opposites do attract or if he's right that birds of a feather should flock together. I sure do miss Grandma. --Les (Prolific Princess)

SUCCESS

2005-03-21T16:11:00.000-08:00

I have no idea who actually wrote this or where to give appropriate credit -- I have seen this in my email for several weeks now and had it given to me by a good friend just a couple weeks ago -- but sharing it seemed appropriate given the battles I'm about to undertake and well, other things in the weeks to come you will no doubt learn about....here goes....

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint it goes like this:

What makes 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%.
How about achieving 103%?
What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these
questions:

If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented
as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

but,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

and,

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T 2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G 1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass kissing that will put you over the top!

There's not much more I can say except....let the bullshit and asskissing begin after I file suit. --Les (Prolifically unemployed Princess)

Texas bump and grinds

2005-03-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

Don't look now but those budding Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are asked to stop the bump and grind cheerleading that has come to represent all that is "holy" in Texas Cheerleading.

Students in Texas High Schools are told they cannot hold hands with their special interests, boyfriends and girlfriends alike are given DHall in response to genuine and before now considered normal expressions of affection. Now, we're telling them that the very dancing and moving made a freedom of expression their parents fought for in their HS years are now again taboo.

Get real, get a hobby, find more socially important areas to destroy in our lives but quit telling kids they can't be kids and they can't explore their sexual and interpersonal expressions. What's next, Valentines Day card exchanges will be banned at the elementary schools for they often exhibit hearts and love and flowers which may be construed sexual or affectionate? or worse yet, depraved. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Roll Call

2005-03-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

One could wish this was some bold 60's political statement about the disintegration of the establishment in progressive educational ideas but when "Parents of Truant Students Miss Meeting" all we really know is where they learned the behavior.

Oooops. Who's bad? --Les (Prolific Princess)

A Little Privacy Please?

2005-03-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

The Texas Women's Coalition is sending out this email today regarding privacy bills:

"Today in the Senate State Affairs Committee, hearings on the following two bills will occur:

SB 160 Sponsored by Sen. Shapleigh
Relating to the creation of an address confidentiality program to
assist victims of family violence in maintaining confidential
addresses.

and

SB 309 Sponsored by Sen. Lucio / et al.
Relating to the creation of an address confidentiality program to
assist victims of family violence, sexual assault, or stalking in
maintaining confidential addresses.

These are important efforts to protect survivors. Call the state
senators on this committee and ask them to support SB 160 and SB 309.

Chair: Senator Robert Duncan
Vice-Chair: Senator Tommy Williams

Members:
Senator Kenneth Armbrister
Senator Rodney Ellis
Senator Troy Fraser
Senator Chris Harris
Senator Mike Jackson
Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr.
Senator Frank Madla"

I ask you, do we as women have to ask for special permission to retain our privacy against those that victimize us and would continue to do so? I wholly support this group of cyberactivists and will do so here at my forum as well as often as I can. --Les (Prolific Princess)

The Oasis in Austin, TX

2005-03-21T10:30:00.000-08:00

Sunset Capital of Texas.

Body Found at The Oasis

2005-03-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

One of Austin's landmarks and one of my favorite restaraunts, The Oasis, is now a crime scene? Is nothing sacred anymore? --Les (Prolific Princess)

Ethics in Action

2005-03-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

I continue my graduate studies at St. Edwards University in counseling psychology and much of what we study are the rights of clients and patients in our health care system. I have strong feelings where all people and their rights are concerned. I have strong feelings about the decisions I would make for myself and those of my children that are as much ethically based as based out of love of life and love of those in my life. I cannot imagine the torment a parent would feel in determining that hope is gone where their child is concerned...

but evidently, and contrary to all I've studied thus far,

a Houston children's hospital feels they have a corner understanding on when care is hopeless and when they no longer have to provide services.

I am not aware of any arguments concerning payment of hospital fees in relation to this case (which is often argued) and I may be wrong but so often I am concerned that dollars get in the way of the celebration of life that is often forgotten. Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, TX decided this infant, by remaining alive, was prolonging the child's suffering (of course, the child himself was an infant incapable of a rebuttal) and violating a physicians code of ethics.

My code of ethics however would err on the side of the mother who did not agree that her son's condition was hopeless and was not prepared at the point of his life-sustaining equipment removal to believe there was simply no more that was "medically appropriate".

We as parents are often not in a position to determine what is and what is not "medically appropriate" as we are not doctors and nurses who see these situations every day....but then again we as parents are not prepared to live out our lives without our children whom we have grown to love deeply prior to their date of birth. So I ask you, if you were faced with holding your child to die, would you not want one more minute, one more hour, one more day? Or could you just be content to know that one more minute was not "medically appropriate"?

Its a scary God call if you ask me. -- Les (Prolific Princess)

Neverland

2005-03-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

Its your house, Micheal.

Micheal, Micheal, Micheal.

2005-03-20T22:40:00.000-08:00

It was the early 80's, my (now ex) hubby and I hadn't been married long when we went out to buy the album "Thriller". We didn't have a lot of spare cash back in those days so choosing a splurge item like a new album was carefully done but we were really excited to agree on Micheal Jackson's newest release. The music was wonderful and as MTV was becoming the thing to watch for new releases we could enjoy both the music and Michael's dancing as well. (Yes, dates me for sure but I remember this stuff when it was new. So do you, if you're honest.)

We watched MTV on the weekends, not all the time but defintely sometimes and alot during parties. He had talent; he could sing and dance and make us all feel like we could too.

Course the surgeries had already started (don't go there, no one changes that much!) His skin tone had already changed alot from the kid I remember from the Jackson Five...heck I grew with this guy, there was a time he was black!

Then the stories about the hyper something chamber he slept in and the odder stories about his growing estate and his fascination with cryogenics. It all just seemed the more fame he gained, the more strange the stories. A marraige to Lisa Marie. Okay that was strange.

But here we go again; a new trial, a new set of accusations, different players this go around...and a trial that gives us a newer glimpse into Neverland.

Well, hide in the zoo there Michael among your closest 300 friends and behind the best lawyers and bodyguards money can buy; your fame won't bring back this fan from yesteryear. Your abuse of your lifestyle alone reduces the respect I have for the talent I admired. Your poor pitiful me routine is old. I've had my own servings of "bad stuff from my childhood" but I don't have millions to hide behind.

And what about my children? Here you are splashed across every CNN ticker; reenactments of your trial...my children don't know the talented and energetic Michael their father and I enjoyed. Instead, they think of Michael as a string of bad jokes. They don't know the incredible dancer or musician but the child molesting perv of the headlines. Instead of celebrating your music, you are a bad skit at my daughters junior high talent show with a gloved and black suited dressed man chasing a boy across a stage. And her teachers allow it and laugh, and it saddens me.

Fame must be tough Michael but so is life for alot of us and we don't molest children and we don't get accused repeatedly of doing so. I know its tough having your money, fame and extravagances but next time you feel like cozying up to a child and making world headlines, why not try a new hit song instead. Its what brought you all your fame to begin with. Stick with what worked. --Les (Prolific Princess)

Ah Vanity !

2005-03-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

Years ago I watched a movie whose final scene had the Devil tempting the strong willed attorney he could not break...until finally the willful attorney agreed to meet with the press...the Devil grins and says "Ah, vanity, my favorite." referring to one of the seven deadly sins...

Well Devil be damned, Texas isn't relying any longer on such historical restrictions as the Bible to ward against vanity, but rather has chosen to jump on the bandwagon. If you can't beat them, join them by gosh and join them Texas lawmakers will as they push through a vanity tax (see our local KEYE TV web page for details) on cosmetic surgery.

My thoughts? I never thought I'd see the day when my education or that of my children would be funded by boob jobs! Someday I wonder if we'll see little banner ads across the top of chalk boards...."This chalk/message board brought to you by Biggerboobs.com, your first choice in boob enhancement."

It's late, isn't it? -- Les (Prolific Princess)

Introductions might be in order.

2005-03-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

Just to get started and say hello again to the world of blogging I've set up a new 2005 blog with an old name. No one here remembers me...or knows me, but I'm back for however long I feel inclined to be here again...or until I get busy with real life, which ever comes first. -- Les (Prolific Princess)