Yes, we had a good time at Dad's party at the house outside of Gettysburg. H parked the car in the hosts' garage, so Dad was truly surprised. Not that he jumped up and down or anything, but it was a really good time.
The group was a good one, with nicely different backgrounds. I might be somewhat off, but this was how I understood it - you had a pair of pastors, a woman in charge of social work at Hanover hospital, her husband the dentist, who likes to hunt the big game, and an HR / PR guy for Utz potatoes who had retired from the Army as a Lt. Colonel, with his wife (I'm not sure if she worked). Plus Dad, H and me.
What I especially liked was how good people were at changing the subject. Apparently, there is some kind of political scandal in York (or York County?) involving a woman working for the D.A. who left her job after 40 years. The Utz guy brought it up, and then the hostess mentioned that the woman was a cousin of hers by marriage. Her husband, the host, said, "Wow, the salad is really good," and everyone agreed. Subject changed!

I've noticed that when I post some long diatribe, I stay away from the blog for a few days, maybe waiting for the dust to settle.
In a nutshell, my biggest problem with the Schiavo case is that she did not make her wishes known to an extent that would satisfy me. That is, she may have said something to her husband, but I don't trust the guy to tell the truth. Because there's a possibility that she would have wanted to stay on the feeding tube, and because her parents are willing to take care of her and pay the costs of her care, I tend toward the viewpoint of keeping her alive. Simply put, I don't believe the husband when he says she told him, "no tubes" - I don't trust his motives. From what I understand, he was the only person there when she sustained her brain damage, and some people are suspicious of how exactly this happened. On top of that, he may have a financial interest in her dying. So I don't trust him.

I meant to keep this short, so I am psychologically able to post more often.

Keep up the good work, everyone! JP - you are right, having links that make the points of your arguments helps! I also cleaned up dozens of identical posts from Dad on 3/17...
C
- posted by Christoph Roggenkamp @ 3/22/2005 11:43:00 AM