Plus: Medicare means-test mystery.

A useful counterweight to NPR: A  blog by a Catholic priest who has travelled to Florida to assist Terri Schiavo's mother and father in their feeding-tube battle. ... I can't find a pro-husband blog, but here is a Florida legal blog with lots of information on the case, much of it favorable to Michael. (Some of it, on the blog's separate  Schiavo info page, prompted a non-trivial correction to my item below.) ...2:07 A.M.

Sunday, October 26, 2003

Welfare reform leads to healthier lives for "young, poorly educated single mothers"

regardless of whether these single moms were currently employed or jobless, suggesting there was something about welfare reform that motivated these women to change their lifestyle, either in order to keep their jobs or in anticipation of going to work.

Healthier living is defined as more frequent exercise and less binge drinking. Or does it just mean more attention paid to presenting an employable front to nosy researchers who ask lots of questions about binge drinking? Either way, it's almost certainly an improvement. Further study, etc. ... 9:03 P.M.

Rumblings persist regarding the possibility of continuing Schwarzenegger scandal stories. And it's not just the L.A. Times. .... 8:53 P.M.

Saturday, October  25, 2003

What's a complacent centrist do when he needs to be angry but can't find anything to be angry about? Simple: He listens to NPR! All Things Considered, in particular, rarely fails to come through. On Wednesday, I needed to come up with a "rant" for a scheduled radio appearance--and, presto, ATC delivered with a stunningly biased and condescending report on the Schiavo "right to die" case.  "Bias" isn't quite the right word, actually. A biased report might interview all sides but slant the story to favor one point of view while quoting only unconvincing generalities from the other. That was Thursday's NPR Schiavo story. Wednesday's story transcended mere bias, covering the case as if the anti-death side didn't even exist, so there was no need to even try to find out what they were thinking. [Audio of both stories available here.]

In case you haven't been paying attention, the issue in the Schiavo case is whether or not to remove the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo, who has been found to be in a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS). Terri's husband, Michael, wants the tube removed; Terri's family doesn't. A judge ruled that the decision is Michael's. [Correction: Abstract Appeal says that Michael petitioned the judge, who made the decision.] Michael has said Terri would have wanted to die. But there are, er,  complications  that lead some to question Michael's judgment. Florida's legislature has now intervened to allow Governor Jeb Bush to order the feeding tube reinserted.

Here's who we heard from on NPR on Wednesday:

a) Melissa Block introducing Jon Hamilton's report and declaring that the governor's action "goes against more than two decades of legal and ethical decisionmaking."
b) A bioethicist who is "saddened" by the intervention to reinsert the feeding tube.
c) An explanation of "persistent vegetative state" from a neurologist who actually testified for the husband, Michael.
d) A representative of the American Medical Association who seems to support the husband's position.
e) Hamilton noting bioethicist (b)'s opinion that there is "little question the Florida legislature will eventually be overturned."