From a local news friend…

Mike Savage had audio today of a nurse who saw and filed a police report about some oddities that involved the husband and Terri while in the hospital.

The nurse alleges that after the husband was alone with Terri (door closed) the nurse found a very low blood sugar reading, an empty insulin bottle, and hypodermic needle wounds on Terri. 

The nurse went to the police and was dismissed from the case and the hospital (hospice?).

Savage mixes the two topics of what did the husband do and should Terri be permitted to die.

He has me very suspicious about what the husband is up to.  Remember he insists she has specifically told him that she wants to be cremated immediately after death.

I think an autopsy is absolutely necessary whenever she dies.

I think that the Bush & Co. want her to die fast before it is necessary for the Supreme Court to get involved.  Unfortunately, I think he may have to watch Terri hang on for days and the political maneuvering to postpone a Supreme Court Decision will become rather obvious to Liberals.

The conservative bloggers will issue a pass to Bush and etc.

Just Above Sunset responds –

The woman got her time on CNN today too.  And I doubt an autopsy will prove much.  Fifteen years in that condition makes thing difficult.  Ask any doctor.

Of course, Robert Blake privately told me he was having a gay affair with OJ Simpson - so, Scoop, prove he didn't say that to me!  Why is no one reporting that?  And I once saw Chareton Heston at the airport picking his nose. 

This is bullshit - and that in fifteen years it comes up now is bullshit.  That you entertain the credibility of this is amazing.  You also believed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, I guess - when Kerry wasn't hiding from combat he went out and murdered Vietnamese children, no doubt, if he was even there at all.  Yeah, right.

Why do you want to so much believe these back-stories that come up late from unsubstantiated sources that cannot be proved, or checked out in any way, are the "real truth" that no one else has uncovered?  You need an "ah ha!" fix?  Get over it.

Why not be working with what happened, what was said, what laws apply, what the implications are.  You are blinded by the need for some scoop - when the facts of the matter are more than enough to deal with, at least for most of us.

And there is a reason MSNBC fired Savage after just a few shows.  It wasn't that he was a nasty man - everyone knows that.  It was that he was full of shit.  When a major news organization tosses you out on your ass it costs them dearly - as they look awfully foolish.  But they had no choice.  Look up the firing on the web - last year some time.

And I believe Tom DeLay of Texas is really an alien from the planet Clorox II who arrived here on the Spaceship Quaalude.

Well, it could be!  Prove me wrong!

The local news friend responds -

Being too eager for a scoop is a basic flaw in the journalism community.

It may have done Dan Rather in.

Where does raging paranoia end and healthy cynicism begin?

The new book about making split second decisions is getting some publicity.  What are you prone to believe and how quickly do you leap to such prejudices?

When I was a very little kid, I figured Santa out logically.  A few years later, as a student in Catholic school, I was told "Catholicism" was the one true faith.  I wondered if the folks who held other religions were taught the same thing or whether they thought:  "Oh well, the Catholic Faith is the one true faith, but my parents would be upset if I switched at (say) ten." 

Nahhhh.

I believed that the US knew secret things and going to war in Vietnam was a good thing.  I believed that they could win it without me.  I was wrong!  I'm sorry.  I've apologized many times.

Then one morning as I was getting ready to go to work (late shift) I turned on a TV and saw my government preparing to kill a bunch of evil fanatics.  The press was not being permitted to cover the rear of the ranch.  Hmmm.  Later I saw a documentary film with Fleer style.  I could see what looked like machine gun fire.  A government spokesman said flatly that it was reflections off a mirror.

Who should I believe?  My eyes or an official spokesperson  heck let's go back to spokesman for the government?

So as far as being prone to Mike Savage's bullshit is concerned . . .  yeah, you are right.  I am very likely to jump toward the bullshit.  It's a trait.  It's what poker players call a "tell."

I'll try not to listen to Savage.

Oh, yeah, one more story.  Once, back in 1966, I took a picture of an anti-war protester in the snow on Times Square.  It was a Saturday and I was due in to work at 4 p.m. or so.  I went in early and eagerly offered my photo to the AP photo desk.  They looked at it and said it was a very good picture, but that they couldn't run it because it generated sympathy for the lone, anti-war protest, standing virtually unnoticed in the snow.  AP didn't want to create any sympathy for the anti-war folks.

I really did think they could have won it without me.  I'm sorry.

Ah, we argue all the time.

_______________________

Follow Up -

On March 22, both CNN's Live From... and Fox News' Fox and Friends aired interviews with Carla Sauer Iyer -- a former nurse for Terri Schiavo who in 2003 submitted an affidavit with inflammatory accusations against Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo -- but failed to report questions about Iyer's credibility. Judge George W. Greer, the Florida circuit judge who has presided over several aspects of the Schiavo case, dismissed Iyer's allegations as "incredible" and noted in a September 17, 2003, order that not even Terri Schiavo's parents sought her testimony in the case.

In both appearances, Iyer was presented as a former nurse for Terri Schiavo. Fox introduced her as a "registered nurse in Florida" who "cared for Terri for more than a year between '95 and 1996." In addition, on-screen text described Iyer as "Carla Sauer Iyer; Cared for Terri Schiavo." On CNN, Iyer was introduced as a "nurse who says that she cared for Terri Schiavo [for] more than a year in the mid-1990s." As with Fox, CNN's on-screen text described Iyer as "Terri Schiavo's former nurse." Another on-screen text line presented on CNN stated that Iyer "testified about Terri Schiavo's physical state." However, according to Greer's September 2003 order, Schiavo's parents had not subpoenaed Iyer to testify.

In both a 2003 court affidavit (posted on the website operated by Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler) and her March 22 cable appearances, Iyer maintained that Terri Schiavo was constantly "alert and oriented" while under her care, "saying such things as 'mommy,' and 'help me.' " She claimed that "Throughout my time at Palm Gardens, Michael Schiavo was focused on Terri's death. Michael would say 'When is she going to die?' 'Has she died yet?' and 'When is that bitch gonna die?' " The affidavit also included her claims that Michael Schiavo expressed the desire to "accelerate" Terri's death, that when Terri was sick and looked as if she might die, "He [Michael] would blurt out 'I'm going to be rich,' " and the assertion that "[i]t is my belief that Michael injected Terri with Regular insulin" to intentionally make her sick. She claimed in her affidavit that "I ultimately called the police relative to this situation, and was terminated the next day."

Greer dismissed Iyer's charges, noting that they -- along with a similar affidavit given by Heidi Law, another nurse who formerly took care of Terri Schiavo -- were "incredible to say the least" and that "[n]either in the testimony nor in the medical records is there support for these affidavits as they purport to detail activities and responses of Terri Schiavo." From Greer's decision:

The remaining affidavits deal exclusively with events which allegedly occurred in the 1995-1997 time frame. The court feels constrained to discuss them. They are incredible to say the least. Ms. Iyer details what amounts to a 15-month cover-up which would include the staff of Palm Garden of Lago Convalescent Center, the Guardian of the Person, the Guardian ad Litem, the medical professionals, the police and, believe it or not, Mr. and Mrs. Schindler. Her affidavit clearly states that she would "call them (Mr. and Mrs. Schindler) anyway because I thought they should know about their daughter." The affidavit of Ms. Law speaks of Terri responding on a constant basis. Neither in the testimony nor in the medical records is there support for these affidavits as they purport to detail activities and responses of Terri Schiavo. It is impossible to believe that Mr. and Mrs. Schindler would not have subpoenaed Ms. Iyer for the January 2000 evidentiary hearing had she contacted them as her affidavit alleges.