Brendan Jones – 10/1/06

This page was last updated on October 1, 2006.

Santorum has no compassion; Brendan Jones; Beaver County Times; October 1, 2006.

If you’ve read Mr. Jones’ letters, you know he doesn’t believe in religion. He not only doesn’t believe in religion, he ridicules those who do. In his last letter, Mr. Jones referred to “religious faith” as a “virus.” That smacks of someone not secure in his opinion.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Letter writer Deborah Sturm of the Beaver County chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life have cooked up another tale full of fallacious logic in an attempt to scare people into her subjective morality (‘Schiavo case is relevant,’ Wednesday).”

[RWC] Given his own letters, Mr. Jones shouldn’t throw rocks at anyone for allegedly using “fallacious logic.”

“Her first tale was that of a combat wounded friend who changed his mind regarding euthanasia after losing both legs. This has no bearing on Schiavo’s case, and it meant only to invoke a knee-jerk emotional reaction.”

[RWC] Mr. Jones needs to be more careful. In lieu of facts and logic, libs like Mr. Jones rely on the “knee-jerk emotional reaction” to garner support for liberal positions. For example, “It’s for the children,” “It’s for the elderly,” et cetera.

“The second tale was even more off base. Schiavo’s CAT scan revealed severe brain atrophy, and an EEG showed no brain activity, all prior to her feeding tube being removed, and seven out of eight neurologists concurred that she was in a persistent vegetative state.

“The PVS is irreversible damage to the cerebral cortex, which controls consciousness, memory, thinking and language. She had no consciousness, no brain activity. She was not ‘disabled,’ she was dead. Not having brain activity is a ‘disability’ like having a severed head is a disability. The legal decision the judge made was based on facts and the expertise of eight objective neurologists, not based on her quality of life. A brain-dead person has no quality of life.”

[RWC] I’m no doctor, but Ms. Schiavo was not “dead” as Mr. Jones asserts. I saw video of Ms. Schiavo reacting to movement and sound and she appeared to smile when something nice was done for her. Does that mean she was not in a PVS? As I said, I’m not a doctor and so I can’t give a medical opinion. Regardless, you can’t view that video and credibly claim Ms. Schiavo “was dead.”

“I expect a registered nurse to base her decision on facts and and evidence, no matter how uncomfortable they make her, instead of personal politics.”

[RWC] Yeah, just like Mr. Jones. <g>

“The only thing U.S. Sen. Santorum understands is archaic Catholic dogma. If he really valued life, he would seek to minimize the amount of human suffering occurring worldwide. Instead, he campaigns against condom use in HIV-infected Africa, against responsible contraception and against progress.”

[RWC] Note the attack on Sen. Santorum’s religion.

Apparently Mr. Jones disagrees with his fellow traveler Larry Gillespie. In his letter, Mr. Gillespie was upset because Sen. Santorum gave attention to someone Mr. Gillespie thought had no Pennsylvania connection. Mr. Jones, however, seems to believe Sen. Santorum should look out for Africa.

Regarding Mr. Jones’ allegation about Africa and condoms, I couldn’t find anything supporting it. I did find hits showing Sen. Santorum supports President Bush’s Africa HIV initiative which is based on Uganda’s successful program. Referred to as the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, and use a Condom) program, the Uganda program clearly provides for condoms. I suspect Mr. Jones is just upset because the program doesn’t rely solely on condom use. Unfortunately, condom use without behavior change doesn’t have a huge impact.

“Santorum has zero compassion for any of his fellow human beings. The decisions he has made have only caused more pain for humanity.”

[RWC] Why is it liberals are so quick to take the lives of the defenseless, like unborn babies and Ms. Schiavo, yet are dead set against the death penalty for fully capable adults who make informed decisions to murder other human beings?