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2006 FutureAngels.com Top 10 Prospects
All content copyright © 2006 Wordsmith Resources. This column may not be posted elsewhere, in whole or in part, without expressed prior written permission.
Beginning in 2001, I wrote annual post-season Angels Top 10 Prospects columns for this site. Last year, I wrote what I thought was going to be the final column, as it appeared that the site would no longer operate on a daily basis.
The main reason was the imminent elimination of my day job; contrary to what some think, this site is not my primary employment, and in fact costs me a couple thousand dollars annually in operating losses, primarily travel expenses to the Angels affiliates in places like Little Rock, Arkansas and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
I started a new job last month, one that seems stable enough to allow me to resume operations for 2007.
So let's begin by resurrecting the annual tradition of the Top 10 Prospects report.
Because I didn't travel in 2006 to watch the players in person, I really can't offer any gifted insight. Unlike Top 10 lists published by many sites, which are usually written by people who never saw the players they're writing about, I want to back up what I write with personal observation. Many "statheads" believe they can outthink scouts and general managers with their calculator. I'd prefer to use my own two eyes, combined with the input of people whose opinion I trust — managers, coaches, scouts, beat writers who watch the players perform every day. Sure, I look at stats, but I look at them in context, which isn't what usually happens on those "stathead" sites.
Without the travel this year, any so-called "insight" on my part will be limited to what I've read on-line, and heard by listening to the teams' webcasts. So this year I'll give full credit to Baseball America, the beat writers in the affiliates' towns, the Angels correspondents at the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and other publications. Any personal insight will come from my knowledge of these players prior to 2006.
As we do every year, I follow Baseball America's rule of excluding from the list players who are no longer eligible for the Rookie of the Year award — more than 130 major league at-bats or 50 innings pitched during the regular season.
Many past top prospects are no longer eligible for the list — Casey Kotchman, Dallas McPherson, Kendry Morales, Mike Napoli, and Howie Kendrick among the position players, and Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver and Joe Saunders among the starting pitcher prospects.
With all these players graduated to the majors, the talent pool is thinner than the last couple years, so quite a few names show up on the list for the first time. Keep in mind that just because someone shows up on this list, it doesn't mean he's a sure-fire future major league star. It's just a snapshot of the organization at one point in time.
Let's also restate my definition of "Top 10". The Top 10 What? The Top 10 talent? The first ten to make it to the big leagues? The ten players the Angels care about the most?
For me, it's a combination of all those factors. Baseball America tends to look at a player's "ceiling", i.e. how much talent potential he has. I look at that but also take into consideration the parent club's needs. For example, I might give slightly less weight to a starting pitcher prospect because the parent club is so deep in starters. This winter seems more likely to see the Angels trade some pitching for a bat, so I'll consider that too. I give that more weight than would Baseball America, because I'm considering the likelihood of his being in the big leagues with the Angels in the near future. BA gives more weight to the player's likelihood to star in the big leagues, somewhere, sometime. I also tend to give more weight to players higher in the farm system, because they're closer to snatching that "brass ring". You can project a Rookie-A player as the next Albert Pujols, but there are a lot more "if's" in his way than a less capable player who's moved quickly through the system and is in Triple-A with a decent chance of making the parent club roster next year.
If you're a player or a loved one, don't take it personally if you're not on the list. In a typical season, the Angels will have around 200 minor leaguers under contract. That means 190 players don't get mentioned.
So with all those qualifiers, let's tick off 190 ballplayers and their families . . .
10. Terry Evans OF
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'3" 200 lbs. DOB: 1/19/1982
Palm Beach (High-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .311/.373/.550 (263 TPA)
Springfield (Double-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .307/.369/.640 (84 TPA)
Arkansas (Double-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .309/.385/.553 (213 TPA)
"Terry Who?!" would have been the reaction a year ago if you'd told anyone that Evans would be showing up on an Angels post-season Top 10 list. Evans was an underachieving outfielder in the St. Louis Cardinals' system with a career minor league AVG/OBP/SLG of .239/.303/.394 over four unremarkable seasons. Out of nowhere, he caught fire in 2006, crediting his religious faith to help him relax in his approach to the game. Those who look for more earth-bound explanations will cite his age (24 to start the year) and level (High-A), a combination of an older player up against much younger and more inexperienced pitchers. Yet St. Louis moved him up to Double-A, where he continued to hit. The Angels took interest when Evans decimated the Arkansas Travelers in a five-game mid-June series at Little Rock, going 11-for-18 with five homers, two doubles and three stolen bases. Three weeks later, the Angels acquired him for major-league starting pitcher Jeff Weaver, who was a flop. (It was later learned that Weaver was suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder.) You can't knock the numbers, but as I said upstream numbers have to be viewed in context. Given his age and his previous track record, Evans' year should be viewed as an anomaly. I expect his 2007 numbers at Triple-A Salt Lake will be similarly impressive, if only because Franklin Covey Field is one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in a hitter-friendly league. His strikeout- to-walk ratio (127:41 in 560 TPA) also suggest he might have problems adjusting to major league pitching. For now, label him a dark horse but his 2006 season certainly deserves recognition.
9. Chris Resop RHP
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'3" 200 DOB: 11/4/1982)
Albuquerque (Triple-A): 4-0 3.81 ERA, 43:15 K:BB, AVG/OBP/SLG: .258/.316/.353 (49.2 IP)
Florida (NL): 1-2 3.38 ERA, 10:16 K:BB, .310/.416/.464 (21.1 IP)
Chris Resop was acquired on November 20 in a trade for reliever Kevin Gregg. His odyssey is about as implausible as Terry Evans'. Resop pitched at Barron Collier High School in Naples FL, but his bat impressed the Florida Marlins more so they selected him as an outfielder in the 4th round of the June 2001 draft. After hitting a miserable .196/.245/.277 over his first three seasons, Resop was converted to the bullpen in July 2003 when he was still just 20 years old. Since then he's posted some impressive numbers at the minor league level. After posting a 2.57 ERA and 56:16 K:BB ratio in 49 IP for Double-A Carolina in 2005, the Marlins promoted him to the major leagues in late June, but they eventually returned him to Double-A. His 2006 numbers at Triple-A Albuquerque must be viewed in context as the city's altitude is 5300 feet; his home ERA was 4.32 but his road ERA was 3.28, and three of his four dingers were surrendered at home. The 2006 Baseball America Prospect Handbook published last March ranked Resop #23 in the Marlins' system. According to BA analyst Mike Berardino, Resop's fastball "sits at 92-95 mph and tops out at 97," although a recent article in his hometown paper states he reached "triple digits" in 2006. Berardino wrote that Resop "has the makings of a plus curveball but hasn't used it enough." He's also working on a two-seamer, and undoubtedly the Angels will try to add a changeup to his repertoire. His limited major league numbers in 2005 and 2006 suggest he still has work to do, especially when it comes to locating his pitches, but with the recent addition of Justin Speier to the Angels bullpen Resop will report to Triple-A Salt Lake in 2007 for more experience. He might just be a sleeper with a bit more patience.
8. Jose Arredondo RHP
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'0" 170 lbs. DOB: 3/30/1984)
Rancho Cucamonga (High-A): 5-6 2.30 ERA, 115:35 K:BB, AVG/OBP/SLG: .198/.286/.293 (90.0 IP)
Arkansas (Double-A): 2-3 6.53 ERA, 48:22 K:BB, .317/.371/.468 (60.2 IP)
This seems to be the year for converts. Jose Arredondo began his professional career as a shortstop in the Angels system, but couldn't hit (career AVG/OBP/SLG of .250/.281/.311). On July 21, 2004, in a game at Mesa against the A's Rookie-A team, Arredondo began the game at short but took the mound in the 9th. (He struck out one, threw a wild pitch, gave up a hit but no runs.) The Angels saw a mid-90s fastball and decided from that point on Jose was a pitcher. Arredondo posted stellar numbers this year at Rancho Cucamonga but was yanked from a game on May 16 because he "lost interest," according to Quakes Manager Bobby Mitchell as quoted in Baseball America. Arredondo's next start was skipped; when he returned on May 26, he struck out nine in eight innings, allowed only one hit and faced one over the minimum. Promoted in July to Double-A, a level where you'll see a former major leaguer once in a while, it was a different story as hitters are more patient and selective. As the good pitching coaches preach, velocity isn't as important as location and movement, so it's clear Arredondo has more growing to do. The velocity makes him attractive, but effective secondary pitches along with mental maturation will be necessary before Arredondo moves up to Triple-A. Look for Jose to return to Arkansas, although a poor spring could find him back in Rancho Cucamonga.
7. Hyun Choi "Hank" Conger C
Bats: Both Throws: Right 6'0" 205 lbs. DOB: 1/29/1988
Tempe (Rookie-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .319/.382/.522 (76 TPA)
An Orange County native, Hyun Choi Conger goes by "Hank" although he's of Korean descent. Selected by the Angels in the first round of the June 2006 draft, he received numerous awards during his high school career, including the 2006 Gatorade California Player of the Year. Going into the draft, Baseball America ranked him the #1 high school power hitter prospect in the nation. Conger reported to the Rookie-A Arizona League and managed to appear in 19 games before breaking the hamate bone in his right wrist. It's not an uncommon injury for hitters but can sometimes take up to a year for hand strength to return, so Conger's 2007 season may be considered disappointing by some. BA ranked him the #1 prospect in the AZ League despite the brevity of his season. A switch-hitter, he hit .370 right-handed (46 AB) but only .217 left-handed (23 AB), although not much credence should be given to such limited stats in a rookie league. BA analyst Jim Callis wrote that Conger's defense is adequate enough for him to remain behind the plate for now, although there's some speculation he might wind up eventually at first base. If his hand is healthy, he could start 2007 as the starting catcher for Low-A Cedar Rapids.
6. Hainley Statia SS
Bats: Both Throws: Right 5'10" 160 lbs. DOB: 1/19/1986
Cedar Rapids (Low-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .297/.379/.384 (480 TPA)
Rancho Cucamonga (High-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .300/.386/.367 (70 TPA)
A native of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, Hainley Statia impresses for no other reason than he's fluent in four languages — English, Dutch, Spanish and Papiamentu (his native tongue). He was playing for the Curacao national team when someone from a Christian academy in Florida arranged for him to attend school there. So far Statia has played mostly shortstop although he saw action at second base with Rancho Cucamonga in 2005. His defensive skills are superb enough to project him as a future big leaguer, at least as a utility infielder. The question is whether he'll develop any power. His 31 doubles with Cedar Rapids suggest he'll manifest some power as he matures physically. The Angels value contact hitters as part of their offense philosophy; Statia fits in nicely as his career K:BB ratio is 114:88 in 970 TPA. He stole 24 bases in 2006 (23 at Cedar Rapids) but he probably won't evolve into a top-notch base stealer. A career similar to Orlando Cabrera might be a good analogy, although Cabrera bats right-handed while Statia is a switch-hitter. Hainley should be the regular shortstop in 2007 for High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
5. Erick Aybar SS
Bats: Both Throws: Right 5'11" 160 lbs. DOB: 1/14/1984
Salt Lake (Triple-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .283/.327/.413 (368 TPA)
Los Angeles (AL) AVG/OBP/SLG: .250/.250/.325 (40 TPA)
Injuries at the parent club level forced Erick Aybar's promotion to the majors a bit sooner than it should have been. But when Maicer Izturis became a regular, Aybar was promoted into a utility role which kept him from developing full-time at Triple-A. Nonetheless, the major league exposure can only be a plus, something to build on at Triple-A Salt Lake in 2007 — assuming Aybar is still Angels property. Aybar is a name frequently mentioned in possible trade talks, with Brandon Wood ready for Triple-A as well. The Angels asked Aybar to play some center field over the winter — a move I've advocated for a couple years — but with the recent signing of Gary Matthews, Jr. it's unlikely Erick will be the Angels' CF for the foreseeable future. As I've written in the past, Aybar has all the tools but can be extremely reckless in his play. He makes exuberant mistakes on the bases and in the field. His plate discipline is typical for many Dominicans, which is to say non-existent. Still, he rarely strikes out (once every 10.2 plate appearances at Salt Lake in 2006) and should produce more power in his second tour with the Bees — if he's still an Angel come April.
4. Sean Rodriguez SS
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'0" 180 lbs. DOB: 4/26/1985
Rancho Cucamonga (High-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .301/.377/.545 (523 TPA)
Arkansas (Double-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .354/.462/.662 (79 TPA)
Salt Lake (Triple-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .000/.000/.000 (2 TPA)
Maybe there's something in the water at The Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga. For the third season in a row, a player suddenly blossomed into an impact hitter. In 2004, it was Mike Napoli who hit 29 HR to set the Quakes' single-season mark. That lasted all of one year, as Brandon Wood hit 43 dingers to set an Angels minor league single-season record. Then in 2006, Sean Rodriguez went from a .793 OPS at Low-A Cedar Rapids to a .922 OPS with the Quakes and a 1.124 OPS with the Travelers. His father is Johnny Rodriguez, a hitting coach in the Marlins system, so he came into the game with professional knowledge. Sean had 144 strikeouts in 604 plate appearances this year, or about once every 4.2 times he went to the plate, while drawing 58 walks. That combination suggests he'll have problems with pitch judgment when exposed to more experienced pitchers at Triple-A and above. Defensively, he committed 35 errors this year, but minor league infields are nowhere close to major-league standards so don't rely much on minor league fielding statistics. There's been some sentiment over the years that his plus arm will wind up in the outfield or even behind the plate; the consensus seems to be he'll evolve into a utility player but could be more if the power continues to emerge. Look for him to open 2007 back in Double-A.
3. Jeff Mathis C
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'0" 180 lbs. DOB: 3/31/83
Salt Lake (Triple-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .289/.333/.430 (417 TPA)
Los Angeles (AL) AVG/OBP/SLG: .145/.238/.291 (63 TPA)
Well, that could have gone better … The Angels let go Bengie Molina to free agency last winter, confident that Jeff Mathis and Bengie's brother Jose Molina could handle the catching duties. Jeff succumbed to the pressure, and found himself back in Triple-A by early May. Mathis went through a similar bout in late 2004, carrying the burdens of the world on his shoulders for Double-A Arkansas, and went into a spiral. Recalled in September, he made various token appearances and was only 1-for-11 in the month, although his defense was better. Mathis remains one of the better catching prospects in the minor leagues, and it should be remembered that he was only 23 this year. As I've pointed out before, compare Jeff to Boston Red Sox star catcher Jason Varitek — at the age Mathis debuted in the majors, Varitek was still in college. Varitek didn't play regularly in the majors until he was 26. The Angels named Mathis their minor league defensive player of the year, a gesture of confidence in him. Still, Jeff needs to pick it up offensively; he batted .323 at hitter-friendly Salt Lake but only .255 on the road. Barring a trade, Mathis and Napoli should battle it out in spring training for the #2 job behind Jose Molina, with the loser returning to Triple-A.
2. Nick Adenhart RHP
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'4" 190 lbs. DOB: 8/24/86)
Cedar Rapids (Low-A): 10-2 1.95 ERA, 99:26 K:BB, AVG/OBP/SLG: .215/.268/.284 (106.0 IP) Rancho Cucamonga (High-A): 5-2 3.78 ERA, 46:16 K:BB, AVG/OBP/SLG: .258/.321/.313 (52.1 IP)
In his first full season since recovering from "Tommy John" surgery, Nick Adenhart showed why Baseball America considered him the top high school pitching prospect in the nation in 2004 before damaging his elbow. Adenhart went from 1st-round potential to the junkpile, but Angels' scouting director Eddie Bane took him in the 14th round of the June 2004 draft, offered him 50% of a first-round bonus, supervision of his surgery, and rehab at the Angels' minor league complex in Mesa, Arizona. Bane's gamble paid off, and now Adenhart is on a fast-track that saw him both at the Futures Game in July and pitching for Team USA's Olympic qualifying team during the late summer. Aaron Fitt of Baseball America ranked Adenhart the #4 prospect in the California League this year. Fitt wrote: "Adenhart stands out most for his outstanding command of three plus pitches: a 90-95 mph, a tight downer curveball that can be inconsistent at times and a plus-plus changeup with good fade and deception. He spots his fastball wherever he wants, isn't afraid to work inside and does a good job keeping the ball down." Nick's numbers slid a bit after his promotion to Rancho Cucamonga, but let's not forget he was a 20-year old pitching his first full professional season after an extended layoff due to surgery. Adenhart should begin 2007 at Double-A Arkansas, although his name is often mentioned in trade rumors; it may take his arm to get the supposed "big bat" the Angels are stalking.
1. Brandon Wood SS
Bats: Right Throws: Right 6'3" 185 lbs. DOB: 3/2/1985
Arkansas (Double-A) AVG/OBP/SLG: .276/.355/.552 (522 TPA)
You have to wonder about people like Orange County Register scribe Steve Bisheff, who wrote on November 23 that Brandon Wood had a "somewhat disappointing season." A 21-year old with a .907 OPS at Double-A is "disappointing"?! There are kids in Rookie-A ball who are older. Anyway, it wasn't the monster season he posted in 2005 when he hit 43 homers for High-A Rancho Cucamonga, but it was still one of the better years for anyone in the Texas League — 5th in homers (25), 2nd in doubles (42), 3rd in slugging percentage (.552), and 1st in extra-base hits (71). And that's before missing the last three weeks of the Travs' season playing for Team USA in the Olympic qualifier. BA analyst Will Lingo ranked Wood the #2 prospect in the league this year, after the Royals' Alex Gordon who's thirteen months older. Brandon's strikeouts went way up, from once every 4.6 plate appearances at Rancho in 2005 to 3.5 with Arkansas. Lingo wrote, "Teams attacked him by staying in on his hands and giving him a steady diet of breaking balls early, but by the end of the year it was harder to get him out that way." Although some have believed that Wood's stature would eventually force him to third base, a number of anecdotal reports suggest he'll remain at shortstop for now, still drawing comparisons to Cal Ripken, Jr. "Wood also made strides on defense, showing improved range and good hands and footwork," Lingo wrote. Brandon should open 2007 as the shortstop for Triple-A Salt Lake, and see Anaheim before season's end. His numbers should hold up at high-altitude Franklin Covey Field, but both his strikeouts and walks should be watched closely as he faces more experienced pitching, some of whom are former major leaguers. Brandon is the #1 target on the radar for teams seeking a trade with the Angels, but GM Bill Stoneman tenaciously holds on to his top prospects. If he sticks around, he's the eventual successor to Orlando Cabrera, although if the Angels don't find a third base solution via trade or Dallas McPherson it's possible Wood could still slide over to the hot corner. The Angels (and fans) need to be patient, and allow Wood to see a lot of Triple-A pitching before making him a major-league regular.
AB — At-Bats
AVG — Batting Average
BB — Walks
ERA — Earned Run Average
IP — Innings Pitched
K — Strikeouts
K:BB Ratio — Strikeouts to Walks
AVG — Opponents' Batting Average
OBP — On-Base Percentage
RISP — Runners in Scoring Position
SLG — Slugging Percentage
TPA — Total Plate Appearances


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Clearwater Marine Aquarium
249 Windward Passage
Clearwater, FL 33767
Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a Florida non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to restoring and preserving our marine life and environment through leadership in education, research and the rescue, rehabilitation and release of marine life.
Visit http://www.SeeWinter.com to see speaker series lectures planned for the entire year. CMA is home to dolphins, sea turtles, river otters, stingrays, nurse sharks and more. Winter the dolphin's story of survival and inspiration has touched millions of people around the world. A movie, Dolphin Tale, about her life story was a #1 box office hit in theaters, and is now available in DVD. Produced by Warner Bros.-based Alcon Entertainment, Dolphin Tale stars Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick, Jr., and Ashley Judd.
Her documentary, Winter: The Dolphin that Could, is available at http://www.SeeWinter.com. The documentary takes viewers on an extraordinary journey through her rescue, fight to stay alive and extensive rehabilitation. Scholastic published Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again in October 2009.

subset: commoncrawl


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These pictures are some of the shelves in the cupboard in our dining room.
This is our dining room. I love how big it is and yes, my husband and I usually eat at this giant table. Yes, it is just the two of us most of the time. I still love it.
Pumpkin pillows on the couch. My girls and I all made the goofy ones on the right one year.
This is the centerpiece on my dining table. You can see the glass negatives hanging from the chandelier in the top of the picture. Again I stuck with the photography theme and used old pictures, feathers, old keys, and glass cloches. I made the pictures holders by sticking wire I formed through wasp nests I glass glittered. I think they are pretty cool. I think you can click twice on the picture and see them better. This is definitely not your typical Halloween decor but who wants to be predictable?
I hope you had a great Halloween. Mine was filled with memories as I dressed up and made witches' brew in Logan's Halloween class, took grandkids to a neighborhood Halloween party for games, ate mummys (like pigs in a blanket) and tater tots for dinner with the family, and went Trick or Treating with 6 of the 9 grand children. It was an almost perfect day. We needed the Stringhams and Eli and Brenna for it to be perfect.


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Fayette might be better served by purchasing its own water leak detector rather than pay a company to do the work.
Maintenance supervisor/interim administrator Tom Clemensen suggested that council consider buying its own leak detector as an alternative to hiring Aqua-Line to track down water line leaks.
At the committee of the whole meeting Feb. 8, councilor Rodney Kessler explained the issue in Clemensen's absence, stating that any visit from Aqua-Line costs a minimum of $518. The village could buy its own unit for $1,274 and possibly reimburse some of the cost by contracting its use to other communities.
The recent leak on Main Street produced no water on the surface and instead leaked directly into a sewer line. Clemensen suspects that another large leak exists.
The device operates by "listening" for the sound of water flowing.
Other items in Clemensen's report included his efforts to create an updated standard operating procedure for the wastewater system; purchasing safety equipment for the village crew; and an update on a street collapse issue at Main and Lawrence that might become a recurring problem.
Clemensen also mentioned a problem at the sewage lift station near the south end of the trailer park. Pumps are not operating at their full capacity. However, he said, it's not an issue that would lead to an overflow.
Clemensen explored the possibility of using calcium chloride additive to road salt, but learned it's not cost effective for the limited amount that Fayette would use. As of Feb. 8, snow removal and salt application was needed only two times this season.
A new box for the one-ton dump truck was ordered and the Public Works committee will review a bid for a new chipper that would cost $18,250 plus $2,000 freight from California.
Clemensen gave an update Feb. 20 at the Public Works committee meeting. He's recommending a box from Dan's Truck Repair of Perrysburg at a cost of $4,995 which is $5 under budget. Most other units cost at least $7,000, he said. Dan's will install the new box if the old one is first removed.
Clemensen said the brush chipper is a 2004 model that was used by a municipality. The four-cylinder engine enables the unit to handle limbs up to nine inches in circumference—the maximum allowed for placement at the curb by village ordinance.
Clemensen said it's the best deal he's found for the low number of hours used. In addition, the unit has a well-known American motor that will be good for servicing needs.
GEOTHERMAL—TRW is seeking a zoning variance to install 10 wells for a geothermal heating system. The wells would be located on the north side of the building and would not be visible once they are installed.
AFFAIRS BOARD—Marlatt told council members she has information for them to read about the operation of a board of public affairs. She suggested that council consider forming a board instead of hiring an administrator.
She made the suggestion because of the village's financial situation.


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Business > Employee Benefits
Web Content Viewer (JSR 286)Actions
- ${title}
- + Small Business
- + Large Business
- + Member Maintenance
- Employee Benefits
- + Newsletters
Rich TextActions
- ${title}
Employee Health Benefits
Integrated HSA and HRA Services
The integrated financial account services administered by HealthEquity, give employees simplified account management and ease of use to simplify and better manage their health care dollars.
HealthEquity is the administrator of the integrated HSA and HRA and is independent from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.
Vision Plans through VSP
Vision Service Plan (VSP) provides full-service plans that cover vision exams, contact lenses and eyewear. VSP delivers discounts on lens options so members will typically experience lower out-of-pocket expenses. Vision plans are flexible and can be customized to fit the needs of the employer.
VSP is the administrator of the vision plan and is independent from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont.


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Macon County HS (MCHS) Class of 2013 Alumni List
Help us Update the Macon County HS 2013 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
Registered Alumni
2013 Class List
Know Macon County HS Class of 2013 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 2013 Class List by adding missing names.
Reunions and Macon County High School News
More 2013 alumni from Macon County HS Montezuma, GA have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 2013 alumni.
Missing some friends from Macon County High that graduated with you in 2013? Check the list below that shows the Macon County Montezuma, GA class of '13.
If you are a Macon County alumn, we encourage you to register and be sure to sign up for the alumni newsletter.


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The 'Pizza Upskirt': Toward a New Pizzalogical Lexicon
Internally at Slice and on my Flickr photostream, this site has used the term pizza upskirt to denote the type of photograph you see here, but we have never called explicit attention to this terminologyuntil now.
Slice first realized the value of shooting pizza undersides while perusing this post on eGullet, which compared the chars on the bottom of slices from Di Fara, Grimaldi's, and Patsy's. Believe it or not, until then, we had never thought of offering our readers photographic evidence of crust char.
We liked the eGulleteers' idea but weren't that keen on the way the slices were presented, hanging tip down, perpendicular to the table or being lifted timidly with the serving spatula. Borrowing the eGullet idea but improving upon it by holding the slice tip up in the frame, we felt we were able to convey the same visual information while capturing the majestic nature of pizza as a cuisine. A slice, after all, should not hang tip down like the head of a chastised dog slinking away from its angry master; it should point proudly to the heavens, toward the culinary heights it seeks to attain.
Our first true pizza upskirt debuted on February 13, 2005, but it was not until August 2005 that our buddy Kathryn Yu commented on this photo on Flickr, "Can't help feeling like this is the equivalent of an 'upskirt' photograph, but for pizza."
From that point on, we have applied Kathryn's genius term to these shots, and now our photostream is full of them (64 to date). A handful of other pizza-loving Flickr members have warmed to the phrase as well.
The reason I'm highlighting this neologism is that on Friday Slice got Kottked and then Boing Boinged in regard to the term, with Boing Boing adding it to its handful of jargon watch words.
Slice certainly hopes that pizza upskirt catches on, though, honestly, we don't know how far its reach will be, given the very limited number of people who actually care what the underside of a piece of pizza looks like. Still, we encourage you, dear readers, to employ it as much as you can.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Work Study and Volunteer positions in the Innis Office of Student Life are now available for the 2016-2017 school year!
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I am manually building httpd-2.2.17 from the source. Just to make sure I have the configuration options right, I checked the latest CENTOS apache srpm (which is for httpd-2.2.3). In the httpd.spec I find this line:
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|North Reading, Mass.
|High School:
|North Reading
Selected in the third round of the NHL draft, with the 66th overall pick, by the Nashville Predators
Freshman (2012-13) Stats
Named Ivy League Rookie of the Year ... Selected to ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team ... Scored a pair of goals and handed out an assist, finishing +2 in collegiate debut against Bentley Oct. 27 ... Named ECAC Rookie of the Week (Oct. 30) ... Posted an assist against Brown Nov. 2 ... Netted a goal against Union Nov. 9 and had a pair of unassisted tallies a night later against RPI ... Picked up second ECAC Rookie of the Week honor Nov. 13 ... Had an assist in 4-1 win over No. 10 Cornell Nov. 16 ... Named Hogan Hockey/ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Month for November ... Notched a goal at No. 12 Dartmouth Jan. 12 ... Had an assist Jan. 19 at Brown ... Netted a goal Jan. 22 at No. 19 Union and also scored against Clarkson Jan. 25 ... Posted third two-goal game of his career with a pair of tallies against St. Lawrence Jan. 26 ... Earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors Jan. 29 ... Named Walter Brown Award semifinalist ... Scored against St. Lawrence Feb. 22 and then dished out a pair of assists in 6-2 win over Clarkson a night later ... Assisted on Alex Fallstrom's game-winning goal in overtime in 2-1 upset of No. 1 Quinnipiac March 1.
Before Harvard
Played for the EJHL's South Shore Kings in 2011-12 and was named league Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year … Set EJHL single-season record for points and goals during 2011-12 season … Also attended Belmont Hill School and was named Independent Schools League honorable mention in 2010 and 2011.
A high honors student in high school … Member of the Chinese National Honor Society … Peer Tutoring Award recipient in 2011 … Enjoys roller hockey, wiffleball and basketball … Father, Jim, played college hockey at Merrimack and went onto play for the NHL's St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins.


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Archival Photos Capture Kennedy's Stop at Rentschler Field
The final day of the 1960 presidential campaign included a whirlwind tour of four New England states for John F. Kennedy, with speaking engagements in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The senator's itinerary also included a brief stop at Rentschler Field.
Kennedy made at least seven speeches in the closing hours of the campaign on Nov. 7, with appearances at City Hall in Providence, R.I., City Hall in Springfield, Mass., on the steps of the Hartford Times building in Hartford, Conn., at Victory Park and on television in Manchester, N.H., and at the Boston Garden and at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Mass. His speeches in Providence, Springfield, Hartford and Manchester urged voters to visit the polls on Nov. 8.
"I ask your help tomorrow, not merely as the candidate of my party," Kennedy said in Hartford. "I ask your help in a race tomorrow between the comfortable and the concerned, between those who are satisfied and those who want to move ahead."
Click here to read the full text of Kennedy's remarks in Hartford.
While in Connecticut, Kennedy also passed through Pratt & Whitney's Rentschler Field in East Hartford. Archival photos show Kennedy arriving at Rentschler Field in a Ford convertible adorned with "Kennedy for President" bumper stickers and crossing the runway toward a waiting U.S. Army helicopter. A final photo shows Kennedy waving to the assembled crowd.


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Magical Pantsu: ". . . . . ."
We've learned our lesson -- making demos while the game is far from completion is just plain disastrous. Every time we make one, a teammate is likely urged to redo a major part of the game. This happened thrice already and yeah... NEVER AGAIN!
I'd argue that such feedback is important in order to make the game good


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text: Get the most from your college visit by making it all about you. Prospective students can schedule a one-on-one visit with the chance to personally experience life at Husson University. You will have the opportunity to meet with an admissions counselor, talk with financial aid, tour campus with a current student and have lunch in the Dickerman Dining Center. Appointments can be scheduled from 9:00am-3:00pm and are available Monday-Friday (will vary around holidays and campus events). Take the first steps in discovering your future at Husson University by calling the Admissions Office at 207-941-7100 or by emailing email@example.com


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LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said on Monday it could take months to finalize his plans to enter the wireless industry because of regulatory and technology complications, but his company has no intention of selling spectrum it spent billions acquiring.
The cable service provider received regulatory approval to use its spectrum for wireless services in December. But Dish has still not made clear whether it will build a wireless network on its own, or offer a service in partnership with other companies.
"We have multiple options," Ergen told Reuters after a press conference on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show.
While he would not say whether Dish would prefer to build its own network or enter a partnership, the executive was adamant he does not want to sell the spectrum - something some analysts had speculated might bring in a handsome profit for Dish.
"We don't want to sell the spectrum," he said. "We'd prefer to be in the wireless broadband business and make a difference to consumers."
Ergen said in November that he hoped to be able to announce his wireless plans about a month after the Federal Communications Commission ruled on the spectrum.
But the decision process was complicated by technology restrictions included in the FCC's ruling, and because of merger deals announced separately by potential partners, Sprint Nextel Corp and T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG.
Sprint is seeking approval to sell 70 percent of its shares to Japan's Softbank Corp. T-Mobile USA is looking for approval for a merger with smaller wireless rival MetroPCS Communications Inc.
"Their regulatory issues aren't settled as well," Ergen said of Sprint.
On the technology side, Ergen said Dish still has to work out details with the main global wireless standards-setting organizations before it can start to build its network.
"It's months, but hopefully its not years," Ergen said.
In the meantime, the company will work with its vendors on designing its network, he said.
Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Gary Hill and Chris Gallagher


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PELLA, Iowa - Taylor Nelson threw for 199 yards, ran for 86 and the Simpson football team held off Central 21-18 on Saturday afternoon.
Entering the day averaging just over 60 yards per game on the ground, the Storm (4-1, 2-0 Iowa Conference) established a surprising ground attack, out-gaining Central 152-145.
The win marked Simpson's first over Central in four years, the last coming in Jim Glogowski's inaugural season as head coach in 2008.
"These are our rivalry games, its our Iowa-Iowa State," an elated Glogowski said after the game. "I'm so proud of the kids for showing up ready to play today."
Nelson was a key part of the game plan, carrying 16 times on designed keepers and scrambles. For the second time this season the junior avoided being sacked.
"He's a big part of our running game," Glogowski said. "When you spread teams out and there's no threat that the quarterback will run it, that allows them to key on the single running back. Today, we tried to get him more involved in the running game and he did a great job."
Nelson completed 17 of 28 passes, rushed for a touchdown and threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Rogers that gave Simpson a 21-7 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Dutch (2-3, 1-1) responded with a Kevin Sheldon field goal and pulled within 21-16 when Aaron Eiseler connected with Ben Lechtenberg on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 4:19 left in the fourth quarter. A successful two-point conversion attempt brought Central within a field goal.
The Simpson offense made sure Central wouldn't get the ball back, converting twice on third down in the final drive to run out the clock.
"It helped we were able to run the ball; we kept them off balance all day," Nelson said.
Simpson drove inside the 10-yard line twice in the second quarter and were turned away each time. Nelson threw an interception to Eric Larson on the first trip and the Central defense held four times from the 1 on the next Simpson possession.
Mike Munson swung the momentum in Simpson's favor on the next play, forcing and recovering a Ross Doehrmann fumble to give the offense the ball back at the 8.
Nelson made good on the third opportunity, plunging in form a yard out to give Simpson a 7-0 lead with 1:35 left in the half.
Simpson took the opening kickoff of the second half and went 64 yards in 10 plays, extending the lead to 14-0 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Ethan Calvert.
Quarterback Brandon Boerm put Central on the board on the ensuing possession with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Josh Osborn led Central with 86 yards rushing.
The rushing effort is Simpson's best against a conference opponent since running for 205 yards against Cornell on Oct. 8 of last year.
Ben Borland led the defensive effort with nine tackles. Scott Vierow and Kevin Hughes each had a sack.
Simpson returns home next weekend when it faces Loras at Buxton Stadium. The Duhawks (2-3, 1-1) lost to Coe 69-7 on Saturday.


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Check out Alien Workshop Skateboard Decks in Skatehut's Outdoor Toys Category. These Alien Workshop Yaje Popson Cat Rider Skateboard Deck come in most of UK sizes. Get them here or directly at Skatehut
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Your skateboard deck plays a big role in the amount of pop you get off an ollie, the way the road feels under your feet, not to mention how long your set-up will last. Take a peek into what types of features, sizes, and construction techniques you should consider when buying or building one of your own.
The width of most skate decks falls between 7.5" and 8.75". To choose the best size for you, consider your stature and the type of skating you do most. If you are into vert riding – going off ramps or shredding the pool – wider boards perform better. The same is true for larger skaters, who need more room for their feet and a larger surface area to counteract their higher center of gravity. Narrower boards make tricks such as kickflips much easier, so if you are into riding street, opt for a smaller board width.
The length of a skate deck is measured from the nose to the tail and tends to fall between 28″ and 32″. (Of course, there are also longboards, which can be much longer than the typical small skate.) The shorter the board, the more narrow it will likely be. Conversely, longer boards tend to be wider. Therefore, the suggestions from above come back into play: smaller boards work better for technical street tricks, while bigger boards are more appropriate for vert riders. If you just enjoy cruising around, you might consider getting a longboard or a longer, wide board to improve your stability and balance.
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The nose is the front end of your deck and tends to be thicker and a bit longer than the tail.
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About Skatehut
SkateHut was formed in 2007 by Mark Johansen-Berg following a family holiday to Florida with his wife and three sons. When his eldest son spotted a pair of Heelys in one of the theme parks he just had to have a pair but when they arrived back in the UK, Heelys were nowhere to be seen. They decided to do something about it…
We've grown a lot since then, and our product range has grown too. We now stock and sell skateboards, scooters, skates and so much more. With 20000 product line and counting, SkateHut shows no signs of stopping. With all of these products in stock we needed space to hold them all, which we now have with our three warehouses and three stores – one in Halesowen, one in Coventry and another in Adrenaline Alley, Corby


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Support grows for more preschool education
Business groups throughout the state get on board.
The initiative calls for more funding for the Great Start Readiness Program, which provides state aid to public school districts and charter schools for pre-K programs.
Through Great Start Readiness, intermediate school districts receive grants to provide preschool education for 4-year-old children from low-income families.
Making early childhood education more of a priority is absolutely crucial, according to Michael Flanagan, the state superintendent of public instruction.
"This is the most important thing we're working on right now, planning this budget extension for 4-year-olds," Flanagan said. "We need to get kids on the right track as early as possible. If we do that, fewer will fall behind later."
Flanagan also emphasized that being able to read at grade level is especially important, and preschool education can help.
"We have this marker at the third grade," Flanagan said. "If a child is reading at grade level in the third grade, we've found that child is much more likely to continue to stay on track. And preschool education is a big part of that."
Martin Ackley, the director of communications for the department, said that the budget proposal is an ongoing process.
According to Ackley, Michigan's Great Start Readiness Program is funded to serve 30,668 children this school year, at a cost to the state of $103,375,000. The number served is only 68 percent of the 45,000 four-year-olds in the state living in homes under 200 percent of the federal poverty line.
"There has been a lot of debate that we need the government to allocate more money to Great Start Readiness this January," Ackley said. "We need more funding to reach all kids and to provide more services.
"Whether it gets in Gov. Snyder's budget is another matter," he said. "Either way, we need to invest more in our kids up front."
The additional $130 million would pay for more open slots in the program, and children would be taken off the waiting list based on financial need, Ackley said.
"The $130 million has the potential to serve roughly an additional 30,000 children in half-day programs," said Jan Ellis, spokesperson for the Office of Public and Governmental Affairs. "It also could fund additional program supports for struggling children and allow thousands of children to attend a full-day program."
This proposal hasn't reached legislators yet, but according to Eric Dean, chief of staff for Sen. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City, there is an opening for discussion.
Walker is the chair of the K-12 School Aid and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, which hasn't explored the proposal yet, Dean said.
"We haven't been approached by anyone to add aid in the pre-K school budget so far," Dean said. "But we'd be interested to hear more about it. We're very supportive of the Great Start Readiness Program, and Sen. Walker has continually suggested more funding for the program in the past."
Susan Broman, head of the department's Office of Great Start, said there is a good return on the investment in early childhood education.
"Research shows that the first 1,000 days of a child's life are the most important for development," Broman said. "We need to redesign our education system based on research."
A study by Early Childhood Investment Corp., a nonprofit advocacy organization in Lansing, found Michigan saved $1.1 billion in 2009 alone as a result of investments in school readiness programs over the previous 25 years.
Business groups are also rallying behind the cause.
More than 110 businesses have signed on to a policy platform called the Michigan Early Childhood Business Plan. Developed by the Children's Leadership Council of Michigan, the plan calls for preschool services for qualified 4-year-olds who are not enrolled in school.
Supporters include representatives from Business Leaders For Michigan; the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce; Small Business Association of Michigan; and regional chambers of commerce in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Traverse City.
Doug Luciani, president of the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce, said it's the state's responsibility to offer publicly funded preschool to assure healthy educational growth.
"Our ultimate goal in this plan is to encourage the state to commit to ensuring all Michigan children arrive at school ready to succeed," Luciani said.


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Monday, June 07, 2010
Ordinary care and "expensive" lives
Some people attempt to use this loophole to justify the murder (yep, I call it that) of helpless people like Terri Schiavo by depriving them of mere nutrition and hydration. The claim is that it is "excessively expensive" to "keep alive" someone like Terri.
My own strong preference would be for understanding ordinary and extraordinary care in biological terms, in terms of whether the body is actively dying, in terms of what everyone needs, and so forth, rather than in terms of expense. But it may be expected that the ordinary/extraordinary distinction will track the "very expensive/not-so-expensive" distinction, on the assumption that extraordinary care involves expensive technology.
People--especially Catholics--who want to excuse depriving the Terris of the world of mere food and water via a perceived "expense" loophole in the Church's teaching need to be brought up short by the following consideration: It is not the "artificial" nature of the nutrition and hydration that are the chief cause of expense for such helpless people. It is the fact that they live, are helpless, and need ordinary care: things like diaper changing, being turned in the bed, bathing, etc. This sort of care is what is most expensive, especially if the people closest to the helpless adult are unable because of strength considerations or unwilling to do that work.
Thought experiment: Suppose that a helpless, severely disabled adult like Terri were magically made able to survive without food and water but still needed day-to-day bodily care. Would the "expense" of her life be drastically decreased? I say that it would not. It's not the cost of the insertion of the PEG tube nor the cans of adult "formula" that are the heaviest expense. It's the fact that the person is alive and needs to be cared for as a baby would.
But so what? Question: Do we consider it "medical care" to bathe, clothe, change, and otherwise care for a baby? Do we consider such normal forms of care to be "extraordinary" or "disproportionate"?
The care of helpless adults is deemed "medical" because their being helpless means that something is wrong with them and also, practically, because it is so much more work to take care of them and is best done (though not necessarily done) by those with special training and a good deal of physical strength.
Once we realize that it is paradigmatically ordinary care that is so expensive for these people--"expensive," at least, in terms of time and effort, even if able to be undertaken by loving family--that it is simply their existence as helpless people that is expensive, I think we will realize that it is the merest sophistry to talk as if it is their "artificial" feeding that is "extraordinary" or "excessively expensive" and focus on that as an excuse for getting rid of them. One irony here is that tube feeding actually decreases the difficulty (and hence, the expense) of caring for a helpless person. It enables that person to get the necessary nutrition and hydration fairly easily, where spoon feeding would be much less efficient, enormously more time-consuming, probably would not provide adequate nutrition to an adult, and takes more skill to do safely.
The issue, then, is not that tube feeding is specially expensive, hence extraordinary, hence conveniently optional. The issue is that people who can't care for themselves need a lot of care.
But we knew that already. And if someone thinks that morally excuses dehydrating them to bring their expensive lives to a quicker end, he has a major problem.
(Warning to liberal trolls: I have a delete key, and I'm not afraid to use it.)
30 comments:
- Beth Impson said...
My father is one of the helpless people you describe . . . However, he can eat on his own, mostly (sometimes he has to be helped). My mother is 88 and small-boned and there is no one who can take care of him at home, so he is in a -- very expensive -- nursing home, where they have to care for him in every way, yes, just as though he were an infant, except for feeding him. The expense is precisely %0.00 less because he doesn't have a feeding tube; it would not add a penny to the charges (but would make the nurses' lives easier, as you say). I am so enraged by those who make these abstract arguments about expense and quality of life . . . and I think "that's my father you're describing and you have no right to say that MY FATHER is not worth the care he receives."
I know the cultural forces that have led us to this place where imperfect people (whether elderly as my father, or congenitally impaired as my preemie granddaughter, or injured as Terri) are seen as animals to be put down for the convenience of the rest of us -- and still it never ceases to horrify and enrage me that it's happened, and that even people who seem to be decent and God-fearing in so many other ways have bowed to this as though it is wisdom instead of directly from Hell.
- Lydia McGrew said...
You have a very good point, Beth. People in your father's position are a sort of obvious "test case" for the "expense" claim.
Keep him eating by mouth as long as you possibly can. The steps successively from the statement "This patient is on a feeding tube" to the statement "This patient is _unable_ to eat naturally" to the statement "This patient is being kept alive artificially by life support" are much smaller, sociologically, than one would like to think. I have some friends whose Down Syndrome son cannot get enough calories by mouth. So he has a J-tube and also eats by mouth. That's a good thing when it can be arranged, even when tube feeding is needed for the person to get enough nutrition.
- William Luse said...
"...the USCCB has implied that a means for preserving life may be 'disproportionate' if it imposes 'excessive expense.'"
If there are people who think that any expense on earth can override the prohibition against murder, I'd really rather they didn't call themselves Catholic.
- Lydia McGrew said...
Here is the quotation:
"While every person is obliged to use ordinary means to preserve his or her health, no person should be obliged to submit to a health care procedure that the person has judged, with a free and informed conscience, not to provide a reasonable hope of benefit without imposing excessive risks and burdens on the patient or excessive expense to family or community."
If you'll excuse my saying so, someone in the USCCB's office should have rethought that one before promulgating it. The potential for abuse of it is pretty obvious.
- Foxfier said...
Me, too, William.
I understand why USCCB wanted to dance around PVS for political reasons, but they didn't do very well. They REALLY should have emphasized that "you can not dehydrate someone to death" is a binding thing. Or even just emphasized the whole "no actions that cause a death" thing....
Maybe cut-and-paste this.
(please delete my post if this is far too much quoting, I don't want to spam up your page!)
The bishops also asked for clarification as to whether nutrition and hydration could be removed if physicians determined that the patient would never recover consciousness. The Congregation affirmed that the patient must receive "ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means" regardless of the prognosis of recovery of consciousness.
A Vatican commentary noted some possible exceptions.
"When stating that the administration of food and water is morally obligatory in principle, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does not exclude the possibility that, in very remote places or in situations of extreme poverty, the artificial provision of food and water may be physically impossible," it said.
"Nor is the possibility excluded that, due to emerging complications, a patient may be unable to assimilate food and liquids, so that their provision becomes altogether useless. Finally, the possibility is not absolutely excluded that, in some rare cases, artificial nourishment and hydration may be excessively burdensome for the patient or may cause significant physical discomfort, for example resulting from complications in the use of the means employed."
"These exceptional cases, however, take nothing away from the general ethical criterion, according to which the provision of water and food, even by artificial means, always represents a natural means for preserving life, and is not a therapeutic treatment. Its use should therefore be considered ordinary and proportionate, even when the "vegetative state" is prolonged," it added.
- Lydia McGrew said...
Yes, those Vatican clarifications are very useful. I'm always suspicious when I encounter someone who quotes the USCCB statement about "excessive expense" while _not mentioning_ the express Vatican clarifications on this very subject.
just happened on your blog and had to comment. I feel that money should be taken out of the discussion on the terminally in care or whatever you wish to call them.
The truth is that this extraordinary care, is extraordinary because in most cases it does nothing for the patient. Most such patients are merely a shadow of their former selves, a lifeless body stuck in agony because they are helpless. Imagine being stuck in a bed thinking, listening to your loved ones but being unable to talk or in any way communicate with them. That is HELL, not some imaginary place with fire and pitch forks.
The care is aimed at their loved ones. People like Alaiyo who cannot let go, and must insist to put their loved ones through hell, just so that they can feel better about themselves, just so that they do not have to face the reality, that it's time to grow up and move on.
I have had 2 relatives in this state. One of them I had no say in the situation and the care was given, leaving the family under strain for 12 years. Another I did, my own father and I told the doctors that the first chance they get, they are not to revive or extend his life needlessly. Because my father was the man that joked around, read books, cooked meals with us and a person we could talk with about anything, not a body stretched out on a bed with tubes going into it.
So here's the reality, someone falls into a veg state from which there is no chance of return, and we waste the time of good workers, by sending them to take care of said veg, instead of a patient who REALLY needs care. That's why the plug should be pulled. You all just need to grow up, stop reading the fairy tales, and enjoy the time with your living families, not living bodies.
Thankfully, there are people who don't believe in Hell and judgement, but still manage to hold that it is wrong to deliberately kill another innocent human being. I suppose some might shoot back that in PVS there is no person to kill, but frankly, I've yet to see the scoffing gradma-killers come up with a view of humanity that wasn't arbitrary, subjectivist to the point of absurdity, or reliant on unproven axioms that require as much faith as say, a believe in God.
Anonymous posted:
So here's the reality, someone falls into a veg state from which there is no chance of return, and we waste the time of good workers, by sending them to take care of said veg, instead of a patient who REALLY needs care. That's why the plug should be pulled. You all just need to grow up, stop reading the fairy tales, and enjoy the time with your living families, not living bodies.
The workers's times are not being wasted. Indeed, they are being given a chance to practice heroic charity.
What part of honor thy father and mother did you not understand? The concept of honor in the Mosaic Law is not quite what we think of in the modern West. The concept is more akin to what the New Testament means by the word, markarios, or blessing. One's father or mother is not blessed in the action of a child that goes against the law of God that says, "Thou shalt not kill."
More than that, by that logic, suppose a mother has a newborn, but the mother is in a wheelchair (broken spine due to a car accident that also killed the father) and cannot care for the infant without expensive help. By the logic of the anonymous poster, the child imposes an excessive financial burden on the mother and should be killed. One could argue that the mother could give up the baby for adoption to a family that can care for it. Well, if caring for a parent is too much for an individual, in a truly Christian society, there could be adopt-a-parent programs where either the community or a group of individuals or a rich person could take over the financial burden.
In a wealthy society, especially, the notion of excessive economic burden is unsupportable. Shame on the USCCB for being so short-sighted. Indeed, they should have called for greater involvement by the Christian community in these cases.
The Chicken
- Lydia McGrew said...
Let me also add, Anon, that insults against my readers of the sort, "So-and-so, who has a father who suffers dementia, cannot let go of her father because she doesn't want him killed" will not be tolerated. Also, as Wesley J. Smith likes to say, and as I proudly follow him in saying, we don't use the "v" word around here. It's unfortunate enough that the phrase "persistent vegetative state" has entered the legal literature, though it semi-delicately uses the adjective form of the "v" word. But I don't allow people to say, "take care of the veg" around here. One warning should be sufficient.
- 品華 said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- Beth Impson said...
Let me just add that not all people who need nursing home care, including feeding tubes, are not capable of responding. "Let go"??? Let go of a man with whom I had the loveliest conversations during my last, recent, visit? Yes, I had to strain very hard to understand his words often, and sometimes we had to resign ourselves to a hug instead of understanding, but his mind is just fine, thank you, and my mother and I treasure this time of being able to continue loving him and being loved by him; for me, it's giving back so much that he gave to me over all the years, by loving him and seeing that he is cared for with the dignity that he deserves as a human being. But even if he becomes like my father-in-law in not being able to respond to us, we will continue to make sure he receives the best care possible because he is a HUMAN BEING created in the image of God and who is not to be treated like a dog instead. Let go, indeed.
- Lydia McGrew said...
The chief value of comments like Anon's is the way they bring the mask off. Alaiyo has made it clear that her father is eating on his own. So this removes the sophistical excuse that a person is "on life support" and that one is merely "letting" the person die by removing some "tube" (and people have phobias about "tubes"). He's not imminently dying; he requires only daily care. Yet Anon comes on, reads the comment, and starts blathering about "letting go." _What could that even mean_ in such a context? When active killing is legal everywhere in the U.S. as it is in various parts of the European continent, what that euphemism will mean will be, "Get together with the family and plan to ask the doctor to give the elderly person a lethal injection without consent."
The pretense that this is all about "not forcing people to receive unwanted, extraordinary treatment" is becoming increasingly hard to maintain. Yet there are still people (as you have seen with some of my commentators at W4) who will maintain that pretense.
- Foxfier said...
I think it may boil down to guilt.
Think about it-- if you "pulled the plug" on a relative, wouldn't you be rather touchy on the subject, and violently lash out at anything that comes even CLOSE to making you feel guilty? (See also, abortion.)
- William Luse said...
"If you'll excuse my saying so, someone in the USCCB's office should have rethought that one before promulgating it. The potential for abuse of it is pretty obvious."
Yes it is, and I complained about it in my first post on Terri. Many years ago.
- Robert said...
Thank you for your blog.
First of all my sincere apologies to Alaiyo, I had only skimmed through his comment and didn't realise that his father's case and condition had NOTHING to do with that of someone like Terri.
Which brings me to my point, the original post was discussing people that are in Terri's situation (I have to refer to them as such since you took away my noun) and not old people who are put in a nursing home because they can no longer take care of themselves or need a lot of care.
And trust me, I was NOT referring to the latter in my post.
As for your replies:
The Chicken - I stated in my post, remove the question of money from this discussion, it should NEVER be about money. Killing someone over money is what the mob and rednecks do. Bad Chicken. As for honouring thy parents, I do honour them, by not letting them waste away wishing they were dead. For trust me, my family's greatest shared fear is that of being trapped in our mind without a way to communicate. Your baby comparison is like comparing a potato to a tomato so I won't even bother with that.
Alaiyo - once again I'm sorry because I didn't read your comment thoroughly. Luckily your father isn't even close to the state in which Terri Schiavo was, and I'm glad you can still communicate with him.
Lydia McGrew - Your comment is based on the misunderstanding so there's not much I can say about that. I hope you understand that I never meant lets get rid of anyone that needs help, only the undeniable fact that the treatment that was being given to Terry Schiavo was of no benefit to her. If you consider that case, her brain had degenerated immensely so much so that a large area of her brain had turned to liquid. That means, that she was no longer operational, the only reason that she was still breathing and the basic bodily functions where still on, was because the area of the brain that was effected didn't include the area which took care of these functions.
So my question is this : Who was benefiting from that treatment? Because it wasn't Terri Schiavo, a body does not constitute a person. What good was coming from those man hours spent taking care of her body, and others like her? Wouldn't they have been better off helping the new mother who's in a wheel chair for life?
- Beth Impson said...
If my father wee in the same condition as Terri, my attitude would be precisely the same. In fact, except for being able at this time to feed himself most of the time and to still communicate, albeit with difficulty, with us, he IS in the same condition IN TERMS OF the expense of caring for him: it is no less expensive to care for his failed body because he can still talk to us.
Terri's care was not taking care away from anyone else's, nor is my father's.
All HUMAN BEINGS, who are created in the image of God, deserve the dignity of whatever care is needed until He takes them through natural death. They are not animals to be put down because their existence is inconvenient to us. Terri deserved the care she received and would have received had she been allowed to live; no woman in a wheelchair with a newborn would have been denied care because she was receiving it.
I cannot continue this discussion in Christian charity, but I hope that I have made myself absolutely clear.
- Foxfier said...
. Killing someone over money is what the mob and rednecks do.
...I think that tells you about how noble this guy is; yay, supporting the socially acceptable bigotries. Killing the disabled and hating lower-class whites. Wanna throw in a gratuitous slam against Christians while you're at it?
It is most assuredly "disputable" about how much having food and water was helping Terri, since removing them killed her.
You also apparently didn't hear about this story.
So nice to see that the utilitarian outlook is alive and kicking, with its favorite crutch: the false dilemma.
- Foxfier said...
The discussion in this post was supposed to be about extraordinary cost as a reason to end care. I have shown several ways to ameliorate that difficulty. This is not supposed to be an issue in the West. The USCCB, it seems to me, overextended an idea that was originally put forth to deal with situations of extreme poverty (and if we are our brother's keeper, such situations should call forth charity from the community).
The so-called quality of life arguments presuppose a view of life that allows man to assign a merely human view of what life is. I say, if you made it, you can take it. When a doctor can create life ex nihilo, then he gets the right to take it.
A man lying in a bed, unable to speak, can still be a powerful witness to the dignity of the human soul. Those people who regard the body as just a shell for the soul do not understand the Incarnation. Man was meant for body and soul. That they may be separated temporarily at death does not mean that the body is less important to what it means to be human than the soul. Letting a person die so as to "release" the soul violates the normal environment of the soul as much as it does the body.
Christ was resurrected body and soul.
In Catholicism, there is the concept of redemptive suffering. By virtue of our baptism, we have been incorporated into Christ's resurrection, but also his death. As such, by supernatural charity, we may offer up our suffering in union with his to make his salvific act present to the world, even now. The world can no longer see Christ, the head of the mystical body of Christ, but they can still see his body in the world and that body is a body fitted for a cross. Jesus said to take up one's cross, daily. Those people suffering in a nursing home have a cross to bear. The world does not want to see it and a world that denies the cross denies Christ. Those crosses, if borne in resignation, can be the source of many graces.
Anon, you may never have had the chance to test this, but if you are ever in a difficult spot and need prayer, ask someone who is suffering to offer up a half-hour of their suffering for you. If you could only see what God sees. God does not see merely that person suffering. He sees his son in that person, participating in the same suffering on the same Cross as on Calvary. It is because of their love for Christ that the person wishes to be united to him, even in Christ's suffering. The person participates, by their baptism, in the merits of the Cross, including the witness of suffering.
St. Paul said that he preached a Christ, crucified. He warned that it would be a stumbling block. People who do not understand the humanity of Christ do not understand the purpose of human suffering.
God would not let men kill his son on the Cross until Christ laid it down to the end of his own free will so as to set the example that it is God who ordains the time to die, not men.
People in hospital beds may be doing so much more for the human condition that a whole army wide-awake men bent on following their own wills.
As for the Shiavo case, although it is not something I want to bring into this conversation, her parents were more than willing to pay for her care. They have that right (or should have had that right), even if you do not agree.
Also, show me proof that parts of her brain were liquified. I know of no such tests that showed this. There are only a few conditions that produce liquification of the brain, such as ionizing radiation.
The Chicken
- Lydia McGrew said...
Sometimes I think that the question of expense arises from the truism "ought implies can." That means, of course, that if you literally cannot do something, there is no duty to do it.
As Chicken says, conditions of extreme poverty or other conditions--the proverbial "being lost on a desert island"--are those where, of course, there are no feeding tubes, etc.
Sometimes people will bring up a hypothetical. I've had one pro-life lawyer say something like this to me in e-mail: "Well, okay, but _what if_, contrary to fact, a feeding tube were this incredibly expensive technology, so that a family could not afford one without all the rest of the members of the family starving?" (Lawyers are like a sort of caricature of philosophers. But some philosophers are like this, too. Bring up something totally crazy to "push the envelope.")
What people need to understand is that if you cannot do something ideal for the person, then you do what man has done from time immemorial: You muddle through. You do the best you can. You spoon feed, use a syringe, whatever you can find. Whatever you can do. Maybe the person dies, because you cannot get enough into him, but you did what you could in the situation in which you found yourself.
Now, of course, in the _real_ world, if we took this "muddling through and doing our best" approach, there would be no question and no problem, because in fact the tube feeding itself isn't where the expense lies.
I don't think you meant the brain liquified. I think you might be thinking of the a condition called hydrocephalus (water on the brain) where in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) cannot circulate freely and gets trapped in the brain causing swelling, pressure, and tissue necrosis. The condition can be caused by a number of things, including traumatic brain injury. In Terri's case, the CT scan shows a condition called, hydrocephalus ex vacuo, which occurs after the CSF is evacuated leaving a lacunae where the tissue has been compressed. Such a condition can also occur in other neurological conditions, such as some cases of schizophrenia.
Terri's brain cells did not liquify. They were compressed. This does not mean that she was in a (sorry, Lydia) vegetative state. She might have been in a minimally conscious state.
I am just trying to clarify the issue in the Shiavo case, not introducing it for extended discussion. Sorry if I were a bit uncharitable in my earlier remark about the brain liquification.
The Chicken
- Lydia McGrew said...
Actually, Chicken, I don't think that was uncharity but rather a call for clarity. I have just run into this "liquification" nonsense in the very conversation that prompted this post. In that conversation, the phrase used was "liquification had already set in." Get that? It implies that the person believes that Terri's brain was decaying, literally turning to liquid. People believe that. They really do. And it's a result of the sloppy ways of talking that you were questioning.
Don't worry, Chicken, I knew what you meant. I allow people to use the entire phrase persistent vegetative state or PVS, but I don't allow the noun form used for a person as if it were descriptive, as in Anon's comments above. I allow the entire phrase simply because it is believed to describe an actual condition and has (though unfortunately) entered the legal and medical lexicon. Of course, people rightly question whether there is what we might call a natural kind--a real, single, detectable condition--that the phrase refers to. I tend to think that's questionable and that diagnosis should be done _very_ tentatively. It's also a highly unfortunate phrase. So for preference, I like scare quotes around the phrase or even something like "what is known as a persistent vegetative state." But I only get really draconian when people say, "Oh, if someone is really a vegetable." No human being is a vegetable.
No human being is a vegetable.
The Jolly Green Giant is not amused.
Sorry, I had to say it.
The Chicken
- Lydia McGrew said...
Nah, he's just a large, green, humanoid.
The USCCB statement has a legitimate application other than that for helpless people (where it may be ambiguous). For example, I have a heart condition that causes 90% of the people with it to die within a year of diagnosis. I'm still alive 6 or 7 years after diagnosis. It was recommended to me to have open heart surgery to repair 1 or more leaking heart valves but because there was no way I could afford the expense (even with some insurance) I declined (with the expectation of soon dying). This decision is completely moral and in line with the USCCB statement (which has been part of Catholic teaching in these matters for a long time; I remember discussing it in high school 50 years ago).
The thing is, in a Christian society (which, apparently, we are not), expense should not be a deterrent. In the imaginary good-old-days of first century Christianity, if a family could not afford something, the Christian community came to its aid. That should be the case, here, so that poverty should not, generally, be a factor in these decisions. The USCCB statement is correct for places where there is extreme poverty within the entire population, but in the West, this should not be so, since charity should be the norm and expenses covered by the Christian community.
I'll go back to combing my flying horse and talking dog, now.
The Chicken
- Lydia McGrew said...
AT, I think the trouble is that the USCCB statement gets quoted without a distinction between ordinary and extraordinary measures. In fact, the way it was used in the conversation that sparked this discussion was precisely that the person on the other side argued that even nutrition and hydration _become_ "heroic" (i.e. extraordinary) if the "expense to the community" is too high. Not only did he not distinguish between the expense of the procedure/treatment and the expense of the person's life, he actually said _outright_ that it was Terri's "24 hour care" that was so expensive, without seeming to realize where that takes us. (Answer: Straight to hell.)
And I know that there are definitely other people who think the same thing. If the paragraph was originally written (I don't know the full history) when no one would have even thought of withdrawing food and water and it was contextually clear that they were talking about major surgery and the like, then it should be updated or a footnote added to remove the implication that merely feeding people is not required if their lives "impose excessive expense on the community."
- William Luse said...
Also, the key phrase in AT's statement is "I declined." The difference between refusing care and being denied it (to the extent that it kills you) is rather crucial. The USCCB statement cannot be interpreted to permit the latter.


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VIDEO: Elsecar Flavours Food Festival TV chef Barrington Douglas cooks up Caribbean Ackee vegan dish
Yorkshire celebrity chef Barrington Douglas today cooked up a tasty vegan meal in our exclusive video preview of his demonstrations this weekend at Elsecar Flavours Food Festival.
VIDEO: Watch Barrington showing how to cook the vegan meal in our video at the top of this web page.
Barrington, who has been on TV alongside Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsey and Gary Rhodes, is at Elsecar Heritage Centre in Barnsley on Sunday, October 15 - alongside Bake Off champ Nadiya Hussain.
Tickets are still available for both days of the event, October 14 and 15, but limited for some of the demonstrations.
Cooking demonstrations will also be given over the weekend by Wakefield based MasterChef quarter finalist Chris Hale, Jenna McCormick, of For Fit's Sake Ltd, Matthew Benson Smith and DeliVita, hosting children's pizza making classes.
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Larger-than-life chef Barrington, who recently closed his popular Discovery Bay restaurant in Huddersfield to give more time to his family and developing his Barrington's range of Caribbean-inspired pies, sauces and chutneys, is now a head chef at Cannon Hall Farm.
Today, to promote his Flavours Food Festival appearances, he prepared a dish using Ackee, a natural fruit from Jamaica.
He said: "I just want to give everybody a little bit of a flavour of what I will be doing at the festival. I am cooking a vegan, seliak and vegetarian meal all in one - using Jamaican's natural fruit, Akee - something you will absolutely love.
"But I am going to do a little bit of a twist on it and show the fullest flavour I can do for you.
Barrington recently signed a contract to supply his curried chicken pies to Jones Pies, as one of the savouries on offer to football fans at Huddersfield Town's Premier League games this season.
He is also continuing his outside catering service.
Packed with food stalls and live entertainment, the second Flavours Food Festival will feature an array of local producers, street food and drinks traders, a dedicated craft marquee and a vintage street.
Entry is £5 per person, each day, with an additional £10 to see the Nadiya Hussain cooking demonstrations, Sunday only, October 15, at noon and 3pm.
Other cooking demos - including the ones by Barrington - are part of the entry ticket. Under-14s go free, except for the Nadiya demo. Opening times are Saturday, October 14, 10am to 9pm, Sunday, October 15, 10am to 5pm.
There is ample free parking on site at Elsecar Heritage Centre, with 1,000 additional free parking spaces at nearby Milton Forge field.


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In earlier posts, I have commented on the connection of film noir and the experiences of millions of men during WWII. I thought of this yet again after reading this human interest story in the NYTimes about two men who both landed at Normandy on D-Day and happened to be next to each other in a hospital ward in NYC awaiting open heart surgery. Naturally, they formed a bond quickly.
Before the surgery, the doctor told one of them not to be afraid. The patient, who is 90, scoffed. He said, 'There's nothing you can do that I can't get through — I've been through Normandy." There's a man who has built his life on bedrock. Later on, he remarked, "After getting out of World War II, I'm not afraid of nothing and I'm not impressed by nothing."
The two men profiled worked in retail and construction. Another war story I have read comes from Victor Brombert, who taught 19th century French literature at Princeton for many years. (He is a noted expert on Flaubert and Stendhal). He came from a family of secular, unreligious, prosperous, bourgeois, French Jews who had the sense to leave before Hitler could rout them out and gas them. After attending school in the USA, Brombert enlisted in the army and found himself on the beach at Normandy on D-Day.
The saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes. I've never heard much evidence for this – to me it sounds like wishful thinking on the part of advocates of religion. I have read stories similar to Brombert's.
He relates that he was scared beyond belief, scared senseless. He was trying his best to make his body as small as possible, clawing the ground so hard that his fingernails were in agony as he forced sand under them. He was deafened and stupefied with terror at the sound and concussions of the shellfire around him. At that moment, he came as close to prayer as he ever came in his life. He promised himself that if he survived, he would never complain about anything again.
Not exactly a prayer to God, but not a bad way of life, either.


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The number 4 seems to carry with it, a very vexing connotation in Wisconsin sports lore, and as of yesterday, the number has reared it's ugly head again. With no disrespect to Paul Molitor, who's number 4 was retired by the Brewers in 1999, the number is best known to carry hurt feelings over a former NFL quarterback named Burt something-or-another. However, as of last night, it has become the "Magic Number" for the St Louis Cardinals.
With Milwaukee's' loss to the Cincinnati Reds and St Louis' win over the hapless Houston Astros, it appears that the clock may be quickly approaching midnight on the Cinderella story that was the Brewers' post season push. Now, is this to say that all hope is lost for the Crew? Absolutely not. Hell, it's baseball, and if I've learned anything from watching the game over the years it is that just when things seem to be at their bleakest, the baseball gods have a funny way of throwing a 12-6 curveball that reshuffles the status quo.
If the Cardinals win today, again, DO NOT PANIC! They will pick up a win, maybe 2, over a lesser club like Houston. It's just the way it is. The positive is that while Milwaukee may struggle with the Reds, they finish at home with 3 games each against the Astros and Padres, while St Louis will be at home taking on 2 teams that are contenders, the Nationals and Reds.
The Brewers can pull this out. It may however come down to sweeping these final 8 games to do it. Fans I ask one favor of you, don't stop Brewlieving!


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Females Is Spittin Hard This Year: DJ Premier Presents A New Female MC "Dynasty" & Shes Straight Spittin!
Dj Premier and Dynasty -Epic Dynasty
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