Fiona McCann
Bastards all
  Terri Schiavo December 3, 1963 - March 31, 2005 **This was not a 'right to life case'. This was a 'right to murder' issue, left in the hands of a man who wanted his inconvenient and disabled wife out of the way. Terri was not even executed in a humane manner as one would do to an injured animal, but was forced to die in bodily torture without even the comfort of her family. Even prisoners given the death sentence are accorded more concern for their physical state than was Terri. From unborn babies scraped, dismembered, and poisoned through abortions to disabled people unable to fight the obscene'judicial' system intent on killing them to foreign citizens bombed and strafed by U.S. forces of war, American is a culture of cruelty and death to the weak, victory and affluence to the strong. |
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1.4.05 03:40 |
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South Africa's Human Rights Day
Fodder - A blog from the heart of zaLand Sharpeville Massacre**When the emails about this day of remembrance went around, I didn't pay any attention to them but had it in the back of my mind to look later. Today was later, and what I found was an incredible story which I'm sure many of you already know, but for the benefit of those who don't, I wanted to include it here. It's like Bloody Sunday, only on a larger scale. Nor did it end there, as the following blog entry relates: Filed March 21, 2005 Sharpville 1960, the beginning of the end Today is Human Rights day in South Africa and whilst it is intended to celebrate all human rights the history of the day started in Sharpville in 1960 when the apartheid state killed 67 peaceful protesters, shooting most of them in the back as they fled. >>>Continue reading  Police Commander D H Pienaar said: "If they do these things, they must learn their lessons the hard way." - BBC |
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2.4.05 04:57 |
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CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN
Today in Irish History On 2 April 1902 - Premiere of Yeats' Cathleen ni Houlihan starring Maud Gonne  For complete text of the play and background links go >>>here. ---------------- |
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2.4.05 17:35 |
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PC Clutter Fix
Okay, I spend the better part of every day in close proximity to my computer, as it's not only my job but my addiction, yet when I learn something new after years of NOT knowing it, I am overjoyed. Then I wonder if everyone in the world knew it except for me. I can't think that I would be the only one not to know since I dabble so much with PC-related stuff and was still in the dark. Therefore, I want to share with you something I just learned so that if you have the same kind of problem, you will benefit. If you have Windows, you have roughly the same folders on your PC as I do. My trouble is I save bits and bobs all the time and am in such a hurry that I end up with image and text files all over the place, including my desk top, which is not a good place to keep them. All right, you say, 'I drag those desk top items over to My Documents and get rid of them', but look inside your documents and you will see all kinds of crap. You'd like to organise it into folders, but what a hassle to drag everything into a folder. This is what you do. This part you probably know. Go up to VIEW on your toolbar within your documents or particular drive space and choose ARRANGE ICONS and then BY TYPE. This will categorise everything. Then--and this is the cool part which I didn't know before--you can left-click your mouse outside a group of, say, images, and drag a little box around all the images, or texts, or whatever kind of category you have. Then you go up to EDIT on your toolbar, SELECT ALL and CUT and then click on whatever folder you want to put them in and say PASTE. They all just go into the folder and your clutter disappears. (If you have a photo system like Irfanview, you can turn all the images within a folder into thumbnails so you can see them all at once and delete your duplicates and ones you don't want.) I'm still trying to think of a system to organise my text files. They're a mess and breed like bunnies! :P |
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3.4.05 01:09 |
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Miss Kitty
Art by Deborah Putnam Today I was looking for images of John Paul II because I wanted to see what he looked like when he was young, and I accidentally found this website with some artwork by a woman named Deborah Putnam. I am including this pic of Miss Kitty because it reminds me of one of my cats, and I like it.  click to view Miss Kitty |
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4.4.05 22:13 |
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Little Brendan O'Rourke and the Pope
San Francisco Chronicle **There are some sweet pictures of little Brendan on site The world mourns people's pontiff EMBRACED: A heartfelt gesture changed perception of AIDS Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, April 4, 2005  Brendan O'Rourke was born three months premature and weighed only 1 pound 13 ounces at birth. He fought with the energy of 10 little boys to live. In the days before he died seven years later, he gave his mother gifts she can still feel: hugs filled with a strength that belied his debilitating condition and that seemed to tell her to stay strong. In between those years, Brendan lived a life that fused the ordinary with the extraordinary. With bright blue eyes, caramel-colored freckles and ears that would take years to grow into, Brendan was a blur of energy. He loved his toys and games and taunting his siblings. But he also possessed something else, a hard-earned acceptance of life as good and bad. On Sept. 17, 1987, when Brendan was 4, he did something that captivated a crowd in San Francisco and drew international attention. The little boy, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, was in the basilica of Mission Dolores. He was one of 62 AIDS patients waiting to be blessed by Pope John Paul II. When the pope passed by, Brendan exclaimed, "Hi Viva Papa!" and touched the startled pontiff's ear. The pope turned and embraced Brendan. Elaine O'Rourke spent part of Sunday showing off pictures of the widely publicized papal embrace, billed as one of the most emotional events of the pope's tour of America. She sat in her family home in Novato and talked of her son's sweet but abbreviated life and the family's medical saga, enduring faith and profound reverence for the Holy Father. She said she and her family, devout Irish Catholics, prayed that the pope's death Saturday was happy and comfortable. Looking toward the fireplace mantle, where Brendan's photos were illuminated by candles, she said, "Hopefully, Brendan was on hand in heaven to greet the pope with one of his hugs." There is no anger in O'Rourke's voice, no questioning why this happened to her son, to her family. She said she never felt let down by God. "People look for big miracles in terms of cures," she said. "But there are smaller favors, too, that can come your way. We had so many special favors we received. We had time with Brendan. That was a gift. We learned the lesson that life is precious and you never know how long you will live or how long your loved ones will live. We had peace through our faith." She had a hard time describing what it felt like to see her son embraced by the leader of her church. It was riveting, of course. But it was also a lesson and a symbol, she said. "It was a way for the Catholic church to demonstrate compassion for people with AIDS, to de-politicize it and to give AIDS a human face," said O'Rourke. "It also showed that this is what you do with people who are suffering: You embrace them." O'Rourke, who teaches first grade at a Catholic school in Terra Linda, said her son contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion shortly after his birth on Oct. 5, 1982. He wasn't diagnosed, however, until he was 4 -- just two months before the pope's visit to Mission Dolores. It was a time when the disease was still widely misunderstood and carried a heavy stigma, including the misconception that the disease could be transmitted even through casual touch. The pope's hug sent a message that those with HIV and AIDS should not be feared. The O'Rourkes, both native San Franciscans, worried about the reaction among the families and children at Brendan's school, St. Cecilia's in the city's Parkside neighborhood. "They held a big meeting for all of the parents to discuss this," O'Rourke said. "Everyone was really wonderful." She said Brendan understood he had something wrong with his blood and knew he was diagnosed with HIV, which in his case quickly turned into AIDS. He had a small Toys R Us backpack where he kept his IV pump, which sent the antiviral drug AZT into a catheter in his chest. The backpack went everywhere with him. "Brendan had a lot of grace. He dealt with his illness very well. I think part of it comes from his being a fighter from birth," O'Rourke said. "He was a special kid. I remember how he was unusually good at being around old people and sick people. He was never afraid -- like some children are -- of people who are disabled or in wheelchairs." After the meeting with the pope in San Francisco, O'Rourke took her son on two pilgrimages in search of divine intervention. The first was to Lourdes, France, where many Catholics go to pray to the Virgin Mary. The second was to Rome, to attend a ceremony for the beatification of Father Junipero Serra, founder of California's first missions, and to receive Communion from their beloved Pope John Paul II. O'Rourke said Brendan did receive Communion from the pope. And, the two shared another emotional embrace. Again, photographers were on hand to capture the hug. The pope is seen smiling gently. Brendan smiled broadly, his small hands clasped around the back of the pontiff's neck. Brendan would survive for another two years, finally succumbing to his illness on Aug. 17, 1990. He had a calendar on his wall at the hospital and was counting the days until he would turn 8. Brendan Silverio O'Rourke would be 22 today. His sister, Emily, is now 25. His brother, Rory, is 24. Both are electricians, like their father, John O'Rourke. All three spent Sunday doing volunteer work in the community. Elaine O'Rourke says she thinks of Brendan every day. She eyes a picture of her daughter at graduation and imagines Brendan would have shared her looks. She can hear her son's voice and laugh. And, she says, she always feels his hugs. E-mail Julian Guthrie at jguthrie@sfchronicle.com |
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5.4.05 20:19 |
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'Hanoi Jane'
Guardian **Interesting read The framing of Hanoi Jane Wednesday April 6, 2005 The Guardian 'In the second extract from her gripping new autobiography, Jane Fonda reveals how a fact-finding trip to North Vietnam became a mission to expose US atrocities'.  click to view photo >>Read extract |
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6.4.05 03:20 |
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Papal Apparition
Irish Examiner **Forgive me a little levity here, but I thought from the headline she had seen the Pope wearing a gown, but it turns out she saw an apparition of the Pope ON the gown - Ohhhhhhhkayyyyy! This is much better than seeing Madonna in a grilled cheese... I saw Pope in hairdresser’s gown, claims grandmother 06 April 2005 By Jimmy Woulfe, Mid-West Correspondent A CO Tipperary grandmother claims she saw an apparition of Pope John Paul II while at the hairdressers last Saturday. Mary Ward who lives at Ballygraigue, Nenagh, said the vision of the Pope appeared on the hairdresser’s gown she was wearing in the Cut and Dye salon in Friar Street. Staff members at the salon also claim they saw the apparition. Mrs Ward has now placed the gown on an altar to the Pope she has erected at her home. “I saw the apparition of the Pope when I was having my hair done at around 2pm on Saturday last. I was having highlights put into my hair when the view appeared on my lap on the black gown. He was smiling. I then asked one of the girls, Tracey, if she could see anything as I moved to get under the hair drier and one of them said ‘oh my God it’s the Pope’,” Mrs Ward said. “A few other of the girls working in the salon saw it. It lasted for about a quarter of an hour. I shook the gown and the face was still there. The Pope looked what he was like about the time he came to Ireland. He was smiling and I could see the lines on his face on the gown. When I got up to go under the hair drier it went away.” Mrs Ward, who has three adult children and four grandchildren, took the nylon black gown home with her. “I have put it on an altar I have made to the Pope with flowers and candles,” she said. Now she expects the home where she lives with her husband, Bert, will be inundated with callers to see the gown. “Already there have been a lot of photographers calling to get pictures,” she said. Hairdresser, Tracey Shoer, from St Joseph’s Terrace, who works in the salon said she also saw the apparition. Tracey said: “One of the other girls told me to have a look at the gown. I didn’t have a clue what it was and then I saw the Pope’s face, clear as day. He was a young Pope with the big tall hat on his head ... There were a few customers in at the time who saw it. I have never seen anything like this before.” Since word of the reported apparition spread, many people have been calling to the salon. Bernadette Ryan, owner of Cut and Dye salon said: “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want this place to turn into a shrine.” |
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7.4.05 02:57 |
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Cruelty beyond belief
Daily Ireland **This is your hamburger and roast. Is it worth it? Concern for live exports  click to view - live animals, strung up by one leg before having their throats cut Animal welfare groups in the Republic have called on the government to withdraw its support for the live transport of animals from the state. The Irish branch of Compassion in World Farming made the call after an in-depth investigation into the transport of cattle from Waterford to the Middle East. Campaigners say the transport of animals by road and boat to Lebanon, although entirely legal, places unacceptable stress on the animals. The Stop the Bull Ship campaign received a boost at its European launch in Brussels yesterday when the English actor Joanna Lumley echoed calls for the practice to be brought to an end. Trading live animals is currently subsidised by the European Union. Campaigners were forced into action after monitoring a shipment of cattle that left Waterford in October last year. During loading at the city’s port, cattle were herded onto a ship using electric prods, a practice that the Irish government says should be avoided. After enduring several days at sea, the animals finally arrived at the Lebanese port of Beirut. From there, they were transported to a government-run slaughterhouse. Video footage secretly filmed by investigators revealed shocking conditions in the high-rise slaughterhouse. After being tied by one leg to a “slaughter line”, rows of terrified Irish cattle were killed by having their throats cut without first being stunned. From an ear tag recovered at the slaughterhouse, the animals were later traced back to farms in the South of Ireland. Mary-Anne Bartlett, director of Compassion in World Farming in Ireland, said the practice of transporting animals should be abolished. “It is shameful that our government supports live cattle exports to the Lebanon. Anyone who cares about animals can see that this trade is inhumane and should be stopped. The export refunds that are fuelling this trade should be abolished immediately. Such refunds are a serious misuse of taxpayers’ money.” A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture in Dublin said department veterinary inspectors clear all animals transported from the Republic. “Live exports are an important component of Ireland’s livestock industry, and the department is aware of the social, moral and economic imperative to ensure that the transport of animals is conducted in a manner which safeguards their welfare while being transported and minimises the risk of transmitting infectious diseases. “The department, on a number of occasions, has sent veterinary inspectors to the Lebanon to witness the unloading of Irish cattle and to verify that the animals are unloaded and treated in a humane manner. On one occasion, a veterinary inspector identified that the loading of cattle was unsatisfactory. The department addressed this with the cattle exporter and the ship owner and has received guarantees that the matter would be addressed.” The representative added that the transport of animals would continue even if the Republic or the European Union banned the practice. “It should also be pointed out that an EU ban on live exports to the Lebanon would not necessarily mean that exports of cattle to that country would cease. Sourcing would take place elsewhere and could involve the shipment of cattle under conditions far less exacting than those existing under Irish law,” the spokesperson said. |
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7.4.05 19:37 |
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People are fupped
Guardian Ruthlessly exposed Luke Harding finds the most interesting thing about Vanessa Beecroft's tableau vivant of 100 near-naked women is its cruelty Berlin dispatch Friday April 8, 2005 Of course Beecroft is an artist - a CON ARTIST |
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8.4.05 17:32 |
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nice 1
Telegraph Nine year jail term for e-mail spammer (Filed: 09/04/2005) A man accused of sending 10 million junk e-mails a day has been sentenced to nine years in prison by an American court. Jeremy Jaynes, 30, who was thought to be among the top 10 e-mail 'spammers' in the world at the time of his arrest, used the internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services, prosecutors said. Jaynes was making almost £400,000 a month from the thousands of people who responded to his mail. The case was the first of its kind in America and was brought in Virginia, where internet provider AOL is based. Under Virginia law, sending unsolicited bulk e-mail itself is not a crime unless the sender masks his identity. Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions. A jury had recommended the nine-year term. Prosecutor Lisa Hicks-Thomas said she was pleased with the ruling and confident that the law would be upheld on appeal. But defense attorney David Oblon argued that nine years was far too long given that Jaynes, who is from North Carolina, was charged as an out-of-state resident with violating a Virginia law that had taken effect just weeks before. "We have no doubt that we will win on appeal, therefore any sentence is somewhat moot. Still, the sentence is not what we recommended and we're disappointed," Oblon said outside court. |
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10.4.05 17:47 |
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Google it!
Google Help : Search Features  Dumb me. I use Google every day, but I never take advantage of its many capabilities. Today I wanted to find an article I had posted on a live Linux CD, but I couldn't remember where on my site it was. I was slowly going through the pages when I found something I had misspelled, so I corrected it--and damned if 20six didn't stick me back at the beginning of my page search! Sheeeeeeeeit! I didn't want to bring up my IE with the Google toolbar as I was on K-Meleon, so I scouted around, and this is what I found on Google Help: Site Search The word "site" followed by a colon enables you to restrict your search to a specific site. To do this, use the site:sampledomain.com syntax in the Google search box. For example, to find admission information on Stanford's site, enter: admission site:www.stanford.edu in the search box There are a lot of other handy features explained on this page too.  |
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12.4.05 02:18 |
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Sheena and Lacey
Guardian When a dog is another dog's best friend Martin Wainwright Wednesday April 13, 2005 The Guardian  A black labrador is enjoying a brief but heady dose of celebrity after proving that a dog can be another dog's best friend. Like the film hero Lassie, which was forever rescuing everything from cougar pups to entire villages threatened by forest fire, the 12-year-old pet called Sheena knew what to do in a crisis. She acted after spotting another dog, a golden labrador called Lacey, lying in a pool of water at the bottom of a rock-strewn gully near South Stack on the north Wales coast at Holyhead. Realising that something was wrong, Sheena ran barking for help until she found walker Marion Jones looking for her lost dog. Then, still barking, she led her to the clifftop above the water, where Mrs Jones borrowed another walker's mobile to call for help. Lacey, a 13-year-old bitch, was rescued by the Holyhead coastguard with only minor bruising after her 30 metre (100ft) fall. A coastguard spokesman said: "The whole rescue operation took around 40 minutes - she would never have been able to get back up the slope on her own. "One of our rescue team climbed down to her and set up a harness and rope system to winch her back to the top. The dog was shivering from the cold and a bit shocked and nervous but she did not seem to be hurt and was wagging her tail. She is very lucky that the other dog found her." Labradors have a reputation for loyalty and quick wits, although Lassie was a long-coated sheepdog, created as a sideline by Eric Knight, who was considered one of Britain's and the United States' most promising novelists at the time of his death in an air crash in 1943. Two years ago a golden Labrador called Orca saved the life of his student owner, Cheryl Smith, 22, by fetching help when her motorised wheelchair veered into a concealed drainage ditch in York. |
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13.4.05 04:31 |
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Dangerous Blogs
BBC **Got this from Slugger O'Toole. It's good to pay attention because many times you might receive emails with messages that tell you to visit this or that link. You might think that as long as it's not an attachment, it's okay. It might not be. This is another reason you want to keep your anti-virus up-to-date and run your spyware detector (like Spybot) regularly. Bogus blogs snare fresh victims  Many web logs are like electronic diaries and are updated daily Cyber criminals are starting to use fake blogs to snare new victims. The bogus web journals are being used as traps that infect visitor's machines with keylogging software or viruses. Filtering firm Websense said it had found hundreds of bogus blogs baited with all kinds of malicious software to snare the unwary. Websense warned that the baited blogs could get past traditional security measures that try to protect people from malicious programs. Hidden harm The company said blogs were being used because they inadvertently offered lots of help to computer criminals. Blogs are free and simple to use, offer users lots of storage space, can be used anonymously and most do not scan stored files for viruses and other malicious programs. Websense said it had seen examples of some computer criminals creating a legitimate looking weblog, loading it with keylogging software or viral code, and then sending out the address of it through instant messenger or spam e-mail. "These aren't the kind of blog websites that someone would stumble upon and infect their machine accidentally," said Dan Hubbard, Websense's research director. "The success of these attacks relies upon a certain level of social engineering to persuade the individual to click on the link." In separate cases some blogs were being used as storage lockers holding chunks of malicious code that the controller of a network of zombie machines wants those remotely-controlled computers to use. In late March, Websense found a fake e-mail message that tried to direct people to a blog that was hosting keylogging software. Now it estimates that there could be more than 200 bogus blogs in existence that are being used to attack net users. By comparison blog-watching service Technorati estimates that there are more than 8 million blogs in existence. Anyone visiting the baited blog and falling victim to the keylogger could find that they have bank accounts rifled by the phishing gang behind the bogus website. Websense warned that viruses hosted on weblogs might be a danger because they get round the filtering systems many firms have created to ensure malicious programs do not reach employees. Users were urged to keep anti-virus and patches up to date, regularly scan machines with anti-spyware products and exercise caution when reading unsolicited messages sent via e-mail or instant messenger. |
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14.4.05 23:01 |
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Save the Seals
 An American friend just sent me this email she received from a woman named Jane who works to save animals from suffering. These are some links you can use to help add your voice in protest against the seal slaughter off eastern Canada. As with any tragedy, you may think that the little you can do will mean nothing, but strength is in numbers, and it cannot hurt to let it be known that you are standing up for what is right. Many times people and organisations are coerced into doing the right thing because so many people speak out against them. From the email: First, go to http://www.seashepherd.org/ Click on Seal Hunts and look for the What you can do link. There is a lot of information here, whom to write, what to say, email addresses and etc. Next, go to www.ifaw.org. Click on Speak Out Against Seal Hunt. Next, click on Take Action. This will take you to a page where you can write a letter and add your voice to the over 9,000 already there. Also, go to www.protectseals.org and sign the Pledge. The most important thing you can do is 'ask others'. Get as many people as you can to take a few minutes out of their day to speak out. It may do no good at all....but then again, miracles happen every day. |
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16.4.05 20:29 |
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Round everyone up and put them in the Stupid Room
Guardian **I don't want to be mean or anything, but there is something so assinine about everyone's behaviour in this story. This is what happens when you get stuck working in a call centre in frigging Oklahoma ffs. Girl accuses AOL chatroom monitor David Teather in New York Monday April 18, 2005 The Guardian He was hired to keep children in an AOL chat room safe from predators, but a lawsuit accuses him of grooming a Californian girl online and arranging to meet her for sex. The man is accused of beginning an online relationship with the girl when she was 15. He was 23, married, and worked in a call centre in Oklahoma. The young woman, now 19, claims to have confided in him about her parents' divorce and problems she had making friends. The conversations then became sexually explicit. The suit alleges they swapped explicit photographs and videos, and had phone sex. "The message and conversations became more and more flirtatious," the lawsuit says, "until they became downright inappropriate." The two allegedly arranged to meet on her 17th birthday, but the encounter never happened. A colleague allegedly became suspicious and reported the man. The woman has filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles against AOL, its parent company, Time Warner, and the monitor. It accuses the firms of failing to supervise the employee and of falsely advertising that the chat room was safe for children. She is claiming the company inflicted emotional distress. She had been an AOL member since she was 10, the suit says, and her mother insisted she only use monitored chat rooms. "You are truly looking at a situation where you have a wolf looking over the chicken coop," her lawyer, Olivier Taillieu, told the Los Angeles Times. It had taken her two years to file the suit because "it's a very confusing and painful time for her". An AOL spokesman said the company sacked the man after learning of the allegations in April 2003 and reported them to the FBI and local law enforcement authorities, who notified the girl's family. The man has not faced criminal charges over the alleged incident. |
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18.4.05 03:23 |
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New Hope for Diabetics
SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Health Pioneering operation gives hope to diabetes sufferers Sarah Boseley, health editor Tuesday April 19, 2005 The Guardian A Japanese woman is free of the symptoms of diabetes after receiving cells from her mother's pancreas in the first transplant from a living donor, it emerged yesterday. The woman, 27, who had had insulin-dependent diabetes since she was 15, was given islet cells from her 56-year-old mother's pancreas. Fears that the donor might become diabetic because of the loss of a substantial numbers of islet cells appear unfounded. The operation will be of interest to the millions of people with diabetes around the world. Islet cells produce insulin, a natural hormone which turns glucose in the blood into energy. Those whose cells do not produce enough insulin have to inject themselves with it daily. Small numbers of people with diabetes have had islet cells transplants from cadavers, but the huge number of cells needed for each operation has severely restricted the possibilities. A paper from Shinichi Matsumoto and colleagues at Kyoto University, published online by the Lancet medical journal, reveals that the cells from half the mother's pancreas were sufficient to free the recipient of her insulin dependency within 22 days. She has now been insulin-free for two months and her mother has suffered no complications. The daughter had severe type 1 diabetes and was having "hypos" - hypoglycaemic attacks in which she lost consciousness - every two days. There are cultural sensitivities around the use of pancreatic islet cells from dead donors in Japan, so her mother volunteered. The researchers say that the outcome was as good as that achieved with the cells of two or more whole pancreases from dead donors. They think this may be due to the improved potency of islet cells from a living donor. The transplant could last for five years, they say, and even if the woman needs insulin injections in the future, the scientists believe she will be free of the "hypos" that endanger her life. In a commentary, Stephanie Amiel from King's College, London, warns that these are early days. "Islet transplantation is not yet a perfect technique," she says. "Insulin independence is by no means certain." The drugs needed to stop the body rejecting the transplanted cells are toxic and the long-term survival of the cells is unclear. But up to 25% of people with diabetes suffer from recurrent severe hypoglycaemia and probably 15% of those cannot be improved using conventional therapy. While the use of a live donor, with its inherent dangers, probably cannot be justified in a society where cadavers can be used, diabetics would be watching the success of the Japanese research closely, she says. |
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19.4.05 12:34 |
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Oh, woe is me!
I see today there is an explanation from 20six about the various kinds of blogs you can sign up for here, and it seems there is now a limit on the amount of space we can have when we are lowly 'free' users. Was this always the case? They are calling it a 'starter' blog.I definitely feel inferior now that I am just slopping around in a piddly starter blog! |
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20.4.05 22:31 |
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O'Donoghue: Murder charge in Holohan killing
BreakingNews.ie Student charged with murder of child 21/04/2005 - 13:02:48 A 20-year-old student has been charged with the murder of 11-year-old Robert Holohan at Ballyedmond, Midleton Co Cork on January 4 last. Wayne O'Donoghue, aged 20, who has been in custody since January 16 on a charge of unlawful killing, was formally charged with murder in Midleton Garda Station today. He appeared at the adjoining courthouse where evidence of arrest, charge and caution was given to the court by Sergeant Joe O’Connor. Sergeant O’Connor told Judge Michael Pattwell that he had formally charged the defendant with murder contrary to common law. When asked if he had any comment to make O’Donoghue had replied “no thanks”, said Sergeant O’Connor. O’Donoghue was returned for trial to the sitting of the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin on April 28. He was remanded in custody until that date. |
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21.4.05 13:42 |
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Baby Charlotte
Guardian Judge rejects parents' right to life plea Press Association Thursday April 21, 2005 The parents of critically ill baby Charlotte Wyatt today lost the latest round in their continuing battle to keep their daughter alive, following the ruling of a high court judge. Judge Mr Justice Hedley rejected their appeal to overturn an earlier court order allowing doctors to let her die if she stops breathing. But he said the order was not open-ended and remained subject to review. He told the high court in London this morning: "I am quite clear that it would not be in Charlotte's best interests to die in the course of futile aggressive treatment." He said that in the event of respiratory collapse, all treatment up to but not including intubation and ventilation would be in Charlotte's best interests, "but nothing further". The ruling follows an earlier court case last October when doctors at St Mary's hospital in Portsmouth won the legal right not to resuscitate Charlotte - now 18 months old - after arguing that her brain and other organs were so seriously damaged that she had "no feeling other than continuing pain". Her parents, Debbie and Darren Wyatt, went back to court last month to appeal against that decision arguing that since the autumn their daughter's condition had improved. The family's case focused on evidence from six independent medical witnesses that their daughter was not in pain, is aware, alert, active and responsive. Charlotte weighed 1lb and measured only five inches when she was born three months prematurely in October 2003. She has serious brain, lung and kidney damage. Today Charlotte spends most of her time in an oxygen box, but is taken out to be cuddled by her parents when they visit Doctors still insist that resuscitating her if she stops breathing would be "pointless and possibly inhumane" because it would only prolong her suffering. Explaining his decision, Mr Justice Hedley said he was delighted that Charlotte had survived the winter but told her parents she was still a "terminally ill child". He told the court that she still required 50% oxygen and would not be able to return home unless that was reduced to 30% or lower. Charlotte's ability to respond to loud noise and track the movement of a colourful toy was in contrast to her condition last October when she was almost wholly unresponsive and required almost constant sedation. Her life now could no longer be described as intolerable, he said. But her chronic respiratory disease was still expected to be fatal and her neurological condition was as bad as it could be. Her head was still the size of a newborn baby and there had been no brain growth. Fed continuously through a tube, she was seriously undernourished. She remained "a terminally ill child", the judge said. The lawyers representing Charlotte's parents announced they plan to appeal against the high court decision and go the court of appeal. They said that Debbie and Darren Wyatt were "very unhappy" with the judge's decision. Earlier today Mr Justice Hedley said that he accepted that the next time Charlotte faced another medial crisis her case would have to return to court because her parents and doctors were unlikely to agree over her treatment. He told the court that the hospital where Charlotte is being cared for did not have the necessary intensive care facilities and, if none were available at Southampton, a country-wide search would have to be conducted. Charlotte, under sedation and being intubated and ventilated, would become "more an object to whom things are done than a child". "No one would ever willingly put a child through that if no purpose was to be served and it is easy to see that it is inconsistent with a peaceful death," he said. Ruling that he should make a decision now, the judge said it would be wholly contrary to the baby's best interests for a crisis - which was highly likely to be brought about by respiratory infection - to be "overshadowed by a major legal conflict". He added that the decision, at the time of the crisis, on whether to rely on the court declaration allowing doctors to withhold ventilation must be taken by the hospital on the basis of Charlotte's best interests and in close consultation with the parents. The judge said relations between the parents and the hospital were very fragile. When Mr Wyatt visited, he was accompanied at all times by a member of the security staff. This "does not betoken harmonious relationships". Hospital staff were clearly very stressed by the enormity of Charlotte's plight and the volatility, as they saw it, of the parents. Explaining how he reached his decision he said everyone agreed that every reasonable step short of major invasive treatment should be employed to sustain her life. Only one doctor felt that further steps should be taken. The judge said he was convinced by the majority medical opinion. Charlotte was unlikely to survive a major crisis and, even if she did, her condition would deteriorate to a point where her life would be intolerable. She would probably not return to her present improved condition. The judge said he would review the case again, probably in October. Reading out a statement on behalf of the parents outside the court, their solicitor, Richard Stein, said: "Darren and Debbie are very disappointed that the judge has confirmed that as things stand, Charlotte will not be ventilated in the event she requires it. "He did, however, recognise that her condition has changed significantly - in fact, it continues to improve. "For example, only five weeks ago, there was evidence before the judge that she was badly malnourished and only today we heard from the trust that she had put on significant amounts of weight over the last four weeks. "The judge is clearly concerned about the uncertainty of her future. He has ordered that the case be kept under review and allowed Darren and Debbie to appeal to the court of appeal, which is something they greatly welcome." Asked if he was disappointed with today's outcome, Mr Wyatt said he had no comment. Charlotte's grandmother said today she supported the doctor's decision that it was not in her granddaughter's interest to be resuscitated if she stopped breathing. Julie Wyatt, from Tamworth, Staffordshire told BBC WM: "I don't think she would ever be able to walk or maybe even eat properly on her own even though she is being spoon-fed at the moment, just tiny bits. "I don't think she would grow up to be a perfectly healthy child. I think she would be a lot of work for the parents. "Myself, I'm trusting the hospital decision at the moment because I've seen the care they've given her and I know they love her, they've been with her 17 months of her life and I think they love her and they don't want nothing to happen to her. "They are not withholding any treatment at all and I do believe that if they don't resuscitate her, it is for Charlotte's best interests, to be quite honest." |
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21.4.05 16:47 |
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