Schiavo: current stats — — or more correctly, not spoken. That describes Terry Schiavo's husband Michael, as well. Again, the Supreme Court has refused to intervene in the Schiavo case, issuing this morning a one-sentence disposition, reading simply, that the "application for stay of endorsement…presented to Justice Kennedy, and by him referred to the Court, is denied." So once again the legal battle returns to lower levels. Terri Schiavo's parents Bob and Mary Schindler were granted another chance to have their case heard in federal court tonight. Now, the court is hearing the argument that the evidence Mrs. Schiavo wished to avoid being kept alive in a vegetative state is "clear and convincing". Also introduced, the conjecture from a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic who claims that Schiavo was misdiagnosed when she was described as being in a "persistent vegetative state"... and may actually be quote "minimally conscious." Earlier this week, Judge Whittemore denied a similar request from the Schindlers. Five years ago, the Schindlers' attorney told the court, quote, "we do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state," and Terry Schiavo's mother confirmed that she believed her daughter was in that state.
Schiavo: Legal end game — Aside from the hearing in a Tampa federal courtroom this evening, the legal maneuvering in the Terri Schiavo case is tonight. But for nearly twelve years, the end of the legal saga has appeared... and disappeared... like a puff of smoke in the middle of a fog. Protestors nonetheless today continued across the state of Florida, six days after her feeding tube was removed.
Red Lake warning signs — Past the 72-hour mark after the shootings at Red Lake High School in Minnesota, the Red Lake Band of Native Americans have variously sought to keep the outside world outside its borders while also blaming that world — particularly the United States government — for having isolated them. Whether it was the result of the tribe's rights or this country's failures — it appears now that the tribal school and government systems were either incapable of, or unwilling to, recognize that they had a . Warning signs of potentially murderous teenagers have been missed everywhere. But with survivors speaking to the media today, for the first time telling of bloody drawings he shared with classmates, , suspensions from school which he ignored. It is becoming painfully obvious that the number of signs missed in the case of Jeff Weise, may have exceeded the number of people he killed and wounded on Monday. A total of 10 people are dead, including himself…The most easily understood sign, should've been Weis's creation, last October, of an on-line animation called "" which resembles in several ways, the carnage he created Monday at Red Lake High School….Much of the nightmare of Red Lake duplicates the 1999 nightmare of Littleton, Colorado. Columbine and Red Lake were brought together in a more positive way today. One of the Littleton survivors — Lauren Bawn — went to the hospital in Minnesota, to see if she could help.
Healing touch — It's "Faith, in America" Week here at MSNBC. There's “faith,” belief in things unseen. And then there's “faith” in big capital letters with neon signs saying "faith got me out of the wheelchair." When you hear the words "faith healer", it may conjure up images of televangelists with microphones loudly proclaiming miraculous moments on stage. But, Countdown reporter Monica Novotny came across a man, a faith healer, in Cleveland who has very quietly convinced everyone — from an oral surgeon to local medical doctors — that he's on to something… Daniel Stancu was desperate. After a car accident four years ago left him paralyzed from the neck down. But things have changed, and he says he it's a miracle. Daniel has spent the last three years working with Dr. Issam Nemeh, a fifty-year-old former anesthesiologist turned acupuncturist turned healer. Dr. Nemeh attracts thousands from around the country to Cleveland for his free healing services where organizers say no one is turned away.
Smell of stem cell success — Now, back to the future. There is news from Australia today that researchers at Griffith University there have succeeded in growing adult human stem cells, without as much as touching an embryo, and with the complete support of the Catholic Church. They think they can make brain cells, blood cells, heart muscle tissue cells, kidney, and liver cells out of . Does this sound at all familiar? That's right, it's Woody Allen's last daffy comedy "Sleeper," released in 1973. In it, his character wakes up 200 years in the future, and discovers that the head of a totalitarian society has been attacked — that all that is left of him is his nose — and that they intend to restore him to life by cloning the nose.