Op-ed:

A Decision Not Unlike Solomon's

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

“My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30...absolutely heartbroken.” - Tom Evans, Alfie Evans father upon his death

Little Alfie Evans has gone 'home' to become one of God's angels, but some say he was sent 'home' before his time. Some even say he was murdered by the British government's state-run National Health Service... socialized medicine at it worst...but the question is was Alfie murdered or was he set free from a horrific illness there is no cure for.

And while some might not like what I'm going to say, only those of us who have had a loved one with an incurable illness...an illness where choices like those Alfie's parents had to make...can even begin to understand the type and scope of decisions that must come into play. And it's from here that I speak from experience...experience no mother or father, son or daughter, should ever have to make.

Little Alfie was not the first many of us prayed and cried for...before him there was Charlie Gard...another baby 'supposedly' mandated to die in a hospital against his parents wishes. And while a quiet reverent dignity was indeed denied both families...for both their baby's passing was turned into a media circus replete with the standard lights, camera, action scenario of not just being a ratings blitz, but a soapbox for the lefts call for even more government intrusion into all our lives, while the religious right said the legal decisions to end both baby's lives were nothing but the work of satan...yet one still has to wonder if there really are any villains or heroes in cases such as these.

And as both babies sadly did pass in the cold sterile surroundings of an impersonal hospital room...sick as no little one should ever be...their parent's battle to keep their children alive had become the stuff of parents v. doctors, judges, and a legal system most here in America rightly see as repulsive. Socialized medicine, some say, equals government death panels come to life and in some, maybe even in many cases that surely is true, but was the British court's ruling to pull both babies plugs on the machines keeping them alive the right thing to do instead of letting the parents make that heart-wrenching decision on their own...a decision that might haunt them for the rest of their lives?

Sadly, and it pains me to say it, it might very well have been for under British law courts are asked to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the best treatment for their child...treatment many times demanded based upon emotions alone and not based upon what is in the best interest of the child.

And while some claim these legal "purveyors of death"...as some call them...did so solely based upon law instead of upon compassion...based upon a law stating that once a dispute comes before a court over the care of a child...which in both cases it did...the 'Children Act 1989' provides that the welfare of the child is to be the “paramount consideration”...it now becomes a reality some in the public might not want to face...a reality that sometimes the parents might very well not be the best ones to make the decision regarding the welfare of their child...especially when all the facts are not known nor have a right to be in the public domain.

And sometimes it's a decision no parent should ever have to face let alone make...a decision to let their child die. And while that child is of their flesh and blood and should never be a pawn of government bureaucracy... unfortunately at times it comes to just that. And then sometimes in the end the villain to most people's surprise turns maybe not into a hero but into a guide showing the way to setting a pained life free.

So in regards to little Alfie were his parents the best ones to make the right decision...a decision to try and keep their baby alive at all costs...to have experimental treatments done on him knowing the chances of success were slim or dare I say nonexistent...or were the doctors and the law actually trying to ease the pain of having the parents make a decision no parent should ever have to make when they ordered Alfie's life support to be turned off?

After much soul searching and praying with many tears shed that my opinion in such a truly sad case is the right one...at least for me...and while I know that opinion might anger some...I believe in Alfie's case and in Charlie Gard's case as well...that the doctors...who said that prolonging Alfie's life as it was, was both “unkind and inhumane”...did the right thing in saying 'no more' but not for the reasons you think.
 
Bare with me here...please.

So then why was it the right decision...because the doctors and the British legal system...contrary to what the religious right claim...were not playing God but were instead letting God call Alfie 'home' at the time of His choosing...coming to Him unencumbered by machines, tubes, and wires, and with his loving parents by his side to say their good-byes to his earthly body leaving his memory etched into their hearts forever.

And did it really matter if little Alfie passed in a hospital room or at home...a home he had not seen in almost a year for a hospital room had become home to him...no it did not for the place where one passes is not really important...what is important is that Alfie's suffering was over and that he was now one with God...and free of a sick and pained body that did not serve him well.

Little Alfie Evans...the latest victim some say of British socialized medicine...was born on May 9, 2016, with a progressive degenerative neurological condition referred to as Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome (MDS)...an embryonic present DNA affliction where “energy” (oxygen and other necessary nutrients) does not get to muscle, kidney, and brain tissue...“energy” necessary to sustain life...the same illness little Charlie Gard was believed to have had.

Fighting off one respiratory infection after another...coming off the ventilator and having to go right back on again...and with seizures causing Alfie to be in a permanent semi-vegetative state...led the doctors at Alder Hey Hospital to say that it was in Alfie's best interest to stop mechanical ventilation...aka life support...and that he be provided with palliative care in order to let him pass at a time when God chose to call him 'home' for the damage to his brain was severe...damaged to such a degree that Alfie had little brain function as his brain had been “eroded away” leaving only water and cerebral spinal fluid where what we refer to as the brain should be.

And as can be seen by the sad photos above and below, Alfie's kidneys were shutting down as well as witnessed by his so swollen legs, arms, trunk, and face as toxemia...as uremic poisoning...set in. The sweet cherub faced little baby of months ago was now long gone.

And knowing this leaves open the question of why did his parents try so hard to keep little Alfie alive when they now knew his death was predestined even before his birth? Seeing his deterioration go from bad to worse well over a year ago with nothing but artificial means keeping him alive...was it really their will to save a child they in their hearts knew could not be saved...no...I believe it was solely their refusal to let him go...the hardest decision any parent would ever have to make.

MDS is almost always fatal in babies and young children, but a few of the 16 known sufferers...it is that rare a condition...have made it into their early teens but with severely limited brain function...basically existing as a shell of a body being kept alive artificially by machines, tubes, and wires with a mind all but blank to the world. And while no can argue that morally it still should have been Alfie's parents decision if that was the life they wanted for their son, ethically the British courts...and later on the European Court of Human Rights...thankfully stepped in and removed the Evans' input from what they knew would have been their son's lingering, painful, and horrific death. But the media terribly misunderstood the intent of the rulings...as they relished in twisting the facts to help fuel worldwide consternation...consternation that even drew the pope into the fray.

But before I go on let it be known that I too am totally opposed to socialized medicine...or what we here in America sometimes refer to as a single-payer system...as I believe with every fiber of my being that neither the government nor the courts should be involved in health care at all...that it should be best left to an individual, their family, and their doctor(s). But I also know that a sovereign nation...in this case Great Britain...has a right to have a health care system of their choosing without the butting in of let's say we across 'the pond'...especially when that health care system is the wishes of its own citizens.

So with that said, there is still something wrong when the law...when the government...has its citizens saying that both entities think themselves God. Would it have hurt them to let little Alfie go home to die...would it have hurt them to let his parents take him to Italy for a treatment that in all probability would not work? No, it would not but there is a caveat with that 'no' for it would have just postponed the inevitable dragging out little Alfie's suffering even more...dragging out the parents desperate hope for a cure that would not come. And while some say miracles do happen...which we all know they do...miracles were not in Alfie's future...not when one is basically both brain dead and encased in a body that simply does not work.

Yet even with Alfie's death his memory still leaves many, especially the religious, with questions that seem to have no answer...questions about medical ethics and who and when does one deem a life “not worth living.” Many Christians...especially Catholics which Alfie's parents were...saw in Alfie's case secularism run amok as they believe all life is worth living, but is it really life when it's just machines keeping someone alive. And is all life truly worth living especially when today's Catholic social teachings add to the discourse that preserving life should be “tempered by an awareness” that life should “not be artificially prolonged” in all cases...in other words God alone should make the decision of when to call someone 'home.'

“In the final analysis, it pertains to the conscience either of the sick person, or of those qualified to speak in the sick person’s name, or of the doctors, to decide, in the light of moral obligations and of the various aspects of the case.” The Catholic Church's Declaration on Euthanasia 
 
And that is what the doctors and the British courts did when they...not unlike King Solomon...weighed the wishes of the parents against the welfare of the child. And as much as it left broken hearts in its wake, I believe, they did the right thing in a case that really had no right or wrong for in the end little Alfie is now with God as God intended him always to be.

Rest in Everlasting Peace little angel...you are finally free.

Copyright @ 2018 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article Hey Liberals...Appropriate This

*******************************************************************************************************
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Today, Tuesday, May 8th from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss A Decision Not Unlike Solomon's; a new liberal catch phrase; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history

Op-ed:
‘Moderate’ muslims…a non-existent politically correct fabrication of the left
By: Diane Sori

The sharia…soft jihad against the West stealthily creeping its way into the fabric of our American society with its repressive laws and lack of freedoms. The sharia…the antithesis of everything our Constitution and Bill of Rights expounds. The sharia brings to the forefront the question...are there really any moderate muslims?

My answer to that question is a simple NO.

Islam…the supposed ‘religion of peace' is anything but for if one is a follower of islam one takes the words of the qur’an to heart as the words of god (little ‘g’ for allah is a false god and NOT the one true living God of we Christians and Jews), and lives those words as allah commands. And as allah commands means at least 109 verses that tell the followers of islam…the muslims…in NO uncertain terms to kill the infidels…meaning us…with few words...few verses that tolerate or accept non-believers.

The concepts of humiliation and denigration runs rampant within the qur’an’s verses leaving non-believers to either convert or die…it really does all boil down to that. So if one truly follows islam and the words of the qur’an one simply cannot be a ‘moderate’ muslim for moderate views do NOT call for the death of those who do NOT follow their ways.

The qur’an can be summed up in this one verse, Sura 9.5: “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.” 

In other words, convert or die…NOT moderation by any means.

And while some muslims in this country claim to be ‘secular’ or ‘moderate’ that concept is really non-existent for one cannot be secular and embrace Western culture and be a muslim embracing the qur’an's words to kill the infidels at the same time. Western culture separates organized religion from matters of state, while islam is all about control over every aspect of one’s life…from how one conducts oneself in terms of one’s religious life to how one is adjudicated punishment if one breaks the law. And here is where the sharia comes in as more and more supposed ‘moderate' muslim communities across the US are embracing said sharia as their governance of choice.

And how can ‘moderate’ muslims truly exist in any form when on 9/11 so-called ‘moderates’ were celebrating the deaths of 3000 Americans by dancing in the streets all across America. And those who did NOT outwardly celebrate remained silent in their condemnation of those that did. Silence can and does speak louder than words and in the so-called 'moderate's' silence then…and their continuing silence now…that silence speaks of condoning for if one does NOT vocally condemn one does indeed condone. And even today when an act of jihad does occur those supposed ‘moderate’ voices still remain silent. The silence of ‘moderate’ voices over Benghazi and the Boston Marathon Bombing are but two cases in point, as it sadly seems that the only thing keeping those who call themselves ‘moderates’ from outwardly supporting the jihadis is fear, and the fact that they are but a small minority of the American populace.

And that mindset must be changed above all else for silence against the jihadis will forever cast those who call themselves ‘moderates’ as outsiders…and rightly so.

The muslim countries, specifically those in the Middle East, show NO signs of secularism nor any signs of moderation…as islam continues to wrap its tentacles around every miniscule detail of its followers lives until it figuratively and sometimes literally squeezes the very life out of one’s body.

Here in America the outward signs might NOT be so obvious to the casual observer as muslims might work alongside us…send their children to our schools…go shopping in our stores...dress somewhat like us (the hajib 'head bag' and burqa 'garbage bag' do rear their ugly head on more and more occasions it seems) yet even those who call themselves ‘moderates’ want special allowances made for them just to call attention to themselves. Using attention seeking as a way to promote islam…as in do every and anything including lying and living falsely (taqiyya) to promote and integrate islam into our society…to take over our society…the so-called ‘moderates’ are actually following the commands set down in the qur’an and therefore are NOT ‘moderates’ at all.

In muslim society, even muslim society here in America’s muslim communities, individual freedoms continue to get lost amongst both the arbitrarily adjudicated rules of the sharia and the strict commands of the qur’an, while the traditions and worship practices that define religiousness will continue to keep muslims living here from ever becoming true ‘moderates’ in any sense of the word that we view moderate anything as being.

American society…both culturally, religiously, and politically…must NEVER accept the false concept of a ‘moderate’ muslim let alone a ‘moderate’ muslim society until those who call themselves ‘moderates’ stand up en-masse and shout in loud and clear voices their condemnation of the jihadis…of the extremists…of the mullahs and imams who spread hate and perpetrate violence…and who then must shout in those same loud and clear voices their love for and allegiance to America…to our Constitution…and to America’s rules of law alone.

And so while Barack HUSSEIN Obama (I will NOT call him president) continues to claim that “the United States is a Muslim nation” we know the truth in that lie as well as we know the truth that a ‘moderate’ muslim is a non-existent, politically correct fabrication of the left and probably will always remain so.