Archives for 2005

The Judge has denied the request of the Schindler’s to re-insert the feeding tube, and the case will now go to the 11th Appeals Court.

In case you are still confused, this is not about Terri Schiavo and her ability to recover. This is not about Terri Schiavo getting rehab and returning to the world of the living. This is not about making sure that Terri Schiavo has receive due process.

The metanarrative of this story is one of religion, politics, and abortion, and that has been clear from the very beginning. I apologize to those of my readers who do honestly care about Terri Schiavo and her right to life, but that is not what this is about at all to those leading the fight to keep Terri Schiavo in her current condition:

Gibbs said that “fairly dramatic developments,” including a statement by Pope John Paul II that removing a feeding tube would be a sin except in rare instances, are proof that Schiavo’s constitutional rights to freely practice her religion are being infringed upon. Refusing to resume her tube-feeding would “jeopardize her eternal soul,” Gibbs said.

Felos tried to cast doubt on Gibbs’s religious-expression argument, pointing out that there was testimony at the 2001 trial that Schiavo “did not attend Mass regularly.”

Richard Doerflinger, vice president of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement on Monday praising Congress and Bush. “Terri is not terminally ill,” he said. “She is a woman with cognitive disabilities.”

Statements opposing the tube removal by the church’s pro-life committees have resonated with Roman Catholics here, as well as with the antiabortion activists who have taken up Schiavo’s cause. Gibbs has adopted the language of the antiabortion debate, repeatedly characterizing the Schiavo battle on Monday as “a pro-life case.”

When you think of the words ‘culture of life,’ they are not talking about the living. They are talking about the unborn- that is where this rhetoric has come from. Fostering a culture of life means ending abortion. Do a google search yourself. Here is one that uses the search “Bush + Culture + of + life + abortion.” Interesting, isn’t it?

This is not about Terri Schaivo- this is about religion and abortion. Read how this case got to where it is:

When a judge set last Friday as the deadline for removing Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, Ken Connor, a Florida trial lawyer and prominent Christian conservative who represented Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida on this issue, decided to appeal to a higher power, Congress.

He turned to an old acquaintance, Representative Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican and doctor, in a long-shot effort to persuade Congress to intervene. Convicted murderers have more chances to appeal to the federal courts than patients who are incapacitated, Mr. Connor argued…

Equally important were the last-minute decisions of two of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill – the Senate leader, Bill Frist, and the House leader, Tom DeLay – each of whom threw the full weight of their offices behind the effort.

On Friday, as the leaders of both chambers scrambled to try to stop the removal of Ms. Schiavo’s feeding tube, Mr. DeLay, a Texas Republican, turned his attention to social conservatives gathered at a Washington hotel and described what he viewed as the intertwined struggle to save Ms. Schiavo, expand the conservative movement and defend himself against accusations of ethical lapses.

“One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what is going on in America,” Mr. DeLay told a conference organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. A recording of the event was provided by the advocacy organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

“This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others,” Mr. DeLay said.

Mr. DeLay complained that “the other side” had figured out how “to defeat the conservative movement,” by waging personal attacks, linking with liberal organizations and persuading the national news media to report the story. He charged that “the whole syndicate” was “a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in.”

This is not about Terri Schiavo’s wishes. This is not about her ever enjoying a cup of coffee again, having an independent action or an independent thought. This is about politics, religion, and abortion:

In 2003, her plight became a cause in conservative and anti-abortion circles thanks partly to Governor Bush, who ordered doctors not to remove her feeding tube and picked Mr. Connor, a former president of the Family Research Council, to represent him.

By last summer, Ms. Schiavo had become so celebrated among Christian conservatives that her brother was a guest of honor at a rally for Catholics at the Republican National Convention in New York.

Eventually, the National Right to Life Committee worked with Dr. Weldon to sponsor a broad bill that would grant some incapacitated patients certain rights to appeal to federal courts.

I wish this was about Terri Schiavo. But it simply isn’t.

More here.

This IS a Religious IssuePost + Comments (7)

Couldn’t say this any better myself:

“Come down, President Bush,” Schiavo said in a telephone interview. “Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won’t do it.”

She won’t, Schiavo said, because she can’t…

He said U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is leading a charge to extend Terri Schiavo’s life, is a “little slithering snake” pandering for votes.

“To make comments that Terri would want to live, how do they know?” Schiavo said of the members of Congress who want to keep his wife alive.

“Have they ever met her?” Schiavo said. “What color are her eyes? What’s her middle name? What’s her favorite color? They don’t have any clue who Terri is. They should all be ashamed of themselves.”

Schiavo said he was going to stay at his wife’s side through the entire ordeal and said he wouldn’t back down in his fight to have her wishes carried out.

“Terri died 15 years ago,” Schiavo said, referring to the collapse and cardiac arrest that doctors say virtually destroyed her brain. “It’s time for her to be with the Lord like she wanted to be.”

About time his side is being presented in this circus.

In His Own DefensePost + Comments (5)

Before I lose all my regular readers because of my opinions on the Schiavo case, let me just state that I think that Democrats are still wrong on:

– taxes
– the military
– entitlements
– education
– foreign policy
– gun control
– affirmative action

It is precisely the fact that I believe so strongly in the individual- I believe that Americans will do the right thing when given a chance, especially with their family and loved ones- that this intervention by Congress into the lives of private citizens disgusts me so much. Well- the lying about Michael Schiavo and the rejection of medical science for hopes of miracles pisses me off, too. And the fact that my party seems so damned cozy using scum like Randall Terry and Bo Gritz. And the sheer cynicism of the outright pandering to the religious base, along with the damage this does to our public faith in government and the court system.

Alright- there are a lot of things my party is doing regarding this case that piss me off- but I still think of myself as a moderate Republican. So don’t make plans for me to leave the party yet. The party I know and love would respect the rights and human dignity of Terri and Michael Schiavo- they wouldn’t pretend to care about the due process rights of Terri Schiavo while waving her lifeless body around as a rallying call for right to life votes.

And now, in a post meant to explain why I am still a Republican, I have gone and probably pissed off all of MY base again. Sigh…

Just a ReminderPost + Comments (117)

You couldn’t pay me to be this guy:

Hours after President Bush signed legislation early today that would allow a federal court to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, a judge in Tampa began conducting a hearing to consider a request by her parents to reinsert her feeding tube.

The hearing before United States District Judge James D. Whittemore began shortly after 3 p.m., and continued a day of intense activity on many fronts to try to intervene in Ms. Schiavo’s case, which has ignited an emotional national debate over the right-to-die issue. On Sunday, Mr. Bush flew back to Washington from his Texas ranch to sign legislation that was approved by Congress in the early hours this morning.

He is not going to rule in favor of the Schindler’s and their Holy Warrior allies in Congress, and you watch- all hell is going to break loose. Despite the fact that there is simply no way this legislation could be validated, poor Judge Whittemore is going to destroyed in the next few days.

When waging jihad, you can’t worry about a little collateral damage, and that is what Whittemore will become, as will anyone else who dare stand in the way of the fight for the ‘culture of life.’ Why, he is a Clinton appointee! An Activist Judge! Out of control judiciary!

Terri Schiavo’s desires and the desires of her husband don’t matter. The Constitution be damned. Separation of powers be buggered. Federalism-Schmederalism. Check out this for shocking demagoguery:

Like other Republican lawmakers championing Schiavo’s bill, DeLay often suggests she is alert and potentially treatable.

“She talks and she laughs and she expresses likes and discomforts,” he said Sunday evening. “It won’t take a miracle to help Terri Schiavo. It will only take the medical care and therapy that patients require.”

People who lie this easily and openly and are this disconnected from the truth- people like this don’t care about pesky things like facts, and they certainly don’t care about destroying someone like Michael Schiavo, and as you shall soon see, United States District Judge James D. Whittmore.

I am truly sad for my Republican party.

You Couldn’t Pay MePost + Comments (42)