LOL! You have such a way with words. ;o)
In her purse? LOL! I think she'd make a wallet out of them. ;-)
I was just reading on another thread that Ann Coulter mentions Terri in her column.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35577 Remove Dennis Kucinich's
feeding tube!
Posted: November 13, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 Universal Press Syndicate
In the current battle over whether to remove the
feeding tube from Florida woman Terri Schiavo,
the basic positions are:
She is in a permanent vegetative state; no
she's not.
She is unconscious and does not react to
stimuli; yes she does.
She will never get any better; yes she will.
She would not have wanted to be kept on a
feeding tube; you don't know that.
The only thing everyone seems to agree on is that
the husband is creepy. Terri's parents are fighting
like mad to keep Terri alive. The husband, Michael
Schiavo, is living with another woman with
whom he has one child and is expecting another.
Yet he has mounted a monumental crusade to
have Terri's feeding tube removed.
Terri is not brain-dead and requires no
extraordinary means to be kept alive. She is
breathing, her heart is pumping, her organs are
functioning. All she needs is food and water. (Of
course, all three are technically true of Kate Moss,
too.) But her husband wants to starve her to
death. As Larry King asked him, why not "walk
away"?
That is the eternal mystery of this case. Assuming
everything Michael says about Terri is true – she
has no consciousness, she will never recover, and
she would not want to live with feeding tubes –
well, then, she's not in pain, bored, angry or upset.
Dennis Kucinich has been in a persistent
vegetative state for 20 years – how about not
feeding him? Why is Michael Schiavo so obsessed
with pulling Terri's feeding tube? Why can't he
just walk away?
Michael's answer to Larry King was this: "Why
should I, Larry? This is Terri's wish. This is Terri's
choice." As King pointed out, Terri's alleged
"wish" was not memorialized anywhere in
writing, only in Michael's memory. Michael
responded to this point by invoking the courts:
"It's been decided for six years of litigation that
this was Terri's wish."
I note that "six years of litigation" is not enough to
end the lives of child-molesting serial killers on
death row. The same people who want to kill Terri
believe that death-row cases are never final, no
matter how many courts and juries have spoken
over how many decades.
Moreover, it's not as if court after court has heard
testimony on Terri's wishes and have all
unanimously agreed that Terri would have chosen
death. One lone Florida circuit court judge, George
Greer, credited Michael's testimony, finding "clear
and convincing" evidence that Terri said she
would not want to be kept alive on feeding tubes.
Because Judge Greer was acting as the finder of
fact, his finding is essentially unreviewable by any
other court. Even the notorious Florida Supreme
Court – which has a history of jumping in to try to
save a dead man – refused to review the case.
Judge Greer's finding on Terri's wishes may be
immune from legal review, but it's not immune
from criticism. He's a finder of fact – he's not God.
A few years ago, Judge Greer found that Helene
Ball McGee did not have reasonable cause to
believe domestic violence was imminent and
denied her an order of protection. Two weeks
later, Mrs. McGee was stabbed to death by her
husband. So judges can make mistakes.
Judge Greer's pivotal "finding of fact" in the
Schiavo case determining a life-or-death issue is
based on something Terri allegedly said after
watching a TV show. Michael didn't know his
wife was bulimic, but he distinctly remembered
Terri's remarks about a TV show. (It was an
episode of "Melrose Place," during which she said
that Heather Locklear's shoes were "to die for.")
After watching "Bambi," I'm against deer hunting.
Then I go out the next day and order venison.
Maybe we could have a higher standard of proof
before the government orders a woman to die.
Despite Michael's insistence that he has a vivid
memory of Terri expressing her wishes regarding
death, note this exchange on "Larry King Live":
KING: I have a 35-year-old daughter. I've never
asked her this question. I don't know if she has a
living will. I hope she does. But if she doesn't, I
don't know the answer to the question. Because
most 35-year-olds, I guess, don't talk about it.
SCHIAVO: Nobody talks about death, Larry.
Michael apparently forgot to add – except for that
one night I remember so clearly, Larry, when my
wife, Terri, talked to me about death and
expressed her firmly held desire not to be kept
alive on a feeding tube.
If you start making damning admissions on "Larry
King Live" – with your lawyer sitting next to you,
no less – you have a problem. Larry King can
interview Louis Farrakhan and make him look like
a charmer.
As even the New York Times admits, Michael did
not recall Terri's clearly stated desire to be taken
off life support until after the million-dollar
settlement was paid, most of it going for Terri's
medical costs – and the remainder to her husband.
What offhand comments might Terri have made if
she had read in the Baltimore Sun about Rod
Brandner, who indicated that he was coming out
of a coma by squeezing his son's hand in response
to questions less than two hours before his life
support system was to be turned off?
Or what if she had read the Associated Press news
story on Chris Trickle, who lost 5 percent of his
brain when he was shot in the head, but later
came out of a nine-month coma to breathe on his
own, eat three meals a day, and tell his girlfriend
he loved her?
What would Terri have said after hearing that
Gregory Dygas' mother refused to believe the
doctors' assurances that Gregory was brain-dead
and should be taken off life support, and six
months later watched as Gregory sat up, talked
and watched television?
What offhand remarks might Terri have made
after reading about Terry Wallis, the Canadian
man who just last summer awoke from a 19-year
coma?
Or how about that case in Minnesota last year
where the guy who'd been in a coma for decades
suddenly reappeared and ran for Senate? What
was his name? Walter Mondale?
(Note for the record: I want heroic measures taken
to keep me alive, and I demand the immediate
arrest of anyone trying to remove my life support.)
In the absence of a living will, I would think the
courts ought to be erring on the side of life. But
short of that, couldn't we at least all agree that the
courts should not defer to the pull-the-plug
demands from anyone who:
1.expresses an unseemly enthusiasm for
another person's death;
2.was the only person present when the
incident leading to the persistent vegetative
state occurred;
3.stands to make money off the person's
death; or
4.is wearing a "W.W.C.V.B.D.?" (what would
Claus von Bulow do?) bracelet?
Special Offer!
Ann Coulter's newest blockbuster is here!
"Treason" contends that liberals have been wrong
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available through WorldNetDaily's online store!
Ann Coulter, well-known for her television
appearances as a political analyst, is an attorney and
author. Dubbed "one of the 20 most fascinating
women in politics" by George magazine, Coulter has
appeared on ABC's "This Week," "Good Morning
America," NBC's "Today," "Politically Incorrect with
Bill Maher," CNN's "Larry King Live" and CNBC's
"Rivera Live."
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