Posted on 06/05/2005 11:45:26 AM PDT by 8mmMauser
"Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life," by Harriet McBryde Johnson.
About two years ago, Harriet Johnson appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. If you saw her portrait, you probably haven't forgotten it.
A thin woman in a wheelchair leans forward, a purple shawl draping one shoulder. Johnson describes it this way in her new memoir: "The portrait has been described as beautifully disturbing, and most nondisabled people seem to see it that way. I'd prefer to call it disturbingly beautiful, but I'll take it the other way around if I must."
Johnson has an unnamed muscle-wasting disease, but don't dare say she "suffers" from it. She insists on being her own complicated person, a Southern lady, for instance, as well as a socialist, an atheist, a lawyer and a born storyteller with a wicked sense of humor.
She eschews pity and sentimentality. She supports the work of Not Dead Yet, a group of anti-euthanasia activists who demonstrated outside Terri Schiavo's Pinellas Park hospice earlier this year, dramatically sliding out of their wheelchairs and lying on the ground.
And though Johnson hates the hackneyed trope of triumph in the face of disability, she nevertheless has a string of interesting adventures. She runs for elected office. She travels to Cuba to discuss disability rights. She protests the Jerry Lewis telethon annually in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., and she bribes her friends to join her with promises of free food.
Her gripe with the telethon is its grim prognostications. When she was 30, her mother became ill, and Johnson had to accept for the first time that, contrary to all expectations, she might indeed outlive her parents. "While anyone may die young, it's not something you can count on," she writes. "You have to be prepared to survive." It's that angry, proud but utterly normal brand of survival that is at the heart of Johnson's memoir.
The most fascinating chapter is her encounter with the philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer. (It was this encounter that rated The New York Times Magazine cover.) Singer believes that in some cases it is morally acceptable for parents to kill severely disabled infants. Johnson disagrees, so much so that she fears even debating him would dignify his ideas as socially acceptable. Nevertheless, she meets him, travels to Princeton University to debate him and ends up with a great story about it.
The best memoirs don't necessarily tell every event in a person's life, but they do capture the voice and the emotional feel of the author. Yes, it's impossible for a nondisabled person to fully know what Johnson's life is like. But her writing is so vibrant, so interesting and so funny that you can't help but feel as if you're in her world, sitting beside her and hearing her story for yourself.
A good description of Michael Schiavo. He lived off her paycheck when he was unemployed, he lived off of her Prudential benefits after she "collapsed," he cashed her life insurance for himself while she was alive, he stole her wedding rings for himself, he misused her therapy money to hire lawyers to kill her, and now he's peddling a book about her while she's freshly in her grave.
A good description of Michael Schiavo.
Your hopelessly bitter about the husband. He doesn't care what you think. Like your own life.
Like your own life. = Live your own life. Maybe you should like it too.
My feelings are not involved. I stated six specific facts to support the statement that Michael Schiavo lived off Terri and exploited her injury. So far as I have ascertained, all six are true. You attempt no refutation, so readers must assume that you agree.
Good morning again, flaglady, glad you are back. Just can't say goodbye. Well, that is interesting. And it keeps our topic on the front burner at that. Thank you.
Maybe you like our choir here and like to help us all sing. Something draws you to this topic even though you claim otherwise. Maybe you are being drawn to truth.
Maybe it is about flags. Being Independence Day just past and all, I like and fly our American Flag and the POW one. Since you have flag in your screen name, you must like flags, too. What is your favorite flag?
There was a lady at Pinellas Park, coming from Clearwater, who had similar comments to your own, and the travesty wasn't even unfolding yet. Something about a flag, there, too. But she really liked what Michael did. I found her interesting, too, didn't know beans about Xenu and all that stuff.
But if you like to hang around here, we can show you some truths even the lady from Clearwater had to recognize.
8mm
Good morning again, flaglady, glad you are back. Just can't say goodbye.
And a good morning it is indeed. The Frogs (French) have just been beat out by London for the 2012 Olympics, and that is a wonderful thing. So good morning, and now au revoir (poor little Frogs); heading over to the Olympics thread; infinitely more interesting. Cheerio.
so readers must assume that you agree.
Don't you wish. You are so aptly named. I know it's probably impossible for you to deal with other news than Schiavo, but the French just got squashed by the Brits in that the Brits are getting the 2012 Olympics. Does my heart good. So, agree, disagree, means nothing at the moment. I'm in such a jolly good mood that the Frogs lost to the Brits. Ta ta.
Another bad guess. What you or I think, feel or wish has nothing to do with facts.
I put forward six facts to support a statement that Michael Schiavo lived off his wife, exploited her injury and now is attempting to profit from her death with a book.
Twice you have been personal in your reply. Twice you have ducked the question. Twice, therefore, you have told anyone reading this thread that you cannot or will not meet the point I made.
Have a nice life.
I put forward six facts
Six facts that exist only in your imagination. See court transcripts for actual facts.
If you truly want to stand on conservative principles, then now is the time to show that.
Let's see your true conservative colors, on an issue of enormous importance, not only to the Pub party, but to the very philosophical shape of our nation for years to come. Here is where you will make your imprint. Will it be a wimpy one, or a strong one?
We'd like you to join us. (Jim Robinson is)
I suggest you all ignore flaglady! She isn't worth your time to respond to her stupidity!
"She" -- one may doubt that flaglady has revealed his or her sex -- is generous in letting me make all the points I wish without any refutation whatsoever. It's a nice "bump" of sorts.
The public should take particular note of Michael Schiavo's nauseating effort to profit from killing his wife. He exploited her mercilessly while she was alive, now he's racing to cash in on her execution by marketing his book almost before her body is cold.
Yes, that's where they came from, in particular, Michael's depositions. His testimony is inconsistent but according to his depositions, he worked rarely or not at all from the time of Terri's unexplained injury in February, 1990, until 1996. In that period, Prudential paid Terri's salary for a year. Michael took it. Prudential paid something for disability. Michael took that too and then sued the company for rehab funds. He was allowed a cash value for Terri's life insurance from Prudential, which he kept. He affirmed in testimony that he had taken Terri's wedding rings off her finger to make jewelry for himself. And, of course, he petitioned the court to use Terri's rehabilitation trust fund to pay lawyers, instead, to put Terri to death, which, eventually, they did. The Felos law firm walked off with something like half a million dollars that was awarded by a jury for Terri's rehabilitation, but never was used for rehab. That's all public record.
The sixth fact, about his efforts to peddle a book and make a few more bucks out of killing his wife, is current news.
In fact, let's ignore anyone who disagrees with us, even when they present great quantities of evidence contradicting our mistaken beliefs! Let's put our fingers in our ears and hum, and say loudly, "I don't hear you! I don't hear you!"
LOL!
Well that is the post of the day! After reading your invectives on other posts, I was wondering how you managed it!
I never saw such a frank, unabashed and accurate admission in ages. Congratulations.
8mm
Accuracy in the Media hit a nerve. The Schiavo Autopsy Results: Terri Dailies July 6
Then let me make it worth that scumbag's while...let me add that I believe he is a sociopath, a man in need of psychotropic drugs, cruel beyond measure, a concubine porking screwing hustler who has only just begun to understand the price he will forever pay for murdering Terri.....public scorn for the rest of his life. He is a murderer, and felos and greer are accessories in a manipulative abuse of justice that allowed them to fulfill michael's deepest wish.
"Then let me make it worth that scumbag's while...let me add that I believe he is a sociopath, a man in need of psychotropic drugs, cruel beyond measure, a concubine porking screwing hustler who has only just begun to understand the price he will forever pay for murdering Terri.....public scorn for the rest of his life. He is a murderer, and felos and greer are accessories in a manipulative abuse of justice that allowed them to fulfill michael's deepest wish."
Tsk, tsk, a whole string of insults in a row. Not practicing what you preach here, are you. The old pot calling the kettle black syndrome. Could you please be a little bit more vituperative? I don't believe you quite captured the essence of what you were trying to say. A little more vehemence, please.
You are invited to visit the July dailies thread. It comes with lots of new developments and a whole new set of disruptors and tormenters trying to derail and put to rest the Terri legacy. They wish.........
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1437721/posts?page=1157
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