Terri's Day and nation's independence protects life culture

Renew America ^ | May 29, 2006 | Kevin Fobbs

[KevinNuPac]

Terri's Day and nation's independence protects life culture

Kevin Fobbs May 29, 2006

America's Culture of Life is truly the legacy of one woman whose death forever changed our nation because of actions that were not in her hands but in those of her husband and his lawyers. Yet for millions of Americans we will forever link our own celebration of our nation's independence to the courage of the Schindler family to go forward past the tragedy, past the personal sorrow, past the searing anguish to help America draw a distinct line in the sand, to issue a clarion call to America.

Our 4th of July is coming... Our Culture of Life Independence Day is on its way. Our month of Independence is a message that March 31st (Terri's Day) will signal, that July 4th will signal... and that the month of July will signal to defend the Culture of Life before we lose it forever.

When we talked with our family members or even our neighbors or our friends we may have spent but a moment reflecting upon why we are even gathered on a Memorial Day afternoon. Do we think about the sacrifice of our soldiers and of their families? Do we think about the long goodbyes which are never long enough... as the military families send their loved ones to war, to battle, to stand firm for our freedoms... for our life... for our nation and its values of faith?

How does Terri Schiavo and her legacy tie into this? Terri's legacy and Terri's Day is a representation of a right to live, and freedom to have the liberty to not have it compromised away, devalued by inconvenience, or litigated away by judges who celebrate a culture of death that would rob life from the womb, steal life from a hospital or hospice bed, and destroy and shatter a family's love for a daughter, a sister and aunt who was given a gift from God, but had it separated from her as easily as an ant would have its life take by an uncaring shoe... extinguished forever.

The families who send their loved ones off to war have to wonder as well, does America value their sacrifice? The families of the military have to wonder just where does its society draw the line on its values? A soldier who is in battle in Iraq or Afghanistan has to wonder if a Florida judge can take away the life of an innocent, what is the measure of his life? Would a judge in America suddenly decide that if he were injured, if he had to sacrifice a limb that the protesters outside his hospital bed would have more rights than he would or his family? Would this soldier have to wonder that if he or his fellow soldier were killed in battle, that upon their return that the protesters who would stand outside of his funeral... have more rights to be protected than the rights his family would have to a military burial with honor?

You see, the Culture of Life is about Terri Schiavo, because Americans now have to examine the life of our culture itself. We have to wonder if we as a nation of Christians and of a nation of faith and of a nation of compassion would allow for a state to murder an innocent woman and strip her family of their loved one then as a nation would we allow America to have other symbols of life, of our nation to be peeled away as well, all in open sight and in plain view of a dispassionate nation?

What does our American Culture mean if we allow millions of illegal aliens to literally browbeat us into submission by demanding that because they have stolen across our borders, demanded and received protection from local law enforcement in numerous cities throughout the U. S., obtained free or reduced educational opportunities by state public colleges that our own children could not qualify to receive the same financial aid assistance for. Are we that defenseless to let illegals strip our state coffers of housing assistance for loans and mortgages when tens of thousands in almost every state in America have legal citizens who are homeless, impoverished, or working poor or middle class Americans who need similar assistance but cannot receive it. And they are legal! They are citizens! They are Americans.

What is so wrong about our nation when we are so ready to compromise our freedoms, our culture's life, the life of an innocent and the taking of any life is the taking of our own children's life and their child's. And with each successive generation the nation and its life, its values, its traditions, and its language will disappear because we as Americans were too preoccupied — too narrow — to see that an illegal alien was taking your child's education, that a crusading death culture judge was preparing a bed, a room, a legal precedent to take your child, grandchild or sister or parent.

That is why I have stayed my course to defend the Culture of Life and to ask my fellow Americans to begin to understand that as Terri Schiavo's life was slowly ebbing from her body and as her mother Mary, father Bob, sister Suzanne, and brother Bobby waited in the Florida early morning air on March 31st, 2005, America was having part of its soul ebb away as well.

What will it take to spark an interest, a concern, and a passion for protecting one's own life? Some may say that it would take a clear and present danger — like tanks rolling down your neighborhood street or another 9/11 that strikes at the heart of America. Do we have the convenience to wait? Do we wait until a state legislature in Maine or California or Delaware or Ohio or Illinois decides that your mother's decision to live is determined by a hospital "bean counter" who decides that your mother's life is not based upon a "Will To Live" but an ability to pay her bill? What about a baby, not born, but already set for murder in the womb — not because the mother is pro-life or pro-death but because "the law" says the unborn baby's life is expendable because the baby's genes are determined to be part of a class or a group or a race or of an ethnicity which pre-programs the child, un-born, to death?

America is being murdered in small pieces. It is seeing its values, its life, its culture disemboweled with the finesse of a skilled surgeon. And it is America's poll takers and its legislators and its uncaring, disinterested, and uninvolved who are handling the scalpel. Take the scalpel away. Contact www.Terrisfight.org to join the Foundation's battle to educate America about the right to live. Go to Terri's Day on www.kevinfobbs.com to learn about new updates on Terri's Day and the event to celebrate the Culture of life.

So on Independence Day and Independence month of July will we have any Americans who will sign up and join the Culture of Life movement in their community? Even if it is to sign a pledge, hand out a flyer, become aware of legislators and judicial candidates who have agreed to stand firm for the Culture of Life — a crusade that is based not only upon the life of Terri Schiavo's legacy but equally crucial based also upon the legacy of the right to live, to defend our culture and the life of its values.

Terri's Day is not the end of a national movement but the beginning of a national contract with itself to stand for a future that our nation can guarantee for its children and for a culture that will insure life. The right to live will be Terri's legacy — our legacy... one nation under God. Join us in your homes, on your family picnics, out camping and celebrating July 14th and 15th ... Our American Culture of Life belongs to each and every one of us... We must protect it. Let's celebrate together.

Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. View NuPac on the web at www.nupac.info. Kevin Fobbs is a regular contributing columnist for the Detroit News. He is also the host of The Kevin Fobbs Show: go to: ,www.kevinfobbs.com. To contact him go to: kevin@kevinfobbs.com.

© Copyright 2006 by Kevin Fobbs http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/fobbs/060529

[T'wit]

>> So where's your proof that the three of them forgot?

:-) :-) I didn't say they did. You made that up. You do that a lot.

[supercat]

Terri failed three prior swallow tests. What makes you say a fourth would work? If four failed, then try five? Five fail, then six?

A person will "fail" a swallowing test if there person giving it judges there to be a significant risk of aspiration. Given today's litigious society, a person making such an assessment would be apt to, if anything, err on the side of "failing" the patient.

That a doctor finds a patient would be more safely served by a feeding tube than by oral feeding/hydration does not imply that oral feeding/hydration would necessarily fail--merely that it would not generally be worth the risk.

If a doctor judged Terri's chance of surviving on oral hydration to be 1%, the doctor would almost certainly have deemed Terri to have "failed" the swallow test. On the other hand, even if Terri's odds of survival would only have been 1 in 100, would there be any reason not to give her that chance given that the alternative would be, with 100% certainty, a very painful death?

[robertpaulsen]

"On the other hand, even if Terri's odds of survival would only have been 1 in 100"

Ah. But they weren't. The doctor never said there was a 1% chance of survival on oral hydration -- he said there was 0%. Three times over three years he said zero percent.

[robertpaulsen]

So, by your own admission, they never forgot what Terri told them about not wanting to live that way.

Well, finally we agree on something. How about that?

(Next time you'll learn not to be so cute with your words. Next time, just claim they made it up -- which is what you think happened. Grow a pair and say what you think next time, rather than repeating the "suddenly they remembered" phrase you picked up from the Terri blogs.)

[supercat]

Three times over three years he said zero percent.

What was he asked to decide, and for what reason? And what exactly did he say?

Also, what harm could have befallen Terri from having a doctor try to give her water that would have been any worse than the certain harm she faced without such efforts?

[killjoy]

This one was already tried by one of your allies.

I dont know robertpaulsen and have never read any of his posts before. I already told you that I was interested in finding out more information about the case. Instead of helping me, you simply ridiculed me and called me a troll. If that is your usual way of responding to people who are interested in the case, it is no wonder the issue is so divided.

[robertpaulsen]

"What was he asked to decide, and for what reason? And what exactly did he say?"

Dr. Barnhill used phrases such as, "it was impossible" and "in no way" when referring to whether Terri could receive enough nutrition by mouth.

There was a petition in March, 2000 to do another swallow test. All of this was summarized here.

"Also, what harm could have befallen Terri from having a doctor try to give her water that would have been any worse than the certain harm she faced without such efforts?"

Given water, why? That's not sufficient to maintain life.

You're essentially advocating another swallow test, justifying it by asking, "What's the harm?". The response to that is equally simplistic, "What's the use?".

[T'wit]

>> So, by your own admission, they never forgot what Terri told them about not wanting to live that way.

What the heck are you babbling about? I didn't say anything remotely like that.

>> Well, finally we agree on something. How about that?

Maybe we do, but this ain't it.

[T'wit]

>> Instead of helping me, you simply ridiculed me and called me a troll.

Garbage. A lot of people went out of their way to help you and give you information. You insult them all with this jive.

[robertpaulsen]

"I didn't say anything remotely like that."

Me: So you're saying they forgot?
You: No. Are you?

Me: They forgot, then they remembered -- that's what your claiming?
You: No.

Me: So where's your proof that the three of them forgot?
You: I didn't say they did.

Three times in three different posts you admitted they didn't forget that Terri told them she didn't want to live that way. It's right there, plain as day. How else am I to read those posts?

[T'wit]

You will note below that the linked summary was a George Greer order. The same George Greer who refused to let Terri have any swallowing therapy. The same who ignored literally dozens of affidavits from doctors, therapists and other medical professionals who believed that Terri could be helped. The same who refused to let her have even ice chips to ease her agony when he put her to death.

[T'wit]

>> Three times in three different posts you admitted they didn't forget that Terri told them she didn't want to live that way

I really do not think you are able to read. Three times in three posts you asked if I were saying this or this or this. Three times I replied "no," because, of course, I wasn't.

[killjoy]

A lot of people went out of their way to help you and give you information.

I am still waiting for anyone to provide me with a link to an intelligent debate on the subject.

[8mmMauser]

"Qui s'excuse s'accuse"

You showed your interest in that subject with your very first post, the one echoed by robertpaulson and continued it throughout in tone and in similar logic pattern. That also makes you allies in action and now since both of you are here, more and more like a tag team here to disrupt. Had you ever sincerely meant those words you uttered, you would have responded differently. It is not my way of responding to those interested truly in the case, but after given a reasonable chance, it is my way to respond to people with dark motive. Clearly nothing we would offer, and we did, would interest you in the slightest, would be brushed aside as you pursued your agenda. That is the way liberals act. I have nothing more to say to you except what I said last time.

Buh bye.

[8mmMauser]

How about that. If you don't want me here screwing up your Terri-bot circle jerk, then blame T'wit.

First you call us names and the later you call a freeper an idiot. If we are Terri-bots, what are you, a death-bot? You are polluting threads of decent people who are pro-life, who are interested in saving others from State sponsored killings and you are spreading your sourpuss reputation beyond WOD and here to those who have decent motives. I don't ping disruptors.

You illustrate your motives with each pseudo-intellectual response, equating argumentative sarcasm with intelligence, a sign clearly of your intent. We persist as a pro-life thread in a pro-life forum. You persist as a death-bot.

[8mmMauser]

From North Country Gazette, June Maxam...

Strangulation is defined as a form of asphyxia, lack of oxygen, characterized by closure of the blood vessels and/or air passages as a result of external pressure on the neck.

It is indisputable that at age 26, Terri Schindler Schiavo sustained brain damage as the result of a suspicious incident at her Florida home which occurred sometime during the evening of Feb. 24, 1990, or the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 1990, which resulted in the deprivation of oxygen to her brain for four to six minutes.

In a manual entitled "Emergency Care for Choke Holds", John Boulay of Quebec, Canada, explains the physiology of choking. The amount of pressure directed to the superior carotid triangle of the neck and needed to render an adult unconscious is no more than 300 mm Hg. A proper performed choke, stated in general terms, requires no great amount of strength. Boulay's revised article was published in "Coaching Review" Ottawa, Ontario,

Classic Signs of Strangulation Exist In Schiavo Case

8mm

(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to May 17.)



Terri on the road to recovery before the second stage began.

[8mmMauser]

Tales from the other side...

...............

Let us recall how the Bush/Frist GOP utterly savaged Michael, gleefully joined by its handmaidens at Fox news, the latter of which virtually drove the hysteria , with no little bit of assistance from some pro-Bush blogs. Armed with absurd conspiracy theories, pure lies and faux experts, as well as outrageous and repugnant accusations (“Sean Hannity accused Schiavo of abusing and possibly killing his wife while broadcasting Hannity & Colmes from outside Terri Schiavo's Hospice”), the GOP and its media minions turned a family tragedy that was being competently and properly adjudicated in the Florida Courts by a Republican probate judge, into a fevered national circus.

Michael Schiavo’s Evolution into a Republican Kos Kid: Harbinger for Libertarians?

8mm

[mtbopfuyn]

competently and properly adjudicated in the Florida Courts by a Republican probate judge

Does Greer have a living will?

[robertpaulsen]

"who are interested in saving others from State sponsored killings"

Then what are YOU doing on a Terri Schiavo thread? If that is indeed your goal, then I have much more reason to be here than you!

I'm here because you're here. When you vomit your santimonious pro-life fanaticism in a thread about a human being who simply wanted to die in privacy and dignity, well, I have this urge to speak out. Thanks to you and your nosy, busybody ilk, Terri had neither.

It would be one thing if you (general "you") were basing your comments on the facts of this case -- but you're not. What keeps me busy on these threads is addressing and correcting the lists of lies, innuendos, gossip, rumors, insinuations, character assassinations, and outright evil venom I see posted here.

You're against state-sponsored euthanasia? Guess what? So am I. What, pray tell, does THAT have to do with Terri Schiavo?

Saying you have a "decent motive" is no excuse for the garbage I see posted on these Terri threads. You should all be ashamed. You emotion-based rhetoric is better suited on a site like DU than FR.

[8mmMauser]

Then what are YOU doing on a Terri Schiavo thread? If that is indeed your goal, then I have much more reason to be here than you!

Duhhhh.

Fighting for the lives of people like Terri really gets your goat, huh?

Do you spout anything in addition to invectives to try to sound intelligent? Are you a death-bot?