Posted on 03/31/2005 7:22:52 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (Reuters) - Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a wrenching dispute over her fate that drew in the Congress and President Bush, died on Thursday, a spokesman for the parents said.
"She's just died," said Brother Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk and spiritual adviser to the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who fought a seven-year legal battle to keep their daughter alive.
Schiavo, 41, died 13 days after her tube feeding was halted under order from a state court.
She had been in what courts ruled was a "persistent vegetative state" since her heart briefly stopped in 1990, depriving her brain of oxygen. Courts had long sided with her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, in ruling she would not have wanted to live like this and should be allowed to die.
But the Schindlers fought in courts to prolong their daughter's life and won support from an array of conservative Christians and right-to-life and anti-abortion activists.
The Republican-controlled Congress rushed through a special law after Schiavo's feeding was halted on March 18 to allow the parents to take their case from state courts into federal courts.
But the effort, which opinion polls showed was unpopular with most Americans, failed when federal judges refused the parents' request to order feeding resumed. The latest rebuff, from the U.S. Supreme Court, came late on Wednesday night.
Well, let's ask him then. So9, did you "support the murder of Terri Schiavo"? Is that an accurate portrayal of your position on this issue?
I see...you must believe that compassion has no place in the affairs of mankind...
Please. Jeb Bush had to decide to do the right thing or the politically correct thing.
And what about the point Mel Gibson made? When they wanted to get rid of Judge Moore it was a breeze but not this guy in Florida?
Your reply to me is in my opinion simply wrong headed. I should not have had to go to Florida. The people that were there should not have had to go there. It should have been an automatic and natural thing for everyone to recoil from this situation and save this woman.
Jeb Bush had the juice to do something. You can argue the nuances of the law but this woman was being murdered. And it was his duty as gov to do something about it. If Rosa Parks had thought like Jeb Bush she'd have stayed in the back of the bus.
By the way, I raised as much hell as I could from where I am. If I would have been gov of Florida I would not have cared what some judge said. That woman would have been fed. It's just common decency.
Bears repeating: Michael's current 'honey' needs to be aware that since Terri can no longer be the person he controls, she's next in line. His type of personality must have a perceived weaker person to dominate. Won't be long now. SHE may be able to shed light on this dark episode in lawless-jurisprudence when he starts abusing her AND her children.
You - 2. You gotta wonder who in the hell is interpreting our Constitution. Its NOT the Constitution of our fathers, and the change has come from these whack job Judges, who have sacraficed justice to the God of this world. Our system is in crisis. Changes need to be made.
POST 1 - Courts are deciding elections, abortion, illegal immigration entitlements, education funding, terrorist rights, the juvenile death penalty, to ignore Congress... We are a representative republic, people who want change vote for it, otherwise we work within the boundaries of our Constitution. The Bush's would be out of order in superseding the court just as it was in ignoring Congress.
What the other constitutional and/or state statutes did the Bush's have available to them? If none existed, why would they have been any better than the activist judge... had they superseded their authority?
I can't discuss anything with an irrational man.
If the "law" violates the Constitution they not only have the right but the responsibility to protect.
It is a dark day in America. And I assure you that darker days are coming as a result of this travesty of justice.
Gov. Bush has a duty to uphold the Constitution. I am of the opinion that the Gov. has no integrity or courage. He has certainly lost my respect. In the end, for Gov. Bush, politic's rather than our Constitution played a key roll in his decision to ignore the sanctity of Terri's life, and thus failed to protect her. He may have made an effort, but in the end Gov. Bush withheld his executive power to ultimately intervene at the most critical time in Terri's life.
Legalized murder of the unborn.
Any word of Lord and His Ten Commandments removed from our school's and public property.
Judges ordering the murder of innocent American's.
I pray that the Lord withhold his judgement on us and continue to show His mercy. This country surely deserves to be sentenced.
Also, my prayers go out to Mr/Mrs. Schindler and their loved ones.
Terri's husband and the men in black robes killed her. The Bush's did not do anything wrong.
Its our system. We've been warned all these years that somethig like this was going to happen. Warned by those dangerous priests and nuns standing outside the abortion clinics. Those radical whacky religious folks who warned us that the way we were allowing the courts to twist our Constitution would result in something like this or worse. We all just relaxed in our comfortable chairs, and changed the channel. We all share the guilt.
The Bush brothers are decent men. But they could have acted. The Judges could have too. We have allowed life to be determined on techicalities. There was more than enough cover for Executives to act, based on the Laws we have. Judges could have easily challenged the Clear and Convincing standard and interpretation. They didn't have the fortitude, or enough care to do it.
Regardless of what side you're on, this is a sad day.
I'm not going to throw dirt on anyone today...all I have to say is:
Mrs. Schiavo, may you find peace, love, freedom, happiness and light. And may all who loved her find comfort.
When confronted with a similar situation, President Clinton went to a friendly judge, got a warrant, and went into a private residence to snatch a child, all to curry favor with Fidel Castro, his boyhood idol. Clinton had a fawning press, so he got away with it. But it was technically legal. Bush could have done the same thing, and the only difference would have been that he would have had a scathingly hostile press. So what's new?
Well, if there is an investigation let us hope that it is not performed by those same individuals that allowed and/or sentenced Terri to die.
I will not go so far as to say that our country is a cesspool of corruption. Especially when you consider other countries such as Africa, India, and the like.
Your statement is true. It was inevitable. I hope that American's will not sit idly by and allow this to continue.
MyBad...country=county
So there are thousands of cases like Terri's? A woman who was placed in hospice even though she wasnt terminal? A woman who's only deviances from normal are brain damage and an inibility to swallow?
For all anyone knows, Terri had minimal thougths but the thoughts made her life more enjoyable than any of us knew. Yet we convict her to slow and painful death via malnutrition.
Let me say this again... We made a woman who was mentally disabled, had problems swallowing and wasn't able to communicate die a slow, agonizing death by refusing to administer food. A woman who needed no assistance in breathing or to keep her heart pumping, and we refused to allow her the basics of life which is small doses of food.
Even if you agreed with the rulings the method of which she was convicted to die was cruel and inhumane to any rational person.
May her soul rest in peace.
May Michael Schiavo never have a single moment of peace.
What are you talking about?
I know you have a well developed mind, but you seem to be lacking a well developed heart. Both are necessary to be human. Your post was very mean spirited, thats what I mean!
Please read things more carefully before you say such things. If you will track back, you will see that those were not my words.
I was responding to a challenge by a poster named general-ge to show any FReeper who was supporting Terri's murder, and I copied that post from another FReeper named Servant of the 9.
I think it's terrible what happened to Terri and her family.
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