What should the President do about Schiavo? (legally/vanity)

self | today | me

[dufekin]

Judge George Greer, the Supreme Law in the State of Florida, has removed all of the abilities of Governor Jeb Bush to save Terri Schiavo. I don't know that anyone could save her at this point; a week of dehydration may have done irreversible damage. Still, we must try.

The Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, states,

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Congress is so lethargic and dominated by pro-death Democrats that it surely will not exercise its power in a reasonable time, and its last attempt ended in failure. Contrary to the orders of Judge Greer, Terri Schiavo is not (medically) a xerophyte who can wait until next year for some water. She desperately needs water today.

Florida is bound by the Fourteenth Amendment, and the federal government required the state to accept this article to regain its status as a state after the American Civil War. The State's obvious flouting of its obilgations under the Fourteenth Amendment should rescind the provisions of the Compromise of 1877 that lifted the federal military occupation of Florida during the Reconstruction after the Civil War.

The Congress should have exercised its delegated (Article I, Section 8) power "To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions." Moreover, "The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States" (Article II, Section 2). The President also swore or affirmed that he would "to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" (Article II, Section 1).

These powers should allow President Bush to declare a judicial insurrection in Florida, and thereby to call forth both the Florida National Guard and any regular troops in the vicinity to suppress this insurrection.

Suppressing this insurrection must involve--at minimum--rescuing Terri Schiavo and airlifting her to a military hospital in another state. The troops also must hunt down Judge George Greer, Attorney George Felos, and adulterer Michael Schiavo, the triumvirate who started this incurrection.

Alternatively, the President could use the José Padilla precedent to declare Terri Schiavo an enemy combatant. While this action would remove the jurisdiction of the Courts over Terri Schiavo and remove her abusive husband from the equation, it might set the Padilla problems on even more shaky grounds, and I do not advise it.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I'm still not convinced that the Bush brothers have the constitutional power to save her, but I'm certainly not convinced they don't. If they can, they darn well better!

I'm really waiting to hear something intelligent on behalf of the Bush family. All I'm noticing is appeals for 'unity'. That doesn't cut it. Unity is a two-way street. FReegards....

[jpsb]

yea abortion as a means of birth control is yet another evil permitted by our government, however this one is a shocker at least to me. I only started posting in the Terry threads when I realized that the state really was going to murder this poor woman. I never for a second thought that was going to happen.

Well this does it for me, the only reason I voted for Bush this time around was because of Judges, I thought it was important to get conservative Judges on the court, but guess what Greeer is a Republican. Jeb is a Republican, W is a republican, Fla legislature is controlled by Republicans, Congress is controlled by republicans, the entire freakin government is republican and evil wins again. Seems to me republicans ain't so good after all.

I understand Bushs poll numbers are droping like a rock, think there is a connection? Wait until this poor woman dies. I may be wrong but I think the GOP failure to be effective on issue after issue after issue, makes them a poor choice for elected office.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"If they are not fighting for Life, Liberty, and Property,its frightening to think what they are fighting for."

Well said!

[Delphinium]

Her right is inalianable.

You are absolutely right.

And the one who gave her this right is watching.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

A lot of people will agree with you regarding the GOP. We need to TAKE CONTROL of the GOP. We CAN take control of it. The party is not its leaders. The party is it's voters. We owe it to the fine people who vote GOP to take control of it. PRIMARIES.

FReegards....

[4integrity]

'..tired of the lunacy..'

Thank you, Dog Gone! President Bush is not a coward! I believe he and JEB have sincerely tried to help Terri and they have done much more than other would have....because they are caring people and they do have the courage of their convictions. If W or JEB took drastic action, such as forcibly removing Terri and subsequently face impeachment or other legal problems, who would then "ACT" to help them? During the campaign, so called Republicans "talked a good show" but were either too complacent or lazy to actively DO anything. How many Americans are calling Senators to try to DO SOMETHING about the threatened judicial filibusters? So many want W or JEB to put their necks on the line but who would physically stand next to them if they needed help? Sorry for ranting....I, too, am upset by Terri's situation and I believe judges are a large part of the problems in our country......but, our President is a good man and we are lucky to have him! Anyone who feels strongly about the judicial situation, should join FR's March for Justice on April 7th in DC.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"And the one who gave her this right [the inalianable right to life] is watching."

And that same One is watching us. Who is our god? The court rooms? Or is God in all of us in need? What you do for the least of His, you do for Him. He was thirsty, and we did not give Him drink. So we better have a darn good reason for not doing it. The 'Almighty Law' is no excuse. We have only One true master.

Our founding fathers went livid over a petty, paltry tea tax. This is what America is built on. God bless THAT America, not this pathetic mockery of America.

[Will_Zurmacht]

ok, fair enough.

Then maybe this afternoon you can go to a V.A. home and mock their patriotism too.

After all, they aren't as "American" and "Christian" as you because they won't roll their little wheelchairs over to the computer keyboard and join you in your "Fight for Terri"......hehe

Take care everyone, I wish you all the best.
I'd much rather work on my old VW and talk to my neighbors than consider what this board has become.

Happy Easter

[ElkGroveDan]

I think if pro-lifers leave the GOP over this, they are stupid.

What makes you think proliofers ever identified themselves as "the GOP" anyway? Devout prolifers vote prolife. Period. The RINO "where are they going to go?" crowd never understand this.

[4integrity]

is that the same Kerry that didn't support going into Iraq....even tho hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people were being killed by Saddam?

[not_apathetic_anymore]

I am not a single issue voter, and neither are most people on the "Right".

I actually did give thought to how to say that in the least inflammatory way, and ended up with that wording. I've seen more than one FReeper say if terri dies - no more republican votes. To me that seems to be a single issue voter.

I have personally only heard people say that she should live and the parents should be able to care for her.

As I've talked to the people I know that's where where we start as a "wish". But then they keep talking and end up saying that the government should stay out of it - and it IS the husbands right to decide. Again, I try to suggest some of the conflict of interest regarding Michael, and the judge as guardian ad litem but most of them come back to the goverment should stay out of it. (Except the one who was obscene enough to say that while her parents are well meaning, they're in denial and that Terri should just die already because he didn't want any of his tax dollars supporting a vegetable.)

I'm out here on the left coast but the "government should stay out of it" was so strong that when I said, well, that may be true, but then how do we reconcile the government making abortion law because of one woman. One agreed and said that abortion shouldn't be a federal issue either and should go back to the states.

Unfortunately amongst everything else Terri has become a political pawn and her live and death are making very strange political coalitions.

[Delphinium]

I bet those Vets in V.A. home understand what they were fighting for.

Especially those who fought against Nazi Germany.

[farmer18th]

I stop short of calling him a coward. He did take a huge risk by what he's done already. That is better than nothing.

I'm not so sure about that. What if the story of little David had been told like this:

"Who are they to defy the armies of the living God?" said the bold young fourteen year old. He whipped out his sling, went down the mountain, saw the size of the giant, and then went running over the hills never to be seen again.

Funny thing about cowardice: I can't think of a sin that characterizes our age more than cowardice. We have all been guilty of it, I imagine, in a degree far worse than our great grandparent's generation. That's precisely why the charge stings so much. We know we're cowards. We know we have a coward in George Bush. Encouraging the congress and then failing to send in marshals to enforce federal subpoenas, or basic protection of life, was a very bad move. When you threaten, you need to act.

[.38sw]

Another vanity with a suggestion for what the president should do - and now he should declare Terri Shiavo an enemy combatant. Someone suggested yesterday that President Bush should make Terri a federal employee and save her that way. I must say, the creativity I've seen here in the last week is quite impressive.

[.38sw]

However, just like the 1-800 numbers to the White House, you only get a staffer. Still, enough calls and emails come in, they have to filter up to him.

Of course you only get a staffer. He's probably too busy to answer the phone and read and respond to emails himself.

[jpsb]

Good luck, I watched George Bush get anointed as the GOP candidate in 2000. The GOP elites will no doubt do the same this time around. The Bush family is a great family that have served the country well. I both like and respect the elder Bush every much. The Bush brothers are fine decent, honest, good men. But we need leaders that are willing to lead. Unfortunately the Bush brothers nor anyone else in the GOP for that matter, will take up the fight so we must look elsewhere.

[jpsb]

"but who would physically stand next to them if they needed help?"

My quess whould be about 20 million men, if they asked.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Pro-life, single issue voters are much more sophisticated than the soft-life or life-lite crowd thinks. Anyone who is willing to kill innocents, particularly in a cruel manner, such as this, there's something wrong with a person like that, and there's something very wrong with a person who has the power to stop it and doesn't.

So back to the fundamental question: who has a logical argument that neither Bush has the power to stop this? Logic is what we need here. Exhortations won't change my mind or your's. And we don't unify behind just anyone. No Christian does, regardless of the bribe.

FReegards....

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"Good luck, I watched George Bush get anointed as the GOP candidate in 2000."

And Howard Dean was one breath away from annointment by the internet in 2004.

[elisabeth_p]

She didn't speak. She cannot speak because language function is located in the left cerebral hemisphere and she does not have a left cerebral hemisphere. She doesn't have a right cerebral hemisphere either. The evidence presented at the trial is quite clear on the fact that her brain has liquified. So, as far as her speaking, the logical and scientific explanation is that air came from her lungs and in passing through her vocal cords, a vowel sound was produced. The people in the room interpreted the sound as a word.

Dead bodies (completely dead bodies) can also emit sounds when turned in such a way that air trapped in the lungs comes out. Strange but true.

I am not trying to be difficult. I am trying to make the point that Ms Schiavo is not suffering. She has only a brain stem, which controls breathing and essential bodily functions, but she does not have anything left of the part of the brain that can think, feel, sense and experience. From my point of view, this means she is dead already, but I respect other points of view that say she is still a living person. I am not knowledgeable about theology, so I have no idea whether the soul is still in a body which has no brain.

So again, for people who are worried about what Terri is experiencing: she is not suffereing; she is not in pain; does not feel herself starving to death. We on the outside are imagining what it would be like for her based on our own imagination. She lacks the "receiver," so to speak, so she cannot register what is happening to her body.