Posted on 10/15/2003 9:59:46 AM PDT by oneday
Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2003
Removal of brain-damaged woman's feeding tube to proceed MITCH STACY Associated Press
DOVER, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday he has ordered his legal team to try to find a way to intervene in the case of severely disabled woman who is scheduled to have the feeding tube keeping her alive removed.
Bush's comments came after a 20-minute meeting with the family of Terri Schiavo, who faces a 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline in the removal of the tube. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has been granted permission to remove the tube in a six-year legal battle against her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
Bush said his attorneys are looking for legal alternatives to somehow block the removal of the tube, but did not know yet what they might be.
"We are going to seek whatever legal alternatives are available and seek the best minds to find another avenue to submit to the courts to see if there can be a change in this ruling," Bush said at an appearance in Dover dedicating new housing for migrant workers.
"I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer, But I know that if a person can be able to sustain life without life support, that should be tried," the governor said, adding the "ultimate decision of this is in the courts."
Bob Schindler Jr., Terri Schiavo's brother, said the family was heartened by the governor's last-minute effort. The Schindlers have pleaded with Bush - who in previous legal findings have supported their efforts to obtain therapy for their daughter - to intervene.
"The family has not given up hope on Terri," Bob Schindler Jr. said following the meeting with Bush. "We have spoken to the governor, and he hasn't given up hope either."
Terri Schiavo, 39, is expected to die within two weeks after the tube's removal. She's been in a vegetative state since suffering a heart attack in 1990. Her parents believe she is capable of learning how to eat and drink on her own.
A state appeals court in Lakeland rejected motions by an attorney for the Schindlers and their legal remedies have been exhausted, their lawyer said Tuesday.
Michael Schiavo says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially. The parents say their daughter has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated.
"In our eyes, it's murder," Bob Schindler said Wednesday on CBS' "Early Show."
George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said that the Schindlers were "still in denial" over Terri Schiavo's wishes not to be kept alive.
Doctors have testified that the noises and facial expressions Terri Schiavo makes are reflexes and do not indicate that she has enough mental capabilities to communicate with others.
Without food you would die as well. Terri can swallow and *HAS* already ate some pudding. She does not need the feeding tube to live, she probably never did.
Her "husband" wants her dead so she can't tell the world he tried to kill her.
Without your parents feeding you when you were a baby, you would have also died without intervention from God almighty.
Since when is murder a "civil case"? Since some tinhorn democrat in a robe says so?
I'm sorry, but people didn't elect Bushie so that he could play "Simon Says" with the lives of the most helpless among them.
"Where in the Constitution of Florida is it written that he is vested with such power?"
Where does it say he can't act?
All it takes is guts -- a factor seemingly missing from the Skull and Bonesmen's genetic code. They're more concerned with image than with life -- the lives of their subjects.
Yes, I said "subjects" -- because that's all we are, when our rulers can kill us at their pleasure -- and then excuse the killing by redefining the meaning of a few words.
Ben Franklin said, "The Constitution is not a suicide pact", but our modern "statesmen" [spit] would have us accept the lie that it is a homicide pact.
Without food you would die as well. Terri can swallow and *HAS* already ate some pudding. She does not need the feeding tube to live, she probably never did.
Her "husband" wants her dead so she can't tell the world he tried to kill her.
Without your parents feeding you when you were a baby, you would have also died without intervention from God almighty.
Bingo.
His Majesty, Judge Roy Bean Greer has forbidden anyone to feed her by mouth.
You get it yet?
She is sentenced to die
This is no more about "letting nature take its course" than it would be if he threw her off the roof, and then said, "well, I gues gravity killed her; you can't cheat the laws of nature."
This is a killing. She is forbidden to EAT FOOD.
If you TRY to feed her, you will be arrested.
This is about one thing, and one thing only -- KILLING her.
My friends were the adoptive parents and I being in Florida drove down to meet them the weekend they arrived in Florida for the baby.I was at the hospital for many conversations of utter arrogance by the staff at St. Mary's NICU
FL Board of Health was notified, JCAH was notified and local newspaper reporter was told the story. James Dobson's Focus on the Family was informed and they said they don't get involved in these cases. The only follow up was a generic response by the FL Board of Health and nothing after that. We have continued to tell this story to whomever would listen. At one point an organization that was passionate about this cause was going to do an independent investigation but that also appears to have fell by the wayside.
So here I am 3 years later sharing this with whomever has ears to hear.
"What are you going to replace it with?"
There are worse things than a "Constitutional Crisis."
The "Grand" Old Party seemed to recognize that during the Florida election fiasco.
They were willing to go to the wall for themselves, but for a "useless non-eater"? NFW. It might offend someone. Wash your hands, let her die, and Move On.
I'm sorry, but playing Silly Lawyer Games about "fine points of law" when an OBVIOUS TRAVESTY is about to claim an innocent life, is beneath contempt.
Let Bushie act NOW. Let the lawyers sort it out in court later.
He's a gutless wonder.
Where the hell is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?
Yes, you are EXACTLY like those Pharisees.
Whited sepulchers, that's all.
Do you have any idea of the meaning of the phrase, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life"?
There are those who would KILL, and attempt to justify the KILLING by pointing to a "letter of the law" defense.
They do so while clearly violating the spirit of the law.
It's a smug little "Simon Says" game of "gotcha!"
It's a way to do evil, and then claim it as "good", because of a twisty little interpretation of a piece of law here, a piece of law there.
It is disgusting.
It is also -- surprise, surprise -- Clinton's stock in trade.
Funny how people took exception to Clinton's "parsing" of the law, yet, they give Bushie a pass, when an innocent life is at stake.
Pick up a turd in your left hand, and a "letter of the law" defense for a killing in your right hand, and... keep them. I'll have none of either, thank you very much.
But, I thought that Bush's duty was to uphold the constituion of FL. And if that constitution does not vest him with the power to intevene, then he cannot. Unless he wants to be impeached.
If I was impeached for doing GOOD, I'd wear it as a badge of honor.
"I had to let her die, or I might have gotten fired! I was only doing my job..."
That pathetic excuse wore out a half-century ago.
But, since you insist on taking this absurd tack, I'll see your absurdity and raise you one:
What part of the Florida Constituion authorized him to grant amnesty and refuge to the Chicago baseball fan?
I await your reply with bated breath...
That's none of your business, dear.
OK, help me here. This will save Terri's life exactly how?
They drum it into them at the Country Club.
"Just do the right thing and the people will support them."
Really. You'd think at least one of 'em would have figured that out by now. People have had it up to here with mealy mouthed political animals. Where the hell is Teddy Roosevelt? If Bushie stood up like a man, damn the "repercussions", and did the right thing, he'd have a paved highway to the White House.
Instead, he's one more political hack with a sense of entitlement. The privilege of Bushes is to rule, they seem to think.
Well, they'll have to do it without my votes from now on. And I suspect I'll have a lot of company on election day.
That is simply not true -- today.
Probably not tomorrow, either. But a few days from now, yes, it will be too late.
"But, if you feel that Gov. Bush is so derelict, it is your duty to work for his recall."
Feeling has nothing to do with it. What is happening now is something that is going to affect all of us, because there is an agenda at play here that is aimed at a lot more than the state of Florida.
"Are you a resident of Florida?"
No. So what. I'm a resident of the USA. A citizen by birth. I have a Constitutional right to speak up when I see an injustice being done. Some might even say a responsibility to speak up.
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