Posted on 10/22/2003 11:34:40 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
There's only one name on Robert Schindler's list: Terri Schindler Schiavo, his beloved daughter. Terri is at the center of the "right to die" movement's latest efforts to advance its agenda in America. There's only one problem. Terri, their latest poster-child, left no indication that she wanted the job.
Indeed, her husband Michael Schiavo, collected nearly $1.6 million in malpractice insurance awards several years after the heart attack that left Terri brain-damaged. He did this by pleading with the jury to make it possible for him to care for and rehabilitate his wife. All but $54,000 of that $1.6 million is now gone. Terri has received no rehabilitation.
Efforts by Terri's parents and family to provide rehabilitative therapy at their own cost have been blocked by Mr. Schiavo, his attorney George Felos and the Florida court system. At Mr. Felos' legal urgings, the courts continue to view Mr. Schiavo as Terri's guardian, despite the fact that he lives with another woman who is now pregnant by him.
Responding to overwhelming public support for Terri's right to live, the Florida legislature yesterday give Gov. Jeb Bush narrow authority to intervene and end Terri's dehydration and starvation death as ordered by the Florida courts. She has been moved to a hospital to begin intravenous rehydration. No one knows at this point if she will live, or what her fate will be should she do so.
Terri's life and rehabilitative hope is a creature of the Internet – and of you. The mainline media would never have covered this story beyond printing Terri's obituary, because they are overwhelmingly pro-death. Their single exception is for destructive and violent career felons, who they assure us in the gravest of moral tones, the state has no right to kill. Infants and the disabled can't fight back against the media, so they are fair game to have their skulls crushed upon delivery or their helpless and infirm bodies starved to death. All in the name of compassion, of course.
You, however, had another view of America. News sites like WorldNetDaily have played a part in Terri's chance at life, to be sure. But on our own, we could have done little more than chronicle her life ebbing away – another victim of Florida's legal system. You have no such limitations. You took matters into your own hands, whether they were locked together in prayer or fingers tapping on keyboards – learning, arguing, explaining and, finally, acting.
In "The world's most dangerous place" (March 23, 2000) I used this quote from Gen. Omar Bradley, addressing an Armistice Day crowd at the end of World War II: "We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. ... The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants."
You have recognized this truth as it applies to Terri Schindler Schiavo. For that I thank you, because I have been deeply troubled by this case. It is overwhelmingly important that you know you are not alone. Many of the disabled are terrified. Here's a quote by one of them:
Disabled People are not going to be allowed to survive, unless they become the strongest and most militant force on Earth. Governments and courtrooms are demonstrating that, and today's repeat execution order by the same judge in Tampa Bay, Florida clarifies that point [link appears below].
That is why I am not "wrapping up" this column in the traditional way, because I think that Terri's case, and others like her, are far from "wrapped up." Instead, I'm leaving you with some of the less obvious Internet links that went into my research and thinking about this case. Their inclusion here doesn't mean that I agree or disagree with their positions, only that I reviewed their information as part of my research.
And if you're interested in a wonderful tool that will generate these links (and you're lucky enough to use a Macintosh) you might give DevonAgent, a new personal search program, a try (I have no financial interest in the program and do not know the developer).
Alas, no one in the infamous Florida 'system' (organized religion, media, legislature, courts and a boy who would be governor) stood to defend Terri beyond those on the Schindler list.
A court allowed the dispersal of almost all the money keyed to the rehab of Terri for guards and lawyer fees.
Guards used to hide her from her priest and family, and a lawyer paid to argue for her death by starvation.
Scattered news reports continue to report on current abominable abuses being heaped upon Terri by medical professionals in Florida.
May His judgment of those who have harmed Terri be swift.
I have no knowledge of a life insurance policy existing prior to Terri's 'accident', although I recall one or more of the affidavits filed with the federal case as containing declarations by Schiavo about how he was going to buy this and that upon Terri's death.
These declarations run contrary to a more sinister scenario hidden within his alleged refusal to relinquish his 'guardian' status if only he would accept a cash 'buy-out' offered by Terri's parents. He has consistently refused Terri physical therapy of any kind. Some professionals believe she is capable of responding to speech therapy. Michael has refused this attention as well. Consider the possibilities behind that door.
What might be locked within the young woman's mind screaming for release. What might he have said to her privately that caused her to tremble after his visits? That type of reaction is evidence enough for me to suggest she comprehends reality as clearly as you and I!!!
You may recall Michael was compensated for his loss of spousal contact through the malpractice suit. It could be he expended that money during the time he enjoyed fathering two children by another woman - while at the same time suffering the loss of Terri's affections.
"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out --
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me --
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
~~Pastor Martin Niemoller
(victim of the Nazis)
Is there anything we can learn from this?
When they came for the Catholics?
When they came for the Baptists?
When they came for the fundamentalists?
When they came for the agnostics?
When they came for the physically disabled?
When they came for the mentally disabled?
Just something for all of us to think about -- is this picture larger than we currently see it?
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