Posted on 03/18/2005 4:32:07 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay pledged Friday to hold Florida state judge George Greer in contempt of Congress for ignoring a congressional subpoena for Terri Schiavo's testimony, saying, "No little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress."
"The Congress will pursue this, if we have to hold him in contempt of Congress," DeLay told radio host Sean Hannity.
Pressed on whether he intended to hold Judge Greer in contempt, the top Republican told Hannity: "Absolutely, absolutely."
"We will do everything to enforce the power and authority of the Congress and no little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress," he added.
Earlier in the day Judge Greer rebuffed the Schiavo subpoena, telling attorneys in the case, "I have had no cogent reason why the [congressional] committee should intervene." He claimed that the last-minute action on the part of Congress does not nullify years of legal proceedings.
But DeLay told Hannity, "This judge and the Supreme Court of Florida are well known to be liberal judges that have a different worldview and they're imposing their worldview on the law."
The top House leader said that "no sane person" could look at Schiavo and say she's in a persistent vegetative state.
DeLay called a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, who has pressed for years to have his wife starved to death, "the personification of evil."
Judge in Schiavo case withdraws membership from church
By Art Toalston BP NEWS Mar 18, 2005
CLEARWATER, Fla. (BP)--Judge George Greer -- whose rulings set the March 18 removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube -- has withdrawn his membership at Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla.
William E. Rice, who became Calvary’s pastor last September, confirmed that a letter from Greer withdrawing his longstanding membership was received by the church March 17.
Rice, in an interview with Baptist Press March 18, said he sent a letter to Greer several days after the judge commented about his church involvement in a front-page article in the St. Petersburg Times March 6.
In his exchange of letters with Greer, Rice said, “We communicated about his relationship with the church and his public statements that he had withdrawn from the church and statements that he had made in the paper about his relationship with the church. We communicated about the nature of his commitment to the church and what he wanted that to be in the future.”
Rice, who himself was a member of Calvary as a teenager years ago, said he offered to meet with Greer but instead received the judge’s letter withdrawing his membership.
The St. Petersburg Times, in its March 6 article, reported:
“Greer is a Southern Baptist who attended Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater. But his attendance faltered after a Baptist publication the church supported became highly critical of him, he said.
“Greer, who said he had other unrelated problems with the church, said he explained to a deacon, ‘If I don’t like what the St. Pete Times writes about me, my only recourse is to cancel my subscription.’ So he stopped his donations to the church, though he is still a member.”
The publication Greer was referring to is the Florida Baptist Witness, newsjournal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, which first editorialized about the Schiavo case in September 2003 and since has carried several editorials and an extended number of breaking news stories and in-depth reports about the right-to-life case that has generated national and international attention in recent months.
Calvary, with about 1,500 in worship on Sundays, utilizes the Florida Baptist Witness to carry its monthly newsletter to church members.
Concerning Greer’s comments in the St. Petersburg Times, Rice told Baptist Press, “I felt like that opened the door for me to write him and ask what kind of relationship he desired to have with the church.”
The pastor said he prefers not to release the correspondence with Greer, viewing it as “a private communiqué between him and his pastor.” Rice said he sent copies of his letter to Greer both at home and at the courthouse and realizes the letter might be made public if deemed to be court-related correspondence.
Rice said he has informed the church’s deacons via e-mail of Greer’s withdrawal of his membership.
A column by Rice challenging the removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was published by the Florida Baptist Witness online March 14 and in its print edition March 17. Rice said Greer did not reference the column and may not have read it when he wrote his letter withdrawing his membership from the church.
“Our church has not had an antagonistic relationship with Judge Greer,” and he has not been publicly criticized in any church gathering, Rice said. “He has friends at the church on a personal level,” the pastor added.
Rice, in his column in the Florida Baptist Witness, commended the weekly Baptist newspaper, noting, “The facts of the case are well known and few have done as admirable a job of reporting them as has Florida Baptist Witness.”
James A. Smith Sr., executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, told Baptist Press March 18, “My editorials and our news coverage have focused on the facts and ethical implications of this case and not at all concerning Judge Greer’s personal faith commitment or his church membership.”
Smith said he did not become aware of Greer’s membership at Calvary until after he had written a second editorial on the Schiavo case later in September 2003.
“The Witness stands by all of its editorials and news coverage on the Terri Schiavo matter,” Smith said. “I remain convinced, especially in light of events of the last few days, of the critical importance of this case for the sanctity of human life in our state and in our nation.”
Smith also told Baptist Press, “It appears that Judge Greer has chosen to remove himself from the loving care of a biblically sound church rather than to submit to the biblical obligation to exercise his public duties in a manner that is consistent with his Christian faith. This is regrettable for Judge Greer because he could not be better served than to be under the teaching of Dr. Rice.
“Dr. Rice is to be commended for his courageous defense of Terri Schiavo in spite of the difficult circumstances related to his now-former church member’s involvement,” Smith said. “I believe that other Southern Baptist churches would be well-served to follow the model of Dr. Rice in the manner in which he has dealt with this difficult situation.”
http://www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=20385
I'm curious....isn't there any option for a Presidential Executive Order on this? I seem to recall Clinton using all manner of executive orders to do all manner of damage to our nation; why can't this mechanism be used for good?
Our President has indicated his support for this lady, can't he do anything directly?
Clinton sent Federal Marshalls to save Elian Gonzalez from Freedom and send him back to his father in Castro's hell hole.
The laws of every state say this, and recent polls say 85% of Americans want the decision to be with the spouse.
If congress manages to change the law against the way 85% of the people like it, they won't be there long.
I don't think they will really try. Once they have gotten their publicity and Terri Schiavo is dead, the whole silly law will be dropped.
You can't turn American Jurisprudence on it's head for all Americans because one case might be wrong.
Would you want to do away with the death penalty if it was found that one person had been wrongly executed?
So9
The Federal Marshalls could be sent in, if our Republican leadership wasn't asleep at the wheel. They're throwing us a few indignant comments via the conservative sites, but then they'll hope this all goes away.
For reasons unclear to me, the House adjourned before the Senate vote was concluded. Now they're talking about reconvening on Monday.
I don't think either the House or Senate bill is constitutional, but the Senate's bill is far less unconstitutional. The House should adopt that and then see what happens.
This little twerp judge is speaking for all the black robes in FL. He has the backing of every judge in the state or at least all the ones who would dare to speak up. Remember that conservative Democrat judge the Supreme Court of FL smacked down like a gnat for his lower court ruling in Gore v. Bush? Greer would have gotten the same treatment had he not been doing exactly what the FL courts want done. IF (and it's not going to happen) he were to overstep, he would be offered up like a sacrifice, but since he's doing the business of a lot of people in FL, he couldn't be safer.
"That sounds sinister, kind of like The Black Hand, the early Mafia."
WEll it was actually directed at the self elevated authority they have usurped. The Constitution is no longer their guide they have evolved above it, they have become 'gods'.
You do realize Delay is from the House. The senate deals with confirmations, not the House.
Read the following statement Terri made to an attorney today. Your blood will boil. http://www.lifenews.com/bio805.html
This guy is nuts.
When describing the “cathartic releases” of “blocks of my unconscious past” from his body (20), Felos describes the process: “As these unprocessed experiences entered my throat, I often felt absolute, unimaginable terror—like I was being murdered, hacked to bits. One time I could actually feel a long blade plunging into my chest; another time I could smell the dank, putrid odor of an attacker. Other dark cells brought on indescribably intense grief and its accompanying pain, as if a beloved child of mine were dying. … Although the passage of a cell through the throat seemed to take an eternity, in relative time, the process usually elapsed in less than fifteen minutes. Once the block was experienced and discharged, I often noticed a feeling of lightness, as if a dead weight had been lifted. I also sensed an interior spaciousness, sometimes so vast, I felt as if I could rise like a helium balloon. Sometimes after a release I would feel a joy and peace, a homecoming, like the prodigal son returning to the abode of the Father after a long, wayward journey. This experience of integration, bringing into awareness that part of me previously excluded, was also occasionally followed by a period of insight. Here, the truth of why the past event occurred and how its suppression had shaped my personality (sometimes over numerous lifetimes), was reveled to me.” (20-21)
Also discussing the pain of his marital break-up, Felos talks about the rage he felt at times: “No amount of water could douse the fire of the rage I was experiencing—rage at my wife, rage built up over years held tightly in control, rage of lifetimes of human suffering.” (26) After his “weekend from Hell” in which he dealt with the pain of his marital separation, Felos describes entering a “profound state of Grace” by Monday morning. (30) “I experienced with gratitude and unsurpassed joy what the scriptures [his lower case “s”] describe as birthless, eternal, perpetual, primeval—that which weapons do not pierce, fire does not burn, water does not wet nor the wind cause to wither. In this reality, so grounded in the truth that your essence is the eternal unchangeable God, you become the sky. You become the stage upon which the play and dance of creation unfolds, without identifying with the manifestations of creation. In this state I experience a different relationship with my mind. … Grace feels like your ‘higher self’ stepping on the clutch—the gear of the mind lifts and disengages, and it loses all authority over you.” (30-31)
Read more here:Click Here
On what legal grounds does the President send in Federal Marshalls? If he is challenged in court, and loses (which he would), what then?
We are a nation of laws, people.
Time for Delay to switch his party affiliation to Democrat.
Some people claim she can't communicate at all. Others say she can a little bit. Wouldn't calling her before Congress to testify help answer that question? BTW, the only judge who's made any factual determinations that she can't talk has never even been in her presence.
Being kicked off another thread, praising 'W' photos, for suggesting much the same, I have to wonder how many 'freepers' are really in Terri's corner on this? Could it be that a fair minority - simply don't care? It doesn't affect me, kind of thing? Might be interesting if Jim ran one of his polls - Should Terri Shiavo be killed?
Myself, I can't BELIEVE that anyone who calls themself conservative could in any way consider the matter trivial or of no real importance. But it is chilling to imagine that some in the 'big tent' might feel that way.
Who cares? Better late than never. The object is to keep Terri Schiavo from a hideous death and to slap down the Florida courts who have assumed the power to declare life and death in violation of the 5th and 14th Amendments.
Legal grounds? We don't need no steenkin' legal grounds!
If he is challenged in court, and loses (which he would), what then?
Obviously, he's supposed to call forth the militia to shoot the judges, no doubt.
Well, to put a different perspective to it, the Florida legislature had 7 years to address this. Where were they when the Florida Supremes (the same criminal syndicate that tried to steal the election for Al Gore) overturned the previous law they passed to save Terri's life?
This whole thing is an example of a colossal failure of leadership, courage, and moral strength...on everyone's part. I'm ashamed of everyone in this -- the Florida courts, Jeb, the Fl. legislature, Congress, Tom Delay -- everyone. To say there was nothing that could be done, that Greer was only doing what he was forced by the laws of Florida to do and nothing could change the situation, that this is a state issue, the feds have no say in issues like this, is bull sh!t, IMO. Something should have been done, could have been done, and now it's too late...except for cranking out grandstanding press releases, apparently.
The law is very simple. Feeding can be stopped if qualified doctors testify to a court that the person is in a persistent vegitative state and the spouse wishes it.
The did so, at both trials.
The Judge ruled as he was required to.
That is the law and most Americans like it that way.
So9
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