Posted on 03/18/2005 7:06:36 PM PST by freeholland
With the court ordered removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, begins the slow painful death of not only the valuable life a beautiful defenseless young woman, whose parents cry out for the opportunity to care for her, but also the death of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness as we know it?.!
Not one person on earth can survive without food and water for more than a couple of weeks. If our food and water is taken from any one of us, we will die a slow painful death of starvation.
Yet in Terri Schiavo’s case, food and water is being described as “life support”. While it’s true that food and water is necessary to sustain life, it is no more a form of “life support” than the steak and potato Judge Greer had for dinner last night?
So why is it so important to deny Terri Schiavo her food? Convicted criminals, even captured terrorists are entitled to three square meals a day. Why isn’t Terri? Why now? Why are so many hell bent upon ending her life?
Judge Greer has once again denied Terri the most basic needs for life, at her estranged husband’s demand, at odds with her parents’ wishes, other court orders, the Governor’s interventions, millions of Terri’s supporters and now, both the state and federal legislature’s?
Judge Greer callously legislates from the bench as if he received his diploma from the Dr. Kevorkian School of Law. He must be held accountable for acting upon his own personal ideology, at odds with the laws he is sworn to uphold.
Judges have been legislating their own agendas from the bench for years now; it was only a matter of time before it would mean life and death.
We have officially arrived at the place many of us have been warning about for decades after raising a generation of Americans in an environment that no longer reveres life. After watching as we allowed the senseless murder of more than 40 million innocent infants for convenience sake alone, what did we think that generation would learn?
Liberty and Happiness are only possible for those first allowed the right to live. If we have no right to life, we have no rights at all?
Finally, the time has come when the American people must stand up and demand real justice. Not Hollywood justice, but the kind of justice promised by the real written Constitution of these United States. That promise that says we are ALL “endowed by our Creator”, with certain “inalienable rights”, first among them, the right to LIFE, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Do you think this is all about Terri Schiavo? One woman, wished dead by one husband because he no longer has any use for her? You’d better think again?
There are millions of people sitting in nursing homes across this nation who are unable to feed themselves, bath themselves or communicate with the outside world. The same arguments used to deny food and water to Terri Schiavo would apply to all of them?
If we don’t take a stand for Terri’s right to live, who will take a stand for our loved ones right to food and water?
Why do you think members of congress have gone so far as to use the filibuster to block judicial appointments that would otherwise be confirmed through the Constitutional process? Though they talk about no litmus test, it’s because they most certainly do have a litmus test, and it relates to Roe vs. Wade? Nothing more, nothing less?
If they think a certain judicial nominee would even entertain the idea of overturning Roe vs. Wade, respecting and protecting life, they will block their nomination in committee, never allowing a floor vote, even though the nominee is otherwise well qualified for the appointment. That my friends, is a litmus test?
Why did certain members of congress vote against the passage of Conner’s law, which makes the murder of a pregnant woman a double homicide? Because they are afraid it establishes that inside that pregnant woman is a child, a life, something we are constitutionally obligated to protect? It threatens Roe vs. Wade?
Well guess where we are now? Life, even outside the womb, is now of so little value that even when a Judge orders death by starvation of a defenseless innocent human being, half of the population can’t decide how to feel about that?
Well I can tell you how you should feel about that? Life is the most basic fundamental right of every American. It is the one thing we have no choice but to fight for and the one reason that our constitution speaks of abolishing a government when it is no longer effective in defending the constitution.
Many judges stopped honoring their oath to protect and defend the constitution and the rights it guarantees years ago. Now it has led to a matter of life and death of an innocent human being?
Should we all stand in defense of Terri Schiavo? We must? because there are a million Terri Schiavo’s across this great land.
If you know all the facts of Terri’s case, then you probably believe that her so-called husband has only his own interests in mind and is willing to murder in pursuit of his own happiness. If you don’t know this, then you have been spending too much time watching network news again?
The honorable Judge Greer is the real problem though, for he holds the power of life and death in his hands, he has appointed himself God and he clearly has no respect for life, for parents’ rights, the constitution or the state or federal legislature. He is the self appointed ruler over life? deciding who deserves food and water?
God help us see what is happening to this great nation before our very eyes and grant us the wisdom and courage to rise up together in defense of life? If not now, when?
JB Williams is a businessman, a husband, a father, and a no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy.
Comments: jbw@jb-williams.com
Very little has been done to help her. Her teeth are rotting out of her head. She's in hospice - traditionally for terminal patients, and palliative in its purpose. He misapproriated the $1M for her treatment, using it instead for legal fees to get her killed. His lawyers then used her subsequent lack of improvement as a basis for demanding her death. Michael has consistently put words in her mouth - saying Terri wants to die. We are expected to believe him, even though he HAS a (common-law) wife and children.
Evidence in this case potentially harmful to Michael Greer has called "interesting [but having] nothing to do with Theresa Marie Schiavo in 2002. HOW DID SHE GET IN THE STATE SHE'S IN TO START WITH? No one seems to have a definitive answer, but the evidence points in Michael's direction. His lack of character - living with a woman not his wife, to say nothing of his attempts to kill Terri - bolsters this suspicion.
Terri laughs with her family in this video. It's very sad this very special and very loved woman will never get the chance to realize her potential for rehabilitation. She will never get to go home to the parents who love her so much, who would do anything to have their little girl back.
She is suffering this very instant from thirst. Tomorrow will be even worse.
While I truly empathize with her parents, having to contend with the heartache of seeing their child go before they do, I just have a hard time understanding why some people are able to demonstrate compassion, humanity, selflessness and maturity in making these types of decisions regarding their pets, yet they remain blinded to their actions that run absolutely to the contrary when it comes to their own flesh and blood.
>>>>>
Erm, maybe cause God gave us dominion over the animals....
Im able to be a kind of God to my pets and thoughtfully decide when theyre in too much pain to go on.
But I can't do that with my friends and family.
Capiche ?
My step-mom has a variant of Parkinsons disease and she can't talk well but her mind is OK. She can't move much and has trouble eating. Should we let the fed kill her? Better yet, we can starve her to death! That is the answer.
In my family, it is NEVER going to happen. Terri is not brain dead, my step mom is not brain dead. They are handicapped. This court ruling will open up a whole lot of "Eugenics" type law in the future. My grandmother has senile dementia. Guess what? It is a real bitch on my part, however they don't have to be put to death at some courts FALSE interpretaion of the consitution.
I am a law and order guy but I will not be part of this trend. To put it bluntly, if you come for my family, I will meet you with a firearm.
This whole thing is a travesty. If Terri was brain dead, I could understand a debate, but she is not. This is Judicial insanity plain and simple.
Extropolate this judicial decisions into the future and you get Eugenics. That is not acceptable to me.
Wow, we worry about the torture of terrorists but to starve a woman to death because she can't talk is condoned.
I can not even put into print the fury and hatred I feel. When did WE become Nazi Germany? Perhaps we signed on to the CHICOMS policy of culling the weak.
How could we come to this?
My house will NEVER accept this and although I am personally drained by my aged family, I will never sell them out to be murdered. It shows a lot about society that I am even posting this message.
So let the others cheer todays decision as Terri is STARVED to death. My family is wealthy enough to keep everyone happy but it costs a lot. Should we kill them to make it easier on us?
I can debate this issue if the people involved are legitmately brain dead. The folks in question are NOT brain dead. They are alive.
You can't kill them without going through me first. Take Eugenics and shove it back to the cesspool from whence it came.
Arioch7 out!
No kidding
BTTT
I'm not eating.
To a liberal, everything is relative. A beautiful flower in a field makes the rest of the field uglier by comparison. By contrast, a loathsome weed makes everything else prettier by comparison.
Did she want to be denied oral food and hydration? Greer's forbidden that too.
Also, the husband's behavior strongly suggests that her condition is much better than he's letting on. His actions would make no sense if she were actually PVS, but they are entirely consistent with those of a man who's trying to murder a brain-damaged but still concious wife.
And if we're simply helping her commit suicide, she'll never walk with a loving God. Ever. Suicide leads to Hell.
Oh? I think Terri would say you are wrong:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1365896/posts
An attorney for Terri Schiavo said the severely brain-damaged woman cried and yelled out that she wants to live after being told today her life-sustaining feeding tube was about to be removed by court order.
Barbara Weller was in Terri Schiavo's room at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., when the encounter took place, according to activist Randall Terry, who spoke with WorldNetDaily from outside the building as demonstrators continued a vigil.
If true, the report apparently refutes the court's finding that Terri Schiavo is in a "persistant vegetative state" and cannot currently express her wishes. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, contends she had indicated she would not want to live in such a condition, but parents Robert and Mary Schindler dispute that and suspect he is responsible for the 1990 incident in which oxygen to her brain was temporarily cut off, causing severe brain damage.
Weller essentially told Terri Schiavo, "You had better say you want to live or they will kill you. Just say you want to live."
Schiavo responded with a drawn out, "IIIIII," then screamed out "waaaaaaaa" so loudly that a police officer stationed outside the room came in.
The officer then ordered Weller removed from the room, according to Terry.
The event was witnessed by Terri Schiavo's sister Suzanne Vitadamo and Suzanne's husband Michael.
"I talked to Suzy and Michael, and they both said it was unbelievable," Terry said. "It was very articulate, for Terri, but they also say this is normal [for her to communicate]."
Terry explained the family says Schiavo often is talkative, though similar to a 10-month-old.
"The words usually are not discernable, but she's responsive to commands, uses slow diction and her voice lilts to show emotion and context," he said.
Weller teared up after hearing Schiavo respond today, Terry said, and indicated Schiavo was crying.
Terry has established a website, helpterri.com with information about how to get involved, including phone numbers of lawmakers and details of a rally and lobby-training sessions to be held next week in the Florida capital, Tallahassee, beginning Monday.
"We need people there Monday night, people who have never lobbied before, to come, and we're going to be begging the [Florida] Senate to get its act together," Terry said.
What are we waiting for?
We are waiting for God to handle His business as He sees fit.
So - man rushes them to death. How does man know that they are right with God. Maybe their infirm time serves God's purposes and possibly they come to realize they need and want God in their lives.
Death is not our realm of duty. Each of us has problems handling what is ours to handle. Leave God's business alone IMHO.
.....The humane thing is to let her die.
.......
So, we are to be humane and deny weak individuals their constitutional rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Why are we not to deny your rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Some might think the humane thing would be for you to die. Do you want them having that control over your life?
Yes, letting go of someone whose cerebral cortex has been destroyed for 15 years, and has shown no signs of improvement, is the humane thing to do.
If I was in the same condition as Terri Schiavo, and I wasn't married, or had any living family, and I never prepared a living will, then I would hope that either Congress and/or the AMA would have implemented a common sense policy that would not preserve my life if irreversible brain damage was sustained, rendering me a vegetable incapable of thought process, communicating, or eating.
Does quality of life mean anything to you?
What medical precedent is there in cerebral cortex injuries that offers you reason to hold out some kind of hope that she might one day recover?
God helps those who help themselves.
The time has come for civil disobedience.
I am not worrying about whether she will recover or not.
The point is - we do not have the authority to kill no matter how one chooses to justify it. This is murder.
We do not know her wishes other than as claimed by a hell-bent husband wanting her dead about all else in his life.
She has constitutional rights whether you think she is worthy of them or not - same as you. She has the right for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
And - just because you would not want to live in her state in no way whatsover means that Terri felt that way and you do not have the right to make those decisions for her.
AND - I will fight the government ever coming up with life criteria. If you sincerely want to be done away with - you might just put it in writing instead of expecting the government to judge all people by your chosen standards.
Again - death is not our realm of action. That is determined by God.
Great comments. I agree.
Life gets so complicated when we all attempt to take over God's duties.
A drink of water . . .
Tomorrow at this time it'll be 36 hours since she had a drink. And she'll still have days and days yet to go, each one worse than the last.
What a horrible way to die. Dear God, crucifixion would be quicker. If she were a dog they'd just kill her outright. I'm sick thinking about it. How can her parents bear it?
Piasa
You would think Terri Schiavo has been issed some cruel, medieval death sentence the way some of you perceive this matter.
The cessation of food and water to expedite allowing someone terminal or past a point of no return to die is standard policy across America.
I emplore those of you are angered by this, to educate and enlighten yourselves. Go visit the nearest hospice to your home and see with your own two eyes how quality of life supercedes the superficial existence of one in a persistent vegetative state.
Why is it so difficult for you to comprehend the functions of a human's cerebral cortex?
When John Edwards, in the run-up to the election, insulted everyone's intelligence, when he made the patently absurd comment, saying, if John Kerry were elected, Christopher Reeve would have gotten out of his wheelchair and walked on his own.
I gather most of you ridiculed Edwards for saying something so preposterous.
Why do you seemingly understand the concept of paralysis, and the implications of a severed spinal cord, but have less than remedial appreciation of a destroyed cerebral cortex injury?
Absent a living will, Terri Schiavo' rights are yielded to her husband. That is the law.
It is why it is imperative for all adults, especially those who are married, to have a living will drawn up to ensure that their wishes will be respected.
Every American citizen has the legal right to hospice care.
I take from your comments that, in your mind, it's strictly up to God to determine when it's Terri Schiavo's time to go; even if that means laying in vegetative state for the next 40 years.
You're entitled to your opinion, but as you see our nation's highest court about to rule on doctor-assisted suicide, and the current legislation in several states to promote humane terminal care, you must come to recognize that, those who believe this murder, represent a negligible minority of our population.
California Assembly Bill 654, Compassionate Choice Act
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0651-0700/ab_654_bill_20050217_introduced.html
Vermont House Bill 168, Death With Dignity Act
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?url=/docs/2006/bills/intro/h-168.htm
Hawaii House Bill 1454, Death With Dignity Act
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/hb1454_.htm
Arizona House Bill 2313, Aid in Dying
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/legtext/47leg/1r/bills/hb2313p%2epdf
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, State of Oregon v. Ashcroft
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/f63c3857ebe8263588256e9f007cac71/$file/0235587.pdf?openelement
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