Posted on 03/19/2005 8:00:19 AM PST by beyond the sea
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Friday that subpoenas issued by Sen. Mike Enzi compelling Terri Schiavo to appear at a March 28 congressional hearing made it a crime to disconnect her feeding tube - and threatened anyone who interfered with her testimony with jail.
In a statement issued by the majority leader's office, Frist said:
"Federal criminal law protects witnesses called before official Congressional committee proceedings from anyone who may obstruct or impede a witness attendance or testimony."
"More specifically," said the Senate's top Republican, "the law protects a witness from anyone who - by threats, force, or by any threatening letter or communication - influences, obstructs, or impedes an inquiry or investigation by Congress.
"Anyone who violates this law is subject to criminal fines and imprisonment," Frist said.
His comments appeared to be directed at Florida state judge George Greer, who brazenly defied the Enzi subpoena on Friday and ordered Schiavo's starvation to commence.
Frist's statement echoed comments by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who said late Friday that he intended to charge Greer with contempt of Congress.
"No little judge sitting in a state district court in Florida is going to usurp the authority of Congress," he complained.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
ignore it
see my tagline
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/3/18/181719.shtml
FYI: TERRI DECLARED YESTERDAY TWICE THAT SHE WANTED TO LIVE. TWICE. They pulled the tube anyway... Terri was asked "do you want to live" and Terri twice said "yeah". We need to get that word out to the US Congress. Terri's declaration changes everything. She doesn't need her slug of a hino to speak for her. She spoke for herself THAT SHE WANTS TO LIVE.
Does Congress have direct authority to send marshals to do anything? I thought they fell under the executive branch.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Well, if a state says you're going to be murdered, and the federal government says it's a violation of your Constitutional rights, I guess the argument then becomes "political." And since it's "only political" then no one has a right to do anything, since that would amount to nothing more than "politics." Meanwhile, an innocent person is being killed like a dog in a third-world country.
hey judge greer how would you feel if they didn't feed you for ten days?
Not possible. Greer is legally blind.
This country has gone INSANE!
Maybe I spoke too soon. I have NO legal expertise whatsoever. I was just into the "federalism" question. Ignore my comments on the law, unless it's on the law of gravity. ;-)
well she sure didn't have any problem entering Florida to kidnap a cuban kid and send him back.
I am not much on congress or govt getting involved on Shiavo, but if there is no one left to protect her, if she needs protecting, then I guess its alright.
Sort of ironic. Government protecting us from Government.
Neither do I understand.
How does Congress enforce their subpoena powers? I feel a google coming on . . . :-)
Any legal system sanctioning such barbarism has lost all moral authority and may be ignored and circumvented by a moral people.
There is a higher law to which civilized people are bound. The Nuremberg war crimes trials established that obeying barbaric and inhuman orders by those in authority is no defense.
Terri speaks, PVS don't speak.
-------
I agree.
Well it's okay to murder babies
But we really ought to save the whales
We're putting criminals in office
Cause it's way too crowded in the jails
TV is our teacher now
The schools are overrun by thugs
And children skip their innocence
and graduate to sex and drugs
Right is wrong and wrong is right
White is black and black is white
I think I just lost my appetite
Stop the world I want to get off
Sorry, go back and re-read that article. Terri has had one.....yes one CT scan, 10 years ago. She has NEVER had an MRI or a PET scan. No sane doctor would make a fatal decision based on one very old CT scan. Even I have had an MRI! Why is Terri denied this very painless and easy scan? If dear hubby Michael is so sure of his position, then an MRI and PET scan should only back up the inadequate CT scan.
Why is Terri denied scans that doctors do at the drop of a hat these days? What is Hubby Dear afraid the scans will show? HMM?
The Judge has not so much as been on the wrong side of the law-but has been very selective as to which laws should apply and be enforced in the Terri Schiavo case. There are numerous websites and no doubt freerepublic posts which enumerate the Florida Statutes that Despot Greer has chosen to ignore. Of special concern are the Statutes dealing with Guardianship and the rights and treatment of incapacitated persons. Despot Greer has been asked to recuse himself from this case but rather than admit that the even the appearance of favortism should set legal hackles rising he has refused to do so. And of course in Greer's courtroom favortism is much more than just appearance. Oh and some of us in Florida do not live in trailer parks- why I myself live in a very cozy tarpaper shack on blocks out in the swamp. Come and see me sometime, the 8 pitbulls hardly ever bite.
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