Posted on 03/21/2005 4:05:17 PM PST by goldstategop
RUSH: Here's Gary in Champaign, Illinois. Gary, welcome to the program. It's nice to have you on with us.
CALLER: Thank you. Rush?
RUSH: Yes, sir.
CALLER: I'm a Republican. I voted for Bush, all that stuff like in your commercials, but I have to disagree with everybody on this one, and let me tell you why.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: Six years ago my mother had a brain aneurysm, went through a surgery to repair it, had another operation, procedure and a few other things. Finally the neurosurgeon, the neurologist came and told us she was in a chronic or permanent vegetative state. And for nine months I convinced my five siblings to withdraw the tube feeding her and let her die naturally. We did not kill our mother, we let her die naturally. Now, I've seen film of this lady, I've seen the news reports, doctors have said she is in a chronic or permanent vegetative state. What that means is, you have very, very basic brain function. The part of your brain that makes you breathe still works, you may have some response to pain or other minor basic stimuli but they have absolutely zero cognitive function. That lady has no idea what's going on around her. She doesn't know the difference from night to day. She doesn't know who people are. She doesn't feel anything at all. The right thing for her to do is what her husband wants to do, and that is pull the plug on her and let her die a natural death.
RUSH: Okay. You've told a personal story.
CALLER: I've been there.
RUSH: Well, so have I. And I'm going to tell you a personal story.
CALLER: I do not think that I killed my mother. I let her die naturally.
RUSH: I know you don't want to think that. You let her die. You had the doctors remove the feeding tube so you didn't even do it. She died a natural death, starvation, on the basis that she couldn't feed herself, so she starved. I'm just going to go back to the first hour, and, you know, the New York Times ran a brilliant story on Sunday that starvation is painless, it's a very dignified way to go. We could rid the world of poverty by letting them all starve. They may not all be in a vegetative state, but they soon will end up in one after they don't eat or drink long enough. Just gonna let 'em die.
Let me tell you my own personal story. My grandmother, my maternal grandmother. To give you the short, down-and-dirty of this, she had a stroke and was sent to the hospital, and the doctors said, "We don't know how long she's going to live like this." She was not in a coma but she was not quite there. The doctors said, "We don't know how long she's going to live like this, but we're going to give you 48 hours, you've got to make up your mind what you want to do, pull the tube or send her to a nursing home and pay for it because we need the bed." So my mother, my father had passed away, my mother talked to my brother and I about it and she wanted to pull the tube. And I said, "Mother, you really want the burden of having killed your mother? You really want that?" Before the 48 hours had passed a decision had to be made, my grandmother had another stroke while nobody was there and passed away in the hospital. At least that was the story. I've always doubted it. Given that we were given 48 hours to move her out of there, I've often wondered. Nobody will ever know, so it's just speculation on my part. I don't know how many patients are actually killed already on the basis that they don't know what's going on, it's better for them, we need the bed, insurance isn't going to cover this, blah, blah, all these decisions.
Now, I know, Gary, that you don't want to think that you killed your mom, and this sort of thing, but the argument about this woman exists because I think your scenario of her circumstances doesn't jibe with what some family members are saying. Some family members are saying she does respond to stimuli, that she does know when her dad and mom walk in the room, this sort of thing. So I think that the way you have to understand this -- well, you, the audience, the way you, the audience, have to understand, because everybody -- well, 90% of the people on the phones waiting to talk to me disagree with me on this, and I think the culture of death is very seductive. We can tell ourselves that we're doing the best thing for the person that's going to die. And we do that to hide the fact that we don't want to be inconvenienced ourselves in some way, either financially or personally or a combination of the two or what have you. And individual case, okay, so Gary's mom died the way she did, that's not going to wreck society, a single instance, it's not going to, you know, sow the seed, fabric of destruction. However, when a culture of death overtakes a society, and we have one now, you know, we've gotten to a point where it's permissible and even heroic to abort babies.
In order to make that argument we've now started calling pregnancy a disease. Pregnancy is a disease, it's not a natural state for women say some abortion rights activists. Then on the tail end of the life spectrum we decide, "Well, this person wouldn't want to live this way." Even though they may never have said that they don't want to live this way we assume it for them because we project. We don't think we would want to live that way. "I don't want to see my family member suffer," or what have you. And I realize that each one of you that have been in this situation do not think that you have contributed anything but love and the goodness of your wishes to your family member in taking this action. But there are societal ramifications for all of these particularly as they accumulate and the cumulative effect of the culture of death is one of the things that takes us to where we are at now. And that is that we literally have divided up sides in this argument that perplex me, and they give me pause. There's an actual energized enthusiasm for this woman's death out there, and there's an actual energized enthusiasm to save her life. I can understand the energized effort and enthusiasm to save life. We're oriented toward that in so many areas of our society. Sadly, we're also oriented on the side of ending life, and there are a lot of people-- I hear all this talk, Democrats have all these accusations, Republicans have ideological attached to this. Let me tell you something, if you want to argue who's more ideologically at risk here by losing this, take a look at the left.
They've got two things they're going to lose on, if the judge here -- and he's a Clinton-appointed judge, and I have no idea what's going to happen in this case -- but if the left loses it, they lost twice. They're going to have lost because the Congress has exercised Article 3 and is exercising its authority over the judiciary. They can't stand that because that's going to send a bad signal over their filibuster of Bush judges. The second thing they're going to lose on is their base, the pro-abort, feminist base. I mean, they're as actively involved in this as -- "Well, Rush, this has nothing to do with abortion." -- no, it doesn't have anything to do with abortion. It has to do with the rights of individuals under the so-called declaration of privacy or what have you to terminate a life they'd rather not deal with. Which is what abortion is. That's all it is. I want to kill this baby, I don't want to deal with it. You come up with other excuses, "I don't want it born to poverty, oh, it's a sorry circumstances," da-da-da-da-da-da, but boil it down, that's what it is, and if they lose both of these -- and that's why they're panicked. They've got two ideological battles that they're fighting in this little battle here over Terri Schiavo, and they're afraid to lose both of them. But don't think they don't have an ideological stake here, either.
Remember there is nothing wrong with killing the unborn. It is a choice. Nothing wrong with choice until you are on the side it is being done to and you thought you escape it when you were born.....
>"a better chance of recovery than Terri Shiavo, whose cerebral cortex has been completely destroyed."<
Your assertion is medically inaccurate. Terri suffers from some brain damage, yes, but she is not brain dead, nor anything approaching it. Chances are better than average that the damage was sustained as a result of a beating by Michael Schiavo, and if meaningful therapy was given to her on a regular basis, who can say whether she might recover, and to what extent?
Always choose life!
Because God commands it!
A.A.C.
The vicious little truth of this story that so many don't realize. I worked in a hospital for years, and saw many people that could recover or were still talking and trying to eat starved by doctors and selfish families.
People more cognizant than Terri have been starved. I've seen it. It just takes a little work to manage to get "around" those inconvenient laws.
"He talked about the decision making on his Grandmother years ago. At that time he said nothing at all about suspicions like these."
Is it unreasonable to think that Rush might not share every intimate detail of this very personal matter with his listeners?
This is farcical. If you think there is a big distinction because of the delivery means (spoon vs tube) you really need to go to an adolescent site and try to argue there.
bump
It ought to be.
But this is a world full of sin and bad people--death and sin are "seductive" as Rush says. I think those who want so fervently for Terri to die now have a deep investment, and a compelling need to self-justify.
I saw a lot of smug faces today--lawyers and judges and Democrats. I won't forget the face of Ackerman of NY--smirking, almost laughing. Fat little Mengele.
When Terri dies (and I recognized the eventually when the news said--"judge won't hear case until 3"--) Bush will come across as weak, the Congress as hysterical, and the Schindlers as whiny and annoying. Look how many people here on FR seem to despise them....! The left will swish across the stage triumphantly in their funereal black robes.
It'll be a bad day for all concerned.
In long threads, people often respond to the thread as a whole, but, since you have to respond to someone when posting, it sometimes looks as if they were talking to you when they were to talking the thread at large.
In other words, don't take it personally....and Welcome to FreeRepublic :)
Bump for Rush.
He has never spent so much air time talking about pro-life. He is being very passionate, yet very clear, about a very emotional issue.
-- Joe
Is it reasonable to think Rush believed his graqndmother might have been 'murdered' and did nothing to find out?
So9
Thank you. Excellent post and what I've been saying, not as well though, for days
"Is it reasonable to think Rush believed his graqndmother might have been 'murdered' and did nothing to find out?"
What was he supposed to do? And what makes you so sure he didn't follow up?
Essentially, you're calling Rush Limbaugh a liar.
You are assuming this is true. The doctors disagreed on this point. If actually true, how does she sit upright in a chair? How does she vocalize words like "mom", "paaa" (for pain)?
How does she have the ability to smile at people she likes, and not look at people that she distrusts?
I think you are exactly right. Michael Schiavo (new family by his side) will become the poster child for the Right-to-Kill crowd, and most Americans will admire him for his persistence in the face of right-wing opposition.
Terri is not brain dead.
My mother was brain dead, and I have always been thankful that the Lord called her home and spared us from even more grief.
The DEPT. of Health and Human Services has filed for a return of the money, and FELOS has filed an APPEAL to delay having to pay the money back (and have that in the public record).
"I know I'm going to get flamed for this so hammer away. For sakes people it's been 15 years. Let he die with dignity."
Just which part of starving to death is dignified?
No, I am saying that like any raconteur and entertainer Rush occasionally embellishes stories to make them support his point more solidly.
So9
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