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Judge Won't Order Schiavo Tube Reinsertion
Tampa Bay Online and AP News ^ | Mar 22, 2005 7:16 AM EST | VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer

Posted on 03/22/2005 4:34:59 AM PST by bd476

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, denying an emergency request from the brain-damaged woman's parents.

U.S. District Judge James Whittemore said the 41-year-old woman's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial on the merits of their arguments.

Whittemore wrote that Terri Schiavo's "life and liberty interests" had been protected by Florida courts. Despite "these difficult and time strained circumstances," he wrote, "this court is constrained to apply the law to the issues before it."

Rex Sparklin, an attorney with the law firm representing Terri Schiavo's parents, said lawyers were immediately appealing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to "save Terri's life." That court was already considering an appeal on whether Terri Schiavo's right to due process had been violated.

Reaction from the handful of protesters outside the woman's hospice early Tuesday came quickly. "It's terrible. They're going to talk and talk and she's going to die," said Miriam Zlotolow, 59, of Venice, Calif.

Whittemore's decision comes after feverish action by President Bush and Congress on legislation allowing the brain-damaged woman's contentious case to be reviewed by federal courts.

The tube was disconnected Friday on the orders of a state judge, prompting an extraordinary weekend effort by congressional Republicans to push through unprecedented emergency legislation early Monday aimed at keeping her alive.

Terri Schiavo did not have a living will. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has fought in courts for years to have the tube removed because he said she would not want to be kept alive artificially and she has no hope for recovery. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, contend she responds to them and her condition could improve.

Fate of Terri Schiavo Rests With Judge

At least one expert says Congress has set a dangerous precedent in passing legislation in the Terri Schiavo (SHY'-voh) case.

David Gibbs III, the parents' attorney, argued at a Monday hearing in front of Whittemore that forcing Terri Schiavo to starve would be "a mortal sin" under her Roman Catholic beliefs and urged quick action: "Terri may die as I speak."

But George Felos, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, argued that keeping the woman alive also violated her rights and noted that the case has been aired thoroughly in state courts.

"Yes, life is sacred," Felos said, contending that restarting artificial feedings would be against Schiavo's wishes. "So is liberty, particularly in this country."

Michael Schiavo said he was outraged that lawmakers and the president intervened in a private matter. "When Terri's wishes are carried out, it will be her wish. She will be at peace. She will be with the Lord," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live" late Monday.

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a possible potassium imbalance brought on by an eating disorder. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.

Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery, while her parents insist she could recover with treatment. Doctors have said Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without the feeding tube.

According to a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll of 909 adults taken over the weekend, nearly six in 10 people said they think the feeding tube should be removed and felt they would want to remove it for a child or spouse in the same condition.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: cary; judgewhittemore; schiavo; schindler; terri; terrischiavo; whittemore
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Freeper Catspaw found this extended story yet could not post it because of a broken arm.

Get better, Catspaw!

1 posted on 03/22/2005 4:34:59 AM PST by bd476
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To: bd476

Many on talk radio and FR call her his common law wife. She is not. Only a girlfriend. If she were a common law wife than the state is complicit in common old bigamy. The state would go there. So....Ms. Girlfriend she remains. Who is she? What kind of person? Who would live with Terri Schiavo's husband? Have children she could not give his name to? I feel sure he dangled marriage out to her saying something like "soon the bi@#$ will be dead and we will be free to be married". I think she must be another women who Mr. control monster was able to dominate. I wish she could be brought out from under his domanation and would talk. What would she say? Who is she? No one is talking about her or to her? Could that be because Schiavo’s husband will not let her out from under his control not even for a minute? Could she be a battered girlfriend? I don’t know just asking.


2 posted on 03/22/2005 4:37:40 AM PST by BellStar (Pray for our heroes..praying for us all...)
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To: Catspaw; onyx; Brad's Gramma; Petronski; Joy Angela

Ping.


3 posted on 03/22/2005 4:37:41 AM PST by bd476 (I may not like the law of gravity but I find that it's best to make the attempt to obey it.)
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To: bd476

I hope that Catspaw doesn't live in Florida. There -- any physical impairment is a possible sentence of murder.


4 posted on 03/22/2005 4:38:15 AM PST by bvw
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To: Salvation; trussell

Ping.


5 posted on 03/22/2005 4:38:43 AM PST by bd476 (I may not like the law of gravity but I find that it's best to make the attempt to obey it.)
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To: bd476

Am I the only one who is thrilled by this? This federal judge is obviously a stooge for the Clintoon left. Now it gets appealed to Atlanta. Yahoo!!! This is great news. I'm gonna start eating normally and praising the Lord. Whatever happens, Heavenly Father is still on the throne and His Son Jesus Christ is my Savior. Go, Gibbs!!

Those who are attempting to starve Terri to death will pay a heavy price.


6 posted on 03/22/2005 4:39:06 AM PST by Saundra Duffy (Terri Schiavo is my hero!!!)
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To: bd476

Hey, thanks! I'm getting proficient typing with my left hand, but I still have a ways--and a bunch of PT--to go until I can go back to two-handedness. And I'M staying away from patches of ice.


7 posted on 03/22/2005 4:40:10 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: bvw; Catspaw
LOL - Yikes! I almost wrote that Catspaw had a broken paw but then
thought maybe not...
8 posted on 03/22/2005 4:40:35 AM PST by bd476 (I may not like the law of gravity but I find that it's best to make the attempt to obey it.)
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To: bd476
Here is a copy of my letter to Governor Bush on Saturday, calling for "direct action." In view of this morning's events, and Terri's worsening condition, this is looking like the only option left.

An Open Letter to Florida Governor Jeb Bush 3/19/2005

Governor Bush: The Terri Schiavo Case is Your "Birmingham Jail" Moment

Dear Governor Bush:

As I write these words Saturday morning, Terri Schiavo is enduring her first full day without food or water. In the next two days, the effects of dehydration will begin; after that, her body will start to waste in the prolonged march to the end of her life, now mandated by order of a renegade judge in your state.

And while I write, members of the U.S. House here in Washington speak with their lawyers, exploring all legal options to save Terri's life. In the many months this case has been in public view, it is curious that these men could have acted, but did not, so their recent attention to her plight, on the day of the order beginning the process to end her life, does make one the suspect their motive is one of personal political profile over true intent. But however late these men come to their actions today, their work is appreciated.

But despite the plans of smart men working within our judicial system to save Terri Schiavo's life, now that the act of removing her feeding tube has been done, there is a growing sense among your constituents and citizens that the course of working within the legal system will not yield results in time enough to save Terri's life.

Further--and more discouraging, is the sense of resignation I fear will soon set in, as smart men, having explored every option, lose their desire to continue, having surrendered to the steadily bearing weight of what rising voices will say is inevitable.

If we are at this place, where all legal options have been exhausted, then what more is to be done? I am not sure you really know the full depth of feeling there is among those of us who have been waiting and watching the events in the Terri Schiavo case; those of us who have seen the video of her responding to her mother, and who recognize the spark of life and awareness in her which is now being extinguished, on your watch.

You have said recently you would not take extraordinary action outside of the system to save Terri Schiavo's life. In light of what is occurring now, and the judicially-sanctioned horror that will occur sometime within the next two weeks, I ask you to reconsider this view.

Having come to this place where all legal options are gone, we quiet Americans look around us and, as yet, see no man or woman in public life willing to stand alone, to put their career   and reputation at grave risk, to serve a cause greater   than their own fortunes.

Those of us who care about Terri Schiavo's plight--and there are far more than you realize--are left, today, with an outrage at a system that would allow this to happen--rising, righteous anger that those whom we have allowed to govern us are about to become complicit in this country's first judicially-sanctioned murder of a woman in whom there is reasonable cause to believe deserves to live.

So, Governor Bush, here is the time when fate and the forces of our world have placed you in a unique position to take what Martin Luther King once called "direct action:" With all legal options gone, you and you alone can step forward into history and take the actions necessary to save and keep Terri Schiavo's life. Today.

In 1955, an obscure Atlanta minister stood by the side of a helpless woman and started a movement that changed our country. And in subsequent, "illegal" acts of social protest, including aims described in his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King helped to begin the healing of the deep scar of racial injustice in this country.

Governor Bush, this is your "Birmingham Jail" moment.

It is just a brief helicopter flight from your residence in Talahassee to the open space next to the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri lays. You, a trusted physician, and twelve hand-picked deputies may enter, without resistance, and restore Terri's food and water. You can do this today. All you have to summon is your will.

You and your men can stand vigil with Terri, standing for life in the quiet center by her bedside, surrounded by the maelstrom that would ensue from your action. Calls for your immediate arrest and impeachment would be strong and rising. The outrage to what you have done from the perfumed princes of our media would be relentless.

Let them talk. Because that's all they can do.

But what you would do, by placing your career and reputation on the line, would now stand for something far more important than anything you've ever done: You would prove to a cynical country that someone in a position of power is willing to give all to protect someone who is powerless to protect herself. And in so doing, you will focus the attention of millions more to Terri Schiavo's plight, over time making it impossible for the forces in the Culture of Death to prevail.

Now I will move from the hypothetical to the historical: There are millions of good men and women who are watching and waiting for one good man to step up, step out of the morass of impotent legal maneuvering, stand next to Terri and say: "Not on my watch!"

Americans love and respect any man who will cast his fortune aside for the sake of a higher moral cause. In fact, our country was founded by men like these.

Here is your chance to be one of these men.

Now from the historical to the political realities of today. By this I would mean your political reality.

Let me put this to you in the way that William Frawley, who played the cigar-smoking pol advising the "Santa Claus" judge in the wonderful 1947 movie "Miracle on 34 th Street" would have said it:

"Governor, as it stands now, your chances of being president are just about zero. People have elected two Bushes three times to the White House, and there is a sense that electing a third is just one Bush too many. From here, you can continue to serve as governor, maybe even run for Senate, but that's pretty much it.

If you get elected to the Senate, you can be a windbag for the next thirty years or so, then you'll die, and you'll remembered as George Bush's son, George W. Bush's younger brother, and a decent governor.

Well Governor, sounds like a pretty nice life, don't it? But, I bet not as good as being President would have been, is it? As it stands now though, that's not gonna happen.

But, there is something you could do right now that could change everything. You could step up to this Terri Schiavo deal and make it right. Sure, you'd be compared to George Wallace at the schoolroom steps, but this isn't like that at all. It'd blow over in a month, and you'd be the talk of the Red States. Best of all, you'd be out of your brother's shadow and seriously in line for the nomination in '08.

Governor, this is just one of those win-win deals. You can do a good thing, and you can do well."

So, Governor Bush, millions of us want to do something to help Terri Schiavo, but can't. Do you want to be the one who is in the position to help, but won't?

Take the step. Put it all on the line. Go to the hospice. Save her life.

Make it right.

You have millions standing next to you already, and millions more will join once you focus their attention. But do it now.

It's up to you, Governor Bush. Make it right.

Eric Gagnon (eric@jumpcity.com)

 

 

9 posted on 03/22/2005 4:41:03 AM PST by NetLiberty
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To: bvw

Nope--I live in Wisconsin. Broke my right humerus in a fall on the ice. It's our last winter in Wisconsin, though. We're moving out of the frozen tundra for someplace out of the ice zone.


10 posted on 03/22/2005 4:42:28 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Saundra Duffy

Unfortunately, dont get your hopes up about Atlanta. It's not going to change. The courts are going to kill her. :(


11 posted on 03/22/2005 4:43:07 AM PST by RightMike
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To: Catspaw
OOOOOOOH, Wisconsin and ice. The frigid North, Cheese Capital of the World. /just kidding :-)

How'd you break it? Hope you're not in any pain.

12 posted on 03/22/2005 4:43:16 AM PST by bd476 (I may not like the law of gravity but I find that it's best to make the attempt to obey it.)
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To: Saundra Duffy

"Those who are attempting to starve Terri to death will pay a heavy price."

It's true Saundra. The HS has been dealing with me on this and those who perp this will suffer for this and faster than they think. Hands that shed innocent blood are an abomination to the Lord. If Terri dies those judges and perps are forcing the hand of the ultimate judge. His justice will be thorough, swift and decisive and make their head's spin.


13 posted on 03/22/2005 4:43:45 AM PST by DarthVader (John "Diarrhea of the Mouth" Kerry = Vile Smelling Excrement)
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To: bd476

The president should order the national guard to bring doctors in who will reinsert the feeding tubes. What do you think about that. The Judicial branch is at war with the Executive and Legislative branches of governement.


14 posted on 03/22/2005 4:43:52 AM PST by discipler
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To: Catspaw

Ouch! Well -- hope your recovery is quick. Keep up your vitamins and minerals. Eat plenty of small fish -- good for bones -- herring, sardine, mackeral.


15 posted on 03/22/2005 4:45:24 AM PST by bvw
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To: discipler

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1367796/posts

Pray for Terri!
Ops4


16 posted on 03/22/2005 4:45:36 AM PST by OPS4 (worth repeating)
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To: discipler

They just have had a full coup d'etat. The Judges are not our nobility -- we have become mere chattel to each the Barons of each judicial district, the Dukes of mulitple districts and the Kings of States.


17 posted on 03/22/2005 4:48:03 AM PST by bvw
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To: bd476

I live 5 miles from the shadow of Lambeau Field. I was out walking the dog in mid-February, slipped on a patch of ice, feet went out from under me and came down on a small enbankment shoulder first. Broke the ball of my right humerus (the long bone in the upper arm) clean away from the rest of the bone. Nosurgery, and the bones are slowly knitting together. But it ain't been fun.


18 posted on 03/22/2005 4:48:24 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: NetLiberty
That's a very heartfelt well-written letter full of courage. You delivered a passionate message. Good job!

While I am for keeping Terri Schiavo alive, I would be set against Governor Jeb Bush breaking the law by following your suggestion. Of course he won't do that.

After reading your letter, I was trying to think of a legal alternative. Prayers, rest and keep the faith are in order.

19 posted on 03/22/2005 4:48:45 AM PST by bd476 (I may not like the law of gravity but I find that it's best to make the attempt to obey it.)
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To: NetLiberty

Excellent letter; I hope he reads/read it.


20 posted on 03/22/2005 4:48:54 AM PST by Vor Lady
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