Posted on 03/24/2005 12:45:36 PM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican
I've been searching for the right word to describe what is happening to Terri Schiavo, a word that has some real blood to it.
It's important to find the right word now, because, by the time you read this, the severely brain-damaged woman might be dead.
Perhaps you've noticed other bloodless words being flipped at her, words like "viability" and phrases like "pull the plug."
These words were once the issue of bloodless people, of clerks and sophists who can prove almost anything with their fine arguments. The rest of us have fed on them until they shape how we think, shaping our options, shaping our future.
If you love someone who is severely disabled, you've thought about this, about their lives years from now, and you wonder about those folks who talk abstractly, using the phrase "quality of life" and you can hear the threat in what they say.
And if you don't think what's happening has anything to do with your own future, you're wrong. Our collective attitude toward her death will likely shape the legislation of tomorrow, when the Pepsi Generation is forced to realize that immortality isn't an option.
What's happening to Schiavo suggests that Americans have finally been taught to think like bureaucrats. Bureaucrats cover their flanks with e-mail and send copies to others to establish positions. They almost say what a thing is, but not outright, not exactly. The bureaucrat embraces the neutral and avoids conflict.
And we've allowed this. We've embraced the values of the bureaucrat, of the manager, and replaced those older, iconic Western values of self-reliance, accepting responsibility and meeting things head on. One of these values--albeit ignored through countless wars and cruelties--is that human life is sacred. But now we are about process. Now we are about avoiding consequence.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
No. That's euthanazia. This is too, but it's under extreme protest. Their strategy is to outrage the public so badly with the horror of starving their victims that we approve active means to avoid the pain of passive means.
Neither are acceptable. Never.
< /sarcasm >
Bluegrass,
Thank you, for posting the number.
A very polite lady picked up the line. I could hear a lot of calls being answered in the background.
I told her I believed Gov Bush was a good man, and I believe if he saw a girl getting assaulted on the street he'd step up and help her.
Told her that it was the best think I think a man could do. I asked her to ask him to just step up and save Terri.
She said, "Yes, ma'am."
I could hear a sigh.
Then she said, "Ma'am, just so you know, Governer Bush is really trying."
As angry as we are out accross the nation, it's got to be an unbelieveable pain to know you're in a bad situation and because of [possible, very possible] corruption being covered up - legally at that - a girl will get murdered.
May those who perpetrate this vile, evil action come to know and accept Jesus as their savior before they die.
For though they may not pay an earthly price, the price they will pay in the end is eternal damnation.
Terri's Not Gone Yet.
God Is On His Throne.
All Will Be Revealed.
Again, thank you, Bluegrass. It helped my spirit.
Nothing can tell you more about prospective soul-mates than their feelings about the most intimate issues. And what could be more intimate than how a person justifies something as vital as pulling a feeding tube? This profile quiz will allow you to find that special one, someone who feels just like you do about life and death issues. Using the 20 dimensions of rationalization, we can match you with the person of your wildest death wish.
By identifying which reasons you think Terri Schiavo should be starved to death, you can find your soul-mate today. Take this quiz to match your top-rated death rationalizations to a like- minded Schiavo-starver. Someone out there is just waiting to meet you.
Choose the four top reasons you would starve Mrs. Schiavo, in descending order, and we will match you to someone whose profile matches yours.
(Justifications below come from actual articles, blogs, and forums on the Internet.) :
The "agonizing" hard decision:
If there is clearly no hope of this woman recovering, then the best thing to do would be to let her die (after 10 years, it seems this would be the case), but this is a hard decision to make.
The end the suffering plea (though the only suffering she has is from court-ordered starvation):
End this poor woman's suffering, already! And her husband's suffering! She died in 1990, her body just hasn't gotten the message yet - and neither have her parents.
The parents are the problem complaint:
I'm mighty pissed at the parents for making this a political issue.
The NO Brain claim
That a major portion of Terry Schiavo's brain NO LONGER EXISTS
The Hope she dies wish:
hope they leave the tube out and let her die this time, rather than her parents holding on to the shell their daughter has become.
The She won't feel a thing promise:
She has no brain activity and hasn't had any for a long time. She isn't going to feel what's going on in any sense of the word
The Congress should never be in the business of saving lives announcement:
I know that _I_ wouldn't want to "live" that way, and I certainly wouldn't want Congress deciding, on religious grounds, when I should die.
The real victim is Michael cry:
The man has been through most of the grieving process, and he's ready to let her go and get on with his own life. Unfortunately, her family and the right to lifers out there won't let him. I've told my wife, "Honey, I love you. But if you've been hooked to a feeding tube for 15 years, please don't expect me to put my life on hold until a miracle cure shows up."
The it's selfish not to kill philosophy:
it would be entirely selfish of me to keep him alive because I love him so much and couldn't deal with him dying
The prove your life meets my standards of living test:
Terri Schiavo, who can never live a life with any awareness. Just because she grunts at a balloon and laughs randomly (based on videos put out by very biased people - who probably don't show you the grunts and laughs she does randomly) does not mean she is living anything close to a life.
The don't confuse me with the facts rant:
Let the woman die already! This is all a gigantic moutnain being made out of the smallest mole hill. Let me show you the fact: Terri Schiavo died the second she got into the car crash. Her brain is a fluidy mess with absolutely no function what so ever. If you want to invoke God into all this than here: let her die with Christian dignity. Her parents are in such denial of the fact that their daughter is dead that now they make her loving husband who is trying to move on a scapegoat. I certainly can't trust anything that people who think their daughter is communicating to them by blinking say. In conclusion: let the woman die like she was supposed to, get Bush's political stunt out of the headlines, and let us all move on with our lives. And this site is right: Sworn enemy- Terri Schiavo.
The caring means killing feint:
Is it still "caring" to condemn her to that appalling mockery of life?
The cost-benefit fumble argument:
a brain-dead vegetable draining her family's finances for the next 30 years .
The zombie bag o' bones depersonalizaton method:
Michael and the doctors watched his wife deteriorate into a mere simulacrum of humanity.... That's right, complete strangers felt the need to create tailor-made legislation to keep Terri's zombie body alive...a brain-dead political prop These pro-life wackos would rather keep this brain dead bag of bones breathing than consider that quality of life is perhaps more sacred than quantity.
The kill me if I ever look like a brain-dead vegetable request:
She will not suffer a bit, because she cannot feel or process pain in any way. If I become a brain-dead vegetable like Terri Schiavo, let me die.
The Salem witch trial method:
Allowing her to drink water would be the definitive test of swallowing function. She may be able to swallow water and other clear liquids, in which case she will avoid death by dehydration, even if she later succumbs to malnutrition. Or she may be able to swallow pureed food, which will avoid death by malnutrition. Or she may not be able to swallow water without aspiration into the lungs, and so would develop pneumonia, and have a quicker and more peaceful death.
The judges know best decree,br> This case has been heard by over 20 judges, so what do you think will happen even if the judge decides to hear the case?
The Ouija board method of ascertaining a death wish
And it was Terri's wish to be allowed to pass. Who are you or I or the Congress of the United States to deny her that wish? You're still missing the point, it's not about my opinion or your opinion. It's about the opinion of Terri, which has been consistently agreed upon through more than seven years of the judicial system and more than 19 reviewing judges.
The your life has less meaning than mine rationalization:
But I have often asked myself at what point brain damage could render a life so meaningless that prolonging it would seem inappropriate.
20. The Euphoric Starvation Death guarantee:
Medical experts say going without food and water in the last days and weeks of life is as natural as death itself...What my patients have told me over the last 25 years is that when they stop eating and drinking, there’s nothing unpleasant about it –– in fact it can be quite blissful and euphoric,” said Dr. Perry G. Fine, vice president of medical affairs at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Arlington, Va. “It’s a very smooth, graceful and elegant way to go.”
Choose your rationalizations NOW and we will match you to the Death-Diva of your dreams!
How would you like to have your ex-husband or ex-wife make the decision on pulling the plug on your life.
Incredible!!
From Michael Schiavo's court testimony, November 1992.
MS: Right here, basically, you can see she's dressed, she's already had her shower and everything. We would get her dressed, put her shoes and socks on. I'm trying out her hands there. You have to keep the inside of the hands, since she's contracted, you have to keep them dry because infection can set in, and I usually do a little bit of range motion with her.
Q. And while you're doing that, do you talk to her?
MS: Yes, I am talking to her right now telling her it's okay.
Q. She doesn't like that very much?
MS: No, she doesn't. She does feel pain.
---
Q. Does she like that kind of treatment very much?
MS: No, she does not. .. .
---
Q. I notice Michael, you're holding her head back. Why are you doing that?
MS: Because she'll fall forward, and if she falls fast she gets excited. It's - - I was told by a doctor she was getting the feeling she's falling.
---
Q. Does she express discomfort when some of these things are happening to her?
MS: Yes. Yes, she does.
Q. How does she do that?
MS: She'll moan and groan.
I bet they didn't show or report anything about her condition in 1992 just before Michael received a monetary judgement to provide for her care!
It's not a good thing. They're laughing at us with great disdain.
After all, decades ago, we helped jail and hang men who devised this type of method and those who employeed it in their daily living.
And now, it's practiced out in the open, legally in this country.
Dispite the fancy words the 'Black Robes' spewed in their opinion, it was really just a repeat of Roe vs Wade.
Blood on their hands; blood on their hands.
May God show them in their sleeping hours what they've done.
Terri's killing is cheapening the life of us all.
Been getting a lot of this on FR posts lately. Completely bizarre.
Zyklon-B
Think "cyclone."
Is he her "ex" husband? Aren't they still married. I read he had two children with another woman, but they did not call her his wife. If they are divorced, how does he retain any legal authority over her wishes. That would revert to the parents I believe. But, again, this is Florida, who gave us the election of 2000 funnies.
It appears as though Terri Schindler will be sacrificed before the altar of the self-styled gods in black robes.
I called this number and expressed my support for all that Gov Bush was doing. Anyway the women that answered said to "be patient" that there may be something happening later today. Has anyone else heard any thing like that. I just HAVE to think that GOD has a use for all of this and we cannot see it yet.
I sincerely doubt Governor Bush will do anything except let her die. It would take a great deal of courage to act directly to save her . What Mr. Bush (both of them) might want to keep in mind is that cowardice only emboldens enemies and adds to their ranks. Cowardice disheartens friends and supporters and reduces their number.
It can be argued that there might be a better time or place to take a stand - that this case is too hazy or complex or that there are more important things to attend to and we will set all this right later after the really important work is done. We have been hearing this for decades about abortion, about religion in public life, about pornography, about judges, about property rights and second amendment rights, assisted suicide and
the "quality of life". And for decades the nation's moral tone has inexorably slid more and more into indifference and depravity. We can send 150,000 troops half-way around the world and fight terrorists and tyrants but we can't stop a handful of judges from carrying out the torture and murder of a completely helpless and innocent woman or save millions of Americans from being destroyed in the womb.
So this one will almost certainly be lost. And the people and forces who want to usurp G_d and decree who is human and who is not and who shall die at our whim and who will not will be just that much more strengthened. And the next time a case like that of Theresa Schiavo arises there will be a little less of an outcry and the "process" will proceed more "smoothly". And soon these matters will elicit no outcry at all (or at least none that will be publicized or heard).
The failure by those in a position of authority and power to act - to take a stand and say "no more" - has led us precisely to where we are today.
Your screen name explians your heartless comment, I suppose.
The little guy is obviously in a state of euphoria, his mother must be pleased.
Sarcasm off!
It's being covered in Germany as well. My sister and bro-in-law live in Berlin. My sister told me that her husband, who can be annoyingly liberal and has said quite a few times (much to her dismay) that he doesn't believe in God, said, "Why don't they just shoot her with an AK-47? That would be kinder."
Even he, a mostly liberal and stated atheist, thinks this is wrong. I tend to disagreee with him on most things (especially politics) but I can finally say that he is right about something. This IS just plain WRONG - any way you look at it.
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