Posted on 03/25/2005 6:05:54 AM PST by Fury
The Schiavo case made bad law and good politics.
Friday, March 25, 2005 12:01 a.m.
If we lived amid the wisdom of Solomon, Terri Schiavo would be turned over to her loving parents and family. If it is their wish to live out their lives attending the constant needs of their damaged child, so be it. However, we live in an age bereft of the wisdom of Solomon, and so Terri Schiavo is likely to die. That the American legal system is incapable of common sense is very upsetting, but I don't see why it should be found surprising or shocking.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
"but the most morally reprehensible act in this whole drama has been his refusal to simply turn Terri over to her poor mother, whose connection to her child-like daughter is more authentic and earned than anything that existed between Terri and Michael Schiavo. "
I've heard mention that Mr. Schiavo believes that he needs to honor the "wishes of his 'wife". How Homeric that he would want to do that, and how revolting he left his wife to live with another woman and father two children.
Life is not fair. There are no guarantees. But Mr. Schiavo seems bent on ensuring that what are arguably Terri's wishes to "die" be adhered to (going the extra mile, so to speak) and yet he abandoned this same woman - his wife - to satisfy his needs and desires. How "dedicated" on one hand and how selfish and vapid on the other...
We'll avenge her death by voting next election. This isn't going to stand.
"We'll avenge her death by voting next election. This isn't going to stand."
I don't think voting will do much good here. We already have a Republican president and congress, it's all the judges and the policians afraid to stand up to them.
I like the Solomon reference. He's right. Perfect analogy.
The perfect analogy is the position that Jeb Bush is in. Today he is Pilate and it's Good Friday. What would you do? My heart goes out to Jeb. He must be Pilate or kill his own career. As a Christian, can he wash his hands of Terri?
Then throw the RINOS out and elect men with balls. Our panty-clad senators are already waivering on the filibuster issue. They're going to learn what Tom Daschle was taught last November.
Boycotting Florida is another idea... not a great one, but a good one.
"Greer is not a state judge as other media have misstated. He is a county probate judge-a step up from a town or village justice and has never had legal jurisdiction in the case as he violated state law and failed to qualify for office. He cannot claim to be a de facto judge as he has never held legal title to the judicial office. A public officer must first be a de jure officer or hold title before he can claim to be a de facto officer. In Greer's case, by failing to qualify, he should not have even appeared on the ballot and was not legally elected."
Can't someone here get this on FOX?? The Judge doesn't have any right to say anything. He's not a REAL Judge!!
I've emailed the President and Governor Bush this info, once last night, once this morning. Your assistance greatly appreciated.
I do not know the answer to that question...
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Oops. Too late.
I heartily disagree. The Terri Schiavo case has made the American people look at the court system, and how one man can overrule the wishes of the representatives of the people.
This is "law" the way the Founding Fathers intended it to be. The will of the people trumps the will of the courts, or the will of one judge. This can only be described as "good law", and good politics.
How essential is the feeding tube to her life?
Q: If Terri was put on a feeding tube because she had a problem swallowing – was it a problem that was getting worse, or was it impossible for her to swallow at all? That has never been clarified.
I have read over and over that some nurses fed her jello, pudding, and that she took some liquids by mouth. Was it that a feeding tube was inserted simply because it was less labor-intensive for the hospice center, than to have a nurse sit with her for long periods of time feeding her soft foods? The tube relieved them to do other things.
If that is the REAL case, one can see why Judge Greer and so many others are being so adamant about reviewing this issue from any different perspective, or based on any different information about Terri’s history or present condition.
The possibility that a feeding tube in some patients is merely a convenient way to provide nourishment could be an enormous expose about the issue of care for such patients by these facilities. There may be thousands of people on feeding tubes who can be hand-fed, but are not simply because of a manpower problem at our nursing homes, hospitals, hospice centers everywhere. Once can certainly understand then, if Judge Greer has connections with that hospice, such as have been mentioned, he is so fearful about any change in managing Terri’s life.
There are three questions about what a feeding tube actually is. I have not seen an exact medical or legal definition:
1. Is a feeding tube medicine – and the patient is not getting better?
2. Is it something that is standing in the way of a natural death?
3. Or, is it something that is simply making life easier to sustain?
If it is the latter – which I suspect is the case in Terri’s situation: Then the tube could be removed, but the former, natural way of receiving nourishment should have been attempted. Terri should have been hand fed, provided liquid, and if she did not have any ability to swallow, and therefore did, indeed, die that would have been a natural death, and God would have taken her, not a human.
However, if she can be sustained on a diet of jello, pudding, soft foods and liquids – even it does take hours to feed her then that is the life God has left her to live, and no one has a right to decide it should end.
If Terri could survive, albeit in a very difficult manner, without the feeding tube, then her husband’s statement about her alleged wishes would have no bearing. She would not be on an abnormal method of life support, she would be eating, but it would be very time consuming and difficult to feed her. That, perhaps is his fear and the bottom-line for his decision. He might have been told that no facility could keep her long-term, and spend hours feeding her in a normal manner so his choice was: take her home and become the constant caretaker; or put her on a feeding tube and wait to see what happens, and how long she could live.
Once on the feeding tube, and if it then appeared that she had to live that way, he could use the excuse that “Terri did not want that lifestyle.”
The courts are saying - There is no hope - but, there has been no long term attempt to see if Terri can/could survive without the feeding tube and in some other manner - such as normal feeding given by someone willing to do so however long it takes to perform the job. That attempt should be made. For the courts to prevent that - which would clearly end the controversy, is truly a form of legalized murder. All methods should be exhausted, not just the present method of providing nourishment.
Here is why I have a concern with the specific course of action. What happens if the spouse is the one who is "good" and wants to take care of the sick spouse and the parents would act like Mr. Schiavo and want to end the life of the person?
Jeb lacks the courage to intervene directly. There is nothing that has proven her to be in a PVS other than the wishes of a already greatly strayed husband. He claims he wants her to have her wishes. What are we to believe her wishes were regarding him and his girlfriend? Are we to believe that he is the "best" person to stand as guardian of her wishes when it is obvious that there has been a great amount of evil from him to her?
She deserves a good and fair hearing with advocates on her side, and someone other than these "hemlock society" pro-death fanatics as her guardians. Only the Bush brothers are capable at this stage of assuring this. Will they? That remains to be seen as we watch the slow and painful death being forced on this girl. "Rescue those who are unjustly lead to slaughter and to death." "And if you forbear (refuse) to rescue them, I will remember you in your day of calamity, and mock you in your derision." (Proverbs 24)
Prayer ~~> May God grant the exact thing for any official or person who has turned his/her back on this young lady. May they hunger and thirst and be ripped from their families and left to die. May their death be surrounded by vultures who wait for the flesh to fall off their bones, and may they see only the amount of mercy in that death that they are willing to grant to this needy girl. This is my easter prayer for these monsters who love death and have brought to us a culture of death. Watch out baby boomer generation, your next.
"I've emailed the President and Governor Bush this info, once last night, once this morning. Your assistance greatly appreciated."
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Sorry to say this but it appears ol Jeb is just like them maybe worse. Professing concern that justice be done but then allowing a Judge, even warning the Judge of his intentions. Methinks he speaks with fork tongue.
Have an Advance Directive. "In the event that I become incapacitated I do/do not wish for extraordinary measures to be taken to extend my life. I do/do not object to being starved should I become unable to take nourishment. I do/do not wish to be made pain-free and allowed to expire according to God's will." Have it notarized and make sure that two or three persons in the family/spouse knows where it is kept. That simple act would have prevented the anguish these parents are suffering.
Well, I would not want to be in his shoes. Nor am I going to place this guilt on his shoulders. He has done extraordinary things in this case. At this point, no matter what he does, the liberals want her dead and they are going to see to it that it happens sooner rather than later. We have lost Terri, but the bigger fight must go on. We need Jeb there with us. Let's not shoot our friends.
Blame the culprits: Michael Schiavo, Greer, Whittemore and all the other judges, who affirmed Greer's verdict, not Jeb Bush, who did indeed try to do what he could within the law.
It is a travesty that the courts rule us.
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