Posted on 03/25/2005 8:05:47 AM PST by yatros from flatwater
STARVATION: DAY 8
Jeb Bush not likely
to ride to rescue
Florida governor indicates
he won't defy court order
Those hoping Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will step forward to save Terri Schiavo from imminent, court-ordered starvation death are likely to be disappointed, based on his comments to a group of reporters following county court Judge George Greer's ruling against the state's effort to take custody of the brain-injured woman at the center of a worldwide euthanasia controversy.
While Bush reiterated his motivation to save Schiavo, based on new evidence that she is not in a persistent vegetative state and is, to some degree, conscious of her surroundings, the governor said "it isn't possible to remove her" from the hospice.
Earlier in the week, there were hints from the Bush administration that the Department of Children and Families might use force, if necessary, to stabilize Terri Schiavo and remove her from the facility.
"The judge is so focused on carrying out whatever decision he made years ago, that I guess the additional information he just rejected out of hand, and rejected the ability of the department to go in and stabilize her," he said. "It isn't possible right now to remove her. ... Given the fact that she's being starved to death it would be difficult to move her."
Bush downplayed the earlier reports about the possibility of action by the DCF.
"We never said that unilaterally we would do something that's against the court," he said. "I've been asked to do it by a lot of people – a lot of the advice I'm getting over the Internet and over television and the like. I know that there were lots of rumors of things that aren't accurate. I have a duty to uphold the law and I have been very consistent about that. It seemed like a big story that never was confirmed because it wasn't true. If we had that ability to do it, if there wasn't an injunction, we would do it right now. We would stabilize her by giving her hydration. We couldn't put a feeding tube in. There was already a court order in place. The opportunity we had was appealing his decision."
A prominent evangelical Christian leader yesterday urged Bush to disobey the judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo. In a statement shortly after Judge George Greer's decision, Rev. D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo."
Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said Bush "must act and he must act immediately on her behalf."
"He must disregard the order of Judge Greer," Kennedy said. "He has both the authority and the duty to do so under the state constitution."
Greer rejected Bush's request to grant the governor protective custody. On Wednesday he barred the Department of Children & Families from taking custody. Also yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, for an emergency order allowing her feeding tube to be reinserted.
Bush said new information had come to light warranting intervention, including a review of Terri Schiavo's condition by neurologist Dr. William Cheshire, who claims she may have been misdiagnosed. Cheshire believes Schiavo to be in a "minimally conscious state," not a "persistent vegetative state" as Greer has determined.
"It is imperative that she be stabilized so the DCF team can fulfill their statute to review the facts surrounding the case," Bush said.
Kennedy said Bush should be commended for his efforts over the past two years – which include the state legislature's passage of "Terri's Law" – but he noted those efforts "thus far has proven fruitless." The law later was declared unconstitutional.
"Neither the state legislature nor the courts, state or federal, have been willing to act on behalf of this helpless woman who is now within hours of death," Kennedy said.
Kennedy points out the Florida Constitution states in Article I, Section 2, that "[a]ll natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law, and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life ... ." According to the Constitution, "no person shall be deprived of any right [including the right to enjoy life] because of ... physical disability."
Similar arguments were brought to Florida's capital this morning by former Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes. Keyes wrote a column published yesterday by WorldNetDaily, arguing for Bush to step in and save Schiavo amid judicial abuse of the separation of powers.
"I have talked to a whole lot of people that I respect, not just now but the first time when Terri's law was passed, to make the determination of what my powers are and they are not as expansive as people would want them to be," Bush said yesterday. "And I understand, they're acting on their heart and I fully appreciate their sentiments and the emotions that go with this, but .... I've consistently said that I can't go beyond what my powers are and I'm not going to do it. There are 90,000 abortions that take place in this state every year. That troubles me more than I can ever describe, but that doesn't mean that I have some secret powers to stop that. There are a lot of things that go on in society that trouble me and this is certainly one of them. To have someone starve to death troubles me greatly and we have done everything we can and we will continue to do so within the powers that I have."
Unfortunately the rest of us are left out of the entire equation!
You got that right, its completely apparent that the ONLY people subject to consequence are ordinary citizens!
LOL.
Insinuating threats against another anonymously, and you tell me to lighten up. That's pretty funny.
Greer is on God's Death Row and is awaiting his own execution.
The legislative loopback is there - impeachment. The problem is the flim-flam politcal class at all levels. Last week Congress issued a supoena. Greer openly defied it. If mere peons were to do this, we'd be cited for contempt of Congress and hauled off to jail at gunpoint by the Feds. If Congress cited Greer with contempt and the administration ordered the Federal Marshall Service to arrest Greer, he would not have been sitting on the bench to deny Jeb Bush's DFS petition in the first place. If a few of the lawless Marxist ideologues sitting on the FL Supreme Court had been impeached and removed for their antics in 2000, there may have been some more reasonable judges to review the Governor's DFS motion.
It's all a kabuki dance, a show put on by Republican politicians for the benefit of pro-lifers. If the folks in charge really wanted to save this woman, it would have been done long ago. Judicial rule is the perfect means for the political class to implement its agenda without having to take the political consequences (being voted out of office). Look at how fast they got rid of Judge Roy Moore in Alabama. (I'm not even bothering to mention the Dems here because any conservatives in that party have been effectively purged.)
The decent, patriotic folks who make up the rank and file of the conservative grassroots have been betrayed over and over again by the gang that has ruled the Republican Party since Bush 41. Despite Republicans having control of both houses of congress and the presidency, the country relentlessly marches leftward under the command of an out-of-control judiciary with a wink and nod from the legislative and executive branches.
We need to give up the notion that we can compromise or reason with leftists, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. The left hasn't waffled or compromised one iota on their agenda. The Republican problem lies in the fact that leftists are present in the party, and exert commanding influence beuase of the vast amount of wealth they control. It is entirely possible that we'll get the Henry Ford-style (you can have any color you want as long as it's black) choice between a gun-grabbing, pro-abortion, pro gay lobby, open-borders "conservative" like Giuliani and the Hildebeast in 3 short years.
I did . I hope I'm wrong.
I haven't called the Governor's office, I am not a Florida resident or voter. Would it make a difference?
Jeb's a good guy. I believe he's doing the best he can.
Peace.
And what if Greer is doing God's work by bringing Treei's suffering to and end??
Do you speak for God??
#51 is an image for the Hall of Fame. Trashing one of the few people who are actually doing something.
Yes I do.
Your post is incredibly silly, unbelievably silly. Bray a little for us, won't you?
People in the state of Florida better qualified and with more knowledge, including the Governor, already have. Whether or not you choose to accept it is not up to me.
Here is an answer that comes from the Holy Spirit concerning this situation. He'll speak for Himself to anyone who will seek Him and listen with an open mind. I'm not the only to get things like this either. It is from Jeremiah 5:
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have deprived you of good. 26 For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings. 27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, 28 they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. 29 Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this? 30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: 31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
That is from prayer time two days ago.
Dear lord.
One thing for sure and that is that the Schindlers have not put their asses on the line.
There have been 10 year old children arrested but not one Schindler.
They are too busy appearing on the talk shows, in front of cameras and other things.
If it were my daughter being being killed by that sob, I would long ago be in state prison, but he would be in hell and my wife could take care of my daughter, or the State would.
At any rate, she would not be being starved to death while that sob laughs and celebrates.
I had supported the Schindlers but when they allowed the children to be handcuffed, given criminal records, and did not step forward themseves to be arrested for taking their daughter water I saw the light.
Sure he could. Break the law and do it. He could also be impeached over it.
The pro-lifers already risk losing ground over this issue. We really don't need a lawless governor further damaging the credibility of those who stand for life.
"good men doing nothing" alert.
If Bush went in and took her, he would open up a storm but the people who love him would stand by him, they would walk through the fire with him. And in the end he would win. And in the meantime, the family would have their daughter back.
But he didn't. I have no doubt his pain is real, and that at heart he is a decent man, I have always felt that about him.
But I'm not looking for politicians who have the right sentiments, I'm looking for someone who has the courage to act on our shared beliefs. That person isn't Governor Bush. I want to be wrong, but I don't think I am.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.