Police 'Showdown' Averted ['Team of State Agents Were En Route to Seize Terri']

Miami Herald ^ | Sat, Mar. 26, 2005 | CAROL MARBIN MILLER

[Darkwolf377]

Thanks for the fascinating debate.

[Fudd Fan]

"I have been praying for God to guide Jeb. This is agony for him, too."

Finally a voice of sanity. Thank you.

[Admin Moderator]

Please knock it off with the spamming. Thanks.

[ModernDayCato]

Actually we thought about going to Florida, but I got the flu at the beginning of the week.

[DoughtyOne]

I hope Jeb is drawing up the papers tonight, so that when Terry passes, Judge Greer will be tried for a capital crime. Leave plenty of slots open Jeb, there are going to be a lot of co-conspirators.

[Flamenco Lady]

I agree too. Jeb knew he had a very tiny window of opportunity to accomplish this. Felos was tipped off (I'm betting before DCF ever got out of their doors), requested the RO, served it to DCF when they were confronted. Thus the window was closed before they could take action. The only recourse DCF had was to appeal to the higher courts at this point, but they were turned down.

[Williams]

I am for Terri being saved and I even wish the governor could go in and protect her under executive authority, the court order be damned.

But I read such nonsense on here that I have to speak up. Yes, the rule of law means something. And yes, the various branches have their own authority. But the judiciary has always been recognized as the arbiter of the law. Once the pitch is thrown, the court is the umpire.

You all forget that the Florida legislature, just like Congress, failed to pass a law to give Jeb some concrete authority to protect Terri. And the governor cannot have state agents brawling or shooting it out with police enforcing a court order. The suggestion is insanity and it would mean a total breakdown in our system of governemnt.

Further, you are all missing the reality that as civil war breaks out in Florida, Terri would not be saved for more than a day or two. Because the legislature, Congress, president, courts and people would NOT support the action and Terri would be starved and Jeb put in prison. The whole scenario is lunacy and Jeb has big ones if he even considered it.

Having said that I think Greer is an ass and the court system insensitive but it was all put in place by the elected representatives of the people.

[Darkwolf377]

Me too.

[KillBill]

The only parallel I can think of this is where Andrew Jackson defied the Supreme Court to send all the Indians to Oklahoma.

I don't care what the courts say. As Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush is required by his oath to execute their orders after all appeals are filed. He can oppose it personally or resign if he can't do that. If he can just decide to violate an order, then we have a dictatorship and a tyranny which I will not tolerate.

[SolomoninSouthDakota]

"I'm sure jeb is working on Greer as we speak"

Oh yeah. Like, what's he saying? I'm going to tell on you!!!LOL!!

[goldstategop]

The local police were following "orders" huh? That's same defense the Nazis used at Nuremberg to justify following illegal and immoral orders. It won't save those police officers when they go to meet their Maker one day. They should have known better than Judge Greer's order was null and void and they should NOT have cooperated in carrying out. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO EXECUTE AN ILLEGAL ORDER, PERIOD. AND NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND FOLLOWING SUCH AN ORDER ON THE GROUND IT CAME FROM AN OFFICIAL AUTHORITY. I'm disappointed the State Agents did not arrest the local police and take them into custody for committing a criminal act. They could have saved Terri if they had done their job. All of us feel let down by their moral cowardice.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[bonfire]

You musta missed on another thread where a poster suggested "we" make sure that we get ahold of her corpse for an autopsy before Michael can cremate her.
Good grief!!

[Darkwolf377]

"So many people are acting like this is an episode of 'Law and Order'."

LOL Post Of the Day

Perfect. I can't add to that. Very well done!

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" assume you also saw Nurse Trudy, shortly after the dumb cop.........I'll swear that Trudy was about to reveal that she and MS had a fling during her first term of employment at a facility where Terri was during the malpractice trial......"

We saw it and thought the same thing. Trudy is and was single , MS needed some hand holding during a deposition and Trudy said she went with him and waited for him all day-in the car.
Trudy's comments about MS saying he had no idea what Terri would have wanted, because they never discussed it-matched the words of another mutual friend who told H&C that MS would constantly whine, in front of other friends, that he had no idea what Terri would have wanted.
I'm beginning to think that Terri could have made a video saying she would want all efforts exhausted to save her life and Judge Greer would have ruled that she clearly wants to die.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

EXACTLY.

[Chad Fairbanks]

He's in a big hole now politically that will be tough to climb out of.

And I'm sure that the political ramifications, like re-election and stuff are always at the front of his mind when dealing with teh Shiavo case... yeah. Ok.

[snowsislander]

I have been praying for God to guide Jeb. This is agony for him, too.

I believe that this has probably been harder on Governor Bush than perhaps anyone else involved because of the weight of the authority and the responsibility he is vested with.

That's not the way it should be. Judge Greer should be the one sweating bullets, because he has acted in a manner not only inconsistent with his position as a probate judge but in furtherance of carrying out a foul execution by starvation.

But bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. In this evening, as Mrs. Schiavo's life draws to a close, my thoughts go out to her. If there is some means left for the executive to save her, then I am hoping beyond all reasonable hope that it will be found soon.

The glee evident in Mr. Felos quote at the end of this story is perhaps the most repugnant thing that I have heard from the Felos/Greer/Schiavo gang, and that's saying a lot. But there is many slip between cup and lip, and perhaps, just perhaps, something good will happen for the victim, Mrs. Schiavo.

[Antoninus]

Democrats are going to run everything soon. That's what they want.

That will be an unfortunate outcome, no doubt about it. But the GOP will have no one but themselves to blame. People don't follow cowards. They follow strength.

I've seen a few strong actors in the GOP ranks in Congress throughout this whole sorry spectacle (Santorum, Delay, Sensenbrenner) but Jeb Bush has revealed himself as a skittish fellow in way over his head. I'd prefer that it were otherwise, but what can a guy do except call it like he sees it?

[northernlightsII]

Florida has been in a lot of headlines with the word constitutional crisis in it lately though.