Posted on 03/28/2005 7:09:05 AM PST by amdgmary
By the time you read this, Terri Schiavo may well be dead, and America will have taken the next step down the road to democide. While the brothers Bush may not have found it within their executive powers to prevent a woman from being legally starved to death, they did manage to con an entire nation into thinking that they did not act because they could not.
This is most unfortunate, because it is quite clear that neither George Bush nor his brother Jeb ever had any intention of saving Mrs. Schiavo from death by starvation. Like Pontius Pilate, they engaged in meaningless political machinations intended to deflect the blame from themselves while pretending that they were helpless to act. A simple executive order from either man would have sufficed to see the woman fed; the notion that the president has too much respect for either the 10th Amendment or the separation of powers doctrine to act is simply laughable.
For you see, George Bush has yet to veto a single law on the grounds that it requires exercising a power not specifically granted to the United States by the Constitution; instead, he has lobbied hard for many such unconstitutional laws. The Constitution gives the federal government no power with regards to children being left behind, for example. And every IRS tax court, every Justice Department immigration court, is a far greater violation of the separation of powers than the insertion of a feeding tube into a starving woman's stomach.
As for Jeb Bush, it's hard to know precisely what his position is since he's been hiding out ever since the Florida Legislature decided that it's down with offing the disabled. Considering the number of elderly concentrated in the Sunshine State, you'd think the Florida voting public would be paranoid about anything that might conceivably lead toward eradicating the useless eaters of society, but then, I suppose someone's got to play on all those golf courses.
Which leads us to what this affair is really all about. This is not a Democrat or Republican thing – many of the pro-starvation judges have been Republican appointees – it is a demographic thing. Already, the elderly soak up a staggering amount of national resources, as the blessings of technology allow them to live longer while turning them into wrinkled chemical cyborgs. This would be unobjectionable to anyone, except for the fact that the elderly are not paying for most of the expense of their much-needed medical treatments, and they are collecting Social Security for many more years than anyone previously envisioned.
The move to health maintenance organizations 20 years ago essentially sealed the doom of the elderly. It is already a well-established fact that when the health of an individual is at odds with the profitability of these government-mandated corporations, the individual is out of luck. This trade-off, writ large, serves as an example of what we can expect to see over the next 30 years when the "right to die" will become the "responsibility to die" and quality of life becomes a legal question to be determined by Department of Health bureaucrats instead of a pallid excuse to justify high taxes in certain locales.
It won't happen overnight. Schiavo simply represents the first nibbling about the margins. But soon will come the Fox News debates about the terminally ill and the mentally disabled – if an Alzheimer's patient can't even recognize his own daughter, is he really there anymore? It's customary to dismiss slippery slopes as a false form of hypothesis, but when there's both historical and international models that are obviously being followed, we're no longer talking about possibilities, we're looking at time frames.
And eventually they'll get around to the cripples and the Jews. This is an inspired evil that stems from a supernatural source whose inhuman goals are always the same: death, division and destruction. If you don't see how these things connect, recall that it was Jesus Christ who said: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."
Keep that in mind the next time you're trying to decide if your government is on the side of the angels or not.
Not only that, he had some on the Dem. side of the isle that would have rallied around him also. Don't forget that there were the Joe Liebermans, and others that were supportive of life.
When I hear that the support is waining for the President, I cannot help but feel that this loss will ultimately come from the conservative Christians. We must do what is right, no matter what the consequences. No longer will I vote just to keep the " most conservative" in power, but I will vote for whom God lays on my heart, and leave the results to Him.
The point that is being lost is, if you are able to 'speak' you have more of a chance. If you are one of the unfortunates who lay in a coma or cannot express your wishes coherently, you are in peril. How is this so hard to grasp? Not everyone on life 'support' is as lucid and coherent as Reeve was. So, why should their outcomes be any different? Because they can't speak? Because they can't 'express'? This is the point I am making. IT doesn't matter what the condition is that leads to the disability,,,why are people who can speak regarded and those who cannot disregarded? I think this is a pretty straightforward question.
Um (how do I put this?) ... that was kind of a metaphore for doing everything in their power (or out of it) to over-rule a judicial order. Somehow I did not envision GWB & his brother grabbing AK-47's and storming the hospital.
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Wow, powerful!!
The only thing I don't understand is why people don't see the judiciary (which is heavily involved in the case) as part of the "government." After all, it is - in fact, nowadays the judiciary has turned into the entire government.
I give up, you are still missing the point.
If they want to talk about quality of life there are druggies and criminals that I would consider not having quality of life. What if some elitist thought people under a certain income didn't have quality to their life.
Yes, the normal, predictable "war of words" is pointless here because the Red Queen controls the dictionary and new words can be created at will and the meaning of all words can be completely changed on a whim. We have crossed the threshold to a new level of Orwellian "Newspeak" that will make the sane weep.
Any kind of war involving actions is also pointless because, under the "Newspeak" control of the language, any such act is defined as "criminal, aggressive, terroristic" and so we are in a box here. Perhaps, it is the final realization of the New Testament warning that we "battle not against flesh and blood, but evil spirits in high places". Persuasive words and well-aimed guns are worthless here and so believers need to seek and acquire other tools for a different type of warfare.
As I suspect many others did, I held out the hope that one of the Bushes would take the bold act of defiance which would not only save this poor woman's life, but also steer my beloved America away from this cliff. It was not to be. Instead we imported the expanded culture of death from the old, corrupt Europe and did so with with 24 hour news coverage. But, take heart, my FRiends, evil only seems to win.
I was supporting your point.
There are people around here that are disappointed that neither Bush sent in agents to extract Terri. Had they done so, there is the likelihood that the local police (who, from what I understand, do not answer to the governor's office) might not have backed down.
Don't bite the hand of those that are on your side. ;)
Okay, thanks ... I know what you mean!
Line up your affidavits and your paperwork and hope you cover every scenario possible in case you are ever in a position of not being able to express yourself....
No, we've already arrived...
It is a very straightforward question and points to a problem that has been compounded by Judge Greer ruling in favor of prohibiting any rehabilitative attempts that might establish communication with Terri. In essence he has made a judicial gag order that applies to the one person whose life hangs in the balance and the same person whose rights the court is supposed to uphold and adjudicate here.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was having a vision of GWB yelling "say hello to my little friend" and blowing the hospital doors off.
I'm going to sign a living will that states my wishes (I have the document in hand already), but thanks for your advice.
Lol, now THAT is great imagery.
Indeed. Thank you. That's one of the problems I see with the situation. Apparently have inflammed some with using the name Christopher Reeve. Not being disrespectful mind you, but since their cases are not EXACTLY the same, I have commited some aggregious error of some sort. No two cases are exactly the same, I know this. My concern is for those who cannot speak for themselves, who count on others for protection. I need to sharpen my pen a bit better I guess.
Thanks for getting it!
Quote: "It is for that reason that we must avoid turning on our own right now and stick together. We are almost in the position where we can begin making dramatic judicial reforms to stop injustices like this Schiavo debacle from happening in the first place."
That is exactly why the Left is so damn desparate on this issue. It is why you get all these "Republicans are Hypocrits" stories that are coming out. It is why you get fake Republican Talking Point memos coming out. It has been like good ole times for the Left and the MSM the last week+ because the Right has been disorganized in responding. The MSM has largely gotten away with that fake memo at a time when they should be getting hammered for it.
The main reason the right is being thrown off of its game is because of underlying misconceptions in this case. Terri is not in a coma, did not leave a living will, and her family is not all in agreement as to whether her life should be terminated. But those underlying misconceptions have been prevalent in this matter. Hell, if all three of those were true, of course a grand majority would support Terri's wishes. But those just ARE NOT the facts in this case.
It is truly unfortunate that it took this case for the Republicans to fire the opening shots in the fight to make the Judicial Branch co-equal. It has allowed the MSM and Left to use this case, that the public largely has misconceptions over, to demagogue the issues. "Those bad evil Republicans (read Jesus Freaks) want to interfere with your right to make a living will, see, we told you voters that you were making a mistake!!!"
Meanwhile, has anyone noticed that the regularly scehduled dosage of "Iraq is Vietnam" has dissapeared from the daily headlines?
It's not my advice, it's just what I have learned from this situation. I am not in such a position as to give that sort of advice. I worry for those who have not done the paperwork we are discussing. That's where my greatest concern lies. Those of us who can still speak for ourselves have a chance of planning our departure from this Earth. I am worried for those who have not done these wills and documents. Does that make sense?
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