"This person suffering from hereditary
defects costs the people 60,000
Reichmarks during his lifetime.
People, that is your money.
Read 'New People'."
I've been watching this issue trying to maintain some sanity. We have a planet with 6 billion people on it. Hundreds of thousands are dying regularly in conflicts and genocidal events. Political prisoners are tortured in many parts of the world. Our brave soldiers are hunting down bad guys all over the world. They die regularly in Iraq in a great effort to inject liberty into a region that has precious little of it.
Day in, day out the world is happening to us.
Day in, day out 90% of the postings on FR are about Terri Schiavo. This is most definitely a very sad situation for all parties. No one wants this to happen.
Who is paying for all of this?
I don't like criminals testing the legal system to the tune of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Of course, they are convicted criminals.
Terri has done nothing wrong. But this situation is costing taxpayers what I suspect is millions of dollars. I don't know the answer to this question, but I suspect some of you diehards do - who is to pay for her medical attention after the last trickle of settlement money runs out in April 2005?
The world is about difficult choices. Efficiency (that little engine that has driven capitalism, development, and general progress) dictates that at times uncomfortable decisions must be made. We assign value to lives in law suits. We don't intervene in every country that needs intervention. We eat our vegetables. We even put down animals. Choices. If our new paradigm is "life at all costs," then all of you should pick up those peace protestor placards and head to the next antiwar protest.
This holier than thou thing with this case is unsavory. For awhile I thought holy cow this guy has another family and is ignoring her parents. That's all Freepers talk about. I had no idea her family encouraged him to get out and on with his life. Whatever the truth is, its not the mantra so many folks on FR are proposing it is.
People should write down what they want done in this situation. When that's not done, someone else will necessarily decide. Those others may disagree.
We can't stop the world when there is a disagreement. I've read many of the rantings and ravings of people here who are disgusted about what is happening. Well, I for one am disgusted that most of those I thought to be my ideological compatriots are so whacked out that they are willing to toss logic out the window over a case in which the facts are very heavily in dispute. I thought the right to lifers who bombed clinics were the fringe lunatics.
If FR, talk radio, and conservative columnists are any indication, I may have been wrong. What in the world convinced so many of you to toss out thinking of the world, Iraq, the issues of the day and in lieu focus all on what amounts to a political ploy which is taking advantage of a terrible situation?
Terri may or may not have wanted to have lived in her condition. I find it hard to believe she would want her legacy to this world to have been the image of a helpless woman in her current state who people used for a political agenda. It's gross. And a terrible and dishonorable way to have spent the last of her days here.
I don't know what the Schindlers are doing today but I certainly hope they're sitting at her side loving her. I fear they are taking copious notes for their movie deal.
Besides, its all in His hands. For some reason I don't think moving the political crosshairs onto men like George Bush helps, does it?
I hope Terri costs the taxpayers all that they can pay! I have no sympathy for the taxpayer angle of this horror. Didn't Adolf Hitler also cite saving tax money as a reason for his starvation/dehydration murders?
While I believe Terri is important enough to fight for there also issues of principal.
We watched "The Passion" last night with our children and the portrayal of Pontious Pilate was eerie. Another man who stood by and let the innocent die. After all, He's only one Man...
Since she's being starved to death, I guess it's a moot question. If you're suggesting she's too expensive to deserve to live, I can't go with you there.
As for your point that hundreds of thousands of other people are dying, so (I infer you to say) why the big deal about her? Well, for one thing she's being KILLED. And also, I assume it's because she's put a face on what may be a larger phenemon (who knows?) of the deliberate starving of disabled people -- a shocking practice if we've quietly allowed it to become commonplace. It certainly wouldn't be the first time one individual whose story touched hearts -- or caused outrage -- merited special attention for that very reason (think Anne Frank - hardly the only victim of the Holocaust, but her personal story is known to every schoolchild); or think Ward Churchill - hardly the only demented leftist professor, but because we became unusually aware of his ravings, he was for weeks the focus of almost Schiavo-like attention (hmm, I don't remember you complaining about that, but I digress.... )
Anyway, when my neighbor is being mugged and I hear her screams, I don't turn up the TV to drown them out, on the grounds that, worldwide, there are thousands suffering a similar fate. I go to her aid because she's a human being, because her fate is an outrage - and because, unlike those thousands of other victim situations, it has been brought to my attention.
This is a big story not only because of one innocent woman but because of the ramifications of what is coming next. It is horrific to think that there are people willing to take care of her including the cost of everything and yet still she must die. All the details regarding her wishes are filled with holes and lies. If you are a person who values life (without a doctor or lawyer qualifying it) you see the importance of this case.
You are sick......do you HONESTLY think the Schindler's are "taking copious notes for their movie deal"?? Sick....Sick...SICK!
You asked what Terri's care costs? Ironically I heard that question answered on the news just the other day.
Terri was staying at a hospice and her care cost NOTHING. The only expense associated with her care was the cost of the liquids administered by feeding tube.
They also stated that Terri's fund was down to around $40K-$50K.
I can't help but wonder how much Michael spent on legal fees. And in theory, a goodly chunk of the monies awarded for Terri's lengthy care went to attorneys to hasten her death? Gulp!!