[sportscaster]

Judiciary Big Losers Tell me something I don't already know! Over at Slate, Bert Brandenburg has an essay that suggests that the courts will come out the big losers in the Schiavo court-ordered death-by-thirst-and-starvation tragedy. Here is a choice excerpt: "In fact, the Schiavo episode spells trouble ahead for the courts that protect our rights. The judiciary is fast becoming enemy No. 1 in the culture wars—and the side wearing the black robes is losing. The anguish over Mrs. Schiavo's nightmare is boosting a rising common culture of attacks on the independence and legitimacy of our courts." The courts deserve a lot of criticism for the way they have taken sides in the culture wars. Many judicial decisions--on abortion, on homosexual sodomy, on same-sex marriage, and in Terri's case--are not law, but rather results masquerading as law. They strike many reasonable observers as tyrannical, as ukases handed down by an unelected body of former ambulance-chasers. When courts exercise not the rule of law, but rather raw judicial power, they do not deserve independence. They need to be reined in. If Terri's case results in more democracy and less rule by robed oligarchs, she will not have died in vain. If the President and the Senate wish to honor Terri, there is no better way than to stop the filibusters and confirm judges who will enforce the law, not make law. Another piece revealed some disturbingly friendly connections between Terri Schiavo's estranged husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, and former Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice, who now is a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Just before he left office following his election to the state Legislature, Rice hired Schiavo – a registered nurse – to work in the Pinellas County jail. =========================================================== It also turns out that the mother of Jodi Centonze, Schiavo's live-in girlfriend with whom he has had two children, worked for years for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department. Some suggest these connections explain why Rice never investigated the numerous allegations of abuse that Terri's parents, their attorneys and other supporters have lodged against Schiavo over the years. "The relationship of Rice and [Michael] Schiavo raises grave questions of alleged impropriety in the Terri Schiavo case and ongoing allegations of conspiracy, collusion and cover-up which have resulted in calls for Gov. Jeb Bush to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the matter and the impaneling of the grand jury," wrote Berlin and Maxam. "Rice's hire of Schiavo came at the same time contentious guardianship proceedings were proceeding in the courtroom of his long-time friend, Sixth Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer, where Schiavo was seeking to end the life of his wife by court order of Greer."

[Soul Seeker]

He's correct.

Whether or not the majority of Dems have been outspoken or genuinely support Terri, the Congress with consent of the Dems did allow the option to renew the case from scratch at Judicial will. Half of the Dems in attendance in the House supported the Bill, while others didn't bother to show to make a decision. Reps worked to have a stronger Bill in the Senate, but voted on what the Dems would agree to. The Reps in the House all voted for Terri save five. The president flew back to Washington to sign the Bill.

The Florida State Senate was the greatest disappointment among elected legislatures, but overwhelmingly the biggest obstacle has been the Courts. So, in the end, it will be the Courts that save one or two never considered allowance of a new trial to settle questions for good.

This will not be a benefit or loss to either political Party, so much as it will be a backlash towards those Courts that have presumed to assume the rights of the divine. Thise has been building since Thomas Jefferson, and it WILL be corrected.