Posted on 04/01/2005 2:38:23 PM PST by JohnHuang2
"As the nation bitterly debates the Terri Schiavo case, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has tried to stay above the fray, refusing to take sides and staying as quiet as possible," the New York Post's Deborah Orin wrote in a column published yesterday before Mrs. Schiavo's death. Continues...
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Michael Schiavo finally got his wish
Michael Schiavo finally got his wish -- his wife is dead. Terri Schiavo, who clung on to life for 13 agonizing days without food and water at a Florida hospice, was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday at 9:05 a.m. EST. A real class act to the bitter end, Michael denied her parents access moments before she died and told her brother and sister, who were at her bedside, to scram. An autopsy will be performed, but the cause of death isn't any real mystery here. We know she didn't die of brain damage. We know she didn't die of terminal illness. Miraculously, she almost survived two weeks without a drop of water, something very healthy folks would have a hard time doing. Miraculously, she almost survived 21 years of being married to Michael, a philandering cad who ran off with his mistress after Terri fell ill.
According to Joey Budafucco here, dying by dehydration and starvation -- medically-induced 'euphoria' -- is just what Terri wanted. For seven years after she suffered a heart attack (a very strange heart attack, which produced bone fractures in her thigh, ribs, both ankles and lower back), Michael never said a word about Terri's death wish, but winning a $1 million malpractice award suddenly jolted that faulty memory of his.
Is there anything more sacred than human life? Yes, according to anti-Terri liberals. Definitely more sacred than human life is the word of Michael Schiavo. Despite this fascination with death Michael claims Terri had, oddly she forgot to write a living will or a note saying, 'I'd Rather Starve Than Eat Hospice Food', so all we have to go on is the word of Michael Schiavo that she wanted 1) to be dehydrated to death 2) her parents put through hell 3) her brother and sister kicked out of the hospice room minutes before she died and 4) get cremated and have her ashes interred in Michael's family plot outside Philadelphia. All this so Michael could marry his mistress. Whatta guy.
Now that Terri is dead, liberals can say they won one -- finally. They can't beat Republicans at the polls, but they can get a crooked probate judge in Central Florida to starve a handicap woman and kill her in less than two weeks. They're wimpy on terrorists, but heroic when it comes to keeping America safe from Terri. I'm sure we can all sleep better now.
And who said Democrats lack a Social Security solution? It's euthanasia.
One of the most remarkable aspects of this case is how often we were told this or that was a 'fact', when, either the opposite was true or there was too much uncertainty. That's what made the case controversial in the first place. We were told repeatedly, 'this was Terri's wish.' Based on what? Hear-say -- something Michael claims he heard her say off-hand, but forgot to mention for seven years, during which time he pursued a malpractice suit. We were told repeatedly that Terri's in a 'Persistent Vegetative State'. Yet, among the five court-appointed neurologists in the case, three said she was, two said she wasn't. That's called a hung jury. We were told repeatedly her chances for improvement were nil. But, here, too, medical opinion was split.
But I'll tell you what's not in dispute: Terri is now with the Lord, safely in his arms. God bless her and God bless the Schindler family.
That's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"===============
Below, an essay I wrote before Terri died.
Democrats still unhinged over Schiavo case
In a sign of how unhinged liberals have all become over Terri, I just finished reading the gazillionth story about how unhinged the GOP has become over Terri. And about the joys of starving to death, the hottest new craze sweeping the Nation magazine. (The incredible thrill of going malnourished never leaves you.) Millions of Zimbabweans now live on the brink of starvation, so they've never had it so good.
Liberals now insist starvation is the most humane way to dispose of 'useless eaters'. High-principled, they've firmly held this position since they first heard the name, 'Terri Schiavo', a few weeks ago. Their position of opposing Terri is based on two lofty ideals: 1) They hate Tom DeLay and 2) Tom DeLay wants her to live. Liberals loudly denounce analogies to starving a cow or pig, since Terri's no longer a person anyway.
Yet, fact is, it is illegal to starve a cow, which is precisely why it's illegal to stop feeding Michael Moore. Renowned medical professionals like Rep. Robert Wexler, who has diagnosed Terri from the studios of CNN, says her case isn't unique, that there are hundreds of thousands of cases like hers, where government decides to withhold food and water -- but enough about the Sudan.
Liberals, trying to win their noble life-and-death fight to keep Terri from being fed, offer a motley of asinine reasons the Asinine Party says justifies killing Terri (then getting her registered to vote). If I get the gist of their "argument," they say Terri's incapable of feeling pain, so they give her morphine to ease the tremendous euphoria of dehydrating to death which you couldn't do to ol' Barney no matter how 'slow' ol' Barney gets but Terri is not a Scottish terrier so there's no need to treat her humanely. Besides, she's been dead for 15 years, so you don't want to hurt her by doing things like keeping her alive through artificial means like food and water which prolong her suffering since she's unconscious and people in a 'Persistent Vegetative State' feel no pain or suffering, which means Terri's just a corpse, so Michael's marriage to her is alive and his efforts to end the corpse's life shows that he honors the sanctity of marriage. Michael says Terri has spent the last 15 years dead so it's time to let her die. And time for her parents to 'honor' their daughter's wish -- dying at the hands of her loving husband who found another honey after she became ill. It takes a 'right-wing' fanatic to think the philandering cad's priorities are not in Terri's best interest.
Such clear, coherent thinking is also amply displayed by Andrew Sullivan in his latest piece, cryptically titled, Terri is the dying martyr the Republican right can use. Regarding the killing of a disabled woman, Sullivan goes straight to the heart of the problem: People who go to church. And vote.
"Those of us who long worried that unleashing religious fundamentalism into the bloodstream of American politics would lead to disaster can feel only that our fears have now come true," writes Sullivan, his jaws shivering, his body trembling with horror. Our society prides itself as open and tolerant. So why do we let people like Jerry Falwell vote? Religious fundamentalists, using secret infrared rays, have taken control of the GOP, Congress, and the Presidency, Sullivan writes, gasping for breath. With their nifty wireless remotes, they got Congress and the President to intervene in a family matter -- in effect, giving "government" a "final say" in decisions which belong to private individuals, such as judge George Greer. It "strikes me as grossly inappropriate," notes Sullivan, adding: "You want proof that the religious right runs the Republican Party?"
But then, in paragraph #18 of Sullivan's piece, we learn that the Prez, rather than being under the control of pro-life 'fanatics' as he had been in the preceding 17 paragraphs, is really a pro-death fanatic who "signed countless death warrants as governor of Texas, with the most cursory of legal reviews." So, Bush is a pro-life fanatic and a pro-death fanatic meddling in a judge's decision to pull Terri's feeding tube -- a decision upheld by the U.S. Supremes, half of whom are on feeding tubes.
(Liberals insist there was no justification for intervention by Republicans in Congress, pointing to federal courts which reviewed the case to make sure judge Greer was right in ruling Terri's brain to be only three-fifths human.)
Greer determined that Terri would want to dehydrate based on the Clear and Convincing standard of hear-say table-talk. Terri's still alive after going without food and water for almost two weeks -- that's how badly she wanted to die.
Dr. Bernadine Healy, professor, cardiologist and former Director of the Institutes of Health, told Hardball Tuesday that "in terms of a quality of mercy in this case, I do not believe that it has occurred at the level of giving (Terri) a fair medical examination. I'm speaking about her as a patient; I'm not speaking about her as a law case; I'm not speaking about her at the Supreme Court. I'm talking about the fact that no one should die without a state-of-the-art medical evaluation. (Terri) did not have a doctor evaluating her since 2002. The most recent neurologist to see her said she thought she was not a vegetable."
Yet, "When I saw" Terri, with her sunken eyes, parched skin, seared lips, caked mouth and swollen tongue, "she looked beautiful," George Felos told reporters Saturday. "In all the years I've seen Mrs. Schiavo," she's never looked better than after a week of dehydrating. He said that what he saw, as her nose bled, bladder burned and brain cells dried out, was the "look of beauty". Since this little sick maggot is Michael's insane lawyer, I presume Michael also thinks now that his wife is in the process of being drained of body fluid in that wonderful slaughter house called a 'hospice', she's never looked hotter. (Felos is so fascinated with death, he calls visits to the cemetery, 'Happy Hour'. In the morning, happiness is coffee, eggs, sausage and the obits.) Killing the brain-damaged, the mentally impaired, the disabled, the 'undesirables', the unborn -- Hitler would be a Democrat today.
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"
Have a safe weekend, y'all. God bless, see you soon.
great essays JH2!
Hitlery, you will NEVER fool this conservative voter. Ever.
Great essays!
GREAT essays !
Perfect.
Thank you.
BUMP
John, you take my breath away! Thanks for the ping.
Great writing, thanks John.
Excellent summation.
Gee, that was great. So glad to see one of the old trusted names agree with the pro-life stance. They are few and far on FR which really causes me to worry about the future battles that will be faced for the GOP.
Excellent. Here's hoping that Terri did not die in vain. You have a safe and wonderful weekend too, John....
Bingo! Ultimately, that is the only possible solution for their dilemma.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again, you sir have a gift. Thank you for sharing it!
Those were such good essays. Thank you.
Excellent commentary!
Do you send that stuff out to various web news services? If not, you should.
Stay well, and thanks for the ping!
Very good Johnny. It really is amazing that we see almost everything eye to eye. You sure you're not descended from an Irishman in a Yankee uniform? :-}
Outstanding post. Thanks John.
You are one of the best in the biz. We should have a huangathon.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ijg520/petition.html
Interesting information re FL statutes
You're probably right. If conservatives had championed Michael Schiavo's attempts to kill his wife as the prerogative of a husband, I suspect many of the libs now jumping up and down with glee at Terri's death would be singing a different tune. Instead they'd be squawking about how horrible a MALE!!! like Michael Schiavo is killing this women. Of course for the left, anything that looks like a defeat for conservatives is something they're for.
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