[SteveMcKing]

We need to let this simmer, then boil at election time. Somehow.

[WFTR]

They left out the important question of "Who decides?" I wouldn't want to live as Terri Schindler S. did, and I trust my parents to make that decision for me if the situation arises. Starving and dehydration would be a rough death, but living as she did was a rough life. I think my parents would have my best interests at heart, and I would trust them to evaluate the situation and make a good decision.

I've had a grandmother and great-grandmother who each died of stomach cancer. Both reached a point where they couldn't eat or drink. I don't know how they cared for my great-grandmother. For grandmother, her children kept her somewhat hydrated by keeping little chips of ice in a bowl by her bed. As she felt thirsty, she would put a chip of ice on her tongue to melt. That's how she lived the last two and half months of her life. Maybe she could have lived an extra few months if we'd taken her to a hospital and forced her to take nourishment from a tube, but she didn't want that. Maybe if we'd tried to do that, she'd have died a month earlier of a broken heart from feeling betrayed. Nothing about the decisions the family made was easy. There was consolation in knowing that grandmother was still in her right mind and that we were just doing what she wanted, but it was still hard. It was also none of anyone else's business.

The Terri Schindler S. situation was a travesty because Michael Schiavo should not have been making Terri's decisions once he had moved on with his life. We give the spouse those decisions in most cases on the assumption that spouses have a unique relationship to one another and have one another's best interests at heart. Michael Schiavo no longer had that relationship with Terri, and the courts should not have assumed that he had her best interests at heart.

Conservatives are making a mistake when they try to decide for everyone what the outcomes of all of these situations should be. Every situation is different, and the loved ones dealing with each situation are different. Rather than trying to impose a "one size fits all" decision on everyone, we should work to ensure that the right people make the decisions in every case regardless of what that decision is.

Bill

[Malesherbes]

When Mort Kondracke assured viewers on Fox News that starvation and dehydration (re Terri Schiavo) was an "euphoric" way to die, I instantly dropped him from my list of civilized human beings.

[balrog666]

Kill 'em all!

[mmercier]

Look at the first victims of the "third reich".

This is nothing new, there were, and are, and always will be small men who desire to act as God, be as God, and hopefully in their putrid thinkinjg, become God. Man was created in the "image of God", there is no possibility of the image becoming the creator or wielding his/her/it's enumeration. Our creator dictates we side with life, those who do not are of the dead, and matter not to the living.

Always err on the side of life, and never fear a consequence imposed by a man made structure that has the arrogance to usurp the authority of a god. The god or gods eat such beings at their leisure, therefore what we know as suffering, tragedy and discourd abound.

[eeriegeno]

"WHO LIVES, WHO DIES?"

In Terri Schindler's case this answer is simple.... Judge George Greer made that decision.

Terri is now dead, and George Greer will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

[billbears]

Well if the some would have had their way, the decision would have eventually been left to the 536 political hacks sitting in Washington to legislate. As it is, the decision is left to who the separate and sovereign states decide would be the best person to make that decision. If the states decide that is a guardian, husband, wife, etc. I trust the state legislatures, their judicial systems, and the medical professionals more than I trust turning that decision over to the national government and those from different parts of this nation whose views I may disagree with more than my own state legislators

[jec41]

It is hard for me to believe that a country I served now has laws in place to determine if I would be allowed to be born or aborted and laws that decide under what conditions I should die. I hope they put off life term limits for a while because I am enjoying myself but I suppose its only a matter of time before some group study determines that we have enjoyed the major benefit's of life and we should be terminated at seventy. I can hear them now, you've had your fair share of life and are using the benefits of others, therefore turn yourself in or we will send the life police after you. The only good thing that can become of this is we will get rid of a lot of politicians. Almost worth it.

[little jeremiah]

ping to self for later pingout.

Charlite, you seem to post a lot of articles that would interest folks on one of my pinglists.

Could you alert me when you post articles - IOW, pingify me?

Thanks.

[backhoe]

These are the defining issues of our times:

-Men(ace) in Black? SCOTUS goes Rogue...--

-Useless Eaters vs The Death Cult--

-Thunder on the Border-- (Minuteman Project)--

1- an unaccountable Judiciary.
2- whose life is it, anyway? Yours, or someone else's?
3- whose Country is it?

There are other vital issues, of course- but these three will determine just who we really are as a nation.

[Ramonchito]

Now that the Terri Schiavo's case has finally come to a close with her untimely death, the best thing that can be done is to stop condemning Judge Greer, the courts and the federal government for her death.

Condemnation is not going to help things. In fact, in will just complicate matters. The reason why both the state and federal legislatures failed to pass legislation to avoid the unfortunate circumstances that led to Terri Schiavo's untimely death is because euthanasia itself is a very controversial if not divisive topic. Many people consider euthanasia as plain murder no matter what justification may be advanced to make reasonable exceptions for its practice.

There is no federal or state law dealing exclusively with euthanasia. The only law touching on this matter is the common law -- the law laid down by the courts dealing with euthanasia.

Politicians are afraid to handle the legal issues in euthanasia because it is a highly divisive and controversial matter to tackle with.

Condemning politicians in the case of Terri Schiavo’s is just going to make politician's even more afraid and insecure when it comes to dealing with the legal issues of the matter. If you think by condemning politicians for their inaction in Terri Schiavo's case, you are going to motivate them to do something about it, you are dead wrong. By your condemnation, you are just going to make it harder for politicians to act to avert similar cases. By your condemnation, you will just prolong the crisis, not help in doing anything about it.

[Petronski]

The Terri Schiavo case was only the tip of the euthanasia iceberg...