Judicial comment sets Crist apart

TALLAHASSEE - It was one of the shortest speeches of Charlie Crist's career, but as a campaign for governor unfolds, it may prove to be one of the most memorable.

Two weeks ago, the Republican attorney general and candidate for governor gave a late-night speech to a roomful of lawyers in Miami where he referred to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case as "heroes."

Crist insists he wasn't endorsing court rulings that prevented the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube from being reconnected, but critics view it differently. And by appearing to break his silence in the Schiavo case, Crist has sharpened the contrast between himself and Republican rival Tom Gallagher, who has said he favored government action to "prevent Terri's starvation."

At the dinner in Miami, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer and U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa were honored as jurists of the year by the Florida chapter of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates. The group champions judicial independence and its members are lawyers who represent both plaintiffs and defendants.

Greer is the judge who ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed, rejecting a subpoena from Congress and pleas from Gov. Jeb Bush, and Whittemore also denied emergency requests to reinsert the tube in the weeks before Schiavo died March 31. Both men's decisions were later upheld by higher courts, and both were praised and vilified by opposing sides of the emotionally charged end-of-life case.

"You are heroes to all of us, and your defense of the judiciary and what is right is beyond admirable," Crist was quoted in the Daily Business Review, a Miami newspaper that provided the only news account of the July 15 event at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

In an interview, Crist did not dispute the quotations. Nor did he offer a view of whether he agreed with their decisions. Rather, he said, he praised them for fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide checks and balances against the other two branches of government.

"I try to say nice things about judges. I'm sure I was complimentary," said Crist, who as the state's chief legal officer often speaks at bar-related events. "I didn't talk about any specific case. ... It's important that those checks and balances exist. Our system of government needs to have that."

"Judge Greer is a poster child for everything that's wrong with the judiciary," said Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America, a grass roots Christian political group in Fort Lauderdale that lists "sanctity of life" as one of its priorities and plans to form a political action committee.

"For Charlie Crist to hold that up as an example of good judicial practice concerns me," Cass said. "I think it was a mistake for Charlie to say that. I don't know how anybody can be happy about a woman being deprived food and water."

Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Republican from Ocala who sponsored legislation last spring to force the tube to be reconnected, said Crist's speech was revealing.

"I think it is one of those very important moments for us to know where he (Crist) stands," Baxley said. "I truly believe there's a lot of people out there who were sensitive to this case who are going to find those comments, and that association, very instructive. I'm understanding where people line up on this."

Baxley said that while Crist was "conspicuously absent" from the Schiavo debate in the Legislature, Gallagher sent Baxley a personal letter of support last spring. While activists in the Schiavo debate take aim at Crist, his Republican rival Gallagher is not.

"Tom's made his position very clear in the past. There's really no comment we're going to make on that," said David Johnson, a Gallagher adviser.

Polls show a majority of Americans agreed with the judges' decisions to order the removal of Schiavo's tube, as her husband, Michael, said she wanted. By a greater margin, polls show people were opposed to Congress' intervention in the case.

But to those who view the long-running Schiavo saga as a test case of support for the sanctity of life - like abortion - Greer and Whittemore are "judicial activists" who starved a woman to death.

Many of those people can vote in the Republican primary for governor in September 2006. Crist's stand on the Schiavo case could prove to be an asset if he wins the GOP nomination and faces a Democrat. But one Republican strategist said the damage has been done.

"Schiavo killed the Republicans. They've lost the women's vote," said Matt Towery, an ex-Republican legislator who now runs an Atlanta media and polling firm. "It's one of those turning points that you just can't get away from."

My visit with Terri at Sylvan Abbey ,

Cheryl Ford RN
August 17, 2005

Terri Schindler Schiavo's remains quietly were buried at Sylvan Abbey Cemetery in Clearwater, Florida. Terri was forced to die after 13 days of starvation and dehydration. The removal of her feeding tube came after a local probate Judge in Clearwater, Florida had obliged Terri's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo's wishes, to remove her feeding tube; a small tube that had successfully provided nourishment to Terri for 15 years after her unexplained tragedy.

Terri's family was not allowed to be in the room with her when she took her final breath. Michael had forced them to remain in the hallway. After her death, her body was immediately taken from Woodside Hospice in Clearwater, Florida, and driven to the local coroners office where an autopsy was performed the following day. Several weeks later, the autopsy report revealed to the public that Terri was healthy in every way, except that of her brain injury. The report had concluded that her unexplained collapse, 15 years earlier, was not due to low potassium, or a heart attack; medical problems that Michael Schiavo had spent years convincing the courts were due to Terri's collapse.

Terri was baptized, confirmed, and raised a Catholic. Her parents Bob and Mary Schindler brought Terri and her siblings up in a loving Catholic family household. They attended Mass every Sunday. As well, Terri was married in a Catholic Church. In Catholicism, we are taught that life is a precious gift from God. Taking one's own life, or having someone shorten life, is equivalent to not being appreciative or grateful to God for the gift of life HE has given to us. Sadly, Michael Schiavo chose to shorten Terri's life at her young age of 41 years old. Terri's family suffered tremendously, knowing that what Michael was doing to their daughter was against God's wishes, and was against Terri's wishes as well. Terri died on March 31, 2005.

The Schindler's suffering continued as the days passed by after Terri's death. Michael Schiavo had told news reporters that he had planned on keeping Terri's burial a secret, preventing her family from knowing where her remains were kept. Many reports had said that he was taking Terri's ashes out of the state of Florida and she was going to be buried in an undisclosed location somewhere in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, each day, as the Schindlers grieved the loss of their daughter, their angst grew more overwhelming, eagerly awaiting for some word, any word, as to where their daughters remains would be laid to rest.

On April 22, 2005, almost one month after Terri's death, Mary Schindler shared these words with me.

"My heart aches over the loss of my daughter. She was a part of my daily life for the last 41 years. She would have been residing in our home with us for the last fifteen years had she been allowed. She was, and will always be, my baby. I will never forget her. I miss her terribly. The pain and distress she was in during her final days because of what they did to her will never leave my mind. Bob has a difficult time sleeping at night. The last we were told was that Michael cremated Terri. This week, our attorneys told us she is still here in Florida. Michael will not tell us where, or what he will do with her and this breaks my heart. As her Mother, I want my daughter to be buried where our family may visit her graveside. Our only relief right now comes in knowing they can bring no more harm to her. We know that she is safe and in the protected hands of God."

It was not until three months after Terri died, that the Schindlers had learned by facsimile that their daughters remains were buried in Florida at Sylvan Abbey Cemetery, in Clearwater.

Last month I visited Terri's grave. She is buried in a very beautiful and peaceful cemetery. I was amazed to see that Terri was buried in a much older section of the cemetery and only a few feet from a pond and very large fountain. The silence surrounding her grave site was drowned by the noise of loud running water. Water, the very substance that Terri was deprived of, resulting in her tragic and inhumane death.

After visiting Terri, I took a stroll around the cemetery and came upon a pleasant lady who had said she worked there. She was very friendly and willingly answered my questions. I asked her about Terri's graveside service. She replied, "There was no real service per say, she was buried in the early morning hours with just her husband and another gentleman there."

I then asked, "how did Terri's remains happen to be buried in what appeared to be the older section of the cemetery?" As you can see from the above photo, the bench is much newer than any other markers surrounding Terri's plot. She explained that Michael had known the woman who worked there. She said, "special arrangements had been made to bury Terri." She conveyed that Terri's remains were buried in an unplotted area of the older section of the cemetery. In other words, the average person would not have been capable of making purchase of that particular grave site because it really wasn't one. I also learned, that it took 13 weeks to order a marker and a bench. If my calculations served me correctly, that would have meant that Schiavo had ordered the bench and plot immediately after Terri died.

Aware of how Michael had shown no care or respect for Terri, her family, her love for her parents, or her faith and love for God, it really did not come as a surprise to me that he would have had the necessary connections to bury her right near the water. Nor did it surprise me to learn how he had known all along that he was not going to transport her remains to Pennsylvania. His statements of shipping her remains out of Florida, were obviously only made to cause her mother and father additional pain.

Michael Schiavo wrote on Terri's marker that she departed the earth in 1990, and that he had kept a promise to her.

I am unable to resist asking one question of Michael Schiavo~
What about your promise before God; the promise you took on the alter to love and cherish Terri, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?

>> the promise you took on the alter to love and cherish Terri, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her

Michael thought this was a multiple-choice examination. After a very tricky Googling, I have found his exam paper.

1) To love and to cherish Terri...

[ x ] Cindy
[ x ] Trudy
[ x ] Jodi
[ xxx! ] "[top secret]" Oooh, baby! Hehehe, Jodi will never find out!
[ ] Terri

2) In sickness and in health...

[ ] sickness
[ ] health
[ x ] deceased

3) For richer or poorer

Hahahahahaha!

[ ] poorer
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
[ x ] richer
I'm gonna be rich! Isn't that bitch dead yet?

4) For better or worse

[ ] better
[ ] worse
[ x ] Her salary, health insurance benefits, malpractice settlement, malpractice award for therapy and care, award for loss of consortium, her estate

5) Forsaking all others

[ ] true
[ x ] false

Euthanasia Activist Gives up Starvation Death Effort as Too Painful and “Undignified”

BRISTOL, August 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Kelly Taylor, a 28-year-old woman who is not terminally ill, has ended her attempt to starve herself to death after 19 days because of the pain of the effects of starvation.

Mrs. Taylor claimed that she had chosen self-starvation as the only method of suicide that would not leave her husband Richard liable for prosecution. Nevertheless, after 19 days, she said, “It has become too uncomfortable and I would not wish what I have been going through on my worst enemy.”

Taylor suffers from a congenital heart condition known as Eisenmenger Syndrome which, despite being labeled so by news media, is not a terminal condition. It does, however, reduce her mobility and leaves her dependent upon oxygen. She said her reason for wanting to die was that, as a disabled person, she could no longer make a “contribution” to society.

Opponents of euthanasia have repeatedly pointed out that the utilitarian values which permeate modern society are likely to encourage sick and disabled persons to think of themselves as “useless” and “burdensome.”

At a press conference, Mrs. Taylor said, “I feel disappointed in myself. I really wanted to die and that seemed to be my only option. I regret that I have to stop what I am doing because I still want to die. But starvation, as it turns out, is very undignified.”

The painful and “undignified” death rejected by Mrs. Taylor, however, was inflicted successfully by Michael Schiavo and his euthanasia activist lawyer, George Felos, on Schiavo’s estranged wife, Terri, both of whom insisted that Terri’s death by starvation and dehydration was painless and easy. Terri was also not suffering from any terminal illness and apart from her cognitive disability, was in good health.

The news media’s active collusion in this deception is evident in the UK Telegraph’s coverage of Mrs. Taylor’s campaign to kill herself, in which it called her a “terminally ill” woman in the first sentence. The Telegraph reluctantly admits at the end of the article that Eisenmenger Syndrome is “not technically a terminal illness.”

During the fight to save Terri Schiavo’s life, the great majority of news media dutifully called her “terminally ill” and repeated Schiavo and Felos’ claims that her death was painless and easy despite the extensive regimen of pain drugs required.

Earlier this year, in comments on the Schiavo case, Dr. David Stevens, spokesman for the Christian Medical Association said that death by dehydration is horrific.

Dr. Stevens, speaking from his 13 years experience in Africa, where the most common cause of death in children is dehydration from gastroenteritis, said, “Contrary to those that try to paint a picture of a gentle process, death by dehydration is a cruel, inhumane and often agonizing death.”

Read Telegraph coverage: http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/n...

Read Dr. Steven’s description of horrifying symptoms of dehydration death:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/mar/05032404.html

FV SAYS: Please note the number of this post and take the time to email or fax this to your US House Reps and US Senators. I'll be covering Senator Martinez, Rep. Dave Weldon, Senator Bill Nelson and his opponent Congresswoman Katherine Harris. Federalize a ban on starving-dehydrating fellow Americans to death. (skipping State of florida reps because they are worthless to contact).

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