Posted on 12/02/2005 10:31:29 PM PST by goldstategop
Terri Schiavo would be 42 today, if she had not been dehydrated to death per court order.
Instead of the happy squeals and vocalizations the brain-damaged woman was known to utter, the deafening silence of loss haunts her loved ones on this anniversary of her birth.
Many Americans prefer the silence. The very mention of the name, "Terri Schiavo," elicits groans from those "burned out" on what they view as simply an overblown news story.
"I do not understand why you keep pumping the glory of her death," wrote one WND reader in response to continuing coverage of the familial tug of war over the incapacitated woman's life that made history when Congress and President Bush took the unprecedented steps of intervening in the seven-year court battle.
"Let it go, and let the woman rest in peace," scolded another reader.
Others express exasperation and anger:
"EVERYONE I have asked if they would like to live as Terri did would choose NOT TO. Would you?"
"Do you really think that it is within Jesus' teachings to keep a brain dead woman alive for 15 years? Is that really life?"
"Why would any sane person want to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state, or a state of persistent minimal consciousness, or in a state of intractable pain near the end of a terminal condition?"
"Terri died the morning her brain stopped working."
"The Terri Schiavo situation was a political game in which a woman who should have died long ago was used as a political pawn and still is."
The e-mailed sentiment is telling and exposes a largely uninformed and misinformed public, which WND's continuing coverage seeks to correct. Fundamental facts of the case in the minds of readers contacting WND are consistently botched, overlooked or ignored.
Setting the complete record straight can't be done in one column. But in response to the above sampling of quotes, the facts of the case are that Terri Schiavo was not brain dead. Her brain never "stopped working." She was not in "intractable pain." Other than during her monthly menses when her moans prompted caregivers to give her medication to ease her discomfort – something neurologists maintain people in a persistent vegetative state don't feel – Terri Schiavo was resting in peace before her death. She didn't need to be "let go."
Incidentally, can denying an incapacitated woman so much as an ice chip over the course of 13 days while her organs slowly shut down and her skin shrivels away from her bone be characterized as "letting her go"?
Terri Schiavo was not dying. Her medical examiner estimated she would have lived another decade if she had not been forced to die through the removal of her gastric feeding tube and the accompanying court-ordered withholding of oral hydration and nutrition.
Contrary to popular belief and media reports, Terri Schiavo was not being "kept alive" by life-support machines. She could breathe and maintain blood pressure on her own. Many believe that if it were her will to die, she would not have lived in her condition for 15 years, defying odds estimated at 1 in 75,000 by the American Academy of Neurology, if she were truly in a persistent vegetative state.
Terri Schiavo was not "near the end of a terminal condition." George Felos, the right-to-die attorney hired by Michael Schiavo to pursue the removal of his wife's feeding tube, argued she was "terminal" because she could not swallow and relied on the feeding tube for nourishment. Should we consider the other estimated 125,000 adults and 10,000 children in America who similarly rely on assisted feeding to be "terminal"? Should we "let them go"?
Is it our decision to make? Even if "EVERYONE I have asked" would not choose to live in Terri Schiavo's condition, do we have a right to end the lives of others based on our preferences?
What about what Terri wanted? Her death wasn't ordered by the court based on her will, but rather her adjudicated will. As such, there's room for human error on the part of the judge, and on the part of Michael Schiavo and his siblings who argued casual statements Terri made years prior to her brain injury were tantamount to an oral advance directive.
WND has repeatedly reported the Schiavos' testimony was disputed by Terri's own siblings and parents, and three women – including two former girlfriends of Michael Schiavo – filed court affidavits asserting he confided in them he didn't know what his wife wanted. WND has also pointed out that Michael Schiavo, himself, expressed a bit of horror when withdrawal of the feeding tube was first suggested to him in 1993 by responding," I couldn't do that to Terri." It was only after Schiavo teamed up with Felos that removing the feeding tube became the moral imperative.
But e-mails from readers indicate they don't want to be bothered by the facts. Their minds are made up on the issue. Most often, opinions were formed on the issue based on personal experiences with ailing relatives or friends and projected onto the Terri Schiavo dilemma.
Which brings me back to the silence. Those who favored Terri's death seek silence. They consider the debate over whether it's appropriate to end the life of a disabled person without his or her explicit permission to be over.
James Youngblood, a 28-year-old self-described "proud supporter" of Terri Schiavo, continues to troll for information on the case to post on an AOL message board. He reports his postings meet with considerable hostility.
"I along with two others ... try to keep her memory alive and spread the truth about what actually happened," Youngblood shared with WND. "The board is very active and there are almost a dozen supporters of Michael Schiavo. ... They continue to attack us daily saying that all of our posts are lies. Their comments are very evil. They degrade our character and constantly degrade the many supporters of Terri Schiavo."
To be sure, Youngblood has plenty of like-minded pen-pals.
"I would say Terri's death was legalized murder," wrote one to WND.
"The euthanasia genie is out of the bottle now. It remains to be seen in this deviant society how people deal with this fact," observed another.
Youngblood vows to "not let America forget about [Terri Schiavo] or the evilness of the court's doing." But he needs help and urges others to speak up and break the silence.
In the words of another WND reader: "This travesty should be kept alive and in the public eye at least as long as the criminals who perpetrated it are living out their condemned, self-serving existences on this earth."
Thanks for all the links of truth! They are truly defining issues of our times. I hope America wakes up to the agenda of people like George Soros, Felos and the rest of the Death Ghouls, before it's too late.
May God have mercy on this country for killing a precious, innocent woman.
True, the government wishes it would go away, so it is up to us to keep it moving. I still do what I have chosen as my part every day, many months from her death and Lord willing, will til I die. Still believe in prayer and ask everyone to not only pray for Terri's family but pray for this country. As hard as it is, pray for Michael Schiavo, his attorney and judge, and the state of Florida, all who share responsibility for her death. Lord forgive us.
I thought this was going to be a Desperate Housewives thread about Terri Hatcher.... too bad
----I agree with you. I was glad to read there are those out there who will never forget her either.
Sad but true. Not a very good legacy for the land of the free, and the home of the brave : (
Ping. It was Terri's birthday yesterday.
Mileage???
Article. I. No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.Section. 9. The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
Article the seventh [Amendment V]No person shall... be deprived of life... without due process of law;...
Article the ninth [Amendment VII]In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Article the tenth [Amendment VIII]Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Article. XIV.Section. 1.All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Those options only appear when you're logged in.
You're operating under the assumption that Terri had the same Constitutional rights as the rest of us. Those who favor exterminating disabled people believe the only right a disabled person has is their murdering spouse's right to privacy.
Today is Terri's birthday, Saturday, Dec. 3rd.
Give it up. Everyone involved used her to their advantage and then forgot about her immediately afterwards. It was disgusting then, and it's just sad now.
I am ashamed for this nation as I miss Terri the innocent woman, not Terri the martyr.
Remembering Terri birthdate 12-3-05. We sang happy birthday to her two years in a row. Throngs of people sang to her outside that horrid hospice that's riddled with medicaid fraud.
It is sickening, wherever it occurs.
How could our leaders betray an innocent woman after the judges mandated her execution? Will our leaders ever realize what they failed to do has done to our trust and confidence in them?
Probably not. May God keep us strong to stay in the fight against the death worshippers.
BTTT
I have phone numbers for the US Congress toll free, for the Republican National Committee and for the White House Comment Line on my tag line. They need to hear from us now and then that we haven't forgotten how a disabled person was treated. Federalize a ban if you refuse to follow existing state laws. Existing state laws were violated for years before the final assault. America better wake up because strangers make decisions for family members if the relatives can't be located. Medical schools are teaching healing but they are also teaching classes rooted in the death cult, in other words, taking playing god to another level. Who lives, who dies. Strangers will decide if family doesn't get there fast enough or doesn't catch them putting someone into the dying process and it only takes one week in a bad facility to begin killing someone who isn't dying.
Yep, sort of a mini-industry. I'd attributed the "silence" to the Terripalooza just having finally sold out of T-shirts.
It wasn't my idea of the United States of America to insure that an innocent woman's life would be taken at all costs.
Since this began in Florida as a real movement against the euthanazi's, it is going to continue here. I hope other states join us. We need a big coalition against the death worshippers because they have ACLU money and George Soros' money, etc., they also have GOP and democrat big bucks.
I'm not stopping. It's too important. Terri was a baby boomer. They are the next step because seniors are living longer. Does that make sense? Scott Thomas is a young man too. They want to expand their clientele for forced exits.
There is a profit margin as the various parts split the spoils as they go along defrauding the victim until they are deceased.
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