Posted on 12/16/2005 6:22:20 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
It is frequently said that truth is stranger than fiction. In the case of Michael Schiavo, husband of the now deceased Terri Schiavo, this is precisely correct.
You may recall that during the years that Terri Schiavo suffered from a debilitating condition, Michael worked very hard to acquire legal permission to kill his wife by denying her the basic human right of receiving food and water. He argued that she would not want to be fed through a tube. His view was that she actually died 12 years earlier, and that the person in the hospital bed was not truly alive. Once he succeeded in achieving his goal, and his wife died, it became clear that Schiavo had designs on attaining as much public support and sympathy as possible. In fact, one might say that in the wake of Terri's death, Michael Schiavo was starving - for attention.
He received notoriety due to various awards that pro-death groups chose to give him. He made headlines when a woman in San Francisco was convicted of a crime for posting an internet death threat leveled at Schiavo. The threat read, "If she [Terri] dies, I will kill Michael Schiavo and the judge."
A reporter in Florida claimed that Michael Schiavo, who is a licensed health care provider, was being investigated by medical malpractice authorities due to some alleged misrepresentation on an employment application.
None of this satisfied Schiavo's thirst for recognition; it appeared to know no bounds. In fact, his ego-driven self-absorption has recently launched him into the political realm. He has just announced the formation of the Terri PAC, a political action committee founded to "restore personal freedoms and individual human rights." If you think this is a bit ridiculous, then you are sadly unaware of the immensity of the culture of death into which America is nearly fully immersed.
"Personal freedom" should be based on one's ability to exercise free will and choose between good and evil. This is not the definition currently applied in the United States, however. The majority of our citizenry, for instance, claim a "personal freedom" to murder the innocent preborn child at any point in his life. So it is no surprise that Michael Schiavo is turning to the political realm to make sure that spouses like himself can exercise another aspect of this twisted idea of personal freedom: the "right" to eliminate an inconvenient family member when illness or debilitation strikes.
Some would call that killing. Others would describe it as pure evil. We would hope that very few indeed would perceive it as true "personal freedom." Hope, yes; unfortunately, opinion polls would prove us wrong. The vast majority of Americans condone what Michael Schiavo did to his wife; they also condone taking the lives of preborn children through abortion. It's all about those "personal freedoms" that we Americans supposedly hold so dear.
There's also the sticky subject of "individual rights." Schiavo's announcement suggests that "individual rights" and "personal freedom" are the founding principles of his political action committee. The active component of his effort, however, is gathering support for candidates who support killing the weak and the vulnerable. What, pray tell, is actually at stake? Will anyone challenge Schiavo by inquiring precisely where we are to find the basic individual rights and personal freedoms of those targeted by his goals?
The preborn child is an individual who - according to the likes of Schiavo and most politicians - may not choose to exercise his own rights because he does not have a right to live. So too, according to Schiavo and his supporters, the ill, the severely disabled and the family members who are simply a "drain" have no rights at all, and they surely have no freedom - at least, no freedom from harm.
In Schiavo's view, efforts to save innocent lives are nothing more than political opportunism while those who fall prey to agendas such as his are merely being respected for their individual right to die. As he noted on his new organization's web site, "If our political leaders have taken no lessons from their shameless exploitation of Terri, and the public outcry against it, I have. I have taken my sadness, anger and worry and channeled them into a personal resolution: I will do everything in my power to keep another unsuspecting American family from re-living our private national nightmare."
Excuse me? How could Michael have forgotten the personal agony and the nearly debilitating toll the struggle to protect their daughter took on her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler? It occurs to me that the so-called national nightmare was started by an unloving husband who wished to be free to cavort and beget children with a new mate while denying his wife rehabilitation and care, leaving her to decay. And we are supposed to be thankful that Michael Schiavo is taking his case to the political arena?
C. S. Lewis once wrote, "If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."
It is my firm conviction that Lewis' words apply totally to the Michael Schiavos of this world. The problem is, of course, that those who support his point of view (most Americans, it would appear) happen to be in a position to make Michael's version of truth become reality, enlarging that wicked comfort zone that will result in hell on earth for the victims. It's the American way.
Judie Brown is president and co-founder of American Life League, the nation's largest Catholic pro-life educational grassroots organization. She is a recognized expert on the sanctity of human life and member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Mrs. Brown is the author of three books.
I hold his lawyers equally accountable. He had no case without a willing lawyer, eager to make money and fame for himself at the cost of Terri's life and the torment of her parents.
They actually are those guys.
Vast majority? I can't believe that's true for Terri's murder. I also don't believe there is any vast majority for abortion either. Certainly not for the all-out abortion-on-demand position of senators like Hillary Clinton.
Has the man no shame?
Tookie Williams got more due process than Terri Schiavo did.
I'd call it murder!
Terri never got ANY due process!!! Just unjust death!!!!!!!
Sick creep.
later read/pingout.
Thug Michael Schiavo and his death cult lawyers showed us what barbaric evil is really all about in America.
Vast majority of RATS maybe, but according to our last presidential election, they are NOT the majority in this country! I guess you can put anything in print, if you don't have to prove it, but there are people who will read this & believe it!
He's lower than scum!
-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.
He'll get his someday. All of us must give an accounting to the Lord, when we depart this earth. Michael won't get another free pass.
If one can step aside from the emotional issues regarding Terri's murder, certain facts jump out at you. Terri was seriously contemplating divorce. She was severely injured in their home. Michael was the only one present, and changed his story several times about what happened that night. In most jurisdictions, that would be cause for LE to put MS under a microscope.
While persuing the lawsuit, the only therapy Terri got was electrode implants. They were not removed as required, and their presence in Terri's head made it impossible to perform MRI's.
The stated purpose of the lawsuit was to provide rehabilitation and care for Terri, throughout her natural life. While this lawsuit wound its' way through court, The Schindlers supported Michael, and financially stretched themselves to pay for Terri's care. This money was supposed to be paid back to the Schindlers, after the suit was settled.
Soon after the suit was settled, Michael Schiavo "suddenly remembered" that Terri would not want to live like "that", and proceeded to spend years in court to legally kill his wife. There was no therapy for Terri, and she was deprived of even the most basic sensory stimulation. She was not on respirators, ventilators, or any other machine designed to function in place of vital organs.
Who knows how intense therapy could have improved Terri's condition? No one was allowed to find out. Terri had to die. Why? Why didn't MS just divorce his wife and move on? Why the hell bent determination to see his wife dead? Could it be that he was afraid Terri could regain enough skills to communicate?
In the end, MS won the "right" to kill his wife. Another stain on our country. The facts do not support MS's contention that Terri "would not want to live like that". No one would want to be abused like that, that is certain. She fought hard to stay alive despite her husband's heinous acts of spousal abuse directed towards her. Her parents valiantly fought for her right to be cared for in a decent, humane manner.
If I've left out anything pertinent, please correct.
One more thought. This was many years ago, but does anyone remember when the Romanian government fell? I can't spell his name, but I think it was Ceasescu??? His policy of banning contraceptives to populate his country, resulted in an explosion of abandoned babies. These children laid in their cribs, with inadequate food and care. In other words, they vegetated. Well meaning people adopted them, but from what I remember, many children were beyond help physically and mentally. I think that the deprivation that Terri suffered, contributed significantly to her mental deterioration.
MS, like Cindy Sheehan, has more than a few screws loose. Like moths to flame, they are driven to seek attention, no matter how inappropriate that attention is. God help them.
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