Senator changes mind on Schiavo [Martinez - FL]

The St. Petersburg Times ^ | 2/12/06 | ADAM C. SMITH

[doc30]

You are quite right. Most people I know who were strongly Republican were left with a bitter taste in their mouths when the Republicans tried to step in and intervene with Schaivo. They took it very personally and interpreted the actions of the government to be a threat to their own personal and family decisions. Some elementds of the Republican party championed it as a right to life case and were throwing everything they had at it. All it did was alientate Republicans and conservatives who either did not see it as a good political decision or who thought it was government making itself bigger and more intrusive. They didn't look at it as helping one woman, but setting the precident for interfering in everyones' lives.

[floriduh voter]

Isn't ironic that all these pubbies are changing their mind but Terri had no due process. Terri had no choice. She was exterminated Nazi, Germany style. Unauthorized experimentation was done on Terri (in California) that was illegal too, remember the metal implant in her head?

On March 18th, when Terri was screaming after she found out the g-tube was coming out, the cop in the hall said it never happened.

How many people on this thread would be screaming for their lives if they knew they were going to be killed? Every last one of them.

If the new republican party is not going to help and protect the most vulnerable among us, what good are they?

[floriduh voter]

Instead of weenies, it's much better to contact Indiana's Mike Pence or Florida's Dave Weldon, MD. They are not RINOS and I doubt they ever will be. Federalizing a ban on killing people by starving and dehydrating them is the only move we have. Florida likes being the starvation state.

Any other pure Republicans/conservatives we can name on this thread that are the opposite of Martinez & Frist? (weenies).

[floriduh voter]

How's it feel to be on the same side as the ACLU who helped Schiavo finish killing his wife? The government interfered by making the first order to kill Terri. The interference was the murder, not the cancellation of same which led to Terri's torture and murder. I thought the U.S. didn't condone torture. Oops, that's only applicable for terrorists, not for innocent Americans.

[quentin]

I'm sorry, but I'm confused by your post! 8(

Terri had no due process.

I was under the impression that this case was litigated for years, all the way to the Supreme Court and back? Have I misunderstood?

Unauthorized experimentation was done on Terri (in California) that was illegal too, remember the metal implant in her head?

Didn't her husband take her to California for this treatment? It could not have been done without his authorization as her next of kin, could it? And this was relatively early on, before the split between the Schiavos and Schindlers, wasn't it? So presumably even her parents were in favor of this treatment? I really don't understand where you're coming from here.

Terri was screaming after she found out the g-tube was coming out,

But I understood that she had no functioning cerebral cortex; she couldn't possibly have understood what was said to her, could she? And I know I read that she vocalized quite frequently, sometimes very loudly. In fact, I believe the staff left instructions for her TV to be left on all night because they thought it helped keep her quiet. So most likely the sounds you refer to here were just random vocalizations, don't you think?

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions. This case just hits home for me, and I want to understand as much about it as I can. (Also, if you get a chance to answer my last question on the other thread, I'd be grateful!) Thanks for your time and patience! 8)

[Dante3]

There were so many issues involved here that disturbed and caused me to support an attempt to save Terri's life:
*Terri never had a living will.
*She was killed in a most barbaric way that horrified me.
*The estranged husband Michael Schiavo should never have been allowed to be her guardian just as in the case of Sunny, Klaus was prohibited from being the guardian. Michael by his own words and deeds revealed himself as a liar and a sadist.
*Why not release the information about Terri's condition and obtain another opinion?
*Why excuse Michael and the elusive Jodi from having to give dispositions and otherwise get a pass from what the laws requires?
Judge Greer's incompetence and prejudice.
The list goes on.

I recommend that you read what Martin Katz wrote in The American Thinker, March 29, 2005. That is how many saw this case.

[BykrBayb]

Most Conservatives, especially Freepers who tend to be better informed, were appalled at the government-ordered murder of a disabled woman. Nazis believed they were doing good.

[Saundra Duffy]

This RIGHT HERE is why I quit the Republican Party!!!

[billbears]

"Perhaps this was not in the realm of federal concern. It may have been better left to state courts to deal with it," Martinez said in a taped interview for Political Connections that airs today on Bay News 9.

Absolutely amazing. A US Senator rediscovers the ideal of federalism. Unfortunately for the citizens of the respective states, it won't spread.

[Golden Gate]

#26 - ~ recommend what Martin Katz wrote concerning Terri.   This is how many saw this case.~

Great Find, Dante! -   ~Short & sweet~   and to the point:

Martin Katz on Terri Schiavo

The essence of the Terri Schiavo case is simple, all ink and hot air to the contrary. We, as a society, the government and people of the United States of America, have not managed, for whatever reasons, to permit a mother, deluded or not, to put water onto the lips of her dying child, brain dead or not.

Everything else, every legal, moral, theological, constitutional, or philosophical argument, is a sideshow, diverting attention from the essential issue of this case.

We have wounded our national character. By our actions, or inactions, we have placed ourselves one notch less, above the Nazis.

We, as a people, have so shamed ourselves, that we cannot look Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, in the eye, and give her one good reason why WE did not allow her to give water to her dying child.

How we came to this shameful point in our national existence is a question that demands examination, and rectification. For our sake.

For Mary Schindler, and her severely impaired child, Terri Schiavo, it is too late. We did not find it in our collective hearts and souls, in our actions, to have mercy on them.

May We, and G_d, forgive us.

Martin Katz

Martin Katz on Terri Schiavo - The American Thinker,   March 29, 2005
FR Thread (3/29/05): Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder Nat Hentoff | Village Voice ^ | 7/11/05
(Terri's 'crime' was being disabled & voiceless)

[txrangerette]

And she wasn't dying in the first place, until the legal system got through with her. That is what I would add...

[Dante3]

How true.

Just wondering - did Martinez really change his mind (and people do change) or was it all a sham?

[Golden Gate]

A short list / golden summary for this thread concerning Terri:

#4 - Let us murder you, so then we can apologize to your corpse

#31 - Terri wasn't dying in the first place, until the legal system got through with her.

#9 - ~...the principle of utility dominates~   Unless the person is useful, they are worthless.

#10 - Civil rights are a federal issue.

#11 - This is probably the only matter in history which the liberals think should have been decided by the states...

#12 - Condemned prisoners get federal judicial review on top of their state review. The governor of the state also has the power to grant clemency.

This is all that was asked when a person's blood relatives disagree with the spouse's decision to end a life. We're going to err on the side of keeping people alive when the correct course is uncertain.

Not exactly an earth shattering concept.

#13 - The effort to keep her alive proved unsuccessful and enormously unpopular with the public.-
That should be "unpopular with the uninformed public", and they were uninformed because the media misinformed them with the use of the term "vegetable".

One BIG #14 ~ one big happy oligarchy ~ BUMP!!

#15 - The propaganda by the mainstream media contributed to her death. Hard to believe how many people were brainwashed... ~ So many more people are being killed the same way without the headlines. She had no directives. She was murdered.

#16 - Exactly. And an incredible amount of misinformation has been spread about this case.

The fact is that Terri never indicated she wanted to die, much less be dehydrated. She never had a lawyer, and Greer denied her due process while catering to Michael Schiavo. The sadistic stunts Michael pulled on her and her family is too long to list.

---

AND Post #22 - On March 18th, when Terri was screaming after she found out the g-tube was coming out, the cop in the hall said it never happened.
#23; #24; #26; #27 - Most Conservatives, especially Freepers who tend to be better informed, were appalled at the government-ordered murder of a disabled woman.
Impeach Judge Greer - In memory of Terri Schiavo Schindler - www.terrisfight.org

[txrangerette]

Wondering as well. Can't get inside his head. But I do know that as she neared the tube being removed and neared death, there was huge pressure on Martinez to do something on behalf of her family and her supporters. Now that it's "all over" (not really, but he thinks so), he's got the political reality to face that most people even Republicans don't understand the Schiavo case, thanks to the lying media, and he is adapting to that side, methinks.

[Golden Gate]

FYI - #33 thread summary..

[Golden Gate]

#34 - re: Terri - Now that it's "all over" (not really, but many think so)...
~ Facing the political reality that most people, even Republicans, don't understand Terri's case, thanks to the lying media.

[txrangerette]

Pointed comments ALL...thanks for highlighting them.

[floriduh voter]

I called Martinez's office last week and his staffer denied that Martinez said anything that appeared in quotes in the media. The staffer said that Martinez's position was the same and had not changed.

He won't get re-elected. He's a flip flopper like Kerry. "I voted for Terri before I voted against her."