Replies

"THe federal government has the Constitutional responsibility to guarantee Florida a republican form of government."

Perhaps, but where are the masses of Floridians whose rights to that government have been denied, and who've been unable to help themselves? The judge was out of line, but the people of Florida did nothing. The legislature didn't act and the people of Florida did nothing. Handing Floridians a right to the victim mentality doesn't help them and it doesn't help you and me.

"That might include sending in the Army to put down a local insurrection, e.g. a judge who went ahead and killed a witness wanted for Congressional hearings."

Calling a woman to testify before Congress who, according to doctors, is in a persistent vegetative state, is an entirely unrealistic concept. There's no illusion that it was simply done to exploit a legal loophole in an effort to force one side of the argument. Now, I'm not saying she is or isn't in a vegetative state. I'm not a doctor, and I'm guessing her doctors (who have a whole lot more experience dealing with this kind of thing than I ever will) aren't just trying to be mean. That said, medical science is anything but exact, and she seems far more aware than a person in a vegetative state would ever be. What I am saying, however, is that even her parents (her biggest advocates), wouldn't dare claim she's in any condition to testify before Congress, nor that she could be any time soon (as in within several years). Ergo, calling Terri to testify was a thinly veiled (or perhaps not veiled at all) legal maneuver.

As for the judge revolting against the government and going on a murderous rampage, let's be realistic here. The decision was that the husband has the right to decide her fate because of his supposed insight into her wishes. The judge isn't holding a gun to her head, and claiming otherwise is truly ridiculous. Is it a bad decision? I think it's a horrible decision and I think it completely ignores the controversy surrounding Terri's real condition and her real wishes. If Floridians wanted this judge removed, the judge would be playing the back 9 at a south Florida golf course by now instead of hearing cases. If Floridians wanted a law to protect Terri, their legislature would have passed one even faster than Congress did. Their apparent apathy is sad, but what's sadder is this rush to demand Uncle Sam march in and take control. That control puts us all in danger in the long term to save the life of one person in the short term. Terri's advocates have a laudable goal, but their means put us all in a bad position - one where the Federal government can step in when and where it feels the need regardless of supposed restrictions on its power and scope.