Posted on 03/19/2005 12:42:21 PM PST by xjcsa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal lawmakers reached an agreement on Saturday on a compromise bill to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-dead Florida woman whose feeding tube has been removed, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said.
"We are confident that this compromise addresses everyone's concerns," DeLay, a Texas Republican, said at a news conference. "We are confident it will ... restore nutrition and hydration to Miss Schiavo."
Senate leaders earlier had reached a deal to push forward the legislation that would put Schiavo's case into federal court, a Democratic aide said.
The agreement would allow the House of Representatives to reconvene to pass the Senate version of the bill, said Jim Manley, spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada.
Reid and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, reached the agreement a day after doctors followed a court order and removed the feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive for the last 15 years.
Such cases have traditionally been the province of state courts, state legislatures and families. The bitter family struggle over Schiavo's fate was taken up by Republican lawmakers in Washington last week.
But the bills passed by the House and Senate were vastly different in scope and the two sides were unable to reach a compromise.
The House-passed bill would give federal courts a role in such end-of-life cases, while the Senate's narrower "private relief" bill would give Schiavo's parents access to a federal court without applying in other cases.
The Senate will convene at 5:00 p.m. EST/2200 GMT to vote on adjournment, which would allow the House to reconvene after it declared a recess earlier this week. The House could approve the measure later on Saturday, the Reid aide said.
NO one who truly believes in the Constitution and separation of powers defends the Florida Supreme Court.
You, sir, are clearly no conservative, by virtue of your own words. You have lost all credibility as one who knows the Constitution, or cares what it says.
Heck I'll answer your question. You haven't answered one of mine yet but I think you won't because that would make you think seriously about your position. I think it's quite clear what Madison would do. If the woman dies, then see if you can bring charges of murder against the husband if you feel so strongly about it. Either way, it still falls under the ordinary processes within a state. I think Madison would pray, I think he would show his personal concern, but I also know that his concern for the expansion of the national government's powers by the mid 1790s, which in turn led to his support of the Resolutions of th 1798, would cause him to stay out of the affair. But heck you can't find anything from the Framers that would support your position of national intrusion don't let that stop you misconstruing their words...
and ignoring the fact that an innocent, healthy woman is being starved to death by a judge in the state of Florida.
hmmmm....I'll post this for you as I did the previous poster. Doubt you'll read it and even if you do, you'll ignore it.
Kenneth Goodman who is the director of the Bioethics program at the University of Miami has followed the case closely. He says such reactions from close relatives in end-of-life cases are not unusual, but medical experts who have examined Terri Shiavo say she will never regain consciousness. "There is no cognition in this poor woman,” he said. “There is nothing going on in her poor head. It is a tragedy and it has torn a family apart but the medical facts are not in dispute among credible physicians. She is in a persistent vegetative state. The fact of the matter is that her cerebral cortex is full of spinal fluid. She is incapable of experiencing or thinking anything."
Doesn't sound that healthy to me. But he must be wrong also because he doesn't agree with you
You have revealed ignorance, stubborness, distortion of truth (others have called it lying) and a callousness toward protecting U.S. citizens from brutal murder.
There's that lying charge again. Do y'all actually have an argument to present something more than emotional outbreaks or are you just going to browbeat anyone that disagrees with you with slurs? Don't answer that, I already know the answer
You need to look deep into your soul, billbears, and see what's missing there. And then look deep into the roots of this country, and its morality, and try to understand what you clearly don't understand about the character of this country, and why it has been blessed by God.
If you get your way, and states have the right to execute innocent citizens without intervention from the federal government, we are in deeper trouble than your shallow soul will ever understand........until you meet your Creator, and the One who loves His precious child, Terri......
As I asked previously, let's say the federal courts do get a say as you wish. George Will (you do know who that is don't you?) stated today on ABC more than likely the same decision would be made. What then? Going to Congress again and get them to pass an actual bill? I don't think these Congressmen you're praising so much currently have the cojones nor the stupidity to do something so ardently in the face of the Constitution.
But now we get down to personal attacks again. Wow lady, I would never have the audacity to question someone else's relationship with Christ. If they're saved then that's their business. But if it makes you feel better, I've spoken on this issue with a few conservative Southern Baptist ministers in the past few days, one of them my father. They don't like it anymore than I do and don't wish it had come to this. But they also feels there's a time when the family has to let go. You going to condemn them to Hell as well?
In the meantime, congratulations for being on the same side as Ted Kennedy on this one. That's a fine medal to be able to pin on your 'conservative' chest now.....isn't it?
You know I've found as you big government Republicans have cheerfully been growing the government and its powers under the false guise of 'compassionate conservatism', the Old Right is finding itself in league at times with the Far Left. The enemy of my enemy you know
LOL, neither one of you addressed any of the issues. For the record, Tiger, the US Supreme Court denied the case. The Florida Supreme Court in overturning the law from the Florida legislature in effect confirmed the lower courts ruling. But keep up with your vitriol why don't you? It makes your case so 'compelling'
Well that's highly inappropriate isn't it? In a ruling on a law they should be looking at its Constitutionality not a ruling in a lower court guardianship case. Or did you just twist the meaning of that ruling to fit your intended outlook?
You've said more than enough to make me see what kind of a man you are, and I don't like what I've seen.
But go ahead and live in your dreamworld that you're a better man than those who are saving this woman's life, and those of us who respect them for doing it.
Live on in your dreamworld that you know the Constitution.
Dream on, bill.......and pray that you never are in a state where you are begging to live on the inside, but can't speak. Pray that no one starves you to death and deprives you of ice chips on your dried lips because they are pure politically, and we don't save the dying, because it's not pure enough for our agenda.
I will from henceforth read nothing that you say. My time is too valuable to waste.
Nope defending the sovereignty of a state and it's right to nullify laws that it feels the national government has no right to enact. That's not conservative at all. Wait a minute, Madison the Father of the Constitution and Jefferson the Author of the Declaration did that very thing. Arguing the equality of a state, no matter how much we may disagree with that state, to handle their internal affairs. No that's not conservative at all. Agreeing with Jefferson and Madison? Why that's liberal....
Continue with your non-factual attacks. But if you get a chance, it may help your case if you can provide facts on your opinion, as I have, instead of just throwing around the slur of 'liar'
A strict constructionist approach does not allow for judcially sanctioned murder.
"I'm outraged, and I think that every American in this country should also be outraged that this government is trampling all over a personal family matter that has been adjudicated in the courts for seven years," he told CNN. "I think that the Congress has more important things to discuss."
snip
Michael Schiavo, who has not responded interview requests from The Associated Press, continued his criticism Sunday of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who helped broker the congressional compromise.
"Tom DeLay should be ashamed of himself," Michael Schiavo told CNN. "He's sitting up there, making comments and bashing people. ... He's found a cause to hide behind, to lighten the load of his other problems."
You paint with a very broad brush, making wholesale assumptions about people you know nothing about. When you go about fabricating whatever suits your agenda you will quickly be dismissed as the bloviater you are.
They can't get that through their thick skulls. The same people that scream about the feds protecting their second amendment rights from leftist state legislatures have no problem with the feds ignoring states issuing death warrants, by cruel and unusual means, on citizens who have committed no crime.
Again with the personal attacks and no comment on the statement provided by the medical official I provided. Cat got your tongue Tiger?
So I will put the same question to you that I put to your comrade. When the federal court system gets this, as it appears they apparently they will, and the decision is the same (at least according to actual conservatives I've seen speaking on this issue today) what will you do then? All you will have done is open the door for national government intrusion in state affairs over an issue that was already decided.
Everyone is entitled to due process under the law, and Terri has been denied her due process. Who is representing her interests? No one, the law is supposed to investigate any possible wrongdoing, but nothing has been done on her behalf
Terri's parents were kicked out of her room because they brought a tape recorder, attempting to record her voice, saying she wanted to live.
Now if Terri is not capable of thought or speech, why would Michael have them kicked out of the room for this? If he is correct, and she is incapable of this, what is he afraid of?? Seems to me he would be smart to say go ahead, go for it and let them prove him right....but he is not doing that.
Pray for Terri. She needs to stay alive until this evil man and his evil judge cohort are stopped.
Pray for Terri! And pray for America, and a return to the morality and justice its Founders intended.
Justice Scalia has admonished us to rely upon and accept the role of state lawmakers and laws to address issues of this very nature. Though his point of reference was Missouri law relative to an evidentiary standard, his message remains that it is up to states to establish the rules and guidelines in these matters.Quite clear to Justice Scalia where this power lies. He must be part of the cult of death as well. All this can be found from the report given to Jeb Bush. A copy of the report can be found here although I doubt you'll bother reading it. Also from the report I would provide this tidbit as wellI would have preferred that we announce, clearly and promptly, that the federal courts have no business in this field; that American law has always accorded the State the power to prevent, by force if necessary, suicide - including suicide by refusing to take appropriate measures necessary to preserve one's life; that the point at which life becomes "worthless," and the point at which the means necessary to preserve it become "extraordinary" or "inappropriate," are neither set forth in the Constitution nor known to the nine Justices of this Court any better than they are known to nine people picked at random from the Kansas City telephone directory; and hence, that even when it is demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that a patient no longer wishes certain measures to be taken to preserve her life, it is up to the citizens of Missouri to decide, through their elected representatives, whether that wish will be honored. It is quite impossible (because the Constitution says nothing about the matter) that those citizens will decide upon a line less lawful than the one we would choose; and it is unlikely (because we know no more about "life-and-death" than they do) that they will decide upon a line less reasonable. (emphasis added) Cruzan v. Director, MDH, 497, U.S. 261 (1990)And while he might not agree with a particular state’s method for addressing a matter – he not only defers to the states – but further admonishes us to avoid the politicization of legislation in these matters:
I am concerned, from the tenor of today's opinions, that we are poised to confuse that [497 U.S. 261, 293] enterprise as successfully as we have confused the enterprise of legislating concerning abortion - requiring it to be conducted against a background of federal constitutional imperatives that are unknown because they are being newly crafted from Term to Term. That would be a great misfortune. Cruzan v. Director, MDH, 497, U.S. 261 (1990)In this context, it is vital to realize that Florida Statutes, Florida Rules of Evidence, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and Florida case law were the basis for the past 13 years of litigation and conclusions of law in Theresa’s case.
Testimony provided by members of the Schindler family included very personal statements about their desire and intention to ensure that Theresa remain alive. Throughout the course of the litigation, deposition and trial testimony by members of the Schindler family voiced the disturbing belief that they would keep Theresa alive at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb, and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open heart surgery. There was additional, difficult testimony that appeared to establish that despite the sad and undesirable condition of Theresa, the parents still derived joy from having her alive, even if Theresa might not be at all aware of her environment given the persistent vegetative state. Within the testimony, as part of the hypotheticals presented, Schindler family members stated that even if Theresa had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it. Throughout this painful and difficult trial, the family acknowledged that Theresa was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state.So the family acknowledges the fact that she is PVS, don't care even if she can't feel anything, wouldn't disconnect her even if it were her wishes, and would amputate limbs as necessary. Granted the husband is not a saint, but reading this from the official report to Jeb Bush, the family sounds a tad morbid
Please see my post #605, and quit posting to me. I'm not interested in your agenda, bill.
And for the record, I do pray for some sort of miracle that she would somehow come out of this. If it's God Will, she can and will. However if it's God's Will that she doesn't, we must be strong enough to accept that as an answer as well
Now leave me alone........please. Your arrogance and states rights trumps all agenda has made me sick to my stomach. May God have mercy on you.
You know, I think Congressional intervention is the wrong way to go, it gives too much power to the federal courts, but the bill just passed is specific to Terri Schiavo. However, you aren't honest or straightforward in anything you have said so there's not much point discussing it with you.
From the very text you post it is clear that you have lied again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.