Posted on 03/22/2005 8:26:31 PM PST by hipaatwo
it is worth remembering that the excruciating slowness of the execution here, the incremental-ness of death, is designed by its champions to inure us to it. After the first hour, the second passes with far less fanfare, and the third less still. I've been following this closely, and I needed to remind myself today how many hours Terri Schiavo has actually been without sustenance by counting the days since Friday afternoon and multiplying by 24. How much more easily the time passes, and the world around us changes, for those following only fleetingly, or not at all.
Why should we think this is intentional? Consider, say, a month ago, before Terri's plight took center stage, if you had asked someone in the abstract: "How would you feel about starving and dehydrating a defenseless, brain-damaged woman?" The answer is easy to imagine: "Outrageous, atrocious -- something that wouldn't be done to an animal and couldn't be done to the worst convicted murderer."
But then it actually happens ... slowly. You're powerless to stop it, and ... you find your life goes on. There are kids and jobs and triumphs and tragedies and everyday just-getting-by. An atrocity becomes yet another awful thing going on in the world. After a day, or maybe two, of initial flabbergast, we're talking again about social security reform, China, North Korea, Hezbollah, etc. A woman's snail-like, gradual torture goes from savagery to just one of those sad facts of life. As is the case with other depravities once believed unthinkable, it coarsens us. We slowly, and however reluctantly, accept it. We accept it. The New York Times no doubt soon "progresses" from something like "terminating life by starvation," to "the dignity of death by starvation," to "the medical procedure that opponents refer to as starvation." And so the culture of life slides a little more. The culture of death gains a firmer foothold.
Of course, the physical needs of the body are not limited to food and water. There is also air. But no judge, even in Florida, would ever have had the nerve in Terri's case to permit "the medical procedure that opponents refer to as asphyxiation." Too crude. Too quick. Too obviously murder of a vulnerable innocent. Brazen, instant savagery might wake us from our slumber. For the culture of death, better that we sleep.
WHEN IS THE COURT GOING TO RULE???!!! Looks like the just want her to die, sigh.
This is barbarism of the highest order.
How could this happen in "the land of the free and the home of the brave"?
There's not a lot of bravery in starving a sick woman to death.
There is no bravery in it, mate, only depravity and the cold indifference of the tomb.
The court already ruled that she's to die. (Didn't it?) I think we're waiting/hoping for the Justice Dept. to step in now. (Aren't we?) Beginning to lose track of this case myself...
They're following in Whittmore's footsteps.......DON'T expect a cheery ruling! I loathe liberal RAT judges...they are the scum of the earth!!
The left feels the "useless eaters" need to be eliminated - the poor and the minorities are aborted, the disabled are starved, and the elderly are quickly medicated, but by golly don't ever try to give that same death penalty to a mass murderer! He would be one of their voters, and social chaos leads to a bigger, more oppressive Socialist government - a left wing utopia!!
This whole thing is nauseating. I imagine the devastation is almost unbearable for the family. I know how I feel.
The court is sitting on its hands hoping she'll die before they're forced to issue a ruling. If that occurs, they are complicit in her murder, in my eyes, and the 11th circuit will be disgraced.
life
Now that the Federal judge has ruled, this killing is being done in the name of the American people. Not just the Florida citizenry. The decree from the Federal Judiciary represents the judgement of the American people. And the American people are the only ones who can stop it now.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for our President, but if he does not intervene soon, he will have NO right to lecture China about human rights violations.
The right to life now depends on the meaning of the word "is".
The Constitution is starving to death right along with Terri.
Thanks. I must need some sleep because I got it all completely wrong!
This whole thing is nauseating. I imagine the devastation is almost unbearable for the family. I know how I feel.
I'm barely sleeping or eating. I just read this to a friend of mine and started to cry. The one thing I did is call a few churches in my area and asked if they would light a candle for Terri for me and they thanked me and said yes.
Don't lose hope, friends.
Remember: First the cross, then the empty tomb.
I don't know any other thing to say other than this is evil on earth. And evil will not win.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Yes, it is up to us. And I think it is high time we take it upon ourselves to squash this tyrannical judiciary. Maybe instead of severing ties with the government, we could just amputate a branch.
Thanks for posting this. I wonder how many folks can't get this off their minds? I know I can't.
Amen... words cannot express how disgusted I am with this whole thing. For once, I am actually hoping that someone will rot in hell (and yes, that someone is Michael Schiavo.)
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