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.
Michael Schiavo is morally starved and will rot in hell. He is sub-human.
Pray Terri's husband receives divine retribution. Imagine him finding himself in the same position as Terri, and his wife getting ready to remove his feeding tube. That would be justice.
This is what we are asking our brave men and women in the miliary to risk their lives for....The right to starve a handicap person to death.....
"There must be a legal remedy to prevent a judge from neglecting his duty when it results in death."
Nope!
You know last night I was up obsessively watching the news thinking Terri may pass while I'm sleeping. I'm watching the rerun of Hannity and Colmes. My mom and I were talking about Terri and my mother started saying something about Soddom and Gommorah :(
And just how much of this crap do you think God will take before he sends his Angel in the Whirlwind out of here and onto some place with higher morals?
And what if it was a conservative judge who ruled? What you still hate a person you've never met?
It's disgusting, how much longer is it going to take to get a ruling on this?
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He restoreth my soul.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, behold Thou art with me.
Thou annointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Asphyxiation is too cruel? Just don't give them any ideas or the next black robe may decide this would be faster and easier.
"He won't. We won't escape the tribulation. America won't repent. Free handouts buy votes, and those votes support the principalities we're trying to battle."
There are too many die-hard Christians in this Nation that fall on their knees and that alone prevents His chastisement. But then again, that is only my opinion.
Forget "legally". I'm ready for Federal Marshals to storm in and save the day. To see W take a chance to do the right thing would be legendary. He needs to break the mold and step out and be the Man that we think he is. If he stands and helplessly watches while this Evil engulfs this woman, I fear that we have lost all hope. We are spinning towards eternity...we have been hijacked by Evil...we are having problems in our society identifying that which will destroy our world.
"We are spinning towards eternity...we have been hijacked by Evil...we are having problems in our society identifying that which will destroy our world."
It didn't begin on Friday with Terri, the "spinning" actually took place in 1973.
I rely on His mercy.
Sounds like a good idea.
Well said...we deserve what we get for being the passive society we have become.
You mentioned something about the President not intervening soon.
Is there anything the President can do now? Does he have any right or powers to stop this?
I know this is going to sound crazy but I see the next 'great awakening' happening in Africa and China. I know too many christian missionaries to think otherwise. My mom is a recent immigrant and is always saying this isn't the America she once knew. I mean no matter what the yankee reputation was abroad, America has always been represented as the land of milk and honey, golden opportunity. I'm a bit more optimistic than my mom and think there's a faithful remnant that preserves this country.
"I rely on His mercy"
Amen to that!!!!!!
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