Posted on 03/23/2005 4:59:22 AM PST by Jay777
ACLU of Florida Welcomes Judge Whittemore’s Ruling in the Schiavo Case
March 22, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: media@aclu.org
Statement of Howard L. Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida
MIAMI, FL -- Today Judge Whittemore found that even with the special law passed by Congress there is no basis to set aside the legal procedures in Florida for how these difficult, but intensely personal decisions are to be made. Both Congress and the President needlessly prolonged this tragic saga.
Decisions about whether to continue or discontinue extraordinary or even life-sustaining measures are part of a basic privacy right, and should be left to each of us when competent to make those decisions, or through a surrogate if no longer competent, but certainly without the intrusion of politicians who may not approve of our decision.
The President, no doubt, will continue to talk about a "culture of life," but what Judge Whittemore did in his decision was to defend the "culture of freedom" that each of us has to exercise control over our lives, and the circumstances of our own death.
There is a lesson for all of us in the tragic Schiavo case: if you want to exclude politicians from the end-of-life decisions you and your family must make regarding a terminally-ill loved one or, as in the case of Terri Schiavo, a family member who has suffered a catastrophic accident; if you don't want to be used as a political cause celebre by political and religious organizations - express your end-of-life views to your family and loved ones and, better, put it in writing in the form of a living will or advance medical directive.
NOTE: The ACLU was co-counsel in the case before Judge Whittemore that resulted in today's ruling....
(Excerpt) Read more at aclu.org ...
Yes, we are destroying ourselves by the evolving definition of freedom.
Another of the enemies within. There will, one day soon, be an accounting for their words and deeds.
"Of course they do.. they want appointed judges to have all of the power in this country and not our elected government. That way they can continue with their tom foolery and continue to wipe out all existence that America was a great country."
"Tom foolery" does not begin to describe ACLU's nefarious agenda. We the People must pro-actively oppose the rule of a leftist cabal of appointed judges. The moral majority is a mighty tital wave when is surges against subversive forces. Speak up and speak out loud and clear.
We the People have a huge range of convenient sources on the NET. From our homes we have immediate access to these endless sources. Emailed protests addressed to government and even to media cost nothing but one's time and conviction. Compose your objections in concise form, but make FREEDOM ring.
If anything in all of this is ? that the libs/fems/gays/communist/the death cultist/anti - Americans are being exposed and being shown their TRUE COLORS.
We should get rid of the ACLU along with all the Congressmen we sent to Washington as it seems the Judges and Courts are starting to run the country. This is exactly what our founders warned us against.
That's because they are his pawns in his hands.
That was a great summary. What is happening here makes absolutely no sense. Your point about Kevorkian is exactly what I was thinking about on my way to work.
Anyone would die if you denied them food and water. This is not a "normal" or "humane" way to die. If it is a painless way to die, why do they have morphine on hand? If she cannot feel pain, why do they have morphine on hand?
This is a very questionable decision that these judges and doctors are making, and without specific written statements, the judges in this country should always err on the side of life. Why are so many on death row kept alive so long? To make sure that they did the crime.
If these judges are going to kill Terri in this way, death row should cease to exist. Convict and kill.
This just sucks.
ABSOLUTELY! If this was her wish, why did MS not say so and honor it in the initial stages of her disability? Also, why when fighting for a settlement did he say it was for her rehab and care if he knew all along she was going to have the plug pulled. IF, and that's a big IF, the ACLU were a legitamate organization, they would have some serious issue with Terri's civil liberties being violated by her husband who at best has been inconsistent in his own care for his wife.
What does not get said is this goes on all the time in our country. My grandmother was pumped up with morphine(which means she could not feed herself--she was incoherent) and not being given hydration or food. Hospice has become a feel good thing in this country where people go to die peacefully in their final days, but they regularly take away hydration and food and often times well before the person is on their death bed.
I ran across an awesome article at The Ace Of Trump Blog explaining how many liberals are wanting Terri to live too. Causes like this is dividing that party even more. The further they go left, the more they will alienate theirselves into the fringe.
"Conservative Christian groups have called for mass vigils outside the hospice caring for brain-damaged Terri Schiavo but many of the few dozen who have shown up said they were drawn for personal reasons unrelated to organized religion.
Eleanor Smith of Decatur, Georgia, sat on Tuesday in a motorized wheelchair in front of the hospice, baking in the sun, with a sign on her lap reading, "This agnostic liberal says 'Feed Terri."'
Her background was a far cry from the evangelical right wing more generally seen as the lobbying force behind the U.S. Congress' scramble over the weekend to draw up a special law to try to prolong Schiavo's life, and President Bush's decision to cut short a Texas vacation to sign it.
Smith, 65, had polio as a child and described herself as a lesbian and a liberal who had demonstrated before in support of the disabled and causes supported by the conservative establishment's archfoe, the American Civil Liberties Union.
"What drew me here is the horror of the idea of starving someone to death who's vulnerable and who has not asked that to happen," Smith said.
She said she thought that people who left written instructions to withhold medical treatment should have those wishes honored but that withholding water and nutrition from Terri Schiavo, who left no such written instructions, was tantamount to murder.
"At this point I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member," Smith said."
So glad they are applauding. Now, there is no doubt about where they stand. Too many people are on their side and out and out sneaky about their true feelings. This debate has brought more than one death-dealing monster out of the woodwork. For that I thank Terri. I'm taking down names in earnest, even in my own family. We have to win this one. I'm starting by changing my will!
If course the ACLU applauds the result, Terry isn't a mass murderer, cop-killer, child molestor, or terrorist, she's just a regular ordinary woman.
These disciples from hell are doing brick by brick what the third reich, imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union couldn't do. And without firing a bullet
Excellent post Williams. Reminds me of Vance Packards, "The Waste Makers," a critique of consumerism. He predicted disposable wedding dresses, but I laugh. Today even those are dispensed with. Women just rut in the ditch, now. No keepsake dress needed, no familial ties wanted, just a dumpster to dispose of the results of copulating.
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