Posted on 03/23/2005 2:34:59 PM PST by gopwinsin04
State officials say they are considering removing Terri Schiavo from hospice, by force if necessary, despite numerous court orders upholding the removal of the artificial nutrition tube that has kept her alive for 15 years.
Lucy Hadl, secretary of the Department of Children and Families, said Wednesday morning that her staff is relying on a state law that gives the department the authority to intervene on behalf of a vulnerable adult who is 'suffering from abuse or neglect that presents a risk of death or serious physical injury.'
Hadl said that the DCF would have to file a petition in order to remove Schiavo, but that 'it doesn't mean we'd have to have judicial approval in advance of taking the action if we believed it met the threshold for doing it.'
Hadl said that seven years of court rulings backing Schiavo's husband Michael, in his contention that Terri Schiavo did not wish to be kept alive artificially would not stop the DCF from taking action.
'We're not compelled to look at prior judicial proceedings,' Hadl said.
What we are compelled to look at is the presenting circumstances and any allegiations of abuse and neglect that we have recieved. So we have to deal with those and fufill out statutory responsibility.'
(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...
Do you think judicial activists are always going to come right now and say "We don't care what the law says--neener neener"!? Of course they'll try to claim they're working within the framework of the very laws they cravenly ignore.
While sitting at the head of the Hospice board, Felos got the support from friends in the legislature (like King) to have the law changed regarding feeding/hydration tubes ... he and his friend Cranford are big in the euthanasia movement, while Greer has ties to the hospice program (business connections). Florida is still too dangerous to even drive through on the way to somewhere else.
So, what type of judicial activism do you see here? You're saying all of the 20 or so courts that have heard this case are engaging in judicial activism?
I think, for a lot of Freepers, "judicial activism" simply means "a court decision we don't like."
Jeb Bush is after all just a politician. He is more concerned with his own image and career that he is in an issue like this. He will do a lot of talking and posturing, but it is naive to expect anything else from him.
I go back and forth. However, the rhetoric of the pro-Schiavo brigade here on FR is frightening.
The anti terri side tells everyone that they think handicapped people are disgusting and not worth living.
I haven't seen a single Freeper say that.
You also think it is ok for an abusive husband to render his wife in that condition
That is just baseless speculation.
You have the potentional to be a liberal demoncrap if you are not already. I would not want you to baby sit my alligator.
Like I said, rhetoric like this from your side of the debate has done a very good job of convincing me that many people on the pro-Schiavo side are not thinking rationally anymore.
Perhaps, but that "flawed decision" has been reviewed by several layers of appeals courts. If the decision truly is applying Florida law incorrectly, one of those layers of appeal would have surely caught it.
The pull-the-tube people say, "She must hate being brain-damaged." Well, yes, she must. (This line of argument presumes she is to some degree or in some way thinking or experiencing emotions.) Who wouldn't feel extreme sadness at being extremely disabled? I'd weep every day, wouldn't you? But consider your life. Are there not facets of it, or facts of it, that make you feel extremely sad, pained, frustrated, angry? But you're still glad you're alive, aren't you? Me too. No one enjoys a deathbed. Very few want to leave. Terri Schiavo may well die. No good will come of it. Those who are half in love with death will only become more red-fanged and ravenous. And those who are still learning--our children--oh, what terrible lessons they're learning. What terrible stories are shaping them. They're witnessing the Schiavo drama on television and hearing it on radio. They are seeing a society--their society, their people--on the verge of famously accepting, even embracing, the idea that a damaged life is a throwaway life. Our children have been reared in the age of abortion, and are coming of age in a time when seemingly respectable people are enthusiastic for euthanasia. It cannot be good for our children, and the world they will make, that they are given this new lesson that human life is not precious, not touched by the divine, not of infinite value. Once you "know" that--that human life is not so special after all--then everything is possible, and none of it is good. When a society comes to believe that human life is not inherently worth living, it is a slippery slope to the gas chamber. You wind up on a low road that twists past Columbine and leads toward Auschwitz. Today that road runs through Pinellas Park, Fla. Food for more thought...
Every morning I hold my breath as I turn on my Net access and search for news of Terri. I'm afraid to see a headline telling the worst has happened.
Read the dissent, written by a Clinton appointee.
In point of fact, this is 'negative' judicial activism--they are simply refusing to implement the will of Congress as expressed in the legislation.
I can 'negatively' kill you by NOT interfering with your murderer's progress.
This was famously expressed in the observation that 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.'
The aphorism still holds.
Well, for THIS FReeper, a Court decision which contradicts the natural law AND the will of Congress (in that order) is not only "activism," it is despotically arrogant and shameful.
Impeachment is too good for these cretins.
Your cynicism may well be justified. At the same time, one wonders what our House and Senate committees will do to follow up on their subpoenas.
As of yesterday, Sensenbrenner's office told me 'there is no talk' in the House of enforcing their subpoena.
More Showmanship?
The libertarian perspective has never been, and never will be, Conservative. This case makes that crystal clear.
This is an attempt by the SCOTUS and the courts generally, state and federal, to declare judicial independence of ANY checks and balances whatsoever. Let the war against the judiciary begin in earnest. If they can conspire and support one another arrogantly in defiance of President and Congress to violate the Constitution by the premeditated judicial (state and federal) murder of Terri Schiavo.
Oh, and welcome back to the war for Western Civilization and the Faith.
No kidding. Check out Felos' book on Amazon: Litigation as Spiritual Practice. The link goes to the customer reviews -- the scary thing is that one self-identified "Florida writer" nut (not to be judgmental) liked it so much that she double-posted her encomium.
. . . . Whatever else one may say about the 11th Circuit's ruling in Schiavo v. Schiavo (link in PDF), it is not a work of judicial activism. Quite the opposite, it is a caricature of judicial restraint. The court bent over backward to construe the statute, and its duty in hearing the appeal, as narrowly as possible in an effort to frustrate Congress's intent. Call it judicial passive-aggression. . . .
As I understand it, no one has a problem with the application of the law -- it's the "facts" Greer chose to apply the law to -- and no one has reviewed those, which is why Congress sought the de novo review.
What? Well, gee, too bad nobody knew sooner that congressional subpoenas can just be sloughed off. Would have saved lots of people a lot of time, trouble and expense. (Do I really have to /sarcasm? Some people's sarcasm meters seem to be malfunctioning on these threads.)
Uhggggggggggggg. You lost, get over it guys. The woman got her wish. geez, leave her alone. (No I'm not a troll, I just disagree with you).
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