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"The principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights." --Thomas Jefferson to Georgetown Republicans, 1809. ME 16:349

"Man [is] a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights and with an innate sense of justice." --Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:441

"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774. ME 1:209, Papers 1:134

"Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the Author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance." --Thomas Jefferson: Legal Argument, 1770. FE 1:376

"What is true of every member of the society, individually, is true of them all collectively; since the rights of the whole can be no more than the sum of the rights of the individuals." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:455, Papers 15:393

"Nothing... is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man." --Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. ME 16:48

"The evidence of [the] natural right [of expatriation], like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King of Kings." --Thomas Jefferson to John Manners, 1817. ME 15:124

"Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1797. ME 9:422

"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?" --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVIII, 1782. ME 2:227

"Questions of natural right are triable by their conformity with the moral sense and reason of man." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on French Treaties, 1793. ME 3:235

FATHER FEARS DOCTORS WILL HASTEN TERRI'S DEATH

1 hour, 42 minutes ago U.S. National - AFP

PINELLAS PARK, United States (AFP) - The father of Terri Schiavo made a desperate, 11th hour appeal for authorities to reconnect a feeding tube to his severely brain-damaged daughter, and said he feared doctors might try to hasten her death.

"I have a grave concern that they'll expedite the process to kill her with an overdose of morphine," Bob Schindler told the press Monday outside the hospice where his 41-year old daughter is a patient.

"She's alive and she's fighting like hell to live," he added, remarking on his daughter's "amazing, amazing endurance."

Schindler added that when he visited his daughter Monday, she was "still showing facial expressions" -- among other signs of interaction.

"She's trying to talk but it's very, very subdued," Schindler said. "All we need, if it's not too late, is for someone to save her," he said.

Schindler made his plea on Schiavo's 11th day without food and water Monday, and with experts saying her death could come at any time.

Schiavo was given what could be her last communion Sunday as protesters opposed to allowing the woman die challenged police and blocked entry to the Florida hospice where she is cared for.

Relatives kept an Easter vigil near the woman throughout Sunday. Absent, however, was Schiavo's mother Mary Schindler, who failed for the first time since the feeding tube was removed on March 18, to take her place at Schiavo's bedside.

A family confidant said Mary Schindler was overcome with grief that, despite years of legal battles, she had been unable to save her daughter, who has been on life support since suffering brain damage 15 years ago.

Robert Schindler said Monday he also had had to overcome his fear of watching his daughter waste away.

"I was scared to death to go in there to see her, for fear of what I'd see. But she has just incredible strength to live," he said.

After Michael Schiavo gave permission for his wife to receive communion, a drop of holy wine was placed on Terri Schiavo's tongue, but she could not receive even a tiny piece of the host because her mouth was so dry, said the Father Tadeusz Malanowski, who administered the sacrament.

Michael Schiavo, insists that his wife should be allowed to die, and that she did not want to be kept alive artificially. Doctors have said she is in a "persistent vegetative state."

The family insists she could improve if given proper treatment, but their legal efforts, including getting a special law passed to have the tube reinserted have failed.

The battle has raged through the Florida's courts and legislature, but escalated after the US Congress stepped in and passed an unprecedented bill, quickly signed by President George W. Bush, allowing the case to be heard in federal court.

Since then, the family has suffered a string of court defeats including one on Saturday, when a state judge rejected the family's argument that Schiavo had tried to say "I want to live" before her feeding tube was removed.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, said Monday he had exhausted his options in his efforts to save Schiavo.

"It just breaks my heart that we have not erred on the side of life," he said Monday, but reiterated that there was nothing within the law that he could do at this point.

"There is no means by which we can get involved more than we've already done," the Florida governor said. "My guess is there is very little left for the government to do."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050328/ts_alt_afp/useuthanasiajustice_050328195614