Terrific essay, thanks for posting the exerpt.
Here is a good piece by a lawyer who was born Jewish, but became a Christian evangelist. I just received it in an email:
"The death of Terri Schiavo has taught us some tough lessons about the matter of life and death and about the proponents on both sides of this issue. Pro-life and pro-choice (right to die) advocates hooked up in a battle for the ages. While they set their feet in cement in this war of good and evil, they succeeded only in cementing the fate of the only powerless person in this entire sordid affair, namely, Terri Schiavo.
Terri, was given a pair of cement shoes and was sent off to wear them in a better place where she would no longer be a "burden on Society" or take up valuable space that others in the "Community" might better utilize according to left wing, right to die zealots.
Terri Schiavo had no say in this matter whatsoever, except by proxy cast by her "loving husband" who fought tirelessly and endlessly on her behalf to grant her alleged special request, i.e., to put and end to Terri's life and to grant her the right to die under the special circumstances which were apparently prevalent. Or were they? This was despite the fact that Terri's wishes were in dispute and were always in doubt ab initio. She had never expressed them in writing and certainly not in any legal document.
Evidently, this "minor" ambiguity in Terri's intentions did not give dear Judge Greer much of a problem or present any moral dilemma for him. He repeatedly ruled from his bench (bully pulpit) that Michael Schiavo spoke for Terri. Judge George Greer took Michael at his word and left Terri without any legal representation of her own, knowing full well that Terri was unable to speak for herself. This effectively left Terri with no power to fight for her own life. Judge Greer had the last word since Terri could not utter a word leaving Terri's husband with the last laugh as they removed Terri's feeding tube, speeding up a fate worse than death...death by starvation and deprivation (dehydration).
This was most assuredly a depraved way to die and contrary to the way it was represented by her husband and his radical "off" Terri supporters who wanted Terri taken off life support at any cost (to save further suffering and expense it must be presumed)! The actions of this coalition for death signaled exactly what it stands for: HYPOCRISY!
While the advocates for the right to die argued that a handicapped person who could not feed herself ought to be put out of her misery and be allowed to die a dignified and "peaceful" death (restful, permanent sleep) this has led to a rude awakening for many of us who are concerned about the right to Life and who must wonder why this same die hard coalition also advocates out of the other side of its mouth, to wit:
SAVE THE WHALE, SAVE THE SNAIL, SAVE THE MANATEE, SAVE THE FLORIDA PANTHER, SAVE THE DOLPHINS, SAVE THE EVERGLADES, SAVE THE ALLIGATOR SAVE THE RAINFOREST, SAVE THE OZONE LAYER, SAVE THE ALASKAN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY (from oil exploration), SAVE THE SPOTTED OWL.... while at the same time turning their backs on TERRI SCHIAVO, ONE OF OUR OWN ENDANGERED SPECIES!!!
We The People must ask ourselves, how could the life of a beautiful, living, valuable and viable human being have been allowed to be so easily and hastily snuffed out by a judicial system on a power trip and by judges out of control, without any accountability to the Congress, to the Executive branch of government or to the People?
The answer boils down to moral values and politics.The Activist Judiciary in America today is not concerned about values or weighing the facts and evidence on an honest scale of justice, but rather more and more judges are weighing in with their own biased opinions, colored by their political affiliations and their personal social agendas. The overriding concern of some Judges in this day and age is cow towing to the party line to the detriment of the Law and the American People from which all source of power ought to derive.
The lesson of Terri Schiavo's suffering and sacrifice is that concerned Americans must take back the power usurped by the Judiciary by telling off the judges, by voting them off the courts and by urging the passage of good moral laws which are derived from THE CONSTITUTION which is itself inspired by GOD and the TEN COMMANDMENTS. These are an abomination to those who deny GOD but a blessing from those who founded our nation...ONE NATION UNDER GOD INDIVISIBLE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL INCLUDING TERRI SCHIAVO TO WHOM WE ARE ALL INDEBTED FOR HER TRIALS AND TRIBULATONS.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Arnold Beizer
Attorney at Law