Theresa Marie Schindler... May Daily Thread 2005 CALL TO ACTION: Our Fight for Justice Continues

no statute of limitations on murder

I still can't believe this actually happened. Every time I wake up in the middle of the night, I am disturbed by the thought of Terri being dehydrated and starved to death. I know she's in Heaven and she is happy but I also know that her family is still going through hell on earth. I am praying for JUSTICE to be done!! Perhaps the Schindler's can recover if they can find some justice. Thank God for their faith to endure.

On Sunday, April 3rd, Calvary Baptist Church had a special service in Memory of Terri. I heard it was a wonderful service and what a show of support for Terri's parents, brother and sister by Calvary Baptist. (they gave Judge Greer a boot from their church some time ago).

This is a huge church. Some freepers attended.

YOUR WORDS: It should be an open endeavor and everyones opinions and ideas should be encouraged.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH: No person or group should feel alienated or left out.

MY WORDS: I simply started the April thread and you are implying there's a power grab?

Let's REFOCUS, and I'm not responding to ANY posts that have little digs in them.

Ping.

Identify everyone involved in killing Terri either by their actions or failure to act (from judges to politicians to police officers to hospice nurses, it can also include those medical experts who lied about Terri’s mental state and told us starvation wasn’t all that bad)
I know Tim is already working on this “Wall of Shame” and it will be posted on BFT. Once these people have been all identified, we can systematically target them for a “career change,” be it losing the next election, impeachment, loss of license, whatever is necessary to remove them from their current position of influence. This has to be very carefully distinguished from a harassment campaign.

Thanks for the link.

I especially want to see the name and face of the Morton Plant Hospital official who tipped off Felos/Greer that DCF was coming to rescue Terri -- and thereby enabled Greer to put out his instant injunction against DCF.

Those people who are in the so-called "helping professions" who abetted Terri's killing need to be shamed and scorned. And yes, career changes are in order.

Do you think my criteria for accepting oral statements are too rigid? Terri's siblings' hearsay testimony fails all of them.

Where there's contradictory hearsay evidence from first degree relatives, shouldn't the law be written to favor life?

Also, a minor point: Alan Dershowitz claims that hearsay testimony reported by a spouse is not legally considered "hearsay." (He used a legal term for such an utterance, but I forget it was.)

According to him, the law gives higher credence to what a spouse claims his or her spouse said, than to what anyone else (including blood relatives) claims the person said.

Sorry fv. You cannot BOTH be pushing for an honest investigation of Terri's case and Jeb bush for presidency.

NO one but you insinuated a POWER grab.

Courts may feel Schiavo impact

The case that wound through numerous courts may be used by a conservative effort to change the judiciary.

By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer
April 4, 2005

WASHINGTON - For all the attention her case has brought to the difficult issues of life and the end of life, the first legacy of Terri Schiavo may arise in the U.S. Capitol, by providing new momentum for Republican attempts to push the federal judiciary to the right.

Conservative activists and members of Congress believe that state and federal courts essentially ignored the law Congress passed on her behalf last month.

The case has brought national attention to the favorite conservative cause of reining in the judiciary, as well as to the Republican push in the Senate to overcome Democratic opposition and install more conservatives on the federal bench.

"I think the Schiavo case dramatized the need to do something to restrain the judiciary," said Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union in Washington.

"So when we get to the coming battles over judicial nominees in the Senate, perhaps the public will be somewhat more engaged, in realizing what's at stake. In this case, literally life and death."

Schiavo's death Thursday came as senators prepared to address the most contentious issue brewing on Capitol Hill: whether Republican leaders will change a long-standing Senate rule that requires 60 votes to confirm a presidential nominee to the federal courts.

Republicans are threatening to change the rules so that judges could be confirmed with a simple majority, or 51 votes. Republicans hold 55 of the Senate's 100 seats.

Those who support the change call it the "constitutional option," because they contend that filibustering Democrats have overstepped the Senate's constitutional duty to "advise and consent" on judicial nominees.

Democrats call it the "nuclear option," because it would break the long-standing Senate tradition, unlike in the House, of allowing the minority to retain some measure of control.

Both sides acknowledge the Schiavo case has inflamed passions, because state and federal courts did not make the rulings anticipated by lawmakers who wrote the bill allowing federal review of her case.

"The lasting dispute isn't going to be between Terri's parents and her estranged husband. It's going to be between the branches of government," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

"The courts are at the very center of this, and I think that's going to increase the public pressure on the part of their elected representatives to take action. ... Just because someone dressed in black makes a decision, that is not the final word."

Congress returns this week after a two-week break. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is expected to discuss the issue with his Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid of Nevada, recently issued a letter outlining his desire to reach a compromise rather than change the rule.

"But any compromise must include an up or down vote" on the president's nominees, Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said.

Americans can expect the same sort of campaigning that has marked the battle over changing Social Security, as Democratic-leaning groups, including organized labor, seek to marshal a coordinated defense. Last week, the People for the American Way, a liberal group, launched a $5-million ad campaign that urges against changing the rules.

The Family Research Council is running ads in favor of it, and a coalition of conservative groups is expected to urge Frist to implement the change. They want the Senate to act before there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court, to ensure confirmation of the president's nominee.

"The end goal of accountable judges is what we want. And I can't imagine this judicial fiasco with the Schiavo case will lessen the urgency for something to happen here," said Carrie Gordon Earll, a senior policy analyst at Focus on the Family, an evangelical public policy group.

Schiavo, she said, "may be putting a face on the whole discussion of judicial activism for many people in the country who before didn't really know what we were talking about."

The president brought the fight over the judiciary to the forefront earlier this year by renominating seven of the 10 appellate court nominees the Democrats rejected during his first term.

Schiavo's death raised the heat of the rhetoric, with some lawmakers and conservative leaders now calling for Congress to wrest more control from the courts.

"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the day Schiavo died. "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today."

In denying to hear the Schiavo case last week, Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress and the president had overstepped their constitutional boundaries.

"We must conscientiously guard the independence of our judiciary, even in the face of the unfathomable human tragedy that has befallen Mrs. Schiavo," Birch wrote.

Birch also dismissed complaints about judicial activism, writing that, "Were the courts to change the law, as (Schiavo's parents) and Congress invite us to do, an "activist judge' criticism would be valid."

Mike Allen, an expert in constitutional law and civil procedure at the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, agreed that Schiavo "is going to be used as a poster child for this argument of judicial activism."

But as a matter of law, he said, her case was a lousy example. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer, who ordered that her tube be removed, followed state law in allowing Schiavo's husband to make decisions for her. And the law Congress passed didn't require the federal courts to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube; it just allowed them to.

Conservatives' anger toward the judiciary has grown over the past two years with several court rulings, especially the approval of same-sex marriage by the Massachusetts high court; a lower-court ruling against the federal ban on late-term abortion; and the U.S. Supreme Court case, Lawrence vs. Texas , that overturned a Texas law outlawing sodomy. The case involved a gay couple.

Several conservative lawmakers have advocated laws that would restrict the power of the lower federal courts to rule on specific matters, including public display of the Ten Commandments. Those ideas haven't gained much traction on Capitol Hill. But Perkins of the Family Research Council said the Schiavo case provides ammunition for advocates of a more strident approach.

"If necessary, and it shouldn't be often, the legislative and the executive branch should refuse to acknowledge a judicial decision, just as the judiciary sometimes ignores the legislature," Perkins said.

"The message that we've seen to date is that the judicial system is suffering from a persistent state of arrogance. And that's going to have an impact on the debate over the judiciary."

But Allen and others said Republicans fuming in Congress should consider this, too: Political persuasion doesn't guarantee popular decisions, nor should it.

Greer is a conservative Christian and elected Republican. And among the federal courts that reviewed the Schiavo law, Republican appointees, including Birch, were just as likely to say no as Democrats.

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/04/Tampabay/Courts_may_feel_Schia.shtml

TOM DELAY; "THEY THUMBED THEIR NOSE"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152179,00.html

Friday, April 01, 2005

This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume," March 30, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.
BRIT HUME, HOST: Joining me now from Houston Texas is House majority leader, Tom DeLay who's been a central player in the political side of the Terri Schiavo drama, and who was outspoken on the case today.

Congressman, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you, Brit.
HUME: You said today that, quote, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, not today." What did you mean by that?

DELAY: Well, there's a lot of questions that need to be answered. We need to look at this case. We need to look at the failure of the judiciary in Florida. We need to look at the failure of the judiciary on the federal level. The United States Congress, with the president's signing, sent a bill - made a law that gave the federal courts jurisdiction to look at this case all anew. And they didn't even follow procedures.

The normal procedure would be to reconnect the feeding tube so that they could hear this case all anew. The Congress, the people's representatives told the judiciary to do that. We need to look at all this.

HUME: Well, to be specific about it, basically what you had - what you did is to authorize the judiciary to look at the matter afresh. Which means presumably with an evidentiary hearing, if the court chose to do that. The courts did not choose to do that.

Is it absolutely clear to you, Congressman, that this was a violation of the law you passed? Or simply the court taking jurisdiction in the matter and deciding to uphold the lower courts?

DELAY: Well, the House of Representatives has taken on judiciary activism for the last two years. I mean we passed six bills limiting their jurisdiction. We've looked at the makeup of their courts. We're taking responsibility for being the checks and balances on an overactive, out-of- control judiciary.

And in this particular case, the judiciary was given an opportunity, the same opportunity that death row inmates have, to have one more court look at this. And rather than to look at process, look at all the evidence anew. They chose not to do that. They thumbed their nose at the Congress and at the Executive Branch. And we need to take a hard look at that

HUME: You said, "We will be looking at arrogant, out of control judiciary that thumbed their nose," as you indicated today. What can you imagine can be done, assuming this for the sake of discussion, that you're right about the judiciary. That it was acting in a way that it is arrogant and out of control, and unaccountable. What is it that you would propose to do?

DELAY: What I would propose to do is ask the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives to take a good, hard, objective look at this, and what occurred. And then make recommendations to the House as to how to proceed
HUME: Now, talk to me about your view on this case in particular. May I take it that your view is that Terri Schiavo should have been allowed to continue to live because she was not dying? Or what?

DELAY: Terri Schiavo was a living human being, an innocent living human being. Brain damaged, yes. Incapacitated, yes. Disabled, yes. But she was a living human being. She was not being sustained on any artificial means - by any artificial means. All she was being done - all that was being done was she was fed through a tube instead of her throat.

This system as failed as it is, this system allowed her to be starved to death. I just feel that that's very barbaric in our society.

HUME: Would you have felt differently about it, and do you think as a matter of law it would have been different had her wishes in this regard been explicit and unmistakable?

DELAY: Oh, it would have been totally different.

HUME: So, in other words, if she had left in writing a statement to the effect that if I ever reach the point where I'm in a vegetative state, unable to think and act on my own, that I don't wish to continue to live. Pulling the feeding tube in that instance with you would have been acceptable?

DELAY: Well, no. Then you have to define what is a vegetative state. And that's one of the problems with this case. As the judge listening to different sides, listening to activists in the euthanasia movement, doctors that are activists in the euthanasia movement, decided on his own. One person decided that she was in a vegetative state, when others refuted that. So that is the question that needs to be answered.

HUME: They refuted it or disputed it?

DELAY: They disputed it

HUME: Right, understood.

DELAY: And that's why the Congress stepped in and said OK, let's have another person take a look at it as a federal judge, and take a look at al the evidence anew. And take a lot of question and new evidence that's been presented. Even if you have a living will, you have to make those kinds of determinations when the family is fighting amongst itself over wanting to take care of this living human being.
HUME: All right. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

DELAY: Thank you.

FR. FRANK PAVONE; TERRI PRAYED TILL THE END

Catholic Priest: Terri Schiavo Responsive Til Death, Prayed With Family

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor http://www.lifenews.com/bio881.html
March 31, 2005

Pinellas Park, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A leading Catholic priest who visited Terri Schiavo on two separate occasions in the hours before her death says Terri was in a weakened medical condition from 13 days of starvation but was responsive until her death. The disabled woman even prayed with her family.

"Last night, I spent about two hours with her until past midnight, together with Bobby Schindler and Suzanne, and then again this morning for about an hour and a half, and then right up until about ten minutes before she died," Father Frank Pavone said.

Pavone, the director of Priests for Life, said most of the time was spent in prayer with and for Terri and telling her that people across the country supported her.

When he prayed, Pavone said "She was very responsive -- closing her eyes when I said, 'Let's pray together, Terri,' opening them up after the prayer."

Pavone made the remarks in an interview with Renew America, a grassroots organization headed by former presidential candidate Alan Keyes.

He indicated Terri was smiling and "returning the kiss of her father" as well as "turning her eyes to me when I spoke to her."

"In many other ways, as well, responsive," Pavone added.

"Even today, although, of course, with the effects of the dehydration, her response was much less," Pavone told Renew America. "Nevertheless, her eyes were open, her eyes were moving, and as I prayed with her."

Pavone talked about how Terri Schiavo's plight and the national debate surrounding her life and death will continue as the nation grapples with end of life issues.

"Terri didn't die today from anything except the fact that her food and water were withheld for the last two weeks," he said. "She had no other underlying illness whatsoever. This is a case of throwing away a disabled person

"And we have to ask ourselves, has our nation now begun to go down the road of killing those who are disabled, simply because somebody says that they want to be killed," Pavone concluded.

Hello,

First, thank you so much for what you did over the last few weeks, for fighting so hard for Terri.

Next, if you are putting together a ping list, would you please add my name.

Glad to be here, MOgirl

I just heard Glenn Beck say that Michael Schiavo was offered $2 million for a book, and $2 million for a movie.

$4 million motive - so far.

Churchgoers contemplate deaths of Terri Schiavo, pope

Associated Press 04/04/05

http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2005/04/050404church.shtml

GULFPORT - On the first Sunday after Terri Schiavo's death, the pastor at her parents' church said her passing -- brought about after endless court battles that threatened to divide the nation -- should be regarded as a lesson.

And with the death of Pope John Paul II also weighing on the minds of parishioners, many churchgoers connected the two.

"Every life has dignity," said the Rev. Bill Swengros, of Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church. "It doesn't matter if you're young or old, whether you're able-bodied or infirm, male or female, whether you're religious or nonreligious, American or non-American.

"Every human being has dignity in life, and every breath is precious."

Schiavo, 41, became the center of right-to-die issues in America, as her husband and parents waged a lengthy legal war over whether she would have wanted to be kept alive after suffering a devastating brain injury 15 years ago.

She died Thursday, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed at the request of her husband. Michael Schiavo said he was fulfilling her wishes to not be kept alive artificially.

Bob and Mary Schindler, whose fight to keep their daughter alive ultimately proved futile, saw parallels between two people who were physically disabled and fed through tubes, Swengros said.

Swengros spoke with Mary Schindler on Saturday, and noted her positive attitude.

"With many of us, we'd be angry or bitter," Swengros said. "There's none of that; she feels at peace that her daughter is with the Lord."

Most Holy Name of Jesus will host a service for Schiavo on Tuesday.

Michael Schiavo plans to bury his wife's ashes in his family plot near Philadelphia. Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother, said Michael Schiavo still has not offered the Schindler side any specific details for any planned services in Pennsylvania, or the burial.

"They've been pretty rotten to our family throughout this whole ordeal," Bobby Schindler said Sunday night.

By court order, Michael Schiavo must disclose the location of the burial site to the Schindlers and inform them of any memorial service he plans. A call placed to the office of George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, was unanswered Sunday night.

At churches across the state, the debate over Schiavo's fate continued.

At Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater -- the former church of Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer, who ruled many times against the Schindlers -- the Schiavo case wasn't directly mentioned in the service.

"I think it's very sad they starved someone to death," said Sherry Pantelides, 38, a member of Calvary Baptist. "At what point do you decide somebody's life is not valuable?

"It's an arrogance of man to think we get to decide who lives and who dies."

Mass at Tallahassee's Blessed Sacrament Church only included a brief mention of Schiavo, but parishioners said her death had touched them.

"I'm saddened that in an open society, in a Christian-based society, we could witness institutionalized starvation," said Kenol Saint-Fort, a 44-year-old accountant.

Deaths of Pope, Terri Schiavo Contrasted

Sun Apr 3
By CHELSEA J. CARTER, AP National Writer

America's religious leaders remembered Pope John Paul II for his grace in life and in death, some contrasting his passing on his own terms to the legal and political battle that surrounded the death of Terri Schiavo.

"He taught us how to die with dignity," Monsignor Scott Marczuk told parishioners Sunday at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock, Ark.

News that the pope's health had worsened dramatically came Thursday just a few hours after Schiavo's death. The bitter feud over whether she would have wanted to be kept alive with a feeding tube after suffering a devastating brain injury riveted Americans and sparked international debate about end-of-life issues. Indeed, the Vatican had weighed in, siding with Schiavo's parents — who had fought to keep her alive and disputed doctors' opinions that she was in a persistent vegetative state.

"Food and water are ordinary means of the continuing of natural life. It's deemed basic nutrition and the right of every human being," Marczuk told parishioners.

As recently as last year, the pope had encouraged research to "enhance and prolong human life" and told physicians it was a moral duty to maintain basic nutrition to patients, who retained their human dignity no matter what their circumstances.

In Florida, where the Schiavo battle played out, the Rev. Bill Swengros said her parents saw a link in the two deaths.

"They can't help but notice the parallels between the Holy Father's death and Terri's death, like bookends. The Holy Father: going through a Passion, having a feeding tube, having people knowing that he's physically disabled, wondering how Parkinson's (disease) would affect his judgment," said Swengros, a priest at the Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Gulfport, which will host a service for Schiavo on Tuesday.

"Perhaps one of the reasons why God blessed us with Terri is the lesson she's taught us in her passing: that every life has dignity," he said.

At St. Michael Church in Worthington, Ohio, 53-year-old Nancy Benedetti agreed — and she also drew a connection between the papal and Schiavo deaths. "A lot of people say the correlation of it happening within a few days just goes to prove how the sanctity of life is very important," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050403/ap_on_re_us/pope_schiavo_1

CBS will air a movie about Terri in May. An article reported that Michael was offered several million dollars. The TV movie will portray Michael as a loving, caring husband who devoted his life to Terri.

On CBS in May: Terri TV movie

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43617

Network to rush biopic to little screen for sweeps

April 2, 2005

CBS is rushing a Terri Schiavo TV movie into production so that it can air the biopic during the May ratings sweeps.

There is no word on whether the network has secured the cooperation of either the Schindler family, Terri's parents and siblings, or Michael Schiavo, her estranged husband.

There are reports Michael Schiavo is entertaining offers of book, movie and TV deals for Terri's story. Industry sources say Schiavo is likely to be offered up to $2 million for a book deal and up to $2 million for a movie or TV deal.

CBS' Terri story reportedly will feature "Felicity" star Keri Russell to star as America’s tragic heroine and Dean Cain of "Lois and Clark" as the husband who relentlessly seeks an end to her life.

Terri Schiavo was the brain-injured Florida woman at the center of an intense euthanasia battle played out on an international stage. She died Thursday 9 a.m. Eastern time after 13 days of court-ordered starvation.

The news came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected yet another appeal by her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler.

The Schindlers had pleaded with son-in-law Michael Schiavo to allow them to be with their daughter in her final hours, but according to family spokesmen, they were not present when she died.

The decision by the Supreme Court not to intervene was the sixth since 2000. The emergency request argued the federal courts did not consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri Schiavo had expressed a wish not to live in her current condition. The trial court in Pinellas County, Fla., determined she was in a persistent vegetative state. The Schindlers countered that assessment with statements from neurologists who claimed she was in a "minimally conscious state," able to respond to stimuli.

Terri Schiavo's life-sustaining feeding tube was removed by court order March 18 after a decade of bitter legal wrangling between Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers, who insisted their daughter had a strong will to live.

Her body was taken to the Pinellas County medical examiner's officer for an autopsy. It then will be cremated and interred in Pennsylvania, according to Michael Schiavo's wishes.

Farah hosts Judge Greer's pastor

Rev. William Rice to discuss Terri Schiavo case on radio show

April 4, 2005

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43595

The Rev. William Rice, the pastor who advised Judge George Greer to terminate his church membership in light of the jurist's action in the Terri Schiavo case, will be the guest today on "Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily RadioActive," the nationally syndicated talk-program.

In urging Greer to pull his membership, which the judge did, Rice told him: "You must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands."

Wrote Rice: "Like evangelicals across the world, we are horrified at the thought that a handicapped woman could be, in effect, starved to death before a watching world."

Admitting he was not a legal or medical expert, Rice asserted: "I know right from wrong. I know what God thinks about human life. I know there is only one way to describe the prospect of starving a woman to death because she cannot feed herself. It is wrong."

It was just pointed out to me that I had omitted one of the previous threads when I posted the links. This should fix it.

TERRI SCHINDLER SCHIAVO FEBRUARY DAILY THREAD 2005: TERRI IS OUR VALENTINE!

TERRI SCHIAVO DAILY MARCH 2005 PART 3, PLEASE STICK WITH US, WE'RE HALFWAY THERE...

TERRI SCHIAVO DAILY MARCH 2005 PART 4, DAY 5 OF HER DEHYDRATION -- PLEASE HANG ON WITH US

TERRI SCHIAVO DAILY MARCH 2005 PART 5 NO FOOD OR WATER FOR 5-6 DAYS

TERRI SCHIAVO DAILY MARCH 2005 PART 6- NO FOOD OR WATER IN THE 6TH-7TH DAYS - GOOD FRIDAY

Part 7 - EASTER SUNDAY -NO FOOD OR WATER 10-11TH DAYS- SHE'S FIGHTING TO LIVE

TERRI SCHIAVO: MARCH 30th DAY 13 NO FOOD/WATER...YOU CAN BE HER GOOD SAMARITAN.

Terri Schiavo has passed away [03-31-05]

Theresa Marie Schindler... April Daily Thread 2005 CALL TO ACTION: Our Fight for Justice Continues

I agree with you Saundra. I can't help but to continue to think of all the suffering Terri endured at the hands of that monster, up until the time she was killed. I have to remind myself that she is in a much better place. The Schindler family are amazing the way they've handled this tragic situation. God is surely giving them special graces.

I had planned to retire in Florida. Not now!