Posted on 06/05/2005 11:45:26 AM PDT by 8mmMauser
"Too Late To Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life," by Harriet McBryde Johnson.
About two years ago, Harriet Johnson appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. If you saw her portrait, you probably haven't forgotten it.
A thin woman in a wheelchair leans forward, a purple shawl draping one shoulder. Johnson describes it this way in her new memoir: "The portrait has been described as beautifully disturbing, and most nondisabled people seem to see it that way. I'd prefer to call it disturbingly beautiful, but I'll take it the other way around if I must."
Johnson has an unnamed muscle-wasting disease, but don't dare say she "suffers" from it. She insists on being her own complicated person, a Southern lady, for instance, as well as a socialist, an atheist, a lawyer and a born storyteller with a wicked sense of humor.
She eschews pity and sentimentality. She supports the work of Not Dead Yet, a group of anti-euthanasia activists who demonstrated outside Terri Schiavo's Pinellas Park hospice earlier this year, dramatically sliding out of their wheelchairs and lying on the ground.
And though Johnson hates the hackneyed trope of triumph in the face of disability, she nevertheless has a string of interesting adventures. She runs for elected office. She travels to Cuba to discuss disability rights. She protests the Jerry Lewis telethon annually in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., and she bribes her friends to join her with promises of free food.
Her gripe with the telethon is its grim prognostications. When she was 30, her mother became ill, and Johnson had to accept for the first time that, contrary to all expectations, she might indeed outlive her parents. "While anyone may die young, it's not something you can count on," she writes. "You have to be prepared to survive." It's that angry, proud but utterly normal brand of survival that is at the heart of Johnson's memoir.
The most fascinating chapter is her encounter with the philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer. (It was this encounter that rated The New York Times Magazine cover.) Singer believes that in some cases it is morally acceptable for parents to kill severely disabled infants. Johnson disagrees, so much so that she fears even debating him would dignify his ideas as socially acceptable. Nevertheless, she meets him, travels to Princeton University to debate him and ends up with a great story about it.
The best memoirs don't necessarily tell every event in a person's life, but they do capture the voice and the emotional feel of the author. Yes, it's impossible for a nondisabled person to fully know what Johnson's life is like. But her writing is so vibrant, so interesting and so funny that you can't help but feel as if you're in her world, sitting beside her and hearing her story for yourself.
Two Circuit Court Judges, one retired have died within the past week or so, a Judge Blackwell and a Judge Howard P. Rives, Jr. Greer, our favorite PHONY REPUBLICAN POLITICO, loves to be in the paper and put his two cents in on the passing of former Judge Rives. It's too bad Judge Greer has none of the qualities that Greer attributes to deceased Judge Rives.
"He was one of the last of a generation of true Southern gentlemen, said Circuit Court Judge Greer, who practiced before Rives as a lawyer (poor J. Rives on that point).
"He had a very inquisitive mind, and did a lot of his own [legal] research," Greer said. "His decisions were very well-reasoned, I thought...he was a first class lawyer."
Ironic isn't it? Greer is still trying to rehabilitate his reputation. Complimenting a deceased Judge isn't going to help Greer's sorry behind.
The WORLD knows that Greer is corrupt and is being propped up by Pinellas County, Tallahassee and even Washington, DC.
Terri was left to die because of money and power. Judge Greer made the arrangements and is likely making arrangements for someone else today - against their will.
If SENATOR JIM KING would lose his 2006 election, it's a start to bringing down the merchants of death who started their experiment in Pinellas County, FL.
Our blind justice has a real tough road ahead to do some high level rehabilitating at the Pearly Gates as one day he follows the deceased Judge to wherever.
8mm
Bushnell got all worked up for nothing, didn't she? Someone must have burned her badly for her to be filled with such bitterness that in cases like Terri's it's dangerous.
The forced death business is not for gentle, compassionate beings. It is for twisted, spurned, spawned, bitter, delusional lawyers, medical providers and judges and even Bishop Lynch who refused to pray the rosary for Terri as she lay dying. He asked one of his flock to leave the rectory and to never return after they requested he pray that rosary for Terri.
There are so many tales and the public has no idea. The media as well have no idea.
Terri's Daily thread is for spreading the truth because as you know, it was suppressed more than not.
God Bless Terri. He has huge plans regarding what happened to her imo. I'm a paralegal, not a regular church goer but I believe.
I helped Jeb get re-elected. I helped him because I trusted him to protect every citizen. He failed in that regard.
Does anyone have the TOLL FREE NUMBER for the U.S. Congress? Please post if you have. My post-it note fell off my monitor.
Thanks. FV
Post 99. Seen these items lately? (animal lover user post if I have the # wrong).
Well, for starters, he swore to uphold the constitution of the State of Florida, which includes Article One, Section Two: a clear recitation of the inalienable right to life...even for the disabled.
I'll look for Dr. Keyes' fine brief on this subject and post it when I find it.
First, thank you for all you are doing in Florida.
I still firmly believe that in Florida with the strong lobby by the euthanasists and other interests, the only way for the LAWS TO GET CHANGED is for an uproar from the public demanding they get changed.
And, IMHO, you turn on the one politician in Florida that did more for Terry than any other. And I firmly disagree with that and feel it destroys the support you will get from other people in Florida. Many love Gov. Bush and it is just undercutting the whole effort to malign, destroy the credibility of Gov. Bush and to blame him for Terri.
The problem in Florida is THE LAWS that are on the books. No governor or President of the United States can usurp the law. The laws have to be changed and that is where you go to the dang lawmakers putting them into place.
Gov. Bush has indicated he will sign an amendment to the Constitution. Now - why chastise him more.
Gov. Bush knows far better than you or others in Florida what would have worked and what would not. There was no point going in, causing more trauma on Terri and her family when the Fla Supreme Court would immediately strike down whatever he did and again put that family through another letdown.
Alan Keyes outside Jeb's door has been mentioned. Alan Keyes talks good but it is not his responsibility for what happens. Also, A. Keyes in Dallas stood up at a Republican convention and chastised George Bush over the war and said really bad things about him. I will never trust Keyes again - he turned on us.
I expect Jeb Bush does not trust him as credible either. Afterall - what could Alan tell him about the Florida laws more than his own people could tell him? Keyes is always touting some out-of-the mainstream action. Of course, Keyes never has to make them work.
I often wonder if part of your agenda might be to destroy Gov. Bush. It will not work here on FR and I don't expect it will work in Florida.
But, you are the one doing the work and you can do it however you want. I just have to stick up for one of the best governors in the country. You will not have another as good as Jeb Bush. A little appreciation for all he has done for Terri and Florida please.
And, please go after all those lawmakers and demand that the end of life panels not be allowed to continually broaden their range of killing. That is where the problem is - you are wasting time trying to ruin Gov. Bush - unless you are a democrat.
Thanks...FV
That's ridiculous. You of all people should know better.
You're defending people who acted like political hacks and let us down in the worst possible way at the exact point where the rubber meets the road, and attacking someone who has never compromised an inch in defense of innocent human life.
Additionally, there are grassroots efforts going on to get a bill out of committee and to the floor. The toughest part is getting such a bill out of committee because it is packed with lawmakers who are cozy with George Soros, the Fla Right to Die and the Partnership for End of Life Choices. They will hold any such bill in committee because they are fine with starving people to death.
I can post the jpeg of the gang of nine Republicans who voted against Terri. Only Senator Jim King is up for re-election which is a lucky break. We don't have to campaign against nine, only one.
Jeb failed, the Fla Legislature failed, DCF failed and Medicaid fraud runs rampant. Fla AG Crist failed on purpose. The list goes on and on.
God is the only constant. Man has proven they are more concerned with image, money and power. That is the way I see it.
Who cares.
He rejected the very counsel he so publically and repeatedly said he was desperately looking for, while fully embracing Jesse Jackson for the cameras.
One of the most cynical and ultimately useless series of events I've ever seen.
But what was the reason he reversed it the next day?
The disability group that was going in (they announced their action before doing it) was denied that by Judge Greer. He brought in the law enforcement waiting on Jeb. So, therefore, Jeb's plan fell apart.
Again, what would have happened if he did still go in? There could have been violence with the law enforcement officers. How do you take Terri out with the law guarding her? They should have moved in without advising up front what they were going to do.
But, no matter, the courts would have struck him down publicly and he would lose. So nothing would have been gained and it sure would not save Terri.
A waste of time to make Jeb pay for trying to help Terri for years, for enacting a law (that was struck down as unconstitutional) and doing all the legal work to try and stop the tragedy. A little thanks would be more appropriate and helping him get something that can change the situation. He has already indicated he will be on board for a constitutional amendment. (Of course, the legislators in Florida will strike this down)
Which is where the problem is - the laws of Florida and the lawmakers and the end-of-life panel, the euthanasists and I suspect the scientology lobby.
The ball is in your hands - use it effectively - not to destroy the one politician that cared about Terri.
You're saying that to FV, who for years was one of Jeb's most enthusiastic supporters.
Liberals will fight for the rights of murderers and terrorists, witness the furor over alleged abuses of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, but the state sanctioned killing of Terri Schiavo (make no mistake, it was a killing) as ordered a liberal judge George Greer, was perfectly acceptable.
Liberals advocate more “affordable housing” but in the San Francisco area (as well as others), there are so many restrictions on land use that developers cannot build suitable housing for anyone less they disturb the “natural environment.” Liberals advocate personal freedoms but lead the fight to implement smoking bans. Liberals have so effectively opposed forest management in western states that virtually every summer brings devastating fires.
Economically challenged and hypocritical, liberals don’t stop there. Liberals are also paranoid. The most extreme would have you believe that if left to their own devices, conservatives would turn rivers and lakes into cesspools, fill the skies with acrid smoke, chop down every tree, kill every animal, re-institute slavery, and force everyone to recite the Ten Commandments every hour on the hour.
Wrong at every turn, liberals would be funny if not so dangerous. They are dangerous because so many don’t see just how wrong they are.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/archive.shtml
About the Writer: Jan A. Larson is currently employed in private industry in Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska, a Master of Science degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Colorado State University.
jan@pieofknowledge.com.
FV SAYS: I'm going to email Jan Larson and inform him that Greer is a RINO. Then he can do a followup article from TEXAS. I posted earlier that someone in Michael Schiavo's camp was dangerous. This article backs up my claim about what kind of people get into the forced death business.
There is the root of the whole problem and the ones that have to be exposed. Which is what all of us knew. Keep us advised of the efforts against them.
Large portions of what you just posted are pure media-created myth, repeated ad nauseum by Jeb-defenders; even though it bears little relationship to the truth about what actually occurred.
You can do better than this.
I expect he was "using Jesse Jackson" for bipartisan support. Why not? If Jackson could do anything for Terri, Jeb would have been willing to go with it.
I am not a fan of Keyes after what he did in Dallas - it was uncalled for, totally wrong and merely used to exhalt himself.
I will look up the event if you wish. I even wrote to the RNC and advised that I was astounded they would bring him to Dallas and allow such on the money from the RNC. You do not insult and malign the President of the United States at a Republican convention during a war - especially with the funds Americans have given to elect such a man.
Bipartisan support for what? Inaction?
I'm afraid you could not have a better defender than Jeb Bush. Just because he did not rush in and create ineffective action that would have brought about impeachment proceedings and do nothing to save Terri, does not mean he is a hack.
You support Keyes - could there be a hatred for the Bush family and their future political asperations?
Again, I turned on Keyes when he attacked my President and I will not attack Jeb Bush because I remember that he was the only one politician trying to save Terri for the past two years. And, look what you people have done? He should have just set up there and allowed her to be done away with two years ago. No one even remembers all he did.
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