Theresa Marie Schindler [schiavo - means slave]. Shame on them for taking her life. IT WAS ILLEGAL. Don't let their black robes fool you.
Posted on 07/31/2005 3:38:47 AM PDT by amdgmary
TALLAHASSEE - It was one of the shortest speeches of Charlie Crist's career, but as a campaign for governor unfolds, it may prove to be one of the most memorable.
Two weeks ago, the Republican attorney general and candidate for governor gave a late-night speech to a roomful of lawyers in Miami where he referred to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case as "heroes."
Crist insists he wasn't endorsing court rulings that prevented the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube from being reconnected, but critics view it differently. And by appearing to break his silence in the Schiavo case, Crist has sharpened the contrast between himself and Republican rival Tom Gallagher, who has said he favored government action to "prevent Terri's starvation."
At the dinner in Miami, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer and U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa were honored as jurists of the year by the Florida chapter of ABOTA, the American Board of Trial Advocates. The group champions judicial independence and its members are lawyers who represent both plaintiffs and defendants.
Greer is the judge who ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed, rejecting a subpoena from Congress and pleas from Gov. Jeb Bush, and Whittemore also denied emergency requests to reinsert the tube in the weeks before Schiavo died March 31. Both men's decisions were later upheld by higher courts, and both were praised and vilified by opposing sides of the emotionally charged end-of-life case.
Crist said he was "proud" of both judges.
"You are heroes to all of us, and your defense of the judiciary and what is right is beyond admirable," Crist was quoted in the Daily Business Review, a Miami newspaper that provided the only news account of the July 15 event at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
In an interview, Crist did not dispute the quotations. Nor did he offer a view of whether he agreed with their decisions. Rather, he said, he praised them for fulfilling their constitutional duty to provide checks and balances against the other two branches of government.
"I try to say nice things about judges. I'm sure I was complimentary," said Crist, who as the state's chief legal officer often speaks at bar-related events. "I didn't talk about any specific case. ... It's important that those checks and balances exist. Our system of government needs to have that."
Crist's comments have resonated far beyond the Biltmore.
"Judge Greer is a poster child for everything that's wrong with the judiciary," said Gary Cass, executive director of the Center for Reclaiming America, a grass roots Christian political group in Fort Lauderdale that lists "sanctity of life" as one of its priorities and plans to form a political action committee.
"For Charlie Crist to hold that up as an example of good judicial practice concerns me," Cass said. "I think it was a mistake for Charlie to say that. I don't know how anybody can be happy about a woman being deprived food and water."
Rep. Dennis Baxley, the Republican from Ocala who sponsored legislation last spring to force the tube to be reconnected, said Crist's speech was revealing.
"I think it is one of those very important moments for us to know where he (Crist) stands," Baxley said. "I truly believe there's a lot of people out there who were sensitive to this case who are going to find those comments, and that association, very instructive. I'm understanding where people line up on this."
Baxley said that while Crist was "conspicuously absent" from the Schiavo debate in the Legislature, Gallagher sent Baxley a personal letter of support last spring. While activists in the Schiavo debate take aim at Crist, his Republican rival Gallagher is not.
"Tom's made his position very clear in the past. There's really no comment we're going to make on that," said David Johnson, a Gallagher adviser.
Polls show a majority of Americans agreed with the judges' decisions to order the removal of Schiavo's tube, as her husband, Michael, said she wanted. By a greater margin, polls show people were opposed to Congress' intervention in the case.
But to those who view the long-running Schiavo saga as a test case of support for the sanctity of life - like abortion - Greer and Whittemore are "judicial activists" who starved a woman to death.
Many of those people can vote in the Republican primary for governor in September 2006. Crist's stand on the Schiavo case could prove to be an asset if he wins the GOP nomination and faces a Democrat. But one Republican strategist said the damage has been done.
"Schiavo killed the Republicans. They've lost the women's vote," said Matt Towery, an ex-Republican legislator who now runs an Atlanta media and polling firm. "It's one of those turning points that you just can't get away from."
Theresa Marie Schindler [schiavo - means slave]. Shame on them for taking her life. IT WAS ILLEGAL. Don't let their black robes fool you.
By the way, the lawyer in the beige suit looks like he's from the cast of Beauty and the Beast, you know, the candle guy?
Check it out. He's got candles on his head. It's a joke, trollies.
ALSO IMPORTANT: Post 201 with euthanasia links.
Sea turtle update: they are still in bad shape. If you look up the Mote Marine Lab, they are caring for the turtles. I'm not sure how to spell their name.
bump that...
The Duval GOP seems to be trying to revamp King's image.
I got another mailer a few days ago with his pic on it (good thing it's not life size-it would cost a fortune to mail it) and he's trying to get folks to sign a petition to protect property rights in Florida.
What about big boy's legacy? He's not proud of that any more? Now it's wine and property. Jim King is a nightmare. Who else is running at this time? I haven't followed Duval politics lately. I say at this time because the elections are still more than a year away. King will say something really outrageous or inflammatory before the election. And I'll be sure and post it on free republic. *yes, a large mailer w/Jim King's pic would be a chunk of postage.
If anyone has a moment to join in prayer for my friend who is fighting cancer, it would be much appreciated.
Terri's dignity outshines any awards her killers may receive for being cowardly murderers.
I got CONFIRMATION TODAY that Atty Campbell was the one who stipulated with the death worshippers that Terri was PVS. It may not have been an error. It may have been intentional. Your post about her may be true unfortunately. Everyone over here is masquerading as something they're not, especially RINOS with all their dirty money. Campbell and Judge Shames cooked up the first round of getting the feeding tube removed. Shames is no longer a judge. Good thing. He cheated on his wife in the late eighties before he BECAME A FAMILY LAW JUDGE. I don't think his wife Barbara ever found out that he was seeing a legal secretary on the side.
That is not correct. Judge Shames was most recently reelected in 2002, and his current term of office runs until January 2009.
8mm
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/12489175.htm
Posted on Sat, Aug. 27, 2005
Editorial | Pa. Court Rulings on Autopsies Narrow and confusing
Had Terri Schiavo died in her native Pennsylvania, rather than in Florida, it's unlikely that the public would know much more than her cause of death.
The critical findings - the condition of her brain, her blindness and the absence of abuse - could by law have been kept from the public.
Why? Because the case law in Pennsylvania at the time said that autopsy reports were not a public record and that a coroner or medical examiner need disclose only the cause and manner of death.
(In Schiavo's case, the cause was marked dehydration; the manner was undetermined.)
In Florida, where autopsy reports are public record, the autopsy findings quieted a raging national debate about the woman's cognitive functions and whether her husband had physically injured her.
Last week, Pennsylvania took a step toward more openness on autopsy reports, but in way so narrow that it will require further litigation or lawmaking to settle the question.
Yes, autopsy reports often include material, including photos, whose publication would serve mostly a prurient, not public purpose. Responsible media ought to exercise restraint. But autopsy reports can also shed invaluable light on legitimate public policy questions about drug abuse, domestic violence, gun lethality, suicide and other issues.
The state Supreme Court ruled Aug. 15 that a district attorney can seek a court order to seal an autopsy report if its disclosure could compromise an ongoing criminal investigation. The ruling, in a Blair County case, is based on the assumption that all autopsy reports, unless sealed, are public record in Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court made only passing reference to this point. So coroners who, for whatever reason, prefer to keep autopsies secret could harken back to a Commonwealth Court ruling earlier this year. In that March ruling, the lower court said, in unhelpfully contradictory fashion, that autopsy reports are not part of the official record that coroners must file with the county court clerk each January.
The General Assembly should take two corrective steps. First, it should amend the Coroner's Act so that it states unambiguously that autopsy reports are public record. Second, it should include autopsy reports among those things that are public records under the Right To Know Act, eliminating the embargo period that now freezes these records until January. No public purpose is served by withholding them for up to 12 months.
In an Internet world, there may be no surefire way to prevent the painful release of graphic autopsy photos. That's why Florida's legislature decided to ban the release of such photos.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, however, suggests a better method. It allows for the trial judge and disputing parties to review - in the judge's chambers - whether specific information, if released, would hinder an ongoing investigation. A similar review could be made on photographs, with the judge weighing the public purpose versus the privacy rights of families.
Now's a good time for the legislature to clean up the confusion caused by court rulings - before some red-hot controversy such as the Schiavo case brings the issue to the fore.
He mistakenly thought he could imitate a human being.
He, she, it. Whatever
Media mythology.
-- Terri's brain was functional. The autopsy showed only that the brain was severely atrophied (which we knew long before), not that it was non-functional. In fact, it tended to confirm the functionality observed by many medical professionals (not just the family) because the posterior area of the brain was relatively intact. As Dr. Hammesfahr noted, this would be enough to account for Terri's limited but real functionality as observed in his lengthy examination and others.
The media ignore a much more important finding that Terri's injury was specific to the front part of the brain. This rules out all general causes of injury (notably the ridiculous heart attack / bulimia theory) and focuses the search on a very specific cause for her anoxic injury: blockage of the carotid arteries that supply oxygen to the front of the brain.
In short, the autopsy supports the theory that Terri was strangled.
-- The "blindness" mentioned in the autopsy was a special kind called cortical blindness, inferred from the loss of cortex tissue used to process visual input (the eyes are not themselves damaged). But this inference in the autopsy -- which cannot be proven -- is at odds with clinical observation that Terri had some vision, though it was very poor. (She could see for a few inches in front of her, but not more than a foot and a half.) There are at least three reasonable ways to explain this discrepancy. 1) Dehydrating/starving Terri may have killed her remaining vision in her last horrible days. 2) The cortical atrophy may not have been enough to blind her completely. 3) The autopsy may have erred because Terri's brain "rewired" itself for that bit of vision she had. Damaged brains can and do open new channels to regain function.
-- It is not possible for an autopsy to conclude "no abuse." Bones heal. The severe traumatic abuse shown by Terri's 1991 bone scan would not have been detectable post-mortem. The abusive neglect by Michael in denying Terri all rehabilitation, therapy and even sensory stimulation were, of course, not the sort of thing that an autopsy can detect.
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