In Congress, politicians repeatedly denounced the judiciary for accepting the findings of neurologists and granting Michael Schiavo’s request not to prolong Terri’s life. But the law they passed didn’t stop the courts.
The Christian Right used the Terri Schiavo case to try to convince the population that the legal system is out of control and must be reigned in. The most prized target is the US Supreme Court, which has trimmed women’s right to abortion over the last thirty years without actually banning it. The right feels it has earned the ability to influence public policy, but it does not see its agenda being implemented. This frustration and impatience is hopefully the sign of its coming downfall.
Has the Christian Right overplayed its hand in the Terri Schiavo case?
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The play makes uncomfortable viewing and it’s hard not to wring your hands with the benefit of hindsight as you see the Shoah looming all too clearly. But at the same time it is fascinating to realise that Schnitzler was not prescient – he was rather, in tune with the climate of his times and a writer capable of dramatising it with lively and supremely intelligent clarity.
At the same time, as the world has been watching Pope John Paul II receiving the last rites and we have been taking sides over the ‘right’ to live or die of the unfortunate Terri Schiavo in America, the play has an extraordinary immediacy too.
Professor Bernhardi :The Dreyfus of Vienna
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I think Dianne Feeley meant "reined" in. But even if she spelled it right, she'd remain a socialist and get the story wrong again.