Replies

Fred and Terri, tar baby dailies...

The small infection grows to a head, more I-toldja-so's

................................

WASHINGTON - Two and a half years after Terri Schiavo became a celebrated cause among Republican leaders, the party's leading presidential candidates have expressed opposition to the way Congress intervened in the case, a sharp departure from past Republican strategy.

The break was highlighted this week when former US senator Fred Thompson joined three other leading Republican candidates in opposing Congress' effort in 2005 to allow the Schiavos to take their daughter's life support case to federal court. Thompson added an emotional element, saying he was part of a family decision about the fate of his daughter, Betsy Panici, who died at a Nashville hospital after being unconscious for six days following an apparent drug overdose.

The stand by the presidential candidates has proved disheartening to Schiavo's family, which fought to keep the comatose woman on life support. Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said he believes Republican candidates don't understand his sister's case. In a telephone interview, he said he will write this week to each candidate.

"I want to personally talk with them about Terri's case," he said. "They need to be fully informed. There obviously exists a lot of confusion about my sister's situation."............................................

Candidates rap Congress on Schiavo

8mm

In odd coincidence, I have just returned as all know from a conference sponsored in part by the University of Louisville, where a great tribute was made to T'wit. This is not related in any way I can tell, and involves good old Living Wills. Perhaps one or more attended our lectures, centered around the works of Wendell Berry. Or, perhaps not. Anyway, I remind once more of the better alternative, the Will to Live...

And, I think it is completely coincidence. Our bunch wasn't much into humanism. LOL.

The new edition of "Planning for Uncertainty: Living Wills and Other Advance Directives for You and Your Family" (The Johns Hopkins University Press, $40 hardcover; $18.95 paperback). It was written by Doukas, who is the University of Louisville's William Ray Moore Endowed Chair of Family Medicine and Medical Humanism, and Dr. William Reichel, a Georgetown University affiliated scholar.

Doukas said adults need to be thinking about end-of-life issues, whether they're 21 or much older.

"You should document your values, you should document your preferences," Doukas said. "You should do this if you're an adult, period, because anybody can have an accident or a sudden illness."

Relatively young women, such as Terri Schiavo, Karen Ann Quinlan and Nancy Beth Cruzan, have become the subject of high-profile court battles after becoming incapacitated, he notes.

Are you prepared for death or incapacity? Louisville authors address living wills

8mm

"I want to personally talk with them about Terri's case," he said. "They need to be fully informed. There obviously exists a lot of confusion about my sister's situation."

I have explained the reality of Terri's death to a lot of people, including people who favor euthanasia. And once they understand the details, they realize how horrific it was.

I know that the culture of death was looking for a "test case" and decided on Terri, and I think they eventually realized that Mikey was not who they wanted for the face of the "death with dignity" crusade, but by then it was too late.

I believe with every fiber of my being that if America, as a society, is unwilling to protect the lives of the innocent, from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death, that we lack the moral authority to lead the Free World.