Stop the Madness
This Terri Schiavo debacle has officially gone too far. A man has been arrested for offering a $250,000 bounty on the head of Michael Schiavo and a $50,000 bounty on the head of judge. What I want to know is: how does a retarded drunk redneck have $275,000$300,000?
On the Rush Limbaugh show today, Rush stated that it was the judges who are killing Terri. That glaringly wrong statement forced me to blink for such a long period, mouth agape, that I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me. Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Terri killed Terri. Terri Schiavo is in the condition she is in today because she had so little respect for her own body that she starved herself of nutrients in order to make her feel better about her appearance. This isn’t a misfortune, this is cause and effect. What’s happening now is merely finishing the job that she started, ironically in the same manner.
What really is disgusting is the way that this issue is being used as a political tool (by both sides, but much more by Republicans.) Someone should tell Sean Hannity that a feeding tube is for delivering nutrients to someone who cannot eat, not for feeding fodder to an ideologue’s self-righteous radio show. Hannity has made it “all starvation crisis, all the time,” bringing on quack after quack.
Glenn Reynolds notes that Conservatives are acting like Liberals in their willingness to use Congress and the courts to intervene.
I’m quite astonished to hear people who call themselves conservatives arguing, in effect, that Congress and the federal courts have a free-ranging charter to correct any injustice, anywhere, regardless of the Constitution. And yet my email runneth over with just those kinds of comments. And arguing that “it’s okay because liberals do it too” doesn’t undercut my point that conservatives are acting like liberals here. It makes it.
Glenn Reynolds: Instapundit
Here are the facts:
- Michael Schiavo is Terri’s legal guardian
- The decision to remove life-sustaining devices is up to him
- You may not like it, but it is perfectly legal
I say “you” may not like it, but I consider myself one of those people. I don’t like that someone without a written living will can have that choice made for them. But I cannot deny that the way the law is today, what is happening is perfectly legitimate. I’m not the only one reluctantly coming to that conclusion.
Oh… and whatever your personal wishes for your fate should you ever be in such a position… draft a living will, mmkay? Regardless of what Terri would have wished for, I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted her fate to become a battle between her family and her husband, waged on the national stage.
I agree. I said something about this too (as many bloggers have)
Mark,
Very well put. I totally agree with you. Terri started this herself. Now 15 years later it all finally comes to an end. Wether we agree or disagree to the mtehod.
Your claim that Terri “killed herself” is simply ridiculous. People do stupid stuff all the time that land them in hospital, but God help us when we become so flippant and indifferent that we just start finishing people off when they make a mistake.
The decision by the courts to remove Terri’s feeding tube is probably legal, and yes I am uncomfartable with congress intervening, but it’s idiotic to call people who oppose removing Terri’s feeding tube “ideologues”. Get a damn grip.
I wouldn’t call trying to get a person back to a life where they could live without a feeding tube for flippant or indifferent.
And yes people do stupid stuff all the time and most of them pays for it as well. So in the case with Terri.
Unfortunately this case has become a tool for people that want to promote themselves. Not everyone that opposes the feeding tube removal have Terris best intrest in mind… and vice versa.
Unfortunately they probably could care less what happens to her.
Terri didn’t just land herself in the hospital. She starved her body of nutrients until it triggered a metabolic crash, depriving her brain of oxygen and destroying her cerebral cortex.
People who oppose the removal of Terri’s feeding tube and who advocate decisions from judges that would directly contradict the law are ideologues. They don’t care what the law says, they want the judge to rule in favor of their ideology.
Mark,
there is some dispute among doctors as to whether her current state was due to bulemia. Some of the things I’ve read says that she was bulemic because Michael Shiavo was abusive and that she may have been abused/choked. Also, doctors have said that certain enzymes would have been released into her blood-stream if she had a heart-attack and those enzymes weren’t present. Why has she not been allowed to be examined in all of these years? I agree with you – Michael Shiavo does have guardianship over her. I think for me, that’s the sad part. I read much of the court testimony myself and he just seems a little suspect in his actions.
As a small example – why not allow her to take communion since she is on her death-bed? That is a pretty small token to grant her parents, isn’t it? Also, why does he want her cremated versus burial? Terrie and her family are Catholic, and cremation goes against Christian doctrine. Is it a powerplay for him?
Something about the husband just seems strange in all of this.
I’d advise everyone to create a living will.
Stefan,
The Catholic Church lifted the cremation ban in 1963.
The reports of spousal abuse have not been shown to be anything more than speculation. Yeah, he seems shady to me too, and if I were supreme ruler of the world, I’d have everyone who seemed “shady” subject to an investigation, but in this case I really don’t think there is enough evidence to warrant it.
From your lead …
“$250,000 bounty on the head of Michael Schiavo and a $50,000 bounty on the head of judge. What I want to know is: how does a retarded drunk redneck have $275,000?”
Mark,
$250 K plus $50K equals more than $275k
…. retarded druken redneck who knows addition
Ha! I saw “$225,000″ for some reason.
I hadn’t really thought about the bulimia perspective until I read your post. And while it’s quite possible she “put herself in the hospital”; however, her husband is apparently no saint.
And while he has the right to make these decisions, it floors me to see why he even cares anymore if he doesn’t love her.
Life is not always black and white.
And while I am not an advocate of prolonging the life of someone who is supposedly “brain dead”, there is just something really wrong about her husband. He is a creep and loser. And until more questions are answered, I think it would be good to reinsert the tube so that questions can be answered. To me, he is trying to hide something.
“creep,” “loser,” “no saint”… based on what? Gut instinct? Yeah, I’ve felt that too… but that isn’t enough to justify a investigation. And what about Terri’s parents? Aren’t you a little bit concerned that they only had a falling out with Michael Schiavo after he refused to share his $300,000 settlement with them? (ha! Dave B… there’s that $300,000 again). In fact, they started suing Michael Schiavo for custody almost 6 years before anything about removing a feeding tube was even brought up. That creeps me out as well.
Good point Mark.
Investigate, then give the money away to charity, so no money hungry hoes can have it, and something good can be done with it.
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