Terri Schiavo

[MOBLEYC57]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7293186/?GT1=6305

Was it

the thing to do, and if you were the husband, what would you have done? :blink:

Who really knows until their

feet are in his shoes? :blink:

For myself, I don't have a clue. I'd want to do as she requested, but the

heart has a funny way of changing things, yes?

Families should have that ugly "if this happens to me,

this is what I want" discussion ... just in case.I don't know..... :think:

[belgareth]

That' why I have a living

will. Had it written years ago. I would have been unplugged 14 years back.

We probably don't have all the

information but from what the doctors said I believe she was brain dead. There's no point in keeping a dead body

pumping. Her parents were living on a false hope that she would become their daughter again. I feel very sorry for

them but nobody can change the fact that when her cerebral cortex died, everything that was Terri Shiavo died.

[DrSmellThis]

I'm glad we didn't get

preoccupied with this, like the rest of the country. It was Terri and Michael's decision (with much supporting

doctor's advice and scores of court rulings) not the federal government's, as sad as it was. The more libertarian

and "small government" sectors of the Republican party have got to be feeling embarassed about that stunt. But at

least Tom Delay got his reprieve from all the negative attention.

[belgareth]

Gee, Doc. I'm starting to get

worried again. Here we are in complete agreement twice in one day. Maybe my medication is doing more good than I had

thought. :POKE:

[DrSmellThis]

Just trying to be agreeable.

;) As long as you don't drink that right wing kool-aid, you'll be fine.:POKE:

[belgareth]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_pr_wh/schiavo_washing

ton (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_pr_wh/schiavo_washin

gton)

Comments? Write to your elected representative and let them know where you stand.

My own opinion

is that those judges did what they are paid to do, determine what the law is and rule based on that. Impeachment

would be an atrocity.

[Pancho1188]

Those senators' comments are

like the pot calling the kettle black.

Never held accountable for their actions. Arrogant and out of control.

Thumbs its nose at what everyone else thinks.

Seeing as the majority of US citizens agreed with the

courts---after all, that's how Congressmen get elected---wouldn't that be under control, not thumbing its nose,

being held accountable, and...oh, yeah, I almost forgot...interpreting and enforcing the law...

[a.k.a.]

I don’t think anybody came out

looking good on this one. Neither the Right to Lifers nor the Pro Choicers nor the “Objective” media nor the

“Alternative” press showed the least bit of sympathy for what the family must have been going through.
May

they find some measure of resolution now that this obscene circus is moving on.


I'm glad

we didn't get preoccupied with this, like the rest of the country.

Amen to that.
This

forum seems to have a more thoughtful and intelligent class of participants than a couple of political forums that

I’ve been foolishly paying to participate in.

[DrSmellThis]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_pr_w

h/schiavo_washington (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=6&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_pr_

wh/schiavo_washington)

Comments? Write to your elected representative and let them know where you stand.



My own opinion is that those judges did what they are paid to do, determine what the law is and rule based on

that. Impeachment would be an atrocity.That was a funny article! They're going to impeach all those judges

that GHW Bush appointed? :)

Terry Schiavo had the ultimate handicap: no conscious functioning. So it was

controversial. I think her parents wanted to do something for their daughter by fighting for every benefit of the

doubt. They were going to let the world determine it, given their best fight for that. Ultimately it was always

going to be up to Michael and/or Terri. But the current administration, top Republicans, and the Religious Right

took on the issue for power; and almost defeated the American system. That also was a funny law they passed.

[belgareth]

The Shindlers are devout

Catholics. They were part of the religious right in this case and their actions brought both the government and the

religions into it. By accepted law and usage in this country and the church's doctrine for the last 2000 years they

had no right to interfere in a decision between husband and wife. Even their often quoted bible supports her

husband's right to the decision. Despite the opinion of professionals/experts and results of mountains of medical

test the Shindlers continue to claim she could be rehabilitated. Now they continue with allegations of abuse. How

the hell do you abuse somebody under those conditions? In short, their ongoing grief needs to be addressed so they

can adjust to the realities of the situation. They have not behaved rationally or fairly towards Michael or Terri.



The government clowns may be blowing smoke to appease their supporters and I hope so. Those judges did the right

thing or at least what they believed was the right thing. Any attempt to penalize them would be completely wrong. It

wouldn't surprise me if impeachment proceedings were started against them. Rabid dogs do things like that to their

own. It would be a very devisive move and I'd hate to see the hard feelings it would cause down here at the human

level.

[Mtnjim]

They showed the brain scans on TV

the other day and they showed that Terri Shiavo died years ago, all that was left was the primative lizard that's

inside all of us that keeps the heart pumping.

Now it appears that the Pope will be following soon.

[Pancho1188]

The Shindlers

are devout Catholics. They were part of the religious right in this case and their actions brought both the

government and the religions into it. By accepted law and usage in this country and the church's doctrine for the

last 2000 years they had no right to interfere in a decision between husband and wife. Even their often quoted bible

supports her husband's right to the decision. Despite the opinion of professionals/experts and results of mountains

of medical test the Shindlers continue to claim she could be rehabilitated. Now they continue with allegations of

abuse. How the hell do you abuse somebody under those conditions? In short, their ongoing grief needs to be

addressed so they can adjust to the realities of the situation. They have not behaved rationally or fairly towards

Michael or Terri.

Nothing, even religion, compares to the power of the almighty dollar. The family feud

began, not because of differences in religious beliefs, what to do with Terri, or beliefs of the top 5 responses to

"Name something you would find in a garage" (car was the #1 answer), but because of money. The parents probably

understood the inevitable, but keeping her alive stuck it to the husband after he refused to give them money. If he

wouldn't give it to them, then they were certainly going to make sure he spent every last penny on her.

I'm

not saying that's the only factor in this situation. However, money is the number one reason why people end their

relationships, so I could see money as being a huge factor in causing this feud and wasting everyone's time out of

spite. The hatred is so deep that they're having separate funerals...separate priests...it's bigger than a damn

feeding tube. They're truly bitter and spiteful...and it all started over money.

[belgareth]

I heard that but found it a

little hard to believe that people could be so vindictive over money. Ok, so my world view is a little less cynical

than yours.

[Holmes]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/xonvaldez/t4.jpg

[Pancho1188]

I heard that

but found it a little hard to believe that people could be so vindictive over money. Ok, so my world view is a

little less cynical than yours.
People exercising their right to whine publicly always causes an itch to

my cynical side...especially when they use their personal rights to intrude on others' personal rights or tell

other people what to do.

...so does hype of something that happens all of the time (and yet all of these people

come out of the woodwork for the media coverage) and people using events to support their political agendas.



After this religious outcry over the past year or so, I'm starting to agree with that guy who tried to get rid of

the pledge in schools (not to get rid of it but to remove the "God" like it was before the '40s+). This editorial

cartoon in combination with people shoving religion in my face (even if it's the same religion I was born and

raised with) makes me believe we should get rid of every religious reference in the government:



http://st

ory.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050326/cx_tr_uc/tr20050326&e=3&ncid (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/uclickcomics/20050326/cx_tr_uc/tr20050326&e=3&ncid)=



I'm

really just sick of it all, so forgive my bitter outbursts. People should really be worried about their own lives

instead of butting in on others' lives.

[belgareth]

I'm

really just sick of it all, so forgive my bitter outbursts. People should really be worried about their own lives

instead of butting in on others' lives.
Here too but I include the athiests in my cynical disparagement

of people who should get a life. What are they so afraid of in a word that should have no meaning whatsoever? I am

definately not religious and I couldn't care less about references to any diety because I regard it much like I do

references to elves and unicorns. It has no power over me. I think these busy body athiests are more afraid of being

wrong than they will admit.

[Pancho1188]

Here too but

I include the athiests in my cynical disparagement of people who should get a life. What are they so afraid of in a

word that should have no meaning whatsoever? I am definately not religious and I couldn't care less about

references to any diety because I regard it much like I do references to elves and unicorns. It has no power over

me. I think these busy body athiests are more afraid of being wrong than they will admit.I thought that guy

with the beef against the pledge was just wasting everyone's time and making an irrelevant point until this

religious wave hit in the government.

I agree with you, Bel, that we can just ignore religious references in the

government...until it circumvents the church and state separation clause and the line between religious law and

government law thins until the two systems become one and the same (I concede that our laws are based on religion,

but they do, in fact, differ). That's when people start enforcing their religious beliefs on others, such as

keeping someone alive because God would want it that way when really the person is brain dead and their heart still

beating is a technicality (like when someone is on the electric chair and the first shock kills the brain but their

heart hasn't stopped). If you believe that and want to keep your relative alive, that's your business. If you tell

my family, though, that they can't kill me if I'm in that state, I will put in my living will for my family to

start kicking some ass. It's my or my family's decision to see that situation as keeping a dead person alive

rather than an alive person from death.


What I found ridiculously stupid were the handicapped people

belittling themselves and having the audacity to compare themselves do a brain-dead woman. The very fact that they

had the cognitive capacity to have an opinion on the matter shows that they are far better off than she was.




I wonder what would happen if someone stood a few dozen yards from the extreme protesters and held a sign that

said, "KILL! KILL! KILL!" I would have found that extremely humorous (if that sounds wrong, how much different is it

than having handicapped people on the ground spasming and screaming, "We're not dead yet?" I find that very

offensive to families of people in vegetative states who don't even have the ability to spasm and scream

coherently).


The cynicism is rolling today...I should sleep it off.
:twisted: -> :trout: -> :angel: