I love America. We'll tear ourselves apart debating what should be done about one hopeless, useless shell of a woman.
Our courts will spend years upon years hearing appeal after appeal even though they come to the same sad conclusions each and every time.
State and federal legislators put all of their influence to work on her behalf and find their houses divided.
State and federal chief executives do all that can, within the law, to save her.
People flock from near and far to stand vigil until she either is saved or dies.
A nation watches as her parents find yet one more reason to appeal and is, again, rebuffed. The parents are barred from her bedside, then are let back in. No last rites, no communion, then communion and last rites. Finally, she dies.
Many were calling for Governor Bush to ignore the courts' rulings and take custody of Terri by force. NewsMax and Pat Buchanan even went so far as to suggest that he do this and, if he is found guilty of violating the seperation of powers doctrine and in contempt-of-court, that he simply be pardoned by his brother, the President. But, we knew that George and Jeb Bush weren't very likely to do that. Thankfully, they didn't.
Thankfully? Yep. In America we have a rule of Law. When we don't like the law we can change it. No one is above it or below it; not Jeb Bush and not Terri Schiavo. We had to let Terri go because we have to keep our principles. Our system of justice and government (rule of Law, seperation of powers, legal jurisdiction) have to be maintained in all cases if they are to be retained at all.
Terri Schiavo is a casualty of law. Just as we know that a soldier will probably die while defending liberty, Terri Schiavo died to uphold the law. An armed abduction by Governor Bush might have saved Terri's life for a short time, but it would have killed something a whole lot bigger: our way of life.
So, with the passing of Terri Schiavo, I think not only of what was lost but what was preserved. A constitutional crisis could have let her live, but she died to save us from it.
Americans looked at what was happening. Many found it difficult to accept that a woman who seemed awake and responsive to her family and friends could be, in fact, not there at all - as doctors had testified. But, through many years, judges and courts, this was said to be so.
We saw what we saw and came to our conclusions. In the courts, in the legislatures, in the executive mansions, in the newsrooms, the talk shows, the blogosphere and at our dinner tables. The lines of debate were drawn, the battle was engaged and we fought it like champions. Some for Terri's life, some for her release, but always within the law and proper procedure.
Now another debate begins: What if this ever happens again? Bills will be drafted and rewritten and voted on, up or down, so that the results of this precedent are never repeated. Depending on which side you were on you'll believe that, either, the law failed Terri, or it rescued her. New laws will be coming because it'd be nice not to have to wonder which is the case. That's what we should do and, so, that's what we'll do.
God, I love America!
Agreed.
Posted by: Ted at April 3, 2005 09:51 AMWow, thanks guys! :)
Posted by: Tuning Spork at April 3, 2005 11:23 AMI actually agree with you although I did get in the mix a bit and caught up with the emotional aspect, not the common sense aspect; I think if you read my last few Schiavo posts you would see that I pulled back from screaming "REVOLUTION!"...but to be a devil's advocate just one minute, two words: Elian Gonzales. As much as we disagree with the idea, precedent had been set to go in there and storm the gates, if you will. Thank goodness that this administration has more respect for the law.
Posted by: jody at April 4, 2005 07:03 AMI believe Judge Greer is in contempt of Congress because he refused to look at the facts of the case ANEW!..Congress needs to exercise their power and see that Judge Greer be held accountable. All emotions aside this case has opened the eyes of the nation. We all recognize the facts of this case were ignored! #1. Terri Schiavo did not have a living will... Without being terminally ill, Sworn testimony of the fact Michael did not know what she wanted because they never talked about it! I believe that is called lying under oath... HMmmm!
Posted by: linda at April 4, 2005 10:45 AMI agree with you slightly, in principle. One of the reasons congress did what they did is because they were being splammed (great word by the way) by concerned constituents, but my biggest problem with the whole episode was that they were going to starve her to death. All medical bullcrap aside, we don't do that to our pets, we don't do it to criminals on death row (which, thinking about it would save the taxpayers large amounts of cash...)we don't do it to POWs, so why would we do it to an innocent human being? If they had just over dosed her on the morphine drip, it would have been far more humane.
And since when is hearsay allowable as evidence in a court of law?
Posted by: Ethne at April 11, 2005 04:38 PMEthne,
Oh, if only I could show you all the comments I've left in other people's blog posts you'd know that I agree wholeheartedly. I never thought that her feeding tube should have been removed or that she should be denied water, especially.
Unfortunately, the law calls a feeding tube "artificial life-support" and that (unless their on death row) there is no legal way to let someone die by anything other than natural causes. Giving Terri a lethal dose would have been murder, but let her dehydrate is considered a natural death.
Even most of those who supported pulling the tube were sickened about the way she would die, but it was the only way available at the time. It's not humane, but it is, sadly, the law.
So now we gotta fix the law so's that this never happens again!
Posted by: Tuning Spork at April 11, 2005 07:49 PMMae Magouirk safe for now. See Tekgnosis for further details.
Tell the Media to report the REAL Schiavo polls!
http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/alert/?alertid=7351686&type=ME
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw226586.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/prweb/20050408/bs_prweb/prweb226586_3
My account, etc. of Terri Schindler's Funeral Mass:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgnosis/2005/04/terris_funeral_.html
Main page:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com
Whats going on??? (Smile) I'm still hanging in there. I have 3 feature films in development and I just did an interview with E! Entertainment and it will air in Nov. 05
Keep in touch you wacky people! hahaha
Rodney Allen Rippy!
www.rodneyallenrippy.net
