Terry Schiavo — Page 17

I agree. Let it die with dignity.

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I said in an earlier post:
"The real issue at point here, Papa, is not what we want to do, but what THEY want to do. And whether or not our legislature and executive have the right to interfere in this matter."

Not about me in the least. In fact, if they were keeping her alive and it hit the news, I'd be sad for her but leave it to the fight between her and the family.
Now that our government is enacting laws to cover one human being, I want to know where they were when that little child was unhooked in Texas thanks to a Bush law signed when he was governor there.

Again, not about my opinion. I do not WANT her to do anything. I want this administration out of their private matter. I'd look away if I could but it's plastered all over the news.

wait, now aren't you the same guys that were screaming for me to take a position an hour ago? now it's ok to have no position? how'd that change?

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I have kids. And anyone who knows me, knows that I love and adore them and probably bore people to tears by talking about them too much. I would die trying to protect them. That being said... intellectually, and in my heart, I believe that if either were to be in Terri's situation, I would have found the strength to remove the feeding tube long ago when it became clear that "no one was home"...and I would have allowed the body to follow, peacefully, where the person had already gone.

And I would expect them to do the same for me.

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Jesus Christ, Papa. I keep telling you, I PERSONALLY don't want her dead.
However, her husband does. He is her legal guardian. He has won in the courts. Our government is interfering for purely political reasons. Let it be over for her own sake.

oh, for the record, those who are Christian and bemoaning the taking of life...I believe I am a Christian (regardless of what the hate-filled Religious Fundamentalists I grew up with will think). I will "err on the side of life" whenever I can. I hope to never make a decision like this on anything OTHER than the fate of my dog. That being said, I do not personally believe anything is present in the body of Terri Schiavo. I believe her soul - which, if you think is still there, is trapped in a bizarre limbo - has gone on. I believe it is time to let her body do the same.

I wish for Terri that she should have what Jewish tradition calls a "refuah shleimah"--a complete healing of the body, mind and soul.

If that is no longer possible, I wish that she should find herself soon "tachas kanfei ha-Shechinah"--under the wings of the Divine Presence.

Will you join with me, Papa and Bway, in saying "Amen"?

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amen

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The problem I have with everybody saying her husband has the right to..., is that when you live with another woman and have children with that woman, you are in a common-law marriage with that woman. The last I knew, it was illegal to have two wives in this country. Why is it, that Michael is only a husband in this one area, whether she lives or dies? It makes no sense to me. He broke his vows to his wife. When you get married, it is for better or worse, not just better. He isn't her husband.

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Yes, but I was typing whilst you were Amening - or, maybe I wasn't reading closely enough.

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Updated On: 3/25/05 at 05:26 PM

Totally tasteless song parody, to the tune of I WILL SURVIVE -- created by some queen after Terri's friend visited her on Sunday and said that Terri tried to dance in her hospital bed when reminded of their good times together back "in the day":

First I was afraid,

vegetatified

kept thinkin' I could never live without my tube inside...

But I had spent so many years

thinking not a thought at all

and I grew weak

became a prop for pro-life freaks

but now I'm back

I'll take a chance

Why not get up and face the world...

round up the girls, come on let's dance

I should done this years ago

Let's crack a Bud and smoke a doob

No more puppet for Randall Terry

No coq au vin au feeding tube

Go on now go, walk out the door

just turn around now

'cause I'm not PVS no more

weren't you the ones who tried to bring me to DC?

did you think I'd give?

did you think AAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAA meant 'lemme live!'

Oh no, not I

I have survived

I'm gonna write myself a living will

so that next time I can die

I've got nothing left to gain

if I no longer have a brain

But I've survived

I can still jive.. hey hey

Now it is her husband who is insisting on an autopsy? I thought he was the one fighting it and that was what led people to belive that he was hiding something (ie she was strangled?) Anyone know the scoop? Why did he change his tune and if the parents wanted it before why did Michael have to get his lawyers to obtain permission for an autopsy?

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Jesse Jackson showed up, on behalf of the Schindlers. Ralph Nader I might've expected... Jesse makes an odd deus ex machina, but I suspect he's not the last cameo appearance by a media-savy celeb. Who's next, Britney Spears? Michael Moore?

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Updated On: 3/29/05 at 01:07 PM

I really have lost every scrap of sympathy I might have had for the Schindler Family....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?

List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and JOHN SCHWARTZ

Published: March 29, 2005

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

WASHINGTON, March 28 - The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.

"These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube from Terri," says a description of the list on the Web site of the firm, Response Unlimited, which is asking $150 a month for 6,000 names and $500 a month for 4,000 e-mail addresses of people who responded last month to an e-mail plea from Ms. Schiavo's father. "These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia and are pro-life in every sense of the word!"

Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, if ghoulish.

"I think it's amusing," said Robert Gellman, a privacy and information policy consultant. "I think it's absolutely classic America. Everything is for sale in America, every type of personal information."

Executives of Response Unlimited declined to comment. Gary McCullough, director of the Christian Communication Network and a spokesman for Ms. Schiavo's parents, confirmed that Mr. Schindler had agreed to let Response Unlimited rent out the list as part of a deal for the firm to send an e-mail solicitation raising money on the family's behalf.

The Schindlers have waged a lengthy legal battle against their son-in-law Michael Schiavo to prevent the removal of the feeding tube from their daughter, who doctors say is in a persistent vegetative state.

Mr. McCullough said he was present when Mr. Schindler agreed to the arrangement in a conversation with Phil Sheldon, the co-founder of a conservative online marketing organization, RightMarch.com, who acted as a broker for Response Unlimited.

"So the Schindlers do know the details," Mr. McCullough said on Monday. How much attention they paid to the matter is hard to assess, he added. "The Schindlers right now know that their daughter is starving to death, and if I ask about anything else, they say, 'I don't want to hear about it.' "

Direct mail and mass e-mailings are ubiquitous fund-raising tools of interest groups on the left as well as the right, and others in the direct-mail business defended the sale of lists like the roster of donors to the Schindlers as a useful way for potential donors to learn of causes that might appeal to them.

Pamela Hennessy, an unpaid spokeswoman for the Schindlers, said she was initially appalled when she learned of the list's existence.

"It is possibly the most distasteful thing I have ever seen," Ms. Hennessy said. "Everybody is making a buck off of her."

Ms. Hennessy, who operates the Schindlers' Web site, www.terrisfight.org, said the family had not released any of the names or e-mail addresses gathered there. "Obviously these people are enterprising, and they are taking advantage of this very desperate father," she said.

On Sunday, as the Schindlers gave up on their legal battle and their daughter passed her 10th day without food, others continued to rally supporters and solicit money in an effort to restore the feeding tube.

"This time, we have a real chance to break through the 'roadblocks' that the enemies of life have been putting up in front of us," said a mass e-mailing from RightMarch.com, asking supporters to urge Gov. Jeb Bush to intervene somehow.

The message added: "We're asking you to give a donation to help with our activism efforts to save Terri's life. Battles cost money; resources cost money; media costs money; we could go on, but you get the picture."

Mr. Sheldon - whose father, the Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, has also sent appeals urging support for Ms. Schiavo - apparently played a dual role as a partner in RightMarch.com, which is working with the anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, and as a broker for Response Unlimited. Mr. Sheldon did not respond to phone calls yesterday.

"I think it sounds a little unusual right now because of the situation where she is in the process of dying," said Richard Viguerie, another major conservative direct-mail operator. "If you came across this information six months or a year from now, I don't think you would give it too much thought."