Reaction to the Passing of Terri Schaivo
Posted by Adam Graham in : AbortionI have to say the grief I felt, built up and I pretty much knew a week ago that she would die. I have this sad feeling, but my grief is for the country when I think of the tragedy that occurred here. This woman was summarily executed in a way that we wouldn’t countenance for death row inmates.
We may want to reconsider that policy, though. I mean we’ve been told that dehydration is a peaceful serene death. After all, I think that it’s really the most humane thing to do.
There’s tons of reactions in Cyberspace. From David Oatney regarding the Governor Bush/Pontius Pilate comparison:
For the past 48 hours or so, all over the Catholic press, several irate callers to radio talk shows on EWTN and other outlets have indicated that they had called Governor Bush’s office, comparing him to Pontious Pilate. The reasoning behind this comparison seems to be that Governor Bush washed his hands of the Shiavo battle at the last moment and can thus be justly compared to how the procurator of Judea handled the legal case agains Jesus Christ.
After a great deal of mediation on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that there is one great difference between Jeb Bush’s situation and Pontious Pilate: Pilate had the legal authority to release Jesus. He had the legal authority to do the right thing and punish the people who were using Jesus as an excuse to bring about undue social unrest.
While it can be argued that Governor Bush can and should have done more for Terri on a personal level, it would seem that he pushed his legal powers to the limit in this case. He did so fully aware of the potential political consequences. Especially in light of skewed media polls which did little to acurately inform respondants as to the nature of this case, thus ensuring that no one could make a reasoned response to those polls. In layman’s terms, this simply means that the political climate fostered by the media was set against Terri and against the Schindler family and ensured that Governor Bush might have to suffer dire political consequences for siding with the Schindler family in this case. In spite of that reality, Governor Bush or his representatives in state government attempted to use ever legal avenue left open to them by a judicial system that was obviously corrupted by the culture of death.
I can appreciate David’s viewpoint and there’s something to be said for the fact that Bush went as far as he did. The more I think about it, the more I realize that we, the people get exactly what we deserve. Jeb Bush did as much as he could do. Unfortunately, the heroic defiance of unjust court orders isn’t something he’s capable of. If we want the type of people in office who will not standby when we’re in such a situation, we need to elect them and it’s starts in the primary.
Comment by "Radical" Russ [Visitor]
Filed under Abortion, huh? At least you’re transparent about your concern on this issue. This had nothing to do with Terri all along and everything to do with your “Culture of Control” — control over women’s wombs, control over medical decisions, control over the judiciary.
Unfortunately, the heroic defiance of unjust court orders isn’t something he’s capable of. Interesting to see someone who’d complain about so-called “judicial activism” by every federal court, state court, and judge who has reviewed the matter (many of those being right-leaning judges appointed by conservatives like über-hero Reagan) advocating “executive activism”. What did you want Jebby to do, march in with the National Guard and take Schiavo by force?
For once we have a Bush who obeys the law and couldn’t manage to get daddy’s friends to decide in his favor, and it’s driving the hypoChristians nuts.
Which “skewed” public opinion poll do you refer to: Fox News, Opinion Dynamics, ABC News, Washington Post, CBS News, Time Magazine, CNN, or USA Today, all of which show from 3:1 to 4:1 opposition to government interference in the case? Hmm, the public opinion should be considered when removing the Ten Commandments from Julia Davis Park, but it should not be considered when anti-abortion nuts want the government to interfere in the Schiavo family’s private medical decisions and sanctity of their marriage. Fascinating.
As for “skewed”, the public knows exactly what the issue is here. Lawyers and Secretaries of State nationwide are reporting a massive increase in requests, phone calls, and downloads of living wills. Maryland’s SoS notes that in a typical week they get 50 downloads for living wills; in the past ten days they’ve had over 47,000. Most people prefer quality of life, not quantity. Most people don’t want government in their private medical decisions (we used to have a name for people who favored limited government: conservatives).
But please, keep pushing to elect “the type of people in office who will not standby when we’re in such a situation” (who’s this “we”, anyway, FEBACs™ who can’t muster enough popular support to get their way?) Bush-43′s approval rating has dropped from 49% to 43%, and Bush-wannabe-44 now has moderate-conservatives, independents, and liberals who hate him for intervening and rabid wingnuts who hate him for not intervening enough.
Terri Schiavo was allowed to follow the plan your God intended for her a decade ago. She was allowed to die, not “summarily executed”. You people kept saying that a feeding tube is not life support, so how can removing it be “killing”?
Why do you people fear death so much? I thought you all wanted to be with Jesus.