I am angry, disgusted, ashamed, sad and a host of other emotions. Folks, we have lost control. We have lost touch of our morals, our God and our sense of compassion and humanity. I don't care what you believe, when you wake up in a country that starves a disabled woman to death something is seriously wrong.
This goes way beyond a single person. This exposes the truth of a nation and that truth is an ugly one. We no longer have equal branches of government. The executive and legislative branch submits to the judicial branch. Our elected officials, chosen to represent us, do so only to the point a judge disagrees.
Terri did not die, she was MURDERED! Food and water is not medical life support. It is not extreme measures. We all must eat and drink. Are we all on life support? But it doesn't matter anymore. It's just another life tossed aside. You see we have been moving in this direction for years. Oh sure, it starts out as little steps with the cry of "personal rights" but now we can discard the most vulnerable under that mantra.
Nothing in this country should shock us anymore. The TRUTH is we do not value life. There are a few of those right-wing Christian wackos who do, but even their numbers are dwindling. When someone dies, it's no big deal. Kill all you want, we'll make more!
That is why a kid can shoot up his school and kill his classmates with a smile on his face, little girls can be murdered for sexual pleasure and dumped like trash, a husband can kill his wife and unborn child because they may cramp his lifestyle, we can kill an unborn baby because it's convenient to do so, and the courts that interpret the law of the land would grant and adulterous husband the right to, and require the parents to watch, a disabled woman starve to death.
My God what have we done? We are all guilty in this case. Even those who fought for Terri. We allowed this to happen. We allow abortion to happen. We allow children to fall though the cracks and become forgotten, desperate souls. The time is overdue to seek forgiveness and return this country to the God-Fearing nation we once were. It is going to take a massive, unrelenting effort. There will be those who disagree. Yet if each and every one of us does not rise up and demand CHANGE. If we do not hold those responsible ACCOUNTABLE. If we do not FORCE every person to value life and inflict the harshest penalty for those who disregard life. If we let this issue die with Terri, then we are all guilty of murder!
Terri, thank you for the gift you gave all of us. You have awakened a passsion for life in many of us. Your life from the confines of a hospital bed, has been more impactful then most of us could ever hope to be. May God bless you and welcome you into his kindom.
Lord, forgive us, for we know not what we do.
The Pope's Living Will
Pope John Paul, now being fed through a nasal tube because of his throat problems, effectively wrote his own "living will" last year in a speech declaring some life-extending treatments a moral duty for Roman Catholics.
The ailing Pontiff sharply narrowed Catholic guidelines for treating patients nearing death in March 2004 when he described tube-feeding as a normal treatment rather than an extraordinary measure that can be stopped if all hope of recovery fades.
This indicates he would want to be kept alive by artificial means even if he fell into a coma or a persistent vegetative state, such as the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo in the United States whose feeding tubes have been removed after 15 years.
"The Pope's statement would have to be considered the equivalent of his living will," said Father Thomas Reese S.J., editor of the Jesuit weekly America in New York. "It would be very difficult to unplug him if it came to that."
Increasingly popular in the United States, a living will is a written statement adults make to indicate whether they want doctors to use all means possible to keep them alive at life's end or to let them die if all hope of recovery seems lost.
As the Schiavo case shows, modern medicine can extend basic body functioning for years -- a worrying prospect for the world's largest church if that means its elected-for-life leader is incapacitated indefinitely.
The Catholic Church has traditionally taught that doctors and families could end artificial life-extending measures in good conscience if a dying patient's prospects seemed hopeless.
The ailing Pontiff sharply narrowed Catholic guidelines for treating patients nearing death in March 2004 when he described tube-feeding as a normal treatment rather than an extraordinary measure that can be stopped if all hope of recovery fades.
This indicates he would want to be kept alive by artificial means even if he fell into a coma or a persistent vegetative state, such as the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo in the United States whose feeding tubes have been removed after 15 years.
"The Pope's statement would have to be considered the equivalent of his living will," said Father Thomas Reese S.J., editor of the Jesuit weekly America in New York. "It would be very difficult to unplug him if it came to that."
Increasingly popular in the United States, a living will is a written statement adults make to indicate whether they want doctors to use all means possible to keep them alive at life's end or to let them die if all hope of recovery seems lost.
As the Schiavo case shows, modern medicine can extend basic body functioning for years -- a worrying prospect for the world's largest church if that means its elected-for-life leader is incapacitated indefinitely.
The Catholic Church has traditionally taught that doctors and families could end artificial life-extending measures in good conscience if a dying patient's prospects seemed hopeless.
Massachusetts OKs Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Despite a veto threat from the governor, the state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to give scientists more freedom to conduct embryonic stem cell research in Massachusetts.
The measure would allow scientists to create cloned embryos and extract their stem cells for research into the treatment and cure of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and other conditions. Removing the stem cells destroys the embryos. The devaluation of life continues on.
Full Story
The measure would allow scientists to create cloned embryos and extract their stem cells for research into the treatment and cure of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries and other conditions. Removing the stem cells destroys the embryos. The devaluation of life continues on.
Full Story
State Rep. Habay Charged in Hoax
UPDATE: DA files 20 criminal counts against Habay
A 20-count criminal complaint filed by the county District Attorney's Office is the latest in a series of political and legal woes for the Shaler Republican. It also charges that Habay directed state-paid staffers to do background checks on political opponents and campaign work on public time.
From the "What was he thinking" file.....
State Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay of Shaler was charged today for allegedly lying about a white powder he said he received in the mail from a contituent who was critical of him.
Allegheny County authorities charged Habay, 38, with facsimile weapons of mass destruction, falsely incriminating another and fictious reports for claiming in May that he received an envelope in his home that contained a suspicious white powder.
U.S. Postal Service investigators had said the powder was harmless.
In court documents, authorities claim Habay said the package came from George Radich, a constituent who along with four others asked Commonwealth Court to conduct an audit of Habay's political action committee, the Friends of Jeff Habay.
Radich had insisted the powder was not there when he mailed the letter and said he did not try to hide his identity when mailing it. Postal officials said Radich paid for the mailing with a credit card, an unusual thing to do if someone had put the powder in the envelope.
In September, authorities charged Habay with two felonies, alleging that he repeatedly used state workers to conduct campaign work for him on state time.
He was arraigned on theft of services and conflict of interest charges brought by the state attorney general's office.
After the arraignment, Habay said he had no plans to resign and would do everything he could to fight the charges.
The State Ethics Commission ordered Habay, a five-term Republican legislator, to pay nearly $13,000 in restitution and referred the case to state prosecutors, who filed the felony charges.
AP
A 20-count criminal complaint filed by the county District Attorney's Office is the latest in a series of political and legal woes for the Shaler Republican. It also charges that Habay directed state-paid staffers to do background checks on political opponents and campaign work on public time.
From the "What was he thinking" file.....
State Rep. Jeffrey E. Habay of Shaler was charged today for allegedly lying about a white powder he said he received in the mail from a contituent who was critical of him.
Allegheny County authorities charged Habay, 38, with facsimile weapons of mass destruction, falsely incriminating another and fictious reports for claiming in May that he received an envelope in his home that contained a suspicious white powder.
U.S. Postal Service investigators had said the powder was harmless.
In court documents, authorities claim Habay said the package came from George Radich, a constituent who along with four others asked Commonwealth Court to conduct an audit of Habay's political action committee, the Friends of Jeff Habay.
Radich had insisted the powder was not there when he mailed the letter and said he did not try to hide his identity when mailing it. Postal officials said Radich paid for the mailing with a credit card, an unusual thing to do if someone had put the powder in the envelope.
In September, authorities charged Habay with two felonies, alleging that he repeatedly used state workers to conduct campaign work for him on state time.
He was arraigned on theft of services and conflict of interest charges brought by the state attorney general's office.
After the arraignment, Habay said he had no plans to resign and would do everything he could to fight the charges.
The State Ethics Commission ordered Habay, a five-term Republican legislator, to pay nearly $13,000 in restitution and referred the case to state prosecutors, who filed the felony charges.
AP
Terri's Watch: UPDATE
UPDATE: The 11th Circut Court has denied to rehear Terri's case.
Please continue your prayers and we will keep up updated.
With time running out for Terri Schiavo, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected her parents' latest attempt to get the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reconnected.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to consider an emergency bid by Bob and Mary Schindler for a new hearing in their case, raising a flicker of hope for the parents after a series of setbacks in the case. But the court rejected the request 15 hours later.
Three times last week, the court also ruled against the Schindlers.
"Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper," Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wrote. "While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty."
To be granted, the parents' request would have needed the support of seven of the court's 12 judges. The court did not disclose the vote breakdown.
The Schindlers visited their daughter Wednesday morning at her hospice and urged their supporters to keep trying. "I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw," Bob Schindler said. "So she's still fighting, and we'll keep fighting."
"We know that some of her organs are still functioning. ... It's not too late," he said.
In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. The Schindlers' motion also said the federal appellate court in Atlanta didn't consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.
Please continue your prayers and we will keep up updated.
With time running out for Terri Schiavo, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected her parents' latest attempt to get the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reconnected.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to consider an emergency bid by Bob and Mary Schindler for a new hearing in their case, raising a flicker of hope for the parents after a series of setbacks in the case. But the court rejected the request 15 hours later.
Three times last week, the court also ruled against the Schindlers.
"Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper," Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wrote. "While the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty."
To be granted, the parents' request would have needed the support of seven of the court's 12 judges. The court did not disclose the vote breakdown.
The Schindlers visited their daughter Wednesday morning at her hospice and urged their supporters to keep trying. "I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw," Bob Schindler said. "So she's still fighting, and we'll keep fighting."
"We know that some of her organs are still functioning. ... It's not too late," he said.
In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. The Schindlers' motion also said the federal appellate court in Atlanta didn't consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.
Terri's Watch : Action ALERT
We need EVERYONE READING THIS MESSAGE to call Governor Bush's lead counsel and chief of staff RIGHT AWAY, and tell them to do one simple thing:
"SHOW GOVERNOR BUSH THE DOCUMENTS FROM ALAN KEYES AND LARRY KLAYMAN TELL HIM TO EXERCISE HIS CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY, AND TAKE TERRI SCHIAVO INTO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY RIGHT AWAY."
Call, fax or e-mail now:
Raquel Rodriguez, General Counsel
850-488-3494 (office)
850-488-9810 (fax)
raquel.rodriguez@myflorida.com
William Large, Deputy Chief of Staff
850-488-5603 (office)
850-922-4292 (fax)
william.large@myflorida.com
Also contact Gov. Bush and ask him to read the documents:
Governor Jeb Bush850-488-4441 (office)850-487-0801 (fax)http://capwiz.com/sicminc/mail/?id=9483&type=GV&state=FL
(If you get busy signals, or full mailboxes, or unanswered fax machines, please know that these ARE the correct numbers and addresses. Just keep trying, if you can.)
You can click below to read -- AND USE -- Alan Keyes' documentation that explains to Gov. Jeb Bush that he has the legal authority to save Terri Schiavo... the SAME document that was delivered to Gov. Bush's staff. It's is not believed that Gov. Bush was forwarded this information
http://www.rightmarch.com/media/JudicialReview.doc
"SHOW GOVERNOR BUSH THE DOCUMENTS FROM ALAN KEYES AND LARRY KLAYMAN TELL HIM TO EXERCISE HIS CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY, AND TAKE TERRI SCHIAVO INTO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY RIGHT AWAY."
Call, fax or e-mail now:
Raquel Rodriguez, General Counsel
850-488-3494 (office)
850-488-9810 (fax)
raquel.rodriguez@myflorida.com
William Large, Deputy Chief of Staff
850-488-5603 (office)
850-922-4292 (fax)
william.large@myflorida.com
Also contact Gov. Bush and ask him to read the documents:
Governor Jeb Bush850-488-4441 (office)850-487-0801 (fax)http://capwiz.com/sicminc/mail/?id=9483&type=GV&state=FL
(If you get busy signals, or full mailboxes, or unanswered fax machines, please know that these ARE the correct numbers and addresses. Just keep trying, if you can.)
You can click below to read -- AND USE -- Alan Keyes' documentation that explains to Gov. Jeb Bush that he has the legal authority to save Terri Schiavo... the SAME document that was delivered to Gov. Bush's staff. It's is not believed that Gov. Bush was forwarded this information
http://www.rightmarch.com/media/JudicialReview.doc
The KGB Tried to Kill the Pope
New documents found in the files of the former East German intelligence services confirm the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II was ordered by the Soviet KGB and assigned to Bulgarian agents. The Corriere della Sera said that the documents found by the German government indicated that the KGB ordered Bulgarian colleagues to carry out the killing, leaving the East German service known as the Stasi to coordinate the operation and cover up the traces afterwards.Bulgaria then handed the execution of the plot to Turkish extremists, including Mehmet Ali Agca, who pulled the trigger.
Ali Agca, who is now in jail in Turkey, claimed after his arrest that the operation was under the control of the Bulgarian embassy in Rome. The Bulgarians have always insisted they were innocent and argued that Agca's story was part of an anti-communist plot by the Italian secret service and the CIA.
The paper said the documents back up the pope's own memories of the assassination attempt in May 1981 in his book "Memory and Identity: Conversations Between Millenniums," in which he said he was convinced that the attack was not planned or directed by Ali Agca.
Ali Agca, who is now in jail in Turkey, claimed after his arrest that the operation was under the control of the Bulgarian embassy in Rome. The Bulgarians have always insisted they were innocent and argued that Agca's story was part of an anti-communist plot by the Italian secret service and the CIA.
The paper said the documents back up the pope's own memories of the assassination attempt in May 1981 in his book "Memory and Identity: Conversations Between Millenniums," in which he said he was convinced that the attack was not planned or directed by Ali Agca.
Ask Powerball????
I've tried this in the past and the questions just trickled in from time to time so I put the idea aside. However, I had some questions lately that I think may be worth exploring. If you have a question, email it to me and I may post it right here on PowerBlog! If there is no interest, I will once again allow the whole thing to fade away.
Here is the lastest question: (Feel free to comment)
Why do Catholics try to earn their own salvation, despite the fact that salvation can only come as a free gift from Jesus Christ?
Catholics fully recognize that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for their sins and thus ``opened the gates of Heaven,'' and that salvation is a free gift which no amount of human good deeds could ever earn. Catholics receive Christ's saving and sanctifying grace, and Christ Himself, into their souls when they are baptized. Yet we also know that Christ has established certain conditions for entry into eternal happiness in Heaven--for example, receiving His true Flesh and Blood (John 6:54) and keeping the commandments (Matt. 19:17). If a Christian refuses or neglects to obey Our Lord's commands in a grave matter (that is, if he commits a mortal sin), Our Lord will not remain dwelling in his soul; and if a Christian dies in that state, having driven his Lord from his soul by serious sin, he will not be saved. St. Paul warned the Galatians with regard to certain sins: ``They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.'' (Gal. 5:21). It must be added that Christ will always forgive and return to a sinner who approaches Him with sincerity in the Sacrament of Penance.
St. Paul, who did not think that his salvation was guaranteed once and for all at the moment he first received Christ into his soul; wrote: ``I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.'' (I Cor. 9:27). Also: ``With fear and trembling work out your salvation. For it is God who worketh in you...'' (Phil. 2:12-13). ``And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required.'' (Luke 12:48). ``He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.'' (Matt. 10:22). Nevertheless, Catholics realize that even the fulfilling of Our Lord's requirements for salvation is impossible without the free gift of His grace.
Here is the lastest question: (Feel free to comment)
Why do Catholics try to earn their own salvation, despite the fact that salvation can only come as a free gift from Jesus Christ?
Catholics fully recognize that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for their sins and thus ``opened the gates of Heaven,'' and that salvation is a free gift which no amount of human good deeds could ever earn. Catholics receive Christ's saving and sanctifying grace, and Christ Himself, into their souls when they are baptized. Yet we also know that Christ has established certain conditions for entry into eternal happiness in Heaven--for example, receiving His true Flesh and Blood (John 6:54) and keeping the commandments (Matt. 19:17). If a Christian refuses or neglects to obey Our Lord's commands in a grave matter (that is, if he commits a mortal sin), Our Lord will not remain dwelling in his soul; and if a Christian dies in that state, having driven his Lord from his soul by serious sin, he will not be saved. St. Paul warned the Galatians with regard to certain sins: ``They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.'' (Gal. 5:21). It must be added that Christ will always forgive and return to a sinner who approaches Him with sincerity in the Sacrament of Penance.
St. Paul, who did not think that his salvation was guaranteed once and for all at the moment he first received Christ into his soul; wrote: ``I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.'' (I Cor. 9:27). Also: ``With fear and trembling work out your salvation. For it is God who worketh in you...'' (Phil. 2:12-13). ``And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required.'' (Luke 12:48). ``He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.'' (Matt. 10:22). Nevertheless, Catholics realize that even the fulfilling of Our Lord's requirements for salvation is impossible without the free gift of His grace.
Terri's Watch: New Discoveries
A new brain-imaging study recently published in the journal Neurology suggests that thousands of brain-injured people who are treated as if they have lost all awareness may actually hear and register their surroundings, but they are not able to respond.
Not only could these findings have extensive implications for patient care, they could also weigh heavily in court when it comes to cases that dispute the mental state of what appears to be a vegetative patient.
This brain-imaging technology is known as magnetic resonance imaging, and, according to the research, it could prove to be a powerful tool for family members and doctors as they seek to determine a patient's level of mental engagement.
However, other experts view the findings as more suggestive than conclusive, meaning the study should not be interpreted as imposing an increased chance of patient recovery or treatment. On the other hand, the experts agreed the findings opened a window to an area that has been neglected by medical research.
Such findings are relevant to cases such as those of Terri Schiavo and Sarah Scantlin.
Schiavo is the brain-damaged Florida woman who has been kept alive for a number of years despite her estranged husband's apparent desire to end her life by withholding food and water. She is near death now after a court-ordered removal of her feeding tube on March 18. Scantlin is a Kansas woman who suffered a critical head injury over 20 years ago and recently started regaining her memory and showing verbal responsiveness.
Full Story
Not only could these findings have extensive implications for patient care, they could also weigh heavily in court when it comes to cases that dispute the mental state of what appears to be a vegetative patient.
This brain-imaging technology is known as magnetic resonance imaging, and, according to the research, it could prove to be a powerful tool for family members and doctors as they seek to determine a patient's level of mental engagement.
However, other experts view the findings as more suggestive than conclusive, meaning the study should not be interpreted as imposing an increased chance of patient recovery or treatment. On the other hand, the experts agreed the findings opened a window to an area that has been neglected by medical research.
Such findings are relevant to cases such as those of Terri Schiavo and Sarah Scantlin.
Schiavo is the brain-damaged Florida woman who has been kept alive for a number of years despite her estranged husband's apparent desire to end her life by withholding food and water. She is near death now after a court-ordered removal of her feeding tube on March 18. Scantlin is a Kansas woman who suffered a critical head injury over 20 years ago and recently started regaining her memory and showing verbal responsiveness.
Full Story
Terri's Watch: New York Times "Enough. It's over. Let her die in peace"
The New York Times has published an editorial that attempts to tell us all what to think and how to feel. Those still fighting are part of a "macabre circus" as they describe it. Our efforts are futile and we have lost.
"It is time for the lawyers and lawmakers to go away. It is time for Terri's family to mourn — and to fight — in private. After all, that's what the American people want. "
Excuse me NYP, I'm an American and think we should have a bit more respect for life and each other. "Now, again, it is time to step back and let Terri Schiavo die. " they write. I was not aware the New York Post was the voice of America and the supreme authority who determines when a person's life should be ended. How dare they tell people what to do. How dare they tell Terri's family it's time to morn. TERRI IS STILL ALIVE!!!!
Thank God for freedom of speech in this country. It allows the people who don't know what they are talking about to expose themselves.
New York Post Editorial
"It is time for the lawyers and lawmakers to go away. It is time for Terri's family to mourn — and to fight — in private. After all, that's what the American people want. "
Excuse me NYP, I'm an American and think we should have a bit more respect for life and each other. "Now, again, it is time to step back and let Terri Schiavo die. " they write. I was not aware the New York Post was the voice of America and the supreme authority who determines when a person's life should be ended. How dare they tell people what to do. How dare they tell Terri's family it's time to morn. TERRI IS STILL ALIVE!!!!
Thank God for freedom of speech in this country. It allows the people who don't know what they are talking about to expose themselves.
New York Post Editorial
Terri's Watch : 4 Senators Change Their Minds
Four Florida state senators who opposed a bill last week to save Terri Schiavo now say they're "flexible" on a new version of the measure, according to Rev. Jesse Jackson - who lobbied them on Tuesday to change their minds. The development that could mean there's now enough support to pass a bill to rescue Schiavo. Jackson said he had contacted Gov. Jeb Bush with the hope of mounting a joint effort, saying, "If we get two - with the help of Gov. Jeb Bush, we can get three."
Hang in there Terri, we are still fighting for you!
Hang in there Terri, we are still fighting for you!
Vatican: Pope Getting Nutrition From Tube
Pope John Paul II is getting nutrition from a tube in his nose, the Vatican said Wednesday, shortly after the frail pontiff appeared at his window in St. Peter's Square and managed only a rasp when he tried to speak.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the step was taken to "improve the pope's calorie intake" and so he can recover his strength. It was unclear when the tube was inserted but it was not visible when John Paul made his appearance.
The tube is not the only source of nutrition for the pope, a Vatican official said on condition of anonymity.
Asked about reports of a possible hospitalization, the official said there were no plans at this time and any decision would be up to his doctors.
The medical report was the first issued on the pope since March 10 - three days before he was discharged from the hospital for the second time in a month.
The statement appeared indirectly to deny media reports that the 84-year-old pope might be hospitalized again to insert a feeding tube in his stomach because of problems swallowing food.
Full Story
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the step was taken to "improve the pope's calorie intake" and so he can recover his strength. It was unclear when the tube was inserted but it was not visible when John Paul made his appearance.
The tube is not the only source of nutrition for the pope, a Vatican official said on condition of anonymity.
Asked about reports of a possible hospitalization, the official said there were no plans at this time and any decision would be up to his doctors.
The medical report was the first issued on the pope since March 10 - three days before he was discharged from the hospital for the second time in a month.
The statement appeared indirectly to deny media reports that the 84-year-old pope might be hospitalized again to insert a feeding tube in his stomach because of problems swallowing food.
Full Story
Terri's Watch: Reading Between The Lines
Do you recognize the author of the above book?
Who is George J. Felos? He is Michael Schiavo's attorney and has been a key proponent of putting Terri Schiavo to death.
George Felos' book, "Litigation as Spiritual Practice" (Blue Dolphin Publishing, 2002) contains the following quotes:
About the Jews, George Felos wrote, "The Jewish people, long ago in their collective consciousness, agreed to play the role of the lamb whose slaughter was necessary to shock humanity into a new moral consciousness. Their sacrifice saved humanity at the brink of extinction and propelled us into a new age." (pg 240)
Oh wait, there's more! Felos further wrote, "If our minds can conceive of an uplifting Holocaust, can it be so diffucult to look another way at the slights and injuries and abuses we perceive were inflicted upon us?" (pg 240)
Describing the period he was separated from his ex-wife, "that weekend I experienced rage. Savage, unadulterated, and murderous rage." (pg 6)
Felos wrote about his ex-wife, "To her, I seemed unattractive, sexually unexciting, balding, boring, and just not enough fun to be with....she didn't need me anymore. For her, marriage to me inflicted a fate worse than death. She admitted that for the past year or so she had wished for my death, and whenever I flew hoped the plane would crash." (pg 7)
About his anger towards his ex-wife, "I was on fire, fueled by thoughts of bludgeoning and tearing her apart." (pg 23)
"Mrs Browning, do you want to die? Do you want to die? - I nearly shouted as I continued to peer into her pools of strikingly beautiful but incognizant blue. It felt so eerie." (pg 63)
"Whatever your opinion about tube feeding, the hard fact was it now stood between Mrs. Browning and her death." (pg 64)
About Mrs. Estelle Browning "...I carried with me the resolute determination to sever the artificial cord that bound Estelle Browning to this earthly realm. Her agonized cry for release ran though my mind over and over again, and I felt our SPIRITUAL BOND." (pg 76)
While on a plane trip, Felos thought "I wonder what it would be like to die right now?" (pg 181)
Felos felt that God told him, "You are more powerful than you realize." (pg 182)
There is more, but I won't disgust you further by making you read it. Besides, Felos being a lawyer, will probably sue me over what I did post. His self appointed role of determining who lives and who dies is nothing new to this man. This is the kind of person the Florida Supreme Court sided with when determining that Michael Schiavo had the "right" to kill Terri by starvation. When it comes to killing the disabled, I guess you could say Felos wrote the book on it.
Johnny Cochran 1937-2005
Johnny Cochran 1937-2005
The family of Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. and members of The Cochran Firm are deeply saddened by the passing of Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. The world has lost not only a legendary attorney, but an outstanding humanitarian. He passed away at his home today at 12:30pst of a brain tumor. Certainly, Johnnie's career will be noted as one marked by 'celebrity' cases and clientele. But he and his family were most proud of the work he did on behalf of those in the community. As Johnnie always said, 'an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' It was his rallying cry as he worked to right many wrongs, and as he provided a voice to those who needed to be heard. He was deeply committed to helping and inspiring others- especially young people. His extraordinary law career will undoubtedly stand the test of time. But it was his devotion to his fellow human beings that will remain as his true legacy."
Terri's Watch: Jesse Jackson - Unexpected Support
What is happening to Terri Schiavo is "immoral and it's unnecessary," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said on Tuesday, aligning himself with religious conservatives and pro-life activists who have gathered outside the brain-damaged woman's hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla."She is being starved to death. She is being dehydrated to death. And this is inhumane," Jackson said at a press conference after visiting Terri and praying with her family.He said there is no "rational reason" for such a thing to happen to happen to Terri.Jackson said he's contacted the Florida Senate, urging members to come up with emergency legislation to stop Terri's starvation. He said he's also called the governor's office, but has not yet heard back. And he said he called Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and legal guardian, asking to pray with him - but Schiavo refused."This is one of the profound moral, ethical issues of our time," Jackson said. "Today we pray for a miracle. We ask God's intervention, and God has done it before."Jackson said he is reaching out to people of faith, "across lines that divide." Terri is in her eleventh day without food or water.
THANK YOU POWERBLOGERS!!!!
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Please continue to check back often, support our sponsors by clicking on the ads and as always feel free to post your comments. You may also email me directly with thoughts, story ideas, questions or comments. The email link is on the right of the page.
Thanks again to everyone who helps promote and support PowerBlog!
Blessings,
Shaun "Powerball" Pierce
Please continue to check back often, support our sponsors by clicking on the ads and as always feel free to post your comments. You may also email me directly with thoughts, story ideas, questions or comments. The email link is on the right of the page.
Thanks again to everyone who helps promote and support PowerBlog!
Blessings,
Shaun "Powerball" Pierce
Terri's Watch: Terri Reacts!
Terri Schiavo received a visit from her father, Bob Schindler, and an old girlfriend of hers Sunday night, resulting in an "extraordinary” reaction. Identified only as Sherry, the friend, according to an account in the Miami Herald, reminisced about their old times dancing and partying together.
According to the Herald, Friar Paul O’Donnell said Schiavo "raised her hands up and was moving and started making guttural sounds - like she does when she talks to her mother."
Some doctors have consistently insisted that Schiavo is in a chronic vegetative state and that any apparent feedback to loved ones is only reflexive reaction to touching. This was something more. It was a reaction to a specific person, whom Terri recognized and connected to past memories.
Supporters of allowing Terri to live still profess hope that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will intervene to replace a feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive the last 15 years, but Gov. Bush has said more than once there is no more he can do.
According to the Herald, Friar Paul O’Donnell said Schiavo "raised her hands up and was moving and started making guttural sounds - like she does when she talks to her mother."
Some doctors have consistently insisted that Schiavo is in a chronic vegetative state and that any apparent feedback to loved ones is only reflexive reaction to touching. This was something more. It was a reaction to a specific person, whom Terri recognized and connected to past memories.
Supporters of allowing Terri to live still profess hope that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will intervene to replace a feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive the last 15 years, but Gov. Bush has said more than once there is no more he can do.
How To Kill Your Wife (And Get Away with It)
Lets say a nursing student, for the sake of the illustration we'll call him “Mike” decided he wanted to kill his wife. Now said wife, oh, let's call her “Terri” had been dieting recently, but was still well within normal weight for her height. “Mike” wanted to do her in, in a way that could be dismissed as “natural causes”. As a nursing student/nurse, he'd have access to the knowledge, equipment and medicine to do so, but what would look natural?
Let's say “Mike” took a B-D 3ml 25g1 1/2 syringe and put a carefully measured amount of injectable KCL or Potassium Chloride, something easily available to nurses, nursing students, medical students even veterinarians. As a nurse/nursing student he'd have plenty of time to practice.
I'm told that a direct dose of KCL with that kind of syringe, to the heart will stop it in less than a minute. So “Mike” waits a few minutes, then makes “frantic” call to 911. But they get there sooner than he expected and are able to revive her. Once in the emergency room they note the elevated potassium level, but are told she'd been dieting, and assume Bulimia. “Mike” can't get to her to finish the job yet, but before he has a chance, the prospect of a juicy malpractice suit raises it's ugly head. So he waits, and after the money is secure, looks for a way to finish the job.
But an elevated potassium level in a hospital would look suspicious. Maybe insulin shock? Easy to cause, just inject some insulin. But the nurses are too quick and treat “Terri” before the effects can cause her death.
This is just a theory. I'm not a medical professional, but some of you may be and could shed light on the plausibility of this scenario. I'm told that the enzymes typically associated with a heart attack were absent from Terri Schiavo's blood stream following her collapse. Would an injection of KCL to the heart leave such enzymes? What would the residue potassium in her blood stream be, given the quantity needed to stop the heart? Would an injection site that small be noticed by an EMS team, or emergency room doctors? We may never know.
Let's say “Mike” took a B-D 3ml 25g1 1/2 syringe and put a carefully measured amount of injectable KCL or Potassium Chloride, something easily available to nurses, nursing students, medical students even veterinarians. As a nurse/nursing student he'd have plenty of time to practice.
I'm told that a direct dose of KCL with that kind of syringe, to the heart will stop it in less than a minute. So “Mike” waits a few minutes, then makes “frantic” call to 911. But they get there sooner than he expected and are able to revive her. Once in the emergency room they note the elevated potassium level, but are told she'd been dieting, and assume Bulimia. “Mike” can't get to her to finish the job yet, but before he has a chance, the prospect of a juicy malpractice suit raises it's ugly head. So he waits, and after the money is secure, looks for a way to finish the job.
But an elevated potassium level in a hospital would look suspicious. Maybe insulin shock? Easy to cause, just inject some insulin. But the nurses are too quick and treat “Terri” before the effects can cause her death.
This is just a theory. I'm not a medical professional, but some of you may be and could shed light on the plausibility of this scenario. I'm told that the enzymes typically associated with a heart attack were absent from Terri Schiavo's blood stream following her collapse. Would an injection of KCL to the heart leave such enzymes? What would the residue potassium in her blood stream be, given the quantity needed to stop the heart? Would an injection site that small be noticed by an EMS team, or emergency room doctors? We may never know.
Hijacking History
The recent decision by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) to approve a historical marker to recognize a homosexual demonstration in Philadelphia in 1965 is a blatant attempt to rewrite our history and desecrate one of the most important historic sites in America, a traditional values group said today. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) has sent faxes to Governor Rendell and Wayne Spilove, chairman of PHMC blasting the Commission's decision last week and asking that the decision be reversed. Governor Rendell is expected to unveil the historical marker on May 1st.
"Homosexual activists continue their attempt to rewrite history. This decision is a slap in the faces of our Founding Fathers. They met and debated the suppression by the English monarchy in this building. Finally "with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, (we) mutually pledging to each other (our) lives, (our) fortunes, and (our) sacred honor" they signed the Declaration of Independence. This historical marker is an affront to our Founding Fathers sacred honor and the sacrifices they made," Diane Gramley president of the AFA of PA said today.
In announcing the decision, Spilove spoke of events which advanced 'civil rights' in America. Apparently he is confused, as the debate on homosexuality has nothing to do with civil rights, but rather forcing the acceptance of abhorrent sexual behavior on all America. Homosexuals have never been denied the right to vote, never had to sit in the back of the bus, never had to attend segregated schools, and there have never been "Gay Only" water fountains. Homosexual activists are attempting to hijack the civil rights movement.
Guidelines for historical markers set down by the PHMC on December 2, 1987 include:
That only historical subjects (rather than current events) be considered.
That historically recognized personages shall no longer be living, and that the place of their accomplishments in history shall have become established.
"This decision is driven by current events, not a truly historic happening. Two of the organizers of the homosexual protest in 1965 helped fill out the application for the marker. Obviously they are still alive and it is doubtful that the place of their accomplishments in history has been established to qualify for a historical marker," continued Gramley.
It was quite evident where our Founding Fathers stood on the issue of homosexual acts -- it was viewed as repugnant. Thomas Jefferson authored a bill penalizing sodomy by castration. Pennsylvania's law stated: That if any person or persons shall commit sodomy . . . he or they so offending or committing any of the said crimes within this province, their counsellors, aiders, comforters, and abettors, being convicted thereof as above said, shall suffer as felons. [And] shall forfeit to the Commonwealth all and singular the lands and tenements, goods and chattels, whereof he or she was seized or possessed at the time . . . at the discretion of the court passing the sentence, not exceeding ten years, in the public gaol or house of correction of the county or city in which the offence shall have been committed and be kept at such labor.
"This move by the PHMC is an assault on all Americans who cherish the true history of this nation. To take one of our most cherished historical buildings and desecrate it in such a manner is unthinkable and, not just Pennsylvanians, but all Americans should be outraged by this decision. We again demand that this decision be reversed," Gramley stated.
Contact the Governor
To e-mail the Governor click here.
To write a letter to the Governor send to:
Governor Edward G. Rendell's Office
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
To telephone the Governor call:(717) 787-2500.
"Homosexual activists continue their attempt to rewrite history. This decision is a slap in the faces of our Founding Fathers. They met and debated the suppression by the English monarchy in this building. Finally "with a firm reliance on Divine Providence, (we) mutually pledging to each other (our) lives, (our) fortunes, and (our) sacred honor" they signed the Declaration of Independence. This historical marker is an affront to our Founding Fathers sacred honor and the sacrifices they made," Diane Gramley president of the AFA of PA said today.
In announcing the decision, Spilove spoke of events which advanced 'civil rights' in America. Apparently he is confused, as the debate on homosexuality has nothing to do with civil rights, but rather forcing the acceptance of abhorrent sexual behavior on all America. Homosexuals have never been denied the right to vote, never had to sit in the back of the bus, never had to attend segregated schools, and there have never been "Gay Only" water fountains. Homosexual activists are attempting to hijack the civil rights movement.
Guidelines for historical markers set down by the PHMC on December 2, 1987 include:
That only historical subjects (rather than current events) be considered.
That historically recognized personages shall no longer be living, and that the place of their accomplishments in history shall have become established.
"This decision is driven by current events, not a truly historic happening. Two of the organizers of the homosexual protest in 1965 helped fill out the application for the marker. Obviously they are still alive and it is doubtful that the place of their accomplishments in history has been established to qualify for a historical marker," continued Gramley.
It was quite evident where our Founding Fathers stood on the issue of homosexual acts -- it was viewed as repugnant. Thomas Jefferson authored a bill penalizing sodomy by castration. Pennsylvania's law stated: That if any person or persons shall commit sodomy . . . he or they so offending or committing any of the said crimes within this province, their counsellors, aiders, comforters, and abettors, being convicted thereof as above said, shall suffer as felons. [And] shall forfeit to the Commonwealth all and singular the lands and tenements, goods and chattels, whereof he or she was seized or possessed at the time . . . at the discretion of the court passing the sentence, not exceeding ten years, in the public gaol or house of correction of the county or city in which the offence shall have been committed and be kept at such labor.
"This move by the PHMC is an assault on all Americans who cherish the true history of this nation. To take one of our most cherished historical buildings and desecrate it in such a manner is unthinkable and, not just Pennsylvanians, but all Americans should be outraged by this decision. We again demand that this decision be reversed," Gramley stated.
Contact the Governor
To e-mail the Governor click here.
To write a letter to the Governor send to:
Governor Edward G. Rendell's Office
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
To telephone the Governor call:(717) 787-2500.
Indonesia Earthquake: UPDATE
UPDATE: INDIAN OCEAN QUAKE UPGRADED TO 8.7...
'100 percent' chance of tsunami: Says US seismologist
Small tidal surge measured off Australia
Lasted up to 3 minutes... same location as Dec 26... felt in Singapore, Malaysia
Dozens Reported Dead in Indonesia...
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A massive earthquake killed dozens of people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the main town on Indonesia's Nias island Monday evening, a local government official told Metro TV.
"I can guarantee that dozens have died," Agus Mendrofa, the deputy mayor of Gunungsitoli town, said.
The massive 8.2 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Sumatra Monday close to where a quake triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia, residents and officials said.
The latest quake had the potential to cause a "widely destructive tsunami" and authorities should take "immediate action," including evacuating coastlines within 600 miles of the epicenter, the Pacific tsunami warning center said.
One official said any possible tsunami could be headed toward the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
Indonesia's Metro TV quoted a resident on the island of Nias, off western Sumatra, as saying buildings there were damaged.
"Things are quite bad right now," the resident said. "There is much damage. People are running in panic. Many people are also trapped."
He did not elaborate on what he meant by people were "trapped."
Tens of thousands of people across northern and western Sumatra fled their homes and drove or ran to higher ground, TV and residents said.
Thailand urged people living along parts of its west coast, including tourists on the resort island of Phuket, to evacuate while Malaysia issued a warning to coastal residents.
"About 3,000 to 4,000 tourists and locals have been evacuated from Patong and Kamala beaches to higher places," Phuket deputy governor Wichai Buapradit told Reuters.
"We've told them to take their valuable belongings and to go to higher places," he added.
Authorities in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands, north of the epicenter, issued a preliminary tsunami warning as did the federal government in New Delhi. Sirens were ringing in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Trincomalee and many coastal areas were evacuated, residents said.
NO REPORTS OF TSUNAMI
'100 percent' chance of tsunami: Says US seismologist
Small tidal surge measured off Australia
Lasted up to 3 minutes... same location as Dec 26... felt in Singapore, Malaysia
Dozens Reported Dead in Indonesia...
JAKARTA (Reuters) - A massive earthquake killed dozens of people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the main town on Indonesia's Nias island Monday evening, a local government official told Metro TV.
"I can guarantee that dozens have died," Agus Mendrofa, the deputy mayor of Gunungsitoli town, said.
The massive 8.2 magnitude quake struck off the coast of Sumatra Monday close to where a quake triggered a tsunami that left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing across Asia, residents and officials said.
The latest quake had the potential to cause a "widely destructive tsunami" and authorities should take "immediate action," including evacuating coastlines within 600 miles of the epicenter, the Pacific tsunami warning center said.
One official said any possible tsunami could be headed toward the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
Indonesia's Metro TV quoted a resident on the island of Nias, off western Sumatra, as saying buildings there were damaged.
"Things are quite bad right now," the resident said. "There is much damage. People are running in panic. Many people are also trapped."
He did not elaborate on what he meant by people were "trapped."
Tens of thousands of people across northern and western Sumatra fled their homes and drove or ran to higher ground, TV and residents said.
Thailand urged people living along parts of its west coast, including tourists on the resort island of Phuket, to evacuate while Malaysia issued a warning to coastal residents.
"About 3,000 to 4,000 tourists and locals have been evacuated from Patong and Kamala beaches to higher places," Phuket deputy governor Wichai Buapradit told Reuters.
"We've told them to take their valuable belongings and to go to higher places," he added.
Authorities in India's Andaman and Nicobar islands, north of the epicenter, issued a preliminary tsunami warning as did the federal government in New Delhi. Sirens were ringing in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Trincomalee and many coastal areas were evacuated, residents said.
NO REPORTS OF TSUNAMI
Bloggers: Retain a Lawyer, Prepare for Attack!
It's a universal law of capitalism: when an industry faces a new and significant threat to its profits and powers it turns to the government for protection. Well, bloggers who write on current events are challenging the mainstream media (MSM), the most politically well-connected industry in America. Watch for the MSM to start using their political influence to burden bloggers.
But won't the First Amendment protect blogs? Unfortunately, courts already hold that many governmental restrictions on speech don't violate the First Amendment, and I can think of three areas in which the MSM might successfully change laws and regulations to hinder their blogger competitors:
1. Campaign Finance Reform -- Blog entries in support of a candidate could be considered political contributions to that candidate. The danger for most bloggers would lie not in contributing more than the legally permissible amount to a candidate, but rather in having to fill out the paperwork necessary to report their "political contributions".
The MSM, of course, would never permit their editorials in favor of a candidate to be considered political contributions. So to use campaign finance reform against bloggers, courts would have to distinguish between bloggers and the "legitimate" media. Any definition of bloggers will be imprecise, but this won't stop courts because most legal categories already have fuzzy boundaries. To define a blogger, courts could simply use the "I know it when I see it" approach famously employed by Justice Potter Stewart to determine whether something constituted hard-core pornography.
2. Libel Law -- The MSM used to fight aggressively against any expansion of libel law, but I predict this soon will change. The MSM can handle the burden of defending itself from libel suits much more easily than bloggers can. By increasing the scope of libel law the MSM would impose costs on all journalists which they, but not bloggers, could absorb.
3. Copyright Law -- Blogs often use information from other sources and, from what I have observed, sometimes flagrantly violate copyright laws. Imagine if Congress increased the complexity and penalties of copyright laws. Non-lawyer bloggers could never be sure what constituted legal fair use of MSM stories and information. Enhanced copyright laws could have a chilling effect on blogging.
In a fight against the MSM, blogs have two significant weaknesses: lack of monetary and legal resources. Most bloggers already lose money on their blogs. A small paperwork, monetary or legal burden imposed on bloggers would drive many of them to extinction. Expect the MSM to exploit this weakness.
Full Story
Editors note: Please help support this site by advertising or visting our sponsors.
I may need the $$$ for legal fees!
But won't the First Amendment protect blogs? Unfortunately, courts already hold that many governmental restrictions on speech don't violate the First Amendment, and I can think of three areas in which the MSM might successfully change laws and regulations to hinder their blogger competitors:
1. Campaign Finance Reform -- Blog entries in support of a candidate could be considered political contributions to that candidate. The danger for most bloggers would lie not in contributing more than the legally permissible amount to a candidate, but rather in having to fill out the paperwork necessary to report their "political contributions".
The MSM, of course, would never permit their editorials in favor of a candidate to be considered political contributions. So to use campaign finance reform against bloggers, courts would have to distinguish between bloggers and the "legitimate" media. Any definition of bloggers will be imprecise, but this won't stop courts because most legal categories already have fuzzy boundaries. To define a blogger, courts could simply use the "I know it when I see it" approach famously employed by Justice Potter Stewart to determine whether something constituted hard-core pornography.
2. Libel Law -- The MSM used to fight aggressively against any expansion of libel law, but I predict this soon will change. The MSM can handle the burden of defending itself from libel suits much more easily than bloggers can. By increasing the scope of libel law the MSM would impose costs on all journalists which they, but not bloggers, could absorb.
3. Copyright Law -- Blogs often use information from other sources and, from what I have observed, sometimes flagrantly violate copyright laws. Imagine if Congress increased the complexity and penalties of copyright laws. Non-lawyer bloggers could never be sure what constituted legal fair use of MSM stories and information. Enhanced copyright laws could have a chilling effect on blogging.
In a fight against the MSM, blogs have two significant weaknesses: lack of monetary and legal resources. Most bloggers already lose money on their blogs. A small paperwork, monetary or legal burden imposed on bloggers would drive many of them to extinction. Expect the MSM to exploit this weakness.
Full Story
Editors note: Please help support this site by advertising or visting our sponsors.
I may need the $$$ for legal fees!
Terri's Watch: Jeb, Her Last Hope
Email: jeb.bush@myflorida.com
Telephone: (850) 488-2272
Call President Bush at the White House at 1-202-456-1112.
Call Gov. Jeb Bush at 1-850-222-7920 or 1-850-488-7146.
Terri's Wish: Divorce?
A friend of Terri Schiavo's says the disabled woman frequently had bruises on her arms and legs prior to her collapse in 1990. The comments lend further evidence to allegations that Terri's estranged husband Michael abused her and that those actions caused her current condition.
Jackie Rhodes worked with Terri at an insurance company's office. Rhodes revealed that Terri and her husband had a heated argument on the evening prior to February 25, 1990, when Michael supposedly woke up to find Terri unconscious in the hallway of the couple's St. Petersburg home. Rhodes told Fox News that Terri called her in tears after the fight and she confirmed other accounts of Terri saying she and Michael had discussed a divorce. Rhode testified in court during a previous hearing that Michael frequently made derogatory comments about Terri.
A bone scan conducted on Terri one year after she collapsed found possibly physical trauma indicating potential abuse. After Michael and Bob and Mary Schindler began their legal battle in 1998, local authorities said the scan was too old to investigate. The Florida Department of Children and Families hoped to half Terri's starvation death for 60 days to look into various accusations of abuse and neglect, but Judge George Greer denied the requests.
Jackie Rhodes worked with Terri at an insurance company's office. Rhodes revealed that Terri and her husband had a heated argument on the evening prior to February 25, 1990, when Michael supposedly woke up to find Terri unconscious in the hallway of the couple's St. Petersburg home. Rhodes told Fox News that Terri called her in tears after the fight and she confirmed other accounts of Terri saying she and Michael had discussed a divorce. Rhode testified in court during a previous hearing that Michael frequently made derogatory comments about Terri.
A bone scan conducted on Terri one year after she collapsed found possibly physical trauma indicating potential abuse. After Michael and Bob and Mary Schindler began their legal battle in 1998, local authorities said the scan was too old to investigate. The Florida Department of Children and Families hoped to half Terri's starvation death for 60 days to look into various accusations of abuse and neglect, but Judge George Greer denied the requests.
Rendell's Long Shot
Gov. Ed Rendell is selling Act 72, but many school board members and residents aren't buying.
Rendell has become more vocal in encouraging school directors to sign on to the property-tax reduction plan, despite a request from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to delay the deadline for doing so.
Only four of 500 districts have voted to opt in. The Philadelphia School District was forced to opt in as part of the law's passage. A recent PSBA survey showed more than 80 school boards leaning toward rejecting it. Many school board members and their constituents say Rendell's lobbying is having little impact.
The law requires school boards to raise the earned income tax rate by 0.1 percentage point to qualify for slots money. That money, which the state estimates won't be available before 2007, must then be used to reduce school real estate taxes. School boards must also get residents' approval of any further tax increase above the rate of inflation.
Because the state doesn't know yet when money for property tax cuts under Act 72 would become available or how much it might be, school boards are inevitably making their decisions without enough information. MORE
Rendell has become more vocal in encouraging school directors to sign on to the property-tax reduction plan, despite a request from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to delay the deadline for doing so.
Only four of 500 districts have voted to opt in. The Philadelphia School District was forced to opt in as part of the law's passage. A recent PSBA survey showed more than 80 school boards leaning toward rejecting it. Many school board members and their constituents say Rendell's lobbying is having little impact.
The law requires school boards to raise the earned income tax rate by 0.1 percentage point to qualify for slots money. That money, which the state estimates won't be available before 2007, must then be used to reduce school real estate taxes. School boards must also get residents' approval of any further tax increase above the rate of inflation.
Because the state doesn't know yet when money for property tax cuts under Act 72 would become available or how much it might be, school boards are inevitably making their decisions without enough information. MORE
Terri's Watch - Rabbis Plead
Rabbi Yehuda Levin has issued the following statement on behalf of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada:
"We urge President George Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush to take immediate, decisive action to save the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. We appreciate the pro-life statements of President Bush and Governor Bush. Yet, their efforts have thus far not been successful. We therefore urge the President and Governor Bush to take immediate and decisive action - either jointly or separately - to save the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo before it is too late."
"We urge President George Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush to take immediate, decisive action to save the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo. We appreciate the pro-life statements of President Bush and Governor Bush. Yet, their efforts have thus far not been successful. We therefore urge the President and Governor Bush to take immediate and decisive action - either jointly or separately - to save the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo before it is too late."
Using Terri - Everything from Gun Control to Health Care
Some journalists, on talk shows over the weekend, used the Schiavo case to forward their personal political agendas. On Inside Washington, NPR's Nina Totenberg contended that "if we really believed in an unmitigated, uncurbed in any way culture of life, we would be having universal health care." Colbert King of the Washington Post raised the school shooting in Minnesota and asked: "What about the guns that take away the life?" On the McLaughlin Group, Newsweek's Eleanor Clift castigated the Republican Party for only caring "about people before they're born and then really after they're dead. What about the time in between? That's when we need government involved."
Politics & Religion - Cardinal McCarrick on ABC
On Sunday's This Week, ABC's George Stephanopoulos harangued Washington's Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from the left. In an interviewed taped on Saturday, Stephanopoulos told McCarrick that "the practices and opinions of American Catholics seem to be at odds with the teachings of the church." Stephanopoulos soon chided McCarrick for how during the campaign the Eucharist became "a partisan battleground" because a Cardinal "did express his view that any Catholic who votes for a pro-choice politician is committing a sin that he or she has to confess." McCarrick corrected his false charge, but Stephanopoulos remained undeterred as he pressed McCarrick to "respond to those Democrats who feel that the bishops have been more partisan than principled" and lamented how while "so much has been made of the Pope's anti-communism," the Pope "has had a very forceful critique of the excesses of capitalism, and it hasn't seemed to have taken hold in the same way."
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Full Story
Terri's Watch: The New Battle
The legal fight to keep brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive appears to be over, but a new fight erupted between her husband and her parents over what will happen to her body after she dies.
Michael Schiavo, who had his wife’s feeding tube removed by court order, has made arrangements for her to be cremated and her ashes interred in his family’s plot in Pennsylvania. But Bob and Mary Schindler want their daughter to have a Roman Catholic funeral service and to be buried near their home in Clearwater, Florida. Terri Schiavo was given last rites and Easter communion — a drop of wine, but no bread
The Schindlers have pinned their last hopes on Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush, who, they say, has the authority to take Terri into the state’s protection.
Full Story
Michael Schiavo, who had his wife’s feeding tube removed by court order, has made arrangements for her to be cremated and her ashes interred in his family’s plot in Pennsylvania. But Bob and Mary Schindler want their daughter to have a Roman Catholic funeral service and to be buried near their home in Clearwater, Florida. Terri Schiavo was given last rites and Easter communion — a drop of wine, but no bread
The Schindlers have pinned their last hopes on Florida’s governor, Jeb Bush, who, they say, has the authority to take Terri into the state’s protection.
Full Story
EASTER - HE HAS RISEN
Over the past few weeks it seems as if there has been a deluge of despairing and disheartening news: From a court- ordered death sentence for Terri Schiavo to the mourning in Florida of the little girl who was kidnapped and murdered last week to the shooting rampage at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, events have reminded us that we live in a troubled world that is groping for answers. Fortunately, as Christians we find the answer not in the death of Christ on the cross alone but in the empty tomb that He left behind. By turning to Him we can find not only answers, but also the joy and hope of a life renewed. Luke tells us of the women who approached the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning and were shocked to see it empty, with the body of Christ apparently missing. The angels present reminded the women, "He is not here, he is risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee" Then, Luke tells us, 'they remembered his words." The women can be forgiven for their memory loss; shocking and terrible experiences can cause such forgetfulness. They had just witnessed the painful death of their rabbi (teacher), Jesus of Nazareth, and needed to be reminded He had prepared them for this circumstance. Once reminded, they took comfort in His words.
So as you celebrate this weekend, remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us and how we must believe on Him and ask Him into our lives. By doing so we are not only made strong enough to deal with the sorrows thrown our way, but also wise enough to truly appreciate the joys we are given.
Have a joyous and happy Easter!
Thoughts On Christian Civil Disobedience
As Christians we often do not think about how we can change the laws and governments. Most of the time we let things slide by and we let laws pass that are against our moral judgments simply because we do not think. Christians should be thinking about the type of society we are living in today, and we should be resisting the narrow and bigoted humanist views. This means that we should be using the appropriate forms of protest available to us.
As Christians we should never take the law into our own hands, but when we can no longer flee or protest then we must use force in our defense. Take abortion for example. In the case of abortion we should aggressively support a human life bill, we must actually enter into the courts seeking to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision, and we should take political and legal action against hospitals and abortion clinics that perform abortions. This is an example of Christian using force to change the system. The same thing can be done with the current issues of homosexual marriage. That is exactly what the gay-rights activists are doing... Instead of doing something about it Christians just sit on the sidlines spitting insults and opinions at the current movement without taking action at all.
The government cannot be put in the place of God for Christians. At any point in time where a Christian obeys the government and disobeys God then he is replacing God with his government, and that should never be. What we need now is all Christians to stand up against the other worldviews, and to take the steps necessary to break the hold which the humanist view has on government, law, media, the schools, and even our own families. That would fulfill not only the scripture, but it would also fulfill what the law originally intended, freedom for all. If we choose to obey the government over God, then how can we possibly be loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, and soul?
Terri's Watch : The Clock is Ticking
The father of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed a week ago, said Friday his daughter is "down to her last hours."
Outrage! Taxpayers Lose On This Bet
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board member Jeffrey W. Coy cruises across the state in a beige Cadillac DeVille sedan. Taxpayers are paying the $650-a-month tab. Coy is one of five people on the seven-member gambling board who are leasing cars under an arrangement they approved for themselves in January.
The state-paid vehicles and mileage are perhaps the sweetest perks in addition to six-figure salaries for what are widely viewed as part-time jobs on the board, which will regulate slot machine gambling. Board members are paid $145,000 a year; the chairman gets an additional $5,000.
The board was created under a state law approved in July that authorizes slot machines at horse tracks and stand-alone casinos. It will issue licenses and regulate slots in the state. The board meets once a month and expects to start meeting twice a month later this year.
The salary for a gambling board member is double the pay for Pennsylvania's full-time state legislators and $22,500 more than the chairman of the full-time Nevada Gaming Control Board, which oversees the largest gambling industry in the nation.
Full Story
The state-paid vehicles and mileage are perhaps the sweetest perks in addition to six-figure salaries for what are widely viewed as part-time jobs on the board, which will regulate slot machine gambling. Board members are paid $145,000 a year; the chairman gets an additional $5,000.
The board was created under a state law approved in July that authorizes slot machines at horse tracks and stand-alone casinos. It will issue licenses and regulate slots in the state. The board meets once a month and expects to start meeting twice a month later this year.
The salary for a gambling board member is double the pay for Pennsylvania's full-time state legislators and $22,500 more than the chairman of the full-time Nevada Gaming Control Board, which oversees the largest gambling industry in the nation.
Full Story
Big Brother Blogging
Political bloggers and other online commentators narrowly avoided being slammed with a sweeping set of Internet regulations this week.
When the Federal Election Commission kicked off the process of extending campaign finance rules to the Internet on Thursday, the public document was substantially altered from one prepared just two weeks earlier and reviewed by CNET News.com.
The 44-page document, prepared by the FEC general counsel's office and dated March 10, took a radically different approach and would have imposed decades-old rules designed for federal campaigns on many political Web sites and bloggers.
According to the March 10 document, political Web sites would be regulated by default unless they were password-protected and read by fewer than 500 people in a 30-day period. Many of those Web sites would have been required to post government-mandated notices or risk violating campaign finance laws.
The explanation for the dramatic changes during the last two weeks, according to one FEC official familiar with the events, is the unusual public outcry that followed a public alarm that Commissioner Bradley Smith sounded about a pending government crackdown on bloggers. After Smith's warning, an army of bloggers mobilized to oppose intrusive regulations and prominent members of Congress warned the commission not to be overly aggressive.
The regulatory approach was necessary because of "the increased use of the Internet by federal candidates, political committees, and others to communicate with the general public to influence federal elections," according to the March 10 draft. Many Web sites that endorse or attack political candidates would have been required, for instance, to sport a permanent disclaimer.
Here is the PowerBlog! disclaimer:
"Anyone caught trying to stiffle the free speech of the PowerBlog! author or users will be struck with a wet noodle to the fullest extent of the law. PowerBlog! is copywrighted, trade marked, patent pending and FDIC insured. Consult your docter before prolonged use. Some restrictions may apply. Offer void where prohibited."
When the Federal Election Commission kicked off the process of extending campaign finance rules to the Internet on Thursday, the public document was substantially altered from one prepared just two weeks earlier and reviewed by CNET News.com.
The 44-page document, prepared by the FEC general counsel's office and dated March 10, took a radically different approach and would have imposed decades-old rules designed for federal campaigns on many political Web sites and bloggers.
According to the March 10 document, political Web sites would be regulated by default unless they were password-protected and read by fewer than 500 people in a 30-day period. Many of those Web sites would have been required to post government-mandated notices or risk violating campaign finance laws.
The explanation for the dramatic changes during the last two weeks, according to one FEC official familiar with the events, is the unusual public outcry that followed a public alarm that Commissioner Bradley Smith sounded about a pending government crackdown on bloggers. After Smith's warning, an army of bloggers mobilized to oppose intrusive regulations and prominent members of Congress warned the commission not to be overly aggressive.
The regulatory approach was necessary because of "the increased use of the Internet by federal candidates, political committees, and others to communicate with the general public to influence federal elections," according to the March 10 draft. Many Web sites that endorse or attack political candidates would have been required, for instance, to sport a permanent disclaimer.
Here is the PowerBlog! disclaimer:
"Anyone caught trying to stiffle the free speech of the PowerBlog! author or users will be struck with a wet noodle to the fullest extent of the law. PowerBlog! is copywrighted, trade marked, patent pending and FDIC insured. Consult your docter before prolonged use. Some restrictions may apply. Offer void where prohibited."
D. James Kennedy - "Disregard the order of Judge Greer"
We talked this week about if it is ever right for a Christian to defy authority. I believe God's law supercedes man's law everytime. We are called to stand up for what we believe is right, even if it goes against authority and law. Marty disagreed. He holds to the passage of scripture that says we must submit to authority. The irony of a reformed protestant saying we should submit to authority was not lost but I digress.
If we never resisted authority, we would still be under British rule, salvery would still be in practice and would would cease to claim any independence. So is this just the Catholic rebel in me that wants to storm the gates and set things right? Apparently, I'm not alone.
A prominent evangelical Christian leader is urging Jeb Bush to disobey a judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo. D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo. " Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said Bush "must act and he must act immediately on her behalf."
"He must disregard the order of Judge Greer," Kennedy said. "He has both the authority and the duty to do so under the state constitution." Kennedy said Bush should be commended for his efforts over the past two years -- which include the state legislature's passage of "Terri's Law" -- but he noted those efforts "thus far has proven fruitless." The law later was declared unconstitutional.
"Neither the state legislature nor the courts, state or federal, have been willing to act on behalf of this helpless woman who is now within hours of death," Kennedy said.
Kennedy points out the Florida constitution states in Article I, Section 2, that "[a]ll natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law, and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life ... ." According to the Constitution, "no person shall be deprived of any right [including the right to enjoy life] because of ... physical disability." After all the "praying, petitioning, and lobbying," it comes down to this, Kennedy said: "Jeb Bush must choose between the clear mandate of Florida's constitution and a judiciary which, in this case, has acted in defiance of that state supreme law."
So whose authority do we submit to what authorty challenges authority? Whatever authority lines up with our Christian beliefs, that's who. If none meet that standard, then we are to respectfully, peacefully and lovingly defy authority and submit to the authority of God.
If we never resisted authority, we would still be under British rule, salvery would still be in practice and would would cease to claim any independence. So is this just the Catholic rebel in me that wants to storm the gates and set things right? Apparently, I'm not alone.
A prominent evangelical Christian leader is urging Jeb Bush to disobey a judge's order barring the Florida governor from intervening to save the life of Terri Schiavo. D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo. " Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, said Bush "must act and he must act immediately on her behalf."
"He must disregard the order of Judge Greer," Kennedy said. "He has both the authority and the duty to do so under the state constitution." Kennedy said Bush should be commended for his efforts over the past two years -- which include the state legislature's passage of "Terri's Law" -- but he noted those efforts "thus far has proven fruitless." The law later was declared unconstitutional.
"Neither the state legislature nor the courts, state or federal, have been willing to act on behalf of this helpless woman who is now within hours of death," Kennedy said.
Kennedy points out the Florida constitution states in Article I, Section 2, that "[a]ll natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law, and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life ... ." According to the Constitution, "no person shall be deprived of any right [including the right to enjoy life] because of ... physical disability." After all the "praying, petitioning, and lobbying," it comes down to this, Kennedy said: "Jeb Bush must choose between the clear mandate of Florida's constitution and a judiciary which, in this case, has acted in defiance of that state supreme law."
So whose authority do we submit to what authorty challenges authority? Whatever authority lines up with our Christian beliefs, that's who. If none meet that standard, then we are to respectfully, peacefully and lovingly defy authority and submit to the authority of God.
Terri's Watch: Update
DAY 7 without Food or Water -
The Schindlers have appealed again to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to review Whittemore's ruling. The Atlanta court refused earlier this week to overturn a previous Whittemore ruling. Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered his legal team to scour state laws for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.
As of Friday morning, Terri Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for almost seven days and was showing signs of dehydration _ flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers.
The Schindlers have appealed again to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to review Whittemore's ruling. The Atlanta court refused earlier this week to overturn a previous Whittemore ruling. Gov. Jeb Bush has ordered his legal team to scour state laws for a way to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.
As of Friday morning, Terri Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for almost seven days and was showing signs of dehydration _ flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers.
The Custom Made Child
CHURCH LEADERS HEADED FURIOUS CRITICISM LAST NIGHT OF A 'FRANKENSTEIN' REPORT ON FERTILITY LAWS.
COMMITTEE CALLED FOR A MAJOR RELAXATION OF THE RULES, WHICH WOULD include letting IVF couples choose their baby's sex. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of Britain's six million Roman Catholics, was backed by Church of England and Jewish leaders as he expressed 'deep alarm'. The Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, said it would be 'a step along the road to turning children from persons into products'. The leaders spoke out as a political row raged over the report of the Science and Technology committee. It said couples should also have the right to create tissue-matched, genetically-screened 'saviour siblings' to help seriously-ill children.Scientists should be allowed to create embryonic hybrids of humans and animals for research, while research involving cloned human embryos should be allowed to continue, as long as they were destroyed at 14 days.The committee called for the watchdog Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to be scrapped, along with the key rule that fertility clinics must consider the welfare of any potential child before providing treatment.Half the ten MPs on the committee refused to put their names to the report, however, saying they fundamentally disagreed with conclusions which ignored the dignity of human life.Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said Britain needed a National Bioethics Commission to consider the moral and ethical implications of scientific developments.'I am deeply alarmed at this utilitarian report,' he said. 'It shows scant awareness that it is dealing with fundamental issues of respect for human life. I welcome the comments of those members who have dissented from its findings. We need a far broader public debate about these vital questions, which touch on the very origin and sanctity of life.'
COMMITTEE CALLED FOR A MAJOR RELAXATION OF THE RULES, WHICH WOULD include letting IVF couples choose their baby's sex. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the head of Britain's six million Roman Catholics, was backed by Church of England and Jewish leaders as he expressed 'deep alarm'. The Chief Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, said it would be 'a step along the road to turning children from persons into products'. The leaders spoke out as a political row raged over the report of the Science and Technology committee. It said couples should also have the right to create tissue-matched, genetically-screened 'saviour siblings' to help seriously-ill children.Scientists should be allowed to create embryonic hybrids of humans and animals for research, while research involving cloned human embryos should be allowed to continue, as long as they were destroyed at 14 days.The committee called for the watchdog Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to be scrapped, along with the key rule that fertility clinics must consider the welfare of any potential child before providing treatment.Half the ten MPs on the committee refused to put their names to the report, however, saying they fundamentally disagreed with conclusions which ignored the dignity of human life.Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said Britain needed a National Bioethics Commission to consider the moral and ethical implications of scientific developments.'I am deeply alarmed at this utilitarian report,' he said. 'It shows scant awareness that it is dealing with fundamental issues of respect for human life. I welcome the comments of those members who have dissented from its findings. We need a far broader public debate about these vital questions, which touch on the very origin and sanctity of life.'
Too Bad Terri's Not a Terrorist or a Condemned Murder
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel
I'm a conservative Christian attorney who has practiced criminal and juvenile defense. I wholeheartedly advocate that no matter how heinous the crime, the accused must be afforded his or her constitutional rights. That includes appeals and writs of habeas corpus to obtain federal review after state court remedies have been exhausted. I support the rights of convicted criminals to have DNA testing that may prove their innocence, no matter how many courts have reviewed their cases.
Question: When it comes to Terri Schiavo, where are the usual liberal civil-rights advocates, the criminal defense bar, liberal law professors? A few are speaking out for Terri's rights, but very few. And I applaud their consistency. Everybody agrees that Terri's wishes should be paramount, but why is a hearsay statement supposedly said 20 years ago credible? And why does anyone think that if she said it, she was talking about a feeding tube? Who considered food and water to be artificial life support back then? What lawyer wouldn't challenge probable cause for a search warrant based on the kind of stale and highly suspect hearsay that Judge Greer found to be clear and convincing evidence of Terri's wishes, sufficient for him to order her death?
Where are those who file suit when some terrorist detainee in Guantanamo Bay didn't get a cookie on his lunch tray or suffered the "torture" of having a guard dog growl at him? Where are those who file every motion, brief or appeal based on any and every argument they can think of in order to save the life of a serial murderer or a child-killer? Why aren't they making arguments and filing briefs for Terri? They've either become mute or they're in the media arguing against the kind of zealous advocacy on behalf of Terri that they regularly engage in. And no surprise-where is the ACLU?-advocating for Terri's death while they advocate for convicted murders who killed and sodomized a young boy in Massachusetts.
There's constant harping about how many judges have reviewed Terri's case. So what? None of them has reviewed the evidence to see if, as a matter of law, it's sufficient to sustain the court's orders. That's what Congress ordered to be done in "Terri's law." But it wasn't. Suddenly it's all about state rights and limiting review to state courts and federalism. And how dare Congress interfere by enacting a statute that gives Terri the same kind of federal review that Scott Peterson will have? The reason "Terri's law" applies only to her is because the Senate Democrats refused to agree to unanimous consent to pass a bill unless it applied only to Terri.
How convenient that they now blame Republicans who wanted a bill that would apply to anyone in Terri's circumstances. In Robles v. Coughlin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that "the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does require that prisoners be served 'nutritionally adequate food that is prepared and served under conditions which do not present an immediate danger to the health and well being of the inmates who consume it.'" Too bad Terri isn't confined in a prison instead of a hospice. That's where her husband placed her after he won a large award in a malpractice case, where he promised to care for her.
In 1984, the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a trial court order that authorized a prison warden to feed and nourish a prison inmate over his objection, even though he was mentally competent and wanted to die by starvation. Here we have a judge ordering the removal of food and water to cause starvation. Even if we knew that's what Terri wants, Florida law makes aiding and abetting a suicide a felony, and there's no black-robed exemption. Terri Schiavo isn't dying from a disease, she isn't on a ventilator, she doesn't meet Florida's definition of "persistent vegetative state," and she committed no crime. She's being killed by a judge on the flimsiest of evidence. Some missing advocates need to step up to the Bar.
Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806
E-mail: mail@cwfa.org
I'm a conservative Christian attorney who has practiced criminal and juvenile defense. I wholeheartedly advocate that no matter how heinous the crime, the accused must be afforded his or her constitutional rights. That includes appeals and writs of habeas corpus to obtain federal review after state court remedies have been exhausted. I support the rights of convicted criminals to have DNA testing that may prove their innocence, no matter how many courts have reviewed their cases.
Question: When it comes to Terri Schiavo, where are the usual liberal civil-rights advocates, the criminal defense bar, liberal law professors? A few are speaking out for Terri's rights, but very few. And I applaud their consistency. Everybody agrees that Terri's wishes should be paramount, but why is a hearsay statement supposedly said 20 years ago credible? And why does anyone think that if she said it, she was talking about a feeding tube? Who considered food and water to be artificial life support back then? What lawyer wouldn't challenge probable cause for a search warrant based on the kind of stale and highly suspect hearsay that Judge Greer found to be clear and convincing evidence of Terri's wishes, sufficient for him to order her death?
Where are those who file suit when some terrorist detainee in Guantanamo Bay didn't get a cookie on his lunch tray or suffered the "torture" of having a guard dog growl at him? Where are those who file every motion, brief or appeal based on any and every argument they can think of in order to save the life of a serial murderer or a child-killer? Why aren't they making arguments and filing briefs for Terri? They've either become mute or they're in the media arguing against the kind of zealous advocacy on behalf of Terri that they regularly engage in. And no surprise-where is the ACLU?-advocating for Terri's death while they advocate for convicted murders who killed and sodomized a young boy in Massachusetts.
There's constant harping about how many judges have reviewed Terri's case. So what? None of them has reviewed the evidence to see if, as a matter of law, it's sufficient to sustain the court's orders. That's what Congress ordered to be done in "Terri's law." But it wasn't. Suddenly it's all about state rights and limiting review to state courts and federalism. And how dare Congress interfere by enacting a statute that gives Terri the same kind of federal review that Scott Peterson will have? The reason "Terri's law" applies only to her is because the Senate Democrats refused to agree to unanimous consent to pass a bill unless it applied only to Terri.
How convenient that they now blame Republicans who wanted a bill that would apply to anyone in Terri's circumstances. In Robles v. Coughlin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that "the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does require that prisoners be served 'nutritionally adequate food that is prepared and served under conditions which do not present an immediate danger to the health and well being of the inmates who consume it.'" Too bad Terri isn't confined in a prison instead of a hospice. That's where her husband placed her after he won a large award in a malpractice case, where he promised to care for her.
In 1984, the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a trial court order that authorized a prison warden to feed and nourish a prison inmate over his objection, even though he was mentally competent and wanted to die by starvation. Here we have a judge ordering the removal of food and water to cause starvation. Even if we knew that's what Terri wants, Florida law makes aiding and abetting a suicide a felony, and there's no black-robed exemption. Terri Schiavo isn't dying from a disease, she isn't on a ventilator, she doesn't meet Florida's definition of "persistent vegetative state," and she committed no crime. She's being killed by a judge on the flimsiest of evidence. Some missing advocates need to step up to the Bar.
Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806
E-mail: mail@cwfa.org
Terri's Watch
On this Good Friday, let us all pray for Terri, her family and the conscience of a nation that would allow something like this to happen.
As of early Friday, Terri Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for almost seven days and was showing signs of dehydration - flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers. The feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive for more than a decade was removed March 18 over objections from her parents. Schiavo's husband has said his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.
As of early Friday, Terri Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for almost seven days and was showing signs of dehydration - flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers. The feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive for more than a decade was removed March 18 over objections from her parents. Schiavo's husband has said his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.
Terri Schiavo - The Whole Story
The life and death tug-of-war over Terri Schiavo is a 12-year-old court battle that remained under the radar of most major news outlets until recently. WorldNetDaily was among the first national news organizations to cover the story back when it primarily occupied the headlines of the local press in Southwest Florida, in November 2002.
As the rest of the news world works to catch up on this complex, multifaceted, precedent-setting case, readers have asked WND about errors and glaring omissions in the current widespread media coverage. In addition, much of what WND reported in previous years is now topping headlines elsewhere, leaving readers to question why they're not finding the same details in current editions of WND.
In view of this, WorldNetDaily has decided to mine our extensive archives to compile a comprehensive analysis of the Terri Schiavo story.
You will find it here
As the rest of the news world works to catch up on this complex, multifaceted, precedent-setting case, readers have asked WND about errors and glaring omissions in the current widespread media coverage. In addition, much of what WND reported in previous years is now topping headlines elsewhere, leaving readers to question why they're not finding the same details in current editions of WND.
In view of this, WorldNetDaily has decided to mine our extensive archives to compile a comprehensive analysis of the Terri Schiavo story.
You will find it here
Terri's Watch: The Media
DOCTOR WHO EXAMINED SCHIAVO SAYS SHE IS NOT IN PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE Remarkably, some are discounting his evaluation just because he’s pro-life. So now only pro-abortion doctors should be considered? (LA Times)
MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPERS DECIDE DEATH BY STARVATION NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL
All of a sudden, major news outlets want us to believe her death is painless, even “peaceful.” Meanwhile, people feel sorry for a giant lobster and set it free. (Washington Post)
LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS HELPING THE DISADVANTAGED TURN THEIR BACK ON SCHIAVO From the National Organization for Women to the National Coalition for Domestic Violence. (Washington Times) Not a word from Amnesty International. (Amnesty) And the one group constantly battling in favor of life for murderers, the ACLU, is suddenly thrilled to watch a woman die a slow death. (ACLU) One writer points out she’s not brain dead, “Terri is inconvenient.” (FNIF)
MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPERS DECIDE DEATH BY STARVATION NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL
All of a sudden, major news outlets want us to believe her death is painless, even “peaceful.” Meanwhile, people feel sorry for a giant lobster and set it free. (Washington Post)
LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS HELPING THE DISADVANTAGED TURN THEIR BACK ON SCHIAVO From the National Organization for Women to the National Coalition for Domestic Violence. (Washington Times) Not a word from Amnesty International. (Amnesty) And the one group constantly battling in favor of life for murderers, the ACLU, is suddenly thrilled to watch a woman die a slow death. (ACLU) One writer points out she’s not brain dead, “Terri is inconvenient.” (FNIF)
The Democrats' Painful Silence
Michael Medved -
The tragic dispute over Terri Schiavo reflects America's partisan divide. Nearly all Republicans want her to live, while no prominent Democrat has opposed starving her to death.This is perplexing because the core argument comes down to a battle between Terri's parents and her one-time husband, who has long since entered a relationship with another woman who has born him two children. Why should Democrats so universally give priority to a marriage-–especially one so visibly frayed--over unbreakable bonds between parent and child?The Democrats' desire to hasten Terri's death unfortunately has little to do with reverence for marriage, and everything to do with abortion politics. Anything that echoes right-to-life arguments, even vaguely, becomes anathema to a party dominated by pro-abortion activists.A prominent liberal--say Hillary Clinton--could show courage by speaking up for Terri's parents, but in the midst of a life-and-death struggle the Democratic silence remains complete and painful.
The tragic dispute over Terri Schiavo reflects America's partisan divide. Nearly all Republicans want her to live, while no prominent Democrat has opposed starving her to death.This is perplexing because the core argument comes down to a battle between Terri's parents and her one-time husband, who has long since entered a relationship with another woman who has born him two children. Why should Democrats so universally give priority to a marriage-–especially one so visibly frayed--over unbreakable bonds between parent and child?The Democrats' desire to hasten Terri's death unfortunately has little to do with reverence for marriage, and everything to do with abortion politics. Anything that echoes right-to-life arguments, even vaguely, becomes anathema to a party dominated by pro-abortion activists.A prominent liberal--say Hillary Clinton--could show courage by speaking up for Terri's parents, but in the midst of a life-and-death struggle the Democratic silence remains complete and painful.
KLAYMAN & KEYES ASK JEB BUSH TO "PARDON" SCHIAVO
Larry Klayman, former Chairman of Judicial Watch and 2004 U.S. Senate Candidate in Florida, and Alan Keyes, former Presidential Candidate, has asked Florida Governor Jeb Bush to use the powers he has been granted by the citizens of the state of Florida, under its Constitution, to save Terri Schaivo's life.Larry Klayman stated, "Since Governor Jeb Bush is the supreme executive power of the state of Florida, he has the right and duty to step in and, in effect, pardon Terri Schaivo from the death sentence that has been unduly placed upon her by the court system."The Schaivo case presents a vacuum for the judicial system -- because it failed to act to save Terri's life -- and Klayman and Keyes and all Americans that want to see justice done would like for that vacuum to be filled before it is too late.Larry Klayman met the General Counsel to Governor Jeb Bush at 2:00 PM Wednesday. During their meeting, Klayman out outlined the legal justification for Governor Jeb Bush to act, and in so doing, will present what is in effect a legal brief prepared by Alan Keyes and approved by Klayman. Keyes and Klayman expect to meet with Governor Jeb Bush personally today. Klayman will stress that time is of the essence, that Terri can die at any moment.Larry Klayman is legal counsel for William Greene's RightMarch.com and Alan Keyes' Declaration Alliance, both of which have been active in supporting life for Terri Schiavo.
Gov. Bush Must Rescue Terri
Section 2 of the constitution of the state of Florida states:
All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty ... No person shall be deprived of any right because of ... physical disability.
Jeb Bush has all the authority he needs right now to remove Terri from those who would kill her and save her life. Indeed, his oath of office requires it:
I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida ...
What part of these words do Jeb Bush and the black-robed high priests with pretensions of godhood not understand? This issue could not be more clear.
More
All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty ... No person shall be deprived of any right because of ... physical disability.
Jeb Bush has all the authority he needs right now to remove Terri from those who would kill her and save her life. Indeed, his oath of office requires it:
I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States and of the state of Florida ...
What part of these words do Jeb Bush and the black-robed high priests with pretensions of godhood not understand? This issue could not be more clear.
More
Flordia Senate Rejected Terri's Law Bill
For the second time in less than a day, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected a bid by Terri Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube re-inserted. The Florida Senate, meanwhile, turned back another last-ditch effort to prolong her life.
Terri's Watch - The Battle Rages On
Children have been arrested by police officers for trespassing in Pinellas Park, Florida. The young protester sattempted to take a glass of water into the Woodside Hospice for the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo.
Gov. Jeb Bush has vowed to work to pass a law that would demand foood and water for all under medical care. The legislator is now debating the law and they hope to have something passed and signed tonight.
In a 10-2 decision, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Bob and Mary Schindler's request for an "expedited rehearing" by the full court. The full court did not immediately give an explanation for its decision. The parents have vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has refused to get involved previously.
Terri Schiavo has not received any nourishment since the tube was pulled Friday afternoon. By late Tuesday, Terri's eyes were sunken, her skin was parched and flaking and her lips and tongue were parched. Check back often for more updates.
Gov. Jeb Bush has vowed to work to pass a law that would demand foood and water for all under medical care. The legislator is now debating the law and they hope to have something passed and signed tonight.
In a 10-2 decision, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused Bob and Mary Schindler's request for an "expedited rehearing" by the full court. The full court did not immediately give an explanation for its decision. The parents have vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has refused to get involved previously.
Terri Schiavo has not received any nourishment since the tube was pulled Friday afternoon. By late Tuesday, Terri's eyes were sunken, her skin was parched and flaking and her lips and tongue were parched. Check back often for more updates.
The Cost of Dying: Terri’s Medical Trust Fund
Summary of expenses paid from Terri’s 1.2 Million Dollar medical trust fund (jury awarded 1992)
NOTE: In his November 1993 Petition Michael Schiavo alleges the 1993 guardianship asset balance as $761,507.50
Atty Gwyneth Stanley $10,668.05
Atty Deborah Bushnell $65,607.00
Atty Steve Nilson $7,404.95
Atty Pacarek $1,500.00
Atty Richard Pearse (GAL) $4,511.95
Atty George Felos $397,249.99
1st Union/South Trust Bank $55,459.85
Michael Schiavo $10,929.95
Total $545,852.34
When Michael started the lawsuit he said he would use the money for terri's care. Notice not once expense for that has been disclosed.
NOTE: In his November 1993 Petition Michael Schiavo alleges the 1993 guardianship asset balance as $761,507.50
Atty Gwyneth Stanley $10,668.05
Atty Deborah Bushnell $65,607.00
Atty Steve Nilson $7,404.95
Atty Pacarek $1,500.00
Atty Richard Pearse (GAL) $4,511.95
Atty George Felos $397,249.99
1st Union/South Trust Bank $55,459.85
Michael Schiavo $10,929.95
Total $545,852.34
When Michael started the lawsuit he said he would use the money for terri's care. Notice not once expense for that has been disclosed.
CBS Fallout Continues
Josh Howard, the "60 Minutes Wednesday" executive producer whose first show included the now-discredited report on President Bush's military service record, resigned from CBS News on Tuesday.
Howard was one of three CBS News executives asked to step down in January after an independent panel concluded that the network exercised poor judgment in using documents it could not authenticate for a Sept. 8 story suggesting Bush received favored treatment in the Texas Air National Guard during the early 1970s.
The other two executives, CBS News senior vice president Betsy West and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy, resigned several weeks ago. But Howard had refused until Tuesday.
Howard was one of three CBS News executives asked to step down in January after an independent panel concluded that the network exercised poor judgment in using documents it could not authenticate for a Sept. 8 story suggesting Bush received favored treatment in the Texas Air National Guard during the early 1970s.
The other two executives, CBS News senior vice president Betsy West and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy, resigned several weeks ago. But Howard had refused until Tuesday.
Terri Schaivo: The Bias of "Experts"
The neurologist chosen by Michael Schiavo to examine his estranged wife, Terri, is a right-to-die activist who has been a featured speaker for the pro-euthanasia Hemlock Society!
Dr. Ronald Cranford testified in the court cases before county court Judge George Greer that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Cranford is a member of the board of directors of the Choice in Dying Society, which promotes doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia. He was also a featured speaker at the 1992 national conference of the Hemlock Society. The group recently changed its name to End of Life Choices. In 1997, Cranford wrote an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune titled: "When a feeding tube borders on barbaric." In that piece he blamed "right-to-lifers" and "disability groups" for discouraging families from making the choice for euthanasia. He applauded European values that embrace euthanasia.
Cranfor writes: "The United States has thousands or tens of thousands of patients in vegetative states; nobody knows for sure exactly how many," he wrote. "But before long, this country will have several million patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The challenges and costs of maintaining vegetative state patients will pale in comparison to the problems presented by Alzheimer's disease." The answer, he suggested, was physician-assisted suicide.
His diagnosis of Terri has been disputed by Dr. William Hammesfahr, who said, "I spent about 10 hours across about three months and the woman is very aware of her surroundings. She's very aware. She's alert. She's not in a coma. She's not in PVS." Hammesfahr added, "With proper therapy, she will have a tremendous improvement. I think, personally, that she'll be able to walk, eventually, and she will be able to use at least one of her arms."
Dr. Ronald Cranford testified in the court cases before county court Judge George Greer that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Cranford is a member of the board of directors of the Choice in Dying Society, which promotes doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia. He was also a featured speaker at the 1992 national conference of the Hemlock Society. The group recently changed its name to End of Life Choices. In 1997, Cranford wrote an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune titled: "When a feeding tube borders on barbaric." In that piece he blamed "right-to-lifers" and "disability groups" for discouraging families from making the choice for euthanasia. He applauded European values that embrace euthanasia.
Cranfor writes: "The United States has thousands or tens of thousands of patients in vegetative states; nobody knows for sure exactly how many," he wrote. "But before long, this country will have several million patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The challenges and costs of maintaining vegetative state patients will pale in comparison to the problems presented by Alzheimer's disease." The answer, he suggested, was physician-assisted suicide.
His diagnosis of Terri has been disputed by Dr. William Hammesfahr, who said, "I spent about 10 hours across about three months and the woman is very aware of her surroundings. She's very aware. She's alert. She's not in a coma. She's not in PVS." Hammesfahr added, "With proper therapy, she will have a tremendous improvement. I think, personally, that she'll be able to walk, eventually, and she will be able to use at least one of her arms."
As The 'Burg" Turns
One of Pittsburgh's financial overseers charged that a new five-year contract with city firefighters is illegal, and threatened to take legal action if changes aren't made.
City Council members last week approved a contract negotiated between the firefighters union and Mayor Tom Murphy's administration. The deal aims to save the city about $10.7 million a year by closing six city fire stations, reducing overtime pay, pairing 108 empty department positions, freezing wages for two years and increasing what firefighters pay for medical coverage.
"It violates the five-year (spending) plan that we all agreed to, and it violates the Act 47 law itself," said William K. Lieberman, president of the city's oversight board. "All we ask is that they rectify it."
The oversight board was appointed by the state in December to monitor city spending and to ensure officials stick to the budget designed by a financial recovery team created under state Act 47 after Pittsburgh was declared a financially distressed city in 2003.
Oversight board attorney Glenn R. Mahone said two conflicts stand out above the rest:
The contract guarantees no layoffs for city firefighters, something Act 47 explicitly prohibits.
It doesn't clearly say whether firefighters would be subject to the 17.1 percent across-the-board salary cut required by the Act 47 plan, which was established in June. Fifty-two percent of the city's budget is police and fire.
And the lawyers begin to circle.....
Full Story
City Council members last week approved a contract negotiated between the firefighters union and Mayor Tom Murphy's administration. The deal aims to save the city about $10.7 million a year by closing six city fire stations, reducing overtime pay, pairing 108 empty department positions, freezing wages for two years and increasing what firefighters pay for medical coverage.
"It violates the five-year (spending) plan that we all agreed to, and it violates the Act 47 law itself," said William K. Lieberman, president of the city's oversight board. "All we ask is that they rectify it."
The oversight board was appointed by the state in December to monitor city spending and to ensure officials stick to the budget designed by a financial recovery team created under state Act 47 after Pittsburgh was declared a financially distressed city in 2003.
Oversight board attorney Glenn R. Mahone said two conflicts stand out above the rest:
The contract guarantees no layoffs for city firefighters, something Act 47 explicitly prohibits.
It doesn't clearly say whether firefighters would be subject to the 17.1 percent across-the-board salary cut required by the Act 47 plan, which was established in June. Fifty-two percent of the city's budget is police and fire.
And the lawyers begin to circle.....
Full Story
Terri's Watch: UPDATE ACTION NEEDED
Gov. Jeb Bush renewed his call for the Legislature to step in and "spare Terri's life." In a Wednesday statement, the governor said he "could not be more disappointed in the decision announced this morning."
"Time is of the essence and I hope all who have the ability and duty to act in this case will do so with a sense of urgency," Gov. Bush said.
Please call the following two Florida State Senators, asking them to vote for Terri's Law. Terri's life could rest on these 2 senators....ask them to not turn their back on her. They may be the only 2 people standing in the way. Call them & keep trying if you get a busy signal. FL State Sen. Evelyn Lynn (850) 487-5033FL State Sen. Bert Saunders (850) 487-5124
"Time is of the essence and I hope all who have the ability and duty to act in this case will do so with a sense of urgency," Gov. Bush said.
Please call the following two Florida State Senators, asking them to vote for Terri's Law. Terri's life could rest on these 2 senators....ask them to not turn their back on her. They may be the only 2 people standing in the way. Call them & keep trying if you get a busy signal. FL State Sen. Evelyn Lynn (850) 487-5033FL State Sen. Bert Saunders (850) 487-5124
The Deafening Silence
As in most culture war issues, the battle over Terri Schiavo's life has attracted an outpouring from an army of traditional values, pro-life, conservative and religious groups. But there is virtual silence from many of their usual adversaries: The National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America and other major pro-choice and feminist groups don't mention the brain-damaged Florida woman on their Web sites. Neither does Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the National Council of Churches or the National Coalition for Domestic Violence (NCDV), even though these groups often lock horns with some of the organizations defending Mrs. Schiavo's right to life.
Stepping up for Michael Schiavo, who supported removing his wife's feeding tube, is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida applauded a federal judge's decision yesterday rejecting a request from Mrs. Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube reconnected. Other groups that generally support Mr. Schiavo's efforts are the American Humanist Association (AHA) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
Some want to higjack this issues to advance their own agenda. Other find it just to uncomfortable to even muster an opinion. As I said before, it is only in times of tribulation that we discover who we really are. I'm ashamed to share the same planet with some of these people.
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Stepping up for Michael Schiavo, who supported removing his wife's feeding tube, is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida applauded a federal judge's decision yesterday rejecting a request from Mrs. Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube reconnected. Other groups that generally support Mr. Schiavo's efforts are the American Humanist Association (AHA) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).
Some want to higjack this issues to advance their own agenda. Other find it just to uncomfortable to even muster an opinion. As I said before, it is only in times of tribulation that we discover who we really are. I'm ashamed to share the same planet with some of these people.
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
Urgent Notice: FAST WITH TERRI
By Mark Miravalle
Terry Schiavo is dying. It has now been over four days since Terri has been denied food and water. Federal Judge Whittemore has just rejected the petition made possible by the special approval of Congress and President Bush to reinsert her feeding tube.
We are urgently calling Christians and all people of good will to fast in whatever way they can to restore Terri's feeding tube and for the full protection of her precious life.
Please join us in a solidarity of fasting with our sister, Terri, as long as she remains without food and water, in urgent petition to God for the protection of her life. Let us feel a small portion of Terri's hunger and thirst, and offer our fasting for an intervention of God for Terri and for our country, that we will not allow the direct killing of an innocent human being by starvation and dehydration.
These next few days hold the final opportunity to save Terri's life. The transcendent value of human life demands every possible effort for its protection. Please join us, in whatever way you can, in a fast with Terri.
"And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil came out of him, and the child was cured…Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not cast it out?'…Jesus said to them, "because of your unbelief…but this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting" (Mt. 17:18-21)."
Terry Schiavo is dying. It has now been over four days since Terri has been denied food and water. Federal Judge Whittemore has just rejected the petition made possible by the special approval of Congress and President Bush to reinsert her feeding tube.
We are urgently calling Christians and all people of good will to fast in whatever way they can to restore Terri's feeding tube and for the full protection of her precious life.
Please join us in a solidarity of fasting with our sister, Terri, as long as she remains without food and water, in urgent petition to God for the protection of her life. Let us feel a small portion of Terri's hunger and thirst, and offer our fasting for an intervention of God for Terri and for our country, that we will not allow the direct killing of an innocent human being by starvation and dehydration.
These next few days hold the final opportunity to save Terri's life. The transcendent value of human life demands every possible effort for its protection. Please join us, in whatever way you can, in a fast with Terri.
"And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil came out of him, and the child was cured…Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not cast it out?'…Jesus said to them, "because of your unbelief…but this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting" (Mt. 17:18-21)."
Protecting Terri's Sanctity of Life —Albert Mohler
The last-minute legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush sets the stage for a federal judge to review the case of Terri Schiavo. In a very real sense, this legal move simply grants Terri the same federal review that would be granted a prisoner on death row. Who could be against that?Well, consider those who now accuse Congress and the president of interfering in Michael Schiavo's effort to end his wife's life. Congress acted nobly, with both Republicans and Democrats cooperating to offer Terri another chance. President Bush was upholding our most cherished national principles when he signed the bill into law early on Monday morning.Now, humanly speaking, Terri's future is in the hands of the federal courts. Let's pray that Terri will not be starved to death and that the sanctity of human life will be honored and protected.
Terri's Condemnation
As options become more and more limited Terri is now into her 5th day without food and water. I hear experts debate both sides and wonder if a single one of them really know what they are talking about. No one has ever had a brain injury like hers and been able to tell us about it. No one has ever starved to death and been able to report back if it was painful or not.
This whole thing has nothing to do with Terri's wishes. If she is truly in a "persistent vegetative state" then she no long has any wishes or desires. Yet the natural human body desires sustenance in food and water. Those wishes are ignored.
Can you begin to comprehend we live in world that places little to no value on human life? It makes me ill to know any one of us would be allowed to discard another person when they are no longer of value to us.
I do not think it is by accident that this is all playing out on the world stage during Holy Week. The Vatican has defended Terri. The President has defended Terri. The faithful have defended Terri. Yet polls say most are in favor of letting Terri die. The other side of that poll is most are opposed to what Christians support. Would these have been the same people who shouted "crucify him" as they condemned an innocent Jesus to death? Remember, the "experts" of the day thought they knew best. They believed they were doing the right thing. It was only after the death of Jesus did they discover their grave fault.
I'm not saying Terri's death is the same as Christ dying. But there are some parallels that show we have not improved much in 2000 years. I will continue to pray and fight knowing full well Terri may die. I wash my hands and pray for the souls of those who have condemned this innocent woman to a tragic death.
This whole thing has nothing to do with Terri's wishes. If she is truly in a "persistent vegetative state" then she no long has any wishes or desires. Yet the natural human body desires sustenance in food and water. Those wishes are ignored.
Can you begin to comprehend we live in world that places little to no value on human life? It makes me ill to know any one of us would be allowed to discard another person when they are no longer of value to us.
I do not think it is by accident that this is all playing out on the world stage during Holy Week. The Vatican has defended Terri. The President has defended Terri. The faithful have defended Terri. Yet polls say most are in favor of letting Terri die. The other side of that poll is most are opposed to what Christians support. Would these have been the same people who shouted "crucify him" as they condemned an innocent Jesus to death? Remember, the "experts" of the day thought they knew best. They believed they were doing the right thing. It was only after the death of Jesus did they discover their grave fault.
I'm not saying Terri's death is the same as Christ dying. But there are some parallels that show we have not improved much in 2000 years. I will continue to pray and fight knowing full well Terri may die. I wash my hands and pray for the souls of those who have condemned this innocent woman to a tragic death.
Fading Quickly - Terri Schiavo
Warning that Terri Schiavo is "fading quickly," her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.
David Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the 41-year-old woman might die before they get a chance to fully argue their case that her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.
AP
David Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the 41-year-old woman might die before they get a chance to fully argue their case that her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.
AP
Illegal Compassion - Worker Arrested
St. Francis Catholic worker Lana Jacobs was arrested by Pinellas Park, Florida police officers and was handcuffed by Pinellas Park Sheriff deputies for trespassing. Jacobs tried to take a bottle of water into the Woodside Hospice for Terri Schiavo in Pinellas Park, Florida. Schiavo, who resides at the Hospice had her feeding tube removed Friday, March 18, 2005 by a court order.
Caused to Die - Terri Schiavo
Thanks to Dory for this post:
No one has suggested that Terri should be "allowed to die" because she is dying anyway. What is being suggested is that she should be caused to die because her life is not worth living. "I wouldn't want to live that way," people are fond of saying. Well, thanks for sharing, but that's not really the point, is it? What if I decided that I wouldn't want to live as a diabetic with all the challenges that disease presents. Does that then justify me killing a diabetic child or spouse? Dare I argue that to suggest otherwise is to interfere with "a personal family decision?"
Terri Schiavo is a very disabled woman. As much as we wish to accurately reflect her condition and refute those who make it out to be worse than it seems to be, we must still acknowledge that hers is a life that many people might not want to live. As with many of life's trials we often think we could not endure them, until God thrusts them upon us and also gives the strength and endurance we need. I probably said or would have said at one time that I would rather die than to endure the death of one of my children. Yet two of my children are dead and I endure and live and thrive with a strength that is not my own, but God's.
Terri's situation is important, not only because of her precious life, but also because her case takes our country a step over an important line. That is the line between avoiding fruitless efforts to save a dying person and withdrawing efforts to sustain a person who is not dying, on the basis of our assessment of his or her "quality of life." The truth is, many people are killed because someone decides their life would not be worth living. It happens to disabled newborn babies all the time. It happens to disabled children and adults. The difference in Terri's case is that it is happening in full public view.
No one has suggested that Terri should be "allowed to die" because she is dying anyway. What is being suggested is that she should be caused to die because her life is not worth living. "I wouldn't want to live that way," people are fond of saying. Well, thanks for sharing, but that's not really the point, is it? What if I decided that I wouldn't want to live as a diabetic with all the challenges that disease presents. Does that then justify me killing a diabetic child or spouse? Dare I argue that to suggest otherwise is to interfere with "a personal family decision?"
Terri Schiavo is a very disabled woman. As much as we wish to accurately reflect her condition and refute those who make it out to be worse than it seems to be, we must still acknowledge that hers is a life that many people might not want to live. As with many of life's trials we often think we could not endure them, until God thrusts them upon us and also gives the strength and endurance we need. I probably said or would have said at one time that I would rather die than to endure the death of one of my children. Yet two of my children are dead and I endure and live and thrive with a strength that is not my own, but God's.
Terri's situation is important, not only because of her precious life, but also because her case takes our country a step over an important line. That is the line between avoiding fruitless efforts to save a dying person and withdrawing efforts to sustain a person who is not dying, on the basis of our assessment of his or her "quality of life." The truth is, many people are killed because someone decides their life would not be worth living. It happens to disabled newborn babies all the time. It happens to disabled children and adults. The difference in Terri's case is that it is happening in full public view.
Commentary - "Death Without Dignity"
“Death Without Dignity”
By Darren Eliker
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore has refused to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube that was keeping Terri Schiavo alive. Rather than looking at the evidence, he as the other 19 state judges before him looked merely at the ruling originally made by Justice Greer. And with that decision, the outlook begins to appear bleak for the Schindler family.
A recent poll of Americans showed that six in ten adults believed that the tube should be removed and that Terri be allowed to die with dignity. But how would those same adults feel if they knew the facts of the case? Before Michael Schiavo is touted as demonstrating Million Dollar Baby heroism, lets review a couple of things.
First, define what is a persistent vegetative condition. Under Florida law, this state is defined as one who shows absolutely no voluntary interaction to outside influences. Terri Schiavo does not meet that standard. Over 30 neurologists, physicians, and nurses have testified by sworn affidavit that she is not in this state. The court-appointed doctor that is most quoted saying she is, is one who supports euthanasia.
Second, define life support. While ventilator machines and heart pumps qualify as life support, a feeding tube does not. If it did, every elderly person in every assisted living facility and nursing home across the country who depends on a feeding tube would be considered on life support. Should we remove theirs as well and save a few dollars? It should be pointed out that the Schindler family has been forbidden from providing any food by mouth and that she was capable of doing so as shown by one nurse’s testimony who had fed her by a spoon. Early before she was denied therapy she was also heard saying the words “Mom”, “Dad”, and “Help me.”
Thirdly, there is no will, living will, or any other extant document expressing Terri’s will. For the first time, hearsay will be the deciding factor in a court of law concerning the life and death of a human being. Is it not disturbing that we afford terrorists constitutional protections and violent criminals more latitude that our weakest and most vulnerable citizens??
Fourthly, the hearsay we are expected to believe is coming from Michael Schiavo, a man of hugely questionable character. Ask yourself, why would a supposedly loving husband suddenly remember his wife’s dying wish 7 years after her collapse and after he had been awarded a $2 Million settlement? And why after that settlement, did he immediately get engaged to his girlfriend? And why after that settlement did he immediately cease and forbid all rehabilitation for Terri? After all, the money he was awarded was legally supposed to be for her rehabilitation. Why was all but the remaining $50,000 used to pay attorneys to try to get her feeding tube pulled out over the last seven years? Does a loving husband do that?
Does a loving husband deny a family member from brushing Terri Schiavo’s teeth? Or from putting an ice-cube in her mouth? Or deny a nurse from putting a washcloth in her hand to prevent it from balling up into a fist? Or walk into a room and say, “When is this bitch going to die?”
The answer is no, a loving husband does not do such things. But a monster does. Why is Michael Schiavo so intent on killing Terri Schiavo instead of simply divorcing her, leaving her in the care of her family who loves her and wants to give her the therapy she’s been denied all these years? Why can’t he simply move on with his girlfriend and the two children he’s had by her? It’s the second girlfriend he’s had by the way, since Terri’s mysterious collapse in their home. The first left because she said she feared for her life. And that reminds me, what were all those broken bones Terri had when she was found? What does he have to hide?
And finally what about Judge Greer? Local Sheriff John McDougal knows something about him. He dealt with a case where a woman went to Greer pleading for protection from her husband who she claimed had raped and assaulted her, and burned her clothes. Greer refused the woman who was obviously terrified according to McDougal. Two weeks later, she was dead of stab wounds by her husband.
This case is not about death with dignity. It amounts to nothing more than state sponsored execution of a human life. And may God have mercy on our souls.
By Darren Eliker
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore has refused to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube that was keeping Terri Schiavo alive. Rather than looking at the evidence, he as the other 19 state judges before him looked merely at the ruling originally made by Justice Greer. And with that decision, the outlook begins to appear bleak for the Schindler family.
A recent poll of Americans showed that six in ten adults believed that the tube should be removed and that Terri be allowed to die with dignity. But how would those same adults feel if they knew the facts of the case? Before Michael Schiavo is touted as demonstrating Million Dollar Baby heroism, lets review a couple of things.
First, define what is a persistent vegetative condition. Under Florida law, this state is defined as one who shows absolutely no voluntary interaction to outside influences. Terri Schiavo does not meet that standard. Over 30 neurologists, physicians, and nurses have testified by sworn affidavit that she is not in this state. The court-appointed doctor that is most quoted saying she is, is one who supports euthanasia.
Second, define life support. While ventilator machines and heart pumps qualify as life support, a feeding tube does not. If it did, every elderly person in every assisted living facility and nursing home across the country who depends on a feeding tube would be considered on life support. Should we remove theirs as well and save a few dollars? It should be pointed out that the Schindler family has been forbidden from providing any food by mouth and that she was capable of doing so as shown by one nurse’s testimony who had fed her by a spoon. Early before she was denied therapy she was also heard saying the words “Mom”, “Dad”, and “Help me.”
Thirdly, there is no will, living will, or any other extant document expressing Terri’s will. For the first time, hearsay will be the deciding factor in a court of law concerning the life and death of a human being. Is it not disturbing that we afford terrorists constitutional protections and violent criminals more latitude that our weakest and most vulnerable citizens??
Fourthly, the hearsay we are expected to believe is coming from Michael Schiavo, a man of hugely questionable character. Ask yourself, why would a supposedly loving husband suddenly remember his wife’s dying wish 7 years after her collapse and after he had been awarded a $2 Million settlement? And why after that settlement, did he immediately get engaged to his girlfriend? And why after that settlement did he immediately cease and forbid all rehabilitation for Terri? After all, the money he was awarded was legally supposed to be for her rehabilitation. Why was all but the remaining $50,000 used to pay attorneys to try to get her feeding tube pulled out over the last seven years? Does a loving husband do that?
Does a loving husband deny a family member from brushing Terri Schiavo’s teeth? Or from putting an ice-cube in her mouth? Or deny a nurse from putting a washcloth in her hand to prevent it from balling up into a fist? Or walk into a room and say, “When is this bitch going to die?”
The answer is no, a loving husband does not do such things. But a monster does. Why is Michael Schiavo so intent on killing Terri Schiavo instead of simply divorcing her, leaving her in the care of her family who loves her and wants to give her the therapy she’s been denied all these years? Why can’t he simply move on with his girlfriend and the two children he’s had by her? It’s the second girlfriend he’s had by the way, since Terri’s mysterious collapse in their home. The first left because she said she feared for her life. And that reminds me, what were all those broken bones Terri had when she was found? What does he have to hide?
And finally what about Judge Greer? Local Sheriff John McDougal knows something about him. He dealt with a case where a woman went to Greer pleading for protection from her husband who she claimed had raped and assaulted her, and burned her clothes. Greer refused the woman who was obviously terrified according to McDougal. Two weeks later, she was dead of stab wounds by her husband.
This case is not about death with dignity. It amounts to nothing more than state sponsored execution of a human life. And may God have mercy on our souls.
I Could Have Had A V-8
The Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama is testing a device intended for the space station. It recycles astronauts' sweat, respiration and even urine into drinking water purer than any found in a tap.
Next month, Nevada-based investment firm Crestridge plans to break ground on the first manufacturing plant for the Earth-based water processing devices. By September, it hopes to send truck and trailer-mounted units to Iraq and larger ones to southeast Asia.
Ahhhh, No thanks.
Next month, Nevada-based investment firm Crestridge plans to break ground on the first manufacturing plant for the Earth-based water processing devices. By September, it hopes to send truck and trailer-mounted units to Iraq and larger ones to southeast Asia.
Ahhhh, No thanks.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR TERRI
The battle is not over. Yet a poor woman continues to STARVE to Death. This case goes beyond one women. It forces all of us to ask some tough questions. Who has the right to determine when life is no long of value? The way we treat each other in a time of need says an awful lot about who we really are. We will continue to keep you updated.
The Sins Of A Church
The IRS has notified a Liberty City, Flordia church that it is under investigation for possibly engaging in political activity -- putting its tax-exempt status into question.
The probe is related to an appearance last October by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and several black leaders, including U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The reason for the investigation, an IRS official wrote is that ``a reasonable belief exists that Friendship Missionary Baptist Church has engaged in political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status as a church.''
Rev. Gaston Smith took a break from the revelry and worship of Palm Sunday services to inform the congregation about the inquiry. He said visits by political candidates are nothing new, and that the 75-year-old church did not violate U.S. tax code, as suggested in the letter. He has hired former U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis to defend the church in the inquiry.
The inquiry raises serious questions about whether the church can keep its tax-exempt status. If it fails, members and contributors could not deduct tithes and other gifts, upon which churches heavily rely to operate.
Federal tax law prohibits churches from participating in political campaigns. Beyond the legal questions, the inquiry is likely to energize the debate raised last fall about the role of churches during national elections. Watchdog groups complained to the IRS shortly after Kerry's visit.
Full Story
The probe is related to an appearance last October by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and several black leaders, including U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The reason for the investigation, an IRS official wrote is that ``a reasonable belief exists that Friendship Missionary Baptist Church has engaged in political activities that could jeopardize its tax-exempt status as a church.''
Rev. Gaston Smith took a break from the revelry and worship of Palm Sunday services to inform the congregation about the inquiry. He said visits by political candidates are nothing new, and that the 75-year-old church did not violate U.S. tax code, as suggested in the letter. He has hired former U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis to defend the church in the inquiry.
The inquiry raises serious questions about whether the church can keep its tax-exempt status. If it fails, members and contributors could not deduct tithes and other gifts, upon which churches heavily rely to operate.
Federal tax law prohibits churches from participating in political campaigns. Beyond the legal questions, the inquiry is likely to energize the debate raised last fall about the role of churches during national elections. Watchdog groups complained to the IRS shortly after Kerry's visit.
Full Story
"Judicial Homicide" - A Father's Words
"Our family has asked Randall Terry and his staff to once again coordinate the efforts to rescue Terri from the clutches of death by judicial homicide. We ask you to help my daughter, Terri, by following Randall's lead, and cooperating with and supporting the efforts we have asked him to undertake. We thank you with all our hearts for your concern for our daughter, and for your help in trying to save her."
-- Bob Schindler, Father of Terri Schiavo
UPDATE: A federal judge is reviewing whether to impose an emergency injunction to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and has called a 3 p.m. EST hearing into the matter.
The parents of Terri Schiavo asked a judge to reinsert the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube Monday, following an extraordinary political fight that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the president to rush back to the White House.
An attorney for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, arrived at federal district court in Tampa and filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed.
The Vatican newspaper on Monday criticized the removal of a feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman, saying nobody can claim the right to decide whether a human being lives or dies.
-- Bob Schindler, Father of Terri Schiavo
UPDATE: A federal judge is reviewing whether to impose an emergency injunction to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and has called a 3 p.m. EST hearing into the matter.
The parents of Terri Schiavo asked a judge to reinsert the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube Monday, following an extraordinary political fight that consumed both chambers of Congress and prompted the president to rush back to the White House.
An attorney for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, arrived at federal district court in Tampa and filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed.
The Vatican newspaper on Monday criticized the removal of a feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman, saying nobody can claim the right to decide whether a human being lives or dies.
Terri's Watch : UPDATE
HER TUBE HAS BEEN REMOVED
Execution for no crime has just been approved in America. Scott Peterson gets 3 meals a day, room & board, health care, cable tv, etc. In the end he will get a cotton swab and a needle assuming he is ever executed. Terri gets to STARVE to death while all of us stand by and watch. This is a sick twisted nation where freedom and protection no longer exsist. We are all on life support and spritually starving right along with Terri.
The presiding judge in the case of Terri Schiavo ruled Friday that the feeding tube keeping the brain-damaged woman alive must be removed despite efforts by congressional Republicans to block the move by seeking her appearance at hearings.
Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer refused a request from U.S. House attorneys to delay the removal, which he had previously ordered to take place at 1 p.m. EST. Greer determined that it should go forward about an hour after another judge issued a temporary delay blocking the tube's removal.
Pinellas Circuit Court Chief Judge David Demers had earlier ordered that the feeding tube remain in place past the 1 p.m. deadline while Greer dealt with conflicting legal issues
The House Committee on Government Reform plans to issue a subpoena that will stop the removal of the feeding tube. The White House issued a statement from President Bush in which he said: “It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected - and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities.” This morning, ABC News highlighted a story sympathetic to Michael Schiavo.
Today is the deadline for Terri. There is so much happening with this case it is hard to keep up. We will keep you informed of all developments right here on PowerBlog!
The Senate Health Committee has requested that Terri Schiavo and her husband, Michael, appear at an official committee hearing on March 28. Earlier Friday, a House committee was issuing congressional subpoenas to stop doctors from disconnecting the tube.
U.S. marshals were planning to serve subpoenas at Terri Schiavo's hospice on Friday.
Terri Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, went into the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park at about 9:30 a.m. to visit his daughter. Outside, about three dozen people prayed and wept.
At the White House, President Bush left little doubt where he stands, saying, "those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern." His brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, long has supported the parents' efforts and urged lawmakers to act before it was too late.
Execution for no crime has just been approved in America. Scott Peterson gets 3 meals a day, room & board, health care, cable tv, etc. In the end he will get a cotton swab and a needle assuming he is ever executed. Terri gets to STARVE to death while all of us stand by and watch. This is a sick twisted nation where freedom and protection no longer exsist. We are all on life support and spritually starving right along with Terri.
The presiding judge in the case of Terri Schiavo ruled Friday that the feeding tube keeping the brain-damaged woman alive must be removed despite efforts by congressional Republicans to block the move by seeking her appearance at hearings.
Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer refused a request from U.S. House attorneys to delay the removal, which he had previously ordered to take place at 1 p.m. EST. Greer determined that it should go forward about an hour after another judge issued a temporary delay blocking the tube's removal.
Pinellas Circuit Court Chief Judge David Demers had earlier ordered that the feeding tube remain in place past the 1 p.m. deadline while Greer dealt with conflicting legal issues
The House Committee on Government Reform plans to issue a subpoena that will stop the removal of the feeding tube. The White House issued a statement from President Bush in which he said: “It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected - and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities.” This morning, ABC News highlighted a story sympathetic to Michael Schiavo.
Today is the deadline for Terri. There is so much happening with this case it is hard to keep up. We will keep you informed of all developments right here on PowerBlog!
The Senate Health Committee has requested that Terri Schiavo and her husband, Michael, appear at an official committee hearing on March 28. Earlier Friday, a House committee was issuing congressional subpoenas to stop doctors from disconnecting the tube.
U.S. marshals were planning to serve subpoenas at Terri Schiavo's hospice on Friday.
Terri Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, went into the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park at about 9:30 a.m. to visit his daughter. Outside, about three dozen people prayed and wept.
At the White House, President Bush left little doubt where he stands, saying, "those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern." His brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, long has supported the parents' efforts and urged lawmakers to act before it was too late.
No Longer Welcome: Indonesia ousts Christian groups
Christian groups and some other private relief agencies are being asked to halt their work in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh and leave the area by March 26, Indonesia's defense minister said yesterday. The decision likely will target Western and smaller church groups as the government moves to tighten control over reconstruction work in Aceh, the home of a decades-old separatist insurgency. The relief organizations are being asked to leave Aceh by March 26 unless Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab decides they can stay. One of the conditions for continuing work will be registering with the U.N. Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Catholic Relief Services, part of the private relief effort that plays a large and vital reconstruction role in the region, said it had not been asked to leave Aceh.
Full Story
Full Story
The Purpose Driven Lie
No I did not mispell the above title. Everyone is going "ga ga" over this book. I am not impressed by it. The are some serious gaps in the book and you would be much better finding the original ideas in the Bible. We talked about this on the program and for once Marty and I agreed on something. We both have some serious concerns about this popular book. If you want to some in depth reading about Rick Warren and his book I suggest you go here.
If you have read the book, give me your thoughts. If not, I suggest you read the Bible instead!
If you have read the book, give me your thoughts. If not, I suggest you read the Bible instead!
Gas Pains
So gas prices break a record, and nobody seems to care. I filled up today and paid something involving a second mortgage, several gold ingots, and a healthy internal organ of your choice! Every time I've filled up lately, I've winced as the pump meter flew past my previous all-time high- every fill-up is a personal record, and forty bucks a tank is no longer a surprise. Yet people are still driving just like always, and they're paying up, and according to the paper they're philosophical about it. Gotta have the SUV. Can't help it, they say, can't worry about it, it's just the cost of living. Some of the people they interviewed didn't even notice the price until the reporter pointed it out. The public seems to just be ignoring the problem, even though this price rise is being caused not by a fuel shortage or war or anything like that. No, it's because speculators and nervous investors are running up the price of crude while OPEC dithers on production increases. Isn't that enough to get people riled up? Shouldn't they be stampeding to the commodities markets looking for the varmints what bid up them oil prices? Shouldn't we be talking about this on the air, since you don't get much more of an eye-level topic than the rising cost of something we all use and need? Maybe it's because we can't do anything about gas prices, but we can't really do much about anything else, either, and it doesn't stop us from talking about it.
Schiavo Drama
Former Green Beret Commander Bo Gritz is trying to conduct a citizen's arrest of Terri Schiavo's husband and the judge who ordered the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube removed so she can be legally starved.
The 66-year-old retired Army Lt. Colonel with his wife, Judy, arrived in Florida from their home in Nevada yesterday with the intent of arresting anyone involved in removing the life-sustaining tube.
Gritz came bearing a notarized "citizen's arrest warrant" addressed to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist.
His intent is to "paper" state and federal law enforcement offices with his warrant today – one day before Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer's deadline to begin denial of food and water to Terri Schiavo.
Gritz says the "arrest" is designed to allow officials additional options as the Florida governor and legislature maneuver to save the woman from starvation.
Gritz says he successfully used the arrest-tool against federal law enforcement in August 1992 when he intervened in the so-called Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho and brought what was left of Randy Weaver's family down the hill without further bloodshed.
Citing his officer's oath of allegiance to "defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic," Gritz says while he doesn't know Terri Schiavo personally, she nevertheless represents an American in danger of citizen-rights abuse, and he feels an obligation to act while she remains alive. Full Story
The 66-year-old retired Army Lt. Colonel with his wife, Judy, arrived in Florida from their home in Nevada yesterday with the intent of arresting anyone involved in removing the life-sustaining tube.
Gritz came bearing a notarized "citizen's arrest warrant" addressed to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist.
His intent is to "paper" state and federal law enforcement offices with his warrant today – one day before Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer's deadline to begin denial of food and water to Terri Schiavo.
Gritz says the "arrest" is designed to allow officials additional options as the Florida governor and legislature maneuver to save the woman from starvation.
Gritz says he successfully used the arrest-tool against federal law enforcement in August 1992 when he intervened in the so-called Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho and brought what was left of Randy Weaver's family down the hill without further bloodshed.
Citing his officer's oath of allegiance to "defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic," Gritz says while he doesn't know Terri Schiavo personally, she nevertheless represents an American in danger of citizen-rights abuse, and he feels an obligation to act while she remains alive. Full Story
Moratorium responds to crisis on gay prelate
Episcopal bishops have imposed a one-year ban on approving new bishops, saying ''extraordinary action" was needed to ease the crisis in world Anglicanism after the Diocese of New Hampshire elected an openly gay priest as its leader.
During a six-day retreat outside Houston, the bishops also promised not to authorize public rites for blessing same-sex couples for at least a year. The wording of the pledge left open the possibility that individual clergy could hold such ceremonies in private.
Episcopal leaders are striving to repair badly frayed ties with Anglican leaders over the November 2003 consecration of ("Rev." Deleted by editor) V. Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire, who lives with his longtime male partner. The Episcopal Church is the US province of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.
Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, head of the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, said in an interview yesterday that church leaders approved the broader moratorium on new bishops because they did not want ''our gay brothers and lesbian sisters demeaned."
Susan Russell ("Rev." Deleted by editor) , president of Integrity, an advocacy group for gay Episcopalians, said it was ''hugely positive" that the moratorium applied to all candidates for bishop, not just gays. Still, she said the actions of church leaders sent a mixed signal to gays and lesbians that ''the Episcopal Church welcomes you, sort of."
During a six-day retreat outside Houston, the bishops also promised not to authorize public rites for blessing same-sex couples for at least a year. The wording of the pledge left open the possibility that individual clergy could hold such ceremonies in private.
Episcopal leaders are striving to repair badly frayed ties with Anglican leaders over the November 2003 consecration of ("Rev." Deleted by editor) V. Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire, who lives with his longtime male partner. The Episcopal Church is the US province of the 77-million-member Anglican Communion.
Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, head of the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, said in an interview yesterday that church leaders approved the broader moratorium on new bishops because they did not want ''our gay brothers and lesbian sisters demeaned."
Susan Russell ("Rev." Deleted by editor) , president of Integrity, an advocacy group for gay Episcopalians, said it was ''hugely positive" that the moratorium applied to all candidates for bishop, not just gays. Still, she said the actions of church leaders sent a mixed signal to gays and lesbians that ''the Episcopal Church welcomes you, sort of."
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