Thursday, March 31, 2005

Terri has joined the angels.... Fly Terri Fly Free...

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Terri Schindler-Schiavo has died....

December 3, 1963 ~ March 31,2005

It is a sad day for this country....
When justice turned it's back on one of it's own....

May God send his love and mercy to her family.....

Fly Free Terri.....Fly With the Angels

WE will NEVER forget you....

Justice for Terri....

Prolifephobia....Using Pro-Life for a Sinister Agenda

If you are honest with yourself.... and I hope you are... when you hear the "experts" speak about Terri Schiavo... I hope you are perceptive enough to realize.... that at every turn of the road... Team Schiavo's.... main cronies beside "Judge" Greer.... attorney George Felos.... and Dr. Humane Death Cranford.... at every opportunity the warn us about "those people".... those Right to Life Doctors.... those Right to Life Fanatics.... while masking what this blogger can only characterize as their support for state assisted euthanasia.... yet....... they SCARE and polarize you with the words..... Right To Life.... and they are effective..... and that the can do this so easily is very scary too. It's a panic response to something we fear.... to lose the right to make a decision for ourselves.
Let's talk about fanatics here.... the Right to Life "supporters" .... are the "fanatics" we as a nation are most familiar with.... we see them on the 6:00 news..... protesting at abortion clinics.... seeming to harass those who are seeking the services there.... many women have complained that they have been accosted going in for services totally unrelated to an abortion.... but were not spared the rhetoric.... and then.... you have the radicals...... that resort to violence... and violence can never be condoned.... no matter how great the belief in the good... the Right to Life issue is about control.... Who has the right to control when a woman finds herself pregnant.... if she is forced to give life..... or not....

But do we let our fear of groups that we see as a personal threat to our liberties.... Cloud our ability to ferret out threats that we have not yet considered. Now.... I will confess something to you at this point... I really didn't listen to the sound bites on the other side in this case.... I had read for myself trial transcripts, affidavits, and any thing else I could find that shed light as to the FACTS in this case... and had, to the best of my own ability looked up and investigated the major points of this case..... and had reached my own conclusion as to what had transpired..... In doing so I felt I had eliminated the need to pain myself with hearing Mr.Schiavo, Mr. Felos, Dr. Cranford, and others in their camp expounding their opinions and passing these predisposed musings off as FACT. I have to say.... I learned a valuable lesson.... never ever not listen to the opposing side.... don't tune them out... listen VERY carefully..... even if it breaks your heart and offends every sensibility you ever thought of having.... why.... because... you may see or hear something that clarifies what you have suspected all along.... The last people I have wanted to see on the news in the last two weeks admittedly were the principles in this death march.... somehow it just cut me to the quick to hear them spouting theories as fact all the while discrediting any doctor whose opinion differed from theirs.... and whom I am sure are not as quackadasical as they would have us to believe given their credentials. This is where my revelation happened.... I started to notice that when the dissenting Physician was making ground and communicating with authority their opinion of the diagnosis, they were attacked as a Right to Lifers.... when all attempts to discount their findings failed....

To put it bluntly.... they were discredited by a label.... and not a diagnosis. Transcripts are available widely on the web.... and if you doubt my assertions.... I invite you to check it out for yourself.

Although many people would agree the idea of women terminating their pregnancies isn't exactly something they want to address..... honest people would admit it's not their idea of birth-control.... and that perhaps there are times when it is warranted and in this vein.... you prefer to keep the option. What frightens you is the Pro-Life movement which in your mind seeks to accomplish two things.... first... to take away what you see as a choice (if that is your belief) and secondly..... to enforce a faith based belief on you that you do not embrace. Fair enough.... seeing people essentially saying the same thing but in forums that include picket signs makes the less committed of us squeamish.... and our first reaction is to balk. The hair on the back of our necks goes up the pulse quickens.... and respiration increases.... propelling us into the amphibological zone.... where fear forces us to concentrate on our fear and not on the validity of the information we are being told. I will offer you some examples....

In response to a question from Dan Abrams... On the reliability of Dr. Cheshire of the Mayo Clinic.... who could not fully examine Terri because of Judge Greer's orders.... but who attempted to evaluate her as correctly as he could.

CRANFORD:He did an interview with her for 90 minutes, observing her. He never viewed her CT scans. He makes no mention of her EEG, so while he's a reputable neurologist, perhaps, at the Mayo Clinic, his report means absolutely nothing. It's a desperation, last minute move by the governor who just doesn't know what else to do, so he brings in a Christian fundamentalist neurologist. It's just not true.

Dr Chesire observed Terri for 90 minutes... Dr. Cranford for 45.......

CRANFORD: I think 42 minutes, but 45 is fine, sure. ( I stand corrected!)

Cranford doesn't mince words. He's called some doctors who disagree with him "pro-life fanatics," and others quacks and charlatans.

Dr Cranford said, dismissing claims to the contrary as..... "pure, outright quackery and fraud".

"As a neurologist, if you said you needed an MRI after seeing that Cat, people would say you were nuts. Judge Greer was impressed by the Cat scan and accepted it as overwhelming visual imagery that she's got hardly any brain left.

"There is no test that will satisfy the other side in this case, because they don't listen to reason. After an MRI, it would just be something else."

For your reading pleasure.....
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5321661.html
http://mediamatters.org/items/200503290005
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1556/5319583.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/27/wschi127.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/03/27/ixnewstop.html

For the sake of space.... I will trust that if you don't take my word on it.... you WILL google. Also.... this blogger has heard chatter that there MAY be a connection to the court-appointed physician and Judge Greer...... I'll keep you posted....

Now.... let's move on to the Legal Community... On Saturday.... yours truly tried to inform the powers that be in the media.... that the lawyer for Michael Schiavo.... had a bit of a problem.... he seems to be delusional..... others have been kind....... I call it as I see it.... he is a loony.... One look into the mind of this licentious litigator.... and I guarantee you will be demanding the passenger list before you board that airplane to go off for business or pleasure..... Why you ask??? Because if you see the name George Felos..... wait for a later flight.... It seems Mr. Felos can THINK that plane right out of the sky..... it's already chronicled in his book.... "Litigation as Spiritual Practice" For quotes from his book http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/1782.article

The point of this article is NOT to elucidate the feebleness of foibles of Mr. Felos... but rather to explain that he.... like the "good" doctor has perpetrated the same thing.... He speaks with a dispassionate authority.... unless he is describing the starvation death of Terri Schiavo... He constantly talks about the right........ and the Right to Lifers....

George Felos, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, argued in federal court: "Yes, life is sacred. So is liberty, particularly in this country."

"This case has a lot more to do with the fear of death than the sanctity of life," he said of the Schiavo case.

"The most challenging aspect of this case, from a spiritual point of view, has been dealing with these forces of such hatred and negativity," Felos said in a July 2004 interview with The Associated Press.

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, glamorizing Terri Schiavo's death, saying she looks "beautiful" and is "resting comfortably."

Felos said he touched her on the cheek Monday, an action that caused her to open her eyes.

He called that "an involuntary reaction," again disputing more vivid accounts of physical responses relayed by Schiavo's parents.

"There's no cognitive reaction of Mrs. Schiavo," Felos said. "To someone who wants to believe there's something there, it's understandable."

He pulls out those catch words.......liberty....... religious extremism..... radical right.... government intrusion.... Right to Lifers....... and well pretty much....... BALK.... you don't hear anything else.... it's about you... it's no longer about if there is enough proof to say a woman in Florida told her husband she ACTUALLY wanted would prefer to die by starvation.... or if your prejudices and fears have kept you from seeing the truth........ I suggest..... if you feel you've been duped...... by the use of your "catch phrases" write your congress person and senators.... After all.... Death does not scare George Felos or Dr. Cranford.... but Death Sure Doesn't Become Terri Schiavo any more then it will become you......

Some information comes from.....

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/11256338.htm
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brain-damaged-woman-felos,0,3036873.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Murder in Florida

There is a murder being perpetrated in Florida.... it is not taking place by some enraged citizen who can't control their temper in the confines of their personal space.... It's not happening in a dark alley by one of the "citizens" we most fear... the ones that prey upon us and those we love.... It is not being perpetrated by some looming hit man waiting to strike... This murder is taking place right before our eyes.... There is media coverage some would say 24/7 but I would not.... personally I never considered re-runs up to the minute reports.... We by virtue of telecommunications and information technology have become uninvited witnesses to a lynching.... err.... make that a starving. Mercifully we are spared the horror the family must face... but never the less.... it touches most of us in the same way we felt when we stood by helplessly and watched the Towers fall.... It is in your face human drama.... Reality to the nth degree.... and I am sure most of us are grateful for our remote control.... Unlike the family trapped in the drama.... we can escape.

Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men (women & children) to do nothing.’


.... and that is a FACT.

Most of us put ourselves in that category.... that we are good decent people.... yet sometimes we do let evil triumph.... by our inaction.... It's not always done with purpose or intent... sometimes we do it out of fear..... or convenience..... sometimes by allowing ourselves to be misinformed. And other times we simply do not care enough....

Let's talk about Terri Schiavo and what she wanted....
Do you know what she wanted??? Do I know what she wanted???


Does anyone????

A judge is Florida has said HE does.... and at least 20+ of his peer group have backed him up.... but he went on the questionable facts presented.... brought to light with an uncertain degree of "clarity" some 7 -8 years after they were "heard". HEARSAY they call it.... it's when the person who said it isn't around to ask.... but someone purports that they heard them say it.... in most cases testimony like this is not allowed in a court of law.... when it does is.... it depends on the validity of the statement when it is allowed.... it's WEIGHT....... you couldn't convict someone with it for capital murder. Should we condemn someone to death under lesser standards??


Yet at this very moment.... Terri Schiavo is being put to death because of it.....

Go ahead and holler........ she doesn't want to be kept alive this way.... minimize her life by citing examples of her lack or brain function.... cite her lack of ability to enjoy a "reasonable" quality of life".... The idea for this blog came from people doing just that.... Life With Out Prejudice.... when I argued it ....was about Terri's wishes.... they asked why would she want to exist 'that' way.... They asked if 'I' would want to exist that way.... to which NO one could possibly say yes..... But if it happened.... I have left instructions to FEED me... and now I have even MORE witnesses.

Why then.... would I want that existence for Terri.... Let me make it clear..... I don't want that kind of existence for Terri.... but... it's the existence that Terri has.... it IS her life.... I will not devalue Terri by insisting that her life has no value. I am not clear on IF the burden of proof to the degree of certainty necessary has been met to say with certitude that Terri Schiavo wants to die.... at least now 15 years later....

Perhaps after she was revived close to 12 minutes after her heart stopped..... or when those unfortunate events that rendered her incapacitated had her tenuously hanging on to life by a thread on life saving machines..... if Terri's wish had been made known at that time.... and it was clear that years down the road..... that place we are now.... that she would be just the same.... that was the time to say goodbye to Terri.... but that was not the choice that was made.... Terri fought to live..... with what ever will existed in her being.... she struggled toward life. She has continued to struggle toward life.... having over come infections... and other problems associated with her condition. Terri has a life.... limited by our definition of life.... but life none the less... She could respond to her family.... She perhaps could have been helped more....She should have had years of therapy..... Her limbs should have been kept from getting so contracted.... The drapes to her room opened to allow sunlight.... Her wheelchair fixed so that she could enjoy a fresh Spring day.... a stroll in the park.... or a Holiday party with her fellow patients.... the door to her room open for the stray visitor to wander in.... Terri deserved make up .... and hairdos..... and pictures so her family could preserve her memory for future generations... and all the things that would have given her limited life a quality seemingly denied by court order. Like it or not modern medicine and God gave Terri back her life.... and both her husband and family agreed when they did..... you just can't change your mind down the road.... when it's not the life you wanted.

Differently-abled people understand this.... some come into this world never knowing they are challenged.... others through accident or illness lost functions they once enjoyed.... but they persevere..... they embrace the life they have.... they use what ever ability they have.... they over come odds.... they accept their limitations.... and strive to find ways around them.... They and Terri deserve to be the best that they can be.... with the life that they have been given.

LWOP!!!! What is LWOP????

For those legal junkies out there... like myself...
LWOP stands for Life With Out Parole...
The humane side if you will of the ultimate punishment...
The Death Penalty.....

In this case... the >P<>
......stands for PREJUDICE...
LIFE WITH OUT PREJUDICE....
For those who can not speak for themselves....
For those who will not speak for themselves....
and everybody in between....
Life With Out Prejudice....
What a concept!!!!....

Imagine.....
never encountering prejudice of ANY KIND!!!
No.... I am not delusional... I realize that each of
us has individual sensibilities... each of us has likes....
each of us has dislikes.... you might even say HATES...
but.... agree with me... because it IS a noble concept....
That is our purpose here...
To speak to the times that try our souls....

At all times seeking to be.......
Clear.....
Concise....
Candid....
and CORRECT....

The Facts DO matter....
and that is a fact!!!!