The Murder of Terri (Day 14): Grieve Today, Fight Tomorrow!

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

The tragic, as in tragically unnecessary, death of our beloved sister Terri stirs a sea of emotions in our hearts.

While righteous anger is definitely among them—lest our veins run with ice and not blood—today we are joined in profound sorrow with the grief that pierces the heart of Mary Schindler, as it pierced the heart of another Mary millenia ago. Indeed, our love and prayers are with each of the Schindlers in their inconsolable loss.

May Theresa Marie's courageous soul rest, at last, in peace!

And may we never rest in this world until her murderers are brought to justice and her brothers and sisters are protected from extermination by a Culture of Death that is the enemy of all that is decent and humane.

Death to the Culture of Death!

She Has Died At the Hands of the Courts

She was killed because she was rejected as she was. The blame is clear. This unjustified, intentional killing of an innocent disabled person is directly due to the courts involved. They have innocent blood on their hands. That is the truth no one can seriously deny.

As I have said before, the courts are the real losers here. Let's see legislation to remedy the judicial tyranny we have seen heartlessly and cruelly carried out before our eyes. Never again. According to MSNBC, the Vatican is calling it murder, as I write this.

The Real Terri Should Be Loved

The issues and debates swirl. They seem to focus on one question: is Terri Schiavo aware of anything? Is she conscious?

What we do know with certainty is that she is alive. She is dying not because of cancer or some other illness but rather because food and water have been cut off. She has been a "problem" precisely because she would not die. She has now stubbornly survived her cruel, unnecessary starvation for more days than the Culture of Death crowd, including such media giants as the N.Y. Times, would have liked. Her organs were functioning fine before her execution began.

We also know that she made sounds and certainly appeared to respond to the love of her parents. Yesterday, I saw two videos on the cable news. One video showed Terri responding to the loving demeanor of her mother. The other video showed a much less responsive Terri being subjected to the confusing and harsh sounding instructions of her legal spouse accompanied by a physician.

It reminded me of a story I read years ago about a woman who dedicated herself to helping disabled children. As I recall it, she recounted how once she came across an apparently nonresponsive, autistic child at a hospital with her family. This woman took the time to caress the child's head in a loving manner. The child responded with delight. You get what you sow. Affection elicits affection. We cannot know for certain, as a physician finally reminded us last night on one of the cable channels, how aware Terri is. But we do know that she certainly did engage in responsive behavior. It is no surprise that she responded to affection.

We do not know with certainty how aware she is. No doctor or neurologist, in spite of a falsely authoritative, unscientific, and nonempirical manner of speaking, knows for certain one way or another. There is real, genuine doubt. So what do we do?

Love--or to use the more precise Greek word agape--bears all things and endures all things, as St. Paul told us. Love is patient and kind. Agape is the appropriate response to a person. Agape is mercy. Agape resolves all doubts in favor of the person being loved. Agape does not cut off food and water.

But isn't agape merely an emotional and non-rational response? Not at all. Reason includes our emotions. There is even a popular book entitled Emotional Intelligence. Our reason is a recognition of reality that uses all of our resources as persons: emotion, intuition, and logic. Everything we have learned from thousands of years of civilization says that agape is the appropriate rational response to the weak, the vulnerable, the disabled.

In contrast, there is no reason at all to cut off the life of Terri Schiavo. If her executioners are right, then she has no awareness or no pain. So why kill her? They wish to kill her because she makes them uncomfortable. They view her existence as ugly and inconvenient. They refuse to see her as she is now and accept her as she is now.

The spouse claims to base everything on the wishes of a Terri in her early twenties. But the Terri we have now is 41. She is very different. But she is the only Terri we really have. The spouse is killing the real Terri for a Terri that is only a memory. Now, that is irrational: to kill what is real because of what is no longer real. If reason is being in tune with reality, then the spouse and his allies are being irrational.

This killing is not being done for Terri. It is being carried out because the living have rejected her as she really is now. Where is the rationality in that? Where is the agape? Where is the mercy? Where is the compassion? They are missing in action.

The Murder of Terri (Day 13): Left & Right, Unite and Fight!

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

At CURE we often say that there is Democrat euthanasia and there is Republican euthanasia. The liberals will murder you in the name of false compassion, while the conservatives will murder you in order to balance the budget. The problem is you are just as dead in either instance.

As the Supreme Court turns its back on Terri Schindler-Schiavo for the sixth(and final) time and godly men bearing water for a defenseless woman dying of thirst are brutalized for their corporal works of mercy, evil triumphant descends on Terri and America.

And yet amidst the enveloping darkness, a flickering candle of human decency casts a ray of hope for a brighter day, however faintly.

That light arises from the coming together of concerned citizens, across political lines, to support Terri Schindler-Schiavo's right not to be murdered merely because she has a disability.

In the pages of today's Kansas City Star, John Kennedy reports from Tallahassee, FL, on the latest example of this rare people-above-politics collaboration:

The emotional drama of Terri Schiavo's final days sparked another extraordinary event Wednesday, as two bitter political rivals, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Gov. Jeb Bush, huddled behind closed doors feverishly looking for ways to keep her alive.

Yesterday, in Pinellas Park, FL, Rev. Jackson stood side by side with Randall Terry outside the Woodside hospice to to demand justice for the woman imprisoned within. As Andrew Metz writes in Newsday, "the two men standing arm-in-arm...were an odd pairing even by these standards."

Here were the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Randall Terry, from opposite ends of the activist spectrum, generating energy from the supercurrent of the Terri Schiavo case. Though divided on issues and style, the liberal Democrat and the confrontational ultra-conservative highlighted how the debate over Schiavo's fate has roused convictions beyond the evangelicals who have been most outspoken.

"This is a moral issue, and it transcends politics and family disputes," the civil rights leader rightly declared, adding "Conservatives and liberals can find common ground."

We had better before the only common ground we share is the mass grave of the unwanted and powerless. Left and right, unite and fight for Terri!

Police Bar Daily Communion for Terri Schiavo

To further underline the outrageous and tyrannical nature of what we are witnessing, the Washington Post is reporting today that police stopped an elderly monsignor from giving Holy Communion to Terri Schiavo, even though, as the monsignor noted, she has the right to receive the Eucharist daily.

Why do they now even infringe her fundamental human right of religious freedom? Because the state court judge has dictated how often Terri Schiavo can receive the Eucharist. According to this judge, Terri has received her last communion. Rub your eyes as you read the article and wonder what country you are in. There is one word that covers all that we are seeing: merciless.

"A Date Which Will Live in Infamy"

The day Theresa Schiavo dies from judicially imposed starvation will be, as FDR famously said about Pearl Harbor, a "date which will live in infamy." It will be a date of judicial infamy. Even a columnist from the liberal Village Voice in New York is outraged and has called what we are witnessing "judicial murder" (see link). The attorney for Michael Schiavo speaks creepily about how "beautiful" the starving Terri Schiavo now looks--in fact, going so far as to note that she has never looked more beautiful. His strange remarks bespeak a morbid fascination with death. It will also be a day of infamy for the entire legal profession. Burly sheriff's deputies manhandle people, even children, trying to bring water to Theresa Schiavo and enforce the eerily efficient procedures and protocol surrounding this execution. It will be a day of infamy for these deputies also.

Mothers throughout the United States are crying about what is happening in Florida: not even a damp cloth, no ice chips to tend the parched lips, tongue, and mouth of Terri Schiavo as she expires. In the meantime, smugly merciless clerics go on television to make an unconvincing case that justifies this torture. St. Paul said it long ago. All the pretended insights of the scribes of this age are nothing without charity. And charity is mercy. Without mercy, the smug debaters of this age are nothing. It is prophetically appropriate that this Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday, given to us by the same Pope who prophetically predicted the evil we are now seeing.

Immigrants are stunned to see what they had never seen even in the most brutal dictatorships that they fled from to come to these shores: the court-ordered killing by starvation of an innocent, apolitical woman in the presence of her parents. Social liberals and social conservatives are making common cause because many people, in spite of political feuds, still have a moral intuition that this concrete spectacle is terribly wrong, heartless, cruel, and evil. When you see Jesse Jackson standing next to conservative activists, you know that the date Theresa Schiavo dies from starvation will not be forgotten.

So the date Theresa Schiavo dies from starvation will also be a date of infamy for the entire United States. We have inflicted on ourselves a domestic and merciless Pearl Harbor, a new 9/11. When enemies do it, we can rally in righteous indignation. But when we have done it to ourselves, we are in new territory. That new territory calls for radical repentance by judges, lawyers, merciless clerics, and all those who have assisted, intentionally or unintentionally, in staging this apogee of the Culture of Death. Evil is having its hour, but good will eventually triumph.

The Murder of Terri (Day 12): The Whole World Is Watching

. . . just watching, I'm afraid.

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

United Kingdom: A Political Stunt?

Christian activists flew to Washington last night to confront legislators about Terri Schiavo after the disabled woman was given her last rites.

Supporters made a final effort to save her by appealing to politicians on Capitol Hill to enforce a congressional subpoena which, they say, makes Mrs Schiavo, 41, a legally protected federal witness. Issued 11 days ago to prevent Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube from being withdrawn, the subpoena was rejected by Florida judge George Greer, triggering a political wrangle over the constitutional separation of powers in the US.

"Were the subpoenas a political stunt or do they plan to enforce them?" asked Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defence Coalition, at a rally outside the White House. —Jacqui Goddard, "Christians Rally at White House for Schiavo," The Times, March 29, 2005.

Australia: Schiavo Gives Water...to Protestors

Outside the hospice, more than 25 protesters staged an Easter Sunday service. Three were later arrested as they tried to enter the hospice. More than 30 activists, many carrying cups of water, have been arrested for trespass since last week.

A small group of protesters went to Mr Schiavo's home to lay symbolic dying roses on his lawn. Someone inside the house turned on the lawn sprinklers, drenching the demonstrators. –Richard Luscombe, "No RIP for Schiavo," The Age, March 29, 2005.

New Zealand: Rearguard Action

Supporters of Bob and Mary Schindler again appealed for federal or state intervention.

"This is about the soul of our nation, the soul of our church," said Michael McMonagle, spokesman for the Pro-Life Union of Southeastern Pennsylvania, as around two dozen protesters gathered in a park across from the White House.

Outside the hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, where Schiavo is being cared for [sic], the protesters were dismissive of Michael Schiavo's plans for an autopsy.

"It's a way to cover his behind," said Randall Terry, an anti-abortion activist speaking for the Schindlers. –"Schiavo to undergo autopsy to end debate says lawyer," The New Zealand Herald, March 29, 2005.

India: Terri Did Not Choose To Be Murdered

Fueled by deeply held religious beliefs and connected nationwide through a sophisticated political network using e-mail and telephone, conservative activists have convinced Congress and President Bush to intervene on behalf of Schiavo's parents.

Arrayed against such social conservatives are husband Michael Schiavo and liberal leaders, including Howard Simon, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Florida chapter.

"How can a small, well-organized group which is basically the anti-choice lobby capture the machinery of government so that theological extremists are shaping public policy? That's what's going on,'' Simon said. –"Battle over brain-damaged woman emerges as latest chapter in U.S. moral divide," The Hindu, March 30, 2005.

Pakistan: Needed—A Man of Courage

Terri Schiavo's parents appealed desperately to Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Monday to intervene as their brain-damaged daughter slipped toward death 10 days after her artificial feeding was halted by court order.

But the last-ditch effort by the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, seemed unlikely to succeed as Bush has already ruled out such action. Their appeal came after the Schindlers ran out of judicial options over the weekend in their bitter seven-year legal fight against Schiavo's husband to prolong her life.

"Bob and Mary Schindler are begging Governor Bush to step in and take custody of Terri," said [Brother] Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk who is a spiritual adviser to the parents.

"We're begging the governor to step in, to be a man of courage and to put an end to this barbaric practice that's taking place in Florida," he told reporters outside the Florida hospice. –"Schiavo's parents seek governor's intervention," Dawn, March 29, 2005.

Canada: Terri Hasn't Given Up—Nor Should We

"Everyone is willing to write this woman's obituary except one person and that's Terri Schiavo herself," said Paul O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk and a family spokesman.

Terri Schiavo smiled, raised her hands and made guttural sounds late Sunday while being visited by her father, Bob Schindler, and a friend, who was talking about how she liked to go out dancing, O'Donnell said outside Schiavo's hospice Monday. –Mark Long, "Schiavo's parents dealing with reality of daughter's imminent death: spokesman," Mark Long, Canadian Press, March 28, 2005.

Nat Hentoff: "Judicial Murder"

Via I. Shawn McElhinney of Rerum Novarum, Nat Hentoff weighs in on the murder of Terri Schiavo, calling it for what it is:

For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history.

She is not brain-dead or comatose, and breathes naturally on her own. Although brain-damaged, she is not in a persistent vegetative state, according to an increasing number of radiologists and neurologists.

Among many other violations of her due process rights, Terri Schiavo has never been allowed by the primary judge in her case -- Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, whose conclusions have been robotically upheld by all the courts above him -- to have her own lawyer represent her. . . . READ MORE

Terri Schiavo: Judicial Murder Village Voice March 29, 2005.

Net Hentoff, who was a friend and biographer of Cardinal John O'Connor, describes himself as a "Jewish, atheist, civil libertarian, left-wing pro-lifer" and is heralded by others as "the last honest liberal". As such, he is something of a curiousity on the usually militantly pro-abortion Village Voice. You can find a collection of his other articles here.

So much for the defense of Terri Schiavo being a sole manifestation of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Is Terry Schiavo a Person?

Is Terri Schiavo a person? -- Not if the intellectuals have anything to say about it. In "Human Non-Person" (National Review Online, March 29, 2005), Wesley J. Smith examines the "personhood theories" propogated in the halls of academica by so-called "bioethicists" like Peter Singer of Princeton U., and Tom Beauchamp of Georgetown University. The same line of thinking that motivates some to call for Terry's death leads these kind of professors to deny personhood to newborn infants as well as suffering victims of Alzheimer's.

Even worse, patients who are thus "cognitively impaired" are, in the minds of such intellectuals, prime candidates for organ-harvesting or human research subjects. The kind of talk that was once the inspiration for medical horror films, or the fevered speculations of Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian, are now, according to Smith, no longer on the fringe in bioethics:

Personhood theory would reduce some of us into killable and harvestable people. [Bioethics professor John] Harris wrote explicitly that killing human non-persons would be fine because "Non-persons or potential persons cannot be wronged" by being killed "because death does not deprive them of something they can value. If they cannot wish to live, they cannot have that wish frustrated by being killed."

And killing isn't the half of it. Some of the same bioethicists who have been telling us how right and moral it is to dehydrate Terri Schiavo have also urged that people like Terri -- that is, human non-persons -- be harvested or otherwise used as mere instrumentalities. Bioethicist big-wig Tom Beauchamp of Georgetown University has suggested that "because many humans lack properties of personhood or are less than full persons, they . . . might be aggressively used as human research subjects or sources of organs." . . .

If organ harvesting from the cognitively devastated were legal today -- thank goodness, it isn't -- Michael Schiavo would be the one, no doubt sanctioned by Judge Greer, who could consent to doctors' "stopping" Terri's heart and harvesting her organs. . . . there is a direct line from the Terri Schiavo dehydration to the potential for this stunning human strip-mining scenario's becoming a reality."

Mr. Smith is an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. He is the author most recently of Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World.

Disabilty Activist/Attorney Supports Terri

Here is a link to an op-ed article by Harriet McBryde Johnson, a prominent disability activist and attorney, who supports resuming the feeding of Terri Schiavo. By the way, as stated in a N.Y. Times Magazine article by this very same disability activist, she is an atheist. So much for the view that the campaign to support Terri is solely the creature of the so-called "Christian right."

The irony is that Ms. Johnson's position is closer to the authentic Catholic position than that of the infamous Rev. Richard McBrien of Notre Dame University who claimed on Fox News that a feeding tube is an "extraordinary" device that can be justifiably removed. McBrien's position, not surprisingly, contradicts that of the Pope--contradicting Rome has never been a problem for McBrien in spite of his misleading Roman collar. You can find the real Catholic teaching forbidding the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration in the Pope's 2004 speech and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (especially section 2279).

Here is the atheist Johnson agreeing with the genuine Catholic position: "Feeding Ms. Schiavo is not difficult, painful, or in any way heroic. Feeding tubes are a very simple piece of adaptive equipment, and the fact that Ms. Schiavo eats through a tube should have nothing to do with whether she should live or die" (see first link above). So reality and common sense dictate that a feeding tube is in no way an "extraordinary" measure. A feeding tube is part of the "ordinary care" of feeding someone who has difficulty swallowing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church at Section 2279 forbids interrupting such ordinary care. The Rev. McBrien is wrong again. But that is no surprise to those of us who have seen more of his writings than the average viewer who sees only his Roman collar in a brief appearance on Fox News.

A Pyrrhic Victory for the Judicial System

When your victory is really a terrible defeat, it is called a pyrrhic victory. The judicial system has asserted its raw authority to kill an innocent person by cruel starvation. It is a short-term victory that will consume the authority, prestige, and credibility of the judicial system. Even liberal stalwarts Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader are saying on the cable channels that what is happening is wrong. Jackson made clear that law must be mixed with mercy to really be just. Nader made clear that a spouse in open concubinage cannot remain as guardian and sees the Schiavo debacle as a license for widespread euthanasia. Even David Boies, the lead attorney for Al Gore during the 2000 election controversy, has said on cable T.V. that Terri Schiavo has not received due process and that he cannot understand why the federal court has failed to conduct a de novo review of the case, that is, a review of all the issues from scratch. From all sectors of the American political continuum, people are beginning to call evil evil.

Our court system has survived to this day because of the superior leadership it had in the past. The greatest chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was John Marshall (1755-1835). In the famous case of Marbury v. Madison (1803), Marshall was faced with a quandary. Marbury was seeking a writ forcing the politically hostile administration of Thomas Jefferson to give him his commission as a political office holder appointed by the prior presidential administration. If Marshall ordered Jefferson's secretary of state James Madison to hand over the commission to Marbury, Jefferson could merely ignore the court order and thereby diminish the authority of the Supreme Court.

So Marshall, showing a common sense shrewdness that has escaped the courts involved in the Schiavo case, decided to deny Marbury his commission but to do it in a way that cemented the authority of the court. Marshall cemented the court's authority by declaring invalid the congressional statute that gave the court jurisdiction over Marbury's case in the first place. So Marshall gave the short-term victory to his political opponents Jefferson and Madison by refusing to help Marbury get his commission, but gained the long-term victory for the court by establishing the principle that the Supreme Court could invalidate congressional acts. Marshall knew how to preserve and even expand authority and prestige for a court system (for more background, see Supreme Historical Society website).

Closer in time, we had the famous court-packing controversy of the 1930s in which FDR, frustrated with a Supreme Court that kept invalidating New Deal legislation, proposed legislation to add or "pack" the Supreme Court with additional justices to be appointed by FDR himself. There was a tremendous uproar, and the scheme failed. But, lo and behold, after this challenge to the Supreme Court's authority, the Supreme Court shrewdly began to uphold New Deal legislation. They learned from the controversy to listen to another branch of government (see Supreme Court Historical Society again for further background, but scroll down about 25 paragraphs).

The shrewdness of Marshall and of the 1930s Supreme Court is missing from the state and federal courts that have ruled in the Schiavo case. The result will be a pyrrhic victory that earlier judges had the wisdom to avoid. They are starving Theresa Schiavo. They are also starving the judicial system.

The Murder of Terri (Day 11): Send in the Feds!

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

"I don't give a damn about the Republican Party.
I care about a woman being put to death."
Chris Matthews: We're short of time here. An ABC poll shows two-thirds of the American people think this is all politics.

Pat Buchanan: Well, I think they're dead wrong with regard to the president of the United States.

What George Bush ought to do right now is send federal marshals in and pick up Terri Schiavo and put that breathing tube back into her—excuse me, the food and hydration tube back into her, as this is taken up to the United States Supreme Court. He took an oath, Chris, to defend the Constitution of the United States. He has got an obligation, as well as these judges do, to defend that Constitution. And that means to protect this woman's life.

Matthews: What happened to the 10th Amendment?

Buchanan: Look, the 10th Amendment has been dead as a door nail, Chris.

Matthews: Well, it's our Constitution.

Buchanan: The point is, the president of the United States—there's a woman dying, sentenced to death because she's brain-damaged. She's committed no crime. She's having food and water denied to her. That is a violation of human rights and the president of the United States has an opportunity, as does the governor of Florida, to step in as executives and act.

Matthews: Should the president of the United States reviews every case in which a family is deciding when to stop feeding a beleaguered, dying family member and bring in federal marshals in such cases?

Buchanan: If a husband and a judge have conspired to kill a woman who is simply brain-damaged.

Matthews: Conspiring?

Buchanan: Exactly. They've worked together on this thing.

Matthews: Pat, I thought you were a strict constructionist. What happened to the 10th Amendment?

Buchanan: I'm in favor of human life, if innocent life is being taken, Chris.

Matthews: What does the 10th Amendment say?

Buchanan: The 10th Amendment said the rest of the rights belong to the states and the people.

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: But this case has been litigated for seven years. It has been heard by 19 judges in six courts. It has gone to the Supreme Court three times.

Buchanan: It is irrelevant.

Vanden Heuvel: But, you know, Pat, what is happening is, you're seeing the implosion of your party.

Buchanan: I don't give a damn about the Republican Party. I care about a woman being put to death.

["Hardball," MSNB, March 23, 2005, courtesy of An Aid to Memory]

Daily Communion for Terri Schiavo

Section 1389 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

"the Church strongly recommends the faithful to receive the Holy Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily" (emphasis added).

Terri's parents should adamantly insist that Terri receive the Eucharist daily based on clear-cut and long-standing Church teaching that is all the more applicable given that with each day her death grows more imminent. If you know anyone close to the family, pass this message on to them. And the Eucharistic minister has the absolute right to administer the Eucharist to her under both species, and her parents have the absolute right to ask for both species: under the appearances of both bread and wine (see Catechism, 1390). Let the secular powers dare to deny that.

The Murder of Terri (Day 10): With Terri to the End

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

From the desk of CURE advisor Cheryl Ford, R.N., a friend of Terri to the end and beyond:

March 26, 2005
11:00 p.m. ET

Dearest Friends of Terri,

I am very distraught this evening. I have contemplated whether to send this information to the people who have remained steadfast and very dedicated in their fight to free Terri from her captors. However, after great consideration, I feel it is only right that I share with you, Terri's supporters, the information I have been given this evening by Terri's family.

As we all have come to know, Terri Schindler is a strong woman who has an incredible will to live. Despite the daily inhumane torture that is inflicted upon her by estranged spouse, Michael Schiavo, (the man who has allowed her to lay in a bed with no food and water for the past eight days,) she has been fighting very hard to remain alive. Last Friday, in spite of her not being permitted therapy since 1993, Terri even tried to articulate the words "I Waaaaaa " in a very loud voice, in response to Attorney Weller saying to her, "All you have to do Terri, is tell us you want to live, and this whole thing can be over Terri."

Under normal circumstances, considering how well hydrated and nourished Terri has been due to receiving the balanced nutritional elements in enteral feedings, it would seem reasonable for Terri to live for another week, or so. However, what was reported by her family tonight, has presented my worst fears. Terri's breathing has changed and has recently become very labored. I am assuming this is happening so quickly because of the possible initiation of Woodside's "exit protocol." A protocol which delivers to her nebulized morphine, a narcotic which suppresses respirations. The "exit protocol" was obviously written to enhance her death process. Woodside claims morphine was to be administered to provide her with so-called "comfort" measures. Odd, however, they would find it necessary to administer morphine to a patient who [Michael] Schiavo and [George] Felos have declared all along has no pain, is without any feelings, and is "brain dead."

Go figure!

In simple English, it appears they are killing Terri faster than she has the ability to fight to stay alive any longer. Terri's family are physically and emotionally worn out. They feel disappointed and deserted by government leaders who they once supported. They pleaded for help from them to save their daughter's life, but were repeatedly turned down by judges who chose to err on the side of death, as opposed to life, sadly, leaving them alone to stand by and witness their daughter fighting against the inhumane death of starvation and dehydration.

The callous, cruel and bizarre behaviors we have also witnessed from Schiavo in his determination to rapidly kill the wife he claims to love; leads us to assume he may now be on a rapid mission to leave Terri's parents with the memory of her death on Easter.

Please pray that God continues to protect Terri. Pray that He will provide Terri with peace as she struggles to take her final breaths. Please pray that He allows her family to feel confident that they did everything possible to save her life. Please pray that He allows them to know how much she loves them for the valiant fight they have made on her behalf. Please pray that if Terri is forced to take her final breaths, it can be with her family by her bedside and not Michael Schiavo. Pray that someday soon she will be capable of inhaling the beauty of LIFE, in a place where no more harm will come to her.

As Terri now lays taking labored breaths, I, myself, am given a sense of peace in knowing if she dies, she will soon be free from Michael ever bringing harm to her again. I will no longer have to worry about what he may do to her; or, how she has had to stay locked up in a room away from her family and the beautiful sounds of the earth we all are able to enjoy every day. I will pray for each of you that you find peace within yourself in knowing you have helped Terri in your own special way.

In the meantime, please know, for as long as Terri is alive and fighting, I will continue to pray for a miracle and will keep on fighting for her until her final breaths are taken.

I ask that you all join me in doing the same. [emphasis added]

Thank you so much for being an enormous strength for Terri's family. They continue to appreciate the love and dedication you continue to show to Terri, and to each of them.

I will keep you posted.

Respectfully, and with great admiration,

Cheryl Ford, R.N.

Gov. Bush Should Ignore the Florida Courts

Gov. Jeb Bush has fought valiantly on behalf of Theresa Schiavo. So when I give my opinion that the Governor should ignore the Florida court order condemning Theresa Schiavo to death by starvation, I am not criticizing the Governor at all. He has already done enough to earn my personal respect; but, of course, I wish he would take the last step of ignoring the court's unjust order of execution. I am merely pointing out in what follows that there is a legal and historical basis in this extreme circumstance for the executive branch to ignore the misguided judicial branch.

If, in these dire circumstances, the Governor does choose to ignore the unjust order of the court, he would be in good company. For many, our greatest president was Abraham Lincoln. Yet, Lincoln himself ignored the ruling of Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney saying that Lincoln could not suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, a legal remedy used to determine if someone in government custody is being held illegally. Lincoln had in effect suspended the writ in an executive order directing the military to arrest persons engaging in sabotage against the Union cause (see Ronald G. White, Jr., The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Abraham Lincoln Through His Words [Random House, 2005], p. 115]. The traitors so arrested could not use habeas corpus (Latin for "you have the body") as a legal remedy to escape federal custody.

Lincoln ignored the order by Chief Justice Taney because Lincoln believed that as President he was acting in accord with the Constitution and because of the need to preserve the Union. Lincoln's attorney general concluded that the executive and judicial branches were coequal branches of government and thus that the executive also had the authority to interpret the Constitution (see Supreme Court Historical Society link; scroll down to "Taney v. Lincoln: The Civil War Cases").

The Florida governor can do the same in this case as pointed out in a recent NationalReview.Online article. As that article points out, the Florida Constitution directs the governor to protect the right to life of its citizens. And so when a state court orders the execution by starvation of an innocent citizen, the Governor is constitutionally obligated by his oath of office to step in to undo the injustice.

Some will say that the Schiavo situation is not a crisis that matches that of a civil war threatening the very survival of the Union. I strongly disagree. If a runaway court can order the death by starvation of an innocent woman, with her anguished parents standing helplessly by, the very survival of our constitutional order and judicial system is at stake. To allow such a manifest act of injustice to be carried out is to deal a death blow to the legitimacy of the judicial branch of government and indirectly to that of all branches of government. Government authorized cruelty --covered 24 hours a day on television-- that amounts to murder (that is, the unjustified, intentional killing of the innocent) creates a severe crisis of confidence in the courts and in the rest of government. That is a crisis similar in effect to what Lincoln faced in the subversives who were aiding the Confederacy in trying to dismember the Union.

What was at stake then and is at stake now is the survival of our constitutional system. Lincoln rightly suspended the writ of habeas corpus as a means to preserve that system. Today, Governor Bush or another chief executive in a similar situation would be justified in ignoring a court order that threatens to destroy the legitimacy essential to the survival of that same constitutional system.

Like Lincoln, a governor in this extreme situation need only look to his sworn constitutional duties, in this case the duty to preserve life. Whether or not Gov. Bush so acts, I believe he has acted thus far in good faith. But some day some other governor or even a President may very well take the same courageous step taken by Lincoln in another great national crisis. The precedent is there in order to preserve the moral legitimacy of the constitutional order that is essential to its survival.

The Murder of Terri (Day 9): Open Appeals to Closed Minds

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

As Terri dies and human hope dies with her, no comments save prayers are needed on the following desperate appeals to men in high places with hearts that have been touched, but minds that have been closed far longer.

It Is About Life!

I just heard a blurb on CNN from Bush, whining about how he is doing all that he can under the scope of the "law."

Well that's noble except for one thing, no one in Michael's camp is obeying the law!!!

The [politicians] are turning this into a political issue—excuse me while I barf! It is not about politics! It is not about religion! It is about morals! –KC, Random & Politically Incorrect Thoughts!

Minister to Bush: Disobey Court Order!

With all legal remedies apparently exhausted, 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.

In a statement [released] shortly after Judge George Greer's decision [of March 24], Ft. Lauderdale, FL, minister D. James Kennedy pointed to Bush "as the only legal authority who can save the life of Terri Schiavo." –Ed, EdStoffel.com

The Right Thing To Do

It's time for Jeb Bush and little brother President Bush to "Cowboy Up."

Do they really stand by their convictions, and do they really believe that there is a God? If so then they need to use their executive power to go and save Terri's life.

God's laws outweigh man's laws when it comes to a situation like this, and anyone in their right mind that would put everything els aside and take Terri's case personally without regard to politics, courts, or anything else would surely choose to save her.

Jeb and George might lose their jobs. They may get impeached or go to jail for contempt of court, but it would simply be the right thing to do. –Crimeboss, SolveCrime.com

May God Have Mercy, When Men Have None

It is now in the hands of the President of the United States and the Governor of the State of Flordia to step in and order Terri Schiavo rescued from this unlawful execution.

Mr. President, Mr. Governor, I pray that you will do the right thing.

May God's will be done, and may God have mercy on Terri. –John Bowden, Adjutorium Nostrum + In Nomine Domini

Not Dead Yet: Where There Is Life, There Is Hope

Terri Schiavo is dying, but there is still hope! Keep pounding away at Jeb Bush!

Governor Bush's email: jeb.bush@myflorida.com
Phone: 850-488-4441
Fax: 850-487-0801

The phones are very busy but don't give up! Keep trying until you get through and politely tell his office you know GovernorBush has the power to intervene.

"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." –Edmund Burke

And please remember to pray for Terri and her family. –Janette Stripling, Common Sense Runs Wild

Editor's Note:

We are rushing against the clock to press the fight to Terri's final breath—there is no other way to fight and mean it. Thus we have rushed this into cyberspace and welcome updates from our readers.

I'll simply note that other than our good friend John Bowden, each of these Bloggers for Terri are new friends in our common cause. May their tribe increase!

And, as always, pray and act for Terri!

House Leaders Agree to Vote on Relaxing Stem Cell Limits

From a WaPo piece:

The House leadership has agreed to allow a floor vote on a bill that would loosen the restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research imposed by President Bush in 2001, according to members of Congress and others privy to the arrangement.

The vote, expected to take place within the next two to three months, would be the first of its kind on the politically charged topic since Bush declared much of the research off-limits to federal funding. The cells show promise as treatments for many diseases but have stirred intense controversy because they are retrieved from human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.

Comments from Ramesh Ponnuru and Eric Pfeiffer

Though the president's policy on ESCR is unacceptable, this legislation which until now did not receive an up or down vote in the House, would be far worse. As Ramesh notes the president will likely veto it. Still, the House GOP leadership needs to hear from the pro-life community that their action here has not gone unnoticed.

BTW, the sponsor of the House bill is Rep Mike Castle, Republican of Delaware. He happens to be Catholic.

The Murder of Terri (Day 8): Love & Tears

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

For Terri With Love

On the day Terri's current starvation began, our 5-year old daughter, Ana Maria, brought me a picture she had colored. She had signed it "For Terri With Love."

"Could you please send it to Terri for me, Papi?" she asked with the innocence that believes her father can do all things.

Ana prays for Terri because she loves Terri with a child's heart that embraces life, and for the same reason she will cry when she dies.

A Lamentation for Terri

To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, a Psalm of David

My God, my God, why hast Thou me foresaken?
Woe me, from me, why is Thy presence taken?
So far from seeing, mine unhealthful eyes,
So far from hearing to my roaring crys.

O God, my God, I cry while day appeareth:
But, God, Thy ear my crying never heareth.
O God, the night is privy to my plaint
Yet to my plaint Thou hast no audience lent.

But Thou art holy, and dost hold Thy dwelling
Where Israel Thy lauds is ever telling.
Our fathers still to Thee their trust did bear;
They trusted, and, by Thee delivered were.

They were set free, when they upon Thee called,
They hoped on Thee, and theywere not appalled.
ButI, a worm not I of mankind am,
Nay shame of men, the people's scorning game.

The lookers now at me, poor wretch, be mocking;
With moues and nods, they stand about me flocking.
Let God help him (say they) Whom he did trust:
Let God save him in Whom was all his lust.

And yet from the womb Thy Self didst take me:
A mother's breasts, Thou dids good hope betake me.
No sooner my child's eyes could look abroad,
Then I was given to Thee, Thou wert my God.

O be not far, since pain so nearly presseth,
And since there is not one who it redresseth.
I am enclosed with young bulls madded rout;
Nay Bashan mighty bulls close me about.

With gaping mouths, these folks on me have charged
Like lions fierce, with roaring jaws enlarged:
On me all those, who do like water slide
Whose loosed bones quite out of joint be wried;

Whose heart, with these huge flames, like wax o'erheeated
Doth melt away, though it be inward seated:
My moistening strength is like a potsherd dried,
My cleaving tongue, close to my roof doth bide.

And now am brought, alas, brought by Thy power
Unto the dust of my death's running hour:
For bawling dogs have compassed me about,
Yea, worse than dogs, a naughty, wicked, rout.

My humble hands, my fainting feet they pierced:
They look, they gaze, my bones might be rehearsed;
Of my poor weeds they do partition make,
And do cast lots who should my vesture take.

But be not far, O Lord, my strength, my comfort,
Hasten to help me, in this deep discomfort.
Ah, from the sword, yet save my vital sprite,
My desolated life from dogged might.

From lion's mouth (O help) and show to hear me,
By aiding, when fierce unicorns come near me:
To brethren, then, I will declare Thy fame,
And with these words, when they meet, praise Thy name.

Who fear the Lord, all praise and glory bear Him:
You Israel's seed, you come of Jacob, fear Him.
For He hath not abhorred, nor yet disdained
The silly wretch, with foul affliction stained,

Nor hid from him His face's fair appearing;
But, when he called, this Lord did give him hearing:
In congregation great, I will praise Thee:
Who fear Thee shall my vows performed see.

The afflicted then shall eat, and be well pleased,
And God shall be, by those His seekers, praised.
Indeed, O you, you that be of such mind,
You shall the life that ever-liveth find.

But what? I say, from earth's remotest border
Unto due thoughts, mankind his thoughts shall order
And turn to God, and all the nations be
Made worshippers before Almighty Thee.

And reason, since the crown to God pertaineth,
And that by right upon all realms He reigneth,
That they be made, even fat, with earth's fat good,
Shall feed, and laud the giver of their food.

To Him shall kneel even whom to dust be stricken,
Even he whose life no help of man can quicken;
His service shall from child to child descend,
His dooms one age shall to another send.

("The Twenty-Second Psalm," Philip Sidney)

Take Out the Black Ribbons

It's time to take out the black ribbons to protest the great and evil absurdity of the slow-motion starvation of Theresa Schiavo. Let's put the black ribbons on our clothes, on the trees in our front yards, on our doors, wherever you can, to protest this great evil. Flags proliferated in the aftermath of 9/11. Let the black ribbons proliferate in the aftermath of this new and self-imposed 9/11.

The Murder of Terri (Day 7): Surrender of the Good Ensures the Triumph of Evil

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

Yesterday, CURE warned that Terri Schindler-Schiavo will die unless Bush intervenes to prevent her court-imposed execution for the crime of having a disability.

Today, in the wake of the Supreme Court's rejection of the Schindlers' desperate appeal on behalf of their fast-fading daughter, Maya Bell, Sean Mussenden, and Ken Ma, staff writers for the Orlando Sentinel, begin their report with the following words, affirming that judgment:

Barring any unprecedented action by Gov. Jeb Bush, it appears that no person, no court and no law stands in the way of Terri Schiavo's death.

Today also, in Tallahassee, conservative activists Alan Keyes and Larry Klayman met with a Bush aide to press their view that the governor had a constitutional obligation to defy court and legislative actions that could result in Terri Schiavo's death. As Keyes declared outside the state Capitol:

"The judges don't get to tell the governor what is constitutional in his use of executive power. He is oath-bound to make that judgment for himself."

Meanwhile, hundreds stood before the Woodside Concentration Camp a.k.a. Hospice where Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death, chanting the demand of every decent American: "Give Terri water! Give Terri water!"

Standing apart from the crowd, David McMullen, 14, whose mother drove him down from Tracey City, Tenn., Thursday, looked somber in a dark suit. He urged the president and his brother to take Terri Schiavo into protective custody.

"If they don't," he said, "it is the end for her.

And the end of a once noble nation that surrendered its birthright to the Darwinian laws of the jungle.

The Judges Have Lost

When you listen to the legal pundits defending the starvation of Theresa Marie Schiavo, what you hear again and again is a variation of one theme: the courts establish the facts, the courts have reviewed this again and again, the courts have decided otherwise. We are being told to suspend moral judgment and to deliver our consciences and our common sense into the hands of judges and courts. We are called, in true relativistic fashion, to trust process over substance, to trust a so-called enlightened and highly educated elite over moral tradition.

That is the Nazification of America. Even in the military, my understanding is that a soldier has no obligation to follow manifestly evil orders--such as an order to torture someone. But we are now being asked to calm ourselves and stoically accept the starvation of an innocent person because "the courts" have handled it all for us.

Good judges and lawyers know that the authority of a court derives in the long run from the fact that all parties leave the court believing that they have at least been fairly heard. Otherwise, the fragile commodity of judicial authority evaporates quickly.

Large numbers rightly believe that Theresa Schiavo has not been fairly treated in court. Her guardian is in a stunning conflict of interest by having maintained for years a politely termed "common law marriage" with another woman. But the courts have still let him have the final say over her life, even though her parents and siblings are eager to care for her. Without a truly independent guardian about whom there is no reasonable doubt whatsoever, no sensible person can have any faith in the judicial process applied in this case.

You cannot ask people to blind themselves to reality and simply defer to the indefensible. What will be the result? My personal prediction is that many will demand new laws to trim the power of judges given the spectacle we have seen before us. The judges in this matter, with some possible exceptions, have diminished themselves. Future laws will recognize that, as a whole, they cannot be trusted and are no longer worthy of our full confidence.

That's what happens in a morally relativistic culture. In 1930 or 1940 or even 1960, it would have been unimaginable that a man living in open concubinage with another woman would be confirmed as a guardian for his stricken spouse. But given the typical attitude that anything goes and anything is acceptable in sexual matters, this open concubinage is granted the cultural cover of "privacy" and made irrelevant to the legal proceedings. That is the same cover of "privacy" that first justified the explosive marketing of contraceptives in the sixties and which was extended to justify abortion in the seventies.

Without a moral consensus, judges can't be trusted to make the right decisions regardless of the procedure followed. That is why more and more laws will be passed restricting the discretion and powers of judges. Moral relativism makes for bad judges. So restrictive laws must step in to recognize that cultural reality. When a culture loses its moral bearings, trust disappears. And so does real authority.

The Murder of Terri Schiavo - A Roundup of News & Commentary

• Background info on Michael Schiavo and Terri's "condition". -- "The following documents have been collected from case evidence, testimony and other sources in the public record. These items give significant illustration that the circumstances surrounding Terri's collapse may be suspect and that the following actions by the guardian should be investigated."

  (Via Victor Lams @ Et Cetera.
  

• Thomas More Law Center: Governor Bush Has Authority Under State Criminal Laws to Prevent Death of Terri Schiavo
  Former prosecutor of Jack Kevorkian, Richard Thompson, reaffirmed Thursday morning the authority of Florida Governor Jeb Bush to utilize state criminal laws to prevent the death of Terri Schiavo. Pointing to two legal memos prepared by the Thomas More Law Center which were delivered to Governor Bush in October of 2003, Thompson again urged Bush to launch a formal criminal investigation into the facts surrounding the disability of Schiavo. . . .
  
  

• Last year around this time, Pope John Paul II affirmed obligation to feed patients in the “vegetative” state. (Via Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam).
  

• Day-by-day commentary from Earl E. Appleby and company at LifeMatters, the blog of Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia.
  

• Neurologists Say: Recording of Terri Shows She's Not PVS - Fr. Rob Johansen @ Thrown Back asked several neurologists to review the audiotape of Terri responding to her father. The verdict? "Three of the four neurologists reported that they believed that Terri was responding to her father, and was attempting to form words. The fourth, Dr. Peter Morin, demurred, saying that he did not want to venture an opinion based on an audio recording without accompanying video. The remaining neurologists all expressed confident opinions regarding what they heard in Terri's recording."
  

• Theophilus @ Vivificat believes our "justice system" is courting illegitimacy.
  

• William Luse (Apologia) says "Goodbye, Terri", Apologia, March 24, 2005.
  

• Dr. Oswald Sobrino (Catholic Analysis/ Catholics in the Public Square) describes Terri as a "a new kind of martyr", and in "Martyrdom and Legal Positivism", has strong words for those who would make an idol of the law:
  . . . many in our society insist on bending the knee to law even though it is the obviously imperfect creation of imperfect and yes, even corrupt, legislators. The fancy term for all of this is "legal positivism," the view that the dictates of the law must be followed at all costs regardless of morality. Legal positivism made the Nazi project of Hitler possible in a highly cultured country like Germany. Legal positivism--the mania for legalities as ends in themselves--is now making America the scene of a Nazi-like execution by starvation of a life deemed unworthy of life.

• Can you spare a dime? -- The Old Oligarch reports that BlogsForTerri.com could use some help paying for its server fees. They've been a big help in organizing bloggers across the net, not to mention hosting videos of Terri to prove to the misinformed public that, contrary the reporting of the MainstreamMedia, she's neither "brain-dead" nor a "vegetable."
  

• Of course, we have a dissenting opinion from Fr. John Paris, SJ, professor of bioethics at Boston College, says "This has nothing to do with the sanctity of life" and that Michael Schiavo is a "a caring, loving spouse whose actions were in Terri's best interests." (Salon.com January 24, 2005. Via Bettnet). Wouldn't you just figure it'd be a Jesuit?
  

On the secular front . . .

• The whole Terri Schiavo story, World Net Daily has "the 15-year saga of brain-injured woman no clear-cut, right-to-die case," which it has been covering since the very beginning. The Michael Schiavo, who appears so utterly convinced that Terri wanted to die, is a far cry from the one who, when asked about treatment in 2001, responded: "How the hell should I know? We never spoke about this. My God, I was only 25 years old. How the hell should I know? We were young. We never spoke of this."

  Likewise, the husband who is now living with his mistress with the intent on remarrying just as soon as Terri is "put away" is a far cry from the one who once proclaimed in 1992: "I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm going to do that."
  

• A Doctor with Religious Beliefs? Must Be "Bogus, a Pro-Life Fanatic" - documenting and exposing the liberal bias of the New York Times, TimesWatch reveals how Thursday's story on Terri Schiavo by John Schwartz and Denise Grady ("A Diagnosis With a Dose Of Religion") suggests a doctor's religious beliefs make him an unreliable person to diagnose Schiavo.
  

• Not Dead at All, Slate March 25, 2004. Disability rights activist Harriet McBryde Johnson explains why "Congress was right to stick up for Terri Schiavo."
  

• Ann Coulter muses:
  "Given the country's fetishism about court rulings, this may be a rash assumption, but I presume if Greer had ordered that Terri Schiavo be shot at her husband's request -- a more humane death, by the way -- the whole country would not sit idly by, claiming to be bound by the court's ruling because of the "rule of law" and "federalism." President Bush would order the FBI to protect her and Gov. Bush would send in the state police.
  
  

• "Slanting the News Against Terri Schiavo" - The Media Research Center finds that "[ABC, CBS and NBC] newscasts have tilted their recent coverage of the Terri Schiavo case in ways that bolster her husband Michael's arguments that the severely disabled woman is in an irreversible vegetative state and had clearly expressed a desire to die."
  

• "So: Where Did It Come From?" Powerline has more about that curious "GOP talking points" memo produced by ABC News. Michelle Malkin has a roundup of blogs on the issue and asks "Did the MSM learn nothing from RatherGate?".
  

A New Kind of Martyr

Terri--or, better, to use her very Catholic full name Theresa Marie--is a new kind of martyr. We usually think of martyrs as those dying for confessing their faith. Theresa Marie is being executed by starvation because she dares to live in a condition that many find repulsive. Our society looks at her and is reminded of what can happen to any of us at anytime and of our inevitable rendezvous with physical suffering and disability. As a good friend of mine told me last night, we want to exile suffering from view and hide it. We want an antiseptic environment in which pleasure and good times are fine, but in which suffering is censored and taken out of existence.

So Theresa Marie dares to live in her severely disabled condition, and for that she must go, even if it means starvation. She is a martyr to the Culture of Death for daring to live as she is. There are many such potential martyrs. Every disabled person, every seriously ill person provokes the disdain of the Culture of Death. The martyrdom of Theresa shows how deep the tentacles of the Culture of Death have reached. When you can't even muster a majority out of 12 appellate judges to block having her starve to death, a fate contrary to the age-old concepts of equity and mercy found in the Western legal tradition, we know that the Culture of Death, like the prince of this world, has great power and reach [revised].

The Vatican has called for a "collective mobilization" to protest this unnecessary death by starvation. The martyrdom of Theresa Marie is a watershed moment in the cultural civil war that our country has now been in for decades. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and his converts were so bold that the persecuting mob referred to them as those who turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6-7). We must turn upside down the world created by the Culture of Death. We are all targets. We are all likely, sooner or later, to fit the mode of life that society cannot bear to witness. We are all on the road to this new martyrdom.

Should we be surprised? Shocked yes, always shocked at evil in the guise of civility and legality. Surprised, no. If absolutely healthy babies are killed routinely in the womb through abortion, then it is natural for the Culture of Death to kill those who are severely disabled. Remember the many aborted babies who are utterly and completely healthy. Physicians kill new and fully healthy life. They will kill older and disabled life.

And Satan, the father of lies, is at work seeking to prop up this shame. One reader sent me a Newsweek article by a Boston College Jesuit "bioethicist" defending the starvation of Theresa because her care is too burdensome. He misrepresents Church doctrine by saying that the correct analysis is to distinguish between what is burdensome and what is not burdensome. That alleged distinction is so vacuous that it is merely a fig leaf for genocide at will.

The real distinction, as authoritatively set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is between extraordinary care and ordinary care. The Catechism makes clear that "the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted" (Catechism, 2279). If food and water are not ordinary care, then nothing is "ordinary care"; and we have a blank check to kill at will based on someone somewhere opining that a particular individual is just too "burdensome" to justify care. My friends, some people find just about anything too burdensome; and we have learned in the judicial proceedings of the Schiavo case that you can find plenty of judges to agree with just about anything proposed to them.

The Culture of Death has deeply penetrated our courts and Boston College and even our religious orders. Don't look to the media for guidance, don't look to the urbane mainline liberal Protestant denominations for guidance, don't look to judges for guidance.

Look to Rome. Rome has spoken: Theresa is being murdered. It is the abortion of an adult.

Martyrdom and Legal Positivism

I usually agree with conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, who, by the way, is not a Christian. Today, he writes in effect that the killing by starvation of Terri Schiavo is immoral, but that the law must take its course. The only solution he offers is that laws be amended to favor guardianship decisions by those close relatives who favor life. I am deeply disappointed in that analysis.

We should be long past the point where imperfect and defective laws are allowed to dictate an immoral and terrible outcome. Such bending of the knee to law is idolatry of the worst kind--even worse than the idolatry of pagans who at least mistakenly thought they were bending the knee to something divine. But many in our society insist on bending the knee to law even though it is the obviously imperfect creation of imperfect and yes, even corrupt, legislators. The fancy term for all of this is "legal positivism," the view that the dictates of the law must be followed at all costs regardless of morality. Legal positivism made the Nazi project of Hitler possible in a highly cultured country like Germany. Legal positivism--the mania for legalities as ends in themselves--is now making America the scene of a Nazi-like execution by starvation of a life deemed unworthy of life.

Laws are made to be interpreted and mitigated by equity. Equity is a concept as old as law itself. Equity seeks to use mercy and common sense to make laws fit reality. There has been no equity thus far in Terri's case. Instead, a so-called modern and enlightened society that prides itself on human rights bows like a group of primitives before the idol of the letter of the law at the expense of an innocent human life that is indeed worthy of life. So the suggestion that state guardianship laws must be amended is apt, but Terri still must give up her life by cruel starvation because legislators couldn't amend it in time for her situation. This scenario is irrational, primitive, and fetishistic. It makes of the law a fetish, not a tool of civilization.

The higher law is agape, self-sacrificing love. This Holy Week we are seeing enacted the spectacle of an innocent young woman--whose full name is the very Catholic name of Theresa Marie--being sacrificed on the altar of the paganism that is Legal Positivism. She is a martyr. She will be remembered as a martyr, and people will venerate her sacrifice in some way. I would not be surprised in the least that a Terri Schiavo monument/shrine takes shape in the near future. I certainly would support its construction.

The parallel has already been drawn at another website where I saw the characters of the Holy Week narrative given their modern equivalents in this case. Most of the judges involved have played their role as Pontius Pilates to the tee--with the exception of those dissenting 11th Circuit judges. The Pilates have washed their hands of mercy and justice and leaned on their fetish for safe unimaginative legal routine. As promised in Scripture, God will give them the same measure they measured out to Terri. The liberal pundits screaming for the death of Terri are the same mobs that jeered and mocked Our Savior on the cross. When we read the passion account this week, you can put very real faces and names among the mob shouting for crucifixion.

It is a stunning moment. The United States is on the verge of completing the legally-sanctioned murder by starvation of an innocent person because of the technicalities of a flawed Florida law on guardianship. It is inane, irrational, barbaric, and primitive. If this unnecessary sacrifice on the altar of legal technicalities goes forward, we should all shudder for our country.

First Things: An End to Democracy

Articles on "judicial arrogance" and the "judicial usurpation of power" are not new. The following symposium addresses those questions, often in fresh ways, but also moves beyond them. The symposium is, in part, an extension of the argument set forth in our May 1996 editorial, "The Ninth Circuit's Fatal Overreach" The Federal District Court's decision favoring doctor-assisted suicide, we said, could be fatal not only to many people who are old, sick, or disabled, but also to popular support for our present system of government.

This symposium addresses many similarly troubling judicial actions that add up to an entrenched pattern of government by judges that is nothing less than the usurpation of politics. The question here explored, in full awareness of its far-reaching consequences, is whether we have reached or are reaching the point where conscientious citizens can no longer give moral assent to the existing regime . . .

Those were opening words of "The End of Democracy? - The Judicial Usurpation of Politics: (First Things 67 November 1996: 18-20), a controversial symposium of Robert H. Bork, Russel Hittinger, Hadley Arkes, Charles Colson, and Robert P. George, in which they discussed the rise of judicial tyranny:

The government of the United States of America no longer governs by the consent of the governed. With respect to the American people, the judiciary has in effect declared that the most important questions about how we ought to order our life together are outside the purview of "things of their knowledge." Not that judges necessarily claim greater knowledge; they simply claim, and exercise, the power to decide. The citizens of this democratic republic are deemed to lack the competence for self-government. . . .

and the divorce of law from morality, and consequent failure of trust, that comes as a consequence:

Law, as it is presently made by the judiciary, has declared its independence from morality. . . . [M]orality -- especially traditional morality, and most especially morality associated with religion -- has been declared legally suspect and a threat to the public order. Among the most elementary principles of Western Civilization is the truth that laws which violate the moral law are null and void and must in conscience be disobeyed. In the past and at present, this principle has been invoked, on both the right and the left, by those who are frequently viewed as extremists. It was, however, the principle invoked by the founders of this nation. It was the principle invoked by the antislavery movement and, more recently, by Martin Luther King, Jr. It is the principle invoked today by, among many others, Pope John Paul II.

The stated purpose of the symposium was not to advocate "noncompliance to resistance to civil disobedience to morally justified revolution," but to question the future prospects of a country host to "a growing alienation of millions of Americans from a government they do not recognize as theirs . . . an erosion of moral adherence to this political system" and "the displacement of a constitutional order by a regime that does not have, will not obtain, and cannot command the consent of the people."

Mind you, this was written in November 1996. With the life of Terri Schiavo (and others in similar circumstances) literally at the mercy of our courts, it seems fitting to mention this symposium again.

See also: The End of Democracy? A Discussion Continued, First Things 69 (January 1997): 19-24.

The Murder of Terri (Day 6): Killer Courts Will Murder Terri Unless Bush Intervenes

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

In the wee hours of this morning, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, GA, callously denied the Schindlers' increasing desperate appeal on behalf of the life of their daughter Terri now enduring her sixth day of court-imposed starvation and dehydration. Fox News reports:

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to deny the request, a day after a federal judge in Florida rejected a similar appeal.

In its ruling, the panel said the woman's parents "failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims."...

But in the dissenting opinion, Judge Charles R. Wilson expressed concern that Schiavo's "imminent" death would end the case before it could be fully considered.

"In fact, I fail to see any harm in reinserting the feeding tube," he wrote.

Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, vowed to file yet another appeal later today.

What could be sensed in the shadows is now crystal clear.

Terri Schindler-Schiavo, like Paul Brophy, Christine Busalacchi, and God knows how many others before her, will be executed by court order for the crime of disability, unless Bush intervenes to commute her unjust sentence by exercising not merely the right, but the duty, of a civilized state to protect the lives of its innocent citizens.

Which Bush, you ask? Either, or better yet, both.

Neither a president nor a governor should allow a rogue judiciary to tyrannically impose its murderous will on a defenseless woman despite unprecedented and extraordinary efforts by the executive and legislative branches to protect her.

America stands in the dock, and the judgment, which will be handed down in time—as surely as Terri will die—will be severe indeed and ever so richly deserved.

The Murder of Terri (Day 5): Justice Delayed, Then Denied

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

Federal District Judge James D. Whittemore lost little time in signaling his intentions in yesterday's two-hour hearing in Tampa, FL, as Terri Shcindler Schiavo entered her fourth day of starvation and dehydration.

Although attorney David Gibbs III pointedly reminded the judge that "Terri may die as I speak," "he seemed cool to the argument of the parents, who believe Schiavo should live," Vickie Cachere reported for the Associated Press.

"I think you'd be hard pressed to convince me that you have a substantial likelihood" of the parents' lawsuit succeeding, said Whittmore, nominated by former president Clinton in 1999.

In his predictable and reprehensible ruling, which incredibly held that Terri's life had been adequately protected by Florida's state courts, not only did Judge Whittemore deny Terri any semblance of due process, but he callously waited until the next day to do so, knowing full well "the gravity of the consequences of denying injunctive relief."

As the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, who has commented on behalf of the Schindlers in the past, rightly declared today:

The arrogance of Judge Whittemore is extraordinary. How dare he wait 24 hours to issue this ruling? He shows a profound lack of respect for the disabled of America by denying [Terri] her constitutional rights. He has robbed Terri's legal team of literally a day and a half of the appeals process.

Judge Whittemore also blatantly ignored the clear intent of Congress to grant impartial and full consideration to the Schindlers' appeal on their daughter's behalf before she dies at the hands of her court-sanctioned murderers.

Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court in Atlanta to order Terri's feeding tube be reinserted, as Jan Barton writes for the Associated Press.

"Where, as here, death is imminent, it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent circumstances," Gibbs said in the appeal filed electronically with the court. "Terri is fading quickly and her parents reasonably fear that her death is imminent."

There was no immediate indication of when the appeals court might rule.

Nor when Terri might succumb to the barbarous death that is being inflicted upon her.

Terri Appeals to 11th Circuit in Atlanta

The denial of relief from the Florida federal district judge was no surprise. The telltale signs were there. First, the late hour of the hearing at 3 p.m. yesterday, which was extraordinarily unconscionable given that Terri has now been starving since Friday. Second, the even more unconscionable and cruel overnight delay in issuing a decision. Any lawyer will tell you that it is routine for a Temporary Restraining Order or "TRO" to be issued in circumstances that are far less serious than these in order to "freeze" the situation in place while the court examines the issues more closely. The district judge here inexplicably did not issue a TRO, but took, in my view, a cruelly languid approach to deciding the case.

In addition to the cruelly slow manner in which this court proceeded, we already knew from news reports that the district judge was a Clinton appointee. Put the failure to issue a TRO, the strange delay, and the Clinton background together, and it was clear that the decision would likely not favor Terri.

So it is no surprise that we are at the next step: appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals located in Atlanta (see CNN.com). This appeals court is the one that oversees federal courts in Florida and also in other nearby Southern states. From news reports, I gather that the 11th Circuit is already considering a constitutional argument on behalf of Terri. Pray that the 11th Circuit will issue an immediate stay to stop the starvation, while the legal issues are argued. We are all seeing up close on cable TV how our legal system works. It is not pretty.

The Murder of Terri (Day 4): May God Grant, Terri, a Just Judge at Last

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

As reported by CURE advisor Cheryl Ford, R.N., Terri's intreprid warrior, at 2:20 a.m. ET:

President Bush signed the bill into law at 1:11 AM ET.

The attornies here in Florida will need to locate a Federal Judge now who will agree to hear the case. I've been told that the judge is chosen through a random process. Once a judge is assigned, we believe the Federal judge will sign a protective stay and will authorize permission to have Terri's feeding tube reinserted. The attorney's are still awake and are working to quickly obtain the necessary signatures so they can be prepared to move forward with the next legal step.

The Schindlers are very tired but are holding up remarkably well. They are at the hospice facility. Their primary focus at this time is on their daughters safety and having her feeding as soon as possible.

Mrs. Schindler reports that Terri is doing fine. He said Terri is alert and her skin is cool. He said she appeared a bit more tired today, however, she is still doing well.

Terri's parents are very grateful for all the support they have received from every one here on the internet. They know that it was due to all of your hard work calling and writing the Senate that helped to have Terri's story heard in Congress.

Please note, Terri's situation is not over until we have a judge who is willing to give a protective stay, and we are assured that her her feeding tube can be reinserted.

• Editor's Note: And not over then, of course, but, Deo gratias, beginning again.

The family requests that you please continue to pray for Terri's safety and health.

• Editor's Note: A request in which CURE joins.

I will keep you posted as I hear anything new from the Schindlers.

Thank you again for the dedication and caring you continue to provide to the Schindler family. You are an amazing group of people, and I personally thank you as well.

Cheryl Ford R.N.

Editor's Note: And thank you, Cheryl, from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done and continue to do for Terri. You are an amazing friend of our dear sister and thus our friend for life. May God grant Terri, at long last, a just judge!

The Murder of Terri (Day 3): Will the Sacrifice of Many Save One?

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

The Senate has passed a bill that could prolong Terri Schindler-Schiavo's life, while a Federal court considers her case, as the House of Representatives scrambles to bring enough Members back to its chambers for an emergency vote shortly after midnight, Jim Abrams reports for the Associated Press. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush is rushing back to the White House from his ranch in Crawford, TX, to be on hand to sign the bill into law as soon as it reaches him.

"We ought to err on the side of life in a case like this," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Asked about a bill that would cover a single person, he said, "I think most people recognize that this case involves some extraordinary circumstances." [emphases added]

"The extraordinary circumstances" can scarcely be the fact that a defenseless and innocent citizen is being starved to death with legal immunity, as happened to Clarence Herbert in 1981—or even by court order, as happened to Paul Brophy in 1986. Indeed, countless victims of epivalothanasia (imposed death) have been starved and dehydrated to death in hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes across America over the past quarter century.

No, what has been extraordinary is the massive outpouring of public support mobilized on Terri's behalf by disability rights, anti-euthanasia, and pro-life activists, and other friends of Terri—a working collaboration with the common, if limited, goal of saving Terri's life that the Culture of Death and its bioethics priesthood are desparate to divide.

Combined with the growing involvement of hundreds of Blogs for Terri and other counter-cultural media, this has led in turn to uncommonly candid words from an unlikely source, viz., politicians—on Capitol Hill and elsewhere—and, what is rarer yet, persistent attempts to back up those words with deeds [aude]—however inadequate to the task thus far.

While the Senate insisted on "a bill that would cover a single person," the original bill passed by the House, to its credit, would have protected other victims targeted for extermination by the anti-life Euthanasia Axis.

Thus, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was absolutely right when he declared on the day before Terri's starvation began:

The House last night passed legislation that ensures that Terri Schiavo—and anyone else ever in such a terrible situation—has the full protection granted to each individual under the Constitution and federal law. Regrettably, Senators Harry Reid and Ron Wyden opposed this legislation, preventing the Senate from passing it and sending it to President Bush.

"The House has completed its business and has adjourned. The Senate has a decision to make: it can pass the House legislation passed last night to ensure Terri Schiavo's civil rights are protected or it can allow Ms. Schiavo to starve to death beginning tomorrow." [emphases added]

And thus, CURE asks:

Congress, ever ready to compromise, has surrendered countless lives in further weakening an already compromised bill, ostensibly to save one life—a precious life indeed, albeit no more precious than the others—but will it do so? And who, if anyone, on Capitol Hill will defend the next victim after Terri and the next hundred victims, whose deaths will imposed imposed far from the public attention that she, thank God and thanks to her heroic family, has achieved?

The Murder of Terri (Day 2): A Crime of Violence

From the pages of Life Matters! . . .

As Terri's starvation and dehydration recommences, her Exit Protocol begins, as Fr. Rob Johansen details on Thrown Back.

The CURE advisor revisits the infamous "recipe for murder" concocted by hospice executioners, by way of recalling the hell to which Terri is being subjected by an unfaithful husband and nation.

As previously reported on Life Matters!, in 1986, nearly two decades ago, Paul Brophy, a 45-year-old fireman, became the first person to be starved to death on court order.

In his dissent to the death sentence imposed by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on Brophy, whose crime, like Terri's, was having a disability, Judge Lynch—no relation to Bishop Lynch—described without equivocation the effects of that order:

The removal of the G-tube would likely create various effects from the lack of hydration and nutrition, leading ultimately to death.

• Brophy's mouth would dry out and become caked or coated with thick material.

  His lips would become parched and cracked.

  His tongue would swell, and might crack.

  His eyes would recede back into their orbits and his cheeks would become hollow.

  The lining of his nose might crack and cause his nose to bleed.

  His skin would hang loose on his body and becomedry and scaly.

  His urine would become highly concentrated, leading to burning of the bladder.

  The lining of his stomach would dry out and he would experience dry heaves and vomiting.

  His body temperature would become very high.

  His brain cells would dry out, causing convulsions.

  His respiratory tract would dry out, and the thick secretions that would
  result could plug his lungs and cause death.

  At some point within five days to three weeks his major organs, including his lungs, heart, and brain, would give out and he would die.

The judge found that death by dehydration is extremely painful and uncomfortable for a human being. The judge could not rule out the possibility that Paul Brophy could experience pain in such a scenario.

Paul Brophy's attending physician described death by dehydration as cruel and violent.