Drake: That was very moving. I've been in such a rage and depression that something like this is happening, that I haven't thought of any of the implications outside of the case itself.

Thanks so much for posting this.
 

a-jinghip-e,

Proven brain dead by whom? A neurologist who is an activist in the right-to-die movement? Someone appointed by a court which has also proven its bias in its rulings?

How do you respond to the assertions by a world-renowned neurologist that the EEG used in court was conducted with an improper level of filtering and is therefore inconclusive? How do justify the testimony of several nurses with years of experience that you and I both obviously lack in this area that Michael Schiavo has been criminally negligent and prohibited any attempts at rehabilitation which could have improved the quality of her life?

One of these nurses stated in a sworn affadavit that she was able to get Terri Schiavo to swallow.

Brain damaged people can regain abilities lost through intensive rehabilitation. Brain dead people can't breathe and have no discernible motor activity. Brain dead people don't look at you, follow you with their eyes or respond to stimuli.

I could call you brain dead based on your comments, but you still don't technically meet the criteria. Wanting to believe something doesn't make it so. Ignoring your common sense to fit your political agenda only serves to perpetuate the inevitable slide into moral anarchy that will reveal the left for what they truly are.
 

a-j-e,

I honestly don't know why none of these other witnesses were called. Perhaps they were not known until later. At least one of these people has been terminated for making her statements public. Perhaps all were intimidated with threats of termination. Conservatives are not the only ones who play dirty, you know.

My point from the very beginning is that this woman is being subjected to a process that may very well be causing her suffering. I don't know for a fact that it is, but neither am I convinced that anyone else besides Terri knows for sure. In that case, in the absence of a living will, my belief is that she should be kept alive.

I hope she's not suffering, since you are right about the inevitability of the outcome.

Your comments about theocracy, however, are ridiculous. We are a country founded on a system of law grounded in Judeo-Christian morality. Certain assumptions were made based on that moral underpinning when the Founding Fathers wrote and ratified the Constitution. I, for one, still believe in those values, despite the opinions of the majority.

I am not looking for a theocracy in America, however. I am simply trying to promote a retreat from the anarchy and chaos that looms as a direct result of the current judicial tyranny in our courts. They have exceeded their authority and have begun to legislate from the bench, answerable to no one.

Our Constitution needs to be amended to put a stop to it.

As a Christian, I am against any taking of innocent life. Whether the law says so or not, I will oppose it.
 

I would challenge your assertion that we are our brain. There is no scientific proof that ultimate consciousness resides in the brain.

Christians believe that we have an eternal existence outside of the body we are born with. If Terri Schiavo is really 'brain dead', then I believe that her soul has probably already departed for its eternal destination. If not, then I am concerned about her suffering needlessly and cruelly. In either case, keeping her alive does no harm.

I think you over-estimate the need for Republicans to 'shore up support' from the Christian community. This concept of the 'religious right' is not one I buy into. The ethics of a true believer don't allow unthinking affiliation with one political party or another. In fact, many Christians - myself included - are very disillusioned by the lack of more balanced worldview presenting itself in the political arena.

The problem here is that the Dems cling to values that sincere believers cannot tolerate. The voices of morality are stifled within the party, and we are left with little options.

To be honest, I am almost to the point where I am just going to wait for the persecution to begin, it's gotten so bad in our country.

Everyone wants what's theirs, and very few seem to want what's right.
 

Give me a break -- I have an actual, genuine, legal living will to the effect that I do not wish to have my life prolonged by ridiculous artificial means, but I would sincerely hope my family would give me a year or two before pulling the plug.

The fact that Mr. Schiavo waited seems to indicate he had trouble with the decision. And all the conspiracy theory nonsense floating around about how active and responsive she is seems to have slipped by the neurosurgeons who were consulted with the case.

Attempting to compare the death of a woman who significantly damaged her own health through eating disorders to the death of Jesus Christ is absolutely reprehensible. You should be ashamed of yourself, trivializing Christ's ordeal in this manner.

For a person who claims to be seeking a closer relationship with Our Lord, you have an odd way of showing it.
 

Anonymous,

Glad to see that you are still lurking. I guess the only way that anyone could interpret this post as trivializing the suffering and death of Jesus would be to take the view that Terri Schiavo's death is the trivial matter.

Sorry, but I cannot take such a view. Whatever was ultimately responsible for her current condition is beside the point. In fact, I find it utterly irresponsible and not reflective of any Christian feeling to suggest -- as your comments have -- that Terri Schiavo deserves to endure this suffering because of an alleged eating disorder.

We all deserve death for our sins, Anonymous. The Lord makes no distinction between the sins of others that you find appalling and those in your own life.

You're an awfully judgemental person for someone who doesn't have the courage to come out of the shadows.
 

And you certainly come off as judgemental for someone who claims to trust all things to Christ . . .
 

Anon,

I'm curious. Exactly what type of Christianity do you adhere to?

What authority do defer to? You seem to be quite ready to denounce what you deem to be un-Christian behavior, but are willing to stand by and applaud a governmental imposition of this slow death.

Make me understand how you reconcile your conception of Christian faith with legalized murder?
 

Er . . . the Other Anonymous.

The thing everybody seems to be forgetting (sorry, the WHO) while they fight over the politics and theology of the situation is Karen Quindlin (spelling?).

I'm fuzzy on the facts, because it happened when I was a small child, and I recall more of my mother's impressions than my own . . .

She was a long-term coma patient on full life support. She was eventually taken off that life support, presumably to die. Instead, she woke up.

She was on the full thing -- respirator, etc.

But she woke up.

The Schiavo case is totally different, because she only has a feeding tube. Not a respirator, and the other assorted life support mechanisms.

She isn't being allowed to die, she is being starved to death.

If she was actually braindead, she would not be able to maintain the basic functions like breathing, etc.

The case has more to do with the treatment of the mentally ill than with right-to-life-or-death issues.
 

Woo hoo! Now I've got both the Anonymi (?) on board!

I shall have to name you now, to keep you straight. Last Anonymous, you are my conservative Anonymous, so I shall call you Anon-C for short.

This other I shall christen Anon-L, for he/she smacks of Liberalism.

Where have you been Anon-C? I had thought you would have weighed in long ago?
 

Er . . . the Other Anonymous

Sorry, Drake. I'm the raging Liberal. I believe the soy cheese in the fridge proves it.

However, I'm not going to wallow in the rabid emotionalism this case provokes.

It's fairly straight-forward -- would you starve an unresponsive autistic child?

Same thing.
 

e. . . T O A

Sorry -- my fault. I thought Karen Quindlen woke up (I did say I was very young at the time).

She didn't.

But she did live on for another ten years, until she died of pneumonia.

And no one was permitted to simply kill her because she was inconvenient.
 

To the poster formerly known as Anon-C:

Soy cheese in the frig does not a Liberal make, but if you are uncomfortable with a conservative label, so be it.

However, I totally agree with your assessment here. The debate for me is not over neurological terminology, but rather subjecting a human being - created in God's image - to forced starvation and dehydration. We treat animals better than that.