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Judge Rules In Schiavo Case
[Editor's note: We will be moving on from this story shortly. There are many other things happening in our world today. We will leave the Schiavo family to their private grief.]
As was discussed last night, the judge has indeed affirmed the previous courts' rulings in the Schiavo case, and will not interfere with Michael Schiavo's right to carry out what over twenty courts have found to be Terri Schaivo's wishes, to refuse futher extraordinary medical treatment.
Perhaps the most heart-breaking part of this heart-breaking story is a greedy and heartless Congress that allowed this family to nurture any hope whatsoever of prevailing. The members of Congress who started this who debacle most surely knew to a person that the family had no chance of prevailing (on numerous legal failings) and went ahead and gave them false hope. Feel free to call them and hold them accountable. You can look up your representatives phone number and information here.
TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- A federal judge on Tuesday denied an emergency request to reinsert a feeding tube for Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who is the center of a national legal battle over her life.
Attorneys for Schiavo's parents will file an appeal at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia.
The ruling in Tampa by U.S. District Judge James Whittemore came after Congress and President Bush enacted legislation aimed at allowing federal courts to review Schiavo's case. (Full story)
In denying the emergency request by attorneys for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, Whittemore wrote that the Schindlers did not not have a "substantial likelihood of success" on the merits of their arguments.
If you are looking for a human being with a real heart that cares about people fully and without prejudice, if you are searching for real kindness and true equality among all your neighbors, and you can’t find that person in your mirror, then don’t expect it from our government. The twisted wreckage that drives our country can only be stopped by real people refusing to be diminished for even one more day. For a few days, it was Terri Schiavo; don’t let it be anyone else tomorrow, or ever again. It is time to return us to our regularly scheduled country, and stop the diversionary tactics. We are not fooled by false congressional
.......false congressional compassion and we are not going to let the true isses that require our attention to be sidelined.
A commentary from a columnist from the St. Petersburg Times says it well...
With all laws flattened, where will we hide?
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published March 22, 2005
The end justifies the means.
When you have enough power, you can tell the courts to get lost, you can overrule the self-government of an entire state, you can obliterate the rule of law.
It does not matter that Florida's courts ruled that Terri Schiavo expressed the wish not to be kept alive artificially. We are entitled to ignore court rulings.
Neither does it matter that the doctors say that her brain has largely turned to fluid. We may dismiss these facts with a wave of the hand, or a sound bite on CNN.
Congress knows all. The federal government knows all. The strutting Tom DeLay and the unctuous Bill Frist know more than all the judges and doctors combined.
They are cynically armed with their internal memo about how many votes they are going to get out of the Christians. Some members of Congress speechified without knowing how to pronounce Terri Schiavo's name, or the most basic facts.
Tom DeLay's conduct is odious. He represents everything bad about Congress. His principal pastime is raising large amounts of money from wicked people in return for hurting the public good.
The notion that Tom DeLay of Texas is entitled to usurp Florida's rule of law with the claim of being morally superior is akin to Bill Clinton coming down to lecture us on marital fidelity.
On top of that, anyone in the way of these half-witted bombasts is a devil. It is not possible that Michael Schiavo might actually believe he is doing what Terri wanted - no. He is a murderer. It is not possible Judge George Greer actually made what he thought was the correct legal decision - he is "merciless."
If you are cheering because Congress acted in the midnight hour to "save" Terri, be sure of what you are cheering for.
You are applauding a Congress for throwing out the rulings of the courts, throwing out the due process of the states, and substituting its own will.
The difference between me and so-called "conservatives" is that when I say the power of government is a dangerous beast to be feared, I actually mean it.
Let me ask you a question.
Let's say that the next president is ... Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I know, I know. But just say.
Do you also believe that ol' Hil should have the power to wipe out the rulings of the courts and the states, with the wave of her magic wand?
No?
Then maybe you are clinging to a very foolish belief. Maybe you believe that the government will trample over the courts only when you agree. Well, good luck.
There was an Englishman named Thomas More. He is most famous for refusing to approve Henry VIII's divorce, and paying for his principles with his head.
In the play about More's life titled A Man for All Seasons , More debates a character named Roper, who wants to ignore the law to fight evil:
Roper: So now you'd give the devil the benefit of law?
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?
Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every tree in England to do that.
More: Oh, and when the last law was down and the devil turned 'round on you where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast, man's laws not God's, and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - do you really think that you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake.
For the sake of headlines and self-righteousness, the U.S. Congress waited until the final seconds of a yearslong, agonizing legal process to say that our law does not count. Many well-meaning people are cheering. And so one more tree falls
http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2005/03/22/Columns/With_all_laws_flatten.shtml
OK, time to move on to what else is happening and leave Terri in peace.
Something more than tea is starting to brew in the far east...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4371361.stm
EU's China arms move faces delay
The European Union may have to delay lifting its arms embargo on China, British official said on Tuesday.
They pointed to comments by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who said China's passing of a law against Taiwan secession had made it "more difficult".
The arms ban, imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, was widely expected to be lifted later this year.
But the US has stepped up its criticism of the move, which it fears could fuel the arms race between China and Taiwan.
France and Germany are keen to lift the embargo and replace it with a strengthened code of conduct on all EU arms sales. Britain, which takes over the six month EU presidency on 1 July, has given its support in principle.
--snip--
A decision during that time might embarrass British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a close ally of US President Bush, our correspondent says.
--snip--
Ending her visit to Beijing on Monday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mr Straw's "sobering comments" reinforced Washington's concern that lifting the embargo would alter the balance of military forces in the region.
The US has always opposed the lifting of the ban, warning that China could embark on an arms-buying spree.
Because the US might help defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, it does not want anything to add to Chinese capabilities.
British officials denied US reports that the EU had already decided to put off consideration of lifting the embargo until next year.
According to the Guardian, women are squeezing back into corsets, the US had almost half a million undocumented illegal aliens enter the country last year, & there has just been the worst school shooting since Columbine in Minnesota.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4883866,00.html
Google News:
Michael Jackson complains of a backache, the EU may begin to sell arms to China, Arab leaders are meeting & China wants more developing countries represented in the UN.
Well, it's off to work for me, so I'll pick up more tidbits on NPR & BBC.
I appreciate the staggeringly good writing by tutterfly & madame defarge & casey morris - it's a pleasure to wake up to!
Email - looks like it's back to Social Security - during the diversion, Bush & Cheney are hitting many states & blanketing them with lying ads - even the slow boat liars are in on it.
madame dafarge
US doesn't dare say too much (Condi) because Blair is up for re-election in May. So far he's been supportive of the Iraq war but he doesn't like US positionon Kyoto/global warming. I think he's in trouble but I'm afraid if he's out UK could even end up with a Tory. That would be horrible - maybe worse than Maggie Thatcher! & I don't think the Lib Dems have enough power.
I think the UK is another failed Empire.
As for China, even if they get a little "irritated," all they have to do is get more new trade partners to make up for our consumption, get more countries to open plants there, & pull the plug on our currency by not buying our treasury bonds as "loans" and they could also not peg their currency to ours so their goods wouldn't be as cheap here.
Thanks Bush.
Does anybody have any info about the Georgia district appellate?
While I am happy to see a federal district court judge actually paid attention in law school, I am not really comforted by the federal judge's ruling because the constitutional damage has been done and the appellate court can now add to it. The federal court should not have heard the case.
The Constututional problems are Federalism and Full Faith and Credit. Section 8 of Article I enumerates out the powers of the US Congress and does not include anything remotely like the Schiavo bill. The 10th Amendment gives the states any powers not specifically given to the federal government in the Constitution. So, the Schiavo matter belongs in the state court with jurisdiction.
The constitutional issue of Full Faith and Credit comes from Section 1 of Article 4 which requires that full faith and credit be given to state court proceedings. This is obviously not happening here.
Why is this important? It is important because the US is supposed to be a government of laws, not the whims of aristocrats and folks they can convince to follow them. Today, you might want to see Ms. Schiavo kept alive because you saw the sympathetic pictures of here that make her look like she in fact understands something and is somewhat responsive. However, that is not what the Florida court found and they heard the evidence. We have not. The next time the republican congress wants to promote one of its strategic initiatives to further consolidate its power, they might butt into your family or a state court ruling that went in your favor. This case provides precedent for them to do it to you and your family. Then, people who have not heard the evidence and do not know the facts will be making decisions for your family.
Bad cases make bad law. The fear of good people allow bad laws to be made.
I noticed a mention of the Baby Sun case on the DCP home page links to this thread but nothing about the case in the discussion... Sandy got the Baby Sun case rolling in the blogosphere, with the help of the Daou Report. Here's a link to her story in it:
Who Spoke For Baby Sun?
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=581