Terri Schiavo controversy

Big news story (whether it should have been or not, though, is highly debatable); you'd think that something so controversial would have energized people into action (with whichever way you felt about it), but, looking back, after she passed on, nothing changed. How many have gone out and had a living will written out because of that incident? I know after the incident, it got pushed way in the back of my mind, and I still have yet to do it. It's just another faded headline in an old newspaper. The death of one, though certainly tragic, pales in comparison to the countless who have died in the wake of the several major natural disasters of this year.

The Terri Schiavo controversy was an amazingly hot topic at the time, but in the long term I do not think that this will have too much of an effect on people.

It's unfortunate that the family could not have settled this amicably, instead of turning it into a national brouhaha. There's no doubt Terri Schiavo's quality of life was very low, but it sure seemed her husband was awfully eager for her to be dead. Michael Schiavo came across very badly to me. Ironically, his decision to effectively starve her to death was a merciful one, because autopsy results indicated she may have been suffering. The whole shameful affair had quite an impact as if forced many people to think about how they would want to be treated if they were in such a situation.

Give me a break. This should have been left alone when it started. Hardly a dot on the radar compared to Katrina and the London bombings, and not worth the media attention it got. This would never get more than a two from me, and I cannot in any way understand why someone would rate it higher. This is something happens all the time, every single day; wether it's a feeding tube, a respirater, any kind of life support, it happens. This woman was in a persistant vegative state, blind, and brain-dead for fifteen years. Could we have kept her in that condition longer? Sure, but we didn't. To tell you the truth, I was relieved. I thought, just maybe, that pro-lifers would shut up after that, and America would get its head out of the clouds and remember what was really important. Too bad I was wrong. Those who are still screaming at each other over the Schiavo case need to get over it. This is done with.

So passe know after Katrina...

A family tragedy exploited by ruthless politicians-a LOW point for the media.

When moderate Republicans get fed up w/ the direction of their party they look across the way and see Maxine Waters, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy and the assorted sordid lefties who hold positions of prominence in their organization, and they stay in their own camp. When moderate Democrats get fed up w/ the direction of their party they turn on the TV and saw assorted religious lunatics terrorize a family in the midst of a dilemma no one should be asked to face, and they decide that Sharpton, Hillary and the other race baiting socialists aren't so bad after all. That was a big, bad event for my GOP. I would not be surpised at all if it comes back to haunt the Republican Party in several key elections in '06.

Update to Eschew---It's a joke, Eschew, because when I've plainly said your points are specious, and a parroting of the Republican line, you restate them again, and then again, as if they have more validity with repetition. They don't. The Terri Schiavo incident was repellent, and obscene, and no amount of verbiage on your part changes that.-----Still another update to Eschew---Listen, Tim, let me reemphasize for the last time...ZZZZZZZ (sorry, terminal boredom overcame me before I was able to apply my fingers to the keyboard to refute the same specious, tiresome rationalizations yet again.)----Update to Eschew--Tim, these filibusters between us can be entertaining, but life is too short. You seem like a nice, intelligent-enough guy, but despite your nom de plume (Esteems Offal might be more appropritate) you follow the Republican line on EVERYTHING, no matter what topic is being discussed. All your arguments are the lies, distortions, and half-truths that are disseminated by the likes... Read more

MY FINAL (7/7): How convenient. Now, you're bored. With responding to MY rationalizations. Without answering a single question of mine. Not a single point in rebuttal to having your intellectual pants pulled down. Not even a response to my challenge to back up your accusation of my inaccuracies and distortions. Whew, boredom can be convenient. The dichotomy of the liberal vs. conservative takes on this case couldn't be clearer. UPDATE (6/29): Could someone, anyone, point out to me a single specific lie, distortion or half-truth attributable to a post of mine, as EDT4 accuses? Frivolous characterizations aren't helpful in clarifying important issues. Is it OK with everyone that any person in a permanent vegetative state, as determined by any doctor or doctors, with or without a political or financial agenda, can be starved to death by court order, at the behest of their direct beneficiary? Is this the first such case or has there been a precedent. This woman wasn't dying, ... Read more

Feel that sting on your cheek? That's middle America slapping you zealots in your face telling you to get out of their business. Another backpedal by pro-Bush people. (Oh, can we expect the constitutional amendment defining marriage any day now? Riiiight. . .) Nice attempt to circumvent the law by a bunch of stereotypical zealots. . .still waiting for the apologies from the whackos that claimed that the autopsy would validate their points. Personal fave- She's LOOKING around! The woman was blind. . . Folks, it's not a hard concept- keep gov't out of family business or move to a nation where the gov't is IN family business. You can't attack religious and philosphical zealotry overseas while practicing it at home.

I don't know how significant all of that will prove to be in the long run. I'm just glad that poor lady is finally at peace.

A big news story, that's for sure. This had people all over the country scrambling to make a living will, and we foud people who are usually on opposite sides of the fence agreeing with each other. All of that is over now, and I'll just say I hope she is at peace.