Painting a very different picture from that told by her parents, pro-death attorney George Felos described Terri Schiavo’s appearance as “very peaceful, the most beautiful since I’ve known her” (paraphrased). I’m sorry, but death, no matter how it comes, is not “beautiful.”
But that kind of propaganda is to be expected from Felos who is the leading proponent of assisted suicide in the U.S. legal profession. Painting images very different from their actual appearance is his specialty.
Consider, judicial independence is vital to our system of justice in the United States. Yet it has been reported that last year, the day following a favorable ruling for Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer received a $250 donation for his re-election campaign from Felos. The amount is not important, the appearance of quid pro quo and conflict of interest is. Was there a duplicitous move to influence the “independent judiciary.”
There are so many questions swirling around this case, questions that should cause the judiciary to pause and at a minimum become dubious of the claims of Felos and Schiavo.
Yet, the greater question is what is happening in our country? What has happened to us that we are running headlong down the path of death for the convenience of the living?
Argue how you may, of the 46 million abortions reported in America since 1973, the vast majority were not for medical reasons. The primary reasons given for these abortions amount to personal convenience
The reasons given for abortion are as follows:
Social Reasons (given as primary reason)
- Feels unready for responsibility 21%
- Feels she can't afford baby 21%
- Concern for how baby would change her life 16%
- Relationship problem 12%
- Feels she isn't mature enough 11%
- Has all the children she wants 8%
- Other reasons 4-5%
TOTAL: 93%
"Hard Cases" (given as primary reason)
- Mother's Health 3%
- Baby may have health problem 3%
- Rape or Incest 1%
TOTAL: 7%
From National Right to Life
Fully 93% of abortions are for matters of social convenience, not medical issues or rape/incest as the pro-abortion lobby consistently touts as the reason abortion should be easy and legal. Consider that the reason given, “Baby may have health problem” is based on what “may” be and the underlying difficulties and inconvenience of caring for a sick or disabled child, and the “Social Reasons” category can be reasonably increased to 96%.
That is, 3600 abortions per day in 2004, or every day more than twice the total number of American casualties since the beginning of the Iraq war are killed in the abortion mills of the United States. The liberals wail over the former while demanding that the American taxpayer, including those who find abortion morally wrong, pay for abortion on demand.
Now the battle line is shifting to include physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, two closely related but distinctly different acts. While the generalities of the Schiavo case may be closer to the act of allowing nature to take its course, the specifics paint a different picture. In that Schiavo does not specifically qualify as physician assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia, it is an early skirmish on the field of battle that will surely lead to more of these types of situations.
Do not be deceived; while those proponents of PAS and euthanasia speak passionately to the dignity of the individual, mercy and so on, the deeper reasons are both societal and economic.
It is painful to watch a loved on ravaged by disease, to see their bodies waste away, the vibrant spark of life slowly diminish as they edge towards death’s door. It is never easy, for some it is impossible. While advocates often speak of easing the pain of the dying, they also want to end their own pain.
Consider the concept of a funeral. They are not for the deceased. While we speak of honoring them, of paying a final tribute and honor to those who have passed on, the real purpose of the funeral is to help ourselves in dealing with the pain of loss. The dead don’t care, they’re not crying. It’s us, the living.
In the same way PAS and euthanasia are a palliative solution to the pain of the friends, family and caretakers of the injured, diseased and dying. It speeds the process so we can move on with our lives.
Consider Michael Schiavo. What are his stated plans when Terri dies? To marry his 10 year live in lover.
What about economics? This was brought home to me today as I discussed Schiavo with a co-worker. His arguments ran to the waste of money being spent on keeping her alive and to the financial ability of her parents and siblings to care for her were they to receive custody.
The cost of care in the final year of life comprises 18% of lifetime medical costs, 30% of Medicare expenditures. With the increasing pressures on hospitals, insurance companies and government medical programs to reign in costs, the availability of end-of-life care is certainly to become a much-debated issue while PAS and euthanasia will become viewed as a solution.
Listen to the current debate and you will hear these and other reasons given to “pull the tube” and get on with it.
The bottom line is that abortion and PAS/euthanasia are bound together in the politics and ethics of the culture of death in America. To acknowledge one as morally wrong inherently weakens the arguments for the other. Thus you will not find a pro-life/pro-euthanasia advocate or a pro-abortion/anti-euthanasia apologist.
Both abortion and PAS/euthanasia find their foundation in the social self-centeredness of our society. They reflect the focus of the “me” society where the important things of life do not include sacrifice, delayed gratification and giving of one’s self to others.
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The past several weeks I’ve withheld comment as I, along with the nation and the world, stood by while the drama of Terri Schiavo’s struggle was waged. Fact of the matter is that I’ve been aware and casually watching for the past several years when this struggle first came to light.
Quite frankly, at first I thought, why are they doing this to her? She’s not there, she’s only a shell, let her go. Pull the plug and let nature take its course. But then I learned more.
Terri is not on life support as the liberal media claim. She is not unconscious. She is aware. She feels pain. She laughs and cries. She responds to her family, friends and caretakers. It’s only that she needs a feeding tube to supply nourishment, and therapy that holds the promise of taking food normally and so much more.
While the liberal media persists in denying the things Terri is able to do, they also actively deny a voice to those who see value in Terri and hope for her life. It was only on FoxNews "Hannity & Colmes" that we heard of Dr. Bill Hammesfahr, and Nobel Prize nominee who has examined Terri extensively and claims there is great hope for her.
He has seen amazing recoveries in his work with patients with injuries and damage beyond Terri’s condition. Yet the liberal media and their political allies turn a deaf ear, a blind eye and say, “there’s not hope, she cannot understand anything, she’s in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’” With a PVS comes the inability to comprehend and react to any beneficial or effective stimulus. Someone in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ cannot understand even the obvious.
It would seem while Terri apparently can, the left either cannot or will not. Perhaps they are the ones in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’ not Terri Schiavo. Should they be denied life? Not even I would suggest that!
Is there really hope for Terri? Consider this.
I have a friend, she is also a Terri, who several years ago suffered a severe blow to the head and terrible damage to her brain. This vibrant, jubilant woman in an instant became unable to speak, eat, walk and all the other wonderful, creative and joyful things she had done for years. Many would say she was like Terri.
Yet she was allowed and encouraged in therapy and while there remain difficulties, she lives! She walks, with difficulty. She talks and converses, with difficulty. She struggles to live as normally as she can, with difficulty. But the point is, there was no expectation that she would, yet she does.
Is she 100% as she was before the accident? No, she never will. But she was given the opportunity to become all that she could. No one tried to deny her that.
There is a hell bent determination by the liberal left to condemn Terri Schiavo, to end her life, despite the evidence of hope. This I cannot understand.
Were Terri Schiavo a convicted murder on death row and a tiny bit of evidence came to light that might exonerate her, the liberal media, politicians and activists would walk through the coals of hell to stay the execution and save her life. They understand that once she was gone it was too late.
Why are they so determined to kill her now?
If Terri was anorexic and starving herself there would be cries of her need for treatment, her life would be of worth and need saving. Appeals of the horror of self-starvation could not be quieted.
Yet she’s not and it’s ok for someone else to starve her.
The pervasive culture of death in our country is determined to make Terri Schiavo as their “cover girl,” their “Miss Death.” Yet from all indications there is at best strong disagreement whether Terri would want that “honor.”
Has the minister of this “culture of death,” Attorney George Felos, co-opted an unwitting Michael Schiavo in his unrelenting quest for free wheeling, anything goes death in America? Felos history on this matter speaks for itself.
Has Michael Schiavo enlisted Felos in his struggle to quiet Terri, to prevent her from possibly recovering enough to speak? I only ask this last question because of the circumstances.
Terri suffered her trauma, what ever it was, 15 years ago. Ten years ago Michael moved in with his girlfriend, sired two children, all while in control of a million dollar judgment in Terri’s case. Over that time he denied her therapies and treatments that held hope for her improvement.
Now, with his common law wife at his side, who he says he will marry as soon as Terri is out of the way, he claims she wanted to die rather than live in this “condition.” We have his word on it.
In interviews and affidavit, a former caretaker of Terri’s, Carla Sauer Iyer, has quoted him asking when “the bitch was going to die?” The same person tells of finding Terri overdosed on insulin immediately after Michael left her. An overdosing that could have resulted in her death. While these accusations have not been dealt with in a court, they are very troubling.
While Terri’s parents and siblings are pleading for the chance to sacrifice their lives to care for Terri, it seems Michael would sacrifice Terri, the one he stood in front of an altar and promised to love and care for in sickness and health.
I have to ask, what sacrifice would Michael have to suffer by Terri’s living that is so great she must die? Does Terri know something that Michael does not want, cannot possibly allow, to be made known?
As terrible as divorce is, I know, I’ve been there, death of a spouse is so much worse. I know, I’ve been there. So what is it about the call of Terri’s death that tastes so sweet to her loving husband Michael Schiavo?
Would if be a hard life, a struggle and sacrifice to care for someone in Terri Schiavo’s condition? Absolutely! But it would be a struggle and sacrifice of honor and love. Can every one do it?
All can, not all will. My friend Terri? Her husband of 15 years divorced her and left her with her loving parents to care for her while he took their children. Did I agree with him? No. But in light of what Michael Schiavo wants to do to his Terri, I honor my friend’s husband.
At least he had the honor to admit he couldn’t handle it and allow someone who loved her more and was willing to make the necessary sacrifices care for her.
All Michael Schiavo wants is death.
More on Terri's condition:
Facts Versus Michael Schiavo by Cherly Ford RN
Disabled Woman Would Cry 'Help Me,' Caregivers Claim - CNSNews.com
If only Terri had murdered someone - Burt Prelutsky
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
Quite frankly, at first I thought, why are they doing this to her? She’s not there, she’s only a shell, let her go. Pull the plug and let nature take its course. But then I learned more.
Terri is not on life support as the liberal media claim. She is not unconscious. She is aware. She feels pain. She laughs and cries. She responds to her family, friends and caretakers. It’s only that she needs a feeding tube to supply nourishment, and therapy that holds the promise of taking food normally and so much more.
While the liberal media persists in denying the things Terri is able to do, they also actively deny a voice to those who see value in Terri and hope for her life. It was only on FoxNews "Hannity & Colmes" that we heard of Dr. Bill Hammesfahr, and Nobel Prize nominee who has examined Terri extensively and claims there is great hope for her.
He has seen amazing recoveries in his work with patients with injuries and damage beyond Terri’s condition. Yet the liberal media and their political allies turn a deaf ear, a blind eye and say, “there’s not hope, she cannot understand anything, she’s in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’” With a PVS comes the inability to comprehend and react to any beneficial or effective stimulus. Someone in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ cannot understand even the obvious.
It would seem while Terri apparently can, the left either cannot or will not. Perhaps they are the ones in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’ not Terri Schiavo. Should they be denied life? Not even I would suggest that!
Is there really hope for Terri? Consider this.
I have a friend, she is also a Terri, who several years ago suffered a severe blow to the head and terrible damage to her brain. This vibrant, jubilant woman in an instant became unable to speak, eat, walk and all the other wonderful, creative and joyful things she had done for years. Many would say she was like Terri.
Yet she was allowed and encouraged in therapy and while there remain difficulties, she lives! She walks, with difficulty. She talks and converses, with difficulty. She struggles to live as normally as she can, with difficulty. But the point is, there was no expectation that she would, yet she does.
Is she 100% as she was before the accident? No, she never will. But she was given the opportunity to become all that she could. No one tried to deny her that.
There is a hell bent determination by the liberal left to condemn Terri Schiavo, to end her life, despite the evidence of hope. This I cannot understand.
Were Terri Schiavo a convicted murder on death row and a tiny bit of evidence came to light that might exonerate her, the liberal media, politicians and activists would walk through the coals of hell to stay the execution and save her life. They understand that once she was gone it was too late.
Why are they so determined to kill her now?
If Terri was anorexic and starving herself there would be cries of her need for treatment, her life would be of worth and need saving. Appeals of the horror of self-starvation could not be quieted.
Yet she’s not and it’s ok for someone else to starve her.
The pervasive culture of death in our country is determined to make Terri Schiavo as their “cover girl,” their “Miss Death.” Yet from all indications there is at best strong disagreement whether Terri would want that “honor.”
Has the minister of this “culture of death,” Attorney George Felos, co-opted an unwitting Michael Schiavo in his unrelenting quest for free wheeling, anything goes death in America? Felos history on this matter speaks for itself.
Has Michael Schiavo enlisted Felos in his struggle to quiet Terri, to prevent her from possibly recovering enough to speak? I only ask this last question because of the circumstances.
Terri suffered her trauma, what ever it was, 15 years ago. Ten years ago Michael moved in with his girlfriend, sired two children, all while in control of a million dollar judgment in Terri’s case. Over that time he denied her therapies and treatments that held hope for her improvement.
Now, with his common law wife at his side, who he says he will marry as soon as Terri is out of the way, he claims she wanted to die rather than live in this “condition.” We have his word on it.
In interviews and affidavit, a former caretaker of Terri’s, Carla Sauer Iyer, has quoted him asking when “the bitch was going to die?” The same person tells of finding Terri overdosed on insulin immediately after Michael left her. An overdosing that could have resulted in her death. While these accusations have not been dealt with in a court, they are very troubling.
While Terri’s parents and siblings are pleading for the chance to sacrifice their lives to care for Terri, it seems Michael would sacrifice Terri, the one he stood in front of an altar and promised to love and care for in sickness and health.
I have to ask, what sacrifice would Michael have to suffer by Terri’s living that is so great she must die? Does Terri know something that Michael does not want, cannot possibly allow, to be made known?
As terrible as divorce is, I know, I’ve been there, death of a spouse is so much worse. I know, I’ve been there. So what is it about the call of Terri’s death that tastes so sweet to her loving husband Michael Schiavo?
Would if be a hard life, a struggle and sacrifice to care for someone in Terri Schiavo’s condition? Absolutely! But it would be a struggle and sacrifice of honor and love. Can every one do it?
All can, not all will. My friend Terri? Her husband of 15 years divorced her and left her with her loving parents to care for her while he took their children. Did I agree with him? No. But in light of what Michael Schiavo wants to do to his Terri, I honor my friend’s husband.
At least he had the honor to admit he couldn’t handle it and allow someone who loved her more and was willing to make the necessary sacrifices care for her.
All Michael Schiavo wants is death.
More on Terri's condition:
Facts Versus Michael Schiavo by Cherly Ford RN
Disabled Woman Would Cry 'Help Me,' Caregivers Claim - CNSNews.com
If only Terri had murdered someone - Burt Prelutsky
Be sure to visit Front Line Report
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