The Schiavo Case

Okay, I'm back. Im caffeine free. And I'm ready to rock. Expect 4 updates this week, to make up for my shameful indolence of the past month. Today, Im here to talk about persistent vegetative states. That's right: Terri Schiavo. This is one of those media perfect storms, like little Elian Gonzalez, where whole armies of the populace become very concerned and angry about one particular person. And as usual, the Republican army is the stupid army. I'm not going to rehash the case like all the newspapers - if you are alive and vaguely aware in the US today, you know the particulars of this case. Here's why the Republicans are being stupid.

First and foremost it comes down to the fact that spousal rights trump parental rights. Think about that. If anything happens to me, I want my lovely wife making the important decisions, not my Mom and Dad. My lovely wife is the one who's closest to me. That makes sense, and, wouldn't you know, its reflected in the law. So the doctors tell Mr Schiavo that his wife is, essentially, an awareness - free vegetable. Do you know what she would have wanted? Mr Schiavo says yeah, we once talked about this. She wanted to have the machines turned off. Fine. Lets do it. Same thing happens in hundreds of cases around the country every week.

However. Ms. Schiavo's Mom and Dad challenge this, saying that Terri can respond to them and is aware.
Hmm. First off, who cares? It's not their decision, according to the law. It's her husbands decision. Second off, these are the LAST people we should listen to about this matter. The best coma doctors in the world looked at this woman, in the presence of her family (who kept saying she would only respond in THEIR presence) and determined that she's a vegetable. She SEEMS to sometimes have consciousness becuase her brainstem is still operational, but thats the only part of her brain thats operational. Now, if you ask me who do I trust - a bunch of pro-life activists and an obviously irrational Mom and dad or the best doctors in the world, I'll take option 2.
Now, stupid people look at the videotape of Terri Schiavo smiling and tracking a balloon with her eyes and go, 'she's alive in there!' Wrong. Do you really think these experts want to kill her? If there was any chance of her 'coming back' they would be all over it.

So, now we have the matter of 'due process.' Terri's parents have taken this case to 19 different judges in 15 years to try to convince them that they are right. Every single one of them has ruled against them. And so now republican congressmen and women have entered the fray, on the basis that she hasn't had due process. Are you kidding me? 19 different judges is plenty freaking due process. So what's going on?

Listen to me. The republicans in congress know that they have screwed a lot of the poor people that voted for them since the election. These strawmunching religious morons need something so they know the republicans are on their side. They cant take down abortion yet so this is an excellent sideshow. It's a win/win for them. If Schiavo dies, they can say they tried to save her. If she lives on in her vegetative state, they can say they won a victory for the voiceless (translation - like the unborn).

Democrats face a lose/lose. If Schiavo dies, they are the murderers that allowed this to happen. If she lives on, then their ineffectiveness is underlined, plus everyone knows they WANTED the woman to die. That doesn't look good in a campaign ad.
Unfortunately, once again, religious zealots are trying to interfere with personal choices. The fact that they may prevail makes me very nervous about the direction this countrys heading in.