By the time you read this, Terri Schindler-Schiavo could well be dead – the victim of a court-ordered starvation plan.
If you get your news primarily from the New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or FOX, you may not know who Terri Schindler-Schiavo is. The establishment press has treated her government-mandated torture-execution as if it had little news value.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, while speaking out on the case and offering a brief opposing the taking of Terri’s life, now maintains his hands are tied – that he cannot overrule the opinion of one judge.
So, helpless in further appeals to authorities, Terri’s loving parents, who want only to help their daughter live and recover from a mysterious, debilitating attack 13 years ago, are forced to watch their daughter starve to death in a horrifying death sentence that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment for even the most heinous criminal in the United States.
The legalized murder of Terri takes place without due process, without Terri being able to express her own views to the court and in contradiction to the opinions of those who love her most.
Is this America?
Yes, this is America, circa 2003.
The sentence is being carried out as we speak. The only thing that seems to matter to Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer, the black-robed priest who pronounced sentence on the 39-year-old woman, is what her estranged husband desires for Terri. Michael Schiavo seemingly only wants to get on with his new life, free of the memory of his still living wife. He long ago moved in with another woman, had a child and is about to have his second.
Schiavo hardly seems like the most objective caretaker in the world.
Terri is not comatose. She responds to stimuli. She reportedly tried to get out of her chair when told she would have her feeding tube removed. She has been systematically denied rehabilitation efforts by the same people who are now committing her to the grave.
This is not only a travesty of justice, it’s a moral outrage. It’s an indictment of the American conscience.
Terri is clearly being denied life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That’s a violation of the U.S. Constitution. As well, what is happening to Terri is apparently a violation of the Florida constitution.
Not surprisingly, the politicians have demonstrated an alarming lack of courage in efforts to save Terri’s life.
You want to know how the Holocaust began in Germany? I suspect it was in increments. I suspect that politicians and the media didn’t ask questions because court orders are court orders.
We hear from Gov. Bush’s office about separation of powers. But separation of powers in the American system of jurisprudence has never given license to one branch of government to kill. Separation of powers in the American system of jurisprudence has never given the courts arbitrary and unaccountable authority. Separation of powers in the American system of jurisprudence has never been an excuse for executives or legislators to ignore their constitutional and conscientious duty.
Stories like the Schiavo case make me wonder why more Americans are not resorting to civil disobedience in the face of intolerable government tyranny and inhuman oppression. Stories like the Schiavo case make me wonder how long it will be before the death camps are opened for America’s disabled. Stories like the Schiavo case make me wonder why 250 million Americans are silent while Terri starves.
Related stories:
Abuse report filed for Terri Schiavo
Desperate parents plead to Jeb Bush
Lawyers: Bush can step in for Terri
Starvation begins for Terri Schiavo
Husband protests video showing alert Terri
Joni Eareckson Tada joins vigil for Terri Schiavo
Hearing today on woman scheduled to starve
Prayer vigil for Terri Schiavo
Bush steps in for Schindler-Schiavo
Florida AG intervenes in Schiavo lawsuit
Order signed for starvation of disabled woman
Federal judge considers Schiavo case
Federal Court grants emergency hearing in Schiavo case
Attorney: Jeb Bush letter only a ‘good first step’
Gov. Bush’s plea for Schindler-Schiavo rejected
Jeb Bush intervenes for Schindler-Schiavo
Legal setbacks clear way for Schiavo starvation
Schindler-Schiavo on ‘death row’
Husband bars priest from brain-damaged wife
Brain-damaged woman hospitalized
Fight for life bombshell: Terri trying to talk
Petition drive launched for Terri Schiavo
How not to think about Syria
Josh Hammer