In Memory of Terri Schindler-Schiavo

Terri Foundation Rallies Against Judge Greer

2006-05-04T07:18:00.000-04:00

Statement of Bobby Schindler, the brother of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo on behalf of the Schindler family and the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Healthcare Ethics:

I am here today at the University of Pennsylvania to speak out against the participation of Pinellas County probate court Judge George Greer in the University's so-called ‘Bioethics symposium.’ Our family publicly stated for years that Judge Greer has a pro-euthanasia, pro-death bias, which tempered his decisions in my sister’s case and caused him to unethically, immorally and illegally ordered her to die.

For Judge Greer to speak on ‘The Legacy of the Terri Schiavo Case’ at a one-sided pro-death gathering without an opposing view or organized rebuttal is not only unethical for a sitting judge who still oversees precisely this type of case, it is a callous disregard for the preamble to the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct which says that our legal system is based on the principle that an independent, fair and competent judiciary will interpret and apply the laws that govern us. Judge Greer's participation in this event should cause fear and trembling for any disabled or vulnerable person whose fate is decided in his court.

How can any citizens of Florida have confidence that Judge Greer will remain unbiased now that he is on the speaking circuit justifying the killing of an innocent, disabled woman without any proof of her consent? Will he continue to play God and decree that all persons like my sister die by thirst and starvation?

Canon 2 of the Florida Judicial Code says, ‘a judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all the judge's activities. A judge shall respect and comply with the law and shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.’

Judge Greer's appearance here today certainly shows his bias against the disabled. He makes a mockery of the entire judicial system.

Does George Greer know the Law or is he so callous that he and his cohorts believe he is above the law?

While canon 4 would allow Judge Greer to participate in quasi-judicial activities involving the law, the code requires that such an event should not cast reasonable doubt on the judges' capacity to remain impartial. For George Greer to speak at an event where Michael Schiavo, Jay Wolfson, Dr. Cranford, Ms. Labyak, and others are appearing leaves little, if any doubt on how biased Greer is toward the disabled and his advocacy of promoting dehydration and starvation for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

We would urge that the Judicial Qualifications Commission review Judge Greer's activities both within and outside the State of Florida for the sake of other vulnerable persons that may have to appear before him.

Those of us with the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Healthcare Ethics and my family are outraged at Judge Greer's participation in today's event and the appearance of bias he has perpetuated. The whole world has watched the actions of George Greer, and we believe history will one day record that his court gravely violated the law in my sister's case, committing judicial homicide.

Christian Wire Service

The Law Did Not Work--Thoughts on Andrea Clark and Yenlang Vo

2006-05-03T10:58:00.000-04:00

Jerri Lynn Ward, attorney for Andrea Clark's family writes about the flawed Texas Futile Care Statute, which nearly ended the lives of two clients.

Jerri writes, "For two weeks I have carried responsibility in the legal realm for the lives of two women whom attending physicians and ethics committees have decided should not receive life-sustaining treatment. This has been a heavy burden--although I cannot compare my ordeal to that of the families and patients."

"The reality [re: Texas Futile Care Statuted] is that once a hospital labels a patient as a futile case, other hospitals will rarely, if at all, take the patient. Specialty hospitals (long-term acute care hospitals) will not take them because the patient has no discharge plan (plan for going to a lower level of care) A person that a hospital has written off as futile is not going to have a discharge plan. A nursing home, more likely than not, will have insufficient resources (dialysis and respirator care for instance) to care for such patients."

"The Texas Statute, at the heart of all this, came about because the hospitals begin, independently, to create protocols for withdrawing treatment during the early to mid 1990's--there is an article in a 1996 JAMA issue about that. A coalition of doctors and hospitals came up with a Bill that would give health providers immunity or "safe harbor" from lawsuits or criminal and licensure liability if the provider followed the ethics committee protocol. The bill gave only 3 days for a transfer."

Texas Advance Directives Blog

Michael Schiavo Attacks Pro-Life Advocates

2006-05-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

Says Terri Should Have Died Sooner

from Lifesite News

"Michael Schiavo told a bioethics conference at the University of Pennsylvania that he should have pressed for his former wife Terri's euthanasia death sooner than he did. He also attacked pro-life advocates who he says have constantly attacked him and his character."

"We are going to this symposium to say that Terri Schiavo did not die with dignity," Brandi Swindell, director of the youth pro-life group Generation Life, said about protesting the conference. "Rather, she died a barbaric death that if she were an animal would have been against the law."

Lifesite News

Battle cry for culture of life success

2006-05-01T10:27:00.000-04:00

Kevin Fobbs, host of the Kevin Fobbs Show, urges all citizens who value life in all its stages to stand up for Terri Schinder-Schiavo's legacy and for the Culture of Life.

"I know you are amazed that we often are told we can't do anything about winning the war for the culture of life, our own American culture that is unique in the world. I have even heard such pronouncements from close friends who would rather shout at the darkness at the "MoveOn.orgs" and their ilk complaining how many millions are spent by these organizations that fully embrace and exalt a death culture than do something so simple as paying the cost of a few movie rentals to join in with millions of their fellow Americans to stop the Culture of Death right in its tracks."

"I say we must stop the death culture in America by standing up for Terri Schiavo's legacy and for the Culture of Life because the gun is fully loaded and pointed at our children, at our parents, at our siblings, at our wives and at our loved ones."

Read the entire commentary at Renew America

Judge Greer joins death advocates at bioethics confab

2006-04-29T16:08:00.000-04:00

The probate judge who ordered the dehydration death of brain-injured Terri Schiavo will join Michael Schiavo and other key proponents of her death as a guest speaker at a bioethics conference.

Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer on Monday will address attendees of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics 10th anniversary symposium, entitled "The legacy of the Terri Schiavo case: Why is it so hard to die in America?"

Greer intends to speak to the need for courts, not legislators, to decide the fate of incapacitated individuals like the 41-year-old Florida woman whose husband obtained Greer's authority to remove her feeding tube and cause her death, over the objections of Terri's parents and siblings.

His remarks will serve as a long-awaited public response to the unprecedented intervention by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the Florida Legislature, Congress and President Bush to forestall his court order pending further investigation into the case.

"There are reasons courts make decisions when there are disputes," Greer told the St. Petersburg Times last month. "That's what courts are for."

World Net Daily

Family of Terri Schiavo Expresses Alarm at Actions of Judge Greer

2006-04-28T21:17:00.000-04:00

Judge George Greer to Discuss Schiavo Case at University of Pennsylvania Bioethics Conference.

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida, April 28 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The surviving family of Terri Schiavo, the disabled Florida woman who died in 2005 of marked dehydration, are expressing their alarm at the participation of Circuit George W. Greer at the University of Pennsylvania’s 10th Anniversary Symposium at the Center for Bioethics.

The symposium, titled The Legacy of the Terri Schiavo Case: Why is it so hard to die in America runs April 30th and May 1st with speakers to include Michael Schiavo, Dr. Jay Wolfson, Dr. Ronald Cranford and presiding Florida Circuit Judge George W. Greer.

Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother and advocate with the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics, will be protesting Judge Geer’s presence on the panel, 10:30 am, Monday, May 1 outside of the University of Pennsylvania’s Biomedical Research Building.

"Judge Geer’s presence at the University of Pennsylvania’s bioethics conference is not only outright offensive and inappropriate but it is indicative of his own biases against the disabled, and may well be in violation of Florida’s judicial canons as prescribed by the Supreme Court of the State of Florida," says Schindler.

"We are entitled to a fair and unbiased judiciary. Judge Greer is confirming exactly what my family has maintained from the beginning of Terri’s case – that he has a disposition against the vulnerable people whose cases he controls.

"Judges are duty-bound to be an unbiased, fair finder of fact, not an advocate of the ‘right-to-die’ movement. Judge Geer is not retired. He is a seated judge who still hears guardianship and life/death cases in the probate court. Do you want him sitting in judgment of you or your loved ones’ life?"

About the Schindler Family:

Mary and Robert Schindler as well as Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler now work full time for The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics in St. Petersburg, Florida, an organization dedicated to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing.

Source

More time given for severely ill patient on life support

2006-04-28T14:04:00.000-04:00

(4/28/06 - AUSTIN, TX) - Officials at an Austin hospital have agreed to extend a deadline to stop treatment for a severely ill patient whose family wants to keep her alive.

Vo's daughter, LoAnn Trinh, said the family's goal is to get Vo stabilized so she can be taken home.

"She is not brain dead," Trinh said. "To pull someone off life support would be cruel and unusual."

The hospital was acting under a 1999 state law that allows it to discontinue life-sustaining treatment for terminal patients as long as its ethics committee determines the case is futile and gives the patient's family 10 days notice to find another facility.

Read the article here

Family scrambles to save sick mother

2006-04-27T10:21:00.000-04:00

Has until Sunday to move mom, get new doc – or hospital pulls plug

World Net Daily reports that Andrea Smith's family has until Sunday to find another hospital for their mother.

A Texas family is working feverishly to transfer their ill mother from a Houston, Texas, hospital where an ethics committee has ruled the facility will stop life-sustaining treatment, including a ventilator, if the woman is not moved or does not get a new physician by Sunday.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Andrea Clark is scheduled to be on the receiving end of a Texas law that allows a hospital ethics committee to terminate care with 10 days' notice – this despite the fact the 54-year-old is not in a coma, is not brain dead and wants to go on living, her family says.

Read the article here

The Polls & What People "Really" Think

2006-04-27T09:45:00.000-04:00

Carrie Hutchins, former law enforcement officer and fighter against the culture of death, wrote the following commentary on the bias of polls.

Maybe there was a time that polls were actually representative of what the people were thinking. Maybe. Who knows. But if there was such a time -- it has long gone by the wayside. Today, we have self-serving polls that are designed to bring about the results wished by the creator. Just ask the question correctly and one shall have the viewpoint sought to supposedly prove his/her point of view. Use created results to gain support and it is proven once again -- the world has fallen into a state of madness.

Let's talk about a poll question that asks if a wife should be able to end life support for her husband. Should it be her decision or that of his children from a previous marriage?

Read her commentary here

Terri Schiavo’s brother makes plea for a ‘pro-life’ culture

2006-04-27T09:37:00.000-04:00

A year after the media whirlwind has mostly settled, Schindler is still frustrated at politicians who preach life, then offer little support for national health care like Medicaid and Medicare.

“The Republicans aren’t helping the disabled,” he said, referring to recent heath care cuts on both the state and national level. “When I hear pro-life Republicans, I question if they’re really pro-life.”

Read the entire article here

Schiavo's kin join Poutre debate

2006-04-25T11:17:00.000-04:00

April 25, 2006

"The family of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a divisive right-to-die case that ended with her death last year, is urging Governor Mitt Romney to tighten regulations of end-of-life cases in Massachusetts."

Read the article at the Boston Globe

Urgent Action Needed for Andrea Clark

2006-04-25T11:07:00.000-04:00

Blogs for Terri posted this action report for Andrea Clark, the woman whose life support will be removed by a Houston hospital.

"Last night we [Blogs for Terri] posted on the incredible application of a Texas law by St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas to use their "ethics" (sic) committee to essentially committ murder. The situation is critical and requires an all-out no-stops media blitz. Until a few days ago, when the physicians decided to increase her pain medication and anesthetize her into unconsciousness, Andrea was fully able to make her own medical decisions and had decided that she wanted life saving treatment until she dies naturally."

"Urgent help is needed from bloggers and blog readers. Please, immediately contact the hospital by telephone and email, and advise them of your horror that a faith-based hospital that supposedly respects life would act so irresponsibly as to put dollars before a patients life, etc."

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
6720 Bertner Ave.
Houston, TX 77030
Main hospital telephone number - 832-355-1000

Blogs for Terri

Hospital to 'kill' sick woman?

2006-04-25T11:02:00.000-04:00

Ethics committee votes to pull the plug against family's wishes

World Net Daily reports that a hospital in Houston, Texas will remove life support from a disabled woman even though she is not in a coma, is not brain dead, and her family wants to take care of her.

"On April 30, Andrea Clark is scheduled to be on the receiving end of a Texas law that allows a hospital ethics committee to terminate care with 10 days' notice, giving the patient's family that length of time to find a different facility."

Read the entire article here

Bush Counsel Asks DOH To Revisit Schiavo Nursing License

2006-04-21T09:09:00.000-04:00

June Maxam, publisher of the North Country Gazette, writes that Michael Schiavo falsified applications for guardianship and his job as nurse at the Pinellas County Jail.

"While Florida Governor Jeb Bush conducted a dog and pony show claiming that he tried to save her life, the sincerity and earnestness of his actions is seriously tarnished by his inane act of calling a news conference to announce his intent to enter into the Woodside Hospice to take the vulnerable adult into protective custody. Had he earnestly had an intent to save the incapacitated woman’s life, he would have quietly performed his constitutional duty."

North Country Gazette

Terri Schiavo's brother says not all was reported

2006-04-19T06:58:00.000-04:00

Bobby Schindler, Terri's younger brother, spoke at Ripton College in Milwaukee on April 18th.

Q. Why did you and your parents write "The Legacy of Terri Schiavo - A Lesson for us All?"

A. There was a lot of media exposure regarding Terri's case, and a lot of people had the perception that they knew all about it. It's impossible to really understand the complexity of Terri's case by watching it on the news. Our family really felt it was important to write a book to explain a lot of things that were happening that the press didn't report.

Click here for the article.

On a sprig of hyssop

2006-04-15T08:10:00.000-04:00

From Renew America

"At the end of last month, we observed the first anniversary of the death by starvation/dehydration of Terri Schindler Schiavo. For me and for many, however, this horrific event will always be associated with the Easter triduum, whenever it crops up on the calendar. I suspect that Judge Greer wanted it this way. Why else was there such insistence on removing the tube exactly when it was removed, if not to accentuate the deicidal intent of every attempt on innocent human life?"

To read the entire commentary, click here

Time To Unseal The Schiavo Financial Records

2006-04-10T10:03:00.000-04:00

June Maxam, publisher of the North Country Gazette, asks why the mainstream media refuses to ask Michael Schiavo hard questions about his mishandling of Terri's guardianship funds.

"It’s way past time to make Michael Schiavo accountable, to stop allowing him to get away with unsubstantiated hearsay. The media and public should demand that the cabal of Michael Schiavo, his attorneys and Judge George Greer open those sealed financial records of Terri Schiavo’s trust fund and show us the money trail, prove to us that 98% of the money awarded for the rehabilitation and therapy of his ward was used for her care and therapy as he claims."

"At this point Michael Schiavo apparently thinks he can lie with impunity because he knows the evidence which will prove he’s lying has been sealed by the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Pinellas County and Judge George Greer, the judge which acted as the executioner of Terri Schiavo."

Read June Maxam's article at North Country Gazette

Fl Baptist Witness on Terri Schiavo

2006-04-07T11:17:00.000-04:00

Joni Hannigan, managing editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, wrote the following articles on Terri Schindler-Schiavo and her family's foundation.

One year later: Terri’s legacy survives

In a wide-ranging interview with Florida Baptist Witness a week before the one-year anniversary of Terri’s death, her mother and father, Mary and Bob Schindler Sr., and her sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, answered questions about how they have coped in the past year, who has supported them and what they think has been accomplished by telling Terri’s story.

DAVID GIBBS III: Telling the behind the scenes story of the final days of Terri’s life"

Gibbs...told participants he believes too many people don’t know the real story about what happened in the final days and hours of Terri’s life.

Family forms the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation

Pledging to work on behalf of the disabled, elderly and other vulnerable citizens, against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing, members of Terri Schiavo’s family will through the foundation work to educate the public on guardianship and state laws concerning death by dehydration and starvation.

Terri Schiavo's Brother Speaks At Franciscan University

2006-04-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

Thursday, Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler spoke with students on the campus of Franciscan University.

"One of our goals is to set up a network of doctors and lawyers across the country," said Schindler. "So if a family calls from Ohio, we can have doctors and lawyers to refer them to if a situation would arise similar to what happened to my sister."

Read the full article here

Priest Responds to Michael Schiavo’s Attack on Tom Delay

2006-04-05T14:52:00.000-04:00

“Real men don’t kill their wives and if Michael Schiavo had been half the Man Tom Delay was in defending Terri she would still be alive today…”

FRONT ROYAL, Va., April 5 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President of Human Life International (HLI), responds to Michael Schiavo’s attack on Tom Delay.

“Michael Schiavo’s attack on Tom DeLay upon his resignation is absurd on the face of it and another attempt at the pathetic justification of a guilty conscience on the part of Michael.

“Schiavo should be embarrassed by the judicial killing of his wife because the whole incident served to show the world his brutality and moral cowardice.

“Real men don’t kill their wives, and if Michael Sciavo had been half the man Tom DeLay was in defending Terri she would still be alive today.

“History will remember Michael Schiavo as a monster and Tom Delay as a hero.

“Human Life International is encouraging everyone to go to our website www.hli.org and sign the Thank You Tom Delay Letter commending him for his courage and his commitment to creating a culture-of-life...” concluded the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer.

Source

First Anniversary Memorial Mass for Terri Schindler Schiavo

2006-04-04T07:15:00.000-04:00

March 31, 2006
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, Human Life International

Excerpts

Dearest Mary and Bob, Bobby and Suzanne and the Schindler and Vitadamo families, what a supreme honor it is for all of us to be here with you celebrating the memory of Terri on this first anniversary of her passing from death to life. I am particularly grateful that you called me and asked me to come; I am unworthy of this honor, but God wills it, and I dedicate all I do here to the memory of our beloved Terri.

Indeed, with the total outpouring of grace and prayer during that time, God shed His divine light on the experience to set in bold relief the contrast between life and death, light and darkness. The grace of Terri’s death showed the world the contours of good and evil in clear light: we saw innocence and beauty confronted with the ugly arrogance and brutality of people like Michael Schiavo and George Felos. Truth was set off in bold relief from the despicable lies and distortions and manipulations of the promoters of euthanasia. We saw Terri’s powerlessness set in stark contrast to the raw abuse of power by the likes of George Greer and others. And in this past year the distinctions have been made even clearer as was shown by the recent interview of Michael by Matt Lauer. Even Matt Lauer was not buying his lies and deceptions.

Read the entire homily here

Fr. Pavone's Visit with Terri's Family

2006-04-03T13:59:00.000-04:00

Update on the Schindler Family

April 3rd, 2006

Dear Friends,

I spent the weekend with the family of Terri Schiavo. Many of you ask me how they are doing, and I’m happy to say that they are strong in the Lord, have a clear sense of the mission they are undertaking with their Foundation (see www.TerrisFight.org), and have even maintained their healthy sense of humor. It is refreshing to be with them. We had a memorial mass for Terri on the anniversary of her death. Some media people have asked the family why they can’t just “let go” of the battle they have had with Michael Schiavo and get on with living life. In reality, they are living their lives and are quite at peace. Their activity is not fueled by anger and is not about Michael. It is fueled by love and is all about service to our nation and to other families facing similar challenges they did.

Some of you have asked how we can best help others to learn from Terri’s tragedy. Three practical things right now are
a) buy and read the family’s book, “A Life that Matters” (you can order it from Priests for Life at orders@priestsforlife.org);
b) learn about the family foundation at www.terrisfight.org/; and c) learn about the “Will to Live” at www.nrlc.org.

Some are still hung up on the term “murderer.” That word is not only used in a legal sense to define the criminal act of murder; it is also used in the moral sense to talk about what happens when you deliberately end the life of an innocent person.

I use the word in a moral sense when I talk about Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and Judge Greer. Some point out to me that what they did was legal. I know. And that’s precisely what makes the judge and the attorney murderers in the moral sense. They have used human law to defy God’s law. Friends, keep spreading the truth!

Fr. Frank

Fr. Frank's blog is here

Hope vs. Despair; Remebering Terri Schiavo

2006-03-31T10:34:00.000-05:00

Fr. Robert Johansen, a very close friend of Terri's family, wrote the following article

March 31, 2006

"One year ago this week, Terri Schindler Schiavo died. She had been starved and dehydrated — at the request of her husband, and with the connivance of America's judiciary. The nation watched the tally of her days without food and water rise, and as the count grew higher, the ghoulish speculations began: How many days would she live? In defiance of common sense, we were treated to Orwellian Newspeak — from the husband, Michael Schiavo, and his attorney, George Felos — about the "peaceful," "quiet" "dying process" Terri was undergoing; she was simply going to "slip away." Some self-described bioethicists even rhapsodized about the "euphoric" nature of her death."

"Terri’s life, no longer worth living in the eyes of her husband and our judiciary, was ended because she no longer fit into any category of humanity that they were willing to recognize. Once she had been labeled a "vegetable," her life was deemed to be over; she was considered dead not when she drew her final breath, but from the moment when her brain activity no longer met a certain threshold of "normal" functioning. This belief was reflected on the tombstone her husband provided: It reads that she "departed this earth" on February 25, 1990, the date of her brain injury, not the day she actually died, one year ago March 31."

Read Fr. Robert's article here

John Paul And Terri

2006-03-31T07:04:00.000-05:00

By Lisa Fabrizio, March 31, 2006

This week marks the anniversary of two notable deaths; those of Terri Schiavo on March 31, and Pope John Paul II on April 2. Their passing led to oceans of press coverage by the national media seeking typically, not to report the stories but to explain it all to us. And, as usual when it comes to matters of faith, they got it wrong.

The liberal media, like many on the left, are heavily invested in what the late pope referred to as the "culture of death." From the promotion of abortion on demand to pointing out the supposed benevolence of euthanasia, the Schiavo case and the pope's impending death gave them ample opportunities to advance their agenda.

Click here for full article

Still Waiting for Justice to be Served

2006-03-30T11:28:00.000-05:00

From Christian Wire Service

WASHINGTON, March 30 /Christian Wire Service/ -- “Throughout the entire struggle to save Terri’s life and to this very day, the Schindler family has been a profound example of Christian familial love,” stated Stephen G. Peroutka, Esq., chairman of the National Pro-Life Action Center (NPLAC)—the uncompromising voice of pro-life America on Capitol Hill. “After the tragic loss of their daughter, no one would have blamed the Schindler family if they had just wanted to quietly recess into the shadows to mourn. Instead, they continue to be an inspiration to the world by continuing their work on behalf of the disabled and the infirmed, and we thank them for that.”

On the eve of the first anniversary of Terri’s death by dehydration, the Schindler family is officially launching the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation with the release of their book, “A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo–A Lesson for Us All” (Warner Books, 2006).

“We must never forget the horrible, painful and undignified way in which Terri was put to death by order of an activist Florida judge [George Greer] who had clearly been corrupted by a culture-of-death mindset,” observed Paul Chaim Schenck, director of NPLAC. “Every single life does matter. Life is a precious gift with infinite value, and the intrinsic dignity of the human person cannot be negotiated down based on one’s physical or mental health, so-called quality of life, or other false pretense perpetuated by death advocates.”

As part of the launch, NPLAC has purchased 600 copies of “A Life That Matters,” which will be delivered to every member of the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives and key members of the Bush Administration, including the president and the vice president.

“It is our sincere hope by putting this book into the hands of lawmakers that it will inspire them to take the appropriate actions to ensure that a tragedy, such as Terri Schiavo’s, will never happen again,” Peroutka said. “This book is a fitting tribute to Terri from those who loved her most. It tells Terri’s story so that the world can dispel the myth that this was ‘mercy,’ and recognize it for what it was—murder—and recognize what she was—a life that matters.”

Source

"If anybody tells you in this whole world that's a beautiful death, they are absolutely lying, lying, lying, because it's not.”

2006-03-30T09:35:00.000-05:00

The Terri Schiavo Case: One Year Later

"Terri's father, Bob Schindler, stated, “Terri — she was murdered, murdered by the system...Terri was, unfortunately, she was the martyr that they used and will use to legalize euthanasia in Florida and throughout this country."

“I went in for 10 days. The last three days, I couldn't go in,” Terri’s mother, Mary, remarked. “I tried - I couldn't see her like that...If anybody tells you in this whole world that's a beautiful death, they are absolutely lying, lying, lying, because it's not.”

Read the entire CBN report here

Terri's Family Speaks Out

2006-03-29T12:58:00.001-05:00

From Blogs for Terri

Terri's parents, brother, and sister were guests last night (March 28) on Scarborough Country.

Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo's brother stated,

"It doesn't matter what Michael says about our family. It doesn't change that fact of justify or rationalize what he did to my sister and I thinks its really just a distraction trying to take the focus [off] what he did to [my] sister which was brutally starving and dehydrating her to death. My sister was only being supported by ordinary food and water.

The interview can be watched by clicking on this link

Visit Blogs for Terri

Moral of Terri's story: Marry wisely

2006-03-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

Diana Lynne of World Net Daily warns us to choose our husbands and wives carefully. She details Michael's violent and obsessive behavior towards Terri, and the years of neglect Terri suffered as a result of his cruelty.

"In Terri's case, her husband of five years, Michael Schiavo, applied for and was granted the authority by a court to speak for Terri. As we all know, he ultimately chose death for Terri."

"Here's a stunning fact: If Terri and Michael were simply boyfriend and girlfriend – had they not been married, Terri would be alive today. We would never have even heard of the name "Terri Schiavo." Michael Schiavo could not have been appointed by the court as her legal guardian. This responsibility would have fallen to Terri's parents who believe in the sanctity of life."

Read Diana's commentary here

Please order Diana Lynne's book, "Terri's Story: the Court Ordered Death of an American Woman" here

In Death Did Schiavo Part

2006-03-28T11:39:00.000-05:00

Commentary on Michael Schiavo's bizarre statements by June Maxam

“I love her to death”, Michael Schiavo says about his new wife, Jodi, the woman he lived with for nearly 10 years while still married to Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

Strange choice of words.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Matt Lauer, aired Sunday night on “Dateline”, Michael Schiavo continued to insist that he loved Terri until her death and honored his wedding vows, to love, honor and cherish---til death do us part.

Of course he lived in adultery for over 10 years with Jodi Centonze, fathered at least two illegitimate children and fought with Terri’s parents bitterly in his efforts to end her life.

Read the entire commentary at North Country Gazette

Terri Schiavo's Parents Fight Against Euthanasia

2006-03-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

March 28, 2006 — It has been a year since Terri Schiavo died in a Florida hospice after her feeding tube was removed following a bitter seven-year court battle between her family and her husband.

Terri's parents, Mary and Robert Schindler, and her brother and sister, Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo, may have lost the fight to keep Terri alive, but now they are fighting for other disabled people through their foundation, the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.

"We've become comfortable in our society to kill someone simply because they have a brain injury," Bobby Schindler told Good Morning America. That's what we're trying to change."

The Schindlers strike back in "A Life That Matters," expressing their suspicion that Schiavo might have had something to do with Terri's initial collapse in 1990. They also say that at that time, the Schiavos' marriage was on the rocks and that Terri was contemplating divorce — not starting a family, as Michael Schiavo has said.

"Regardless of what the marriage was like, and regardless of what we had with Michael, that doesn't rationalize what he did to our sister by killing her in this manner," Bobby Schindler said.

Source ABC News

Michael Schiavo's statements make best case for Terri's Day movement

2006-03-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

March 27, 2006

Kevin Fobbs, host of the "Kevin Fobbs Show," strikes back at Michael Schiavo's outrageous statements about Terri's alleged "wishes".

"Michael Schiavo attempted to appear pious as he answered NBC Matt Lauer's question on what was Terri's wishes on end of life on Dateline Sunday evening. It was pure theater but what many viewers may have missed was the essence of Michael Schiavo's answer when he claimed Terri did not want to be a "burden" to anyone. Being a burden is why the court allowed her to be killed. Being a burden is now a mortal crime punishable by death."

Read his commentary at Rewnew America

Religious Right 'Using Terri'?

2006-03-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

Diane Lynne, news editor for World Net Daily, wrote a commentary commenting on the false statements and outright lies that attorney Jon Eisenberg wrote in his book Using Terri.

***************************************
In "Using Terri," California civil appellate attorney Jon Eisenberg, who promotes himself as "one of the lead attorneys on Michael Schiavo's side," seeks to sound the alarm that the religious Right used Terri Schiavo as part of a grand conspiracy to "take away our rights." Eisenberg's book is a misleading, disingenuous case of the pot calling the kettle "black."

"Hundreds of millions of dollars are funding a conspiracy – there is no better word for it – to take away our right to personal autonomy," Eisenberg writes in his introduction.

All Eisenberg succeeds in proving with his "paper trail" is that the "foot soldiers" – attorneys hired by the Schindlers or working pro bono on their behalf, as well as anti-euthanasia activists Wesley Smith and Rita Marker with the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide – who all worked to preserve Terri Schiavo's constitutional and fundamental right to life all share a respect for the sanctity of life and/or a respect for the U.S. Constitution, which grants all citizens an inalienable right to life.

Read the full commmentary here

Open Letter to Michael Schiavo by Fr Frank Pavone

2006-03-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

March 25, 2006

WASHINGTON, March 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, and an eyewitness to Terri Schiavo's final hours, released the following open letter to Michael Schiavo tonight. Fr. Pavone will read it to a worldwide audience on an internationally broadcast religious service on Sunday morning, March 26:

A year ago this week, I stood by the bedside of the woman you married and promised to love in good times and bad, in sickness and health. She was enduring a very bad time, because she hadn't been given food or drink in nearly two weeks. And you were the one insisting that she continue to be deprived of food and water, right up to her death. I watched her face for hours on end, right up to moments before her last breath. Her death was not peaceful, nor was it beautiful. If you saw her too, and noticed what her eyes were doing, you know that to describe her last agony as peaceful is a lie.

This week, tens of millions of Americans will remember those agonizing days last year, and will scratch their heads trying to figure out why you didn't simply let Terri's mom, dad, and siblings take care of her, as they were willing to do. They offered you, again and again, the option to simply let them care for Terri, without asking anything of you. But you refused and continued to insist that Terri's feeding be stopped. She had no terminal illness. She was simply a disabled woman who needed extra care that you weren't willing to give.

I speak to you today on behalf of the tens of millions of Americans who still wonder why. I speak to you today to express their anger, their dismay, their outraged astonishment at your behavior in the midst of this tragedy. Most people will wonder about these questions in silence, but as one of only a few people who were eyewitnesses to Terri's dehydration, I have to speak.

I have spoken to you before, not in person, but through mass media. Before Terri's feeding tube was removed for the last time, I appealed to you with respect, asking you not to continue on the road you were pursuing, urging you to reconsider your decisions, in the light of the damage you were doing. I invited you to talk. But you did not respond.

Then, after Terri died, I called her death a killing, and I called you a murderer because you knew -- as we all did -- that ceasing to feed Terri would kill her. We watched, but you had the power to save her. Her life was in your hands, but you threw it away, with the willing cooperation of attorneys and judges who were as heartless as you were. Some have demanded that I apologize to you for calling you a murderer. Not only will I not apologize, I will repeat it again. Your decision to have Terri dehydrated to death was a decision to kill her. It doesn't matter if Judge Greer said it was legal. No judge, no court, no power on earth can legitimize what you did. It makes no difference if what you did was legal in the eyes of men; it was murder in the eyes of God and of millions of your fellow Americans and countless more around the world. You are the one who owes all of us an apology.

Your actions offend us. Not only have you killed Terri and deeply wounded her family, but you have disgraced our nation, betrayed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and undermined the principles that hold us together as a civilized society. You have offended those who struggle on a daily basis to care for loved ones who are dying, and who sometimes have to make the very legitimate decision to discontinue futile treatment. You have offended them by trying to confuse Terri's circumstances with theirs. Terri's case was not one of judging treatment to be worthless -- which is sometimes the case; rather, it was about judging a life to be worthless, which is never the case.

You have made your mark on history, but sadly, it is an ugly stain. In the name of millions around the world, I call on you today to embrace a life of repentance, and to ask forgiveness from the Lord, who holds the lives of each of us in His hands.

-- Fr. Frank Pavone

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit http://www.priestsforlife.org.

Family Advisor: "Terri was Murdered"

2006-03-22T12:16:00.000-05:00

Schiavo Family Adviser Brings Right to Life Message to University of Duluth

March 22, 2006

Duluth, MN -- Nearly a year ago, Brother Paul O'Donnell of St. Paul stood before a phalanx of microphones in Florida and said: "It is with great sadness that -- it has been reported to us that Terri Schiavo has passed away."

"This is a disabled woman who was murdered. She was court-ordered to death," he said, adding that people with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome could be next.

Read the full article here

Helping Terri - One Year Later

2006-03-20T06:13:00.000-05:00

From The Conservative Voice

One Year ago yesterday the unthinkable began to take place. The feeding tube of Terri Schiavo was removed. The real fight started on this day. We all remember seeing people supporting Terri and her family through this terrible ordeal that this innocent young lady had family had to endure.

A year ago next week, March 31, to be exact, Terri died and yet, there are still unanswered questions as to why she was even in this condition to start with and why the family was not allowed to have custody of their own daughter. All they wanted was to take care of her. Was that too much to ask? What exactly was motivating Mr. Schiavo to pull such a stunt as this in the first place? Was it money? A cover-up of a previous attempted murder? Who knows? We still do not know why Terri was in this condition. Some say she had a heart attack but her husband failed to get help immediately. Is this true and why? There are so many unanswered questions.

Read the article here

Blogburst in Memory of Terri Schiavo

2006-03-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

Blogs for Terri announced a Blogburst in memory of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pasco’s Sixth Judicial Court. Terri was 41.

It was nearly one year ago that Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed for the purpose of ending her life. Nearly one year ago her legal guardian obtained a court order in public view to purposefully bring about her death by withholding the most basic of necessities. Yes, nearly one year ago Terri began 13 days without food or water.

We invite you to join us for a Blogburst in remembrance of Terri Schiavo beginning March 18th (or earlier). Over the 13 days we are asking our friends to write about Terri's life and death, link to her family's foundation (Terrisfight.org) and affirm the intrinsic dignity of human life.

Source Blogs for Terri

Minnesota bill orders care for dying

2006-03-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

Food, water required for those unable to express their wishes

March 15, 2006

Minnesota lawmakers waded into the sensitive and personal issues surrounding death and dying Tuesday when a committee passed a measure proclaiming that people who are unable to express their wishes will get food and water with limited exceptions.

Backers said the law would prevent the controversy and confusion surrounding a Florida court's decision last year to allow a feeding tube to be removed from Terri Schiavo, a brain damaged woman whose family's court battle became national news.

At the hearing Tuesday, a paraplegic woman told lawmakers through a letter that she once wanted to die and is now glad she's alive.

A hospice care official called the measure radical. And lawmakers related their own experiences with loved ones' deaths

Read the entire article here

Terri's Day Challenges The Nation To Unify

2006-03-15T07:04:00.000-05:00

by Kevin Fobbs

Terri's Day -- A Celebration of the Culture of Life honoring Terri Schiavo with a day of remembrance challenges each and every one of us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves a question, do we respect ourselves, our families, our lives? And if we are faced with the question of the possible certainty of death, does anyone truly know, or even have the faintest clue about, our wishes? That is the greatest good, the greatest legacy that Terri Schiavo's death and an annual "Terri's Day" can bring to our lives and to the celebration of the Culture of Life.

On March 18th, we as a nation will begin to grieve again, to reach into our hearts and feel with our collective national spirit what the Schindler family felt last year at this time as each moment since Terri was disconnected from the feeding lifeline, the moments crept by like hours and hours like days.

Read the article here

Parternship for Medical Ethics Reform

2006-03-13T11:15:00.000-05:00

Pamela Hennessy, formerly media coordinator for the Terri Schindler Foundation, recently founded the new "Parternship for Medical Ethics Reform."

The mission of the coalition is:

"The Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform is a coalition of volunteers from the healthcare profession, disability rights communities, elder-care communities and human rights advocacies dedicated to preserving your right to receive wanted and necessary medical care.

"Believing that an informed person is an empowered person, we make it our mission to provide you the facts you need to protect your life, your privacy and your rights as a patient - or a person affected by vulnerability."

Please visit the website at Parternship for Medical Ethics Reform

Multicultural Society Had Lobbied to Save Terri Schiavo's Life

2006-03-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

The Calabrians Multicultural World Society, Inc. of Sault Ste. Marie had actively lobbied American federal and state legislators to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case when her feeding tube was removed.

We exhausted all attempts in lobbying, because on principle, the Society was united in opposing the removal of the feeding tube, stated Beth Desmarais, member of the organization. Our position was that by Judge Greer refusing to recognize a federal subpoena that was supposed to have Ms. Schiavo appear before Congress, he was going outside of his authority, and breaking the law himself. Congress had every right to impose the subpoena, and have the feeding tube re-inserted on a temporary basis. He didn�t do that, and I am saddened that Congress did not follow through with ensuring that the subpoena was not enforced.

Read the full article here

Fr. Richard McBrien and Others Mislead Catholic Public: Allege Schiavo Feeding Tube Removal OK

2006-03-08T20:34:00.000-05:00

Catholic "priest", Fr. Richard McBrien

The ultra liberal Catholic priest, Fr. Richard McBrien, supported Terri's death by forced dehydration/starvation. J.P. Hubert Jr. MD, Catholic Biomedical Ethicist, wrote an excellent article on the liberal "Catholic" priests and ethicists who champion the removal of feeding tubes of incapacitated people.

J.P Hubert writes, "Recently, multiple revisionist Catholic writers including some “Catholic” Theologians have opined on the significance of the Terryi Schiavo case asserting that it was morally licit to remove her feeding tube, thus insuring that she would die of dehydration. This author has rebutted them in the past.[1] Unfortunately, various writers continue to promulgate opinions which contradict constant Catholic magisterial teaching as if it were compatible with orthodox Catholic belief and practice. The latest article adds to the perfidy by incredibly; alleging that the late Holiness Pope John Paul II’s 2004 allocution on the Persistent Vegetative State was itself “revisionist.”

Read the entire excellent article at Catholic Online

Terri's Day: Join A National Pledge Drive

2006-03-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Honor a Terri Schiavo Day by joining national pledge drive

Kevin Fobbs, President of the National Urban Policy Action Council, and host of the Kevin Fobbs Show helped to launch an initiative to honor the memory of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

Fobbs writes, "Bob Schindler, father of Terri Schiavo, joined me February 16th on The Kevin Fobbs Show on News Talk 1400 WDTK to announce the national launch of an initiative to annually honor the memory of Terri Schiavo, as well as celebrate the 'Culture of Life,' by gathering pledges from every state in the nation to respect the Culture of Life. We joined arms to support March 31 as Terri's Day in every station in the nation."

Read Kevin Fobbs's report Renew America.com

Age of arrogance

2006-03-07T12:54:00.000-05:00

by Paul Greenberg of the Washington Times:

"When Terri Schiavo was denied food and water by order of the court, it took her 13 long, slow, agonizing days to die of dehydration. Thirteen days. It would have been kinder to shoot her. But that would have been against the law, and we know the law is just."

"...when the law decreed that Terri Schiavo was to be given no food or water, it meant no food or water. That's what the court, the sheriff's deputies, the whole clanking machinery of the law was there for -- to see that the severe decree was carried out. That's what the new art and science of bioethics at the dawn of the 21st century had come down to in the end: No cracked ice for Terri Schiavo."

Age of Arrogance

Is hospice movement going beyond end-of-life care to hastening death?

2006-02-19T12:22:00.000-05:00

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (National Catholic Register) – Families who have contacted the nonprofit Hospice Patients Alliance are raising important questions about hospice as a movement.

Although hospice’s stated mission remains that of providing compassionate and dignified care to people at the end of life, some are asking whether hospices are starting to go beyond that role by hastening death instead.

Many families who have had a hospice experience speak positively, even glowingly, of it, saying a hospice was able to help them at a difficult time in a way traditional health care could not.

But, especially since the March 2005, imposed-starving death of Terri Schiavo, reports of a dark side to the hospice movement are emerging.

Read the entire article Catholic Online

Schindler Family Response to U.S. Senator Mel Martinez

2006-02-15T09:36:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release - 02/15/2006

Family of Terri Schiavo and volunteers of their Foundation urge members of Congress to seek federal protections for the disabled

St. Petersburg, FL – The family of Terri Schiavo today responded to Senator Mel Martinez’s recent interview with television news channel, Bay News 9, in which he expressed regret for his involvement in the Senate’s move to protect Schiavo’s life in March of 2005.

On an episode of Political Connections - aired Sunday, February 12, 2006 - Martinez stated that Schiavo’s case was “better left to the state courts to deal with” and he explained that he felt that the federal government’s involvement was likely a mistake.

The Schindler family, along with volunteers of the Foundation, are calling for renewed effort at the federal level to ensure that protections be mandated in cases where a vulnerable person has no advanced directive and is in danger of being denied ordinary care for the purpose of causing or hastening his or her death.

Bobby Schindler, spokesperson for the Foundation states: “I am hopeful that Senator Martinez is not reacting to mixed news reports over the public’s view of Congress’s actions in protecting my sister’s life. Though some news outlets have reported that poll responses did not favor Congress’s involvement, there are others that greatly support protections of disabled and vulnerable people like Terri.”

According to an April, 2005 poll, 80% of likely voters said that a disabled person who is not terminally ill or in a coma, and not being kept alive by life support should not, in the absence of a written directive to the contrary, be denied food and water (Source: Zogby International).

An additional Zogby poll showed that 74% of those participating believed that it is proper for the federal government to intervene when basic civil rights are being denied.

“It has always been my family’s position that Terri was denied her basic rights,” states Schindler, “Our family and our foundation want to encourage those in Congress to uphold the basic principles of our Constitution and ensure that people with disabilities, our aging communities and the vulnerable are not stripped of their voices or denied fair and just treatment, based on hearsay. A more sensible standard of proof should be compulsory before a life is ended in this way.”

“Senator Martinez has an opportunity to stand up for the vulnerable,” said Schindler, “Our Foundation hopes he will not be swayed from acting as a public servant.”

Recent comments regarding the Schiavo matter from Martinez and Senate Majority leader, Bill Frist, have prompted the Foundation to again call for protections for incapacitated persons.

Terri Schindler Foundation

We hate to say we told you so…by Pamela Hennessy

2006-02-10T10:02:00.000-05:00

Pamela Hennessy, media coordinator for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, wrote an excellent commentary on Haleigh Poutre.

Yet another case

"Throughout the past few years of being active in the campaign to protect the life and basic rights of Terri Schiavo, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet a number of learned and thoughtful people in and around the disabled community."

"Of those, a number of esteemed journalists, advocates and attorneys repeatedly called for a halt to the forced dehydration of Schiavo, based both on the grave injustice to her such an action would affect and on the shockwaves that would be felt throughout our country’s communities of vulnerable persons."

"Since Schiavo’s court-ordered death, several similar cases have come into public view -- in Florida and from beyond the state’s borders. Of these cases, none have more plainly proven the points of Schiavo’s supporters than that of Haleigh Poutre.

Read the rest of Ms. Hennessy's commentary here

Danger Zone - Even though Haleigh Poutre is conscious, she’s not necessarily safe

2006-02-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

Wesley J. Smith wrote the following article on Haleigh Poutre.

In the court (and courts) of life and death, a little 11-year-old Massachusetts girl named Haleigh Poutre could be the next Terri Schiavo. For those who have not heard the tragic story, Haleigh was beaten nearly to death last September, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather. The beating left her unconscious and barely clinging to life.

Within a week or so of the beating, her doctors had written her off. They apparently told Haleigh's court-appointed guardian, Harry Spence, that she was "virtually brain dead." Even though he had never visited her, Spence quickly went to court seeking permission to remove her respirator and feeding tube. The court agreed, a decision affirmed recently by the supreme court of Massachusetts.

And so, no doubt with the best of intentions, a little girl who had already suffered so much was stripped by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of even the chance to fight to stay alive. If she didn't stop breathing when the respirator was removed, which doctors expected, she would slowly dehydrate to death.

Read Wesley's article at National Review

Terri Schiavo’s Husband Re-Married in Catholic Church

2006-01-24T13:14:00.000-05:00

From Hyscience.com

Topics: Terri Schiavo's Life Counts

In case you missed the news: "Michael Schiavo, who had his disabled wife Terri killed last March by refusing her food and water, was re-married last Saturday in the Roman Catholic Church of Espiritu Santo in Florida."

In the article we learn that on Saturday, Terri Schiavo’s sister Suzanne Vitadamo spoke out against the Catholic bishops of Florida, saying Terri may not have been killed if the bishops would have supported the fight to protect her life. As a Catholic, I was dumbfounded by the bizarre and shocking comments of Terri's bishop - Robert Lynch, as well as his abject failure to speak against her euthanasia (his formal statement during Terri's life can be found here).

As Father Robert J. Johansen said "If the courts had reconsidered the facts, if doctors had followed procedures, if reporters had asked obvious questions, if bishops had spoken out boldly- a gross injustice might have been averted. "

HyScience.com

Michael Schiavo Kills Wife Then Marries Mistress In Catholic Church

2006-01-24T08:58:00.000-05:00

Catholic author Jimmy Aiken wrote a column about Michael Schiavo's marriage to his long-time mistress, Jodi Centonze.
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Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, has married his long-time live-in mistress.

In a Catholic church.

This is extremely problematic for the obvious reason: namely, that the Church seems to be putting its blessing on the marriage of a man who killed his wife in order to marry his mistress.

There ought to be a law against that kind of thing.

And in fact, there is.

Canon law specifically provides an impediment to prevent exactly this thing. It's known as the impediment of crimen (Latin, "crime"). If you bring about the death of your spouse with a view to marrying another person and then you attempt marriage, the impediment of crimen makes that new marriage automatically invalid.

The Code of Canon Law provides the following:

Can. 1090 §1. Anyone who with a view to entering marriage with a certain person has brought about the death of that person’s spouse or of one’s own spouse invalidly attempts this marriage.

§2. Those who have brought about the death of a spouse by mutual physical or moral cooperation also invalidly attempt a marriage together.

Further, only the pope can dispense from the impediment of crimen.

Now, when Michael Schiavo and his long-time mistress (with whom he has had children while his wife was in the hospital) applied to be married in a Catholic church in Safety Harbor, Florida then either the pastor took steps to contact Pope Benedict and have the impediment of crimen dispensed--and B16 did that (fat chance!)--or the pastor authorized an invalid union under Church auspices between Michael Schiavo and his mistress, Jodi Centonze.

Either way, this must be clarified. If the pope dispensed from crimen in this case then, given the gravely scandalous nature of this union, the fact of the dispensation must become public or, to mitigate the grave scandal done by the invalid union, the competent ecclesiastical officials must make clear that the union was invalid and that the Church's law prohibits precisely this kind of thing.

You may be thinking, "Well, there's not a lot that could be done at this point, is there?"

And you'd be wrong. There is a canon law procedure for handling this situation.

CANONIST ED PETERS HAS THE STORY.

This situation is simply so outrageous that action must be taken by the competent Church authorities.

First, if a dispensation from crimen was not granted by the pope (as is overwhelmingly likely) then the parties are in an invalid union and they need to be made aware of this fact.

Second, members of the general public who are scandalized (in the popular sense) by the spectacle of the Catholic Church putting its blessing on a kill-your-wife-to-marry-your-mistress marriage must be given the message that the Catholic Church really takes seriously the culture of life and will not put its blessing on this kind of murderous immorality.

Just imagine what many non-Catholics must be thinking at this very moment: "I don't see how the Catholic Church really believes in a culture of life if it's willing to marry people who have killed their spouses in order to marry their mistresses. All its talk about protecting human life is just talk. They don't really mean it. When push comes to shove, they're totally happy uniting wife-killers and their mistresses in the bonds of holy wedlock."

Third, members of the Catholic Church need to have a cause of scandal (in the technical sense) removed. As medicine is now able to dramatically prolong life, many more Catholics will find themselves in the same situation as Michael Schiavo: Their spouse will be unable to advance their own interests for medical reasons, they will have power of attorney for their spouse, they will meet someone who they would like to marry, and then they will be tempted to use that power of attorney to bring about the death of their spouse "with a view to entering marriage with a certain person."

In other words, the Church must clarify this situation in order to avoid more disabled spouses in hospitals getting euthanatized so that the non-disabled spouses can get married to someone they have their eye on.

Lives really are at stake here.

If the competent ecclesiastical officials (possibly involving those in Rome) do not clarify this situation then people will die.

Those wishing to contact relevant individuals to request a public clarification of the matter may contact:

Rev. Stephen Dambrauskas, JCL
Promoter of Justice
Diocese of St. Petersburg
905 South Prospect Avenue
Clearwater, Florida 33756-4039

Phone: 727-446-2326 / 442-8884
Fax: 727-446-4287
E-Mail: tribsp@tampabay.rr.com

They may also contact:

His Excellency Pietro Sambi
Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008

Telephone: (202) 333-7121
Fax: (202) 337-4036

Jimmy Aiken.org

Mass. to Reveiw Brain-Damaged Girl's Case (Haleigh)

2006-01-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

Monday, January 23, 2006; 2:24 PM

BOSTON -- Saying "errors in judgment were made," Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday announced an independent investigation into the state's handling of the case of a brain-damaged 11-year-old girl at the center of a right-to-die battle.

Haleigh Poutre was allegedly beaten into a coma last year by her adoptive mother and stepfather, who fought the state's efforts to disconnect the girl's life support. The state's highest court granted the state permission last week to disconnect the ventilator and feeding tube.

"One cannot look at the life of Haleigh Poutre without being overwhelmed with sadness," Romney said at a Statehouse news conference. "She was not someone who fell through the cracks _ doctors and social workers were watching, but errors in judgment were made."

More here

BLOGGING FOR HALEIGH by Michelle Malkin

2006-01-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

Haleigh Poutre, age 11

Michelle Malkin posted the below report on the 11 year old girl, Haleigh, who was severely beaten by her step-father last year. The beating left her in a coma.
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Here's the latest in Haleigh Poutre's fight for her life: The Massachusetts Department of Social Services, which last week won court-ordered authority to remove Haleigh's feeding tube, is now under fire for failing to detect and act on signs that Haleigh was abused:

Even as the Department of Social Services defended its supervision of a now-comatose 11-year-old girl, a leading child advocate said yesterday that the 16 prior abuse reports regarding the child should have prompted the state to remove her from the adoptive couple charged with nearly killing her.

“When you have multiple reports of abuse, no matter what the child’s history, alarms should go off,” said former New York State Commissioner of Social Services Barbara Blum, chief of the Research Forum at Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty. Gov. Mitt Romney also raised questions about the care.

At a news conference yesterday at DSS headquarters, Commissioner Harry Spence said some of the 16 reports of abuse concerning Haleigh Poutre of Westfield were made at his department’s insistence, despite medical opinion that they may not have been necessary.

But multiple DSS investigators, a licensed social worker who saw Haleigh weekly and four psychiatrists all made the nearly fatal error of believing that the girl’s injuries were self-inflicted, Spence said. The reason, he said, was that Haleigh had been traumatized by abuse in her prior home, and that her adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, was an effective liar.

Blum rejected that argument, saying she would have placed Haleigh in a treatment facility where the child could have been monitored around the clock. “Even if you believe these wounds are self-inflicted,” she said, “then there’s no reason to believe the average adoptive or foster home would be equipped to deal with her.”

DSS came to that conclusion last year, even arranging a visit to a facility in the week before Haleigh was pummeled into a coma - allegedly by Strickland, now deceased, and her husband, Jason, now jailed. But the medical team treating her “objected strenuously,” Spence said. “They asked, and urged, that we stop the investigations because they were upsetting her and, they believed, impeding her progress.”

Asked about DSS’ performance, Romney said, “Clearly, there were mistakes made with respect to the events that occurred prior to Haleigh Poutre’s hospitalization.”

Read the entire post at Blogging for Haleigh

Terri Schiavo's sister says country has lost 'value' of life

2006-01-23T06:22:00.000-05:00

January 21 2006,

The sister of Terri Schiavo said Saturday that her family's failed struggle to keep the brain-damaged woman alive shows a society that has "lost sight of the value" of human life.

Suzanne Vitadamo, Schiavo's sister, was the featured speaker at the "Stand Up For Life" rally, sponsored by the South Carolina Citizens for Life. About 1,000 people turned out in front of South Carolina's capitol to listen to Vitadamo recount her sister's ordeal.

"Our society has shifted to a quality of life mentality and has lost sight of the value (and) sacredness of all human life," Vitadamo said. "We now as a nation are deciding when it is OK or not OK to kill those suffering from disabilities."

Read the entire article here

Message from Terri Schiavo's Family

2006-01-19T15:14:00.000-05:00

Message from Terri's family:

Dear Faithful and Supportive Friends,

No words can adequately express how grateful we are to every one of you who fought so valiantly to help us try and save the life of our dear daughter and sister, Terri. Please accept our most heartfelt thanks for your support, prayers, and acts of kindness for Terri and our family. We have received tens of thousands of condolence messages, letters, cards and e-mails from all over the world. We are forever grateful to you.

As a family we are still grieving our great loss. Since Terri’s death, we have decided to carry her legacy of life and love forward so her sacrifice will not have been in vain and others may avoid the same terrible fate.

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation (TSSF) has been restructured as a 501(c)(3) tax–exempt organization. We have opened a modest TSSF office in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Our family, Bob Sr., Mary, Bobby and Suzanne, are all working full-time for the Foundation which will advocate for persons in danger of being killed because they have been deemed “unworthy of life.” We invite you to visit the brand new TSSF website, at www.terrisfight.org. As you browse the site, keep in mind that we value your comments and we would request that you register to subscribe to our forthcoming e-mail newsletters. For those of you desiring to support the cause financially, a secure online donation page is included in our site.

The website also reflects recent information about Terri’s life and death, links to helpful and relevant sources for assistance in the support of life cause, as well as information and reports about how and where we are working to tell Terri’s story and to spread the word about the vital importance and value of human life.

As its mission grows, the Foundation will need the continued support of many individuals willing to give their time and talents. Please consider joining us in this all-important effort to defend human life.

Please contact us using the following information:

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation
5562 Central Avenue
St. Petersburg, Florida USA 33707
e-mail info@terrisfight.org

Once again, thank you for your support. We look forward to hearing from you in the days ahead. Until then, may God bless you and give you peace.

Most Sincerely,

The Schindler Family

Terri Schindler Foundation

Nothing to Die Over

2006-01-18T15:40:00.000-05:00

Wesley Smith, special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and noted author, comments on the recent Supreme Court decision on Oregon's assisted suicide law.

"The news about Monday's 6-3 assisted suicide ruling is not as bad as euthanasia opponents might have feared. Indeed, even in the midst of disappointment that Oregon carried the day, there is some moderately good news: Gonzales v. Oregon was not an exercise in judicial activism. The Supreme Court did not issue a sweeping endorsement of physician-assisted suicide. Nor, did it "uphold" the Oregon statue as a matter of constitutional law. Rather, the Court's decision is so narrowly drawn and steeped in the arcania of regulatory and statutory interpretation that it would normally spark little interest outside of administrative-law journals."

Read the entire article at National Review

Schiavo Judge's Alleged Campaign Violations Clear and Convincing

2006-01-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

New from the North Country Gazette

He [Judge Greer] and his cronies in The Florida Bar say he follows the rule of law.

Public record and a televised political commercial prove otherwise.

According to Florida Statutes and past decisions of the Florida Elections Commission, Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer has violated campaign finance laws, Florida Statutes in regard to qualifying for office and has allegedly filed false written instruments with the Florida Division of Elections, allegedly committing at least one misdemeanor.

Read the full article at North Country Gazette

Bush Counsel Addresses Impeachment Issue Of Schiavo Judge

2006-01-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

From the North Country Gazette:

TALLAHASSEE--Florida's Gov. Jeb Bush will seek to strengthen the protections in Florida statutes for incapacitated persons during the legislative session "so that no one can take advantage of their vulnerable state, not even an estranged spouse", according to Rachel Rodriguez, general counsel to the Governor.

Read the article here

Euthanasia's Growing Acceptance

2006-01-10T06:29:00.000-05:00

Judicial Leniency for "Mercy Killing"

LONDON, JAN. 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Euthanasia is legal in only a few countries, but even where it is prohibited judges are increasingly reluctant to punish offenders. A recent example is the case of English father, Andrew Wragg.

Wragg's 10-year-old son, Jacob, suffered from the degenerative disease of Hunter's syndrome and had multiple disabilities. On July 24, 2004, his father smothered Jacob, afterward calling the police to tell them he had killed his son, the BBC reported Dec. 12.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that Wragg's act was a "selfish killing," carried out because he could no longer cope with looking after the boy. But the judge, Justice Anne Rafferty, said the case was "exceptional" and that there was nothing to be gained by sending the father to jail. Wragg was given a suspended jail sentence.

A similar case occurred three months earlier. On Sept. 3 the Times reported that Donald Mawditt admitted helping to kill his wife by giving her antidepressants, then suffocating her. His wife, Maureen, suffered from hemochromatosis, a condition that causes too much iron in the blood, damaging the liver and pancreas and causing heart failure. She was told she had only a 50% chance of living longer than two years.

During proceedings, evidence showed that the couple had made a pact when they married to end each other's life if they fell terminally ill. Judge Thomas Crowther decided that the case was "exceptional" and spared him a prison term. Mawditt received a three-year conditional discharge.

Another 2005 case was that of Brian Blackburn, who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his wife, Margaret. The Guardian newspaper last Jan. 15 reported that Blackburn killed his wife, then unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide.

His wife had an advanced case of stomach cancer and would have died within weeks. Judge Richard Hawkins said that the case was one of "exceptional circumstances," and Blackburn received a suspended jail sentence.

No jail sentences

Read more at Zenit News Agency from Rome

Terri Schiavo - The Most Unforgettable News Story of 2005

2006-01-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

by Robin Hood, Conservative Voice

I thought long and hard about the events that took place over the course of 2005. There were some very good things that happened this year and some very tragic ones as well. Among the top stories covered this year was the war in Iraq, the Michael Jackson trial, Louis Farrakhan’s million man March as covered by the mainstream media, and other stories as well that centered on the White House suspected scandals that either lead to or may lead to indictments.
I nominated the Terri Schiavo case as the most unforgettable story of the year. While talk radio hosts like Bill Bennett, Sean Hannity, and others gave this story full coverage for almost two weeks, the mainstream media took very little notice at all. Sure they reported on it but only for about five to ten minutes at the end of the regularly scheduled newscast. They treated it like it was nothing.

This was a case that deserved further investigation and surely should have required the judge involved to be fired from his position on the bench and let the feds intervene on an unsolved case. This judge was clearly involved if not partly responsible for the death of Terri Schiavo. He would not even let the case be re-investigated. He would not even open his mind to the idea. What kind of sick judge was this? I heard he was even banned from his church in Florida which was good enough for him. He should have been banned from the judicial bench altogether.

This was a plain and simple case of murder. Terri Schiavo knew everything that was going on and could not express it into words because her husband refused to let her go through physical therapy and the hospital was just as responsible. Just take a look at the testimony from different nurses who would take care of her. They knew the situation and were threatened if they went forward with their testimony. That in itself is something the administration should have been fired and imprisoned over. How do we who supported the Schiavo family find the defendants (murderers)? GUILTY with a capital G! They got away with murder plain and simple. Why Governor Jeb Bush did not authorize deadly force from National Guard troops to intervene I will never know. He certainly had the authority and most certainly had the capability, the support, and the reason for doing so. Some may think that this would have been a drastic measure but what else can be done when the judge, the hospital, and the rest of leftist America is shouting death to Terri like they are an American version of HAMAS? The only logical thing to do is take the bull by the horns and get the job done by any means that it takes to do it.

This was indeed the most unforgettable story of 2005 and I have vowed to bring it up on March 30 of every year until the day I die to commemorate a great and innocent American life that was taken for selfish and silly if not evil reasons. God bless the Schiavo family and may they find peace from their loss.

Conservative Voice

It Was The Best of Times, It Was The Worst of Times

2005-12-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

Commentary by June Maxam, publisher of the North Country Gazette

Excerpts:

"2005 was a tumultuous year, worldwide and nationwide, personally and professionally."

"We, like virtually everyone in the world watched in horror and helplessness as the most public execution ever was carried out in Florida and a probate court judge in Pinellas County [Judge George Greer] created a horrendous precedent, firmly endorsing the throw-a-way society in the United States, the culture of death, sanctioning judicial homicide, glorifying and empowering the euthanasia movement."

Read Ms. Maxam's commentary here

While Ex-Husband Enters Politics, Terri Schiavo's Family Helps Disabled

2005-12-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

From LifeNews.com

While her former husband enters the world of politics, Terri Schiavo's parents and family are working to help disabled patients like Terri have their right to live protected by law.

Michael Schiavo recently announced the creation of a political action committee to target pro-life lawmakers who sided with Terri and her family to allow her to stay live and get medical help. However, Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri's parents, and her brother and sister are working to promote a foundation to help others. Terri's brother Bobby resigned from his position as a teacher at a Catholic high school in Tampa to work with the foundation full time.

"I think this foundation and at least trying to help others and staying involved in this fight is therapeutic and helpful, and it's something that Terri would be very happy we're doing," he said recently. "Our family said from the beginning that we just wanted to bring Terri home and care for her," Bobby Schindler told the Associated Press. He wants to help other families in similar situations be able to care for their loved ones.

The Schindler family is working on a book that will be released in March.

LifeNews.com

Letting go: Dylan's last days (parents decide to remove their son's feeding tube due to disability)

2005-12-27T13:16:00.000-05:00

Dylan and his mother on the day he was fed for the last time

Starving and dehydrating disabled children and adults is more common than we think. According to the chairman of the ethics committee at Denver's Children's Hospital, "pediatrician Stefan Mokrohisky, estimates he has participated in hundreds of cases where nutrition or other life-sustaining measures were ceased over the past 20 years."

The following report details the decision made by the parents of their disabled 4 year old son, Dylan, to remove his feeding tube simply because he is disabled. Dylan displayed a strong will to live during his 4 short years. In a false sense of compassion, his parents ended his life by removing nutrition and hydration from him.

Read the story here

Vilifying Of Terri Schiavo

2005-12-27T06:39:00.000-05:00

Commentary by the North Country Gazette

"Times staff writers Janet Zink and Bill Adair contributed to... " an article I read tonight on the gainesville.com site. (Terri Schiavo derails social agenda of Christian right . . . St. Petersburg Times). I'm just wondering how far the St. Petersburg Times will go in the attempt to vilify Terri Schiavo and what is behind this maddening madness.

The article begins, " WASHINGTON - Each December, the Family Research Council grades Congress on how it voted during the year on important conservative social issues, such as gay marriage and abortion. But this year, the group didn't even bother to score the Senate." And the reason for this lack of scoring according to Zink and Adair is, "Blame Terri Schiavo."

You read that right. "Blame Terri Schiavo."

Read the entire commentary at North Country Gazette

Feeding tube bill filed for 2006 (Terri Schiavo)

2005-12-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/23/05

The Terri Schiavo saga ended last spring, but the Georgia Legislature soon may plunge into the emotional debate over end-of-life decisions.

A Republican state senator has filed a bill for the 2006 legislative session that would create a legal presumption that people who are incapable of making their own decisions should be kept alive with food and water — a matter on which state law is currently silent. A family member or guardian would need a written directive from a loved one or be able to present "clear and convincing evidence" that the family member would prefer to die rather than be kept alive with a feeding tube.

Read the entire article at Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Top Story – No Story" Commentary on the Media's Coverage of Terri Schiavo

2005-12-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

Pamela F. Hennessy writes an excellent commentary on the main stream media's inaccurate, sloppy, lazy coverage of Terri Schindler-Schiavo's case.

Excerpts

"Since before 2002 and, prior to my becoming involved in Terri’s case, I watched the media’s handling of her story with not just a diminutive amount of dismay. For years, the media reported Terri’s condition as ‘brain-dead’, even though no such diagnosis had ever been proffered by examining physicians. They repeatedly referred to her as someone on life support, in a coma, terminally ill and dying. None of their descriptions had any basis in fact and they painted a very dismal image for the public to rely upon to form their opinions."

"Not surprisingly, the mainstream also gave a pass to Judge George Greer’s ruling from February of 2005—that did not simply allow Michael Schiavo to direct the removal of Terri’s assisted food and fluids—it ordered that he do so. Some, including myself, view this as a violation of Terri’s privacy in that the state, the government, forced something upon her body: her death."

Continue reading Ms. Hennessy's commentary at Blogs for Terri

People Magazine Names Michael Schiavo Top Newsmaker of the Year

2005-12-21T20:32:00.000-05:00

In the Dec 26, 2005 edition, People Magazine named Michael Schiavo one of the top Newsmakers of the Year.

Michael Schiavo's brother, Brian, warned, "...he's [Michael] not going to let people forget how he was vilified..."

Michael Schiavo threatens to get even with all those who he feels insulted him: the Pope, President Bush, the Senate, Congress, Gov. Bush, and the right wing media.

Read the text of the People Magazine article at Free Republic

Attorney Criticizes Judge Who Ended Terri Schiavo's Life

2005-12-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

Originally published on August 18, 2005 at LifeSite. Attorney for Terri's parents, Robert Destro, criticizes Judge George Greer, the judge who ended Terri's life.

"Destro remains deeply critical of the actions of Judge Greer, whose failure to act and whose often illegal handling of the case resulted in Terri’s eventual murder by starvation and dehydration. “You can’t really make up facts of this case—I felt like I was caught in Wonderland or Neverland. Terri never got a fair hearing,” attests Destro. “Florida law expressly requires probate judges to see the incompetent patients whose cases are pending before them, but Greer never went to see Terri.”

"Destro's efforts to represent Terri and her family were frustrated by the courts at every turn of the road. Laws created to protect Terri were struck down as unconstitutional, appeals to higher courts intended to rectify blatant and gross legal malpractices in the lower courts were refused."

“Florida law expressly requires probate judges to see the incompetent patients whose cases are pending before them, but Greer never went to see Terri.”

More here

Schiavo Case Unpacked: Lies, Jesse Jackson, Aretha Franklin and "Terri-ism"

2005-12-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

Special Commentary to LifeSiteNews.com by Anita Crane on Michael Schiavo's recent efforts to make money off Terri.

"Michael Scherer broke Salon.com's Dec. 7 story on Michael Schiavo's project Terri PAC, the political action committee he formed 'with the hope of raising money to defeat the politicians who tried to intervene in the legal battle between Schiavo and Terri's parents.'"

Read the entire article LifeSite

It's time: Impeach Judge Greer!

2005-12-19T09:26:00.000-05:00

Renew America is urging the impeachment of the corrupt Judge George Greer of Clearwater, Florida. Greer signed Terri's Order of Execution.

Excerpts:

A self verifying man sits astride the world, surveys all he can see, and pronounces it good. This is a terrifying thing because the man doing it is none other than Judge George Greer of Florida and the thing he was pronouncing good was the excruciatingly legal murder of one Terri Schindler, formerly Terri Schiavo.

Read Impeach Greer here

Time Magazine Bids Fond Farewell To Terri

2005-12-19T09:03:00.000-05:00

The North Country Gazette offers an editorial on Time's insensitive commentary on Terri's brutal death. Read Time Bids Fond Farewell to Terri

Check out the ultra-liberal Time Magazine's "A Fond Farewell" in this week's edition.

A View to a Kill

2005-12-16T20:47:00.000-05:00

Is Jack Kevorkian headed to a theater near you?

by Wesley Smith, attorney for International Task Force on Euthanasia

According to recent showbiz news, jailed murderer Jack Kevorkian may soon be the subject of a laudatory movie biopic. (No, it is not intended as a horror movie.) Unfortunately, this seems to be a serious project. The announced director is Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. The screenwriter is Barbara Turner (Pollock). Stars touted as potentially playing the lead include Ben Kingsley and Daniel Day Lewis.

Nicol's unpublished book is entitled You Don't Know Jack. Here, at least, is a kernel of truth: If those connected with this movie project would only take the time to learn about the real Jack Kevorkian, they would have nothing whatsoever to do with lionizing him.

Let's start with Kevorkian's motives. He is ubiquitously portrayed in the media as the doctor who helped terminally ill people end their own lives. No doubt, that is how he will be portrayed in the movie — as the iconoclastic visionary whose compassion induced him to test the boundaries of the law to help the actively dying achieve a gentle end.

Read the entire article at National Review

Schiavo, Truth and the American Way

2005-12-15T20:10:00.000-05:00

Judie Brown, President of American Life League

Pro Life Blogs posted an excellent editorial by Judie Brown, President of American Life League, on Michael Schiavo's efforts to make money by exploiting Terri Schiavo's memory.
_____________________________________________

"It is frequently said that truth is stranger than fiction. In the case of Michael Schiavo, husband of the now deceased Terri Schiavo, this is precisely correct."

"You may recall that during the years that Terri Schiavo suffered from a debilitating condition, Michael worked very hard to acquire legal permission to kill his wife by denying her the basic human right of receiving food and water. He argued that she would not want to be fed through a tube. His view was that she actually died 12 years earlier, and that the person in the hospital bed was not truly alive. Once he succeeded in achieving his goal, and his wife died, it became clear that Schiavo had designs on attaining as much public support and sympathy as possible. In fact, one might say that in the wake of Terri's death, Michael Schiavo was starving —for attention."

Continue reading the article Prolifeblogs.com

America's Disgrace

2005-12-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

by June Maxam, publisher & editor of the North Country Gazette

Michael Schiavo's announcement that he had formed a political action committee to get even with the Republicans and in particular for trying to save his wife's life created a lot of comments this past week.

For over 12 years, Schiavo engaged in a vendetta against Bob and Mary Schindler, parents of his wife, Terri who became brain damaged in 1990 in suspicious, still unexplained circumstances with only Michael present.

We felt it was somewhat appropriate that Schiavo's latest promoter, Derek Newton of the November Group, even took his cause to Crooks and Liars with this posting on their forum:

"Please go to www.TerriPAC.org and do what you can.
We really need you to get this going.
We can't afford to let it fail. If Michael is sticking his name and neck back out there for us, we need to stand with him!
Come on, don't let me down.
Derek Newton, TerriPAC
Crooks and Liars

Read the rest of June's editorial here

Do As I Say - Not As I Do by Pamela Hennessy

2005-12-11T07:09:00.000-05:00

Pamela Hennessy writes an excellent commentary on Michael Schiavo.

Pamela Hennessy on Fox News

It seems as though Michael Schiavo likes to hold grudges. He's become rather good at it as well. In February of 1993, he started one with his in-laws that would span 12 years and cost them their own daughter. Now, in 2005, he's fostering another one, with your financial support that is.

Michael, the self-made widower of Terri Schiavo, has launched a Political Action Committee titled TerriPAC and is asking people for money to support it.

I'm typically in favor of individuals taking their causes public because it not only educates groups of people, it empowers them. Political Action Committees are certainly a good way for individuals to get involved in the legislative process and let their voices be heard enmasse by those who represent us. At their core, PACs serve to either promote or demote politicians and parties, based on the special interest of the committee. In doing so, they give voters a rather unique medium in which to issue their own system of checks and balances on elected officials.

They're not really intended to be a conduit for personal tantrums, but that's all changed now with the introduction of Michael Schiavo into the political arena.

Schiavo's PAC, built on the name of his deceased wife, appears to be simply a public forum for his own, personal vendetta against lawmakers who presented him with hurdles in his efforts to end his wife's life. Ordinarily, such a thing would be laughably irrelevant. But, since Schiavo's hypocrisy is so distinct, it leaves one to wonder what level of drunkard is advising him.

As of this writing, TerriPAC is not listed with Florida's Division of Elections nor the Federal Election Commission. Neither fact is disclosed on Schiavo's website, but he'll happily accept your generous donation. After having so aggressively scrutinized Terri's family for their fundraising efforts to support the legal battle of protecting her life, I would think Schiavo would be a bit more circumspect in his business practices.

If a man can go years upon years without filing statutorily mandated annual guardianship reports or plans of care, can spend down his ward's medical funds on his own legal representation and can schmooze a court of law into deciding her alleged casual statements equaled informed consent or an oral declaration of medical treatment directives, I suppose he can slack on the required PAC filings without much bruising to his reputation. After all, the public and the media have already forgiven far worse from Schiavo.

It is interesting that, on his website, Schiavo cites "The sanctity of marriage and personal privacy" as one of his core motivations (on the 'What we do' page). Yet, he doesn't bother telling the reader that he likely penned those words from the home he shares with his girlfriend of a dozen or so years, with whom he produced two children and while he was still wed to Terri Schiavo. I'm not entirely certain if I would laugh or cry upon learning of any person buying into Schiavo's vision of marital 'sanctity', but I do know that I'm not buying it.

Throughout the website, Schiavo's plight, not his wife, is the recurring point of why you should reach into your wallet and support him. Not only does Schiavo promise personal appearances, he bemoans government intrusion into 'his' family life:

"fundamental freedoms and American beliefs that I hold dear"

Who really gives a toss?

I can't imagine that any political candidate would happily accept a ham-handed slap on the back from the likes of Michael Schiavo. What could possibly be more poisonous to someone seeking a career as a public servant than a nod from the self-made widower? Perhaps a sound endorsement from Claus von Bulow would be worse, but not by much.

What the Florida courts did was forcibly end the life of a profoundly disabled but undying person by removing the most basic provisions of nourishment and hydration - without proof of consent. Schiavo put those wheels into motion and presented the courts with not one shred of proof that his young wife ever directed such an action. While doing so, Schiavo engaged the comforts of another woman, produced children with her and spent down his wife's estate on his own legal wranglings.

Now, he wants my money so that he can publicly attack those who tried to stumble him because of his 'family's' private sadness? And there is no evidence that his PAC is even properly accounted for with the appropriate agencies?

I have a few suggestions for Michael Schiavo that he may wish to consider. Firstly, change the name of your committee to MichaelPAC since this is so clearly about you and not the wishes, directives or decisions of Terri Schiavo. Secondly, get your paperwork in order. Thirdly, come clean about your motives. In the entirety of your website, I cannot find one altruistic intention or any motivation behind you other than slamming those in office who tried to thwart you. Finally, come to the realization that no public servant wants your endorsement or assistance - unless, of course they are in the throes of career Hari-Kari.

Michael Schiavo, like any other free person, can and should be politically active. However, if self-promotion and tantrum throwing are now worthy political causes, he's become far more a parody than anyone with whom he's planning to tangle. 12-10-05

Pamela Hennessy is a marketing and public relations executive in Florida and has volunteered as a communications director for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation since 2002.

Ms. Hennessy's commentary is found at North Country Gazette

Pro-Life Advocates Bash Michael Schiavo's New Terri'sPAC Group

2005-12-09T13:47:00.000-05:00

From LifeNews.com

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates are attacking a new political action committee formed by the formerly estranged husband of disabled woman Terri Schiavo. Michael Schiavo announced the creation of the political group yesterday, named for the woman he was allowed to kill via euthanasia.

Read Steven Ertelt's article here

Schiavo's Nursing License Still Under State Investigation

2005-12-09T06:32:00.000-05:00

New from the North Country Gazette
CLEARWATER, FLA--Licensed health care practitioner Michael Schiavo of Clearwater remains under investigation by a medical malpractice investigator in the St. Petersburg office of the Florida Department of Health for alleged false sworn statements, The North Country Gazette has learned.

Schiavo is licensed in Florida as a registered nurse and respiratory therapist.

A complaint filed against Schiavo for alleged misrepresentation in his sworn application for employment as a nurse with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department passed initial department review in September and was deemed legally sufficient for investigation by DOH.

Read the article North Country Gazette

Michael Schiavo Soliticting Funds Under TerriPAC

2005-12-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

New from the North Country Gazette:

CLEARWATER, FLA---He spent the proceeds of two fraudulent medical malpractice lawsuits to retain attorneys to end his wife's life.

Now he's established a federal political action committee to raise funds so he can speak about how he arranged the judicial homicide of his disabled wife and presumably to help others do the same.

Michael Schiavo has announced that he has formed TerriPAC, a national political committee.

He's being guided in his quest to raise money by Derek Newton of the November Group of Miami, a Democratic political consulting firm. According to Schiavo's new website, www.terriPAC.org, "at the TerriPAC Election Center, you will see your donations being put to work to pay for television and radio ads, direct mail or personal appearances for Michael Schiavo in the states and districts of political leaders who chose their own political gain over personal privacy and the rule of law".

Read the rest of the article North Country Gazette

ACLU Will Present Award to Judge Greer

2005-12-06T13:50:00.000-05:00

The ACLU will present an award to the judge who signed Terri Schindler-Schiavo's order of execution.
June Maxam, publisher of the North Country Gazette, wrote an editorial on her website

Excerpts:

"The Pinellas County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has named Greer the 2005 recipient of the Gardner W. Beckett Civil Liberties Award which will be presented to Greer on Thursday, Dec. 8 at the group's Bill of Rights Banquet."

"Greer singlehandedly did more to damage the public's trust and faith in the judicial system that virtually any other person in the United States. He made a complete mockery of the system with his handling of the Schiavo case, controlling the case for over seven years and using the bench and black robe to sanction judicial homicide, ordering a disabled woman to die a grueling, agonizing death by starvation and dehydration--a cruel, unusual and inhumane judgment by anyone's standards--except maybe George Felos, attorney for the husband who lobbied Greer for over seven years for the death warrant."

Happy Birthday Terri!

2005-12-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

Today, Dec 3rd, would have been Terri's 42nd Birthday.

We will always love you Terri!

The silence over Terri

2005-12-03T22:31:00.000-05:00

by Diane Lynne

Terri Schiavo would be 42 today, if she had not been dehydrated to death per court order.

Instead of the happy squeals and vocalizations the brain-damaged woman was known to utter, the deafening silence of loss haunts her loved ones on this anniversary of her birth.

Many Americans prefer the silence. The very mention of the name, "Terri Schiavo," elicits groans from those "burned out" on what they view as simply an overblown news story.

Terri Schiavo was not dying. Her medical examiner estimated she would have lived another decade if she had not been forced to die through the removal of her gastric feeding tube and the accompanying court-ordered withholding of oral hydration and nutrition.

Contrary to popular belief and media reports, Terri Schiavo was not being "kept alive" by life-support machines. She could breathe and maintain blood pressure on her own. Many believe that if it were her will to die, she would not have lived in her condition for 15 years, defying odds estimated at 1 in 75,000 by the American Academy of Neurology, if she were truly in a persistent vegetative state.

Read the rest of Diana Lynn's report here

Defender of infanticide sees Terri Schiavo battle as key to changing ethic

2005-12-03T12:14:00.000-05:00

Peter Singer: Right to assisted suicide 'irresistible'

image of euthanasia and infanticide promoter, Peter Singer

During the next 35 years, the traditional view of the sanctity of human life will collapse under pressure from scientific, technological, and demographic developments, says controversial bio-ethics professor Peter Singer

"The year 2005 is also significant, at least in the United States, for ratcheting up the debate about the care of patients in a persistent vegetative state," says Singer. "The long legal battle over the removal of Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube led President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress to intervene, both seeking to keep her alive. Yet the American public surprised many pundits by refusing to support this intervention, and the case produced a surge in the number of people declaring they did not wish to be kept alive in a situation such as Schiavo’s."

Read the entire article on World Net Daily

The heinous decision of the Ninth 'Circus' Court of Appeals

2005-11-21T13:07:00.000-05:00

Excerpts

The day Terri Schiavo left this world, when I first heard the news I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that wasn't quite like anything I've ever experienced before. Although I had many days to prepare for what increasingly appeared to be inevitable (involving an outright atrocity by government), as I gazed out the windows of the sliding glass doors in my study, I honestly wondered if I would ever be able to recapture the same sense of patriotism and love of country that has always been so much a part of my heart. Yep, the impact of what they did to Terri on this preacher--and American citizen--was just that dramatic. Now I see this taking place in our schools, and of course you know--this means war!

Needless to say, I still love my country, but when the reality of what they [Florida Courts] did to Terri hit me, it took some time for me to get over the shock and a sense of horror that swept over me, much like the waves of an incoming tide which, at the time, I couldn't swim against very well, emotionally speaking. I was actually numb for quite some time afterward.

Now that this [decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals] has taken place at the hands of an overreaching court, I would like to know exactly what legal precedent or constitutional provision Judge Reinhardt used as a basis for denial of the fundamental right of a parent to have the last word in matters pertaining to their children, involving cases where the life and/or safety of the child is not a factor. Has this judge lost his mind?!

Read this excellent commentary at Renew America

ProLifeBlogs Asks for Help for Publisher's Father

2005-11-12T07:45:00.000-05:00

Pro Life Blogs published this post encouraging all people who helped fight for Terri Schiavo's life to help June Maxam's father.

A Call for Help by June Maxam (Empire Journal)

I would like to encourage all of those would fought for the life of Terri Schiavo to help June Maxam, editor of North County Gazette, and co-publisher of The Empire Journal.

June's father suffered a massive stroke at Eden Park Nursing Home in Glens Falls. He was not hospitalized - instead the nursing home claims they are "maintaining his dignity" and plan to place him in a hospice, withhold all nutrition and hydration and wait for him to die.

In an email, June writes,

My father is currently a resident at the Eden Park Nursing Home in Glens Falls. According to the nursing home, he suffered a massive stroke yesterday morning. They claim they found him that way when they got him up yesterday morning. Why no one checked on him during the night is unknown. They currently have him on morphine and I don't know what other drugs. They have him totally drugged---they claim he is unresponsive---that's because they have him drugged. The person I spoke with and I'm not sure what her capacity was supposed to be, said he couldn't swallow. That is untrue. I watched him. He was routinely swallowing his own saliva. She told me that he would be transferred to a hospice, nothing would be given him and it "wouldn't be long", in other words, they have every intent of starving and dehydrating him without making any effort of recovery. They never transported him to the hospital, therefore no tests have been done to determine just how "massive" this stroke is if indeed he has had a stroke at all. They have done nothing for him. I last saw him yesterday afternoon.

June asks that persons wishing to tell the nursing home of their views on altering health care proxies and death by dehydration may call the Eden Park Health Care Center in Glens Falls at 518-793-5163 or send a fax to 518-793-5165.

No Dignity In Death By Dehydration

Pro Life Blogs

Why Catholics Should Avoid Secular Living Wills

2005-11-12T07:28:00.000-05:00

ALIQUIPPA, Pennsylvania, NOV. 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Living wills got a lot of attention as Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman, died a lingering death after her feeding tube was pulled.

One critic says those living wills are not always the answer to avoid a contentious end-of-life dilemma.

Deborah Sturm, a registered nurse and member of National Association of Pro-Life Nurses, addressed the problems living wills pose for Catholics at the recent meeting of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

A living will is a type of health-care advance directive: written instructions individuals establish regarding what they do or do not want for medical treatment in the event they cannot speak for themselves.

"The standard living-will documents that are advocated by those who support euthanasia have a general presumption for death," Sturm told ZENIT. "The language is often ambiguous and can be interpreted by a health-care provider in a variety of ways that a patient did not intend.

"Some living wills allow for the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration -- which, of course, includes food and water -- if a patient is comatose or vegetative," she said. "It is against Catholic teaching to refuse a patient nutrition and hydration just because they have these diagnoses.

"In other words, a living will can kill a person."

Sturm suggested that Catholics seek out living-will documents that have a "general presumption for life" from pro-life agencies such as National Right to Life, the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force and the American Life League.

"All of these documents involve designation of a health-care proxy who speaks for the patient when they cannot speak for themselves," Sturm said.

"The proxy should be someone who is knowledgeable about the patient's pro-life Catholic worldview and who is solidly grounded in a pro-life worldview themselves."

Reception of sacraments should be specified, Sturm said.

"Catholics should also make sure that a document -- or their proxy -- directs that their spiritual needs be taken care of, for example, reception of the sacraments of reconciliation, viaticum and anointing of the sick," she advised.

Lastly, Sturm stressed that individuals should rectify all paperwork.

"If they have already signed a living will," she said, "they should ensure that it is properly revoked -- in writing."

Zenit

Living Wills - A Failure

2005-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

Living wills not keeping promise

After three decades of urging Americans to write living wills, many doctors, lawyers and ethicists concede that these documents have largely failed.

The problems are many: Most people don't complete living wills. When they do, too often the paper isn't available when decisions about life support must be made.

Living wills, intended to assure that patients' wishes are honored when they can't speak for themselves, rarely address the actual situations that arise. And many people don't really know in advance what treatments they would or wouldn't want.

"The 30 years of literature on living wills has shown very disappointing results," said Charles Sabatino, assistant director of the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging. "The shortcomings of living wills are real. Dying is just too complicated."

A blistering indictment of living wills appeared last year in the Hastings Center Report, a well-known bioethics journal.

It began: "Enough. The living will has failed and it's time to say so."

Read the rest of the article at The State.com

Michael Schiavo's political foray panned

2005-11-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

by Diana Lynne of World Net Daily

TV viewers slam his endorsement of Virginia gubernatorial candidate

"Who cares what this man [Schiavo] thinks? He legally starved his wife to death. Why does his opinion matter to anyone?" was the response posted by W. D. Patton on BayNews9's online Viewer Center message board.

"Schiavo's opinions are worth two words, 'Who cares.' I vote for whomever I think is the best candidate. I don't need an adulterer who murdered his wife to help me out."
"When did this guy become politically relevant? Mike, you had the right to want your own life. Your wife died long before the plug was pulled and due to insurance policy requirements you could not simply divorce her near-dead carcass and marry your next love. But now you've had your 15 minutes it is time to slink quietly back into obscurity."

"[Who] gives a flying crap what or who this guy thinks should run for what?"

"Who gives a rat's a-- what this guy thinks or who he likes politically. His 15 minutes are up. Maybe he should hook up with wacko Cindy Sheehan."

"Who cares who Michael Schiavo is going to vote for ... call me crazy, but he's no one special."

"This SOB is going to get rich one way or another off of his wife's death. Movies, book deals. ... I am sick of this CREEP getting attention for killing his wife!"

"Where did you get the idea that Michael Schiavo is newsworthy, or that his opinions are important enough to warrant even a blurb? He should sink back into the nothingness he was before the Terri Schiavo case."

Michael Schiavo joins the ranks of presidential wannabes soaking up the wattage of the political spotlight in Virginia. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned for Kilgore, while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., stumped for Kaine.

Read more here

Michael Schiavo wades into political arena

2005-11-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

World Net Daily

America's most admired widower' endorses candidate in bellwether race

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore has the NRA's Wayne LaPierre riding shotgun, but Democratic rival Tim Kaine has Michael Schiavo.

Dubbed 'America's most admired widower this side of O.J. Simpson' by American Spectator, Schiavo is lending his political clout to influence Tuesday's tight race in Virginia, widely considered to be a harbinger for the 2006 mid-term congressional elections.

The Florida resident, whose successful battle to end the life of his brain-injured wife Terri Schiavo attracted worldwide attention, endorsed Virginia's lieutenant governor over former attorney general Kilgore.

"I have seen firsthand what can happen when a governor disagrees with a single citizen," Schiavo said in a statement released by the Miami-based Democratic political consulting firm, November Group. "In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush abused the power of his office in an attempt to replace my personal family decisions with his own opinions and political grandstanding."

Michael Schiavo, who has lived with another woman, with whom he fathered two children, for a decade, maintained his wife made casual statements years prior to her still-unexplained brain injury that she would not want to live dependent on artificial means. The Schindlers argued their daughter was a devout Catholic who believed in the sanctity of life and asserted Schiavo and his siblings fabricated Terri's alleged end-of-life comments.

Read the rest of the article at World Net Daily

Accused stepfather fights to keep girl alive

2005-11-06T06:40:00.000-05:00

WESTFIELD -- Haleigh Poutre, 11, clings to life in a hospital bed, her body sustained by breathing machines and feeding tubes.

The state, which now has legal custody of the child, wants to terminate her life support, citing medical tests that show she will never recover.

Her stepfather has launched a legal battle to keep her alive.

But more than Haleigh's future hinges on the outcome. The stepfather, Jason Strickland, 32, is accused of taking part in a savage beating that left the girl in a vegetative state and dependent on life support.

And if she dies, he could be charged with murder.

Read the report at the Boston Globe

Schiavo Gives Kiss Of Death To Virginia Democrat

2005-11-06T06:31:00.000-05:00

Editorial by June Maxam, publisher of The North Country Gazette

Michael Schiavo is making political endorsements?

Does he have some kind of Napoleon complex or narcissistic disorder or is it political retribution to Republicans for their support of his wife's right-to-life and a fair chance in the court system?

Other than Jodi Centonze [Schiavo's mistress], and even her opinion is questionable, who cares who Michael Schiavo endorses for anything?

Read Maxam's editorial here

Did 'revoked' living will kill communicative man?

2005-11-04T05:36:00.000-05:00

by Diana Lynne of World Net Daily

Children probe unplugged tracheotomy tubes that caused suffocation of paraplegic father

Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy.

Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart.

"We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter, told WND in reference to her siblings. "The last time I saw dad he was blowing me a kiss. I blew him one and he blew one back."

The retired dispatcher for Holland Motor Express died approximately 10 hours later. His death certificate indicates he died of "natural causes."

"Apparently, suffocation is a 'natural cause' when you're on a ventilator. We're contesting that," said Potter. "He suffocated. He didn't just pass away. He struggled and fought. And I'm just so angry."

Read Diana Lynne's article World Net Daily

The progression of euthanasia

2005-11-03T19:11:00.000-05:00

by Professor Emeritus Charles Rice, Nov 3, 2005

"The court mandated Terri's execution. The only reason we heard about the Schiavo case is because Michael Schiavo and Terri's parents disagreed and the court became involved. What Michael did to Terri happens routinely, without public notice, when the "caregivers" agree that the patient should be killed."

"We have not formally legalized it, but we are further down the slippery slope of euthanasia than are the Dutch. We have, in effect, legalized homicide of patients by starvation and dehydration, when the family and physicians agree, without even the minimal procedures required in the Netherlands."

Read Prof. Rice's excellent commentary here

Michael Schiavo endorses Kaine (D) for Virginia Governor

2005-11-03T10:41:00.000-05:00

Michael Schiavo getting involved in politics.....

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Michael Schiavo, who was at the center of a passionate national end-of-life debate when his brain-damaged wife, Terri, died in March, endorsed Democrat Tim Kaine for governor Wednesday.

"I have seen firsthand what can happen when a governor disagrees with a single citizen. In Florida, Gov. Jeb Bush abused the power of his office in an attempt to replace my personal family decisions [to kill his estranged wife] with his own opinions and political grandstanding," Schiavo wrote a six-paragraph statement distributed by a Democratic political consulting firm in Miami.

Read more about Schiavo's grandstanding here

Common Ground: Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo

2005-10-31T06:51:00.000-05:00

The below commentary was written by Allan F. Wright of The Washington Dispatch shortly before Terri died, and was published the day she died, March 31, 2005.

Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo -- both household names we discuss as if they were old friends. While on the surface these two individuals seem completely separate, they both challenge us to consider the intrinsic value of each and every human life.

Terri Schiavo and the Holy Father are true contradictions to our modern world. Their limitations and frailties cause us to confront the reality that life in its totality is full of suffering -- period. It can be difficult to view current photos of Terri lying in her bed, in need of constant care, crying out for help with her eyes. Those images are starkly different from the ones of the beautiful, vibrant young woman who slipped into a coma some fifteen years ago. In the same way, Pope John Paul causes us pause as we view this once physically robust man who has traveled the globe preaching the Gospel and defending human dignity, now struggling to wave to a crowd. His physical features shake beyond his control, yet he continues to witness to the value of human life through his own weakness.

The Culture of Death wants us to be done with both Terri and Pope John Paul. The Pope, they say, should face his own limitations, retire, and allow someone more "suited" for the job to take over. We expect youth and vitality in our leaders and public figures and this pope's suffering makes us uncomfortable. In the same way, Terri is constantly displayed with her contorted ... body as a pathetic figure not fit for life and not worthy to be the recipient of food and water. Talk show hosts and callers often plead to, "let her die in peace." Interestingly, not many would consider an excruciatingly painful death from dehydration and starvation a "peaceful" way to go.

Conversely, the Culture of Life recognizes that every person, from conception to natural death, has inherent dignity and worth. The Culture of Life faces the human condition, in all of its sickness and disease, and says, "Yes! We accept and love you just as you are!"

Despite what one may think, both Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo hold great power. These two frail individuals cause us to reflect on the value we truly place on human life -- despite its condition. Both figures instigate a thought process of questioning the value of our own lives if we, too, happen to meet a similar fate down the road.

The love and compassion shown worldwide for both Terri and the Holy Father from so many causes us to reject a philosophy that values the individual person only for what they can do or accomplish. When we allow ourselves to enter into a utilitarian mindset, we are starting down a slippery slope. Unfortunately history is filled with tragic events when some human lives were deemed more valuable than others. Be it race, religion, or mental capacity, history is strewn with examples wherein human beings callously destroyed others due to arrogance and ignorance.

In confronting the human condition of suffering, we come face to face with the difficult reality of our own transience and mortality. Pope John Paul, Terri Schiavo, and all those who love them, now face this reality on a daily basis. The Pope is not afraid to be seen in his current condition. Broken by Parkinson's and other ailments as he is, he is still a person of value not to be thrown out for a more youthful model. (How many movie stars, athletes and models avoid the spotlight after their abilities and beauty fade?) We may shy away from his current condition and hearken back to his more youthful days -- but he does not. He knows that Christ shines ever more brightly through him as his own body fails.

Both the Pope and Terri also trigger us to consider how we respond to those around us who suffer. Do we look the other direction or embrace them and touch them where they hurt? Do we teach our children to accept people who might not look "just right?" If the answer is not yes, than we need to look deeply in ourselves and examine why we fear imperfections in the human condition. We must be present in the face of suffering and recognize the value of all human life no matter its state.

Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II have given us a wonderful gift. They have allowed us to look beyond ourselves and to view human suffering not as a punishment, but as a natural phase along the path of life. This is an invaluable lesson that will make everyone¡¦s journey a little easier. We should embrace this time we have and use these two heroes' stories to better understand the mystery of life.

It is likely that neither Terri Schiavo nor Pope John Paul II will be with us much longer on this earth. Now is the time to consider these two individuals, in all their pain and suffering, and allow their courage to challenge us to lead more passionate lives.

Source

The Execution of Terri Schiavo

2005-10-30T06:36:00.000-05:00

The crime is complete, the deed is done, and the long battle is over. Terri Schiavo is dead.

Terri’s so-called wishes if she was ever dramatically injured only surfaced some seven years into her condition and after a malpractice suit had been settled. This endless mantra that death by dehydration was ‘merely carrying out Terri’s wishes’ rings hollow when one looks at the evidence and once again common sense and rationality was the first casualty of the legal system.

Though technically not killed by the state, it was the state that allowed her to be killed by another. It was the state that failed to protect a helpless woman from a man who has shown his cruel and uncaring character time and time again. It was Terri, and those who need our protection and care the most, that was failed by the state and its cold laws that were not tempered by mercy. Michael Schiavo failed her, the courts failed her, our laws failed her, and ultimately we as a society failed her, for we allowed our culture to become one that would allow this to happen.

Read David Huntwork's column at The Reality Check

Terri Schiavo Implant Was Dangerous

2005-10-28T09:47:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that Terri was showing signs of improvement with the implants, her estranged husband Michael Schiavo decided her life wasn't worth living.

The North Country Gazette just published an interesting report on Terri's implants.

Schiavo Implant Potentially Dangerous

When a reporter did an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Feb 17,1991. pg.3, about Terri's surgery in which Yoshio Hosobuchi of the University of California at San Francisco in December(1990) implanted a neurological thalamic stimulator in her brain, they reported:

"The brain stimulator implant was a success, said her husband, Mike. Mrs. Schiavo is slowly emerging from the coma at the Mediplex Medical Center, a neurological care center in Bradenton, he said. She will undergo at least a year of speech, occupational and physical therapy."

North Country Gazette

Schiavo lawyer says legal system abandoned principles

2005-10-26T19:55:00.000-04:00

By MAUREEN HAYDEN Courier & Press staff writer

October 26, 2005

Six months after the controversial death of Terri Schiavo, the lead attorney who fought to keep her alive says the Florida woman suffered a "barbaric" death at the hands of a legal system that had abandoned the ideals of the nation's Founding Fathers.

David Gibbs III, who was hired by Schiavo's parents to fight a court order to remove a feeding tube from their brain-damaged daughter, said her death violated the American promise to protect Schiavo's inalienable rights, as declared by the authors of the Declaration of Independence. "How did we, under our constitution - with Founding Fathers who said we will defend 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' - how did we let her die in this barbaric death?" Gibbs asked during a news conference Tuesday in Evansville.

He spent the rest of the evening examining the question at a dinner sponsored by a local organization called "Restoring Our Heritage." Gibbs, a lawyer with the Christian Legal Association, spoke to several hundred people who paid $30 a person to attend the event. Gibbs believes Schiavo's death was an example of how the American legal system has distanced itself from the "Christian principles" which he and Restoring Our Heritage members believe guided the Founding Fathers. He said Schiavo's death from dehydration on March 31 - after 13 days with no food or fluids - was evidence that the legal system had abandoned America's commitment to "defend the weak, the voiceless, the defenseless." "We as a nation must re-evaluate our compassion and our commitment to the disabled," Gibbs said. "Do we believe that every person - regardless of physical condition - has a right to life? Or are they like old cell phones that we just discard when they're no longer useful? Are we just going to throw people away?"

Schiavo spent nearly 15 years in a coma before her death. Her case became the focus of a national "right to die"controversy that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gibbs became involved in the case in 2003 at the request of Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. They'd spent nearly a decade fighting in various courts to keep their daughter on a feeding tube, while their son-in-law - Michael Schiavo - argued his wife was in an irreversible vegetative state and had a right to die. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy after her death concluded Schiavo had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind. But Gibbs said he witnessed the life in Terri Schiavo and disagreed with the medical examiner's report.

"I was in the room with Terri," said Gibbs. "I saw how alive she was. I watched her die with her mother and father literally begging for her life." Gibbs said he was angered that she had so few rights left at the end of her life. "It's a crime to starve an animal to death ..." said Gibbs. "If Terri Schiavo had been a convicted mass murderer, our constitution would have prohibited you from starving her to death. If she had been a prisoner of war, the Geneva Convention and other international laws would have protected her."

But, he said, she fell into kind of legal black hole. "She wasn't an animal, she was a woman. She wasn't a convicted mass murderer, she was an innocent woman. She wasn't a prisoner of war, she was a U.S. citizen," said Gibbs. About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the Schiavo case over a decade's time. Six times, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene. After the final removal of her feeding tube, Congress rushed through a bill to allow the federal courts to take up the case, and President Bush signed it March 21, but the federal courts refused to step in.

On Nov. 15, Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, will speak at The Victory in Downtown Evansville at an event sponsored by the Vanderburgh County Right to Life.

Courier Press.com

Michael Schiavo: Hapless Victim or Twisted Husband?

2005-10-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Good article by Dustin Hawkins (The Reality Check) written shortly before Terri's murder.

"Michael Schiavo has spent so much time on Tragedy TV since “step one” of starving his wife to death that one might be led to believe he is either running for Congress or selling a book. Either way he has a built-in following stretching from the sanity-free zone known as Berkeley to the mental cases of a Harvard faculty meeting. But the question remains: is Michael Schiavo a hapless victim or twisted “husband” with something to hide?"

Read the rest of the article here

Assisting suicides is bad law, policy

2005-10-25T20:42:00.000-04:00

Excellent article by Wesley J. Smith

Advocates of assisted suicide label hastened death a "compassionate choice." But such gooey euphemisms seek to hide the harsh truth: Assisted suicide isn't about caring: It is about the intentional ending of human life – an act barred by the Hippocratic Oath for more than 2000 years.

We are told that assisted suicide would be restricted to cases of unbearable suffering. Yet, legislation in California to legalize assisted suicide – AB651 by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka – contains no such requirement. Nor does the law in Oregon, where doctors who assist suicides report that most patients do not seek death because of pain, but because they can no longer engage in enjoyable activities, fear losing dignity or are worried about becoming burdens.

Don't get me wrong: These are important issues that cry out for proper care. Thankfully, we have hospice – true death with dignity – to treat these needs. Indeed, studies show that when these problems are addressed, suicidal desires almost always disappear.

While acknowledging the truth of the previous sentence, assisted-suicide proponents contend there will always be a few people who want assisted suicide, anyway. But placing California's seal of approval on some suicides would send an insidious message to dying patients that they are burdens; that their illness does make them less worthy of being loved; that they will die in agony. And it would signal the broader society, including young people, that suicide is right in some cases.

Legalizing assisted suicide would also be very risky. The Netherlands proves that when mercy killing is allowed for the few, it steadily spreads. In the past 30 years, Dutch doctors have gone from killing the terminally ill, to the disabled, and even to the depressed who aren't physically sick. Recent headlines report that infanticide of dying and disabled babies will soon be legalized by the Dutch Parliament.

Assisted-suicide boosters claim it would be different here and point to Oregon to show that there is no "slippery slope." But nobody knows what is actually going on in Oregon. The state conducts no independent reviews of assisted suicide, for example, to ensure that only dying patients receive lethal prescriptions. Moreover, almost all the published data about Oregon cited by advocates are based primarily on information provided by death-prescribing doctors – who are as likely to report violating the law as they are to tell the IRS that they cheated on their taxes.

Still, abuses have been revealed. In the only case in which the medical records of a potential assisted suicide were independently reviewed, a peer-reviewed report in the Journal of the American Psychiatric Association disclosed that the patient received a lethal prescription almost two years before he died naturally. Yet, Oregon law requires that the patient be likely to die within 6 months. Not only that, but the patient was permitted to keep his pills even after being hospitalized as delusional. In another case reported in the Oregonian, a woman with Alzheimer's disease and cancer received assisted suicide even after a psychiatrist reported that she didn't know what she was asking for and that her daughter was the driving force behind the request.

We must also take heed of the real world in which assisted suicide would exist. California health services for the poor are being cut to the bone. The number of medically uninsured Californians exceeds the entire population of Oregon, and many people with insurance are in HMOs, which make profits by limiting costs. The drugs used in an assisted suicide would cost less than $100. Yet, it could cost $100,000 to provide quality care so the patient doesn't want suicide.

Then, there are issues of inheritance and life insurance. Elder abuse and neglect are terrible concerns. These and other problems make assisted suicide especially dangerous.

People who are dying need love, inclusion, and medical care that values their lives, not hastens their deaths. Legalizing assisted suicide in California would be bad medicine and even worse public policy.

Orange County Register

Wesley J. Smith is a Bay Area author, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a lawyer for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and culture.

Blessing the Grave by Fr. Frank Pavone

2005-10-25T06:51:00.000-04:00

Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life recently wrote about his visit to Terri's "grave"

Blessing the Grave

I recently had the privilege of blessing the grave of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, who was murdered on March 31, 2005 by dehydration. Her grave is not far from the place where she died, and where people from around the world had gathered to protest and pray.

Those who visit the gravestone, however, will notice something highly unusual. While on most graves there is an inscription of two dates - when the person was born and when he or she died - on Terri's there are three. Here's exactly what the grave says:

Born December 3, 1963

Departed this Earth February 25, 1990

At Peace March 31, 2005

The whole world knows that she died on March 31, 2005. National and global media were present at the scene for days, covering every detail. Media were present again when I preached at her funeral mass. We know when she died.

But her gravestone has become a pulpit for the euthanasia movement. Those who killed her are now using her grave as a platform for their twisted ideology. What they are trying to say is that once her brain was injured in 1990 and she was no longer functioning like most of us, she wasn't one of us anymore. She "departed this earth."

This is actually a variation on an ancient heresy, which says that we are really spirits inhabiting a body. Terri couldn't communicate normally. So, her "spirit" must have left her. The body was just a shell left behind. Those who believe she really "departed this earth" in 1990 can therefore pretend it was OK to kill her in 2005. After all, it wasn't really her. She was already gone.

This is heresy, because Christianity teaches that we are a unity of body and soul, not simply a soul "using" a body. The body matters. What we do to the body, we do to the person.

Moreover, the gravestone inscription is a deep insult to all who are disabled, and to all those who love and care for them. Should they be considered already dead, too? Are we just wasting our time caring for them? Euthanasia advocates would have us think so.

A recent news story about a disabled unborn child quoted one as saying, "There's no human life there." Isn't that the same idea? They think the baby has already "departed this earth," so they don't hesitate to abort the body.

As I blessed Terri's grave, I also prayed that God's people would be kept safe from this falsehood. And I recalled being in Terri's room the day she died. I remembered her face, dehydrated from not having had a drop of water in two weeks. I recalled seeing the flowers, inches away, on her night table. They were immersed in water. And as I left the grave, I gave a final glance to the vase of flowers that was standing by the stone.

Priests for Life

Patient wants to live, but old 'living will' mandates death

2005-10-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

Wife's efforts to have husband's feeding tube removed echoes Schiavo case

From Diana Lynne of World Net Daily:

"He says he wants to live. But his wife, caregivers and South Carolina state officials are so focused on carrying out a decade-old, out-of-state living will that 79-year-old Jimmy Chambers can't get a word in edgewise."

"That's the account of 10 of Chambers's children and their spouses who signed sworn affidavits in an attempt to block their mother from removing his life-sustaining ventilator and gastric feeding tube, which would cause his death."

"It's a case that's reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo controversy which captured the attention of millions around the world, in which a fault line opened up in the middle of a formerly close-knit family, splitting it into pieces over whether to end a loved one's life or allow them to live."

World Net Daily