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Terry Schaivo back in the news
By ArchaeoBob Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 11:22:57 AM EST printable version print story
http://www.theledger.com/article/20090330/NEWS/903305040/1003/NEW S00?Title=Schiavo-Anniversary-Mass-Planned

Another move by the religious right- rather than letting Terry go (after an autopsy PROVED that she had severe and irreversible brain damage), they're dragging her up again.


Ave Marie University has been holding an Anniversary Mass every year (not surprising, considering the political slant that place has).  Now Terry's family is trying to get Thomas Monaghan involved.

I thought that controversy was long gone, especially after the autopsy results.  I don't have a problem with an annual mass for Terry (people have the right to do what they want and to commemorate someone they loved), but I do have a great deal of distrust for the "religious right" (or whatever you want to call them) and their attempts to use the government to void the rights and decisions of individuals.   It remains to be seen if Monaghan gets involved or not- and how much this is blown up (out of proportion).

I also have serious doubts about the reasons behind the Anniversary mass.  Knowing the "Religious Right" as I do, I would think the mass is more of a public display of their dismay at failing to gain a little more political control over the rest of us.

The whole situation was very sad- and now they're turning Terry into a political cause, making it worse.



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Terry Schaivo back in the news | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
Unfortunately Terri is the least of it (5.00 / 1)
Even as Terri's body lay otherwise in good shape with millions of dollars flying about what to do about it, an obscure Texas law signed by then Gov Bush was in process of taking another victim who was the opposite of Terry Schievo.

This was a little boy who unlike Terri had a perfectly good working brain, and unlike Terri his body was a mess due to an accident, kept alive by machines that could have kept him alive for a very long time. Also unlike Terri there were no deep pockets to pay for the machines and hospital.

So at the same time as the newspapers and television were full of Terri Scheivo ad nauseum, the Houston hospital was in the process of murdering the "actually with a brain" young boy who except for a few blogs died in obscurity. There were apparently many such cases before him and, no doubt, many cases since. Nobody seems to notice or keep track. Perhaps someone in Texas could discover these real cases and put up a blog that these ghouls might save the lives of living people.

Even if they did it in Terri's name at least some good would come of it.

by FreeDem on Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 10:17:10 PM EST

Bass Ackwards (5.00 / 1)
That is heartbreaking, and the first I've heard about that.  I don't doubt it- those religious right twits do everything backwards.  They try to get help for those whom help doesn't make a difference, and deny help to those whom it would.

They practice the inverse of Triage.  Kill those who just needed a chance, and expend resources on those whose case was hopeless.

I think it may all have to do with stereotypes- the young boy had a wrecked body, so "obviously" nothing could be done for him.  Terry didn't have a wrecked body, so I suspect they were "expecting" a "miracle" - that didn't happen.  (Maybe the boy's needs required too much faith???)

It reminds me of something a friend of mine said a few years ago.  She has CP and is in a wheelchair, and people were always trying to put her on disability because she had CP.  She's a lawyer, and it would make her mad.  After several years of functioning in spite of her "little problem", she developed Fibromyalgia (which I've been fighting for many years), and she said that it was so debilitating that she was considering disability.  

The same people that tried to force her onto disability for her CP didn't want to admit the HIDDEN problem (Fibromyalgia) was truly disabling and she indicated that they tried to dissuade her from seeking disability based on contracting FMS.  

At the same time, the OBVIOUS medical condition was, as she once put it, more of a nuisance than anything; yet it was the thing they thought should be the reason she should get disability (and she once said some church people tried to FORCE her onto it because she had CP).

We talked about the irony and the way people would get things so backwards and wrong.  The upshot was that for the Religious Right: If it's not obvious- it's not real and they will say so plainly.  If it IS obvious, then they expect certain behaviors and outcomes based upon that "obvious reality"- which is very often completely wrong.

I also think it is ironic that the religious right (at least the ones I've encountered) are hostile to the Americans with Disabilities act, even though it helps people earn their own way- which is what most disabled people desire anyway!  They want so much to do away with "welfare", yet they also don't want people to be empowered to earn their own living!

by ArchaeoBob on Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 11:34:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It wasn't even about his Body (5.00 / 1)
What was wrecked was his parent's Finances they had blown through their bank account and the hospital refused to let him live without paying them. That was the bill the Bush signed, allowing the hospitals to kill those they could neither discharge or get paid to keep.

What outraged the kids family, and why the story made it as far as the Internet (but not the MSM), was the Millions of Dollars wasted on Terri that could have kept the kid and a couple like him with the funds to pay off the hospital for years of care. I don't think he had health insurance apparently

There was also a similar case of the girl who who did have insurance but the insurance company simply refused to pay for her new liver(? ) finally relenting after a huge protest in front of the insurance company offices, only to have to tell the mother that the child had died while they had been protesting.

by FreeDem on Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 08:59:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I think I don't have a problem (none / 0)
Yes, I thought the controversy was long gone, especially after the autopsy results.  

I think I don't have a problem too with an annual mass for Terry, but I do have a great deal of distrust for the "religious right" and their attempts to use the government to void the rights and decisions of individuals.  



Kenali dan Kunjungi Objek Wisata di Pandeglang

by mkoswell on Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 10:30:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]





Terry Schaivo back in the news | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

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