Has the Schiavo case Become a Political Football?

Vatican: Schiavo's Death 'Cruel'

Thursday, March 31, 2005

"The circumstances of the death of Ms. Terri Schiavo have rightly disturbed consciences," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valization."

Cardinal Renato Martino, a top Vatican official, said Schiavo's death was a "human tragedy, but also an ethical, juridical and cultural tragedy." He told reporters her loss of life in a hospice in Florida to a "death sentence executed through a cruel method."

"We are against the death penalty, and that was practically a death penalty that was inflicted on her," Martino said. "That was not a natural death. It was an imposed death."

"When you deprive somebody of food and water, what else is it? Nothing else but murder," Martino said, adding that he was speaking on the case "according to the teaching of the pope." The pontiff has spoken on behalf of providing food and water, even through artificial means, to patients like Schiavo.

Pope John Paul II was informed Schiavo's death, Martino said. The cardinal likened the pope's frail health, including resorting to a feeding tube, to Schiavo's case.

The "comparison is easy," Martino said. "Everybody will do all the best to keep him alive, to feed him the way it can be done."

Before the Vatican statement Thursday, the Holy See had left comment in the hands of Martino, who heads the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and other prominent church officials.

"One hopes that from this dramatic experience there matures in public opinion a greater awareness of human dignity, and that it brings greater protection for life even at the legal level," Navarro-Valls said Thursday.

Speaking of Schiavo, another leading Vatican official, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, said "an attack against life is an attack against God, who is the author of life."

The cardinal said John Paul "teaches us not only with his suffering, but also with his teaching the great respect for life. Life is the most precious thing we have."

Martino, asked who should be held responsible for Schiavo's death, replied: "the judges, her husband, whoever denied access" to feeding. The cardinal had previously appealed for Schiavo to remain on the feeding tube, which was removed by court order March 18.

To willy nilly accuse anybody we disagree with the most heinous of crimes and motives is not only unfair but sinister.

"When you deprive somebody of food and water, what else is it? Nothing else but murder," Martino said, adding that he was speaking on the case "according to the teaching of the pope." The pontiff has spoken on behalf of providing food and water, even through artificial means, to patients like Schiavo.

mur·der ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mûrdr)
n.
The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.

v. mur·dered, mur·der·ing, mur·ders
v. tr.
To kill (another human) unlawfully.
To kill brutally or inhumanly.

Dys, I heard that Jerry Farwell offered to marry Michael Schiavo and Jody, the mother of his two children, any time they were ready to make the commitment---and for paltry $40,000 fee.

I also heard Randall Terry, of Operation Rescue, offered to be Michael's Best Man for $10,000.

Funny, I remember that dollar amount of $40,000 from somewhere. Now I recall, that is the amount of money remaining from the trust fund set up for Terri's care. But Michael probably can't access the money because the trust is controlled by a trustee named by the courts when the trust was established following the lawsuit.

Too bad.


BBB

The Schindlers' list: Terri Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have agreed to sell a list of their financial supporters through the conservative direct-mail outfit Response Unlimited. "If you still think that this case has anything to do with a 'culture of life,' or is even just a poorly calculated political ploy, then you haven't been paying close enough attention," writes Scott Jones at round-table blog thought.mechanics. "Nope, this whole thing is really about one thing: funding a movement. All you have to do is follow the money."

Plenty of others agree. "I can't help thinking [this] is the proof, the smoking gun, of these peoples' politics. It has burrowed further into my head than Tom DeLay turning his own father's life support off, or Bush's Texas Bill validating the same even if the family disagrees," writes "hungry mind" Barista. "Everything is For Sale in America," declares a newbie blogger at Cult Of The Turtle. "Expect a minimum of 2 book deals and 2 made-for-tv-moves out of this."

If the religious right is so serious about eternal life being the reward after this life, where was the problem with allowing Terri go to her reward. Isn't that what it is all about?

The right to lifers expended all that energy on one individual that had no potential for a normal "life," while we have thousands in our convalescent hospitals that are in need better care. If each life is so precious, why aren't they fighting for them?

In theory, aren't we all accountable for our behavior on judgment day?

Ascribing false motives to your opponents, for which you have no evidence, and which are hard to disprove, is a very easy way of gaining debating points without countering someone's statements.

TS was being deliberately killed as more trouble than she was worth