Sunday, March 27, 2005
by Wayne Besen
(Former Exterminator Tom DeLay Helped Pull The Plug On His Father)Once upon a time, busybodies were seen as invasive gossips with bad form. As insufferable nosey neighbors, with an ear to the wall and an eye to the keyhole, they were reviled for making everyone's business their own. Then, the busybodies organized and formed a powerful political lobby. Now, their rotten manners are touted as religious morals and their freakish voyeurism is spun as family values. Nowhere is the rise of the snoop more evident than in the nauseating and utterly revolting exploitation of Terri Schiavo.
It is indubitable that she has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. Clearly, anyone who thinks Terri would have recovered has watched too many miracle segments on Rev. Pat Robertson's 700 Club. Her husband, Michael, said that Terri indicated to him in conversations that she did not want to live long-term on life support and Michael has tried to honor his wife's wishes. However, the sanctity of marriage, it seems, is respected only when it scores political points for preachy politicians.
Terri's well-meaning parents, sadly, do not want to accept reality and dragged this case though the Florida courts and beyond to its logical and merciful end. Of course, due process and the rule of law wasn't enough to keep moralistic meddlers from butting into this very personal family tragedy.
Scandal-laden House Majority leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, slithered out from beneath his slippery stone to lead the congressional charge to undermine his much-beloved states rights and pass an emergency law that switched jurisdiction of the case to the federal courts. DeLay even accused Michael Schiavo and the judges who decided this case of committing "an act of barbarism".
So, it was uncommonly grotesque and unusually sickening to read in the Los Angeles Times that DeLay did not object when his family pulled the plug on his comatose father, Charles DeLay, 16 years ago. According to the medical report, "extraordinary measures to prolong life were not initiated", and his bedside chart said, "Do not resuscitate."
Obviously, this political charade was never about rescuing Terri, but a desperate effort to deflect the stench of scandal from the corpse of corruption that surrounds DeLay, and a cynical effort to resuscitate his comatose moral authority as a conservative leader.
Equally foul were the busybody leaders who under the cover of religion handed out the home address of Judge George Greer who ruled in favor of Michael Schiavo. To give out personal information on a judge, in the wake of the murder of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow's family in Chicago, is particularly unconscionable and sets a dangerous precedent.
The inflammatory pronouncements of the self-proclaimed defenders of the right to life, make one question whether some of these leaders are trying to provoke their followers into committing acts designed to intimidate the judiciary. Consider these statements:
· Speaking of Judge Greer, Focus on the Family's James Dobson told Fox News that, "This man is wicked."
· Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry told USA Today that, "There will be hell to pay", if Terri dies.
· Rev. Pat Robertson called the recent court decisions, "judicial murder."
It can't be denied that there is a long religious tradition of violence against people deemed "wicked" or "murderers". Bombings at abortion clinics in recent years are clear evidence of this. If Greer or other judges are attacked as a result of the right wing's terror campaign, the leaders who incited violence ought to be held accountable.
Not to be outdone, puritanical protesters coerced their own children into getting arrested for civil disobedience in front of Terri's hospice. Many of these "loving" do-gooders have called Michael Schiavo an "adulterer" because he has rightfully moved on with his life. Never mind the fact that Michael spent the first sixteen days and nights by Terri's bedside when she was first hospitalized or that he cared for her for many years and after that visited her daily.
If there is a silver lining to this sick circus it is that some protesters are blaming Gov. Jeb Bush, the man who started this whole mess in the first place. In 2003, he stuck his nose where it didn't belong and helped pass "Terri's Law" that originally allowed him to interfere in state court proceedings and have Terri's feeding tube reinserted. The law was later ruled unconstitutional. But having stirred up the hornet's nest, he now feels the sting of zealots who want him to break the law and defy the courts by illegally ordering that Terri's feeding tube be reinserted one final time.
According to the New York Times, several protesters were holding signs attacking Gov. Bush. One sign read, "Don't be a Pontius Pilate", while another sign said, "Jeb, you shall not murder."
Organized busybodies and snoops were the key to Jeb's political success in Florida. But now, these empowered meddlers peer through his keyhole and Bush stands naked and exposed as a political opportunist and family values hypocrite who cares more about feeding his political ambitions than feeding Terri Schiavo.
4 Comments:
great article
posted by , at
9:59 AM
Don't forget that Terri's father stopped life support on his mother after only 1 week with pneumonia.
And people forget that there were other witnesses to the Terri's comments and that her husband did not petition the court to stop feeding her, he petitioned the court to appointed a state guardian to make a determination about what would be the most likely thing she would want to have done based on the evidence.
The other main point people don't stress is that all the judges for the numerous trials have been selected randomly. Someone needs to do a major national psychiatric study to determine why Americans are obsessed with conspiracy theories and when did it actually start -- or has it always been there and it's just the change in media that makes it more easily spread?
posted by Steve Talbert, at
5:12 AM
The family values crusaders are once again hoisting their flag. When it was gay people's personal decisions and intimate companions, well the general populace didn't get the import of marriage between gay people and figured, no one is coming after heterosexual marriage BUT gay people.
Now it's a local governor and Congress and the President who are after the undeniable legal and intimate union of Michael and Terri.
Michael Schiavo is and always has been Terri's legal guardian.
And for the likes of Randall Terry-adulterer, child abandoner and gay son abandoner-has no cred when it comes to family security and cohesion.
The fact that Sean Hannity gives him a forum for publicity and the Shindler's allow him to speak for them, let's me know this entire country is being led by the insane.
This is a personal family issue that none of us is immune from ever experiencing.
This hysteria around this case, aided and abetted by zealots shouold scare us all.
If anything, we should not only respect the husband's custody...but be empathetic with the fact that MOST of us, wouldn't WANT to live the way Terri is living!.
posted by , at
6:48 PM
Great Article!!!
I find it very interesting that those who claim to love God the most are the same people that are so afraid of going to him when "called" or letting others go to him when they are called. I am not religious, but I find this blatantly hypocritical.
I like the comment made by "anonymous" about the husband's custody. In a marriage, it is absolute, and one of the reasons that gays are fighting SO HARD for marriage. It is not terribly comforting to see that even heterosexual marriages can be subject to government intervention when it comes to spousal rights.
One thing that I hope Americans are getting from this entire incident is just how religious the Republican party has become and how quickly they will trample the U. S. Constitution (federal laws are not supposed to pertain to one person only) when it suits them, or at the command of the Freakie Fundies. It is scary, and needs to be reversed ASAP, like booting out every Republican with fundamentalist ties in 2006 and 2008. Any politician who invokes God does not belong in Congress. Even Jesus said that you cannot serve two masters.
Leave religion in the Church, where it belongs, and leave Politics where it belongs. We don't legislate religion, I don't want religion legislating my life.
posted by Bartholemieux, at
1:01 PM
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