I was shocked to see during the week before Terri Schiavo's death that polls reflected anywhere from 70-80% of the surveyed public believed her feeding tube should be pulled, allowing her to starve and dehydrate until death. Why was this, I thought? Why would people believe that subjecting an innocent person to this torture was an acceptable answer? Several reasons evolved: media spin, apathy, and ignorance. Why am I still talking about it? The courts have just murdered an innocent US citizen via torture, and I’ll be damned if she died in vain. This case will be looked on historically as a landmark case in American History, for reasons I will explain. If you don’t want to read on, that’s fine. Ignorance is bliss.

The typical poll question was phrased like this: Should Michael Schiavo be allowed to pull life support on his wife Terri, who is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS)? There are 3 inherent lies just in that little question. When phrased correctly, the poll results were much different. Let’s face the truth now.

Spin: Terri Schiavo wanted to die, and told her husband so. This has been determined by the courts.
Fact: Complete hearsay. Several witnesses have affidavits stating that her ex-husband Michael Schiavo told them that he had no idea what Terri would have wanted in that situation. It was only after 7 years since her “accident” and after a huge lawsuit settlement (all of which went to Michael and his lawyer) that he began stating she wanted to die. Her family staunchly disagrees, as it differs from their Catholic religion to which Terri and her family were very adherent. The Pope, the official leader of Catholicism, made it abundantly clear in the last weeks of Terri’s life, that the feeding tube was mandatory. He, in fact, died a week later while on a feeding tube. Besides, if she so wanted to die, then why was she still fighting to stay alive 13 days after receiving no food or water? This court, by the way, refused to hear any other witness besides Mr. Schiavo on this issue.

Spin: Michael Schiavo was Terri’s husband, and therefore allowed to make that decision.
Fact: Mr. Schiavo has been living with another woman, with which he has begotten children, for almost 10 years. In Florida, where this takes place, and all other states, this is classified as bigamy/polygamy. Since you are not allowed to have 2 wives in this nation simultaneously, he can not pretend Terri is still his wife and live with another woman. If Terri is his wife, he is an adulterer and/or polygamist, crimes that he should have been charged with by now, but of course has not been. If not, a divorce should have been granted long ago, allowing her family to take custody. Terri’s real family, including her parents and siblings, wanted to care for her and give her speech therapy and other such rehabilitations, none of which were permitted by Mr. Schiavo, who obviously did not want her condition to ever improve. I will heretofore refer to the woman as Terri Schindler, recognizing a separation and divorce between her and her husband.

Spin: Terri Schindler was on life support and could not conduct life functions on her own.
Fact: Far from the truth. Terri’s vital organs all functioned on their own. She had a problem using her hands since her brain was damaged. Therapy to regain use of her hands and other common motor skills was denied by her ex-husband. Therefore a feeding tube was inserted into her stomach to provide water and nutrients. The tube was not completely necessary; that is, Terri could swallow on her own if somebody just held the liquids to her mouth, a fact that several nurses (that were later fired for doing that) testified to. This type of feeding, however, was deemed “illegal” by a rogue judge named Greer who (mis)handled the entire case. Her parents were not allowed to hold a straw to her mouth and let her suck on it to derive nutrients from a container. That court order by dishonorable judge Greer, is what was illegal. Since when can judges order starvation and dehydration of innocent people, much less felons?

Spin: Terri Schindler was in a persistent vegetative state (PVS).
Fact: Maybe after 12 days without food/water she was in PVS. The truth is that she reacted regularly to visitors, mainly her family. She also attempted communications with them orally, which were not intelligible because her ex-husband deprived her of speech therapy that many doctors concluded would have helped her communicate adequately. I’ve heard all of the bullshit arguments: that she just looked around blankly, etc. The reason she looked blankly most of the time was because she could only see about 18” in front of her. Farther out, she had no idea where it was coming from. Furthermore, being limited to grunts and groans does not mean a person can’t communicate. I know people that communicate just like that regularly. Can you starve and dehydrate your dog because it just barks and groans at you? How about yoru baby? (Answer: NO)

Spin: The courts have heard all the facts and came up with their infallible almighty decision.
Fact: One judge, the almighty Greer, heard the case once upon a time, then after his decision, refused to hear any new facts or witnesses in the case for many years. Appellate court judges also refused any new information, and just put their stamp on Greer’s decision. Even after Congress passed an emergency law, extending court jurisdiction to the federal courts to rehear the case completely anew, the federal judges (2 of 3) then gave Congress and the President the finger, stating that the courts were almighty and that the two elected branches of government have no business protecting their citizens.
Fact: The courts never investigated the broken bones all over Terri’s body, which nobody has any answer for, or ever determined the cause of her collapse that left her brain damaged. Many believe Michael, who was the only person around when it happened, had something to do with it, after having a documented fight earlier. This was never investigated. Broken bones don’t just happen for no reason. Femurs don’t break very easily, nor do vertebrae. It takes a lot of pressure. Mr. Schiavo should have been an assault suspect at the least, with Terri as the witness, but alas was never even questioned about it. Now do you understand why it was so important to deny her speech therapy?

Spin: Congress and the President had no business in the case, and were butting into family matters.
Fact: If the legislative and executive branches of the government, both elected by the people, are not there to protect the lives and livelihoods of the citizens of this nation, then what are they for? What they were trying to do was ALLOW the family to make decisions on their family member, rather than an ex-husband and a judge. They were doing their job of trying to protect the innocent. Court-sanctioned torture and murder is not a “family matter.” It’s a matter of life and death, and something that our politicians should take seriously.

Spin: Whatever judges say is the law.
Fact: Judges write law? I thought the Congress passed law which can be approved by the President. At least, that’s what it says in all the US government textbooks. Since when did any judge have the ability to announce law? For example, a law stating that a brain damaged woman can not be fed or hydrated by her family, orally or otherwise, a “law” which in fact is not a law, since no legislature wrote it, and it is unconstitutional.

Spin: Terri Schindler had the right to die.
Fact: I can’t count how many times I heard people say Terri had the “right to die.” We don’t HAVE the right to die in this country. The rights we’re given are: life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere in the US Constitution or any other US law does it mention a right to DIE for people that aren’t convicted murderers. We also have the right to religious liberty, also taken away by Judge Greer, who denied Terri her religious last rites (communion).

Spin: Being starved and dehydrated to death is a peaceful, easy way to go.
Fact: You’ve been listening to Michael Schiavo’s creepy death-lawyer George Felos too much. If you think it’s so peaceful and beautiful like he says, I challenge you to starve and dehydrate yourself for two weeks. Nothing to eat or drink. Better yet 1 week. Ready? Didn’t think so. Sometimes when I didn’t drink enough water, I wake up in the middle of the night with my throat aching from dehydration. That’s just from several hours of dehydration. We’re talking about 2 weeks! There’s nothing humane or civil about this. People get locked up for treating animals in such a way. If it is so civil then why do unwanted pets get lethal injections instead of letting them starve and dehydrate to death? I don’t know how this woman got classified below animals, but I’m still looking into it. A convicted felon on death row would at least have the common courtesy of a lethal injection, and would be properly fed and hydrated until death.

Spin: Terri Schindler had no purpose for being alive.
Fact: That’s for God to determine, not us. I can think of a lot of people, many who work in neighboring government organizations, that serve no purpose and in fact are detrimental to our country. Should they be sentenced to death? No: they have a right to be lazy, uncooperative fools. Terri’s family, the Schindlers, believed that she still had a purpose. They believed, as many doctors did, that Terri would one day communicate effectively thru speech therapy and other such rehabilitations, all of which were denied by Michael Schiavo, who never wanted her to speak again, or live out her years for that matter. In addition, she was the only witness to possible crimes committed against her by Michael Schiavo, who was never investigated for the incident of her collapse. That is reason enough to keep her alive.

Spin: A feeding tube is an unnatural, extraordinary means of preserving life.
Fact: It is no more unnatural than a baby’s bottle. A pacemaker is unnatural. There are many old people whose lives have been graciously preserved by the use of such an artificial device. Prosthetic limbs are unnatural. Medications and even vitamins are synthetic and unnatural. Nyquil is unnatural; so are Advil, Aspirin, Acetaminophen, Aleve, and other drugs that begin with the letter A, but they help people to live more comfortably. X-rays are unnatural. Using this classification, almost the entire medical industry is based on unnatural, artificial, or synthetic means (this is an article for another day), and yet in many cases lives are preserved or improved from this industry. If your family member has a heart attack, would you deny them the use of defibrillators or nitro? Computers and vehicles are unnatural too. Perhaps we should try running our economy without them.

Spin: Laying there staring blankly while metabolizing from a feeding tube is no way to live.
Fact: Again, it’s not for you to decide how others should live. If you don’t ever want to live like that, create a living will and specify that you would like to be starved or lethally injected. But don’t tell other people they can’t live like that, and don’t tell their family that they can’t let a family member live out her years with brain damage, if that family wants to care for her. I don’t want to live as a dishwasher in a family restaurant. Perhaps it’s OK then to kill all dishwashers, since we would not like to live like that? Better yet, kill all poor people, since we don’t want to live poorly either. Get a grip.

Spin: Anyone that can’t speak or feed themselves should be allowed a “natural” death.
Fact: Babies don’t speak or feed themselves. They need people to feed them, clothe them, bathe them, change their diapers, and any other personal care a little human needs. Should a man be allowed to starve and dehydrate his baby to death, because he claims that the baby wanted to die? The baby can’t speak to defend itself. Many retarded people can not speak correctly or put food in their mouths, or clothe themselves. Should these all be sentenced to die by starvation and dehydration?

Where does this leave us? Read on in my article Battling Judicial Tyranny: State of the Nation

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. - Deuteronomy