Schiavo’s Body Is Dead

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Breaking News, Health Care, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

RIP, finally. UPDATE:  The response from the right-wing blogosphere — full of death poems and scripture, not to mention wailing and gnashing of teeth — was a little TOO predictable, don’t you think? UPDATE #2:  I take that back.  I was just home for lunch and caught about 20 minutes of the cable news networks.  Man, do they want this … Read More

Religious Right Represents One Small Part of Spectrum

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Barbara O’Brien has a must-read over at The American Street.  To quote the best parts is an injustice to the whole thing, but I reluctantly will selectively quote and summarize anyhow: Right now Michael Schiavo and his supporters are hoping an autopsy of Terri Schiavo’s brain will eventually settle the matter of her persistent vegetative state beyond a shadow of … Read More

Schiavo’s Parents Sell Donor List — Conservatives Will Get More Spam

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

"The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups," the New York Times reports. "Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, … Read More

A Terri Schiavo FAQ

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Courts/Law, Health CareLeave a Comment

THE FOLLOWING IS LIFTED VERBATIM FROM FOOTBALL FANS FOR TRUTH, WHO DID THE WORK SO I DON’T HAVE TO: Confused about the differing stories in the Schiavo case? Wondering about who to believe? Here’s some answers to common questions. I strongly recommend Abstract Appeal’s Terry Schiavo’s Information Page as an unbiased source of information from a Florida lawyer who has … Read More

“Why wasn’t letting Schiavo die a Christian option, too?”

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Godstuff, Health CareLeave a Comment

It’s a damn fine question, asked by (among many others) the Rev. Frederick Schmidt, an Episcopal priest and theologian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, according to this wonderful article in the St. Petersburg Times: "I think the religious right is captive to a medical, scientific description of life that equates merely to survival," said Schmidt, director of spiritual life … Read More

Terri and the GOP

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Finally finally finally it looks like Terri Schiavo is going to slip quietly into the great beyond, as she wished.  As I would wish for myself.  As most would wish for themselves.  By refusing to give the Schindlers yet another bite at yet another apple, repeating the same arguments already heard, the “little Eichmans” (as wackos on the Christian right … Read More

Supreme Court Sez No

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

Breaking news . . . Supreme Court Won’t Hear Schiavo Case 18 minutes ago By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to order Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube reinserted, rejecting a desperate appeal by her parents to keep their severely brain-damaged daughter alive.

Dr. Cheshire Cat

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Health CareLeave a Comment

Jeb Bush has found a neurologist who claims that Terri Schiavo’s diagnosis ha been wrong all these years.  He claims that Terri, rather than being in a "persistent vegetative state", is actually in what the medical profession calls a "minimal conscious state". That doctor’s name is Dr. Cheshire.  Let’s take a look at him, shall we? Perhaps one place to … Read More

Schiavo Latest

Ken AshfordAssisited Suicide/Schiavo, Health Care, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

Actually, there is remarkably little to say.  The debate rages on, and the debate about the debate rages on.  Meanwhile, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed the lower court’s decision to replace the feeding tube, and the Schindlers are now appealing to the full panel of the 11th Circuit.  The next stop after that, and probably the last … Read More