Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who was one of five GOPers to oppose Congress' unprecedented intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, warned that "this Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy. There are going to be repercussions from this vote."
One can only hope so, not that the Democrats are exhibiting profiles in courage on a matter in which eight in ten Americans agree that federal intervention is wrong...
(Rev. Patrick Mahoney, a representative for Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, was just on TV excoriating the "Republican House and Senate" of Florida and demanding that Gov. Jeb Bush use his executive authority to intervene to replace Schiavo's feeding tube (and accusing the Tampa circuit court judge, Judge Greer, of practically conspiring to murder Terri Schiavo.)
This case has gone from bad to worse. The religious right already had the media captive, what with all the constant pandering to "faith and values" on the cable chat shows and the pathetic attempts to address religion at every turn in the major newspapers. Now, they have seized complete control of the Republican Party, and are riding it, through hyper-religious politicians like Jeb Bush, who recently solicited a "medical opinion" from a quack doctor who never even examined Terri Schiavo to push his case that in fact, she is not in a permanent vegetative state -- to ironic vessels like the morally repugnant Tom Delay, who recently told supporters that the Schiavo case wasn't about the dying Florida woman at all:
"One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo, to help elevate the visibility of what's going on in America. ... This is exactly the issue that's going on in America, the attacks against the conservative movement, against me and against many others," Delay said.
Well that's good to know. Maybe all those relgious fanatic protesters can go home now and leave Schiavo's hospice in peace.
Make no mistake, the goal of these people, who are still on a high after the election, is to impose religious doctrine on us all. They also have a useful foil in the president, whom I actually don't believe is as much a religious fanatic as he pretends to be, but he is happy to go along for political gain...
In their fight to keep their daughter alive, Ms. Schiavo's parents, who are Catholics, have been backed by an ad hoc coalition of Catholic and evangelical lobbyists, street organizers and legal advisers like the Rev. Frank Pavone, the Catholic priest who runs a group called Priests for Life and evangelical Protestants like Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, and the Rev. Pat Mahoney of the National Clergy Council.
The struggle is only the latest indication of a strengthening religious alliance between denominations that were once bitterly divided. Evangelical leaders say they frequently lean on Catholic intellectuals like Robert George at Princeton University and the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the journal First Things, to help them frame political issues theologically.
An increasing number of Catholics hold crucial staff positions in some of the religious conservative groups that lobby Washington. And conservative Catholics and evangelicals meet weekly in Virginia with a broad array of right-leaning lobbyists.
"The idea of building a culture that values human life is a Catholic articulation, but it echoes in the hearts of many people, evangelicals and others," said William L. Saunders Jr., director of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the Family Research Council in Washington.
...
The "culture of life" language has been widely adopted by conservative politicians. President Bush said in a news conference yesterday that government must "err on the side of life" in making every effort to keep Ms. Schiavo alive.
The Catholics and evangelicals first joined forces in the anti-abortion movement. And their alliance has now extended to include promoting sexual abstinence education and opposing stem-cell research and euthanasia. It is an array of issues they link under the rubric of "respect for the sanctity of life," whether that life is an "unborn baby" or an unresponsive patient lying in a hospice bed.
It's about abortion, it's about stem cell research, sexual abstinence (meaning the abolition of condoms and birth control pills, which the Catholic Church and others consider "human pesticides,") and its about euthanasia.
It doesn't stop there. If you missed Judge Roy Moore (the ousted Alabama Supreme Court justice who tried to install that massive Ten Commandments display in his courthouse), you missed him sharing with Chris Matthews his belief that American science students, including medical students, should be taught the literal Genesis -- that the earth was created in seven 24-hour days, and that he would be fine with having doctors -- doctors -- educated to believe in creationism rather than evolution. And don't think they aren't fighting to implement this plan at a school near you.
This is where we're headed folks. And it's being done against our will:
Americans have strong feelings about the Terri Schiavo case, and a majority says the feeding tube should not now be re-inserted. This view is shared by Americans of all political persuasions. Most think the feeding tube should have been removed, and most also do not think the U.S. Supreme Court should hear the case.
An overwhelming 82 percent of the public believes the Congress and President should stay out of the matter. There is widespread cynicism about Congress' motives for getting involved: 74 percent say Congress intervened to advance a political agenda, not because they cared what happened to Terri Schiavo. Public approval of Congress has suffered as a result; at 34 percent, it is the lowest it has been since 1997, dropping from 41 percent last month. Now at 43 percent, President Bush’s approval rating is also lower than it was a month ago.
WILL CONGRESS' ACTIONS THIS WEEK MAKE IT EASIER FOR THEM TO INTERVENE IN THE FUTURE?
Yes, and concerned about it - 68%
Yes, but not concerned about it - 9%
No - 17%
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WHO SHOULD MAKE THE FINAL DECISION IF THE PATIENT IS IN A VEGETATIVE STATE AND DID NOT LEAVE LEGAL INSTRUCTIONS?
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%>
Tell a friend
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'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
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sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
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%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
