Rest in peace, Terri Schiavo

"Schiavo Dies 13 Days after Tube Removed"

***

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." --Paul

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." --Jesus

Peace lovers

"Earlham student hits pundit with pie"

Read it all -- the last line's the kicker.

I'm begging you

Please, if I ever end up in any kind of incapacitated state, don't let this nutjob anywhere within a hundred miles of me. I always suspected Felos was a little weird, but this beats all.

(By the way, "three sheets to the moonbeam" is my new favorite phrase.)

Stop the presses!

"College Faculties a Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds"

You don't say.

Have a blessed Easter

"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said."

Read it and weep

Susan Konig:

"When I saw The Passion of the Christ, the moment that affected me the most was Mary trying to get to Jesus as he labored under the cross through the streets of Jerusalem. A disciple led her through the back streets past the crowds to her son and the whole time I'm thinking, what will she say when she gets to him? What could anyone say to someone who is suffering so much, who is so seemingly without hope? When she finally reaches him she says the perfect thing — the words any child wants to hear from his mother, 'I'm here.'

"It was so moving because it was so right. Director Mel Gibson imagined this meeting, the dialogue. But how precise.

"I've been thinking about this a lot lately — I'm writing this on Good Friday. Watching Terri Schiavo's tragedy unfold in front of the world, I think of the videotape where her mom moves her daughter's head to be able to look into her face and suddenly Terri's eyes brighten and she seems to smile. Her mother, Mary Schindler, is there saying, 'I'm here.'"

'In Love with Death'

Peggy Noonan on Terri Schiavo, again:

"Why are they so committed to this woman's death?

They seem to have fallen half in love with death.

What does Terri Schiavo's life symbolize to them? What does the idea that she might continue to live suggest to them?

Why does this prospect so unnerve them? Again, if you think Terri Schiavo is a precious human gift of God, your passion is explicable. The passion of the pull-the-tube people is not."

***

Or as my mom asked the other day, "Why are people so gleeful that she's going to die?"

Why, indeed?

Good Friday thoughts

My sister and I always used to wonder what you were supposed to say to people on this day. "Happy Good Friday" just doesn't seem suitable, somehow.

David Rensberger has some significant thoughts to offer on the subject:

"Good Friday is the one Christian “holiday” that the wider culture, even in America, has not taken up. It is the one holy day whose Christian significance cannot be bleached out to leave a commercially viable residue. Christmas can be for children and families, for shopping, for feasting. Easter can be bunnies and baby chicks, the newness of spring and a whole lot of chocolate. Even a couple of days marked out to honor saints in some Christian traditions—Valentine, Patrick—have been pretty much entirely taken over by a culture of romance and hedonism, sex and shopping.

"Not this day. There is nothing marketable about Good Friday. Suffering, sacrifice, injustice, betrayal—what’s to celebrate? What’s to shop for? Who could pig out on a day like that?

"The absolute impossibility of adapting Good Friday to consumer culture is most evident in the fact that even the greeting card industry, which seems capable of churning out more or less appropriate little notes for every conceivable religious event and life occasion, has nothing for today. Can you imagine it?
Because he bled and died,
    We’re all choked up inside.
It’s not a lovely day,
   But I still hope you’re okay.


   Wishing you and yours a joyless, grave,
   and yet oddly hopeful Good Friday."

"There is simply no way for a culture devoted to lightweight enjoyment and superficial relationships to come to terms with Good Friday. It is, in a sense, the last bulwark of genuine Christian spirituality against the sea of pop religion that has overwhelmed the American churches."

If she could only say it

"I promised Terri I would tell the world that she had tried to say, 'I want to live.'"

(Thanks to Ed for sharing this one.)

On to the Supreme Court

"Reinsertion of Schiavo Feeding Tube Denied"

Please, please keep saying your prayers. They're running out of time and options.

Kathryn Lopez provides this link to one doctor's opinion of the scan of Terri's brain that's been used in court. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but as far as I can tell with my very limited knowledge, this man makes a lot of sense. Read it and see what you think.

(But was his mother a nurse? Sorry, I have no idea.)

'Corner' thoughts

For those who've been following the debate in The Corner: I'm not sure I can ever read Derb the same way again. Not that I expect them all to march in lockstep over there -- far from it. And not that I've never disagreed with him before, as you'll know if you're familiar with this little blog.

But "drop in at my house for a beer and a chat. By all means bring Jodi and the kids"? This while Michael Schiavo's wife is dying? No matter the reason, the method, or the motivation, or whether you agree that she should die or not, she is dying. That remark has a degree of coldness I never expected from John Derbyshire.

I realize he was probably going for shock value. But he didn't shock in the way he intended. It's not the adultery that's the point here, it's the conflict of interest. Which he blows right past, with a merry quip, when it has everything in the world to do with the point he's arguing. That's what's shocking, and deepy disheartening.

On the other hand, Ramesh Ponnuru and Kathryn Lopez (and others over there) rock. There's always a silver lining.

(I hope that second link works, by the way. If not, just scroll down a little way.)

And incidentally, it's about time Derb gave up that "my mother was a nurse" argument. I've seen him use it before, for various issues, and the first couple of times it was effective, if not wholly persuasive. Now it's beginning to wear thin. My father used to be a soldier, but that hardly qualifies me to determine what our Iraq policy should be.

Tell it like it is, Peggy

From Peggy Noonan:

"Bill Frist and Tom DeLay and Jim Sensenbrenner and Denny Hastert and all the rest would be better off risking looking ridiculous and flying down to Florida, standing outside Terri Schiavo's room and physically restraining the poor harassed staff who may be told soon to remove her feeding tube, than standing by in Washington, helpless and tied in legislative knots, and doing nothing."

Don't miss the Churchill quote, either. Or the Reagan quote. In fact, make sure you take time to read the whole thing. Great stuff, from a great lady.

Another setback

"They're going to talk and talk and she's going to die." That's about the size of it.

What I can't understand is how so many people -- including some near and dear to me -- can truly believe that anyone is just trying to let this woman die a peaceful death. Listen carefully, people: YOU CAN'T "LET" SOMEONE DIE IF THEY WEREN'T ALREADY DYING IN THE FIRST PLACE. She wasn't dying until they took her food and water away. They're CAUSING her to die, not letting her die!

What kind of society thinks so frivolously and understands so little about death that it can get the two mixed up when all the facts are out there in the open, plain as day? Where did we get these twisted ideas?

Only in America

I don't have much time to blog today, but keep an eye on The Corner -- they've got all the latest updates on Terri. (I think they may also have a link to that skewed MSNBC poll that I promised but neglected to provide.) I'll just add this: A country where the legislators work around the clock and the president gets up at one in the morning to save one woman's life -- when that woman is brain-damaged and, as some would have it, not at all a useful or productive member of society -- is a country that I'm proud of.

Wow!

If you'll allow me to slip into fangirl mode for just a moment . . .

Oh my gosh oh my gosh Sasha Cohen won silver at Worlds with no falls in the free skate! EEEEEEEEEEE!!

(Ahem)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

The fight goes on

Key quote: "She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding and hydration tube to keep her alive."

Translation: She needs food and water to live. Like, oh, about, six billion or so of the other inhabitants of the planet.

I hope people understand this. There was a poll online yesterday (I'll dig it up later when I have time) that was blatantly dishonest in its wording about taking her off "life support." Results were about as skewed as you'd expect.

And, on a more personal level, I talked last night with two ladies at my church who hadn't followed the case at all and were surprised by what I told them. That was what really got me. We're a church -- we need to know these things. I will say my church is really good at keeping people informed on current events, but this is one story that really rates at least one mention from the pulpit or in the bulletin -- at the very least as a prayer request -- and it hasn't had one yet.

Anyway, it sounds like the congressional Republicans haven't given up yet. Keep it up, guys! I have moments when the Republican party drives me up the wall -- doesn't everyone? -- but certain members of it are really doing themselves proud on this one.

Grab bag

-- There's a lot of information here, and it's a little hard to sort out. But the main point appears to be that the fight for Terri goes on, even though the two houses of Congress apparently failed to reach consensus before their Easter break. Andrew McCarthy puts it nicely: "Easter, of course, is the day we mark because the Savior of the World, without even taking a recess, sacrificed Himself to redeem us. I hope our congress enjoys their recess."

-- NRO, by the way, has the most informative piece I've seen yet on the medical side of the story. Even if you're familiar with the Schiavo case, this is a must-read.

-- And in related news, The Blog Dad contributes this deeply disturbing piece. Apparently, if you live in Texas, you don't get to decide whether your child gets hospital care or not.

But the kicker is the last line: They didn't want to treat him, but they're "deeply saddened" he died.

I'm lost for words. Which is perhaps just as well, because I have a feeling any words I could come up with for these jerks wouldn't fit on a PG-rated blog.

-- Now that I've got myself worked up, time for a change of pace: this new piece from my old friend and former colleague Laurel Robinson. "In times when prudence says, 'be quiet,' your silence can be a statement to God, yourself, and even others that you believe God is really in control and will work things out the way HE wants them. It is an act of faith." Lord knows I need to be reminded of that fairly frequently. Nice work, Laurel.

Practically perfect

So a commercial comes on TV last night for the WB's latest reality show, The Starlet, and this appears on the screen:

"PERFECT!!! -- The New York Times"

Now I'm no great fan of the New York Times, but even I give them more credit than to call this piece of bilge "perfect." Or to use three exclamation points to describe anything, including the end of the world. So I do a little Googling, and here's what turns up:

"Together they have concocted the perfect reality show for the age of celebrity and instant gratification -- the Schwab's overnight discovery myth as reality show."

Yep. Advertisers. Gotta love 'em.

Along the same lines . . .

. . . as the Schiavo story, here are two takes on Million Dollar Baby -- very different from each other, but both well worth reading.

Wesley Smith, "Million Dollar Missed Opportunity"

Diane Shreve Singer, "Surrendering to Grief"

Oh, and don't miss reading about what the real Million Dollar Baby (yes, it seems there really was one) thought of the movie.

So much to read, so little time . . .

Call to arms

Congress is taking action on the Terri Schiavo case. Read about it and contact your congressmen. Major thanks to FRC for expediting the process.

Ouch

I'm no Dan Rather fan, goodness knows, but isn't Cronkite supposed to be his friend? Or at least a well-wisher? My gosh, Peggy Noonan was nicer to him. But then, Peggy Noonan has a little class.