Thursday, March 31, 2005

It Is Finished

Mark Steyn on the public execution of Terri Schiavo; William Anderson on how the justice system failed us. Both are stunning rebukes to Reynolds, Hertzberg, Sullivan, et al.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope that she rests in peace, and her family will have many years to treasure her memory in private. Meanwhile I won't forget the unanswered questions that too many were too willing to ignore

No murderer could be convicted, much less sentenced to death based upon the say-so of an unreliable, interested witness like her husband. We insist on proof beyond a reasonable doubt before punishing people for hideous crimes. Where are the enlightened apostles of due process, with their evolving standards of decency, when this innocent woman needed them

Why did so many people rush to embrace the conclusion that she was PVS when the diagnosis was never responsibly proven. Judge Greer's say-so means jack. A legion of physicians have insisted that without high resolution brain scans - which her husband refused to allow - no PVS diagnosis could be rendered at all, much less one with a reasonable degree of medical certainty

If she had to die, why wasn't she put out by the sort of merciful lethal injection we grant vicious murderers? Because, well, that would mean a person would actually have to kill her. The law doesn't allow mercy killing. But wait. I thought she was already dead

If she was a completely non-sentient vegetable, comfortably starving & dehydrating her way out of this world, why was she being given morphine

It seemed to make her happy when her parents would visit and talk with her. Even if you buy the unprovable opinions of the "doctors" who said her smiles and other movements were just reflexes, what about her mom and dad. All they wanted to do was take care of her and tell her that they loved her.

No, she had to go. Why? Because a bunch of pretenders to morality have insisted that an innocent woman foot the bill, with her life, for their vanity. She has died and they have won. Chalk up a big loss for Republicans, the pro-life crowd, our President and the rest of the vast right-wing conspiracy.

Such a victory, at such an excruciating price, is so bitterly cheap

Anonymous said...

Take it easy, Mr. English. Looking at the transcript of his remarks this morning, it seems fairly evident that the President's statement regarding Terri Schiavo's death were meant to stand alone. He did not "use her death as a segway . . ."
SEB

Bookworm said...

Maybe I'm just biased in Mark Steyn's favor, but I do feel that, as always, he showed himself once again uniquely able to zero in on and elucidate the core issues defining a debate (in this case, the legality and morality of Terri's death, as well as the societal repercussions from the decisions surrounding her death). Thanks for linking to his article.

Reece said...

How can these people be so fatuous? I didn't even have to read the first two paragraphs of Anderson's piece before I could it was BS.