.. One of the most outrageous aspects of the whole sorry Schiavo circus was the willingness, nay, eagerness of complete idiots — and even their inferiors, the cable news people — to second guess the doctors. People you wouldn’t trust to fix your downstairs toilet suddenly thought they know more about neurology than men and women who spent, oh, ten or twelve years of their lives learning to be doctors, and another two or three decades as practicing board-certified neurologists, and who repeatedly, over the course of ten years, two trials and more appeals than you can shake a catheter at, examined, tested and diagnosed Terri Shiavo — making her probably the world’s most over-treated patient.
…
For better or worse, good or evil, her time on this earth is over. But when I think of the thousands, or even millions, of lives that could ride on the next big trial-by-media — when the topic might be war with North Korea or the reality of global warming or the copyright laws governing the music industry (I’m kidding! I’m kidding!) — I get worried. Because right now, the corporate media (and the dumbed-down culture it’s helped create) are beginning to look more and more like the intellectual equivalent of Dr. Kevorkian. And any of us — or all of us – could be their next patient. …
I imagine many bombed-out Iraqis wish that Bush had “erred on the side of life.”
Posted by: puffin | Mar 31 2005 18:59 utc | 1
I have often wondered – where were the protesters demanding a more humane death (by morphine injection, for example) as opposed to starvation. The juxtaposition with the “culture of life” people would have been astounding. (And yes, I know that Terri Shiavo couldn’t care one way or the other.)
Posted by: aschweig | Mar 31 2005 19:20 utc | 2
DeLay Statement on Terri Schiavo
“Mrs. Schiavo’s death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God this fate never befalls another. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Schindlers and with Terri Schiavo’s friends in this time of deep sorrow.”
Bernhard, a thread suggestion; post the images of the Tal Afar orphans crying in the soaked blood of their parents with DeLay’s quote above.
Evil Evil Evil
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Mar 31 2005 19:49 utc | 4
Well, hopefully the freak show will come to an end soon. The circus that surrounded the Schiavo case was uncalled for and makes a mockery of passing away in peace.
If I am in great pain, I would prefer having the doctor give me little extra pain reliever even if it takes me over the edge to none existence. I do not see us di-gressing into a soilent green society, but this will be the conservative mantra.
On the other hand, if the conservative business leaders have their way, many in society with the degradation of standards of living, wages, may push the societies of the world into that direction. If all the money is at the top, whats left for the rest.
Posted by: jdp | Mar 31 2005 19:50 utc | 5
using logic with fundies is like trying to cut down a tree with a herring.
Posted by: lenin’s ghost | Mar 31 2005 19:50 utc | 6
I’ve lurked around here since Billmon hung it up last year. Man I have only homage to give him as such a fantastic writer.
Thanks Billmon for coming back.
Posted by: Thor Heyerdahl | Mar 31 2005 20:26 utc | 7
Awwwww, c’monnnnn…..y’all are tooo cyncial……Open a Cold One, Kick Back & Enjoy the Spectacle’s Necrophilia…….After all, Terri was easy to worry about – she died 15 yrs. ago……
Nat Hentoff was on Democracy Now this am. Also, supposedly art. in Village Voice. Ranting like an idiot…Judge Greer had conflict of interest – he’s been active in Right to Die mvmt. for yrs. 2 Neurologists said…Nat..Wake Up..She’s been gone =like that for yrs. Use Your Eyes…Maybe even divert them to all the Americans whose actual lives could continue unabated w/Medical Insurance…Ideologues Show how lost in their own rigidity they are when confronted w/real flesh & blood…
Posted by: jj | Apr 1 2005 2:34 utc | 8
Billmon asks: “Leaving me with the heartfelt question: Where is Dr. Sponge Bob when we really need him?”
Alas, the rabid fundies…who seem to have overtaken the country, the press and Congress….have declared Dr. Sponge Bob gay and thus, morally suspect.
Posted by: ByteB | Apr 1 2005 4:59 utc | 9
“People should be encouraged that the rule of law has survived an onslaught by a mob of fanatics, a gaggle of opportunistic politicians and a swarm of television vultures.”
Charley Reese
Posted by: pb | Apr 2 2005 7:49 utc | 10