The Spirit of Enterprise plus a Coming Attraction
Why is this hard to not believe anymore?
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March 29, 2005
Billmon: The Spirit of Enterprise
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“thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups. Sweet.
Posted by: beq | Mar 29 2005 23:55 utc | 1
It’s kind of sad in that somewhere in that group of lunatics, there are people who truly mourn her imminent loss and firmly believe in the sanctity of life. Those people, however, are pawns in this game. I’d say that all parties involved should be ashamed of themselves but I think the majority of the parties have already proven that they have no shame.
Posted by: ides | Mar 30 2005 0:05 utc | 2
Billmon is sure on a roll. The Gannon/Guckert rant was great. I heard on the radio today that yes the money is going to the Schindlers.
Man, the rethugs are out in force with the talking points. All the wingers sound like parrots. “The left wants to see Terri Schiavo die.” Over and over and over. They have to recover from the debacle and somehow paint the left as the bad guys.
Limblowhard says, look, over there, didn’t you see that, it was really him, not Tom Delay. He’s the one, the real guilty one. Up is really down, left is actually right. Boy, are the sheeple confused now, we have them.
The Sheeple say, Ohhh, I give up. Turn it to Everyone Loves Raymond or CSI.
Posted by: jdp | Mar 30 2005 1:56 utc | 4
It’s really sickening and it really can happen only in “Amurika”…
You people made EVERYTHING look ridiculous…even death…
Why it’s NOT hard to believe what Billmon writes? Because that’s Amurika…
That’s a mirror where you as a nation can see who you are…and that’s why you as a nation are extremely dangerous…everything goes to its pervert side touched by ‘American spirit’…
At least that’s how I feel…
Posted by: vbo | Mar 30 2005 2:53 utc | 5
Krugman nails them. Today’s editorial:
One thing that’s going on is a climate of fear for those who try to enforce laws that religious extremists oppose. Randall Terry, a spokesman for Terri Schiavo’s parents, hasn’t killed anyone, but one of his former close associates in the anti-abortion movement is serving time for murdering a doctor. George Greer, the judge in the Schiavo case, needs armed bodyguards.
Another thing that’s going on is the rise of politicians willing to violate the spirit of the law, if not yet the letter, to cater to the religious right.
Everyone knows about the attempt to circumvent the courts through “Terri’s law.” But there has been little national exposure for a Miami Herald report that Jeb Bush sent state law enforcement agents to seize Terri Schiavo from the hospice – a plan called off when local police said they would enforce the judge’s order that she remain there.
And the future seems all too likely to bring more intimidation in the name of God and more political intervention that undermines the rule of law.
[]
… medical care is the cutting edge of extremism.
Yesterday The Washington Post reported on the growing number of pharmacists who, on religious grounds, refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning-after pills. These pharmacists talk of personal belief; but the effect is to undermine laws that make these drugs available. And let me make a prediction: soon, wherever the religious right is strong, many pharmacists will be pressured into denying women legal drugs.
And it won’t stop there…
[]
What we need – and we aren’t seeing – is a firm stand by moderates against religious extremism. Some people ask, with justification, Where are the Democrats? But an even better question is, Where are the doctors fiercely defending their professional integrity? I think the American Medical Association disapproves of politicians who second-guess medical diagnoses based on video images – but the association’s statement on the Schiavo case is so timid that it’s hard to be sure.
The closest parallel I can think of to current American politics is Israel. There was a time, not that long ago, when moderate Israelis downplayed the rise of religious extremists. But no more: extremists have already killed one prime minister, and everyone realizes that Ariel Sharon is at risk.
America isn’t yet a place where liberal politicians, and even conservatives who aren’t sufficiently hard-line, fear assassination. But unless moderates take a stand against the growing power of domestic extremists, it can happen here.
(I can’t help but think that allusion to Sinclair Lewis’ novel of fascism in america via an elmer gantry is no accident.)
Posted by: fauxreal | Mar 30 2005 5:12 utc | 6
oh, and you know the Catholic church used to sell relics…reminds me of that, and P.T. Barnum wasn’t the first to realize that bit about suckers.
Maybe Father Guido Sarducci can find some more copies of Jesus’ high school graduation picture to sell, too.
Posted by: fauxreal | Mar 30 2005 5:15 utc | 7
Billmon’s latest, “Coming Attraction” is really in poor taste. He made his point with “The Spirit of Enterprise” and the “Terri Shiavo” blog had me laughing my ass off, but enough already. Ullugh.
Posted by: stoy | Mar 30 2005 6:06 utc | 8
@Stoy – probably not enough yet
Appeals Court Grants Additional Review in Schiavo Case (March 30, 2005)
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court early Wednesday agreed to consider a petition for a new hearing on whether to reconnect Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube.
The ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals came as the severely brain-damaged woman entered her 13th day without nourishment.
Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have maintained that Schiavo would want to be kept alive and have asked the courts to intervene. Schiavo’s husband, Michael, insists he is carrying out her wishes by having the feeding tube pulled.
Pushing the market value?
Hey let’s face it, the idiots who contributed money to the Schindlers do need their penis enlarged and I can’t wait to sell them some real estate. It’s like watching evolution in slow motion.
Posted by: Lupin | Mar 30 2005 11:10 utc | 10
From jdp | March 30, 2005 03:56 AM
“The left wants to see Terri Schiavo die.”
Why isn’t anyone saying: Yeah, and the right doesn’t want Terri to be at peace and with her God? Turn the tables. That is what they would do.
Posted by: beq | Mar 30 2005 12:49 utc | 11
“Why won’t they let Terri go to heaven?”
It’s time to learn from Lenin. If all the sheeple understand is propaganda, then we have to create better propaganda than our enemies. And the people who are trying to arrogate to themselves the right to decide life and death are our enemies.
Posted by: Aigin | Mar 30 2005 14:57 utc | 12
“Culture of (Control Over Your) Life”
We should just call it “Culture of Control”.
Posted by: stoy | Mar 30 2005 16:06 utc | 13
Living will is the best revenge
Learning from Terri – give detail advice what to do in the case of …
* In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn’t be long enough for me.
* I want my wife and my parents to compound their misery by engaging in a bitter and protracted feud that depletes their emotions and their bank accounts.
* I want my wife to ruin the rest of her life by maintaining an interminable vigil at my bedside. I’d be really jealous if she waited less than a decade to start dating again or otherwise rebuilding a semblance of a normal life.
…
this is kind of funny too…
if you don’t mind a harsh reminder of what a pathetic freakshow us media have become. a neurologist loses his cool live on the air while confronting a corporate media talking head peddling the Terri Cult… but note how the talking head slips in the slime at the end, insinuating — but never saying actionably — that the doctor is a paid shill… what message is the audience left with?
and so is this
Saddam-toppling photo op anyone?
or to paraphrase the old tune, “Oo, oo-oo, what a little wide-angle can do, oo-oo…”
The judges of the full United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit turned down the last request from Schiavos parents. One republican, conservative judge wrote into an extended opinion:
The 11th Circuit court’s decision, signed by Chief Judge J. L. Edmondson, was only a sentence long. But in a concurring opinion, Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., appointed by the first President Bush in 1990, wrote that federal courts had no jurisdiction in the case and that the law enacted by Congress and President Bush allowing the Schindlers to seek a federal court review was unconstitutional.
“When the fervor of political passions moves the executive and legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene,” wrote Judge Birch, who has a reputation as consistently conservative. “If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow.”
…
In particular, Judge Birch wrote, a provision of the new law requiring a fresh federal review of all the evidence presented in the case made it unconstitutional. Because that provision constitutes “legislative dictation of how a federal court should exercise its judicial functions,” he wrote, it “invades the province of the judiciary and violates the separation of powers principle.”
If they ever make a movie out of this it would be an excellent marketing strategy to call it ‘Schindler’s List 2’
Posted by: Nugget | Mar 31 2005 22:35 utc | 19
Parents of Terry Schiavo,
Hey. My name is Deirdre Harris. Im 15 years old and a freshmen in highschool. The talk fo the school for the last month has been that of your daughter. Most people came to me for answeres because I kept up with the news. Every hour I was online looking to see if there was any new news. My social studies class had a debate. I was the captain of my debate team. The statement of our debate was “Parents should keep the right to make medical choices through out their childs life.” My team was pro to that statement. I believe that when a woman becomes a mother she has a devine animal right to protect her life and THE LIFE OF HER OFFSPRING. Terrys’ husband having custidy and saying weather or not the tube stays takes away that “devine animal right you have”. You and your husband gave Terry life, It is crule to give someone else the right to take that life. When one creates something its only crul to give someone else the right to destroy it. You and your husband have been there for all of Terrys’ life. You have made all of the medical choices in the past and any other choices that needed to be made, why couldnt you make this choice. I am the first to admitt that I have no idea what you are going through. All I know is that its hard. I cant tell you its ok because its not. You have lost a child. I cant tell you in time you will learn to accept it. I could never accept loosing the life of a loved one. Cry your eyes out. Let the world know your in pain. Your sadness is the only thing that will wake the world and realize that it is not just a person that we have lost. It was someones daughter. If you didn’t weep then you would be no kind of mother. Depression is only natural. Is what I can tell you is that she is in heaven right now. Looking down on you wispering with the voice of only an angel, “Thank you for caring”. I am sorry for your lost. I just wanted to let you know that atleast one other person has her eyes open and is noticing what is happening and that its wrong. It was your devine animal right to keep her alive, and it was snatched away from you. For your loss I am sorry, For you being robbed of your motherhood rights, I am angry.
Posted by: Deirdre Harris | Apr 2 2005 16:40 utc | 20
…. It was your devine animal right to keep her alive, and it was snatched away from you. For your loss I am sorry, For you being robbed of your motherhood rights, I am angry.
Deirdre,
if you’re expecting political rights for women dear, you’re on the wrong bus.
Posted by: anna missed | Apr 2 2005 20:17 utc | 21