Terri Schiavo, Requiescat In Pacem

The amazing thing is that she lived as long as she did, without food or water.

Jesus, you'd almost begin to suspect she was a basically healthy woman capable of living a longish life so long as she was the subject of "heroic medical intervention," i.e., water and nutrition.

Obviously sad news. Now Michael Schiavo can continue tormenting the parents by not even agreeing to their requests for a Catholic burial.

Life is for the living, and funerals especially so. A lot of people seem blithe about euthanizing this woman on an ex-husband's say so. I kinda think this funeral dispute demonstrates a certain amount of bad faith and vindictiveness. For the love of God, you're killing their daughter; can't you even give her the sort of burial the parents wish?

But no. Another one of Terri's strangely detailed oral demands about her death involved cremation. And it's soooo important to cremate her, because, you know, like she's going to know the difference.

Let me just say on a personal note-- a close family member has indicated to me her desire to be cremated upon death, chiefly because she doesn't want to be such a bother to the surviving family. And of course I would respect that wish... unless it was extremely important to other family members. I really don't think she'd mind if I arranged a burial instead, if it could bring peace or comfort to those she'd be leaving behind.

But... Terri wanted to starve to death. Terri wanted to be cremated. Terri seemed to be quite the gabber with respect to issues of death, near-death, and its aftermath.

A sad day.

We've come to the point where you don't have to execute a living will to indicate your intention to die when deemed inconvenient by your family. Henceforth, death is the default; you need to sign a living will to make clear your desire to live.

Although, who knows-- somewhere down the line, I'm sure a clearly stated, signed, and witnessed "I would like to live" living will be invalidated on the say-so of a fled husband as well.

Too Late, But a Good Point: Many liberals were as outraged by this Kafkaesque tragedy as many conservatives. But oddly, not as many as you might have expected. Mickey Kaus notes that it's the liberals wo are most likely to posit "medical miracles" just around the corner due to, say, stem-cell research, and yet notes, quoting an email correspondent:

In watching the coverage of the Schiavo saga unfurl I am struck by the absence of the pro-medical miracle Left, if I may so anoint them.

Well? Are these medical miracles on the way or not? If they're not, then shut up about stem-cells. If they are-- why shouldn't Terri Schiavo have had the benefit of being allowed to live until the coming of these medical breakthroughs we're all so eagerly anticipating?

The Good, the Bad, and the Vicious: You know, people who wanted to keep Terri alive are so plainly evil they deserve to have their computers infected with a virus. Maybe if the computer gets really infected, we can euthanize it as well.

LesbienCestMoi, an angel in this fight, warns that emails from "JebBush@myflorida.com" contain a virus (scan down for second entry).

I'm so glad that all on the left care so passionately for the principle of the right to free speech without "chilling"... or computer virus payback.

That said-- there were some liberals who showed not just conscience but bravery on this issue. They knew damn well they were going against The Collective; they did so anyway.

Hell-- even Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson!

posted by Ace at 11:16 AM

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