Mu.nu is screwy, and I can't seem to update my own post.

Anyway: Thanks to See-Dubya for the tip.

Further: I called this a sham and a subterfuge... but is it? Testimony doesn't have to be verbal. They really ARE considering passing some sort of bill to regulate this sort of thing; Terri doesn't have to speak for her to provide useful evidence to them, in the form of her ability (or lack thereof) to respond to stimuli.

A judge might call it a subterfuge, but it's not quite one. Taking information from Terri's appearance may not be the MAIN goal of calling her, but it is a goal, and one that can advance inform the public better than any doctor's report can.

OK, this is an important topic, and you're doing a brilliant job with it, Ace, but...

What the hell!? (also on Drudge)

someone,

I've got to say that I have little interest in Lucas' evaluations of his prequels. He promised me a "dark" first entry; it featured a squealing little tow-head and a Jamaican horse-fish.

He said the second one would be better; it was, I'm pretty sure, worse than the first. Well, maybe not. But it was really, really bad.

He also thought that the second one had something meaningful to say about our current politics and how democracies become dictatorships and yadda yadda yadda. Well, I suppose, if the democracy in question is ruled by wizards and has no standing army except for a thousand (at most) laser-samurai patrolling the entire galaxy.

Now he thinks this next one is a tearjerker?

Please. EVERY ONE IN THE THEATER WILL APPLAUD WHEN THAT LITTLE SHIT ANIKIN GOES INTO THE FUCKING LAVA.

And I'm not going to cry too many tears over Amidala, either. Cute chick, awesome ads, boring as case of Scotch tape.

I'm reposting this here just in case it's not read in the first thread on this topic. I grabbed an old editorial by a writer from the Tampa Tribune that had a personal story to tell and how it related to the Schiavo case. It probably didn't get much national coverage because of the fact that it was written in a local rag. Anyway, here's my thoughts on this case and the article. The article is qutie moving.

Ace:

You are really have a heart of grace, you know that? I know a lot about this story, because, well, it's sort of in my own backyard, so to speak. It gets covered daily.

The parents of this poor woman have asked the jackass for custody, and he still fights. And now he's some hero to people, fighting for his wife's wishes.

Let us presume that her husband is sincere. Take that and also assume that the parents of the woman are sincere. The parents offered to take the woman off of the husband's hands and let him go on with his life. At that point, early on in the case, he had plenty of money and could have walked away a wealthy man and still let the parents have their desire fulfilled.

This brings us back to the assumption about both being sincere. If the husband is correct in his assertion that his wife would have wanted the life support stopped (and this is a real knotty assumption, because think of how many different ways you could discuss this with your spouse; the permutations are infinite. You'd have to have such discussions in the hypothetical sense, going over different scenarios), then is that something you would fight until the very end for? There are few things in my life that I would fight this long and hard for. Very few. This doesn't seem to be one of them. If my wife's dying wish were "Never let our children forgot about their mother," I'd fight for that. But then, who would fight to deny me that?

People who fight with the tenacity as this man usually have some overarching moral primary principal that they are defending, such as their reputation, their family's safety, their honor, etc.

What would her husband lose by giving in to the parent's desires? That's where his motives are suspect, in my eyes. It just doesn't seem to be something I would fight this long and hard for.

So there's got to be something else going on here, and that something else is a political agenda. And Ace, you've captured it perfectly.

Finally, here is a beautiful article written by a reporter for the Tampa Tribune about this case, who went through a fairly similar situation in his own life; his daughter. It's rather breathtaking, and it's not something you'd find very easily. I think it's important to share this with your readers:

---BEGIN COLUMN IN TAMPA TRIBUNE, 10/05/2003--

HEADLINE: To Live Each Day

BYLINE: TOM JACKSON , tjackson@tampatrib.com

The potential for neuroscience to further decode the mysteries of the human brain sustains hope for a victim of traumatic brain injury.

I don't know Terri Schiavo, or anyone in the trenches of the fight to clamp the feeding tube that has allowed her to be kept alive these last 13 years. But I am intimately familiar with another victim of traumatic brain injury whose life circumstance seems eerily similar, and I wouldn't consent to denying her food and water through the hole in her stomach even at gunpoint.

Elizabeth Chelsea Jackson, horribly injured in a news-making traffic collision more than 61/2 years ago, lives in much the same state of suspended animation that affects Terri Schiavo, whose brain suffered oxygen deprivation as a result of a heart attack in 1990.

They slumber at night (Elizabeth dreams, revealed by the rapid eye movement under her eyelids) and awake in the morning. They follow objects with their eyes. They seem to recognize and respond to familiar people.

I can't speak for Terri, but as Elizabeth has grown older - she's 14 - she has demonstrated a preference for peer-appropriate music (although we stop short of tuning in rap; lines must be drawn in every civil household), as well as the tales of Harry Potter and Ann of Green Gables, which form the foundation of her formidable audiobook library. Elizabeth is, in more ways than I can count, a typical teenager.

Never mind that she cannot speak or dance or eat from a spoon. These are skills she one day may regain, either by persistent therapy, medical progress or - why not? - divine intervention.

It's true. There are, at present, no satisfactory treatments for human brain injury that are both demonstrably and consistently effective. At best, the evidence is anecdotal. Some folks swear by intensive application of speech, physical and occupational therapy. Others praise visits to a hyperbaric chamber, where the patient is surrounded in pure oxygen at two and three times sea-level pressure, on the theory that deep-penetrating oxygen encourages the regrowth of injured nerve endings. There also are advocates for reaching the cortex by stimulating the optic nerve with special lights and the aural center with modulated music.

When applications of any or all of these methods are followed by even minor improvements - which many in the skeptical neurological community might claim are mere coincidence - loved ones are infused with hope. Those who live in the parallel universe of caring for survivors of traumatic brain injury take it on faith that what neuroscience doesn't yet know about the human brain leaves open the door to some future cure.

After all, remarkable things are happening in laboratories around the world through the massaging of stem cells, both fetal and adult, and the isolation of chemicals that prevent nerves and neurons from regenerating.

This, then, is a remarkable time to have a personal stake in brain science. After generations of frustration, researchers finally are peeling in meaningful ways at the onions of paralysis, Alzheimer's, stroke, Huntington's and Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease); success in any of these areas could have marvelous implications for survivors of traumatic brain injury.

And so we cling to hope.

The question, particularly as it applies to Terri Schiavo, 39, becomes: How long is too long to wait? Three years? Eight? Ten? Suppose neuroscientists could promise an effective repair for injured brains in 12 years. Would that be too long? No? What if 12 years passed, and researchers said it would be another 36 months. Would you clamp the feeding tube then?

Elizabeth has youth on her side, and so we will wait until there is no waiting left to be done. She is 14 and in remarkable condition for her condition. For this we credit the small and growing army of therapists, nurses, special*sts, teachers, aides, friends, family and respite care providers. Elizabeth does not lack for attention, comfort or stimulation, and, we believe, the combination contributes to her general well-being, not to mention a perception among her team members that her brain has rewired to some small degree and will continue to do so.

As her guardians, her mother and I perceive the question of Elizabeth's continued survival in a way that either has eluded or has been dismissed by Schiavo's husband, Michael. He says she was firm on not wanting to live supported by artificial means; others doubt the clarity of her philosophy. Florida courts, following the directive of the state Legislature, have sided with Michael Schiavo and against Terri's feeding tube.

This is unfortunate. Considered from either the secular/scientific or spiritual viewpoint, only one conclusion is logical: Where there is life, there are possibilities, and because there are possibilities, there is hope.

The scientific case already has been laid out. It seems inconceivable that researchers will not someday figure out how to retrofit damaged brains. We have vowed to make Elizabeth the best possible candidate for the inevitable breakthrough therapy. Terri Schiavo's parents appear to want a similar opportunity for their daughter; if, as Michael Schiavo's hired medical experts suggest, Terri lacks awareness, what difference does it make if the Schindlers take over her care with an eye to improving her situation now and preparing her for eventual medical intervention?

What about the argument, advanced by some religious folks, that Terri has suffered enough and that the short-term pain of a starvation death would lead to an everlasting reward? For openers, the debate regarding Terri's suffering is unresolved. I do know this: Neurologists who have read Elizabeth's EEG results over a span of years say that there is every indication that she (a) feels hunger, (b) responds to pain and pleasure and (c) is in a generally blissful state. Hers is a life well worth preserving. Terri's may be as well.

But even if it weren't, the claim that she should be ushered into the hereafter fails muster, simply because, as those embraced by Terri's circle of Christian faith believe, everlasting means precisely that. What is a handful of mortal years compared with a spiritual life without end? Particularly when those mortal years could be spent in the attentive, loving embrace of a family that brought her up and has proved its devotion by spending the better part of a decade fighting to keep her alive against enormous odds and bitter disappointments.

And what if people of religious faith are wrong, and all that waits beyond death is the void? Should Terri Schiavo be rushed into nothingness when every day that she is nourished and hydrated brings her closer to the day when science solves the puzzle of brain injury? Even if their time lines never intersect, which even doctors cannot forecast, the effort seems irrefutably worthwhile. To do otherwise is to cast out hope, the fundamental human emotion.

Elizabeth feeds our hope through incremental advancements - a head nod here, an appropriate coo there and enthusiastic sighs when her little brother displays some annoying pre-K trait.

I don't know Terri Schiavo, or anyone in the trenches of the fight to clamp her feeding tube. But to shut off her food and water will not, as has been reported, "allow her to die." It will be the killing of Terri and the murder of hope.

Admit it, you liked the Yoda lightsaber scene.

ehhhh... it was the sort of thing you always wondered about -- that is, "How much ass could Yoda kick?" -- but you always also thought the actual idea of him kicking ass was a little silly, him being a two foot tall green puppet.

And so yeah, it was sorta cool to see him kick ass, but it was also, as I had figured since Empire Strikes Back, almost laughably silly.

I thought the two on one duel with Obi, Douchebag Whiner, and Dooku was better, and alas, that fight only seemed to go on for a minute and a half.

Ace, I did a Lexis-Nexis search with "Howard Metzenbaum" and "subpoena" in the headline and lead paragraph, and only got a fewresults... all dealing with S&L investigations and all discussing possible subpoenas or issued subpoenas, but none that were invalidated (judging strictly by headlines).

KCTrio,

Thank you for that article. I'll see about cutting out the best bits and putting into a post.

Dave,

Thanks.... hmmmm. I'm almost 100% sure it was Metzenbaum...

It could be that I'm mistaken about it being a "case."

Well... I just discovered that I have access to Lexis/Nexus Congressional, State Capital, Statistical, U.S. History Primary Sources, etc... I also just noticed that I can do a legal search, which lets me search case law on the fed and state levels and federal and state codes and regulations. Oh... and international.

Sorry, I'm just seeing this stuff for the first time. I had no freakin' idea.

I think my point is that if you think of some other search criteria, let me know. If I'm up, I'll do the search..

Call off the search... it's probably just something I read about at one time. Maybe a potential problem rather than something that actually made it into a court.

Thanks for trying.

I was actually having fun trying to use my newfound power! :-P

G'nite everybody... I gotta hit the sack.

Condi-Enzi in '08!

Regarding Star Wars:

On Nov. 10, 2004 a very wise poster predicted on this site:

"Agree Ace. I'm really pessimistic about this movie.

My vision: Vader becomes Vader about 30 minutes into the film and spends the remaining hour or so hunting down and killing the Jedi council (save yoda and obi-wan).

The probable reality? Computer generated muppets, and a painful 2 hour emphasis on the anakin/amadala love story." ----Senator Philabuster

You gotta give him credit. His predictive skills are on a par with Johnny Coldcuts, it appears.