Mar. 30 - Tuning Spork made a wonderfully terse comment on an earlier post that summed up the base line in the Terri Schiavo case: At some point we gotta, finally, ask ourselves if the value of life is worth the value of a Life.

Tuning Spork rips apart Neal Boortz's weird column on why Terri Schiavo should be allowed to die. (Did I say weird? It was beyond weird, and read more as though Boortz drew the short straw when they were divvying up debate positions in journalism class.)

Tuning Spork answers Boortz as perhaps only a sometimes-agnostic sometimes-atheist can do in by looking at science, not metaphysics, and uses logic rather than New Age out-of-body experiences.

He also uses some more excellently blunt language:

What we are forgetting about here is that God instructs us on how to live. This is IT, folks. This is the Test. This is the time. This is who we are. Right frickin' NOW!

The ongoing debate really isn't about religion, scriptural verses, or anything other than Who.We.Are, and if we have retained sufficient humility to know that we don't know the answers to everything, and therefore, as there is doubt, chose to do no harm.

It wasn't that long ago that liberals were arguing cases for the mentally and physically handicapped and urging that every effort should be made to try to teach and provide therapy that would allow them to experience the fullest lives of which they were capable despite their disabilities.

Or maybe I am one of the few who remembers the advocacy for newborns who were diagnosed with Down's Syndrome and had been allowed to die by withholding nourishment.

Posted by: Debbye at 06:27 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 290 words, total size 2 kb.

1 When the law doesn't foresee a situation happening, the best you can do is to modify the law for the next time. By the law as it stands, the feeding tube was specifically considered "life support". Also by the law, the only option was to remove life support, even though it meant a prolonged period before the body ceased to function. Terri Schiavo is the proverbial 'wrong place at the wrong time' victim. Hopefully, there will be debate and wisdom applied to adjust the applicable laws to keep this whole circus from happening again.

Posted by: Ted at March 30, 2005 12:42 PM (blNMI)

2 There you go again, being all reasonable and rational! Seriously, when you're right, you're right Ted, yet there's a stubborness in me that keeps hoping she can be saved. There has to be a first, right? As you predict, the laws in many states will be re-examined and probably changed. We learn more by our errors than our successes.

Posted by: Debbye at March 30, 2005 12:59 PM (a3FvC)

3 I agree with Ted 100%, too. I was saving that for my requiem post. I'm actually very relieved that Jeb Bush didn't break the law to save Terri. "Wrong place at the wrong time". Precisely. All I know, for sure, of what I'll write after Terri dies is the first line: "I love America." Reminds me of The Godfather.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 30, 2005 09:08 PM (GIVbO)

4 Some state legislatures are already looking at legislation in response to the case: Schiavo has states studying rights bills edited to add NY Times link on the same story here. That's our system: discuss, debate, write letters and/or blogs, push for change, and keep on keeping the pressure on until changes (or, more often, compromises) are made. That's why I too love America, warts and all. We ain't pretty but we hang in and get it done.

Posted by: Debbye at March 31, 2005 08:54 AM (CyDjY)

5 Blogs are a joke. You know it. Bunch of self-important & underemployed egotists. Once this fad dies out (and it is a fad- you know as well as i do that Americans have super short attention spans) I can't wait for all the soul-searching essays on "HOW BLOGS FAILED US"

Posted by: Blackglasses at March 31, 2005 10:47 AM (t+KkC)

6 Blackglasses: Could you provide some back up for your assertions instead of sounding like Major Hofsteder from Hogan's Heros.

Posted by: Richard Cook at March 31, 2005 11:37 AM (Km34P)

7 Richard, don't feed the troll.

Posted by: Ted at April 01, 2005 12:24 PM (blNMI)

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