| Give Us Barabbas By Liz Michael www.lizmichael.com - release date March 28, 2005 Warning. This is an article about Terri Schiavo. It’s going to piss everyone off, so don’t worry, keep reading: I’ll get around to pissing you off sooner or later, I’m sure. I didn’t know what to call this article. I could have given it a bland title just mentioning her name. I could have called it "Die, Terri, Die" after all her "beloved fans" who are seemingly anxious for her to expire. I could have called it "Is the Bitch Dead Yet?" after Michael Schiavo’s alleged declaration of his love for the woman. I finally settled on this title. It is Easter week, and Terri Schiavo represents the perfect sacrifice of an innocent lamb. Terri, though, is lucky. The Paschal Lamb was killed swiftly, with a single cut to the throat. Jesus the Nazirite was crucified on Passover Day, but spent mere hours on the cross. Terri is undergoing day upon day of starvation. And our court system has conspired to make this so, and keep this so. Not just a few weeks earlier, these selfsame courts decided in their infinite wisdom that even teenage serial killers did not deserve the cruel and unusual punishment of the death penalty. Thus while utter psychopaths were shown mercy and leniency, an innocent woman, about as innocent a woman as one could imagine, receives a court imposed death sentence, and many of the People cheer over it. It is the equivalent of the Jews in the public square before Pontius Pilate choosing the criminal Barabbas over the righteous, innocent carpenter’s son. The courts, and many of the People, effectively, have chosen Barabbas instead. The big problem with the Schiavo case Believe it or not, the biggest problem I have with the Schiavo case is NOT that Terri is lying in a bed starving to death because her feeding tube was pulled. That may shock some of you, but listen to me. If her family had gotten together, and in their collective wisdom, decided that "you know, we’ve tried to get Terri to recover for 15 years, but there is no hope, and we are compelled to let her go and be with The Father now", although the means would still disturb me, I would acknowledge that it was their decision to make for Terri. The problem I have with the treatment of Terri Schiavo is that it was done not by the family, but AGAINST the will of most of her family, BY A SERIES OF JUDICIAL EDICTS! Moreover, it is an edict being ENFORCED, using police powers, with thugs with guns going so far as to strip search family members, to prevent even the administration of a small vial of water or a morsel of bread. This is NOT just Michael Schiavo killing Terri. This is the State of Florida, and the local government, killing Terri. Hoards of people in the "Die Terri Die Caucus" rage with insistence that this is NOT our business, and not the business of all the pro-life demonstrators, political pundits, and congressmen and legislators. Excuse me, but Michael Schiavo is employing the power of the state, and its agents armed with guns, to enforce what is HIS will, when said will is 180 degrees counter to the wishes or the rest of Terri’s family. He is using OUR AGENTS against Terri’s own relatives and against Terri herself, and THAT BLOODY WELL MAKES IT OUR BUSINESS!!! I’ve heard incessant whining by the Die Terri Die Caucus that "the courts have made their decision". Excuse me, but the courts have no right to MAKE this decision. The Die Terri Die Caucus has been also clamoring that it is the decision of the family to make. Well, most of the family did NOT want the feeding tube pulled. The Die Terri Die Caucus has also defended the legal concept that the family members of a patient in Terri’s condition are to quote Pete Wilson, "fucking irrelevant", just because she happened to commit one act: get married. I hope the feminists are proud of themselves, and proud of the precedent being set for the killing of one’s wife. Have I made some of you angry? Stay tuned. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The Schindlers are partially at fault Yep. This is the dirty little secret of the whole sordid mess. Terri Schiavo’s mother and father are largely responsible for the entire situation now happening to their daughter. How could I? How dare I? How cold? How heartless? Maybe, but as much sympathy that I’d LIKE to have for the parents, I still have to have primary sympathy for Terri. And in researching how exactly we came to this point in history, it’s been made evident to me that in every step of this process, the Schindlers have made the wrong moves. The Schindlers allowed Michael to have guardianship to begin with. They have made every wrong legal argument under the sun in an effort to overturn that guardianship, when there could have been arguments made which would have been successful. Such as trying to have an independent court appointed guardian ad litem assigned as Terri’s advocate, totally independent of Michael and the Schindlers. Almost makes me think the attorneys are part of the conspiracy. (Attorneys? Dishonest? Surely you jest, Liz!) Yes, I know that Michael has a common law wife and 2 children with her, and unless Michael’s religious tradition, and the law, provide for polygamous marriages, which right now I am not aware either do, this should be grounds for annulling Michael’s guardianship or any right thereto. But on the other hand, I understand that it was the Schindlers who encouraged him to move on with his life in the first place. And all those protestors, all those pro-life organizations and agencies who are now an inseparable part of the controversy. Well, they didn’t just stumble into this themselves. The Schindlers brought them in. Just as Michael brought the People, by way of the courts, into the argument, so did the Schindlers. I repeat what I said previously. Yes, this SHOULD have been left to be a private matter to be decided by the family. But it’s too bad the FAMILY didn’t believe that. Michael and the Schindlers should have sat down, discussed all matters, hammered out how they were going to handle Terri’s situation and then stuck to it. Yes, this would have been hard. But that’s what families do. Instead, they all fought against each other and all turned to outsiders to try and enforce THEIR will, one upon the other. This is completely, and wholly, dysfunctional behavior. I hate saying that. The Schindlers are now in the position of having the State of Florida virtually execute their innocent daughter, and must be going through absolute mental torture now, perhaps even guilt that they failed their daughter. But they are not blameless, and no one is having the courage to say it. Pissed off yet? I’m just getting started. Republicans are primarily to blame for Terri being killed Yep. There’s the next newsflash. The Republicans are hanging the albatross of Terri’s eminent state murder around the neck of liberal Democrats. Many liberal Democrats have dutifully complied by providing them with all the appropriate sound bites. Tom DeLay is trying to stand up as the "white knight". George W. Bush declared that we should "err on the side of life", something I’m sure the Iraqis wish he had incorporated into his foreign policy. And even most liberal Democrats have been so duped by this event that they have no knowledge of the following: Republicans have set the table for this whole affair. Judge Greer is a Republican. Judge Whittemore is a Republican. Nine Republican Florida legislators blocked legislation that would have automatically spared Terri this ordeal. Most of the judges who reviewed this case? Republicans. The Supreme Court that refused to hear an appeal in this case? Republican appointed majority. Family social services who could have intervened and handed Michael Schiavo his walking papers? A Republican administration. A memo was leaked out of a congressional office that it was the intent to use the Schiavo situation to political advantage. Whose office? Rick Santorum’s. In 1999, the nation’s first forced euthanasia law was passed, and was recently invoked to kill a child against the wishes of its own parents. Where did this happen? Liberal Massachusetts? Leftist California? Right To Die endorsing Oregon? Nope. TEXAS. Who signed it? Some guy named George W. Bush. The rationale? Cutting medical costs. So much for "erring on the side of life". Terri worth more to the GOP dead than alive It’s true. With Terri still alive, many people will continue to point all manner of fingers at one another. They will distrust government. But many others will believe "the system works", and will, of course, eschew any great effort at radical change. With Terri dead, however, the GOP can point and wag the finger at how the "LIBERAL ACTIVIST JUDGES KILLED HER"!!! Doesn’t matter that it was really Republican judges that set it all up. The Republicans set the trap, many liberals took the bait, and after Terri dies, the GOP will scream several things. One, they will declare how the liberal Democrats are "EVIL WICKED HEARTLESS CRIPPLE KILLERS" for wanting Terri’s death, and will use the appropriate soundbites the Democrats dutifully supplied them to back it up. Two, they will declare the ‘LIBERAL ACTIVIST JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS OUT OF CONTROL" and will seek to totally gut it and reshape it in their own image. What image? Well, the image of those fellers who created the 1999 euthanasia law in Texas. All the time with the pro-lifers wholly deceived into thinking that these ruthless bastards actually CARE about life. Not pissed off yet? But wait! There’s more! Some thoughts about alleged lies Most of what I hear about the testimony around this case is, that one side or the other is totally lying. I doubt that is even remotely possible. I think most of what is being put out by both sides is the truth. There may be a few lies mixed in, here and there. Some are unverifiable. But here are a few which absolutely strike out at me.
You know, I have less problem with a clear belief by someone that Terri Schiavo should be allowed to die, for her own sake, than I have with all this folderol crafted to try and assuage the consciences of the people who are too damned chickenshit to admit this publicly. So they doll it up in a bunch of lies, and feed us this utter bullshit. I know it’s pissing people off that I’m using "profanities", but ladies and gentlemen, this all IS a profanity. Unintended Consequences Oddly enough, one of the set of people complicating this matter is the pro-life protestors. Several attempts to either rescue Terri or deliver treatment to her could have been made, if not for the demonstrators, and the increased police presence they invariably caused. Disturbing phenomena I have also noticed the phenomenon that some people seem very anxious to see Terri die simply because the Religious Right wants her to live, or as a brownie point against George W. Bush. I don’t care how much you want to excoriate the Religious Right for their alleged hypocrisy... it has nothing to do with Terri. If you want to go guns ablazing at Randall Terry and Jerry Falwell, by all means, have at it. They’re big boys. Leave Terri alone, though. "Who Would Jesus Euthanize?" I hesitate to quote a scripture, as it will probably piss even more people off. Nevertheless, a friend showed me this passage from Matthew 25, which are not my words, but the word of Jesus, Son of Joseph. It nags at me, and I just can’t get past it. It doesn’t matter to me whether you believe Jesus was Messiah or not. You need to hear these words again, because they go far beyond mere religious doctrines. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Are we, right now, being presented with the same dilemma that the Jews before Pontius Pilate faced when presented with one of two individuals to release, one purely innocent, another guilty as sin. Will we make the right choice? Will we do the right thing? Or will we instead demand Barabbas? And do you recall what the crowd of Jews declared when they condemned an innocent man to death? "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, and performed many many miracles. Not once, however, did he go to a family, and euthanize their dying family member. I do not know what Jesus would do in Pinellas, but I am fairly confident, that if Terri lay before him, and needed food and water, he would at minimum, feed her and give her water. Whose responsibility? You had better consider that in this government of the People, by the People, and for the People, that these people who rendered these judicial decisions represent YOU. You’re not in Rome. This is supposed to be a republic, where WE are supposed to be the rulers of ourselves. If the Schiavos and the Schindlers got together and unanimously decided that this needed to be done, I don’t imagine that they would receive divine retribution, even if the Divine determined they were wrong. Having our government do it, however, is quite another thing. Having a judge order it so, and having police strip search visitors looking for that dastardly cup of water and morsel of bread, and having it all done AGAINST the will of most of Terri’s family, is NOT just. It is the very definition of tyranny. It mocks the very essence of what we as a society define as family. It is so even if you in the Schindlers’ shoes would do the opposite of what they are doing, and would let Terri die. I have heard precious few people, demanding of us that we "respect Michael Schiavo’s decision", also be willing to respect the Schindlers’ decision, too. Forgive me for considering that this may well be a very ominous moment for America, and even for the world. What if someone decided that we as a nation and a People, needed to have "the plug pulled" on us? Don’t worry. I suspect it won’t be long now. ### |
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