Posted on 03/13/2006 9:28:40 AM PST by george wythe
TAMPA, Fla. One year ago, everyone was talking about Terri Schiavo.
Few knew the 41-year-old severely brain-damaged woman, but they knew her name, from President Bush and Pope John Paul II to the millions of people who were riveted by the wall-to-wall news coverage of her final days.
Now her family - parents Robert and Mary Schindler, brother Bobby Schindler and sister Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo - have collaborated on a new book that throws open the curtains on those desperate, emotional times as they fought to keep her alive and watched a private family feud culminate in a surreal public spectacle outside the hospice where she lived.
[snip]
The Schindlers' book recounts Terri's father breaking down in tears upon meeting Gov. Jeb Bush on the day her feeding tube was removed the second time, in October 2003. (The tube was first removed in 2001 under court order but was reinserted two days later when another court interceded). An emergency bill pushed through the Legislature by Bush got the tube reinserted after six days and set the stage for a showdown last year that would end up drawing in Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Vatican and the White House.
The dispute nearly created a constitutional crisis. Congress, the president and Florida lawmakers moved to block the court order that her feeding tube be removed. The courts rebuffed political efforts to undermine their authority and the separation of powers.
The Schindlers acknowledge they took advantage of the fact that their struggle had turned into a high-profile political cause that attracted sign-toting anti-abortion activists, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, conservative talk radio commentators and every major media outlet to the vigil outside Terri's hospice.
(Excerpt) Read more at bradenton.com ...
This book is sure to re-ignite the fires that burned around this subject.
book bump
Yeah.... and wait until Michael's book comes out!
The far left like to crow about separation of powers and checking the authority of the President. Where is the recognition of the power of the executive to check the unbridled power of the judiciary? Didn't the schlock judge in the Schaivo matter thumb his nose at the check by congress and the president on his decison?
There will be much finger pointing to be sure. I would not be at all surprised if this somehow winds back up in court.
Correct me if my memory is incorrect, but I recall Congress issuing a subpoena for Terri Schiavo to appear before a Congressional committee, but the subpoena was never enforced.
In other words, the judges worked under the assumption that the politicians did not have the will power to face off in a constitutional battle.
I remember that subpoena, and I remember that the judge ignored it and he went uncensured, unimpeached and unpunished. If only our Congress and President would handle meddling judges equally dismissively.
If only...
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