Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die

Human Events ^ | July 31, 2006 | Robert Schindler Sr.

[Quiet Man Jr.]

Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die

by Robert Schindler, Sr. Posted Jul 31, 2006

As most Americans know, on March 31, 2005, my daughter, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of starvation and thirst after having her feeding tube removed by court order. The sad chain of events that concluded with Terri’s death ignited a media firestorm nationally and internationally. What few saw or heard was the callous inaction of aspiring governor Charlie Crist.

Florida Atty. Gen. Charlie Crist let my daughter die. He had it within his authority to save her life, but he turned a blind eye to her suffering. Even worse, he worked to ensure her death.

Terri lived in a neurologically compromised state for reasons that are still unknown, and my family wanted nothing more than permission to care for Terri for the span of her natural life. We were denied.

My daughter tenaciously fought for her life for more than 13 days after being deprived of the most basic, natural and constant need that we all share—the need for nourishment—food and water. Terri was not on a respirator, nor terminally ill. She was not dying, nor succumbing to a dreadful disease. She was disabled. She was dependent on others, but still very much a life, a woman, and a person.

Over the course of several years, our family, our lawyers, and our friends pleaded for help from local, county, and state police and regulatory agencies with constitutional and statutory authority to investigate the many sworn statements of extreme abuse and neglect suffered by our daughter.

Hoping to save my daughter’s life, our family sought the help of Attorney General Charlie Crist. Not only did Charlie Crist refuse our family lawful access to the assets of his office, but he violated his oath of office by actively cooperated with those in positions of political and judicial authority whom denied us legal access to the police and regulatory systems meant to protect the weak. Multiple sworn agents from responsible police and regulatory agencies who found probable cause to investigate allegations of abuse in Terri's judicial and physical care, were ordered to shut down those probes. This heavy-handedness made us powerless.

Information of direct interest to Attorney General Charlie Crist's office was directly delivered to his personal hands, and he refused to properly execute the duties of his office. And it was with deliberate decision that he failed to attend a scheduled Tallahassee meeting with our family. On another occasion, we approached each other by chance. Upon recognizing me, Charlie Crist abruptly stopped and walked away.

That callous action encapsulates Charlie Crist. He walked away from a man whose daughter’s fate he controlled. At that moment, he turned his back on Terri. And he turned his back on the most fundamental duties of his office.

It is quite clear that Charlie Crist, to this day, has demonstrated no public affection for the cause of life, or Christianity, or any set of core values. He has been posturing to become governor for decades. With each voting audience he has crafted a message based on the expediency of the moment.

To add insult to injury, at a recent banquet, our alleged pro-life candidate for the Governor of Florida said the following about Judge George Greer and other judges involved in the death of my daughter, "You are heroes to all of us, and your defense of the judiciary and what is right is beyond admirable."

Through his actions, Charlie Crist has demonstrated that he has no regard for our most vulnerable citizens, the high duties of public office, or life itself. Charlie Crist’s celebration of the merciless judges who condemned Terri to death speaks to his true character.

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Copyright © 2006 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.

[BykrBayb]

We're not dead yet.

[justshutupandtakeit]

This is Cindy Sheehan like.

[Howlin]

Heh.

[bjs1779]

I would think that the person who did the beating, would be an accessory. Those who planned and carried out the dehydration would still be guilty of murder, with or without a determination regarding the beating.

Michael Schiavo has his finger prints on every word.

[BykrBayb]

Yes, Cindy, I recognized your style.

[BykrBayb]

I still need to go unpack from my vacation. I especially enjoyed my visit to North Carolina. Interesting things to see there. I'll chat with you later.

[bjs1779]

You bet.

[Jane Austen]

Such a sad story.

[hoosierpearl]

What happened to Terri is sad but it won't be over until there is justice for her, toward those who ended her life.

My father died this past March, and he was disabled for 47 years. I went to a friend who was a nurse for help, information, in my decision making to protect my dad from those who would want to end his life. I said I didn't want anything to happen to my dad as happened to Terri. She shouted and screamed at me that we should end the lives of those who were disabled. No one would ever want to live disabled. I know my dad wanted to live and wanted help.

My former friend used Terri's circumstances to prove her point. People will use Terri to try to end the lives of other disabled people unless we fight them. We have to fight Crist and Greer and Michael Schiavo or there will be many more Terri Shiavo cases.

[DustyMoment]

Rod Smith wants to reach out to GOP. Would that be the democrat part of the GOP or the republican part?

From what I have seen of his commercials, it would DEFINITELY be the Democrat part. His commercials are badly staged, phony "news conferences" that are supposed to give the appearance that this no-name is going all over the state solving crises. His commercials have "Michael Moore" written all over them and he is clearly reaching out to his base - the most dumbed down and gullible people in the state.

[Saundra Duffy]

The line is long and twisted - the folks who participated in the killing of an innocent disabled helpless woman. I will never forget.

[Saundra Duffy]

Good to see you here on this thread, pal. Terri is greatly admired and missed. Is there a possibility that this goon Crist will win?

[Saundra Duffy]

"What happened to Terri is sad but it won't be over until there is justice for her, toward those who ended her life."

Those who ended her life have seemingly gotten away with murder. It makes my skin crawl. It changed my life. Terri was killed in a hospice setting and many cheered. Think about that!

The world turned upside down.

[8mmMauser]

For those who wondered which side the ACLU would take...

Add to that a banquet held last week in honor of Judge George Greer by the Pinellas County, Florida chapter of the ACLU as the judge who permitted the starvation of Terri Schiavo and it's hard to see how the ACLU is anything but friendly to Christian values.

Greer was the same judge who thumbed his nose at the Florida legislature, the governor, Congress and the president for passing legislation to protect Terri, refused to consider massive evidence how she could be rehabilitated, rejected the parents' wishes to take care of her and was unwilling himself to visit her (a right judges customarily take into consideration in their rulings) to ascertain her true condition.

A self-described agnostic lesbian in a wheelchair said earlier this year during protests outside the hospice where Terri was held, that she would rather have a Christian decide her fate than the ACLU. However, Terri, had no such fortune. The civil rights touting ACLU steadfastly refused to consider her civil liberties, the kind found in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S Constitution.

Does the ACLU Really Defend Christians?

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(this includes Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to July 23.)



Terri on the road to recovery before the second stage began.

[8mmMauser]

Some may wonder which side the New Socialist would take...

In Congress, politicians repeatedly denounced the judiciary for accepting the findings of neurologists and granting Michael Schiavo’s request not to prolong Terri’s life. But the law they passed didn’t stop the courts.

The Christian Right used the Terri Schiavo case to try to convince the population that the legal system is out of control and must be reigned in. The most prized target is the US Supreme Court, which has trimmed women’s right to abortion over the last thirty years without actually banning it. The right feels it has earned the ability to influence public policy, but it does not see its agenda being implemented. This frustration and impatience is hopefully the sign of its coming downfall.

Has the Christian Right overplayed its hand in the Terri Schiavo case?

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[8mmMauser]

A play...

The play makes uncomfortable viewing and it’s hard not to wring your hands with the benefit of hindsight as you see the Shoah looming all too clearly. But at the same time it is fascinating to realise that Schnitzler was not prescient – he was rather, in tune with the climate of his times and a writer capable of dramatising it with lively and supremely intelligent clarity.

At the same time, as the world has been watching Pope John Paul II receiving the last rites and we have been taking sides over the ‘right’ to live or die of the unfortunate Terri Schiavo in America, the play has an extraordinary immediacy too.

Professor Bernhardi :The Dreyfus of Vienna

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[8mmMauser]

National Women's Organizations try on bioethics...

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2006--The Center for Women Policy Studies and the Women's Bioethics Project (WBP) today announced the formation of the first-ever State Legislative Advisory Board on Women and Bioethics. The bipartisan 15-member board is made up of progressive state legislative leaders from around the country. The first meeting of the newly formed board will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) on Monday, Aug. 14, 2006, 3-5 p.m. at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. The meeting is open to the public.

The advisory board meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Robin N. Fiore, who is the Adelaide R. Snyder Professor of Ethics at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Fiore's presentation will cover a full range of bioethics issues ranging from end-of-life issues and the effect of the Terry Schiavo case to stem cell research and its impact on women's reproductive rights and health. Following the presentation, the legislative leaders attending the meeting will assist the Center for Women Policy Studies and the WBP in planning a Bioethics Seminar for Women State Legislative Leaders, which will take place in 2007.

Two National Women's Organizations Launch State Legislative Advisory Board on Women and Bioethics; First Meeting to Convene at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Nashville

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[8mmMauser]

Congressional scorecard...

...................

1 -	Terri Schiavo: Federal court review (S. 686)
2 -	Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act: (CIANA): hostile Scott Amendment
3 -	Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA): hostile Jackson-Lee Amendment
4 -	Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA): passage
5 -	Funding of embryo-killing stem cell research (H.R. 810)
6 -	Abortion in military medical facilities
7 -	Coercive abortion / United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
8 -	Abortion in military medical facilities
9 -	Funding of embryo-killing stem cell research (H.R. 810): veto override

NRLC Scorecard 109th Congress U.S. House of Representatives

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[8mmMauser]

Dems...

A ripe combination of optimism and nervousness was apparent at a DLC strategy session on winning the West. The roomful of county commissioners, state legislators and policy wonks agreed that a growing number of westerners are fed up with Republicans in Washington for “overreaching,” in Jent’s term, on everything from the assisted suicide of the brain-damaged Florida woman, Terri Schiavo, to the war in Iraq.

Raasch: Democrats’ narrowly cast strategies of the past may haunt them in ’06

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[8mmMauser]

As Senator Lieberman's fate looms...

These same voters are upset at Mr. Lieberman's lecturing of Mr. Clinton for his personal behaviour in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and for his support of Mr. Bush over the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-dead Florida woman who was allowed to die last year despite opposition from right-to-life politicians.

Pro-war Lieberman on brink

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