Picture of the children arresting for trying to bring Terry [Schiavo] water (God Bless Them!)

US News ^ | 3/23/05

[areafiftyone]

Pinellas Park police Lt. Kevin Riley, standing upper right, prepares to arrest members of the Keys family as they were attempting to bring Terri Schiavo water Wednesday morning, March 23, 2005 outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. The Keys family, of Burnet, Tex., kneeling, from left, Josie, 14, Gabriel, 10, Chris, the children's father, and Cameron 12, were all taken into custody. Galen Keys, upper left, the children's mother looks on, but was not arrested.The mother insists it was the children's idea: "I am proud of them," said the boys' mother Geilen Keys from Texas, who was not arrested. "They are very mature and they said 'we want to go and offer some water to Terri'."

Pinellas Park police Lt. Kevin Riley, second from left, handcuffs 14-year-old Josie Keys, left, while Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies place her father Chris in the back of a van after arresting members of the family for trespassing Wednesday morning March 23, 2005 outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. The family members were attempting to bring Terri Schiavo a cup of water.

Gabriel Keys (foreground) is arrested by police officers for trespassing in Pinellas Park, Florida, March 23, 2005. The young protester attempted to take a glass of water into the Woodside Hospice for the brain-damaged Terri Schiavo. A federal judge rejected a request from the parents of Schiavo to order her feeding tube reinserted, dealing a blow to attempts by the U.S. Congress and the White House to prolong her life.

[506trooper]

"Maybe regulations don't require them to handcuff everyone arrested but they knew how bad the pictures would look and this is the cops' way of protesting, by making things look as bad as possible. Imagine dedicating yourself to public safety and being used this way. "

Hadn't thought of that......hmmmm...

[txradioguy]

"Don't feel sorry for the kids, be outraged their parents are using them as pawns in this travesty!"

Or possibly giving them an abstract lesson in humanity and compassion.

[zboa]

you get this straight, i'm not your pal.
and they sure are protecting these kids by putting them in cuffs. I was wondering who the (queer for cops) posters where, now i know. You have played your hand, and we know that you would take the cops side no matter what, so I am getting weary of you supposed logic here.

[Palladin]

"I lay before you life and death...Choose LIFE!"

[KC_Conspirator]

Wonderful. Children getting arrested for trying to bring water to a starving handicapped person in the land of liberal death.

[Long Cut]

"be outraged their parents are using them as pawns in this travesty!"

Oh, I am. I now have no doubts whatsoever in the position I have on this issue. Those on the side that uses children in this fashion are morally bankrupt. I can give them NO credibility.

[Wallace T.]

The government of Florida(with the possible exception of Governor Jeb Bush, who can still do the right thing) and the government of Pinellas Park have all of the moral authority of the Mafia or the Ku Klux Klan. They may have the guns, the handcuffs, and the keys to the jailhouse, but that is all. They have ceased being "the minister of God for thee for good," to quote Romans 13, and are now minions of Satan.

[northernlightsII]

Spring Break?????

[KC_Conspirator]

Your two pics give good insight to what liberals do.

[Blzbba]

"Don't feel sorry for the kids, be outraged their parents are using them as pawns in this travesty!"


Agreed. It amazes me how differently many Freepers react when kids are used for liberal purposes, like anti-war marches and protests. Why is the reaction so different here?

Hypocrisy alert!!

[djreece]

Can't really say this is the beginning of killing the disabled and elderly -- but it is the beginning of taking a stand against it.

Sad, but true. I guess we would have to say it is the beginning of doing it with most Americans (and the world) being aware of it.

[TexasCajun]

Helter Skelter!

Conservatives are judicial shopping. Seeking an Executire Order from the President of the United States on the matter that has been heard before some type of judge more than 40 times in 7 years.

Conservatives are placing their minor children on the front line of the controversy.

Who does that remind you of?

[Long Cut]

So don't post to me again.

[Blzbba]

"Those kids were USED, and for cheap propaganda."


I'm glad someone else here sticks to their principles of not wanting to exploit kids for political purposes.

Imagine the outrage if these kids were protesting the Iraq War or Bush. There'd be no adulation of them then.

[Diogenesis]

#319

Huh?

I am totally for giving her food, water, comfort, and care
and am certain within reasonable doubt that she has not been given good medical care.
Not sure where you are coming from in your (hot) statement.

[hchutch]

Agreed.

[Long Cut]

"These are courageous people of principle..."

They are lunatics who have placed their own children in a possible line-of-fire and got them arrested so they can have some propaganda. If that's your idea of "courage", you must have lots of heroes in the West Bank.

[txradioguy]

"Those on the side that uses children in this fashion are morally bankrupt. I can give them NO credibility."

No faith in our youth these days?

Why does everyone automatically ASSUME that these kids are pawns?

Anyone ever stop to think that whatever they've been taught in church and brought up to believe in by their parents inspired them to ask to do this on their own?

THose skeptics out there have obviously have never seen a group of boyscouts at work...you'd be surprised what a group of teenagers can come up with to do on their own if they're raised and taught right.

[Blzbba]

"Who does that remind you of?"


Hell, I'll say it: LIBERALS.

[Serenissima Venezia]

Junior:
"Letting a child "follow his conscience" can lead to kids getting into all sorts of trouble -- because kids do not have a well-developed conscience until they are much older."

Campion:
"What, like 50? Get real. You mean they haven't learned to practice moral cowardice yet."

As much as I think the children have done a wonderful thing, I have to agree that they are not capable of mature reasoning since none of them look like they're even teenagers yet. Until they reach the age of at least 15, children are not capable of reasoning as an adult. This is why they need guardians until they are 18 and are treated different when committing crimes. Jean Piaget, who was not a psychologist, but a developmental biologist who formulated childhood delvelopmental stages related to major developments in brain growth. The human brain is not fully developed until late adolescence or in the case of males sometimes early adulthood. We often expect children to think like adults when they are not yet capable of doing so. The gradual internalization of rules and maturing conscience for decision-making takes place in one of the last developmental stages.

Therefore, I think that even if it was the children's idea to bring Terri the water, the seed was planted by someone else. I'm sure the kids don't understand the entire situation, which is even more sad that they got arrested for a kind act. It's just too bad it didn't work! Someone needs to give Terri some nourishment and soon.