Free Republic

Only two days after admitting that Barack Obama has a problem with his "frightening" birth control decision, Chris Matthews on Thursday was back on offense. He berated Rick Santorum as a "theocrat" and knocked Reverend Franklin Graham as a "disgrace." The Hardball host singled out Family Research Council President Tony Perkins as the representative of all those who would question Obama's faith. Matthews interrogated, "Tony, do you think this president is a Muslim?" He added, "Why [do] your people" make such allegations? An exasperated Perkins replied, "no" and shot back, "My people?...The things that we have said have always been...

The Disclaimer: If you do not believe in God, then this post will be meaningless gibberish in your mind. The Premise: Our relationship with God has always been centered upon the concept of Freedom of Choice. We are free to choose from all manner of things both good and evil, but God also chooses. The Facts: Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged young woman, teeters on the edge of death. She is being killed by withholding food and water, a judgement decreed upon her by the people of the United States. The highest courts of the land have approved her death,...

Brother testifies in favor of “Terri Schiavo Day” by Matt Lacy – Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo testified on Tuesday in support of a New Hampshire bill proclaiming March 31 of each year as a day to remember Terri Schiavo. Schiavo, who spent 15 years on a feeding tube, became a focal point over the right to die issue and highlighted the need for individuals to have a living will specifying their wishes.. On February 25, 1990 Schiavo collapsed while at home. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors were unable to determine an exact cause of...

Detroit — Seven years ago, Bobby Schindler’s life changed as he watched his sister fight for hers. Terri Schiavo had suffered severe brain damage several years earlier after entering cardiac arrest in her St. Petersburg, Fla., home, but that wasn’t what was threatening to take her life. According to her brother, the hospitals, courts, state and Schiavo’s husband posed a far greater risk. And on March 18, 2005, Schindler and his parents could only watch helplessly and desperately as Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube, on which she depended for sustenance, was removed. Thirteen days later, she died a slow death of...

There's no doubt some Republicans remain unhappy with the GOP presidential field. They wish other candidates -- Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush -- had entered a long time ago. But the Iowa caucuses are in two weeks. Is there any chance, at this late date, that something could change? All the alternative candidates have repeatedly said they won't run. But there is new speculation focusing on Bush after the former Florida governor turned heads Monday morning when he wrote, in the Wall Street Journal, a campaign-like economic manifesto headlined "Capitalism and the Right to Rise."

Terri Schiavo of Florida, who's vegetative state and right to life became a national issue in 2005 The difference between a dead man and a man in a vegetative state used to be a thin line of whether or not the body was still functioning. But what if the vegetative man is still conscious? That brings the distinction into a whole new level.Philosopher Walter Sinnott-Armstrong gave a talk titled “Is he conscious? Does he want to be?” at the Trent Center for Bioethics on Friday, Dec. 9. He discussed clinical studies which have shown that despite the unresponsive display, patients...

TAMPA — The servants of the Lord wore red as always, and the servants of the law wore pinstripes. But the annual Red Mass for Tampa's legal community struck a new chord of civil disobedience. Bishop Robert Lynch, leader of nearly a half-million Tampa Bay Catholics, surprised two dozen judges and 300 lawyers Wednesday by promising to thwart the federal health care law. It was a departure from his traditional homilies on the virtues of judicial wisdom. If draft regulations aren't changed, Lynch said, the Diocese of St. Petersburg will no longer provide health insurance for its 2,300 employees. Instead,...

A neurosurgeon, vetted by Levin's staff, calls Mark and talks about what he knows about Obamacare Death Panels. From 11/22/11

NEW YORK, November 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study published in one of the most respected medical journals in the world this month has found that many “vegetative” patients are in fact fully conscious and aware. Experts at the University of Western Ontario conducted the experiment by applying an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine, a common mechanism for measuring brain waves, to a large group of unresponsive patients suffering from brain injuries. The New York Times reported that, when researchers asked “vegetative” patients to imagine squeezing their hand into a fist or wiggling their toes on cue, they found the brain waves...

Late last night the prestigious British medical journal “The Lancet” published a very important study online that further demonstrated that patients diagnosed to be in a persistent vegetative state have either often been misdiagnosed or are sometimes consciously aware even if they are in a PVS. Several of you wrote back in response to our analysis (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/11/lancet-study-provides-more-evidence-that-patients-in-so-called-%E2%80%9Cpersistent-vegetative-state%E2%80%9D-may-be-consciously-aware) which is one important reason for this follow-up. I spent about an hour and a half today reading how media outlets covered the conclusions drawn by “Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state: a cohort study.” The New York Times’ two lead paragraphs are absolutely...

  “You’ll Swing for This!” Thoughts on the Execution of Troy Davis David C. Stolinsky Sept. 26, 2011 On Sept. 21, Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis by lethal injection. Twenty-two years ago, Davis murdered police officer Mark MacPhail. After shooting Officer MacPhail, Davis stood over him and shot him again. Predictably, MacPhail’s name was mentioned much less often than the murderer’s name, and there were demonstrations for the murderer but none for MacPhail. For details read Ann Coulter, who is an attorney and − unlike other commentators − actually reviewed the transcript. If opponents of capital punishment claim...

More than three years ago, readers on this site received fair warning that Father Frank Pavone was cruising toward a showdown with officials in the Diocese of Amarillo. Read the comment by Diogenes from August 2008, and you will find the simmering conflict neatly summarized, many months before it boiled over into full public view. Diogenes concluded his analysis this way: The question isn't whether or not the Church will support pro-life work. The question is whether priests and religious, when they engage in pro-life work, remain subject to ecclesiastical discipline. The answer, by the way, is Yes. You can...

Country music singer Collin Raye to be a new voice for the cognitively impaired and those at risk of euthanasia Contact: Kristina Hernandez, 703-373-0632, khernandez@crcpublicrelations.comST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 14, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Terri Schiavo's Life & Hope Network, a foundation created by her parents and siblings following her death by starvation in 2005, announced today that country music star Collin Raye will serve as their national spokesperson."I am truly honored and humbled to be representing those who have no voice and appreciate the opportunity to help families and loved ones who are in similar situations like those of Terri...

I watched an old woman die of hunger and thirst.  She had Alzheimer’s, this old woman, and was child-like, trusting, vulnerable, with a child’s delight at treats of chocolate and ice cream, and a child’s fear and frustration when tired or ill.I watched her die for six days and nights.I watched her suffer, and I listened to the medical practitioners, to a son who legally decided her fate, and to an eldest daughter who advised him and told me that the old woman, my mother, was “comfortable,” except when she was “in distress,” at which times the nurses medicated her...

LifeNews.com Note:  Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and he and his family now work for Terri’s Life & Hope Network to help disabled and incapacitated patients like her. The anniversary of the death of his father, Robert Schindler, was earlier this week. The passing of both Terri and my father is what helps inspire my family and the work we do at Terri’s Life & Hope Network to continue fighting for our most vulnerable every day.My father was a man of incredible strength, and loved his family so much that he essentially gave up his life...

Julia Gross with her mother Estelle. LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, August 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recently retired New York Times reporter has penned a book in which she details how she followed through on a shocking pact to help her 88-year-old mother, Estelle, starve to death. In an excerpt from the book, “A Bittersweet Season,� published recently in the Daily Mail, Jane Gross describes her mother’s increasing dissatisfaction with life as her health deteriorated, and her mounting desire to die, despite the fact that she was not terminally ill. “So here we were, my mother and I, wishing that she...

he death of Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005 is a distant memory for most Americans. But for the family that spent seven years fighting Terri's estranged husband and the court system to stop the starvation of their daughter and sister, recollections of the 13 days Terri lingered without food or water before finally succumbing to death remain vivid and painful. And the knowledge that other brain-damaged patients could suffer a similar fate has propelled this once-ordinary family into around-the-clock activism. "It was almost like there really wasn't an option," said Terri's sister, Suzanne Schindler-Vitadamo, when I interviewed her last weekend...

On Saturday the Daily Mail ran a poll with the question, “Should ‘minimally conscious’ patients be allowed to die? As of this writing (on Saturday), 29% said No, 71% said yes. I have to wonder though, if the people who clicked Yes had given much thought to the form of the question. Something I learned as a lobbyist paying close attention to various pieces of legislation is to always look very closely indeed at the pages of the bill that give the definitions of terms. What does it mean to be “allowed to die”? And what, exactly, are we talking...

July 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After years of opposition from disability advocates, more experts are beginning to question the validity of the “persistent vegetative state� (PVS) diagnostic label that paved the way for Terri Schiavo’s starvation death. A Discover magazine article published online July 6 explained that PVS often fails to account for a broad swath of traumatic brain injury patients who are deemed to be “still in there� - a conclusion one science reporter called “haunting.� Discover’s Kat McGowan examined the outcome of years of experiments by Dr. Joseph Giancino, director of rehabilitation neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital,...

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3 / -- Today marks the end of Jack Kevorkian’s reign of terror over vulnerable and needy patients. For decades Jack Kevorkian spent his life advocating for assisted suicide, helping dozens of mostly non-terminal persons kill themselves. “It was clear that this man had a dysfunctional obsession and infatuation with death and that his true involvement in these deaths was never properly reported,” stated Terri Schiavo’s Life and Hope Network’s Executive Director, Bobby Schindler. In an October 2010 MSNBC interview with Jack Kevorkian, he was asked to weigh in on Terri Schiavo’s two-week court ordered dehydration death....

Doctors are prescribing drinking water for neglected elderly patients to stop them dying of thirst in hospital. The measure – to remind nurses of the most basic necessity – is revealed in a damning report on pensioner care in NHS wards. Some trusts are neglecting the elderly on such a fundamental level their wards could face closure orders. The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients’ calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink.

Terri Schiavo was subjected to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death by her former husband who refused to provide her with proper medical care and rehabilitative treatment.Not wanting to see other patients endure the same ordeal, the foundation Terri’s family started to help disabled people receive proper care announced today it is supporting the New Beginnings Community Center of Medford, New York that will help people in similar situations.The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network told LifeNews that New Beginnings is a state-of-the-art outpatient rehabilitative facility for Veteran’s, Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors and other cognitively and physically disabled persons....

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Grand Junction proclaimed Monday as National Health Care Decisions Day, urging all citizens to make their health care wishes known through advance care planning for managing a serious illness, or end-of-life care. Living wills and advance directives are documents that spell out your wishes if you should become incapacitated due to a medical crisis. Millions of people began filling out living wills and advance directives after the 1976 Supreme Court case of Karen Ann Quinlan, whose parents battled with hospital staff who sought to keep Quinlan alive through artificial means, even though she had lapsed into...

AVE MARIA, Florida, March 31, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On March 31, 2005, a Florida woman who was at the center of an intense nationwide controversy took her last breath, after thirteen days without food or water. A bouquet of flowers sat in a vase of water next to the bed where Terri Schiavo lay, forbidden under court order from receiving the water she needed to sustain her life. Six years later, Terri’s family reverently recalled their loved one’s struggle to live, a struggle that became a measure of America’s conscience after attempts to overrule husband Michael Schiavo’s decision to...

I recently read an article in the London Free Press (March 22nd) about the highly publicized Joseph Maraachli situation titled, Baby Joseph Case Becomes Political Issue in U.S. As the Executive Director the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, I was personally involved in helping Baby Joseph’s parents keep control of the medical treatment decisions that were being made for their son.Joseph was diagnosed with a brain condition that doctors believe will eventually cause his untimely death. Joseph's parents, Moe and Sana, understood that their son’s case was terminal. Their only request was for a simple procedure to be performed that...

On the anniversary of her 13-day starvation and dehydration death at the hands of her former husband, pro-life advocates are remembering Terri Schiavo and promising to help disabled patients like her. “We honor Terri Schiavo today, by speaking at the Medical Ethics Symposium at Ave Maria School of Law. Her fight for Life reflects the importance of caring for those with special needs, especially with end of life decisions and prenatal diagnosis,� Hawkins said. “In both cases, pro-lifers need to stand for the most defenseless among us.�“I have seen this with my own eyes when my son Gunner was...

On this sixth anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death, I will note my shame for my own attitude at the time. I was neither sober nor sane, my emotions ran wild sitting and pacing the floor, logging on constantly for the latest news. I was as crazy as Michael Savage was ranting on the radio during those dark days. Sane and sober people did help Terri's family and her cause and I have noted the contributions of Glenn Beck among others. There's a lot of hostility from some when one brings up the notion of "failure" involving public officials to take...

The family of Terri Schiavo, through their Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, will present a symposium on end-of-life issues before a special Mass to remember and honor the life of the disabled woman. The mass, which will be held at Ave Maria University, a Florida-based Catholic college, will mark the anniversary of the death of the woman who rose to international attend when her husband sought and won permission from a court to take her life via a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death.The symposium, entitled The Erosion of Medical Ethics, will be held on March 31 and...

Family objects and says woman is still aware; seeking transfer to another facility in Texas By Mary Ann Roser AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, April 28, 2006 Against her family's wishes, doctors at North Austin Medical Center have decided to stop treating an Austin woman after determining that she is in a persistent vegetative state, a case that echoes some of the wrenching issues raised in the Terri Schiavo case. However, hospital officials agreed Thursday to give the distraught family, which disputes that the 63-year-old woman is in a vegetative state, more time to find another facility to take her. The hospital...

  Rachel Nyirahabiyambere and one of her grandchildren. WASHINGTON, D.C., March 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Rwandan immigrant woman and survivor of the horrors of the 1994 genocide who had her feeding tube removed because a U.S. Catholic-affiliated hospital deemed her care too expensive, apparently will not die of starvation and dehydration thanks to a court order and the efforts of her children. Rachel Nyirahabiyambere, a 58-year-old grandmother and refugee from war-torn Rwanda, had been denied food and water since Feb. 19 after her feeding tube was removed by order of her court-appointed guardian. Now 21 days later and still...

I reported on Friday that Rachael Nyirahaabiyambere was back on a feeding tube by court order. I can now report that the ADF has–once again–leaped into the breach to help a family whose loved one was threatened with dehydration–just as it did in the Jesse Ramirez case.  In doing so, it has attempted to bring a modicum of equal justice to Nyirahabiyambrere and her family in the outrageous dehydration of the African immigrant.  From the story: A judge ordered Friday that a Rwandan immigrant whose feeding tube was removed three weeks ago against her family’s wishes be given nutrition...

The parents of a terminally ill Windsor, Ont., baby are being represented by a prominent U.S. lawyer who has ties to Sarah Palin. CeCe Heil is connected to a Washington law firm, which has fought for right-wing Christian causes throughout the United States. Heil said she hopes to find a hospital in the U.S. that will agree to care for Joseph Maraachli, who has been on life support for months at a hospital in London, Ont., due to a fatal neurological disease. Doctors want to remove his breathing tube, and a judge has sided with them, but the family of...

  MUMBAI, February 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Doctors at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital are concerned for the life of Aruna Shanbaug, a former nurse at KEM who suffered serious brain damage when she was strangled and raped in 1973, and who has been cared for by hospital staff ever since. The Indian Supreme Court ordered an investigation into Shanbaug’s condition after a journalist, who wrote a book about Shanbaug, filed a petition seeking to have hospital staff discontinue feeding her.Journalist Pinki Virani said through her lawyer that Shanbaug had been “virtually a dead person” for the last 38...

Judge Who Ordered Euthanasia of Terri Schiavo Retires St. Petersburg, FL -- The Florida state judge who allowed the former husband of disabled patient Terri Schiavo to take her life by depriving her of food and water, has retired from the bench. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/03/judge-who-ordered-euthanasia-of-terri-schiavo-retires

The Schindler Family–Terri Schiavo’s mother and siblings–are some of the finest people I know. Their indomitable fight to save Terri from a cruel and medically unnecessary slow dehydration–in the face of media smears and fury among some who went berserk over their desire to save Terri’s life–epitomized familial unconditional love and stalwart courage in the face of great adversity. That several year struggle destroyed father Bob Schindler’s health, and her death broke his heart. He died a few years ago.But the family continues on, working quietly behind the scenes individually–and through their foundation, the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope...

Last week, former U.S. President, George W. Bush released a memoir of his tenure in office called “Decision Points.” In this 500-plus page account, Bush revisits a number of official and personal events, as well as choices that shaped both his presidency and his attitudes in private life.I was disappointed to learn that Bush’s actions in March of 2005—that led to the passage of Terri’s Law—were not a part of this account. On March 20, 2005 in what was called the Palm Sunday Compromise, Congress passed “Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo”—a law that gave the Federal court access...

There was not a dry eye in McGivney Hall's Keane auditorium Wednesday as more than 150 students watched a short video of photos and footage from the life of Terri Schiavo-a Florida woman whose tragic medical condition riveted the nation and Congress five years ago. The video presentation followed a talk given by Bobby Schindler, the late Terri Schiavo's brother and advocate from the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, sponsored by the CUA student organization Students for Life. Schindler's talk addressed the misconceptions surrounding Schiavo's death, its treatment by the media, and its ongoing impact in today's culture, in...

...Mr. Soros is the sugar daddy of the Democratic Party and the modern left. His net worth is more than $7 billion. He is one of the richest and most influential men in the world. Almost every major liberal organization, think tank or media outlet has been the beneficiary of Mr. Soros' largesse. The Nation magazine, Mother Jones, Media Matters, MoveOn.org, NPR and the Center for American Progress - all together they have received tens of millions of dollars from the financier. They serve as front groups and propaganda vehicles to promote Mr. Soros' brand of transnational socialism. ..Mr. Soros...

If you thought the debate over providing a patient food and water had ended with Pope John Paul II’s 2004 address to health care professionals, you are sadly mistaken. The Holy Father clarified Catholic teaching, but even his profound words did not end the ongoing discussions which are taking on more innuendo and less fundamental ethical guidance as time progresses. Pope John Paul II discussed the provision of nutrition and hydration in the case of patients in a coma, and did so as the Terri Schiavo drama was playing out in Florida. When he addressed the subject, he said...

  NEWS ALERT! Brain-Injured Wife Goes Without Food or Water for Seven Weeks September 17, 2010 (Statement from Terri's Life & Hope Network) - It has been 49 days since Trisha Duguay has gone without any food or water after her feeding tube was removed. Her husband made this decision shortly after Trisha had unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor that was discovered just after the couple was married.The family has started a Facebook page to lend support to Trisha and her family titled, "From Bride to Angel." So far, over 4,000 people have supported the family.While what is...

Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Change's Name! For Immediate Release Contact: Bobby Schindler, Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, 727-490-7603, bschindler@terrisfight.org ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation has changed its name to the "Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network". "This new name better reflects the purpose of our organization -- to continue to develop and update our network to help families protect their loved ones from a very aggressive anti-life agenda taking control of our nation," said Director of Development, Suzanne Vitadamo. The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation was originally founded in the year 2000...

Los Angeles, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Gary Coleman's ex-wife said in a new interview that she pulled the plug on the actor last week because she didn't want him ending up like Terri Schiavo. The comments have sparked an outcry from pro-life advocates, who are also upset by continued mainstream media misreporting on Terri. Shannon Price told TMZ in a video interview the day after Coleman's death, "[The doctors] said even if they did take a chunk out of his brain, he would not be the same. He would be basically like Muhammed Ali.""Be in my situation. I mean, look what...

LifeNews.com Note: Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and he and his family now work for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation to help disabled and incapacitated patients like her. As you know, it's been over five years that we all lived through the barbarism of Terri's death. And since Terri died, our family has been astonished to the extent that her brain injury has been the focus of repeated mean-spirited media attacks. If that wasn't enough, the work of Terri's Foundation is now being included in these attacks!In our last E-Newsletter we informed you about what happened on...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's name could be back in court, but this time for a different reason. Her former husband says he is considering a lawsuit against her family because they started a foundation in her name to assist other disabled who may be deprived of their legal rights and medical care. The foundation was once named Terri's Fight and existed before Terri's death, which saw Michael Schiavo starve and dehydrate her to death over 13 days after winning a court order to take her life.The Schindler family -- Terri's mother and father and brother and sister...

Killing defenseless people with disabilities is not very difficult. They can’t fight back and, in many instances, either they have no advocates, or those advocates are overwhelmed in the unrelenting drumbeat for death.It’s this latter point that Terri Schiavo’s family has had to live with since her untimely and completely unnecessary legal execution in 2005.They fought as hard as they could, and were helped by many people who knew how dangerous the situation was. There were several disability organizations as well as faith-based groups who all saw that what was happening, and then did happen to Terri.They all knew that...

Michael Schiavo has threatened to sue Terri Schiavo’s family because they named their non profit after her–the “Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.”  (MS claims he owns the name. ) And, true to form, an ever compliant media fronted his cause with an unfair attack on the family.  From the story: Schiavo’s widower, Michael Schiavo, says the family should be ashamed of what they are doing. He adds if Terri ever knew this was happening she’d be horrified. Michael Schiavo is talking about the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation. While Terri Schiavo’s brother Bobby says the organization is set up to help...

"A staunch advocate of every child's right to be born, I was pro-life enough for the RTL folks to adopt Piper as their poster child, but I wasn't politically connected enough for the state GOP machine to allow the organization to endorse me in early campaigns" Sarah Palin-"Going Rogue" pages 2-3 Its a little paragraph, but to me one of the best in Sarah Palin's book. Sarah tells me something I've known about for a number of years, that the major established pro-life organizations in this country led by the National Right To Life Committee and its state affiliates like...

Gone But Not Forgotten Melissa Barnhart, April 5, 2010 The Family Research Council commemorated the fifth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo by hosting a panel discussion, “Terri Schiavo and a Culture of Life: Looking Forward on the Anniversary of Terri’s Death,� in Washington, D.C. on Monday, March 29. Terri died from dehydration at age 41, on March 31, 2005, 13 days after Judge George W. Greer of the Sixth Judicial Court in Pinellas County, Fla., ordered that her feeding tube be removed. FRC’s four-person panel included David Gibbs III, lead attorney in Terri’s case and author of the...

The House of Commons is currently considering Bill C-384, a bill that would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide. This bill -- a private member's bill scheduled for further debate and a vote on first reading sometime in May -- should be rejected by every member of parliament. Shortly before the passing of severely handicapped Terri Schiavo in Florida in 2005, whose death was hastened by a U.S. court order to remove her feeding tube, Patrick J. Buchanan wrote: "That there arose a national outcry at the execution of Schiavo -- so loud Congress and president Bush heard it and came...

Some say there is no greater pain than a parent losing a child. So imagine watching for weeks as your disabled child is deliberately and slowly killed. Her excruciating death is by neglect — failing to feed or give her water. Any parent who stood by and allowed that to happen would be criminally charged and excoriated by the media and every decent person. But what if you were forbidden to help her? And what if a judge even ordered police to arrest anyone who put even a drop of water on her lips? March 31st marks the anniversary...