The politics of death
The Schiavo case has been all over the news, and I've yet to blog on it. The reason is because my own position is hopelessly lost in the noise of the debate.
Federalism aside, right-to-life aside, right-to-die aside, court appointments aside, even Hitler aside the REAL question is whether or not Michael is the best steward of his wife's needs and wishes. I'm willing to entertain the possibility that he's faithfully carrying out Terri's stated wish to die. In that case he should be considered a devoted and loving spouse beset on all sides and deserves our sympathy. However, in the absence of a living will, and with a live-in girlfriend, mutiple kids by another women, and more than a decade of denying Terri any shot at rehabilitation...?
The image of him as a devoted husband looks false. The honorable thing for Michael to do would be to divorce his wife, marry the mother of his children, and give responsability for Terri's care over to her family. He won't, of course. And that saddens me.
But all of the above is just background to highlight to my real fear: "When will the next terrorist attack occur?" an Instapundit reader wonders.
We're at war, people. The fact that this debate dominates the news is vaguely disturbing to me. Hell, slow news days in general worry me in these days of international terrorism. Perhaps I'm attributing to war the overwhelming importance that environmentalists give to global warming (which does not cause any loss of sleep for me.) Who knows? Perhaps Americans who have witnessed legal battles over feeding tubes were just as moved as I was by literal battles over neighborhoods in Iraq.
Bottom line: Get a living will, folks. It's not the end-all be-all of answers, but it's a good hedge against the problems now facing Terri Schiavo, God bless her soul.
Federalism aside, right-to-life aside, right-to-die aside, court appointments aside, even Hitler aside the REAL question is whether or not Michael is the best steward of his wife's needs and wishes. I'm willing to entertain the possibility that he's faithfully carrying out Terri's stated wish to die. In that case he should be considered a devoted and loving spouse beset on all sides and deserves our sympathy. However, in the absence of a living will, and with a live-in girlfriend, mutiple kids by another women, and more than a decade of denying Terri any shot at rehabilitation...?
The image of him as a devoted husband looks false. The honorable thing for Michael to do would be to divorce his wife, marry the mother of his children, and give responsability for Terri's care over to her family. He won't, of course. And that saddens me.
But all of the above is just background to highlight to my real fear: "When will the next terrorist attack occur?" an Instapundit reader wonders.
We're at war, people. The fact that this debate dominates the news is vaguely disturbing to me. Hell, slow news days in general worry me in these days of international terrorism. Perhaps I'm attributing to war the overwhelming importance that environmentalists give to global warming (which does not cause any loss of sleep for me.) Who knows? Perhaps Americans who have witnessed legal battles over feeding tubes were just as moved as I was by literal battles over neighborhoods in Iraq.
Bottom line: Get a living will, folks. It's not the end-all be-all of answers, but it's a good hedge against the problems now facing Terri Schiavo, God bless her soul.