A Final Word on Schiavo

The news is full of the Schiavo autopsy, and how her brain had atrophied to half its normal size, that she was blind, and that should could not swallow on it is own. Democrats feel like it's vindication, and Frist makes no apologies, though unconvincingly denies he made diagnosis from a video tape.

My friend Sully asks the good question "Why is this front page news?" Besides it being as much of a bookend as possible to a circus story, he has a very good point for two reasons I can think of.

First off, that this became a national issue, and thus news, in the first case is rediculous, and I imagine only served to make advocates for intervention all the more bold. Secondly, no autopsy result changes how inappropriate federal intervention was.

But few republicans are going to talk those points up. Tom Delay warned that these judges will pay and now has little to say. There Bush's hypocritical line about choosing life... with blissful disregard to the lives he ended as Texas governor.

But one GOP politician has thought about this more: Mel Martinez, a major advocate for intervention is quoted "I really probably come to the view this has to be more resolved at the state level, seems like the kind of issue the state courts deal with." Indeed, I thought that was the usual GOP take all along.

But I don't see this changing anything. We have had an adminstation and congress that insists that lies are true dispite overwhelming evidence time and time again, the economy, weapons of mass destruction, the environment, campaign finance, judicial nominees. What opposition is there? Well, Democrats don't take it to the brink, they don't push back hard enough, lose elections, and compromise on extreme judges.

I guess this is news since it's another bit of crow to serve, too bad there's so much other folly to feed their egos that they'll hardly blink at this.

An incapacitated pope versus a dead pope

Italy is revisiting the attempted murder of the Pope in 1981. While other news sources indicate that Pope is now being fed by a nasal tube. Given the Vatican's stance on the Schiavo ordeal, we can safely bet that the pope will not be issuing a DNR order.

Which begs the question? Which is best for the Catholic church? A dead Pope is replaced, but an indefinately incapacited pope lingers, and does nothing to respond to worldwide abuse by clergy or the popularity of the Da Vinci Code.

The New York Post calls for .... restraint?

I couldn't believe it when I spotted it this morning on the train... "Enough" The New York Post's editorial took the front page today. Notably:

Congress, to its discredit, added endgame drama to the debate. So did President Bush; it was not his finest hour.

It was always the courts — state and federal — that should have had the final word in this dramatic tragedy.

How ironic that the people fighting on the extremes of both sides brought about a consensus in the middle.

The macabre circus that has put Pinellas County, Fla., on the global map is no longer about Terry Schiavo. It is about a revolution in the medical arts that has eroded all the old certainties about life, and about death.

Tomorrow Fox News will lead the way towards real news, and real reporting...

Connecting Dots

Thank goodness for folks who put together dots. That is often known as drawing lines, which can help us determine the hypocrites among us. From torture to the right to live, the name Bill Tierney wouldn't have stuck out in my mind otherwise. Thank you Whiskey Bar.

Jihad in Florida

Among the sordid elements of covering the protests at Woodside Hospice House, are the signs that many of the protesters brandish. Some of the glumier protestors seem to curse this callous goverment of godless people, and threaten that God may show His fury at said country. It's as if our country wasn't already attacked by people who thought ours is a callous government of godless people. Please don't encourage any more attacks.