Monday, March 21, 2005

President Bush Had This Mommy's Baby Killed

(via Atrios via Digby) In 1999, Texas Guv'ner George W. Bush signed the Texas Futile Care Law which "expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes."

Wanda Hudson, mother of the 5-month-old Texan baby (Sun had been born with a fatal genetic disorder, thanatophoric dysplasia, meaning his lungs were too small for him to breathe on his own) that was put to death last week over her objections, said "her son just needed time to grow and to be weaned off of the ventilator he was on since birth" (link).

One difference between that baby and Terri Schiavo. That baby wasn't brain damaged.

If you want to know the TRUTH about the Terri Schiavo case, go to Blogger Radio and read this letter which cs wrote to Daniel Okrent, departing Public Editor/Ombudsman for The New York Times, asking him to explain why the "paper of record" has been lying to its readers:

"Sunday's article, "Congress Ready to Approve Bill in Schiavo Case", by Robin Toner and Carl Hulse was appallingly deficient in providing readers with factual backgound needed to understand present developments in this emotionally charged matter. Robin and Hulse -- and their lackidaisical editors -- summarize ten years of legal proceedings in Florida over whether to prolong Terri Schiavo's life in this single, highly misleading, sentence: "Her husband testified that she had told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially, but her parents maintain that she is responsive, and they want to keep her alive.""

"Mr Orkent, a few simple googles and an hour or so of reading on the internet is all -- yes, all -- it would have taken for your reporters to understand that Judge Greer's legal rulings have never been based on such he said / she said arguments."

I took some time earlier today to read Judge Greer's opinions on the Schiavo case from five years ago (link, pdf link), and it turns out that Judge Greer based his decision on testimony from four different witnesses besides Michael Schiavo.

I resisted writing about this all day long but when I saw this other link on Atrios today I realized that this case was about more than just one woman who has sadly been reduced to living in a vegatative state: "But that's the whole point of this Congressional action. Not liking a particular result in a case that has been litigated fully and completely by a court with competent jurisdiction, Congress now has said that the game must be re-done with new rules that heavily favor one side over the other. The implications of this move are astonishing. Just think about it. Anytime Congress doesn't like the result in a particular case, it could swoop in and call a "do-over[.]""

So, what have we learned?

1. Killing a "million dollar baby" is fine, allowing a woman to die with dignity is not.

2. Conservatives believe in states' rights except when it comes to the courts, and except whenever they damn well feel like it.

3. President Bush thinks gay marriage will destroy the sanctity of marriage, but he himself can destroy the sanctity of marriage whenever he damn well feels like it.

4. A baby on life support must die, but a House Majority Leader whose career is on life support because he broke every rule in the book except - perhaps - pedophilia gets resurrected each time he makes up his own rules.

5. George Bush may have passed a law that allows babies to get taken away from their mothers and be put to death, but...but there is no fucking but.

(UPDATE - A week later I had to make a change to this post because sometimes I'm a dumbass, too. I meant to link to the PDF of Judge Greer's decision and I wrongly wrote that the judge based his decision on statements made by Terri to her mother and brother.)


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