BlogsforTerri remembers...
We've learned many things, or at least realized and appreciated more deeply truths that were rarely tested. Life is precious and its value is independent of a person's capabilities or health status. All individuals, no matter how severe or hopeless their illness, have the basic right to nursing care, emotional support, food, and water. Our critics have a hard time understanding that diminished capabilities or suffering does not change the dignity of the individual's life.
Many have adopted a utilitarian standard on which to evaluate the acceptability of a person's life. Severe brain damage is therefore seen as dehumanizing rather than just disabling. When we asserted that Terri's life was intrinsically valuable, antagonists responded viciously, caustically attacking in the most vile and aggressive manner. Again, we were surprised.
]]> And, we were caught off guard by the profound cultural change that began some 20 years ago and led to a redefinition of medical treatment and terminal conditions. Euthanasia activists and supporters of assisted suicide have worked together to change laws, set precedent and promote the previously mythical "right to die."Although Michael Schiavo has received his fair share of criticism, the battle is not about him. He could be a faithful and caring husband or the devil incarnate. Neither scenario adds to or detracts from the fact that Terri Schiavo was killed, her life purposefully ended following the ruling of a U.S. Court. Michael was no doubt exploited by euthanasia activists and was a useful pawn in their pro-death agenda. Perhaps one day he will come to regret his decision to end his wife's life and his unfortunate role in the rise of euthanasia and his position as an icon of the movement's progress.
Although many of our friends (understandably) responded in despair, we were delighted that others pressed forward, realizing that the lessons of Terri's life and death provided an understanding of greater truths, of the grace of God and the value He places upon each individual. Truth brings hope and hope produces vision.
We are seeing vision from individuals who have suffered the most vitriolic criticism of all, the Schindler family. Their steadfastness during this week of extreme exposure is simply inspiring.
BlogsforTerri remains committed to the battle, beginning with education and promotion. Look around you and consider the future of your loved ones. How many will be subjected to the coming storm of active euthanasia if we don't do something now. Next time it will be easier. It always is.
Let the injustice of Terri's death build within us a resolve to protect the weak and defenseless and fight for the dignity of human life.
Jack Kevorkian, who spent eight years in prison for his role in an assisted suicide, will take on another crusade Monday: a race for Congress....Actually, the reason he left prison is that he was expected to die of Hepatitis C within a year (of May 2006). Since then he's promoted assisted suicide via paid speaking engagements and now wants to represent Michigan constituents in congress.Kevorkian, 79, is expected to run as an independent. He was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder in the Sept. 17, 1998, death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Waterford. Youk had Lou Gehrig's disease. Kevorkian has said he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides during the 1990s. He was released from prison in June.
The Delaware Pro-Life Coalition is leading the fight to keep Lauren from being murdered by order of the state. They organized a prayer vigil yesterday afternoon near the Arbors Rehab Center in New Castle, DE [map]. If you would like to help out, the point of contact is Bess McAneny, 302-593-7876, bmcaneny@aol.com.
The Family Research Council is providing a first class meeting facility just a few blocks from the annual March for Life, the massive pro-life event which draws tens of thousands of pro-lifers (some estimate the crowd at well over 100,000) . A morning session is scheduled before the March with over a dozen well-known pro-life speakers including Kevin McCullough (MC), Jill Stanek, Judie Brown, Eric Scheidler, Barbara Curtis, Dawn Eden, Phill Kline, Michael New, Michael Illions, Maggie Datiles, Michelena Fredenburg, Peter Shinn and Rep. Chris Smith.
Yes, it will be action-packed and lively!
An afternoon session from Noon to 4 PM will be held in a luxurious room close to the Capitol building overlooking the March for Life. Internet access will be provided for live-blogging and a 50-inch flat screen monitor will broadcast the Rally and March for Life as it occurs. In addition, several pro-life leaders will be available for interviews and commentary.
If you plan to attend, please let us know by registering at Blogs4Life.com. Space in the afternoon session is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis.
More Information: Blogs4Life.com
]]>As dozens of pro-life advocates rallied outside, assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian delivered an angry and rambling speech. Although he can only talk about euthanasia in a limited fashion, he advocates the legalization of assisted suicide and blasted President Bush, calling him a tyrant.The AP reports the unrepentant words of the man convicted of assisting in 130 suicides:
"I am a physician. I knew how to do it. ... I did it humanely," Kevorkian told 4,867 students and faculty.LifeNews reports:(...) "We have a criminal group in Washington. We have a bunch of cruel dictators," he said. "Everyone should refuse to vote. That would send the tyrant a message."
(...) Kevorkian, who was paid $50,000 for his speech, said assisted suicide was a medical procedure -- something the law shouldn't be concerned with it.
(...) "It's got to be decriminalized and the law has to step out of the picture," said Kevorkian, wearing his signature blue sweater.
What a mockery of the criminal justice system that let him out on parole and the taxpayers who are (indirectly) footing the $50,000 bill.
He told the audience that he would be violating the terms of his parole to discuss euthanasia in an expanded sense. His attorney, Mayer Morganroth looked on during the speech.However, he said that Greece and Rome used assisted suicide and said the ancient cultures are ahead of ours, even though America exists in a modern time.
The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation was critical:
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The Terry Schindler Schiavo Foundation also submitted a petition with more than 5,000 signatures asking UF to cancel the speech. The foundation was established after the death of Terry Schiavo, a Florida woman who died in 2005 after being removed from a feeding tube in a high-profile battle between the woman's husband and her parents and siblings."My concern is this, you are paying a convicted murderer $50,000," said Bobby Schindler, Terry's Schiavo's brother. "It is poor judgment that would allow this man to speak."
He owes one to the American public too as does Fred Thompson, Republican presidential candidate.
How can the public have any trust in such grossly uninformed media figures as Stephanopoulos who obviously doesn't take the time to learn the facts of an issue or Thompson who aspires to be President. Is that how he would run the country, by basing his opinions on major issues by guess, gosh and speculation rather than facts?
Last Sunday, Thompson appeared on ABC's "This Week" with Stephanopoulos when Stephanopoulos openly demonstrated his total ignorance of the facts of the Schiavo case by flippantly, and wrongly, stating that an autopsy had shown that Terri was "brain dead".
]]>Q: This conference took place at the emblematic location of Hartheim, one of the seven main euthanasia centers of the Nazi regime. Approximately 30,000 people -- mostly children -- were killed there. More than 60 years later, can you find any resemblance to that system of horror and the current tendencies of the so-called culture of death?Read the restSchindler: Yes, you can. What happened here not so long ago was the killing of children because they were deemed physically or mentally inferior. This is exactly what happened to my sister Terri Schiavo in the United States.
What is more frightening is that this not only happened to Terri. This type of thing happened long before her case made the headlines, and it continues to happen every day in America.
Q: Do you think politics needs to consult ethics?
Schindler: Well, naturally. In the case of my sister, it went to a judge. He was the person responsible for why my sister died of dehydration and starvation. So the fact that a judge was involved, you have a branch of the government involved.
It was my family that fought the judge to simply bring my sister home and care for her. But we were denied that and ultimately the court ordered that my sister die a horrible death.
Laws have been changed in the United States to enable feeding tubes to be removed from persons like my sister.
One must remember that Terri was not dying. She was physically healthy; she could have lived many, many years. The laws have been changed and feeding tubes are now recognized as extraordinary care, as artificial life support, whereas once they were recognized as basic care.
But because the laws have been changed, the lives of tens of thousands people who are disabled like Terri are now threatened.
So, I think we have to change public policy, we have to get involved in public policy to do a better job of protecting the disabled because right now they are very vulnerable to the laws in the United States.
Additionally, I think euthanasia is a byproduct of abortion. We have euthanasia because abortion was legalized or decriminalized over 30 years ago.
We have to start politicians recognizing that they have to look at life as sacred so we can stop this horrible situation.
He's at it again.
You might have heard that Jack Kevorkian, a.k.a. Dr. Death, was released early from prison on June 1, for "good behavior" following his conviction for second degree murder.
Not surprisingly, our mainstream media has already begun to help the "doctor" use his "plight" as a reason to promote the legalization of assisted suicide -- allegedly for the terminally ill -- even though we know that many of his victims suffered only from depression.
In a statement just days before his release Kevorkian told Larry King he felt it was important to speak to "[the] young people, in high school and college . . ."
Well, apparently, he is going to get his wish. As difficult as it is to believe, Dr. Kevorkian is reportedly scheduled to speak to the students at the University of Florida for an agreed fee of $50,000 to be paid by the student government association.
This is the same University of Florida where Judge George Greer attended school. It is also where bio-ethicist Bill Allen teaches--the same Bill Allen who said in an interview that he believed my sister Terri was not a person!
And now, Kevorkian could be potentially paid $50,000 to spread his message of death to our college students.
We at Terri's Foundation are deeply offended by this affront to everyone who stands for the value and dignity of every human life -- and we are determined to stand against it.
But we need your help to be effective!
We ask everyone who receives this email to join us in telling the President of the University of Florida that it is unacceptable to invite Jack Kevorkian to spread his message of death and violence to the campus of the University of Florida.
Please sign our Say No to Dr. Death Petition. We will then take your signed petitions to the University President's office and demand the University withdraw the invitation to Kevorkian.
Why is this important?
Well, unfortunately too many people simply don't see anything wrong with the Jack Kevorkians of this world and their promotion of death, which has nothing to do with compassion but is rather the total abandonment of someone who needs our love, attention and concern.
And it's simply unacceptable to allow him to deliver his message of death to our young people.
Friends, Kevorkian and his ilk know if they can shape the minds of our future leaders they will ultimately prevail in forcing their twisted views of dealing with human suffering on all of us.
Please help us send a clear message to the President of the University of Florida as well as other college presidents that convicted felon Jack Kevorkian and his doctrine of death and violence are not welcome on our campuses.
Take a moment right now to sign our Say No to Dr. Death Petition! To sign, click anywhere on the petition name.
We need as many petitions as possible. Quite frankly, to go to the President with a few hundred petitions would do more harm than good. We need to challenge him with thousands of petitions.
THAT'S WHY I ALSO NEED YOU TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND FELLOW WORSHIPERS!
Friends, Terri's brave struggle taught us that no one is unworthy of life, and the most vulnerable among us deserve nothing less than our unconditional love, compassion and care.
Please continue to help us stop the evil of "euthanasia!" Help us reach out to vulnerable patients and their families. Help us reverse the trend toward a culture of death in our nation. Help us say NO to "Dr. Death!"
And please, help carry on Terri's legacy of life, hope and love by signing our Say No to Dr. Death Petition right now!
]]>Apparently the University of Florida agrees. According to the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, Dr. Kevorkian, a convicted felon and defrocked doctor, is scheduled to speak to the students there and will be paid $50,000 to do so by the University of Florida student government association.
The Foundation has released an alert and has posted a online petition that asks the University rescind the invitation to Kevorkian. Would you take a moment and consider signing it? (click here)
As you do, consider how inappropriate it is for Kevorkian to be treated as a crusader for patient's rights given his distorted view of human dignity and role in the deaths of numerous patients (he claimed participation in 130 suicides and challenged prosecutors to issue charges).
A Michigan judge in 1999 sentenced Kevorkian to 10 to 25 years in prison for second degree murder and three to seven years for delivery of a controlled substance. At the time, he was denied bail due to his vow to keep assisting patient suicides.
Kevorkian is now out of prison, having agreed to stop directly helping people commit suicide he continues to exploit the publicity of his premature release by promoting the actions that landed him in prison.
Again, please take a few minutes to consider the online petition that asks the University of Florida to remove this unrepentant felon from the podium.
Source: ProLifeBlogs
By Bobby Schindler
One can't help but wonder if perhaps the mainstream media is feeling a growing sense of uneasiness regarding Terri's death.
In the two years since my sister died I have witnessed an increasing determination on their part to convince the public that she was "hopeless" and in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) regardless of any and all evidence to the contrary.
I believe this is happening because of the increasing number of questions now being raised as to the veracity of the PVS diagnosis, which was the litmus test used to kill Terri - a litmus test which is still being used to justify the killing of others who are said to be in this condition.
Just last month researchers found that over 40% of the people diagnosed as being in a PVS are, in fact, misdiagnosed. This new study confirmed an already existing British study regarding the high rate of PVS misdiagnoses.