NYT: Protesters Hold Vigil for Schiavo at Hospice

[DeepModem Mom]

Protesters Hold Vigil for Schiavo at Hospice
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: March 20, 2005


PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 19 - The morning after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, lawyers for her parents sought new avenues to keep her alive and protesters were arrested trying to deliver bread and water to the door of the hospice where Ms. Schiavo, a critically brain-damaged woman who a judge has ruled would not want life-prolonging measures, lay in bed.

Just before 11 a.m. on Saturday, three men were taken into custody when they tried to force their way past officers guarding the driveway of Woodside Hospice to take bread and water to Ms. Schiavo as a symbolic gesture.

The three - led by James Gritz, a former Green Beret commander from Nevada known as Bo - were arrested on misdemeanor trespassing charges, police officials said. About 30 people prayed outside the hospice on Saturday morning and waved signs reading "Stop Renegade Judges" and "Colorado Loves Terri." Others stood in circles reciting the Lord's Prayer. Passers-by looked on, drinking coffee.

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said protesters planned to drive to Tallahassee, where they would spend the next few days lobbying the State Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush to somehow force the feeding tube's reinsertion.

Mr. Mahoney, one of several conservative religious leaders trying to rally a national protest of the tube removal on the ground that no life should end prematurely, said he hoped more people would travel here as Ms. Schiavo's condition deteriorated....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/national/20schiavo.html

[Cha]

1. Fuck those hypocritical

"right to lifers"..Soldiers have a right Not to die in an Invasion based on lies by a ill-gotten regimistist!

Iraqis have a right not to die from American Bombs!

So go Suck off!

[cally]

2. I hope that was on the front page

since it's such an important issue. /sarcasm off/ Meanwhile, 100 of thousands protest the Iraq War and it gets almost no mention. I deplore the msm.

[havocmom]

3. OK, this is like all the 'Yes, invade Iraq' crowd. All talk no real help.

How many of these passionate advocates of life consistently volunteer to help care for invalids? How many volunteer to give respite care so family caregivers can get out and rest, knowing their loved one is in good, loving hands? How many really walk the walk?

Piss on those who are all for the underdog when the cameras and lights are on. They are just like the chicken hawks all in favor of war, so long as others do the real fighting.

And could media PLEASE educate the asses who would try to choke the poor woman with bread & water? Jeeze, FAUX, run a video of what tube feeding actually is before somebody gets hurt!

[FlemingsGhost]

4. Fools, all of them. This is none of their business ...

... not that it has ever stopped these folks before.

This is an embarrassing display of political opportunism, gone completely amock.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. They should have let Gritz in to feed her

[TahitiNut]

7. Feed her what? Grits?

:evilgrin: Or feed her living corpse to the alligators?

[saigon68]

12. He could have stuffed a loaf of bread in her MAW

And choked the crap out of her.

[LittleWoman]

6. This is a real circus

I am sure that the other patients at the hospice and their families are thrilled to be part of history. NOT! If I had a family member at that hospice I would be raising hell up one side and down the other to get all those looneys out of there. Hospice care is supposed to be pallative care for those nearing the end of life. Someone should take some kind of legal action on behalf of the other patients to remove these demonstrators to a "free speech" zone. Whatever else is going on, the other patients should be able to go to their end with some measure of dignity and not surrounded by this circus.

[shraby]

8. Did it say that just 30 people were standing

vigil? That tells me there aren't really a lot of supporters for keeping her alive.

[jonnyblitz]

9. Bo Gritz is still around? what a whackjob.

according to the ADL he has ties to the survivalist/white supremecist/christian identity movement. I remember hearing about him lots in the 90's after the OKC bombing.

here is what the ADL's (though I don't always agree with the ADL):

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/gritz.asp?xpicked=2&item=5

[Lauri16]

10. Doh!

Quote:
protesters were arrested trying to deliver bread and water to the door of the hospice

--------

The poor woman is being kept alive by a feeding tube...what the hell did they think would happen if they actually got bread & water down her throat?!?! She would have wound up choking to death. Not that I ever really thought that some of those whackos really give much thought to anything......

This whole thing just disgusts me. How her parents can look at the brain scan and think that there's a sliver of quality of life there is just beyond me.

[Crazy8s]

11. Not many protesters

Less than thirty are still hanging around according to the local evening news. That after the Pro-Lifers screamed and hollered for people to gather in mass outside the hospice--just yesterday they were predicting hundreds to appear. And there were only 14 people for the much touted protest bus trip to the capitol. I think the response pretty much shows how the public feels about this charade.

[MADem]

18. The very base of support for this shit is the same base

...that decries GUBMINT interference.

It must be getting through their thick skulls that if they can interfere in THIS issue, they can interfere in others. And it's the "OTHERS" that have them a bit concerned.

They voted for him, the idiots!

[leesa]

13. Please stop posting the Schaivo junk. It's ONLY purpose is a distraction

from the disasters of Iraq, Afghanistan, DeLay, Wolfowitz, Halliburton, etc., etc.

STOP playing their game!! Stop allowing them to frame the debate with their nonsense! They don't give a rat's ass about this and you know it so why are you playing along???

If you want to watch this junk, turn on your teevee.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. I think the Right's use of this issue is significant and frightening...

with possible repercussions for the individual rights of us all, and even for our system itself, in areas such as separation of powers, and separation of church and state.

I understand your frustration, however! (And I'm sticking to coverage in the print press. The possibility of seeing Tom DeLay's face is keeping my TV dark.)

[MADem]

19. The issue is no longer Terri Schiavo

It's morphed into federal government interference in state and personal issues. The GOP may think they are distracting the sheep, but what they have done, and cannot back off of, is that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT will have more influence in your personal life, if this is not STOPPED, decisively, than Saddam had on the lives of the average Iraqi.

The worm is wiggling, if not turning. Those clowns should be careful what they wish for. The low turnout at the so-called BIG PROTESTS tells us that even the STUPID value PRIVACY, and personal autonomy.

Put CSPAN on--Barney Frank is ripping it from a legal standpoint now.

[foreigncorrespondent]

14. What part...

...of vegative state do these idiots not understand? Taking her bread and water? The woman hasn't been able to eat or drink for fifteen years. The irony of this story is, had the succeeded in getting in, and placed the bread in her mouth, chances are Terri would have choked on it. They could have achieved the very thing they are against, Terri being put to rest!

[deadparrot]

16. Trying to deliver bread and water?

God, I hope that was a symbolic gesture.

If not, God help us.

[MADem]

17. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) is ripping Bush on CSPAN NOW

She's pointing out that shrub signed the ADVANCED DIRECTIVES LAW in TEXAS, which allowed the HOSPITAL to WITHDRAW SUPPORT for Baby Sun OVER THE PARENTAL OBJECTION/

She is really kicking ass! Bless this young rep!

[AspenRose]

20. What makes me sick about all this

is that last week while channel surfing I briefly saw a story on CNN about a woman in TX who WANTED to keep her baby, who was on life support, hooked up. (Maybe it's the same one mentioned above.) It was a judge who ordered that the life support be removed. The mother tried to fight it and ended up losing. (I don't know any more details than that, sorry.)

The woman JUST HAPPENED TO BE black. (I wish I had caught her name, else I would post a link to CNN for the story.)

My question is:
Where were the protesters THEN? Why weren't there protesters FOR HER while she was fighting legally to save her baby?

Every time I hear about Schiavo on the radio I think back to this woman who is invisibly mourning her child. She must feel sick to see all this stuff going on. I know I do.

[WindRavenX]

21. BINGO

Where was the outrage there? Huh?
How many people can afford to keep a brain dead vegetable alive for 15 years?
Answer: not many.