Reasonable Consideration

I have been out of blogging mode for a little while here. There is just too much going on both personally and in the news.

People on both sides of the Schiavo case have reasons to be both ashamed and worried for the implications for the future. I suspect Naaman would agree. I've been meaning to write about this. What will this case do to my rights as a husband with regard to the health of my wife? Are any so-called conservatives thinking about this? Should the Federal government even be involved?

This case is so full of lies, distortions and even overlooked facts that I find it difficult to truly know what is going on. Perhaps if I quit my job I'd have the time to figure it out, but that ain't happening.

Read Naaman's comments:

Try this thought experiment: your spouse lapses into some non-communicative state (coma, PVS, or minimally-conscious ... take your pick), and doctors say that she could be possibly be cured with a therapy that was derived from fetal-tissue or embryonic stem-cell research. For Mrs. Naaman and me, the answer would be "no". Life is not worth living at the cost of sacrificing the unborn. Okay, but what if her parents disagree? And what if they sue you to force the treatment? And what if Congress and the President take their side?

This is (as is obvious by current events) entirely possible. I've had similar thoughts since this started to gear up in recent courts.

The overwhelming feeling I get from the "save Terri" crowd is that they are fanatics. I'm not saying I don't think Terri should be fed, I just think the overwhelming impression that I, and probably others, get is that many of these folks are blind fanatics.

Bob Schindler has said that he can think of no other reason for Michael Schiavo's pursuit of this feeding tube removal than that he wants to hide the truth about Michael's abuse and possibly attempted murder of Terri... and fanatics eat it up. Many seem to be running with this accusation without a shred of conclusive evidence. They base their feelings on a hunch, but it doesn't matter, they only need to damage the other side to win the war of public opinion. It strikes me that this is a big reason that this case has become so widely and publicly followed.

Sadly, now, I find myself associated with this thought process because I sympathize with pro-life issues. I suspect I will be working hard to shed a stigma about this fanatacism in the future.

My prediction is that Republicans will surely suffer in future elections from this brouhaha and the Democrats may come out sqeaky clean because, for the most part, they aren't getting their hands dirty in the issue.