Live and let live?

March 24, 2005 8:14 AM

I was listening to a talk radio station last night, and a guy called in and said that he heard on FOX News that Terri's husband is suspected of having beaten her when she fell into a coma. She was also very thin at the time because of an eating disorder, which is why her heart stopped: her potassium levels were low. Then he said that Terri's nurse overheard her husband leaving her hospital room saying,"When is that bitch going to die?" And someone visited Terri and said,"You had better say you want to live or they will kill you. Just say you want to live.", and she got stuck on,"I want!..." Maybe she's just dreaming. Or watching old Brady Bunch episodes in her mind. Who knows? Who really, really cares? Who cares as much as her family does? Who cares enough to do something besides blaahg about it? This entire discussion is making me feel icky. I can't tell one side from another. This is a poor woman living with a feeding tube, NOT a POLITICAL FOOTBALL. Why is her care being debated?
posted by airguitar (43 comments total)

Best of Google...
posted by AlexReynolds at 8:17 AM on March 24, 2005

MeTa
posted by bshort at 8:19 AM on March 24, 2005

GYOBF
posted by salmacis at 8:19 AM on March 24, 2005

Do we need another one of these? Not to mention, if you're going to whine about debating her care and blaahging, and the fact that it makes you feel icky (thanks for the FYI) umm... well... isn't it a bit hypocritical to do it here.
posted by drpynchon at 8:21 AM on March 24, 2005

[This is bad]
posted by everichon at 8:23 AM on March 24, 2005

this should have been posted in one of the other Schiavo threads, but the answer to your question is that her care is being debated because the parents went to Congress. Congress made it a big deal for political and ass-covering reasons, and so here we are.
posted by amberglow at 8:23 AM on March 24, 2005

This is what happens when you listen to talk radio.
posted by sciurus at 8:25 AM on March 24, 2005

This is what happens when you listen to talk radio while playing air guitar.
posted by AlexReynolds at 8:27 AM on March 24, 2005

sciurus writes " This is what happens when you listen to talk radio."

Or read blog comments.
posted by OmieWise at 8:28 AM on March 24, 2005

airguitar, I hope you can understand how absolutely specious it is to raise these sorts of arguments that have no possible resolution or defense at this stage. The points you raise have all been brought up by far more rational and far less speculative arbiters. Why not spend your time caring about something that you can have an effect on?
posted by beelzbubba at 8:30 AM on March 24, 2005

Healthy brain. Airguitar's brain.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:30 AM on March 24, 2005

Who cares enough to do something besides blaahg about it? This entire discussion is making me feel icky. I can't tell one side from another. This is a poor woman living with a feeding tube, NOT a POLITICAL FOOTBALL. Why is her care being debated?

You realize you're not helping, right?
posted by delmoi at 8:30 AM on March 24, 2005

wait, I love this "Conservative commentary":

By comparison, actor Christopher Reeve passed away last fall after spending the last nine years of his life as a quadriplegic. Despite enduring a near-suicidal depression following his paralysis in 1995, Reeve became a spokesman for embryonic stem cell (ESC) research, and founded the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. Few can argue that the last few years of Reeve's life weren't of value to himself and others. Yet Reeve could not have lived those final years without the aid of an oxygen tube. To apply the same logic used against Terri Schiavo to Christopher Reeve, his life was certainly less than ideal, yet advocates of ESC research used Reeve regularly to advance their crusade.

this is fucking priceless, please, more!
posted by matteo at 8:35 AM on March 24, 2005

This whole ugly melodrama is really about the power of the judicial branch. The current admin and its followers have gone on the record many times to say they don't believe in the constitutional checks on the power of the executive and legislative branches that an independent judiciary represents (despite the fact that the President is sworn to uphold the constitution and that in former times it would have been considered treason to attempt to undermine these checks and balances). They're trying to subvert the legal authority of the courts, and they're hoping to capitalize on the emotional appeal of this case to give them the political leverage to do it. That's why Bush signed a law in Texas that goes completely against the grain of his position in the Schiavo case--the point of all this is just to render the courts powerless.
posted by all-seeing eye dog at 8:37 AM on March 24, 2005

I hope you can understand how absolutely specious it is to raise these sorts of arguments that have no possible resolution or defense at this stage

Not making this about me. Not claiming that I hold those positions. Presenting them as an alternative. Possibly as equally wrong as any other argument strangers could have about someone's life. Trying to frame the "debate" as strange an wrong all over.
posted by airguitar at 8:37 AM on March 24, 2005

I hear Fox news is controversial.
posted by uni verse at 8:38 AM on March 24, 2005

When is that bitch going to die?
posted by nightchrome at 8:40 AM on March 24, 2005

Also giving my left of center brethren a glimpse of what the other half is locking and loading with. I read through the other threads and didn't see this angle discussed. (If it wasn't completely obvious, the lead-in mention of FAUX News was a sarcastic disclaimer, it's called dry humor, get to know me)
posted by airguitar at 8:41 AM on March 24, 2005

"didn't see this angle discussed"

Then by all means, start a new FPP. Every opinion in the world deserves its own FPP, no matter how odd.
posted by Outlawyr at 8:44 AM on March 24, 2005

it's called dry humor, get to know me

You've given me no reason to.
posted by gleuschk at 8:46 AM on March 24, 2005

.
posted by thejoshu at 8:48 AM on March 24, 2005

The case was heard for, what, 13 years in Florida and in several courts, and has been refused by the Supreme Court at least five times. And you don't think that's enough time and argumentation to settle the issues involved? You're confused? Do you think Florida state courts are the equivalent of Deep South courts during the Jim Crow years, or what? And what evidence do you have for believing that?
posted by raysmj at 8:48 AM on March 24, 2005

airguitar writes " Also giving my left of center brethren a glimpse of what the other half is locking and loading with. I read through the other threads and didn't see this angle discussed. (If it wasn't completely obvious, the lead-in mention of FAUX News was a sarcastic disclaimer, it's called dry humor, get to know me)"


ag-I'm not sure you want to keep defending this post. I'm not trying to be snarky, but the consensus of people posting here and in MeTa seems to be that the post was poorly conceived and executed. If it did deserve to be an FPP, then clearly somehow it did not make it in this form. Your defenses here and in MeTa give the impression that you aren't particularly open to constructive criticism, of which there has been a lot.
posted by OmieWise at 8:50 AM on March 24, 2005

perhaps that comment belonged in MeTa. I can't tell anymore, dammit, I just can't tell.
posted by OmieWise at 8:53 AM on March 24, 2005

You're gonna need the Bush Administration to write an 11th hour law to save this thread.
posted by terrapin at 8:54 AM on March 24, 2005

im open, im open. fer chrissakes kill it
posted by airguitar at 8:56 AM on March 24, 2005

so much for nuance
posted by airguitar at 8:58 AM on March 24, 2005

Why is her care being debated?

To deflect the sense of moral outrage away from Tom DeLay's campaign financing improprieties. Next question?
posted by Doohickie at 9:00 AM on March 24, 2005

Yes, let's base our opinions of this case based on some semi-anonymous yokel claiming to have heard something on Fox News that might reflect badly on Michael Schiavo! What could possibly be wrong with that approach? After all Fox News is completely unbiased, and not scummy lickspittles for the neocon movement!
posted by clevershark at 9:03 AM on March 24, 2005

Oh. I guess I'll just actually answer your question, airguitar. Assuming that Fox News DID talk about the husband being Terri and the guy on the radio wasn't just making things up, the reason that this is being brought up as a possible way to move the story is that the right is losing this political battle. Every single poll has showed that people overwhelmingly support the courts in the removal of the feeding tube and think that Congress has overstepped its authority as well as is just trying to score political points with this whole exercise. This is just a way for the right to throw a few punches in an attempt to either get a knockout on their way down or to at least sway the polls a few points in their favor by soiling the reputation of Michael Schiavo.
posted by Arch Stanton at 9:06 AM on March 24, 2005

To deflect the sense of moral outrage away from Tom DeLay's campaign financing improprieties. Next question?

Exactly! Why is this woman's care being debated? There is no win here. Links to odd arguments serve to demonstrate that. I heard that guy last night and got the strange sense that this is all a bear trap. Open mouth insert foot... In a meta way, you can see this FPP doing that, which is..... a demonstration of my point. (the arguer is not his argument, or is he?)
posted by airguitar at 9:11 AM on March 24, 2005

...
posted by quonsar at 9:11 AM on March 24, 2005

I think there's an anti-bulimia ad to be made about this issue somehow, but I just can't put my finger on it.
posted by Arch Stanton at 9:13 AM on March 24, 2005

This is as good a place as any to mention that it's due time someone removed Bush's feeding tube.

You realy mean "disconnect the power from the under-jacket power source that powers his mouth"?
posted by DBAPaul at 9:18 AM on March 24, 2005

When is this post going to die?
posted by mazola at 9:21 AM on March 24, 2005

I think there's an anti-bulimia ad to be made about this issue somehow, but I just can't put my finger on it.

Just think, all of this could have been prevented with some pie.
posted by mrbill at 9:22 AM on March 24, 2005

When is that bitch going to die?

Friday. And then she'll come back to life again on Sunday.
posted by Slothrup at 9:27 AM on March 24, 2005

If you find the discussion of the situation in the national media execrable, as do I, then avoid discussing it, as I have. This whole situation is a travesty of a miscarriage of a travesty of a sham of a travesty of a sham of a miscarriage of justice, for the sake of publicity.

If you go to CNN.com and click the link, it registers as interest. Don't click. Real news is being swept under the rug in the flood of this Shiavo crap, and the White House has got to be loving it.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:28 AM on March 24, 2005

Real news is being swept under the rug in the flood of this Shiavo crap, and the White House has got to be loving it.

thank you
posted by airguitar at 9:29 AM on March 24, 2005

"some guy called in and said..."

Well, I hear that when they asked if she still wanted to live, her head spun around on her shoulders, she projectile vomited all over everyone and groaned "we liiiiivvveee."
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 9:30 AM on March 24, 2005

Gawker nails it.
posted by 327.ca at 9:31 AM on March 24, 2005

Is this some weird variant of googlewhacking?
posted by fire&wings at 9:32 AM on March 24, 2005

Pray to keep this thread alive.
posted by eatitlive at 9:33 AM on March 24, 2005