Subpoenaing Terri Schiavo possibly could lead to the unexpected verdict

As much as the Congress is "respecting life" in trying to keep TS alive, this actually could hurt their case.

So far, the parents have been the ones controlling the "video" of her being more than "in a coma". As I stated on another TS thread, you can send a surge of electricity through a dead frog's detached leg and claim that there's the evidence that the frog is alive. Unless you see the totally unedited video, you're taking their word.

Congress is helping delay the issue. But . . .

Here's where it could get really sticky for the family. What happens if they actually bring here to "testify" before Congress? What happens if, despite the length of the "testimony" and all of their attempts to get some sort of response, she actually makes the case for her husband by having absolutely no reaction to external stimulus other than a reflex similar to that of the aforementioned frog leg?

If the family is not being totally honest, you can watch them plead for the "dignity" of TS and say that it's turning into a "circus" by having her appear before Congress to "testify".

Yet another grandstanding effort by the Republicans to show how much they "cherish life" while people who can't afford their health care die painful deaths that might have been averted.

Witness the fact that the House issued the subpoena AFTER THE HOUSE WAS DECLARED IN RECESS.

But that's being optimistic. These days, I'm not optimistic about much.

any more....

to hell with the right wing, they are driving this country straight to hell and a hot civil war... that is the reality of it

There's nothing to lose from the parent's POV. If she doesn't respond and veges out, they are in the same position they were before.

the supeona was to keep her alive..

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Please. She was once a living, vital human being. It's true she only has very little of her brain left, and none of the "higher" brain at all. But come on.

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Went through the same feeling of loss of community here last year re Terri.

So much for the "party of the people".

For the record, I was making a reference to the idea that the people might actually see her for the condition that she really was in, not in the Bushesque video that takes maybe 2 minutes out of up to 20 hours of videos.

It was just that someone took offense to the possiblity of what she might just be the equivalent to that got me bumped.

a very clever marketing firm also. The picture on the Yahoo news page is totally off base and depicts Mom, kissing Terri, who is smiling and is meant to show that Terri has an expression on her face. Those of us who have had experience know that those eyes recognize nothing and that "smile" is a neurological grimace. The caption states it was taken from a video, but no mention that it took hours and hours of video taping in order to get one picture of the neurological grimace that looks like Terri is responding.

This is outrageously disgusting and is immoral. Terri can never come to the congress. Terri can never testify nor ever appear in person.

It is not what congress is about or is for. This belongs on a teevee soap opera and not on the floor of congress. This is simply another way to push the religious right out into the forefront and it is equally as outrageous that there is NO ONE who is opposing it or calling it by it's name.

her testimony will be more believable than Curt Schillings.

They'll claim that her grunts, twitches, other involuntary spasms are Terri holding forth on quantum physics, or some such bullshit. In a weird convergence of current events, maybe she'll read from "The Purpose Driven Life"

If her condition is so desperate, shouldn't the Congress critters go TO FLORIDA TO SEE HER????

Throw her in prison like the suffragettes and force feed her?

Wouldn't surprise me if they pull that one . . .

.

looked different than she does now, people would not be crassly calling her a turnip/screaming "pull the (nonexistant) plug".

except those we kill with bombs and napalm, etc.

dabbling into a completely emotional, unpredictable and uncontrollable situation.

The thought of pulling her feeding tube and let her starve which could take days seems cruel but weighed against the pain she is or is not feeling, which is crueler?
Jerry Springer spent alot of time on this issue today and so did Nancy Skinner. I tend to side with, if she can only stay alive with the machine then she doesn't seem to really be alive. And I know machine's keep people alive after surgery, etc. I'm talking about her completely vegatative state for 10 years. Her muscle's are so weakening that they will have to amputate her limbs, eventually her bones will come out of her sockets.
my hope is that a more humane way of allowing her to pass naturally can be found.

they really goofed with this, what to stop others from asking congress for help to keep their loved one on life support indefinately?

than she was in those videos, taken quite a few years ago. Of course, if she had no response to their questioning, her parents would claim it was because she was nervous being in a strange place. "Gee, back at the hospice she talks and jokes all the time!"

I don't think those guys in Congress are really aware of her condition. They don't have much time to watch TV.

be taken. For all I know, she is in a better condition.