CNN Poll: Who do you believe should decide Terri Schiavo's fate?

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/


Courts 7% 517 votes
Congress 2% 123 votes
Parents 23% 1768 votes
Husband 68% 5165 votes
Total: 7573 votes

Just as I suspected the numbers would reflect - which is that the large majority of this country feels that a decision like this not only rests with the "family" but that specifically with the spouse and their spousal rights.

Just heard an email read on CNN by a viewer where after reading the answers to this and some other polls, that an emailer felt very strongly about when people get married, they agree till death do them part and to carry out their wishes. I took the time this morning to read through the actual lengthy court documents on this case (so I could form my own non-media influenced opinion) and I can unequivacally say that the numerous judges and courts and court appointed doctors and guardians have found consistently the same thing and that is that despite her not having a "living will", the findings showed each time that the spouse has the rights here by law and that the findings from testimony from ALL witnesses (including husband, friends, siblings and parents) was weighed and agreed upon that Terri Schiavo would NOT want to be kept on life support, and that the parents did not have any knowledge what so ever of her desire. I also believe that Michael Schiavo truly loved and still loves his wife and that he is only involved in this for the purposes of keeping his promise to her and her wishes. Apparentely according to court documents, he took extreme good care of her in the early years and was persistent in seeing and exhausting all possible efforts to meet with every neurological expert (including taking her to California) before he came to the agonizing realization that she was NEVER going to recover from the loss of her CEREBRAL CORTEX!

The video tapes that keep being shown ad nauseum on the MSM are not accurate reflections of her medical condition and are very misleading. Individuals in "Persistent Vegetative State" make involuntary sounds and can look as if they are responding to questions and stimulation...but its just not the case....this woman's brain and the part that reasons, thinks, responds and feels is GONE FOLKS...literally....

This whole thing is just sick....I love my family, but if they ever did this to me like the Schindlers are doing to her, I would consider that to be selfish and against all my wishes to die with dignity and not sustained. I can however understand and forgive the Schindlers. I cannot forgive the Politicians and Pro-life opportunists using this to further their political agenda and the MSM's complicity in broadcasting it.

:grr:

Take away man's artificial life support systems and God would have taken Teri long ago. I guess christians don't want God's wishes adhered to. Christian Conservatives in this country would rather tom delay have the opportunity to divert attention away from his vile activities than let God have Teri. Please, would some christian explain this to me.

Your absolutely right - why isn't this a choice on the CNN poll? And if it was, would those same people choosing the politicians or her parents choose the same way?

But don't expect any answers....those same christian fundies will tell you about "morals" "culture of life" "protecting the innocent" etc. but they also support the taking of lifes in Capital Punishment and they are okay with "collateral damage" in war....

:thumbsup:

...and fix this poll.

Regardless, I expect Lou Dobbs will point out exactly where the Elephants shit in the buckwheat...he's pretty damn good at that.

Put your gas masks on!

And try as they may (just like with the Social Security Piratization), no one likes it, no one is buying....

PS: Your right - Lou Dobbs and Aaron Brown are going to go to town on this!

Last night my husband turned on the MSNBC coverage of the House debate and vote. The host of "Hardball" kept up a running stream of commentary regarding each speaker's statements, in addition to interviewing a number of talking head experts. He kept asking if Mrs. Schiavo had the cognitive skills of an 8 month old. Initially he specified an 8 months' gestational fetus, but gradually let it slip to just a "8 month old", to work in the "pro-life" aspect of the case. The host also kept trying to get one of the interviewees, an ethicist, to say that Rep. Sensenbrenner had lied about some facts in the case during his remarks. The ethicist (whose name or affiliation I cannot remember because it was late, I was tired and honestly didn't care) sidestepped answering the "did Rep. Sensenbrenner lie" question and the "cognitive development and skills" question, but did manage to get some information about the state of Mrs. Schiavo's brain, as well as explaining that some of the "reactions" she shows are not the result of a thinking, reasoning individual trapped in an unresponsive body, but those of a profoundly brain damaged individual with no higher level brain functions left, just a few of the very primitive ones, like the startle reflex. I was appalled at how most, if not all, the right wing talking heads kept trying to make the Schiavo case into some sort of super pro-life statement.

I am not surprised at all that they would try to make some kind of argument on the similarities of cognitive awareness between Terri Schiavo and a developing fetus...this is because they want to win this case and use it in the future as a "test case" to dismantle abortion rights...

Ofcourse, the comparison is absurd! First of all, a healthy, developing fetus in the early stages of brain "development" atleast has the possible ability to "grow" into a thinking human being at birth. Terri Schiavo's Brain is never going to grow again (unless - surprise - an argument could be shown that fetal stem cells could maybe help in the future, but I don't think they want to go there).

But for example, lets say that a woman pregnant with a child with Encephalitis that has no chance of survival because of the "brain" needs/wants to have an abortion to save her own life because of the risk of the size of the baby's cranium enlarging to danger proportions and thereby endangering the mother if it was to enter the birth canal. Could these same people opposed to abortion use a case like that of Terri Schiavo if it was ruled that a woman in her state with her brain must be kept alive, by saying that a fetus with Encephalitis needs to be sustained too?

All I know is that they know that they want to somehow have a precedent established with this case and woman and therefore are fighting tooth and nail for this....They don't care about Terri Schiavo...they care about their dismantling Roe v. Wade....

I bet the numbers will stay the same and possibly even get higher for the husband and courts....I think that people in this country realize how important their spousal rights are and want the government to stay out of their business....Others also realize how important the fabric of the law is and how dare the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch of the Federal and State Governments try to usurp that law and the State and Federal Constitutions.....