Jeb's Hometown paper blasts him on Schiavo case

this was one of two articles in the Tallahassee Democrat today blasting Jeb and the Republicans


http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/opinion/11309829.htm



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Posted on Tue, Apr. 05, 2005



Politicians ignored facts in the Terri Schiavo case

By Kent S. Miller
MY VIEW

In the controversy surrounding the Terri Schiavo case, there has been little reference to a document that could bring a bit of rationality to the circus.

In 2003, the Florida Legislature enacted a bill calling for the chief judge of the 6th Judicial Circuit to appoint for Schiavo a guardian ad litem to protect her legal rights and advocate on her behalf. The guardian was charged with: making a report to Gov. Jeb Bush as to whether he should lift a stay that he previously entered; addressing the value of swallow tests for Schiavo; and conducting a thorough summary of everything that had taken place in the courts regarding this case.

The court chose Jay Wolfson, an attorney and professor of public health and medicine at the University of South Florida.

Among other things, Wolfson reviewed 30,000 pages of court documents; interviewed family members and care givers; made numerous visits with Schiavo; met with hospice staff, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, neurologists, speech pathologists, clergy, bioethicists and many other specialists; and reviewed statutes and case law. He is probably the single best-informed person in the world on this case.

His 38-page report was submitted to the court Dec. 1, 2003, and he met with Gov. Bush the following day to go over it.

As a neutral authority, his job was to determine Terri Schiavo's wishes as best he could. Most remarkable was that he apparently engaged the trust of all the parties, and his observations speak to a number of the charges and counter charges that have evolved.

His major conclusions:

• That she was in a persistent vegetative state with no likelihood of improvement, ...................................................................................

The basic question is whether we and our families are to have control over these end-of-life issues without government interference. Every day, hundreds of families in this country are making these decisions in privacy. The good news is that polls show that a vast majority of Americans believe that is the way it should be.


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Kent S. Miller is psychology professor emeritus at Florida State University. He spent several years as a guardian ad litem volunteer for the Department of Children & Families and is the author of "The Abused Child in Search of Safety: Lessons from Florida" (Hope Publishing House). Contact him at ksmiller@mailer.fsu.edu.
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also of interest Jeb's Official e-mail message about Terri Schiavo

http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/governorsoffice/pdfs/itn20050401.pdf

Their little Fundy heads might explode from all the big words.


http://www.kliljedahl.net

"Kent S. Miller is psychology professor emeritus at Florida State University..."

There was a Main editorial that balsted all the Republicans in the same issue

he and Columba only give their condolences to the Schindler family, specifically naming the parents, their surviving daughter and son. No mention of the Schiavo family... No surprise here. Just disgust. :puke:

to extend his condolences to HER HUSBAND.

idiot.

Are you close enough to him to address him in such an informal way?


http://www.kliljedahl.net

I forget her name, but the night they debated the Schaivo bill in congress, one very brave Republican congresswoman from Florida stood up and talked about this report, and said that she would vote against DeLay's bill because of it.

That took guts. If anyone knows her name, please post it.

She has earned my respect...whatever her party or politics.

It took courage and integrity to say what she did on the House floor

She's my parents Rep. and I sent her a thank you note for her actions.

Are Americans finally starting to look under the bed?

It must be time for another MIHOP.

I never heard one mention of this evaluation and report; this is the very first I've heard any part of this court ordered measure (surprise there). It sure sounds pretty convincing that not only did Mr. Schiavo try desperately to help his wife regain her normal function, but that she ceased to be who she was after her heart attack and loss of oxygen to the brain. She was no longer a participant in her own life. The accusations of abuse by her husband are despicable, and I'm glad Mr. Wolfson was able to address their complete lack of evidence. Despite that fact, Jeb schemed to seize her from the hospice at one point by force and considered an investigation by the DFC into abuse allegations. He had the court-ordered facts of this case and yet that cynical, scheming, ass-covering, hypocrite of a Governor is nothing more than a willfull liar for his meddling actions in this private family matter.

He collaborated with the national repuke party and tried to join the bandwagon to make his brother look heroic, not to mention make the whole personal, private tragedy seem like what Peggy Noonan et al tried like crazy to frame it as - the repugs as the "culture of life" and the Democrats as Godless executioners. For all their moralizing, how many repugs actually heard a Democrat treat this case with glee about the tragic death of a woman loved by her family. Contrary to Rush and other pundits, there was no "celebrating" on the side of the people who stood with the Constitution.
As Governor of the state where this all began, I hold him mostly responsible for not doing the right thing and taking charge of this disaster and leading the issue honestly. Since he professed to "care" so much about the families, he owed them that. But of course his family, and what this could do for them politically, came first.

:grr:

the hometown press. First Crawford, now this.