So far, I have studiously avoided any discussion of the circus going on in Washington DC over this poor women who has become a political football. But, I finally saw something in this story that really smelled of truth and decency.
Mr. Shiavo said something that bears repeating. Over and over again.
Weary after an emotional visit with his wife, Schiavo said he is astonished that politicians want to interfere in such a private matter.
“Instead of worrying about my wife, who was granted her wishes by the state courts the past seven years, they should worry about the pedophiles killing young girls,” Schiavo said, referring to a local case. “Why doesn’t Congress worry about people not having health insurance? Or the budget? Let’s talk about all the children who don’t have homes.”
He said U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is leading a charge to extend Terri Schiavo’s life, is a “little slithering snake” pandering for votes.
And to put this in the form of a Q & A:
Q. Why doesn’t Congress worry about health insurance, the budget, or our children?
A. Because Tom DeLay is a little slithering snake.
It shows how far the Republican Party will go to exploit private pain for political gain. “Slithering snakes”…yep, that about says it.
While putting ALL life on earth in jeopardy by gutting environmental protections, while letting 1,000 Congolese die daily and hundreds of Sudanese die daily, while innumerable species go extinct daily … and on and on and on … all because that fucking stupid little pesticide salesman hated the laws that kept him from spreading cancer-inducing, environmentally damaging chemicals, and just had to lend his angry, selfish, poisonous ill-will to politics.
My sister and I are most likely products of pesticide usage. We worked in the agricultural fields when we were grade school age children. This was in the `50s and 60’s and I believe they were still using DDT at the time, though I don’t know if that’s what they were using on the fields. We were told not to eat any fruit we picked but of course, we did. Even if we hadn’t, our hands undoubtedly absorbed whatever was sprayed on the produce.
As adults we’ve both had breast cancer even though no other female member of our family, of any generation, has been afflicted with the same disease. We’ve also both had fertility difficulties. Only one other female family member worked in the fields at the time and though she hasn’t had breast cancer, she’s had some other strange maladies. I’m pretty sure our problems stem from fieldwork and the resulting exposure to pesticides. Of course we are all exposed all the time. Pesticides are everywhere. It’s just that field work is concentrated exposure.
So Delay’s past as a pesticide peddler is REAL personal to me.
and for my part, Bill Frist’s history as a cat killer is real personal, if not as serious.
Are you a cat?
Seriously, I can’t remember another time in this country when so many psychotics held high public office. Maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.
on Shaivo…. I’m just listening to the beginning. Can’t wait to hear what she has to say and who she interviews.
http://www.democracynow.org
— audio and video — transcripts up later
— i’m watching on Free Speech TV
what a great quote…should be used over and over again.
very interesting take at upyernose:
over in the comments of his loaded mouth tas notes that Article I, Section 5, Clause 1 of the constitution states:
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.(emphasis added)
i think tas is right. i think the statute is unconstitutional.
i wonder if any other statute has been overturned on these grounds before.
of course, if it is valid, think of the fun we could have! if the president just gets a single senator and a single representative to sneak into the halls of congress in the dead of night, the three of them can unanimously pass any crazy thing they want!
Okay, now I’m wide awake! Thanks for the link, I think…creeps off very frightened.
I am not impressed with the way either Michael or Terri’s parents have conducted themselves. At the same time, I realize that the situation they have had to deal with is horrific, and it is easy for me to sit back and criticize.
Not to mention that whether any of them come across as sympathetic characters on TV or whether I agree with their actions has nothing to do with Terri’s welfare.
Thousands, millions of families go through this or similar with loved ones every day, and in most cases, the difficult decisions are made by insurance companies and hospital financial offices.
Watching the US self-destruct is kind of like watching the proverbial train wreck.
Our incompetent media chases another shiny bauble.
Meanwhile:
Juan Cole
Then again, that was so last month…
I do spinal cord research in frogs and (sometimes) mammals. For humane purposes we actually perform surgeries in some experimental preparations that produce identical behaviors to those Schiavo’s body is said to evince. I’ll be writing more about this later from a neuroscientists perspective, just so people can get a handle on some of the medical stuff going on here.
good on you for not giving in until now – but why cave in? Unless we are as brutally honest and downright offensive as rude pundit, which most of us care not to be, we are tip-toeing around this issue. By doing so we are lending credibility to it. STOP talking about it. stop now. its a non-issue. it’s over. it’s been over. let it go, move on. please?
Can I just add this?
DeLay and Schiavo: Who’s saving whom?
In our most cynical moments over the last few days, we began to wonder whether Washington’s obsession with the Terry Schiavo case weren’t some sort of wag-the-dog distraction from what would otherwise have been a weekend marked with second-anniversary assessments of the Bush administration’s adventures in Iraq. …
SALON.com
Congress jumping on this case like a duck on a june bug while so many other important issues are left unresolved. That’s the story.
The media playing this out like it was the Event Of The Year when so many other more important stories are being un- or under-reported. That’s the story.
Terry Schiavo is just a pawn in all of this. If it wasn’t her it would be someone else, somewhere along the line.
I agree with the Masshole. The less play we give this story, the faster it will go away. If we want to blame anyone, we should blame the media executives, and their “Get the numbers” mentality, and our own unhealthy diets. Our media “brethren” wholesale us Wallmart stories because the majority of us can eat them as quickly as a White Castle burger. Our politicians are going to cover the stories that gives them the most publicity, because the majority of them are worthless. The popular media directs the majority on which issues to think about.
In an effort to end this discussion productively, lets instead focus on who is really to blame for putting this unimportant story into the forefront of the Congressional agenda… and lets excuse Congress, and assume they behave irresponsibly as usual. Then lets discuss ways to circumvent the “by the numbers” media coverage, and force the Congressional agenda.
I stayed away from the media all weekend. Couldn’t bear to watch the Delay Diversion. Last night, I broke down and watched Countdown then the “special coverage” afterwards. Is was surreal! Everywhere in the world there is real news about real events but our media are wallowing like pigs in shit over every detail except the most important one. It would be easy to ignore, to simply tune out this spectacle except for the fact that they are FUCKING WITH THE CONSTITUTION! This Schiavo story is like fiction, like a fantastical farce mascarading as reality.
dKos has gone mad reacting to every scene, every bit of dialogue, every gesture of the actors. I think 40 of the first 50 diaries are on this subject. Please, let us confine any comments or news on this subject to just this one thread.
I was talking about DeLay.
Seriously, I have no time for this bullshit story.
Maybe I can find some poor women shut-in with 400 cats who hasn’t changed the litter box in 5 years…and we discuss whether the local, state or federal government has jurisdiction to bang the door down.
It’s an obscene waste of time, even if it raises real ethical questions.
I didn’t mean to suggest that your thread should be hijacked into being about “Terri! Terri! Terri!” I thought I was pretty clear that her media story is shit. What I was trying to say (badly, apparently) is that I don’t want to see this place swamped with Shiavo diaries. I do think we agree on that. As for Delay revealing his ass to the world… yeah, let’s expose that as much as we can. (teehee)
I was agreeing with you. It was me who did a bad job communicating 😉
I thought your post was dead-on.
from a front page poster is why I am here. Keep up the good work, it looks like things are growing quite nicely.
there is absolutely nothing, nothing at all these freaks will NOT do.
I’m so glad it’s not the 60’s again, geeezz, if I had one of those “orange barrel’s” running through my head, and saw the current BushCo crowd, I’d be wrapped up in one of those white dinner jackets that button in the back, and be stuck to the ceiling like velcro !! ~@^@~