Attorneys Question Whether Texas, Federal Law at Odds (Schiavo/Bush)

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBNUYFEL6E.html

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The federal law President Bush signed to prolong Terri Schiavo's life in Florida appears to conflict with a Texas law he signed as governor, attorneys familiar with the legislation said Monday.

The 1999 Advance Directives Act in Texas allows for a patient's surrogate to make end-of-life decisions and spells out how to proceed if a hospital or other health provider disagrees with a decision to maintain or halt life-sustaining treatment.

If a doctor refuses to honor a decision, the case goes before a medical committee. If the committee agrees with the doctor, the guardian or surrogate has 10 days to agree or seek treatment elsewhere.

Thomas Mayo, an associate law professor at Southern Methodist University who helped draft the Texas law, said that if the Schiavo case had happened in Texas, her husband would have been her surrogate decision-maker. Because both he and her doctors were in agreement, life support would have been discontinued.

more

[NVMojo]

1. I hope everyone, including that poor young black mother whose

child was unhooked from life-saving equipment sues the holy hell out of Bush or whomever they can, DeLay, whomever. Someone needs to pay for this extreme FLIP FLOPPING by the Right Wing Exterminators!!!!

[Hokie]

3. Flipflopper!

Flipflopper! Flipflopper! Flipflopper! Flipflopper!

:mad: :mad:

[0007]

48. Mule train - flippity flopping through the sand & rain

[rebecca_herman]

67. the Hudson baby

I'm not trying to start an argument here, but that poor baby was dying anyway of a fatal genetic disease and they were basically torturing his body by keeping him alive because even with the ventilator he would eventually suffocate. At least he went peacefully and quickly.

[iamjoy]

80. That's Not The Point

At least, not entirely.
One could make the argument that Terri has a chance of recovery and the baby did not. However, who made the decision? In each of these cases, a team of doctors made a determination that there was no chance of recovery. In each of these cases, the parent(s) disagreed with the professional medical assessment.

In Texas, Dubya said the medical providers could override the wishes of the parent/guardian. In a cold, libertarian way it makes sense, because this baby was on medicaid and parents could just not let go and keep racking up the tax payer bill. I disagree with this logic, but, hey, some people support it. Apparently, at one time, Dubya did.

In Schiavo's case, Dubya is rejecting the professional opinion of doctors and siding with the parents who cannot abandon hope. Terri's bills are being paid by taxpayers, through a program Republicans wish to gut.

Sure, there is a difference in the medical diagnosis with the baby and Schiavo, but do the laws take the specifics of the diagnosis into consideration?

[rebecca_herman]

83. what I mean was...

While I agree Bush's signing that law and then the Schiavo one was hypocritical in GENERAL, I don't think it is hypocritical in the specific case of the Texas baby, who was doomed to die no matter what. I agree with Terri Schiavo's feeding tube being removed, but I understand that many people do see a different between removing life support when death is certain, and removing it when death is unlikely but there is severe brain damage. I guess I just see a big difference in the cases... in a case like Terri's, with no living will, I think whoever is the next of kin should make the decision (which is her husband and I think he is correct) but I think it's ok for the doctors to override in a case like the baby's where death is certain and continuing with the treatment is basically hopeless, pointless torture, regardless of what the parents want... the futile care is basically abusive in my mind...

I do not know how specific the Texas law is, does anyone?

[iamjoy]

89. OK - Then We're In Agreement

You are correct, there is a difference between removing support when death is inevitable and removing it when recovery is inevitable.

But (and I don't know for sure, I am only guessing) when Bush signed the law, he wasn't thinking about any specific case (situation), he was thinking should doctors be able to override family wishes by denying life support.

[meganmonkey]

2. Ha! Ha!!

I know there is no humor in this situation, really, but I take a laugh where I can get one these days. A cynical, bitter laugh...

I googled this story and it looks like it is on 121 websites so far. I really hope it is on the front page across the US tomorrow.

[rzemanfl]

4. Remember when the Texas law Bush signed as governor

conflicted with his hanging chad arguments in the 2000 election? He is such a pitiful sack of shit...

[sundancekid]

5. I just sent it to Keith Olberman too. Thanks for posting.

[RaRa]

6. kick - this is tooo juicy!!!! n/t

[magellan]

7. What do a freshly caught 12 lb trout and Bush** have in common?

The flippity-flop sound they make.

:)

Kick for the late-nite crowd.

[TaleWgnDg]

8. How high must the hill be?

.
How high must the hill of dung and crap be in order to sway the illiterates away from this unethical, sleaze-mongering, ill-charactered, immoral animal called George Walker Bush?

Must the dung pile cover the followers too?

---

[hector459]

9. That's what I'm talkin' about!!!!

This information must get out. I sent e-mails to CNN, MSNBC, and FOX but have received only the auto responses back and heard nothing about this on the news.

[seventythree]

12. Anderson Cooper

read an email about this law, but the highlight was on removing the life support from the baby against the mother's wishes. Heard somewhere else today, also on CNN.

[Contrary1]

10. The idiot son either:

A) Forgot he signed that bill in Texas. (Drug and/or alcohol induced amnesia)
B) Figured the average folks were too stupid to find it on the internets.

What a sad, pitiful little man he is.

[MADem]

85. Actually, I have a different theory, that he knows EXACTLY what he's doing

He signed this law for Terri, and I'll bet he's hoping like hell she croaks before anything comes of it. That way, he has "cred" with the right to (even horrific, torturous) lifers, but nothing really happens at the end of the day to change the status quo.

Think about this law, and the Pandora's Box it would open should it be found constitutional--I can see massive warehouses of people being kept alive by machines, whether they like it or not. Who PAYS? The state? The Federal government?

We know how he REALLY feels, when the rubber meets the road, and the bills come due. He proved that when he gave hospitals the authority to override the wishes of competent guardians, when MONEY was the issue.

[caligirl]

11. I was just reading crap over

at National Review. My son asked me to look there to see if they had a poll on the Schivo case which they did not. But what i read was disgusting.

This is the last sentence in an opinion article by someone named Andrew, top left of front page: "The question still lingers:
Regardless of what one thinks of the evidence developed and the procedures followed in the Florida courts, how is a judge empowered, ever, to order or license torture? Let's hope the federal court asks."

So if the judge, and he likely will, rules in favor of Schivo they will just acuse the judge of TORTURE of Schivo. How pathetic, Bush is behind the fungal level tactics in Iraq, they are now going to turn the tables on a judge if he does his job?

[sandnsea]

13. pseudoscience

and character assassination. I read that earlier and liked it. That's what they do, that's what this is. They don't even know what they're talking about because objective medical doctors and nurses have said there's no pain or suffering whatsoever. But because it sounds cruel, they'll repeat their pseudoscience in order to villify anybody who would challenge them. It's amazing that they can keep running this same old tired scam.

[Judi Lynn]

14. President's move contradicts law signed in Texas

President's move contradicts law signed in Texas


President's move contradicts law signed in Texas

Posted on Tue, Mar. 22, 2005

President Bush's actions in the Terri Schiavo case brought cries of hypocrisy based on a right-to-die law he signed as Texas governor.

BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS

[email protected]


WASHINGTON - The federal law that President Bush signed early Monday in an effort to prolong Terri Schiavo's life appears to contradict a right-to-die law that he signed as Texas governor, prompting cries of hypocrisy from congressional Democrats and some bioethicists.

In 1999, then-Gov. Bush signed the Advance Directives Act, which lets a patient's surrogate make life-ending decisions on his or her behalf. The measure also allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a physician, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes that the patient's condition is hopeless.

Bioethicists familiar with the Texas law said Monday that if the Schiavo case had occurred in Texas, her husband would be the legal decision-maker and, because he and her doctors agreed that she had no hope of recovery, her feeding tube would be disconnected.
(snip)

Meanwhile, Bush's Texas law faced its first high-profile test. With the permission of a judge, a Houston hospital disconnected an ill infant from his breathing tube last week against his mother's wishes after doctors determined that continuing life support would be futile.

''The mother down in Texas must be reading the Schiavo case and scratching her head,'' said Dr. Howard Brody, the director of Michigan State University's Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences. ``This does appear to be a contradiction.''
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/11197083.htm
(Free registration is required)

[NightOwwl]

15. Bush signed Texas Law Favoring Spouses - AJC

Bush signed Texas law favoring spouses

WASHINGTON — President Bush, now championing the right of Terri Schiavo's parents to decide whether her feeding tube should be reinserted, signed a Texas law in 1999 giving spouses top priority in making such decisions.

Hours after his early morning signing of a federal law sending the Schiavo case to federal court, Bush on Monday praised the hurry-up congressional action and said it gives the Florida woman's parents "another opportunity to save their daughter's life."

But in siding with Schiavo's parents over her husband, who waged a 15-year legal battle to have her feeding tube removed, Bush ran counter to a measure he signed into law in Texas in 1999.

The state law says that in cases in which a patient has not signed a directive about life-prolonging care, the patient's spouse makes the call unless there is a court-appointed guardian. An adult patient's parents are listed third, behind "reasonably available adult children" and ahead of the "the patient's nearest living relative."

link: (registration required - free)
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/0305/22schiavotexas.html

Sounds pretty clear-cut to me. He's a lying sleazebag hypocrite. Will the 51%'ers catch on now?


President Bush (news - web sites) steps down from Air Force One as he returns to Washington to be in place to sign emergency legislation acting in the life-or-death case of a brain-damaged Florida woman, Terri Schiavo, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Sunday, March 20, 2005. After Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed on Friday, members of Congress worked out a deal to pass legislation to allow federal courts to decide the 41-year-old woman's fate and in the hopes of supporters of the woman's parents restore the tube that was keeping her alive. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050320/480/mdsa10103202150

[Selteri]

16. okay, let me get this straight

First - bush signed into a law giving the spouse first decision on wether to pull the plug or not.

Then - Bush signed a law giving the doctors and the courts the right to pull the plugs if they can't pay the bills and don't pull the plug themselves.

So now he is completely and totally reversing his own decisions.

NIIIIICE.

[kedrys]

17. FLIP-FLOP!!! FLIP-FLOP!!!

Yegads he *is* a little bitch. :grr:

[Occulus]

18. Even better.

One's state, and one's federal. So there's a constitutional conflict there, created BY the president (sic).

[NightOwwl]

21. Gimme an F!

Gimme an L!
Gimme an I!
Gimme an P!

Gimme an F!
Gimme an L!
Gimme an O!
Gimme an P!

What's that spell?
FLIP-FLOP!

What's that spell?
FLIP-FLOP!

What's that spell?
FLIP-FLOP!

[thecrow]

26. No, I don't think he is reversing anything

He is simply going along and signing this HYPOCRISY presented by Congress. The other "laws" are still in effect, no?
The Emperor's handbook said he can do this at whim.
Want a copy of that book?
er... oh that's right... the book also states that only the
Emperor can read it.
Sorry!

[caligirl]

19. Atlanta Journal Constitution today same article shows *'s hypocrisy

Bush signed Texas law favoring spouses
Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription), GA - 5 hours ago
... Bush, now championing the right of Terri Schiavo's parents to decide whether her feeding tube should be reinserted, signed a Texas law in 1999 giving spouses ...

[NightOwwl]

24. Hi caligirl...

The article I referenced is from the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC).

I Googled news, and so far they are the only source. Which is a crying shame.

[caligirl]

28. OOPS, its late, but now I know what AJC stands for! So msm isn't

covering it, at least a big southern paper is. Must have been lifting too many rocks in the garden today.

[kedrys]

20. That photo of * is too much LOL

Y'know what they call that in Texas? Rode hard and put up wet. :evilgrin:

[rodeodance]

25. grumpy old man

[Athame]

29. Ha! My uncle Ray, who was a REAL cowboy

used to use that expression. Hadn't heard it in years, but it sure fits here. I was just wishing someone great with photos could do a side-by-side with a 2000 campaign photo and this one. What a turd he is!

[NightOwwl]

34. You mean like this?

Bush 2005


Bush 2000

[Athame]

51. Yes, just like that. Thanks!

Quite a contrast, hmmm? Four hard years o' ridin'.

[Journeyman]

22. Yes, but he signed that during his reckless youth. . .

and can't be held accountable for what he did when he was so young. I mean, c'mon. . . he wasn't but 50 or so years old when he signed that bill into law. He wasn't even old enough to get the Senior's Discount at Denny's, even if he got there before 5 pm. And you want to hold him accountable for his actions? Jeez . . .

[rainbow4321]

23. He looks like crap.....

did they interrupt his mid afternoon drinking binge or something?

[NightOwwl]

27. No wonder he has to be in bed by 10:00pm every night.

He's drunk off his ass by then.

[Dr Fate]

30. DEMS should ask Wolf Blitzer, etc if Bush is a "Flip flopper"....

...and then ask- "Are you going to call Bush a flip flopper now, like you did every night when it was Kerry?"

Lets ask the media, to their faces, to treat Repubs like they treat us.

[NightOwwl]

31. That's funny Dr Fate...

Media calling Bush out on his hypocrisy? You are such a joker.

/end sarcasm. Expect more propaganda. :grr:

[Dr Fate]

33. No- I said for DEMS to call Bush out on his hypocrisy...

...in a way that also exposes media bias.

I would never expect Wolf to call Bush on this- he is just a corporate lackey.

[NightOwwl]

36. Dean made this statement today:

"This is a deeply personal matter and ought to be left up to physicians. For Sen. Frist to say he could make a diagnosis based on a videotape is certainly not medically sound," said Dean, who, like Frist, is a physician-politician. "I wouldn't want my doctor making any diagnosis of me on videotape."

I'd like to see him follow up this. If anyone could expose the media's bias and Bush's hypocrisy all in one shot, it would be Dean. Al Sharpton could make the case, too, but the White House controlled media would just write him off as a looney liberal.

[Dr Fate]

37. I know- Dean did great today.

Kerry did pretty good on Judy Woodruff the other day too...

You crystalized one of my points- it can't be Al Sharpton or Mike Moore- it has to be Kerry, Dean, Obama, Hilary, etc.

[Toots]

50. I would think that is bordering on malpractice

Without personally seeing the patient or any of the patient's charts he makes a medical diagnosis. If he was a lawyer they would be screaming for disbarment.

[sandnsea]

32. Not a word about Baby Sun

This is really sickening.

[NightOwwl]

35. For those who don't know the details...

The baby wore a cute blue outfit with a teddy bear covering his bottom. The 17-pound, 6-month-old boy wiggled with eyes open and smacked his lips, according to his mother. Then at 2 p.m. today, a medical staffer at Texas Children's Hospital gently removed the breathing tube that had kept Sun Hudson alive since his Sept. 25 birth. Cradled by his mother, he took a few breaths, and died.

<snip>

On Feb. 16, Harris County Probate Court Judge William C. McCulloch made the landmark decision to lift restrictions preventing Texas Children's from discontinuing care. However, an emergency appeal by Hudson's attorney, Mario Caballero, and a procedural error on McCulloch's part prevented the hospital from acting for four more weeks.

Texas law allows hospitals can discontinue life sustaining care, even if patient family members disagree. A doctor's recommendation must be approved by a hospital's ethics committee, and the family must be given 10 days from written notice of the decision to try and locate another facility for the patient.

<snip>

link: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3084934

And just in case anyone (besides DUers) hasn't made the connection, Bush was the one who signed this into law. Basically, if you can't pay, they unplug you, even if it is against the families wishes. Nice, huh?

[oasis]

38. Start spreading the news. kick

[leftchick]

39. fucking lying hypocrite....

where is snippy's Pinocchio nosed bush? I need that photo now!

[flamingpie2500]

40. Ethicists: Bush changed stance (Terry Schaivo)

BY CRAIG GORDON
WASHINGTON BUREAU

March 22, 2005


WASHINGTON -- As Texas governor, George W. Bush signed a law that allows hospitals to pull the plug on critically ill patients despite family objections - the kind of court-authorized move the president and fellow Republicans are challenging in the Terri Schiavo case.

(more)

http://www.newsalerts.com/news/article/go:us0:42921

[cthrumatrix]

41. ethics and bush are like "oil and water"..... why waste time

[Krupskaya]

42. More Bush/Shiavo flip-flops:

The program that is funding her hospice care is a Medicaid program that's on the chopping block, and I believe her family filed a medical malpractice suit that would now be illegal under the new cap rules.

Nice flip flop, Mr. Culture of Life When It's Politically Helpful

[LiberalinNC]

43. He doesn't give a shit about her, only his own reputation!

It's all political, nothing more!

[SOS]

82. Bush, Frist and DeLay

also want Bill Nelson's Senate seat to go Republican next year.
They are using Schiavo just like they used Elian Gonzalez.
They used Gonzalez to galvanize the Cuban and right-wing vote in FL prior to the 2000 election.
Betcha not one of these right-wing hypocrites bothered to even write the boy a letter once he was back in Cuba and no longer of any use to them.

[Triana]

44. He'll change his stance in whatever way...

...is most monetarily or politically expedient for him. It has nothing to do with 'morality' or 'life' (except HIS).

[SpiralHawk]

45. Flip flop

Hypocrite

[Guaranteed]

46. Yup...FLIP FLOP! FLIP FLOP!! FLIP FLOP!!! nt

[salin]

47. check out the WH response - these folks are nervy

The White House said yesterday that Bush's position is consistent, and that the Texas bill focused on expanding the rights of the critically ill and their families to prevent hospitals and doctors from denying life-saving treatment.

tho did get forced into the concession:

Under the 1999 law, another White House official said, Bush expanded that time to 10 days and authorized family members to seek extensions in court but acknowledge that if the challenges fell short, "under the legislation, the hospital still could authorize the end of life."

and someone please explain to me how the bill could do both of the following things:
Elizabeth Sjoberg, an associate general counsel with the Texas Hospital Association, helped draft the 1999 law, and said it added various procedures to ensure that a patients' final wishes regarding care were carried out, while still protecting the hospital if it determined that care should be stopped for terminal or irreversibly ill patients.

So last wish is NOT a living will - ensured... BUT hospital is protected if they determine care should be stopped ... because the patient is terminal/irrevesibly ill. Just how can they do both?

[TankLV]

84. "The White House said bunkerboy was consistant when he said "it is white"

in previous instances, which means he said it was "black". This is entirely consistent with him saying it is "black" now. Don't you stupid liberals and treasonous baby killing democrats understand?"

The hospital bill that this criminal signed as governor EXPANDED THE RIGHTS OF THE HOSPITAL AGAINST THE RIGHTS OF THE PATIENT OR THEIR FAMILY! It did not "expand the rights of the family"!

Do they really think we're as dumb as they are and will believe everything that comes out of their mouths just because they said it?!?!?!

I say it is white. And here's the evidence, which shows I said it is white, as proof that I've said it was black.

My head hurts.

[chickenscratching]

49. oh no!

I'll say 'flip' you say 'flop'!

FLIP!

FLIP!

ok, i have such a hard time reading something so incredibly insane about our president when i know that it will only be brushed upon (if that even) in the news and in the minds of the american people.

i think what pisses me off even more about using Terry Schiavo as a political pawn, as a wedge issue----the republicans are in a win-win situation, if the appeal doesnt go through, they've won a battle for 'LIFE', if they lose and Schiavos tube remains out of her body until she passes away, they can rant on the dems for being killers and use this issue in 2008.
I can just see it now.....

[NightOwwl]

52. Quite the opposite. Republicans overplay their hand once again.

When Ken Starr published Clinton's "memoirs" on the internets, the fog started to lift for a lot of your "Average Joe" Republican-leaning voters. They started to see it for what it was, a witch hunt to destroy a man based on a blow-job. Sure, they knew what was going on before, but this took things to new extremes. They saw Clinton tarred and feathered and hung out for all to see.

As for the Schiavo fiasco; the actions of the Republicans are so transparent, even the MSM saturated public can see through the fog. They are seeing a blatant attempt to use this woman as a political pawn, and they don't like it at all.

See, these are people and events they can relate to, and (most) Republicans are all about "me." When they see something that might affect them detrimentally, the tide starts to turn. And there is no way to turn away from it. Even the MSM can't hold back the stench.

Now they are primed and ready. Bankruptcy Bill, Social Security "reform," the budget that cuts funds from Veteran's Health Care, Homeland Security, Firefighters...

If (and that's a big if) they can put two and two together, I think the Republicans in Congress are sitting on top of a volcano ready to erupt.

[NNN0LHI]

53. Texas critics question Bush's "life" culture

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5620679

HOUSTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's intervention for Terry Schiavo has opened old wounds in Texas where death penalty opponents say his words of support for a "culture of life" ring hollow after so many executions during his time as governor of the state.

Bush said he stepped into the Schiavo case because the United States should have "a presumption in favour of life," but there were 152 executions in Texas during his administration, including some in which the convict's guilt was in doubt, critics said.

"It's hypocrisy at a thousand levels," said University of Houston law professor and death penalty defence attorney David Dow.

"I saw many, many cases where there was substantial doubt about whether someone was guilty or whether the death penalty was the appropriate sentence, but he never said anything," said David Atwood, head of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. "I really can't say he cares about life."

more

[Magleetis]

54. I am perplexed

by how Booosh speaks of being pro life when he has been responsible for so many deaths. Not only in his home state but around the world as well. His talk and his actions could not be further apart. And some actually believe his double speak.

[napi21]

55. I agree with both of them, but even more contradictry is the law he

signed shortly before he left Tx that allows hospitals to disconnect patients from life support if their condition is terminal and they can't pay the bill! It is in line with his stance on the death penalty, but even more in total opposition to his brand new idea about Terri Shiavo!

We're way beyond flip flop here, and deep into flat out lies! You can't say yes & no at the same time and mean both of them!

[DemBones DemBones]

56. Of course Bush** isn't really interested in the

"culture of life"; he stole the phrase fromPope John Paul II after refusing to heed the pope's words about why he should not invade Iraq.

[malaise]

81. Too funny

really. Dumbya is shameless but there is a pattern here.
I see you mention the Pope's words. The word is that he is likely to head back to the hospital.
What are the odds of him departing planet earth in the middle of the very catholic easter? That would give them another week of diversion from the collective lack of interest in preserving thousands of lives in Iraq.
Damn this planet is a mess.

[andyhappy]

57. this will make you ill

While Bush and company are tripping over themselves to "save" Terry
Schiavo, the state of Texas, following Bush's "Futile Care Act",
removed the feeding tube from a six month old baby over the mother's
strenuous objections. The child died this weekend, but Tom Delay was
nowhere to be found.

Of course the child, Sun Hudson, was black, whereas Terry Schiavo is
white.

http://www.thoughtcrimes.org/mt/archives/001969.html

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

58. And, yet again we have to read the TRUTH from foreign sources - Swiss News

Thank the stars for the foreign press! At least the notion of an advesarial and free-press continues elsewhere in the world.

JB

[redqueen]

59. And of course this isn't showing up in the "liberal media" here

:eyes:

[Lone Pawn]

60. Law Bush signed as Texas governor prompts cries of hypocrisy

(Delete if it's a dupe; I looked through three pages and couldn't find it, and not having a star, I can't search.)

The federal law that President Bush signed early Monday in an effort to prolong Terri Schiavo's life appears to contradict a right-to-die law that he signed as Texas governor, prompting cries of hypocrisy from congressional Democrats and some bioethicists.

In 1999, then-Gov. Bush signed the Advance Directives Act, which lets a patient's surrogate make life-ending decisions on his or her behalf. The measure also allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a physician, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes that the patient's condition is hopeless.

Bioethicists familiar with the Texas law said Monday that if the Schiavo case had occurred in Texas, her husband would be the legal decision-maker and, because he and her doctors agreed that she had no hope of recovery, her feeding tube would be disconnected...

More at link.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/11195230.htm

[DinahMoeHum]

61. Bush was for euthanasia before he was against it! LMAO !!

Flip, flop and fly.

:evilgrin:

[Lorien]

62. I'm amazed that acknowledgments of hypocrisy

are being made in the MSM. Is this a first for BushCo?

[gordianot]

63. ** engage in hypocrisy. Never

Notice how few articles there are on this sad fact.

[rodeodance]

64. sweet--Bush and hypocracy in the same headline!!!

[redqueen]

65. Thanks! Missed this yesterday.

Glad to see it in at least ONE paper here in the US.

[barb162]

66. I would love to see this get hugely publicized on MSM

It's barely being mentioned

[rainbow4321]

68. TX: Then and now, Bush backed law for life (Texas spin on flip-flopping)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/032205dntexlaw.4e640.html

As governor of Texas in 1999, George W. Bush signed into state law procedures for hospitals to end life support for hopeless patients. As president, he signed a federal law over the weekend aimed at prolonging the life of Terri Schiavo. A contradiction? Not so, said Texans familiar with Mr. Bush's action.

The White House denied it. Both actions were "in favor of life," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Texans involved in drafting the 1999 state legislation agree. "I think it is very consistent," said Joe Pojman of Texas Alliance for Life.

The 1999 state law Mr. Bush signed allows hospitals to disconnect patients if the doctor and a hospital ethics committee agree it's appropriate. But in a nod to right-to-life groups, the law requires hospitals to give families 10 days to find another institution to provide care.

The 1999 statute provides for resolution of disputes between doctors and family members of patients. In the case where family members disagree, as in the Schiavo case, Texas would have to fall back on previous probate law governing disputed guardianships, Mr. Mayo said.

[Lindacooks]

69. Up is down, black is white, wet is dry...

If you could take a look at the brains of these morons, you'd see so many twists and turns they would look like a mass of overcooked spaghetti.

[varun]

70. Yahoo is also carrying this...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2270&e=4&u=/krwashbureau/20050322/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_braindamagedwoman_bush_wa_1

Law Bush signed as Texas governor prompts cries of hypocrisy

Mon Mar 21, 7:22 PM ET Top Stories - Knight Ridder Newspapers

By William Douglas, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The federal law that President Bush (news - web sites) signed early Monday in an effort to prolong Terri Schiavo's life appears to contradict a right-to-die law that he signed as Texas governor, prompting cries of hypocrisy from congressional Democrats and some bioethicists.

In 1999, then-Gov. Bush signed the Advance Directives Act, which lets a patient's surrogate make life-ending decisions on his or her behalf. The measure also allows Texas hospitals to disconnect patients from life-sustaining systems if a physician, in consultation with a hospital bioethics committee, concludes that the patient's condition is hopeless...

[proud patriot]

74. Thanks I rated this

:hi:

[NYC]

79. 4.14 rating now.

You have given the news article Law Bush signed as Texas governor prompts cries of hypocrisy a rating of 5.

Its current average rating is 4.14 with 1233 votes.

[Maestro]

71. Coming from that

p.o.s. RW propaganda rag of a newspaper, it doesn't surprise in the least that I see this type of spin. Hey, though, at least we got rid of the crappy lying and unethical Ruben Navarrette as part of the editorial staff.

[librechik]

72. um I get it, I guess--Shrub lied then

and he's lying now. Completely consistent!

[saigon68]

73. Chimp urged to direct Marshals to place Schaivo in protective custody

http://www.cathfam.org/WhiteHouse3.15.05.html

Read this Horseshit.





The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. President,

I am asking you to direct U.S. Marshals to place Terri Schindler-Schiavo in protective custody, removing her from the bailiwick of Florida Judge George Greer, who has consistently presented a hostile and anti-life bias through his disregard of those particulars of her case that reflect upon felonious injuries to her, denial of medical care and denial of her First Amendment religious rights.

Charged with upholding the Constitution and protecting citizens, it is your duty to always protect innocent life and err on the side of such life if there is the slightest doubt. In Terri's case there is much doubt.

Action is required of you in Terri's case because the judicial system alone will not protect her for several reasons. First, Judge Greer has been shown to have multiple conflicts of interest, among which are acceptance of campaign donations from Felos & Felos, the legal firm trying to starve her (Attachment 1). Second, the majority of the Supreme Court justices are profoundly corrupt in their thinking regarding the nature of man and his unalienable right to life. Their insistence on referencing militant secular foreign legal systems at odds with the Constitution of the United States bias them toward a culture of death rather than the dignity of men inherent in the unalienable rights granted by God and referenced by our country's sacred founding documents. A failure to confront the courts at this pivot of history will forever embed the idea that courts have become the ultimate power with the right to legislate the very existence of individuals.

[rainbow4321]

75. Crap..this may get uglier...

I heard a quote from Jeb Bush today saying that he would do whatever it takes to protect <paraphrase> Terri...please tell me this is not going to involve something along the lines of an Elian Gonzalez kind of raid and snatch....w/ shrub's blessing..I can hear it now, using the same fucking words he used to get us into two wars: "On my orders...."

[saigon68]

87. Before this is over a Jack Ruby figure will EVEN the odds

[northzax]

76. where did the hyphen come from?

I've read a lot of the legal documents in this case (not from purely purient interest but because my family just faced a similar decision with my grandfather) and no where is she listed as "Theresa Marie Schindler-Schiavo" This is not the name SHE chose to use. So why disrespect her choices?



Captain Obvious would like to point out that the above question was rhetorical.

[rainbow4321]

77. And NOW they worry about conflicts of interest...

and campaign donations, etc...sounds good to me, the whole shrub regime would have to step down using this new fundie concern over conflict of intere$t.


"First, Judge Greer has been shown to have multiple conflicts of interest, among which are acceptance of campaign donations from Felos & Felos"

[MADem]

88. Rhetorically responding, that's FRAMING

The cretins want to "frame" the debate and take the responsibility away from the husband and hand it back to the parents. Thus, the horseshit hyphen!!!

This happens all the time in all sorts of circumstances, and is a very popular way to separate a crime victim from her husband, e.g. Laci ROCHA, Nicolle BROWN....ironically, they do the exact reverse and BERATE women for using their own names (Hillary Rodham, Teresa Heinz) when they want to "put them back in their place."

I think they need to let the women decide what they want to be called.

[gasperc]

78. I guess this new law over turns the Texas law

I wonder if the baby who had her life support removed this week will get compensated for having life "violently yanked from her"

[MADem]

86. No, no law change YET

All this legislation did was provide an avenue for Terri's parents to get to federal court. It is specific to them (and thus unconstitutional on its face).

This is all a GAME for chimpy. He manages to 'look good' for the insane base, and the evil guys in this absurd play are the judges, along with the liberals. Keep 'em riled and red-faced, that's his strategy. But the day will never come when the government has to spend its coffers of our cash on keeping comatose, brain dead people alive--unless his pals can make a HUGE, obscene profit on it!