CATHOLIC
MEDIA COALITION
|
THE
END GAME Why
Terri Schiavo Has To Die by
Cecilia H. Martin
The time-line for the Terri Schiavo case begins in February 1990
and continues up until the present. For
14 long years, the Schindler family has fought an agonizing battle for the
life of their child, who unexplainably collapsed after a mysterious
incident at her home.
For every one of those years, her estranged husband Michael has
fought just as hard to have his wife put to death by
court ordered starvation/dehydration.
Terri has no living will, does not have a terminal illness. One has to wonder why Michael wants her dead.
Is
there money involved? The
husband claims the judicial award of $700,000 is gone.
Is it love? Michael
claims Terri wouldn’t want to live with the brain damage that has
handicapped her. However, his hear-say evidence of her wishes came only
after the malpractice suit monetary award was announced.
Michael’s loving “devotion” is somewhat marred by the fact
that he now lives with another woman with whom he has sired two children.
What is the motive behind
the restaurateur-turned-physical therapist-turned-nurse who passionately
pursues his wife’s death? Many
wonder. Could Michael Schiavo be a pawn, a pawn in a much larger game
being played for much higher stakes?
Enter one George Felos, a kind of weird, yoga practicing guru
lawyer, who is fixated on helping people die.
Felos, a board member of Hospice, has visions of dollars, ideation
that features book signings and movie rights once Terri is dead.
Not to mention all the fame and fortune that will accrue to the man
who finally overturns the law that protects the handicapped, the elderly,
and the terminally ill’s opportunity to live until they die – by
natural means.
When the gavel finally sounds that makes legal the whim of the
courts to judge that a human person may be eliminated, by active or
passive euthanasia, it will do so with the same language unearthed in the
Constitution that has legally murdered 46,000,000 innocent unborn: the right
to privacy.
Few people realize that every single Florida institution, (Governor
Bush excluded), every legal, judicial, medical, societal, journalistic and
even religious institution, from the office of Attorney General Charlie
Crist on down through the ranks to the local police department, is arrayed
against this woman continuing to live.
Doesn’t that seem strange? This
is a big case. Whatever
happens to Terri has the potential to affect the entire U. S. population,
a fact few people realize.
Death
in America
In
1994, émigré billionaire George Soros wrote a check for $15 million to
finance the Project on Death in America (PDIA).
Its goal was to “transform the culture of death in the United
States.” By 2003 when the PDIA ended its grant making and closed the
program, it had distributed $45 million to organizations and individuals
working on end-of-life issues. Although the project is closed, the work
goes on. It would seem that a large part of that work is to make
doctor-assisted suicide legal. In
1991, Dereck Humphrey wrote euthanasia’s most famous textbook, Final
Exit, and embarked on a career to further the cause of “death
with dignity.” (It is
alleged that Felos and Michael Schiavo attempted to use some of the
protocol found in Final Exit on Terri).
Soros and Humphrey share the same euthanasia mindset. “Death with
dignity” reached its culmination in 1997, when Oregon became the first
state to legalize physician-assisted suicide.
On the May 18, 2004 Fox News O’Reilly show, investigative
reporter and best selling author Richard Poe gave an exposé on Soros. Poe
claims Soros is a maniacal figure who fancies himself as a New Age
Messiah, and that his philanthropy funds abortion, atheism, drug
legalization, sex education, gay marriage, and globalization.
He is out to destroy the America we know says Poe,
who in a Newsmax report writes of “the dark purpose behind Soros’
$200-million “Project on Death” program.
Soros, who authored The Bubble of American Supremacy, is
bankrolling the Democratic party’s attempt to unseat President Bush.
Militantly anti-religious, Soros writes that "devout believers of
any sort are idiots who shouldn't hold public office."
The sophisticated scene of international intrigue and politics, of
Dereck Humphrey, Newsmax and George Soros, is a far cry from the
town of Clearwater, Florida, formerly filled with shuffleboard
courts and known as a retirement destination for “snowbirds.”
But just as Clearwater has changed, the prospects for longevity for
the elderly and handicapped may be changing also. In what can only be
regarded as a strange turn of events, the hitherto unknown case of an
"expendable" Florida
woman, Terri Schiavo, leapt off the pages of the hometown newspaper and
into the national news spotlight.
The facts are tailor made for sensationalism: the husband is
suspected of abuse; the parents tenaciously cling to Terri’s chance to
live. After six days of starvation, the governor of the state ordered a
previously removed feeding tube re-inserted; the legislature was called
into emergency session to enact “Terri’s Law,” and the story went
nationwide.
The media consistently reports on the case, albeit often
inaccurately. Terri’s tragic story is so fraught with her husband’s
unfeeling behavior that on CNN’s Capital Gang, May 22, 2004,
Kate O’ Beirne actually named Michael Schiavo’s 55 day ban of
visitation rights for Terri’s parents, the “Outrage of the Week”.
(Michael lifted the ban on May 25th).
With all the notoriety the Terri Schiavo case has attained, it
would be foolish to suggest that the anti-life forces are not passionately
interested in its outcome. The
nearly unbroken line of public figures trying to kill Terri makes it a
certainty.
Attorney General Crist:
Rubbing his hands together, Crist, who has his eye on the
governor’s seat, says, “I can do nothing.”
Senator Jim King: Remarking
on the passage of Terri’s Law, which he originally upheld, Sen. King
said, it was "probably one of the worst votes that I've ever
done." King opined he
wouldn’t want his “legacy” (of passing death-enhancing laws) to be
ruined by the Schiavo case. The Hemlock Society applauded Hospice board
member King.
Follow the money: Sen.
King’s campaign contributors include Richard M. Jerger Jr., of the same
name and address as listed on Jerger & Centonze Insurance.
Jodi Centonze is Michael Schiavo's live-in girlfriend, and the
mother of his two illegitimate children. Why were Jerger and Centonze
contributing to Sen. King when they live in another district?
Judge Douglas Baird:
On May 6, Pinellas Circuit County Judge W. Douglas Baird ruled
Terri’s Law unconstitutional. Baird’s ruling was based on what he said
was the unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the governor
because it unjustifiably authorizes the governor to summarily deprive
Florida citizens of their constitutional “right to privacy.”
Bishop Robert N. Lynch:
Terri’s Catholic bishop has never made a clear, unequivocal appeal for
her life, despite a recent document from the Pope disallowing death by
starvation/dehydration.
Follow the money:
The law firm employed by both the St. Petersburg and Venice Diocese
is DiVito & Higham.
Allegedly, Joseph DiVito is a personal friend of Bishop Lynch and has
contributed to the re-election campaign of Judge Greer.
Judge Greer:
Judge’s Greer’s rulings include: imposing visitation
restrictions, refusing to allow swallowing tests, refusing to look at
evidence, disregarding Michael’s guardianship omissions and failures,
and repeatedly ordering Terri’s feeding tube removed. Greer appears totally locked in to supporting Michael
Schiavo.
Michael, too, is desperate. In
one of his characteristic acts of cruelty, he recently had five of
Terri’s teeth pulled after a decade of neglected dental
care. By submitting her to 55
days of isolation from her family, was he hoping to drive her into despair
for being abandoned?
So, what’s gone wrong here?
The end game isn’t proceeding as planned, as carefully
constructed and carried out by the major players.
Not yet, anyway. And
why does that “brain-dead vegetable,” Terri Schiavo, gurgle and smile
and show utter delight when her mother and father finally regain their
visitation rights for one hour on a Sunday afternoon?
Are Terri’s smile, Terri’s motions just involuntary muscle
responses, a jerking of the nerves? Or
could it be the indomitable spirit to live — because one is loved?
For love, or the lack of it, is after all the end game.
Cecilia
H. Martin is the author of Confusion in the Pews; How We Can Make Our
Church Catholic Again, One Parish at a Time. PostScript:
LifeNews.com:
Schiavo
Case to head to FL Supreme Court Terri
Schiavo's Parents Get Visitation Rights Restored by Judge |