Death is another form of persistent vegetative state, or let her die with dignity

It touches a little close to politics and all things serious, but all of the news coverage of The Schiavo right-to-die case has touched a nerve. In case you have missed out on what is happening (perhaps a little less Michael Jackson/Court TV for you), here is a nice recap and timeline courtesy of the BBC. For the latest, WaPo provides an article covering the current court actions

Now, after seven years of court arguments, and 8 removals of her feeding tube, Congress has finally decided that they can toss this red-meat issue to their right-wing pro-lifers. Unfortunately, this goes against almost everything that the Republican Party says it stands for (state's rights, small government, sanctity of marriage, not being fascists...). Too bad they are raging hypocrites. Reading about how they stayed up all night writing this bill to force their ideas upon a woman, who is no longer in a state to actually tell them what she wants, disgusts me. I hope that it disgusts you too.

More in:

Dr. (and Congressman) Weldon's request to examine Ms. Schiavo, the
brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of a national debate, is perhaps the
most extreme example of how some doctors in Congress have exercised their
medical judgment in the case. At least three remarked on her condition without
examining her, basing their opinions on court affidavits, videotape or both. In
addition to the comments by Dr. Frist and Dr. Weldon, Representative Phil
Gingrey, a Georgia Republican and an obstetrician, contended in a House debate
that Ms. Schiavo could improve "with proper treatment, now denied."

The good news is that now we no longer ever need to see a doctor. Just send in a five minute video clip, and they can make a perfectly sound medical judgement about your health!

Apparently, I am not alone in being turned off by the Republicans' involvement in this case, as an ABC poll shows

63 percent of people said they supported the decision to remove Schiavo's
feeding tube; 78 percent said they would not want to live under similar
conditions; 70 percent of people said they were opposed to Congress's
involvement; 67 percent said Congress was more concerned with politics than
Schiavo's well being.(courtesy of Terry Neal)

Hopefully these numbers will mean something to our elected politicians as
well, many of whom (even Republicans) are apparently already
struggling with how out of step this is with any sort of reading of the
Constitution:

"This is a clash between the social conservatives and the process conservatives, and I would count myself a process conservative," said David Davenport of the Hoover Institute, a conservative research organization. "When a case like this has been heard by 19 judges in six courts and it's been appealed to the Supreme Court three times, the process has worked - even if it hasn't given the result that the social conservatives want. For Congress to step in really is a violation of federalism."
Stephen Moore, a conservative advocate who is president of the Free Enterprise Fund, said: "I don't normally like to see the federal government intervening in a situation like this, which I think should be resolved ultimately by the family: I think states' rights should take precedence over federal intervention. A lot of conservatives are really struggling with this case."
Some more moderate Republicans are also uneasy. Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, the sole Republican to oppose the Schiavo bill in a voice vote in the Senate, said: "This senator has learned from many years you've got to separate your own emotions from the duty to support the Constitution of this country. These are fundamental principles of federalism."