Letters to the Editor
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Great commentary, but Schiavo had different aspects
I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Salon article generate so much interesting and thoughtful response.
On the case of Schiavo, though, I think that "mishima666" had it pretty close to right. There was so little cerebral cortex left in that woman's skull that describing her remaining brain as "reptillian" would be grandiose.
What that entire mess was about was deliberate denial of "death with dignity," the Ashcroft-driven craziness that had doctors practicing legitimate medicine in Oregon pursued with far more Department of Justice zeal than transparent terrorists in Minnesota and Arizona.
The situation presented was a fundamentalist's and radical conservative's dream: A woman who, when prodded, exhibited the corporal equivalent of a banana slug sprinkled with salt. Frist was able to diagnose by viewing a video. Commander Codpiece, who found Katrina less important than spending a million taxpayer bucks to pick up a free guitar in California, could come rushing back from a vacation at Crawford to sign, with great pomp and circumstance, a piece of wholly useless legislation.
Operation Rescue West, those tax-evading scamsters whose ranks had been swelled by child molesters, clinic bombers and surgeon shooters was probably able to cart back to Kansas Baghdad-sized piles of uncounted cash in its "Truth (sic) Truck."
Something for everybody. Everybody that is, except for that poor near-carcass that had been lying in its own excrement for 15 years.