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Mar. 21st, 2005 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hel_anaAn opinion piece about the larger issue behind the Schaivo case as it stands right now: Power abused, democracy corrupted By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
An exerpt:
There was an Englishman named Thomas More. He is most famous for refusing to approve Henry VIII's divorce, and paying for his principles with his head.
In the play about More's life titled A Man for All Seasons, More debates a character named Roper, who wants to ignore the law to fight evil:
Roper: So now you'd give the devil the benefit of law?
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every tree in England to do that.
More: Oh, and when the last law was down and the devil turned on you where would you hide, Roper, all the laws being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast, man's laws not God's, and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - do you really think that you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake.
For the sake of headlines and self-righteousness, the U.S. Congress waited until the final seconds of a years-long, agonizing legal process to say that our law does not count. Many well-meaning people are cheering. And so one more tree falls.
An exerpt:
There was an Englishman named Thomas More. He is most famous for refusing to approve Henry VIII's divorce, and paying for his principles with his head.
In the play about More's life titled A Man for All Seasons, More debates a character named Roper, who wants to ignore the law to fight evil:
Roper: So now you'd give the devil the benefit of law?
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every tree in England to do that.
More: Oh, and when the last law was down and the devil turned on you where would you hide, Roper, all the laws being flat? This country is planted thick with laws from coast to coast, man's laws not God's, and if you cut them down - and you're just the man to do it - do you really think that you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake.
For the sake of headlines and self-righteousness, the U.S. Congress waited until the final seconds of a years-long, agonizing legal process to say that our law does not count. Many well-meaning people are cheering. And so one more tree falls.
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Date: 2005-03-22 01:49 am (UTC)this is one of the few times i'm going to be ashamed of our administration...i can't believe they did this...
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Date: 2005-03-22 02:51 am (UTC)1) If it were a "Democratic" Congress/Senate/President and they thought that they would get one more vote next time, they would in a New York heart beat, do the same exact thing that this administration is doing.
2) It would serve everyone (that wants to keep this poor woman alive) right to be trapped in the same situation as Mrs Shiavo is, but be aware of what is going on, and have to live in that kind of hell for the rest of their natural life.
Are these fighting word? Probably.
Biz Out
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Date: 2005-03-22 03:01 am (UTC)I'm soooo glad we're on the same wavelength here hon.
(Remind me to get/find "The Five Wishes" paperwork so we can sit down together and fill the paperwork out. We might want to sit with Mom, for help with medical terminology and also for review since she's going to be listed, along with you, as my medical surrogate.)
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Date: 2005-03-22 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 03:15 am (UTC)But Mom has personal experience and the medical experience.. as well as being a hospice nurse...
And best of all, she's free! *grin*
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Date: 2005-03-22 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-22 03:19 am (UTC)I don't think anyone would disagree with you (at least not anyone who's paying attention). There were Democratic congressmen and women among those who voted for the bill (and, in fact, if you look at the numbers, provided enough support to push the legislation over the quorum target, IIRC)
This isn't about Democratic/Republican. It's about what's right. And what they did -- all of them, regardless of party -- wrong.
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Date: 2005-03-22 03:22 am (UTC)