This is like severed head on the side of the road bad (Schiavo)

[nonconformist]

It's sad, it's disturbing, you feel like a voyeur who shouldn't be seeing any of this... yet you can't look away.

Terri's father claimed a few days ago that Terri smiled when he told her he was taking her out for breakfast. Now he's saying that Terri mouthed the words "I want to live". And DeLay, as batshit insane as ever, is claiming that Terri is "lucid".

The press is reporting this like it's news, when in reality it is sad and pathetic. The parents are clearly beyond delusion at this point, and nobody is doing them any favors by pandering. I feel bad for them, I'm sorry that their daughter has been brain dead for 15 years. It's tragic. But then they also said that had they known for a fact that those were Terri's wishes they wouldn't honor them, and that if she needed all her limbs amputated they still wouldn't accept this.

Not to make light of anything, but I can't help but think about the case where the old man was found with the body of his betrothed - who had died many, many years prior - which he had crafted to look not so decomposed. It's sick and twisted and I hope the Shindler's can stop litigating for 5 minutes after Terri finally passes and get some counseling.

These are such private, intimate family matters it makes me feel like a sick voyeur even knowing about them. Shame on the Republicans and shame on Congress for making this such a circus. If I was Michael Schiavo, when this is finally over I would move away and change my name. His life could seriously be in danger, now that he's the poster boy of hate for the radical fundie fringe.

And DeLay is hanging by a thread. Next thing you know, Terri will be quoting Shakespeare.

[HockeyMom]

1. Dr. Frankenstein

err, I mean Dr. Frist. He is right up there with DeLay.

[htuttle]

2. "Look! Up in the Road! A head!"

Director: "No, no no. It's 'Look! Up in the road ahead!"

(sorry...old Benny Hill sketch...)

As far as I'm concerned, the White Knight has been talking backwards since we went through the Looking Glass 4-5 years ago.

[MsTryska]

3. I totally agree with you.

honestly this circu is absolutely heart-breaking to me.

I feel violated for her. I can't believe her mother doesn't.

[Selteri]

4. CNN has been bringing on Kate Asamson as have

Faux TV and I suspect other channels.

Anyone who knows about her case shuold know that she was in a similar state to a point, they talk about how her feeding tube was removed for 8 days.

She doesn't even mention that she was in a condition called Locked In Syndrome (If you want to be more familiar with it, there are movies about it, they did an episode on ER about it.)

She talks about how they disconnected her feeding tube for 8 days and how she was aware, but glosses over that they turned it off because her digestive system had shut down. Had they not done that her body would have choked her to death.

Why is this woman being treated like a medical doctor for plugging her damned book? Yes, she went through a horrible experience, but she needs to stop holding herself up agianst Terri Shivo, TS is not just brain damaged, she's brain missing. She's missing large portions of her brain, the Cerebtal Cortex and her Visual Cortex.

Therefor anyone who says her eyes track like is probabally full of Kaka, the same for the people who claim she's still in there.

It is possible that a part of her remains, but come on people, 15 years is long enough to recover, let the poor lady out of the torture and tell us about real news. Like the Pentagon admitting that they let Osama slip through their hands at Tora Bora.

[MissMarple]

5. They may be forced to video her in her current state.

It won't be pretty, and a terrible invasion of her privacy. But it would give a clear picture of her "lucidity".

[On the Road]

6. They Really Should Bring Her Before Congress

I mean it. Right now. Let them question her. Have the whole thing on CSPAN. It would clarify the whole issue. The GOP would look like complete idiots.

[Bryn]

7. Why Not Send a Therapy Dog since

Terri loved dogs and wanted to be a vet, but couldn't since she didn't make grades good enough. Has anyone tried that for Terri in the past, bringing in a therapy dog??

[nonconformist]

8. Where her cerebral cortex should be is spinal fluid

I love dogs, but I question that their healing ability would include regrowing brains.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. "Therapy" for what, exactly? How would she even know...

...the dog is in her room? Or even in the same solar system?

In fact, she hasn't been able to register anything for several years now. That's because she's permanently incapable of doing anything but remain in her vegetative state. Forever.

[Lerkfish]

12. how about a therapy pet rock?

it would as much good.
she has no cerebral cortex left. What's a dog gonna do for her?

[RoyGBiv]

9. Funerals ...

As those of us still holding on to our sanity are aware, funerals, in whatever form and however our particular culture observes them, are for the living. They often mark the beginning of a real grieving process, one that can lead to acceptance. Without this sort of ritual, people can get stuck in denial.

This, I believe, is part of what has happened to this woman's parents. To make matters worse, not only have they had no ritual that allows their grieving to begin, they've accepted wholesale a false hope intensified by the fact the object of their loss still moves and breathes, even if the essence of who this person was is gone forever. They cannot accept the latter because a moving object still exists.

And, of course, to make it even worse than that, the parents have recruited and are being manipulated by truly evil politicians who care nothing for them or their daughter.

This whole mess is vile.

[ComerPerro]

10. Not sure about the severed head thing, but I'm with you

That's why I really don't get into this Schiavo business. I really don't want to know, and I feel that its not my place to be following this. You summed it up pretty well:

These are such private, intimate family matters it makes me feel like a sick voyeur even knowing about them.