Point Of View…

Congress got together over the weekend, after spending so much time on the baseball/steroids issues, to discuss an ‘urgent’ matter. They called themselves together on the weekend’¦this must be important!

”¦the measure of a nations commitment to the sanctity of life, is reflected in its laws and to the extent those laws honor and defend its most vulnerable citizens. ‘ (Rep James Sensenbrenner, R ‘“ Wisconsin)

Wow, what an amazing quote from Congress! They must be talking about Universal health care, or taking care of the poor and homeless finally. Right? Aren’t the poor, homeless, unemployed people of this country its most vulnerable citizens?

Uh, or not!

Actually the health care Congress was discussing is not actually for everyone at all. It is for one person, Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who’s tragic case and right to die battle continues between her husband, her family, and of course, now the U.S. Congress!

In a nut shell, the battle has gone to many courts, with the law of Florida being looked at, which says that the husband, in cases like this, has the sole right to make a decision on continued life support. In fact, the courts have found in the husband’s case over and over. Remember, without life support, she will die on her own. Local doctors believe she has unrecoverable sever brain damage. The feeding tube was finally removed based on the courts orders.

BUT, acting quickly over the weekend, a congressional order was quickly passed by Congress to bring this case before a federal judge, in hopes of getting the tube put back. I guess this shows us all just how badly off you really need to be before Congress will do anything to improve your health care. Asthma? Cancer? HIV? Forget about it! But brain dead on a feeding tube, and congress comes out strong. What a country!

Leading the charge, Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist. You all remember him don’t you? This is the DOCTOR that told us all that HIV can be spread through tears and sweat! So this expert wanted to know more about the Terri case, so he watched a few video tapes. He did not go visit her, he did not consult with attending physicians, and he did not read any of her charts, and then made a diagnosis that this woman was not in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’ Wow, no wonder this guy is in congress. Many doctors examined her locally, made a diagnosis, and now this guy, from a thousand miles away after watching a few video tapes says they are all wrong! Now here is a doctor we all want: Against all know scientific evidence, he knows that HIV is transmitted via tears and sweat, and he can make conclusions against a team of local doctors by simply watching videotapes, with no interaction with the patient at all. What an amazing guy. And now he is making life and death decision on behalf or our country. Damn, I am afriad.

Unfortunately, the legislation from Congress still needed President Bush’s signature to make it a law, and Bush was on (yet another) vacation. And as everyone knows, Bush has NEVER returned to the White House from vacation to take on an urgent matter. Never! But this time, he did! At 4:40 PM on Sunday, he left his ranch to come back and sign this law.

Now a quick review: George W, as governor of Texas, signed a law that said hospitals could remove life support from terminally ill or brain damaged patients when the patient or family could no longer afford to pay for it, regardless of the desires of the family! MONEY IS ONE MAJOR DECIDING FACTOR! And, in fact, this law was JUST recently used to remove the life support of a 6-month-old boy over the objections of his parents. But now as president, here is the same guy signing into law something that effects only ONE person’s right now, against the courts of the state, and grandstanding about the sanctity of life! Which is it? ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, with all the problems going on in this country and around the world (wars, potential wars, social security, health care, pollution, etc.) the Congress, after spending weeks on Baseball steroids, has stepped up in the case of an individual, overruled a state’s courts, and is enacting laws to protect one person.

Now correct me if I am wrong (I am sure many of you will try), but I recall the Republicans constantly screamed about protecting the ‘state’s rights,’ and allowing the state to make decisions and keeping the power of the federal government in check? But this move is 100% in opposition to that! Oh, wait, that was when the Democrats where in power. Now that the Republicans are in power, well, it is a different story now I guess! I guess there are principals for every occasion!

So what happens next? Congress will start getting involved in every state court case in which they disagree? Sorry, I do not care if you believe removing the feeding tube is correct or not, this abuse of federal powers is unprecedented, goes against everything that the Republicans use to stand for, and put, yet again, our rights in this country in sever jeopardy. I guess politicians have a very short term memory. That is all that will explain it.

*SIGH*

At first I could not understand why everyone is not outraged at this abuse of federal power. Seems like half the country is and the other half is not. Oh, I get it. Don’t worry Republicans if you do not get the outrage here, I completely understand. When the Democrats again take power and pull something like this, which I am sure they will, THEN you can be angry and outraged AGAINST the very thing you are fighting for now as being OK.