Appeals Court to Consider Schiavo Request

From NewsMax.com, which also reports on the latest efforts by none other than The Rev. Jesse Jackson.

With regard to this last: When The Rev. Jesse Jackson, or anyone with whom I have had my previous differences on other issues (like Ralph Nader), lends his support to an effort to keep a woman alive who is not guilty of any crime, I take him at his word. In Ralph Nader's case, he seems to think (as he evidently said to Mark Levin of the Landmark Legal Foundation) that the nation's HMO's are all eager to see Terri die because it will excuse, or even justify, their denial of care to patients judged not to have any "reasonable expectation of recovery." (He might even be right about that, and if he is, this illustrates the value he provides to any consumer-oriented society like ours.) All of this goes to show that sometimes an issue comes along that challenges people to assess whether they really have any core principles. The drama of Terri Schindler Schiavo is one such case. I commend The Rev. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Nader for finding in their hearts the resolve to defend certain principles that they have always claimed to hold dear. I wish a certain Senator from New York State--either Senator--would find a similar resolve in his or her respective heart.

Back to that appeals-court angle: The lawyer for the parents has petitioned the Eleventh Circuit to make a motion for a new hearing, on the grounds that Judge Whittemore did not give the case the thorough, de novo review that recently enacted federal law requires. Thus far, we know only that the Eleventh Circuit accepted the motion and are willing to consider it. We do not know yet whether they will grant or deny the motion.

While I'm on the subject, I know I must be touching a few raw nerves, considering a few of the comments I have lately received. In response to my open letter to, among other persons, Jodi Centonze (advising her to think about whether Michael might do to her what he is trying to do to Terri), I received my first death threat. Whoever made the comment should consider himself lucky that he had the good sense to post that anonymously--because a death threat is serious business, and the law takes it seriously. And in case anyone out there is wondering whether I am complaining about any pots calling this kettle black, let me make one thing clear: I have not made, nor do I condone anyone else making, any threat against Michael Schiavo, Jodi Centonze, George Felos, George Greer, or any of their allies, friends, relatives, or associates. I have offered warnings concerning the very real risk that each person runs concerning the lack of honor among or between thieves (as regards Michael Schiavo and Jodi Centonze) and concerning the eventual trial that God HImself will hold of all whose names are not written in the Book of Life [Revelation 20]. And that is all I ever said or meant, as a review of the archives of this blog will clearly show.

Threatening messages aside, I realize that some of you think that I am accusing Michael Schiavo unfairly. (One of you must think I'm making this stuff up out of the whole cloth, this although you couldn't make this stuff up even for a psychological thriller in the mold of Gaslight or The Bad Seed. But I digress.) But I ask you: Why else is Michael Schiavo still insistent on not simply walking away from this case, even after some have offered him million-dollar or even multi-million-dollar remittances? Why did he wait seven years to say, "Oh, by the way, my wife said that she'd just want to die"? How do you explain the nasty reputation that carries over from his past romances?

One more thing: We now hear that Michael Schiavo has "consented" in advance to an autopsy if his wife dies. Don't buy that Brooklyn Bridge, sportsfans. Florida law requires an autopsy in any case in which the body is to be cremated. Michael Schiavo is trying to pretend to consent to something that the law requires--this although he knows that an autopsy just might provide the explanation of that bone scan, the one showing multiple fractures in various stages of healing.

To sum up: at last report, both the Senate of Florida and the Eleventh Federal Judicial Circuit are considering, well, "eleventh-hour" appeals. Stay tuned....

UPDATE at 3:24 p.m. EST: Sean Hannity just broke the story that the Eleventh Circuit has denied the motion for a re-hearing. So all eyes now turn to the Florida Senate.