Let's recap the recent events in the Terri Schiavo debacle. Despite the proper findings of the Florida courts, Congress decided to stick their noses into the personal lives of a group of people who are already having a pretty crappy time. In an emergency session, they passed legislation that pisses all over the separation of powers and the checks and balances upon which our country was founded. President Bush left his vacation early to rush back and sign the bill. All to allow the federal courts to hear a case which the state courts already heard. Thoroughly. And decided. Definitively.

And what's the result of all this political grandstanding? This morning, the federal court judge who caught the case found that the Florida courts got it completely right, and declined to order the tube to be reinserted. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore stated that Terri's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial and that Terri's "life and liberty interests" had been properly protected. Case closed. Again.

But of course it isn't closed. Terri's parents have already started the appeal process within the federal court system, where they will likely waste a lot more time and end up with the very same outcome. We expect them to do that. As we've said, we don't agree with them, but we can certainly empathize with their plight. Our real question is what is the government's next move?

It is clear that this is a game to the politicos — they are simply putting on a show in an attempt to appeal to voters. But who are they appealing to? As we've seen, upwards of 60% of Americans polled believe that Terri's feeding tube should not be reinserted, and that the government should have no place in decisions such as this. 87% would not want to be kept alive through artificial means if they were in a similar situation. Of course, the religious right could be the intended audience, but even they aren't all in favor of the Republicans' forced measures given the poll results. These twisted politicians may have to face the possibility that the game they are playing is backfiring on them.

Bush, on the other hand, has the gall to bluster about his "culture of life" while engaging in his political grandstanding. This despite the fact that while he was the Governor of Texas, he signed into law the so-called "Texas Futile Care Law" which seems to be in opposition to the Schiavo legislation. This piece of legislation was just recently used to remove life support from a baby against the wishes of the mother in a medically "futile" case in which the family could not pay for continued care! What a load of hypocritical bullshit.

So, what's the government's next move? It seems that they have two obvious choices:

1. Back off. Let the federal courts make a decision. That decision will likely be to uphold the current ruling, letting Terri die. In this scenario, they can throw up their hands, tell everyone that they did everything they could do, and blame those damned activist judges (which is a term that refers to any judge whose actions disagree with a politician's opinions, whether the judge upholds or overturns a given law). If they see the tide of public opinion against them, this is likely where they will head.
2. Forge on, blind of common sense and the Constitution, and further piss on the separation of powers in order to force Terri to be kept alive. Can they do this? Sure — Congress routinely considers legislation that includes language which states that the courts have no say in ruling on that very legislation. That approach is totally devoid of logic, but that has certainly never stopped Congress before. Will they do this? If they believe that they can gain more votes by doing so, then they certainly might.

There isn't a lot that we can do, but we can heed the call for a blogswarm, started by the Democracy Cell Project and found via Majikthise:

It's time for a blogswarm. No one in Congress is answering their phones.

We must contact the media to put pressure on Congress to butt out of the Schiavo case. There is a real threat to the separation of powers going on, not to mention Congress making medical decisions, personal decisions and the disgusting aspects of playing politics with real peoples' lives.

The Plan: Here is a media list of the majors and the news organizations that are working this weekend:

360@cnn.com, 48hours@cbsnews.com, am@cnn.com, Colmes@foxnews.com, comments@foxnews.com, crossfire@cnn.com, dateline@nbc.com, daybreak@cnn.com, earlyshow@cbs.com, evening@cbsnews.com, insidepolitics@cnn.com, live@cnn.com, livefrom@cnn.com, newsnight@cnn.com, nightline@abcnews.com, nightly@nbc.com, rrhodes@airamericaradio.com, today@nbc.com, wam@cnn.com, wolf@cnn.com, wsj.ltrs@wsj.com, netaudr@abc.com, public@NYT.com, connected@msnbc.com, hardball@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com

Email all of them please. Tell them from your heart what you think of what's happening and tell them they need to represent the "other" side of this story, that Tom Delay is slandering Michael Schiavo, that Congress is butting into people's personal lives, that you are disgusted by what they are doing. Tell them what you think. Speak from your heart.

We're a little late getting to it, but we're in. While it is too late to do anything about the legislation that Congress (and the President) already passed, perhaps some bad press will give them pause when it comes time to make the decision outlined above. Or perhaps it will have no impact at all. But hey, we've got to try.

If you are still making up your mind, we've outlined our position previously, and Majikthise links to a host of information on this topic. Go, read, think, and if you come to a conclusion similar to ours, then write your own letter. After all, the liberties we protect may one day be our own.

[For more information, read our other posts on Terri Schiavo.]

any thing even a CARP could do a better job than the GREAT G,W. BUSH

any thing even a CARP could do a better job than the GREAT G,W. BUSH