Shiavo Smokescreen

As Congress winds down and their budget resembles the kind of hard work you and I would most likely get fired for turning in if we tried, Terri Shiavo has gone from being a woman on life support in Florida to now serving as our government’s Halloween costume for the week. For Republicans it’s a most welcome movement to keep her alive amidst Tom Delay’s crooked behavior, a Bin Laden lieutenant confirming that the man was in Tora Bora during the war as was argued during the debates and Social Security reform moving at a snail’s pace. This case right here is just what the doctor ordered for the GOP, and if the federal judge doesn’t order the feeding tube put back, it’ll be a royal flush.

What we have here is a win-win situation for Republicans. Because if they put the tube back in it will be a hard fought victory, but if the judge upholds the prior decisions, the next step will have been taken to encourage the public to advocate the denouncement of the entire legal profession. Standing in the way of a party’s ability to do whatever they wish are these very judges, so of course we are told over the hate-radio airwaves to hate lawyers and already the flamethrower has been aimed at the bench. This is just an opportunistic time and place to hook up the propane tank.

People are already getting ugly on the ‘keep her alive’ side, and although I haven’t seen it, I’m sure they’re getting ugly on the other side as well. The argument of her parents against Terri’s husband is all based on hearsay. The law puts the burden of proof on the accuser. This woman and her husband were married, and now the same people who scream and yell about sanctity when gays wanted the same are ignoring the power of that agreement in this case. The ‘sanctity’ of these things – marriage and life – is only a useful concept when it’s needed to wedge an issue into our brains. What’s so sacred about marriage if your parents ultimately get to decide what happens to you when a machine is needed to keep you alive?

President Bush, while governor of Texas, passed a law that took people off of life support if they couldn’t afford the medical bills. So it’s not as much about this woman’s life as it is the political opportunity. The media is now pulling us around like a hooked fish, Sean Hannity is broadcasting from outside her hospice, Michael Jackson is late for court wearing his jammies.

Yes, the media is doing a fine job of ensuring that while Congress has worked to ensure that more of our country is owned by China in the coming year, we’re all dumbfounded and ignorant to anything other than the bright pretty colors.