Terri Shiavo's torturous starvation is over. She passed within the past hour. If you are a religious person, please say a prayer for Mrs. Shiavo and her surviving family members.

Update: According to David Gibbs, the Shindler attorney, Terri Shiavo died at 9:05 AM. Bob Shindler, her father, will make a statement this afternoon. Members of her family were with her until ten minutes before her death, when they were asked to leave for an assessment of her condition prior to Michael Shiavo's entrance to her room.

At this time, it is not known who was with her at her time of death.

I'll update this thread (live-blogging, as I originally thoughtlessly mentioned, is just the wrong word) as information becomes available.

Update: Fox News television is reporting that President Bush will make a statement sometime around noon regarding Mrs. Shiavo's death... 11:40 AM Eastern.

Update: I'm flipping back and forth between CNN and Fox News, and perhaps not surprisingly, each seems to be taking highly partisan viewpoints. CNN is using recent pictures of a hospice-bound Shiavo and reiterating that they want to get out the Shiavo viewpoint when it becomes available (Neither Michael Schiavo or his lawyer have released a statement).

Fox is showing old pictures of a healthy, active, much younger Terri Shiavo, and focusing their attention on the viewpoints of the Shindler family and pro-life clergy and medical experts, making much of the fact that Michael Shiavo did not want the Shindler family in the room at the time of death.

Update: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is making a statement on CNN saying that the issue transcends politics, and that he wishes he could have done more. He also said that we need to examine these issues and come up with solutions so that we don't have to go through situations like this again. Jesse Jackson was on next, pushing healthcare reform...

A white van with a police motorcycle escort has pulled away from the hospice, presumably with Terri Shiavo inside. Media helicopters (shown on CNN, Fox) are following it like O.J. Simpson's infamous Bronco chase. I'm nauseated with the tastelessness of the pursuit.

Update: Bush: (roughly) on Shiavo, "the essense of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak." He also said we need to promote a culture of life. The bulk of Bush's press conference was on the U.S. intelligence report.

Update: Michael Shiavo was with his wife when she died. CNN is interviewing the brother of Michael Shiavo's girlfriend, and he says Michael is taking this very hard. He (the girlfriend's brother) offers up some perspectives I haven't heard about Michael's side of the story. Terri was his wife, and if Michael honestly thinks he was doing what Terri would have wanted, he deserves sympathy as well, doesn't he?

Update: Terri Shiavo's body has been delivered to the medical examiner's office for autopsy. According to experts, her autopsy will likely start today and be completed tomorrow.

Update: George Felos, attorney for Michael Shiavo, is supposed to make an announcement this afternoon, 2:30 Eastern.

Update: Randall Terry is on Fox News saying their will be a memorial services in local churchs this afternoon, and the Shindler family will make a statement at 4:30 Eastern.

Despite the wishes of the Shiavo family for a Florida burial, Terri will be cremated and her remains interred in a Shiavo family plot in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, this disagreement is fairly clear-cut legally, and should not mean another 15 years of lawsuits.

Update: County coroner to speak at 3:30 PM Eastern.

Barring any major announcements, I am done with this topic for the day.

Update: I thought I was done, but I just saw George Felos speak of how "cruel" this process was for Michael Shiavo, and how it was "disquieting" it was for a pro-life priest to speak against his client's position. He came back to this several times. He then complimented the hospice staff for their compassion and professionalism, calling them "angels of mercy." Felos said that Michael Shiavo was cradling Terri as she died.

When questioned by an obviously partisan (pro-life) reporter as to how this could have been "a death with dignity" when she was starved to death, Felos denied that she starved to death. Please tell me I heard that wrong. He then went on to say that they were only carrying out Terri's wishes.

Theresa Shiavo, Rest in Peace.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm getting more than a little confused.

When black senator Barack Obama endorses former Klansman Robert Byrd, a man who denounced the Rev. Martin Luther King as a "self-seeking rabble rouser," Democrats trumpet this as an example of their diversity and inclusiveness.

When Rev. Jesse Jackson (surely another "self-seeking rabble rouser") reaches out to conservative Christians over the Shiavo case in Florida, on just one issue on a near spotless record as a Democrat, he is immediately denounced as an Uncle Tom and a whore.

I don't think you can still refer to Democrats as the "big tent" party, but at least they are resourceful enough to find other uses for their sheets.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Every time I hear how Terri Shiavo's death by starvation and dehydration is "what she would have wanted," the more I wonder how those sentiments would have sounded in the original German.

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They're LIBERAL? You don't say...

College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says.

By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative, says the study being published this week. The imbalance is almost as striking in partisan terms, with 50 percent of the faculty members surveyed identifying themselves as Democrats and 11 percent as Republicans.

The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

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Tom Elia at The New Editor brings us this delightful news.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One day after Easter, Sumatra has experienced another major earthquake today, a shallow (19 miles deep) 8.2 (update: 8.7) magnitude event roughly in the same area hit by the December 26 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that killed 150,000 and left another 100,000 missing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, liberals at the Democratic Underground have wasted no time blaming President Bush.

Note: Hello to all my visitors from Ace of Spades HQ, Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Say Anything, and Grapevine's Ramblings. Please be sure to visit the main page.

Update: Democratic Underground change the link, and so it is now updated. In case they decide to disable or remove the post at a later time, I have a screen capture.

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I think reading some of the comments attacking Rev. Donald Sensing finally woke me up from my holier-than-thou, Shiavo-based stupor. Sadly, we've reached a point where Terri Shiavo the symbol has far overshadowed Terri Shiavo the person.

I'm backing away, and hopefully recapturing some perspective in the process.

One thing I'm taking away from this sad affair is that Dr. Jack Kevorkian was likely correct in some of his theories regarding the right to die, a stance that has led to his incarceration in a Michigan prison. He was sentenced on March 26, 1999 for second-degree murder by administering a video-taped lethal injection of ALS sufferer Thomas Youk and will not be eligible for parole until 2007.

I'm not going to try to guess what Terri Shiavo would have wanted--far too many people are involved in that already--but if we take away something from her over week-long death process it should be that we must, as a society, revisit end of life issues head-on and acknowledge that their must be far more palatable ways to die than by slow starvation.

To borrow from Rev. Sensing, who has far more experience with such issues than I shall ever want:

...the idea that the only truly Christian position is to keep someone alive by artificial means against his/her will when every medical opinion is that there is no hope for recovery is repugnant...

...At bottom, all these cases in all their sorrows come to be matters of faith - faith that the doctors are skilled and truthful, faith that there is a hope for the stricken even if death comes, and faith that for those who love the dying that life will continue worthwhile come what may.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan states:

"While we at American Council on Science and Health have been determined to remain on the sidelines of the raging national debate about the fate of Terri Schiavo (this is largely a legal and ethical issue, not a scientific one), we cannot remain silent about the outrageous misrepresentation of scientific facts about this case that has been occurring in the past ten days.

"The medical reality of Ms. Schiavo's case is this: She has been in what is medically referred to as a "permanent vegetative state" for the past 15 years, ever since her heart temporarily stopped (probably due to the severe effects of an eating disorder), depriving her brain of oxygen. Brain scans indicate that her cerebral cortex ceased functioning -- probably just after she experienced cardiac arrest in 1990. Ms. Schiavo's CAT scan shows massive shrinking of the brain, and her EEG is flat. Physicians confirm that there is no electrical activity coming from her brain. While the family video repeatedly shown on television suggests otherwise, her non-functioning cortex precludes cognition, including any ability to interact or communicate with people or show any signs of awareness. Dozens of experts over the years who have examined Ms. Schiavo agree that there is no hope of her recovering -- even though her body, face and eyes (if she is given food and hydration) might continue to move for decades to come.

"Those are the harsh facts."

EEGs--electroencephalograms--measure electrical activity on the surface of the brain only. She cannot categorically state there is no deeper brain function because of EEG results, as EEGs do not measure such.

In addition, without any electrical activity coming from any part of her brain, Terri Shaivo's body would not have a heartbeat, or know to breathe. In layman's terms, she'd be brain dead. The very fact that Terri Shaivo has been breathing without the aid of a ventilator for the past 15 years proves that she has some electrical activity in her brain, even if the amount or quality of activity is debatable.

If Dr. Whelan is going to throw around charges of misrepresentations, perhaps she should start by correcting her own.

Update: As Ed noted in the comments, Dr. Whelan is a Sc.D... a Doctor of Science. She isn't a medical doctor. he Evangelical Outpost adds that Dr. Whelan is quite a dubious character in her own right.

Note: Posted at the Blogger News Network

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 12:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Rusty sums it up perfectly for me:

"...federalism is an abstraction. Life is not."

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I've always heard of The Screwtape Letters from C.S. Lewis and so far have never gotten the proverbial "round tuit." Amazon's editorial review describes the book as:

"... the instructional correspondence between a senior demon, Screwtape, and his wannabe diabolical nephew Wormwood. As mentor, Screwtape coaches Wormwood in the finer points, tempting his "patient" away from God.

"Each letter is a masterpiece of reverse theology, giving the reader an inside look at the thinking and means of temptation. Tempters, according to Lewis, have two motives: the first is fear of punishment, the second a hunger to consume or dominate other beings."

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In many cultures, the wisdom of King Solomon was legendary. One case in particular stands out as the most famous example of his brilliance as a judge.

Two women came to his court with a baby whom both women claimed as their own. Solomon threatened to split the baby in half. One woman was prepared to accept the decision, but the other begged the King to give the live baby to the other woman. Solomon then knew the second woman was the mother because of her concern for the life of the child.

The wisdom of Solomon is sorely lacking today.

Update: John Hawkins of Right Wing News seized upon this same idea, and ran it to its not-so-logical conclusion.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:28 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One thing I have noticed about the Terri Shiavo case so far is the apparent inability from either side to speak honestly about Mrs. Shiavo's case, specifically in regards to her health.

Typical misinformation is readily apparent in this sample quote:

"In its crazed campaign to keep a brain-dead woman alive against the will of her husband, Congress has now passed a law..."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some conservatives make it sound like Terri could almost get up and dance a jig, if only she had rehabilitation.

The facts of Terri Shiavo's mental state lie somewhere in between these two extremes. Let's try to keep that in mind.

Update: An MD I know who posts on this site forwarded this to me, a description of extreme water deprivation as experienced by a man who barely survived seven days without it. As I write this, Terri Shiavo is on day six.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just sent the following letter to Google Adsense Support via their "Send us your question" form:

This is not a question, but a statement.

Google News has now added neo-Nazis (National Vanguard) to their index of approved news sources. I, and hopefully other bloggers have tired of an arcane and apparently senseless news source approval process from Google News, that refuses to carry nationally-recognized columnists such as Michelle Malkin, or top bloggers like Instapundit, but that appears more than willing to carry a hotbed of conspiracy theories such as the Democratic Underground.

Quite simply, it doesn't make sense, and verges on the intellectually dishonest.

I am behind Jeff Jarvis' call for transparency, and therefore, I am dropping Google Ads from my blog until this much-needed transparency is provided. I know the few hits I provide will not be missed by your advertisers, but that really isn't the point, is it?

Good day.