Terri Has Left the Building

OK, I said I wasn't going to say any more about the Schiavo saga. But on this day of her officially assuming room temperature, I couldn't pass commenting on two things.

First, Crime & Federalism has this brilliant post about how the "Schiavo Wars" have just begun. Are we in for years of legislation and policy based on "God's will" while those of us who are "the heterodoxical too dense to consent to redemption" (great phrase), are left in the dust. Let's hope not (there is some hope that this latest fundie overreaching may split the GOP as the true conservatives get pissed), but I won't hold my breath.

Second, on hearing of Terri's passing, Dubya said this:

Bush urged those grieving to 'continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those that live at the mercy of others.'

How can he say that with a straight face? The man presided over the most efficient death row in the country (and one of the worst in the world) while governor of Texas - those folks lived "at the mercy of others." And what of the poor folks condemned to death by Dubya's signing of a Texas law allowing a hospital to pull the plug on a patient over his/her wishes and those of his/her family if they can't keep paying the bills? Or, in a typical spasm of Bible-thumping literalism, are there caveats to this "culture of life?" After all, it covers "all Americans," even the poor and convicted. I will not be surprised if Dubya and his followers fail to recognize the hypocrisy.