Fox News actually thinks the French did something right!  Jeb Bush should save this poor woman!  It’s a 1789 sort of thing….

John Gibson of Fox on Thursday says this –

Just to burnish my reputation as a bomb thrower, I think Jeb Bush should give serious thought to storming the Bastille.

By that I mean he should think about telling his cops to go over to Terri Schiavo's hospice, go inside, put her on a gurney and load her into an ambulance. They could take her to a hospital, revive her, and reattach her feeding tube. It wouldn't save Terri exactly; she'd still be in the same rotten shape she was in before they disconnected the feeding tube.

But the point is, the temple of the law is so sacrosanct that an occasional chief executive cannot flaunt it once in a while, sort of drop his drawers on the courthouse steps and moon the judges, as a way to protest the complete disregard courts and judges have shown here, in this case, for facts outside the law.

Cool.  I’m hoping for a gun battle!  The law?  The law is an ass.  Shall we let the revolution begin?  Who gets to be Robespierre?  Who is our Danton?

And for fifteen years and the doctors were all wrong!  The woman’s congressman, Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL), has it right!  He wrote this in response to a local editorial.

Did the editors interview registered nurse Carla Iyer, who personally treated Terri for a year and a half?

She said in a sworn court affidavit that Terri "was alert and oriented. Terri spoke on a regular basis saying things like 'mommy' and 'help me" and 'hi' when I came into her room."

Iyer says Terri would sit up in the nurse's station from time to time and laugh at stories they told. She felt pain and would indicate so. Carla fed her by mouth and not by tube. Does this sound like a woman in persistent vegetative state for the past 15 years?

This is the nurse that CNN interviewed – and said blew things wide open!

CNN.  Trust them!

See this -

On March 22, both CNN's Live From... and Fox News' Fox and Friends aired interviews with Carla Sauer Iyer -- a former nurse for Terri Schiavo who in 2003 submitted an affidavit with inflammatory accusations against Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo -- but failed to report questions about Iyer's credibility. Judge George W. Greer, the Florida circuit judge who has presided over several aspects of the Schiavo case, dismissed Iyer's allegations as "incredible" and noted in a September 17, 2003, order that not even Terri Schiavo's parents sought her testimony in the case.

In both appearances, Iyer was presented as a former nurse for Terri Schiavo. Fox introduced her as a "registered nurse in Florida" who "cared for Terri for more than a year between '95 and 1996." In addition, on-screen text described Iyer as "Carla Sauer Iyer; Cared for Terri Schiavo." On CNN, Iyer was introduced as a "nurse who says that she cared for Terri Schiavo [for] more than a year in the mid-1990s." As with Fox, CNN's on-screen text described Iyer as "Terri Schiavo's former nurse." Another on-screen text line presented on CNN stated that Iyer "testified about Terri Schiavo's physical state." However, according to Greer's September 2003 order, Schiavo's parents had not subpoenaed Iyer to testify.

In both a 2003 court affidavit (posted on the website operated by Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler) and her March 22 cable appearances, Iyer maintained that Terri Schiavo was constantly "alert and oriented" while under her care, "saying such things as 'mommy,' and 'help me.' " She claimed that "Throughout my time at Palm Gardens, Michael Schiavo was focused on Terri's death. Michael would say 'When is she going to die?' 'Has she died yet?' and 'When is that bitch gonna die?' " The affidavit also included her claims that Michael Schiavo expressed the desire to "accelerate" Terri's death, that when Terri was sick and looked as if she might die, "He [Michael] would blurt out 'I'm going to be rich,' " and the assertion that "[i]t is my belief that Michael injected Terri with Regular insulin" to intentionally make her sick. She claimed in her affidavit that "I ultimately called the police relative to this situation, and was terminated the next day."

Greer dismissed Iyer's charges, noting that they -- along with a similar affidavit given by Heidi Law, another nurse who formerly took care of Terri Schiavo -- were "incredible to say the least" and that "[n]either in the testimony nor in the medical records is there support for these affidavits as they purport to detail activities and responses of Terri Schiavo." From Greer's decision:

The remaining affidavits deal exclusively with events which allegedly occurred in the 1995-1997 time frame. The court feels constrained to discuss them. They are incredible to say the least. Ms. Iyer details what amounts to a 15-month cover-up which would include the staff of Palm Garden of Lago Convalescent Center, the Guardian of the Person, the Guardian ad Litem, the medical professionals, the police and, believe it or not, Mr. and Mrs. Schindler. Her affidavit clearly states that she would "call them (Mr. and Mrs. Schindler) anyway because I thought they should know about their daughter." The affidavit of Ms. Law speaks of Terri responding on a constant basis. Neither in the testimony nor in the medical records is there support for these affidavits as they purport to detail activities and responses of Terri Schiavo. It is impossible to believe that Mr. and Mrs. Schindler would not have subpoenaed Ms. Iyer for the January 2000 evidentiary hearing had she contacted them as her affidavit alleges.

But CNN said she was credible!  They gave her ten minutes.  Are you going to believe nineteen court rulings, or the new CNN?  Come on, folks!

And remember Bill Bennett - the gambler who writes about morals?  Thursday he said Jeb Bush should ignore courts and the law and send in the troops - and make himself another Martin Luther King, Jr. by responding to higher law than a judge's opinion, or nineteen to twenty-two previous opinions (see this) -

... The "auxiliary precautions" of Florida government - in this case the Florida supreme court - have failed Terri Schiavo. It is time, therefore, for Governor Bush to execute the law and protect her rights, and, in turn, he should take responsibility for his actions. Using the state police powers, Governor Bush can order the feeding tube reinserted. His defense will be that he and a majority of the Florida legislature believe the Florida Constitution requires nothing less. Some will argue that Governor Bush will be violating the law. We think he will not be violating the law, but if he is judged to have done so, it will be in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., who answered to a higher law than a judge's opinion. In so doing, King showed respect for the man-made law by willingly going to jail (on a Good Friday); Governor Bush may have to face impeachment because of his decision.

In taking these extraordinary steps to save an innocent life, Governor Bush should be judged not by the opinion of the Florida supreme court, a co-equal branch of the Florida government, but by the opinions of his political superiors, the people of Florida. If they disagree with their governor, they are indeed free to act through their elected representatives and impeach him. Or they can vindicate him if they think he is right. But he should not be cowed into inaction - he should not allow an innocent woman to be starved to death - because of an opinion of a court he believes to be wrong and unconstitutional.

Governor Jeb Bush may find it difficult to protect Terri's rights without risking impeachment. But in the great American experiment in republican government, much is demanded of those who are charged with protecting the rights of the people. ...

Fine.  Our columnist Bob Patterson has this to say -

Listening to the conservative talk radio circuit today, I observed that they are getting all riled up against the Circuit Court of Appeals judges (most, is seems, appointed by Clinton) in Florida.

As I (not a lawyer just an IrishCatholicDemocrat which is almost just as good) understand the issue as portrayed by the conservative talk show hosts, it is this:

Those scoundrels on the bench in Florida are ignoring the "intent of Congress" as implied in the bill passed over the weekend and therefore they should be circumvented in their heinous attempt at subterfuge.  If they were as smart as they are supposed to be they would intuit the "intent of the Congress."  The judges were so dumb, they either didn't "get it" or resorted to their own political agenda.

The talk show hosts are gentlemen about it and have ignored the old Texas tradition of "tarred and feathered and run out of town."  Like good orators they are starting out slow and talking low.  As time goes on, I expect the talk to get louder and the emotional aspect to become a bit more intense later.  I expect that soon they will call upon all good citizens to demand that their representatives in the Senate and Congress redress this evil by changing the Senate's filibuster rules as the only means to redress the travesty of justice that has legalized starving this poor girl to death.  They will have reached "lynch mob" frenzy level of emotional involvement by then.

BUT

A big dumb Irishman like me, doesn't bandy about such subtle points such as "who gets to frame the issue?"  When the time comes to form a mob and follow the cry "let's get the bastards!," the issue will be "will this rope support the big slob?"

The fact that no one is going to talk about the topic of why wasn't this all important president setting law drafted correctly will never be raised.  It's a good thing, too, because if it were asked, the various possibilities would not sit well with conservative talk show hosts.

There can only be three possible explanations.

Some Democrat wrote this law which is all important to the Bush second term.

Any Republican who let that happen should be given 100 lashes.

Some Republican wrote the law and didn't do a good job because now the judges are expected to "adequately discern what Congress intended." Such a perpetrator is a knucklehead because he should know that Clinton appointees can't be counted on to do "accurate" mindreading of Bush legislation and therefore the culprit should be given 100 lashes.

Some Republican wrote the law and did so in the vague and non-specific language, if they didn't know their stuff and couldn't do their job correctly they should be given 100 lashes for incompetence, BUT if they did the inadequate job on purpose knowing that it would be seized upon by the Florida judges as an "out"  with the knowledge that the talk show cable would take their marching orders and immediately jump on the incompetence of the judges, wel, that's very ballsy and if it works . . . they should get an Iron Cross medal for bravery (bestowed by Karl Rove), which is how it seems to be playing out.

This travesty of justice demands a new set of rules for Senate filibuster every bit as much as did the did the burning of the Reichstag!

See what happens when you listen to too much conservative talk show radio? 

What do I know?

I do know why you should never give a lunch break to an IrishCatholicDemocrat employee; because it takes too long to retrain them.

So, shall we storm the Florida Bastille?  It’s a hospice, but it will have to do.

Folks are thinking about it.

Friday morning after Thursday’s commentary…

Man Trys to Steal Gun to 'Rescue Schiavo'

A man was arrested after trying to steal a weapon from a gun shop so he could "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo," authorities said.

Michael W. Mitchell, of Rockford, Ill., entered Randall's Firearms Inc. in Seminole just before 6 p.m. Thursday with a box cutter and tried to steal a gun, said Marianne Pasha, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

Mitchell, 50, told deputies he wanted to "take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo" after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, Pasha said.

Curious.  Very curious.