NationStates Jolt Archive

Sorry to add yet another thread, but this seems pretty ominous.

Endless court cases funded by ultraconservative foundations.

Dateline: Monday, March 28, 2005

by Jon B Eisenberg,
for the Recorder

Have you ever wondered who is bankrolling the seemingly endless courtroom effort to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube attached?

During the Watergate scandal, investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were famously advised to "follow the money." In the Schiavo case, the money leads to a consortium of conservative foundations, with $2 billion in total assets, that are funding a legal and public relations war of attrition intended to prolong Terri's life indefinitely in order to further their own faith-based cultural agendas.

For the past 12 years, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have been locked in a bitter dispute over whether to withdraw artificial nutrition and hydration from Terri, whom the courts have determined is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The Schindlers want the doctors to keep Terri alive; Michael does not. Late last year, in Bush v. Schiavo, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush violated the constitutional separation of powers, when he attempted to overturn a court order to remove Terri's feeding tube. A few weeks ago, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

I filed an amicus curiae brief in the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of 55 bioethicists and a disability rights organization opposing the governor's action. Two months later I participated in a public debate on the case at Florida State University. Among the participants supporting Gov. Bush's position were Pat Anderson, one of multiple attorneys who have represented the Schindlers, and Wesley Smith and Rita Marker, two activists whose specialty is opposing surrogate removal of life-support from comatose and persistent vegetative state patients. I found myself wondering: "I'm doing this pro bono; are they?"

I did some Internet research and learned that many of the attorneys, activists and organizations working to keep Schiavo on life support all these years have been funded by members of the Philanthropy Roundtable.

The Philanthropy Roundtable is a collection of foundations that have funded conservative causes ranging from abolition of Social Security to anti-tax crusades and United Nations conspiracy theories. The Roundtable members' founders include scions of America's wealthiest families, including Richard Mellon Scaife (heir to the Mellon industrial, oil, and banking fortune), Harry Bradley (electronics), Joseph Coors (beer), and the Smith Richardson family (pharmaceutical products).

I found a website called mediatransparency.com which tracks funding for these foundations. Using just that website and the Schindlers' own site, terrisfight.org, I learned of a network of funding connections between some of the Philanthropy Roundtable's members and various organizations behind the Schindlers, their lawyers and supporters, and the lawyers who represented Gov. Bush in Bush v. Schiavo.

Here are a few examples: ...


Link to article here. (http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewNote5.cfm?REF=84)

I thought the conclusion was pretty apt.

It all looks rather cosy, doesn't it? It seems that the extreme right wing and its faith-based agenda (anti-abortion, anti-gay) is once again interfering at the level of one family trying to force its agenda, ultimately, on us all. One wonders how many other organizations with benign sounding names (like those that seem to be for the disabled?) are really spear-carriers for the extreme right.

Okay, okay, I know the last thing this board needs is another schiavo thread, but this one takes a different take from the others. So, just this once....


Bump.


The one and only time.

Soooo? Of course right wing groups fund the fight to keep Terri alive. What part of "pro-life" did you miss?

you're suprised by this....

why?

Ok now that this whole Schiavo issue has been covered by South Park I think we can safely put it to rest. She must die in order to command the forces of heaven with the golden PSP against the army of Satan. She's like Keanu Reeves.

South Park covered this? That's a bit distasteful, if you ask me.

South Park covered this? That's a bit distasteful, if you ask me.
nobody asked you.

South Park covered this? That's a bit distasteful, if you ask me.
............you don't really watch that show do you? Being distasteful is pretty much what they do best.

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.


i think they just make a business of mocking current events.

the current event happens to be a dying woman, so she gets caught in the crossfire.

Soooo? Of course right wing groups fund the fight to keep Terri alive. What part of "pro-life" did you miss?

I think the intersection between corporate dollars, anti-gay organisation and anti-choice organisations has ominous implications for society. Especially a litigious society like the US, where -- through the hiring of lawyers -- access to the legal system is gained through money.

Soooo? Of course right wing groups fund the fight to keep Terri alive. What part of "pro-life" did you miss?
So its part of God's plan to artificially keep a woman alive in a vegitative state, after a freak accident should have killed her? Seems like the religious organizations that are pro life have a few wires crossed.

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.
You can advise them all you want, but they became famous and sucessful for being current and disrespectful. They aren't in the habit of caring if they hurt someone's feelings.

I think the intersection between corporate dollars, anti-gay organisation and anti-choice organisations has ominous implications for society. Especially a litigious society like the US, where -- through the hiring of lawyers -- access to the legal system is gained through money.


welcome to america :rolleyes:

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.
It wasn't really her, it was Kenny. And Cartman acted as a surrogate for her husband with Kyle and Stan acting as her family.

So its part of God's plan to artificially keep a woman alive in a vegitative state, after a freak accident should have killed her? Seems like the religious organizations that are pro life have a few wires crossed.

Interesting argument. What do you think of the intersection of corporate interests/funding and the religious right as it pertains to Schiavo?

Interesting argument. What do you think of the intersection of corporate interests/funding and the religious right as it pertains to Schiavo?
Politics mainly. The religious right seems to have very little to do with god anymore, just conservative platforms. They are attempting to make her into a martyr to keep euthanasia at bay. That, and it helps as a distraction from more important and unflattering news stories that are coming out. The media is so concerned about Michael Jackson and Terry Schiavo they completly ignore changes to social security and bankruptcy.

It seems similar to gay marriage. Who the hell cares about gay marriage? Doesn't affect 95% of the population, but it became a bulkhead of the religious right's agenda. By calling special congressional meetings and running endless legal battles "for Terry" its easy to garner alot of attention. The idea that the government would take such intense and prolonged focus on a single case is quite odd, especially since countless similar ones take place everyday.

I don't believe what you people are making of this. It's not some evil conspiracy. Right wingers are pro-life. (Well, innocent life.) So if there is a prominent case relating to a pro-life issue, they will back the side of life. I mean, what you're doing is like saying "Wow, why are left wing groups funding this anti-death penalty vigil?"

Soooo? Of course right wing groups fund the fight to keep Terri alive. What part of "pro-life" did you miss?The idea that it isn't so much about the desperate struggle of the Schindlers as it is about forces larger than they are using them for their own political agenda. It's not "pro-life". It's power. That's all it ever is.

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.In this whole mess, South Park is distasteful? I could mention any number of events concerning the matter that are worse than that. South Park was a satirical voice of SANITY in the whole storm.

which south park episode are you guys talking about anyways? the only ones i can think of came out 2 years before this hit the news - unless it was the one tonight

I know it is. But covering it while the woman is dying seems to be over the top, even for South Park. I would advise them to wait until she's gone for a few months.

Bah! She's been gone for 15 years, and for 12 of those 15 no one even paid attention to her. Now all of the sudden, when she's pulled from the tube, manipulative dipshits like Tom Delay just have to come in and grandstand over someone's body like this? This whole thing sickens me. This south park episode is nothing compared to the kind of lies and slanders I hear every day about Michael Schiavo.

which south park episode are you guys talking about anyways? the only ones i can think of came out 2 years before this hit the news - unless it was the one tonightThe one that was on this past night. It spoofed the Lord of the Rings, Schiavo, and that movie from the 80s where that kid played the arcade game and it turned out to be a test by aliens to help them recruit warriors to fight in space.

And other things too, though I don't recall them. But it was a HILARIOUS episode. I suggest you catch it!

k - that sounds like 3 different episodes

of lies and slanders I hear every day about Michael Schiavo.
a relatively unbaised faq (http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2005_03_27.PHP#003655) about the whole thing. There are some interesting descrepancies on the part of good old Michael.

a relatively unbaised faq about the whole thing. There are some interesting descrepancies on the part of good old Michael.

heh heh heh heh... ha...ha... oh my... good one

Right Wing News.

...

Because the Right Wing obviously has the best interests of this woman at heart.

Honest.

Pfffbbbttt.

a relatively unbaised faq (http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2005_03_27.PHP#003655) about the whole thing. There are some interesting descrepancies on the part of good old Michael.


Rightwingnews is to "unbiased" information on any politically-charged case what Jerry Falwell is to Islam.

Let me answer some of the stupider elements of this...


When and how was Terri Schiavo injured? On February 25, 1990 Terri Schiavo collapsed. There is controversy over what happened.

The theory most often bandied about is that Terri had bulimia which led to a potassium imbalance, which in turn led to a heart attack. The malpractice suit that Michael Schiavo won was based on this diagnosis. That fact that Terri lost a large amount of weight in the months before her attack contributes to the credibility of this theory.

On the other hand, the Schindlers have speculated that Michael Schiavo may have caused Terri's injuries by trying to strangle her and neurologist William Hammesfahr, who has worked with the Schindlers on this case has denied that Terri had a heart attack:

"In the Emergency Room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained, but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack."

Personally, I find it a little hard to believe that Michael Schiavo could win a malpractice suit that turns on his wife having a heart attack if the hospital denied that she had one. So while there are certainly differing opinions on this issue, I'd have to lean towards the more popular explanation for her injury.



You don't get heart attacks from a potassium shortage; your heart simply goes into cardiadic arrest. There's a difference between the two.

As for her bulimia, one of the effects of bulimia is a weakened bone structure. Hence, the fall by itself could have broken some bones since they were weakened. And here's some documentation (http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-1-65-80-2276-1,00.html) on the correlation.

From here, this "unbiased" source bases all of its info from articles from Newsmax, WND, and when they compare terrisfight.org to the Kansas City Star's info on therapy, without any analysis, this blog says:
Whatever the case may be, serious attempts at rehabilitation don't appear to have been made in over a decade.


You know Bookworm, why don't you give me something marginally more "unbiased," like the Free Republic talking points?

nobody asked you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Armandian Cheese
South Park covered this? That's a bit distasteful, if you ask me.

Is that distasteful?

Politics mainly. The religious right seems to have very little to do with god anymore, just conservative platforms. They are attempting to make her into a martyr to keep euthanasia at bay. That, and it helps as a distraction from more important and unflattering news stories that are coming out. The media is so concerned about Michael Jackson and Terry Schiavo they completly ignore changes to social security and bankruptcy.

It seems similar to gay marriage. Who the hell cares about gay marriage? Doesn't affect 95% of the population, but it became a bulkhead of the religious right's agenda. By calling special congressional meetings and running endless legal battles "for Terry" its easy to garner alot of attention. The idea that the government would take such intense and prolonged focus on a single case is quite odd, especially since countless similar ones take place everyday.
Good post. *bows*
It's the old bait-and-switch technique, not even at its finest. Too many people are aware how obvious it is.

I don't believe what you people are making of this. It's not some evil conspiracy. Right wingers are pro-life. (Well, innocent life.) So if there is a prominent case relating to a pro-life issue, they will back the side of life. I mean, what you're doing is like saying "Wow, why are left wing groups funding this anti-death penalty vigil?"

So then why did Bush sign off on the Texas law that lets hospitals pull the plug even when the family objects?

They're not really pro-life, they're pro interference in personal decisions and anti interference in judicial decisions, pretty much the opposite of what it should be.

Soooo? Of course right wing groups fund the fight to keep Terri alive. What part of "pro-life" did you miss?

...the part where it is actually any such thing?

I tried to follow money once, but it didn't go anywhere. I kept making shooing motions with my hands and telling it to go, but it just sat there.
Stupid money.

I tried to follow money once, but it didn't go anywhere. I kept making shooing motions with my hands and telling it to go, but it just sat there.
Stupid money.
Well there's the problem right there. You can't tell your money were to go, other people have to decide that for you.

So then why did Bush sign off on the Texas law that lets hospitals pull the plug even when the family objects?

Hey, whoah! Let's get some perspective here. If that poor uninsured kid was kept alive then money might have gotten hurt. We can't allow that now can we?