Inspired in part by the e-mails and letters from thousands of Floridians, Gov. Jeb Bush has entered the legal arena on behalf of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, the 39-year-old brain-disabled woman whose court-ordered death by starvation is scheduled to begin in seven days.
In papers delivered yesterday afternoon to the Federal Courthouse in Tampa, assistant counsel Christa Calamas, on behalf of Gov. Bush, asked U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara for permission for the governor to appear as a friend of the court and to file an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief supporting the preliminary injunction filed by Terri's parents. More.
See also: "Gov. Bush pleas for caution in case of brain-damaged woman" (the governor argued that discontinuing Schiavo's artificial feedings before providing her therapy that might teach her to swallow would amount to the unlawful and "deliberate killing of a human being by starvation and dehydration.'').
For the second time this year, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida is seeking to sway a contentious case involving an incapacitated person, this time trying to keep a brain-damaged woman alive against her husband's wishes.
Mr. Bush's decision to file a friend-of-the-court brief on Tuesday came days after his attorney general, Charles Crist, declined to get involved in the case. More.
This is turning into a trend. You will recall that he jumped into a case involving a severely disabled women who had been raped and was pregnant. As explained in a MSNBC Commentary, "Abortion politics — Bush-style":
Shame on Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Most Americans would agree that when a woman has been raped, or if she’s likely to die as a result of giving birth, termination of her pregnancy should be an option. Not Jeb. The governor of Florida is playing hardball abortion politics with a severely disabled woman’s life when he should instead be worried about her best interests. . . . Despite the fact that the woman is severely disabled, has been raped, and might die if allowed to give birth, Bush felt that the appointment of a guardian for her was not appropriate. Instead, he moved to stop the appointment of the woman’s guardian until a second guardian could first be appointed — specifically, a guardian for the fetus.
"Jeb!" was unsuccessful in that case, and will be unsuccessful in the Schiavo case. It is revealing, however, that "Jeb!" views himself as some sort of moral authority whose personal views on a given "moral" issue are at all relevant to these various legal proceedings. More importantly, who is paying for these oversized legal trips? Florida taxpayers of course.
HELP THIS MAN -South Floridians should get four-square behind a campaign by state Sen. Ken Pruitt to substantially increase state funding for education. As a lonely voice in the Republican Party, he'll need all the help he can get. "Help Senator Boost Funding".
THIS IS A CRIME -On June 30, 1998, the St. Johns River Water Management District and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service shut down the muck farms on Lake Apopka's shores. This action was taken to clean up the lake, which had become a pea-green broth as a result of more than 50 years of vegetable farming.
Growers were paid a whopping $91-million for the 13,000 acres they had farmed. They also were paid an appraised value of $29-million for equipment acquired during the buy-out. After the farms closed, approximately 2,500 farm workers, most of them poor and Hispanic, lost their jobs. Many lived in labor camps in the impacted area, and some owned their homes.
Before the farms shut down, Florida officials promised the workers that they would not suffer unnecessarily. The Legislature established a $5-million effort intended to retrain the farm workers, relocate and compensate them for the loss of their homes and aid businesses hurt by the shutdown. Under provisions of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Act of 1970, the workers were to receive cash to find new housing. Those forced to relocate had 18 months to apply for assistance.
Five years later, few workers have received a dime, and the program, advertised as a safety net for the workers, has failed. "Farm workers displaced, then forgotten".
WHY DO DEMS SHOW UP FOR CHARADES LIKE THIS -
"There's no way a child should be allowed to do something that big, without their parents," Mary, who had her parents' permission to attend the meeting instead of school, told House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and the Florida House Judiciary Committee . . .. "Panel gets earful from teens".
DON'T PACK YOUR BAGS FOR TALLY JUST YET - Florida's "educators want the Legislature to boost their budgets in a special session." Try not to laugh, but these words were actually uttered:
"If you can do a one-day special session for prisons, surely you can do one for us," Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, said Tuesday. "Educators want Florida lawmakers to meet in special session".