The bill passed and is on it’s way to the President for signature. More as I get it.

Final Vote 203-58.

UPDATE: Via Fox – W signed the bill.

From CNN:

In a very brief session on Sunday, House Republicans called a recess when Democrats made it clear they would not let the bill pass on a voice vote, requiring a quorum for a roll call vote.

Meanwhile Terri Schiavo’s mother was pleading for Democrat lawmakers not to politicize this issue and vote to save Terri’s life. A party that screams “quagmire” prior to elections where it will embolden terrorists, that belittles holocaust suffering by comparing Republicans to Nazis and that refuses to recognize the emancipation of millions of people as an inherently good thing, is incapable of seeing beyond its own political ambitions.

Apparently facts really don’t matter any more. It’s all about cheap political points. It’s not about whether Terri is truly in a vegetative state. It’s not about the medical substantiation or lack thereof. It’s not about whether the word of Terri’s “husband”, who has since fathered a child with another woman, should alone be trusted with conveying Terri’s true wishes in the face of opposition from obviously loving parents.

Because results don’t matter any more the Dems will utilize “technicalities” such as requiring quorum. The result in this case is that a woman will slowly starve to death.
UPDATE: Despite the objections of some Democrats, it looks like a successful vote will happen as Tom Delay openly questions Michael Schiavo’s motives and behaviour. The latest from Bloomberg:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, told reporters in Washington today that it’s possible Schiavo may recover and suggested her husband may have an ulterior motive for wanting her to die. Michael Schiavo should be “at the very least called into question by his curious behavior over the last dozen years, his motives in all this,” DeLay said.

Living with and having children with another woman, while continuing to claim he’s married to Terri. Yeah, I’d call that “curious.” And Bush takes a stand saying we ought to “err on the side of life.” On the right side of history again.

Michael Schiavo continues to show his callous disregard for life, at least the life of his “wife.” In a recent interview he said the following:

“Come down, President Bush,” Schiavo said in a telephone interview. “Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won’t do it.”

She won’t, Schiavo said, because she can’t.

Can she experience the love of a parent? Can she feel the warmth of the spring sun on her face? Can she listen to Mozart? Can she see and appreciate the world around her? She doesn’t need to “lift her arm” to live life. How convenient it is that he points to her physical inability to prove his case for her death, while at the same time denying verification of her cognitive abilities.

For Terri, life is how Michael defines it.

Here in mid-western Canada the change of seasons is a dramatic metamorphosis. The rise in temperature produces an odd and very brief combination of warm sunshine with snow still on the ground. Our frozen world is quickly melting away, the landscape changing before our eyes. Three foot icicles dangle from the edge of my roof, created by the alternating periods of freezing at night and thawing during the day. Hundreds of miniature streams sprout everywhere, giving passage for melting snow to find lower ground.

Signs of life increase exponentially. The very old, the very young, and those in between who didn’t prefer the benefits of our outdoor winter wonderland, leave their protective cocoons. Our neighborhood is teaming with life again. Children prematurely bring out their bikes, braving the patches of ice and snow still on the roads. They leave their coats and jackets unzipped (OK I do it too) even though it is still quite cool, as if to taunt winter away. With each passing day more birds return from their winter hibernation.

Spring will leave us as quickly as it came. The period of premature unzipping of jackets will be soon followed by the premature wearing of shorts and then summer will be here. It all happens so fast. But change is good. Life is good.