Daily Archives: March 30, 2005

Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit

Tom Clancy’s book Red Rabbit was awfully prescient.

Today we learn that the premise of Red Rabbit, the KGB through a Turkish Agent hired by the Bulgarians, was responsible for the 1981 assassination attempt on the Pope.

Hindustan Times has the story here.

New documents found in the files of the former East German intelligence services confirm the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II was ordered by the Soviet KGB and assigned to Bulgarian agents, an Italian daily said on Wednesday.

Read the rest.

Hat tip: The Anchoress

I Guess We Know Who Calls the Shots Around Here

The Court of Appeal’s Schiavo ruling shows a complete and utter contempt towards Congress. Just in case you’re wondering folks, Congress passes the laws, and the courts interpret them. Yes, they can declare them unconstitutional, but that’s not what appeared to have happened here. They simply disregarded the law.

I agree with Ed at Captain’s Quarters that this raises some very serious questions about the power of the judiciary. What I find particularily alarming is not only the fact that the court disregarded the law, but also the manner in which they did it, as if to remind the other two branches who really calls the shots around here.

The Opinions

Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr.:

Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper while the members of her family and the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty.

In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgement that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Father’s blueprint for the governance of a free people – our Constitution. (emphasis mine)

Judges Gerald Tjoflat and Charles R. Wilson:

The relevant question here is whether a rational factfinder could have found by clear and convincing evidence that Mrs. Schiavo would have wanted nutrition and hydration to be withdrawn under these circumstances. The plaintiffs carry a heavy burden, but I do not believe that this question can be determined in this expedited fashion without a hearing on the merits.

So, Judge Birch is not quite saying the law that congress passed was unconstitutional, just that he thinks that the executive and legislative branches have overreached their purview? That the judicial branch doesn’t need to listen to the other two branches?

Judges Tjoflat and Wilson are correct and it would behoove the rest of the 11th to have listened to them.

Source: My Way News

AP-Court Rejects Appeal

11th Circuit Court Rejects Schiavo Appeal

By RON WORD
Associated Press Writer

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) — With time running out for Terri Schiavo, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected her parents’ latest attempt to get the brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube reconnected.

The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to consider an emergency bid by Bob and Mary Schindler for a new hearing in their case, raising a flicker of hope for the parents after a series of setbacks in the case. But the court rejected the request 15 hours later.

Three times last week, the court also ruled against the Schindlers.

Felos Has Mind Powers

Whiskey over at Captain’s Quarters points us to an NRO piece by Eric Pfieffer.

In his 2002 book Litigation as Spiritual Practice, Felos expresses his belief in the “cosmic law of cause and effect,” in which the human mind is not limited by the constraints of reality. More specifically, if one wants a new car, one could make this dream car manifest “out of the ether.”

The man can cause planes to crash just by thinking about it and can read the minds of those who can not speak, yet want to die…

He writes,

As Mrs. Browning lay motionless before my gaze, I suddenly heard a loud, deep moan and scream and wondered if the nursing home personnel heard it and would respond to the unfortunate resident. In the next moment, as this cry of pain and torment continued, I realized it was Mrs. Browning.

I felt the midsection of my body open and noticed a strange quality to the light in the room. I sensed her soul in agony. As she screamed I heard her say, in confusion, “Why am I still here … Why am I here?” My soul touched hers and in some way I communicated that she was still locked in her body. I promised I would do everything in my power to gain the release her soul cried for. With that, the screaming immediately stopped. I felt like I was back in my head again, the room resumed its normal appearance, and Mrs. Browning, as she had throughout this experience, lay silent.

Go read the whole thing…

I Was Right

In an earlier post, I noted that Michael doesn’t have any say in the autopsy, whether it is done at all, who does it, what is examined. Life News is reporting that the Pinellas County Medical Examiner, Jon Thogmartin, had decided to perform an autopsy well before Michael gave his “approval”, “authorization”, or whatever.

Yesterday, George Felos stood in front of dozens of reports and announced that Terri Schiavo’s estranged husband Michael had changed his mind and would allow an autopsy to be conducted on Terri if she dies.

The altruistic statement declared Michael wanted to exonerate himself on accusations he abused Terri and to show Terri is very severely brain damaged.

Yet, the decision to conduct an autopsy had already been made when Felos spoke with the media — and not by Michael or Felos.

Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Pinellas and Pasco counties, tells the St. Petersburg Times newspaper he made the decision to conduct an autopsy if necessary and said it had nothing to do with Michael’s change of heart.

“We have determined to be involved because of the statutes and because the people of the state of Florida say we are involved,” Pellan said. “Not because Michael Schiavo wants us involved.”

Read the rest.

Related: Scared Monkeys

11th Will Consider the Schindler's Appeal

AP:

The 11th Circuit will consider granting a hearing. They haven’t said when they will decide if they will or not. Will it be too late? Is it already too late?

In its order late Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t say when it would decide whether to grant the hearing. It was not clear what effect reconnecting Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube would have on her, as she approached her 13th day without nourishment.

The order issued allowed Bob and Mary Schindler to file the appeal, even though the court had set a March 26 deadline for doing so.

Its one-sentence order said: “The Appellant’s emergency motion for leave to file out of time is granted.” Twice last week, the court ruled against the Schindlers.

In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not whether previous Florida court rulings met legal standards under state law. It also stated that the Atlanta federal appellate court didn’t consider whether there was enough “clear and convincing” evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition.

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