updated below
That’s what Beth Gaddy (36) said about her “Grandmamma” Mae Magouirk (85). The entire quote is as follows:

Grandmamma is old and I think it’s time she went home to Jesus. She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?

I first heard about this story yesterday via my friend Jeanette at Oh How I Love Jesus. Today, I see that other bloggers have picked up on it, including Instapundit, Mover Mike, GOP Bloggers, Polipundit, and Junk Yard Blog.

Mae Magouirk has signed a living will stating that she doesn’t want feeding and hydration if she is terminal, in a coma or vegetative. Mae is not in any of these conditions. Her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, moved her to the hospice telling them that she held a medical power of attorney for her grandmother and that she wanted food and water removed. Gaddy did not have a medical power of attorney for her grandmother. Other, closer, family members (Mae’s brother and sister) are fighting for her life.

Unlike Terri’s case, there is clear direction given in a living will for care. This is being ignored by the granddaughter and the probate judge in Georgia who disregarded the living will and the lack of a durable medical power of attorney and gave guardianship to the granddaughter over the objections of closer relatives.

At 36, Beth Gaddy might not want to “live with disabilities like these”, but let her wait until she’s 81, maybe with the same disabilities, or more disabilities or worse disabilities. How much will she “want to live” then?

After Christopher Reeves’ accident, many people said, “I wouldn’t want to live like that.” They said so as able-bodied people. Christopher Reeves probably said something along the same lines when he was younger and not disabled. Once the accident took place though, he wanted to live his life to the fullest that he could.

No one wakes up one morning and says, “I want to have a disability that will effect my life forever.” When it happens, though, you live with it. You make changes to accomodate the disability. You may not be able to do some things that you enjoy anymore, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find something else to enjoy that you can do.

I have a disabled daughter. She has epilepsy, a developmental delay and moderate hearing and vision losses. She doesn’t speak much, or very clearly. What will happen to her after I’m gone? Will someone, somewhere ask, “who would want to live with disabilities like those?” Would someone, somewhere decide that her life is not worth living, or that resources expended on her would be better spent elsewhere? And then decide to “euthanize” her?

Update: Dirty Harry says:

So, I await the outrage from the butchers who screamed for Terri Schiavo’s head. After all wasn’t their argument that we needed to respect Terri’s wishes? Well, we have a living will here. Let’s see if the death merchants are consistent and outraged that this woman’s “wishes” are being violated. Wishes she put in writing. Wishes that are being ignored. Let’s see if the death merchants fight to reinsert this feeding tube because all this really is about is what the patient wants, not getting rid of troublesome invalids. “Oh, no, not us.”

Update 2: The Glenn Beck Show audio of the interview with Mae’s nephew is here.

Welcome Anchoress and Cathouse Chat readers, please look around.

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune had a column April 1st titled Beware of letting the unacceptable become the norm.

He speaks about Terri Schindler Schiavo and wonders what is next…

I suppose that no matter which side of this you’re on, you’ll have questions. Those of you who think she should have died will wonder: When will people like me ever shut up about this?

And those of us on the other side will wonder which disability will next be judged as not affording an adequate quality of life? Whose lives are worthy?

But there is another question that won’t let go of me: How did we get to this place, where we’ve come to accept what was done to Terri Schiavo?

What was once horrible has now become acceptable, familiar the way a landscape becomes familiar. No matter how gruesome or spectacular, over time you become used to it. Eventually, you can walk through it without feeling any need to comment.

And that’s what’s being urged now, a general consensus forming by those who don’t want to hear complaints, that it’s time to be silent about Schiavo, that we shouldn’t give offense, that we should accept her death as inevitable, perhaps rationalize her death as a blessing.

When John heard the announcement on the radio he was reading a column by John Leo in US News and World Report who quoted Rev. Richard Neuhaus, editor of First Things.

He says he will memorize this quote. I think I will too.

“Thousands of ethicists and bioethicists, as they are called, professionally guide the unthinkable on its passage through the debatable on its way to becoming the justifiable, until it is finally established as the unexceptional.”

There was a day when the Playtex Cross Your Heart bra was advertised on television and the model wore the bra OVER a turtleneck sweater. Underwear, worn normally, was just not shown on television. Now Victoria’s Secret advertises bras with a lot less coverage directly on the model. This change was accepted completely.

There was a day when anti-perspirants and deodorants were advertised on television and the model demonstrated the product on the inside of the forearm. The brother of a friend of mine, when first using these products, put it on his armpits and on his forearms, because they did it on television. Armpits were just not shown in a television commercial. Now we see women applying the product correctly in television commercials. This change was accepted completely. We don’t see men applying the product though. I guess a man’s armpit still is just not shown on television.

Rob and Laura Petrie of the Dick Van Dyke show had separate twin beds in their bedroom. Two characters of the opposite sex, even if married, were just not shown in the same bed on television. Then came NYPD Blue and we saw the naked backsides of two male characters. This change was accepted completely.

These changes are insidious, they happen when we aren’t looking and then become accepted. It becomes “well, we can do this, so why can’t we do that?

Remember the Golden Rule? “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” That seems to have changed to “Do unto others whatever you can get away with, and if you get caught, put the blame on anything and anyone other than yourself.”

Update: My husband thinks they should just “split the difference” and change the time a half hour year round.

Congress is considering extending Daylight-Saving Time an additional two months to save more energy. The theory is, the more daylight, later in the day, the less energy used. They would start daylight-saving time on the first Sunday in March (instead of April, as it is now) and extend daylight-saving time to the last Sunday in November (instead of the current last Sunday in October). But not all parts of the United States switch to daylight-saving time. Arizona, Hawaii, parts of Indiana, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands don’t change.

If they do so, on Halloween it will be lighter, longer. I’ve always thought it should be extended until at least the first Sunday in November to enable that. Even if Halloween is on a Sunday, it’s always darker an hour earlier. With the extension date being set to the last Sunday in November, there’s a little more light for Thanksgiving Dinner, and a little more time to get those Christmas lights hung…

The AP has the story. Apparently Kofi Annan has just realized that the UN Human Rights Commission needs to be replaced with a new, permanent body to prevent suffering around the world. D’oh!

“We have reached a point at which the commission’s declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough,” Annan told delegates.

AARP has a Social Security Blog! What’s next?

AARP’s recent commercial compares tearing down the whole house because the sink is broken with reforming Social Security reform suggesting that reform would destroy Social Security and they also suggest that with a few small changes, Social Security can be guaranteed.

• Social Security is NOT guaranteed, Congress can change it any time, even eliminiate it completely.
• Their few small changes include raising the cap on “contributions” and would entail reducing benefits after 2041.
• The AARP membership consists of people aged 50 and older.
• President Bush has already stated that those 55 and older will not be affected by any changes to Social Security.
• Even if changes are voted in this session (109th Congress), effective dates will be sometime in the future.
• Most probably any current member of AARP will not be affected by changes to Social Security.

Tell me, please, why do they oppose private accounts so vehemently and why should we listen to them?

A Flash from Patrick Ruffini via Blogs for Bush:

This communicates the poll results and the current state of the Social Security Debate:

At 2:00 a.m. local time, Sunday, April 3rd, it’s time to set the clocks ahead one hour unless you are in Hawaii, Arizona or parts of Indiana.
Update: Reader newton notes: Or Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, BTW
This is a good time to test your smoke detectors and change the batteries in them.
This post will stay on top until after the time change.

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul;
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou anointest my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Here’s a listing of the Terri Schindler Schaivo posts we have written:
3/30 The Opinions
3/30 AP-Court Rejects Appeal
3/30 Felos Has Mind Powers
3/30 I Was Right
3/30 cBS Does it Again
3/30 11th Will Consider Schindler’s Appeal
3/26 The Autopsy
3/26 Greer Rejects Again
3/26 The Misperception of Shiavo’s “Due Process”
3/25 Schiavo: Perverse Standard Leads to Perverse Outcomes
3/25 Althouse and Instapundit Surprised at Us?
3/25 The Impending Shiavo Truth Crunch
3/24 Schiavio: Not About Choice
3/23 FL Dept of Children and Families Petitions to Intervene in Schiavo Case
3/23 Curiouser and Curiouser
3/23 More Nurses Coming Forward in Schiavo Case
3/23 Schiavo Appeal Rejected on 2-1 Decision
3/22 Property has more rights than Terri
3/22 “Expert” Concluded Schiavo in PVS after 45 minutes
3/22 He Wants a Stay on Replacing Feeding Tube…
3/22 Schiavo’s Life and Liberty Interests Were Adequately Protected
3/22 Schiavo Breaking: Terri’s Nurse Interviewed on Fox
3/22 Schiavo: Who Would You Believe?
3/22 Judge Denies Request to Feed Schiavo
3/21 Terri Schiavo’s Burden, or Ours?
3/21 Hearing On Terri
3/21 Terri News
3/21 President’s Statement
3/20 Bill Passed
3/20 Schiavo Vote Dems Not Cooperating
3/20 Michael Shiavo: My Wife Can’t Shake Hands
3/19 Congress: Schiavo’s Feeding to Resume
3/19 Where are the Schiavo Videos in the Media?
3/18 Schiavo, Terrorists & Lobsters
3/18 Reprieve
3/18 Prayer for Terri
3/16 The Schiavo Crime
2/25 Schiavo’s Life a Mere Legal Issue
2/23 Terri Schiavo Update
2/22 Schiavo Story Cont’d
2/22 Terri Schiavo

For Terri, the Pope, Prince Ranier, and the rest of the world:

May The Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.