SCHIAVO

I haven’t commented because I feel nothing but conflicted feelings about this case. From everything I’ve read, it seems extremely unlikely that Terri Schiavo will ever function as a human being again. She is alive entirely as a function of modern technology. Maintaining that life indefinitely seems to me a debatable goal. Certainly if I were in her shoes, I’d want to be allowed to die without the elaborate paraphernalia keeping my bodily functions intact. To my mind, that is not the same as killing someone. That said, I agree with Mickey Kaus that some of the elite reporting on this has been bizarrely one-sided (NPR wins the contest as usual!) and the motives of the husband are not clear-cut. If key family members divide, if there’s no living will, and if there’s some small chance of survival, I guess I’d have to favor keeping the feeding tube attached. But forgive me for not joining in the religious right’s euphoria at this result. There is a difference between the celebration and defense of life and its fetishization. I see no victory in this poor woman’s continued reliance on life-support for years and decades to come. This unlived life can be a trauma to everyone involved.

SCHRODER SINKS: His anti-Americanism isn’t working any more. Yay! And Britain’s Tory leader may not be leader by the end of this week.