U.S. Constitution Amendment VIII - Cruel and Unusual punishment. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

As you know, I don't usually post about current events. Life is depressing as is. I don't need to weigh into it. However, today is the day that a judge in Florida has ruled that the feeding tube that feeds Terri Schiavo.

Yesterday, my mother was telling me at lunch about Glenn Beck running a campaign trying to raise the money to buy Terri off her husband. I laughed at the items she named off, like a t-shirt, but in reality, it's a sad story.

I've seen the pictures of Terri. She's probably brain damaged but she doesn't look like she's in a "persistent vegetative." The sad thing about this all is that her parents have pled and begged her husband to just give up taking care of her. What I mean by that is they want him out of the picture and allow them to care for her. They'll let him go live on the life he has been living. They are willing to end the marriage between the two. And let's just face it, the marriage ended the moment he shacked up with another woman. In defense of the husband, I'm sure he's lonely, which is why he found another woman. However, people that have been with her her whole life are being denied the chance to love and care for her by someone that has basically abandoned her.

However, taking the woman's feeding tube and allowing her to starve to death is just wrong in my eyes. It comes across as cruel and unusual punishment to me. Basically, we're allowing her starve to death. Hey, most people don't like to starve. After one day, we can't take it anymore and must eat. Well, this woman can't eat on her own. She depends on others. To just take the tube from her and watch her starve seems cruel. Starving to death takes a longer than pulling out a tube from a breathing machine.

I'm glad that the President and the US Congress is now getting involved in getting the truth about Terri's condition. I'm disappointed in the U.S. Supreme court dismissing the appeal. They are there to defend the U.S. Constitution. By dismissing the appeal, they, in my eyes, are NOT defending Amendment VIII. That's a damn shame.

And now I'll just stop posting about this topic before I get overheated.

[♪ Listening to: "Give A Little Bit" - Goo Goo Dolls]

Posted by Shawn at March 18, 2005 9:10 AM in General.