Terri Schiavo faces sentencing tomorrow

So, what did Terri do? Was she one of those pedophiles running around with her students or son's friends? Did she pull off some bank heist? Was she the one that killed her five children in her bathtub? No.

Terri is the one on trial for her life because she can't form full sentences. That's right, she is lacking in full vocal and motor controls. Somehow that's grounds for some humane form of death, terminal dehydration. Normally it would be starving her to death, but people will dehydrate to death before they starve.

So what would have happened if we applied the same policies and procedures to others with similarly restrictive disabilities? Who would we be knocking off next?

How about Stephen W. Hawking? Yes, that's right. The super brainiac behind A brief history of Time and enough galactic theories to have him considered with minds like Albert Eienstein, Aristotle, Plato and others. Sadly, he'd have to go. You see, he can't speak without the aid of his electric wheelchair. His motor skills are so limited he needs his head to be propped up or he'd fall over. Oh yes, he definitely needs to be in the same place she is. Isn't he just an empty shell without all of his gizmos?

To be completely honest, Hawking would be put down before Schiavo. You see, Terri can talk. She has a limited vocabulary and no vocal training, ever, but she can talk. Here are the recognized words that she can speak and their sources (Taken from the Empire Journal):

A list of Terri Schiavo's documented vocabulary references:

Witness: Nurse Heidi Law
* mommy
* momma
* help me

Witness: Nurse Carla Sauerlyer
* pay (meaning "pain" when she was in discomfort)
* Haaaiii (meaning "Hi" in response to "Hi Terri")
* mommy
* help me ("Help me was, in fact, one of her more frequent utterances. I heard her say it hundreds of times.")

Terri's Mediplex records:
* stop (in reference to one medical procedure being done on her)

Terri's family members:
* ugh-hugh (meaning yes)
* ugh-ugh (meaning no)
* yea ('yea' was a word she reportedly first re-learned to speak in 2002.)
* No

Hat tip: Beth from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Maybe we could have whacked Helen Keller too? All she could do was grunt for the longest time. She was deaf, blind and, due to her other two afflictions, mute as well; At least until someone actually trained her how to speak again. After that she became one of the world's most renowned people in the field of deaf and blind assistance. No, that would never do. Lets put her down like a bad dog as well.

Maybe we could get someone to give Terri some therapy? Hasn't that been tried? Sadly, no, it hasn't been tried. Her husband will not allow Terri any form of therapy whatsoever, including allowing her whole foods she can swallow. Yes, she can swallow. Her motor functions and physical capabilities are thus that she could probably perform a swallow test if she was permitted to try. Alas, her husband has not allowed her to try, or have physical therapy, or have a brain scan, or be legally videotaped (some short clips have surfaced on the net, probably inadmissible in court or something), or even be outside in over two years.

So what is he hiding? Why won't he let people try to help? Why is he so adamant on having her put to death?

There are only two theories that I know about. Both of them point to him as a genuinely bad person. The first theory comes with a 1.7 million dollar payout from her death. The other is that he is guilty of the injury she sustained in the first place.

The first theory is viable only to the extent that he has already used about 500,000 dollars of it for lawyers that will help him put her to rest. The other part is that the family has agreed to take complete care of her and let him have all of the money when she dies. So it doesn't look like he's in it for the money, unless he's looking for it right now.

The other theory goes back to the nature of her original injury. You see, she was taken into the hospital with a blunt head injury sustained in the home. There were no witnesses as to what really happened with the exception of Michael Schiavo. Some experts have gone as far as saying that the head trauma was caused by another person, but Michael has never spent one day on the stand for assault. He has only been on the stand to put his own wife to death through terminal dehydration.

That's a death not even fit for a dog. At least we euthanize dogs. Terri Schiavo will not even get that luxury if the jury decides, without even looking at evidence that she deserves to die. Thank god this guy wasn't around for Helen Keller or Stephen W. Hawking. What sort of a mess would we be in then?