Pope.

The Pope is on a feeding tube. Let us pray that John Paul 2 is not related in any way to Michael Schiavo.

Sweet Sixteen.

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that I had a teenaged daughter. Now, let's say, again for the sake of argument, that my daughter was injured in an accident. Suppose my daughter, let's call her Terry, were injured to the point that she was still alive though unable to care for herself. Say, I would have to feed her primarily.

Let's say that she responds to my presence by the most simple of expression, that is, I can see in her eyes and demeanor that she is glad I am there.

Also, she had some hope of recovery of some of her motor skills, but it required a good deal of physical therapy. With that therapy she might someday be able to feed herself, but only maybe.
OK, so now let's say that I choose not to give her the medical help recommended, medical help that is available and, because of a large legal settlement, affordable.

But no, I decide she cannot have medical help. Not only that, I will not allow her teeth to be brushed or her hair combed. I will not allow any secondary illness to be treated either.

What might happen to me? Chances are, because I refuse to get medical care for my child, I will be visited by a government entity which will require me to do so, lest i be imprisoned.

Surely, no one would condone denying my child the appropriate recommended medical treatment. Surely I would go to jail for abuse and neglect. After all, I am not even doing the minimum, not even feeding my child.

It is a lucky thing for Terry Schiavo's husband that we do not afford vulnerable adults the same consideration and protection.

But Dogmatist, you say, she is no longer a competent person, no longer fully functioning, surely her life has no value.
What if she had been born in a similar state? What if she had been born with a severe disability? Would we then be understanding of parents that would starve her to death? I dare say we would not.

Yet, we say it is her husbands right to kill her slowly, to deny her the basic medical care.

I say that society exists to protect the weak from the strong. So, we protect children from abusive parents, but we do not offer the same sympathies to a vulnerable woman.

My Understanding.

Stopping By Woods

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-- Robert Frost

Welcome.

Dogmatism: Arrogant, stubborn assertion of opinion or belief.
--dictionary.com
That is about right.