Don't get me wrong, I mostly like
Bullmoose Blog, and Marshall Wittman is especially at the top of his game when he writes about official corruption within GOP ranks, which is reason enough to read it.
But he's dead wrong on the Schiavo story and how to legislate it. Favorably quoting anything Charles Farthammer - er, Krauthammer, has to say about anything is a risky thing, but especially in this case, where Chucky proposes reversing about 1000 years of Anlgo-American common law:
There is no good outcome to this case. Except perhaps if Florida and the other states were to amend their laws and resolve conflicts among loved ones differently -- by granting authority not necessarily to the spouse but to whatever first-degree relative (even if in the minority) chooses life and is committed to support it. Call it Terri's law. It would help prevent our having to choose in the future between travesty and tragedy.
No Moose and Chucky, we really don't need "Terri's law". More after the jump...
I don't know about the Moose or Chucky, but my family is loaded down with plenty of first-degree relatives who would love to 2nd guess my wife's expressions of my personal desires, and keep me alive against my expressed wishes to the contrary should I ever end up like Terri Schiavo. No sir, we already have a legal tradition that has worked extraordinarily well ever since there's been something approaching a Western legal system - it's called spousal authority. Sure, once in a while you might get a goofy spouse who wants to bury his or her husband naked in a 1958 Cadillac in the family's back yard. But that's the risk one must take when one allows people to make their own choices in life.
I'm not willing to have my fate decided by a committee of relatives, because my wife is more than capable of taking care of things, thank you very much. So please don't take it personal, Moose and Chucky, when I say: kindly take your "Terri's Law" and go fuck yourself with it.
What we do need is for the GOP to mind their own damned business - and for the Moose to get back to hammering their ass on official and unofficial corruption.
And what the rest of us need to do, obviously, is take out a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (or Medical Power of Attorney, as they are now called in Texas), so as to prevent Chucky Farthammer and those who think like him out of the business of deciding what's best for you and me when it comes to dealing with life's end.
(Crossposted at my own blog, 713 State.)