I’m just curious… How many U.S. military personnel do you think have died since the evangelicals set up camp on the front lawn of the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo is being attended to? And, how many Iraqi citizens have died while they’ve been there protesting tearfully on behalf of the sanctity of life?

I realize there’s a strategy here and that it’s not just about this one woman’s life. I know that this is really about abortion and overturning Roe v. Wade, but on the surface doesn’t it seem a little silly that all of these people are so committed to “saving” this one woman’s life when servicemen and women, young people with full lives ahead of them, from their home states are dying on a daily basis?

It seems to me kind of like if PETA protestors were marching outside the home of a family that had decided to put their 15-year old, tumor ridden collie to sleep, instead of at the slaughterhouse across town… I mean, I respect their dedication to life, but if that’s really what they’re trying to preserve shouldn’t they maybe split up, leaving one person at the hospice and sending the hundreds of others somewhere else? Shouldn’t at least a few of them be protesting the death penalty? I’d settle for even one. It would make me take the whole “culture of life” thing a little more seriously.

Speaking of the evangelical protesters, it would seem (at least from the picture that I’ve posted here) that they’re losing patience with the Bush brothers. It seems as though the “culture of life” rhetoric, and all the business of cutting vacations short in order to change the laws pertaining to this woman’s case just weren’t enough. They want action! They want the brothers Bush to bust down the doors of the hospice, regardless of the legality, with feeding tubes in hand, and they won’t be happy with anything less… It would seem as though some more of those chickens might be coming home to roost. (And, yes, my fellow Americans, this is what happens when you start courting the extremist vote.)

(And, while we’re on the subject, it appears as though Ralph Nader has gotten himself mixed up in the whole Terri Shiavo mess… While I respect his opinion, even though it’s different from my own, I was very disappointed to hear that his press release on the matter was issued from the Discovery Institute, the group best known for its attempts to discredit Charles Darwin and the work of evolutionary biologists. My hope is that Ralph just doesn’t know who he’s dealing with, but he’s a bright guy, so I find that unlikely. I hate to think it, but I’m starting to think that maybe he really is just a narcissist who likes to see his name in print. And that pains me to say. I’ve admired him for a long time… Who the fuck knows?)