Scene and Herd: Terri Schiavo, Trends, Scientology & more...

Update A press release has been issued by the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, which states in part:

On February 28, 2005, the parents of Terri Schiavo were informed, through their Attorney David Gibbs, III that Judge George Greer of Pinellas-Pasco’s Sixth Judicial Circuit has denied, without access to hearing, motions filed by Terri Schiavo’s immediate family [several motions were denied]. Judge Greer has stated that he will only consider motions from Terri’s family as they relate to the death process, which include but are not limited to a motion to allow Terri Schiavo to die at home instead of a Hospice facility, a motion for a Florida burial, and a motion allowing her immediate family uninterrupted access to her throughout the death process.
(HT Hyscience)

Of course the "death process" is slow starvation and dehydration over a period of days or weeks. There is still the option of seeking a block on the execution via another court. These rulings do not appear to include the motion filed by the Florida Child and Family Services seeking a 60 delay to allow for an abuse investigation. And a law change is possible - see below. The Foundation has also posted links to several videos of Terri.

Last week got pretty intense as Terri Schiavo's case went from court decision to court decision. As you probably know, the stay has been extended until 1.00pm on March 18. Quite a few people have been arriving here for background on Terri Schiavo - here's my previous background post. Recent Updates There is currently a bill before the Florida legislature which would change the law in favour of Terri. It reads in part:

HB701:"Withholding or Withdrawal of Nutrition or Hydration from Incompetent Persons: Declares that an incompetent person is presumed to have directed health care providers to provide the necessary nutrition and hydration to sustain life; prohibits a court, proxy, or surrogate from withholding or withdrawing nutrition or hydration except under specified circumstances;

The Florida legislators reconvene on March 8. See this post for info on giving email support. You don't have to be a Florida resident to be able to email. This post from Blogsfor Terri links to a nearly five minute long video of Terri, in which she is interacting with her mother. Note: Can be a long download for dail-up connections and requires Real Player. The post also contains this account:

"Pamela Hennessy, volunteer media coordinator for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, described Terri as being able to sit up in her chair unassisted and "extremely alert, extremely responsive. "Her mother comes in and starts nuzzling her and kissing her on her cheek, and Terri starts laughing out loud. Her mother says to her, 'Can you say Mom?' And Terri replies, much like a small child or a toddler would, with some vocalizations, and she laughs again," Hennessy said."

A huge hat tip to John at Blogotional for this link to the full page newspaper ad by BlogsforTerri, which appeared in the Tampa Tribune. And Dory is holding a Bloggers Best for Terri Part 3. Details here. And for those who want to do a bit more, there's a petition urging Jeb Bush to intervene. (HT: blogma via Rachel).

Community Apologetics

Razorkiss has a new project underway for community style apologetics blogging. It looks good - a group blog, forums, indexes of posts on topics, daily round-ups of posts from the blogosphere. Find out more here and here.

Creation vs. Evolution - so what? That's the question over at The Greatest Pursuits, in the Vox Apologia VII.

A great post on Scientology from Christweb.

When is a church trend a church trend?

John has been writing on church trends and following a discussion in this post at Blogotional. Meanwhile Joe explains why he doesn't like church at the evangelical outpost. He has an interesting conclusion.

What those kids need is...

Molly looks at discipline - and the myth of either/or at my three pennies worth. This is an amazing biblical perspective and study.

As for me, I've been looking into xenotransplants in this post (or see the post below). Is it the answer?