Can we revisit Terry Schiavo for a minute?

[CatWoman]

Schiavo records show no signs of abuse

he Orlando Sentinel
Published Saturday, April 16, 2005

ORLANDO, Fla. - In the four years after Michael Schiavo won the right to remove his wife’s feeding tube, the state’s social welfare agency methodically investigated 89 complaints of abuse but never found that he or anybody else harmed Terri Schiavo, records released yesterday show.

To the contrary, the state Department of Children & Families repeatedly concluded that Michael Schiavo ensured his wife’s physical and medical needs were met, provided proper therapy for her and had no control over her money. They also found no evidence that he beat or strangled her, as his detractors have repeatedly charged.

The 45 pages of confidential abuse reports made public by court order yesterday show that despite the litany of complaints, investigators never found that Terri Schiavo had been abused.

That raises what Michael Schiavo’s attorney said is a key question: Why, during her last weeks of life, did DCF twice try to intervene in the seven-year dispute pitting Terri Schiavo’s husband against her parents?

"The answer is obvious," said attorney Hamden Baskin III. "From the get-go, this was nothing but a political intervention. There was and continues to be no reason for them to have been involved."

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Apr/20050416News012.asp

[JI7]

1. if only the media whores would give the attention to this

that they gave to the rumors of abuse.

thanks for posting this.

[Generator]

5. Yeah I just bet it will be the top story all weekend on CNN

Lies, dammned lies ruining a country.

And those coming on DU all irritated that we don't respect their ignorance and we "talk down to them." Most of these people don't have a clue what the consitutition is about. Even the elected ones! I watched last week's Bill Maher last night, and he's saying, hey you morons-the judiciary is supposed to be seperate.

HELP!

[CatWoman]

7. oddly enough

I caught this story last night on Greta Van Sustern.

[H2O Man]

23. Yes, I also saw it on Fox.

Although Michelle Malkin was on, asking who would the report "make happy?" The Fox "expert" said it wouldn't make anyone happy, but that it showed the husband had been truthful all along. I thought that I was dreaming for a moment, but Fox actually had an accurate report.

[atreides1]

10. How About If Only....

...the abuse story addicts here at DU would now apologize for their narrow minded view of this topic.

There were many here that tried to crucify Mr. Schiavo, by insisting that he had abused his wife and that he just wanted the money, and that all he wanted was to "murder" her.

So before we start to launch a tirade on the media whores, why don't the finger pointers here at DU apologize first.

You know who you are, so at least prove that you have some integrity and admit that you may have been wrong.

Those that come forward, will gain much respect, those that don't, well I guess in some respects you're no better then the "Media Whores". Either way those here at DU will know the difference!!!!!

[CatWoman]

12. DING!!! DING!!! DING!!!

We have a winner!!!!!

[Liberal Veteran]

13. I agree....

I was dumbfounded by some of the posters, many of whom were long term DU'ers who were regurgitating the various right-wing inspired myths about the Schiavo case.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. Yeah the report DID reference that he had to go to the courts every

time he wanted to spend any money in the trust

[KG]

25. Post of the Week!

:thumbsup:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. That report seems thorough

BUt I have a hard time putting any stock in the same DFC that lost a boatload of kids...OTOH...there does not seem to be any credible allegations of abuse...the calls came from people that didn't even know her in many instances...it's a shame that a service that Jeb already almost literally decimated had to waste valuable manpower when THEY SHOULD have been finding all those kids that were ACTUALLY abused like the kids belonging to the Dollars.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/04/family.torture/

[Nite Owl]

3. A confidential report

that was surely available to Jebbie so why didn't he put a stop to this kind of slanderous talk instead of letting them spout the lies? Bought and paid for by the right wing.

[rodeodance]

6. simple-it did not serve his interests to put a stop to it-but he knew, yes

he knew!!

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Everybody who was paying attention knew.....

Except of course the dumbasses who think Sean Hannity is capable of telling the truth.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. No...you are wrong!

He beat her day in and day out. He even did so after she was in the hospice! I read it on a blog and blogs are never ever never rever wrong!

The Florida DCF has been taken over by the "Culture of Death ©" and are spreading these evil lies!

:sarcasm:

[wakeme2008]

9. The 38 page Guardian Ad Litem report

is a good read and tells almost the same thing.

http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/WolfsonReport.pdf

[BOSSHOG]

11. I'll tune into american family radio (all hate all the time) next

week and report back on their retractions of hours and hours and hours of hateful, ugly lies about Michael Schiavo. They are probably working on the story right now.

[Dookus]

14. I sincerely hope

Michael Schiavo uses this to sue the balls off those so-called moral leaders who falsely accused him.

[AlCzervik]

15. you know whats really sick? the rightwing wanted her to show signs of

abuse, they wanted her to have been an abused person.

[Dookus]

16. I know

I read a lot of the freeper threads on it, and they WANTED her to have been abused. Sick.

[BOSSHOG]

20. Those god fearing life lovers

are totally devastated to find out that Teri did not suffer for years at the hand of her husband. Brings to mind statistics of spousal abuse and divorce and incest in red states. He's not one of you zealots, he didn't abuse his spouse.

[Jade Fox]

17. I'm glad you posted this...

I'm going to give a copy of it to a Fox News watching co-worker of mine
who bought the whole line of crap about this case.

[CatWoman]

18. and make sure you let him/her know

that I first caught this report on Fox/Greta Van Sustern's show.

[Jade Fox]

24. Thanks, I'll tell her that....

then maybe she'll actually read it!

[AlCzervik]

19. oh and hey, can you ask him why he wanted her to be abused?

[soup]

22. and as long as we're going there - Don't forget Mel's role

in this 'nothing but a political intervention from the get-go'


New gaffe, old Martinez defense

Sen. Mel Martinez turns to familiar words to explain his office's role in an unsigned memo on Terri Schiavo.

By ANITA KUMAR and WES ALLISON
Published April 8, 2005

WASHINGTON - In the final, critical days of fall's Republican primary for the U.S. Senate from Florida, Mel Martinez's campaign sent out a flier accusing his conservative rival of catering to "the radical homosexual lobby."

Under blistering criticism, Martinez said he had not seen the flier before a staffer mailed it to voters; he promised he would never again be caught unaware of his staff's actions.

Just a few weeks later, he again blamed a staffer for a news release from his campaign that called federal agents "armed thugs" for seizing Elian Gonzalez from his Miami home. Martinez said he wasn't responsible for the "inappropriate" comment. "It was put out by someone in the office," he said.

Now it has happened again.

Martinez says that a senior staffer in his office wrote the unsigned memo that lauded the political advantages for Republican lawmakers to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case.

Martinez said he did not know the staffer wrote the memo; somehow, he said, it ended up in the pocket of his suit jacket, and he handed it to another senator without realizing what it was.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/08/Worldandnation/New_gaffe__old_Martin.shtml

--

It's water under the bridge, best forgotten, a learning experience, nothing more to say, move along, put it behind us time.

Martinez: Memo a learning experience

The senator confirms that his chief of staff had called "five or six" supporters to reassure them. Meanwhile, his staff is reviewing internal operations.

By ANITA KUMAR and ADAM C. SMITH
Published April 16, 2005

TAMPA - After a spate of public criticism and humiliation, Sen. Mel Martinez vowed to sit down and talk about his mistakes and possible changes in how his staff operates.

But on Friday, a day after a new poll showed he has lost favor with voters, Florida's freshman senator said he won't talk about it, he just wants to get this episode behind him.

"I don't intend to dwell on it," Martinez said after speaking at the University of South Florida for National Hispanic Heritage Month. "We're learning from it and we're moving on."

Behind closed doors, though, Martinez's staff is reviewing their internal operations and trying to appease critics.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/16/State/Martinez__Memo_a_lear.shtml

:muttering, cursing, growling: