terry schiavo lives on endor. now that does not make sense!

jesse jackson has entered the schiavo story. on the side of the parents, no less.

and i'm very, very confused.

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it's proof that politics is far more complicated than most of us think. i have some coworkers who are rabid liberals -- i've seen the inbox of one, today actually, and right next to the work-related emails were some rabidly pro-dean/pro-democrat/anti-bush emails. which is this guy's right, and i'd defend it to the death.

for many of them, it's "chimpy mchitlerstein" versus "the reality based community." so i think that if you predicted a prominent democrat (former candidate for president, and the man who declared that the vote in ohio in 2004 was rigged by diebold) would enter the fray, most of them would assume that he'd be on the side of dean and reid.

but he's not. he's declared this to be "a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes," which is exactly what i'd expect to hear from a man of God, and a baptist minister to boot.

it causes my skin to tingle. it always does when someone takes a forceful stand on the side of the Lord. and jackson, love him or hate him, is one of the most eloquent speakers in public life today.

***

but does it mean that i agree with him?

i don't know. i can't say that i do, but it's a very confusing issue for me. i believe that each human being has the right to decide when and how he is to be kept alive in such cases. so if terry schiavo wanted to be left alone to die, then society and the legal system should respect that wish.

but nobody can prove without a doubt that she wanted to be left to die. and in the absence of that evidence, i think the correct decision would be to let her live, as long as she can. it's always good to (warning: cliche ahead) err on the side of life (cliche alert over).

the fear, though, is that terry did want to die gracefully and without extraordinary effort taken. i think that's what drives many people who favor the removal of her feeding tube. and think about it -- put yourself in that position. it's just like that metallica video from the late 80s. you'd be thinking but unable to communicate ... and you'd be trapped in that hell forever.

***

i believe both sides are genuine in their beliefs on this. and i'm not sure one side is right, and one side is wrong. all i know is that why would a wookiee -- an eight foot tall wookiee -- want to live on endor with a bunch of two foot tall ewoks?

that does not make sense!

what does that have to do with this case? nothing. ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! it does not make sense! none of this makes sense.

if chewbacca lives on endor, you must acquit! the defense rests. dammit!

'cause jesse jackson's on my side (kind of), the pope might need a feeding tube, and johnnie cochran is dead.

none of this makes sense.