the schiavo case and money

a glimpse of conservatism's gears

Nobody can imagine what it must mean to be grieving parents like the Schindlers.   Michael Schiavo has always accused Terri's parents of wanting a share of her insurance money,which seemed  too harsh a prospect to consider.   Yet state investigators are raising questions about the Schindlers and their handling of contributions to their foundation.   The Schindlers have financial connections with radical right wing organizations, and their donor mailing list is already for sale online to "evangelical and conservative mailers."   Sincere if misguided Christians are being sold as raw parts for the conservative/Republican machine,  a machine whose gears are becoming all too visible in this case.

(UPDATE:  The mainstream media are starting to pick up on this story.   See USA Today,  Feud May Be As Much Over Money As Principle.")

Florida investigators have two concerns.   One involves the failure of the Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, which according to its website was created to "offset some of the expenses associated with protecting Terri," to properly register with the state and provided the appropriate information.   The second, more serious sets of questions center around a  possible  discrepancy between the amount of money raised by the foundation and the amount it has spent on legal fees.   While the foundation claims to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys, the lawyers involve claim to have received far less than that.   The failure of the organization to register or to provide a financial accounting of funds received and dispersed leaves these questions unanswered for now.

Despite the Schindler-Schiavo Foundation's assertion that it is raising money for legal expenses in the Schiavo case, most of the legal fees incurred to this date have been paid by two other organizations, the Life Legal Defense Foundation and a related group, the Alliance Defense Fund.  The Life Legal Defense Foundation describes its mission as:  "To give innocent and helpless human beings of any age, particularly unborn children, a trained and committed defense against the threat of death, and to support their advocates in the nation's courtrooms."

One of the Life Legal Defense Foundation's  legal strategies is described as "protecting sidewalk counselors from harassment."  The "sidewalk counselors" are demonstrators who scream epithets like "baby-killer" at women entering abortion and family planning clinics, and the "harassment" involves requesting that they stop, and arresting them if they behave unlawfully.   Their website includes an endorsement from Joan Andrews Bell, who is described as a "pro-life heroine."  Bell has been arrested dozens of times at abortion clinics, and has been convicted of burglary and other offenses stemming what she and her followers prefer to describe as "clinic invasions" and "rescue operations."   The phrase "rescue operation" came to public attention through the activities of Randall Terry.

The Alliance Defense Fund "is funding litigation that is going on to confront and challenge the radical legal agenda advocating homosexual behavior, defending parental rights, and to restore the Constitution's guarantee of free exercise of religion."   In English, that means the Fund supports anti-gay legal activities, and attempts to use the courts to forcibly impose Christian values on the entire population.    According to the ADF, "the rights of Christians are especially vulnerable" due to "the ACLU and other radical activist groups (who) have attempted to eliminate public expression of our nation's faith and heritage ... through fear, intimidation, disinformation, and the filing of lawsuits."

Here's an ADF victory, proudly described on their website:   "A swim coach in Northglenn, Colorado, felt that it was important that his students learn more than just the butterfly and the backstroke. He believed that it was his duty to help prepare them for life as well, by sharing the Gospel with them.   The coach regularly shares his Christian faith with his young swimmers, and the government took offense and terminated his pool privileges…This case would not exist without ADF.”

These are the people funding the Schindlers.    Their foundation also receives money from a series of small donors, however, and the radical Right knows how to use these donor lists to build their extremist ranks.   In a sense, the Schiavo fight is all about building the ranks of footsoldiers for the radical right -- footsoldiers who will get out the vote in the next elections, canvass door to door, raise contributions to political campaigns, and stump for Republicans at their churches.

Don't believe me?   Check out this mailing list of donors for sale from "Response Unlimited:  Mailing Lists and Creative Services for Evangelical and Conservative Mailers."    Here's how the Response Unlimited website describes the mailing list:   "Each of these donors responded to an email ... from Terri Schindler-Schiavo's father ... These compassionate pro-lifers donated toward Bob Schindler's legal battle to keep Terri's estranged husband from removing the feeding tube ... These individuals are passionate about the way they value human life, adamantly oppose euthanasia, and are pro-life in every sense of the word!"

The quote is verbatim, down to the salesman-esque exclamation point at the end of the sentence.  This is a tough story to consider, and for once I understand why the mainstream media has been reluctant to deal with it.  Whatever the role of the Schindlers turns out to be, one thing is clear:    Conservative evangelicals, sincere in their beliefs, are for sale to any cynical politician or preacher that wants to continue manipulating them and sucking them dry for money, time, and tears.   That's the way the machinery works in the 21st Century.

Comments

[Judith]

jesus, i hope you are wrong.

[Mr BRAD]

To paraphrase the late Chester A. Riley: "What a revoltin' development this is!"

Seriously, what a sad, sorry mess this has all turned into. The most poignant of all sorrows; a child, dead before her time, serving as the backdrop against which this byzantine saga is played out.

My feeble agnostic mind wonders what "Our Creator" looking down, must think of all this and also of the good which could be done were the fruits of the Schindler's formidable fund raising skills used for the benefit of one or more recipients who actually had a ghost of a chance.

[RJ Eskow]

Judith, I hope I'm wrong too. But if you read the update I just posted (USA Today link) mainstream media outlets are beginning to pick up on this story. I don't think I am.

Brad, right you are and well said.

[Joanne]

Did you all get the vapors upon reading that, of the money awarded in a malpractice suit intended for Terri Schiavo's care, Michael's right-to-die lawyer got a hugh chunk?

Name the mainstream media who gave a nickel's worth of air time to inform it's viewers/readers of all the suspicions surrounding this case.

How anyone believes they have the right to decide that a living, breathing human being, innocent of any crime, should be put to death, is mind-boggling.

Terri Schiavo was starved to death on the testimony of Michael Schiavo who claimed she had made a
CASUAL COMMENT(S) on the subject. He was backed up by a sister-in-law and a brother. Interesting, the brother chose to say that Terri and Michael had PROMISED EACH OTHER (!) not to let the other live that way.

Does anyone see a discrepancy here?

Michael used his description CASUAL on television, I believe March 19, 2005. About one week later, his brother was on the tube telling the world they PROMISED EACH OTHER.

The killing of Terri Schiavo is at the heart of this whole story. There needs to be an unbiased investigation, and if so, any money discrepancies will come out.