[fabsroman]

Lilred and the rest of you,

I will essentially say that it is not the judicial system's fault for all of this, but society's fault. Sure we are all quick to point the finger at things, but I think we all need to look deep down inside and look at ourselves.

For instance, marriage used to be a lot more than it is nowadays. It used to be "Until Death Do Us Part" and children were raised by their biological parents. Not the second or third step-mother or step-father. This is one of the first problems that there is. As far as an attorney allowing a child to go to a POS father every two weeks out of the month, it isn't the attorney's fault. If it is anybody's fault, it would be the judge's. Attorneys have to zealously represent their client's wishes, regardless of what they think, unless they are aiding their client in a crime or they know that there client is going to lie on the stand. Now, the sticky situation for an attorney is what to do when he puts his client on the stand and the client ends up lying. There was a case about it here in Maryland, but I am getting off topic.

Regarding Jessica Lundsford, that guy just needs to be shot if he actually did it. There are all kinds of strange things in life. For instance, I saw a show on Dateline wherein two guys were wrongly convicted of a murder outside a New York nightclub about 15 years ago. One of the guys told his girlfriend that he shot the guy because he wanted to impress her. Well, that was used against him at trial. After seeing the show, I have no doubt that these guys are innocent. What is sad is that they were still in jail as of the date of the show. That is something that is wrong with the judicial system. Then, there was another show that I watched wherein 40 inmates were on death row in Illinois for rape/murder cases, but after the invention of DNA testing it was determined that they weren't guilty of rape and that they shouldn't have been on death row and that they might have actually been completely innocent. HOW THE HECK DID 40 GUYS GET ON DEATH ROW THAT WERE INNOCENT????????

Regarding Terri Schiavo, I think that is another mess. From what I have heard, Michael Schiavo no longer stands to gain any money from the passing of Terri. Maybe he was lying in the beginning of all this, but I doubt he is going through with it just for the heck of it now. Then again, maybe he is pissed at the parents for some reason and doing it to get back at them. See, trying to figure out what people are thinking will drive you insane.

I am just starting to learn that you cannot worry about what makes a person tick or why the do or don't do certain things. For instance, I have a brother and a couple of clients that can never pay their bills on time. They wait until their car insurance gets cancelled, their auto tags are suspended, their gas, water, and electric are shut off, and their home is foreclosed on before they pay their bills, while they have had enough money in the bank to pay them all the time. What is wrong with these people?

Getting back to Terri Schiavo, I think that everybody is overlooking the big picture. What the appeals courts hold in this case will be precedent for all time to come. Imagine how many people out there do not have a Living Will or Advance Health Care Directive. Now, imagine if we had to keep them all alive on machines until they passed away. How much would all that cost? I can also assure you that the wealthy people out there will more than likely have a Living Will or Advance Health Care Directive, so the people on life support would generally be the poor people who are on Medicaid. Hence, the rest of us will be paying for all this. Also, by denying the appeals, the appeals courts are making sure that people do not think that they can appeal this issue umpteen times before it gets resolved. Remember, we are paying for those appeals too. It all rests on whether Judge Greer made the right decision in Florida, and that decision was based on believing Terri's parents or Terri's husband. Tough call if you ask me and I wasn't there for the trial and testimony, so I cannot say Greer was right or wrong on his decision.

If this Schiavo matter wasn't as big an issue as it was, the parents would be allowed in and they would be allowed to provide her with water for her cracked lips. It has just gotten out of hand and cost the taxpayers a lot more than it should have.

So, my pet peeve is not the judicial system, but people in general. Now, does that mean that people shouldn't be given a second chance, who knows?

With that said, I have to get ready for Easter Sunday mass. Take care and Happy Easter to everybody.