Oh, those wacky Congressional Republicans! Drunk with power and beholden to their fringe base, they've exploited the tragedy of Terri Shiavo to try and score political points. Tom Delay and Bill Frist
must have figured that this was just another opportunity to use a wedge issue to get the Fundamentalist Right all worked up about the perceived threat of "Secular Liberals" and "Activist Judges"
Unfortunately for the Republicans, their public relations assault may be starting to backfire, as they've grossly underestimated how much the American people DO NOT want the government involved in these kinds of personal matters. The Republicans, of course, deny this is about politics, insisting that this all about their desire to foster a "Culture of Life"
"Culture Of Life"! Sounds like a great idea! Who can't get behind such a warm and fuzzy concept? Even us godless (or theologically misguided) liberal-types could hardly argue with the idea that every life has dignity, right?
But for us to move forward with our own "Culture of Life", we have to take a hard look at the reality of the here and now, in 2005...with conservatives controlling all three branches of the federal government, many state governments, almost the entire corporate world AND a signifigant portion of the faith-based community.
Here's our current GOP "Culture of Life", by the numbers:
Americans Servicemembers killed in Iraq: 1,522 (CNN.com)
Iraqi civilians killed since the U.S Invasion: 18,000-100,000 (Sources vary)
Inmates executed by federal and state authorities, in 2004: 59 (United States Deparment of Justice)
American workplace fatalities in 2003: 5,559 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Americans who die because they lack health insurance, annually: 18,000 (Institute of Medicine)
Americans who die from asbestos related illnesses, annually: 10,000 (Environmental Working Group)
American deaths from suicide, annually: 30,000 (American Association of Suicidology)
American Women killed by their partner or ex-partner, annually: 2,000-4,000 (United States Department of Justice)
Americans deaths attributable to air pollution, annually: 50,000-100,000 (American Lung Association)
Americans killed by adverse reactions to legal prescription medication, annually: Up to 100,000 (Food And Drug Administration)
American deaths related to defective consumer products, annually: 23,000 (Consumer Product Safety Commission)
American infants who die due to inadequate prenatal and early childhood care, annually: 20,000 (Unattributed)
Children who die every day from preventable illnesses and malnutrition, worldwide: 29,000 (UNICEF)
Wow! That's a lot of dead and dying people, and I didn't even include deaths associated with cigarette smoking, alcohol, water pollution, several categories of toxic waste, certain medical errors, substandard medical care, chronic occupational diseases, the drug war, miscellaneous military operations, and many others. Furthermore, these are only dead people, so people with severe disabilities and other quality-of-life challenges are not included. You will not find Terri Schiavo listed with any of these victims.
So let's let our fellow "Culture of Life" supporters in the GOP know what we've uncovered going on in our country. Surely, working together, we can put our difference aside and give everyone universal quality health care, clean up the environment, strenthen regulatory oversight, reform our criminal justice and mental health systems, and create a better world by putting as much effort into encouraging development as we do into thinking up more efficient ways to bomb people.
Or maybe they're not serious about this "Culture of Life" thing, after all.