Social Issues

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Ashley Smith's vilification begins

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The story of Ashley Smith’s heroism was bound to annoy some journalists as being too pat, too unbelievable, too much of a redemptive ending in a story of carnage and mayhem. Lee Siegel, television critic of The New Republic, raises some fair questions about whether Smith’s story should be accepted uncritically, although reporters will have a difficult time gaining access to her captor, Brian Nichols, for some time to come.


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Common-law polygamy?

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Here’s an interesting commentary from a reader: “Does the Schiavo case implicitly, or maybe explicitly, acknowledge the validity of polygamy? . . . I saw a lawyer on the news last night going down a laundry list of Terri’s decisions and rights, and, to my knowledge, all of this flows from her husband speaking on her behalf. If Mrs. Schiavo II could sue him now for wife-like rights should they separate, the state is honoring polygamy.” The state of Florida does not recognize what in some places is still called Common Law Marriage. But a decade or so and two children? What legal status does Michael’s live-in almost-wife have, in the eyes of the state? Meanwhile, Kathleen Parker asks another question: “When is a husband not a husband?”


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Sun-Sentinel finds some unity on faith, Schiavo

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Earlier this week, I suggested that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel might want to take another shot at covering some of the religious views involved in the culture war over Terri Schiavo’s future. In particular, the newspaper needed to rethink its own assertion that there is some question about Roman Catholicism’s teachings on death by starvation.


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Starvation by serendipity

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Daniel Schorr made an astonishing remark Monday on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered: “The [Terri Schiavo] case is a triumph of symbolism over substance. She has become the cause celebre of the right to life movement. There is no equally powerful right to death movement.” How is it, then, that Terri Schiavo is now in her fifth day of court-ordered starvation and dehydration?


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Hello Megan O'Matz: A note from Rome

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Please let me dive in here quick with a few thoughts on that South Florida Sun-Sentinel story about Terri Schiavo by reporter Megan O’Matz. I agree with the Rt. Rev. LeBlanc that this sidebar may have broken some kind of record for slanted presentations of basic information.


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