Wacko Armageddon is Imminent

Sorry, no cat blogging today...my digital camera is lost under a pile of obsolete computer books and other effluvia after damn near needing a backhoe to get all the junk out of our home office so we can paint it a lovely, calming, and soothing shade of taupe. And somehow, "Friday All Hell Has Broken Loose In My House Blogging" just doesn't quite have the same "cute factor."

But speaking of all Hell breaking loose, the wackjobs in Florida are getting ready for some Extreme Nastiness when, as is expected since her parents' legal options are running out, Terri Schiavo at last is freed from the body and the people that betrayed her and depending on your belief, goes home to Jesus, goes to her eternal rest, or leaves this incarnation behind and either gets ready for the next one or moves on to eternal unity with the universe.

In true "culture of life" fashion, the death-centered "pro-life" movement is gearing up for a little of the old ultra-violence. The Kansas City Star reports:

Some pro-life activists are making ugly threats, making up "Wanted" posters for lawmakers and handing out the home addresses of judges who rejected legal appeals to keep Schiavo alive.

"I am afraid," said state Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, who has received numerous death threats by phone and mail because she voted against a measure to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube. "We're talking about the sanctity of life, and (they're) threatening my life."

The nine Republican lawmakers who voted against the measure showed up on anonymous "Wanted" posters that appeared in the state capitol in Tallahassee. State Sen. Nancy Argenziano said one of the "un-Christian" voice mails she's received wished stomach cancer on her.

Guards have been posted outside the politicians' offices.

Police won't discuss their security measures, but Michael Schiavo and Judge George Greer, who has consistently upheld Schiavo's requests to end his wife's life, are under around-the-clock protection and staying out of sight. Both have been the targets of a flood of fury, branding them corrupt and abusive murderers who are flouting God.

"Various law enforcement agencies are aware of the emotions in this case and have taken appropriate actions," said Wayne Shelor, spokesman for the police in Clearwater, Fla., where Michael Schiavo lives.

Popular right-wing Web sites have had to post prominent warnings against threats of violence on their discussion boards after calls for the armed "liberation" of Terri Schiavo from her hospice and comments suggesting that if her husband were taken out of the picture, guardianship would revert to her parents, who want to keep her alive.

People on Schiavo's street in Clearwater have received anonymous postcards saying: "Your neighbor Michael Schiavo is trying to murder his wife."

In addition, it seems that over a dozen moronic lunatics are being arrested while trying to bring cups of water to Terri Schiavo at her Pinellas Park hospice (as if she were running a marathon), including two 13-year-old girls and a 10-year-old boy. (This is a typical lunatic right gambit -- put the children out there as human shields. Stephen King sure had the character of Gregg Stillson just right in The Dead Zone, didn't he?

And in the "Killing for Christ" department, we have the Illinois man who was arrested after trying to steal a gun so he could "rescue Terri Schiavo."

You know, I'm not going to give Jeb Bush credit for much. I think he's every bit as vile, venal, greedy, and corrupt as everyone else in his family. But I'll give him credit for not acquiescing to the insane calls to send troops to Pinellas Park to kidnap what's left of Terri Schiavo. Whether it's simply because he's smart enough to know that a gunfight between guys in military uniforms and protesters will just about mean the death knell of his obvious, if still denied, 2008 Presidential campaign, or because he really believes in following the rule of law, at least so far, his cooler head has prevailed.

But you know what? I hate this. I hate this whole thing. I hate it as much as I'm participating in it. I hate how this story has knocked everything else off of the news wires. I hate that this tragic woman has turned into a political football to be kicked around by the phony Christians, the crazies, and corrupt politicians. I hate that I've lost sympathy for a family because they've allowed themselves to be manipulated by people like Randall Terry. I hate that I just want this to be over. I hate that tens of thousands of families who have been through this are having to relive their nightmare. I hate what my country has turned into this week. America had a nervous breakdown after 9/11/01, and this week we've had another one.