so this morning that supreme court of the united states refused to hear the case effectively putting an end this all. well, hopefully, that is unless bush & co find a new clever way to wipe their nose with the law of the land as they have over the weekend. i've paid more attention to this than i should have but the legal side of this was inheritely intriguing as it charted into unprecendented territories. and watching this played out on television was equally striking as the amercian version of conservative philosophy in more than one ways was unravelling. i've learned a few things about this case that are worth mentioning

1) politicians are more qualified to diagnose medical conditions than doctors. so some doctor watching his television screen and reading medical notes about it says terri isn't a vegetable. and so dubya's equally wacky brother, jeb, orders the court to look into that. armchair quarterbacking takes on a new meaning. and of course, there was the congress politicians over the weekend giving their own diagnosis

2)the sanctity of marriage means nothing to bible thumpers. i haven't read the bible since grade school religion class but somewhere in there i remember marriage being mentioned in less than flatteriing ways: the woman becomes property of the man. marriage is "taking" someone as your wife. so according to religious views, the husband's acts are justified by your laws according to god. look this up if you're that damned studious note: the link is not to be taken seriously but you'll get the gist

3) jesus was wrong when he said that a man and wife bond takes precedence over parental rights. again, back to point 2: the man "takes" his wife and he's the say. you want to use biblical and godly arguments, well, so can the husband. hallelujah! lemme hear a couple of hallelujahs!

4) bible thumpbers think the 23 court cases that sided with the husband was all the result of a big conspiracy. activits judges my ass! the law was respected in that judges had no right to get involved. the judges that did get involved all said the same thing if take into account the bible: the hubby has the final word. again, back to point 2 & 3

5)heavily editted videotapes made by people with an agenda are more useful as medical tools than CAT scans and direct observation. these clips on television are beginning to disgust me and more disgusting is people making arguments against science based on a clip of terri supposedly following a ballon! yes, those five second clips are credible evidence that she's going to get better in the next year when no progress has been made in the last fifteen years. good luck with that one. i'm guessing that bible throws in a word or two about CAT scans but i can't seem to find the appropriate term. note: check out fox new's framing on these clips and you'll see what i mean. i mean, i too, look at the shots and sentimentally have my own reservations but that's the power of some video editors getting paid a handsome coin to make me feel like that. think about that and what kind of "monster" the media is in all this by sticking its nose into the husband's "property"

6)the brain is a magical thing that allows a person with no cortex to be totally aware and sentient (and even follow ballons). the cerebral spinal fluid is like pixie water that makes up the difference in having a functioning cortex. here science gets a bit conflicted, i know. but that's the beauty of it all. science isn't the end the all, however, it is a powerful tool. and it's taught us a lot in the past and continues to do so. some of it gets debated, rejected, amendment and stuff like that, so we can make better sense of our brains. it's still a confusing area but super smart scientists are working on it. and these super smart scientists all agreed mrs. schiavo isn't going to get better. but some wacky people who quote the bible try to pervert science. they call it.... get this, faith based science. again, back to lesson #5 above. oh yeah, and doctors who watch five second television clips use their "scientific knowledge" to side with bible quoters. then bible quoters qet all excited and suddently embrace science as saying schiavo is just like every other person! interesting but sorry, not valid. i don't think the super smart scientists will ever figure out how these people's brains work.

so that's basically what i learned in this all; and some other equally cool things about how laws actually work! america isn't sliding into a christian theocracy, far from it. sure, some wacky people have sabotaged the system and permeated politics, and i quote tom delay, the republican majority house leader, a man of law:

• One thing that God has brought to us is Terri Schiavo to elevate the visibility of what's going on in America

yeah, that's pretty scary but not of immediate effect. as long as the laws are in tact, reasonable thoughts and rationality will prevail such as they did earlier this morning. of course, the problematic aspect is whether those interpreting the laws in the future will act the way they did this morning. because if you stick bible quoters into positions of law interpretation, future decisions may not end up like they did today. that's what people should be most concerned about that.

so the drama that unfolded thanks to satelittes and then into my television and then into my blog has come to a closure. i've invested more time into this than i shouldve but what played out over the past week is better than anything you'll see hollywood ever put together. speaking of which, forbid some ambitious director right now from scheming of making this into a horrible analysis through a made for tv. everything in this was intermeshed: nuclear family, extended family, courts, science vs religion, law vs god, life vs choice, politicians, media, bloggers, and me. but i promise not to mention the name schiavo again and promptly plan to return to drug induced incoherencies.

On a side note, the "democracy is spreading without the need of bush to drop bombs" tour is expanding into Kyrgyzstan with news of the Palace being stormed after a recent rigged elections. the president has reportedly fled. isn't liberation beautiful when it takes places internally and without foreign bombs killing innoncent citizens along the way? not to mention foreign soldiers. i sure think so.