| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fredric L. Rice" |
| Date: |
28 Mar 2005 12:46:37 AM |
| Object: |
Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy |
Los Angeles Times
March 26, 2005
DeLay Family Outcome Different From Schiavo's
By Walter F. Roche Jr. and Sam Howe Verhovek
Times Staff Writer
CANYON LAKE, Texas - A family tragedy unfolding in a Texas hospital
during the fall of 1988 was a private ordeal -- without judges,
emergency sessions of Congress or the raging debate outside Terri
Schiavo's Florida hospice.
The patient then was a 65-year-old drilling contractor, badly injured
in a freak accident at his home. Among the family standing vigil at
Brooke Army Medical Center was a grieving junior congressman -- U.S.
Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
More than 16 years ago, far from the political passions that have
defined the Schiavo controversy, the DeLay family endured its own
wrenching end-of-life crisis. The man in a coma, kept alive by
intravenous lines and a ventilator, was DeLay's father, Charles Ray
DeLay.
Then, freshly re-elected to a third term in the House, DeLay waited all
but helpless for the verdict of doctors.
Today, as House Majority Leader, DeLay has teamed with Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to champion political intervention the
Schaivo case. He pushed emergency legislation through congress to shift
the legal case from Florida state courts to the federal judiciary.
And he is among the strongest advocates of keeping the woman, who
doctors say has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years,
connected to her feeding tube. DeLay has denounced Schiavo's husband,
as well as judges, for committing what he calls "an act of barbarism"
in removing the tube.
In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman
quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.
"There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the
congressman's 81-year-old mother, recalled in an interview last week.
"There was no way he (Charles) wanted to live like that. Tom knew, we
all knew, his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way."
Doctors advised that he would "basically be a vegetable," said the
congressman's aunt, JoAnne DeLay.
When the man's kidneys failed, the DeLay family decided against
connecting him to a dialysis machine. "Extraordinary measures to
prolong life were not initiated," said his medical report, citing
"agreement with the family's wishes." His bedside chart carried the
instruction: "Do Not Resuscitate."
On Dec. 14, 1988, the senior DeLay "expired with his family in
attendance."
"The situation faced by the congressman's family was entirely different
than Terri Schiavo's," said a spokesman for DeLay, who declined
requests for an interview.
"The only thing keeping her alive is the food and water we all need to
survive. His father was on a ventilator and other machines to sustain
him," said Dan Allen, DeLay's news aide.
There were also these similarities: Both stricken patients were
severely brain damaged. Both were incapable of surviving without
continuing medical assistance. Both were said to have expressed a
desire to be spared life sustained by machine. And neither left a
living will.
This previously unpublished account of the majority leader's personal
brush with life-ending decisions was assembled from court files,
medical records and interviews with family members.
It was a pleasant late afternoon in the Hill Country of Texas on Nov.
17, 1988.
At the home of Charles and Maxine DeLay, set on a limestone bluff of
cedars and live oaks above Turkey Cove, it also was a moment of
triumph.
Charles and his brother, Jerry DeLay, two avid tinkerers, had just
finished work on a new backyard tram -- an elevator-like device to
carry passengers from the house down a 200-foot slope to the blue-green
waters of Canyon Lake.
The two men called for their wives to hop aboard. Charles pushed the
button and the maiden run began. Within seconds a horrific screeching
noise echoed across the still lake, "a sickening sound," said a
neighbor. The tram was in trouble.
Maxine, seated up front in the four-passenger trolley, said her husband
repeatedly tried to engage the emergency brake but the rail car kept
picking up speed. Halfway down the bank it was free-wheeling, according
to accident investigators.
Moments later, it jumped the track and slammed into a tree, scattering
passengers and twisted debris in all directions.
"It was awful, just awful," recalled Karl Braddick, now 86, the DeLays'
neighbor at the time and a family friend. "I came running over, and it
was a terrible sight."
He called for emergency help. Rescue workers had trouble bringing
injured victims up the steep terrain. Jerry's wife, JoAnne, suffered
broken bones and a shattered elbow. Charles, hurled head-first into a
tree, clearly was in serious condition.
"He was all but gone," said Braddick, gesturing at the spot of the
accident as he offered a visitor a ride down to the lake in his own
tram. "He would have been better off if he'd died right there and
then."
But Charles DeLay hung on. In the ambulance on his way to the New
Braunfels hospital 15 miles away, he tried to speak.
"He wasn't making any sense; it was mainly just cuss words," recalled
Maxine with a faint, fond smile.
His grave condition dictated a short stay at the local hospital. Four
hours later, he was airlifted by helicopter to the medical center at
Fort Sam Houston. Admission records show he arrived with multiple
injuries, including broken ribs and a brain hemorrhage.
Tom DeLay flew to his father's bedside where, along with his two
brothers and a sister, they joined Maxine. In the weeks that followed,
the congressman made repeated trips back from Washington, D.C., his
family said. Maxine seldom left her husband's side.
"Mama stayed at the hospital with him all the time. Oh, it was terrible
for everyone," said Alvina (Vi) Skogen, a former sister-in-law of the
congressman. Neighbor Braddick visited the hospital and said it seemed
very clear to everyone there was little prospect of recovery.
"He had no consciousness that I could see," Braddick said. "He did a
bit of moaning and groaning, I guess, but you could see there was no
way he was coming back."
Maxine DeLay agreed that she was never aware of any consciousness on
her husband's part during the long days of her bedside vigil -- with
one possible exception.
"Whenever Randy walked into the room, his heart, his pulse rate would
go up a little bit," she said of their son, Randall, the congressman's
younger brother, who lives near Houston.
Over a period of days, doctors conducted a series of tests, including
scans of his head, face, neck and abdomen. They checked for lung
damage, performing a bronchoscopy and later a tracheotomy to assist his
breathing. But the procedures could not prevent steady deterioration.
Then, infections complicated the senior DeLay's fight for life.
Finally, his organs began to fail. The family and physicians confronted
the dreaded choice so many other Americans have faced: to make heroic
efforts, or to let the end come.
"Daddy did not want to be a vegetable," said Skogen, one of his
daughters-in-law at the time. "There was no decision for the family to
make. He made it for them."
The preliminary decision to withhold dialysis and other treatments fell
to Maxine along with Randall and her daughter Tena -- and, his mother,
said, "Tom went along." He raised no objection, she said.
Family members said they prayed.
Jerry DeLay "felt terribly about the accident," said his wife, JoAnne
DeLay. "He prayed that if (Charles) couldn't have quality of life that
God would take him -- and that is exactly what He did."
Charles Ray DeLay died at 3:17 a.m., according to his death
certificate, 27 days after plummeting down the hillside.
The family then turned to lawyers.
In 1990 the DeLays filed suit against Midcap Bearing Corporation of San
Antonio and Lovejoy Inc. of Illinois, the distributor and maker of a
coupling that they said failed and caused the tram to hurtle out of
control down the steep bank.
The family's wrongful death lawsuit accused the companies of negligence
and sought actual and punitive damages. Lawyers for the companies
denied the allegations and countersued the surviving designer of the
tram system, Jerry DeLay.
The case thrust Congressman DeLay into decidedly unfamiliar territory
-- the list of plaintiffs on the front page of a civil complaint. He is
an outspoken defender of business against what he calls the crippling
effects of "predatory, self-serving litigation."
The DeLay family litigation sought unspecified compensation for, among
other things, the dead father's "physical pain and suffering, mental
anguish and trauma," and the mother's grief, sorrow and loss of
companionship.
Their lawsuit also alleged violations of the Texas product liability
law.
The DeLay case moved slowly through the Texas judicial system,
accumulating more than 500 pages of motions, affidavits and disclosures
over nearly three years. Among the affidavits was one filed by the
congressman, but family members said he had little direct involvement
in the lawsuit, leaving that to his attorney brother, Randall.
Rep. DeLay, who since has taken a leading role promoting congressional
tort reform, wants to rein in trial lawyers to protect American
business from what he calls "frivolous, parasitic lawsuits" that raise
insurance premiums and "kill jobs."
In September, he expressed something less than warm sentiment for
attorneys when he took the floor of the House to condemn trial lawyers
who, he said, "get fat off the pain (of plaintiffs and off) the hard
work (of defendants)."
Aides for DeLay defended his role as a plaintiff in the family lawsuit,
saying he did not follow the legal case and was not aware of its final
outcome.
The case was resolved in 1993 with payment of an undisclosed sum of
about $250,000, according to sources familiar with an out of court
settlement. DeLay signed over his share of any proceeds to his mother,
said DeLay aides.
Three years later, DeLay cosponsored a bill specifically designed to
override state laws on product liability such as the one cited in his
family's lawsuit. The legislation provided sweeping exemptions for
sellers of such products.
The 1996 bill was rejected by President Clinton.
In his veto message the president said he objected to the DeLay-backed
measure because it "tilts against American families and would deprive
them of the ability to recover fully when they are injured by a
defective product."'
After her husband's death, Maxine DeLay scrapped the mangled tram at
the bottom of the hill and sold the family lake house.
Today she lives alone in a Houston senior citizen residence. Like much
of the country, she follows news developments in the Schiavo case and
her congressman son's recently prominent role.
She acknowledges questions that compare her family's decision in 1988
to the Schiavo conflict today with a slight smile. "It's certainly
interesting, isn't it?"
Like her son, she believes there might be hope for Terri Schiavo's
recovery. That's what makes her family's experience different, she
says. Charles had no hope.
"There was no chance he was ever coming back," she said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-delay27mar27,0,5710023.story?coll=la-home-headlines
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
Improving the herd: http://www.rightard.org/
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| User: "Peacenik" |
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| Title: Re: Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy |
28 Mar 2005 07:03:49 AM |
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"Fredric L. Rice" <FRice@SkepticTank.ORG> wrote in message
news:114eloa17qft18d@corp.supernews.com...
In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman
quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.
"There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the
congressman's 81-year-old mother, recalled in an interview last week.
"There was no way he (Charles) wanted to live like that. Tom knew, we
all knew, his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way."
<BOING>
There goes my hypocrisy meter. The reading went off the charts before my
meter exploded!
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| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
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| Title: Re: Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy |
28 Mar 2005 02:10:43 PM |
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"Peacenik" <criskity999@com999cast.removeallnines.net> wrote:
"Fredric L. Rice" <FRice@SkepticTank.ORG> wrote in message
news:114eloa17qft18d@corp.supernews.com...
In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman
quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.
"There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the
congressman's 81-year-old mother, recalled in an interview last week.
"There was no way he (Charles) wanted to live like that. Tom knew, we
all knew, his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way."
<BOING>
There goes my hypocrisy meter. The reading went off the charts before my
meter exploded!
Bent the needle, I bet.
The guy's "Christian family values" were discovered only while the
television cameras are running. And millions of Christians fall for
the act.
---
http://www.ElmerFudd.US/ http://www.notserver.com/
Scientology crooks: http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/otiii-gif.html
Scientology murder: http://PerkinsTragedy.org
Improving the herd: http://www.rightard.org/
.
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| User: "bushido911" |
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| Title: Re: Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy |
28 Mar 2005 02:57:14 PM |
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What's even more sad is that it is the crazy Christian
fundamentalists who hurt Christianity and drive away people
who otherwise live lives far more in line with Christ's teachings
than theirs.
They are craven people who stomp out the enlightening parts
of Christianity for arbitrary absolutism, so that they can covet
their notion of Salvation by disrupting other people's lives.
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| User: "Vic Sagerquist" |
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| Title: Re: Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy |
28 Mar 2005 08:26:27 PM |
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on 28 Mar 2005 in alt.atheism, bushido911 dropped trou, farted, whirled,
then shouted:
What's even more sad is that it is the crazy Christian
fundamentalists who hurt Christianity and drive away people
who otherwise live lives far more in line with Christ's teachings
than theirs.
They are craven people who stomp out the enlightening parts
of Christianity for arbitrary absolutism, so that they can covet
their notion of Salvation by disrupting other people's lives.
When you arrive in heaven, St. Peter says, "Welcome to Heaven! Here's your
harp."
When you arrive in Hell, Satan says, "Welcome to Hell. Here are your
bagpipes."
--
Vic Sagerquist
aa#2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department
Plonked by Jason Gastrich for all eternity...
______________
As you were, I was. As I am, you will be.
--- Hunter S. Thompson
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| User: "Robert the NOLA Atheist" |
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| Title: Re: Oh man. DeLay's Christian Hypocricy - DeLavish, DeLoutish, DeLayly |
28 Mar 2005 10:01:50 PM |
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DeLay has latched onto the Schiavo case in an attempt to change the
subject regarding all of his ethics violations. I hope the media will
finally take him to task for his blatant attempt to mislead.
DeLavish, DeLoutish, DeLayly
- Debra J. Saunders
Friday, March 25, 2005
WHEN YOU READ about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's expensive
junkets -- bankrolled by a lobby-enriched nonprofit and a registered
foreign agent -- you wonder why DeLay didn't learn the lessons to be
gleaned from the very big fall of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The Newter resigned his speakership in 1998 after he became more of a
liability than an asset for the House GOP. Alas, it is clear DeLay did
learn a lesson from Gingrich's downfall, but the wrong one: If you're
going to travel like royalty while serving as a GOP biggie, rig the
ethics committee.
Three times last year the House ethics committee admonished DeLay.
Under Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., the committee chastised DeLay for
offering a political favor to a lawmaker in exchange for his support
on the Medicare prescription-drug bill, for asking federal aviation
workers to track a plane during a partisan squabble and for appearing
at a 2002 energy-company fund- raiser that "at a minimum, created the
appearance that donors were being provided with special access" to
DeLay concerning pending energy legislation.
To add to his woes, a Texas grand jury indicted three of DeLay's
associates for illegal fund raising and there is speculation that
DeLay is under investigation as well.
So DeLay -- known inside the Beltway as "The Hammer" -- has been
working to fix things so that the ethics committee won't give him
trouble this year.
In cahoots with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the GOP leadership
ousted Hefley and replaced him with Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Then
GOP heavies purged two Republican members and replaced them with two
toadies, both of whom, the Washington Post reported, "contributed
generously" to DeLay's legal- defense fund.
Oh, and the House changed the rules.
In January, GOP leaders pushed through a new rule: After 45 days, the
ethics committee would throw out a complaint, even without an
investigation, unless the GOP chairman and ranking Democrat agree to
let it proceed. Another new rule allows members to be represented by
the same attorney. The now- deposed Hefley complained that this would
make it easier for members to coordinate their stories.
In a statement, Hefley complained that these new rules threaten to
undermine the committee, "not to mention the integrity of the House."
Or as they say, a fish rots from the head down.
Gingrich began to falter when he decided he was so big that he could
do no wrong. He traveled to London to make a speech for Atlantic
Richfield -- allowing the company to spend some $40,000 flying
Gingrich and his wife (first class) and two aides (coach) to London
and plunking down $12,000 for the Gingrich hotel tab. Then there was
the Newter's stint as an academic lecturer -- for which he raised
$300,000 to $450,000 per semester -- for his inappropriately named
course, "Renewing American Civilization."
Now it appears DeLay has adopted The Gingrich Way. In 2001, he went to
South Korea on a three-day trip. His transportation, the Washington
Post reported, cost $13,000 and $330 went toward his lodging. Ditto
Mrs. DeLay. Three Democrats and a Republican took a similar trip in
2003.
A United Kingdom trip in 2000 cost $70,000 for DeLay and his
entourage. The Post followed the money and found that the nonprofit
National Center for Public Policy Research received donations of
$25,000 each from two gambling interests. DeLay voted against an
anti-gambling bill those interests didn't like, even though DeLay says
he is anti-gambling.
House rules prohibit a member from traveling on the dime of a lobbyist
or a foreign agent. Although there may be no problem if DeLay -- and
the other members -- did not know the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council was
a registered foreign agent, or if DeLay was unaware (as he says he
was) of any lobbyist funding for the U.K. trip. (The National Center
says there was no nexus between the gambling money and the U.K. trip.)
DeLay complains about "the partisan politics of personal destruction."
He, like Gingrich, doesn't see his role in his own destruction. It
seems clear that DeLay thinks he is too big to care how his trips look
to voters. The GOP leadership apparently feels that it can adulterate
the ethics committee and its rules -- and get away with it.
Hefley and Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut are two Republicans
who support a measure to return to the old rules, while the ethics
committee's five Democrats have said they won't participate in
committee doings until the old rules are restored.
This renders the committee inactive. When the House convenes in April,
the ethics committee might as well have a sign out front that says
"gone fishing."
E-mail: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com.
Page B - 9
URL:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/25/EDG07BTTM91.DTL
"[The Bill of Rights is] designed to protect individuals and minorities against the tyranny of the majority, but it's also designed to protect the people against bureaucracy, against the government." -- Judge Lawrence Tribe
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