....Schiavo's feeding tube was removed last Wednesday. Doctors have said the 39-year-old woman will die within a week to 10 days without food and water.

We've seen some tv coverage of the case, including interviews with Terri's brother and sister. They were very persuasive. We saw videos of Terri's mother feeding her in the hospital. Terri seemed quite alert to us--even eager to eat. She's been in this state for 12 years...she was smiling at her mother in in the video. It's her husband who says she wants to be dead. But it's been reported that he has a financial interest in whether she lives or dies.

We are probably bucking the party line on this one, but we're glad the bill passed and Jeb Bush acted to save Terri. The bill is limited to cases in which there is no living will, so it's easy to avoid having the law apply to you. Moral: If you don't want to be kept alive, get a living will tomorrow. Here's a site we just came across with forms for living wills from all states.

Update: Arthur at Light of Reason disagrees with us. We didn't pick up on a political/religious angle--we were relying upon Terri's parents and siblings' comments that they believe that Terri does respond to them and could benefit from rehabilitation. We thought their thanking G-d was simply a personal belief.

Update: Legal scholars almost uniformly attack the law as unconstitional--both as drafted and in prinicple. The New York Times excoriates the Florida legislature here--and says the bill was prodded by the religious right.