What worries me most about the present controversy over Terri Schiavo is that the separation of powers has been violated. The legislative branch is trying to tell the judicial branch what they can and cannot do and how they should find in a particular case; the executive is meddling everywhere and, having decided the outcome, trying to force the findings also.

We have spent decades fulminating about dictatorships where judicial proceedings are just a farce to arrive at a pre-determined guilt; yet here we are, doing (if the neocons have their way) the same thing and in the process irreparably damaging a vital, but fragile, balance.

It was OK when the Supreme Court chose the president; but now it's not OK when the courts come down on the other side. The political system is at risk.