[KevinTheOmnivore]

The Schiavo Act has passed the Senate, and it will be debated tonight on the House floor at 9 pm ET. There will be a vote shortly after midnight.

I believe this will pass, because from what I've heard, many leading Democrats don't want to touch this with a 10 ft. pole. Nobody said a thing in the Senate, and the only thing House Democrats have done thus far is put off the time of debate.

If this passes, while it at least momentarily saves the life of one woman, it also sets a potential precedent on so called right-to-die matters in America. Should our federal government even be playing a role in what has been primarily a state, court, and family matter?

Supposedly, a controversial memo was circulated around on the Hill by Republicans, outlining the potential electoral gains that this bill might gain them in their respective districts. That memo probably has something to do with the relative silence amongst Democrats, even though many Republicans have since distanced themselves from the memo.

Terri Schiavo is in what is called a persistent vegetative state. According to neurologists, this means she isn't aware of her surroundings, and there is no thought pattern going on. According to her family, she is responsive, she laughs with them, and "talks." According to Rep. Tom DeLay, Schiavo has never really received an extensive neurological examination, or any other cursory sort of examination, because her husband refuses to put her in a medical facility capable of such stuff. He instead has kept her in a hospice, which is where people go to die. But I think it's fair to say that Terri hadn't actually been dying until her feeding tube had been removed. Now she is starving to death, which seems to be rather barbaric to me.

Her husband, btw, has since remarried, and has children. Schiavo never stated what her wishes would be under such circumstances, but her husband claims "sending her to be with God" would be her wish (even though Terri was a devout Roman Catholic, and this very practice has been denounced by her Church).

Tune in at 9 pm.