Add both duToits to the growing list of Super Federalists who won’t let that pesky Constitution get in the way of a good constitutional rant. Regarding baseball, Mr. du Toit writes:

Overheard during this past weekend:
“Can Major Leage Baseball heal itself, or will it take action from Congress to fix it?”

My response: Show me where in the Constution it says the Congress can do that.

My response to his response: If you need someone else to point out something as basic as the commerce clause, you probably shouldn’t be publicly opining on the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of anything. He does, however, and proceeds to ask the same of Terri Schiavo, and then implores his readers to:

Stop thinking with your hearts, because emotion and sentiment have no place in discussions of this type. Constitutional integrity is more important than Terry Schiavo’s life; it’s more important than a hundred lives, or a hundred thousand lives.
[Emphasis added.]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of constitutional integrity and all that fun stuff, but since when is it more important than 100,000 lives? That’s insane.

With these five questions, I hereby retire from the meme, having gone above and beyond the call of duty by two. These are for Aphrael.

1. Where did the name “discontent” come from? Can I buy it?
2. What is your position on the Schiavo controversy?
3. War in Iraq – was it worth it?
4. Whence the name “Aphrael?”
5. Why do all five of my questions start with the same letter?

Technically speaking, I have no further duties under this meme, having already asked five questions to each of five bloggers or former bloggers (Andrew, Patterico, the Monkey, his Uncle and the Interocitor). However, I got two more requests for an interview before I formally shut down the bidding process, so I’ve grandfathered in the Chadster and Aphrael, as well. Plus, I’ve only received answers from four of my victim/volunteers (Pathetic Earthling being the fifth), so if the Chadster is quick on the draw he can make the original five. Here goes.

1. How did you end up in Belgium, and why did you ultimately leave?
2. Speaking of Belgium, what was it like living there two years ago, during the war in Iraq?
3. How many languages/dialects do you speak?
4. If done on your blog, would something like this violate this?
5. During the 2000 election debacle, did you feel personally insulted by the constant references to swinging chads, or threatened by the references to hanging ones?

Maybe the scorecard is premature, but I seriously doubt it. Unlike the Schindlers, God bless ‘em, I’ve pretty abandoned hope for Terri Schiavo. Now that what was supposed to be the least dangerous branch has proved itself the most dangerous by a long shot, short of Jeb Bush channeling Andrew Jackson and taking custody of Terri Schiavo, Michael’s slow-motion murder of his wife will finally succeed over the next few days, if not hours. The only saving grace, if it can even be called that, is that she probably won’t die on Good Friday.

Meanwhile, while the Schiavo whose life was never in danger of continues to hang on his cross, it’s worth noting that as scummy as he is, he’s only half the murderer that his co-conspirator George Greer is. After all, when all is said and done Michael will only have murdered one woman, making him no more of a murderer than O.J., Robert Blake or, if his luck had been better, Scott Peterson. Greer, by contrast, will be more like O.J., having murdered two rather than one, both at the hands of abusive husbands whose motives Greer was either too stupid to recognize or too evil to care about, or both.

Let’s all have a moment of silence for Helene Ball McGee (1954?-98), Theresa Marie Schiavo (1963-2005?) and any other human being who may ever have the misfortune of having his or her personal safety in the hands of this so-called judge.

UPDATE: Thanks to Steverino for the correction on O.J.

UPDATE: And to New England Devil for the correction on Scott Peterson. Oh well, there went the entire analogy, unless we divide the killings along gender lines.

Much has been made of the fact that Michael Schiavo has a “common law wife” who, suffice it to say, is not named Terri. I’ve generally let that go since it’s usually used as more of a fairness argument than an attempted legal one. However, now that a major blogger has gone beyond the mere colloquial use of the phrase “common law wife” and stated explicitly that Schiavo’s live-in girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, “is legally now his ‘common law’ wife.” No, she’s not. Few states recognize common law marriages anymore, and Florida is no exception:

741.211 Common-law marriages void.– No common-law marriage entered into after January 1, 1968, shall be valid, except that nothing contained in this section shall affect any marriage which, though otherwise defective, was entered into by the party asserting such marriage in good faith and in substantial compliance with this chapter.

Rather than misuse the phrase “common law wife” to describe his live-in girlfriend, I prefer to think of her as his de facto wife, as opposed to Terri Schiavo, the poor woman who is starving to death for the crime of being his de jure wife.

UPDATE: After a little prodding from Claire, I’ve researched the Florida Statutes a bit further. While it is wrong to describe Jodi Centonze as Michael Schiavo’s “legal” wife, it is not wrong to describe her as his illegal one:

Living in open adultery.– Whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Where either of the parties living in an open state of adultery is married, both parties so living shall be deemed to be guilty of the offense provided for in this section.

[Links in original - I wish our Legislature did that.]

Given how many Americans object to the idea of starving a woman to death, it was probably inevitable that some idiot somewhere would try something stupid. Given the high-profile involvement of (currently) useful idiot Randall Terry in this matter, I did find amusing that the moron tried to steal a gun from Randall to save Terri.

Ever notice how the Kill Terri apologists keep saying every doctor agrees Terri Schiavo is PVS, until you mention by name any of the ones who don’t, and then it’s “Well that guy’s a quack, his opinion doesn’t count.” So what if Hammesfahr thinks she can be rehabilitated? He’s a kook! Cheshire? So what if he’s at Mayo Clinic and Judge Greer couldn’t get into med school anywhere. It doesn’t matter. Greer was clearly convinced, and therefore, the rest of us are obligated to accept his conclusions without question. So what if others are unsatisified with an inconclusive CT scan, preferring a more precise MRI or PET scan instead? That’s just hocus-pocus stuff for those Christian fundamentalist whackjobs who expect Terri to die today and return with Jesus on EasterGarden Sunday.

The Kill Terris seem to be equally smug about their of image of Michael Schiavo as the devoted, unconflicted husband whose motives are 100% pure. One of them, Rhianna Schoon who, despite being highly opinionated on the subject, was so poorly informed about this case that when I answered her pseudo-constitutional objections to the compromise bill with an observation that the Constitution contains no ” ‘when is that bitch going to die” Amendment,” she interpreted that as an accusation that she had called Terri Schiavo a bitch, and not a reference to Carla Iyer’s well-reported testimony. Oh, they say, but that’s just one nurse with an axe to grind. What does she know? Heidi Law? Well, she’s just one, too. As is Carolyn Johnson. Or Trudy Capone, a nurse who maintains that not only did Michael Schiavo not say his wife had expressed a desire to die if incapacitated, but specifically said he repeatedly told her they had not discussed what to do in such a situation. Or the nursing assistant who dated Michael in the early 1990s and maintains that he stalked her for over a year after their breakup.

Listening to these guys talk, you would almost think that they’ve made up their minds early on that there is not supposed any credible evidence that Terri Schiavo either (1) is not in a PVS or (2) expressed anything short of an unequivocal desire to be taken off life support if incapacitated. Therefore, any evidence that may surface which is consistent with either of these possibilities is automatically written off as not credible, by definition. They seem to be as stubborn as Schiavo himsef is, according to his brother:

Michael Schiavo was taught early on not to back down.

[deleted for space]

“We were raised to never give up,” says Schiavo’s older brother, Scott. “To stick to your guns, and if you believe in something, you just do it.”

In other words, he was raised to be a stubborn jerk, of the variety that some mistake for being principled. Basically, ” I want what I want, everyone else be damned. ” But I must confess one thing: I lied when I said the intervening paragraph was deleted “for space.” In fact, it was deleted for irony. Here it is:

His father, William, often reminded his boys that when he was diagnosed with polio at age 12, doctors said he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Six years later, he signed a minor-league contract with the old Philadelphia Athletics of the American League.

Pop Quiz. Name two things – apart from having blogs – that Patterico, Spoons, Dean Esmay, Allah, Rachel Lucas, e-Claire and Xrlq have in common.

UPDATE: Judging by the comments so far, I obviously should not have limited the answers to two. I could delete the word “two” right now and replace it with “three,” but then I’ll have to come back later and change it to “four,” then to “five,” etc. No point doing that, ‘cuz these days everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition. So go ahead and name as many things as you can. Two is now a floor, not a ceiling.

So far, I’m 0 for 2 on Bearflaggers. Uncly Wuncly and the Monkey (wonkey?) b0th answered my five questions almost immediately, but I’m still waiting to hear from Patterico and the Pathetic Earthling. Now’s KCM’s opportunity to forge ahead.

1. Michael Schiavo: Wife-murderer, law-abiding son in law from hell, misunderstood regular joe or patron saint of the right to die movement?
2. How much to the Six Aparts have to pay you to get you to use Movable Type?
3. Who do you support for mayor? The would-be lawyer who can’t pass the bar, or the one who did pass the bar and used it to try to sue the gun industry out of existence?
4. Bankruptcy reform: a panacea, a cynical gift to the evil credit card companies, or other?
5. What does it mean to “interocit?” Can there be only one “interocitor,” or does the Interocitor apply only to one specific interocitor?

My job isn’t protected by the First Amendment, and chances are, neither is yours, but Ward Churchill’s is.

Link via Prestopundit.