"Pro-Life" Group Harasses Grieving Military Widow

[Pirate Smile]

From Daily Kos:

"Pro-Life" Group Harasses Grieving Military Widow

by ColdFusion04
Thu Aug 25th, 2005 at 09:26:20 PDT
Marine Staff Sgt. Chad Simon suffered a severe brain injury while serving in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded, injuring Simon and killing three other Marines in his unit. Sgt. Simon died on August 4th, two weeks after his wife agreed to pull his feeding tube, which was consistent with the wishes expressed in his living will.

In the wake of these tragic circumstances, Pro-Life Wisconsin chose to politicize the death of a Marine, to score Terri Schiavo linkage points by making comparisons between the two cases in a press release. In addition, they said that Sgt. Simon was a "victim of two different faces of the culture of death" (The implication is - He was killed by International terrorism and a murderous wife). This is an obscene comparison, and it points out the savage hyporcisy exhibited by an extremist group like Pro-Life Wisconsin.

Update <2005-8-25 15:4:41 by ColdFusion04>: Here's the Original, stronger press release. Thanks xoff.

ColdFusion04's diary :: ::
Here's the Wisconsin State Journal column on the subject.


Simon came home from Iraq and received medical care in Madison until mid- July, when his doctors determined he would not recover. His family honored his "health-care power of attorney," which gave the ability to make decisions to his wife, Regina.

Jack Schuster, the family's attorney, said Regina Simon made the decision after much soul-searching. A judge OK'd the removal of the feeding tube.

"It was all done legally. If they want to debate the morality, who are they to judge?" Schuster asked. "Hospice provided the highest level of loving care. To accuse them of murdering him is the height of immorality."

Schuster said Regina Simon wondered why Pro-Life, "if they were really so concerned about my husband, why didn't they contact the family before he died?"

Well, because it's not about Chad Simon.

It's about a group of publicity-hungry hard-liners that lost its favorite poster girl when Terri Schiavo died this spring.


In the Press Release, dated 8/12/2005, Pro-Life Wisconsin states all of the following:


"Sgt. Simon was a victim of two different faces of the culture of death. He was certainly a victim of international terrorism," said Peggy Hamill, State Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, "Sgt. Simon, however, died of dehydration not from any sort of brain injuries. Sgt. Simon was rendered handicapped by the bomb in Iraq, he died as a result of having food and water intentionally withheld."

"Killing people in a medical setting lends an air of legitimacy to this cruel and inhumane way of eliminating disabled people whose lives are deemed `not worth living.' Terri Schiavo and Chad Simon are cases in point," says Julie.

"Resistence is not futile, it is morally mandatory. We can make a difference, one voice at a time, by executing life-protective advance directives for ourselves and fearlessly defending the right to life of those who are unable to speak for themselves."


And from the ORIGINAL release:


"Sgt. Simon was a victim of two different faces of the culture of death. He was certainly a victim of international terrorism, but he was also a victim of America's rapidly decaying system of 'hospice' care," said Peggy Hamill, State Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. "Sgt. Simon died of dehydration, not from any sort of brain injuries. Sgt. Simon was rendered handicapped by the bomb in Iraq, he was murdered by those who were in charge of his medical care."
You may disagree with the comparison between being critically injured in battle and choosing in advance to have a feeding tube removed by your spouse when two thirds of your brain was removed due to your injuries. You may disagree that he was "murdered" by his family. In fact, you may be pissed off by this comparison.

If so, you can reach Pro-Life Wisconsin at [e-mail] or call the Pro-Life Wisconsin Education Task Force at [phone].

Do you suppose Peggy Hamill proudly displays a "Support the Troops" ribbon on the back of her car?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/25/122620/789

[rodeodance]

1. this happened in my city. I am ashamed of WI pro-lifers!1

[HereSince1628]

19. But you can't be surprised. Waukesha is one of the reddest counties

in the entire country.

The truth is that all of Wisconsin doesn't share these radically extreme views. Most of us are fairly level headed and reasonable people, who if asked a week ahead wouldn't give you a dime for a cause, but who respond in an instant to give the shirts of their backs.

[rodeodance]

21. My understanding is that the soldier died in Madison.

[HereSince1628]

22. Isn't Madison a 608 telephone exchange?

I think 262 is western Milwaukee Co, and the Milwaukee suburbs, of which Waukesha Co. is the reddest of the red.

The pro-life group has a 262 area code

[rodeodance]

23. yes 608 is Madison. Perhaps Prolife office is not in Madison. I do not

know. But there was an article a few weeks ago in the Madison paper saying it was in Madison (99% sure).

[rodeodance]

24. Here is a newspaper article about his death.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/states/wisconsin/12316808.htm

Posted on Sat, Aug. 06, 2005

Marine wounded in November attack dies

Sgt. Chad Simon, 32, was being cared for at Madison hospice

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. — A 32-year-old Marine reservist has died nine months after he was severely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq that killed three others in his Madison-based unit, the military said Friday.

Staff Sgt. Chad J. Simon of Monona died Thursday at a hospice in the Madison area, said Maj. George Williams, a spokesman for Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

"The family is extremely proud of him and his service in the Marine Corps and this nation," Williams said. "The family is grieving this tragic loss and asks to mourn in private.".....

[rodeodance]

25. 3 other Marines died the day he was wounded --one from Waukesha.

...Three other Marines with him — Lance Cpl. Shane O'Donnell, 24, of DeForest, Lance Cpl. Branden Ramey, 22, of Belvidere, Ill., and Cpl. Robert Warns, 23, of Waukesha — died at the scene, Williams said.

So far, 43 soldiers or Marines from Wisconsin have been killed in Iraq. At least 1,826 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Simon enlisted in the Marines in 1989, several months before graduating from LaFollette High School in Madison in 1990, the family said in an obituary released by Gunderson Funeral Home. He was a platoon commander and marksmanship instructor.

[HereSince1628]

28. PL Wisconsin is out of Brookfield.

I just did a reverse look up. Brookfield sort of stradles the county line,but I think the street is far western Milwaukee Co.

Pro Life Wisconsin
19270 N Hills Dr
Brookfield, WI 53045-3000
[phone]

[democrank]

2. This is

just plain sickening.

[Bluerthanblue]

3. please read the response by

a Christian pastor condemning this quite clearly-
it's here

Somehow it's not ok here for me to denounce this, but i couldn't do it as well as this man has anyhow-

They (those in YOUR article Pirate Smile) do NOT speak for me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2034881&mesg_id=2034881

[Pirate Smile]

7. Great letter. Why do you think it isn't OK for you to denounce this?

[Bluerthanblue]

11. i don't want your thread to turn into a flame war- it's important that

this story be told- AND rebuffed by those who can.

i denounce it with every single bit of who i am, and then some.-

Thanks for posting the original story, and reading the link -

blu

[Pirate Smile]

12. I understand.

:)

[Solly Mack]

4. Those people make me sick

I will never be able to fully describe what you go through in sending someone you love off to war. I could tell you it's painful, it's scary - and that it drains you completely, but that doesn't begin to cover it.

For these people to dare question this woman - for them to even stick their demented little minds into her life...it's just obscene.

[pacalo]

5. This story needs a visual to highlight the insanity...

[DIKB]

6. Yet

these people AREN'T protesting the war on a daily basis ? So much for sticking to your principles. IMO if someone who calls themself "Pro-life" isn't STAUNCHLY opposed to the death penalty, and Rabidly opposed to war, they're hypocrites, so they can just STFU.

[pacalo]

17. The problem is that they're listening too much to talk radio,

Faux News, fundementalist preachers, & the neocon talking heads to fill their pea brains with hatred. There's no thinking involved with the sheep -- they're programmed & don't deviate from the same talking points. They recite instead of think -- they'll never see their hypocrisy.

[mondo joe]

8. I wonder where the anti-Michael-Schiavo DUers are on this matter.

I mean the ones who were going on about removing Terri Schiavo's life support.

[Sgent]

9. Question...

How did they even find out about it. Military and medical records are confidential. I guess the court records are public, but they could have gotten a sealed order given the situation -- but its sad they would have to ask.

[rodeodance]

26. good question. maybe the busybodies were parked outside the hospice!

[Serial Mom]

10. Why didn't dubya rush to White House from ranch to sign bill

to keep this poor man's feeding tube in?? Where was delay and frist and all the others trying to make a new law for one family and they stayed out of this one? Did who was footing the bill have anything to do with them staying out of it?? I don't like saying these things, but :wtf:

I feel so bad for this woman to have made the decision she had to make (which many people do), which was abiding by his wishes and then to have this group be so callous!

They are the callous conservative party, not the party of compassion!

[brettdale]

13. Send this to Matt Drudge

Send this to Matt Drudge

[Pirate Smile]

15. Send it to the Huffington Post.

[Lars39]

14. Anybody else remember reading during "Schiavo 24/7"

about the group being formed to go throughout the US and protest stuff like this?
Catholic priests were involved, I believe. Maybe involved Terri's nutso brother, too.

[knitter4democracy]

16. Oh my God.

Those people are sick, twisted, demented, and horribly mean. There are no words for this kind of behavior. We need a way to contact the widow and show our support so she doesn't feel any guilt or think second thoughts or anything like that. That poor family having this kind of crap happen to them . . .

[me b zola]

18. Disgusting creatures.

These people have shown that they really cannot live in peace with members of humanity.

[Iris]

20. You are so right on. Don't these people have their own problems to solve?

Or are they too busy minding other people's business?

[Pirate Smile]

27. It needs one more vote to get to the Greatest Page.