Try this on for size: Terri Schiavo’s husband finally got the government to kill her despite no solid evidence that she wanted to die. Margaret Rich, a 14-year-old girl in Boulder, Colo., is being charged with second-degree murder after she helped her father commit suicide.

Where is the disconnect? The courts had only Michael Schiavo’s testimony that his wife wouldn’t want to continue living in her then-current state. There were no written documents to back him up. There were a number of news stories that came out before Terri died that indicated Michael didn’t have his wife’s best interests at heart. I wonder how the policemen felt who arrested people for trying to give Terri water. Government sanctioned starvation, with no one having the guts to just kill her outright.

On the other hand, it was clear Margaret Rich’s father Garrett wanted to die. She had found him in pain after shooting himself in a suicide attempt. Margaret picked up the gun and finished the job. Was what she did right? Probably not. Was it any less wrong than the government-sanctioned killing in the Schiavo case? No. Maybe Margaret wouldn’t have been charged if she had starved her father to death inducing euphoria, according to some “experts.” I’m sure the charges would still have been forthcoming, unless she got the stamp of approval from the almighty judicial system.

What a crock.