Coming Clean About Terri Schiavo

Coming clean about Terri Schiavo: that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."

As we predicted, the Supreme Court will not hear the Schiavo case simply because the court does not want to undermine state authority in matters where the states have jurisdiction. Federal judges in Atlanta and in D.C. apparently agreed that the Florida judges had acted legally and saw no reason to intrude.

But there are some unanswered questions in the case. And those questions deserve attention. Judge George Greer must protect himself and the state of Florida by explaining some of the on-the-record allegations. Most troubling are sworn affidavits by two nurses that say Michael Schiavo (search) may have abused Terri as early as the mid '90s and that he wanted her to die.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's office will not verify, but Carla Iyers (search) says detectives did investigate her concerns in '96. Ms. Iyers says she filed a formal complaint with the sheriff in 2003.

Now Sheriff Jim Coats (search) should be forced by the court to provide information about those things since he won't speak up. To be fair, which we always are, a state review of Terri's medical records found no abuse whatsoever. But we still want to hear from Pinellas Sheriff Coats.

The problem with those nurses that they did not go on the record until recently. So what's the judge to do? You can't rule on unsubstantiated allegations. — If it's not on the record, it can't be considered.

Nevertheless, because the Schiavo case is so important, the nurses' contention should now be checked out as thoroughly as possible. All of this is important, but futile. Unless Michael Schiavo changes his mind and drops his lawsuit, Terri Schiavo (search) will be dead within days.

As "Talking Points" put forward last night, that's a shame. Michael Schiavo should walk away and allow Terri's family to care for her. There's no downside in doing that.

It's amazing to me that so many Americans believe rumors, innuendo, and accusations that are unproven, but agree with their opinion. That's happening in the Schiavo case on both sides.

The No Spin Zone is set up to knock that kind of stuff down. And I believe we've been doing that fairly and accurately. The bottom line on the story right now is that the legal system worked the way it should have, but morally there is no reason Terri Schiavo should die.

Once again, her wishes are in dispute as the guardian's report makes very clear. Michael Schiavo should walk away, allow Terri's family to extend her life.

And that's "The Memo."

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"...

Fifty-five-year-old Richard Kreimer (search) is a one very industrious homeless man. In 1991, he sued a New Jersey library for throwing him out. Apparently the library objected to Mr. Kreimer hanging around. But Kreimer won $230,000 from Morris Township (search).

Now Kreimer's at it again. He's filed a federal civil rights lawsuit asking for $5 million, claiming he was thrown out of a train station in Summit, New Jersey.

My question is, why doesn't this guy have a house? Two hundred and thirty-thousand bucks? Come on. We should be suing him. But that might be ridiculous. Scam.