There's no question which local television news for which I have the most respect.

Today on the 5 o'clock LOCAL news. One news station, (WNEP), chose to cover real major issues IN OUR AREA.

The 2 other stations had, as their top story, a report about some guy who works for some college, who was breaking the law (apparently violently) in another state, to try and give water to a woman who never asked him for it, and couldn't swallow it if she did get it.

Yeah, just in case any news reporters are ignorant of the facts of the case: Fact is, it would kill her if someone tried to give her water!

PDF file of the court records
"Dr. Barnhill who had testified at trial had physically examined Terri Schiavo on several occasions. He has also reviewed her records, especially on her ability to swallow. He testified that he agreed with the prognosis of the treating physician, Dr. Gambone, that there was no point in doing another swallowing study since she had not changed since the last study.
�
Dr. Barnhill testified that in his opinion attempting oral nutrition would result in aspiration with insufficient nutrition passing to the stomach to maintain her, thereby prolonging her death, if the feeding tube were withdrawn. He testified that such aspiration would lead to infection, fever, cough, and ultimately pneumonia. This would require suctioning which likely would be fatal."

Think about that when you bandy about a phrase like "sanctity of life" when talking about a man who violently opposed police & law to try and do something that would drown a woman so wholly unconnected to him and our area.

Of course I still don't think WNEP has been that great at covering the FACTS of the COURT CASE. Still put on air, NON medical professionals claiming Terri Schiavo is conscious, when all the medical professionals who've examined her in the course of the multiple court cases, agree that she is not.

PDF file of court document
"Although the physicians are not in complete agreement concerning the extent of Mrs. Schiavo�s brain damage, they all agree that the brain scans show extensive permanent damage to her brain. The only debate between the doctors is whether she has a small amount of isolated living tissue in her cerebral cortex or whether she has no living tissue in her cerebral cortex."

And then have the audacity to compare the Pope to the case in Florida, when the Pope is out waving to pilgrims, still appearing for the public of his own free will!! Something Terri Schiavo could not possibly do now, and not in the past 15 years.

Let alone the fact that the Pope, while certainly a very strong & faithful man, surely can't fear of rejoining Jesus and His Father in Heaven.
So it's unfair to assume or give innuendo, that local Catholics have so little faith in the Lord that they would fear the Pope's death, if it was God's time to bring the Pope back to Him.
All of my grandparents and one of my parents, died at a younger age than the Pope. I do not think the Pope would say they have been sent to Hell because they didn't hang on a little longer!
And there have been many Popes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. None of the previous Popes' deaths have marked the end of faith in God or the end of the Catholic Church.

But at least WNEP is not quite as hokey in their sensationalism, and put priority on real issues people are dealing with in our area - like flooding, which effects many people in our area. And put national sound bites & stories about people in other states selling their name on eBay, as a lower priority later in programme.