This would appear to be someone's idea of a bad joke, but apparently not. Something called the Florida State Guardianship Association last week gave Michael Schiavo, the man who starved and dehydrated his wife Terri Schiavo to death, its Guardian Of The Year award. According to the FSGA website, this organisation claims to be dedicated to "promoting the protection, dignity, and value of incapacitated persons through a code of ethics, advocacy, and the dissemination of information. FSGA's mission also includes a focus on furthering the professionalization of guardians as accountable court representatives through education, networking, and legislative action".

Michael Schiavo had a, shall we say, unorthodox method of protecting Terri's dignity and value: He had her food and water cut off until she died. He cared so much for his wife and their wedding vows that he moved in with another woman and fathered her children while fighting in court to have Terri killed.

Mr Schiavo did not even fulfill the State of Florida's legal requirements for guardians. (So much for "furthering the professionalization of guardians".) He repeatedly refused to take the training that Florida statute requires all private guardians to receive. This award is thus a gratuitous insult to private guardians in the State of Florida who actually fulfill the statutory requirements of their calling. Obviously, there is one reason, and one reason only, why the FSGA gave this award to Michael Schiavo–to make a political statement. That statement necessarily implicates the FSGA in approving active euthanasia.

And this organisation purports to represent those who care for the disabled. If I were disabled, I'd think twice about moving to Florida.

More here and here.