Straight Outta Crawford

If you thought the USA PATRIOT Act was the new standard in legislative non-deliberation, you must be in a persistent vegetative state. President Bush is zipping back to Washington to sign the compromise bill that will allow Terri Schiavo's case (and, I'm taking a wild guess, lots of other, unrelated cases in the future) to be dragged through the federal courts.

"We're elated primarily that they put politics to one side and they're concentrating on the issue of saving Terri's life," says Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler.

The new bill will give jurisdiction over the case to a federal district court.

I can't find the text of either the House or Senate version, but the final bill should show up here at some point. Silver lining: It's said to be only two pages long.