Trust you’ve seen the latest in the Schiavo case. Lots of last-minute action taking place today, Palm Sunday and the first day of spring, to rescue Terri:

Congressional leaders announced a compromise between Senate and House Republicans that would allow the brain-damaged woman’s case to be reviewed by federal courts that could restore her feeding tube. Opposition waned after House leaders agreed to give up broader legislation and accept a narrowly crafted bill that applied only to Schiavo’s case.

The Senate convened briefly Saturday evening to give formal permission for the House to meet Sunday, when it otherwise would be adjourned for the Easter recess.

The plan is for the House to act on the two-page bill Sunday or just after midnight Monday morning. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the Senate then would act on the House legislation, assuming it passes the House as envisioned, and rush the bill to the president for signature into law.

President Bush changed his schedule to return to Washington from his Texas ranch on Sunday to be on hand to sign the legislation.

Meanwhile, Mickey Kaus catches Peter Jennings and his ABC News mates sneering at Schiavo and efforts to save her.

And Newsmax points out that the New York Times –erstwhile opponent of torture–is pooh-poohing death by starvation (the Times piece is titled “Experts Say Ending Feeding Can Lead to a Gentle Death“):

The newspaper that was most outraged over photos of Iraqi terrorist suspects being mistreated by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison said Sunday that the two week-long starvation-execution of Terri Schiavo will cause her “little discomfort.”

“From the data that is available, it is not a horrific thing at all,” Dr. Linda Emanuel, the founder of the Education for Physicians in End-of-Life Care Project at Northwestern University tells the New York Times. “In fact, declining food and water is a common way that terminally ill patients end their lives, because it is less painful than violent suicide and requires no help from doctors,” the paper maintains.

The Times also cites Dr. Sean Morrison, a professor of geriatrics and palliative care at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who insists that starvation victims “generally slip into a peaceful coma.”

“It’s very quiet, it’s very dignified - it’s very gentle,” he adds.

“Gentle” starvation? “Little discomfort?” That certainly isn’t how these slowly starving people are experiencing it. Or these.

And I haven’t found a story yet about animals starving to death (see, for example, here, here, here, and here) that describes their demise as “peaceful.”

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