Schiavo case tests America

The death of Terri Schiavo this week has not ended America's painful ethical and political debate over individuals' right to die. Her husband wanted her to be allowed to die, but her parents fought against it and received support from the most powerful Americans in the land.

In all the three years that I have been reporting from this country, I do not believe there has been a more important moment in its history than this.

Or an issue that illuminates the complex and vital soul of America as the Terri Schiavo case does.

It transcends the presidential election, the Iraq war, the rows over gay marriage and television nudity and all the other stuff, consequential, inconsequential and downright weird, which counts as "news about America".

The reason the Schiavo case is so important, the reason it has Americans talking and arguing, and the reason it should, in my view, have the rest of us re-assessing our view of this nation, is that Americans were corralled but rebelled.

They were emotionally blackmailed but refused to budge, were told that their deepest held religious beliefs should push them in one direction, but thought for themselves and thought differently.

America is often portrayed as an ignorant, unsophisticated sort of place, full of bible bashers and ruled to a dangerous extent by trashy television, superstition and religious bigotry, a place lacking in respect for evidence based knowledge.

I know that is how it is portrayed because I have done my bit to paint that picture, and that picture is in many respects a true one.

Disagreement

Look no further than the $25m creationist museum which is about to open in Kentucky.

Complete with models of Adam and Eve being chased by dinosaurs, surely some mistake, and explanations of AIDS that blame the disease on homosexuality.

There is plenty of barminess and plenty of nastiness here if you look for it, but for me, the revelation of the Schiavo case was that there is plenty of good sense as well.

Plenty of honest disagreement among reasonable people, religious and non religious, Republican and Democrat.

And in the end a majority who value what we can call, without irony, the American way of life, and believe their politicians and the right-to-life campaigners over-reached themselves in this case.

Remember that two weeks ago, America's Congress interrupted its holiday and in solemn session convened in Washington to change the law in order that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinserted.

The president himself brought Air Force One back from Texas in order that he could sleep at the White House, and get up at one o' clock in the morning to sign the new law in his pyjamas.

Right to live

As these events were happening, there were heart-rending pleas from Mrs Schiavo's parents who were genuinely convinced that their daughter wanted to live and might get better.

And exhortations from the religious right that this was the moment America could define itself as genuinely culturally conservative.

Proof of all those claims which were made after the re-election of Mr Bush, that a new dawn had come.

And for good measure, twenty-four hours a day, the television news showed pictures of Terri Schiavo looking responsive, even affectionate, and above all looking vulnerable.

What did Americans make of this?

Well, I do not think its cynical to say the politicians would not have acted as they did, without some fairly strong belief that they would be backed and thanked by a grateful nation.

And at the time, I would have bet any money on that outcome.

But it did not happen and the reasons why it did not happen go to the heart of this wonderfully surprising place.

Americans do believe in God and they do believe in life, but they also believe in law, and rules, and the need for democracy to restrain, not satisfy, the wishes of politicians.

Democracy

The founding fathers, with a wisdom which truly does echo down the ages, decided that there would be a separation of powers.

General laws would be made by politicians representing the people, but then interpreted and applied by judges.

The reason is simple, to limit the power of government to interfere in any individuals life.

If you can convince the courts that you are legally in the right, then no politician, even the president himself in his pyjamas and on his high horse, can stop you.

Michael Schiavo, Terri Schiavo's much vilified husband, did convince the courts.

He believed that his wife would want to die and they agreed.

It is a lesson the Republican party, which has allowed itself to become very closely allied with the religious right, will reflect on in the months ahead.

Already moderate Republicans are talking openly of re-capturing their party from the social conservatives.

It is possible at least that the high watermark of social conservatism has been reached. Its limit set by the will of a silent liberal majority.

The founding fathers must be watching from their heavenly perches and wondering at the power of the constitution they created.

It is common to mock at American attempts to export Jeffersonian democracy, but after these two weeks the mocking should stop.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 2 April, 2005, at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Before Wembley, City’s legal test

Days after winning a place in the FA Cup semi-final, Cardiff City are set for a High Court battle which leaves the future of the club in the balance.

Wednesday's hearing is over £24m in loan notes the club borrowed from Langston Corporation in 2004.

Cardiff say a variation to the agreement means it is not repayable until 2016 but Langston want full repayment immediately.

The High Court will consider Langston's application for summary judgment.

That means a judge will decide whether to rule in Langston's favour without the need for a full trial.

Professor Robert Lee from Cardiff University Law School says it would be a "disaster for the football club" if Langston were to win the case outright.

"If judgment is given for Langston it puts [them] in a position to call for millions of pounds to be accelerated back to them," said Prof Lee.

"So clearly, one has to think that the club is then facing administration and points deduction and everything else that will follow."

Prof Lee was speaking after seeing the court case papers, obtained by BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme.

The papers shed light on the precise differences between Cardiff City and Langston, and focus in particular on the club's relationship with PMG Estates, a company run by former Cardiff City directors Paul Guy and Mike Hall.

Little is known about Langston, a company registered in Panama but trading from Switzerland, except that Cardiff City borrowed £24m from them in 2004 when Sam Hammam was the club chairman.

The loan notes were renegotiated in 2006 to allow Cardiff to pay them back on better terms. The disagreement between the parties is over which of these deals now applies.

Cardiff City are set to argue the loan should be repaid according to the 2006 agreement.

That would have seen the debt reduced to £15m in exchange for handing over £9m raised through naming rights for the club's new stadium and a further £5m on promotion to the Premier League.

They also secured an option to postpone outstanding payments until the end of December 2016.

Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale has said that "the club does not have any cause to believe that this signed document is invalid, and consequently it does not consider that it has any debts repayable to Langston prior to 2016."

According to Langston the 2006 deal would only come into effect if the "satisfaction date" – the date the stadium project was signed off as unconditional with Cardiff County Council – was reached by 31 May 2007.

The club insist the "satisfaction date" was attained on 4 May 2007, well before Langston's deadline.

Waiver clause

However, Langston allege that because Cardiff City didn't inform them the stadium project had been signed off as unconditional, they breached a clause in the deal which pledged to keep them notified of any progress.

Langston say this breach means the 2006 deal is no longer of any effect and the original agreement between the parties still applies.

The original deal included a clause stating that Langston should be the club's preferred creditor – in other words, they would be at the front of the queue if it came to any claims on the club's assets unless agreed otherwise.

But in January 2007 Cardiff City were in financial difficulty and borrowed £11m from the development company PMG.

The terms of the loan made PMG the club's preferred creditor. Langston argue this is a clear breach of the original agreement and so they are asking for immediate repayment of the loan notes plus interest, a total of £31m.

Cardiff City's defence appears to rest on a waiver clause in the 2006 agreement. The clause released the club from any prior liabilities relating to the agreement including, according to the club, any breach of the original deal arising from the club's loan from PMG.

Ridsdale has always insisted the club have a "robust case" and would be "very confident of winning" at court. But Professor Lee believes both sides have an arguable case.

"You can clearly see that the argument on the part of Langston is: there was a clear breach of our agreement at the moment that security was given to someone else," said Prof Lee.

"The argument from Cardiff will be: 'No we felt free to do that because of the variation of the agreement.' And it then becomes a matter of the court's judgment which path was right."

But there may be no clear winner this week.

Prof Lee says much will depend on the "particular language" of the loan agreements between Langston and the club and that could be enough to prompt a trial at a later date.

Cardiff's march to Wembley to face Barnsley, and the chance of a first FA Cup final appearence for 81 years, may yet be forced to continue under a cloud of financial insecurity and the threat of administration.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Making a mint out of the Moon

From his office in Nevada, entrepreneur Dennis Hope has spawned a multi-million-dollar property business selling plots of lunar real estate at $20 (£10) an acre.

Mr Hope exploited a loophole in the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and he has been claiming ownership of the Earth's Moon – and seven planets and their moons – for more than 20 years.

These are "truly unowned lands", he says. "We're doing exactly what our forefathers did when they came to the New World from the European continent."

Hope says he has so far sold more than 400 million acres (1.6 million sq km), leaving a further eight billion acres still up for grabs.

Buyers include Hollywood stars, large corporations – including the Hilton and Marriot hotel chains – and even former US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. George W Bush is also said to be a stake holder.

Mr Hope claims to be selling 1,500 lunar properties a day. He allocates land by simply closing his eyes and pointing to a map of the Moon.

"It's not very scientific but it's kinda fun," he says. It is fun that has already made him $9m (£4.5m).

The next race to exploit the Moon was started by President George Bush in January 2004, when he committed the US to returning to the Moon by as early as 2017.

He said the US aimed to establish a long-term lunar base by about 2020.

"We're talking about not just going there to stay three days," says Nasa rocket engineer Dr John Connolly. This time, he says, "we're talking about the idea of learning to live there."

Commercial frontier

Other countries are also making plans.

China – which has already successfully launched two manned space missions – has announced a similar timetable.

Russia, for nearly 50 years one of the world's leading space powers, may not be far behind. Europe, Japan and India have also expressed an interest.

Behind all this lies a growing belief that, within a matter of decades, the Moon will be much more than a scientific outpost; it could become a vital commercial frontier.

Large private companies and rich entrepreneurs have also seen a new business opportunity.

One of the biggest is US space contractor Lockheed Martin, which is currently developing technologies that will enable future lunar residents to exploit the lunar surface.

In particular, it is working on a process which will convert Moon dust into oxygen and water. It may even be able to turn it into rocket fuel.

"Just like we use resources here on Earth in order to live off the land – you can do the same thing on the Moon," says Lockheed Martin's Dr Larry Clark.

But this is peanuts compared with what scientists believe is the real prize lying in the moon rocks.

Mining the Moon

Data collected from the Apollo Moon landings have indicated that large deposits of an extremely rare gas called helium 3 are trapped in the lunar soil.

Scientists believe that this helium 3 could be used to create a new source of almost inexhaustible, clean, pollution-free energy on Earth.

One of them is Dr Harrison Schmitt, a member of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission and the only trained geologist ever to walk on the Moon.

"A metric ton of helium 3 would supply about one-sixth of the energy needs today of the British Isles," he claims.

Plans are already afoot in the US and Russia to strip-mine lunar helium 3 and transport it the 240,000 miles (385,000km) back to Earth.

The Moon, claims Professor Jerry Kulcinski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, could become the Persian Gulf of the 21st Century.

"If we had gold bricks stacked up on the surface of the Moon, we couldn't afford to bring them back. This material – at several billion dollars a tonne – is what makes it all worthwhile."

Lone voice

Not everybody is happy with the idea of exploiting the Moon.

Edgar Mitchell was a member of the 1971 Apollo 14 lunar mission. He is worried that, in our rush to exploit it, we could also destroy valuable scientific information.

"As far as how the Universe works, we're just barely out of the trees. Until we know what the Moon is really all about, the idea of trying to commercialise it is, in my opinion, a misplaced idea," he argues.

Yet, he is almost a lone voice.

"The Moon is such a rich scientific destination, I think we need to look at it just the way we do the South Pole," explains Dr Connolly.

"We should go there, find everything there is to find out scientifically. There are a number of resources that we know can be of great benefit."

Horizon: Moon for Sale will be broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday 10 April at 2100 BST.

Watching Republicans debate from Iowa

The BBC's Washington correspondent James Coomarasamy joined four Republican supporters in Iowa as they watched the sixth debate between Republican presidential candidates.

As the first state to hold its caucuses, Iowa is a key battleground for competing candidates.

The debate, held in Michigan, was also the first for race late-comer Fred Thompson, ex-Tennessee senator and former actor.

But did it actually help any of the voters decide who they will nominate to lead the Republicans?

MATT RANDALL, 32, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER

You can tell it is starting to get serious when they start taking jabs at each other. There were people who exceeded my expectations and there were people who didn't perform as well.

There is a reason we, as Iowans, are first and it is because we are used to seeing this. Sometimes it takes some of us longer because we don't all just make a snap decision.

For better or worse, we believe our decision is more important, because of our position. I'm no closer to deciding but I'm much richer in my knowledge and understanding of where these candidates are.

Thompson hasn't stood out from the crowd.

With all the hype and anticipation, everybody was really excited about Fred coming out and being the guy who would really make a difference. I don't see that.

MARY MOSIMAN, 45, STORY COUNTY AUDITOR

I must admit I haven't spent a lot of time researching anything about Senator Thompson so I'm anxious to get to know what some of his strengths are. He is doing okay tonight. It is a good beginning.

I'm friendly towards Mitt Romney largely because of what he said in this debate.

He has been in the private sector, he has worked the corporate side most of his working years and he is not a life-long politician.

I think government, in general, needs a little more of the business community attitude when it comes to running their government.

ELAINE VW BATH, RETIRED PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER

[Giuliani] is able to come up with an answer when someone does give him any controversy.

I like the way he can come back and talk about the things that he wants to do and I think that gives him a plus.

When you think of the president having the rights to make these [national security] decisions, you need a strong leader and you need somebody that the American people believe in.

I think that this debate is probably bringing some of this out for the younger people [who have] to decide who is going to be their president.

MIKE ESPESET, 39, PRESIDENT OF STORY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

They spout all these facts but who do you believe? Who is really going to be the ultimate authority to help me understand who is stating the truth and who is being untruthful?

I've got no idea and I'm not sure if this debate is going to help me get to the bottom of this.

I think Christmas is a pretty good analogy – we know it comes every year on December 25, but there aren't very many people who shop throughout the year for Christmas, but there are a lot of purchases made at the end of the year.

There are those people in the year that will shop early and there are those that will wait for that mad rush. I'm probably one of those mad rushers. If you talk to my wife she would confirm that for you.

BBC SPORT | Golf | Woods pays tribute to late father

Tiger Woods has described his father Earl, who has died aged 74 of cancer, as his "greatest role model".

Earl Woods was the architect and driving force behind the world number one's incredible career.

He died on Wednesday morning after a long battle with prostate cancer, with which he was diagnosed in 1998.

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I wouldn't be where I am today without him," Tiger Woods said.

"I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life.

"He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I'm honoured to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

Woods has recently taken time out from his career to be with his father, who looked to have beaten the disease in 2004 after six years of treatment, only for it to return.

Last month, Earl Woods was for the first time too frail to travel to the Masters, his favourite major.

Tiger, who was the reigning champion, finished tied for third.

Tiger, who was introduced to golf as a young child by Earl, has often attributed his mental toughness in tournaments to his former Green Beret father.

Earl nicknamed his son "Tiger" after a Vietnamese soldier who became a good friend when he served with the US military in Vietnam.

Earl, a former catcher with Kansas State who became the first black to play baseball in the Big Eight Conference, is also survived by three children from his first marriage.

Jack Nicklaus, who was also 30 when his father died, said he had long "admired and related to the close bond" shared by Tiger and Earl.

"My father was my best friend, my mentor and perhaps my greatest support system. Earl was all of that to Tiger," said Nicklaus, whose record of 18 major victories Tiger – who currently has 10 – is aiming to break.

BBC SPORT | Football | Brazil victorious in Copa America

Brazil retained the Copa America after beating favourites Argentina 3-0 in a one-sided final in Venezuela.

Brazil opened the scoring in the fourth minute as former Arsenal striker Julio Baptista hammered a fine strike past Argentina keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri.

Five minutes before the interval, Roberto Ayala inadvertently deflected Daniel Alves' cross into his own net.

And Alves secured victory with 21 minutes remaining as he finished well following a smart counter-attack.

It was Brazil's eighth Copa America title and denied their arch-rivals a record 15th crown.

Argentina were outplayed in every department as the sparkling form they showed in the run-up to the final deserted them.

The result was justification for a side who entered the tournament without Ronaldinho and Kaka, and who had been criticised for being workmanlike.

Baptista's goal settled any early nerves as he picked up a long ball from Elano – who replaced suspended skipper Gilberto Silva – controlled it neatly, turned to the right of Ayala and fired a fierce right-foot drive into the top corner.

Five minutes later, Argentina were unfortunate not to be back on level terms when a header from Juan Sebastian Veron found Juan Roman Riquelme in space but his shot came off the post.

But Argentina struggled to make any impact and Brazil took control with Ayala's unfortunate 40th-minute own goal.

Argentina stars Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi were unable to impose themselves on the match and were marked out of the game by well-organised opponents.

Brazil earned a memorable third goal after 69 minutes, Vagner Love breaking free down the left and slotted an inch-perfect pass between two defenders to Alves.

Argentina's miserable night was summed up when Tevez had an 80th-minute effort ruled out for offside.

Meanwhile, in the third-place play-off in Caracas, Uruguay captain Diego Lugano was sent off in the 38th minute and Mexico took full advantage, winning 3-1.

• Brazil coach Dunga:
  "My players demonstrated they're capable of great things.

  "Argentina was the favourite of the press and everyone – but the game is decided on the field over 90 minutes.

  "We came to rescue the self-esteem of the Brazilian worker, who wakes up in the morning and returns home late at night, whose only satisfaction in life is seeing Brazil win a football match."

• Brazil striker Robinho:
  "Lots of people criticised our team, but we're the champions."
• Argentina striker Carlos Tevez:
  "We knew we had to be awake today, but instead we were caught falling asleep.

  "It makes you angry being unable to win and close out an exceptional tournament."

• Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso:
  "We're totally ruined. A loss like this you feel deep in your soul."

We Determine Our Future

Do you worry about the future? Their future will be determined today. If you go through this day worrying about tomorrow, tomorrow will certainly be the product of their concern today. However, if you are concentrating their power and energy in living today in the morning then be responsible for your car.

What reason and there is reason to create fear about what happens in the morning? Calmar fears about the future with a positive attitude today, if you place all its concern over the events of tomorrow, you will lose all the blessings of this day.

Look out the window, take a walk, smell wonderful and beauty around you. If the snow is on the ground need time to touch, taste and be aware of the wonder who participate in winter. In the spring stop and smell the flowers of new life. In summer heat feel in your skin and be thankful that you can feel. There is always something to be grateful in every situation.

Practice today what I wish for the future and that he was pleasantly surprised when the future turns out to be what the picture would be yesterday.

There are many ideas about what the future holds and most of them are negative. Holding practice and negative thoughts about the future, the future of course, for you will be negative. If we focus on positive thoughts about the future, the future will become what you think. No matter what events occur in the future, his thoughts on the future is going to develop a positive attitude about the circumstances that occur tomorrow.

Dr. Bob Wilkerson is founder of Challenger Christian Ministries, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping others to recover from life altering circumstances. Dr. Bob is a motivational speaker with the real life story of God’s power to change anyone’s life. If your church or organization is looking for a dynamic speaker please send a message today.