As many readers now know, the stop-gap measure of issuing a congressional subpoena to prevent the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube failed to stop anything. Judge George Greer ordered the authorities and doctors to proceed as planned and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the House's appeal. So the House and Senate worked a bit of procedural magic to a) bring the House bill in line with the Senate bill; and b) allow a handful of House members to pass the compromise legislation either Sunday night or very early Monday morning.

President Bush will return to D.C. to sign the bill. The upshot of the legislation will be to strip jurisdiction in this case from the Florida courts and give Terri Schiavo's parents -- and, by extension, Terri Schiavo -- another chance to break custody away from Michael Schiavo, who is madder than a hornet that Congress would dare to interfere in, and I quote, "somebody's private judicial matter."

What I think this means is, the feeding tube is about to be reinserted for the third time -- though a lot of supporters believe that Terri Schiavo might not actually need the tube to survive.

Several protesters were arrested yesterday trying to bring her bread and water to see if she might be able to swallow them. Randall Terry, the former Operation Rescue big who is acting as the spokesman for Terri's parents complained about the tight security around her. According to ABC News,

He said the parents also were concerned about the tight security in their daughter's room, which includes a police officer standing guard.

"They are so determined to kill her that they don't want mom or dad to even put an ice chip in her mouth," Terry said.

Judge Greer -- who looks likely to be stripped of jurisdiction in the case -- had refused to allow a swallow test. For what it's worth, the Baptist Press reports that Greer withdrew his membership from his Southern Baptist church over the controversy.