Moving piece on assisted suicide. I guess I just can’t understand why some people think people with long, terminal illnesses should be sentenced to years of suffering. Particularly when the law is also pretty iffy about giving them relief from pain, too.
Another woman comes forward with allegations of sexual assault while working for KBR in Iraq. Her case won’t be heard by any criminal court, either.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 9:39 am by Radley Balko
and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I guess I just can’t understand why some people think people with long, terminal illnesses should be sentenced to years of suffering. Particularly when the law is also pretty iffy about giving them relief from pain, too.
If you don’t know why “moral” people often think it’s okay to condemn others to suffering, just read Chris Hitchens’ work about Mother Theresa sometime. The idea that living in crippling pain is the path to salvation has been quite common in religious circles for a long, long time…and they’re more than happy to force everyone else to go along with it if they think it will “save souls”.
Is the Hawaii Chair useful as anything besides a sexual aid for people too lazy to use their hips?
+3
#4 |
Prof. Challenger |
February 7th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
As a libertarian how do you feel about Halliburton’s secret arbitration? On the one hand, it’s certainly not transparent or fair. On the other, to disavow the arbitration agreement would obviate the right to contract.
Most of the nonpartisan voters that I know in California knew about the extra bubble. I’d guess that probably half had a chance of being screwed up, not even close to all of the 776000, and that would depend on the polling instructions people got or didn’t get.
Love the “Overseers” reference, no kidding huh? I prefer to think we threw off our overseers during the american revolution but some people just love to be tied down don’t they? One little step at a time. And you all are right on the money when you think that religious people tend to think “I’m suffering, it’s ok, you aren’t suffering enough, let me help”.
I think that assisted suicide is alright in an of itself. My big concern is that it’s far to easy to slip from ‘I don’t think my life is worth living and want to die’ to ‘We* don’t think your life is worth living and want to kill you’.
* - We being the seemingly inevitable government beuracracy in charge of healthcare
Regarding uncounted ballots in California.
I live in California and I was very creeped out by my primary voting experience. First of all, I have never in my life signed up to vote absentee, but when I went to the poll, they had me down as absentee. They said I couldn’t vote because if i had voted absentee, my vote could be double counted. I had not even received an absentee ballot in the mail. They only allowed me to vote after I questioned what would happen if a genuinely absentee voter neglected to send in his/her ballot and decided to go to the polls instead. They reluctantly gave me a provisional ballot and told me that way they could verify that I had not already voted. Then one of the poll volunteers told me to give her my ballot when i was done. I have always dropped my ballot in a box, not handed it over to someone. When i asked about this she basically said ‘oh yeah you can put it in the box yourself if you want’. I came away from it all with the distinct impression that my vote would not be counted.
You have to remember, these are party elections, run by the individual parties, for party delegates. Period. If you feel that the election is scummy, then its because your local party reps are scummy. Which, in turn, is indicative of the party in general. Repub or Demo, its all the same. Perhaps a third party is just right for you…………………….
Stormy Dragon: “I think that assisted suicide is alright in an of itself. My big concern is that it’s far to easy to slip from ‘I don’t think my life is worth living and want to die’ to ‘We* don’t think your life is worth living and want to kill you’.
* - We being the seemingly inevitable government beuracracy in charge of healthcare”
I’m more worried about my family wanting to kill me. They don’t like me much as it is without adding the extra annoyance of having to change my diapers and sponge bathe me.
On the other hand, nationalized health care would most certainly give the government a financial motive to terminate your ass.
Being a charismatic Christian, for years, reading the Bible through completely at least once, and praying “religiously” for years, I still find it difficult to always discern the will of God! Isn’t our medical technology a form of playing God? We all will die! The sad thing is the self righteous people, who decide that pain is not treatable, when we have plenty of cheap pain relievers available. Oh, but they are “addicting” Or, would it be that being pain free, after years of suffering, is “addicting” too?!! I guess there is more than one way to torture a patient (skin a cat)!
The CA ballot problem is another example of the idiot voter. Sample ballots clearly show that you have to fill in the extra bubble if you are unaffiliated. Unaffiliateds only vote in primaries based on the goodwill of the parties. Boo Hoo, so some stupid people who won’t take the time to read the instructions don’t get their vote counted. It’s probably for the best.
TheAgitator.com
WTF?? The Hawaii Chair? That is fucked up.
I guess I just can’t understand why some people think people with long, terminal illnesses should be sentenced to years of suffering. Particularly when the law is also pretty iffy about giving them relief from pain, too.
If you don’t know why “moral” people often think it’s okay to condemn others to suffering, just read Chris Hitchens’ work about Mother Theresa sometime. The idea that living in crippling pain is the path to salvation has been quite common in religious circles for a long, long time…and they’re more than happy to force everyone else to go along with it if they think it will “save souls”.
Is the Hawaii Chair useful as anything besides a sexual aid for people too lazy to use their hips?
As a libertarian how do you feel about Halliburton’s secret arbitration? On the one hand, it’s certainly not transparent or fair. On the other, to disavow the arbitration agreement would obviate the right to contract.
Just wondering.
Prof.
“I guess I just can’t understand why some people think people with long, terminal illnesses should be sentenced to years of suffering”
it’s god’s will radley. god wills them to suffer. whatcha gonna do? he’s nutty like that.
Most of the nonpartisan voters that I know in California knew about the extra bubble. I’d guess that probably half had a chance of being screwed up, not even close to all of the 776000, and that would depend on the polling instructions people got or didn’t get.
Love the “Overseers” reference, no kidding huh? I prefer to think we threw off our overseers during the american revolution but some people just love to be tied down don’t they? One little step at a time. And you all are right on the money when you think that religious people tend to think “I’m suffering, it’s ok, you aren’t suffering enough, let me help”.
“Ted Haggard: Still gay. ”
Which reminds me. Has there been an update on Generalissimo Francisco Franco recently?
I think that assisted suicide is alright in an of itself. My big concern is that it’s far to easy to slip from ‘I don’t think my life is worth living and want to die’ to ‘We* don’t think your life is worth living and want to kill you’.
* - We being the seemingly inevitable government beuracracy in charge of healthcare
Regarding uncounted ballots in California.
I live in California and I was very creeped out by my primary voting experience. First of all, I have never in my life signed up to vote absentee, but when I went to the poll, they had me down as absentee. They said I couldn’t vote because if i had voted absentee, my vote could be double counted. I had not even received an absentee ballot in the mail. They only allowed me to vote after I questioned what would happen if a genuinely absentee voter neglected to send in his/her ballot and decided to go to the polls instead. They reluctantly gave me a provisional ballot and told me that way they could verify that I had not already voted. Then one of the poll volunteers told me to give her my ballot when i was done. I have always dropped my ballot in a box, not handed it over to someone. When i asked about this she basically said ‘oh yeah you can put it in the box yourself if you want’. I came away from it all with the distinct impression that my vote would not be counted.
And I wonder why “voter apathy” is so rampant in this country?
I am very pleased to live in a town small enough that my ballot is counted by hand by a bunch of nice old ladies.
it really doesn’t look all that appetizing.
Speak for yourself.
You have to remember, these are party elections, run by the individual parties, for party delegates. Period. If you feel that the election is scummy, then its because your local party reps are scummy. Which, in turn, is indicative of the party in general. Repub or Demo, its all the same. Perhaps a third party is just right for you…………………….
Stormy Dragon: “I think that assisted suicide is alright in an of itself. My big concern is that it’s far to easy to slip from ‘I don’t think my life is worth living and want to die’ to ‘We* don’t think your life is worth living and want to kill you’.
* - We being the seemingly inevitable government beuracracy in charge of healthcare”
I’m more worried about my family wanting to kill me. They don’t like me much as it is without adding the extra annoyance of having to change my diapers and sponge bathe me.
On the other hand, nationalized health care would most certainly give the government a financial motive to terminate your ass.
Being a charismatic Christian, for years, reading the Bible through completely at least once, and praying “religiously” for years, I still find it difficult to always discern the will of God! Isn’t our medical technology a form of playing God? We all will die! The sad thing is the self righteous people, who decide that pain is not treatable, when we have plenty of cheap pain relievers available. Oh, but they are “addicting” Or, would it be that being pain free, after years of suffering, is “addicting” too?!! I guess there is more than one way to torture a patient (skin a cat)!
The CA ballot problem is another example of the idiot voter. Sample ballots clearly show that you have to fill in the extra bubble if you are unaffiliated. Unaffiliateds only vote in primaries based on the goodwill of the parties. Boo Hoo, so some stupid people who won’t take the time to read the instructions don’t get their vote counted. It’s probably for the best.