End-of-Life Choices Launches Statewide Campaign

Yahoo! News ^ | 12-05-03 | End-of-Life Choices

[phenn]

Press Release Source: End-of-Life Choices

End-of-Life Choices Launches Statewide Campaign Friday December 5, 11:20 am ET

DENVER, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In an effort to encourage a national discussion about end-of-life choices, the nation's oldest and largest right-to-die organization will launch a national campaign Monday (Dec. 8) beginning in Tallahassee.

[phenn]

This is the former Hemlock Society pushing their agenda down our throats. www.hemlock.org will take you to End of Life Choices web site.

Be heard on this matter. Let the people who can change the laws know that you don't want to be forced out because of agendas.

[OpusatFR]

This needs to be fought. They aren't just advocating right to die, they are advocating euthanizing the disabled and damaged.

Of course, that isn't on their list of things you need to know.

[gcruse]

There isn't a lot of info on their web site, but this...

Welcome to End-of-Life Choices, North America's leading advocate for options in dying for terminally ill, mentally competent persons.

...says to me that any person, "damaged" or not, who is mentally competent should have control over their own death.  Who are you to say otherwise?

[OpusatFR]

I work with these damaged and otherwise totally disabled people, throw-aways in the culture and the very frail elderly.

They are the ones who will not be given the chance to state their preferences. Take a look at the Netherlands to see the progress of some hideous thoughts on what is and is not viable in society.

I don't care if you decide to take the big dirt nap. I do care about those who will be "asked" to leave because they either clash with the culture's view of "life" and what consititutes it, and the bean counters in our coming universal health care via the government that will decide whether or not someone is ~worth~ the money.

Those abortion laws were supposed to be for the benefit of rape and incest victims. It is now used as birth control to terminate viable pregnancies. The so-called partial birth abortion of a cleft-palate infant recently is another result of those laws. Last time I checked the surgical options, cleft-palate repair is pretty advanced.

They will come for people who want to live, but are an inconvenience.

[phenn]

They have a big agenda thrusting them forward - mostly cost of care. That demotes each one of us down to nothing more than a dollar amount. I'm not a big fan of that kind of thinking and, frankly, I'll die when my body is ready. Not when these people say I should.

[gcruse]

They are the ones who will not be given the chance to state their preferences.

What part of mentally competent do you not understand?

[gcruse]

Those abortion laws were supposed to be for the benefit of rape and incest victims.

You make that sound like a good thing.  The babies born from rape and incest had no say in their conception.  What did they do wrong that merits the death penalty?

[OpusatFR]

I make that sound? Semantics.

Give me a break.

Where did I state I agree with Abortion? I don't agree with any of it. Try really orthodox Catholic.

[gcruse]

Okay. But... "Abortion was SUPPOSED to be for the BENEFIT...."
sure sounds like you were not opposed to abortion en toto.

[phenn]

The problem is (I think) they have no intention of stopping there. Please read: http://www.dca.gov.uk/family/mi/index.htm

I don't find anything compassionate about them or their methods.

[OpusatFR]

That sentence, ~was supposed to be for~ illustrates that there is a specific path from which the reasons for termination are gradually widened further and further to include, finally, infants who are sound and at term.

The same thing will happen with euthanasia laws as they have Netherlands. As they will happen here.

[gcruse]

You and phenn are both dealing in what a group might advocate, not what they are saying. I hope you feel the same way about the burgeoning size of gov't under Bush and what it might lead to.

[msmagoo]

This is very bad news! Major ping to one and all, contact info and email lists needed...

[OpusatFR]

Hunh?

What sort of non-sequitar was that???

[OpusatFR]

Yeah, I know.... sequitur

[gcruse]

You were, correct me if I'm wrong, okay with abortion in cases of rape and incest, but think it has gone too far. You apply this escalation to being allowed to control one's own death, inflating it into eugenic murder forced onto others.

I think this is an illogical extension and that if you are going to do this, hope that you apply the same rigor to the administration's escalation of government. Otherwise, one might think your logic is in the service of your politics, rather than vice versa.

[OpusatFR]

That isn't what I said.

Apparently you didn't read my post.

And I don't argue non-sequiturs.

[gcruse]

You said it was supposed to be a benefit. I think you
need a little more introspection.

[phenn]

Bad news, kids. The press seems to be taking a very negative slant this weekend and is churning out quite a few "yay for death" articles and opinion pieces that are inaccurate and false. I suspect (though I could be wrong) that End of Life Choices has indeed launched their Florida campaign and this has something to do with that. If I'm right about that, there is probably more of this "death is cool" nonsense to be shoved down everyone's throats very soon.

The public arena has been pretty important in Terri's case. For years, press and media and misreported her condition. They've practically sided with those who want inconvenient people hurried out the door. They've overlooked (time and time again I might add) some pretty monumental irregularities in the court proceedings and, perhaps most inhumane, have totally ignored evidence that Terri maintains a far greater level of awareness and ability than her guardian and his lawyer would like the world to believe.

You decide for yourself if they are attempting to protect the court or furthering the Hemlock Society's agenda. I would assess that it's a bit of both.

We need letters to the editors and feedback. Please consider writing one and circulating the below to your email lists. Let your voice be heard.

Sister Sojourner Truth said it best: "Truth burns up error."

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Miami Herald - Public Backs the Right to Die
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/7433131.htm
>>Gov. Bush acted to keep Schiavo alive after thousands of e-mails and phone calls engineered by antiabortion activists, who view the case as a legal foothold in their quest to undo the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.<<
BY LESLEY CLARK AND PETER WALLSTEN
lclark@herald.com
Feedback page: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/contact_us/feedback_np1/

Herald Tribune - A persistent state On Terri Schiavo's birthday, 'enmity between the parties'
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031207/OPINION/312070825/1030
>>No such miracle happened; they rarely do for people in a "persistent vegetative state" -- Schiavo's diagnosed condition since she suffered cardiac arrest in 1990. Despite therapy, she cannot even swallow food or water; a feeding tube sustains her. <<
No Author given
Letters to the editor: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?CATEGORY=OPINION04

Jacksonville.com - Schiavo case makes King revisit past (Older article)
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/110203/woo_13937081.shtml
>>It will be his last year as Senate president. And he clearly wants to protect the legislation he sponsored years ago, the legislation that remains very personal.<<
Author: mark.woods@jacksonville.com.
(Mr. King's email addy is king.james.web@flsenate.gov)

Bradenton.com - Gephardt says he opposed Bush's involvement in Schiavo matter
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/7431485.htm
>>"I don't think that legislatures and governors ought to be inserting themselves in these questions," the Missouri congressman told reporters. "I think the court has a made a ruling in this case and it's a matter that courts ought to decide."<<
Associated Press
(Mr. Gephardt's headquarters - info@dickgephardt2004.com)

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