On Thursday, KFI's late-night radio talkshow host John Zeigler devoted almost an entire hour to a puffball, kissy-face interview with 'Kevorkian-lite' California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys).
Levine wants to bring Oregon's assisted suicide here to California, and is drafting a bill to be introduced next month to the California legislature. Zeigler's only complaint?: this Oregon-style death on demand is "gutless," because it "doesn't go far enough." Zeigler then gushed his personal druthers that anyone at least 70 years old should get a stipend from Social Security toward a going-away party if they'll agree to off themselves early. Sweet guy (NOT!) that Zeigler ... at least on this life and death issue. (I’m Emailing John Zeigler a link to this post as a way of registering with him my profound personal disgust with his Lloyd Levine interview.)
Zeigler's folly—along with the rest of the ‘let ‘em die’ lobby—is precisely defined in Zeigler’s own words: the boundaries are forever “gutless” and never “go far enough.” The envelope is inevitably pushed farther and farther—yesterday abortion; today assisted suicide; tomorrow euthanasia. The ‘Culture of Death’ is never satiated.
[more below…]
Zeigler would doubtless scoff at me as a fanatic, but then he’s probably unaware of the newly minted Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands, which recommends guidelines for euthanasia of the retarded and comatose by independent committee.
As the Netherlands is at present, so shall we be in the future if we follow the course that the Netherlands has set in the past. For the life of me I can't understand why 'right to death' proponents can't read in the past and present history of the Netherlands their own ghastly roadmap for the future.
California Assemblywoman Patty Berg (D-Santa Rosa) boasts:
"We're working closely with Oregon, and we've had a couple other states interested in working with us as well, because as California goes, so does the rest of the nation." [from top link above]
Oh goody, ‘(Assisted) Suicide Nation!’
The lawmakers expect to get the majority-vote bill through the Democrat- dominated Legislature and figure Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a social moderate, will seriously consider it, the Daily News reported. [ibid]
These people are as deadly serious as their agenda is seriously deadly. Advocates for the sanctity of life had better get the word out and get active, or Oregon’s death on demand will be coming to the Golden State in short order.
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
The most info-rich article I've seen on it (Sac Bee): New Effort for Law on Right to Die.
LifeNews.Com: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger [...] has not commented on whether he would sign such legislation if it lands on his desk."
Official Statement from the Catholic Church.
I'm adamently opposed to people killing themselves, for personal reasons I wish not to disclose.
Your post seems to be trite and it doesn't take into account all the reasons why Oregon voters passed that particular law.
While I may disagree with Oregon's law it was passed by the majority of voters. I think the majority of voters in Oregon thought long and hard about the law before they voted.
It seems the few people who actually have done assisted suicide were convinced that assisted suicide would alleviate constant pain and suffering. I'm sure they also thought long and hard about their deaths before they decided to do what they did.
You've thrown "euthanasia" into the post. I believe this merely obfuscates the issue of "assisted suicide". "Euthanasia" has absolutely nothing to do with the issue of "assisted suicide".
Your post seems to be trite
You've thrown "euthanasia" into the post. [...] "Euthanasia" has absolutely nothing to do with the issue of "assisted suicide".
I sincerely thank John Hays for his thoughtful comment to this post, and yet I say to him—and to all who would form similar conclusions about my concerns—to please, please, read and endeavor to understand the link in my post regarding the Groningen Protocol, and why it is an issue of importance in America, where we are taking reckless and ignorant steps down the same road.
It surpises and dissapoints me when a discussion of the linkage between the death-dealing policies of assisted suicide and euthanasia is coolly dismissed as “trite.” There is nothing trite about it, and I find even the proclivity to label it so to be very disturbing indeed.
Further, it astounds me that those who advocate assisted suicide (I note that John Hayes apparently does not advocate it) fail to reason from cause to effect and see where such policies tend to lead. Does anyone think that euthanasia—such as is coming into vogue in the Netherlands—occurs in a vacuum? Does anyone actually think the Dutch woke up one morning and said, “Hey, here’s a good idea … let’s adopt euthanasia for the retarded and comatose!” Preposterous. It didn’t start in a vacuum. It started first with early trimester abortion, and then late term abortion; after that followed assisted suicide of the consenting; it has now come to the place where the non-consenting infirm are considered for death by an independent committee. There’s an inescapable logic whereby the dispensing of death has progressed in a nation such as the Netherlands—a damnable logic, but a logic nonetheless.
I want to sound an alarm to people who are not themselves alarmed by this. Wake up, wake up!
Those who believe that euthanasia occurs out of nowhere have reasoned the process whence euthanasia comes about as well as those who centuries ago thought flies ‘spontaneously generated’ in meat.
As the famous saying goes, “Those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it.” I hope we wise up in America before we’re killing our comatose (as we're already in danger of doing to Terri Schindler) and retarded like they are preparing to do in the Netherlands.
I read your post about euthanasia in the Netherlands. My use of the word "trite" was wrong. I thought the post above was primarily about Oregon's assisted suicide law.
I see the connection between euthanasia and assisted suicide. By the way, I'm against euthanasia and assisted suicide, however, like I've said, Oregon voters have spoken.
As to your comment above, euthanasia has been practiced, unfortunately, by many cultures throughout history. I believe it is being practiced today not only in the Netherlands, but also in North Korea and China and some African nations. It was practiced here in America during the 19th and 20th centuries.
It is an evil practice and I'm glad you're discussing it on the website. Having said that, I find myself in the unusual position of defending something I'm against. I'm against Oregon's assisted suicide law, however, since it is now law, I would like to say I think the majority of Oregon's voters passed the law out of some sort of feeling of compassion. Also, maybe many Oregon voters thought what a person does or does not do with that person's life is a private matter, not to regulated by the state.
In any event, if California voters have to decide on this subject, I hope there is a vigorous debate about the whole thing. California, whether a person likes it or not, often sets trends for the rest of the nation.
On to a lighter note. LA is my hometown. I was born just east of LA on an Air Froce base. Way to go, USC. UCLA is a good team, they're just not numero uno.
Posted by: John Hays at December 5, 2004 10:38 AM (Permalink)