Xinhuanet.com :: Tom Cruise Admires Jack Kevorkian's Work..?

You know, you know, you know.. Back when Tom Cruise's couch jumping ordeal on Oprah's occurred, not to mention the Scientology angle, I didn't have much Internet online access, let alone a functional 'puter so I pretty much just had to leave it go..

The whole thing was frightening to ever so silently bear witness to, though, in that one imagines loyal fans following however he may lead just because of the magnetic draw he has on people.. Human Nature will be what it will be, and the desire of so many to be around celebrities regardless will, too..

But.. this..... shtuff that crossed these Fingertips today.. Oy, freaking vey..

To set it up, part of what comes into my inbox is regular searches on that dreadful phrase, "assisted suicide" along with "right to die".. Today's I happened to open in a timely manner.. Whoohoo.. This is what I found:

[Celebrity photog] diplomatically saved the day by explaining that Cruise really meant the doctor's campaign for the right to die and assisted suicide.

The very first thing that came to Mind as I read that teaser..? Oh, please, say this is not going to show Tom Cruise, with his record on mental health and Scientology already, somehow being referenced as interacting with or about Dr. Jack Kevorkian..?! Leaky pipes, be dogged.. This lead I had to follow..

• Celebrity photog: Be nice, don't push, say 'please'
  www.chinaview.cn; 2008-06-13 10:08:09

The rest of the blurb went something like.......

[Veteran celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan] tells the story of introducing assisted suicide advocate Jack "Doctor Death" Kervorkian to Tom Cruise at a party. According to McMullan, Cruise had no idea who the euthanasia advocate was, but didn't hold back with the enthusiasm.

I really love your work, he quotes Cruise as saying. And Dr Kervorkian looks at me like 'what'?

The photographer diplomatically saved the day by explaining that Cruise really meant the doctor's campaign for the right to die and assisted suicide.

Just break my Heart, why don't you.....

For so, so many years, Tom Cruise, because of the Old Time Rock And Roll scene in Risky Business, held a fond, fond memory spot in my Heart.. Not because of the adorableness of the scene and, well, YOU know, but because multiple times a day for years, I'd hear that song playing at the Whale Bowl as Tokitae and Makani "duked" it out as to who was the audience favorite..

As a (still) treasured Mockingbird once told me as we gazed out over the Flipper Lagoon, it was such a very magical place and time, those days out there.. Old Time Rock And Roll, by default, brought Tom right along with..

But now.......

Sheesh, golly, gee, Tommy.. Break my poor little Heart.....

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock..

Assisted Suicide :: "NO DISASSEMBLE..!"

Very tired tonight.. Very, very tired.. Been up since like noon (day before) yesterday..

Seriously. :grimace:

Durn near could call it "Happy", though and in spite, marveling at the intricacies rapidly weaving their way into my Life the last few weeks, thank you in LARGE part to that MATS themselves handpicked my "bus stop" in downtown Jasper a few short weeks ago.. Their Choice of what would help them help me mitigate this Life's routine incidentally generated an ever intensifying chain of events one Heart couldn't hope to imagine come true..

New friends, at the very least..

New friends who "get it", to boot..

Then comes the Sad..

War... Gas gouging... Precious family homes being ripped away...

And, yet again, that seemingly never-ending devil monster, assisted suicide...

• Not Dead Yet News and Commentary: Hillary Clinton Says Assisted Suicide "Appropriate Right To Have"..

Accredited to Hillary Clinton: "I commend Oregon on this count, as well, because whether I agree with it or not or think it’s a good idea or not, the fact that Oregon is breaking new ground and providing valuable information as to what does and doesn’t work when it comes to end-of-life questions, I think, is very beneficial."

So, in other words, reading into her given arrangement of 26 letters chosen just for that audience, she supports a statewide scientific medical experiment that will ultimately serve as a legalized whitewash of all community health care services rendered reprehensibly..

Whoops.. No, wait.. That was a whitewater of all community health care services rendered non-accountably, wasn't it.. :wink:

Oy, goodness, Senator Clinton, most respectfully, what were you thinking that day you said that..?

My guess is that no one knows any better than you as a lawyer-type person that endorsing, pursuing, lobbying, and implementing just one new Law begets.......

Precedence..

You know.. That nasty, minor little detail of...

Precedence..?

Precedence for some to say, "You legalized us assisting in murdering these people.. Here's a little sumpin, sumpin for your troubles.. Care to let us quietly take out a few million more..?"

Yup... Precedence.

An unforgiving...

Irreversible...

Slippery Slope.....

For sure.

Cyber hugs from Talking Rock..

Resources: Butterfly In Hand image courtesy of: copyright-free-pictures.org.uk..

Lifesite :: Nurses in Oregon assisted suicide case killed patient without a physician..

Tip of the iceberg..

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Two Portland-area nurses have admitted to the Oregon State Board of Nursing that they administered massive doses of morphine and Phenobarbital to a woman dying of cancer with the intention of causing her death. The Portland Tribune reports that the state Board of Nursing was alerted to the nurses' action, but took more than a year investigating and did not report the incident to police.

The Board's finding was that the two did participate in an assisted suicide without a physician. Oregon law states that assisted suicides must be performed with a physician.

Love (not) how it says that Oregon state police are investigating with eyes on possible criminal charges being filed.. Argh.......

Oh, and that the two nurses were allowed to keep practicing nursing..

Aside to our Ted Nugents of the World who think disability advocates are running around saying "the sky is falling": And so just exactly what part of that slippery slope is it that is so beyond comprehension..?

I know, I know.. This is just a rare, isolated instance that would never, ever occur again, right..? :raises brow:

Featured Article: Nurses Investigated In Oregon Assisted Suicide Case - Killed Patient Without a Physician: Netherlands experience showed "euthanasia, once legalized, cannot be effectively controlled
By Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com..
PORTLAND, Oregon, July 9, 2007

Up for telling Ted Nugent where to pluck it..?

Ted Nugent's the latest to cross my inbox as supportive of Dr. Uncouth, assisted suicide, legalization, and everyone staying out of it because it is, in his so many words, not a threat to vulnerable populations..

Sic 'em.. :wink:

Whoops, almost forgot..

Dear Ted Nugent:

Well spoken from your Ivory Tower of Celebrity Privilege.. When it comes to speaking about the slippery slope from these Shoes, YOU need to listen a little bit more as to why people fear.. people like you who don't even pretend to try to understand but who rant on and on from self-important possible positions of power to change the iffies on this Life-affecting debate..

Grrrin.. You said it yourself, Ted, when you said: "I would love to know who thinks he or she has any right to tell family members or loved ones just how, when or if they can compassionately end their suffering and meet their maker."

THAT'S what we're trying to tell people like you.

Right now, these types of decisions are being made not based on Love and Compassion but instead are being made based on how much trouble persons of all disabilities are to others.. Making it any more legal, any easier than it already is ups the verticality of that "slippery slope" we all speak of these days..

Shaking your head in retort..? (Can feel the residual disturbance in the air waves from here..)

'Splain to me, then, what was the excuse Ashley's parents, of Ashley's treatment fame, gave for why they violated her womanhood, her human rights, her Life's dignities.. Because it convenienced them, because it made things easier on them..

Whether or not you'd ever admit it publicly now, you and I both know there is no way in H-E-Double-Toothpicks the Ashley treatment parents are the only ones pulling this kind of cr#p on my extended family of friends..

'Nuff said.

Reference - Waco Tribune-Herald :: Ted Nugent: When my time comes, Big Brother, butt out, Ted Nugent, Sunday, July 01, 2007..

Not Dead Yet :: Testimony to House of Representatives on Assisted Suicide..

A must read from Not Dead Yet if you truly believe in hearing all sides of the story: April 29, 1996, Testimony Before the Constitution Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives..

Just spent the better part of several hours writing and rewriting thoughts on, among other things, a potential scientific study regarding the whoosy-whats-its of how people are swaying on the topic of assisted suicide slash euthanasia.. Then it crossed my Mind, "Need to check the Internet to see what may have been done recently.." Duh.

Seconds into the search, there's Georgia Right To Life front and center with a nice long page from this side of the assisted suicide slash euthanasia debate.. Really like the following from them (that may also be from elsewhere, btw):

WHAT ABOUT THOSE WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES?

What would this thinking say about our attitude as a society? On the one hand, we tell those who have neither terminal illness nor a disability, "You say you want to be killed, but what you really need is counseling and assistance." On the other hand, we tell those with disabilities, "We understand why you want to be killed, and we'll let a doctor kill you"? It would certainly not mean that we were respecting the "choice" of a person with the disability. Instead, we would be discriminatorily denying suicide counseling on the basis of disability. We would be saying to the non-disabled person, "We care too much about you to let you throw you life away." To the person with the disability we would be saying, "We agree that life with a disability is not worth living."

Most people with disabilities will tell you that it is not so much their physical or mental impairment itself that makes their lives difficult, as it is the conduct of the non-disabled majority toward them. Denial of access, discrimination in employment, and an attitude of aversion or pity instead of respect are what make life intolerable. True respect for the rights of people with disabilities would dictate action to remove those obstacles, not "help" in committing suicide.

A large part of what I was working through in my original post went something very much like the following from the testimony in front of the House of Representatives:

But, particularly in the absence of a constitutional right to physician care, a right to physician-assisted suicide is not the answer. While a few may have all the options that money can buy and choose the final solution with complete understanding and freedom, the majority who are offered this option are people that society is all too ready to abandon as too costly and unproductive- -people who can only depend on the protection of the law. The depth and breadth of this abandonment is only understood by those who live it everyday.

Testimony talking points that you must PLEASE keep in mind as this continues to pick up speed over the next little while:

1. People with disabilities do not have adequate protection from either the courts or disability organizations.
2. People with disabilities and incurable chronic diseases have experienced a long history of persecution and genocide.
3. Assisted suicide will not remain confined to the imminently dying.
4. Assisted suicide enthusiasts have reinforced public prejudice and fear regarding disability.
5. As long as people with disabilities are disenfranchised and treated as unwelcome and costly burdens on society, assisted suicide is forced "choice."
6. The great majority of problems that lead people with disabilities, chronic conditions, and even terminal illnesses to seek hastened deaths are remediable through other means, such as assisted independent living outside of nursing homes, sophisticated pain management, death counseling for individuals and families, augmentative communication technology, hospice support, etc.
7. Physicians must not be given the power to decide who lives and who is escorted to death.
8. The 2nd Circuit Court decision illustrates the logic that propels us down the slippery slope to endangerment.
9. In fact, people with disabilities have already been endangered by relaxation of laws and policies protecting their lives.
10. Many proponents of physician-assisted suicide have expressed the belief that adequate safeguards can be adopted to protect vulnerable people from various forms of pressure and abuse if the practice is legalized in conformance with the 2nd and 9th Circuit court opinions.
11. Assisted suicide is discriminatory. As a policy, it singles out ill and disabled people as fitting subjects for dying.
12. Assisted suicide is classist. Author's Note: I said big, bad words just now as I saw this one.. This was exactly where I was coming from in my two-hours of work earlier.. EXACTLY.. Had to do with a quick one-line comment I left over at The Liberty Papers.. Calling the similarities "eery" is putting it mildly.
13. There is virtually no research on suicide and suicidal wishes in people with disabilities.
14. People with disabilities and incurable illnesses deserve the same social supports and commitment to suicide intervention as any other citizen.
15. Women with disabilities will be particularly endangered by the legalization of assisted suicide.
16. People with disabilities in our country are increasingly caught in a perilous bind.

There is substantial elaboration regarding each talking point, again, there at Not Dead Yet's website..

Going out on this note, which is what brought me to the above (and that I haven't tracked back to the original just yet):

Specifically, according to a Dutch governmental report in 1990, 5,941 persons were given lethal injections without consent. Of those, 1,474 were fully competent, according to their physicians.

Sweet, peaceful dreams..

Dear Honorable Representatives :: Regarding Your Hand In Assisted Suicide Legislation..

The answer lies not in legalizing one individual murdering another..

The answer lies in working together towards answerable universal health care..

To do anything else holds you ultimately personally responsible for each and every vulnerable Life subsequently snuffed.