On a clear day, you can see forever It's a sad feeling when you realize that something you thought was true....isn't. Or maybe things had been building inside of you for a period of time until you began to feel indifferent about the subject. Either way, when that final realization hits you, you just feel empty inside. You put a great deal of time and effort into something that wasn't real, and the sick part is that deep down you always knew it wasn't real. It was something to cling to. A reason to get up in the morning and breathe in and out all day until you went to sleep again. Still, you feel empty when, say around 5am, that realization hits you. And you can't un-realize it. You can't pretend everything is the same because you don't feel the same. And now you have to find a new reason to get up in the morning and breathe in and out all day. posted by Beth 5:04 PM . . . Wednesday, May 07, 2003 Live and let die Ashcroft, Oregon Square Off Over Suicide Law Updated 9:07 PM ET May 6, 2003 By Teresa Carson PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - On the eve of a court hearing pitting the federal government against proponents of Oregon's landmark assisted suicide law, 78-year-old Allison Willeford had a simple message for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft: It's my life, not yours. "I wish Mr. Ashcroft would get out of my case and out of my face," said Willeford, a retired doctor with liver cancer that has metastasized to his lungs, at a press conference held by Compassion In Dying, an advocacy group for the terminally ill. Ashcroft's suit to overturn the controversial 1998 physician-assisted suicide law is now in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel will hear the first round of oral arguments on Wednesday in Portland in a case some legal experts predict will wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court. Ashcroft argues that federal law prohibits doctors from dispensing "controlled substances" except for "legitimate medical purposes," which exclude suicide. But advocates of the Oregon law, approved twice by state voters, say it has prevented enormous suffering by dying patients and their families. They want the federal government to mind its own business. "We need to uphold the will of Oregon voters and not let the federal government undermine that," Marian Hammond, a spokeswoman for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, told Reuters. Oregon state attorneys will argue their case before the appeals panel, which is expected to rule on it this summer. Oregonians may still use the law during the litigation, a big comfort for Jeanne Gunning, a 50 year-old mother of two who has terminal ovarian and brain cancer. "If I get to the point where I cannot care for my sons and myself and I am suffering and I am no use to anyone, I want to bow out gracefully," Gunning said, wiping away tears. The teacher and gardener spoke of wanting to die at home surrounded by her family rather than alone in a hospital, comments echoed by the family of Dick Farris, who used the law to end his life a year ago. Farris' wife Gloria called the law "an absolute blessing" and described her husband's "peaceful" death five minutes after drinking a lethal cocktail while surrounded by family. "Had it not been for this law, I don't know what the end of Dick's life would have been like," Gloria Farris said. Opponents of the law say doctors can prescribe drugs to help manage the pain of many terminal illnesses, which should ease their fears. "That is bull," Willeford said. "You get so drugged, you are not alert. That is not a quality of life," Gunning added. In order to get a suicide prescription, patients must first get two doctors to affirm they have less than six months to live, then request the drugs several times, once in writing. They then must down the bitter drink without physical help. Since it became legal in 1998, 129 Oregonians have hastened their deaths with drugs. That accounts for 0.1 percent of all Oregon deaths during that period. Most of those using the law were older, well-educated and had cancer. Well look at that. Democracy in action. Guess this is proof that your vote doesn't really count. The law was approved twice by state voters. Twice. I defend anyone's right to die. It's always been my belief that people who try to talk you out of killing yourself are acting out of self-interest. After my first attempt, I was called selfish. But isn't it equally selfish to want someone to continue on just because you can't bare to let them go? Granted, most suicidal people aren't thinking clearly. They don't think things through. But this law isn't for teenagers who just broke up with their boy/girlfriends and simply can't go on. This isn't for 20-somethings who don't know their place in the world. This is for extremely, terminally, ill individuals. If someone is being eaten alive by cancer or some other horrible disease and there is nothing any physician can do except watch them die slowly, why force that someone to go through that? What ever happened to dying with dignity? Would you rather have them drink a lethal mixture of drugs and die peacefully, or shoot themselves in the head, slash their wrists or hang themselves? I would rather watch my mother drink something administered by a doctor, than find her dead on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. My father has already told me, several times, that if he develops Alzheimer's disease, I am to put his shotgun in his hands and walk away. I don't want to do that, but I would. I don't see why anyone should have to die that way, if there is an easier way to end their suffering. posted by Beth 2:47 PM . . . Monday, May 05, 2003 Will wonders never cease? I'd been trying to take this quiz for several days, but everytime I clicked the link I was told that too many people were trying to take that test at that very moment and that I should try again at another time. Well, it was finally my time. And, big surprise here, I was given what I already knew was true. Damned anti-climax! The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!Here is how you matched up against all the levels:LevelScorePurgatory (Repenting Believers)Very LowLevel 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very LowLevel 2 (Lustful)Very HighLevel 3 (Gluttonous)ModerateLevel 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Very LowLevel 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)ExtremeLevel 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very HighLevel 7 (Violent)ExtremeLevel 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Very HighLevel 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)ModerateTake the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test posted by Beth 10:41 PM . . .
Live and let die Ashcroft, Oregon Square Off Over Suicide Law Updated 9:07 PM ET May 6, 2003 By Teresa Carson PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - On the eve of a court hearing pitting the federal government against proponents of Oregon's landmark assisted suicide law, 78-year-old Allison Willeford had a simple message for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft: It's my life, not yours. "I wish Mr. Ashcroft would get out of my case and out of my face," said Willeford, a retired doctor with liver cancer that has metastasized to his lungs, at a press conference held by Compassion In Dying, an advocacy group for the terminally ill. Ashcroft's suit to overturn the controversial 1998 physician-assisted suicide law is now in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel will hear the first round of oral arguments on Wednesday in Portland in a case some legal experts predict will wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court. Ashcroft argues that federal law prohibits doctors from dispensing "controlled substances" except for "legitimate medical purposes," which exclude suicide. But advocates of the Oregon law, approved twice by state voters, say it has prevented enormous suffering by dying patients and their families. They want the federal government to mind its own business. "We need to uphold the will of Oregon voters and not let the federal government undermine that," Marian Hammond, a spokeswoman for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, told Reuters. Oregon state attorneys will argue their case before the appeals panel, which is expected to rule on it this summer. Oregonians may still use the law during the litigation, a big comfort for Jeanne Gunning, a 50 year-old mother of two who has terminal ovarian and brain cancer. "If I get to the point where I cannot care for my sons and myself and I am suffering and I am no use to anyone, I want to bow out gracefully," Gunning said, wiping away tears. The teacher and gardener spoke of wanting to die at home surrounded by her family rather than alone in a hospital, comments echoed by the family of Dick Farris, who used the law to end his life a year ago. Farris' wife Gloria called the law "an absolute blessing" and described her husband's "peaceful" death five minutes after drinking a lethal cocktail while surrounded by family. "Had it not been for this law, I don't know what the end of Dick's life would have been like," Gloria Farris said. Opponents of the law say doctors can prescribe drugs to help manage the pain of many terminal illnesses, which should ease their fears. "That is bull," Willeford said. "You get so drugged, you are not alert. That is not a quality of life," Gunning added. In order to get a suicide prescription, patients must first get two doctors to affirm they have less than six months to live, then request the drugs several times, once in writing. They then must down the bitter drink without physical help. Since it became legal in 1998, 129 Oregonians have hastened their deaths with drugs. That accounts for 0.1 percent of all Oregon deaths during that period. Most of those using the law were older, well-educated and had cancer. Well look at that. Democracy in action. Guess this is proof that your vote doesn't really count. The law was approved twice by state voters. Twice. I defend anyone's right to die. It's always been my belief that people who try to talk you out of killing yourself are acting out of self-interest. After my first attempt, I was called selfish. But isn't it equally selfish to want someone to continue on just because you can't bare to let them go? Granted, most suicidal people aren't thinking clearly. They don't think things through. But this law isn't for teenagers who just broke up with their boy/girlfriends and simply can't go on. This isn't for 20-somethings who don't know their place in the world. This is for extremely, terminally, ill individuals. If someone is being eaten alive by cancer or some other horrible disease and there is nothing any physician can do except watch them die slowly, why force that someone to go through that? What ever happened to dying with dignity? Would you rather have them drink a lethal mixture of drugs and die peacefully, or shoot themselves in the head, slash their wrists or hang themselves? I would rather watch my mother drink something administered by a doctor, than find her dead on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. My father has already told me, several times, that if he develops Alzheimer's disease, I am to put his shotgun in his hands and walk away. I don't want to do that, but I would. I don't see why anyone should have to die that way, if there is an easier way to end their suffering. posted by Beth 2:47 PM . . . Monday, May 05, 2003 Will wonders never cease? I'd been trying to take this quiz for several days, but everytime I clicked the link I was told that too many people were trying to take that test at that very moment and that I should try again at another time. Well, it was finally my time. And, big surprise here, I was given what I already knew was true. Damned anti-climax! The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!Here is how you matched up against all the levels:LevelScorePurgatory (Repenting Believers)Very LowLevel 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very LowLevel 2 (Lustful)Very HighLevel 3 (Gluttonous)ModerateLevel 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Very LowLevel 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)ExtremeLevel 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very HighLevel 7 (Violent)ExtremeLevel 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Very HighLevel 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)ModerateTake the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test posted by Beth 10:41 PM . . .
Will wonders never cease? I'd been trying to take this quiz for several days, but everytime I clicked the link I was told that too many people were trying to take that test at that very moment and that I should try again at another time. Well, it was finally my time. And, big surprise here, I was given what I already knew was true. Damned anti-climax! The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!Here is how you matched up against all the levels:LevelScorePurgatory (Repenting Believers)Very LowLevel 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very LowLevel 2 (Lustful)Very HighLevel 3 (Gluttonous)ModerateLevel 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Very LowLevel 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)ExtremeLevel 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very HighLevel 7 (Violent)ExtremeLevel 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Very HighLevel 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)ModerateTake the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test posted by Beth 10:41 PM . . .
