After the efforts of Congress to get the Terri Schiavo's parents a new day in court, another judge has dealt a terrible blow by denying an emergency order to keep feeding her. Congress acted because it felt that her parents hadn't gotten a fair shake in the state courts; the judge ruled that because the state courts had spent years mishandling the case, that was good enough for him. This is just one more example of why I no longer respect our legal system. The criminal system is a game of roulette that pretty much defines capricious and arbitrary, and the civil system is out and out extortion. The judiciary as a group seems to this poorly informed observer to be a combination of stupid, smug, and arrogant. Yes, there are good judges, but they are being overwhelmed by the lousiness of the rest.
I have to say, I'm not wild about passing a law to cover a specific situation like this. I suppose the problem is that on the one hand its poor process trying to fix bad judging, and on the other its a woman's life at stake. We don't have consistancy -- we don't want to execute mentally defective people who are criminals, but it's peachy to starve someone if they are guilty of nothing more than being inconvenient. We have very clear rules on how to pass on a dead person's property, but we can pass someone on because her husband, who has some clear conflict of interests, wants to say goodbye. It should be simple -- in the absence of clear written instructions, nobody should be denied food and water or even medical care for that matter. If you don't want to live past a certain level of ability, write it down, notarize it, and let people know. Otherwise, you get to hang on.
We allow executive clemency to handle situations the courts either got wrong or handled poorly in the first place for criminal cases, but not in a case like this. Jeb Bush could pardon someone he thought was wrongly convicted of a crime in Florida, but he can't keep Terri Schiavo off her own death row. George Bush could do the same for someone convicted in Federal Court, but his hands are tied the same in this case. Frankly, I don't see a lot of difference between executive clemency and Congressional clemency, which is what the law they passed represents. They are both Deus Ex Machina, and the only defense is that they are used to help the innocent.
Tom Maguire covers the subject like a rug, with coverage of the basic issues of the situation, the media bias on display (with a special shoutout for the NYT), and why this isn't a case of Right-To-Life hypocrisy. Where does he find the time?
fyi
http://pokkuri.blogspot.com
and here is a social commentary soon to be published in a major US
newspaper oped section:
When my time comes, I hope I will just ''pop off''
[oped commentary by Dan Bloom until Publication Day]
When you get ready to meet your maker, do you want to die a long slow,
painful, costly death -- or do you just want to "pop off"?
I ask this question because there's a unique Buddhist temple in Japan
where people go to pray that they will just "pop off" when they die
and not be a burden on their families during their final days.
They ask the gods to let them "pop off" --"pokkuri" in Japanese -- and
die a sudden death, preferably on a quiet night in their sleep, or via
a sudden heart attack, without spending a long time in a sickbed at
home or in a nursing home or hospital.
I read about this temple in the newspapers the other day and was
immediately drawn to the subject. I want to ''pop off'', too, when I
go. What about you?
An elderly Japanese housewife was quoted in the article as saying, "I
want to pop off (''pokkuri''). I think more and more people feel the
same way in a graying society."
She had gone to the temple to pray for a quick end when the time
comes. And she knows, as we all do, that the time will come someday.
This Buddhist temple was set up over a thousand years ago in Japan by
a monk whose mother had passed away peacefully after she wore clothes
that he had prayed over. A tradition was born, and ever since then,
pilgrims across Japan have been coming to the Kichi-denji Temple to
pray for a discreet, quick, popping-off kind of death.
"Let me pokkuri," they say.
Maybe that's a good word we ought to borrow from the Japanese -- as we
have done with sushi and sashimi and wasabi -- and make part of our
postmodern American vocabulary.
"God, grant me a good life, a useful (and meaningful) life, and when
it's time, let me 'pokkuri' in a dignified, discreet way. Amen."
That's my prayer. What's yours?
The Buddhist priest at this temple in Japan told a reporter that the
pokkuri prayers offered there represent "a simple desire for people to
hope to die a peaceful death."
"It's natural that children should wish that their parents have a long
life," he said. "However, seeing aged parents anguishing in bed or too
senile to recognize their own children makes many people, especially
daughters here in Japan, come to hope that their parents will die
quiet, quick, discreet deaths."
Well, I'm paraphrasing, since I can't read Japanese very well. But I
think I know what that priest was getting at.
According to news reports, around 10,000 people come to this temple in
northern Japan every year to pray the Pokkuri Prayer. They pray that
they will not be a burden to their families when they meet their
maker.
A 76-year-old woman interviewed for the news story said that her
husband of 40 years died suddenly a few years ago from a heart attack,
after repeating telling her that he wanted to "pop off" -- and pop off
he did."
His prayer was answered," she said. "I want to follow suit some day."
I can relate to that.
Life's been good, I've had a great ride, and at 55, I still have a few
more years to go, I hope. But like those pilgrims at the Kichi-denji
Temple, I hope that when I go, I can just"pop off" in a quick, quiet
way.
Give me pokkuri, O Lord, when you give me death, yes!
Nowadays, many Americans are debating such issues as assisted death
and assisted suicide. Oregon's Death With Dignity Act has some people
up in arms, and others quite satisfied.
Meanwhile, the US federal government's Controlled Substances Act has
other people up in arms, and the debate about doctors using certain
medications to help some patients die continues to heat up.
One of my neighbor's father is almost 90. He's in a good health,
except that he doesn'treally know what he did yesterday, he's more or
less blind, he can't hear too well and well, you know, he's getting
ready to meet his maker. I pray that he will have a "pokkuri moment"
and leave this Earth in a quick, quiet way -- preferably in his sleep,
in a dreamstate, headed back to the stars.
And when my time comes, as come it must, I'd like to "pop off", too.
What about you? Do you want a long, drawn-out death or a pokkuri
moment of release?
if there is anyone out there reading this who knows anything about radios/altering sound frequencies in order to clarify a message that is at a really low Hz, please contact me immediately.
time is of the essence