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Assisted Suicide is a Go in Washington
ELECTION UPDATE: Watch for complete list of candidate endorsements for August primary.
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Last week Initiative 1000 was certified for the Washington State ballot.
Now, the citizens will decide if they want to become the second state to legalize physician assisted suicide.
To help you decide, out-of-state money will be paying for ads and flyers to flow toward your media and your mailbox.
A lot of money.
You will not only see and hear ex-Gov. Booth Gardner's appeals, but those of others in similar circumstances.
Joel Connelly, a columnist for the Seattle PI, has written an excellent column on the subject. His second on this issue.
While we often do not agree with Connelly's positions, we not only agree but appreciate his thoughtful and thorough reporting on the matter in his July 27 column.
He points out that upwards of a couple of million dollars from out-of-state are already committed to the campaign.
He also quotes the 2007 Death With Dignity National Center report stating that after a considerable amount of research they feel that Washington is a great opportunity for them to have a success. "We," they say, "have never had such great odds of success as we have in Washington in 2008."
This, of course, is why they are directing such resources toward the effort.
Connelly points out that there are profound ethical issues at stake in this, and indeed there are.
He says he will vote "no" on I-1000, which is breaking with the position of his own paper and probably most others in the media.
I sincerely hope people of faith and conservatives will do the same.
_________________
Gary Randall
President
Faith & Freedom
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16 Comments:
Two people were killed over the weekend in Tennese when a man opened fire with a shotgun in a chruch.
Now, I realize that the facts in the case don't fit Gary's preferred narrative (shooter was apparently a crazed conservative, who targeted a Unitarian church because of gay acceptance and liberal views), but you would think that an alleged man of God would at least see fit to offer prayers and condolances and ask the same of his followers. Instead Gary chooses to ignore it, to engage in his usual politics.
"You will know them by their fruits."
What is stopping anyone from committing suicide? If the reader answers that question honestly he or she will realize we need no law that is only designed to protect the insurance companies and the doctors.
They found books by Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, etc. in the shooter's home.
Many times, on his radio show, I've heard Savage advocate the brutal killing of people he considers un-american. It's shocking that this type of talk is accepted on publicly owned air waves.
Violence begets violence!
Gary,
Thanks for providing the link to Joel Connelly's article.
Admittedly I was puzzled over Connelly's negative reaction - I was further disappointed that he did not offer a single reason but simply vilified that the non-profit organization Death with Dignity. Normally Connelly does much better.
Therefore, I began to read the responses to it. Aha - I found the answer. Connelly is a Roman Catholic - another idealogue who does not think for himself when it comes to certain issues - issues which are dictated by his "received text" (in his case, the Pope) which informs him what to think regardless of the quality of the conclusions.
I have included that post below.
I have yet to hear a meaningful reason for opposing I1000 but I will continue to look forward to it.
Patrick
The only reason Connelly opposes I-1000 is because his Pope tells him to.
His faith overruns his reason, and his desire to impose the values of his faith upon his fellow citizens of other faiths or no faith who don't believe death with dignity (a.k.a. assisted suicide) is a sin.
Let others, unencumbered by edicts from an old celibate man wearing a pointy white hat, have their death with dignity while you writhe away your final months in excruciating pain and a distinct absence of dignity.
Doesn't the Catholic Church also teach compassion for your fellow humans?
Go shadow a hospice nurse for a couple of weeks to see how undignified and horrific life's final phase can be. Then perhaps you'll let others make the choices that are right for them and their families.
The right wing are fundamentally violent not only by nature but by ideology - none of this is a surprise. The "Sanctity of Life" concept so eagerly portrayed by certain individuals is a ruse to cover up a massive amount of violence in so many areas - you can start with the dropping of bombs on children - born and unborn - in Iraq.... as advocated by the late D. James Kennedy - another "Sanctity of Life" hypocrite.
Greg
I have a friend who is an internationally known doctor. He points out the following:
1. To assist one in suiside would violate the oath to do not harm one takes when one becomes a doctor.
2. Many people live much longer than expeced.
3. He has personally witnessed several who said they wanted to die change their minds and fight for life at a later date.
There is only room for one to be God and the position is filled at present time. Any who believe that they are wise enough to play God have provided evidence to the contrary.
7:34
It seems to me that when you arbitrarily control how another human must end their life, you're playing God in your own way.
Greg,
You are mighty free with your name calling.
If you support "a womans right to choose" and oppose capital punishment then:
You support killing the innocent and letting the guilty go free.
You might examine your own positions before calling Christians hypocrites.
Liberals have insulated themselves agains being labeled hypocrites. A hypocrite is one who violates his own convictions. Liberals have no convictions (except that conservatives are wrong) and therefore are immune to such a label.
The Rock
Rock,
I am not sure what you mean by "name calling".
However, you are mighty free with your assumptions as to my beliefs. I believe Jesus was crucified and died for our sins, was raised on the 3rd day, glorified and is sitting at the right hand of God and that by believing in His death and life we are saved from our sins and have eternal life with Him.
Is it possible that all the political propaganda you are immersed in has distorted your vision in a manner that is both severely false and degrades those who aren't just like you??
Greg
I see Gary's released his endorsements. As typical there is nothing to inform the reader, why does FFN endorse these candidates? Did they look at votes? If so which ones?
All FFN offers up to explain it's endorsements is this meager bit of boilerplate:
"Judeo-Christian values of right to life, traditional marriage, judicial restraint & religious freedom matter to us and they matter to these candidates."
No effort is made to inform voters on the issues and the candidates positions on those issues. Just a the standard right-wing top-down decree that the faithful sheeple are apparently going to follow without question. pathetic.
Anon 11:06AM,
Your criticism is silly. FFPAC is doing the job of endorsing candidates because no other Christian organization is doing so. You can take their word for it or not. If you don't support FFPAC then these endorsements are not for you.
Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and Equal Rights for Washington all endorse candidates in a similar fashion. I am sure you are not criticizing them because you support them. You are very dishonest.
Robin Hood
Southwest Washington
You are mistaken Robin, PP NARAL and ERW do all make endorsements as well, but they also all provide detail explaining their endorsements, citing past votes and candidate positions on issues. FFN is the ONLY group I've ever seen make endorsements without explaining them, that includes right-wing christian groups like FOF. Explaining the reasoning behind endorsements is just standard practice with groups seeking to educate and influence voters, the fact that you would defend this practice by engaging in personal attacks says a lot about you.
Rock ,
Greg has some problems with civil discouse , and respecting others beliefs . At least on a blog where he can not see you up close .
He is only a nuisance if you take him seriously . He would say calling Reverend Kenedy a hypocrite was just being honest .
The negative grouping of those with different religious beliefs and world views he has would be considered his ability to having a better understanding of scripture and its applications then the majority of the rest of the people who have ever walked the earth I guess. He believes smoking pot is Bibical even . He believes and even acts as though he has more understanding and a closer relationship with the Lord .
But his scorn for us is always to magnify the Lord somehow , even though he never has seen any fruit here , but he keeps on trying .
If you talk with him again he he might even wonder why you have no use for his perverted hatefull depictions of our Pastors , friends , daughters , sons, mates , and all our brothers and sisters .
----Mick
Greg hate comments follow
The right wing are fundamentally violent not only by nature but by ideology - none of this is a surprise. The "Sanctity of Life" concept so eagerly portrayed by certain individuals is a ruse to cover up a massive amount of violence in so many areas - you can start with the dropping of bombs on children - born and unborn - in Iraq.... as advocated by the late D. James Kennedy - another "Sanctity of Life" hypocrite.
Greg
For those of you who are voting
against assisted suicide, I have a suggestion.
I looked up www.noassistedsuicide.com
and printed up their 'picture' and put it on my car window. I feel this will help 'get the word out' of awareness of this bill that we will be voting on in Nov!
Mick,
Criticism does not equal hate. Greg makes a valid criticism of D. James Kennedy, either you can refute that criticism or you can't. But engaging in personal attacks against Greg for making it only serves to reveal your inability to debate and think logically about the issues.
Mick speaks the truth.
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