Mar. 31 - While Americans struggle with hearts and minds over the many issues that have been brought to the fore during her parents' fight to save their daughter, Terri Schiavo, the Dutch are now contemplating what should be done when doctors decide it's best to kill infants, the mentally handicapped or the demented. From AP:

THE DUTCH government, first to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill people, will tackle an even thornier ethical dilemma: What to do when doctors say it's best to end the lives of infants, the mentally handicapped or the demented. The Royal Dutch Medical Association says guidelines and a panel of experts should be created to vet such cases. Doctors acting with the families' permission would not be punished for administering lethal sedatives to "people with no free will" in cases that pass review.

Under current law, euthanasia is restricted to terminal patients suffering unbearable pain with no hope of improvement and who, when they are still of sound mind, request to die.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:46 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Damn Dutch. Just as bad as the Belgians.

Posted by: Blackglasses at March 31, 2005 10:42 AM (t+KkC)

2 The Dutch initially countered the resultant publicity by falsely stating that it is only done with the family's permission. But Dutch officials later admitted that, in fact, a doctor can overrule a family's decision when the family does not reach the right conclusion due to emotional involvement. It appears that the Dutch have learned little from their shameful collaboration with the Nazis.

Posted by: mikem at March 31, 2005 07:09 PM (EzNXf)

3 There's no one else on this website but me and this tool, right?

Posted by: Blackglasses at March 31, 2005 08:32 PM (t+KkC)

4 "in fact, a doctor can overrule a family's decision when the family does not reach the right conclusion due to emotional involvement" Translation: If they disagree with what Doctor Mengele wants to do. IOW, a family has no say - they are asked then ignored.

Posted by: Jay at April 01, 2005 04:24 AM (PuNh2)

5 Maybe the problem lies in the unquestioning faith we are expected to invest in experts and spec*ialists, or perhaps it's that they have have come to believe in their own infallibility. Or the issue may be even more fundamental: we are living too long, health care is too expensive, and when the state assumes the financial burden they try to find ways to cut corners, as it were.

Posted by: Debbye at April 01, 2005 08:15 AM (I0F6J)

6 With this kind of thinking,I'm not sure if my Dad and most of his peer group actually cleaned out all the baddies some 60 odd years ago.Sounds like some remnant of them stayed around to fester.

Posted by: big al at April 01, 2005 10:49 AM (SO/54)

7 I don't think going after individuals would have done any long term good, there's just a lot of things weird about the way europeans think. Maybe there's something in the water.

Posted by: Jay at April 01, 2005 02:58 PM (PuNh2)

8 Or the issue may be even more fundamental: we are living too long, health care is too expensive, and when the state assumes the financial burden they try to find ways to cut corners, as it were. I think that's closest to the truth. I mean, why even begin to ask if the retarded should be euthanised (such a harmless, pretty word) if they are not seen, first, as a burden? Does someone with Downs Syndrome feel pain? Are they in agony? Of course not. The only way this debate even BEGINS is if the society considers them to be worthless and, thus, disposable. "Euthanasia: Putting them out our misery since 2005" --new European Medical Association slogan

Posted by: Tuning Spork at April 01, 2005 10:58 PM (ZTSbg)

9 I absolutely support a right to die. I think it is just cruel to expect someone to live with untreatable pain or what they reasonably think is an undignified existence if they can clearly state their wish to die. It is the basic individual right. But when the state, or the state's experts start deciding for me or for Tuning Spork's Down Child example or (cringe) for his parents then it scares the hell out of me. I was stunned when I read what the Dutch were up to. I can only hope that this was something under the Dutch population's radar and not something that has been debated and accepted. From what I understand of the deception involved it appears that this is not a popular or well known policy. "Euthanasia: Putting them out our misery..." Sounds right on the money.

Posted by: mikem at April 02, 2005 12:30 AM (EzNXf)

10 Of course, that should read "Putting them out OF our misery". But that was understood, I think. I hate when leave words out.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at April 02, 2005 02:02 PM (xbU4Y)

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Mar. 30 - Not entirely a surprise: Ann Coulter causes stir at KU although the headline is misleading - usually, it's the hecklers who are said to cause the stir.

Or maybe they didn't approve of her solution:

"Could 10 of the largest College Republicans start walking up and down the aisles and start removing anyone shouting?" Coulter asked.

Posted by: Debbye at 03:17 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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Mar. 16 - More additions to the blogroll, mostly in the growing Great White North section (and a big hooray! for the growing blogging community up here.)

Under News and Commentary:
Austin Bay Blog
Salim Mansur homepage
Canada Free Press

From Canada:
Italics Mine
Angry in the Great White North
A Journey Through Time
Hacks and Wonks
Strong World
Rightwing.ca
Canada Free Press Blog
My Left Wing Girlfriend
myrick.ca, a Canadian living in Shanghai

Soldier blogs:
letters from garrison
Marine Corp. Moms (don't tell me they don't serve!)

The rest of the world:
Davids Medienkritik, an American living in Germany
Aldaynet
Country Store
Who Tends the Fires
Half-Canadian
Geek Empire
The Warrior Scholar
Garfield Ridge

I know some of the sites already on have gone dormant, but I stubbornly hope they will return to posting (because I'm a hopeless optimist.)

Off to work. Party hearty, you lucky souls for whom Friday is Friday.

Posted by: Debbye at 08:36 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Hey, thanks for the link, Debbye, I'll be happy to return the favor. And hey, in case you didn't get the memo, women are scared of politics. You lot are too soft, liable to swoon at a nasty remark. You know, stick to hobbies like knitting, and being pregnant. So thanks for putting the lie to such stupidity, keep up the good work

Posted by: francisthegreat at March 19, 2005 01:57 AM (nuIsA)

2 Thanks for the kind words, Frank! You are spot on: without the Kevin Drums and Steven Levys of the world, folks might have thought female poli-bloggers were just regular people who were interested in politics, but now the truth is out: we are confronting our Fear of Politics through blogging!

Posted by: Debbye at March 19, 2005 10:22 AM (oAR9w)

3 Debbye, thanks for the link, it's much appreciated. Being American in T.O. was one of the first Canadian blogs I ever read and it has been on my blog roll for some time now. Keep up the great work!

Posted by: Bill at March 19, 2005 09:01 PM (3G4Ez)

4 Bill, I'm only sorry it took so long. I'm no techie, and venturing into indexes and hyper tag stuff is a fearful thing! You have a good, straight-shooting writing style. Common sense is vastly underrated.

Posted by: Debbye at March 19, 2005 10:16 PM (w6cQu)

5 Thanks from me as well. It's much appreciated.

Posted by: Chris Myrick at March 19, 2005 11:42 PM (d1fI7)

6 AWESOME!!! More dummies!

Posted by: Blackglasses at March 21, 2005 08:21 PM (t+KkC)

7 AWESOME!!! More dummies! Whenever liberals cannot hold their own in an argument, they will resort to name-calling. (Ann Coulter)

Posted by: Bill at March 22, 2005 12:23 AM (ukM0n)

8 Chris, again I apologize for taking so long! That Asian blogroll of yours is awesome ... I've spent several hours looking at the sites. Bill, I too like Ann Coulter. She can be a bit over the top, but she hits more nails than she misses.

Posted by: Debbye at March 23, 2005 06:44 AM (Gf7j8)

9 As for name calling: you rightes seem to think that "moonbats" is the absolute apex of wit. Listen: no one but other bloggers know what that means. And its not funny anyways. Pinko was good. Try something like "Terror bride". Brainstorm here people. I give points out for creativity. "Moonbats". God. That's what happens when you read nothing but the "DaVinci Code" and watch reality television.

Posted by: Blackglasses at March 26, 2005 06:57 PM (0xnjB)

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Mar. 17 - Sorry for the light posting today, it's been a wild week at work and I slept longer than usual today. (In other words, I overslept and even as I write this, I'm waiting for the ride I begged from my first-born.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

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Mar. 16 - I said I wasn't going to go into it, but how can I resist when National Post Columnist Barbara Kay takes a more sober look at the lack of female columnists and, by implication, of female bloggers, and makes this very insightful observation:

Dowd ends her column with a kneejerk feminist suggestion: "I have no doubt there are plenty of brilliant women who would bring grace and guts to our nation's op ed pages ... We just need to find and nurture them."

No, Maureen, you've got it backwards. If a woman needs finding and nurturing, she's wrong for the job. We don't want shrinking violets on our op-ed pages. We want strong proactive women writers with definite opinions, who scorn affirmative action and like to duke it out in public.

(Link via Neale News.)

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Mar. 15 - It's been awhile since I've been able to do the New Precision Guided Humor Assignment for the Alliance of Free Blogs, but this week's essay exam is a goodie that even I should be able to finish on time: What should Dan Rather have done to make his last CBS Evening News broadcast more memorable?

Dan's farewell would have been more honourable had he said his last word, Courage, and given an example, so I think he should have said that he wished he had had the courage to investigate the phony documents that ultimately brought him down.

He should have said that even though stonewalling didn't work for Nixon, he was absolutely positive it would work for him.

He should have said that he had been forced to run the story because he needed to get the negatives* of certain photos.**

He should have said that those negatives are also why he conducted a sympathetic interview of Saddam during the run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and then would have been overheard muttering Sean Penn promised "this would be the last time."

*Plausible Denialibilty - he is a journalist who chases stories.
** I know, I know. Video Camera!!!!! No.

Seriously, I wonder if he understands how the degree of his own hubris - pride - brought him down as surely as had Richard Nixon's, and if he understands that basically, they both received pardons.

I didn't always disagree with him, but and his broadcasts, like Cronkite's before, were a staple of my life and it is incredibly sad to see this man who once excelled in his profession publicly disgraced.

And that is why I am angry at him.

Note: I corrected a word error in the second paragraph from the end.

Mar. 16 - Blair of Italics Mine has a good post on Rather's next assignment. Love that final sentence!

Posted by: Debbye at 09:34 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Mar. 15 - I wanted to ignore this one, Blogging Beyond the Men's Club by Steven Levy, and the call for more diversity in the blogosphere. I didn't want to point out again that blogger is freaking free so the only impediment to anyone is taking the time to sign up and start posting and linking to other bloggers.

I didn't want to point out that some leading blogs, and I'll cite Wretchard as The Prime Example, may or may not be written by men. Hard to tell if they don't tell.

Even when they tell, how do we really know if the blogger is male, female, white, black, Asian, American or Nepalese?

Yes, I am irritated. And I need sleep. And I really don't need the adrenaline rush this kind of foolishness brings. And I was going to shrug and continue my blog rounds.

But I read this:

And at the Harvard conference, Suitt challenged people to each find 10 bloggers who weren't male, white or English-speaking—and link to them.

I'm ending this post and getting some sleep before I really go estrogen on Levy. The poor man probably means well but just can't overcome the disability of either being a moron or Google-challenged.

(Link via Angry in T.O. in a post which should be read.

Mar. 16 - 17:43: Mr. Levy has at least succeeded in uniting women from both sides of the political spectrum over the Invisibility Factor. Even as he wrote, some sisters were already celebrating Estrogen Month. (Love that poster - I'd love to steal and post it with a bit of editing to change "liberal" to "libertarian".)

Thanks to commenter Elayne for the pointer.

20:18: National Post Columnist Barbara Kay takes a more sober look at the lack of female columnists. I've posted more on it here.

Posted by: Debbye at 04:45 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Thanks for the mention. I didn't realize you visited my humble little spot in the blogosphere, but I'm glad you saw something you liked. Cheers.

Posted by: angry_in_t_o at March 15, 2005 07:57 PM (+e9PX)

2 If he missed Estrogen Week, you could always direct him to my blog where we're having Estrogen Month through March.

Posted by: Elayne Riggs at March 16, 2005 09:39 AM (eTopE)

3 Elayne, I will happily add the Estrogen Month link to the post in an update. We may be at opposite ends of one political spectrum but that is the point: there are women's voices out there, so why can't they hear us? (Maybe because they are too busy talking ...)

Posted by: Debbye at March 16, 2005 05:39 PM (12DUk)

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Mar. 15 - I really don't know how to take this. Obviously I should be all puffed up with righteous feminist indignation, but that might lose its effectiveness when I'm doubled over with laughter.

Update: Forgot to include the obligatory be sure and read the comments.

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Mar. 10 - Sorry I've been off-line; the fan seized on my computer and I had to take it in to the shop.

I haven't made it through all the comments on earlier posts (although I can see things have been busy) nor have I been able to check my mail box yet. I don't know how much I'll be able to do before I head for work tonight (Mark needs to check and respond to his mail as well) so I probably won't be posting on topical events until tomorrow morning.

The sad part is all the stuff I got done while the computer was down -- horrible stuff like "mending" and cleaning the oven. I suppose it was a shame that it was too cold to do the windows ...

Mar. 11 - Still catching up with comments in earlier posts. I'm beginning to understand why the fan gave out ...

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Mar. 2 - Chrenkoff interviews Hanson.

Two giants in one post. I'll never be the same.

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Mar. 2 - Glenn Reynolds re-posts some thoughts from 2002 on the hollow nature of despotic governments and preference cascades. His excerpt is taken from Patriotism and Preferences

:... In what's known as a "preference cascade," the vanishing of flags and other signs of patriotism from the homes, cars and businesses of the style-setters caused a lot of other people to go along with the trend, perhaps without even fully realizing it, a trend that only strengthened with the politicization of flag displays in several 1980s political campaigns.

The result was a situation in which a lot of people's behavior didn't really match their beliefs, but merely their beliefs about what was considered acceptable. Such situations are unstable, since a variety of shocks can cause people to realize the difference and to suddenly feel comfortable about closing the gap.

That's what the September 11 attacks did.

For Americans it was Sept. 11. For the Lebanese it was the murder of Rafik Hariri.

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