Death Be Not Proud… February 10, 2009

Pulling a Vegetable from the Garden patch!

By now, many Americans have heard about the “right to die” controversy in Italy. The  case involves a young woman who’s been in a coma for 17 years. Doctors stated she’ brain dead, ain’t coming back so, let’s stop feeding her and send her on her way. The right to die opponents have another word for what ended this young woman’s life, they call it “murder”.

Now, I have to agree with that assessment, as pulling her tube and letting her starve death is akin to depriving “life” of sustenance. Maybe she was brain dead, maybe not. Who knows what she felt during the last 48 hours of starvation. What we do know is she died a slow and painful death, the exact opposite of what her father wanted, which was for her to die with dignity.

There’s nothing “dignified” in dying a slow painful death. Just because she can’t communicate, does not mean she did not suffer. Just because she could signal with her eyes, limbs or utter a word, does not mean she did not suffer. Let’s all stop eating for two days and see how we feel (in a healthy state) and then imagine being bed ridden for 17 years and all of sudden – sustenance STOPS!

There are some things in life that just don’t happen in time to stop an injustice (or in this case, murder). Just as the legislators were trying to pass a law requiring that doctors provide nourishment to incapacitated patients, Ms. Englaro’s time ran out. The hour glass was turned upside down and the sand of time just ran out.

I have known (as many have) human beings (friends and family) who were on the brink of death and asked for (pleaded) for every single second they had left to live. They made bargains with God and promised to cherish every second of the day if God would grant them more time. Then again, I’ve known more than a few friends who committed suicide over the stupidest reasons any one could ever have for killing themselves. How about girl leaves boy, boy can’t take it and shoots himself or, idiot buys motorcycle and thinks it’s cool to speed up the highway at 125 MPH and hits back of garbage truck. Yes, some deaths are by self-inflicted stupidity, while others are over “she doesn’t love me anymore” last words. However, in the case of Ms. Englaro, the father felt she needed some dignity and well, 17 years is a long time to be visiting a vegetable in the garden patch.

I don’t agree with the Pope on many issues, however, I do agree with the Pope (and the church) on the issue concerning euthanasia. The Pope states “euthanasia is a false solution to suffering” and I agree with that statement. In the case of Ms. Englaro, it may be that her being deprived of nourishment (over a 48 hour period) is the false solution imposed by her father for his own suffering.

As for her father telling the world that his daughter had expressed her wish to NOT be kept alive if she was ever in a coma, he’s simply full of crap. I think he lied to himself. He convinced himself over a period of 17 years that he had some type of conversation with his daughter in which she said “daddy, if I’m ever in a coma, just stop the food and let me die”. This is B.S., as I don’t anyone (let alone a 20 year old) who has ever sat down to have a heart to heart (with mom and dad) and spelled the “what ifs” associated with coma+car accident+17 years in coma = pull out my feeding tube – please.

So, here’s my living will…Please let me live as long as possible. If I’m on a ventilator, don’t pull the plug or, accidentally pull it out the wall. If I’m being feed through a tube, serve me up three meals a day and I also like a midnight snack. If I can blink, it’s not just a reaction like pinching a nerve, it’s really ME trying to communicate. If I can’t blink, look down at my toes as I’ll wiggle my right toe for “yes” and my left toe for “no”. Whatever you do, don’t transfer my bag of breathing bones to any private clinics. If any lawyers or judges or process servers show up in my room, show them the door, as they’re uninvited. If any long lost relatives show up claiming to have had any conversations with me in the past stating, “I wanted that or needed this”, they’re NO relative of mine. If the doctor ever says two words, “brain dead” yes, I was brain dead sometimes (when I was alive and moving about the place) but, I’m NOT brain dead now, I’m just talking a long nap. In other words, while I’d like to hear Ms. Englaro’s side of story some day, I’m in no hurry to get there - too quickly:-)

The GEAP Employee Assistance Program.. February 6, 2009

I’ve got a simple (easy to understand) Stimulus Package…it’s called GEAP. For those currently on unemployment, they should be allowed to get any work they possibly can while keeping their full range of benefits for the period time of entitlement. For those corporations, who are going to continue to lay off employees, before they lay off 1000’s of people, they apply to a Government Employee Assistance Program, which supplements the salaries of those who would be laid off. In other words, if a potential laid off employee normally receives $600.00 per week, the employee would be paid the going rate of unemployment (subsidized by GEAP) and the employer pays the difference in salary and/or weekly home take home pay – based upon the employee’s last paycheck. Coporations can cut employee salary expense by upwards to 50% or more.

Businesses are not interested in tax credits so, the other idea would be to credit back  the employee taxes paid by the employer/employee for a period of six months from the date of proposed unemployment. We can call this program a payroll tax- free re-employment program.

No, this idea is not perfect, however, if the lay offs continue, Americans will be displaced from jobs in the short-term. Those employers contemplating laying off Americans, will eventually re-employee workers, as the economy comes out of recession. Keep Americans working (whether part or full time) based upon the GEAP idea and we stave off increasing numbers of unemployed Americans.

If the layoffs are to continue, the best way to keep the economy afloat may be to subsidized salaries through GEAP and unemployment benefits.

Corporations are laying off employees to tighten their belts – nothing more. In some cases, these corporations are laying off employees to keep their books looking lean and mean (especially if they’re a publicly held corporation). It’s not as though all of those being laid off are being shown the door, as they’ve been replaced technology or their positions are no longer required. They are being laid off out of fear. When we watch these massive lay offs being announced on the news, the reason is NOT that the employees are NO longer needed, it’s always based upon corporations trying to save money.

Subsidize the employees/employer through unemployment benefits (which they’re going to get anyway), keep them at their job posts and get the employers to agree to pay the difference between the unemployment benefit received by the laid off worker and the salary and/or weekly take home pay that employee received.

OK, that’s my proposed GEAP Assistance Program, let’s hear some other ideas or, better yet, help me refine GEAP.

Phelp’s a Bad Guy? No, Just Sowing His Oats… February 6, 2009

First, I’m not a sports fan per se, let alone, a drone who sits at home, wading through hours of Olympic events. I did watch Phelps swim his way into history and he was the highlight of the Olympic games.

I was reading today about his fall from grace. He’s banned from swimming for three month’s and Kellogg’s is dropping him from its cereal boxes. Now, I think Kellogg’s is a lame ass company to begin with and I won’t buy their cereal for a number of reasons, one being price.

OK, out comes my can of Whoop Ass on Kellogg’s. Who gives a damn of Phelps is on a cereal box? Does Kellogg’s think were all stupid enough to believe that if we eat their cereal we’ll be able to propel ourselves through a pool at 90 miles per hour? Who cares? In fact, are American consumers so dumb as to be influenced by an image on a box Kellogg’s cereal? I hope not. I don’t buy food based upon who’s face, ass, legs or thighs are branded to the box or can. I buy fod based on price and Kellogg’s charges way too much for their sugar coated crap in a box.

Phelps is a young guy (a kid) and he’s sowing his oats (so to speak) and he has every right in the world to experiment with drugs, tobacco and alcohol. If Phelps can swim as fast as he does - and still get high – then all the power to him. I know guys who get high and who can’t even remember their names or, even walk more than a few steps to get food – when the munchies kick in:-)

Phelps did NOTHING wrong and whomever posted that picture of him should be drawn and quartered in the press (by the press) not the other way around. What about Phelp’s privacy?

Is Phelp’s entitled to some privacy here? What he does in the privacy of his own dorm and with other friends is his business. No doubt, someone who was sitting there (with Phelps) was passing round the pipe and he or she is just as guilty as Phelps, however, we don’t see the photo taker getting whacked by the press.

Does Phelps have sex before or after an event? Does he masturbate before or after an event? Does he eat Kellogg’s cereals while watching porno? Does he wipe his butt with his left or right hand?

See the point? Who’s business is it what ANYONE does when it comes to their own bodies? I think that people have gone far enough in rooting out celebrity vices. We all have vices and we all do strange things on a daily basis. No one is perfect.

The press have no place casting stones or, even reporting on this nonsense, as it’s nothing but nonsense. Kellogg’s should be out there handing out free boxes of cereal to the homeless and to under nourished kids, as opposed to worrying about what the public thinks about Phelps sucking on a pipe. In fact, how do we know the image is real? How do we know that there was pot in the pipe? In fact, if there was pot in the pipe, how do we know he even inhaled? Then again, who cares, move on America…