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WASHINGTON-- The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die. Justices, on a 6-3 vote, said that a federal drug law does not override the 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people. New Chief Justice John Roberts backed the Bush administration, dissenting for the first time. The administration improperly tried to use a drug law to punish Oregon doctors who prescribe lethal doses of prescription medicines, the court majority said. Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for himself, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer. Kennedy is expected to become a more influential swing voter after O'Connor's departure. He is a moderate conservative who sometimes joins the liberal wing of the court in cases involving such things as gay rights and capital punishment. The ruling was a reprimand to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who in 2001 said that doctor-assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose and that Oregon physicians would be punished for helping people die under the law. Kennedy said the authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for himself, Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, said that federal officials have the power to regulate the doling out of medicine. If the term 'legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death, he wrote. Scalia said the court's ruling is perhaps driven by a feeling that the subject of assisted suicide is none of the federal government's business. It is easy to sympathize with that position. Oregon's law covers only extremely sick people-- those with incurable diseases and who are of sound mind, and after at least two doctors agree they have six months or less to live. For Oregon's physicians and pharmacists, as well as patients and their families, today's ruling confirms that Oregon's law is valid and that they can act under it without fear of federal sanctions, state Solicitor General Mary Williams said. The ruling backed a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said Ashcroft's unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers interferes with the democratic debate about physician-assisted suicide. Ashcroft had brought the case to the Supreme Court on the day his resignation was announced by the White House in 2004. The Justice Department has continued the case, under the leadership of his successor, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The court's ruling was not a final say on federal authority to override state doctor-assisted suicide laws-- only a declaration that the current federal scheme did not permit that. However, it could still have ramifications outside of Oregon. This is a disappointing decision that is likely to result in a troubling movement by states to pass their own assisted suicide laws, said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which backed the administration. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and a supporter of the law, said the ruling has stopped, for now, the administration's attempts to wrest control of decisions rightfully left to the states and individuals. Thomas wrote his own dissent as well, to complain that the court's reasoning was puzzling. Roberts did not write separately. Justices have dealt with end-of-life cases before. In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that terminally ill people may refuse treatment that would otherwise keep them alive. Then, justices in 1997 unanimously ruled that people have no constitutional right to die, upholding state bans on physician-assisted suicide. That opinion, by then-Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, said individual states could decide to allow the practice. Roberts strongly hinted in October when the case was argued that he would back the administration. O'Connor had seemed ready to support Oregon's law, but her vote would not have counted if the ruling was handed down after she left the court. The case is Gonzales v. Oregon, 04-623.
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Copyright © The Sun-Times Company Great post, great insight, great analysis, thanks!..nm nm Oregon Christian Coalition Head Resigns - Family Sexual Abuse If these are *family values* then the right is RIGHT. I'm proud to say I These people get scarier and scarier every day, and I'm keeping my children Christian Coalition head to withdraw from political life 10/10/2005, 5:50 p.m. PT By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The longtime head of the Christian Coalition of Oregon I am thankful for a family that loves and supports me, and intend to withdraw Beres has denied any criminal misconduct and wrote that he will pursue the Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk told The Oregonian The three women — now adults — allege they were abused by Beres as preteens. I was molested, one of the women, now in her 50s, told The Oregonian. I was Beres, 70, has blamed personal and political enemies for the complaint. Only one of the three cases appears to fall under Oregon's statute of A nephew of Beres' is standing up for the three women. My family has gone through hell, said Richard Galat, 41, of Oakland, Calif., Lives have been ruined. Those of us who have come forward have been In response to Galat's statements, Beres said on the Christian Coalition web Beres, who did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Jim Moore, who teaches political science at Pacific University in Forest In fact, under his leadership, the Christian Coalition in Oregon has gone In state legislative races in 2004, for example, Moore said that, we found Oregon Republican Chairman Vance Day said Beres hasn't been much of a factor I don't view this as having any major impact on politics here in Oregon; I The group did support a constitutional amendment against gay marriage that Tim Nashif, the political director of that group, said he has few details Anytime any family goes through anything like this it's a pretty grievous Laws vary state-to-state Many people were confined against their will just because someone wanted them "out of the way." These were normal people with no mental illness - that is why it is so difficult - don't blame the liberals. Blame your state. CONFINING THE MENTALLY ILL Red state, blue state? Written last Thanksgiving: "Some would argue that two different nations actually celebrated: upright, moral, traditional red America and the dissolute, liberal blue states clustered on the periphery of the heartland. The truth, however, is much more complicated and interesting than that. Great, great post. Thank you, Marmann! nm x live and let live I read your post. It is based on accusations, which is all anyone can really go on as Hitler is not here to pick his brain. It also states Hitler felt they were capitalists, which was a reason why he wanted to destroy them. I also know what my many NYC jewish friends talk about when we talk about WWII and concentration camps which we have talked a lot about over the years. As an aside, from someone who calls me hateful all the time, you do need to look within. To call Chomsky despicable filth for no reason other than you disagree with him and his ideology is really quite scarey and sad. This is America, where we can believe and worship anything we want and if a person does not like it, they can put it out of their mind and live their life and let Chomsky and every one else, who does not think like you, live theirs. Long live Chomsky and every other Communist, Socialist and Capitalist in America. Viva America!! we DO want to live and let live We just get a might testy when a board specifically set up for our group is invaded by people who just want to name call, endlessly recycle false propanganda, and obsess over foibles. Separate but equal, I say. You can go to the conservatve board and just rehash and regurgitate all 10 Fox talking points and you won't be bothered by me, rest assured.
I live on the GC. I don't hate anyone! They ignored the warnings and blamed the government because they did not listen. Again look at Andrew and Ivan people prepared and then WORKED to rebuild their lives and they did not blame FEMA. I am not from PA, but I live in PA.... and the people I know were offended. And so they should be. Lots of folks in flyover America are offended. He made a blanket statement and it offended a lot of rural folks whose jobs are on their farms. There are a lot of people in PA whose jobs have not been outsourced. That is the trouble with blanket statements. There are a lot of small towns in PA and not all of us are bitter. We do not cling, we embrace our second amendment rights and our religous beliefs...through good times and bad. If we did not, then we might indeed BE bitter. Obama does not know me. And I suspect he does not know a lot of rural America. Our vote counts too. Maybe he should not have painted such a broad stroke. Maybe where you live......not here I have known plumbing business owners my entire life and they ain't rich by a long shot. They do okay. They employ lots of people, which should be the main concern here.....employment. They perform a service you sure as shoot would want. Same with electricians. Both professions are tough jobs and I have no problem with them doing well if they can. My brother worked for a plumbing company when he was younger and was called out in the freezing cold to crawl under homes to replace pipes, homes that might at any minute collapse they were so old. He found himself in so many dangerous situations replacing pipes. H@ll fire....they couldn't pay him enough for what he did. Electricians crawling around in spaces I wouldn't want to go. In the middle of summer here in the south, one had to crawl around in a very small space above our home to run wires and you couldn't pay me enough to do that job. I thought they were going to pass out from the heat. I was more worried about them. And the A/C - heating guys. Aren't you glad they're there when you need them. Do I want to see them taxed out of business? Who would? I'm sure good 'ole Obama would want one of them showing up in the middle of the night if his heat went out and he wants warmth. Of course, he has the money to pay for that middle of the night housecall. We don't but that's not the company owners fault. We're slapping down the very people who keep this country rolling. Obama is a joke! Snide hypocrit. I and others do not want to live like the people from the Holocaust had to. This is coming from other countries too. Obama's own words - I will change the world. That will not be his job if he is elected. People from Germany see hitler in him. People in Brittain say he's a bad choice. People from all over say the Obama camp was how Hitler rose to power in Germany. Not my words theirs. So go ahead and praise lord Obama. Others have enough sense to see him for what he is. Most of us do not live in your parallel universe on the fringes, including a good number of life-long REAL conservative economists found in my citations. It does not take more than a minute or 2 to come up with references and resources, that is if you do anything else with your time other than spend it reading the info on walls of the right-rag outhouses. It comes as no surprise you cannot find any info from the real world there. But suit yourself. You don't have time to educate yourself or do any research before you open your potty mouth? Fine with me, but don't expect anybody with a triple-digit IQ to take you seriously. Ain't bipartisan support a b*itch? Don't know where you live, but in LA, they cannot arrest someone who is a known illegal criminal who has already been deported, unless a new crime is committed, so police can spot dangerous gange members whom they have already arrested and deported in the past, but there is nothing they can do until another crime is committed. It is ridiculous. Where do you live? If you voted for Obama, you are one of the two types of voters. Now, you either live in an area where there is enough working people that you never really see the downside of where all your taxes really go, or you know plenty who mooch already and feel you must stick up for them for some reason, why is that? Afraid you won't be "loyal" or do you feel you're entitled? I believe in working for a living.... unfortunately, our government has long since forgot what a sovereign country is all about and managed to create an entire welfare country in just a few short decades! Do you live in CA? x I don't know where you live.... but people do not jack off in libraries in my neighborhood. Evidently, since you are implying this is LAW or a proposed bill that is imminent (which it is not), you have failed to notice that people are NOT flaunting their wedding tackle in your local library. Because MOST of them live off YOU and ME!! -- I don't know where you live....(sm) but you should really try getting out of your little box. The issue with marriage isn't whether or not a man and woman can marry, but rather whether a gay or lesbian couple can marry. Remember Prop 8? That would be the law that just recently passed saying it was illegal for gays and lesbians to be married. They previously had this right -- It has now been taken away with Prop 8, funded by the religious community. Good for you...Where you live that is...nm I live near MacDill and know some people there, including my stepdaughter. They have been talking draft for some time now. My friends are against it; they feel working side by side with someone who does not want to be there is demoralizing. The administration, however, is rabidly obsessive about this and we all know what happens when they get their sights set on something. Also there has been much talk of foreign persons serving in our military, sort of like the French Foreign Legion; romantic...yes, practical, hardly. On the one hand we have the ** fears and queers** tactics spun to perfection by this administration. If anyone other than they are in office, we will be attacked. Cheney even got on TV and said Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania would be prime targets if Kerry was elected president, what a coincidence these were swing states with a lot of clout. And if the terrorists didn't get us, the homosexuals would. The fear tactic has worked wonders for them. What does not get much press (imagine - and us with a liberal press and all) is the government's willingness to allow complete open and free access to our country in certain instances....Dubai company running shipping ports, some ports of entry not being scrutinized at all, like say Tampa Bay, about 1 mile from MacDill, better known as CentCom. And now, they think foreigners in our military is a good idea. If that is not a shot direct to the heart of operations, if that is not aiding and abetting and enabling and empowering enemies I don't know what is. We can't know all sorts of things because it will **empower the terrorists** and we have to sacrifice our privacy and our rights because *the terrorists gonna get us..** but we are not only going to allow, but invite foreigners to join our military ranks, at the same time as building a 700-mile wall to keep foreigners out. Nuff said. I live in upstate NY I believe in G-d, most of my liberals friend do as well, but not all of them. I have a few conservative friends who are athiest. If you live on the GC, you were paying about nm You must live in another country! Sorry, but the I was better off, made more money, paid lower taxes, and had more job security during the Clinton Administration than now. Same with all my MT friends & co-workers. Sure, there are people who don't live within their means. But are totally discounting the fact that there thousands of people out there who are just trying to get by and do live within their means. I know a lot of people who have no credit cards, do not drive fancy cars and buy their clothes at Wal-Mart only when they need them. These people are making the same amount that they made years ago but are paying more because of the rising costs of fuel, heating fuel, groceries, electricity, etc. These are people who have always lived within their means, and now can barely afford the necessities. Are you really too biased to see that? only 80 people live there? maybe. could be. Some say. It was reported that.
Do you live in Ohio? x And if you did live in Ohio - sm You might be able to vote three or four times. :) When did I say I wanted to live in a Socialist society. I don't. Neither do I want an unstable person with a fiery temper with his hand on the nuke button. As I live and breathe! I have followed your posts for a while. A month or so back, I replied to you saying that even though I am an enthusiastic Obama supporter, I think your solution to your relative ambivalence toward both candidates is a really good one. You have identified a person who most closely represents your beliefs and have decided to do a write-in. I think Mr. Dobbs will receive more than a few of those. Even though I cannot buy into his immigration crusade and he is a bit on the conservative side for me, I do admire him in terms of his style and the fairly polite manner in which he expresses his views and delivers the news and I can understand his appeal to independents. It is very refreshing to see somebody who takes their vote seroiusly and seeks to use it in support of somebody, instead of casting a vote "against" somebody else...an undesirable position in which I have often found myself in the past. I really think that Karma will be doing its thing and that campaigns founded in hate speech, mispresentations and slaughter of truth will go the way they need to go....to the trash heap. I hope you will be able to maintain your principles and cast your vote in support of your best choice and I look forward to reading more of your sensible and insighful middle-of-the-road viewpoints in the future. you live in dumbsville..... http://www.obamacrimes.com/attachments/028_Obama,%20Motion%20for%20Leave%20and%20First%20Amended%20Complaint.pdf TRUTH JUST EATS AT YOUR GUT DOESN'T IT? You want to know about |AIG first hand? I live in...sm Stowe Vermont. The Stowe ski resort was built as a pet project many years ago by AIG. It was very low key for many, many years for many reasons, zoning etc. So lovely and pristine, no high rise condos, a quaint small town Vermont experience. A few years ago, after years of wrangling, permits were obtained for a huge VERY luxury hotel, ski base lodge, million plus dollar condos, high end shopping in a ski village etc. Fast forward a few years, the hotel is completed and the base lodge almost done, condos halfway complete, no village yet. I guess that technically we Americans now own 80% of this resort. Maybe I can get a subsidized ski pass? I haven't heard of any slow down with the development, but I could be wrong. I wonder if we will be sold off but I doubt it. Very interesting. No one has any idea of the excesses of corporate America over the last 50 years. So you must live in one of the good I managed to live through the 60s and 70s. I know exactly what to expect and remember it as a time when American behaved like America and I was able to feel strongly patriotic about my country. For all those prophets of doom, I can assure you, it won't be fatal. Oh please....what world do you live in? Remember the Rodney King incident? Any excuse. Wonder why OJ wasn't convicted? Sure as heck wasn't because he was innocent! Pleeeze! You live under a rock? You think if a black president were to be injured or worse by some thug there wouldn't be rioting? If whites were screaming and yelling all up and down the street, they would be called racist but if blacks are rioting, burning, killing because a black person suffered injustice, then they think they are in the right. I'm not sticking my head in the sand and pretend the facts aren't there. |
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