By Elizabeth Young

The recent passing of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and the arrest of the 91-year old woman making a "killing" selling $60 suicide kits, has forced society to look at why we are not allowed the right to die with dignity. [1]

Sharlotte Hydorn's kit, packed into a white box adorned with a butterfly, contained a plastic bag, a tube, and a book titled Final Exit. Customers rent a helium tank, place their head in the plastic bag and run a hose from the bag to the tank, and within a few minutes another life is ended peacefully.

Hydorn had been selling about two or three kits a month until a 29 year-old used one to end his life because he couldn't find a tall building to jump out of or figure out how to hang himself and kick the chair out from under him at the same time.

Nick Klonoski wasn't terminally ill, but just depressed and wanted a peaceful end to his suffering.

Although a compassionate society would never withhold "the ultimate human right," from a mentally competent, terminally ill person who chooses to avoid unnecessary suffering, letting someone end their life because they are depressed is another story.

Sales took off as a result of the media attention stemming from Nick's brother Zack, who is angry that Hydorn made $60 off his brother's death.

"In a society where so many people suffer from depression and other mental health disorders, this company has found their niche [niche is the right word, annual sales are now about $98,000] in the market by peddling death. This is analogous to putting a gun-vending machine next to a depression clinic. She made $60 off my brother's death."

Yes, he actually said this in front of the Oregon state legislature. [2]

The admonition against euthanasia can't really be defended on any legal, moral, or ethical grounds.

If you don't mind wearing a diaper, throwing up all over yourself, and suffering the pain and humiliation because you can no longer perform your Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), that is your choice, but no one, especially the pro-lifers (actually pro-fetusers), have the right or authority to make that decision for me. And I haven't even discussed the suffering your loved ones will have to endure while you wait for God, or a doctor playing God, to decide when it's time for you to go.

Click here to read a thorough debunking of all of the suicide/euthanasia slippery slope arguments (except one) put forward by the Care Not Killing Alliance.

A Natural Death

No discussion of Euthanasia would be complete without hearing from Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Love):

In order to protect nature, it is not enough to intervene with economic incentives or deterrents; not even an apposite education is sufficient. These are important steps, but the decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society. If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation, and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.

A "natural death?" Unless Doctors have a direct line to God when they decide to prolong your life, then the word "natural" should not be used when it comes to your death.

If we really want to make sure all deaths are "natural" then we should ban any type of "life saving" medical treatment, especially organ transplants.

The Suicide Prevention Police (The Care Not Killing Alliance)

Until recently suicide was part of the homicide laws in most places on Earth.
"Enlightened" lawmakers around the world finally recognized that suicide is a form of harming oneself and therefore it is no longer a crime.

Today, when you attempt suicide and fail, instead of going to jail you are locked up in an insane asylum. After all anyone who is tired of living must be crazy and needs help.

Question 1 for the Suicide Police: Why is it crazy to want to get out of here early? How can anyone be sure that if I end my life as a believer or non-believer that I am not going to a better place?

And for you Christians, are you aware that there is nothing in the Bible that says suicide is murder or some kind of unforgivable sin? You can kill yourself any time you like, and if the free gift of salvation story is true, then you are off to heaven...albeit early.

Question 2 for the Suicide Police, and in particular for the pro-life (really pro-fetus) academic Professor Margaret Somerville:
You already have your free pass to heaven, so what are you waiting for?

Look, if there is a heaven, it's got to be better than "this," so why not get there right away. And if there isn't a heaven, and you are going to the other place (without air conditioning), it's for eternity, so a few more years isn't going to matter.

To prevent non-believers from exercising the ultimate civil right might be an unforgiveable sin. What if you are wrong? To condemn a terminally ill atheist or agnostic and their family to years of suffering is sadistic.

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Robert Bonomo

The SP 500 hit an apocryphal low during the financial crisis of 666 in March of 2009 from which point it has surged to more than double in price in about two years. This bull market is one of the most robust in US equities history; its only rivals are the end of the roaring 20’s and the late 1990’s.

There probably couldn’t be two more diametrically opposed moments in US history as the to late 1990’s and the post financial crisis period. The late 1990’s were a period of massive innovation, relative peace, budget surpluses and low unemployment. The US military was resting on its laurels after a swift, definitive victory over Saddam Hussein and the once ominous Soviet threat had disappeared, mired in a decade of decay. Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle, EBay and the like had made advanced technology once again part of the America brand after the 1970’s and 80’s when it seemed Japan would overtake the US as both the world's dominate economy and innovator. But the nineties were a lost decade for the Japanese and saw a serous decline in their economic power relative to the United States. The 1990’s were the culmination of an American century and victory in the Cold War; the long, sustained bull market made sense.

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