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M ay 15, 2002
ThE CL ac I camas P rìnt
Ashcroft oversteps authority; Oregon’s
Death With Dignity Act will survive
Editor-in-Chief:
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In 1997, the Supreme Court
found that states can constitution
ally prohibit physician-assisted
suicide and can make it a crime to
assist in a suicide. But the
Supreme Court also said the
states can and should debate the
issue, vote on it, legislate about
it, and different states, it said, will
reach different conclusions.
JasonGibson
» ùsrìdiàztó/or
."Absolutely not. That yiq-
late« the sovereignty of the
states. The US governrnent
is a coriglofherate of 50 sov-j
ereign states that w fought
IfTTp ://dEpTS. clACkAM AS. CC. OR.
US/pRiNT
Molly Stanley
Candióte for
ASGGee-
Ctrii
ÚSG President
thrnk if they Kaye the
nght fo put something m
then they have the right to
take it ouC
to rd
as the fötüns for
the voice of the people."
Stephanie
Neuhauser
Candidatefor
*Tf the state passes it [a
j^j^tben obyiousiy;they
support it So m that sense;
the federal govermnent
sKouldn* t be able to over-
At press time Stephanie
Neuhauser was not avail
able for comment.
The ups and downs of getting older
Advertising:
r
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(505) 657*6958 X25O9
Erika Eggçr
sons.
What Oregon has created is
an atmosphere in which peo
ple can choose, under certain
circumstances, to have a
humane, peaceful and com
passionate death. If anything,
this debate and the existence
of this law in Oregon has
improved health care and pain
care.
There’s been much more effective
treatment, greater use of hospices,
fewer unnecessary tests and unneces
sary machines. While people may dis
pute that it is not a doctor’s right to end
someone’s life, Oregonians have
passed this law twice, by increas
ing numbers. In his battle to over
turn this law Ashcroft is saying
that his one vote counts for more
than Oregonian’s 1.3 million.
Hopefully Oregon’s battle over
assisted suicide will set a prece
dent that federal opinion does not
rule state’s rights.
To reach Erinn Lerten e-mail
goawayrocks@hotmaiLcom or drop
byB-104
President
Patty Mamula
CCCpRiNT@dACkAMAS.CC.OR.US
Controlled Substances Act when
he declared that physician-assist
ed suicide was not a “legitimate
medical purpose” and threatened
to revoke the license to prescribe
narcotics from any doctor who
wrote a lethal-dose prescription
to a patient who requested one.
While appeals may take some
time, we will find that not only is
the attorney general’s position
hypocritical, it’s legally unsound.
Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act
has been in place for four years.
In this , time at least 91 people
have used it. There have been ho
reports of abuse or irregularities
in the law.
Mainly cancer patients who
were in the last stages of what
was clearly a terminal disease
have used it. Independent aca
demics in Oregon, who have had
no involvement with advocacy or
even with treating patients under
the law, have found that these
patients were not showing symp
toms of depression. We have not
seen any abuses for financial rea
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To quote the court, “Throughout
the nation, Americans are
engaged in an earnest and pro
found debate about physician-
assisted suicide. Our holding per
mits this debate to continue, as it
should in a democratic society.” It
was a victory for states’ rights, a
doctrine supported by many con
servative lawyers, judges and leg
islators, including Attorney
General John Ashcroft. But it
seems the doctrine of states’
rights he built his career on was
not as passionate as we once
thought.
When a state such as Oregon
takes its autonomy in a direction
he disapproves of, he’ll use the
long arm of the federal govern
ment to intervene. The State of
Oregon took him to court and last
month won a ruling from a feder
al district court invalidating the
attorney general’s new rule.
Portland-based U.S. District
Judge Robert Jones ruled April
17 that Ashcroft had overstepped
the authority of the federal
I have become aware that kids
these days seem to be growing
down at an ever-earlier age. I
worry that some of my fellow
students might be lagging in
growing down, and a few trou
blemakers might actually be
growing up. I have thought about
what is important to know about
growing down, and I shall pres
ent my thoughts as an aid to the
¿late wilters among us.
One has to learn proper time
management.
The properly adjusted grown-
down, as I call them, experiences
virtually no variation from one
day to the next, one week to the
next, one year to the next.
Thinking of this as “boring
monotony” is going about it
from the wrong perspective.
Instead, learn to slide through
the routine; pretty soon you
won’t even notice it, you’ll just
be doing what you need to do
without even thinking about it.
Beware of actual experience, as
it is risky and unbecoming of a
grown-down. An excellent sub
stitute for actual experience can
be found in television. You can
watch friends hanging out,
watch people making love,
watch people dancing, racing
cars, fishing on a lake. Not only
do you not have to actually do
any of these things yourself, tel
evision skips right to the exciting
parts without quiet moments.
Quiet moments in real experi
ences allow for reflection, which
can be extremely frightening to
the grown-down. (It is worthy to
note that television does not
allow for quiet moments of
reflection as they simply risk
exposing how boring television
really is.) If you must suffer
actual experiences, learn the art
of “being there Without being
there,” and you will have much
less risk of powerful moments,
“religious”
experiences
or
reflection.
The rules to growing down are
endless, but they don’t have to
be memorized like test answers;
it is a way of life learned through
imitation and ridicule. It
includes a certain way of walk
ing, a certain way of sitting, and
a certain way of standing in one
place. The proper way to behave
in any given situation is dictated
by the- social demands of grow
ing down. Quirks are called
“childish,” and are possible
grounds for committal to a men
tal institution.
As long as you can successful
ly crush your spirit, you should
n’t have too much trouble
becoming a perfectly normal
grown-down and leading a per
fectly ordinary, unhappy and
meaningless life. Beware of
behavior in others that does not
conform to that of ordinary grown-
downs; do not allow yourself to be
influenced by them. If you know
someone, even a friend, who behaves
this way, either avoid him or her or try
to help by ridiculing this person until
the spirit is crushed.
Finally, a note on growing up.
Many grown-downs will ridicule
someone by telling them to grow
up, when they really mean grow
down. Growing up involves being
completely honest with yourself.
Once you decide to be honest with
yourself, your old world view is at
risk of collapsing, and your con
sciousness may change to one that
does not agree with the official
“stories” given by authorities in
government, religion, or science.
Our society dictates that sanity means
that your state of consciousness is
within a certain narrow spectrum that
is easy to manipulate with words and
threats of violence (Le. the police).
Growing up involves exploring states
of consciousness that fall outside this
narrow range.
To reach Jesse Gurzynski e-
mail hateapparatus@hotmail.com
or drop by B-104