Something very important to Washington State is up in the air this election, though I’m sure other states will have to deal with it eventually. There is currently a ballot initiative for a “Death With Dignity” measure, very similar to the one Oregon passed a decade or so ago. A lot of special interestests are pumping a lot of money into both sides. Dan Savage, whose writing I have always enjoyed if not always agreed with, has a powerful article on this. I wanted to quote two passages that speak to so many other social issues the nation is currently dealing with.
That’s what the debate about I-1000 is really all about: your body, your death, your choice. The passage of I-1000 doesn’t impose anything on terminally ill people who reject physician-assisted suicide for religious reasons. But the rejection of I-1000 imposes the values of others on terminally ill people who would like to make that choice for themselves, who should have a right to make that choice for themselves.
And, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing about physician-assisted suicide—or, as it should be called, end-of-life pain management—that precludes the presence of loving caregivers. You can be surrounded by love and have access to the best medical care available and still conclude—reasonably and rationally—that you would rather not spend the last few moments of your life in blinding pain or gasping for breath or pumped full of just enough morphine to (hopefully) deaden your pain without deadening you.
…
If religious people believe assisted suicide is wrong, they have a right to say so. Same for gay marriage and abortion. They oppose them for religious reasons, but it’s somehow not enough for them to deny those things to themselves. They have to rush into your intimate life and deny them to you, too—deny you control over your own reproductive organs, deny you the spouse of your choosing, condemn you to pain (or the terror of it) at the end of your life.
The proper response to religious opposition to choice or love or death can be reduced to a series of bumper stickers: Don’t approve of abortion? Don’t have one. Don’t approve of gay marriage? Don’t have one. Don’t approve of physician-assisted suicide? For Christ’s sake, don’t have one. But don’t tell me I can’t have one—each one—because it offends your God.
[f-word] your God.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I don’t believe in your god, and I don’t believe in your holy word. If the god of the Bible exists in some way outside of your fevered imaginations, it is a petulant child not worthy of respect, let alone worship. More like the character of Trelane from a Star Trek episode. For you to impose your supposed god’s will on me not only precludes MY free will and that of others, it is inhumane and goes against everything the Founding Fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution. It also goes against your own “holy” scriptures. Publicly, and for the record, I have directed that no extraordinary measures be taken to preserve my life should I be incapitated and unable to make that known, and if I find myself in such a situation as Dan describes in the article linked above, I would hope that those nearest and dearest to me will understand if I decide to end my life rather than deal with the pain and suffering whatever my end-of-life circustances might bring.
Think about it.
That being said, on to other updates.
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We decided on a company to update the electric radiant heat in the ceiling to a forced air system. They’ll be here Wednesday morning to start installing it. Just in time, too. The last couple of weeks have been getting cooler and cooler. Some of the trees are starting to show their autumn colors, and it’s cold enough outside in the mornings that I can’t leave the dogs out for more than 15 or 30 minutes now. Yesterday I had to turn the fireplace on for most of the morning just to keep them from shivering INSIDE the house.
More debt we have to take on. [sigh]
Aside from putting up some finishing pieces of trim, the master bedroom is done. We should be able to finish that this weekend, and I’ll try to have the before and after pictures available then. Jeffrey got ambitious last weekend and also put the new flooring down in the hallway, and I started removing the wallpaper in the guest bedroom so we can paint and pull up the felt-like carpet and lay the new floor. We’ve gotten some new tools including bosch tools and chemicals to remove the wallpaper, so the process will (hopefully) not be too painful. We haven’t decided which room to do after that.
The lawn is still waiting to be mowed because the weather hasn’t cooperated with our schedules. Even though I work from home, I can’t take the time to do it during the week, and it’s been raining on the weekends.
I’m getting used to the rapid decline of daylight hours now that the seasons are changing. It’s not something I noticed a lot in Florida, but this far north it’s noticable on an almost daily basis.
Work is going well, both for me and Jeffrey. We’re down a person due to a reorganization, but everyone is working to pick up the slack. Jeffrey’s starting in a new position the beginning of November as Managing Attorney for a new division in a successful lawfirm.
Cat is getting used to the dogs roaming inside the house, but still doesn’t like it much.
Good friend/realtor John’s new business is doing great so far, which is very good news since we invested in it thanks to our recent bitcoin returns (click here to find out where to purchase bitcoin). I’ve put together a dummy website for him, but haven’t made it public yet pending some design and menu changes. Once it’s finalized and if he agrees, I’ll post a link here.
I’ll refrain (for now) from commenting on the presidential and vice-presidential debates. I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about politics. I might change my mind later, though.
