Pull The Plug On Me And On Cincy's Law

Today I was driving home, listening to NPR like the good liberal I am when the news comes on that Congress is meeting today to come up with some legislation to keep the feeding tube in Terry Shiavo. Now, this is a tough decision for any family to have to decide. I can't imagine the pain that the family is going through. According to one of my conservative friends, her husband is supposedly coming into some money once she dies, but this is conjecture.

Medical experts agree that Shiavo is in a degenerative vegetative state, but the family disputes this. Disputes this???? What is there to dispute? I know hope is powerful and you hope against hope that a family member will pull through. But there are times when an expert medical opinion is valid like it is now. I'm sorry, but this is one of the biggest problems in the United States today. We take a very personal issue and inflate it to a national debate for TV ratings and for political gain. We throw out any rational decision making and go with the gut reaction because that is what appeals to the base instincts and it brings cheap politial leverage. The Republicans are pushing hard for this (what? The GOP pushing for cheap political leverage? Say it isn't so!!). So essentially the opinions of medical experts with years of experience and research means nothing. This will start that slippery slope that we are all so afraid of. Your body is no longer yours; your personal wishes no longer matter because some Bible thumping hypocrites will argue the "sanctity of life", which is the most bullshit argument ever made. We dont' respect life in this country and I will argue with anyone who ever uses that argument (did you ever hear about slavery? how about the death penalty? how about how we treat poor people in this nation or immigrants or illegal aliens? how about the homeless, not to mention women and children since rich old men will decide how, what, where, and when we lead our lives). So any chance of this getting any sort of rational national debate is now gone because the GOP has decided to convene Congress to pass some bullshit law because they appeal to the moral minority (don't be fooled; they're not that big; they just scream the loudest and say that if you're not with them, you're against God and Jesus .. and who wants to be against those cats?). Oh yeah, now the pro-life forces are rallying around this cause too, so be prepared to see this fight again.

That issue aside, I have made it clear to my family that if I'm in that degenerative state, pull the plug. Besides the cost to my family because we all know how generous the insurance companies will be about paying the costs (I'm trying to suppress a laugh when I type that), I don't want to be in that state. I will miss way too much of my life and will be of no use to anyone. I don't want my mother there crying everyday because I can't move or respond. Fuck that; pull the plug on me.

And another annoying this this country is doing is naming every fucking law after someone. Let's say I'm fucking around at my local Target when I decide to go look at a BBQ grill. Now, one of the cannisters of propane is on a shelf over my head and it falls, explodes, killing me. My family immediately springs into action, my Congressman seeing it as a chance for cheap political leverage comes out proposing a new law banning all flammable liquids from being for sale indoors. Now they call the law "Cincy's Law". This is annoying; we have so many laws named after someone that they lose the affect. So "Cincy's Law" goes into affect and after 3 months, everyone forgets the name.

So in sum, pull the plug and don't name a law after me. I don't want my name associated with the bullshit game of politics that always comes about in the face of tragedy. I don't want to live in a state where I degenerate into nothingness for years and years .... to all this I say FUCK THAT!!