The Oppenheimer Report 11/21/11

Every so often, a hot button topic comes up that prompts me to resurrect one of my many pet peeves. Last week, there was a piece on the news about a Canadian woman suffering from advanced ALS who is asking the courts to grant her an assisted suicide. According to one poll, 46% of Canadians think assisted suicide should be legalized and another 30% feel that it should be allowed under certain circumstances. Like all right to life issues, this is a contentious debate, and a recent study in Canada brought the issue to the forefront by suggesting that the majority of Canadian families are woefully unprepared to make end-of-life decisions. Having just finished this complicated journey, I implore my readers to be pro-active about it. Talk to your loved ones, old and young, and figure out a way to confront these difficult decisions about end-of-life care. At least have the conversation, because like it or not, it will come back to haunt you if you don’t. I feel the rights of the individuals and their families take precedence in cases of terminal illness. For the most part, I’m pro choice, though I’m not sure I'm completely on board with euthanasia. Euthanasia is only one of the options for end-stage care, and certainly not the only alternative. I get the argument that there is a huge potential for abuse with euthanasia, especially when elders are involved, but I think in a case like an ALS victim, this really should be up to the patient and his or her family. Medical ethicists and religious experts can debate this issue until the end of time, but when people suffer horrible, painful, extended terminal illnesses, I think they should be allowed a morsel of dignity. If I am of sound mind, I want the right, if possible, to control how I die. Morphine baby, and lots of it.

When I first heard about Jerry Sandusky and last week’s Penn State football scandal, I thought Sandusky was being accused of fooling around with college players on the Penn State team. I thought to myself, that was inappropriate and wrong, but the victims were adults, and capable of making their own decisions. When I found out that Sandusky was caught sodomizing a 10 year old boy and I heard him in an interview saying he was just “horsing around” I was genuinely appalled. Some people think Catherine the Great was “horsing around.” So far, 20 victims have come forward to accuse Sandusky, and maybe this is the tip of the iceberg. Now some coach in Syracuse is under investigation on unrelated sex crimes. Pedophilia is pretty close to the worst crime I can think of, and if Coach Paterno knew that his assistant coach was doing these horrible things and did nothing, well, I think that is wrong. He in fact allowed a pedophile to continue to offend. Two thousand Penn State students rioted in the streets when Paterno was fired, angry that their icon was let go in disgrace. People, get your priorities straight! Paterno had a stellar 46 year career as coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, but he looked away and children were hurt. Here’s something else that just sounds wrong: I read that the 10 top execs at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earned $12.8 Million in bonuses last year. Pay is down 40% since the 2008 crash, but WTF, didn’t we the taxpayers bail these bozos out to the tune of $170 Billion?! And I understand that those “Super Committee” clowns failed to come up with ANY of the necessary $1.2 Trillion in cuts. Hard to gripe about European leaders when we’re just as bad or worse. I say we form a committee to oversee the committee. Ugh. On the other end of the decency spectrum, did any of you see the story about Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s recovery over the past eight months? She’s the Arizona Congresswoman who was shot in the head by a deranged gunman. Now, less than a year later, she’s walking and talking again, and her astronaut husband videotaped her courageous journey back. He has written a book about it as well. I love hearing these stories about strong individuals fighting adversity. I’m not sure I agree with Mrs. Gifford’s politics, but wow, what a strong and inspiring woman.

Finally, there was a story on the news the other day about animal rights activists who feel we should not eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Turkeys are apparently more intelligent than people understand, and some feel they should not be slaughtered for our food. Does this mean I have to stop eating dolphin as well? This (American) Thanksgiving will be the beginning of the rest of my life. I am thankful for what I have had, and I embrace the ever-changing maelstrom which is time and space. I guess it’s time to dig out Mom’s killer sweet potato recipe and quit my whining. I am thankful for so many things, including that I have this outlet for my thoughts and feelings, and that some of you indulge me and share those thoughts and feelings with me. Thank you to my twelve loyal readers, and to my Yankee friends, have a good bird. To my Canadian cronies: gentlemen, start your snowblowers!

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED