What is “war?” Webster’s definitions clearly do not define that in which we are engaged, and about which the media minutely covers, hour by hour. Last week, our president arose very early to attend the arrival of 18 killed in this “war” as their bodies were removed from a cargo plane. Ironically, some 14 were from the crashes of three helicopters, officially reported as non-enemy related. This morning’s press, presenting the latest statistics, indicated the total fatalities to date, and that one serviceman had lost his life since yesterday.
Since my medals display (counting stars for more than one) holds 22 military awards, I have some memory of “war.” Carrier-based, I vividly remember a friend whose dive-bomber was hit over Naha Airfield (Okinawa) at very low altitude, and he successfully parachuted at about 1,000 feet. Enemy ground gunners cut him to pieces hanging from his chute. Although on his third combat deployment, nothing was ever published about him.
I witnessed the USS Franklin, hit by a kamikaze, experiencing explosions which killed some 960 Navy men, but no one back home knew about it. It was war! I have also witnessed many shipmates, their bodies sewn into canvas bags which contained a 5-inch shell for weight, slip from beneath our flag and fall into the ocean following their funeral ceremony.
Sept. 11 was our current Dec. 7! In my humble opinion, our nation should never be in a “war” unless we intend to win it, and public opinion should not be generated nor be the controlling factor toward that end!
James W. Kissick, Jr., Cdr. USN (Ret.) Bradenton Beach
Will doctor-assisted suicide appear in health reform bill?
In the news we continue hearing the phrase “death panels” coined by Sarah Palin and tossed about with great amusement by liberal reporters. Aside from the fact that Ms. Palin uses it metaphorically, I was curious about the possible existence of something similar in health care reform so I did my own research. Here is what I found online:
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), with a group known as Compassion and Choices (a.k.a. the infamous Hemlock Society) crafted the original provision in the House bill, Section 1233, which caused the furor. On their Web site, Compassion and Choices says, “As Congress debates health insurance reform, Compassion and Choices is leading the charge to make end-of-life choice a centerpiece of any program that emerges.”
In case you don’t realize it, the phrase end-of-life choice is the latest euphemism for physician-assisted suicide. Compassion and Choices’ legislative objective, according to their Web site, is to “seek to pass aid-in-dying laws for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.” It has been through their efforts that physician-assisted suicide is legal in Oregon, Washington state and Montana, and spreading.
So there you have it, a clear connection between end-of-life counseling in the health care reform bill and those who promote physician-assisted suicide. Even though it was removed from one of many mutations of the bill, we can be certain that, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, it will reappear in another form, in another bill. Imagine that! Sarah Palin wasn’t too far off the mark after all.
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