After more than a decade of legal battles over assisted suicide, a Supreme Court ruling affirming that states have the authority to regulate medical treatment of the terminally ill may help turn an Oregon law into a national model.

At least six other states have proposed, or are considering, some form of an assisted suicide law, with bills currently in the legislatures of California and Vermont.

The Shot Heard ‘Round The World

The 6-3 ruling Tuesday was considered a rebuke to the Bush administration and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. The court said they improperly threatened to use a federal drug law against Oregon doctors who prescribe lethal doses of medicine to dying patients who request it.

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The latest American tragedy, the West Virginia mining disaster, is more of an American media tragedy. Countless media outlets went live with reports of 12 survivors. They ran and ran with this until it was found out that only 1 survived, and 12 were dead.

There is not much to say except this, the media got it wrong. When you don’t check your facts and get corroboration, only bad things are bound to happen. At least in election year 2000, when the media screwed up the Presidential election results, at least that only affected a couple of jerks. This snafu affected the lives of dozens of people who were directly involved with the situation.

I don’t know if I should file this article under Religion or Stupidity, but certainly not Science. The previous sentence will give you a good idea where I’m going with this one, so please, bare with me.

Before I continue, I would just like to say that I am an atheist, but I respect a person’s right to worship and believe in any god they see fit. Religion, the bible, and faith can help one lead a very happy and productive life. Having said that, religion has no place in science. You will read why in the next few moments.

The Eureka Springs, Arkansas Museum of Earth History is attracting some attention. The museum opened in April and is quite different from most museums you may visit. This museum utilizes the bible, rather than science for fact, essentially burning and throwing out all data and information we have gathered over the last several hundred years.

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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse.

I think we are at the point at which the federal government has to crack it’s whip and work out an arrangement so the Roman Catholic church can settle all outstanding claims, and claims yet to be made, in a class-action manner.

I am no fan of the Roman Catholic church. Raised as a Catholic, even going to a private Catholic school, I have since parted ways with their doctrine and teaching. However, at some point this madness has to come to an end.

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