Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
> > I'll take the wager. Although I don't know how I'll collect. Who cares
> > if people expressing any opinion in this case have children or not. That
> > has zero to do with the facts of the case.
>
> John, you're wasting your breath. Marta's not interested in the facts of
> the case; she's intent on repeating the antiabortion nutso talking points
> on this. I just don't get it.
I don't get it either, and I don't really see the relevance of the whole case to the disabled interests Marta represents so well usually. Neither she nor the disabled movement can profit from this conflict. And a blow to the disabled movement is a blow to the left in general. I copy here a post I submitted to Pen-L.
***********************
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Save the Pope! Pass Karol's Law Now! Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2005 12:58:06 -0600 From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> To: PEN-L list <PEN-L at SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU> References: <000901c537ae$f3c469e0$c600a8c0 at home>
Doyle Saylor wrote:
>
> Greetings Economists,
> Bill Lear writes,
> I urge each member of PEN-L who is part of the culture of life to
> phone Congress and George Bush to demand that they intervene in the
> killing of Pope John Paul II, who does not have a feeding tube and who
> is not being forced into the hospital.
>
> We need Karol's Law NOW people!
>
> Doyle,
> I'd like to make a clear distinction between the Disabled Rights Movement
> and the Right to Life Culture. Because I think we are being conflated in a
> guilt by association process.
Though I continue to think Disabled Rights Movement activists were dangerously wrong on the specifics of the Schiavo case, I think Doyle's point here is important. What we have is what Mao called a contradiction among the people, and thinking on it needs to proceed on that basis. The left has no future if it fails to support the rights and interests of particularly endangered parts of the greater working class -- but the Disabled Rights Movement has no future outside the left.
I'm not prepared to propose how this contradiction is to be resolved, but it is crucial to recognize what kind of contradiction it is. ****************
I will add here that I agree with Marta on the following post
*****
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] How Terri Schiavo became big news Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 14:08:28 -0700 From: Marta Russell <ap888 at lafn.org>
Dawson wrote:
>
>Cockburn just wants to get stoned and chase girls...
This is low-down slander and Doug you should not allow it.
Marta************
But Marta herself is coming very close to making similar attacks on all who disagree with her. I find her personal attacks on Shiavo himself to be of this sort. Accusing him (or others involved) of bad faith is politically regressive.
I have three children. In a similar situation I would expect them not to oppose whatever choice Jan might make. My father lived two years in a vegetative state with a feeding tube, placed in him at my mother's demand. I thought she was wrong, but I didn't make a public fuss. The last words my father spoke to me before a further stroke silenced him permanently were, "I wish I was dead." Had it been my choice I would have honored that wish.
Carrol