History is the record of what has happened in human affairs, which we track through written records, artifacts or individual stories. Part of the fun of history is finding out why things happened the way they did — and sometimes why things didn’t happen the way they might have.
Well, I'm back. Truthfully I forgot about this blog. Since the last time here I celebrated with Patsy our 50th year of marriage and yesterday, I reached age 76. C & H Sugar has again changed ownership. It is now owned by the Fanjul interests. The bought Domino from Tate and Lyle. But the refining of cane sugar will continue. Enough for now.
It seems to me that the attitude toward the conflict and its results are approaching that expressed about the War Between the States:
"Sunday a solider of Company A died and was buried.
Everything went on as if nothing had happened, for death
is so common that little sentiment is wasted. It is not like death
at home."
-Elisha Hunt Rhodes, 1863
While I generally agree with the position of the Church, in this case I think they ought not to tie their "friend of the court" filing to the US Controlled Substance Act. MD's often are reluctant to prescribe sufficient medications to relieve pain. This only makes it worse.
U.S. Bishops File Brief in Assisted Suicide Case Supreme Court to Rule on Oregon Lawsuit Zenit
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The U.S. bishops asked the Supreme Court to uphold the attorney general's interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act when deciding an assisted suicide case next term.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today, the bishops, in conjunction with other religious organizations, requested that the court consider the conclusions of the office of the attorney general that found that assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical practice under the Controlled Substances Act.
This interpretation was struck down by a Ninth Circuit court decision in the case Gonzales v. State of Oregon, now before the Supreme Court.
The attorney general concluded that "there is a difference between assisting suicide and managing pain, and that the former is not a legitimate medical purpose within the meaning of the Controlled Substances Act," the brief said.
"Enforcing the distinction leads to improvements in patient care. Blurring the distinction has been harmful to patients and jeopardized their care," it stated.
The brief noted that medicine by its very definition aims to prevent illness, to heal, and to alleviate pain. "Taking a human life accomplishes none of these objectives. To say that it does creates an inherent contradiction, like saying that the legitimate practice of law includes helping clients break the law."
Other organizations signing the brief are: the California Catholic Conference, Oregon Catholic Conference, Washington State Catholic Conference, Catholic Health Association of the United States, and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. ZE05051029
OF course I can't take credit for Pink Floyd's words, but I like them.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
...You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
...Every year is getting shorter; never seem to find the time...
-- "Time" from The Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd
Hardly original with me.....
Problems of Time Perception
It's common knowledge that our perception of the passage of time can be influenced by psychological factors: time flies when we're busy, but really drags when we're waiting. (Stare at a clock and wait for a minute to pass. Or wait for the commercials to end, or for Windows to load!) These are generally short term experiences, but what of long periods of time such as years? Is there something other than transient psychological factors affecting our time perception?
We usually think about the years of our lives in terms of decades: our teens, twenties, thirties, etc. This is an implicitly linear view: that all our years are equal; that clock time is our time, through which we move at a uniform pace.
Great Spirit of the West,
the land of the setting Sun,
with Your soaring mountains
and free, wide rolling prairies,
bless us with knowledge
of the peace which follows effort
of striving and the freedom
which emits like a flowing robe
in the winds of a well-lived life.
Teach us that the end is better
than the beginning
and that the setting sun
is glorious and our lives
not lived in vain.
