WisdomWorld

Depending on how you look at it, it’s either really, really late or way too early. It’s 4:37 a.m., and I’ve just ended up watching MSNBC for most of the night. The focus was on the NATO bombing of Serbia, but there also was a small piece on the Kevorkian case and the conviction on 2nd degree murder which was handed down on Friday.This particular segment on MSNBC was a prime example of how the media by and large plays their own games with their own agenda when it comes to reporting news. It’s not even a matter of giving all sides of any ‘issue’ equal and fair play, but it’s about “what is good for ratings” and “what can further the goals of the powers-that-be of this organization”.

There were several panelists being asked questions about the Kevorkian trial, but amazingly enough, they were nearly all some sort of attorney. There wasn’t a single person on the show which was any kind of advocate of “the right to die” or any supporters of Kevorkian. MSNBC had stacked the deck to further its own goals.

These various and sundry prosecutors and generic ambulance chasers talked as they always do, about the importance of the conviction, with no regard as to whether or not the law which is involved in the case is morally right or wrong. They talked about things which in the end have no real bearing on anybody’s lives who count in this mess. They talked about ‘legal finesse’, not about human suffering.

There wasn’t one person on the panel who gave even lip service concerning the basic fundamental right of an individual, who is otherwise of sound mind, to decide their own fate. In particular, the right of an individual who sees nothing left in life but pain and suffering for themselves and their loved ones to choose to no longer suffer. The morons on this panel discussed ’statutes’ and ‘legal procedures’. Like any blood sucking parasitic lawyer, the focus was on themselves.

I was truly disgusted. Disgusted with the farce of a trial, disgusted with MSNBC and all the people who would take a personal and private matter which is already painful enough, and make it something “for the village to decide.”

Kevorkian was barely incidental in this. He made something which was already horrible for this man and his family less horrible than it might have been. I suppose these panelists would have preferred that Thomas Youk put a shotgun barrel to his chin instead.

The bottom line is, this is MY life. If I have an illness which is torturing me and by extension my family, causing me physical pain and/or emotional torment for me and my loved ones, it is my decision to make if I decide that life is no longer worth living. Nobody else on this planet has the right to decide this for me. If your religion or conscience or whatever tells you that ending your life to end your suffering is wrong, well, more power to you. However, you ONLY have the right to choose this for YOURSELF. You do not have the right to impose your belief on anyone else. Dr. Kevorkian shouldn’t even have been on trial. The freedom to make our own decisions concerning our own destiny was what was really on trial… and we lost.

-Eric

written by Eric Tune

To those of you in the know, greetings from reality. I say those of you in the know, because sadly, some of you don’t, in fact, know. Let’s take the state of Michigan, for example, a large mass of clueless people.

The state of Michigan is larger than many countries in the world in both land mass and population, and you would think they would “get it”. But they don’t. While the rest of us teeter on the brink of the 21st century, Michigan is still enforcing “blue” laws and prosecuting people for swearing in public and other such nonsense. The people of the state have continuously elected the epitome of bureaucratic BS artists who care more about catering to the special interest groups than for the rights of the common people who live there. Now, as I tee off on Michigan, let’s examine the latest event to put the state in the “slimelight”.

Now unless you have been living in a broom closet for the past decade you should at least be familiar in passing with Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He is the doctor that has helped over 130 people who were in the grip of horrifically painful, terminal illnesses to end their suffering.

Dr. Kevorkian, aka “the suicide doctor”. The state of insanity….er…Michigan has seen fit to prosecute 70 year-old Dr. Kevorkian for murder. His alleged victim: Thomas Youk, a 52 year-old man who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The state of Michigan has a law against “assisted suicide”. To Michigan, a person does not have the right to choose whether or not they want to live in agony, causing both suffering for themselves and their loved ones. No, in Michigan, you have to live with it. How did this incredibly STUPID law get on the books in the first place? Well, again, there’s that broom closet looming, because we all know how laws like these get on the books: special interest groups. Interest groups have the power and money to lobby the lawmakers. So who is responsible?

Lets see… how about doctors, for starters. No, not all of them, but some of them have a lot to lose if “assisted suicide” were an option on your insurance formulary. How? Well, many doctors get paid umpteen thousands of dollars by keeping you or your loved one hooked up to expensive machines which can basically keep you technically alive indefinitely. You stay in the hospital on the machine, with it breathing for you, pumping your blood, filtering your blood, etc., the hospital staff coming in to care for you as if you were a houseplant, and the insurance pays for it, and pays for the doctor to visit your living corpse every so often and … BAM, $1500 dollars for him to come in off the fairway to see if you’ve flat-lined yet. On today’s technology, the doctor’s going to be getting paid for a long time.

How about the good Reverend So-and-so. Isn’t it a sin in the Christian religion to commit suicide? They claim that only their God has the right to choose when you die, and that by choosing for yourself, you’ve sinned. To them, you’ve got to suffer in agony until their “benevolent” deity decides you’ve had enough.

But wait! Isn’t this a mixing of “church and state”, which is supposedly against the law? Yeah, it is. But these church groups have got so many unfortunately clueless people in their herds, that they have a near endless supply of money coming in from “donations” (extortion, but that’s another story) given by their herd members who are only trying to save their souls….that they have the money and political muscle to push for the kinds of laws that have people being put in jail for swearing, and for helping somebody end their years of suffering. Amen, pass the tax write-off.

Who else stands to lose if assisted suicide were legal? Pharmaceutical companies, even insurance companies. Do these matter? In a world of moral right and moral wrong, hell no. What matters is the wishes of the mentally competent but suffering individual who chooses not to suffer anymore.

Now, the first question in this Kevorkian case that begs answering is: How can you be accused of murdering someone who asks, no, begs you to end his life, and thus end their suffering? How can this happen? Answer: It can’t. You can’t have a murder if there is no victim. A victim, by definition, is “an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance.” Now Thomas Youk, by definition, cannot be called a victim of murder. A murder victim is someone who was killed against their will, not who wanted to die to end their suffering. Thomas Youk was a victim of fate, and a victim of a horrible disease, but not of a crime committed by Jack Kevorkian.

This farce of a trial is ongoing. Dr. Kevorkian may have made a tactical error in deciding to represent himself in the case, against the advice of his attorneys. So far, the cards have come up badly against him. Judge Jessica Cooper prevented Dr. Kevorkian from calling his first witness, Thomas Youk’s widow, Melody.

Amazingly, rather than trying to do what is right versus what is wrong, the prosecutors in the case, in order to keep the jury from hearing about the suffering of Thomas Youk, dropped the charges of “assisted suicide” against Kevorkian, leaving the charge of murder and effectively denying Kevorkian his right to due process by denying him the right to produce witnesses in his defense. The prosecutors are not concerned with any sort of justice in the case, but only in getting a conviction on the man who has so far eluded their grasp. (Tried four times, Dr. Kevorkian was acquitted three times, and one trial resulted in a mistrial).

My hope is that Dr. Kevorkian is “crazy like a fox” in representing himself. With the pirana-like prosecutors smelling blood in the water by denying Kevorkian his right to present his witnesses, he may lose the case…. But then again you don’t get to take your case to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, by winning your case. If Dr. Kevorkian loses in Oakland County, Michigan, he may still win in front of the Supreme Court justices, which would make anything else patently stupid that Michigan does regarding assisted suicide unconstitutional. This may be what Dr. Kevorkian wants all along, and I sure hope he’s got a plan. Like many people, I think it’s pretty damn stupid that the people who making the laws against assisted suicide have never been the ones who’ve had to suffer through an excruciatingly painful, terminal illness, or been the friend or family member of someone who has. Maybe if they were made to suffer like these patients suffer, they might think twice about the manure they shovel and try to pass off as laws…but that is hoping for a lot.

This story isn’t finished yet. When I know more, you’ll know more.

END PART 1 OF….

Eric

Enough is enough already! Barely a year has gone by since the federal “pilot program” was put into place that required us to purchase use permits in order to enter and enjoy, among other places, the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Now, as a further insult, more fees are going to be tacked onto our enjoyment of public places.

Now don’t think that I mind paying my own way for my own recreational activities. If I expect running water, electricity and toilets, by gum I’ll pay. I do, however, have a problem paying for services that I don’t use, or for that matter, services that don’t exist.

I guess a little background is in order, right? Well, it goes like this. Congress decided that recreation areas across the country needed financial assistance in their quest to fulfill their charge of providing quality recreation services to the public. To remedy this they put into place a program, on a trial basis, to test the feasibility of charging user fees to the people that actually use the federally owned recreation areas. The plan required that a reasonable fee be charged and that all the money raised be used to improve recreational facilities in the areas that raised the money.

In short, all money raised by a recreation area will stay in that recreation area. No, I repeat, NO ‘Robin Hooding’. No stealing from the area that manages to raise a lot of bank and in turn feeding it to the recreation area ghettos. Great in theory, but…

THIS IS THE GOVERNMENT, MAN!

IT…AIN’T…GONNA…WORK!

Don’t forget, this is a bureaucracy! Packed full of un-elected bureaucrats who feel the continuing need to justify their positions in our hip pockets: right behind the family pictures and next to the credit cards. In the pocket book, baby!

This is how it really works.

The fee gets instituted and coffers overflow.
The bureaucrats watch closely, frothing at the mouth, to see how full the bank gets.
Next year’s budget gets cut by just that much and some pet project back east gets a little.
Now where are we? Right where we started, except we’re paying more for it. How do I know that this is how it will all shake out? It’s already happened.

During the first year of the Flaming Gorge Recreation Area’s involvement in the pilot program its user fees garnered around $190,000.00. Guess how much its funding was cut during its next fiscal year. Yep, you got it. Right there around $190,000.00. Outgoing budget stays the same. Incoming budget stays the same. Washington keeps more. You pay.

Except, it doesn’t stop there. Now, the recreation areas have been baited. They’ve had a brief taste of an overstuffed treasure chest, and they want more. How are they going to get it? How do you think? More fees.

Now, in addition to the user fee, the public will be charged another couple bucks to be allowed to park at Little Hole or Spillway. So, if you want to go fishing at Little Hole throughout the year it will cost you around $15.00 for a fishing license, plus $5.00 for a conservation stamp, plus $20.00 for an annual use pass, plus $20.00 for an annual parking pass. You’ve already spent $60.00 and you haven’t even tossed a fly at a cutthroat yet. If you plan to sleepover on the river, it’ll cost you another ten greenbacks a night. Six Tenths of a C-Note, plus.

That’s a lot of money for a little peace on the river, no?

It’s time for our public lands to be free of bureaucracy. It’s time for us to be allowed to enjoy what’s ours, and be allowed to use our lands without being harassed and hounded. And, as the great Will Rogers reminded us, “Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”

Later for now,

Wisdom

ometimes, usually when you least expect it, an opportunity pops up. It begins simply enough, starting with a phone call from a friend, or an ad in the classifieds. Quickly it blooms into a full fledged chance to make your life into something better. You start making plans, mapping out all of the new directions that will soon be opened up for you, and dreaming of how you will enjoy what life has to offer.

Then reality sets in and you realize that an opportunity is not a guarantee, and that at a certain point you must cede control of your life to the decision making abilities of strangers. Furthermore, you must have faith that these strangers, who hold your life in their hands, have the knowledge and the sensibility to judge you justly and fairly against the criteria that is applicable to the situation at hand. You confidently face your judges and present your case. After the trial, you are convinced that your future is secure, and your happiness is at hand.

One or two weeks pass by as you wait for the final judgment, and all the while you are living in sort of a translucent dream. Sometimes though, way in the back of your mind, you get an itch that tells you, “This is too good to be true.”

Well, it is. The phone call comes, and as fast as the opportunity appeared, it is gone. What was the opportunity? A job, a career. And the trial? An interview. The judges? Your prospective employers. And you? Still unemployed.

We’ve all been there. We get a chance at a great job, and we get our hopes up. We get to strut our stuff in front of strangers, and brag about what we know and can do. Then we get crushed under the heel of disappointment. Usually, it is the people with whom we would have worked that make the decision, and for whatever reason, they decide that we are not the one for the job. Hopefully, it was a decision based on qualifications, and the person who got the job was truly the person best suited for it. It doesn’t make us feel any better, but in the grander scheme of things, we know it’s for the best.

Sometimes though, we find ourselves in a situation where the decision isn’t made by the people with whom we would be working. Sometimes the decision is made by people that aren’t involved in the work that will be done, and even worse, by people who haven’t the slightest idea what the job requirements are. It’s in these situations where we end up being judged against criteria that is inapplicable to the job we have applied for. It’s in these situations where our expertise and abilities lose their value, and are replaced by trivial, non-job related requirements. Most notably, a college degree.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not here to tell you that you, or anyone else, shouldn’t go to college. College provides a unique environment for learning that almost any person can thrive in and benefit from. However, in many of today’s job markets, skills are required that colleges just don’t provide. The most notable of these are high technology fields. The sad truth is that in many of today’s colleges the term “Computer Sciences” means learning how to operate a word processor. The real “Computer Sciences”, like networking and programming, are taught in expensive, industry run classes that culminate with difficult, nearly impossible to pass, tests. The people who survive the classes and pass the tests become certified specialists. The people who can’t pass the tests? Find another line of work.

These specialists, who distinguish themselves with acronyms like MCSE and MCPS and [x], are hired by multi-billion dollar companies to make sure their computer systems function properly. They are trusted with millions of dollars of equipment and the continuing operability of Fortune 500 firms. Why? Because they are well trained and know how to do their jobs. They are the cream of the crop. The top of their field.

They do, however, lack something that some employers still insist on. Namely, a piece of paper that says they went to an accredited college. A degree. In fact, many employers are still choosing to fill their high-tech related positions with unqualified applicants who happen to have a degree, passing over highly qualified applicants who chose another form of non-traditional education. The biggest offender of all? Our education system. Specifically, our higher education system.

It seems that nothing threatens a traditional higher education establishment that someone who became competent in their field of work without the help of that traditional higher education establishment. Why, the idea is appalling that someone should become a highly paid, highly trained, highly qualified individual without their help! Simply put, colleges feel that if they hire a non-traditionally educated person to fill a position, it will be an example to their traditional students that traditional education isn’t a necessity for a good career, thereby diminishing their own importance in the grand scheme of things. In even simpler terms, less enrollment, less money. Does that make you feel any better?

And the result? Our publicly funded colleges are hiring unqualified applicants to fill specialized high-tech jobs simply because they went to a traditional college. In fact, the specialization of the degree does not even need to be related to the employment they seek! Because of the old fashioned attitudes of the traditional education institutions, our money is being unwisely spent on untrained individuals, and the students are suffering because of a lack of qualified personnel in their learning institutions. This includes systems administrators, programmers, and teachers that are being hired who are untrained and unqualified.

Who would you rather be responsible for keeping your school’s WindowsNT network system operating? A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer/Microsoft Certified Professional who has been working on WindowsNT systems for years, or a two year college graduate with minimal experience working with WindowsNT systems. Now ask yourself who you would rather have teaching your child, or even you, how to operate a WindowsNT network. Someone who is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Microsoft Certified Professional, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer; or would you prefer to learn it from someone who has a degree in “Computer Sciences” and knows how to use a word processor.

-Wisdom

Y2K.

The buzzword of 1999.

If you haven’t heard it, you’ve been living in the wilderness with no electricity or running water for past several years. If you’re a net junky, you know all about it. If you’re an investor, it has you more than a little worried. If you’re a doomsayer, you’re convinced it is the harbinger of the world’s end.

Wisdom, however, has a different view. I believe the new millennium will bring with it an end to the U.S. dollar’s dominance over the world currency market. “What?! Has Wisdom lost his marbles?” you might ask. Well, maybe. Bear with me though, and maybe you will understand my reasoning.

From the time our forefathers fashioned the first United States coins out of silverware they robbed from their wives kitchens, Americans have always loved and taken pride in their money. As a country we have spent a countless fortune designing, printing, and stamping our beloved dollars. The detail of the engraving and the overall artistic beauty have always been points of amour propre in our country’s history. Even as a child, I remember, my friends and I examined our dollars with a magnifying glass, in search of any secret that the green and yellow bills might divulge. We were excited to find the little red and blue fibers woven throughout our money, and it was with no little amount of conceit that I announced to my compatriots that I had found the legendary, long hidden owl peeking out from behind shield in the upper right corner of the one dollar bill (though some argued that it was a spider).

We have always revered our money, not for its value as currency, but more for its more intrinsic value of beauty. When other countries have been forced to spend cheap, ugly paper, we have been proud to spend our finely ordained fabric. We have always been proud of our “Green Backs”, even when other countries had begun to learn their lesson and start using more colorful decorative money. When a foreign traveler would question me about how we could tell the difference between our bills when they were the same size and color, I was always ready to show them differentiating artwork, unique to each denomination.

It has been this deep seeded respect for our currency that has allowed Americans, by shear force of will, to make the U.S. dollar the world’s most dominant currency.

“So what’s changed? Why does Wisdom think this is the end for our money’s ‘World Championship Title’,” you ask?

My answer? Our money has lost what differentiated it from it’s top contenders. It has lost that which elevated it in our hearts and minds to something we could love and respect. It has lost its art.

Simply put, the new series of American money, which made its debut in 1996 and is scheduled to be fully released in the new millennium, lacks character, artistry, and individuality. No longer does our money carry on its front and back the unique scroll work, or pleasingly intricate fonts that have graced our bills for generations. Gone is the finely ornate details that differentiated the denominations, allowing us to know at a glance what bill we were holding. The new bills are differentiated only by the central presidential portrait on the front, the real estate ad on the back, and the digits in its eight corners. Beyond that, they are virtual carbon copies of one another, challenging even those of us who handle cash every day to tell the difference between a $20 and a $50 while making hurried retail sales.

Every day I hear customers complain, “Man, that new money is ugly,” and, “Don’t those new bills look counterfeit?” I have yet to meet one person who was pleased with new design. Our new currency is, sadly, a badly conceived generic reproduction of what it could have been. If only the federal reserve had spent a little more time thinking about what our money stands for, instead of how to make it more modern.

As we’re now saddled with currency that we no longer respect, the top contenders have laid down the challenge and slapped us in the face with a white glove. That glove being known as the “Euro”. The European Community has stepped up to the plate with a consolidated currency, that, while being an economically ingenious idea, has something else that will make it superior in the coming millennium. Beauty. If you have seen the samples of this new series of European money, you know what I am talking about. The “Euro” is, in my opinionated opinion, the most beautifully designed currency in the history of the I.O.U. It is colorful, detailed, artistic, and represents the best of what Europe has to offer. Even their coins are jewels of ingenuity, while our new “shrunken head” quarters seem dim comparisons to what they used to be. The artistry represented in their money is something they will all be able to take pride in, to cherish, and to respect. It is that pride, as it was ours, that will allow them, by shear force of will, to propel the “Euro” into the top spot in our world economy.

Oh well, maybe second place won’t be so bad.

Oh yeah, happy new millennium.

-Wisdom