Hitler and the disabled—the slippery slope of the left

https://www.lifenews.com/2019/09/13/before-the-nazis-killed-jews-they-euthanized-hundreds-of-thousands-of-disabled-people/

The article he refers to appeared in the NYT in 2017, and there's a pay wall, but this is a decent summary--if there can be anything decent about the Nazis. The Democrats, Antifa, BLM, Occupy movement and pink hat Trump haters and Hollywood celebs have cheapened that word and its memories. I had read about this years ago, but many people don't know that methods were tested on the disabled. Germany actually had some outstanding facilities for children and adults with challenges. Imagine the horror of the parents and siblings who came to visit or look for them! Hitler also learned from the Turks who slaughtered many thousands of Armenians. It's the power of the state--National Socialism (aka Nazi)--and it's the very thing President Trump is resisting. But Trump's enemies are clever--they know that most people don't know history, don't know the meaning of words, even, and that the big lie can be repeated and repeated until their minds are mushy. Hitler's socialist model first killed his own citizens before moving beyond the borders.

France seeks to end life of disabled man

Pro-life is advocating for your protection at the other end, too. The government of France is trying to kill a disabled man, even though his family takes care of him.

"Euthanasia is illegal in France. However, a 2005 law allows physicians to refrain from using “disproportionate” treatments “with no other effect than maintaining life artificially.”

Lambert, 42, has been a tetraplegic and severely disabled for more than 10 years, after he sustained severe head injuries in a traffic accident in 2008."

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/french-court-orders-severely-disabled-man-be-disconnected-from-food-water

Actually, none of us can survive without help at any age

 

“Every strong woman was once a helpless child.”

And we still are.  That part of our humanity doesn’t change, there are just degrees.  I don’t grow my own food or make my own clothes or drive a van that I put together. I’m much more helpless than my Ohio great great grandmothers who could manage chickens, gardens and trim a lamp wick and help the neighbors birth the babies.

The issue is life, not helplessness. At both ends of the spectrum.  I chatted with my friend Rosalie at the grocery store on Thursday who is the care giver for her 90 year old husband who can’t leave the house, or even the floor he is living on. His mind is good, but his body has failed him.  Take care—they may be after the unborn now, but they are also going after the ones who can’t fight back.

Watch out for POLST. http://www.cathmed.org/resources/polst/  POLST is spreading rapidly across the United States as a result of a concerted campaign by euthanasia advocacy groups, including Open Society (George Soros).

What exactly are the Democrats’ policies?

The Democrat policies you say you care about are:  “Most are in the area of social issues: common-sense gun control, affordable health care for all (can't wrap my head around the fact that gun ownership is a right, but healthcare is a privilege), increase in federal minimum wage so it at least matches the poverty level minimum, pro-choice.”

They all sound rather vague, but that’s not what the Democrat party means with those words.

1.  We all know the issue isn’t “gun control,” because some of the worst disasters have happened in cities that have that.  The goal is confiscation for all except the government and private security guards to protect entertainers and politicians.  It’s never been anything else.  Democrats are almost as patient as terrorists—and it is always incremental.

2.  Healthcare—we already had 5 federal/state medical plans before Obama decided to make NOT having it a crime punishable with a fine or jail time. Native Americans have had cradle to grave health care for many years, and they are the least healthy and poorest of American minorities—at least if they live on the reservation. My brother-in-law was a full blood Indian who grew up in Huntington Beach, CA, and used all the rights and privileges the rest of us have, plus a few from his tribe. He had a public employee pension, but died at 73, not for lack of health care, but lack of agreeing to a colonoscopy.  I think it was the take over of one of the largest industries that Republicans objected to.  If he had begun without the mandate, or not forcing religious groups to buy contraception/abortion, he would have had no problem growing it to single payer. But it was never about healthcare, it was always about power.  Also, the government no matter who is in the White House is eyeing the deductions or credits for medical care by employers and employees—they (it) believe that is rightfully their money.

3.  We already have 123 federal wealth transfer programs, and many started out to help the sick, poor, elderly, etc., (those who tug at our heart strings), but as time goes on more people are added as they expand, until now we’re at the point that 62% of the people who receive entitlements or assistance are well above the poverty line. Nonpoor households received 48% of the $2.4 TRILLION distributed in 2015.  And about 31% were in the upper half. There’s just something about a government entitlement plan that is like our waist sizes (at least mine) and expands as we age.  These programs don’t necessarily reduce poverty, but they certainly employ a lot of middle class bureaucrats in state and federal government.  If poverty were to disappear tomorrow, on Thursday we’d have a new class of poor—all those folks who work upstream from the poor. (figures from “The high cost of good intentions” by John F. Cogan, 2017)

4.  As far as minimum wage goes, that’s another feel-good, guilt trip.  A tiny fraction of wage earners are at minimum—I think  it’s 2.9% of all workers.  And even at the old $7.50/hr figure, if a 2 adult earner household was working 40 hours a week at $7.50, that household has gone beyond the level for qualifying for most important benefits like SNAP, Medicaid, Section 8, WIC, etc. Low income doesn’t mean stupid, so if it were me at that job, I’d cut my hours or refuse a promotion so I could continue qualifying for about $22,000 a year in benefits. It’s quite possible for EITC for a man with a family to have a stay at home wife and 3-4 kids who is better off than the man earning $60,000/year because the government pays him to earn below $50,000 and it’s non-taxable. The average family income of a minimum wage earner is $53,113 and they are more likely to have some college than the average American worker. Why?  They are not the primary earner of the family!

5.  And pro-choice.? Well, there goes your concern for the weakest and most vulnerable in society. Again this is incremental.  All the talk these days from the left is that abortion is OK right through the full 9 months—it’s legal to poke a hole in the skull to make sure the baby’s dead on arrival, and the more radical Democrats have moved that to 2 years out from birth. It will come.  Soon the Democrats’ drive for euthanasia of the elderly and severely ill will meet up in the middle with their desire to end the lives of children who are not perfect or who come at an inconvenient time.  At the age of my readers and family, it might be wise to have your EOL documents stated clearly, because the Democrat party is coming for you.

https://www.cathmed.org/assets/files/LNQ59%20FINAL.pdf 

A response:

Norma;

I really like the point that you are making about the slow incremental loss of freedoms, rights and government intrusion in every facet of our lives.

And I share your concerns that will be happening to the old folks and agree that you need to work on a plan.

There is always this argument about being reasonable and accepting of progress and small changes but when you look at it over time the impact on the American Way of Life is significant.

While not directly germane to the border security discussion, it is relevant to the issue of slowly stripping law abiding citizens of their rights and putting government in control over every aspect of our lives, whether it is healthcare, education, physical movement, gun ownership, property ownership, etc. etc.

I see this with my two youngest kids in elementary school. We live in Maryland.   The school supplies that we buy become community property – property ownership is one of the hallmarks of capitalism and freedom (and communism the opposite).  The result is that the kids go through 100 pencils, 10 erasers, … a head per year and the teachers beg for more before the school year is over because they have run out.   Sounds like the Kolkhoz (State owned Farm) in the Sowjet Union that could never succeed of making a fraction of their crop plan and had to import most their grain from the USA.       

The kids and parents are highly discouraged to pay for lunch with cash out of their wallet – learning the use of money is fundamental to a capitalistic society.  Result, the kids have a lunch account and have no concept of what stuff costs and how to make choices. Sounds like Obamacare for the low income people.

  A month ago, I learned that the children are no longer taught cursive writing. I was told that WE ONLY TEACH PRINTED LETTERS for the last 5 years now.  When I raised the issue that they would never be able to attain a decent speed of writing, I was told, that the direction is that at some point the kids would only be typing.

DOES ANYBODY UNDERSTAND THAT THIS SETS UP A TOTAL SURVEILLANCE STATE?

  The children are undergoing mandatory behavioral testing annually which was part of common core legislation under Obama.   What does this look like. It’s frightening. It reminds of how the Communists identified those who were potential dangers for the dictatorship regime.

The kids read a story about some animal pet that will be put to death UNLESS a child is willing to say some lies. Only with these lies could the pet animal be saved.  The testing involves asking the children various questions about their opinions on this story.

I wrote a letter to the school that I am opting my kids out and they don’t have permission to be testing. They told me there is no ‘opt out’ allowed.  I met with the principal and was redirected to the assistant principal who is in charge of testing.  To my surprise, he confided to me that he as 4 children that will be tested soon and he has been thinking about how he gets around this because knowing what he knows he thinks it’s very dangerous too.  After he explained all of the rules to me we found a loophole around it and it has worked now for the last 3 years. Although I would not be surprised if the authorities will show up at my door step one day.  If you look at the parent group websites in protest of this testing, they have been largely unsuccessful protecting their children.

We had hoped that with a Republican governor this nonsense would stop, but it hasn’t.

So while I don’t own guns, don’t shoot, I have to completely sympathize with the people who want to uphold their constitutional gun rights.

But those rights have been slowly eroding piece by piece and have been converted to hunting rights and gun ownership. The Constitution was not about guns for hunting. It was about safeguards against an oppressive regime.

So it is important to recognize that there are consequences when you allow the forfeiture of citizens rights and you are not paying attention.

Oregon's assisted suicide law by Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada, Agoura Hills, Calif., Jan. 16, 2018
http://www.joniandfriends.org/blog/oregon-assisted-suicide-law/

"Ever since the 1990s when Oregon passed its Death with Dignity Act, I've been working to de-grease its slippery slope. Under the law, physicians may give lethal drugs to patients with terminal illnesses who want to end their lives. The law's proponents have insisted it could only be offered to those who had 6 months or less to live, and was a safety valve when nothing else could be done to alleviate suffering. But not so anymore.

"The Oregon Health Authority (which studies and keeps records on the Death with Dignity Act) now says, 'the law is best seen as a permissive law... it does not compel patients to have exhausted all treatment options, or to continue current treatment.... If the patient decides they don't want treatment, that is their choice.' In an eerie tone, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) said the law is 'silent on whether the patient must exhaust all treatment options.'

"This spells bad news for people with chronic conditions such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, ALS, or even diabetes. Many people with chronic conditions rely on medication or other supports to enable them to live for decades. But what if people with disabilities begin to despair of their condition? What if insurance runs out? Citing an example, the OHA said that if you are a diabetic in Oregon and decide to forgo insulin injections, you could qualify for a lethal prescription under the state's physician-assisted suicide law.

"It is true that no one with diabetes has yet taken advantage of this new interpretation of the law, but the door is now open, inviting any Oregonian despairing of his disabling condition to test the law's new interpretation and request assisted suicide. Such cases are already successful in Canada and in Western Europe, showing how slick the slope is in Western industrialized nations.

"This is one reason why I recently revised my book When Is It Right to Die? I wanted to give Christ-followers a keen understanding of the arguments surrounding physician-assisted suicide, as well as give them language for articulating a biblical worldview on life, no matter how disabled or elderly one's life might be. People are not 'better off dead than disabled,' and life is worth living until God decides it is time.

"Christians can provide life-encouraging alternatives to assisted suicide by providing hands-on support to persons with disabilities who are despairing of their lives. Christians can ascribe positive meaning to a person's affliction, prevent social isolation, help them deal with depression, provide spiritual community, and, in short, be a friend. This is compassionate care; not the administration of lethal drugs.

"In 1997 the US Supreme Court ruled that there was no inherent 'right to die' in the U.S. Constitution. But that did not stop states from creating legislation based on people's perception of a 'right' to die. Oregon was the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide for mentally competent people with terminal illnesses. California, Colorado, Vermont and Washington also have enacted similar laws based on the Oregon model (Montana's Supreme Court ruled that nothing in state law prevents physicians from helping terminally ill patients end their lives).

"People who feel overwhelmed by their chronic medical conditions do not need assisted-suicide; they need treatment for depression, good pain management, social community, support, help, hope, and a purpose for living. Christians have the message that gives life meaning, and helps people grasp that life is worth living. I pray Christians will do all they can to expose the dangers behind this new and chilling interpretation of a terminal illness."

Assisted suicide gaining acceptance in Canada. Are we next?

This report says 70% of Canadian Catholics accept euthanasia and 70% of evangelical Protestants don't. Here's what the catechism says: "“Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded” (2277).

The legal assisted suicide rate in Canada since the law changed in 2016 is now 3x higher than Belgium which led the way in 2003, with difference in size taken into consideration. Yes, it's a suicide slippery slope, but also a slide begun in the 20th century as abortion for any reason (gender selection, deformities, convenience, shame) became popular and accepted in society

“The fact remains that the only clear line is to kill or not to kill. Once you have accepted killing as an acceptable response to human difficulty, then the only remaining question is: Who can be killed and under what circumstances?” he said."

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/canadas-slippery-suicide-slope

Life is the most important guarantee

President Trump had a fruitful "first" day Monday. I was a one issue voter--life--both at the beginning and the end. Here are some promises he made, so let's see what's to come or if this is just more "hope and change" lies for pro-lifers.

• Nominate a pro-life conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Appoint strong pro-life judges to the Federal Courts.
• Defund Planned Parenthood.
• Pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act banning abortions at 20 weeks and later....
• Repeal and replace Obamacare and the abortion mandate that forces the insured to pay for abortions and abortifacient drugs.

He rescinded Obama's rescinding of the Mexico City Policy of President Reagan which took tax payer funding from "non-profits" (when I think of the millions PP rakes in every day that term makes me gag) working in foreign countries to promote or require abortions.  China under its one child policy has required/enforced the killing of 400,000,000 Chinese babies, a large number through sex selection.  It's perhaps the most anti-woman policy in the world and has now destablilized its population with nearly 60 million young men who can't marry or start a family resulting in sex trafficking.

But at the other end, the era I'm now most familiar with we have Holland and Belgium with very aggressive legal euthanasia policies in place and Canada and some states legalizing "assisted suicide." I've only been sick 2 weeks, but with nerve pain in my face, eye and jaw (shingles) and the flu and a bad cold, I could probably have been talked into a quiet death with just a little persuasion. The elderly are very vulnerable. Our illnesses are no fun nor is losing our physical abilities, our parents, friends, and loved ones.

Watch out.  They are coming for us.

Should we be looking to Europe for guidance in health care?

In Europe they are combining euthanasia and organ harvesting how-to symposia to specifically target the disabled. Their organs are less likely to be damaged by diseases or accidents. Remember those death panels that weren't in Obamacare? They were in the Stimulus. Hitler went after the disabled before he targeted the Jews. It's important to desensitize the populace. Even liberals can get squeamish.

 http://www.west-info.eu/belgium-euthanasia-transplantation-organs/

In Holland and Belgium they are probably wondering what the fuss is about in the Kermit Gosnell trial. The Lancet reports that about 8% of their infants who die--80-90 a year--are euthanized. And that was 1997--probably higher today. Sure, Gosnell was messy and spreading diseases to his patients, but the babies? Collateral damage of the pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, anti-life movement. Perhaps the Nazis won after all?

 http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)02315-5/abstract

Do not underestimate the power of the culture of death

"We’ve learned that what was unimaginable one day can become reality the next. Today, pressures for euthanasia are building; developments in biomedicine are occurring with such speed that they have outpaced reflection on their moral implications; experiments on human embryos are fostering a mentality that treats the lives of the weak as means to the ends of the strong; and the freedoms of religion and conscience are coming under increasing threat.

Thirty years ago, who could have imagined such a thing as partial-birth abortion! When I ask myself why so many people have been slow to realize how easily today’s atrocity can become tomorrow’s routine, one answer I come up with is that it was due in part to a failure to realize something very important about choice, namely that choices last.

Each time we make policy on abortion, euthanasia, or embryonic experimentation, we are changing the moral ecology of our country. We are either helping to build the culture of life or cooperating with the culture of death. It hasn’t helped that the elite media, the powerful foundations, the sex industry, and the vast profit-making abortion industry have done their best to disguise the truth of what was happening."
Mary Ann Glendon

Obama's cost cutting measure--recommending death

The scariest thing in the whole bill, if you're over 65 or disabled by an accident or disease (others are included in Medicare, not just seniors) is this

"One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."

This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?

For more fun and games read McCaughey's entire article, and check the link to the 1018 page bill. It's zipping around the internet via e-mail (thanks Charlie), but it's always a good idea to check the original source, rather than a forward. After the Terri debacle my husband and I wrote up all our end-of-life instructions, and even after 45 years of marriage and knowing each other longer, we disagreed on what certain terms meant and delved into the medical literature. Don't assume someone you know well understands your values and beliefs or your tolerance for pain. Put it in writing. And certainly don't leave it up to the government to counsel you when you're ill and vulnerable.

If it weren't so serious, it would be funny

I was reading through comments left at my church blog written over 3 years ago. I was describing dehydration and starvation as a medical treatment--and it wasn't about Terri, but about an elderly man I knew, whose daughters were trying to go around the stepmother's wishes. My list for his end of life included:

· Dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose throat and genital organs)
· Constipation
· Impaction (buildup of stool in the body), severe abdominal cramping and bloating, nausea and vomiting
· Electrolyte imbalances (salt and water problems in the blood and tissues)
· Arrhythmias (heart problems); myalgias and malaise (muscle pain and marked fatigue)
· Cough and shortness of breath
· Severe depression and confusion, severe agitation and fear, delusions
· Dry, cracked skin
· Urinary, vaginal and bowel infection
· Bronchitis and pneumonia
· Blood in the bowel, stomach, kidney and lungs, kidney failure
· General systemic collapse and death

Three comments were left, either by spam bots or real people with bad English who surf the internet with key words. 1) If you suffer these symptoms . . ., 2) I have the pleasure of visiting your site. . .contact______for medical services, 3) You may want to read about obesity. . .

The irony of a spammer or bot trying to help when the wife and staff were colluding to kill him.