"Your Life, Your Choices" is Back

In today's news:

"Specter Calls for Hearings on End-of-Life Care Guide for Veterans"
FOXNews (August 23, 2009)

"Sen. Arlen Specter on Sunday called for hearings to scrutinize a guide for veterans' end-of-life care which one former Bush official says sends a 'hurry-up-and-die' message to injured troops.

"The guide, called 'Your Life, Your Choices,' was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs...."

Arlan Specter is one of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's United States Senators. He's also a Democrat, and has a (sadly) traditional American view of abortion. His official website reads, in part: "...Finally, I am personally opposed to abortion, but I am a supporter of a woman's right to choose...." (Issues & Legislation / Key Issues /Health Care: Prevention, Treatment, and Education Programs, excerpt copied August 23, 2009)

Sure, it's 'nice' to be equivocal on 'divisive' issues: but I've yet to hear a senator say he's personally opposed to slavery or cannibalism, but feels that it's a matter of personal choice. (May 19, 2009)

I think it's interesting that as 'open minded' a senator as Specter seems concerned about the "Your Life, Your Choices" guide. And, I hope that more than a little clique of senators gets a chance to see what's in the current version - before it's been distributed to all American veterans who no longer measure up to some physical standard.

There's an opinion that's taken root some American subcultures, that there's a sharp division between a person's 'spiritual' life and 'real' life. A person's 'spiritual' life is personal, private, and isn't supposed to intrude on public life - unless the person is against pollution, or something groovy.

I can't work that way. For starters, I recognize that spiritual matters are quite real. And:

• As a Catholic citizen, I'm expected to get involved
  (September 24, 2008)
• 'Life issues' are important
  (November 2, 2008)
• Government agencies getting involved in life-and-death decisions don't have the best track record
  (July 26, 2009)

Related posts:

• "Inconvenient Classes of Persons and Health Care"
  (July 26, 2009)
• "Organ Transplants, a Boy's Life, and Japanese Laws and Customs: This Catholic's View"
  (June 14, 2009)
• "Medical Ethics and Human Experimentation: Why I Take it Personally"
  (February 3, 2009)
• "Obama, Abortion, and Being Nice"
  (May 19, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Divisiveness isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing
• "The Catholic Church Won't Even Let People Kill Themselves"
  (January 28, 2009)
• "Conservative? Liberal? Democrat? Republican? No, I'm Catholic"
  (November 3, 2008)
• "Life: It's a Single Issue, and an Important One"
  (November 2, 2008)
• "Capital Punishment: Killing Those Who Deserve to Die"
  (October 2, 2008)
• "Elections and Citizenship, Catholic Style"
  (September 24, 2008)

In the news:

"Specter Calls for Hearings on End-of-Life Care Guide for Veterans"
FOXNews (August 23, 2009) >