Worst Persons for March 8 2011
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As we ask, three hours after it began, if Florida Governor Rick Scott's "State Of My Ego" speech is over yet, here are the Worst Persons of the Day:
The bronze goes to one of the other prized salmon from the Koch Brothers' underwater Radical Republican Governor breeding farms, Scott Walker of Wisconsin. You can't say enough about what he's trying to do to public employees and unions, but this isn't about that. This is about the insurrection he appears to be inspiring within his state's GOP. Check out this blog by a former Republican staffer in state government in which he basically says the first three GOP State Senators to publicly denounce Walker's plan and accept the compromises offered by the state employee unions will guarantee themselves political futures while the others perish. Nice work, Ricky.
Our runner-up: Megyn Kelly of Fixed News. I've said it before and been scoffed at. We focus on Billo and Lonesome Rhodes and the morning nincompoops and Hannity and Ollie North, but this one may have the blackest heart of them all. New York reeled last week over the story of Lana Rosas, a 4'11″ woman beaten into a coma because she was trying to hold an open parking spot. The suspect, a man named Oscar Fuller, said she hit him first.
Only Kelly could tweet:
"Kelly's Court" apparently hears cases from the Spanish Inquisition.
But the gold goes to the heartless souls who criticized the purportedly dying 'reddit' poster identifying himself as "Lucidending." Never confirmed nor disproved, "Lucidending" claimed to have had it after six years of fighting lymphoma; had it with the pain, had it with the fear, had it with the burden to his family. So he was going to discontinue his treatment and make use of Oregon's Death With Dignity laws to end his life - and interact online with those who had questions before that end came today.
And as USA TODAY reported:
One post on NeoGAF, a gaming site, said of Lucidending's decision: "That's not courage. Courage would be if he decided to live as long as possible despite the horrible pain."
Not hard-hearted enough for you? Try an allegedly religious website called "Christian Post" which portrays the empathy for Lucidending as "disturbing."
Support for the terminally (or even just the terribly) ill - whether they fight until there is nothing left to fight with, or they leave instructions that they should be treated beyond unconsciousness and as long as a machine can keep their heart beating, or they choose to end life on some other terms - can never be "disturbing."
It is part of our obligation to each other as human beings.
And the decision we support is theirs to make, and ours to counsel, debate, but ultimately to guarantee and if necessary to enact. It is a vow that is more essential than marriage or love, more honorable and worthy than any patriotism, more spiritual than any religion.