Kevorkian to run for Congress as an independent (Michigan- 9th)

[underpants]

Source: CNN

Posted: 10:42 AM ET

Kevorkian says he's running for Congress, according to the Associated Press.
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (AP) — Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian says he is running for Congress.

The 79-year-old Kevorkian has told reporters in Southfield, Michigan, that he is running in the November election as an independent for a congressional seat representing Detroit's suburbs.

He faces incumbent Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg.

Kevorkian claims to have helped at least 130 people die from 1990 until 1998. He was convicted of second-degree murder in one case and spent just over eight years in prison.



Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/24/kevorkian-to-run-for-congress-as-an-independent/

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John Ashcraft is the Democrat running
http://ashcraft06.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=38

Joe Knollenberg
http://www.knollenberg.house.gov/

[BOSSHOG]

1. I appreciate his efforts relative to assisted suicide

although I think he's too old to be elected.

A person should spend a few weeks or months in the Alzheimer's Wing of a Nursing Home and then tell me what constitutes quality of life. If I had such a disease I'd rather be "put down" and have my wife grieve today, then be financially ruined and grieve 5 or 10 years later when I die and not have fiduciary assets to bury me.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Although he is often been portrayed as a nut...

Jack Kevorkian is actually a very progressive thinker. To my knowledge, not one member of any family of those who he assisted in ending their lives have filed any suit of any kind against him. He is well thought of by those families whose loved ones were suffering.

[Catchawave]

3. I thought of him just last week while reading

about that lady with the very disfiguring and painful facial tumors who lost her right to die in the British (?)court.

Jack was way ahead of his time as we treat our companion animals more humanely than our fellow humans.

[Vidar]

4. Not my district, otherwise he'd have my vote.

[Bozita]

5. Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg (Bushie bigtime) is in deep trouble for November.

At least he was ... until Kevorkian.

Old Joe will undoubtedly contribute to Jack's campaign.

IIRC, Knollenberg is one of the Repugs with a Dem bullseye tacked onto his chest.

[SharonRB]

7. Kevorkian could easily play Nader in this race n/t

[Bozita]

8. and like Nader, the GOP will make sure Jack's campaign is well funded.

Jack needs to talk to Fieger soon, real soon.

[SharonRB]

6. John Ashcraft is not running

Gary Peters is the Democrat. Nancy Skinner was also in this race, but withdrew on February 25 so that Democratic resources would not be spent on an expensive primary.

Ashcraft was one of four or five people who started out in the race in '06. Ashcraft and everyone else other than Nancy Skinner dropped out in May of '06. She almost beat Knollenberg -- losing by only 4% despite being outspent 7 to 1. Despite this near win, the DCCC and the MDP have decided to back Peters this year -- although they never should have gotten involved in a primary situation.

[KamaAina]

9. Well don't that beat all! A convicted felon running for office

as an independent rather than a repuke.

Sentiment here seems to be largely pro-assisted suicide. As it turns out, its opponents aren't just a bunch of fundie wingnuts after all! Here's the progressive case against it, by Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, who, I can assure you, is at least as progressive as I am:

http://quartz.he.net/~beyondch/news/index.php?itemid=2474

But the coalition that's formed to oppose the bill, Californians Against Assisted Suicide (http://www.ca-aas.com/) shows a diversity of political opinion that may be surprising to those who have not looked closely at the issue. In opposition are numerous disability rights organizations, generally seen as liberal-leaning; the Southern California Cancer Pain Initiative, a group associated with the American Cancer Society; the American Medical Association and the California Medical Association; and the Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals, which does anti-poverty work in poor communities. Catholic organizations are in the mix, but no one could consider this a coalition of religious conservatives. They represent many groups coming together across the political spectrum. Why?

. MANAGED CARE AND ASSISTED SUICIDE-A DEADLY MIX.

Perhaps the most significant reason is the deadly mix between assisted suicide and profit-driven managed health care. Again and again, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and managed care bureaucracies have overruled physicians' treatment decisions, sometimes hastening patients' deaths. The cost of the lethal medication generally used for assisted suicide is about $35 to $50, far cheaper than the cost of treatment for most long-term medical conditions. The incentive to save money by denying treatment already poses a significant danger. This danger would be far greater if assisted suicide is legal.

Though the bill would prohibit insurance companies from coercing patients, direct coercion is not necessary. If patients with limited finances are denied other treatment options, they are, in effect, being steered toward assisted death. It is no coincidence that the author of Oregon's assisted suicide law, Barbara Coombs Lee, was an HMO executive when she drafted it.

A 1998 study from Georgetown University's Center for Clinical Bioethics underscores the link between profit-driven managed health care and assisted suicide. The research found a strong link between cost-cutting pressure on physicians and their willingness to prescribe lethal drugs to patients, were it legal to do so. The study warns that there must be "a sobering degree of caution in legalizing in a medical care environment that is characterized by increasing pressure on physicians to control the cost of care."

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. Sorry, once a nut, always a nut....

And Jack Kevorkian is a nut.

There's a world of difference ethics-wise between allowing an individual to refuse artificial means to prolong their life (i.e. Terri Schiavo) and actively participating to kill a person prior to natural expiration. The latter is what Jack Kevorkian advocates.

And the idea that a doctor should be the one assisting in a killing is just creepy if you ask me.

[superconnected]

11. an egotistic nut. I read about the families of some of the people he

assisted and they explained the difference between what he used to be and what he turned into.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Why bother...?

Current politicians are already doing a good enough job helping our democracy commit suicide as it is.