Andy’s whereIstand Blog

Or be suspended from school. Okay so this is really from Canada, but It could be straight from the States for all it’s ridiculousness:

The case of a 12-year-old Longueuil boy suspended from school when his mother refused to give him Ritalin has sparked concerns over who is in charge of the medicine cabinet.

Do parents have the right to say "no" when their child’s school says they need prescription drugs?

"Absolutely, they do," said Montreal family law lawyer Alan Stein.

However, Stein said, some parents second-guess themselves when a teacher or school social worker recommends Ritalin, a drug that stimulates the central nervous system and is used mainly to treat attention deficit disorder.

Stein was reacting to the case of Gabriel Lavigueur, who was suspended from Ecole Secondaire St. Jean Baptiste in Longueuil on March 20. He remains out of school.

After two meetings last week with the boy’s mother, Danielle Lavigueur, Stein said he will petition to file a class-action suit this week in her name and on behalf of Quebec parents who believe they have been bullied into putting their children on Ritalin.

The Quebec-wide suit is expected to tap into growing concerns about the long-term consequences of the stimulant that has been called "kiddie cocaine," and on how Quebec schools have become increasingly involved in the Ritalin prescription process.

What business does a school and their paid medical goons have telling parents to put their children on speed? Kids are being severely over-medicated to fit into an out-moded system rather than have the educational system go the route of something like Montessori and actually change to fit the student.

No wonder No Child Left Behind is leaving more children behind than ever before.

This has been Andy D.

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This story is amazing and the DA quoted in this matter says it best:

"It’s extremely bizarre," District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said in a telephone interview. "It’s incredible the amount of ways that people can find to run afoul of the law."

Three men have been arrested on charges of performing castrations on apparently willing participants in a sadomasochistic "dungeon" in a rural house, authorities said Friday.

The world is magic, and humanity is the reason for it. We have the most nutty imaginations that let people do the weirdest crap for even weirder reasons.

This has been Andy D.

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So anyone who has either been with WIS since the beginning or who has plumbed the depths of my archives will know about my fantasies of over-the-top suicide and a Viking Funeral, when I’m old/invalid, as choice I would make about how I die, rather than have that choice made for me by doctors and fate.

I stand by that decision and my right to it, but something happened to me today that challenged my take on life. Well it didn’t really challenge anything so much as re-affirm how much I like my life, and how much I love life, period.

A man jumped in front of the train today at my stop, while my girlfriend and I were waiting for the train at the Knickerbocker M stop in the foyer downstairs by the heater and this woman came down and yelled to the attendent to call the cops because a man had just jumped in front of the train. We went up to see what was going on with this other woman, it was just us three, and we totally saw the guy dead on the tracks, not moving and all twisted and weird. We yelled at the MTA worker who was looking along the tracks and pointed to where the body was. Obviously the trains weren’t going to be running, so we left for the L and I called my boss to tell her I would be a little late and what had happened. The MTA, cops and paramedics were molasses in coming.

I was kind of in shock all day. Well not really shock, I just kind of thought about it all day. And I came to this decision: I still feel suicide is someone’s right. I just think depression shouldn’t be a terminal illness. Okay to be fair, I don’t know anything about the guy today, what was going on in his life, what his state-of-mind was, hell even what his name was. He may have had a terminal illness. Either way he had a right to do what he did. That doesn’t keep it from potentially being sad.

In my world view, life is the ultimate good - I’m like Maud from Harold and Maude. life is good, all things not-life are bad. In a weird way I’m pro-life. I just happen to define life more like Peter Singer than those who actually call themselves pro-life would like.

This been Andy D, not jumping anytime soon.

whereIstand Tags

• Cassandra
• andrea
• Amir
• Erica
• Gab
• JoeC
• Should a person have a basic right to death?
• Should the government involve itself in the institution of marriage?
• Should the U.S. Constitution be amended to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman?

You know how people say that when are bird totally craps on you, it’s good luck? I’m pretty sure they’re just saying that so you feel a little less bad about wearing the bird foulness, and with this newest info, pretty soon we’ll be dodging bird poo like it’s made of fire:

The H5N1 avian influenza virus can survive for more than a month in bird droppings in cold weather and for nearly a week even in hot summer temperatures, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The new factsheet incorporates the most recent findings on the avian flu virus, which WHO says is causing by far the worst outbreak among both birds and people ever recorded.

It has been found from South Korea, across Southeast Asia, into Turkey, Ukraine and Romania. It has infected 149 people and killed 80, according to the WHO figures, which do not include the most recent deaths and infections in Turkey.

Bird droppings may be a significant source of its spread to both people and birds, the WHO said.

 

 

 

Sounds like a pretty bad Hitchcockian sequel.

This has been Andy D.

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I took a crap-ton of that Airborne cold-prevention stuff before I boarded the airplane today, but I’m pretty sure Echinacea and Vitamins aren’t proper innoculations for the flu at all.

So recovering from the flu vaccine shortage last season, the Administration is running models of pandemic flu situations:

"This is a time for us to be informing but not inflaming. It’s a time for us to inspire preparation but not panic," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told reporters at the White House. About 20 Cabinet secretaries and government officials spent four hours testing the government’s readiness for any flu outbreak.

"We have time to become the first generation, literally, in the history of man to do something to be prepared for a pandemic," Leavitt said.

 

 

This is actually pretty boss. Way to go! Keep us not sick, I got no problem with it. Now why couldn’t they have done this for Hurricanes during Hurricane season?

President Bush’s homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend said that in the little time left before lawmakers adjourn for the year, Congress should approve the $7.1 billion in emergency flu preparedness funds that the president has requested.

But the prospects for the request are not clear, as conservatives in the House oppose rubber-stamping it without finding spending cuts elsewhere in the budget. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, has advocated for the money.

 

 

Yes there is the problem. I wouldn’t be rubber-stamping $7.1 billion either. Lest the flu suddenly gets linked to Iraq and Al-Qaeda or Chinese Chickens become the next WMD, and we send more troops for an Asian land war.

This has been Andy D

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Okay I know I just when on about Latin America reproductive rights struggles, but this is just amazing.

I don’t think the First World would ever put a giant condom on a building - The Washington Monument perhaps?

No, here in America, the land of Abstinence-Only sex-ed programs, they would probably just knock down the monument so that it couldn’t be used until marriage.

This has been Andy D, wrap it up.

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It looks like one of Robert’s first cases as Chief Justice will be a case of Kevorkian-proportions. Oregon’s "Death With Dignity Act" is coming under supreme court fire, after weathering two bouts of judicial scrutiny.

Medical law is generally held as a States Rights jurisdiction, but the Bush Administration has been pushing the reversal of the Oregon law. It will be intersting to see where Robert’s falls. It has been predicted that the new Chief Justice may actually uphold the States Rights angle of this case -Oregon and its voters have repeatedly upheld this law.

Most who have been with me on this issue from the beginning know all about where I stand on consensual assisted suicide. Just a heads up. All eyes on Oregon.

This has been Andy D.

whereIstand Tags

• Should the right to death be limited to those with terminal illness, chronic pain, or other specific circumstances?

But I checked No because I don’t think specific circumstances are necessary, as long as death isn’t chosen on that much of a whim.

This has been Andy D.

whereIstand Tags

• Should the right to death be limited to those with terminal illness, chronic pain, or other specific circumstances?

But I checked No because I don’t think specific circumstances are necessary, as long as death isn’t chosen on that much of a whim.

This has been Andy D.

I agree with Nick on this one. I don’t think intention nor desire can be quantified, but they should be personally qualified with enough conviction and a concerted effort of will and reason before making a decision involving death. This does not discount emotion - in fact I think emotion has most to do with it, and is an important thing to factor into suicide, one which cannot actually be factored out I suspect.

This has been Andy D

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• Should the right to death be limited to those with terminal illness, chronic pain, or other specific circumstances?