Doctor Death is Back! Kevorkian on CNN 360

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the famous or infamous "Doctor Death" of euthanasia, is back, and is a powerful advocate for the rights of terminally ill patients to have doctor-assisted suicide. Kevorkian spent six years in prison and two on probation after his conviction for assisting a suicide, and now that he's off probation, he's free to speak again.

Anderson Cooper on CNN had an amazing interview with Kevorkian last night. Here is one of my favorite exchanges. They were talking about one particular suicide Kevorkian assisted, and Cooper asks:

Cooper: "Did you find it sad?"

Kevorkain: "Well of course! You don't like to end a life. ... If someone has cancer of the hip, you don't take the leg off ... because you want to do it. ... Nobody says, 'I can't wait to take that leg off.'"

Cooper: "But a lot of people say that you're playing God ..."

Kevorkian: "Isn't the doctor who takes a leg off playing God?"

Elton John: Gay Lover's Suicide was from Christian Guilt

When it comes to homosexuality, Christians (and other conservative religious groups) like to claim that they aren't bigoted, and that their "Hate the sin, love the sinner" teachings are loving and kind. The latest tragic news out of London shows the real truth: this Christian philosophy is cruel and heartless.

Yesterday singer Elton John revealed that a former lover's suicide was caused by guilt over his homosexuality. His lover couldn't reconcile his gay lifestyle with the teachings of the Christian Church, and threw himself under a lorry. This is a story that is tragically repeated, over and over, around the world. And for every suicide, there are probably a thousand tortured men who live depressed lives, and a million angry men who feel needless guilt but manage to reject the Christian's unnatural and unhealthy attitude.

Christians need to face the reality. They hurt people.

Lori Drew Fallout: Most Atheist Bloggers are FEDERAL FELONS!

Seriously.

A while back, my blog, "Atheists, Get Out of the Damned Closet" pointed out that the majority of Atheist bloggers do so anonymously. In a case that should frighten all bloggers, a recent court decision made this a federal felony. This is no joke, and if the decision is left standing after the appeal, anonymous blogging may be a thing of the past.

There's an old lawyer's saying, something like, "Bad cases make bad law." The tragic suicide of Megan Meier, allegedly triggered by "cyberbullying" on the part of defendant Lori Drew, is one such case. Drew created a MySpace.com account under false pretenses, pretending to be a 14-year-old boy, befriended Meiers, and then started sending hurtful and hateful messages, and Megan killed herself.

Unfortunately, this sort of harrassment, while reprehensible, is not criminal. Lori Drew violated MySpace's terms of service, but did not violate any criminal statutes.

But the prosecutor's office was under intense pressure to do something, so it tried to stretch the law. It claimed that by violating MySpace's terms of service, she was accessing a computer in violation of the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act), and thus a federal felon. Drew was brought to trial and convicted, and now faces up to three years in prison and $300,000 in fines.

This contortion of the law gives every web-site operator in the United States the ability to write criminal law. If you violate the terms of service of any web site, you are a criminal. A federal felon. Here are a couple examples:

• All children who use Google are federal felons, since Google's terms of service require you to be 18 or older.
• The majority of teens who use MySpace are federal felons, since most parents encourage their children to post incomplete or false identifying information.
• You'd be a fool to use YouTube.com at all, because their terms of service prohibits "bad stuff."

To illustrate what a terrible law this is, I could attach a "terms of use" to this blog that prohibited Christians from reading it, and under the United States v. Drew decision, all Christians who read this blog would become federal felons.

If you would like to learn more about this from a much more authoritative source (or if you don't believe me or think I'm exaggerating), I highly recommend Groklaw's analysis, and especially the amicus brief (PDF - scroll down to "Facts and Summary") filed by the Electronic Freedom Foundation. It's truly frightening.

Tags: blogging law drew suicide censorship internet atheist atheism