It’s not suicide per Pat

In your Oct. 18 article on the court case to allow terminally ill Montanans to request physician aide with dying, we are introduced to Robert Baxter and Steve Stoelb, Montanans with terminal illnesses; these men have filed a lawsuit to establish their right to ask their physicians for medications they could self administer to bring about a peaceful death if their dying process becomes intolerable to them. Unfortunately, the reporter refers to this as “assisted suicide,” an emotionally charged and inaccurate term.This is not “suicide” in any normal sense. While it has, in the past, been inaccurately used to describe physician aid in dying, “suicide” has been rejected by patients and by leading health and medical organizations, including the American Public Health Association and he Oregon Department of Human Services, where the practice of aid in dying has been legal for a decade.Those opposed to aid in dying on personal, moral or religious grounds will continue to use the incendiary and inaccurate term “assisted suicide;” I’m hopeful that journalists will give this issue the dignity and respect it deserves by using the term agreed to by professionals working in the emotionally charged arena of death and dying.

Pat Tucker
500 Jorgy Way
Hamilton

Oral Robert's Death Threat by God

Need not comment on this one do I

Television evangelist Oral Roberts' latest fundraising tactic, threatening God will kill him if viewers don't send in money, describes alleged conversation with God, asks for money in order to live past March.

John Dominic Crossan's Seminar

Damn I missed it?!@# I find it very frustrating when I hear about these things after they happened. I read the paper everyday and did not see any mention of this seminar.
I googled him and he was instrumental in the controversial Jesus Seminar. He doubts the supernatural aspects of the Jesus story and states that the bible was not to be taken literally. This would be my dream job, being a Biblical scholar or something to do with the study of religions. Now it's only a hobby.

Great series
There are many events that remind me of the advantages of living in Helena. This past weekend was perhaps the most meaningful as we were privileged to be able to hear from one of the most emminent Biblical scholars of our generation, John Dominic Crossan, lecturing in Montana for the first time in his career. My wife and I attended his three-part lecture series with great anticipation, but it is safe the event far surpassed those expectations. Mr. Crossan’s insights, humor, and humility provided for captivating and thought-provoking sessions where the time just flew by. It was no small feat for St. Paul’s United Methodist Church to make this possible. The considerable costs required a significant ticket price and a fundraising silent auction, and I suspect money from their general fund as well. They provided something wonderful for our community, and I wish to recognize that publicly with great gratitude.
Craig Wright

water-witching

Every year along with aliens messing with cows, there is a water-witching article. I find it concerning a science teacher would think this really works.
Halloween is coming up, and its almost guarenteed there will be an article in the newspaper about some local claiming to have the ability to talk to the dead. This is not news, its entertainment.

Boulder man shares passion for knowledge with all
By MARGA LINCOLN, Independent Record 10/08/07
BOULDER — “I’m interested in everything,” said Sam Samson, fresh from his morning run and preparing for a water-witching outing later in the day.A common thread running through Samson’s many interests is his love for learning and teaching and his joy of the outdoors.Many Jefferson County residents know Samson as a much-loved, now retired, Boulder teacher and a respected former Jefferson County commissioner.Although he was interviewed recently at the rural home he built with his wife, Joanne, it would have been more fitting to nab him with a crowd of children on a hike.He taught both junior high science and high school German and Russian at Boulder from 1968 to 1994. When Samson talks about kids and teaching, his eyes light up and stories begin to flow.Many of his science classes were outdoors. He taught children about what was in their own backyard — the trees and flowers, streams and mountain ranges............

Yankoff's Letter to the Editor

I wonder if that's really his last name.

Constitution needs some oil
So long as Bush and Cheney use greed and evangelism to regale the prurient-pecuniary interests of wealthy Americans the battle in Iraq will continue. It will be driven along like the dilapidated high mileage Cadillac it has become. Made rickety by constantly steering out of ethical ruts like Guantanamo Bay, New Orleans, premature victory rituals, dead American soldiers, $400 billion dollar debt, civil rights take-backs, homeland insecurity, and oil-grabs, the Cadillac is in the borrow pit. Bouncing along with his cabinet boys waving to the select group of racists and Christians on the shoulder greedily waving back, the dog and pony show continues. The world knows not to trust us. The Muslims understand this new form of economic cleansing; Americans bathing in their petroleum. Whoever thought racism would be applied to economics?

Wayne Yankoff
4315 US Highway 12 W