"In cases where there is any doubt, we ought to err on the side of life," our President solemnly intone, echoing the other prominent conservatives who have spoken precisely these words before him, in confidence that they convey unassailable wisdom. He offers this exalted deconstruction of what he imagines is authentic compassion in support of reestablishment of abdominal intubation for the resumption of the pouring of cans of nutritional liquid into the intestines of a woman whose cerebral cortex has been non functioning for over a decade, a condition from which no credible physician believes she can ever recover any sentience. Meanwhile, he orders thousands of tons of death dealing explosives poured into Fallujah and other cities in Iraq where we know that thousands of utterly innocent and defenseless women huddle in their collapsing cellars, terrified children gathered in their arms, as the walls fall in upon them all. He does this having placed his confidence in false evidence, before the watchful world. When there was grave doubt, he chose to err arrogantly on the side of massive death. He assures us that he has never lost an hour's sleep nor wasted a moment in a second thought about any of this, nor instructed his commanders in the field to even count those thus killed. He does not advocate reassessment of death sentences of any of those corruptly convicted who languish on death row in the light of the likelihood of confirmation of innocence by new and incontrovertible evidence. He is joined in this hypocrisy by the self righteous devout, many of whom cite the tragically brain dead woman's Catholic faith as reason to perpetuate her unconscious persistence, while ignoring their own Holy Father's strenuous opposition to our country's invasion of Iraq and its barbaric perpetuation of official killing of prisoners in our homeland. How many of these who pray before the TV camera's, who parade their faith in such uncompromising grandeur, stood in the streets with the world wide millions in opposition to this war, before it began, or on its recent anniversary, or stand in vigil outside the government's death house prisons? The mind reels again today, and the heart just keeps on breaking, in the face of presidential hypocrisy I had hoped was beyond imagination. Editor's Note: Jonathan Klate is an acupuncturist in Amherst, MA. He experienced the tragic premature death of his own son some years ago. |
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