Have you heard what they're doing up in Wisconsin? Killing cats! "Feline lovers holding pictures of cats, clutching stuffed animals and wearing whiskers are facing off against hunters at meetings around Wisconsin to voice their opinion on whether to legalize cat hunting. Residents in 72 counties were asked whether free-roaming cats [feral cats] — including any domestic cat that isn't under the owner's direct control or any cat without a collar — should be listed as an unprotected species. If listed as so, the cats could be hunted.... La Crosse firefighter Mark Smith, 48, helped spearhead the cat-hunting proposal. He wants Wisconsin to declare free-roaming wild cats an unprotected species, just like skunks or gophers. Anyone with a small-game license could shoot the cats at will." Now, we can't go out and kill a kangaroo rat. We can't go out and kill an Arkansas Fat Ass. We can't go out and kill a snail darter. We can put down people's homes; we can stop their construction projects. We cannot allow people to use their backyards if they want if there's a little water in it if there's a wetland, but here a bunch of people want to go out and start shooting cats up in Wisconsin. Cats are killing birds? What do you think cats do? Cats kill wild birds! I have a cat. You ought to see what my cat does when a bird flies by! My cat tries to jump through the glass window to get it. It's call instinct. I have little lizard geckos. You have where I live we have these little geckos; sometimes they get in the house. A cat sees it, the lizard's dead.

You know, I keep thinking "Animal rights for the lizard!" The cat doesn't know what that is. The cat's just acting on instinct. So the cat's killing the birds, so now they want to go out and kill the cats. Okay, right! So we want to alter human nature because we don't like what we see. It's up to the birds to figure out: stay away from the cats. Or it's up for you people to keep your cats in the house. What are you doing letting help me outside anyway? Cats are not like dogs; they don't come back when you call them. They're like women. "Come here, sweetie." The best way to learn about women, folks, is to get a bunch of cats in your house. If you want to find out about women real fast, go get a bunch of cats. But, I mean, this is just incredible here. Go out and shoot cats here because they're killing the birds? Who are the birds killing? Birds are killing something! Birds are killing worms. We need worms. We need everything out there! The balance of nature. Nobody can kill a snail darter, though! Nobody can kill a kangaroo rat. Nobody can kill some ugly-looking weird seven-legged insect that may be found roaming around Arkansas if it happens to be doing so in three-quarters of an inch of water out some poor slob's backyard because that's a "wetland." But we can kill cats! Or they want to up in Wisconsin.

A commentor referenced this article about the end of life issue.

Her Question:

Sarah [outside user] Thursday 04.14.05 [2:22 pm]

Have you heard what they're doing in France? Killing the terminally ill! With the support of the Roman Catholic Church, that model of clarity in end-of-life issues. "The law also suggests families should be able to request an end to life support for unconscious patients, and says doctors can prescribe pain-stopping drugs for a terminally ill patient, even if the medication increases the risk of dying." Sounds a bit like playing God. Either France is right or the Roman Catholic Church is wrong; I'd sure like to know where you stand on this one.

And answer:

Sarah, I don't think they are killing anyone, yet. There is a distinction between Killing someone, and Letting them die, with dignitiy.  The Church's view is that basic food and water are not extra ordinary care and must be continued regardless of the the patient's wishes because to with hold them would be a taking of the life, or murder, as with the T. Shiavo case, here in America.  She was not even an extrodinary case, there are hundreds if not thousands of cases like hers every year. What made her's a case of killing, was the fact that she was not in a coma, nor was she brain dead, she simply could not communicate her wishes.  She also had trouble swallowing, therefore the feeding tube.

On the other hand, were she not able to lets say breathe on her own without a ventilator, or her blood were being pumped by a machine, then turning those off, by her family, or her guardian would not be a KILLING or murder, it would be a LETTING nature take its course.  If a doctor hastened her death by giving a lethal dose, that would be a killing.

This has and always will be the Church's teaching in such instances.  To treat every person as an individual with dignity from conception through natural death.  To love life is to love God.

France's parliament has approved a law that will allow terminally ill patients to opt for death instead of further treatment, but which supporters say stops short of permitting euthanasia.

AFP/File Photo

In an overnight session, the Senate adopted a text already approved by the lower house that allows doctors to stop giving medical assistance when it "seems useless, disproportionate or has no effect other than maintaining life artificially."

Passage of the law followed a wave of sympathy for a mother seeking euthanasia for her crippled son.

The draft bill says terminally ill patients should have the right to ask for treatment to be stopped, even if that leads to death, and doctors should respect their wishes after verification with the patient and medical colleagues.

The law also suggests families should be able to request an end to life support for unconscious patients, and says doctors can prescribe pain-stopping drugs for a terminally ill patient, even if the medication increases the risk of dying.

The authors of the law -- supported by the conservative government, opposition Socialists and the Roman Catholic Church -- have said the bill does not copy voluntary euthanasia which is legal in Belgium and the Netherlands.

They say it is distinct from euthanasia because it does not allow the doctor to actively end the patient's life.

Passage of the law follows the dispute in the United States over whether Congress should have the right to intervene to restore the feeding tube of brain-damaged .

She died earlier this month, 15 years after suffering major brain damage and nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

Euthanasia became a national issue in France after Vincent Humbert, a 22-year-old injured in a road accident, begged President Jacques Chirac to let his mother end his life in 2003.

Humbert's accident left him blind, mute, paralyzed and in constant pain. Shortly after Humbert wrote a book about his wish to die, his mother tried but failed to kill him with a lethal injection.

Humbert's doctor later took him off life support and he died shortly afterwards. But the doctor was then put under a judicial investigation for "poisoning with intent."

Critics of the new law said the text would not have allowed Marie Humbert to actively end her son's life. But other doctors say it will help clarify the difficult choices available to doctors in such situations.

Many pro-life groups and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church said they agreed with the proposed law.