"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."**********
RELATED: Just exercising her rights, right?
-- BERLIN -- Bettina Schardt knew that the combination of drugs she drank in the living room of her home in Wuerzburg last week would kill her, and she died alone.I dunno, folks... seems like a pretty short hop to helping, say... unhappy teenagers... get over their adolescent angst.
But this was no ordinary suicide. A German doctor told her just the right formula of antimalarial drugs and tranquilizers she needed to commit suicide painlessly -- and he set up a camera to film her death.
The 79-year-old Schardt was not in chronic pain or suffering from a terminal illness. She was healthy and simply wanted to avoid moving into a nursing home.
And where exactly, was this woman's family?
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LAST WORD: A little OC background
The Advisory Council and Order of Canada are set up to be insulated from politician interference, and this has largely been successful except for one instance in 1978 when Pierre Trudeau delayed the appointment of Paul Desmerais Sr for 6 months.*
Trudeau delayed Desmerais Sr.'s appointment to the Order becasue it would have been announced shortly after the end of a highly acrimonious strike at two of the newspapers owned by Mr. Desmerais.
It was felt that such an appointment would be untimely so soon after the end of the strike and that it could reflect poorly on not only the Order but also the government of the day.