Remember what I said about the frontal lobe yesterday? Well, what could better illustrate researchers claim that the executive functions of the brain don’t develop until the late 20s than the story of the arrests of four “young immigration activists” at Sen. John McCain’s Tucson office. Here’s the kicker: They were protesting the paralysis around the DREAM Act, which would provide a six-year path to citizenship to qualifying immigrants who demonstrate “good moral character.”

While the Act doesn’t specify what good moral character is, it does say it would be characterized by being “a law abiding resident of the United States.” And, here, dear ones, is where we get into trouble. If one is here illegally, how can that be “law-abiding”? That is a blog for another day. This morning I just want to point out that if you are here illegally, the last thing you want to do is protest at a U.S. Senator’s office and then admit you are here illegally. I guess the latter could be considered demonstrative of good moral character, but the former only shows poor judgment. And good judgment is seated where, class? Correct: the frontal lobe.

Side note: For those wondering about the blog promised Monday regarding the status of the Citizen archives, there’s been a holdup in getting some information. All I can tell you for sure is that Gannett did, indeed, spit on the Arizona Historical Society’s proposal to house the millions of clips and photos from the paper’s 138-year-old history, and instead decided to put them unde the care of Lee, Inc.-owned Arizona Daily Star. Why and details of it all (as well as details regarding as-of-this-minute pleas), are going to take a little more time.

Yesterday’s post about assisted suicide drew a lot of comments. One interesting trend was that people assumed (maybe because of the blog being about religion?) that my skepticism re: assisted suicide and the slippery slope of killing perfectly healthy people was a God thing. I never mentioned religion in the post, nor God, yet the ever complimentary, patient and polite Red Star tried to tie the Almighty in, as did a couple others. The Time article I linked to also didn’t mention God, so maybe readers should consider that one can be against assisted suicide for humanist moral reasons, not only religious ones.

My primary point was this: “… there may come a terrible time not too soon in our fast-moving future where the choice to die (signing a living will saying you don’t want a feeding tube, for instance) becomes subtle pressure on the dying to just hurry up and get it over with: “You had a good life, Daddy, don’t you think? Isn’t now the time to just let go? Let me get you some medicine.” ” That’s not someone saying they want to choose their time to die; it is someone “encouraged” to line up for the death drip by family, friends, societial messages, etc.

Migrant farm workers; credit: danhughes.tpus.org

Should society be allowed to regulate that or stop assisted suicide, especially in the cases of perfectly healthy people? Should we force people to keep living who don’t want to? Thorny questions, but one thing is clear: We are failing as a society if people feel pressured in any way to “choose” assisted suicide because they feel like a burden. The sign of a civilized society is the manner in which we care for those least able to care for themselves. Which brings us to the slippery slope and how illegal immigration could help eliminate the concept of “burden.” (more…)