European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 8, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 stars and stripes Page 17 opinion still putting his stamp on american discourse by Meghan Daum Ive always believed that someday there will be a Jack Kevorkian postage it will be a firs class stamp that costs that How far into the future were but considering weve had a Richard Nixon who says you need Charisma to Grace the upper right Corners of americas envelopes historical is a different who was released last Friday after just More than eight years in a Michi Gan state might have his greatest Rel Evance ahead of Kevorkian has been off our radar screens for some in april he received a 10to 25year sentence in the death of Tho Mas a terminally ill 52yearold who wanted to die but was unable to kill Between 1990 and by his own had assisted in the deaths of More than 130 his thorny hybrid of creepiness and misguided activism Call it creep Tivisa had led to his being charged with and eventually acquitted of several counts of murder or assisted suicide or the Youk was Kevorkian stretched the definition of Assis Tance by injecting Youk with potassium videotaping the process including yours sending the tape to 60 min utes and then challenging authorities to charge him with when they he represented himself in court and end ing a career that had involved almost As much courtroom theater he previously had gone on a hunger strike and arrived for trial wearing a powdered wig As Volun tary As political mouthpieces Kevorkian is the right Todie movements most Embarrass ing a zealot who has been com pared to a Bac Kalley abortionist and whose penchant for performing his services in the Back of his Volkswagen bus Only added to his ick but just As Bac Kalley abortionists played a crucial role in the reproductive rights Kevorkian histrionics gave his own cause a visibility it would never have had consider some of whats transpired while Kevorkian has been behind for much of that legislators in California have been trying to pass what is now called the California compassionate choices the Bill modelled after Oregon death with dignity Law of 1994 and sponsored by As Sembly speaker Fabian a and fellow democratic Assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine would allow doctors to prescribe medication to terminally mentally competent patients to pro vide Comfort with and Assurance of peaceful dying if suffering becomes unlike who appeared to be no More afraid of the s word than he was of acting As his own the California Bill Only uses the word suicide twice and Only to claim that that not what its Autho As linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out in the los Angeles times in the Bills supporters have opted for idioms Aid in Choice in dying and Endo life Paul Jack Kevorkian Speaks during a news conference tuesday in before we Call the euphemism police and Stop this Bill on semantic grounds lets consider what else weve Learned in Kevork ans in fewer than 300 peo ple have ended their lives by Way of lethal prescription since the Law took effect in fears that sick people would flock to Oregon to hasten their deaths went unreal the California Bill is closer than Ever to making its Way through the leg that a state Assembly vote is scheduled to take place just a week after Kevork ans reappearance on the scene is the kind of plot twist most self respecting screen writers would consider too but like death has proved although his future dealings in the Endo life business might be limited to his own at Hes reportedly in poor and the terms of his probation essentially forbid him from going near any one who might be a candidate for assisted its hard to ignore a Man who famous for dying is not a maybe that because weve grown accustomed to not hearing about dying at for All the efforts made in the years since Kevorkian went to prison including Defeated Bills and ballot measures in several americans seem As reluctant As Ever to think critically or even just Hon Estly about weve experienced sent troops to watched videotaped beheading and drastically revised our notions of yet throughout All this weve kept death safely in the that Why whether Hes remembered As a hero or a might Well end up on a postage stamp until his very existence is a reminder of How activism can sometimes turn into creep Tivisa and How sometimes that the Only Way to make us think about the in Meghan Daum is an essayist and novelist in los this column first appeared in the los Angeles Juk Airport incident is an Eye opening development John Bersia learning of the aha moments in the aftermath of an alleged terror plot at new York cites John Kennedy International i had to shake my Many americans appear genuinely sur prised about the Prospect of More unthinkable terrorism in the United states that such violence apparently has a Caribbean connection those charged have links to Guyana and Trinidad and Toba and that we should scrutinize More care fully our communities Here and abroad to help spot terrorists before they unleash when Are we going to open our eyes wide to the full terrorism and demand More of our news educational sys government and others to prepare us for a Fuller array of unfortunate but real possibilities Al Aida the International terrorist umbrella organization has not stepped up the Pace of its global pro Pagan for nearly doubling the annual output of provocative merely to amuse the group is intent on Radical izing As Many disaffected and impressionable muslims As possible it feeds them a distorted version of their religion that justifies murder and and teaches them How to target perceived Adver Saries for maximum americans and their allies cannot afford to ignore such be Havior or hesitate in countering it this Issue takes me Back to conversations with terrorism specialists in the Early 1990s that raised the possibility of miscreants directing commercial aircraft into iconic such tactics made sense to me after aviation related disruption had figured prominently in the modern terrorism beyond the spectacular those kinds of attacks unnerve people on a Broad scale and disrupt the Small that reporting on the supposed perpetrators connected to Juk has focused on their desire to deliver Arma Geddon to new York City in the pro symbolically re assassinate a popu Lar former demoralize americans and bring the country to its of As we saw clearly after this nation is much More resilient than those who seek to undermine it will Ever As for the notion that extremists Are Sud Denly operating near think the creeping influence of its affiliates and mimics has been evident for particularly after the intervention in the nefarious presence of islamic extremism steadily spread around the including the car nearly a year for the conservative Jamestown foundation of washing ton issued a report with an article titled the threat of religious radicalism in Guy that nation has one of the largest percentages of muslims about 10 percent of the Overall population in the Western i have no reason to believe that most Are not productive Mem Bers of but quite a few could follow an ill intentioned Factor in the wider As the Jamestown report Guyana porous Borders and growing problem with violent crime remain a especially As its Security and intelligence capabilities Are Over thus presenting a potential open ing for Radical islamist to gain a Combine guyanese radicals with others from Trinidad and and the Juk scenario becomes frighteningly the situation reminds us quite dramatically that terrorism despite the global reach and ambitions of Many groups is a local those who carry put this evil have local roots and connections in their places of As Well As in the coun tries where they Are citizens or Lon term communities Bear a grow ing part of the responsibility to police their own jurisdictions More communities must expand their efforts to identify emerging players or wannabes in Domestic disrupt recruitment and preempt a More substantial Unity of Effort Between local and National Law enforcement of the kind shown in the Juk Case is in the i would like to see fewer aha moments and greater collective recognition of the grueling task that lies that of confronting and outsmarting a relentless enemy that views no strategy or act As repro John Bersia wrote this column for the Orlando prickly City by Scott Stantis