The death of Pope John Paul II came at a time when Americans have been engaged in an unusual moment of national reflection about mortality. The long, bitter fight over the unknowing Terri Schiavo was a stark contrast to the passing of this pontiff, whose own mind was keenly aware of the gradual failure of his body. The pope would certainly never have wanted his own end to be a lesson in the transcendent importance of allowing humans to choose their own manner of death. But to some of us, that was the exact message of his dignified departure.

SUMMARY: THE DEATH OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

- POPE JOHN PAUL II DIES AT 84
- TENS OF THOUSANDS THRONG TO ST. PETER'S TO PRAY FOR POPE
- FUNCTIONS OF THE CAMERLENGO FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH
- THE 26 YEARS OF JOHN PAUL II: 3RD LONGEST PAPACY IN HISTORY
___________________________________________________________

POPE JOHN PAUL II DIES AT 84

VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls made the following announcement this evening:

"The Holy Father died at 9.37 this evening in his private apartment.

"At 8 p.m. the celebration of Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday began in the Holy Father's room, presided by Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz with the participation of Cardinal Marian Jaworski, of Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko and of Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki.

"During the course of the Mass, the Viaticum was administered to the Holy Father and, once again, the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

"The Holy Father's final hours were marked by the uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his pious death, and by the choral participation in prayer of the thousands of faithful who, for many hours, had been gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"Present at the moment of the death of John Paul II were: his two personal secretaries Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz and Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, Fr. Tadeusz Styczen, the three nuns, Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who assist in the Holy Father's apartment, guided by the Superior Sr. Tobiana Sobodka, and the Pope's personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with the two doctors on call, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo, and the two nurses on call.

"Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano arrived, as did the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice-camerlengo of Holy Roman Church.

"Thereafter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko also arrived.

"Tomorrow, Divine Mercy Sunday, at 10.30 a.m., a Mass for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father will be celebrated in St. Peter's Square, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

"At 12 noon, the Marian prayer of Easter time, the Regina Coeli, will be recited.

"The body of the late pontiff is expected to be brought to the Vatican Basilica no earlier than Monday afternoon.

"The first General Congregation of Cardinals will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday April 4 in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic Palace." OP/DEATH:POPE JOHN PAUL/NAVARRO-VALLS VIS 050402 (380)

TENS OF THOUSANDS THRONG TO ST. PETER'S TO PRAY FOR POPE

VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - Pope John Paul died at 9:37 this evening as more than 70,000 faithful were gathered in St. Peter's Square to pray the rosary. They had been flowing into the square all day long - as they had all day yesterday - in ever increasing numbers, of all ages and from all continents and walks of life, families large and small, Catholics and non, cardinals and bishops, priests and seminarians, men and women religious.

Following the rosary, presided over by Cardinal Edmund Szoka, and the announcement by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri to the crowd in St. Peter's Square that the Pope had died, Cardinal Angelo Sodano led a prayer for John Paul II. Archbishop Sandri then announced that Cardinal Sodano would preside at Mass tomorrow morning at 10:30 in St. Peter's Square. People remained in the square for further prayers as the bell in the left tower of St. Peter's Basilica began its death toll, one of the signals to the world that the Pope has died. .../.../... VIS 050402 (190)

FUNCTIONS OF THE CAMERLENGO FOLLOWING THE POPE'S DEATH

VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - In Pope John Paul II's 1996 Apostolic Constitution "Universi Dominici gregis" on the vacancy of the Apostolic See and the election of the Roman Pontiff, paragraph 17 reads as follows concerning the duties of the camerlengo of Holy Roman Church, who currently is Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo:

"As soon as he is informed of the death of the Supreme Pontiff, the Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church must officially ascertain the Pope's death, in the presence of the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, of the Cleric Prelates of the Apostolic Camera and of the Secretary and Chancellor of the same; the latter shall draw up the official death certificate. The Camerlengo must also place seals on the Pope's study and bedroom, making provision that the personnel who ordinarily reside in the private apartment can remain there until after the burial of the Pope, at which time the entire papal apartment will be sealed; he must notify the Cardinal Vicar for Rome of the Pope's death, whereupon the latter shall inform the People of Rome by a special announcement; he shall notify the Cardinal Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica; he shall take possession of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican and, either in person or through a delegate, of the Palaces of the Lateran and of Castelgandolfo, and exercise custody and administration of the same; he shall determine, after consulting the heads of the three Orders of Cardinals, all matters concerning the Pope's burial, unless during his lifetime the latter had made known his wishes in this regard; and he shall deal, in the name of and with the consent of the College of Cardinals, with all matters that circumstances suggest for safeguarding the rights of the Apostolic See and for its proper administration. During the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church has the duty of safeguarding and administering the goods and temporal rights of the Holy See, with the help of the three Cardinal Assistants, having sought the views of the College of Cardinals, once only for less important matters, and on each occasion when more serious matters arise." .../CAMERLENGO FUNCTIONS/... VIS 050402 (360)

THE 26 YEARS OF JOHN PAUL II: 3RD LONGEST PAPACY IN HISTORY

VATICAN CITY, APR 2, 2005 (VIS) - At 4:45 in the afternoon of October 14, 1978, ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul I, 110 cardinal electors, and 88 persons selected to assist them, entered into conclave, sealed off from the world, to elect his successor.

At 6:18 p.m., on October 16, white smoke appeared from the small chimney of the Sistine Chapel, thus signaling that the cardinal electors had chosen a new Roman Pontiff. Twenty-seven minutes later, Cardinal Pericle Felici appeared on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica and announced the election of Pope John Paul II to the See of Peter with the words: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum Habemus Papam Carolum Wojtyla, qui sibi nomen imposuit Ioannem Paulum II."

At 7:15 p.m. the new pontiff, clad in the traditional papal white, appeared on the same balcony and spoke in Italian the words now familiar to tens of millions of people around the world: "Praised be Jesus Christ!"

"Dear brothers and sisters," he continued, "we are still all very saddened by the death of the very dear Pope John Paul I. And now the most eminent cardinals have called a new bishop of Rome. They called him from a far-away country, ... far, but always near in the communion of faith and the Christian tradition. I was afraid in receiving this nomination, but I did it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and with total trust in his Mother, the Most Holy Madonna.

"I don't know if I can express myself well in your - in our - Italian language. But if I make a mistake, you will correct me. And so I introduce myself to you all, to confess our common faith, our hope, our trust in the mother of Christ and of the Church, and also to begin again on this path of history and of the Church with the help of God and with that of men."

John Paul II, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, archbishop of Krakow, was elected as the 264th Pope on the second ballot of the second day of the second conclave of 1978, just five months after his 58th birthday. Six days later, on October 22, 1978, his pastoral ministry was inaugurated.

Today, April 2, 2005, marked the 9,664th day of his pontificate, calculating from October 22, 1978.

His is the 3rd longest pontificate in the history of the papacy. The longest was that of St. Peter (precise dates unknown), followed by Pope Pius IX (1846-78: 31 years, 7 months, 17 days).

In his 26 and a half years as Pope, John Paul II held nine consistories in which he has created 232 cardinals, of whom one is "in pectore." He has created all but three of the 117 cardinal electors who will enter into conclave.

From the start of his pontificate, the Holy Father named over 3,500 of the world's nearly 4,200 bishops. He met each of them a number of times over the years, particularly when they fulfill their quinquennial obligation of a visit "ad limina Apostolorum."

He has written 14 encyclicals, 14 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 42 apostolic letters and 28 Motu proprio in addition to hundreds of other messages and letters. In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul wrote the Apostolic Letter "Tertio Millennio Adveniente," dated November 10, 1994, and published four days later. He also created the Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

He wrote five books: Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994), Gift and Mystery (1996), Roman Triptych (poetry, 2003), Arise, Let us Be Going (2004) and Memory and Identity (2005).

The 84 year-old Pope presided over 15 synods of bishops: six ordinary (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one extraordinary (1985) and eight special assemblies (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 (two synods) and 1999).

Over the years, the Holy Father undertook 104 pastoral visits outside Italy, the last of which was to Lourdes in August 2004. He made 143 trips within Italy and nearly 700 within the city and diocese of Rome, including visits to 301 of the 325 parishes of the diocese of which he is bishop, in addition to religious institutes, universities, seminaries, hospitals, rest homes, prisons and schools.

With his 247 foreign and Italian pastoral visits, Pope John Paul II reached the 1,167,295 kilometer mark (700,380 miles), that is, over 28 times the earth's circumference or 3 times the distance between the earth and moon.

While in Rome, the Pope welcomed an average of one million people per year, including between 400,000-500,000 who attended the weekly general audiences in addition to those who came for special liturgical functions such as Christmas and Easter Masses, beatifications and canonizations. He also received approximately 150,000-180,000 people per year in audiences granted to particular groups, heads of state and governments.

At the start of John Paul's pontificate the Holy See had diplomatic relations with 85 countries. It now has relations with 174 countries, as well as with the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It has relations of a special nature with the Russian Federation and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

According to the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, over the past 26 years the Pope has proclaimed 1,339 Blesseds in 143 ceremonies and 483 Saints in 52 ceremonies.

He founded the John Paul II Institute for the Sahel in February of 1984, and the "Populorum Progressio" Foundation for the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America in February of 1992. He also founded the Pontifical Academies for Life and for Social Sciences. In addition, he instituted the World Day of the Sick (celebrated annually on February 11) and World Youth Day (WYD). The 20th youth day will be celebrated this August in Cologne, Germany. The Pope himself chose the themes and developed its contents in an annual Message to the Youth of the World.

Karol Jozef Wojtyla, known as Pope John Paul II since his election over 26 years ago, was born in Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died giving birth to a third child - stillborn - in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer, died in 1941.

He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at age 17. Upon graduation from Martin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry and then in a chemical factory in Solvay to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Krakow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Krakow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic Theater," also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Krakow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University, until his priestly ordination in Krakow on November 1, 1946.

Soon after, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various parishes in Krakow as well as chaplain for the university students until 1951, when he took up again his studies on philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on "Evaluation of the Possibility of Founding a Catholic Ethic on the Ethical System of Max Scheler" at Lublin Catholic University. Later he became professor of moral theology and social ethics in the major seminary of Krakow and in the Faculty of Theology of Lublin.

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, by Archbishop Baziak.

On January 13, 1964, he was named archbishop of Krakow by Pope Paul VI, who elevated him to the cardinalate on June 26, 1967.

Besides taking part in Vatican Council II with an important contribution to the elaboration of the Constitution "Gaudium et Spes," Cardinal Wojtyla participated in every assembly of the Synod of Bishops since it was created by Paul VI in 1967.

I'm an atheist; the notion of a diety, to me, is an absurdity. But whatever my belief, or yours, this Pope was a great, great, man and we shall all miss his moral stature. He spoke for goodness and the dignity of humanity in a way that transcended matters of faith so it would be understood as universal truths. We should consider ourself extremely lucky to see anyone like him again in our lifetime.

I wish folks could have seen Keith Olberman last night. Someone read to him a passage from JPII's masterwork on the Theology of the Body, in which he writes about the importance of sexual fulfillment, and Olberman was both blushing and confounded. "There is no area he hasn't touched on, seemingly," he marvelled. "

I am deeply saddened by the death of His Holiness, Pope John Paul II. The pontiff was a world statesman whose leadership played a key role in the fall of Communism and the democratic transformation that swept Europe in its wake. In the 26 years of his papacy, Pope John Paul II's advocacy for human rights and human dignity never wavered. The wisdom and universality of his teaching will continue to guide all of us who, like Pope John Paul II, believe in freedom and faith.

Karen and I have been blessed to have the opportunity to meet the Pope on five separate occasions, three of which we were privileged to receive mass from him in his personal chapel. On one occasion, six years ago, Karen and I, and our children met the Pope in his personal chapel. As we received mass, we were struck by the fervor in which Pope John Paul II prayed. As he knelt at the altar, he deeply and intensely involved himself in prayer.

On that same visit, we learned first hand how the Pope was so very much like Christ. Each time the Pope stepped down to kneel before the altar, his face brightened and he would smile at one of our children. He looked and smiled at each of our children throughout the course of the mass, and hugged and kissed each one of them after mass. Pope John Paul II was a man deeply devoted to children and faithfully exemplified Matthew 19:14 when Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me." On that day, his noticeable love and passion for others touched our lives and the lives of our children. We love the Pope and will miss him dearly.

Pope John Paul II’s compassion for children extended not only to our family but to all corners of the world. As a great communicator for freedom and human dignity, he urged the world to break free from the culture of death that surrounds us and to uphold a culture of life.

We should remember Pope John Paul II not just as the greatest Pope of modern times but also as a valiant fighter for the truth," she said.

His life was a long struggle against the lies employed to excuse evil. By combating the falsehoods of communism and proclaiming the true dignity of the individual, his was the moral force behind victory in the Cold War.

Millions owe him their freedom and self respect. The whole world is inspired by his example.

Laura and I join people across the Earth in mourning the passing of Pope John Paul II. The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home.

Pope John Paul II left the throne of St. Peter in the same way he ascended to it -- as a witness to the dignity of human life. In his native Poland, that witness launched a democratic revolution that swept Eastern Europe and changed the course of history. Throughout the West, John Paul's witness reminded us of our obligation to build a culture of life in which the strong protect the weak. And during the Pope's final years, his witness was made even more powerful by his daily courage in the face of illness and great suffering.

All Popes belong to the world, but Americans had special reason to love the man from Krakow. In his visits to our country, the Pope spoke of our "providential" Constitution, the self-evident truths about human dignity in our Declaration, and the "blessings of liberty" that follow from them. It is these truths, he said, that have led people all over the world to look to America with hope and respect.

Pope John Paul II was, himself, an inspiration to millions of Americans, and to so many more throughout the world. We will always remember the humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of history's great moral leaders. We're grateful to God for sending such a man, a son of Poland, who became the Bishop of Rome, and a hero for the ages.

As a mark of respect for His Holiness Pope John Paul II, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half‑staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on the day of his interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half‑staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Here's a more favorable note:

Jonah:

I am a liberal and am naturally more likely to buy Chait's argument than yours, but I think you got the best of him in your exchange. The thing is, there certainly are a lot of emperically disproven arguments on the conservative side-- biblical Creationism is one example (I'm not talking about all conservative religion here, just the "earth is 6,000 years old" variety), and the economic effects of the 1993 tax hikes are another. But Chait is trying to tie particular examples of conservative disregard for empiricism into a blanket conservative rejection of empiricism-- along with a claim that liberals are non-ideological empiricists-- and that's just wrong and silly.

It is quite obvious that liberals disregard the empirical results of their policies too when they have ideological reasons for their positions. You probably don't hit him hard enough about his claim that liberals would stop supporting redistribution of wealth if it were proven that conservative policies helped the poor as well as the rich. Come on! Economic fairness is a fundamental principle for liberals, and not just socialists. Liberals write all the time about the GAP between rich and poor widening, without regard to whether the poor are doing better. (They also argue the poor are not doing better, but that doesn't mean liberals aren't concerned about income inequality.)

And as you point out, there's nothing wrong with using ideology as a filter. Conservatives should care about whether tax increases impinge on individual freedom, even if they do achieve the policy ends that liberals seek from them (and even if they achieve a policy end that conservatives support as well as liberal). And liberals should care about income inequality, even if a conservative economic policy puts more money in the pockets of the poor as well as the rich.

I wish Chait and others on my side would stop propounding a General Theory of Conservativism as being unconcerned with facts that get in the way of their ideology. There's plenty of factual critiques of conservatives that are valid, and plenty of ideological critiques of conservatives that are also valid. (And ditto with liberals.) We should all be making them. It's comforting to think that one's political opponents are out of touch with reality while the folks on your side are not. But that view adds little to the discourse.

Quite a few have chimed in along these lines. I think they offer a fair complaint. The problem, of course, is that whenever one begins a sentence "liberals think" or "conservatives believe" you are automatically being unfair to some liberals and some conservatives because neither camp is ideologically or intellectuallyhomogeneous. Anyway, the email:

Jonah-- Your correspondent says that liberals want a "more equal" world. But it's not true. He can't cite any Democrats saying so, just Thomas Sowell. In fact, liberals want greater equality of opportunity.

I read the Corner because I have much more exposure to liberal
conceits than conservative ones in daily life. So now I know that
conservatives are equally smug, self-satisfied, and unwilling to
engage with certain unpleasant facts. It is a great disappointment to
see the Opinion Duel, which could be a place for engagement, made into
a place to show off for the home crowd.

Also, your correspondent backs up Chait's point-- he wrote that
liberals are driven by empirics, while conservatives are driven more
by ideology. Your correspondent wrote that "people are seeking
different ends." Are you endorsing this bit of relativism and
conceding Chait's point? ("There's no such thing as empirical truth--
tax cuts are good!") Or just passing it along?

It is a common conceit among conservatives that liberals want wealth
redistribution. But there's no evidence of that in the actions of
Democrats, unless you caricature support for a given proposal as a
desire for naked wealth transfers.

Jonah:

Being exactly the kind of guy who enjoys "highly geeky insidery snarky stuff," I consider your debate with Jonathan Chait to be great fun and pretty interesting. I would, however, like to reinforce one of the points you made about Chait's argument: Doesn't he MOTHER!@#$%!* understand that there is no such GOD@$&! thing as "works better" if people are seeking different ends!!!

This is one of things that infuriates me (though I obviously do a fabulous job of concealing my anger) about pointy-headed liberal types.

And one more thing before my blind rage totally consumes me, Chait writes, "Whereas if you could prove that tax cuts for the rich really could produce enough growth that the revenue would replace itself, every important liberal pundit would support them anyway." I feel compelled to call complete and total bullsh*t here. If modern liberalism has any organizing principle, it is that it seeks a "more equal" world. Even if tax cuts for the rich doubled government revenues, liberals would still be opposed to them because the gap between rich and poor would widen. As Thomas Sowell says, "If everyone woke up twice as rich tomorrow as they are today, the headline of the New York Times would be: Gap Between Rich and Poor Widens"

Keep up the great work,

I think the pope has to be a prophetic figure, somebody who changed humanity. What he offered, what he suggested, the road laid out, if followed, would have transformed humanity in a spiritual sense. He was calling at the end of the twentieth century for a spiritual life to become the center of man's humanity, for all men, and certainly for all Catholics and all Christians to rediscover spirituality as the guiding force in their lives. If he had accomplished that, he would have been a millennial figure, not the man of the century. Somebody who produced much grander changes than that.

Instead he is a historical figure, he's somebody who lives within the period of time, who had a message that had impact, that changed events, that changed lives, but did not nearly reach the dimensions that were the ambitions that its author set out.

At the end of the day, when you look at this extraordinary life and you see all that he's accomplished, all the lives he's touched, the nations whose history he's changed, the way he's become such a powerful figure in our culture, in all of modern culture--among believers and not--taking all of that into account, you're left with one very disturbing and difficult question. On the one hand, the Pope can seem this lonely, pessimistic figure--a man who only sees the dark side of modernity, a man obsessed with the evils of the twentieth century, a man convinced that humankind has lost its way. A man so dark, so despairing, that he loses his audiences. That would make him a tragic figure, certainly.

On the other hand, you have to ask, is he a prophet? Did he come here with a message? Did he see something that many of us are missing? In that case, the tragedy is ours.

The Schiavo case only looks unprecedented: For decades, women seeking to terminate pregnancies have faced gantlets of screamers, invasions of privacy, violence in the name of "saving babies," charges of murder and of evil motives, politically motivated legal obstacles, spurious medical "expertise" (abortion causes breast cancer; Terri Schiavo just needs therapy). There is the same free-floating vitriol: Abortion is the "Silent Holocaust," while, according to Peggy Noonan, those who support Ms. Schiavo's right to die are on "a low road that twists past Columbine and leads toward Auschwitz" ...

[T]he Schiavo case reveals the true priorities of the right: they are happy to abandon the principles of federalism if the issue is related to questions of "life." But if they are willing to cast aside federalism in the Schiavo case, won't they be willing to do the same in the context of abortion? And if they are, won't that inevitably lead to attempts to pass federal legislation banning abortion?

The Holy Father is love personified in so many ways. He taught us how to live as a Christ taught and surrender all to God . He had a special love for persons the world sees as lacking value. During his wednesday audiences he saved the "best seats in the house" for those in wheelchairs. When he was able to move easily he would come and bless and touch individually each person in a wheelchair in the audience hall . I know because in July 1991 I was blessed by the pope from my special front row seat in my wheelchair and that day I looked into the face of a saint . He taught us all how to love no matter how challenging our every life is and he taught that the suffering we have has value even when we don't understand it.

May God give us all the great consolation as we face a world without our beloved Pope John Paul II.

Lost of this sort of email:

Jonah, Although I am not Catholic in exactly the same way you are not Catholic, I think I will take the time to grieve Pope John Paul II. Because it is human to do so, yes, but also because after being constantly reminded over the past couple of weeks how less than ordinary most of us are, it makes me sad and lonely to lose someone that is extraordinary.

It's been almost ten years since my father died. He had a feeding tube because of a tracheotomy caused by cancer in the throat (L.S.M.F.T). I did not allow him to "dehydrate to death" nor would I have starved him. He went quietly to the Kingdom of God during his sleep after a continuous decline. I think the Dr's a little hypersensitive but given his job and what he sees daily I would be too.

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican says the pope's breathing "has become shallow" and his kidney function is deteriorating.

Jonah- I am in a 230 person lecture right now and someone has purchased a remotely controlled fart machine and it may be the funniest thing i have ever heard. Gets all the serious stuff today slightly out of your head.

Bosley's comments are Barbara Boxer-level wacky. "Fertilized embryo" is--how shall I put this?--a non-concept. The point Bosley is missing (or trying to evade) is that embryos can be brought into being in two (in fact, more than two) distinct ways: by fertilization of an egg cell by a sperm cell OR by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Either way, if the process is successful, what you end up with is a nascent human being--a whole, living member of the species homo sapiens--who will, if provided with a suitable environment and adequate nutrition, soon be conjugating verbs and then asking for the car keys. Now, of course cloning can fail; so can fertilization. Embryos can be defective, and can be defective in ways that will prevent implantation. In the case of cloning experimentation, many embryos will be defective. Yet they are embryos, just as retarded children are children. At the same time, sometimes failures of fertilization or cloning processes are so severe that embryogenesis doesn't take place. What is created is a non-embryonic growth, such as a complete hydatidiform mole or a teratoma. These are disorganized, tumor-like entities, rather than embryonic members of the species. But this is not what Bosley has in mind (to the extent that he can be said to have anything in mind).

''I can't quite figure out where the governor's objections are coming from," said Representative Daniel E. Bosley, the North Adams Democrat who is shepherding the bill in the House. ''Somatic cell nuclear transfer involves transferring a nucleus into an egg, not an embryo. It is then tricked into thinking it is fertilized. It is not a fertilized embryo. Many scientists feel that it cannot be implanted, and, if it is implanted, that it will not grow."

From the Donovan:

Simple. What he did was far worse than what Martha Stewart did. One can only wonder what the thinking was on the side of the Justice Department.

If it were me - I'd have a lifetime revocation, large fine - and depending on the documents... jail time. Mind-boggling to those of us who have lived our professional lives under those rules. And since when do the Feds have a 'misdemeanor' equivalent? Is he pleading guilty under a civil charge, or criminal? Somehow, however, I don't think Mr. Berger will be selling his house to cover his debts and asking people, "You want fries with that?"

Cheers,

Yer Military Guy

NRO's editors did not, contrary to Derb's dissenting neurosurgeon, overreach in posing the rhetorical question " Why not kill Mrs. Schiavo quickly and efficiently, by depriving her of air to breathe?"...[D]on't forget that Judge Greer also prohibited feeding Terri by MOUTH, thereby depriving her of any opportunity for sustenance and analogous to depriving someone of any opportunity for respiration--"artificial" or otherwise. Greer's dual prohibition's against feeding Terri orally or by feeding tube is akin to removing not just a respirator, but all of the air in the patient's room as well.

Let's accept a few obvious facts. Sandy Berger had good legal representation. Sandy Berger is a man of considerable political ambition. Sandy Berger is a man who values his reputation.

Given these facts, I think this plea agreement is pretty astonishing. He's thrown away almost any chance of serving in government again and he's admitted to a crime that cannot be spun as anything other than serious. I mean given all of the charges about intelligence screw-ups and secret agendas over the last five years, isn't it interesting that the Clinton administration is still generating criminal charges in these areas?

I'd be curious what Shannen and Andrew think of this since they know this stuff. Am I wrong?

Mr Derbyshire---

'Why not kill Mrs. Schiavo quickly and efficiently, by depriving her of air to breathe?'--NRO editors.

I am a practicing neurosurgeon. At least several times a month, I care for patients with severe brain damage (usually from a hemorrhage or traumatic injury) with no hope for neurological recovery. These are patients who are in deep irreversible coma but may not meet all the criteria for brain death. Some of them have spontaneous reflexive respiration.

I have seen and dealt with hundreds of patients like this and observed colleagues care for hundreds more. I am generally conservative and agree with NRO editors on most issues.

I routinely advise family members to allow removal of artificial respiration if there is no hope for recovery. This is standard paractice and occurs in every hospital routinely. According to the NRO editors, am I 'suffocating' these patients and 'killing' them? I believe I am doing neither.

By the logic of the NRO editors, all of these patients should receive a tracheostomy and be ventilated until they die of some other cause. Were this to be done, there would be thousands of near-brain-death patients admitted to ventilator wards every week receiving futile care.

While there may be doubts about the Schiavo case on other grounds, the NRO editors have over-reached with this statement.

[Name withheld]

When the issue surfaced last year, Mr. Berger insisted that he had removed the classified material inadvertently. But in the plea agreement reached with prosecutors, he is expected to admit that he intentionally removed copies of five classified documents, destroyed three and misled staff members at the National Archives when confronted about it, according to an associate of Mr. Berger's who is involved in his defense but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plea has not been formalized in court.

''The House of Representatives voted significantly in favor of helping children and people of all ages who suffer from debilitating diseases and illnesses," said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi. ''I think this is a giant step for medical research."