Watch tonight

[Guest guest]

Hey gang,

I don't know if many of you have heard of Singer, but he is a

bioethicist holding a very prestigious position at Princeton University.

He has a very sick philosophy (one of the quotes in his books say that he

believes that babies born with disabilities such as DS are not as valuable to

society as animals, such as a pig or a dog, and that parents should have the

right to kill them within 29 days of their birth) which he has been teaching

to young minds for some years now. Two years ago this April, my good

friend (who was the soul of the group and did the most work, came up with the

idea), myself and numerous others worked hard on getting petitions and

letters signed and we held a rally outside Princeton and hand delivered our

HUGE binder of petitions. The petitions said that we wanted Singer out of

Princeton. No luck, but we did get some local press. Anyway, he is still

creating controversy and is going to be interviewed on Sixty Minutes 11

tonight. Here's the press release:

<<----- Original Message -----

From: Glauber, Steve S.

February 19, 2002

CONTROVERSIAL ETHICIST SAYS EXPERIMENT

ON MEN, NOT BEASTS - WEDNESDAY ON " 60 MINUTES II "

Philosopher Singer is known throughout the world for his

controversial belief that all life is not equally precious. In fact,

Singer tells correspondent Dan Rather that it may be ethical to

kill handicapped babies and argues that the lives of animals are

not inferior to the lives of humans. Rather's report on Princeton

University's controversial ethicist will be broadcast on

60 MINUTES II, Wednesday, Feb. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on

the CBS Television Network.

Although many consider Singer's views on medical

research immoral, he maintains that his views are simply

unconventional and explains to Rather why he thinks that in

certain situations it may be better to conduct dangerous

experiments on certain humans as opposed to animals. " .I think

there, perhaps, are some things which could be done with people

who are no longer conscious at all and will never recover

consciousness, " says Singer " It would be ethically justifiable to

approach the relatives and to say, 'Look, we want to find out

whether certain drugs produce adverse reactions in human beings.

Do you have any objections to doing this test on your relative who

can no longer suffer from it because he or she can no longer feel

anything at all?'.Without consciousness, human life has dropped

to a level, in fact, below that of a chimpanzee or a dog. "

Singer's ethical views about ending life aren't just words

scribbled on a college blackboard -- they have real world application.

In fact, Singer agrees with Diane Arnder's decision to fight an

advocacy group in court for the right to end the life of her 29-year-old

daughter who was suffering from cerebral palsy, severe mental

retardation and seizures. " People have to understand you can

only do so much to keep a person here and then, after that, it's

time for God to intervene.or somebody to intervene and say, 'Hey,

it's time to let go,' " says Arnder.

But Steve Drake, a spokesman for Not Dead Yet, the disabled

person's advocacy group that asked a judge to intervene in Arnder's

case, disagrees -- he himself survived a childhood brain disorder.

" It is dressed up nicely, it is spoken in very polite tones by a very

polite person, but what [singer] is really saying is that some

people's lives are not worth living -- are not worth it for us, as a

society, to put up with -- is not worth families having kids with

disabilities, " says Drake.

Jeff Fager is the executive producer of 60 MINUTES II

and Steve Glauber and Marin are the producers.

* * *

Press Contact: Kelli (N.Y.) 212/975-6795 or

kee@...>>