Snuffing the candle at both ends

I take issue with the following from Steven Den Beste:

The only real solution for such people is to have their faces rubbed in the reality implicit in their attitudes. Anyone who opposes fetal cell research should spend a day helping to care for someone who suffers from advanced Parkinson's disease, for instance. Anyone who opposes physician-aided euthanasia should watch the documentary prepared in the UK which showed what Diane Pretty's life was like before she finally died the horrible death she most feared.

And people who try to claim moral equivalence between the US and the Islamic Fundamentalists we face should watch the video of Daniel Pearl having his throat cut and then being brutally decapitated. Then they should be asked to explain just how it was really America's fault that he died.

Do people who oppose fetal stem cell research cause Parkinson's disease? If the cure already exists, give it to them - if it doesn't, then how do you know it ever will? All we know for sure is that embryos are being consumed (a nice word for it) prospectively while there is much unheralded promise in adult stem cell research.

Yeah, let's put euthanasia in play, so you can browbeat possibly curable people into suicide because Junior wants all of his inheritance ("Here Doc, I'll split it with you"). Let's put pressure on doctors to contain costs by pulling more plugs. Let's establish a market in human life ("But honey, if you say OK, the insurance company/guy who needs the liver/hospital administrator/VA bureaucrat will give us a lot of money!"). Let's start down the mother of all slippery slopes...

I'll challenge Mr. Den Beste to see if he can identify any potential downside to euthanasia.

(This post has been modified)