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“800 Britons on waiting list for Swiss suicide clinic.”

That’s one of the top headlines of the May 31 online edition of The Guardian.

According to the article by health reporter Denis Campbell, a record number of British citizens have signed themselves up for euthanasia services at the controversial Dignitas Clinic just outside Zurich.

A 2002 article in TIME Magazine explained that Dignitas “rents an apartment in the city where clients self-administer a fatal dose of barbiturates and slowly fade away while listening to their favorite music.” Euthanasia has been legal in Switzerland since 1960, attracting an increasing number of foreigners to the Swiss capital to end their lives in a manner that would be illegal in their home countries.

Of the 800 Brits who have become members of Dignitas, 34–all of whom are terminally ill– have been screened and given the “provisional green light” to schedule their own deaths. That green light is given by a Swiss doctor and Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli, who review members’ medical records and conduct interviews to determine that those signed up to die are of sound mind when making that decision.

The increasing number of people traveling to Switzerland seeking Dignitas’ services has implications far beyond Switzerland’s own borders and beyond the lives–and deaths–of those who choose to die. At present, for instance, British citizens who travel with a family member seeking euthanasia are subject to a 14 year prison sentence upon their return, a law that will be reviewed by Britain’s high court this week.

While right-to-die advocates praise Dignitas for opening its doors and providing services to citizens whose own countries will not permit them to end their suffering, opponents raise strong arguments against Dignitas becoming an international destination for people with terminal illnesses who want to end their own lives. The organization has become a focal point in the international debate about euthanasia.

Community Connectio:

Is Dignitas offering a brand of medical tourism gone too far? Share your opinion in the comments.

Rather than conservative, pressed, navy-colored uniforms, flight attendants used to wear hot pants. Today, they’re dressed in khaki shorts.

Instead of boring, predictable safety announcements, the crew tends to make the delivery of even the most rote information an opportunity for entertainment.

The company’s New York Stock Exchange ID is LUV.

It has famously settled disputes by arm wrestling.

You get the idea: everything at Southwest is done with a sense of humor.

So it’s hardly a surprise that this year’s shareholder meeting was more than a get-together characterized by a CEO monotoning a series of boring statistics.

Instead, the company did some internal talent searching and came up with a headline act for the meeting: flight attendant and rapper David Holmes, who was invited to rap the company’s general accounting principles to an audience of rhythmically challenged but enthusiastic shareholders.

Holmes had already achieved some national notoriety before the shareholder meeting rap, which has become a YouTube sensation. The Wall Street Journal and CNN had both featured Holmes’ cabin announcement raps:

But after successfully delivering the “GAAP Rap” without missing a beat, Holmes might just find himself with some new job offers: this video has had more than 22,000 views since it was uploaded a week ago:

What other company can brag that videos from its shareholder meeting have mass appeal (not to mention a 5-star rating) on YouTube?

Feature photo: theerin

Malay women take a stroll in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Vin Crosbie

The latest news comes from Kuwait.

Last weekend, Al-Jazeera reported that of 16 women who had run for national office, Kuwait had elected its first four female members to Parliament. One of the women was also named Kuwait’s first female cabinet minister.

The women share more than their gender in common. All four espouse liberal political views and were educated in the United States. All hold doctoral degrees, ranging from political science and economics to education.

The newly elected Parliament members also stressed their differences, asserting that they represent a wide range of constituents, noting:

“Yes, all of us are educated, but we also have a woman who won who is married to a non-Kuwaiti, one who is divorced, one who is not yet married, one whose mother is Lebanese…. We represent different social strata.”

The achievement of the candidates is particularly significant considering that Kuwaiti women were only granted the right to vote in 2006.

Yet as one observer has noted, the Kuwaiti women’s win is significant for another reason: it provokes Western feminists to finally confront the question:

“[W]hy… have [you] been so slow to get behind those women in the world’s all too numerous tyrannies who have to risk their lives to say anything [?]“

That observer–British writer Clive James– asks a question that’s increasingly pertinent as women in the so-called “developing” world make political strides that Western feminists have talked about within ivory towers for years but have taken little tangible, non-academic action to support outside their own countries. As James wrote for the BBC, these Western feminist pundits are just arguing rhetorically; meanwhile, their sisters abroad are “in the thick of a real battle”… feminist theory in action.

“Why their bravery doesn’t shame more of our feminist pundits I hesitate to say. It certainly shames me,” he concludes.

As a feminist and someone who holds a degree in Women’s Studies, I have to agree.

Community Connection:

What do you think? Are social justice movements in the West increasingly irrelevant because they’re largely theoretical? How do you view the political and social gains women are making, especially in the “developing” world? Share your thoughts below.

The economy has everyone worried. Photo:fab to pix

First came the report that former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun had committed suicide by flinging himself off a cliff while hiking with a security guard. The President asked the guard for a cigarette and then jumped off the cliff; though alive, according to The Korea Times, he died several hours later at the hospital.

Roh Moo-hyun was under investigation for corruption, though his supporters believed the charges to be overblown. The former President had campaigned and been elected on an anti-corruption platform, and was widely considered to be one of the country’s strongest modern leaders. He improved relations with North Korea and was admired for his rags-to-riches personal story: he had grown up in a poor family and managed to become a human rights lawyer.

Then, barely 24 hours later, came the report from China that a citizen disgruntled by a traffic jam caused by a man contemplating a suicidal leap from a bridge decided to resolve the issue entirely by pushing the man off the bridge.

Chen Fuchao climbed onto the bridge’s railing to consider ending his worries about debt. Police cordoned off the bridge, halting all car traffic for several hours. This infuriated passerby Lai Jiansheng, who called Chen’s actions selfish. Lai approached police–shoeless–and offered to help talk Chen down. When police refused his help, Lai plowed through the barricade, shook Chen’s hand, and pushed him off the bridge.

Chen survived the incident, though he sustained spinal and elbow injuries.

Community Connection:

Economic times are hard, and few people are unaffected by the worldwide recession. Our Voices from the Economic Crisis series includes stories from Matador contributors who recount the local impacts of a depressed economy. If you’re feeling depressed, don’t try to handle your feelings on your own. For some solid advice, check out Claire Litton’s article, “How to Manage Clinical Depression on the Road.”

Matt Kepnes, happy about new friend.

We were stoked last week when Matador contributor Matt Kepnes, aka Nomadic Matt, sent us a copy of his first travel ebook.

In Matt’s own words, his ebook “teaches people some basic coding and what to think about when creating a travel site. The real meat of the ebook are the sections on SEO and how to make money with your blog. I go through the whole process and where to find advertisers.”

I read through the book and found the information to be laid out in a very easy to follow, step by step kind of way that draws directly on Matt’s own experience over the last year, as he’s gone from someone without a travel blog to someone able to sustain himself on ad revenue generated via his site NomadicMatt.com.

After reading the ebook I realized that even though I felt like I “knew” Matt, especially after working with him on several of his classic stories on Matador (such as Top 20 Craziest Party Hostels around the World), there were still several basic things about Matt I wanted to know for this article.

Where are you from? What’s your age / background?

Born and raised in Boston, I have a background in teaching and business but abandoned both to follow my dream of endless travel. I’m 27.

How long have you been with Matador?

Since April 2007 (you guys gave me my big break!).

How long since you started your own site?

February 2007.

How many pageviews do you get?

350,000 per month (not bad, huh?).

Where do you work from?

My laptop.

Where are you right now?

Bangkok, Thailand.

Where are you going next?

Scotland for my birthday! (June 12th!).

What’s the ‘big vision’ for the next 3-5 years?

Finish seeing every continent, getting to the World Cup in 2010, and moving to Europe (Paris or Amsterdam).

Anything special you want readers to know about the ebook?

This book is designed to help those with blogs make an even bigger and better blog and make some money off of it. Many people get discouraged that they put so much work in but see such a little return. The book is here to help you put in less work and get bigger returns by avoiding common mistakes.

Community Connection

You can connect with Matt either via his website or friend him up at Matador.