Sparky's take:
“Panem et circenses”AKA "Bread and circus plays" — Juvenal, Satires 10, 81, describing all that was needed for the emperors to placate the Roman mob, and today used to describe any public entertainment used to distract public attention from more important matters.
Even the U.S. Commision on Civil Rights can demonstrate Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and Florida Elections Unit Chief Clay Roberts, along with the ChoicePoint corporation are guilty of election fraud during the US Presidential Election of 2000 as Greg Palast and other have asserted. We saw Jeb and his machine finess their disfranchisement of Democratic voters in the local 2002 elections. And again in 2004 where Palast argued that the problems and machinations from 2000 continued, and that challenger Kerry actually would have won if not for disproportional "spoilage" of Democratic votes. No one seems amazed how ABC's July 2004 Discover Science Magazine correctly predicted how the Diebold vote tabulation machines in Ohio would be compromised. Anyway, it's all "bread and circuses" below. To put the hate on Michael Schiavo seems misplaced. And Sparky isn't as kind as Jack Shafer when it comes to Republicans. After all in 1991, Newsweek, and other major national newspapers vetted actress Selene Walters claim of S.A.G. President and Mafia flunky Ronald Reagan forcing her to have sex with him in 1951.
GO TEAM DEATH GO!
George Felos & Michael Schiavo
Schiavo promised to his wife before her collapse 15 years ago not to let her live by artificial means. The Schiavo Timeline of all events and court rulings clearly shows this to be a consistent thread. Does Michael Schiavo have some lawsuit money coming creating a conflict of interest? The St. Petersburg Times indicates that's not the story. Some say George Felos will be the man who finally overturns the law that protects the handicapped, the elderly, and the terminally ill’s opportunity to live until they die – by natural means - because he's obsessed with death.
Even if he changed his mind, Michael Schiavo would be powerless to stop the removal of his wife's feeding tube on March 18, Felos said. A court has ruled Terri Schiavo would not want to live by artificial means, and her husband can't reverse the court order, Felos said. So I advise folks to forget the lady in Florida who is the current poster child for the wrongheaded Religious Right and focus on the War in Iraq. Those are truly tragic deaths that can be stopped. After all, you're supposed to be destracted by Terri. I wonder who'll replace her when she gets to die as she wanted to? Aspire to be the next "Vegetable Laureate?"
While Terri stole the spotlight unintentionally: A large earthquake measuring a magnitude of 7 on the Japanese scale struck northern Kyushu at around 10:53 a.m. on the morning of the 21st, killing one and injuring 451. The epicenter of the quake was in the Tsushima Strait at a depth of nine kilometers on what may have been a previously unknown fault line. Northern Kyushu has not suffered an earthquake of that intensity since 1700, when there was an earthquake near Ikki Island and Tsushima. Oh and Microsoft tried to patent the Internet again. And more scary is the news that the Deadly Marburg virus in Angola is spreading to capital: “Health officials in Angola say that the death toll in Uige is 112 but the actual toll could be higher. Officials fear that in rural areas, many may have died without even making a trip to the hospital. ”
- Sparky o&o