March 31, 2005

Pink, Supple.....and dead.

Protesters campaigning to keep Terri Schiavo alive

Terri Schiavo died today. In fact she probably died 15 years ago when her cortex was destroyed.

In 1971, a 21-year-old Vietnam War veteran, Daniel Joseph Fiori was about to marry his childhood sweetheart.

The story is continued by Peter Singer in his thought provoking book “ Rethinking Life & Death”.

“Ten days before the wedding, a motorcycle accident left him severely brain damaged. He made slow progress in rehabilitation, but was still in a Philadelphia hospital for war veterans in 1976. Then, as a result of an apparent medical error, he suffered a seizure and went into a persistent vegetative state. Now (the book was published in 1994) forty-four years old, he lives in a nursing home, his condition unchanged. His care costs the federal government, which has acknowledged its responsibility for medical malpractice, $150,000 a year. His mother, Rosemarie Sherman, visits him every day, but prays at night “that God will take him”. Nor does she rely on prayer alone. She asked the nursing home to remove her son’s feeding tube. The nursing home said that it required a court order to do so. At the first trial, the court granted the order, but the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office appealed. A three-member panel of the State Superior Court upheld the appeal, saying that in the absence of any “ clear and convincing evidence” of Fiori’s preferences, he must be kept alive. Given the length of time Fiori has now been incapable of expressing any preference about such a matter, it seems improbable that such evidence would be forthcoming. As this book goes to press Joey Fiori is still alive, and the case is continuing its way through the courts.” The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District decided the case on 2nd April 1996.

Joey died a year earlier. t

March 30, 2005

Commissario Brunetti's Lunch

“He went to da Remigio and ate insalata di mare and coda di rospo in tomato sauce, telling himself that,because he drank only a quartino of their house white wine and limited himself to a single grappa, it was a light meal and would entitle him to have something more substantial that evening”

Donna Leon "Uniform Justice" PS And the Rambler can confirm that the coda is magnificent.....and the grappa! Cheers t

Arrivederci Bucintoro!

It’s arrivederci not ciao or all’anno prossimo. The Pensione Bucintoro will close its doors for the last time in November this year.

It is unlikely there is a better-located Pensione in Venice. It’s just far enough away from St Mark’s Square to spend a quiet few days, yet it’s close enough to get to most of the sights any tourist or traveller would wish to see.

It’s “Location, Location, Location”. All of its rooms have a view over the island of San Giorgio, the Lido or the Bacino of St. Marks.

Two of Venice’s finest trattorias, a la Rivetta next to the Ponte San Provolo

and one of Commissario Brunetti’s favourites, Da Remigio, on the Salizzada dei Greci are within walking distance. But perhaps the most attractive features of all, is its proximity to an area of Venice- the Via Garibaldi.

The “via” was a canal. It was filled in by Napoleon to form a wide “boulevard”. And 19th Century tenements, whose occupants use its marvellous variety of shops, now surround it. About 4p.m., sit down at one of its many cafes, order a spritz, and watch Venetian life pass by. Wonderful. Cheers t

March 22, 2005

Terri Schiavo

Matt Conigliaro is a Florida lawyer. His blog contains a superb analysis of this tragic case, together with a host of useful links. Well worth reading! Cheers t

Vatican Book Burning

Glossy News.Com reports

Vatican Introduces the Book Burning Mobile

By Daniel H. Blazejewski Mar 17, 2005, 21:37

In an attempt to pick up where they left off hundreds of years go, the Vatican has introduced a new concept: the Book Burning mobile. They had observed the success of the Book Mobile for years now, and, eager to plunder its rewards, have started their own counter-mobile dedicated to the burning of books that run counter to Church doctrine. The first books to be loaded into the Book Burning Mobile, or BBM, were anything written by Dan Brown, such as The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. However, other authors who were not as directly related to Christianity were also targeted, including J.D. Salinger, Sylvia Plath, Jane Austen, Ken Follett, and in a very strange turn of events, science fiction writer John Varley. Also falling into the “ironically enough” category was Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451.

The BBM is built on an ice cream truck chassis with a 15,000 BTU gasoline-powered kiln in the back. It travels through the neighborhoods with a priest at the wheel belting out Handel’s Messiah over the loudspeakers, enticing children to bring their parents’ books out to the curb for proper disposal. Some children’s books that made the Church’s list include the entire Harry Potter series, for its depiction of “satanic witchery”, the Young Jedi Knights series, and anything by Dr. Seuss. The success of the Book Burning Mobile has led the Church back to its glory days of the Inquisition, but this time, it’s for the children. For instance, it is widely known that Kermit the Frog was placed on the rack and tortured until he admitted that he was just a puppet and not really alive. Yoda was placed inside of an iron maiden, but appears to have escaped injury due to his small stature. Elmo and Barney the Dinosaur have gone into hiding in an attempt to escape the New Inquisition (or “Inquisition Part II, the Reckoning,” as Hollywood has dubbed it). Agents for the Church are fanning out across the land in search of these two runaways, who then intend to ask just why they’re so intent on making children happy. Speaking of making children happy, pop star Michael Jackson was recently called in by the New Inquisition to face charges of being a freak. Jackson denied these charges, but was subsequently overruled by a council of priests. As punishment, he is to have his original nose returned to his face and have his skin re-pigmented. Oh, and they’re going to give him a haircut, too. Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were brought before the High Court in order to determine if their sluttiness was harming the girls of the up and coming generation. A “yes” vote was quickly decided on, and the two pop divas were banned from lip-synching and hip-gyrating. They were also forced to return their breast implants, which the priests promptly used in a game of catch in the Vatican courtyard. From Book Burning Mobile to New Inquisition, the church is making great strides toward the past. When reached for comment, Pope John Paul II was unable to speak due to his recent tracheotomy. However, he communicated through a translator, “I wholeheartedly support the position of the Church. In fact, I designed the Book Burning Mobile myself, and I think it’s rather clever.” Cheers t

Water, Water.....

It’s easy to forget that BBC Breakfast was one a serious news programme. If memory serves Jeremy Paxman was one of the original presenters! Now we have the gormless-looking Dermot (Mondeo Man) Murnaghan and the ever-pouting Natasha Kaplinsky. She used to be pouter-in- chief in the press offices of both John Smith and Neil Kinnock.

Julia Botfield (with latest spray-on hair style)

Today Julia (Jules) Botfield described somewhat kindly as a “one of Breakfast's core team of reporters and presenters” had been send down to Southern Water’s Weir Wood Reservoir near East Grinstead. She was to do a serious piece on how the lack of winter rain and snow meant that the reservoir was only 56% full as opposed to its usual 95%; and how the lucky customers of Southern Water were being primed for an imminent hose-pipe ban.

Southern Water's Water Planning and Strategy Manager, Meyrick Gough and a colleague were standing by the reservoir. It was bucketing down. No “BBC Breakfast" umbrellas in sight. And what was intended to be a serious, and for SW’s customers, an important report, ended with everyone falling about laughing.

Cheers

t

March 21, 2005

What is Rendition?

For those out there who still believe that President Bush is a supporter of Human Rights around the world may care to read the entries on Stephen Grey’s wonderful, but scary, blog.

Not to be read on an empty stomach!

http://www.stephengrey.com/

Cheers

t

March 16, 2005

Yes Prime Minister

Paul Eddington as P.M. Jim Hacker and Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Prime Minister

Anyone who thinks that the conversations between Sir Humphrey Appleby and Jim Hacker in "Yes Prime Minister" are removed from reality, would benefit from a careful walk along the white lines of the uncorrected oral evidence of Sir Andrew Turnbull -the Cabinet Secretary at the time the Attorney General's advice (concerning the legality if the Iraq war) popped up in Cabinet. The evidence was given to the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee. The swordplay between the Chairman, Dr. Tony Wright, Gordon Prentice a committee member and Sir Andrew is straight out of a "Yes Prime Minister" script. Questions 202 to 220 are worth reading. After which you may agree with Gordon Prentice that these MP's are "innocents abroad" The whole shooting match can be found at http://tinyurl.com/6nwm8

Cheers

t

March 11, 2005

Blair's Burden!

Ok, so you think I’ve too much time on my hands. But this really gets me going. We have a Prime Minister, a lawyer, who according to Hansard has no idea what is meant by the “burden of proof”.

In response to Michael Howard’s question at PMQ’s this week, Tony Blair said this.

"First, let me correct the right hon. and learned Gentleman on one point. I thought that I had said the opposite—that the judicial scrutiny issue was not the point of principle. The point of principle is on the control orders and the burden of proof........ In particular, we cannot accept the burden of proof being different from that of reasonable suspicion. In the House of Lords yesterday, the Conservative Front Bench voted for a change to that burden of proof provision, too. For those reasons, we cannot accept his amendments. He will have to come to a decision, and so will the Conservative party, as to whether to accept the legislation. We have made concessions that we think are reasonable; we will not make those that are against the direct advice that we are receiving."

The Hansard original can be seen at:

http://tinyurl.com/57skf

Now I suspect most first year law students would be shouting out at this stage.

“ Hey, Tony, you’re talking about the “standard of proof”. And indeed he was. Can I suggest Blair visits http://tinyurl.com/6tcee?

Now that’s off my chest!

Cheers

t

March 06, 2005

Is Your Hair Really Standing on End?

Sir John Stevens

The last time Sir John Stevens entered the political arena was with his badly thought through intervention supporting a change in the law relating to self–defence. He suggested, according to the Telegraph, “ it was time to let people kill burglars in their homes”. Today, he writes in the News of the World that his hair had been made to "stand on end” when he read reports of attacks militants planned to carry out in Britain. As if that wasn’t enough, he informs us that there are “up to 200” –is that any number between zero and 200 Sir John? -Al Qaida terrorists, trained in Bin Laden camps in Afghanistan, just itching to strap half a kilo of explosives, fill their trouser pockets with nuts and bolts and go off in search of some place where they can cause maximum human misery. And what does this former top brain in the police service suggest will prevent this? Well, surprise, surprise Charles Clarke’s Prevention of Terrorism Bill! So these 200 trained terrorists are going to be contained by “Control Orders”, which, according to the Home Secretary, do not at the moment need to include “house arrest”. Tagging, bans on telephone and Internet use are enough.

Somebody’s taking the mickey here. If Sir John is right then Clarke ought to be seeking an immediate derogation and introduce control orders proportionate to the threat Stevens describes.And this has to be at least one rung above tagging. If not then Stevens is just engaged in another logrolling exercise. After all, the same intelligence passes across the Home Secretary’s desk, and I’ve not noticed his hair standing on end recently. Do these folk really think we're all daft?

cheers

t