Schiavo: Strange Things To Hear From The Right

I don’t really know much about the Terry Schiavo case. There is a situation very close to my family where the life of a brain-dead person was prolonged artificially for many years against his own explicit wishes, causing terrible pain for many in the family who knew his wishes and wanted them respected, so I am not in any position to form any kind of unbiased opinion on the case and haven not been focusing on it.

Here is the obligatory critique of the right-wing propaganda machine’s soundbite barrage. (Via Puddingtime.) Take it for what it’s worth. I can’t vouch for it but it sounds reasonable to me.

The interesting thing about the whole thing to me is a comment a friend made on a mailing list I’m on, which was that the Schiavo case has given us the strange spectacle of all the Republican leaders insisting loudly that people have a right to medical care.

Hey, that’s cool. If they can expand that to the notion that people who aren’t persistently vegetative have a right to medical care, there’s some hope for the soul of this nation.

Robots Are Not To Be Trusted

Martian Rock Samples: The Future In Movies:

*Robots are not to be trusted
*Gravity is not a big deal–vehicles will float off the ground, humans in spaceships usually won’t
*Flying spaceships is still pretty complicated, but more like flying an airplane
*The English language will never be replaced, modified much or forgotten
*Advertisers will use every surface of the future

We learn these things and more from WarlordOfMarz’s survey of the future as we are taught it in the movies. Don’t miss the timeline of the future!