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To: supercat

Yes, now I do! I wasn't putting Bush into the scheme of things! (See, it is past my bedtime!) Good story, though! So, I take it in the Shakespeare version, Shylock is banished? The Bard had a great idea there!


1,997 posted on 02/18/2005 10:53:41 PM PST by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: All
Wayne Galley sings for a Life

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346564/posts
1,998 posted on 02/18/2005 11:09:22 PM PST by Wampus SC
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To: Ohioan from Florida

Actually, what supercat is alluding to is even better.
bitter, vengeful Shylock = (more or less) HINO
victimized Antonio = Terri
Portia = any attorney representing Terri

In Shakespeare's morality play, Antonio borrows a large sum of money from Shylock to help his friend Bassinio. In open court, astute, clever and disguised Portia, acknowleges that Shylock, per the contract terms, is entitled to a pound of flesh from Antonio, which will kill him. The judges who desperately want to find a contract loophole to save Antonio, finally have to rule for Shylock. But at the last moment, as Shylock prepares to mutilate Antonio, resourceful Portia advises him that he is only entitled to exactly and precisely one pound of flesh, without bone or blood or anything else in the mix. Otherwise, he will have violated the terms of the contract (analogous to Greer's order permitting only the withdrawal of Terri's feeding tube). The judges like this solution and readily consent to the exactness of Portia's contract definition.
What Greer's order doesn't include (and legally can't) is the withholding of all food and water because, under Florida law, self-murder is illegal, and anyone "deliberately assisting another in the commission of self-murder shall be guilty of manslaughter, a felony of the second degree," (782.08).
Settlement of legal complaints in Shakespeare's day were often finalized by personal court appearance and testimony under oath, without submission of written documents.
All food and water being withheld from Terri would be solely attributable to HINO. It might be possible, with astute and clever use of the self-murder statute, that HINO could be prevented from achieving his goal. But public clamor will not accomplish this relief; only filing of the necessary and appropriate documents with a court of competent jurisdiction will suffice.


2,004 posted on 02/19/2005 4:48:02 AM PST by l.tecolote (doing what I can from California)
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