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The bestiarii (gladiators) vs. Greed

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E. T. SIMON
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In the Roman Coliseum of antiquity brute force met brute force when, for the purpose of entertaining the people of the times, and as prescribed and sanctioned by law, gladiators, known as bestiarii met powerful, man-eating,hungry-beasts ,who, as recorded here, battled such beasts.

Man vs. beast battles were replicated in 1950s era movies portraying the history of early Christians who were thrown as morsels to the beasts of the Roman Coliseum; these movies became, incredibly, a favorite pass-time of 1950s era movie goers who flocked to the theaters to see such make-believe carnage just like the real Romans of antiquity flocked to the Coliseum for the real live spectacle of beast eating man.

Insurance companies are now the new beast.

The United States Congress is the new Roman Coliseum wherein, in a battle of greed vs. truth, senators like Max Bauccus, who, prodded by Charles Grassley, had physicians (like Margaret Flowers, M.D.) protesting the fact that no voice for Universal Healthcare was included in the Bauccus committee hearing, removed from the Senate Hearing room, and arrested by DC Police.

The president is the new Emperor who goes along with the pretend impartiality of the pretend impartial senators, whose pretense allows them to throw the American people at the feet of the new beast: the insurance companies.

Greed is the new faith. Greed to fill the pockets of Insurance Companies, their administrators, and the pockets of greedy, honor lacking politicians.

There are no bestiarii in the American Congress (except for Dennis Kucinich) to battle the beasts and he alone is not sufficiently strong enough to battle the beasts.

Voices from outside the American Congress. True American voices protesting the greed and the abuse, voices like those of Margaret Flowers and the many others who have added their voices to hers, are silenced and arrested.

The voice heard in thehalls of congress is the voice from the belly of the beast, it belongs to the insurance companies, to their lobbyists, and to their enforcers: the politicians and to those who must follow orders from the politicians: the police who arrest the voices of freedom in action.

The American people and their healthcare are the new morsels being thrown at the new beast to feed upon us in this new Roman Coliseum where the new Emperor and his lawmaker senators subscribe to the new faith: greed.

Just like in the Rome of pagan times, reason, morality, ethics and honor fall by the wayside.

Regressing the metaphor to an even earlier time, the American people need a David to defeat this seemingly unbeatable Goliath.

Obama once told a student of his that he considers himself to be a pragmatist.

Why should he waste any of his energy speaking for or against anyone cause (how doggone reminiscent of Barbara Bush's "why should I waste my pretty little mind " ) when he can let others carry the voice, while he sits without breaking a sweat to pass into law what the incessant roaring of the beasts and the senators of the new Coliseum, licking clean their chomps in a hogwash of pretend honor, justice and fairness, have proclaimed as a victory " against the American people.

Obama's pragmatism has him listening to the voices of greed and the silver coffers of re-election money.

Out in the streets, away from the arena of the new Coliseum, Dr. Margaret Flowers and the many voices who have added theirs to hers " carry on, for the rest of us, the flaming torch of freedom and democracy.

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