the power of the call of civic duty

From CNN.com:

"Mahoney said the fact that Schiavo has survived nearly 10 days since the removal of the tube that has supplied her with nutrition and water indicates that she wants to appear before the House Government Reform Committee."

BTW, I talked to my mother about the Schiavo case earlier. She had trouble keeping straight that it is called a "persistent vegetative state" and not a "persistent vegetarian state" (no, I'm not making this up). Given that my mother has been involved in the matter of making decisions about the continuation of life-support for a badly brain-damaged child, it's perhaps not surprising that all her sympathies are with the parents. Besides, like certain high-ranking members of Congress, she too believes she can detect higher-order cognitive functioning in Ms. Schiavo from watching the videotape.