Okay, lay off Nero. You're making him look as bad as Bush.

[jmowreader]

http://www.trivia-library.com/b/nero-didnt-fiddle-while-rome-burned.htm

Nero apparently didn't "fiddle" (meaning, in his case, he didn't sing and have fun because the violin was invented after Nero died) while Rome burned. Rather, he worked to put the fire out, then worked overtime to rebuild Rome.

Bush, on the other hand, did read The Pet Goat to children during the worst terrorist attack in American history. Did golf during the worst hurricane in American history. Did attend a concert the night of the hurricane. Did buzz New Orleans in his private plane. Did send men to war then tell reporters to watch his drive.

Nero was a naughty, naughty man but it's really unfair to compare him to Bush.

[rzemanfl]

1. As * said, "history, we'll all be dead then." Nero can take it. n/t

[jmowreader]

2. But he shouldn't have to!

I mean, come on: why compare garden-variety tyrants like Nero, Pol Pot, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Mao, Kim Il Sung, Saddam, Beria, Caligula, Milosevic...(come on, folks, add your favorite nightmare ruler here) to Bush? It's degrading to your average, run-of-the-mill, hard-working dictator to compare him to Incurious George.

[mnhtnbb]

3. Bush also plays guitar while NO residents wade through water

Check this out:

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2005/08/30/bush-fiddles-with-a-guitar-while-new-orleans-floods/

[wli]

4. Nero was a much better emperor than Bushler. n/t

[jmowreader]

5. That's not saying much

Name an emperor who wasn't better than Bush.

[bklyncowgirl]

6. Nero played the lyre and recited Homer on the burning of Troy

He did help coordinate rescue efforts somewhat but once the damage was done he had so much fun rebuilding--including a snazzy new palace with a humunguous statue of himself nicknamed the colossus--that rumors spread that he started the fire himself.

Nero, an early master of the art of spin, quickly placed the blame on a generally despised religious cult known as the Christians who'd mistaken the fire for the propheseyed end of the world and behaved accordingly. The Romans loved bloodshed in the form of entertainment but even they were eventually sickened by Nero's vicious persecution of this group.

Eventually the Praetorian Guard took care of Nero permanently and after a period of unrest a hardnosed old war hero named Flavius Vespasian restored order. He raised taxes, punished corrupt officials, refilled the treasury and restored the economy. He razed Nero's snazzy new palace and built a monument to the Roman People on the site where Nero's statue had stood. It was originally called the Flavian Ampitheater but ancient Romans were about as respectful of politicians desire for immortality as we are--they just called it the Colusseum.

And that's the end of the story.