Prince Charles Bares All !

The whole lurid story!
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PrinceCharlesSpeaks.php  
Prince Charles Speaks for the People and for Many Scientists Too
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho  

Prince Charles embarrassed the government and the scientific establishment with his Reith lecture broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (17 May 2000). In his wide ranging talk, which drew on the work of theologians, philosophers, scientists and economists, he said much that surely expressed the views of the majority in this country. Is it possible that the prince is more in touch with the common people than our elected Government? The idea that there is a sacred trust under which human beings accept stewardship for the earth is common to most spiritual traditions, including those that do not acknowledge a Creator. The Prince urged us to recapture this sense of the sacred, in which we accept that there are bounds of balance, order and harmony in the natural world and that development is progress only if it is sustainable. He singled out gene biotechnology (genetic modification) for attack as an unacceptable transgression of Nature's limits, treating our entire world as a “laboratory of life” with potentially disastrous consequences.

Not the usual thing we Americans are used to from the royals, eh?

(It is about this time that any conscientious blogger would make a pitch for you to read some tedious dribble about whatever it is that interests the blogger and not you. I do not think I have ever said you should read such and such, nor go to see this and that. I would say I am not doing much of anything if I actually have to command you to read something you found interesting in these pages.)

Issues Shmissues

I do not think it matters that Sarah Palin does not know what the Bush Doctrine is. That is a point in her favor, as far as I can tell. Do not try to pretend at this late date that issues matter. If the fact that Ms. Palin's state's proximity to Russia confers upon her international experience, then I am the foremost expert on NAFTA and Canada due to my schooling in Canada and my living there for a while, my proximity to Canada through much of my life, and so on. Experience comes by osmosis, as it were. I breath the sweet, northern Canadian air and go off to slap Steven Harper on the back and have a biere with Stefan Dion. And do not think that I am criticizing Ms. Palin. If the campaign were to be based on a discussion of issues, the Republican Party would be in a world of hurt. Every issue is one of their wounds: the economy, the lying invasion of Iraq, the failure to secure Afghanistan at the beginning in 2001, torture, suspending habeas corpus, the list is long. The more ghastly the economic and world situations become, the more we seem to withdraw from reality into a world of nonsense and appearances, a secret garden where we may all conspire and put on a pantomime show. Sort of like James M. Barrie and the children. See the white-haired old man caper about like a playful animal, tossing bouquets into the young lady's lap. Precious memories, indeed!

Thomas Chang, Life Insurance

Mr. Chang is a young man; youngish man...younger than I am. He sells insurance. He speaks to people of things that are staid and stable and the foundation of the nebulous future. So, his friend, John Wesley S., passed away. John had been a satisfied policy holder since 1991. It was touching to think that John approached that tunnel of light with his insubstantial hands wrapped about a phantom policy of Thomas Chang's. And last week, a wife of a long time policy holder called to tell him that the l.t.p.h. had been hit by a motorcycle helmet, lapsed into a coma, and died! It seemed the irony of being killed by head injuries inflicted by a head protection device bothered Tom as much as , if not more so, than the passing of l.t.p.h. He takes solace in the assurance of the continuity of Underwriting. I should get him a copy of The Crimson Permanent Assurance that he may sail the wide accountant-cy.

McCain Economics 101

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080922/scheer McCain and the Mortgage Meltdown By Robert Scheer The mortgage swaps distancing the originator of the loan from the ultimate collector were made legal only as a result of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which former Senator Phil Gramm, R-Texas, pushed through Congress just hours before the 2000 Christmas recess. Gramm, until recently co-chair of the McCain campaign, also had co-authored the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which became law in 1999 with President Bill Clinton's signature. That gem, which Gramm had pushed for years with massive financial industry lobbying, destroyed the Depression-era barrier to the merger of stockbrokers, banks and insurance companies. Those two acts effectively ended significant regulation of the financial community, and no wonder we have witnessed an even more rapid and severe meltdown in housing values than during the Great Depression. Not surprisingly, Gramm was rewarded for his service upon retirement as a senator and as head of the Senate Banking Committee with a top position at the Swiss-based UBS bank, which is close to drowning in the subprime mortgage nightmare he helped create. These folks have no shame, as was evidenced when the senator's wife, Wendy, was named a director of Enron, whose roiling of the energy market had been made possible only through yet another provision of Gramm's Commodity Futures Modernization Act. While neophyte Palin can claim ignorance of such matters, that would be particularly difficult for McCain, who as a senator consistently lined up with Gramm in his deregulation crusade. Clearly McCain had not learned much from his previous involvement with the savings-and-loan debacle about the risks to consumers in unregulated banking. McCain served as chair of Gramm's abortive 1996 presidential campaign, and Gramm returned the favor, providing critical support for McCain with the hard-line Republican base, including the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. It was assumed in the business press that Gramm was the front-runner to be Treasury secretary in a McCain Administration. Gramm left his role as the top economic person near McCain only after he made an embarrassing statement blaming the current economic downturn on "whiners," an awkward reference to the victims of his disastrous legislation. Amazingly, the turmoil in the housing market, which has led to the socialization of the nation's revered homeownership market in a massive expansion of the role of big government, has apparently not troubled McCain's conservative supporters. As I said, ignorance is bliss, and evidently not just for the newbie Palin. I do not believe McCain took an active role in this. Certainly Phil Gramm did, and he should be brought to justice. McCain is entirely ignorant of everything, except warfare, at which he seems to be pretty good. However, so are the Joint Chiefs. We do not need such ignorance now. Ms. Palin is obviously not presently particularly apt for economic leadership, either. He has shown that he will be led by the nose by selfish interests, while loudly decrying lobbyists. Why should one expect anything else from her? Or anyone, for that matter.

Political And Ethical Decisions

Many years ago, I became interested in the phenomena now collectively referred to as "Climate Change". Back then, it was just strange weather. One year the earth was getting colder, the next it was getting hotter. Things were changing in a way science could not quite get a handle on. Ice was melting, however, and perma-frost was no longer "perma". Land once frozen and stable was slipping into the sea, and Inuit were being displaced. Hardly a matter for concern. Time went on. The pages from the calendar were ripped off and dumped into the wastebasket. Now it became a political item. As Hurricane Ike moves over Galveston and the nation's largest concentration of oil refining falls under its sway, I wonder how things which should have been done are not. It would have been an enormous undertaking to un-centralize the oil industry, but it was discussed after Katrina and Rita. But it would be rather costly. So we begin to reckon the cost of climate change. Shall we do anything now, or shall we pass it all along to our grandkids? They say what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Those grandkids of ours are going to be some mighty strong-backed people to bear the crap we are dumping on them. One of the most important characteristics of Political Issues is the fact that by becoming a political issue, we can make a political decision. Or, more properly, we make the Issue subject to a political decision, a decision our political process may or may not make. By making an Issue a political Issue and subject to a Political Decision, we effectively transfer the Issue from the realm of Ethical Issues and we longer are compelled to make an Ethical Decision. We may effectively gag an Issue by making it a Political Issue. Even though the Issue gains visibility, in our day this means we shall discuss it and argue it in the everyday world and on radio and cable TV until we are sick of it, and we shall even then do nothing until we are forced by events to respond. Thus, we no longer feel compelled to choose an ethical path. We no longer feel the need to make an ethical decision. As long as we can state that Science has not "proved" whatever it is that the issue deals with, we shall argue, not choose, not decide...not commit ourselves to doing anything. In summary, by transforming an issue which deals with human well being into a political issue, we remove the necessity for making an ethical or moral decision about the issue. If we do make the ethical decision after the issue has become political, we merely ensure the continued existence of the political issue by embittering the political discussion with the acidity of self-righteousness. If we make the ethical decision before the issue becomes political, and we assist in the passage of the issue into the political arena, we ensure a future of self-righteousness and compulsion by force, as we try to compel belief in those who do not believe. We need to re-visit the frame of mind when one could make moral decisions without first transforming the relevant issue into a political issue, for our time is a time when major decisions cannot be made short of the most dire circumstances.

No More Memorials

In my day, we sucked it in and swore it would never, ever happen again. We'd have a moment of prayer, not silence, and get on with it. There are way too many memorials being built and documentaries being paraded in front of mystified eyes. We are acting like a nation whose glories are solely in the past, the golden past. No more memorials, no more 21 gun salutes. Dedicate ourselves and re-dedicate to living a moral life, dealing with suffering, protecting our fellow citizens. If you want a memorial, let's put up a Sub-Prime Mortgage Memorial to Phil Gramm.

Socialism?

Carolus Magnus, aut Charlemagne

No. It is more properly called Economic Neo-Feudalism. I propose Charlemagne as an emblem of the New Age. This is the new paradigm of wealth in the USA, and the West, her NATO league of Delian allies. http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/2008/09/that-sound-you-hear.html

The Old Rugged Bank

Not like those built on sand.

Lipstick?

There's a lot of lipstick on a lot of pigs. If the two parties refuse to discuss issues, we shall enter into the dark time.

Kadima, Likud, et al.

The right-wing Israelis have annexed Palestinian territory, according to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7609905.stm The right-wing of the USA and Israel are preparing for a final war at Megiddo, leading to the future of constant wars for the rich and perpetual enslavement for the poor. They cannot help themselves. We shall fight them. Unfortunately, we shall have no choice, as is always the case:

Kirk: I take it the odds are against us in a situation this grim. Picard: You could say that. Kirk: You know, if Spock were here, he'd say that I was an irrational, illogical human being by taking on a mission like that. Sounds like fun! Only, it does not sound like fun.

Internet Explorer 8

If you want to try out IE 8 beta 2, make sure you set up a system restore point first, so that you may go back to the way things were before the grotesquerie of IE 8.

Sci-Fi Richard Cheney

"...after the xenocide of millions, I became Speaker for the Dead."

Sci-Fi Phil Gramm

"Any civilization sufficiently advanced to have engendered a Phil Gramm-class entity must appear to be insane to other, less advanced civilizations."

Epicalypse

I suppose this means "hidden in plain sight", or "eyes wide shut", or something like that. I was drinking some tea the other day (compliments of The Grace Tea Company, NY, NY.), when I realized how weary I had grown from the word "Apocalypse", which is the book of the New Testament presently known as "Revelations" Why would a book known as "Revelations" be obscure? It should be called "Epicalypse": the Hidden. Hmmm. There are a number of obscure things about certain evangelical Christians, come to think of it. I shall do a post soon on "speaking in tongues". I read an article on it yesterday and guffawed a couple of times. Nothing worse than self-serving orants running around calling themselves Christians.

Tracker Brothers Trucking Company

I realize it is hard to believe that I may mix up two films as different from each other as El Topo and Tampopo, but I do, and quite easily.
How, I hear you say, does the actor Topol escape from the memorious stew you serve in your Dreamcatcher-like storage unit of past events? (this is the sentence wherein the Borgesian hint of the title of this post is hidden.) I regret to say that Chaim Topol does not escape unscathed, for I own a pair of Teva sandals. By the normal course of events, these Tevas became Tevyes, Tevye being the character Topol portrayed in Fiddler on the Roof. Since Sholem Aleichem's original story was "Tevye der Milchiger", or" Tevye the Milkman", they also answer to the name Milkman Shoes or Milchigerschuhen, as in "Where the deuce did I put my milkman shoes?" or "Wo sind die milchigerschuhen?" My wife actually understands this sort of dialect I speak. So much for Wittgenstein's musings on whether or not there may exist a private language. The answer is yes! ...and no. depends...

Goodbye, Cargo Cult.

I am going to miss the old Cargo Cult philosophy of the USA, It is dying slowly and surely. The next presidential election is called historical for a number of reasons, except the ones that matter: the truly new era in which we shall find ourselves less wealthy, less well off; the era when there is private profits for the rich, and socialized losses for the rest of the country. The old Cargo Cults of Melanesia believed that all those good and material they had seen the airplanes bring to the soldiers serving in WW II and its aftermath had originally been intended for them, sent along by their departed ancestors. The White Man somehow had intercepted the cargo. The Melanesians had built their own airplanes from wood and palm fronds and rope; they did not fly because the White Man had cast a spell over them and stolen their vital spirit. Our Cargo Cult was a more vicious form: we not only let desire for goods rule us, we let ourselves become zombies of the strip malls, soulless and mindless entities. We have discovered our financial institutions made from palm fronds and sand do not work. We shall discover the same about government and religion: all the misleading simulations of life that we created do not work. Mondo Cane.

The Republican Party

The Party That Wrecked America

or so believes James Howard Kunstler: http://www.kunstler.com/ So also believe I.

Toronto The Good

The Toronto Urban Film Festival is having a festival for commuters during September 5 - 12, 2008. It consists of 0ne-minute, silent films which will be played at subway stations and on the net. Go to http://www.torontourbanfilmfestival.com/watch_and_vote.html Make sure you catch the category Urban Growth and the film "Urban Growth" within it. It was done by Gil Gauvreau, mon ami, mon ami depuis les jours universitaires: les livres, les classes, pizza, bieres, femmes, reveries d'or....

Thoughts On The RNC

Vice Presidents are sometimes very effective, sometimes not. Same way with Presidents. Abe Lincoln did not have much experience as commander in chief when he was elected. He did fine. So will Mr. Obama. So will Ms. Palin. I was awestruck that McCain people were so severely cynical as to state that issues were a no starter for the campaign; it rested solely on Mythology and who believed it. I mean, I write about stuff like that, but I am always amazed when I run into it. President Bush actually did some good things. I sense they were usually when he did not tell Cheney about them. For example, replacing Runsfeld with Gates. Unfortunately, the bad was grotesquely bad and needed a tourniquet, while the good was but a poultice. Sexual mores were certainly on display. The place positively dripped sex. However, I am always surprised at Christians who seem to be oblivious to the fact that the only sexual prohibtion in the New Testament is that against DIVORCE. Yet, we have a 2 time adulterer addressing the convention. He has been married 3 times. The history of the nominee himself will not be repeated here. It is well known and tawdry in the extreme. Of all the people who shone at the convention, Carol McCain, who was not even there, was most brilliant for what she did not say of John McCain. What can you make of people passionately devoted to a religion, yet ignoring the most basic tenets of it? I think the terrible conflict between the lives they live and their religion breeds monsters. I sense that Christian interest groups have taken over the party of Goldwater and Reagan. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. However...here's that bloody "however"...when the groups are in favor of teaching Creationism as a supplement to biological sciences in schools, you have a presence similar to that of Bishop James Ussher, who calculated the age of the Earth to be 5,000 years, give or take a aeon of elders or so. We have forgotten the place of education, in particular, free and compulsory education in Western culture. This type of education was to lead to the betterment of society through the new sciences, not to some sort of hodge-podge where one could learn physics or not, opting instead for Angelology! Truly Science can not answer all social ills, but the remedy is most probably living lives of holiness, not destructing science. Surely, though, could one expect a society of adulterers to live lives of exemplary holiness...sufficient to instill the young with a profound religiosity and respect for values, morals, and the word of God? I doubt it.

Intelligent Design Newsletter

God Considers The Green Planet, Earth

(...and all this time we thought it was a blue planet...) ...

My Trip To The RNC: 3

So we finally arrive by rapid transit to the Xcel Center:

and meet a lady from Alaska:

and hang around bars, singing "We'll Meet Again" with people in drag impersonating Vera Lynn:

We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day Keep smilin' through Just like you always do Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away So will you please say hello To the folks that I know Tell them I won't be long They'll be happy to know That as you saw me go I was singing this song We'll meet again Don't know where Don't know when But I know we'll meet again some sunny day

So long, folks!

Quebec Cuisine In World Affairs

I saw this book:

Un siècle russe De Lénine à Poutine

"From Lenin to Poutine"!!??

I am amazed to hear that Lenin has a connection with "poutine", poutine being an odd congellification of french fries ( pommes frites ) , cheese, and sometimes a hideous gravy.

(See C.S.Lewis: Sometimes A Hideous Gravy)

I am seriously considering introducing it into the USA, particularly the South, where Cotton used to be King, but now Emperor Obesity reigns.

I mean, they would positively wolf it down with a large Doritos chaser!

My " TRIP" To The Republican National Convention: 2

I emphasized "trip" in the title, because some people thought I was referring to my great-grandson Trip. Very possible. He and his brothers, Wolf, Train, and Limo, are very dear to me. If I write in the future about a "limo", say, remember that it is not my descendants of whom I speak. Now, back to the trip. We got off at the station at Eau Claire:

Looked for a trip on a Vickers-Armstrong turbo-prop:

Couldn't do it, so we settled for Charlie Fergusson's ballon rides, which we rented to head in a westerly direction for $ 50 per hour:

pix: agence eureka

The 100 Years Experiment

This is the long running experiment in the USA whether prolonged exposure to violence will lead to more violent behavior. We are particularly interested in childrens' behavior. Many have found that violent imagery and violent games do not lead to violent behavior in real life...at least, they do not lead to violent behavior within the period of time of the observation or test. That is why the 100 year term of the large scale experiment. One of the more interesting results is that there has been a link established between the moral depravity exhibited at Abu Ghraib, the enhanced interrogation techniques of various detainees, and the constant violent imagery that society has been subject to since the inception of regular TV broadcasting. It is rather like a bubble, the intense exponential climb on the charts of violence. I am looking for areas in which to invest.

American Investment: The Fifth Horseman

The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse at summer camp

The rebate checks, checks comprised of our own money actually sent back to us, from the government seem to have by and large been used to buy nonsense items, such as iPods. The checks were too small to save, to put into one's retirement fund. These shortfalls in savings will come to play a larger and larger role. Recessions will be a stumbling block, true. Lack of savings is total annihilation, the fifth horseman of the Apocalypse.

My Trip To The Republican National Convention:1

I decided to go by train. I have always spoken in favor of rail transport. It it more energy efficient by far than other forms of transport. So train it was. Rail does have its problems: politicians aren't interested, they'd speak of drill, drill, drill rather than a complex mix of rail, air, and automotive. Some hedge funds which are very iffy have large holdings in rail. AMtrak still suffers from neglect, so I had to take the bull by the cow-catcher, so to speak, and show them I meant business. I went on the Internet and got my ticket, choose my seating arrangements, and went to the roundhouse later to pick my locomotive:

At last, just before Gustav, we left:

We finally came in via the old aquaduct into Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

This was the end of the line, and we had to find other transport.

pix: agence eureka

Where In The World Is AnnaMR...

...and her sisters? I stopped by the blog the other day, but the windows were closed and no one was at home. Window needs paint. Usually someone points a gun my way when I come skulking around like this. Odd.

A Second Chance

As Hurricane Gustav approached the Gulf Coast, I thought on how great it is to be forgiven, to have a second chance. Goerge Bush has a second chance to get it right, and not appear to be a supercilious right-wing fop. Ray Nagin has a second chance to get it right, and not seem to be totally incompetent and unprepared. When people tell me that Bush has done some good: there has not been another terrorist attack in US soil, it strikes me that the observation is correct. The reason is that George Bush had a second chance there. I am not blaming George Bush for the attack. The security agencies seemed to have a good deal of information, but they did not energize themselves to do anything about it. However, they all did get a second chance, and they did it differently. George Bush did not succeed here because he had the right stuff; he succeeded because he got a second chance. We all need second chances, and are thankful for them. Second chances are what we need to make us look good, to make us succesful, to make us into the wonderful people we already think we are.

Ad Men?

It finally happened. I was listening to news of Gustav, news of Sarah Palin, and a synopsis of the episode of "Mad Men" that aired Sunday past. I have seriously gotten Ms. Palin and Peggy totally and inextricably mixed up and mired in the same memory trace, like a cheaply made garden hose.

Halliburton

Before you even think of voting for another Republican, let us remember Halliburton Industries. Richard Cheney used to be their CEO. Halliburton recently moved its headquarters and all its upper echelon executives out of the USA to the Middle East, probably a beach front in Abu Dhabi. The reason was stated to be that most of their clients were in the Middle East. Perhaps they are a bit frightened of investigations into their corruption in Iraq, their unholy ties with Cheney, and their crimes and his. I am sure there is no extradition treaty where their HQ is now located. Check it out.

Dapper Dan Obama

Instead of the Grand Old Party, I think that Fatuous Old Party makes more sense: FOP instead of GOP. Perhaps Farting Old Party. If they insist in the "G", then how about Grifters Old Party? I take my cue from Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? when it comes to "hair jelly" and political parties. There were 2 hair jellies, "Dapper Dan" and "Fop"

I am a "Dapper Dan" man, just as was George Clooney's character. I am not a "FOP" man. Nor am I a "GOP" man, for that matter.

So I shall vote for Dapper Dan Obama, and not for Fop McCain.

Economic Confidential

Things tend to slip out, despite the best attempts of governments to prevent it. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4641381.ece London Times Online The government was plunged into turmoil yesterday as the chancellor admitted the full scale of Britain’s economic crisis. Downing Street and the Treasury launched a desperate damage limitation exercise after Alistair Darling declared that Britain was facing “arguably the worst” slump in 60 years. As Treasury aides claimed that he had been misrepresented, Darling took to the airwaves to clarify his remarks. However, instead of reassuring voters, the chancellor risked compounding the crisis by failing to modify his dire assessment. Darling insisted it was his duty to be “straight” with people. His warning that the slump will be “more profound and long-lasting than people thought” comes at the worst time for Gordon Brown as he struggles to shore up his leadership. Certainly the UK is not the USA, but in the present globalized world, they are inextricably interconnected. So just as George W. sez that the economy is on the upswing, based on random fluctuations of straws at which he always grasps, the UK thinks everything will be...at best...something resembling the years following the Depression and WW II.

Questionable Judgement

Apparently John McCain is going to the Gulf Coast Sunday to visit the "pre-disaster area"? I am awfully glad that I am not driving in a car filled with personal belongings and a tired family trying to get out of NOLA, in a traffic jam creeping along, and made more immobile by the shut-downs accompanying an incoming presidential campaigner's arrival as the local security forces secure things. I would chew nails and spit tacks at that old fool.

Brava, Bella Katrina!

...and encore. Possibly the last, absolutely last thing the Republican Party wanted to see was a replay of Katrina during their convention. I mean, John McCain's determined effort to suck the wind from Obama's sails by nominating his great grand-daughter as VP pales in comparison to Howard Dean's efforts at meteorological disturbance.
I would like to see some security people try, just try and keep Hurricane Gustav in line outside the convention center.

My father was in hospital when Katrina struck. I believe he was in isolation, the staff thinking he had TB or something similar, something quite malign, something even old and ancient, possibly derived from WW II and time spent in tropical jungles. Navy man, you know. (Of course, he was not in the Pacific. He served in the Mediterranean. He was in the landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Anzio.

It turned out to be pneumonia which had not been properly cleared up in the spring of the year. He had pneumonia from spring to fall in 2005. It was quite memorable to drive to their place to escort them to hospital, and arriving to find him unable to walk the 30 steps to the auto without stopping a couple times to catch his breath.) I was in the hospital room on Sunday, as I recall. I went home later, making sure to fill up the gas tank, for we expected the price to go up due to the storm. Then we watched: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and on... As time wore on, Anderson Cooper, Shepard Smith, and eventually Geraldo Rivera remained in place. As time passed, these individuals began to display the stress they were feeling, a stress derived from seeing people being left to rot in a flooded city.

Then the Republican President flew over the area, finally having been prised from his Texas ranch to simulate some show of concern, desperation grew. It was Floodmaster G. and Brownie. It was their rap, the rap of pudgy white guys, secure in their sense of entitlement to money, power, security, and techno. Even though New Orleans was suffering, the Right Wing God was in his heaven, and all was right with the world; was it not obvious that the only white guys stranded there were ones who choose to be? That is, the journalists?

As Wednesday wore down and there was the real presentiment that we, the Cable TV audience, might actually have a chance to view the real-time deaths of hundreds by starvation, thirst, disease, lack of hygiene, and, most thrilling, cannibalism...(Indeed! What would the poor wretches eat, unless it be each other? The strongest surviving upon the flesh of the weakest!) things had begun to come apart.

It was during this time, Wednesday through Thursday, that the FOX News shills like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, safely far away from New Orleans, continued their usual smarmy and clueless charade. I remember Hannity speaking to Shephard Smith. Shephard Smith almost jumped through the screen, trying to get it through the great Blockhead's rather blockish looking head that people were dying and more would die...and the government was doing nothing. Too bad it's a Republican government, Sean. They are still doing nothing. Then Geraldo almost verbally skinned O'Reilly for his fatuousness. It was Modern Day Republicanism distilled to its essence: clueless and selfish greed combined with a rampant know-nothing-ism that is frightening.
It had nothing to do with Goldwater Republicanism. C-Span showed Barry's acceptanced speech from 1964 last night. One thing Barry Goldwater touched on was the fact that Private Property formed the base of our way of life, since private property allowed an individual to be his own master, and not be totally dependent upon the whims of government. Barry Goldwater was an elitist. That was back in the day when using all the smarts you could was not considered something shameful. Those Republicans knew what their philosophy was: they had fought and thought it out themselves. They did not need a half-baked, renegade evangelical whore-of-babylon-master from Dohickeyville, Texas, to tell them what they should think!

Now, just try and find a modern day Republican actually talk about such philosophy. Just try. I think that back in 1964, people actually used their heads and thought about important concepts. I really do not get the impression there's much of that done today. Tom DeLay...as in, could I get a delay in my trial date?...was all about graft. Larry Craig spoke about complex algorithms tapped out by one's feet in public toilets. President Bush spoke of the important patriotic function of SHOPPING. Phil Gramm spoke of Americans no longer having the back bone to stand up to adversity, not like the richest 2% which still did...at least we think they do from their havens in other countries.
...and the VP candidate says that when it comes to Pro Life, she's for it. No. The last thing Republicans want to see is replays of masses of poor people standing about the perimeter of a sign spelling out "H-E-L-P"... as the only government agency in sight is the Coast Guard helicopters... and there is not enough of those sweet chariots to swing low and save lives... while Brownie is doing a heck of a job... and Floodmaster G. goes...shopping. Republicans

Palin Who?

When I first heard the news, the radio said that McCain had chosen Palin to be VP. So, of course, I assumed it was Michael Palin, and was tempted to switch allegiances.

However, it turns out that the Palin in question is Sarah Palin. She may be Michael's niece...or grand niece. She apparently has lost her British accent, but sounds pronouncedly Canadian, which makes sense, living in Alaska as she does. Perhaps she and John will create a Bureau of Silly Walks, and let Michael head it. Or maybe get Basil Fawlty over to run it.

The Ministry of Silly Walk, or the Department of Silly Walks...referred to acronymously as "the DSW" ...may aid John McCain try to get out of the hole that Bush has dug for us with Russia. Vladimir Putin famously is rendered impotent and out of sorts when confronted with silly walks; the Chechnyans knew it and made extensive use of it.

Putin Vs. Palin

That is our dream match-up. How would it come out? Don't know. So far, Putin has kicked old Bush's backside all over the Caucasus, making mince-meat out of the grand Bush plan to destroy Russian naval power in the Black Sea and to extend American influence into Central Asia.
In fact, given the history of American meddling during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, it would not be to far-fetched to believe that Bush had ideas of fomenting a bit of unpleasantness in Chechnya again.

Putin wins against Bush. All that looking into his soul did not seem to work. Putin did not settle for the table scraps the American Establishment was willing to throw Russia's way, unlike we Americans who dive for those trickle-down scraps and smile. Putin could teach us a thing or two when it comes to dealing with Republicans.
--

Fire Museum Opens

The Fire Museum Of Port Desespoir, Uqbar, opened yesterday evening.

It was, as usual in the island , preposterous and impressive. It reminded me of all the "eternal" flames I have seen. Most of them were extinguished for one reason or another, and they appeared to be anything but "eternal".
I remembered being in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania once some years ago, early 90's perhaps, and visiting the Gettysburg National Monument. Maintenance and upkeep seem to have gone through one of those cycles they do, and the flama eterna was out. The grass was also quite long. There was an air of desuetude about.

This is one of the reasons I am quite sure that present day managerial skills are not sufficient to cope with extremely large institutions, be they banks, governments, etc: all things have their season and there are up and down cycles even in eternal flame upkeep. Good intentions goeth before the fall.... Human beings are really not the best items to have as regulators and monitors...but there you are: we are stuck with them!

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Interpretation Woes

Someone asked me what I meant in the post "Mythic Stories 2". I am going to have to take some time, because I looked at it and it all seemed like gibberish and gabbleduckian.

Odd Thomas

I am sad to report that Odd Thomas is dead. Dean Koontz obliterated him in the recent novel, "Odd Hours". It was not a pretty sight.

Mythic Stories: The Free Lunch

I just touched on it in the preev ( i.e., "previous") post " Hot Man". The world proclaims there is no free lunch. As we proclaim it, we yet feel our profound faith in a free lunch, whether catered by God, or Fate, or Gaia, or what-not, there is a free lunch...oh, God almighty, amen! We know it. American Exceptionalism is a variety of the Free Lunch Myth: Americans are spiffy, therefore they are entitled to just about everything they may lay their hands on. The Sun never setting on the British Empire reflects Free Lunch & White Man's Burden, as well. These are variants of the Chosen People mythic motif. (As a child, I thought this referred to Koreans, meaning the people of Chosen. This was not the case.) Again, when we speak of Mythic Stories, we do not say anything about Truth, Falsity, or the determination thereof. Thus, when we speak of a Mythic Story of the Chosen People, there is nothing said as to whether a statement of the form " x is the chosen people." is true or false. Now: Very Important!! Note that often within the Myth of American Exceptionalism, we catch the distinct notion of entitlement. God's in His heaven, the sun shines on the US of A, and all's right with the world!! The British notion was a bit more extensive, combining Burden with the Profits, the profits often coming from opium, by the way. However, within the story of the Chosen People, there are other strains present, strains of responsibility, liability, and pure, downright suffering. Job comes to mind. Perhaps the story of The Chosen is not in the same symbolic grouping as American Exceptionalism and the British Empire, after all. Perhaps we shall not build a New Jerusalem on England's green shores, nor on America's waving fields of grain...nor anywhere else at the rate we are going. To my mind, we live in a degraded state. While it is true that times were rather savage and difficult when Moses led the people of Israel, and while it is true that there was a general dickensian and malthusian distress across the face of the globe in the times of the British Empire; still the mythic stories of those times, the stories of Entitlement AND Responsibility were ever so much more complex, ever so much more complete and satisfying as a structured and detailed picture of God's world... ...ever so much more than the truncated and brief version of Exceptionalism, a form which is exceptional only by its perverse uni-dimensionality of character.

The Hot Man And Free Hot Lunch

Does anyone actually listen to political ads?  No one admits to it, but what does one really do when the CIA, FBI, and NSA aren't intercepting one's emmails and tapping one's phone? For myself, when I hear an almost pornographically husky voice emanate from the TV and confide to me that Barack Obama is too young, too innocent, and not sufficiently corrupt by time and power and gold to be the next president of these great US of A, I am amazed. I mean, the only time I would ever hear anyone speak in such a licorice voice of subterfuge would be on a street corner, preceeded by a "Pssst! Hey, pal! Got new Rolexes...", whereupon the low voice guy or gal would open their overcoat to display their array of timepieces.

Yes. That is it. It's the voice of the Hot Man.
The voice on political ads often is that of "The Hot Man" or Woman who used to arrive at our places of work at random times throughout the year, get out of his car and open the trunk, showing tools and wrenches and spanners, all at wholesale or below. "The Hot Man."
Of course, we always bought from the Hot Man. It is a basic truth of the American Mythology that (1) we must say in public that there is no free lunch, and (2) we privately fervently believe that there is a free lunch. "Free Lunch" means, among other things, no responsibility: we buy the "hot" items, and if ever confronted by the minions of the law, we assert we had no knowledge that they were stolen. No responsibility up front, no liability afterwards.

Well, this is why I cannot vote for John McCain. I like Mr. McCain, but unfortunately he comes as a package; that is, he brings the whole appalling Republican entourage with him like Marley's ghostly change boxes! The Republican Party must yet answer for the start of the Iraq War. The issue is large-scale disinformation about weapons of mass destruction and a systematic effort to mislead. Although I am sure we have had other such instances in our history, the Spanish-American War comes to mind as a possibility, in my life I had never witnessed anything so brazenly callous and immoral.  

The Republican Party must yet answer for their Casual Racism as displayed by their response to Hurricane Katrina
A truly embarrassing look into the intimate heart of the president and the Republicans: when the people at Fox News start bellowing belligerently at a Republican government that is doing nothing to aid fellow Americans, you have a unique moment in Conservative history. At the risk of being offensive, I shall repeat what I heard Republicans say, and which from experience I know many Republicans felt: they said that the people surrounding the Super Dome were a bunch of welfare porch monkeys doing nothing...which is what they did best anyway! And this type of talk continued up to the third day, when even these coarse souls began to soften to the needs and responsibilities of Community; when they began to realize either the Union of peoples is either real and has meaning, or it is a base charade put on for their viewing pleasure. They had to choose, and most of them choose to express statements of community and fellowship, leaving behind the everyday racism their political party had taught them was acceptable.

The Republican Party must answer for Corrupt Stewardship The President as Executive was absent. The only role Bush played was War Lord. True, it was "Duck Soup" War Lord, but war lord none the less. Every governmental agency was left to drift. No regulatory functions were performed: FAA, FDA, SEC, the list is endless.  

The Republican Party must answer for Fiscal Irresponsibility Well, fellers, it seems like the ol' government got a li'l drunk! Hawh! Now it's got hisse'f a category 3 hang-over!!

Prince Potemkin Lives!

The expression "Potemkin", as in Potemkin village or landscape or such - meaning essentially a facade of well-being hiding a slum - and not as in Battleship Potemkin, for example, is undergoing a revival. I first came across the expression in the 1950's and can't say that I ever heard it - except from my own lips - until very recently. I just had a post on Olympics China with Potemkinisms.

Now the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121979742566674947.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Obama Should Find His Inner Kansan  
August 27, 2008

  ...On Sunday, as those police sent me on the first of several long, pointless trudges around the perimeter of Denver's heavily fortified Pepsi Center, a foreign journalist summarized convention proceedings to me as a "Potemkin village of democracy."

I am not sure "Potemkin village" is what was called for here. Perhaps a charade, a pantomime, a Busby Berkely spectacle of democracy. Potemkin village sort of indicates that there is a show of democracy up front, and a ghetto of democracy behind the facade. I mean, that's a lot from a foreign guy! Anyhow, if I know anything...I think I recall that Prince Potemkin served Catherine the Great. I also know the whole story of the derivation of the expression "Potemkin village". I shall save it for a rainy day.

Time Travel: Year Zero

Maybe 2009.
Maybe 2010.
It depends.

It depends on having the correct Temporal Transplacement Infrastructore in place, for one thing.
I mean, surely one cannot expect to time travel if one does not have the correct time travel docking facility awaiting one, may one?

Hitherto, time travel has been nothing more than jumping in the old De Lorean and setting the time-space co-ordinates on the Tom Tom and literally...jumping into the past...or future. Nice concept. The De Lorean provides the proper temporal infrastructure at both ends of the time line.
Paradoxically, if we jump backwards, the De Lorean may not exist yet...or be at the car wash, not at the high school prom that we wish to be at.
If we go forward, rust may have totally corrupted the auto, and it may have been donated to the Purple Heart. So this approach will not work the way we wish.
No. Infrastructure is needed, independent infrastructure in the time periods in question, both at the start of the temporal jump...meaning me here and now in my laboratory, a modern day Dr. Praetorius with my miniature supernova creations within bell jars, crackling with sempiternal intensity...

Bell Jar 6: Supernova Remnant...(note: don't fry companion galaxies!)

...and at the end of the temporal jump, meaning the end of the temporal jump. The target, if you will.
Why now?
Well, the first bit of galactic mosh-pit dust has been fed into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) cum atom smasher, mandoline, ricer and dicer. One thing leading to another, this will possibly lead to (1) the end of the world as we know it, or more probably, (2) the creation of closed Time-Like Curves (TLCs...essentially torus or doughnut shaped curves).
The TLC is nothing more than the wormhole of yore, already used by Deep Space Nine and any other number of quasi-commercial enterprises. Thus, the future will have the proper type of "dunkers" or TLC containment fields, and now so shall we, that is, we shall if we take advantage of the LHC's TLCs and build the proper type of doughnut-shaped guestroom onto the estate. This is where our great-great-grandchildren from the future may come and visit while their self-centered, narcissistic parents vacation in Thule on Mars.

Now, we come to what we all are concerned with: won't everyone leave 2008?!

I mean, why stick around waiting for the rest of the financial debacle to unwind? Or the Afghanistan situation to go to Hades in a tiffin box?

Who, indeed, will man things here in 2008?

I do not know.

Last person to leave 2008, please turn off the lights.

I Would Not Run For President In 2008

because... Here is the Case - Schiller residential real estate index for 1890 to the present. The index measures the cost of housing against other goods.

2001 to 2006 are unprecedented. Every bubble saw the index fall back down to around 110. That would be almost 50% from 2006. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have mortgages priced at 2006 costs. Welcome to hell!

Bocklin der Mahler

de Theodora Na Pyramide http://theodoranapiramide.blogspot.com/ Sobre a Ilha dos Mortos O pintor suíço Arnold Böcklin criou diversas versões do mesmo quadro, no qual aparecem um remador e uma figura branca atravessando o mar num pequeno barco, rumo a uma ilha rochosa, levando um caixão. Qualquer semelhança com Caronte, o barqueiro que na mitologia clássica conduzia as almas ao Hades, não será mera coincidência.

http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2008/06/new-hilton-resort-on-bocklins-island-of.html

http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2008/08/bocklins-isle.html

Mist...

End of the road Crawford, Texas

...and darkness... ...who is there?... ...weeds of Athens doth he wear.

pix: richie rich

De Profundis

Lord Black in durance vile...in Florida. Does it get any...viler than that? http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=743226
On strip searches and fellow inmates Conrad Black National Post Published: Saturday, August 23, 2008

Synchronized Swimming?

Whatever one calls it, it is phenomenal! I have never seen anything so erotically barbaric and positively primitive as synchro swim! I mean, it may as well be held deep within the confines of the caves of Lascaux. It left me with aboriginal aphasia! The fluid and insectile movements of the swarm of swimmers!...like flowing maenads under the possession of some dark goddess... some sea goddess... mistress Cthulhu! orants at the ocean temple of Dagon! Argh! I hear her watery approach! SHE is at the door!......

I swoon!...........

Roe vs Wade Gives Way To Boumediene vs Bush

Justice Scalia, flanked by Justice Thomas, Chief Justice Roberts, and Justice Alito in the background, after issuing their minority decision.

Good article on the case concerning Habeas Corpus. Scalia was on the dissenting side, and used his brilliance to portray himself as either a rich white guy who is very frightened of the changes in the world and would do anything to make them all just go away, including delivering his soul to Caesar and letting the Republic go down the tubes, or as a charlatan. http://www.common-place.org/vol-08/no-04/talk/ H. Robert Baker The Supreme Court Confronts History Or, habeas corpus redivivus History matters. Perhaps more to the point, how we craft history matters, whether we are historians or not. The Supreme Court proved this on June 12 when it issued its decision in Boumediene v. Bush. The case concerns habeas corpus, latin for "have the body" (as in a command by a judge to a jailor to "have the body in my courtroom and explain why you are restraining him or her"). In Boumediene, the question at issue was whether the government could strip federal courts of jurisdiction to entertain prisoners’ applications for habeas corpus. The Court broke five to four against the government, ruling that Congress had exceeded its authority... Unfortunately, the originalist justice Scalia acts as a pander for Empire vs Republic in his dissent, but did we ever think he was anything else but a self-aggrandizing chapman-narcissist? Brilliant, yes, but flawed. In the near future, we shall use Boumediene vs Bush as a touchstone of political correctness: are ye a son of the Republic or a bastard of the Empire?

Yeah...So?

Someone just pointed out that I am (1) repetitious, (2) tedious, (3) narcissistic, (4) a nonce creation of God. Now, which of the above did they not really say? Which one did I make up, thereby proving the truth of the other 3?

I Knew It!

Ann Coulter at a Press Conference on "Saruman: Friend or Crank" ?

Ann Coulter is a proponent of Intelligent Design! I knew it. 

Everyone I disdain is a proponent of Intelligent Design (ID), are they not? I am sure that Corso Pagliacci-type guy who writes character assassination books for the discredited Republican Party and Mary "Hexenhut" Matalin supports ID. 

Almost by definition these creatures crawl to the fluid altar of ID. "Monsters from the ID", remember that line from Forbidden Planet? 

In a review in Committee For Skeptical Inquiry:  

http://www.csicop.org/si/2008-03/gardner.html  

Ann Coulter Takes on Darwin Godless: The Church of Liberalism. 

By Ann Coulter. Three Rivers Press, 2007. 336 pp. 

MARTIN GARDNER  

Ann Coulter is an attractive writer with green eyes and lopsided, long, blonde hair, whose trademark is insulting liberals with remarks so outrageous that they make Rush Limbaugh sound like a Sunday school teacher. This is one reason why all six of her books have made The New York Times best seller list and earned her fame and fortune. 

Coulter’s fifth book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, has just been issued in paperback to provide an excuse for this review. Here are some of the book’s mean, below-the-belt punches: Monica Lewinski is a “fat Jewish girl” (Coulter 4). Julia Roberts and George Clooney are “airheads” (8). Ted Kennedy is “Senator Drunkennedy” (90). The four Jersey “weeping widows” (289) of men who died in the September 11 attacks are “rabid” (103), “self-obsessed” (103), and “harpies” (112). “I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much” (103). Diplomat Joseph Wilson, whose wife was outed from the CIA, is a “nut and liar” (119) and a “pompous jerk” (121). He is likened to a “crazy aunt up in the attic” (295). Cindy Sheehan, the vocal war widow, is a “poor imbecile” (102) with an “itsy-bitsy, squeeky voice” (103). Katie Couric is a “shopworn sweetheart” (295). Liberals are repeatedly called pathetic nuts and crackpots. “[They] are more upset when a tree is chopped down than when a child is aborted” (5). 

Apparently Coulter expects God to send most liberals to hell, because she writes, “I would be crestfallen to discover any liberals in heaven” (22).  

Coulter has nothing good to say about any Democrat. They are all crazy liberals who are socialists in disguise. Her latest book is titled If Democrats Had Any Brains They’d Be Republicans. Here are a few other folks who get pummeled in Godless: All defenders of abortions. All defenders of gay marriages and those who think homosexuality is genetic. “Hysterical” and “ugly” feminists. Scientists who deny there could be subtle differences between the mental abilities of men and women and between different races... 

 I had forgotten just how deep the Coulter thing is. She is a profound one. The fact that her books were on the NY Times bestseller list is one of the reasons why, when confronted by the angry peasantry yelling "If you don't like it here, go somewhere's (sic) else!", I have begun to considered this sage advice, indeed. I have actually begun investigating Ireland. Of course, there's always Canada. Staid and stolid. The Coulter thing continues:  

In the last four chapters of Godless, Coulter suddenly morphs into a science writer. The chapters are blistering attacks on Darwinian evolution—the notion that life evolved gradually from simple, one-celled forms to humans by a process that consisted of random mutations combined with the survival of the fittest. 

Darwin of course knew nothing about mutations, but Coulter is concerned with modern Darwinism, which she is convinced requires some sort of superior intelligence to guide evolution. In brief, Coulter is a dedicated believer in intelligent design, or ID for short. Among promoters of ID, mathematician and Baptist William Dembski and Catholic Michael Behe are Coulter’s main heroes. Dembski, who has a degree in divinity from The Princeton Theological Seminary, was Coulter’s principal adviser on the last four chapters.  

Like all IDers, nowhere does Coulter hint at how God, or a pantheistic sort of intelligence, guided evolution. There are two leading possibilities: God manipulated mutations so that new species arose, culminating finally in humans. God may have allowed mutations and survival of the fittest to produce different breeds of a species, such as dogs and cats, but new species were created out of whole cloth, just as it says in the Book of Genesis. 

Like Behe and other IDers, Coulter is silent on how God directed evolution and what sort of evidence would confirm or disconfirm the role of an intelligent designer. This is not the place to defend in detail what Coulter likes to call the “Darwinocranks.” It has been admirably done in scores of books by top scientists, all of whom Coulter considers cranks. 

Peter Olofson, writing tongue in cheek on “The Coulter Hoax,” in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (March/April 2007), accuses Coulter of perpetrating a brilliant satire on ID rhetoric. 

I have many times expressed my opinion that ID is idolatrous polytheism. I have not changed my view one iota. ...We know from a footnote on page 3 of Godless that Coulter considers herself a Christian. But what sort of Christian?... Apparently the Coulter is the type of Christian mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount: blessed are they whose pens drip venom; those who having discord with their brothers and sisters, leave their sacrifice at the altar and go first to their brothers and sisters and throw stones at them! Beware of the wolves who go to the same tailor as the sheep

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Mythic Stories: Clark Rockefeller

The NY TIMES has a story of Mr. Rockefeller on page 1 of its Sunday Styles section: Ready-Made Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller was actually Christian Gerhartsreiter and his tale is that of duplicity, impersonation, and catch him if you can. If you read it, the story shows how the angel of Power and the angel of Wealth create their own world of belief and knowledge, independent of the real world, based upon the passions of those who are duped. All of Celebrity Biz is Mythic: that is why there is nothing there, but it seems so very full! Take the story of Leda and the swan: Zeus wants Leda, gets the crazy notion to meet with her at Cliveden for a masked ball, has his valet assist him in suiting up as a pantomime swan, meets the lady in question, and more or less has his way with her. Not much there. So it is with Celebrities. Heath Ledger had a life ahead of him filled with potential: great things, great sufferings, achievements and disappointments; just like the rest of us. Cut it short, though. Not much there when you look behind the facade. Madonna...not much to the Gematria and the Kabbala when you really look at it. When everyone dips their toe into the river of Zen, it gets a bit dirty...unless there really wasn't any water there to begin with. (I sense I have lost you......)

Mythic Stories: Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish

The Mythic stories often seem of another place, another time, seeming to be omni-temporal and omnipresent in the consciousness of mankind. That is indeed their nature. Observe criticism of Mahmoud Darwish, recently deceased, and a poet from Palestine, from a town destroyed in 1948...destroyed in 1948 and buried, while he yet lived until death sought him out, too.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7559565.stm  
Fitting farewell to Palestinian poet 
 By Heather Sharp BBC News, Ramallah

  ... But in Israel there has been mixed feeling. Many respected his abilities as a writer, but others saw some of his writing as anti-Semitic and even racist - in one poem he urged Israelis to "leave our land / Our shore, our sea / Our wheat, our salt, our wound" and "take with you your dead". However, acclaimed Israeli writer Avraham B Yehoshua said he was deeply saddened by Darwish's death. "Of course there were poems that were very much aggressive," he said, "but it's important that we know what they are thinking - you have to know your enemy because your enemy is your neighbour and future friend." 

  There is nothing particularly mythic about a cry of pain directed against an inimical force. There is, however, in the attitude that even the slightest criticism somehow infects and must be painted as "Anti-Semitism". This is the same process we have described earlier (below) by which certain forces or "deities of power" - good and evil- are set up and let free to rule consciousness; the same process we employ by calling people "nazis" or "Hitler".
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View From Iraq

McClatchy Blog Inside Iraq The master statement August 08, 2008 Today 8th August, many Iraqis congratulated each other on the anniversary of "the master statements" in which Saddam announced the end of Iraqi-Iranian war and they wished each other the close day when they will congratulate each other on the end of American occupation. A good view from Iraq. Read it if you dare/care: http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/iraq/

Humanae Vitae

A great article on Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae dealing with sexual mores and contraception. The gist is: look at the wasteland we created with freedom without morality! First Things The Vindication of Humanae Vitae by Mary EberstadtAugust September 2008 Copyright (c) 2008 First Things (August/September 2008) http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6262

Mes Amis: Les Freres A

Why I Cannot Stand Professional Sports

Yahoo ! Olympic glory too high a cost for NBA By Adrian Wojnarowski Yahoo! Sports Aug 22, 6:45 pm EDT http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/basketball/news?slug=aw-olympicrisk082208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns ...Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had two 30-something maximum-salary players – Dirk Nowitzki and Kidd – in these Olympics and had long been leery of exposing his franchise stars to so much risk. He watched an archrival, Ginobili, go down on Friday and understands that whatever gloss that comes with Team USA’s golden glory, the dirty little secret of Olympic basketball doesn’t go away. “I absolutely continue to worry about it,” Cuban said Friday in an email. “Maybe we should do something similar to the soccer approach and limit it to players 23 and under. The real question is whether or not the NBA, with our increasing global strength can create our own global tournament to replace the Olympics and make money doing it.” Sooner or later, the NBA has to take a look at the good of these Olympics beyond the needs of Nike and the commissioner’s global imperialism. Maybe the Americans are protected with the waves of talent that they can turn to, but that gap will just drive the rest of the world harder and harder to catch them. More risks with multi-million dollar investments, more Ginobilis crumbling to floors around the world. These are the NBA’s casualties, too. “It is a tough decision to make,” Delfino said. “We come here with pride. We play because we want to represent our country.”... This is why I go to cricket matches to watch the young gentlemen from India and Pakistan and Jamaica and Bermuda and the Bahamas play: it is free to watch, the parking is free, bring your own food... ...and you get to have a sport experience, not a staged entertainment.

Escape From The Empire Of Carbon

Friends With Friends

Mush Head Republicans and their Familiars

My friends, all 1 or two of them, have friends. They have more friends than I do. I know why. I was with a friend. His friend spoke against Obama. After his opinion, he looked about for fat, sassy white-guy approbation: a high-five, a fist-jab of the clueless... I asked him whom he voted for in 2004. He answered "Bush". I looked at him silently for a bit. Then I said that since he voted for Bush...and Cheney...I did not think he had enough experience in using his head clearly. I also said he and his ilk were also to blame for Bush and company's disasters; they were enablers of lies, wars, torture...you get the idea. I never did believe in that ditty: make new friends and keep the old....one is silver and the other's gold! It did not help that my nephews were hanging about in the shadows, vampirish and sucking tea (compliments of the Grace Tea Co, NY, NY.) and eating whatever came to hand. If they truly loved their ancestor, they would have intervened, right? No, no. They let me go on. I mean, after all, I had started this blog with the express purpose of leaving a record of my thoughts for my daughter, and the proximate cause of this was the outstanding immorality of the American government. My nephews knew this, and they pretty much agreed that Bush & Co. had that tyrannical way of walking and talking down pat, and were the illustration for "Bad News" in the dictionary of idiomatic expressions. Later, I asked them what they do when they talk to the benighted ones, Bush voters in the past, now reformed and pretending to have "thought things through" in the present. "We don't." they said. "Don't what?" I rejoindered. "Don't talk to them?" "No", they said. "We run..." I looked queries and quizzes at them. "...the other way. Your problem is not speaking your mind; it's speaking to the mush heads in the first place." Mush Heads. Hmmm. I thought about it. These people did enable Bush. I could care less what they think of Obama. I can barely hear their screams from that circle in Hell where Dante rightly puts them; seducers and panderers, flatterers, simoniacs, nepotists, false diviners, false counselors, thieves, hypocrites, grafters and carny grifters: the Republican Party!

It Sums It Up

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3866/jumping_ship/ Jumping Ship Citing social issues, local GOP officials are abandoning their party in droves By Hans Johnson ...“I don’t think Ronald Reagan would recognize the party anymore,” Wisconsin state Rep. Jeff Wood told the Chippewa Herald on July 8... ...“The party continues to try to prove Ben Franklin wrong, trying to buy security by sacrificing liberty,” Wood said...

College Days

A view of the Quad at Saint Juwahn Community College.

Barbarians Within The Gates

Recording the fall of the Empire, we journeyed to Gaul and on past into Germania, where we made records for posterity:

Forest Primeval

City Primeval

Special Thanks to Brothers Paulo, Peter, and Odd for their help in the scriptorium.