Restore the Constitution

Barack Obama is the first man to win the presidency since 1996. This eight year period of usurpation, seems to be ending. The standing of this country has suffered in the interval. The populace is gripped in economic trepidation and financial crisis. The rest of the world is rejoicing in the upcoming transition, with near unanimity, that, is far beyond the national evaluation.

Barack Obama has shown calm calculation and poise. He is speaking of conciliation. What he has given barely a public clue to is — restoring and defending the Constitution.

The interloper is shameless. He has been accountable to nothing. The current economic troubles were created by his incompetent policies, and now he tells the world, that, capitalism, his term – free markets, have no cause to be blamed.

The man who practises pre-emptive war is without remorse. The man who knows no law, but his own will, is unbowed. There is still two more months until the return to democracy. In those two months great mischief can be made.

Will Barack Obama undo and, even prevent, some of bush junior’s unique concoction of evil, malevolence, arrogance and incompetence? Perhaps verbal reticence is a shrewd tactic. And of course, though weakened, his political party still exists, and it too, is unrepentant. Obama is speaking only of unity.

The last remembrance

Papaver rhoeas

As of this writing, there are about a dozen survivors, of those who wore the uniform, in the war to end all wars: the great war, the european war, world war one. These men are well into their eleventh decade of life, some the twelfth. Throughout much of the british commonwealth and France, Armistice Day is remembered and observed on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” It was then in 1918, that, hostilities ceased on the western front between the allies and the germans. The armistice, the agreement, was signed, a few hours earlier, in Compiègne, France. The word spread immediately; the shooting and killing did not stop immediately. Joseph Persico* has calculated 11,000 casualties that day. Officially, all the french, who, died that day, had died the day before.

In some of these countries, the day is informally called “Poppy Day”. Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a canadian physician, penned a rondeau early on in the war, May 3, 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now, the corn poppy is scarlet and grows as a weed, in agricultural fields, in Belgium and northeastern France. These were also the fields of war, death and burial of millions. Both, Moina Michael of Athens, Georgia and Mme. Anna Guérin of Paris, found the poppy as appropriate for remembrance of the war dead. Mme. Guérin started to produce and sell artificial poppies, in order to raise funds, for the war victims. This became a charitable exercise in Britain, Canada and the US, also..

There was much brilliant and poignant war poetry, often by soldiers, whom, did not survive the war; McCrae did not. In the 1970s, Eric Bogle wrote two songs about the surviving veterans and the war dead. After visiting a military cemetery in France, Bogle eulogised, one of several, Willie McBrides (No Man's Land, The Green Fields of France). The other song, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, refers to successive ANZAC parades, where fewer and fewer veterans march.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask “What are they marching for?”
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays “Waltzing Matilda,”
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

_____________________
*Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax. 2004.

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (*11 October 1884, † 7 November 1962) was Mrs. Roosevelt. First Lady is an informal office, currently it is irrelevant, but, from 1933 to 1945, it was of great importance. Mrs. Roosevelt was United States ambassador to humanity.

In a television comedy show, All in the Family, the misunderstood, frustrated lead character, Archie Bunker, says, something to the effect of: “Until Eleanor Roosevelt discovered 'em, we didn't know the colored folks existed.” Yes, Mrs. Roosevelt found them, and introduced them, and their lives, and troubles to many fellow americans, to whom they were disinterested towards. Mrs. Roosevelt was a deeply, concerned humanitarian, who struggled to increase social and legal justice.

In 1933 there were unemployed war veterans about the capital city, they wanted promised bonuses. The difference between the Republicans and the New Deal was, that,“Hoover sent the Army, Roosevelt sent his wife.” Again, and again, she would go. She was the most admired, and beloved person in the nation, and also, the most vilified by the moneyed interests, and the malicious and malignant members of the Republican party, and the Klan.

She was a friend to labor, and their ambitious programme: a 48 hour week, the abolition of child labor and the creation of a minimum wage. Such extreme demands angered the defenders of unrestrained, unregulated, unfettered capitalism.

She supported Marian Anderson, when the Daughters of the American Revolution denied Miss Anderson to perform at Constitution Hall. Mrs. Roosevelt quit the DAR, and the concert was sung, by Miss Anderson, in front of the Lincoln memorial. In 1943 she went to the South Pacific to visit hospitalised servicemen. She was dauntless and heart filled. Her patriotism was beyond the imaginings of her detractors.

She was born to high privilege and wealth, she did not act in that manner. Her personal life was often painful. She strove with great energy to do good, and did so. She was embarrassed about her looks, and her voice would break into a falsetto soprano. She worked, and wrote, and investigated, and traveled. She was a beautiful and wonderful woman.

A new president for a troubled country

Fernando Lugo, on the Feast of the Assumption, became president of Paraguay in Asunción. This was historic: from 1954 to 1989 General Alfredo Stroessner was dictator, his party lost the latest election, and allowed Lugo to be inaugurated. That was a first in Paraguay. Lugo is a recently laïcised bishop, Rome consented, though not easily or quickly. The bishop for the poor is now the president of the poor. Paraguay has been a highly, visible example of fascist corruption. The new president has much work to do. He has refused a salary. He appears in native shirt and sandals, and speaks Guarani. His presidency will be different than his predecessors.

Members of Fernando Lugo’s family were often imprisoned, and or, exiled by Stroessner’s dictatorship. As a young man, Lugo became a rural teacher, and found his calling when the people had no priest. He joined the Society of the Divine Word, was ordained on the Feast of the Assumption 1977, and went as a missionary to Ecuador for five years. After a year back in Paraguay, he was exiled. He went to Rome. He came back in 1987, and in in 1994 became bishop of the poorest diocese, San Pedro. He resigned in 2005 and began campaigning.

Bishop, now President, Lugo has not come easily to office; already two former presidents have tried to form a coup. Centuries ago, in and about, the same country the jesuits administered reductions (reducciones de indios). These Jesuit Reductions produced a self-sustaining community of christianised, and civilised, but not europeanised indians. In the movie, The Mission, the story was told. The Guarani were the chief indian nation, then in Paraguay, and are that now. They wanted to hold their land in peace and freedom. That is still the problem now. Many indians and mestizos have little, or no, property and rights. With the violent end of the reductions, and the expulsion of the jesuits, the indians were robbed, killed and enslaved.

To-day the ruling families run smuggling operations that enrichen themselves, of course; now smuggling is supposedly illegal. It is done matter-of-factly. Much of the farmland is owned by brasilians. The use of toxic pesticides and deforestation is rampant. The landless native peasantry is powerless, but they have elected a man to champion their interests, and of course, he is in danger.

Now, Paraguay has a great river that runs through it, with many tributaries and falls. Paraguay’s water power generates electricity for Brasil, and Mr. Lugo wants a renegotiated deal. Paraguay is landlocked and has two powerful neighbors in Brasil and Argentina. Foreign relations will be very important.

Recently, he was in New York City, at the United Nations. He was offered a meeting with Sarah Palin, he declined, he found it laughable. She did speak to Kissinger, and the client presidents of Colombia, Georgia, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was not going to be a tool or prop of that campaign.

Mister Lugo has much to deal with. Many in his country have great confidence in him, and great hope for him. He came to power, legally, ending the world’s, longest, current period of one party rule. He is very familiar with liberation theology, so the corporate press will always call him a leftist. So far, the background information available has found him unassailable.

The Great Wave

Katsushika Hokusai. Kanagawa oki nami-ura (The Great Wave Off Kanagawa). c.1826. Hakone.
Yes, I do believe it is coming. Obama, and the Congress, nooks and backwaters will be awash and Republicans swamped. The tide, full of foam and froth, oh, if it will clean and wash the filth and dreck and offal of the last eight years of usurpation and degradation, then may the rule of law return, and the miscreants be hung out to dry.

Tarring and feathering a Jesuit

Father Johannes Bapst S.J., (*La Roche, Fribourg, Switzerland 1815, †2 November, 1887, Mount Hope, Maryland) did what the Jesuits were famous for, missioned in distant, hostile lands, taught and ran schools, preached the Gospel, administered the Sacraments, and courted martyrdom. He was a missionary amongst civilised, north american indians (Passamaquoddy and Penobscot), irish immigrants, and was berated and tortured by yankees.

On the last day of 1846, he was ordained in the old country. In 1848, he was in Old Town, Maine, ministering to indians, whom had been without a priest for twenty years. In 1850 he went to Eastport. He had missions about the state, and brought converts to the faith. He was pastor in Bangor from 1853-1860 and was known about the state.

Now, at the time, one of the opposition (to the Democrats) parties called itself, the American party; people of the time, and posterity, knew them as the Know-Nothings. They were one of the constituent parts of the future Republican party. They were an one issue party. They were extremely opposed to catholicism, catholic immigration and catholic schooling. In Ellsworth, Bapst and the catholic community protested against forced, protestant, bible study in school.

On the 3rd of June 1854, the residence, where he was staying in Ellsworth, was attacked. The 5th of June, the town council ordered him to be stripped, tarred and feathered, and ridden on a rail to the woods, if he were to remain or be found in town again. That happened on the 14th of October. In addition, he was relieved of his wallet and watch. Now, sometimes the hot tar causes death, sometimes that was the intention. The feathering is for added mirth to the torturers and crowd. The riding on the rail, is both for physical pain and a diabolical, extension of performance art. If the victim survives the severe burns, he is permanently scarred, physically, emotionally and mentally. The next day, Sunday, he said mass twice. He would return to Bangor. Some papers referred to the event as the Ellsworth Outrage.

Father John Bapst did survive. He was the first president of Boston College from 1863 to 1869, and became the jesuit superior of Canada and New York. His success and achievement began to fail. His mind became unclear, he screamed awake from nightmares, that, attackers were coming through the windows. He was instituitionalised.

This is why torture is such a great and insidious evil. The experience is so humiliating, painful, alienating and devastating. A few moments, or minutes, are carried by the victim for the rest of his life, effecting and affecting, not only himself, but, also, those he encounters. For those who have families, the pain is shared and transferred. Anyone who allows, tolerates, advocates, enjoys or inflicts torture is a moral monster.

All Saints and Souls

Albrecht Dürer. Adoration of the Trinity. 1511. Vienna.
Now, at the same time, that, Raphaël was painting the Disputata, Dürer was painting supra. The painting is also known as All Saints (Allerheiligen). At top and center are the Trinity, surrounded by the denizens of paradise in heaven, below is the earth. Dürer has also placed himself, bottom right, and his patron, Matthäus Landauer, in the painting. His theology in oil and pigment is Augustine’s City of God. The bright and brilliant color he brought from his sojourns in Venice and Italy. Later in life, Dürer was much impressed by the new heretics, and Luther in particular, but he and his art were catholic.

To-day, all the saints, known and unknown, are commemorated in the latin church. The date of the day has been changed, since its origin in Antioch. The eastern church has kept it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Gregory IV (835) fixed the first of November as the solemnity, Sollemnitas Omnium Sanctorum.

The next day is a penitential rejoinder, November 1st celebrates all those who share the beatific vision, November 2nd is All Souls. All Souls, Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum, is for all those who have died, and do not yet gaze upon God, and are undergoing purification. In the past, this solemn day was marked with purple or black vestments, now it is with white. Often, lit candles filled the church, and sometimes a book listing all those who have died, in the parish, was placed by the altar in remembrance and supplication.

Saint Odilo, abbot of Cluny, began this day a thousand ten years ago. It spread to other monasteries, and after a few centuries, to the rest of the church. The vigil before All Saints is All Hallows eve, Hallowe’en. We are all in this together, the living and the dead, the triumphant, militant and the suffering, the celebrating and the penitent.