Flying shoes and clueless legacy

I always thought the word ‘shoe’ delightfully fun to say. It has only two sounds, each funny in itself ― the consonant š or ʃ and the long vowel ― u.

Sunday, in Baghdad an angry reporter let fly his shoes. His target dodged the shoes easier and quicker, than he dodged questions and Viet Nam. Muntadhar al-Zeidi yelled, “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” with the first toss, and “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” with the second.

Now, it looks funny in an hostile, ridiculous manner to an american viewing, while it looks severly hostile, and extremely contemptuous, to an arab. bushjr did not seem to gather that. The words of al-Zeidi should be noted, he clearly, and defiantly tells all.

bushjr and his defenders falsely claim, that, this is a fruit of the freedom of the new democracy, that was absent before american intervention. Even under the worst tyranny, a man is free to act once. Now, a second time would speak to freedom, not the first. Where is al-Zeidi now?* and what sort of physical shape is he in? can he walk? can he stand? can he talk?

bushjr was there on a victory strut, though a secret, unannounced one. In all, he spent not much more than minutes in Irak, just long enough to mark the territory.

The last historical funny concerning a shoe was, when, Nikita Sergejevič Khruščev pounded a table with his shoe. In Baghdad it was with joyous contempt, when, several people beat the head of the statue of Saddam Hussein, that was torn down by members of the US military. Now, humorists and comedians are being given a parting gift. It is easy to have people guffaw over this. A sketch could be pantomimed, wherein, after the first two shoes are thrown, there is a pause, then a wild flurry of shoes fill the air, and then a few stragglers. Or will there be a security confiscation of all footwear, so that,only, the unshod can be in the presence? No cavalry units in any military review, george does not like horses or burros, anyway. Well, if the shoe fits...

Martha Raddatz had a conversation, and interview, with bush after the shoe incident. She remarks to him, that, the shoe throwing is ‘a huge insult’. his response: “I guess... I don't know what his beef is...” Soon he takes credit for securing america and the world against al Qaeda:

bush: Clearly, one of the most important parts of my job because of 9/11 was to defend the security of the American people. There have been no attacks since I have been president, since 9/11. One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take ...

Raddatz: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

bush: Yeah, that's right. So what?

These words, are the words, of a spoiled teenager: ‘I guess’ = dismissive, (perhaps feigned) disinterest, uncomprehending. ‘I don't know what his beef is’ = incomprehension and obliviousness, that, anyone would have a problem with him is narcissistic idiocy, where idiocy is that form of self-centered egotism, where, nothing outside of the self is recognised. Then the numbing effect of the response to his parried falsity: ‘Yeah, that's right. So what?’ = surly defiance and anger with no appreciation for truth and reality. He presents an argument and its conclusion, and she shows that the the entire premise of his argument is false, and therefore the argument is non credible, it is worthless, because it is false; and he admits it is false, and dismisses that the falsity matters not at all.
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*Since I have written this, earlier to-day, I have read a Reuters article, that states, that, a judge has seen al-Zeidi, and al-Zeidi is currently in hospital with injuries. He faces imprisonment of 7 - 15 years. An Associated Press article says, that, al-Zeidi will be in court Wednesday facing 2 years in prison, and is some what doubtful about injuries. Many reports say injuries from severe beating.

Republic Windows & Doors

A peaceful, and non-violent six day sit-in, at Republic Windows and Doors, Goose Island plant, Chicago, Illinois has ended. In the afternoon, Tuesday, 2nd December the workers,who are members of the United Electrical Workers, Local 1110 were told, that, the factory would close Friday, 5th December, and the Bank of America would not allow management to pay them, what their contract, and the law promised. So, just go ...

They did not go; they stayed. The 240 workers acted as determined brothers. They were unanimous. They acted as americans had acted in the mid to late 1930s; they would not be moved. They wanted their jobs, though they believed them gone, but they were owed a few thousand dollars, and medical care. They wanted their legal remuneration. Wednesday, 10th December, an agreement was so reached. It could have come a bit earlier, but Richard Gillman, the chief executive, wanted the leases of several luxury cars picked up and eight weeks of salary. He backed down.

The Bank of America was given money in the bail-out. The bail-out was supposed to have banks extend credit, so as to, move commerce along. The Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch instead.

Republic Windows & Doors was going to close the unionised, Illinois’ Goose Island plant. They were buying a scab (non-union) plant in Iowa, they had already sent equipment there.

Now, this is in the same vein as the auto crisis. German, and japanese companies, have unionised plants in their countries, when they move to the american south, they open scab plants, with state, and local government, financial inducements.

See, labor-management contracts are binding. Laws of the federal government are binding.* Treaties made with indian tribes were binding. Moneyed power believes itself above the law, or outside of the law. Government, especially Republican controlled government, is of the same mind. Now, in this case, many community leaders†, including the mayor, Richard Daley, President Obama and others spoke in behalf of the workers.
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*Some applicable provisions: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) was enacted on August 4, 1988 and became effective on February 4, 1989.

Plant Closing: A covered employer must give notice if an employment site (or one or more facilities or operating units within an employment site) will be shut down, and the shutdown will result in an employment loss (as defined later) for 50 or more employees during any 30-day period.

Penalties: An employer who violates the WARN provisions by ordering a plant closing or mass layoff without providing appropriate notice is liable to each aggrieved employee for an amount including back pay and benefits for the period of violation, up to 60 days. The employer's liability may be reduced by such items as wages paid by the employer to the employee during the period of the violation and voluntary and unconditional payments made by the employer to the employee.

An employer who fails to provide notice as required to a unit of local government is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each day of violation. This penalty may be avoided if the employer satisfies the liability to each aggrieved employee within 3 weeks after the closing or layoff is ordered by the employer.

Enforcement: Enforcement of WARN requirements is through the United States district courts. Workers, representatives of employees and units of local government may bring individual or class action suits. In any suit, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs.

†The city had given over $10 million to the company in development funds.

Cars and competition

“The effects of the Industrial Revolution prove that free competition may produce wealth without producing well-being. We all know the horrors that ensued in England before it was restrained by legislation and combination.” ― Arnold Toynbee, †1883.

“The stronger side will dictate its own terms; and as a matter of fact, in the early days of competition the capitalists used all their power to oppress the labourers, and drove down wages to starvation point.” ― Arnold Toynbee, †1883.

We may be in an early phase of georgebushjunior’s depression. Now, the Senate has not allowed a vote on the car company loan. Sixty percent is needed, 52 to 35 does not meet the threshold. The House voted passage.

Now, four Republican senators: Bob Corker of Tennessee, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Jim DeMint of South Carolina have publicly announced their displeasure for the bill.* What do they share in common? Southern Republicans with heavily, subsidised, foreign, car, plants in their states, who all despise labor unions and the rights of laboring men.

“... unions, but they appear to be an antiquated concept in today's economy, and if a company cannot be competitive with the union structure that they have, then we have to recognize that. The taxpayers should not be obligated to prop up these union bosses who have put the American car companies against a wall, with these contracts and the threat of strikes over the last several decades, that have essentially put them out of business. And they want the taxpayers to pay for that ... barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks.” ― DeMint, All Things Considered, 10 December

This financial and economic depression has been with us a year, and it has been denied, by the executive branch and their party, for most of that year. Henry Merritt Paulson, Junior has been Treasury Secretary since the middle of 2006. Before that, he was with Goldman Sachs, since 1974. His compensation for his last full year was, in the neighborhood of, $37 millions. Before that, he was assistant to John Ehrlichman, during Watergate. Now, his public announcements swiveled on a dime. First, all was fine, then $700 billions were needed RIGHT NOW, NO QUESTIONS. He had to expand on that, a first House vote failed, and then the bill was larded up to pass.

The credit and money situation has not freed up. The american car companies are in trouble. The United Auto Workers are being defamed and slandered. At the negotiating table, by management, and then, the shills of capitalism, the Wall Street Journal editorial staff, and zealous, delusional and dishonest Republicans. Sometimes this nonsense is called out:

“We’ve heard this garbage about 73 bucks an hour. It’s a total lie. I think some people have perpetrated that deliberately, in a calculated way, to mislead the American people about what we’re doing here.” ― Senator Bob Casey

This is how that figure is calculated: pay + insurance + pension + retirees’ benefits (legacy cost of a century doing business, are there any american retirees at all from the foreign companies’ scab labor?) Adding all that together, it is about 10% of a car’s cost.

Well, the highest car management (it was reported, that one of the three had a $21 million a year pay) flew in on private aeroplanes to ask for money, pretty much without oversight. They were surprised to be rebuffed, by the House. They regrouped and tried a second time, with some humility. bushjr did not want to use a portion of the Wall Street bail-out, but rather money already allocated for development of new fueled cars. Now, bushjr may have to use the big bank bail-out.
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*We certainly know, that, it is not laissez-faire liberalism of pure capitalism. Eighteen Republican senators (Corker and McConnell, chief among them), and two Democratic, voted for the money socialising the banks and the failures of Wall Street, while voting Detroit to get lost.
noto bene: add to the roll call of despicables:
Bob Corker
Richard Shelby
Mitch McConnell
Jim DeMint

Job 1 for President Obama

Mister Luckovich created supra, and he often demonstrates, that, there are some great and succinct editorial cartoons, that, tell so much more, and with actuality sometimes remiss from the standard, talking head ‘expert commentators ’.* Eight years of the treasonous misrule of usurpation are nearly over. Still, the reprobates can do great damage, in addition to the lingering damage already done. Six more weeks to wait.

It is not so much that they were wrong in programme, but that they knew no law and despised those whom did. Virtually nothing appeared in the campaign on this most important issue. The press was timid. Many people were interested, only, in their pet issue. The bishops had been co-opted by the Republican party, and were devoted only on abortion, and ignored their pastoral and prophetic duties to speak on other issues. After Obama won the election, in this period of deep, economic recession, the gun enthusiasts, quickly, purchased more weapons.

Mister Obama has been left a country with far more problems, and far less resources, than, that of which, Mister Clinton left when he relinquished the presidency. This interregnum has been a disaster.

Mister Obama has quickly been assembling a new administration. In the forefront of his planning is that of the economy and ‘national security’, but, perhaps, the greatest damage that the busheviks have committed was that done to justice and law. The justice department was whorred out. Intensive repair, recovery and rehabilitation, there, is needed. Those responsible should be found out, and made to bear their guilt and responsibility.

I am sure, that, after the 20th of January there shall be more than a dribble, but not the torrent, of information on the depth and breadth of illegality and corruption, that has been the last eight years. I remember Ronnie Reagan wore dress morning clothes for his inauguration. There are horizontal, black and white, striped suits a waiting for the out-going Republicans.
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*Instead of presenting the blowhards, and propagandists that network and cable television foist upon us, it may be better just to have the camera linger on good cartoons, when they appear.

Saint Nicholas

Ilja Jefimovič Repin. Saint Nicholas of Myra saves three innocents from death. 1888. Saint Petersburg.

Now, Saint Nicholas is well known and beloved, even though his presentation to the secular public is befogged. Nicholas is not a fictive holiday character of folklore and commerce. He lived in that age, when, the Church was at first persecuted, and then permitted. He suffered under Diocletian and prospered under Constantine. He saw the last, commanding, violent gasp of the pagan empire against christianity.

He lived a charism of charity. Charity is love. The stories and legends that survive, about him, abound with this christian consideration. He saved the poor, the abandoned, the condemned, the floundering, the lost, the imprisoned and perhaps beyond.

In, what is roughly called, the west, he is the great guardian, and benefactor of children. One of his iconic symbols, is a group of three gold balls or bags, alludes to the instance, where, he provided dowries for three sisters, to avoid lives of prostitution.

There is more than one instance where he saved the unjustly condemned from imprisonment and, or, execution. Supra, is a portrait of psychological and dramatic intensity, that illustrates. Top center is Nicholas, clearly robed in his office, intervening to halt unjust, judicial murder. He was man who felt deeply for justice, and acted.

He was also known as a miracle and wonder worker, perhaps this is the guise, in which, he is most revered in the russian lands. Amongst the greeks, he is the special benefactor of sailors. “May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.” Really, amongst all the catholics, latin and orthodox he is loved.

He was from Patara, in Lycia, of Asia Minor (Anatolia). He became a monk, and eventually, the archbishop of Myra. In 1087 his remains were transferred (after being stolen) from Myra to Bari, in Italy. Turks had taken the area, and Myra had been a place of pilgrimage, which would not be hospitable under the mohammedans.

For the Feast of the Translation, May 9, in 2003, the russians gave the city of Bari, a bronze statue of Saint Nicholas Wonder-Worker. They, also, gave a statue to Demre, Turkey in 2000. Demre is the town, where, Myra had been. The mayor took that statue down, and replaced it with a plastic Santa Claus. The turks are not friendly to christianity, but are to commerce.

Catholic european folkways have had Saint Nicholas Day or Eve as the day of gifts, and child celebration. The sainted bishop arrives, sometimes with cart, wagon or sleigh and a companion. This companion is variable. Sometimes he is more of a page or servant; sometimes he is a converted sinner; sometimes he is a pagan demon or the devil, himself. This casted rogue may be: Knecht Ruprecht, Black Peter, Krampus, Parkel, Le Père Fouettard, Čert.

KONTAKION of Saint Nicholas
You were truly a priestly worker in Myra, for zealously living the Gospel of Christ, you dedicated your life to your people; you saved the innocent from death. Therefore you have been sanctified as one who has entered the mystery of God's grace.

Carlyle and a theory of history

Thomas Carlyle, *4 December 1795, †1881, was a calvinist, who lost his christianity, but retained a moralism and certain prejudices. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, first for mathematics, and later german philosophy. After this, he is of interest, to me at least, as a passionate historian. Carlyle valued the importance of the spirit, individually and communally, over material values.

One of his arguments: The history of the world is but the biography of great men, is the point of my interest here. Many of us, especially in grade school, were taught of the great accomplishments of the american inventors — Bell, Edison, Ford the Wright Brothers, et alia. It was taught to us in such a way, that, as these men alone gave the world these devices, with an implied, though not stated, suggestion, that, without them nothing. And they were all americans. So the syllogism was implicated. A mixture of national triumphalism and inevitability; after all the space race was going to be won. Well, not all the men, who, garnered the credit, and the profit, were the real, or sole, or first inventor; and furthermore, such technology was being explored and worked with by many others. So if individual A was not there, an individual B, or C, or even Z would place the feather in his cap. Sometimes the circumstances necessitate the event.

Well, there are other instances, where, the actor involved does create a different history than another individual. Certainly, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt were greater than their predecessors and successors. The unique qualities of these men shaped american history, as de Gaulle or Bismarck did their countries. Now, could another such contemporaneous individual have had the same effects? Or even if they did not, would that country’s history and society’s form be virtually the same an hundred years hence? Is there a sort of inevitable determinism of progression? Perhaps, the great man alters history, as in delaying something for a time, and not course. Well, all that involves a great deal of wild speculation.

Are significant (good or bad) individuals, heroes to Carlyle, akin to turning points in history? Were their particular presence enough to alter the course of mankind onto a different path? Or was their struggle with time and events historic in of itself?

Either way there are other historical contentions that are still true. I will refer to a few of the ancients. Aristotle stated that poetry spoke in universals, while history in particulars. History has many lessons, if people are willing to learn.

The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.—Tacitus

Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child.— Cicero

Saint Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier *1506, †1552. Italian holy card.

Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta was one of the first seven Jesuits. He joined Ignatius at the University of Paris, and went on to Italy. A trip to Palestine did not materialise. He was sent to Portugal; and that opened up the Indies. The places that Christopher Columbus wanted to get to, and thought that he did some, were the places that Francis did get to.

In his missionary career, Francis converted more people to christianity than anyone. This means, more than Paul in his journeys. Paul needed to know greek, for greek was the common language in the eastern Mediterranean. Francis was basque, he had to know french, spanish and latin in his upbringing and schooling; yet he was not facile in languages. He had to, repeatedly, rely on interpreters. Some sort of charisma had to be in effect, he did convert hundreds of thousands of souls.

Francis was the Apostle of the Indies. He missioned in the Portuguese colony of Goa. He went on to South India and Ceylon, Malacca and the Moluccas (parts of to-day’s Malaysia and Indonesia), perhaps the Philippines. He was the first christian missionary in Japan. He came to Kagoshima first, and he attempted to see the emperor in Kyoto. He had success, and he had opposition, in all the places he went. There are many miracles, that, are associated with his missioning.

He learned of China’s influence on Japan. He wanted to go to the chinese. He went back to Goa. Francis went east again. While waiting on the chinese island of Sanchón, he died waiting for permission to come to the mainland. His incorrupt body was taken back to Goa.
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postscriptum: It is not always possible to find everything, on the internet, all the time. Some time ago, I noted to myself this site/page: http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/asian-studies/projects/kakurekirishitan/index.html. I was given some no such page available rubbish. I tried again and found some great stuff, with many fine photographs, but only after getting a page with “The site you're looking for is unavailable.” Trying a bit about the site, I got to: http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/asian-studies/projects/kakurekirishitan/nagasakipics.html. There was this picture taken, by Brendan Eagan, of an exhibit item in Nagasaki’s 26 Martyrs Museum. Once traveling through the Mollucan islands, near Ceram, Francis calmed the waters with a crucifix, which was then lost. Next day ashore, a crab came out of the sea, with it in his pincers, as Francis and his companions were walking the beach. This is quite striking, and this story ought be more familiar, and the image more common.