skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The usurperous chimp has been scheduled for a photographic, propaganda appearance at Jefferson’s Monticello. His party mastered this routine with Reagan. Reagan would say nonsense, it would be reported as nonsense, his people didn’t care. They knew the viewers would only register the visual. Chimpy the Outrageous is making a grand triumphal tour. He has come back from Europe, where, he is recognised as a fraud. He was in Slovenija. They put on a horse show featuring the dancing, prancing, white Lipizzaners from Lipica. I wonder, if the Slovenes knew his fear and dread of horses; perhaps they thought he was a cowboy. Well, he went on to the Vatican, Rome, Paris and London, most, or all, of which despise him. Now, the desecration tour of gall will find him on Tom’s estate.
The absolute contrast: Jefferson the shy, multi-talented democrat and genius; bushjr the strutting, incompetent fascist and idiot. If Mozart were to stage this farce, he would have a statue of Jefferson drag gwbjr to Hell.
And more of the kettle calling the pot black, Kindasleasy Rice and the busheviks are calling Mugabe’s victory in Zimbabwe a sham. They ought to just compare notes and toss back a few drinks. Both were going to have their ‘victories’, no matter what, and without shame.
Perhaps someone should read from Jefferson’s letter to a mad George, whom fashioned himself, a mighty king:When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them ...
_____________________________________________
postscriptum: It seems, partly reported by the press, I read most so by CNN, that, there were at least six protesters forcefully removed by police. They identified and denounced the poseur for what he is. The choice part was, as one was handcuffed and taken away, bushjr made a comment about free speech. Clearly the White House did not handle the ticket requests. This had to have been the first time ever, that, he was confronted by any non-selected adulators. A non-demarcated, non-authorised ‘free speech zone’ temporarily appeared within hearing and viewing distance. This will probably not happen again. Perhaps, he can gage public opinion now. The official transcript, of his script, is marked with the interruptions. Applause is also indicated, but applause is an interruption also. Future generations can always guess what the two indications mean. Well, chimpy is off to Beijing where they handle these matters better.
Thomas was one of the Twelve. He is most remembered for his initial unbelief at the news of the Resurrection. He recovered and became zealous, and evangelised far and wide, to Syria, Persia and Parthia, and well into India.
An indian bishop was at Nicea, but most information of the ancient church in India is lost to time. When the portuguese and the jesuits arrived on the Malabar coast and Kerala, they found Christians. There had been occasional references to them for centuries. Those communities exist still, some are in the Syro-Malankara Church and Syro-Malabar rite, and are in union with the
universal church. Some are in union with the Antiochian Orthodox.Besides the pictures of Thomas probing the side of Christ, he is sometimes pictured with a builder’s square, for he built many churches. He is sometimes portrayed with a spear, which was, the implement of his martyrdom. There exist syrian church documents, from the 4th century. A church calendar has the date of the translation of his relics:
3 July, St. Thomas who was pierced with a lance in India. His body is at Urhai [Edessa] having been brought there by the merchant Khabin. A great festival.
To-day is the middlemost day of the year, as many days have passed, as our left to come this year. Not much, but a curious and trivial note. I had no particular thing I was planning to type. But, last night, because of the quickness information travels, I heard and saw, that, the cute advertisement above, had set off the mohammedan anger alarm.Now, Tayside contains Dundee in Scotland, and Scotland within Britain. Dundee sits on the Firth of Tay. Historically, the town is known for the Jacobite, Bonnie Dundee, and for marmalade. They employ hounds in their constabulary. They are promoting their german shepherd pup, Rebel, in public relations. A clever and pleasant action. He is available on their public computer site. One would think, this would be welcomed by the community. They had grade school (Saint Ninian’s, though in eastern Scotland, they do have many of the auld faith) children name the animal. He has appeared on placards and/or postcards informing the public of a new telephone.It is proverbial that the anglais and, by extention, all britons really like dogs. Dogs and horses make marvelous good will ambassadors, and they, often, make the people around them better. Sounds as it would be a simple success, but, no! Besides, the usual catholics, protestants and non-believers, there are mohammedans. And some portion of them have made a stink, and here is the oddest part: the police apologised. Do you know how rare that is? Police, disgustingly often, do horrid things and make great errors, that are really travesties; and this often brasenly and without remorse. Yet, for this innocent thing, they are sorry. Some maintain that dogs are grandly unclean. To be very simple: don’t harbor them. And don’t be a dictatorial, asinine prohibitionist for others, whom, do harbor them.
_______________________________________
The mediæval persians had other great poets than Omar Khayyam alone. One was Nizami *1141,†1203. Perhaps, the poem was based on a passage from al-Ghazali’s †1111, The Sayings of Jesus, where he translated aramaic into arabic. The Eye Of Charity
One Evening Jesus lingered in market-place,
Teaching the people parables of truth and grace,
When in the square remote a crowd was seen to ride,
And stop with loathing gestures and abhorring cries.
Master and his meek disciples went to see
What cause this commotion and disgust could be,
And found a poor dead dog beside the gutter laid:
Revolting sight! at which each face its hate betrayed.
One held his nose, one shut his eyes, one turned away:
And all among themselves began aloud to say,
"Detested creature! he pollutes the earth and the air!"
"His eyes are blear!", "His ears are foul!", "His ribs are bare!"
"In his torn hide there's not a decent shoe-string left!"
"No doubt the execrable cur was hung for theft!"
Then Jesus spoke, and dropped on him this saving wreath,
"Even pearls are dark before the whiteness of his teeth!"
The pelting crowd grew silent and ashamed, like one
Rebuked by sight of wisdom higher than his own;
And one exclaimed, "No creature so accursed can be,
But some good thing in him a loving eye will see."
An old priest had come up into the country, Father Junípero Serra, and he built missions and schools, and taught the Indians trades; and the churches were run like big ranches. They each had thousands of cattle, and horses and sheep. He was an odd old fellow. He could pray without shooting an Indian first. He was a greater humanitarian than all the Pilgrims combined, including the 3 million that come on the Mayflower. No such man ever set foot on the eastern shore. He civilized with a Bible, and the old Pilgrim boys did it with a blunderbuss. There was never a church in the east built for Indians to worship in. — Will Rogers in 1934
Miguel José Serra was born in Majorca in 1713. He became a Franciscan professor, and had taken the name of Juniper, Saint Francis’ humble and comic friar. In 1749 he was in Mexico, and soon became famous in delivering missions (preaching). In 1769, he established a mission in Baja California. The first of July, he founded, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of 9 (eventually 21) missions, he, started in Alta California. Though in poor health, he continued, till his death on 28 August 1784, as the indefatigable “Father Presidente” of the friars and Indians.
Alta California was Spain’s last colonisation in the new world, it was New Spain’s northwest territory. Jose de Galvez, the King's Visitor General for New Spain, wanted Fray Junípero Serra to lead the Franciscan friars in the new missions. There would be conflict from the military. Serra looked upon the Indians, not as pagans, but as gentiles and children to be converted, converted to Christian Spaniards as full and equal Christian Spaniards, according to the Laws of the Indies (1542) which were binding codes of conduct, based on the views of the Dominican Bartolome De Las Casas. Both friars were the titular “Protector of the Indians”. It was from the civil and military authorities and mercenary economic motives, that, the natives needed protection from. The highest Spanish authorities judged in the the favor of the Indians and the friars.
Blessed Junípero Serra was the first San Diego Padre. He and the Indians were teammates.
Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco). Apostles Peter and Paul. 1587-92. Saint Petersburg.
A few years ago, on public television, was broadcast dear, sweet, and cheerfully brilliant, Sister Wendy Becket. There are few, recent, art critics, who are sensible, other than Sister Wendy, only Robert Hughes and Michael Wood come across as reliable, and, I think, Wood might have been more of a presenter. Well, anyhow, her simple, cogent, description of this double portrait, by Greco, was spot on.
We have contrasted the mellow, golden Peter, with the fiery and intense Paul. The colors of their garments and the condition of their hair detail their personæ; but most of all — their hands. Peter’s laxly at rest. In his left hand are the keys. Paul’s left hand is firmly plunged onto a book, which sits on another book, the right is about to gesticulate a point. Paul’s left arm looks muscular, he was an artisan, a leatherworker, specialising in tents. Peter as a fisherman had to mend nets, and draw them out and back, yet they do not appear gnarled.
El Greco’s gold and red are lush. The two figures are not greatly and ethereally elongated, as is his wont. The two men are, almost, in two different pictures. The right line of the long rectangle, behind them, divides the painting in halves. Peter can be cropped out, while Paul’s right hand is between and in front of Peter’s hands. Are they in contemplation? or are they looking at someone? at us?
This year would be the 2,000th for Paul. His itinerant ministry still holds. Peter still holds the keys. To-day, in years past was an holy day of obligation. To-day marks their martyrdoms in Nero’s persecutions. Peter hauled upside down to be crucified, and Paul, being a citizen, having the honor of sword decapitation.
Yesterday, at vespers, began the Pauline year. To-day palliums will be given to the 43 new metropolitan archbishops. In these services Pope Benedict will be joined by Patriarch Bartholomew.
Many churches have, these Peter and Paul, on either side of the main altar, twin sentinels and guardians of our faith. The faith of our fathers has been given to each generation.
Saint Vitus was a young Christian martyred in Sicily under Diocletian. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He is asked to intercede for those with epilepsy. He has been popular in central europe and the balkans. The cathedral in Prague is dedicated to him. In art he is sometimes pictured as being boiled in a pot of oil. In regard to the Serbs his day is, especially, poignant.
The Turks, Ottoman, were expanding into Europe, into the Balkans. The Serbs had a small empire and had aspirations. The Serbs had recently twice defeated the Turks. They met each other, again, on June 15, 1389 at Kosovo Polje, the Field of Blackbirds. The Turks had about double the manpower, and both armies were of the tens of thousands strong.
The only turkish sultan, Murad, who would die in battle, died there. In Turkish fashion, when his son, Bajezid, received the news, he had his brother, Jakub summoned. The brother was strangled and the Turks had a new sultan. The Serbian military nobility was cut down, including their tsar Lazar. Proportionately the Serbs lost in the heavy carnage. The Serbs would be hostage to the Turks for centuries.
Rebecca West in the late 1930s went to the Balkans. In 1941 there appeared her book, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey through Yugoslavia. It was over a thousand pages, in two volumes; it was a blend of history and travelogue. As T.E. Lawrence championed, and explained, the Arabs in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom, she explains the Jugoslavs. She came to the grey (siva) falcon (soko) from the poem about Lazar, where he and the Serbs receive the Eucharist before the Turks attack:
Poletio soko titsa siva,
Od svetinje, od Jerusalima,
I on nosi titsu lastavitsu ...
The black lamb is an illusion to the sacrificial nature of the Christian. The Serbs (and West) see themselves as the sacrificial protectors of christian civilisation before the onslaught of the moslem Turks.
In the twentieth century June 15 O.S. was 28 June N.S., and the day again, and again was politically significant:
- In 1914, the first world war began in Sarajevo
- In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end the war
- In 1921, king Aleksandar introduced the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski ustav), proclaiming the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Old Jugoslavija)
- In 1989 Milošević went to the site and, thereafter, succeeding disasters visited the nations
- In 2001 Milošević was deported to the Hague to be tried for war crimes
The Turks destroyed the mediæval Srbija and Milošević severely blackened their modern identity. Kosovo fell again and again. The historical presence of the Serbs, the Gypsies and Christianity are being obliterated in the province to-day.
Cohoosion. An unwitting neologism slipped from, the tongue of, a brother at an union meeting. He has been mocked for it, though, he realised at the moment of the awkwardness. But, he was right. The word merged ‘collusion’ and ‘in cahoots’. He was making the accurate charge, that, the union administration and the contractors were in league against the union membership.
A milder term would be ‘accommodation’, a stronger term would be ‘collaborator’ in the quisling fashion. They, often, use the term ‘coöperate’ as would a team. This sounds reasonable to some: the gullible and the comfortable. In their faulty argument, which they aggressively accept for you, as a priori, they posit the unionised sector versus the non. Yet, for some years now, they promote the taking in of scabs as members with accrued benefits. This last bit, I do not have firm details, but it is galling. The main electrical construction workers (wiremen) union is a part of the IBEW, and its leadership (guffaw) wants capita and not conditions.
The point is, that, union officer’s chief duty is to advocate and defend union members. To-day only the police, and the AMA, do this. To act, only, as a labor agency for employers is dereliction and betrayal. We become day laborers, some treated well, others poorly. The union officer’s pay comes out of working assessments and dues of the laboring brothers. The union officer is paid by his brothers, who, he is to serve.
Scab labor, even when unionised, because of its internal acceptance of anti-labor practices and psychology, often continues to act as it did before, but better paid with benefits. It then will, often, do “whatever it takes” to keep a job. By this, I mean, backstabbing, cheating and dilution of working conditions, in order to please his employer. The employer will act in his economic, mercenary interest, and favor him. In construction, the work site location changes, the size and scope of the work changes, and jobs begin and end. The work crew waxes and wanes. Many jobs end with layoffs, and the next job, may be, a short or long, or very, long time coming. The scab wishes to remain employed, and has no interest in the good of the union, or in union brotherhood. The scab is a social darwinist.
The capitalist rabble, and their dupes, bewail unions. They use the worst possible anecdote, often riddled with inaccuracies, and use it axiomatically. Union membership, as a percentage of total workers in the US, is pitifully low. Ronnie Reagan, a former union president, gave unionism its greatest blow since Taft-Hartley Act (1947). The PATCO (air traffic controllers) president, Robert Poli,* was taken into court in chains and shackles. This was on the evening news, and it shriveled the testicles, of the near entirety, of union leadership. This was a black flag in a decade of unrelenting greed. Corporate America had license without restriction. An open attack on labor in the US, while Poland was working on freedom with the formation, of the free labor movement, of (Solidarność) Solidarity.
This gave employers the go ahead in hiring scabs, as permanent replacements, for union labor. The greatest weapon, and freedom of labor, to strike, was crippled. To strike, in the US, was to be arrested or to have quit: while in Poland, strajk, was a path to political freedom, and the end of totalitarianism. Labor without a right to strike, to refuse to labor, is slavery.
Well, to-day, during our lunch half hour, we were presented with pr bs, boilerplate inanities. On our unpaid time, in the presence of management: the contractor, his son, representatives of a large corporate customer, and general contractor, we were told by our elected business manager (son of a former business manager) about “the code of excellence ”. This propaganda, we were not able to freely discuss, on account of the interlopers. And it was to the benefit of the interlopers, and not to us. We were to be docile, and dutiful, and self policing in the interest of the customer. We earn our pay, not directly, from the customer. The customer pays for the job to the contractor, the contractor pays us for our labor. The union is our representation to the employer/contractor, not, the customer. Our proper definition of terms have been replaced by the jiggered, definition of terms of our adversaries. We were sold.
____________________
*August 3, 1981 the union declared a strike.
August 5, 1981 Reagan fired over 11,000 strikers.
US marshals brought in several men in this manner.
