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July 30, 2004
©www.nasiriphotos.com I have found
©www.nasiriphotos.com
I have found the core, I won't eat the shell
Maghz, from Mansour Nasiri's Photoblog. Sensual image from Rumigraphy, Nasiri's synthesis of composition, calligraphy, & verse by the great Persian poet & spiritual master Rumi, founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order. From the Life of Rumi:
Rumi was born in Tajikistan on 30 September 1207 to a family of learned theologians. Escaping the Mongol invasion, Rumi traveled extensively in the Muslim lands, performed pilgrimage to Mecca and settled in Anatolia. When his father passed away, Rumi succeeded him in 1231 as professor in religious sciences. Rumi 24 years old, was an already accomplished scholar in religious and positive sciences.
He was introduced into the mystical path by a wandering dervish, Shamsuddin of Tabriz. His love and bereavement for the death of Shams found their expression in a surge of music, dance and lyric poems, Divani Shamsi Tabrizi. Rumi is the author of six volume epic work the Mathnawi, called the 'Koran in Persian' by Jami, and discourses, Fihi ma Fihi, written to introduce his disciples into metaphysics.
If there is any general idea underlying Rumi's poetry, it is the absolute love of God. His influence on thought, literature and all forms of aesthetic expression in the world of Islam cannot be overrated.
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi died on December 17, 1273. Men of five faiths followed his bier. Ever since, the Mawlawi dervishes have kept that date as a festival.God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.
God has put into the form of hashish a power
to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.
God has made sleep so
that it erases every thought.
God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.
There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.
Don't think all ecstacies
are the same!
Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.
Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jars.
Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.
Be a conoisseur,
and taste with caution.
Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,
the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about "what's needed."
Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it's been untied,
and is just ambling about.
Mathnawi IV, 2683-96 The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks
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Posted by Jeff at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2004
WHAT BARBRA'S READING
Whenever I find myself down in the dumps, I like to drop into BarbraStreisand.com, where as a public service, singer /actress/ Shakespeare scholar Barbra Streisand provides a list of articles she found particularly uplifting. A sample:
A Time to Weep by Ted Sorenson: "This is a cry from the heart, a lamentation for the loss of this country's goodness and therefore its greatness."
The Politics of Hope by Robert Borosage: "The stench of failure is inescapable. They have left us weaker, more indebted, more divided, more isolated and far less secure."
The Truth About Iraq by Robert Scheer: "Bush and company have turned the language of lying into a fine art, always leaving themselves a shred of deniability in case the truth catches up." [Actually, that sounds like another president entirely.]
The Day the Constitution Died by Molly Ivins: "When, in the future, you find yourself wondering, Whatever happened to the Constitution? you will want to go back and look at June 8, 2004."
Travesty of Justice by Paul Krugman: "John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in history" [and he didn't even kill 70 people at Waco!]
Is This the Republican Implosion? by Gene Lyons: "How about the Bush campaign e-mailing 6 million videos comparing prominent Democrats to Adolf Hitler? So you're a Nazi if you don't like Bush?" [Note to Barbra: the ad was actually criticizing Democratic supporters use of Bush=Hitler imagery and failure of mainstream Dems to distance themselves from it. See next item]
The Best Goebbels of All by Frank Rich: "Thanks to the 9/11 commission, we now know that the movie got the story right. The administration was repeatedly warned in advance that disaster could strike America."
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid by Verlyn Klinkenborg: "To most scientists, global warming is a truly successful hypothesis." [The causes of global warming - now & in the past - are up for grabs. See The Skeptical Enviromentalist]
Are They Losing It? by Maureen Dowd: Calls Cheney "Mr. Major League Potty Mouth"
Kiss of Death by Molly Ivins: "Any time Bush goes out into the country and claims credit for, or praises the work being done by, some government program, it is an almost-certain kiss of death -- budget cuts follow." [Note to Barbra: as a distressed conservative, I wish this were true]
History Lesson: GOP Must Stop Bush by Carl Bernstein: "Like Nixon, this president decided the Constitution could be bent on his watch. The legal justification for ignoring the Geneva Conventions regarding humane treatment of prisoners was enunciated in a memo to Bush." [History lesson: actually, terrorists are not signatory to the Geneva Conventions. That's why they're called 'terrorists'.]
A Proud Army Parent Believes Bush Misled Us About Iraq War by Dan Rodricks: "I thought my generation had forever ended the ability of any American president to assume that he alone could wage war without the consent and support of a majority of American citizens. I thought Vietnam had ended that notion."
[Barbra: Actually, Bush was granted authority to wage war on a vote of 296-133 in the House, 77-23 in the Senate, by elected representatives.
Hundreds of Thousands March for Abortion Rights Article admits there was no crowd estimate from law enforcement. Eleanor Smeal: "We must stop this war on women!"
How Bush Chose Stupidity by Jacob Weisberg
It's the Stupidity, Stupid by David Sirota
George Bush, Self-Deluded Messiah by David Corn
The Mirror Has Two Faces by Maureen Dowd
Whistleblower: I Saw Papers That Show US Knew al-Qa'ida Would Attack Cities With Airplanes From April. [Apparently she couldn't find the papers, because the 9/11 Commission interviewed her.]
Former Official Describes Bush as Disengaged [Former official was fired]
Pentagon Finds Halliburton Overcharged on Iraq Contracts From Barbra's favorite paper, the NY Times, which 2 weeks later reported "An examination of what has grown into a multibillion-dollar contract to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure shows no evidence of profiteering by Halliburton."
Angels, Reagan, & AIDS in America by Frank Rich, pissed at 'whiners' who convinced CBS to cancel Reagan hit-piece TV movie. Urges us to watch Angels in America by red-diaper Tony Kushner, who shows that AIDS was not caused by risky sex, but by Ronald Reagan and the Cold War. 7-hour AIDS-a-thon includes camp-classic appearance by Ethel Rosenberg, because Kushner wrote it before Soviet archives showed that Rosenbergs were indeed spies & traitors, vile people who passed nuclear secrets to Joseph Stalin, a madman who murdered 20 million people.
Posted by Jeff at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2004
©www.nasiriphotos.com Palm dates, from
©www.nasiriphotos.com
Palm dates, from Mansour Nasiri's Photoblog. Poetic photographer, galleries also contain desolate images of Bam after devastating earthquake.
Christopher Drew on the nefarious German plot to take over the EU
David Horowitz: The Friend of My Enemy is My Enemy Disabled Iraq War vet jeered in Seattle
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: Profound letter from an Army interrogator in Iraq on his craft:
"People usually broadcast their lies and anxieties by what they say or fail to say. If one is patient enough to listen, criminal guilt or shame in general will show itself, unless a person is a seriously trained actor. I imagine this is simply the natural corollary to 'what is done in the dark, will be seen in the light'.
"Nobody truly loves secrecy, carrying one's burdens and joys alone. Everyone wants a confessor and a confidant. Listening to the cues of a person who does not want to come right out and say something, but doesn’t want to continue carrying a burden of guilt or shame, is not only what interrogation is all about … it’s what being a decent human being is about."Land of Persia: A poem by Leili:
- 25 years ago, chanting slogans, blood, demonstrations, sweet dreams, freedom, motives, Reds, , Pony tails covered in black chador, Islam, the religion of freedom and .. peace, flowers offered to soldiers, Victory
20 years ago, Saddam, electricity black-outs, American dream, war, martyr, life, death, mothers kissing their teenage boys for the last time, faith
15 years ago, parks, money, black sleeping gowns for girls , cars, jobs, life's a machine, the most important news is the weather forecast
8 years ago, new hopes, freedom, sounds good to have the first democratic government in the middle east? huh, casting votes, vows, wishes, bright colors
Tehran, July 18 2004 People, vacant looks, indifferent, desperate, dyed blond hair under cover, repeating the last night's rumor, yesterday's newspaper no more on the counter, the noise of American troops marching in the left and right neighboring lands, Immigration, radioactive pollution, still, night, day, night, night, night
Andrew Sullivan Pledge Week, click here to give!
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Posted by Jeff at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2004
COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO BUMPERSTICKERS
If you visit me in Oakland, you'll find that the Bay Area, in addition to having more Kucinich supporters per square foot than the Mother Jones editorial board, is also the world capital for bumperstickers. True, you won't see many stickers like the ones on my car [BUILD BOMBS, NOT SCHOOLS] or my old car [I BELIEVE YOU PAULA, KATHLEEN, MONICA, DOLLY, JUANITA, GENNIFER, HAVE-I-FORGOTTEN-ANYONE?]. The Bay Area is a lot like academe, where the only diversity is between the Far Left and the Doppler Shift Left.
On some cars, particularly older Volvos driven by lesbians, the entire back end is wallpapered in bumperstickers, ranging from the vintage [FREE NELSON MANDELA], the graphic [EAT PHISH], the eclectic [WICCANS FOR CHRIST], the kill-two-birds variety [KEEP YOUR NUKES OFF MY OVARIES], and the superannuated: END RACISM. [Ed. note - In fact, racism officially ended on May 19, 1988.]
My friend Bertha's precocious son used to peel the rainbow stickers off cars and reapply them to others, which probably led to amusing misunderstandings. To help you avoid faux pas in this sometimes confusing art form, here's a handy reference to the Complete Idiot's Guide to Bumperstickers.
FREE PALESTINE. People outraged that West Bank is run by Arafat & his platoon of Keystone killers and want it stopped.
FREE TIBET. People who want Bush to attack China, overthrow its government, and liberate Tibet. I supported the Iraq War, but I have reservations about this one.
KILL CORPORATIONS. "I want to be unemployed"
WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER. PHD in military history.
LIAR/CROOK 2004. Sly reference to Kerry's infamous untruth about throwing away his Vietnam War medals, as well as Edwards' fleecing of America via trial lawyer obstetrics scam.
POWERFUL ARE FEMINISTS WHO UNITE. Feminists without syntax.
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN FOR KERRY. Intriguing if doubtful and probably mythical bumpersticker that has never been seen anywhere.
NO WAR ON _____ . All-purpose DIY bumpersticker for anti-everything crowd. Available in bulk.
REAL MEN DO LAUNDRY. Pussywhipped.
I BRAKE FOR BUTTERFLIES. "I'm an insufferable twit, slap some sense into me"
IS THE CLIMATE CHANGING OR IS IT JUST ME? Menopausal Berkeley BMW liberal matron, en route to Whole Foods for something her maid forgot.
NO ONE DIED WHEN CLINTON LIED. Good-natured jest at Clinton's amusing perjury, for which he was disbarred
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ. Iranian secret police. Avoid.
EX-REPUBLICAN: ASK ME WHY. David Brock's Spectra. Take evasive action.
GET YOUR RELIGION OUT OF MY GOVERNMENT. People upset with recent Michigan referendum allowing mosque to broadcast call to prayer 5X a day, since if Christian church pulled this, ACLU would be all over it like John Edwards on a cripple.
VOTE FOR ME AND YOU GET DICK. Gay driver, apparent reference to famous well-filled flight-suit photo op.
HE'S NOT A LIAR, HE'S JUST STUPID. Clinton hater.
I'M MOVING TO CANADA 2004. Barbra Streisand's Masarati. (We've heard this before.)
BUSH 2004 FOR PRESIDENT OF IRAQ. Joyful Iraqis expressing gratitude for release from bondage.
TEXAS DEMOCRAT. "I'm from Austin"
RAISE MY TAXES. A Leftist of the most unhinged & unpredictable variety. Let him pass & do not provoke.
KUCINICH 2004. See above.
KEEP YOUR ORANGE ALERTS TO YOURSELF. "There are no terrorists." Repeat over and over.
REELECT BARBARA LEE. When the vote is 420 to 1, you're either a genius or an idiot.
THE SEPT. 11 HIJACKERS ALSO PRAYED TO GOD. Makes astute point that we have as much to fear from the Unitarian down the street as from murderous jihadi psychopaths.
ABSTAIN FROM ABSTINENCE. Oh wait — that's me.
Posted by Jeff at 07:30 PM | Comments (2)
July 21, 2004
ACORNS IN PYONGYANG
Pak Il U, a Korean businessman in the US, has obtained a license to market & distribute world-famous Pyongyang Liquor in America in order to ease international tensions:
"After much deliberation over the way for disabusing American society of its mistaken thought about the DPRK [North Korea] and giving the Korean-Americans a correct understanding of the fatherland, I made up my mind to sell Pyongyang Liquor in the United States. When people drink Pyongyang Liquor, a traditional liquor of Korea, they will think of Korea and chat about the history and traditions of the nation."
For those unfamiliar with the North Korean palate, a brief rundown from the pages of the People's Korea.
Pyongyang Liquor. Vodka. Alcohol 60%. "Burning taste. It makes a clear distinction from other 'quaffable' liquors."
Totorisul. Acorn liquor. Alcohol 40%. "Pungent smell of acorn"
Sinyangsul. Soju (distilled spirit). Alcohol 40%. "A descent scent of a Korean soil floats in a mouth"
Komppyoyaksul. Bear bone liquor. Alcohol 40%. "More like a medicine rather than a liquor. Positive effects on rheumatics, arthritis, stiff neck, nerve pain and etc."
Inpungsul. Brandy. Alcohol 40%. "Smell like a potato soju but leaves a good aftertaste peculiar to a brandy."
Pulrosul. Adder liquor. Contains actual snake. Alcohol 60%. "Tastes a bit fishy for its high alcohol concentration. Some find it unpleasant." (DUH)
Poyangju. Chlorella liquor. Alcohol 40%. "A healthy liquor containing a chlorella. Tastes sweet."
Kaesongkoryoinsamsul. Ginseng wine. Alcohol 40%. "A liquor made from world-famous Kaesong Koryo ginseng. Good for health." Contains floating ginseng root (use magnifying glass)
Morusul. Wild vine liquor. Alcohol 16%. "Tastes of a red wine and leaves no inebriety."
Ryongsong Beer. Alcohol 4.5%. "The most famous beer in north Korea. It has been awarded several titles in various world beer contests."
Ttalgitansul. Strawberry wine. Alcohol 20%. "Sweet and sour in taste. Palatable and lady-oriented." Mogen-David of North Korea.
Posted by Jeff at 06:28 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
ROOT CAUSES OF TERRORISM TIMELINE
450 million years ago: First cartilaginous fishes
240 million years ago: Gore Vidal born
6000 BC Sumerians invent beer in Fertile Crescent; Madonna born
2000 BC Gore Vidal publishes first in long line of books blaming world's problems on America; no one knows wtf he's talking about
800 BC Madonna's Smearing the Pap Tour & closes in Gomorrah: "tired" "too old" "same old crap"
600 BC Jewish captivity in Babylon; Madonna begins study of Kabbalah, typically ahead of pack, as it has not yet been codified
63 BC Roman conquest of Jerusalem
33 AD Crucifixion of Jesus
135 AD Destruction of Jerusalem, Diaspora begins
625 AD Mohammed weds 6-year-old child bride Aisha, beating out rival Woody Allen
650 AD Koran codified, banning alcohol. Mideast becomes official No-Fun Zone
650 AD Susan Lucci debuts as Erica on All My Children
732 AD French accidentally defeat Muslims at Tours
1096 Crusades launched in response to advance of Seljuks in East & Almoravids in Spain. Susan Lucci loses 5000th Emmy nomination.
1200 AD - present Decline & ossification of Islam
1322 Liza marries Edward II: "He's no homo."
1517-1917 Ottoman Empire rules Palestine
1700 Age of Reason & scientific revolution; Islam misses train
1750 Industrial Revolution; Islam AWOL again
1776 American Revolution inaugurates 200+ year representative democracy
1789 French Revolution ends in tyranny
1882 First Zionists migrate to Palestine, fleeing Russian pogroms. Jews begin to purchase land from Arabs 1884 Liza marries Oscar Wilde: "100% man"
1917 Russian Revolution ends in tyranny
1924 Fundamentalist Wahhabi al Saud dynasty conquers Mecca & Medina, creating Saudi state
1939-45 Nazi Holocaust, 5 million Jews slaughtered; successful resistance in Finland, Italy, Bulgaria, & Denmark
1941 Grand Mufti has tea with Hitler: "Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine & the Arab world." Martha Stewart born.
1946 George Bush born; Louis Reard invents bikini
1948 UN partition of Palestine, birth of Israel; Arab League armies attack Israel, which kicks their asses
1949 Chinese Revolution ends in tyranny 1955 Liza marries J. Edgar Hoover: "He's a pile-driver!"
1959 Cuban Revolution ends in tyranny
1965 Days of Our Lives debuts on NBC; Dick Cheney marries Lynne Vincent
1967 Six Day War, Israel kicks ass. Cassandra Peterson becomes youngest Vegas showgirl at 16.
1969 Ted Kennedy hits speed bump on Martha's Vineyard; Elvis tells Cassandra Peterson to get out of Vegas
1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel kicks ass again. Susan Sontag invited to speak at Bennington by Camille Paglia, puts audience on life support with lugubrious existentialism
1976 Linda Ronstadt dates moonbat liberal Jerry Brown
1979 Iranian revolution ends in tyranny
1981 Cassandra Peterson renames herself Elvira, debuts on KHJ-TV in LA
1983 Linda Ronstadt dates moonbat liberal George Lucas
1988 'Elvira: Mistress of the Dark' released, Elvira-mania sweeps America
1993 Israel signs 'peace accord' with terrorist army, which turns West Bank & Gaza into armed camps. Translatlantic Battle of the Bitches faxfest between Julie Burchill & Camille Paglia.
1994 Sarah Michelle Geller wins Emmy for All My Children, much to someone's displeasure; is quickly written off show
1999 Susan Lucci finally wins Emmy, no longer laughingstock of daytime TV
2000 Florida election fiasco; Al Gore drags judiciary into election, seeking recount in 4 counties he thinks he can win, a move he will later regret. Elvira on Hollywood Squares. Barak offers state to Palestinians. In return, Arafat unleases intifada, exploding Palestinian youths like party favors
2001 September 11th attacks on New York & the Pentagon; Congress grants military authority to President Bush with lone exception of Barbara Lee, who says we need to look at root causes of terrorism. American military topples Taliban in move Michael Moore vociferously opposed but now pretends he supported because he realizes it makes him look like an idiot.
2002 Liza marries David Gest, owner of world's largest collection of Shirley Temple memorabilia. Gore Vidal, world's oldest living organism, says Bush had advance knowledge of 9/11 attack & allowed it; also claims FDR allowed Pearl Harbor attack. 'Elvira's Haunted Hills' goes straight to video. Mecca Cola debuts in France
2003 Bush launches Iraq War & deposes genocidal Stalinist Saddam Hussein; liberals upset. Gaddafi shits his pants. Madonna's American Life flops; she prepares antiwar video, but think$ better of it. Al Gore & Courtney Love slide into insanity. David Gest humiliates self by claiming Liza beat the crap out of him.
2004 Beautiful Atrocities sweeps Drudge into recycle bin of history; Israel defeats intifada; Michael Moore groupie Linda Ronstadt causes riot with one too many tired encores of Desperado; free elections in Afghanistan; Yasser Arafat dies, possibly of AIDS, setting off power struggle between grieving widow Suha Arafat & PA cronies over purloined millions; Martha Stewart sent to snake pit
2005 Free elections in Iraq, pro-democracy demonstrations in Syria, Egypt, & Gulf States, 'Arab democracy' no longer oxymoron
Posted by Jeff at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2004
ABSOLUTELY AISHA
Beautiful Atrocity Aisha Gaddafi
Saddam Hussein, who's been desperately trying to get the toothless UN involved in his trial to ensure a Milosovic-style circus, got a PR boost last week when Libyan glamourpuss Aisha Gaddafi signed on to his legal team. The only daughter of strongman Mohammar Gaddafi, Aisha is variously referred to as Doctor Gaddafi & "the Claudia Schiffer of North Africa" (by the Italian press).
Named for the Prophet Mohammed's 6-year-old child bride, Aisha, 27, is a fashion plate like Raghad Hussein, holds a law degree from Al Fatih University in Tripoli, & worked to attract tourism in Libya, which is not exactly a tourist Mecca. She shops in London & Paris & made a fiery speech in Hyde Park in which she proclaimed the IRA fredeom fighters.
Aisha made her international debut in 1996, when the Colonel took her on a trip to South Africa and she appeared on TV with Nelson Mandela. In 2000, she flew to Baghdad to meet with Hussein, announcing to reporters that her high-profile jaunt was a challenge to the UN sanctions as well as the American & British air patrols that frustrated Hussein's genocidal schemes against the Kurds & Shias (the Gaddafis are Sunnis, like Hussein).
Aisha's fondness for terrorists & mass murderers might be frowned upon in a more conventional family, but a glance at her siblings shows why the Colonel might indulge her.
Sayf al-Islam, 32, bachelor. Businessman also considered for succession, known for keeping Bengal tigers in his Vienna bachelor pad.
Two other sons are out of favor, Muhammed, the eldest, & Mualassim, in exile in Egypt. On the other hand, Aisha's Western affectations have not endeared her to Islamists (Al Qaeda is suspected in 1996 assassination plot against the Colonel.) Now Aisha is heading to Baghdad to make sure mass murderer Hussein gets a fair trail, continuing Libya's trailblazing efforts on behalf of human rights (Libya chaired the UN Human Rights Commission despite the fact that it's a ruthless police state where journalist Abdullah Ali Sanussi-al-Darrat has been jailed without trial since 1973.
Aisha had no comment on the Lockerbie & UTA bombings, the London shooting of PC Yvonne Fletcher, the Berlin disco bombing, or her father's numerous assassinations of his rivals. See also Joe Bob Briggs: Is Libya's Leader Turning Sane?
Posted by Jeff at 09:15 AM | Comments (1)
July 08, 2004
ANAL FOR TREES
A Norwegian couple that belongs to a public service organization called F*ck for Forest ("Enviromental Porn") is in trouble for having sex onstage at a concert. Tommy Hol Ellingsen, 28, & his girlfriend Leona Johansson, 21, were fined £1700 after they stripped off their clothes onstage at a performance by the Cumshots and laid the pipe right there.
"It is ridiculous that we are prosecuted and sentenced on a moral basis at the same time as Norway is in the war against Iraq," insists Ellingsen.
Humorless wonk Lars Lovold of the Rainforest Foundation Norway, doesn't get it: "I can not see that this helps the work for the rainforest."
The spunky couple has so far raised £10,000 having sex in public, but no organization would accept the money. Beautiful Atrocities would like them to know we'll happily accept the money, please contact us ASAP
Posted by Jeff at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2004
FRENCH-CANADIAN ASSISTANCE
Disadvantaged French-Canadian Youth
Beautiful Atrocities would like to call your attention to the plight of French-Canadian youth. These miserable wretches are forced to grow up in the depressing wasteland of French Canada, where they don't even speak French, but something called Quebecois, which is to French as Uruk-Hai is to Orcish. They grow up watching lame French-Canadian TV, eating indigestible French-Canadian food, and listening to sappy French-Canadian music.
And speaking of Celine Dion, why doesn't she have any lips? With all her money, can't she afford some? Or is this strange lipless condition just another in the litany of afflictions caused by the extremely poor hygiene of the French-Canadians?
And what genius put a baseball team in Montreal? The place is almost empty, the vendors sell croissants instead of hot dogs, and the few dull-eyed lipless French-Canadian baseball fans chew mechanically while stupid French words flash on the screen. Maybe they think they're watching petanque.
That's why they moved half the Expo games to Puerto Rico. I have a better idea, move the whole goddamn city to Puerto Rico. That way you could visit Montreal and enjoy its beautiful architecture in pleasant weather instead of freezing rain , and without having to see or -- god forbid -- listen to a single French-Canadian.
Posted by Jeff at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2004
THE DECADENT INTELLIGENTSIA In
THE DECADENT INTELLIGENTSIA
In August 1914, Solzhenitsyn writes about the decadent intellectual climate of pre-Bolshevik Russia, where among the intelligentsia it was de rigueur to express nothing but contempt for the government and sympathy for terrorists:
- "The press was free and did not ask the government to authorize its outpourings; inevitably persons hostile to the government made use of it to corrupt the people. The legitimate press reproduced without comment revolutionary appeals however wild and nonsensical. Intellectuals harbored the whole Soviet of Workers' Deputies in private apartments and printed its destructive exhortations. The educated public was disposed to believe any lie or libel, so long as it was directed against the government, and newspapers had a predilection for printing such things and not retracting them. The press had usurped a power greater than that of the government."
"There are fateful moments in the life of the state when we must choose whether certain theories or the state itself should be preserved intact. Russia will know the difference between blood on the hands of a headsman and blood on the hands of a conscientious surgeon."The intelligentsia, however, did not know the difference:
- "There was a spate of newspaper articles, speeches, and letters (one from Tolstoy) arguing that no one should ever dare to execute anyone, not even the most brutal of murderers, that field courts-martial could do nothing towards the moral rejunvenation of society (as though that was what terror was doing) but could only further brutalize it (which terror did still more effectively). Even telegrams of sympathy to officials hurt by revolutionaries were invariably greeted with indignation by the liberals. Yet whether Stolypin was brutalizing Russia or not, terrorism declined from the moment the field courts-martial were introduced."
even had the temerity to give Russia's most highly educated citizens, the ultralibertarian ultimate authorities on freedom, a lesson on the meaning of the word: "Real freedom is made up of civil rights plus loyalty to the state and patriotism."Stolypin was assassinated by a terrorist, and was spared seeing Russia's descent into the abyss.
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Posted by Jeff at 06:49 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2004
Israeli soldiers, by photographer
Israeli soldiers, by photographer Adi Ness. (Gallery at link)
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Posted by Jeff at 01:35 PM | Comments (1)