Do you know that an American naval vessel was attacked by Israel in international waters resulting in the deaths of dozens of American sailors, seriously wounding more than 170?

If you haven’t, don’t feel bad. Most Americans under the age of 40 haven’t heard of it either. It has been all but written out of official American history.

WATCH THIS VIDEO:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fuZKyTGKYo

USS Liberty Attack:

American Servicemen Expendable, Just Don't Embarrass Israel

Within the United States, there has been a growing awareness of Palestinian suffering. This has been manifested in the many demonstrations held during Israel’s assault on Gaza from December 2008-January 2009.

The boycott of Israeli goods is gaining speed, as well as the campaign to recognize the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid.

Yet there is one tragic and shameful event in particular which serves to discourage Palestinian rights activists. If so-called “patriotic” Americans viciously suppress the concerns of veterans and their families by covering up the murder of their own sailors, what hope is there to recognize the voices of oft-maligned Arabs half a world away?

June 8 will mark the 43rd anniversary of the heaviest attack on an American ship that inflicted the highest number of casualties since World War II. The USS Liberty was patrolling international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The day was clear and sunny; the ship flying the American flag, as was standard. Suddenly and simultaneously, out of that clear azure sky and sea came a two-pronged attack by Israeli air and naval forces. Napalm, gunfire and missiles rained hell on Liberty’s crew for two hours while Israeli torpedo boats closed in.

In that two hours, 34 American sailors died. Another 172 were injured

The Liberty crew managed to send an SOS, heard by nearby U.S. Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers. Fighter planes launched immediately, however turned back on orders from President Johnson. Naval personnel listening to radio relays heard Johnson say “I don’t care if the ship sinks, I’m not going to embarrass an ally.”

There are several motives for Israel’s deliberate attack: to prevent the USS Liberty from transmitting intelligence pertaining to massacres by Israeli troops which were taking place in the Golan Heights and that the 1967 War did indeed result from a pre-emptive strike by Israel.

The attack could have been used to draw the U.S. into the 1967 War as well. Most of the Liberty’s survivors believe that Israel’s goal was to sink the ship and kill everyone aboard. Had there been no survivors, the attack could have been pinned on an Arab country.

Ward Boston, Jr., himself a U.S. Navy veteran, was the chief legal counsel to the Navy Court of Inquiry investigating the USS Liberty attack. In an editorial published by The San Diego Union Tribune, Boston stated then President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara ordered the Navy Court of Inquiry to conclude the attack was accidental. Furthermore, the late Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, the Court of Inquiry’s president, was given only one week to gather evidence for the investigation, although a proper inquiry would have taken six months.

“We boarded the crippled ship at sea and interviewed survivors. The evidence was clear. We both believed with certainty that this attack was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew,” Boston wrote. “I saw the bullet-riddled American flag that had been raised by the crew after their first flag had been shot down completely.”

For the official record, Admiral Kidd was ordered to rewrite part of the Court’s findings, including striking Lt. Lloyd Painter’s testimony in which he stated three life rafts filled with seriously wounded sailors were gunned down at close range by Israeli torpedo boats.

Survivors of the USS Liberty attack, their families and the families of those killed have demanded a fair congressional inquiry, to no avail.

To this day, survivors have never been allowed to testify publicly.

Nor have intelligence officers who received real-time Hebrew translations of Israeli commanders ordering pilots to sink “the American ship.”

The cover-up did not stop at the official report: it extended to commemorations honoring USS Liberty survivors and crew members’ memorials alike. The USS Liberty’s Commander, William L. McGonagle was awarded the Medal of Honor in a quiet ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard, not in the customary White House setting.

In 1987, the town of Grafton, Wisconsin proposed naming a new $1 million library–to be built with private donations and an $83,000 federal contribution– The USS Liberty Memorial Library. Days later, Jewish community leaders decried the proposal as “anti-Semitic.”

An angry letter from a local rabbi, Gideon Goldenholz, stated the name was “insulting to Jews.” Not surprisingly, the $83,000 federal money was put on hold. Even the priest at Grafton’s Catholic Church came out in opposition to the name, stating “The USS Liberty has become a symbol of hate.” The Milwaukee Jewish Council attempted to block the name and there were several picketers at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The USS Liberty Memorial Library was finally dedicated in 1989 after two years of battling well-organized opposition.

The greatest sacrilege, however, is that these 34 crew members’ tombstones are engraved “...died in the Eastern Mediterranean,” rather than “killed in action.”

There is little hope of real policy change in a country where citizens would denigrate their own veterans, both living and dead, in order to protect a state where perpetrating war crimes is commonplace.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

Steve Lorillere | Saint-Tropez Photo | Twitter | facebook

Djugu, Ituri, RDC : Afin de permettre aux médias de voir comment les casques bleus protègent les civils et traquent les groupes armés, trois journalistes de Bunia ont embarqué dans des patrouilles de soldats bangladais de la MONUSCO, du 25 au 27 juin 2020 dans la région de Roe. L'un des journalistes, Nicolas Awacang'o Synthé, a déclaré : « cette mission va apporter beaucoup de changements professionnels dans ma façon de traiter les informations en rapport avec la situation à Djugu. Partant de la réalité que j’ai vue avec le travail des casques bleus sur le terrain, j’ai compris qu’il ne faut pas se fier aux rumeurs que rapportent certains sur le travail des casques bleus », a déclaré Photo MONUSCO/Force

Djugu territory, Ituri, DRC: To allow the media to see how peacekeepers protect civilians and track down armed groups, three Journalists from Bunia were embedded in Bangladeshi peacekeepers’ patrol in Roe area from 25 to 27 June 2020. One of the journalists, Nicolas Awacang’o Synthe had this to say “This mission will bring us a lot of changes professionally, especially in the way we deal with the information related to the situation in Djugu. Based on the reality we have seen with our own eyes regarding peacekeepers’ work on the ground, we have understood that we should not trust the rumors spread by some people to denigrate the work done by peacekeepers.”. Photo MONUSCO / Force

Joanne Harris

Chocolat

First published in: 1999

This edition: Black Swan 2000

ISBN: 0-552-99848-6

Genre: magical realism, foodie-lit

Pages: 320

Cover illustration by Stuart Haygarth

book093-1000px

Behind the scenes tidbit: I had put Nutella on my face.

…it was all I had.

I am allergic to nuts. Oops. Little rash after this photo.

Glad I only did this area of my face.

I hope you like the photo :P I suffered for it haha.

I found this secondhand copy of CHOCOLAT in England and figured I should bring it, if only for the fact that Johnny Depp plays in the movie version, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with reading a fun book, and daydreaming about Johnny Depp simultaneously. It's like two of my most favorite things to do in one. It did not disappoint – on both ends. Johnny Depp, say no more – plus CHOCOLAT is fun read for sure and very atmospheric, as it's set in a quirky French village starring an interesting group of characters.

Vianne Rocher and her little daughter Anouk, who've lived nomadic lives, have arrived in Lansquenet to settle for a while. To earn a living, Vianne opens a delightful chocolaterie right across from the church.

Lansquenet's Father Reynaud is more than a little troubled about the entire ordeal. First of all, Vianne is a pagan stranger – unknown, exotic and thus not to be trusted; she doesn't even go to church! Second, to open a chocolate shop during Lent – the time where abstinence and self-control are supposed to be valued… to tempt the entire congregation into sin, it is unacceptable to Reynaud. No, it is a direct insult!

…needless to say, Reynaud will stop at nothing to thwart both Vianne's hopes for a new start, and her sweet business in Lansquenet.

This book is obviously a must for lovers of chocolate, and food in general. The descriptions, my my, they are mouth-watering at times. This is the truth: I put down the book once and made myself a hot chocolate ("I need a chocolat chaud"), because I couldn't stand it anymore. CHOCOLAT is tormenting for the all-too-willing stomach, haha.

And there are magical elements to this book, but they are subtle, gentle. It leaves something to the imagination. Where GARDEN SPELLS (R&R 085) by Sarah Addison Allen failed, CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris succeeds: a blend of delicious food writing with a touch of strange, a hint of magic. I was only two chapters into the novel when I realized that CHOCOLAT is perfect for my taste; it's exactly the book I'd been longing for and couldn't find in GARDEN SPELLS.

I savored1 every word.

But eventually, and against my expectations, what makes CHOCOLAT spark is the duel, in the form of alternating first-person perspective storytelling, between Vianne and Reynaud. Their stand-off is both amusing and fierce – and serious enough; the reader is invested and wants to know the outcome.

Reynaud is a hoot; his Chapter 3 rant about his congregration – or 'flock', as he prefers to refer to his churchgoers; sheep who follow as opposed to human beings (this denigrating attitude towards the people who attend 'his church' tells you how highly he thinks of himself, how low he thinks of the rest) – and their hypocrisies is both shocking and hilarious. You don't expect a priest to be so vindictive, so snide, but Reynaud is. Yet while it has a very funny side to it all – the evil priest – there is a sad part about it all, a hypocrisy of the worst kind. Reynaud doesn't seem to give a crap that one of his 'flock' beats up his wife on a regular basis, but Vianne is the devil incarnate because she opens a chocolate shop and – most importantly – doesn't go to church…?

I don't feel that it was Harris' intention to write an anti-church book when she made the priest the villain, the enemy. It's more about the character of Reynaud himself – a petty, cruel man (prime specimen of narcissist), whose role as a priest further stresses his intolerance towards anyone who doesn't fit his ideal. It's not about his church. It's about this man's messed up sense of right and wrong.

Some reviewers I've checked out have a hard time looking at the story as a whole and just see a church offended. CHOCOLAT is a satire. Keep that in mind if you're planning on reading this book, but – and I mean this kindly, not mockingly – tend to be sensitive about religion as a subject.

But I do admit it is refreshing that in CHOCOLAT, the church or at least the priest(s) connected to it aren't perfect. That the priest is the one in the wrong – not the atheist, not the pagan. I'm kind of tired of the notion that atheists and agnosts have no values, no morals of their own. Just because some people (like Vianne and Anouk) don't need the bible to guide their way in the world, that doesn't mean they aren't good people. My parents raised me well. They didn't need a church to do it.

It's kind of nice to see the tables turned for once; religion does not a good person make, necessarily. Harris acknowledges this and I appreciate that.

The movie disappointed me: they did not dare to keep the priest as the villain. Instead, they went with the typical villain: the politician. In this case, the mayor. What I felt was strong about CHOCOLAT, the book, was that Joanne Harris was brave enough to pick an unconventional and controversial villain. The movie backed down from the idea, and that was a pity in my opinion.

Ah, Johnny Depp sort of made up for it. But the book is far better.

Indulge in a little CHOCOLAT. No calories, but oh so delicious.

1. As I typed this, I realized I usually tend to spell it 'savoured', as the Brits would do. But who am I kidding… I learned my English American style :P

Consistency doesn't hurt.

© 2010

www.reading-reviewing.com

The resident Canada Geese are breaking out of the flocks into pairs. It's that time of year. I've read that over 50 percent no longer migrate. They have denigrated from the wild special creatures of my youth to the status of sky carp.

HDR from a single RAW, Photomatix.

Korda, whose real name was Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, was born on 14 September 1928 in Havana, Cuba. He got his first taste of photography when he took his father's Kodak 35mm and began taking pictures of his girlfriend[1]. Korda was the son of a railway worker, and took many jobs before beginning as a photographer's assistant. "My main aim was to meet women", he once confessed. He did succeed in his aim. His second wife, Natalia (Norka) Menendez, was a well known Cuban fashion model.

He was a photographer for the Cuban newspaper Revolución in 1960 when he produced on March 5, 1960 the iconic image of Che Guevara, that became a worldwide symbol of revolution and rebellion. He never received any royalties for the image, because Castro did not recognize the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. In 2000, he sued Smirnoff over the use of the image in advertisement. Commenting on the illicit use of his photograph, the artist said, "As a supporter of the ideals for which Che Guevara died, I am not averse to its reproduction by those who wish to propagate his memory and the cause of social justice throughout the world, but I am categorically against the exploitation of Che's image for the promotion of products such as alcohol, or for any purpose that denigrates the reputation of Che". His out-of-court settlement of US $50,000 was donated to the Cuban healthcare system. He said, "If Che were still alive, he would have done the same". However, he told a BBC World Service reporter that he did approve of the 1999 Che Jesus adaptation of the image used by the Churches Advertising Network to promote church attendance in the UK.

The truth is that Korda gave the picture for free to Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, an Italian publisher who had published Doctor Zhivago and went on to publish Castro's diaries. Feltrinelli had the copyright for some time and benefited financially from the picture .[2]

After the revolution, Korda became Fidel Castro's personal photographer for 10 years, accompanying Castro on trips and in meetings with foreign personalities. During this time he also took pictures of demonstrations, sugar cane harvests and factory scenes.[1] Other less-known Fidel Castro images by Korda include shots of Castro staring warily at a tiger in a New York zoo, playing golf and fishing with Che Guevara, skiing and hunting in Russia, and with Ernest Hemingway. Korda's work also includes pictures of Castro's rebels riding into Havana after their triumph, and one known as The Quixote of the Lamp Post showing a Cuban wearing a straw hat and sitting on a lamp post against a sea of people during a rally.[1]

From 1968 to 1978 he concentrated on underwater photography until a Japanese exhibition in 1978 stimulated international interest in his work. He appeared briefly in the pre-title sequence of Wim Wenders' film Buena Vista Social Club in 1999, although he was uncredited.

Korda suffered a fatal heart attack in Paris in 2001 while presenting an exhibition of his work. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana

Located at number 19 Camp Street in the former Gold Rush town of Daylesford, the former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church offers wonderful views as it looks down from the high side of the road, across the township, now known for its natural mineral springs and day spas.

Built in 1903 under the benefaction of Jessie Leggatt, who laid the foundation stone on the 9th of December that year, St Andrew’s is not unlike the Castlemaine Presbyterian Church in Lyttleton Street. Built of red brick with sandstone detailing, St Andrew’s has been built in a Picturesque Gothic style with adaptations of both Florentine and Pauduan Gothic. It features a splendid slate roof, and has been built in a symmetrical style, with two hexagonal towers to either side of the enclosed loggia entrance. The taller of the towers on the left hand side serves also as the church’s belfry and has a crenellated parapet and a copper covered spire. The gable over the front doors is pierced with a traceried window with two mullions in early English decorated style. The small gables of the transepts are pierced with single mullioned windows of the same period. The interior is filled with magnificent original features including stained glass windows, ceiling roses, cathedral ceilings, lovely old floorboards and an extremely rare church organ.

In the intervening years since 1903, Daylesford has gone through many changes, going from a town populated by citizens seeking to make their fortunes in gold, to those come to seek rest and relaxation in this now resort town in central Victoria. With parish numbers dwindling, the Presbyterian Church has seen fit to close the doors of St Andrew’s, opting for a smaller and less formal presence in the town’s community centre. At the time of photographing, St Andrew’s is up for sale, and has had council approval for the construction of apartments and town houses in the rear of the property and the adaptation of the church itself into a single or multiple dwellings. With an asking price just short of one million dollars, to date there has been very little interest in the property, and so St Andrew’s falls slowly, but surely into decay as neglect sinks in. The grass grows high around its bluestone foundations; graffiti denigrates Jessie Leggatt’s memorial plaque in the entranceway; the painted archway above the gates rots, save for the faded letters that spell out St Andrew’s in weathered greyish white flecks, and the old weatherboard Sunday School sags into the briars. A large holly tree, planted when the church was first built still sits at the side, waiting, like the church, for a new lease of life like other former churches in the area.

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the

early Romantic period.

A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family. He was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptised as a Reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent.

Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, where he also revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in his travels throughout Europe. He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, and his ten visits there – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes, however, set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. The Leipzig Conservatoire (now the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig), which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.

Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has now been recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

On 21 March 1816, at the age of seven years, Mendelssohn was baptised with his brother and sisters in a home ceremony by Johann Jakob Stegemann, minister of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin's Jerusalem Church and New Church. Although Mendelssohn was a conforming (if not over-zealous) Christian as a member of the Reformed Church, he was both conscious and proud of his Jewish ancestry and notably of his connection with his grandfather Moses Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud (10 October 1817 – 25 September 1853), the daughter of a French Reformed Church clergyman, on 28 March 1837. The couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Lilli and Felix.

In general Mendelssohn's personal life seems to have been fairly conventional compared to those of his contemporaries Wagner, Berlioz, and Schumann – except for his relationship with Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, whom he met in October 1844, and with whom, it was rumoured, he became emotionally involved. Papers confirming this were alleged to exist, although their contents had not been made public.

In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Britain, where his former teacher Ignaz Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. In the summer he visited Edinburgh, where he met among others the composer John Thomson, whom he later recommended to be Professor of Music at Edinburgh University. On his eighth visit in the summer of 1844, he conducted five of the Philharmonic concerts in London, and wrote:

"[N]ever before was anything like this season – we never went to bed before half-past one, every hour of every day was filled with engagements three weeks beforehand, and I got through more music in two months than in all the rest of the year."

In 1835 Mendelssohn was named conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a major music school – the Leipzig Conservatory, now the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" or (in its own English self-designation) the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre – where he persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him. Other prominent musicians, including string players Ferdinand David and Joseph Joachim and music theorist Moritz Hauptmann, also became staff members.

On his last visit to Britain in 1847, Mendelssohn was the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and conducted his own Scottish Symphony with the Philharmonic Orchestra before the Queen and Prince Albert.

Mendelssohn suffered from poor health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill from a hectic schedule. The death of his sister Fanny on 14 May 1847 caused him great distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, Mendelssohn himself died in Leipzig after a series of strokes. He was 38. His grandfather Moses, his sister Fanny and both his parents had died from similar apoplexies.

This statue was reconstructed and dedicated in 2008

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Mendelssohn

“freedom for the thought that we hate”

there is a trait that cannot be crossed...

www.saatchiart.com/art/New-Media-freedom-for-the-thought-...

HATE SPEECH

www.thefire.org/issues/hate-speech/

by FIRE

March 28, 2019

There is no “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment.

Contrary to a common misconception, most expression one might identify as “hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment and cannot lawfully be censored, punished, or unduly burdened by the government — including public colleges and universities.

The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly rejected government attempts to prohibit or punish “hate speech.” Instead, the Court has come to identify within the First Amendment a broad guarantee of “freedom for the thought that we hate,” as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes described the concept in a 1929 dissent. In a 2011 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts described our national commitment to protecting “hate speech” in order to preserve a robust democratic dialogue:

Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and—as it did here—inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a Nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.

In other words, the First Amendment recognizes that the government cannot regulate “hate speech” without inevitably silencing the dissent and dialogue that democracy requires. Instead, we as citizens possess the power to most effectively answer hateful speech—whether through debate, protest, questioning, laughter, silence, or simply walking away.

As Justice Louis Brandeis put it, the framers of the Bill of Rights “believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.”

Justice Brandeis argued that our nation’s founders believed that prohibiting “evil counsels”—what today we might call “hate speech”—would backfire:

They recognized the risks to which all human institutions are subject. But they knew that order cannot be secured merely through fear of punishment for its infraction; that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones. Believing in the power of reason as applied through public discussion, they eschewed silence coerced by law — the argument of force in its worst form. Recognizing the occasional tyrannies of governing majorities, they amended the Constitution so that free speech and assembly should be guaranteed.

Banning “hate speech” without restricting political speech is prohibitively difficult because of the target’s inherent subjectivity. Each American all but certainly has a different understanding of exactly what expression should lose First Amendment protection as “hate speech.” One citizen’s hateful screed is another’s religious text; one citizen’s slur is another’s term of endearment; or, as the Court put it, “one man’s vulgarity is another’s lyric.” As a result, crafting a generally applicable definition of “hate speech” is all but impossible without silencing someone’s “legitimate” speech.

“Hate speech” is also a moving target, making a workable definition still more elusive. Conceptions of what constitutes “hate” do not remain stable over time. As ideas gain or lose acceptance, political movements advance or recede, and social commitments strengthen or erode, notions of what is unacceptably “hateful” change, too. Today’s majority viewpoint should not be allowed to foreclose that of tomorrow. For example, thirty years ago, the Board of Regents of Texas A & M University sought to deny recognition to a gay student organization because it believed that “[s]o-called ‘gay’ activities run diabolically counter to the traditions and standards of Texas A & M.” At the time, the Board may have voiced the majority view, which found the gay students’ speech to be beyond the pale. Today, the opposite characterization might be true.

Contrary to another common misconception, however, the First Amendment’s protection is not absolute. The Supreme Court has identified narrow exceptions to the First Amendment, including but not limited to speech that constitutes unlawful incitement, true threats, intimidation, or discriminatory harassment. Some of these carefully-defined exceptions encompass speech that one might identify as “hate speech.”

FOR MORE ON “HATE SPEECH”…

“It is quite clear that the perceived benefits of censoring psychically harmful hate speech are far outweighed by the costs of such suppression. The plus side, from the perspective of those who seek speech suppression, is quite limited. That is because the new suppression would extend to only a subset of hate speech, since we already punish hate speech that causes specific tangible harms: threats, harassment, incitement, and hate crimes. Of that newly suppressible subset–psychically harmful hate speech–we would only punish yet another subset, consisting of the most blatant expression. In contrast, even advocates of restricting psychically harmful hate speech acknowledge that free speech principles would nonetheless protect more subtle expressions of racism, sexism, and other bias. Yet, it is likely that these more subtle expressions may well be the most damaging precisely because they cannot as easily be dismissed as biased. On the cost side, permitting the government to punish psychically harmful hate speech would undermine equality and exert an incalculable chilling effect on any speech that challenges the prevailing orthodoxy in any community.”

Nadine Strossen, “Freedom of Speech and Equality: Do We Have to Choose?,” Journal of Law and Policy, December 2, 2016.

“There is no general 1st Amendment exception allowing the government to punish “hate speech” that denigrates people based on their identity. Things we call “hate speech” might occasionally fall into an existing 1st Amendment exception: a racist speech might seek to incite imminent violence against a group, or might be reasonably interpreted as an immediate threat to do harm. But “hate speech,” like other ugly types of speech we despise, is broadly protected.”

Ken White, “Actually, hate speech is protected speech,” Los Angeles Times, June 8, 2017.

“The big problem for proponents of hate-speech laws and codes is that they can never explain where to draw a stable and consistent line between hate speech and vigorous criticism, or who exactly can be trusted to draw it. The reason is that there is no such line.“

Jonathan Rauch, “A new argument for hate-speech laws? Um … no,” Washington Post, Feb. 4, 2014.

“The proposed remedies for ‘hate speech’ tend to be administrative. So in practical terms if you demand the policing of speech, what you want is to beef up the university administration. You are accelerating a process, already under way, toward bloating up the administrative apparatus in an increasingly corporatised university. It can’t be a good thing to turn the development of a culture of coexistence and decency—which is what you were rightly proposing—to turn it into a police matter. I think that is misguided, however motivated.”

Rosemary Bechler and Todd Gitlin, “Safe spaces, the void between, and the absence of trust,” openDemocracy, January 4, 2016.

“Defining hate speech is not just difficult; it’s impossible, as evident from the vastly different definitions surveyed by Sellars. This inability to agree on even a basic framework underscores the futility of creating a definition narrow enough to protect free speech yet broad enough to cover any discernible category of expression. Sellars’ research encompassing hundreds of irreconcilable definitions has yielded no happy medium, only the realization that the United States already strikes this balance through the narrow categories of speech unprotected by the First Amendment.”

Zach Greenberg, “Law review article ‘Defining Hate Speech’ attempts the impossible,” FIRE, April 4, 2017.

© theFIRE.org

FIRE’s mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates students, faculty, alumni, trustees, and the public about the threats to these rights on our campuses, and provides the means to preserve them.

FIRE was founded in 1999 by University of Pennsylvania professor Alan Charles Kors and Boston civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate after the overwhelming response to their 1998 book The Shadow University: The Betrayal Of Liberty On America’s Campuses.

FIRE’s work to protect fundamental rights on campus concentrates on four areas: freedom of speech and expression; religious liberty and freedom of association; freedom of conscience; and due process and legal equality on campus. Ultimately, FIRE seeks to end the debilitating fatalism that paralyzes students and faculty by bringing public attention to the issue while providing protection to those who are now helpless in the face of abuses of power on campuses across the nation.

The artist is grateful to this FIRE’s publication for optimally revealing the “hate speech” problem and way of its solution.

The artist expresses gratitude to the memory of the photographer Lucien Clergue whose work has changed our view of the world.

lucien-clergue.com/en/

Lucien Clergue © Copyright 2018. All Rights Reserved | Mentions Légales

The artist will donate personal income from the sale of all the originals and posters of this Artwork sold at Saatchi Art, as his charitable assistance personally to anyone who really needs help on request.

Belief that each person is unique, special and a basic unit of nature. Open society that ideally treats everyone equally directness in relations with others a right to be well off and physically comfortable.

_______________________________________

Cordially, © Bohdan Rodyuk Chekan von Miller Esq.

Give me one 'cause one is best

In confusion, confidence

Give me peace of mind and trust

Don't forget the rest us

Give me strength, reserve control

Give me heart and give me soul

Wounds that heal and cracks that fix

Tell me your own politik

And open up your eyes.

Coldplay

Today (or rather, the day that this photograph was taken, Thursday 22nd October, 2009) a programme was broadcast in Britain on BBC - Question Time - that has caused a few ripples. For those unaware, most likely those on the far side of the pond, Question Time is a political debate programme, tackling current issues, debated by the great and the good of the political, cultural and academic spheres.

Today, for the first time ever, the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, was on the panel. The BNP is a far right minor political party, but has recently won two seats on the European Parliament. The BNP is "committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948". They are considered by a majority, including this writer, to be a thoroughly detestable gang of racists, bullies and criminals.

The programme was a fascinating spectacle, and it should be easily available to watch via the wonders of the internet; it is definitely worth watching. There have been claims of bullying and victimisation of Nick Griffin, and while it is certainly true he was not given the fair audience that he has never earned the right to, he showed himself to be ignorant, arrogant and generally unpleasant. He has a very effective PR machine that glosses over his Holocaust denial, his ties to the KKK and his many previous crimes against decency, morality and humanity. But when faced with direct questioning, without time for preparation he came across as unintelligible and petty.

However, there are a few points I found myself wanting to make regarding the discussion in the programme. The first was regarding Islam, where he was asked to defend his opinion of Islam as a "wicked, vicious faith". He talked about the denigration of women, treatment of them as second class citizens and incitement to violence against non-believers. What he has clearly misunderstood, and which nobody, sadly, bothered to point out to him, is that these are not matters of the faith - the Qur’an does not mention these behaviours. These are cultural and social behaviours, present in only some countries, perpetrated under the banner of religion, in the same way that evil deeds have been committed throughout history under the banner of most religions.

The second was his concept, that was repeated regularly, of the indigenous peoples of Britain, the population he wishes to return to. There is no indigenous population of Britain, nor northern Europe for that matter. 17,000 years ago, we were covered in ice, and as one of the panel mentioned, we didn’t live on the ice. When this receded, people moved north into these areas. These were our first settlers - a celtic pagan society. Since then, we have been invaded by the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans. Our religions, cultures and language have been added to, shaped and altered by these successive invasions. There is no “aboriginal” (Griffin’s word, not mine) religion or culture. Even the concept of Christianity, the society they wish to return to, was introduced to our country by an invasion, which they are theoretically trying to now prevent.

The BBC were heavily criticised for allowing him onto the programme. There were major protests outside the studios. Even the Government suggested that the BBC shouldn’t have allowed it to proceed. I am on the side of the BBC. I think they did the right thing in allowing him to reveal his true self, as a small, insignificant, unpleasant racist. And as they responded to the Government’s condemnation, if they feel it’s so wrong for him to voice his opinion, they have the power to ban the party.

The Postcard

A carte postale that was published by Henri Georges of Brussels.

The card was posted on Friday the 8th. April 1921 to:

Monsieur Willems,

Compagnie Méditerranéene,

Anvers.

There was no message on the divided back of the card,

Oscar Eckenstein

So what else happened on the day the card was posted?

Well, the 8th. April 1921 was not a good day for Oscar Johannes Ludwig Eckenstein, because he died on that day.

Oscar, who was born on the 9th. September 1859, was an English rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer in the sport of bouldering.

Inventor of the modern crampon, he was an innovator in climbing technique and mountaineering equipment, and the leader of the first serious expedition to attempt to climb K2.

Background

Eckenstein's father was a Jewish socialist from Bonn who had fled Germany following the failed revolution of 1848. His mother was English.

His sisters were Lina Eckenstein, the polymath feminist, and Amelia who was to marry Dr Cyrax.

He was a railway engineer, and worked for the International Railway Congress Association founded in Brussels in 1885. He was an early and active member of the National Liberal Club. Interested in the life of explorer Richard Burton, he collected an extensive collection of documents about his life, which he donated to the Royal Asiatic Society before his death.

In 1918 Oscar married Margery Edwards. There were no children.

Rock Climbing in the United Kingdom

Eckenstein climbed in the English Lake District with George and Ashley Abraham, though their relationship was not always smooth, and in North Wales with Geoffrey Winthrop Young and J. M. Archer Thomson.

An early advocate of bouldering, on the Eckenstein Boulder at Llanberis Pass he taught Archer Thomson the art of balance climbing.

Mountaineering in the Alps

Oscar made the first ascent of the Stecknadelhorn (4,241 m) in the Pennine Alps on the 8th. August 1887; on the 10th. July 1906, he made the first ascent of Mont Baudrillard.

Friendship With Aleister Crowley

Eckenstein was one of the few people who readily climbed with mystic and magician Aleister Crowley. In his autobiography 'Confessions', Crowley praises Eckenstein in several passages, mentioning his gymnastic strength, including his ability to do one-arm chin ups.

Crowley dedicated the book to six men, including "Oscar Eckenstein – who trained me to follow the trail".

The Baltoro

Eckenstein was a member of an expedition led by Sir Martin Conway to the Baltoro Muztagh region in 1892. Conway and Eckenstein had a deep personality conflict, and Eckenstein withdrew from the expedition after six months.

In Kashmir, he conducted bouldering contests for the natives – possibly the first such "formal" competitions ever. Eckenstein collected his letters and diary notes from this expedition into a book published under the title 'The Karakorams and Kashmir'.

K2

Eckenstein was the leader of the first serious attempt to climb K2 in 1902. Aleister Crowley was also a member of the expedition.

Upon arrival in India, Eckenstein was detained by British authorities for three weeks on suspicion of being a spy, and not allowed to enter Kashmir.

He and Crowley were convinced that Martin Conway was responsible for trying to interfere with their attempt on K2, and only when they threatened to take the matter to the newspapers was Eckenstein released.

In the early 1900's, modern transportation did not exist: It took "Fourteen days just to reach the foot of the mountain".

After five serious and costly attempts, the team reached 6,525 metres (21,407 ft) – although considering the difficulty of the challenge, and the lack of modern climbing equipment or weatherproof fabrics, Crowley's statement that "Neither man nor beast was injured" highlights the pioneering spirit and bravery of the attempt.

The failures were also attributed to sickness (Crowley was suffering the residual effects of malaria), a combination of questionable physical training, personality conflicts, and poor weather conditions – of 68 days spent on K2 (at the time, the record for the longest time spent at such an altitude) only eight provided clear weather.

An Austrian climber named Pfannl became sick with pulmonary edema at the high point, which Crowley diagnosed. The climb was abandoned, and Pfannl was evacuated to lower elevations and survived.

Innovations in Equipment and Technique

In the late 19th century, the typical ice axe shaft measured 120–130 cm in length. Eckenstein started the trend toward shorter ice axes with a lighter model measuring 85–86 cm, which could be used single handed.

Initially this innovation was criticised by well-known climbers of the era, including his nemesis Martin Conway, a prominent member of the Alpine Club. Eckenstein is also credited with designing the modern crampon as well as analysing both knots and nail patterns for climbing boots.

He was an advocate of guideless climbing in a period when conventional thinking in the Alpine Club called for gentlemen climbers to be led to the top of peaks by paid professional guides.

He assisted Geoffrey Winthrop Young with his classic mountaineering manual, Mountain Craft. When the book was published in 1920, John Percy Farrar wrote:

"The book is magnificent ... It will be

standard for so long as mankind is

interested in mountaineering.

The profound amount of work put

into it staggers me."

Personality and Conflict With the Alpine Club

Oscar was a railway engineer for most of his life – well educated, and insufferably arrogant (some said).

He was not one to mince words, and a long feud with the Alpine Club caused many of its members to denigrate him. Crowley reports that anti-semitism may have played a role, and quotes Morley Roberts as calling Eckenstein a "dirty East End Jew" in Zermatt.

Later Life

Eckenstein married Margery Edwards in February 1918, when he was 58. They lived in the small town of Oving in Buckinghamshire. His health soon declined, and he died of consumption in 1921.

Located at number 19 Camp Street in the former Gold Rush town of Daylesford, the former St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church offers wonderful views as it looks down from the high side of the road, across the township, now known for its natural mineral springs and day spas.

Built in 1903 under the benefaction of Jessie Leggatt, who laid the foundation stone on the 9th of December that year, St Andrew’s is not unlike the Castlemaine Presbyterian Church in Lyttleton Street. Built of red brick with sandstone detailing, St Andrew’s has been built in a Picturesque Gothic style with adaptations of both Florentine and Pauduan Gothic. It features a splendid slate roof, and has been built in a symmetrical style, with two hexagonal towers to either side of the enclosed loggia entrance. The taller of the towers on the left hand side serves also as the church’s belfry and has a crenellated parapet and a copper covered spire. The gable over the front doors is pierced with a traceried window with two mullions in early English decorated style. The small gables of the transepts are pierced with single mullioned windows of the same period. The interior is filled with magnificent original features including stained glass windows, ceiling roses, cathedral ceilings, lovely old floorboards and an extremely rare church organ.

In the intervening years since 1903, Daylesford has gone through many changes, going from a town populated by citizens seeking to make their fortunes in gold, to those come to seek rest and relaxation in this now resort town in central Victoria. With parish numbers dwindling, the Presbyterian Church has seen fit to close the doors of St Andrew’s, opting for a smaller and less formal presence in the town’s community centre. At the time of photographing, St Andrew’s is up for sale, and has had council approval for the construction of apartments and town houses in the rear of the property and the adaptation of the church itself into a single or multiple dwellings. With an asking price just short of one million dollars, to date there has been very little interest in the property, and so St Andrew’s falls slowly, but surely into decay as neglect sinks in. The grass grows high around its bluestone foundations; graffiti denigrates Jessie Leggatt’s memorial plaque in the entranceway; the painted archway above the gates rots, save for the faded letters that spell out St Andrew’s in weathered greyish white flecks, and the old weatherboard Sunday School sags into the briars. A large holly tree, planted when the church was first built still sits at the side, waiting, like the church, for a new lease of life like other former churches in the area.

Anti-RTS Widzew Łódź graffiti daubed in the wall of Simpang Siur underpass. Denigrates Widzew as dumbest club.

Probably someone from Poland, suspected to be ŁKS ultras or their allies, exported their hate overseas.

Graffiti anti-RTS Widzew Łódź di tembok underpass Simpang Siur, mengolok-olok Widzew sebagai klub orang bodoh.

Diduga buatan hooligan ŁKS atau sekutunya yang mengunjungi Bali.

The ubiquity of the American front porch, and its now almost complete passing (apart from the much-loved vestiges) speaks sadly about the change in family life and family togetherness. The Victorla, the cabinet radio and the console tv, the entertainment center and the family room and the media room and the screening room (I've seen one that sat twenty and had a box office and a popcorn machine) are of course symptoms rather than causes. And of course, with the McMansion, you have to get in your car to go see the next-door neighbors, if you even know them.

To just sit and talk, the whole family, to laugh and kid and commiserate, to holler at the neighbors, denigrate them sotto voce and then invite them over, to talk about the weather and the Red Sox and the ripening tomatoes, Granny and the baby and the teenagers all joining in, who does that anymore? Who has the time? These things that people do, these places they go, this connectedness (and yes, this message is coming to you because of our "connection"), is there any lasting significance to any of that? Call me atavistic, but I believe more has been lost than has been gained.

It’s far too late.

The most reliable projections are saying 200,000 dead and 50 million infected by election day in November.

Even these projections struggle to account for completely irrational federal actions like denigrating masks, pushing to reopen early, and pushing students back into schools.

This is not the absence of public health, this is its opposite

During the Rose Garden speech on Sept 12, 2012, Obama called the al queda act of terror an “outrageous and shocking attack” also “senseless violence” and “brutal acts”. The words “acts of terror” were mentioned by him, but not in regards to the Benghazi attack, but as a general statement of commitment, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve…”

I’m enclosing the full transcript of his speech below so that you can make your own conclusions.

Thank you. May God bless the memory of those we lost and may God bless the United States of America.

Sapan Institute Publication

Excerpt:

"If one were to assert that Phawong Khapa’s Dolgyal doctrine should be accepted on the basis that he was a great scholar and accomplished one in the Gadenpa lineage, then we should consider the following historical facts. Phawong Khapa Dechen Nyingpo studied Buddhist classics and literature and received teachings from both old and new traditions, chiefly Gadenpa, from an early age. But in his later years he was influenced by evil forces (Tib., gDon) and propagandized that Sakyapa, Kagyudpa and Nyingmapa traditions were false doctrines and that their practitioners could not achieve liberation. He compared this alleged situation to attempting to make butter by churning water. He also admonished people widely not to pay respects or patronize these traditions. He accused the teachers in the Institutes for the Thirteen Great Philosophical Texts in Dege, and others, of teaching in a completely wrong way. In this way he broadly denigrated the Tibetan religion in the guise of holy advice and by writing condemning letters to disciples and patrons. Moreover, with evil intent he tried to forcibly destroy the Sakya, Kagyud and Nyingma traditions by means of Chinese governmental immersion. He attempted this by exerting his influence over Lui Chuntrang, an illegal Chinese governor in Kham province of Tibet. The rationale for this subversion was Phawong Khapa‘s assertion that eliminating all the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions, except the Gadenpa tradition, was superior to tolerating them since their doctrines were flawed. For those who wish to know all the details of this, you are referred to Phawong Khapa’s Collected Works, volume Cha.

Such abandonment of basic religious principles became characteristic of Phawong Khapa and he influenced others to engage in a similar abandonment. He routinely propitiated Dolgyal for the specific purpose of attempting to undermine and damage the Sakya, Kagyud and Nyingma traditions. He regularly told his disciples, as well as other high Iamas, tulkus and abbots, that Dolgyal propitiation would benefit them by removing obstacles in their spiritual path and ensuring the success of their activities. To householders he promised benefits of good crops and increased wealth would result from Dolgyal practice. He told traders that they would be more successful in business. Thus, he led many people into a perverted path by pandering to their mundane desires. In summary, Phawong Khapa adopted a course that was singularly harmful to the Dharma and to the people. He thus became guilty of the ten grievous crimes against Buddhism and as a consequence fell dead suddenly while eating at the foot of the mountain pass called Dagpo Podrang La. This was the punishment of Rahula, guardian deity of the Nyingma Atiyoga. Phawong Khapa’s reincarnation was also effected as he died at a young age.

In the Dolgyal history text, ‚’Thunder of Stirring Black Cloud‚’’ there is the story of how Phawong Khapa lost faith in the Nyingma, generally known as The Early Translation Lineage. His account states that when he was living at Chusang hermitage he used to hear disturbing sounds apparently emanating from the foot of Chusang Hill. These sounds consisted of low voices and the sound of a chain dragging along a stairway. He interpreted this delusive phenomenon as a warning that he should abandon faith in Nyingma or be severely punished by Dolgyal. Additionally, Dolgyal’s messages, channeled through other monks, also persuaded him to abandon Nyingma. So, because of this he renounced the Nyingma doctrine."

Judith Harris, [Rome's] Warrior Archaeologists on the March [26.02.2009]). **

(Fonti / Source): www.i-italy.org/7355/warrior-archaeologists-march

Italy's Culture Minister Sandro Bondi announced that the government will appoint a special commissioner to deal with the country's "archaeological emergency". Looming in the background is privatization of archaeological sites and their exploitation...

ROME – At a crowded press conference in Rome Friday over one hundred angry archaeologists met to protest a government campaign denigrating popular sites like the Roman Fora, the Palatine Hill, Ostia Antica and Pompeii as dirty, dangerous and degraded. In addition, some opponents of the government plan are threatening symbolic sit-in’s that in theory could interrupt tourist visits to the most popular archaeological sites.

For months the media message about an archaeological emergency has been hammered away by the foreign as well as the local press (the New York Times, for one, picked up the story). Given the declared emergency, more recently Culture Minister Sandro Bondi announced that the government will appoint a special commissioner cum inspector and, with him, a new oversight committee, bypassing the present bureaucratic structure.

Given the extent of the proclaimed archaeological emergency, Bondi’s choice has fallen on the national director of Italy’s Civil Protection department, Guido Bertolaso, to guarantee the visitors’ pleasant and safe visits to the sites. Bertolaso is a former medical doctor whose normal responsibilities include dealing with earthquakes, forest fires and the still unresolved Naples rubbish emergency. Because Civil Protection falls under the bureaucratic bailiwick of the Council of Ministers, Bertolaso answers directly to Premier Silvio Berlusconi. If and when the proposals are formalized, Bertolaso would be flanked in Rome by a local Roman politician, Marco Corsini, who is city commissioner for urban affairs.

The reorganization would effectively whisk the country’s primary archaeological sites from control by their present directorates. Among the protesters were museum directors, professors, politicians, directors of cultural associations (Italia Nostra was one), the former editor-in-chief of Il Messagggero daily and a number of archaeocrats willing to risk their jobs to denounce what they called a manipulated “fictitious creation of an emergency.”

This is far more than a picturesque battle between soft-headed intellectuals and pointy-penciled politicoes. Parliamentarian Walter Tocci complained that when a hearing was to be held on the question, the government did not bother to show up. “There is no justification for appointing a special commissioner,” Tocci said. “There is no situation that would call for civil protection authorities to intervene. What’s going on is that they simply want to privatize the archaeological parks.”

Indeed, looming in the background is privatization of archaeological sites and their exploitation, which some observers see as the way forward and others, as heretical and in outright conflict with the Italian constitution; indeed plans are underway to take the issue to Italy’s high court, the Corte Costituzionale. In the worst possible case the reorgnization is the thin end of the wedge and could lead, in park areas, to construction projects, hotels, swimming pools, night clubs, and Disney-style theme parks. “The plan is in fact part of the spoils system,” one irate archaeologist claimed.On the other hand, the 72-year-old archaeologist Andrea Carandini, whom Bondi has already named to head the future oversight committee with Bertolaso and Corsini, is an ardent supporter of the emergency measures. Carandini says that climate change has made the Palatine Hill “fragile” and hence in need of swift emergency action which only the proposed joint city-state can guarantee. “Ancient Rome is a sinking ship,” Carandini told an Italian journalist, adding that the evidence is in the decline in tourist visits to the Roman Forum.

The protesters at the assembly were not buying Carandini’s nor Bondi’s arguments. For one thing, if tourism is down in the Roman Forum, it has risen drastically at Ostia Antica despite a general decline in tourism in Rome as in all Italy due in part to complex reasons, beginnning with the worldwide economic crisis. In addition, as one of the speakers Friday said, “The proposal risks de facto privatization.” Others spoke of the “pseudo-reforms” of recent years and the government’s hacking away of the Culture Ministry’s budget—and then denouncing the bureaucrats for not doing enough to maintain the sites.

Behind the scenes the scuttlebutt is that Minister Bondi will shortly leave the Culture Ministry to return to his old job of promoting the political party created by Berlusconi, Forza Italia. A possible successor: rightist Senator Gaetano Quagliarello, recently in the news for his protest that Eluana Englaro, the woman in a coma for seventeen years, was “killed” by the doctors who let her die earlier this month.

To learn more on both sides of this story, see the Carandini interview [1] and an article on the protest by Edoardo Sassi, Corriere della Sera, Feb. 21, 2009 [2].

At Patrimoniosos.it readers can sign a petition in English being circulated against the nomination of a “special inspector” for the Archaeological Sueprintendencies of Rome and Ostia.

[-- End of text --]

ENGLISH VERSION - APPEAL AGAINST THE NOMINATION OF A SPECIAL INSPECTOR FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SUPERINTENDENCIES OF ROME AND OSTIA. Posta della Redazione,

To support, click here:

www.firmiamo.it/nocommissariosoprintendenzeromaeostia

[Fonti / source: PatrimonioSos (21.02.2009) -

www.patrimoniosos.it/rsol.php?op=getarticle&id=52200

1). "Roma antica è una barca che affonda" Alain Elkann, interv. a Andrea Carandini, La Stampa 08/02/2009. - storiaromana.blogspot.com/2009/02/roma-antica-e-una-barca...

2.1). ROMA - La protesta degli archeologi «Il Commissario? Occupiamo il Colosseo» EDOARDO SASSI Corriere della Sera - ROMA - 2009-02-07 num: - pag: 16 [Fonti / source: PatrimonioSos] = www.patrimoniosos.it/rsol.php?op=getarticle&id=52165

2.2). ROMA - Protesta e assemblea: gli archeologi rifiutano il commissariamento. Edoardo Sassi, Corriere della Sera - ROMA - 2009-02-21. [Fonti / source: PatrimonioSos] = www.patrimoniosos.it/rsol.php?op=getarticle&id=52764

Please note the links in the original article by Mrs. Harris, are not working. I inserted them # [1] & [2].

_________

** = Judith Harris, Rome-based writer and lecturer, author of: "Pompeii Awakened, A Story of Rediscovery।" Pompeii Awakened, A Story of Rediscovery। Publisher: I।B। Tauris & C. Ltd., London, 2007.Judith Harris, Rome-based writer and lecturer (...), member of: 'Associazione della Stampa Estera' in Italia (Roma), freelance journalist and regular contributor to, among others, the London Evening News, Reuters news agency, Time magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. She has worked on special assignments for the London Observer, the New York Times, NBC TV and BBC TV, and for RAI radio she conducted a regular program on Italian culture for twenty-five years. Her articles on archaeology have appeared in Archaeology magazine, Archaeology Odyssey, and Biblical Archaeology and, on cultural and other topics, in Newsday, The New Republic, and, most recently, Italy italy, Internazionale and ARTnews."

Fonti / source: www.judith-harris.com/index.shtml

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

#Cyberbullying #Denigration Image & 20 Free Edu. #NationalBullyingPreventionMonth #NCSAM Images by Dr. Nuccitelli #iPredator NYC goo.gl/kDrbGN

From an article on the "Metropolis in Transition" in Conatct Book Number 7 from 1947 comes this fine sketch of what looks like Oxford Street in London drawn by Hugh Casson. Casson was a noted architectural illustrator in the post-war period and often captures the view with great skill as here. Hustle, bustle, visual clutter and many individuals going about their business in austerity Britain.

The article is like many from the period, complaining about the lack of town and country planning and the denigration of what was seen as historic elements of the townscape; much as John Betjeman, Osbert Lancaster and later Ian Nairn were to do. There was an interetsing debate about the scope and ambitions of urban planning at the time - new towns, redevelopment and a growing sense of how to protect potentially overlooked heritage in the rush for new.

An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda. Antiestablishmentarianism (or anti-establishmentarianism) is an expression for such a political philosophy.

In the UK anti-establishment figures and groups are seen as those who argue or act against the ruling class. Having an established church, in England, a British monarchy, an aristocracy, and an unelected upper house in Parliament made up in part by hereditary nobles, the UK has a clearly definable[citation needed] Establishment against which anti-establishment figures can be contrasted. In particular, satirical humour is commonly used to undermine the deference shown by the majority of the population towards those who govern them. Examples of British anti-establishment satire include much of the humour of Peter Cook and Ben Elton; novels such as Rumpole of the Bailey; magazines such as Private Eye; and television programmes like Spitting Image, That Was The Week That Was, and The Prisoner (see also the satire boom of the 1960s). Anti-establishment themes also can be seen in the novels of writers such as Will Self.

However, by operating through the arts and media, the line between politics and culture is blurred, so that pigeonholing figures such as Banksy as either anti-establishment or counter-culture figures can be difficult. The tabloid newspapers such as The Sun, are less subtle, and commonly report on the sex-lives of the Royals simply because it sells newspapers, but in the process have been described as having anti-establishment views that have weakened traditional institutions. On the other hand, as time passes, anti-establishment figures sometimes end up becoming part of the Establishment, as Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones frontman, became a Knight in 2003, or when The Who frontman Roger Daltrey was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of both his music and his work for charity.

Anti-establishment in the United States began in the 1940s and continued through the 1950s.

Many World War II veterans, who had seen horrors and inhumanities, began to question every aspect of life, including its meaning. Urged to return to "normal lives" and plagued by post traumatic stress disorder (discussing it was "not manly"), in which many of them went on to found the outlaw motorcycle club Hells Angels. Some veterans, who founded the Beat Movement, were denigrated as Beatniks and accused of being "downbeat" on everything. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a Beat autobiography that cited his wartime service.

Citizens had also begun to question authority, especially after the Gary Powers U-2 Incident, wherein President Eisenhower repeatedly assured people the United States was not spying on Russia, then was caught in a blatant lie. This general dissatisfaction was popularized by Peggy Lee's laconic pop song "Is That All There Is?", but remained unspoken and unfocused. It was not until the Baby Boomers came along in huge numbers that protest became organized, who were named by the Beats as "little hipsters".

"Anti-establishment" became a buzzword of the tumultuous 1960s. Young people raised in comparative luxury saw many wrongs perpetuated by society and began to question "the Establishment". Contentious issues included the ongoing Vietnam War with no clear goal or end point, the constant military build-up and diversion of funds for the Cold War, perpetual widespread poverty being ignored, money-wasting boondoggles like pork barrel projects and the Space Race, festering race issues, a stultifying education system, repressive laws and harsh sentences for casual drug use, and a general malaise among the older generation. On the other side, "Middle America" often regarded questions as accusations, and saw the younger generation as spoiled, drugged-out, sex-crazed, unambitious slackers.

Anti-establishment debates were common because they touched on everyday aspects of life. Even innocent questions could escalate into angry diatribes. For example, "Why do we spend millions on a foreign war and a space program when our schools are falling apart?" would be answered with "We need to keep our military strong and ready to stop the Communists from taking over the world." As in any debate, there were valid and unsupported arguments on both sides. "Make love not war" invoked "America, love it or leave it."

As the 1960s simmered, the anti-Establishment adopted conventions in opposition to the Establishment. T-shirts and blue jeans became the uniform of the young because their parents wore collar shirts and slacks. Drug use, with its illegal panache, was favored over the legal consumption of alcohol. Promoting peace and love was the antidote to promulgating hatred and war. Living in genteel poverty was more "honest" than amassing a nest egg and a house in the suburbs. Rock 'n roll was played loudly over easy listening. Dodging the draft was passive resistance to traditional military service. Dancing was free-style, not learned in a ballroom. Over time, anti-establishment messages crept into popular culture: songs, fashion, movies, lifestyle choices, television.

The emphasis on freedom allowed previously hushed conversations about sex, politics, or religion to be openly discussed. A wave of radical liberation movements for minority groups came out of the 1960s, including second-wave feminism; Black Power, Red Power, and the Chicano Movement; and gay liberation. These movements differed from previous efforts to improve minority rights by their opposition to respectability politics and militant tone. Programs were put in place to deal with inequities: Equal Opportunity Employment, the Head Start Program, enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, busing, and others. But the widespread dissemination of new ideas also sparked a backlash and resurgence in conservative religions, new segregated private schools, anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation, and other reversals. Extremists[clarification needed] tended to be heard more because they made good copy for newspapers and television.[citation needed] In many ways, the angry debates of the 1960s led to modern right-wing talk radio and coalitions for "traditional family values".

As the 1960s passed, society had changed to the point that the definition of the Establishment had blurred, and the term "anti-establishment" seemed to fall out of use.

In recent years, with the rise of the populist right, the term anti-establishment has tended to refer to both left and right-wing movements expressing dissatisfaction with mainstream institutions. For those on the right, this can be fueled by feelings of alienation from major institutions such as the government, corporations, media, and education system, which are perceived as holding progressive social norms, an inversion of the meaning formerly associated with the term. This can be accounted for by a perceived cultural and institutional shift to the left by many on the right. According to Pew Research, Western European populist parties from both sides of the ideological spectrum tapped into anti-establishment sentiment in 2017, "from the Brexit referendum to national elections in Italy." Sarah Kendzior of QZ opines that "The term "anti-establishment" has lost all meaning," citing a campaign video from then candidate Donald Trump titled "Fighting the Establishment." The term anti-establishment has tended to refer to Right-wing populist movements, including nationalist movements and anti-lockdown protests, since Donald Trump and the global populist wave, starting as far back as 2015 and as recently as 2021.

The South Tyrol Success Story

Italy's German-Speaking Province Escapes the Crisis

By Walter Mayr in Bolzano, Italy

The German-speaking Italian province of South Tyrol has defied the economic crisis with almost full employment and a healthy economy. Its success is partly due to its paternalistic governor, Luis Durnwalder, who has ruled the province practically as his personal fiefdom since 1989. Resentment of Rome is growing in the region, which once belonged to Austria.

Reinhold Messner was the first mountain climber to ascend all of the world's peaks taller than 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) above sea level. But in his native South Tyrol, there are those who see him as nothing but a well-traveled denigrator of his own country.

Messner, with his trademark shaggy beard and thick, wavy hair, is sitting in the courtyard of Sigmundskron Castle in front of his Messner Mountain Museum in the city of Bolzano, sipping a glass of red wine. He is gushing about the merits of his native South Tyrol, an autonomous province of Italy that used to be part of Austria until the end of World War I and that is home to speakers of German, Italian and the local language Ladin. It's a far cry from the outbursts of rage for which he is known. "We are doing well here in South Tyrol," says Messner. "We are living in the promised land, and that's Durni's achievement."

The man Messner calls "Durni" is Luis Durnwalder, who has been president of South Tyrol since 1989. Many residents of the province, including both German- and Italian-speaking South Tyroleans, practically worship Durnwalder for his shrewdness and down-to-earth personality. But for Messner, who has made sarcastic remarks about Durnwalder in the past, the praise represents something of an about-face. "I wasn't in favor of Durnwalder at first, because I didn't want the province to be run by a farmer like that," says Messner. "But I was wrong about him."

Highly Successful

The numbers speak volumes about Durnwalder's achievements. No provincial governor in Italy has been in office longer -- or has been as successful. His province, a region of mountains and valleys stretching from the Brenner Pass to the Salurner Klause, rivals Italy's most productive regions, highly industrialized Lombardy and the Valle d'Aosta, in GDP per capita (see graphic).

The small province of South Tyrol, also referred to as Alto Adige, is little more than half the size of the US state of Connecticut and is a land of mountains, forests, apple orchards and vineyards. Nevertheless, it is so prosperous that it can pay its governor a better salary than that earned by US President Barack Obama.

As Durnwalder makes his way up the hill at Sigmundskron Castle, it's clear that he is aware of his market value. In fact, he is so busy greeting his fans that he almost overlooks the world-famous mountaineer Messner. The choice of Sigmundskron Castle as the site of their meeting is significant. Tens of thousands protested at Sigmundskron Castle in 1957, chanting "los von Trient" ("away from Trento"), setting the course for the province's autonomy.

The so-called "South Tyrol Package," signed in 1972, guarantees the governments of the two provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino, which together make up the autonomous region of Trentino/South Tyrol, extensive autonomy from Rome. "But it was only Durni who managed to transform autonomy into economic success," says Messner, who threatened to emigrate to Patagonia years ago because of the political monoculture in South Tyrol. "Today," says Durnwalder, "20 horses couldn't drag Messner away from this place."

Virtually Full Employment

In the difficult summer of 2010, South Tyrol is like a small beacon of prosperity surrounded by doom and gloom. Despite the economic crisis, there is almost no unemployment in the area surrounding the capital Bolzano (known in German as Bozen), and the province is debt-free. By comparison, Italy as a whole has the highest government debt, as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product, in the entire euro zone. Within the last half-century, 19 prime ministers have been sworn in in Rome. In South Tyrol, on the other hand, there has been only one change in the province's top job during the same period -- from its "über-father" Silvius Magnago to Durnwalder.

For the last 21 years, Durnwalder has made sure that his realm, a place where both lemon trees and edelweiss bloom, takes full advantage of its strengths. Investors exploit the bilingualism of many South Tyrolese to capture southern markets. Vacationers flock to the region, not only to tour the Dolomites and visit "Törggelen" festivals, which showcase local food and wine in the autumn, but also because of its new boutique hotels and museums. In 2009, South Tyrol registered 28 million overnight stays in its hotels and guesthouses.

Messner, with his five mountain museums scattered around South Tyrol, is part of the attraction. In this sense, he contributes indirectly to the success of Durnwalder's party, the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP), which has ruled the province with an absolute or relative majority since 1948. But when it comes to the issues he cares about, like raising money for new projects or securing approval to place statues of Buddha in the ruins of a 1,000-year-old Tyrolean castle, the mountain-climbing legend doesn't even bother with ordinary party officials. "I only talk to the governor," says Messner.

'Enlightened Prince'

Many in South Tyrol feel the same way, including the petitioners who show up in front of the government headquarters building in Bolzano as early as 4 a.m. to be the first in line when Durnwalder starts his daily office hours for citizens at 6 a.m. -- an opportunity for ordinary people to tell him about their biggest problems. The governor's leadership style is reminiscent of that of an "enlightened prince," scoffs Arnold Tribus, publisher of the Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung. Members of the government whisper that Durnwalder, the son of a mountain farmer in the Puster Valley, runs the province "like a big farm."

There is undoubtedly something of the stubborn old farmer in Durnwalder, who is finding it difficult to relinquish power. Although he announced that he would retire in 2013, after almost a quarter century in power, it is no longer clear whether he truly intends to do so.

Anyone who meets Durni, perhaps when he is visiting the Finailhof farm in the Schnals Valley, almost 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) above sea level, realizes that he is a man who has trouble letting go. It's obvious in the matter-of-fact way he distributes slices of roast lamb to the guests sitting around the dining table, as if he were in his own house, or in the way he proudly shows off his female companion, who calls him "Papi," and their one-year-old daughter. Durnwalder, who will soon turn 69, is clearly doing his best to show that he still has what it takes.

According to Durnwalder, polls show that more than two-thirds of citizens in the province have no idea who could replace him -- a conclusion that seems to surprise no one less than Durnwalder himself. He rattles off the names of Italian prime ministers, including Giulio Andreotti, Romano Prodi and current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and points out that he has always gotten along with whoever was in power in Rome. "Basically, the people down there are proud of us."

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the

early Romantic period.

A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family. He was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptised as a Reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent.

Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, where he also revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in his travels throughout Europe. He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, and his ten visits there – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes, however, set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. The Leipzig Conservatoire (now the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig), which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.

Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has now been recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

On 21 March 1816, at the age of seven years, Mendelssohn was baptised with his brother and sisters in a home ceremony by Johann Jakob Stegemann, minister of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin's Jerusalem Church and New Church. Although Mendelssohn was a conforming (if not over-zealous) Christian as a member of the Reformed Church, he was both conscious and proud of his Jewish ancestry and notably of his connection with his grandfather Moses Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud (10 October 1817 – 25 September 1853), the daughter of a French Reformed Church clergyman, on 28 March 1837. The couple had five children: Carl, Marie, Paul, Lilli and Felix.

In general Mendelssohn's personal life seems to have been fairly conventional compared to those of his contemporaries Wagner, Berlioz, and Schumann – except for his relationship with Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, whom he met in October 1844, and with whom, it was rumoured, he became emotionally involved. Papers confirming this were alleged to exist, although their contents had not been made public.

In 1829 Mendelssohn paid his first visit to Britain, where his former teacher Ignaz Moscheles, already settled in London, introduced him to influential musical circles. In the summer he visited Edinburgh, where he met among others the composer John Thomson, whom he later recommended to be Professor of Music at Edinburgh University. On his eighth visit in the summer of 1844, he conducted five of the Philharmonic concerts in London, and wrote:

"[N]ever before was anything like this season – we never went to bed before half-past one, every hour of every day was filled with engagements three weeks beforehand, and I got through more music in two months than in all the rest of the year."

In 1835 Mendelssohn was named conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

In 1843 Mendelssohn founded a major music school – the Leipzig Conservatory, now the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" or (in its own English self-designation) the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre – where he persuaded Ignaz Moscheles and Robert Schumann to join him. Other prominent musicians, including string players Ferdinand David and Joseph Joachim and music theorist Moritz Hauptmann, also became staff members.

On his last visit to Britain in 1847, Mendelssohn was the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and conducted his own Scottish Symphony with the Philharmonic Orchestra before the Queen and Prince Albert.

Mendelssohn suffered from poor health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill from a hectic schedule. The death of his sister Fanny on 14 May 1847 caused him great distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, Mendelssohn himself died in Leipzig after a series of strokes. He was 38. His grandfather Moses, his sister Fanny and both his parents had died from similar apoplexies.

This statue was reconstructed and dedicated in 2008

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Mendelssohn

Occupy or Die!

by Alison Ross

Published in Fringe Magazine Blog

March 2012

Egregious Fact Number One: Our tax dollars were used to bail out Wall Street.

In case you need a reminder: Wall Street banks and companies are private corporations, not public institutions. In a democracy, taxes are supposed to go toward funding roads, parks, health clinics, schools, social security–anything that benefits the common good. Despite the lame claims of some vociferous Tea Party morons, the government is not actually “taking” our money–we collectively maintain infrastructure and social services through consensually paying taxes. The consensus is implicit in being alive.

If we did not pay taxes, society would collapse. You cannot maintain society through anarchic private entities–that’s antithetical to democracy. So the fact that our public dollars were used to bail out banks that do not have societal interests as their primary or even secondary or even tertiary concern means that our money was stolen from us. The banks use those public dollars to fatten their coffers. Meanwhile, cuts to social services–mental health, education, social security, and on and on and on and on and on–pervade. House foreclosures abound, while Wall Street executives acquire three and four homes. It’s the very embodiment of kleptocracy: enrich the elite while bleeding the effete.

Egregious Fact Number Two: The majority of our taxes are used toward miscreant military misadventures, such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both of these countries have been virtually decimated and are being rebuilt by corporate war profiteers.

So, our country is in “debt” because our taxes are being (consciously) misused toward private and profiteering ends. This is also known as Corporate Welfare–never mind that social welfare, the correct type of welfare, is roundly and wrongly denigrated.

We are in a fictitious debt crisis, which can be easily remedied by taking corporate interests out of public politics, re-funneling taxes towards social services, and taxing the fuck out of the rich. In countries like Denmark, there are no multi-millionaires, because the government caps salaries through taxes. No one in Denmark “earns” the kind of wealth we see flaunted with such hedonistic abandon among the American affluent.

Random egregious facts: Family income has declined by nearly 7 percent in the last two years, unemployment hovers between 10-15 percent, and over 46 million Americans live in poverty, the highest rate in 50 years.

Meanwhile, the 1% dwell in their marbleized compounds, piloting their luxury vehicles, and disdaining everyone else in smugly contemptuous fashion.

Occupy Wall Street is a glowing, growing global movement that is stridently anti-corporate in nature and yet propelled by the principles of peace. It is a people-powered movement that is way long overdue. The movement was precipitated by radical college-agers but quickly gained momentum among the mainstream populace–young, middle-aged, and geriatric alike, since so many are so gravely affected by the perverted profit-motives of the corporate titans. The kids who founded the movement sharply see that the corrosive corporate influence over our ostensibly democratic system is bleeding them of money, of jobs, of hope…theirs is a future mired in misery if they don’t act now, and act radically, to demand an overhaul of the system.

Indeed, the OWS movement has already won. It has altered the tenor of economic discourse in favor of the people rather than the profits. It has brought the issue of economic justice to the forefront and tattooed it in the minds and hearts of people everywhere – to those both affected by and empathetic to the cause.

For the movement has magnetized people from all paths of life – all ethnicities and all income levels. There are even those in the upper tiers of income realms who sympathize – because they too could be affected by corporate corruption, and also because they share the humane ideals of economic equity. Many of them realize that greed is never good and that they could perhaps curtail their own lifestyles so that more could prosper – not outrageously so, but comfortably so.

For we have an inherent right to food, shelter, education. These are things we are born needing. Not entitlements, but spiritual luxuries, because it logically follows that if we have a right to life, then we require these things to sustain life.

The OWS encampments all over the country are a mode of protest against corporate dominance–the parks are our parks, the streets are our streets. They do not belong to private entities to profit from–they belong to us, the vibrant public. Of course, many of the encampments have been brutally broken up, making a malevolent mockery of the evolving democratic communities therein.

For the OWS movement to affect enduring change, there must be bank sit-ins, massive boisterous marches to government offices with a list of concrete demands, and all manner of brash but peaceful civil disobedience, such as the current foreclosure actions currently taking place in cities like New York and Atlanta. Occupy groups are disrupting foreclosure auctions on city hall steps and enlightening those in attendance about the malicious nature of home evictions. Occupy groups are also occupying the homes of families that face imminent eviction. Indeed, such actions have averted some evictions, as in the highly publicized case of decorated Iraq War veteran Brigitte Walker, whose home was saved from foreclosure by Occupy Atlanta. These are the only kinds of things that have ever given rise to a revolutionary restructuring of society.

OWS has already done so many actions that fly well under the radar of the Mainstream Lamestream Media. Indeed, the MSM is commercially-sponsored and therefore censored to meet the petty, pernicious demands of its corporate overlords. (For a partial list of the numerous OWS actions that have already taken place, visit occupywallst.org/article/2011-year-revolt/.)

The fact that so many right-wing authoritarian types are so threatened by the movement as manifest in their vicious slandering of it, and the militarization of police around the country, and the horrific treatment of the peaceful protesters all over the country at the hands of the law (specifically NYC and Oakland – I mean, tear gas, grenades, rubber bullets…really?!) … all of these things evince that the movement is working, and winning. The violence is not emanating from the protesters as some would like you to believe; rather, it is emanating from politicians and corporations who cower at the prospect of a people-powered juggernaut pacifistically crashing their plutocratic party.

Occupy Wall Street has occupied our hearts, and will one day bring about the radical renovation of a crumbling house presided over by sleazy corporate slumlords.

The guide told us that we are going to visit the FORBIDDEN CITY. Known to be the house of the emperor, it has quite a magical stories attached. It was known to be the house of aristocratic and tyrant rulers as most of the kings are famous for.

I jumped out of the bus as it stopped beside the parking area. She was with us, and was looking to the Chinese soldiers preparing for their national day cavalcade. We entered into that world heritage and i was completely dumbfounded by seeing the bohemian archaic architecture. At that time i never knew that despite of being a commemorative experience for me, the trip to CHINA will send me to bereavement one day.

“This is where the King used to live” the guide told us

“And where they use to worship” she inquired further in order to ameliorate her cognizance about the Kings

“They had various places known as Temples. Out of which......

I was least interested in what’s going on. What i was experiencing was a strong current flowing inside me, thus, forcing me to enter an another world THE DREAM WORLD. I once read a dictum that in love there is no going back. Its an axiom and i admit that yes it has no exit or escape. The love penetrates more than anything known in MODERN PHYSICS. It has a dual nature, for people it can be a cistern of happiness and it may react with fate to act like a carafe of wolfsbane's nectar. In my case it decided to be a canker and combined with the denigrated complexion left such prints on my soul that even after weeks and months and years of the downcast THE END i have forget to chortle. ............

Picture taken : September 2004,FORBIDDEN CITY

Coordinates 39° 54′ 53″ N, 116° 23′ 26″ E

Join me on FACEBOOK

In my search for speakers, for next year's ICD conference, I found myself at the Brain Plasticity section of East West bookstore. This was one of the books I resonated with and I contacted the author to come to Denver as one of our speakers. Just to be sure I wasn't getting too far out on the wu wu strata, given the title, I read his book and was happy to find a high level of real science along with even handed credit given to the intuitive mind.

I was also struck by Mr. Goewey's generous attitude and his ability to bring it to the page. He tells his own story of personal crisis which included being fired from his job, his marriage on the rocks and a brain tumor and impending surgery. But amidst the terror of his prognosis he found peace in an unexplainable way as though he had found himself in the center of the cyclone. It is this peace that he wanted to explore and replicate for others.

But it was in his telling of the story that I felt a remarkable forgiveness for all the people and institutions that were part of his life as an executive officer in the Department of Medicine at Stanford and later in the Department of Psychiatry. Having some familiarity with the latter, I don't think I would be able to be so kind. His maturity spoke of a distance and self-development at a level I'm not used to in anyone, let alone an executive i.e. someone who has wielded power. It was this generosity of spirit that made me feel he would be a good speaker. He was also very intrigued by our organization and our mission and he reduced his fee considerably for us. His talk will be on stress elimination (not reduction, he clarified). Though stress is not one of our specific focuses, everyone on the program committee thought the topic worthwhile and voted to have him speak.

His techniques revolve around a combination of rewiring self-talk, meditative exercises and other de-stressing techniques that are not entirely new such as developing personal authenticity and resisting self-denigrating behavior. He mentions that his time at Stanford gave him an appreciation for science and discerning analysis and it shows. He has approached his material with a richer perspective than other books on the topic.The information he has about the brain also adds a thicker layer of intellectual support for the concepts he lays out. The mirror neurons, for instance, that allow us to navigate tricky conversations with others. His stories and anecdotes are also worthwhile.

An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda. Antiestablishmentarianism (or anti-establishmentarianism) is an expression for such a political philosophy.

In the UK anti-establishment figures and groups are seen as those who argue or act against the ruling class. Having an established church, in England, a British monarchy, an aristocracy, and an unelected upper house in Parliament made up in part by hereditary nobles, the UK has a clearly definable[citation needed] Establishment against which anti-establishment figures can be contrasted. In particular, satirical humour is commonly used to undermine the deference shown by the majority of the population towards those who govern them. Examples of British anti-establishment satire include much of the humour of Peter Cook and Ben Elton; novels such as Rumpole of the Bailey; magazines such as Private Eye; and television programmes like Spitting Image, That Was The Week That Was, and The Prisoner (see also the satire boom of the 1960s). Anti-establishment themes also can be seen in the novels of writers such as Will Self.

However, by operating through the arts and media, the line between politics and culture is blurred, so that pigeonholing figures such as Banksy as either anti-establishment or counter-culture figures can be difficult. The tabloid newspapers such as The Sun, are less subtle, and commonly report on the sex-lives of the Royals simply because it sells newspapers, but in the process have been described as having anti-establishment views that have weakened traditional institutions. On the other hand, as time passes, anti-establishment figures sometimes end up becoming part of the Establishment, as Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones frontman, became a Knight in 2003, or when The Who frontman Roger Daltrey was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of both his music and his work for charity.

Anti-establishment in the United States began in the 1940s and continued through the 1950s.

Many World War II veterans, who had seen horrors and inhumanities, began to question every aspect of life, including its meaning. Urged to return to "normal lives" and plagued by post traumatic stress disorder (discussing it was "not manly"), in which many of them went on to found the outlaw motorcycle club Hells Angels. Some veterans, who founded the Beat Movement, were denigrated as Beatniks and accused of being "downbeat" on everything. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a Beat autobiography that cited his wartime service.

Citizens had also begun to question authority, especially after the Gary Powers U-2 Incident, wherein President Eisenhower repeatedly assured people the United States was not spying on Russia, then was caught in a blatant lie. This general dissatisfaction was popularized by Peggy Lee's laconic pop song "Is That All There Is?", but remained unspoken and unfocused. It was not until the Baby Boomers came along in huge numbers that protest became organized, who were named by the Beats as "little hipsters".

"Anti-establishment" became a buzzword of the tumultuous 1960s. Young people raised in comparative luxury saw many wrongs perpetuated by society and began to question "the Establishment". Contentious issues included the ongoing Vietnam War with no clear goal or end point, the constant military build-up and diversion of funds for the Cold War, perpetual widespread poverty being ignored, money-wasting boondoggles like pork barrel projects and the Space Race, festering race issues, a stultifying education system, repressive laws and harsh sentences for casual drug use, and a general malaise among the older generation. On the other side, "Middle America" often regarded questions as accusations, and saw the younger generation as spoiled, drugged-out, sex-crazed, unambitious slackers.

Anti-establishment debates were common because they touched on everyday aspects of life. Even innocent questions could escalate into angry diatribes. For example, "Why do we spend millions on a foreign war and a space program when our schools are falling apart?" would be answered with "We need to keep our military strong and ready to stop the Communists from taking over the world." As in any debate, there were valid and unsupported arguments on both sides. "Make love not war" invoked "America, love it or leave it."

As the 1960s simmered, the anti-Establishment adopted conventions in opposition to the Establishment. T-shirts and blue jeans became the uniform of the young because their parents wore collar shirts and slacks. Drug use, with its illegal panache, was favored over the legal consumption of alcohol. Promoting peace and love was the antidote to promulgating hatred and war. Living in genteel poverty was more "honest" than amassing a nest egg and a house in the suburbs. Rock 'n roll was played loudly over easy listening. Dodging the draft was passive resistance to traditional military service. Dancing was free-style, not learned in a ballroom. Over time, anti-establishment messages crept into popular culture: songs, fashion, movies, lifestyle choices, television.

The emphasis on freedom allowed previously hushed conversations about sex, politics, or religion to be openly discussed. A wave of radical liberation movements for minority groups came out of the 1960s, including second-wave feminism; Black Power, Red Power, and the Chicano Movement; and gay liberation. These movements differed from previous efforts to improve minority rights by their opposition to respectability politics and militant tone. Programs were put in place to deal with inequities: Equal Opportunity Employment, the Head Start Program, enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, busing, and others. But the widespread dissemination of new ideas also sparked a backlash and resurgence in conservative religions, new segregated private schools, anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation, and other reversals. Extremists[clarification needed] tended to be heard more because they made good copy for newspapers and television.[citation needed] In many ways, the angry debates of the 1960s led to modern right-wing talk radio and coalitions for "traditional family values".

As the 1960s passed, society had changed to the point that the definition of the Establishment had blurred, and the term "anti-establishment" seemed to fall out of use.

In recent years, with the rise of the populist right, the term anti-establishment has tended to refer to both left and right-wing movements expressing dissatisfaction with mainstream institutions. For those on the right, this can be fueled by feelings of alienation from major institutions such as the government, corporations, media, and education system, which are perceived as holding progressive social norms, an inversion of the meaning formerly associated with the term. This can be accounted for by a perceived cultural and institutional shift to the left by many on the right. According to Pew Research, Western European populist parties from both sides of the ideological spectrum tapped into anti-establishment sentiment in 2017, "from the Brexit referendum to national elections in Italy." Sarah Kendzior of QZ opines that "The term "anti-establishment" has lost all meaning," citing a campaign video from then candidate Donald Trump titled "Fighting the Establishment." The term anti-establishment has tended to refer to Right-wing populist movements, including nationalist movements and anti-lockdown protests, since Donald Trump and the global populist wave, starting as far back as 2015 and as recently as 2021.

#Cyberbullying Tactic & #ChildSafety Awareness Edu. Image Created by NYS Licensed Psychologist Michael Nuccitelli, Psy.D. #iPredator NYC #BeBest

Good morning. Every day, all across the world, American diplomats and civilians work tirelessly to advance the interests and values of our nation. Often, they are away from their families. Sometimes, they brave great danger.

Yesterday, four of these extraordinary Americans were killed in an attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi. Among those killed was our Ambassador, Chris Stevens, as well as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith. We are still notifying the families of the others who were killed. And today, the American people stand united in holding the families of the four Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers.

The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. We’re working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats. I’ve also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.

Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’s body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had died.

It’s especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi because it is a city that he helped to save. At the height of the Libyan revolution, Chris led our diplomatic post in Benghazi. With characteristic skill, courage, and resolve, he built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries, and helped them as they planned to build a new Libya. When the Qaddafi regime came to an end, Chris was there to serve as our ambassador to the new Libya, and he worked tirelessly to support this young democracy, and I think both Secretary Clinton and I relied deeply on his knowledge of the situation on the ground there. He was a role model to all who worked with him and to the young diplomats who aspire to walk in his footsteps.

Along with his colleagues, Chris died in a country that is still striving to emerge from the recent experience of war. Today, the loss of these four Americans is fresh, but our memories of them linger on. I have no doubt that their legacy will live on through the work that they did far from our shores and in the hearts of those who love them back home.

Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed. And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.

As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.

No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.

But we also know that the lives these Americans led stand in stark contrast to those of their attackers. These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity. They should give every American great pride in the country that they served, and the hope that our flag represents to people around the globe who also yearn to live in freedom and with dignity.

We grieve with their families, but let us carry on their memory, and let us continue their work of seeking a stronger America and a better world for all of our children.

Thank you. May God bless the memory of those we lost and may God bless the United States of America.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

It is then time to pay tribute to the instigator of this arrow, the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. You head towards the south-east corner and just below you will find the four large oxidized copper statues, green-grey in colour, seen from the back in the picture above. Three apostles are represented, including the evangelist Saint John in the form of an eagle, a classical representation taken from the tetramorph of the Apocalypse. The fourth statue, the one above, is facing the arrow and represents our architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc contemplating his work.

He is dressed in medieval fashion, a fibula or staple closing the folds of his robe. From his left arm he carries his hand to his forehead, saluting the companion. His right hand holds a long ruler, the Ruler of Measurement. It bears an odd typography inscription:"eVgeMman VIoLLand The DvC arC aedificavit", which can be simply read:"Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc edifia this bow (this arrow)".

In the poem a young man travels to Egypt and is told that behind the veil of Isis .The first image of Viollet-le-Duc's text is neither scenic nor pictorial; rather, it is a initialmind for a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy.Unbeknown to most, they're not originals; architect Viollet-le-Duc added them in the end of the 19th. He was including the epitaph of 15th-century Parisian alchemist Nicolas Flamel.Isn't the inherent characteristic of architecture to adapt to the spirit of its time? The builders of cathedrals draw their origins from the initiatory schools of ancient Egypt that created the rules to build and inspired the architect and restorer of the Viollet-le-Duc cathedrals (1814-1879).Why, how did he suddenly find himself in the Christian West,"tamers" of stone like we had never seen since the pyramids? Where did they get their knowledge from? How many generations of masons and stonemasons would it take today to produce masters capable of producing the equivalent of the cathedrals of Chartres or Amiens?

We will object that this phenomenon, unique in the history of architecture, is also a question of "fashion". Isn't the inherent characteristic of architecture to adapt to the spirit of its time?

It is so true that, seven centuries later, when companions worked under the orders of the architect and restorer of Viollet-le-Duc cathedrals (1814-1879), they were amazed, says Louis Charpentier,"that the slightest impact on certain stones caused sound waves as one obtains on springs stretched or on strings of musical instruments".

We will go so far as to denigrate the gothic style and become infatuated with ancient classical art. Remains the stones and their memory. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Gothic, in decline, became flamboyant. Highly symbolic architectural "flames": one gives in the bidding of lace stones, one repeats obsessively curved and counter-curves, one multiplies the ribs in the vaults. We are witnessing a plastic tumult that no longer reflects the functional and mystical mission of Gothic art, but the painful spiritual anxiety of the times.

What we still have to study and photograph: This nightmare being is situated below and at the top of the vouivre, whose serpentine shape and bumpy back is like dragons. The anterior part of this hybrid animal looks like an ovine, with its forelegs finished by a two-fingered hoof. Its head is covered by a donkey's cap or a court madman, with its big ears upright, like that of the cathedral's southern gate. But what is this round and flat object placed on the eye of the monster? For some, it is the play posed on the eye of the dead man, or on his mouth, serving to pay Charon, the ferryman of souls to the afterlife. However, this monstrous animal seems to have its soul firmly anchored in the body. He bows his bow on his front legs and cries out to the Parisians as if to remind them that they should not forget here below the deadlines of En Haut to which they will be irremediably confronted, without knowing the moment. Viollet-le-Duc architect at Notre-Dame de Paris - La rue de l' alchemy

hermetism. free. fr/Viollet-le-duc_architecte. htm

Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris and the arrowhead of Viollet the Duke, completed in 1859. In the foreground are the angel of Revelation and the alchemist philosopher.What we still have to study and photograph: This nightmare being is situated below and at the aplomb of the vouivre, whose serpentine shape and bumpy back is like dragons. The anterior part of this hybrid animal looks like an ovine, with its forelegs finished by a two-fingered hoof. Its head is covered by a donkey's cap or a court madman, with its big ears upright, like that of the cathedral's southern gate. But what is this round and flat object placed on the eye of the monster? For some, it is the play posed on the eye of the dead man, or on his mouth, serving to pay Charon, the ferryman of souls to the afterlife. However, this monstrous animal seems to have its soul firmly anchored in the body. He bows his bow on his front legs and cries out to the Parisians as if to remind them that they should not forget here below the deadlines of En Haut to which they will be irremediably confronted, without knowing the moment. Viollet-le-Duc architect at Notre-Dame de Paris - La rue de l' alchemy

hermetism. free. fr/Viollet-le-duc_architecte. htm

Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris and the arrowhead of Viollet the Duke, completed in 1859. In the foreground are the angel of Revelation and the alchemist philosopher.

Steve Lorillere | Saint-Tropez Photo | Twitter | facebook

Painting done in 2005 by Zeal Harris. In the collection of Roberto Vargas. Mixed media art that summarizes the 1921 massacre and denigration of Black Tulsa, Oklahoma, or "Black Wall Street: as it was once known.

It seems such a shame that a place that was a cauldron of artistic creativity turns into a mere tourist attraction, but that doesn't denigrate the history that such a place itself holds.

I still felt a certain awe being outside this place, I suppose it helped that we were there very early in the morning (we didn't go in btw) and although this picture didn't really work too well - I love it.

I guess Luca being there kind of makes it for me ... my own little Pablo ...

Nikon FM2 | Nikkor 18-35/f3.5-4.5 | Fuji Superia 100 (Expired)

At the intersection lights and at the end of a half-mile raised median and fence a driver makes a prohibited u-turn; a denigration of traffic engineers and an insult to city planners.

On either side of the fence, small commercial and retail business thrive on the traffic that uses this major arterial. But thanks to band-aid engineering and reactive planning neither pedestrians nor cars can access the other side.

The fence and the raised median are not coming down any time soon; they will remain lasting monuments to the New Urban Dilemma: drawing roads of the past for a present that caught everyone by surprise.

This embarrassing and risky condition must inform the design of new major connectors.

As for the existing ones........... it would be a good topic for an Transportation planning competition.

El Cholo Café

Las Vegas, Nevada

This sign for El Cholo Café, an early Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas in the 1950s, brings to light important issues related to Nevada’s cultural demographics and how perceptions and stereotypes of cultural communities can be shaped by commercial advertising. Historically, the word “cholo” was used in the United States along the Mexican-American border as a term referring to working class people of Mexican or Mexican-American descent. In this case, the term “el cholo,” coupled with the pejorative image of the “sleeping Mexican” makes the sign highly charged and potentially controversial. Despite its long history as a denigrating term, the word cholo was turned on its head and used as a symbol of pride in the context of cultural movements of the 1960s. An entire chain of restaurants in Southern California embraced the term as the name for their restaurants beginning in the 1920s.

The neon collection of Will Durham.

Nevada Museum of Art

10/12–2/13

nevadaart.org

An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda. Antiestablishmentarianism (or anti-establishmentarianism) is an expression for such a political philosophy.

In the UK anti-establishment figures and groups are seen as those who argue or act against the ruling class. Having an established church, in England, a British monarchy, an aristocracy, and an unelected upper house in Parliament made up in part by hereditary nobles, the UK has a clearly definable[citation needed] Establishment against which anti-establishment figures can be contrasted. In particular, satirical humour is commonly used to undermine the deference shown by the majority of the population towards those who govern them. Examples of British anti-establishment satire include much of the humour of Peter Cook and Ben Elton; novels such as Rumpole of the Bailey; magazines such as Private Eye; and television programmes like Spitting Image, That Was The Week That Was, and The Prisoner (see also the satire boom of the 1960s). Anti-establishment themes also can be seen in the novels of writers such as Will Self.

However, by operating through the arts and media, the line between politics and culture is blurred, so that pigeonholing figures such as Banksy as either anti-establishment or counter-culture figures can be difficult. The tabloid newspapers such as The Sun, are less subtle, and commonly report on the sex-lives of the Royals simply because it sells newspapers, but in the process have been described as having anti-establishment views that have weakened traditional institutions. On the other hand, as time passes, anti-establishment figures sometimes end up becoming part of the Establishment, as Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones frontman, became a Knight in 2003, or when The Who frontman Roger Daltrey was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of both his music and his work for charity.

Anti-establishment in the United States began in the 1940s and continued through the 1950s.

Many World War II veterans, who had seen horrors and inhumanities, began to question every aspect of life, including its meaning. Urged to return to "normal lives" and plagued by post traumatic stress disorder (discussing it was "not manly"), in which many of them went on to found the outlaw motorcycle club Hells Angels. Some veterans, who founded the Beat Movement, were denigrated as Beatniks and accused of being "downbeat" on everything. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a Beat autobiography that cited his wartime service.

Citizens had also begun to question authority, especially after the Gary Powers U-2 Incident, wherein President Eisenhower repeatedly assured people the United States was not spying on Russia, then was caught in a blatant lie. This general dissatisfaction was popularized by Peggy Lee's laconic pop song "Is That All There Is?", but remained unspoken and unfocused. It was not until the Baby Boomers came along in huge numbers that protest became organized, who were named by the Beats as "little hipsters".

"Anti-establishment" became a buzzword of the tumultuous 1960s. Young people raised in comparative luxury saw many wrongs perpetuated by society and began to question "the Establishment". Contentious issues included the ongoing Vietnam War with no clear goal or end point, the constant military build-up and diversion of funds for the Cold War, perpetual widespread poverty being ignored, money-wasting boondoggles like pork barrel projects and the Space Race, festering race issues, a stultifying education system, repressive laws and harsh sentences for casual drug use, and a general malaise among the older generation. On the other side, "Middle America" often regarded questions as accusations, and saw the younger generation as spoiled, drugged-out, sex-crazed, unambitious slackers.

Anti-establishment debates were common because they touched on everyday aspects of life. Even innocent questions could escalate into angry diatribes. For example, "Why do we spend millions on a foreign war and a space program when our schools are falling apart?" would be answered with "We need to keep our military strong and ready to stop the Communists from taking over the world." As in any debate, there were valid and unsupported arguments on both sides. "Make love not war" invoked "America, love it or leave it."

As the 1960s simmered, the anti-Establishment adopted conventions in opposition to the Establishment. T-shirts and blue jeans became the uniform of the young because their parents wore collar shirts and slacks. Drug use, with its illegal panache, was favored over the legal consumption of alcohol. Promoting peace and love was the antidote to promulgating hatred and war. Living in genteel poverty was more "honest" than amassing a nest egg and a house in the suburbs. Rock 'n roll was played loudly over easy listening. Dodging the draft was passive resistance to traditional military service. Dancing was free-style, not learned in a ballroom. Over time, anti-establishment messages crept into popular culture: songs, fashion, movies, lifestyle choices, television.

The emphasis on freedom allowed previously hushed conversations about sex, politics, or religion to be openly discussed. A wave of radical liberation movements for minority groups came out of the 1960s, including second-wave feminism; Black Power, Red Power, and the Chicano Movement; and gay liberation. These movements differed from previous efforts to improve minority rights by their opposition to respectability politics and militant tone. Programs were put in place to deal with inequities: Equal Opportunity Employment, the Head Start Program, enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, busing, and others. But the widespread dissemination of new ideas also sparked a backlash and resurgence in conservative religions, new segregated private schools, anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation, and other reversals. Extremists[clarification needed] tended to be heard more because they made good copy for newspapers and television.[citation needed] In many ways, the angry debates of the 1960s led to modern right-wing talk radio and coalitions for "traditional family values".

As the 1960s passed, society had changed to the point that the definition of the Establishment had blurred, and the term "anti-establishment" seemed to fall out of use.

In recent years, with the rise of the populist right, the term anti-establishment has tended to refer to both left and right-wing movements expressing dissatisfaction with mainstream institutions. For those on the right, this can be fueled by feelings of alienation from major institutions such as the government, corporations, media, and education system, which are perceived as holding progressive social norms, an inversion of the meaning formerly associated with the term. This can be accounted for by a perceived cultural and institutional shift to the left by many on the right. According to Pew Research, Western European populist parties from both sides of the ideological spectrum tapped into anti-establishment sentiment in 2017, "from the Brexit referendum to national elections in Italy." Sarah Kendzior of QZ opines that "The term "anti-establishment" has lost all meaning," citing a campaign video from then candidate Donald Trump titled "Fighting the Establishment." The term anti-establishment has tended to refer to Right-wing populist movements, including nationalist movements and anti-lockdown protests, since Donald Trump and the global populist wave, starting as far back as 2015 and as recently as 2021.

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Marc Grossman traveled to Pakistan September 14-15. Ambassador Grossman met with President Zardari, Prime Minister Ashraf, Foreign Minister Khar, Foreign Secretary Jilani, Chief of Army Staff Kayani, Members of Parliament, and other government officials.

During his engagements, Ambassador Grossman said that the United States believes that its relationship with Pakistan should be enduring, strategic, and clearly defined. The United States and Pakistan should work together to identify shared interests and act on them jointly, for the benefit of both nations and the region.

The United States is committed to building on recent achievements, such as the reopening of the NATO supply lines and the meeting of the Safe Passage Working Group held in Islamabad on September 5. The United States looks forward to welcoming Foreign Minister Khar to Washington and President Zardari to New York for the UN General Assembly, and looks forward to several bilateral working groups this fall.

Ambassador Grossman noted that each of these engagements is an opportunity to continue to identify shared interests and to discuss concrete actions the United States and Pakistan can take together on our broad agenda. The United States is committed to continuing work on shared counterterrorism objectives; to increasing market access and economic opportunity for Pakistan; and to supporting civilian democracy and civil society. Ambassador Grossman raised the case of Dr. Shakil Afridi. Finally, it is important that the United States and Pakistan cooperate closely to ensure that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the region are more secure, stable, and prosperous.

Ambassador Grossman emphasized that while none of those are simple tasks, and will require vision, cooperation, and hard work, the United States is committed to its relationship with Pakistan, to continued engagement, and to building on joint successes.

Ambassador Grossman also addressed the video circulating on the internet that has led to protests in a number of countries. Ambassador Grossman stated very clearly, as Secretary Clinton did, “that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. And as you know, we are home to people of all religions, many of whom came to this country seeking the right to exercise their own religion, including, of course, millions of Muslims. And we have the greatest respect for people of faith.” “This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage.” But as Secretary Clinton has also said, “there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. The United States condemns the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms, and greatly appreciates that many Muslims in the United States and around the world have spoken out on this issue.”

In difficult times like these, the United States relies on its partnership with the Government and people of Pakistan to ensure that divisive actions by individuals do not harm the safety of Pakistanis and Americans alike.

Finally, Ambassador Grossman offered his condolences for the victims of the tragic fires in Karachi and Lahore this week and expressed appreciation for the condolences offered by the Government of Pakistan for the loss of U.S. diplomats in Libya.

at the end of last year i went to the natural history museum to see the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition. i visited the previous year and as with then the standard was ridiculously high. in my head i tried to denigrate the superior standard of wildlife photography by telling myself that the photographers were lucky, in the right place at the right time, or use the old 'well if i was in africa...' argument. however those envious thoughts didn't hold much water when i began reading the accompanying text and it became clear how much skill, patience and effort was behind each photo. my favourite image, which was only awarded a runners up commendation, was bad boys by andrew walmsley - a shot full of power, humour and monkeys. if you're unable to make it to london to see it in person here's the online gallery. a positive side effect to seeing the exhibition was that it made me revisit some of my old photos, and i was particularly reminded of my dolphin encounter in venezuela by this dolphin shot. at the time i only posted one photo, so here's another from the same boat trip.

here's the original

Spar Supermarket, 21-23 Liverpool Road (Was Hiscocks and Young World)

Birkdale of the 50s and 60s

I enjoyed your reminiscences very much mainly because they corresponded with my own recollections of Birkdale. However I became a resident of this village in 1947 when my parents moved into a house in Crescent Road. I probably only became aware of the village in 1949 when i started school at the Notre Dame Convent in Weld Road. My elder sister and I used to walk to and from school but the most direct route was to walk along the passage that ran alongside the railway. We did not see much of the rest of the village unless we had to go on a shopping expedition. I do remember Unsworths the bakers. As I recall there were three shops in a row in the 1950s. Dutton the butchers. Hiscocks the grocers and Unsworths. I think that all of these became the Spar shop that you quite rightly denigrate. Leighs the Butchers was originally run by two brothers. Harry was the elder. I knew the daughter of his brother, Christine, quite well but I cannot remember her father's name. We always took our photos to Hares the Chemist to have them developed and I well remember those large bottles together with a chemical smell that pervaded the shop. Other shops that you have either not recalled or that maybe had disappeared by the time you were living in the village are: Griffiths the watch and clock menders. Rayners the fishmonger. Townends that sold building materials and Bambers Garage which had a car showroom. The one shop that sticks out most in my mind though was Martins the sweet shop. A regular stopping off point when sweet rationing stopped in 1953. By that time I was attending a school in Ainsdale and travelled by train everyday. Next to Martins was another bakers but I cannot remember the name of it. There was the other side of the line as well. Goulders Garage and taxi service. A barbers; the library and at one time a Police Station. I do recall Mr Leather and, although I never had a bike off him, he did carry out repairs on the one I had. The other thing I remember about the village was the number of horses that were mainly used for delivering coal, milk, bread and laundry. But there was one pony and trap driven by an old man in a bowler who usually had a lady passenger (his wife?). He nearly always used to park his trap outside Unsworths and then go shopping in the village.

southport.qlocal.co.uk/southport/past/Anyone_recognise_me...

.

13.3.14.

India 2014: Rise Up Ao~in~t Corru~t C&MW.unal eorporate Gameplan! .

With the 2014.Lok Sabha ~t t~e doo!S~9P. thA ""''~fully or.-,hM+r.~t,.d c~n'F'"'is·· rvr pa~L ftJVV years to project~~~~~....Narendra Modi as the next Pnme MiniSter of the country has crossed all limits. PR manasore and mediabli~l\lit:8 are trying to paint MOdi, WhO presided over a horrific commttn~l QOnn~:,J~ :n ~oo~. o;; lite me::.5idllor ·guuu yuvermmce ana ·economic growth,.

' now far removed from any communal politics. We are beino told~ l=oroet ?nn2,~nrat th"' roopc, murdere anu fI<C cncounlt:f;j, rorget lit~ :;Lale macnlnery·s role In 2002, and Parade Modi model of .

'growth','development' and 'good governance.' .

But Modi himself has brazenly affirmed time and again that contempt, hatred, and violence towards the minorities and.

denigration ofthe oppressed sections is embedded in his imagery, his metaphors, and his politics. His own speeches make.

it very clear that Modi's communal plank isn'.

t a thing of the past-it's very much his recipe for power in the present and nearfuture. We have already seen him refer to the victims of the Gujarat genocide as 'puppies crushed under a car,' and his jeeringreference to the 'burqa' of secularism (rather than the word 'purdah' .

which is used by Hindus and Muslims alike}!.

Here is a sample of the calculated communal colour of Modi's RECENT speeches: .

.

At Khandwa in November 2013 he said, "La/ Bahadur Shastri used to talk of 'green revolution' but the UPA Government isencouraging 'pink revolution' by promoting meat exports. They are giving subsidy to set up slaughterhouses... cows and other.

animals are getting slaughtered... Export cotton and pay tax. export mutton and get subsidy" This is directly in line with thesangh's communal propaganda against 'cow slaughter,' demonising the minority communities by associating them with'slaughtering cows and other animals.' Farmers' groups demand subsidies for their products without pitting this against subsidiesfor meat producers, but Modi gives farmers' demands a communal twist. .

At Agra in November 2013, he accused the UPA Government of "neglecting and doing injustice to 75 percent of the people andplaying games for 25 percent of the people." .

And his latest call at an Assam rally (22 Feb) of accommodating Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in India while distinguishing.

those who are brought for 'vote bank'! .

The Modi Government has refused to abide by the Gujarat High Court verdict of February 2013 to implement minorityscholarships in Gujarat. In its affidavit, the Gujarat Government has attacked the Sachar Committee, saying "The Sachar Committeeis neither constitutional nor statutory. ... The Committee's target was to help the Muslims only.".

The style of Modi.

's campaign for the 'Statue of Unity' (the statue of Sardar Patel) is another example of his fascist politicalimagination. He asked people to join the campaign for 'one resolution, one goal, one direction, one voice and one determination'..

In deed for Modi, it is not "unity in diversity" but "unity in uniformity"! Modi made it very clear what this 'oneness' was all about:.

India h~s been a witness to such disciplined joint participation on religious occasions and joint celebrations of an entireneighbourhood when India wins a cricket match, he said. His slogan of 'one emotion, one nation, one culture, one es6Tution,one goal, one smile' smacks of a regimented and guided 'democracy', where any dissent or difference, and any protection forminorities will be viewed as 'anti national' and ruthlessly crushed. .

The recent Muzaffarnagar riots showed how the Sangh brigade in UP, under the leadership of Modi.

's right-hand man AmttShah, carefully engineered a communal hate campaign and carnage to reap votes through communal polarisation. It was typicalModitva bred in RSS school in action UP. The patriarchal institutions of Khap were mobilised and vicious rumour campaign was.

engineered in the name of combating "love jihad" leading to the killing of scores of Muslims and displacements of several.

thousands. .

Clearly, BJP's model of imagining India is based on an ideology which is against our secular democratic constitution anddivisive. Modi himself has claimed that he is a 'Hindu-Nationalist.' What about the rights of the minorittes if the country is.

constituted on the idea of 'Hindu nationalism?' Can the struggle of the dalits and women against the history of oppression.

legitimised in practice and scriptures of 'sanatana dharma', be a part of this nationhood? One example of the perverted vision.

of " Hindu Nationalism" is Modi's own statement about the Dalits who are forced to perform manual scavenging, contained in.

pages 48-49 of Karmayog, a collectio n of Narendra Modi's speeches to lAS officials at various points, published by the Gujarat.

govt in 2007: "I do not believe that they have been doing this job just to sustain their livelihood. Had this been so, they would nothave continued with this type of job generation after generafion.... At some point of time, somebody must have got theenlightenment that it is their (Valmikis J duty to work for the happiness ofthe entire society and the Gods; that they have to.

do thisjob bestowed upon them by Gods; and that this job ofcleaning up should continue as an internal spiritual activity for.

centuries. This should have continued generation after generation. It is impossible to believe that their ancestors did not have the.

choice of adopting any other work or business." (blogs. timesoftndia.indiatimes.com/true-lies/entry/modi-s-spiritual-potion-.

to-woo-karmayogis). After the embarrassing exposure, Modi withdrew all the copies of the book, but he did not change hisideas. In 2009, addressing 9,000-odd safai karmacharis, (sanitation workers) he likened the safai karmacharis.

' job of cleaning.

up others dirt' to that of a temple priest. He told them, "A priest cleans a temple every day before prayers, you also clean the city.

like a temple. You and the temple priest work alike"!!! And in 2013 Gujarat budget, allocated a sum of Rs 22.5 lakhs for giving.

training in Karmkand (rituals) to Safai Kamdars ! .

This is the RSS model of "samajik samrasta" and clear an attempt to reverse the pioneering role of Babasaheb Dr. B.R..

Am bedkar against untouchability and the formulation of Indian constitution. If anything has to be termed anti-national, then that.

is nothing but BJP's perverted notion of nationalism and reversal of struggle against casteism, communalism and gender-violence. .

Modi's contempt for the facts of history -no doubt a result of his saffronised education in the Sangh-has been amplydemonstrated many times, wllh him even gettmg Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's name wrong and confusing freedom ,.......

fighter Shyamaji Krishna Varma with Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookherjee. jiji It) .

.

Banners representing the "Tribes of Galway," along one edge of Eyre Square, the main square of Galway City (in County Galway, western Ireland), as the sun shines on a midday of mixed rain and sun in mid-September.

Galway was known as the "City of the Tribes" from its 14 leading merchant families: Athy, Blake, Bodkin, Browne, D'Arcy, Deane, Font, French, Joyce, Kirwan, Lynch, Martin, Morris and Skerrett. These political and economic leaders were denigrated under Cromwell's occupation of Ireland as "tribes," just as though they were all traditional Celtic clans as found in rural areas, even though most were of Anglo-Norman origin. Each of these banners represents one of the families.

The city's Irish name is Gaillimh, or Cathair na Gaillimhe (City of Galway).

The trees along Eyre Square are just beginning to show traces of autumn colour.

[Galway Tribes banners Eyre Square 2013 sep 15 p; P1040106]

Gordon Gill and Adrian Smith (SOM), with a clean-n-green tower for...the China Tobacco Company. LEED requirements for the new city center led them to consider the 71-story tower as an opportunity to unite environmental performance and sculptural form-making.

The building is oriented to the south, both to minimize east-west sunlight, and to catch the breeze, which is southerly more than 10 months out of the year here. The tower's profile curves in towards the two mechanical levels, which contain wind turbines and generators. Thus, the entire building is a kind of intake for the turbines, to maximize their efficiency. Forcing the wind through the building at the stress points meant that the lateral structure could actually be reduced, as well. The goal was a zero-energy building, which did not happen; however, the building does perform 58% more efficeintly than required by code, according to SOM. I've also heard it denigrated as greenwashing, but that's just hearsay as far as I know.

The client, meanwhile, thought the building resembled President Hu Jintao's extended finger, gesturing meaningfully at the West. Well....duh.

1990-1993

Honda CB Chassis

Saloon

The first time I sat in one of these I denigrated it for having such a steep windshield rake -- the top of the dash felt enormous. Of course, this was before the ridiculousness of the VW New Beetle. Yet I never looked back at what was probably the last iteration of the 80's Honda design language: thin pillars giving great visibility all around (the NS-X, for instance, was billed as being inspired by the cockpit of an F-16). For a saloon, then, it's not bad, if a little boring; the brightwork could stand to be toned down a bit, but it all fits with the character of the car-as-appliance: forgettable and unremarkable, although sometimes having an interesting car can be an impediment.

Scenes from central Ohio, 2014.

We have been given much in this nation. America is exceptional because we are also given the freedom to do what we wish with what we have, for good or ill. We are not told what to do by our leaders—indeed, we tell THEM what to do.

That is why America is so great; our founders were firm in their belief that there is no divine right of kings after all, but a divinely-given right for individuals to, as was so famously agreed on this day in 1776, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I suppose we could boil this down further: Possibility. Opportunity.

Instead of fretting constantly over access to the basic needs of life and about whether or not we're able to worship and even think as we please, Americans get to worry about thinks like producing such an abundance we can sell it at a profit to an eagerly waiting market (allowing we ourselves and our families to be independent of government and of others, thereby enabling us to help those others who've failed in their dreams).

We get to worry about things like curing diseases that have ravaged populations since time began, about creating beautiful buildings that benefit even those who don't own or work in them, about maybe trying something new that an ancestor couldn't have done because a failure would have meant abject destitution, about even fighting for the freedom of other people when we are so roused.

Friends, we even joke about the ways we hold our representatives accountable, then (considering moral limits) do it—something countless peoples throughout history have been not merely afraid, but terrified to do. Some still are terrified to do such things, terrified to even speak ill of their leaders. Not us (mostly).

That is not standard. It is, in fact, unheard of throughout human history.

America is a miracle.

Not perfect—something no one has ever said, because all men are fallible—but a true miracle, a ridiculous anomaly in the annals of mankind.

Instead of merely dreaming about living better, being better, making the world better, Americans CAN do those things. Opportunity is waiting, able to be grasped by all, no matter how "low-born". We are the ones behind the wheel, not a king or dictator or swarm of government agents! We are subordinate only to ourselves and our perceptions instead of force of arms.

That is what makes us great, that's what makes us exceptional. Though these founding principles are every day being assaulted, twisted, denigrated, and abused, they're still the truth, they're still effective, and these principles are something ingrained into many of us from sea to shining sea.

Take advantage of that. It's our birthright as Americans: Independence.

And happy Independence Day!