Rather than continue my discourse on revolution, which might have led me to take extreme positions pertaining to the corrupted state of our government and the possible impending crisis, I thought I'd share with everyone a poem my father used to recite.
My father had a delightful intellect, and a great respect for G.K. Chesterton. Chesterton, most read now for the Father Brown mysteries, was a staunch defender of Christianity against the rise of intellectual atheism at the onset of the last century. He participated in a journalistic debate with Aldous Huxley which demonstrated that the intellect wasn't all on the atheist's side.
Heres the poem. An annotated copy might be helpful for references unfamiliar to the reader, but if your curiosity is provoked you can Google things
G. K. Chesterton
LEPANTO
"White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross.
The cold queen of England is looking in the glass;
The shadow of the Valois is yawning at the Mass;
From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun,
And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun.
Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard,
Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred,
Where, risen from a doubtful seat and half attainted stall,
The last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall,
The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung,
That once went singing southward when all the world was young.
In that enormous silence, tiny and unafraid,
Comes up along a winding road the noise of the Crusade.
Strong gongs groaning as the guns boom far,
Don John of Austria is going to the war,
Stiff flags straining in the night-blasts cold
In the gloom black-purple, in the glint old-gold,
Torchlight crimson on the copper kettle-drums,
Then the tuckets, then the trumpets, then the cannon, and he comes.
Don John laughing in the brave beard curled, Spurning of his stirrups like the thrones of all the world,
Holding his head up for a flag of all the free.
Love-light of Spain--hurrah!
Death-light of Africa!
Don John of Austria
Is riding to the sea.
Mahound is in his paradise above the evening star,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
He moves a mighty turban on the timeless houri's knees,
His turban that is woven of the sunsets and the seas.
He shakes the peacock gardens as he rises from his ease,
And he strides among the tree-tops and is taller than the trees;
And his voice through all the garden is a thunder sent to bring
Black Azrael and Ariel and Ammon on the wing.
Giants and the Genii,
Multiplex of wing and eye,
Whose strong obedience broke the sky
When Solomon was king.
They rush in red and purple from the red clouds of the morn,
From the temples where the yellow gods shut up their eyes in scorn;
They rise in green robes roaring from the green hells of the sea
Where fallen skies and evil hues and eyeless creatures be,
On them the sea-valves cluster and the grey sea-forests curl,
Splashed with a splendid sickness, the sickness of the pearl;
They swell in sapphire smoke out of the blue cracks of the ground,--
They gather and they wonder and give worship to Mahound.
And he saith, "Break up the mountains where the hermit-folk can hide,
And sift the red and silver sands lest bone of saint abide,
And chase the Giaours flying night and day, not giving rest,
For that which was our trouble comes again out of the west.
We have set the seal of Solomon on all things under sun,
Of knowledge and of sorrow and endurance of things done. But a noise is in the mountains, in the mountains, and I know
The voice that shook our palaces--four hundred years ago:
It is he that saith not 'Kismet'; it is he that knows not Fate;
It is Richard, it is Raymond, it is Godfrey at the gate!
It is he whose loss is laughter when he counts the wager worth,
Put down your feet upon him, that our peace be on the earth."
For he heard drums groaning and he heard guns jar,
(Don John of Austria is going to the war.)
Sudden and still--hurrah!
Bolt from Iberia!
Don John of Austria
Is gone by Alcalar.
St. Michaels on his Mountain in the sea-roads of the north
(Don John of Austria is girt and going forth.)
Where the grey seas glitter and the sharp tides shift
And the sea-folk labour and the red sails lift.
He shakes his lance of iron and he claps his wings of stone;
The noise is gone through Normandy; the noise is gone alone;
The North is full of tangled things and texts and aching eyes,
And dead is all the innocence of anger and surprise,
And Christian killeth Christian in a narrow dusty room,
And Christian dreadeth Christ that hath a newer face of doom,
And Christian hateth Mary that God kissed in Galilee,--
But Don John of Austria is riding to the sea.
Don John calling through the blast and the eclipse
Crying with the trumpet, with the trumpet of his lips,
Trumpet that sayeth ha!
Domino gloria!
Don John of Austria
Is shouting to the ships.
King Philip's in his closet with the Fleece about his neck
(Don John of Austria is armed upon the deck.)
The walls are hung with velvet that is black and soft as sin,
And little dwarfs creep out of it and little dwarfs creep in.
He holds a crystal phial that has colours like the moon,
He touches, and it tingles, and he trembles very soon,
And his face is as a fungus of a leprous white and grey
Like plants in the high houses that are shuttered from the day,
And death is in the phial and the end of noble work,
But Don John of Austria has fired upon the Turk.
Don John's hunting, and his hounds have bayed--
Booms away past Italy the rumour of his raid.
Gun upon gun, ha! ha!
Gun upon gun, hurrah!
Don John of Austria
Has loosed the cannonade.The Pope was in his chapel before day or battle broke,
(Don John of Austria is hidden in the smoke.)
The hidden room in man's house where God sits all the year,
The secret window whence the world looks small and very dear.
He sees as in a mirror on the monstrous twilight sea
The crescent of his cruel ships whose name is mystery;
They fling great shadows foe-wards, making Cross and Castle dark,
They veil the plumed lions on the galleys of St. Mark;
And above the ships are palaces of brown, black-bearded chiefs,
And below the ships are prisons, where with multitudinous griefs,
Christian captives sick and sunless, all a labouring race repines
Like a race in sunken cities, like a nation in the mines.
They are lost like slaves that sweat, and in the skies of morning hung
The stair-ways of the tallest gods when tyranny was young.
They are countless, voiceless, hopeless as those fallen or fleeing on
Before the high Kings' horses in the granite of Babylon.
And many a one grows witless in his quiet room in hell Where a yellow face looks inward through the lattice of his cell,
And he finds his God forgotten, and he seeks no more a sign--
(But Don John of Austria has burst the battle-line!)
Don John pounding from the slaughter-painted poop,
Purpling all the ocean like a bloody pirate's sloop,
Scarlet running over on the silvers and the golds,
Breaking of the hatches up and bursting of the holds,
Thronging of the thousands up that labour under sea
White for bliss and blind for sun and stunned for libertyVivat Hispania!
Domino Gloria!
Don John of Austria
Has set his people free!
Cervantes on his galley sets the sword back in the sheath
(Don John of Austria rides homeward with a wreath.)
And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain,
Up which a lean and foolish knight for ever rides in vain,
And he smiles, but not as Sultans smile, and settles back the blade....
(But Don John of Austria rides home from the Crusade.)"
Nafpaktos.com "LLC" NY USA Copyright: 1999-2000 Last Update:March 26, 2003
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
‘Après Nous, le Déluge’
What I've noticed is that governments have been discarded when they've outlived their usefulness. Sometimes cataclysmic events precede the upheaval, but it is not the event, rather it is the institutions' inability to respond effectively that seals their fate.
In the case of the American Revolution I don't recall such a cataclysmic event. The colonials simply no longer needed the British to protect them from the French, or provide essentials for their continuing existence. They resented being required to meet the expenses of the empire disproportionate to the benefits they felt they would enjoy. Given the common history and shared traditions of the English-speaking peoples, accommodations could have been arrived at, but a change in the relationship would have been necessary. Pitt understood that, North didn't. Exacerbating the different appreciation of their respective positions was their geographic separation. If it took five or six weeks for a message to cross the Atlantic, two weeks for a response to be devised, then five or six weeks for the response to be conveyed back to the colonies, the crown's response was three months after the fact. As the crisis developed and committees of correspondence spread throughout the colonies, the pace of radicalization far outpaced the crown's ability to respond.
The French Revolution may have been precipitated by the bread riots that resulted from increases in the price of bread beyond the means of the masses to afford. But as is often pointed out, the peasants and the Paris mob sought to have their protests reach the ears of the king who they hoped would address their needs. The king had other concerns. The feudal organization of the regime had bestowed privileges upon the nobility and the church including exemption from taxes. The monarchy was bankrupt and the government's deficit could not be funded. The king was endeavoring to find new sources of revenue. His preoccupation prevented him from perceiving that the rise of a literate urban population enabled his subjects to visualize a different order than the divinely ordained absolutism of the monarchy. It was on this growing urban class that the burden of taxation fell most heavily. The distance that separated him from his people was not geographic but social. Reportedly on July 14, the day of the fall of the Bastille, in his diary under significant events of the day he entered. "None."
The third revolution that comes readily to mind, the Russian Revolution, except for its tragic consequences could be described as black comedy. The last of the Romanov rulers appeared entirely at the mercy of circumstances over which he had no control. Given that the Russian army had been soundly defeated by the upstart Japanese 10 years earlier, it should have surprised no one that they would be slaughtered by the Germans. And during the earlier war there had been labor strikes and demonstrations by starving workers and mutinies amongst the military, all foreshadowing the events of 1917-18. Compounding the tragedy was a history of political assassinations and repression that forewarned that when the end came it wouldn't be pretty. And when the end did come in Ekaterinburg, before they and their children were murdered, Nicholas and Alexandra probably hugged and commiserated, "We knew this job was too big for us, but we did our best." Too much suffering preceded and followed their demise for them to be exonerated. But they too were crushed in the collapse of a system which had evolved hundreds of years earlier, and hadn't the ability to deal with the challenges it faced.
While in retrospect, the autocrats can be seen as having been inept, badly informed, or ill served, it must be remembered that they promoted and rewarded the ministers and courtiers who told then what they wanted to hear. They then turned a blind eye as these administrators and deputies enriched themselves, their friends and their families, while the population was driven to poverty and despair.
In the case of the American Revolution I don't recall such a cataclysmic event. The colonials simply no longer needed the British to protect them from the French, or provide essentials for their continuing existence. They resented being required to meet the expenses of the empire disproportionate to the benefits they felt they would enjoy. Given the common history and shared traditions of the English-speaking peoples, accommodations could have been arrived at, but a change in the relationship would have been necessary. Pitt understood that, North didn't. Exacerbating the different appreciation of their respective positions was their geographic separation. If it took five or six weeks for a message to cross the Atlantic, two weeks for a response to be devised, then five or six weeks for the response to be conveyed back to the colonies, the crown's response was three months after the fact. As the crisis developed and committees of correspondence spread throughout the colonies, the pace of radicalization far outpaced the crown's ability to respond.
The French Revolution may have been precipitated by the bread riots that resulted from increases in the price of bread beyond the means of the masses to afford. But as is often pointed out, the peasants and the Paris mob sought to have their protests reach the ears of the king who they hoped would address their needs. The king had other concerns. The feudal organization of the regime had bestowed privileges upon the nobility and the church including exemption from taxes. The monarchy was bankrupt and the government's deficit could not be funded. The king was endeavoring to find new sources of revenue. His preoccupation prevented him from perceiving that the rise of a literate urban population enabled his subjects to visualize a different order than the divinely ordained absolutism of the monarchy. It was on this growing urban class that the burden of taxation fell most heavily. The distance that separated him from his people was not geographic but social. Reportedly on July 14, the day of the fall of the Bastille, in his diary under significant events of the day he entered. "None."
The third revolution that comes readily to mind, the Russian Revolution, except for its tragic consequences could be described as black comedy. The last of the Romanov rulers appeared entirely at the mercy of circumstances over which he had no control. Given that the Russian army had been soundly defeated by the upstart Japanese 10 years earlier, it should have surprised no one that they would be slaughtered by the Germans. And during the earlier war there had been labor strikes and demonstrations by starving workers and mutinies amongst the military, all foreshadowing the events of 1917-18. Compounding the tragedy was a history of political assassinations and repression that forewarned that when the end came it wouldn't be pretty. And when the end did come in Ekaterinburg, before they and their children were murdered, Nicholas and Alexandra probably hugged and commiserated, "We knew this job was too big for us, but we did our best." Too much suffering preceded and followed their demise for them to be exonerated. But they too were crushed in the collapse of a system which had evolved hundreds of years earlier, and hadn't the ability to deal with the challenges it faced.
While in retrospect, the autocrats can be seen as having been inept, badly informed, or ill served, it must be remembered that they promoted and rewarded the ministers and courtiers who told then what they wanted to hear. They then turned a blind eye as these administrators and deputies enriched themselves, their friends and their families, while the population was driven to poverty and despair.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
I dont care much about baseball
But I've heard it said, and I believe it, that baseball fans are the most knowlegable about their sport. I was always impressed when kids could recite the batting order for every team in their team's league. In those days baseball cards came three in a pack with a piece of gum for a nickel. They were reference material, not speculative investments.
Where I live now in the Northwest suburbs has always been pretty much Cubs territory, but I grew up on the South Side and if I had to choose I would watch the Sox. I was a freshman in high school in '59 and we rode the el from Stony Island to Roosevelt Road every day and went right by Comiskey Park. That was a good year for the Sox. I've told everyone about the night the Sox won the pennant. About a half an hour after the game got over somebody (the fire commissioner took the blame)decided to run the air raid sirens to celebrate. Well, you have to remember it was still the fifties, and so my mother brought us all to the basement and started praying the rosary.
Nellie Fox and Little Louie Apparicio, Sherm Loller, Big Ted Kluzewski, Jungle Jim Rivera, and Early Wynn. Yeah I still like those guys better than any Cubs team.
And I like the Sox now, but its not the same. Nowadays an owner can go out and buy a pennant by signing a lot of high price free agents. In those days, a lot of players would be with their team for their whole career.
Now, I like Ozzie Guillen, partly cause he's a good manager, partly because he's proud to be a Venezuelan, and partly because he's all over that fag, Jay Mariotti.
Where I live now in the Northwest suburbs has always been pretty much Cubs territory, but I grew up on the South Side and if I had to choose I would watch the Sox. I was a freshman in high school in '59 and we rode the el from Stony Island to Roosevelt Road every day and went right by Comiskey Park. That was a good year for the Sox. I've told everyone about the night the Sox won the pennant. About a half an hour after the game got over somebody (the fire commissioner took the blame)decided to run the air raid sirens to celebrate. Well, you have to remember it was still the fifties, and so my mother brought us all to the basement and started praying the rosary.
Nellie Fox and Little Louie Apparicio, Sherm Loller, Big Ted Kluzewski, Jungle Jim Rivera, and Early Wynn. Yeah I still like those guys better than any Cubs team.
And I like the Sox now, but its not the same. Nowadays an owner can go out and buy a pennant by signing a lot of high price free agents. In those days, a lot of players would be with their team for their whole career.
Now, I like Ozzie Guillen, partly cause he's a good manager, partly because he's proud to be a Venezuelan, and partly because he's all over that fag, Jay Mariotti.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Days in the life
Usually, Sunday is a good day for posting, but today is Monday. I have had a nice week, but nothing came to mind to talk about yesterday. There was a Rolling Stones tribute band performing at a street concert in Aurora Friday night, They were supposed to be pretty good, and we were going to go, but then I kind of blew it off.
Actually, I'd thought it was going to be Saturday and it wasn't till Friday I realized my mistake. Then I had a hard time getting fired up for a street scene, and I wasn't sure how much Janett wanted to go. So we didn't go. Later in the evening Steffy told me Janett had been looking forward to going, so I felt a little bad, and thought I'd take her to dinner at a restaurant in St Charles Saturday night where they have pretty good blues players put on late shows.
But Saturday morning, Janett was feeling a little shy and wasn't sure she wanted to go to a crowded restaurant that evening, so instead we spent the day at the track, which was nice because it was a pretty day and Arlington is a pretty track. Afterwards we went to Julie's house (Julie is Lou's friend), and her neighbors were having a party in the yard celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary, and they invited us over for a good Mexican dinner prepared by the two mothers and a grandmother. It was all good, and we left there early enough to be home by ten.
Then Sunday after church, Janett and I ran errands. We spent some time picking out things to send to a few buddies of Noah's in Afghanistan who haven't been getting packages from home. In the evening, Steffy and Kim stopped by for a brief visit, which we all enjoyed.
See what I mean, everything was really nice, but maybe not too exciting to read about. I'll try to scrape some rough edges on my life this week to tell you about later.
Actually, I'd thought it was going to be Saturday and it wasn't till Friday I realized my mistake. Then I had a hard time getting fired up for a street scene, and I wasn't sure how much Janett wanted to go. So we didn't go. Later in the evening Steffy told me Janett had been looking forward to going, so I felt a little bad, and thought I'd take her to dinner at a restaurant in St Charles Saturday night where they have pretty good blues players put on late shows.
But Saturday morning, Janett was feeling a little shy and wasn't sure she wanted to go to a crowded restaurant that evening, so instead we spent the day at the track, which was nice because it was a pretty day and Arlington is a pretty track. Afterwards we went to Julie's house (Julie is Lou's friend), and her neighbors were having a party in the yard celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary, and they invited us over for a good Mexican dinner prepared by the two mothers and a grandmother. It was all good, and we left there early enough to be home by ten.
Then Sunday after church, Janett and I ran errands. We spent some time picking out things to send to a few buddies of Noah's in Afghanistan who haven't been getting packages from home. In the evening, Steffy and Kim stopped by for a brief visit, which we all enjoyed.
See what I mean, everything was really nice, but maybe not too exciting to read about. I'll try to scrape some rough edges on my life this week to tell you about later.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Instructions
I've heard of Thomas a' Kempis' Imitations of Christ, but never read it. Today I Googled "recalled in tranquility", from Wordsworth's definition of poetry, (thinking that maybe I should try poetry) and that led me to Bartlesby's where I found a' Kempis' Imitation of Christ. Temporarily diverted from my pursuit of the muse, I found this admonition: a good message for all bloggers, and especially me.
Book I: Admonitions Profitable for the Spiritual Life
X. Of the Danger of Superfluity of Words
AVOID as far as thou canst the tumult of men; for talk concerning worldly things, though it be innocently undertaken, is a hindrance, so quickly are we led captive and defiled by vanity. Many a time I wish that I had held my peace, and had not gone amongst men. But why do we talk and gossip so continually, seeing that we so rarely resume our silence without some hurt done to our conscience? We like talking so much because we hope by our conversations to gain some mutual comfort, and because we seek to refresh our wearied spirits by variety of thoughts. And we very willingly talk and think of those things which we love or desire, or else of those which we most dislike. 1
2. But alas! it is often to no purpose and in vain. For this outward consolation is no small hindrance to the inner comfort which cometh from God. Therefore must we watch and pray that time pass not idly away. If it be right and desirable for thee to speak, speak things which are to edification. Evil custom and neglect of our real profit tend much to make us heedless of watching over our lips. Nevertheless, devout conversation on spiritual things helpeth not a little to spiritual progress, most of all where those of kindred mind and spirit find their ground of fellowship in God.
Book I: Admonitions Profitable for the Spiritual Life
X. Of the Danger of Superfluity of Words
AVOID as far as thou canst the tumult of men; for talk concerning worldly things, though it be innocently undertaken, is a hindrance, so quickly are we led captive and defiled by vanity. Many a time I wish that I had held my peace, and had not gone amongst men. But why do we talk and gossip so continually, seeing that we so rarely resume our silence without some hurt done to our conscience? We like talking so much because we hope by our conversations to gain some mutual comfort, and because we seek to refresh our wearied spirits by variety of thoughts. And we very willingly talk and think of those things which we love or desire, or else of those which we most dislike. 1
2. But alas! it is often to no purpose and in vain. For this outward consolation is no small hindrance to the inner comfort which cometh from God. Therefore must we watch and pray that time pass not idly away. If it be right and desirable for thee to speak, speak things which are to edification. Evil custom and neglect of our real profit tend much to make us heedless of watching over our lips. Nevertheless, devout conversation on spiritual things helpeth not a little to spiritual progress, most of all where those of kindred mind and spirit find their ground of fellowship in God.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Afghanistan
Last weekend I emailed Noah a copy of an article from Asia Times addressing the strategic situation in Afghanistan. There's a very bad man who lives there (sometimes, sometimes in Pakistan, sometimes in Iran) named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and he's the leader of Hezb i Islami (Islamic Party)
He's been killing people, starting with communists, then Russians, then Taliban for about thirty years. Sounds like our kind of guy...and he was. He got most of the funds the CIA was pumping into Afghanistan through Pakistan's intelligence agency during the Mujhadeen's war with the Russians in the 80's. He was also the favorite of the conservative Saudi clerics, and they gave him a lot of money too.
He was in the Mujhadeen government after the Russian pulled out in the early 90's, but had loyalty issues, jumping in and out of political alliances. Having the revolutionary's perspective, he knows peace and stability were not to be desired, until and unless he held complete power. He was the main protagonist in the Mujhadeen civil war in the early 90's, at one time being allied with and against all the other powerful Mujhadeen leaders, Massoud, Dostum, and Rabanni. The civil war contributed to the popularity of the Taliban, which people hoped would end the bloody fighting between the war lords.
When the Taliban took over he had to leave, and went to Iran. A lot of his Hezb i Islami followers joined the Taliban, but retain some loyalty to Hekmatyar. When the US invaded and drove out the Taliban in 2002, Hekmatyar snuck back in to Afghanistan and started objecting loudly to the organization of a puppet government by the US.
The US tried to shut him up with a missile attack on his headquarters in late 2002 which killed a dozen of his people but missed him.
Now, he's hiding out, probably in the northeast of Afghanistan. His followers are still politically active in that region, but are biding their time. They're waiting for the resurgent Taliban in the south to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of fighting the Coalition forces. but once the Kabul government is sufficiently weakened he'll pop up again, assassinating rivals, making and breaking alliances, and jockeying for leadership in an Islamic government, pointing out that unlike the other warlords he made no deals with the occupiers. Also, unlike Dostum and other warlords from the old Northern Alliance who are Uzbeks and Tajiks, he's a Pashtun, which is the largest ethnic grouping in Afghanistan.
So, anyway, while things are relatively calm in the area where Noah is stationed right now, that's the area where Hekmatyar will be the most powerful when he decides to make his move. So, I'm hoping Noah's home by then.
He's been killing people, starting with communists, then Russians, then Taliban for about thirty years. Sounds like our kind of guy...and he was. He got most of the funds the CIA was pumping into Afghanistan through Pakistan's intelligence agency during the Mujhadeen's war with the Russians in the 80's. He was also the favorite of the conservative Saudi clerics, and they gave him a lot of money too.
He was in the Mujhadeen government after the Russian pulled out in the early 90's, but had loyalty issues, jumping in and out of political alliances. Having the revolutionary's perspective, he knows peace and stability were not to be desired, until and unless he held complete power. He was the main protagonist in the Mujhadeen civil war in the early 90's, at one time being allied with and against all the other powerful Mujhadeen leaders, Massoud, Dostum, and Rabanni. The civil war contributed to the popularity of the Taliban, which people hoped would end the bloody fighting between the war lords.
When the Taliban took over he had to leave, and went to Iran. A lot of his Hezb i Islami followers joined the Taliban, but retain some loyalty to Hekmatyar. When the US invaded and drove out the Taliban in 2002, Hekmatyar snuck back in to Afghanistan and started objecting loudly to the organization of a puppet government by the US.
The US tried to shut him up with a missile attack on his headquarters in late 2002 which killed a dozen of his people but missed him.
Now, he's hiding out, probably in the northeast of Afghanistan. His followers are still politically active in that region, but are biding their time. They're waiting for the resurgent Taliban in the south to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of fighting the Coalition forces. but once the Kabul government is sufficiently weakened he'll pop up again, assassinating rivals, making and breaking alliances, and jockeying for leadership in an Islamic government, pointing out that unlike the other warlords he made no deals with the occupiers. Also, unlike Dostum and other warlords from the old Northern Alliance who are Uzbeks and Tajiks, he's a Pashtun, which is the largest ethnic grouping in Afghanistan.
So, anyway, while things are relatively calm in the area where Noah is stationed right now, that's the area where Hekmatyar will be the most powerful when he decides to make his move. So, I'm hoping Noah's home by then.
Go in Peace
After services I'll generally slip out a door of church for a quick smoke before I go to the dining area and hook up with the kids for a little visit, and maybe a bite to eat. The last couple of weeks, as I watched folks leaving I recalled the scene of the pastor at the door after services, accepting some compliments and wishing the parishoners well.
I always thought that was just the kind of courtesy a good host would show. But standing there myself, I came to think the pastor would be sending his flock off, hopeful that he had helped prepare them in someway for the challenges they would face during the next week.
All those folks leaving church do appear uplifted and positive in their outlook, families together, older couples, young singles -who could know the challenges they'll all face before they return next week. Job problems, financial problems, medical problems, nasty kids at school, but as they leave, they don't appear weighed down or afraid.
Maybe it was in the pastor's heart to say, I hope you'll be alright and keep doing the best you can, and remember Jesus loves you.
I always thought that was just the kind of courtesy a good host would show. But standing there myself, I came to think the pastor would be sending his flock off, hopeful that he had helped prepare them in someway for the challenges they would face during the next week.
All those folks leaving church do appear uplifted and positive in their outlook, families together, older couples, young singles -who could know the challenges they'll all face before they return next week. Job problems, financial problems, medical problems, nasty kids at school, but as they leave, they don't appear weighed down or afraid.
Maybe it was in the pastor's heart to say, I hope you'll be alright and keep doing the best you can, and remember Jesus loves you.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Clues in the News - Goldman Sachs
Last week, Henry Paulson, the CEO of Goldman Sachs was nominated to replace Paul Snow as Secretary of the Treasury. Maybe, they need someone pretty skilled in the investment markets and banking to handle the coming hedge fund meltdowns.
Even scarier, today Goldman Sachs hired the country's leading bankruptcy attorney away from the Chicago law firm of Kirkland Ellis to be managing director of their investment banking unit. Uh Oh The smart guys must see a lot of opportunities coming up in the "restructuring" industry.
Even scarier, today Goldman Sachs hired the country's leading bankruptcy attorney away from the Chicago law firm of Kirkland Ellis to be managing director of their investment banking unit. Uh Oh The smart guys must see a lot of opportunities coming up in the "restructuring" industry.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Celebrating Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"
This is the kind of statement one can only make once. What prompted me to post it tonight? The news that supporters of the Islamic courts had driven the warlords out of Mogadishu, and that the warlords had been receiving financial support from the CIA. When you're confused about how you're doing in this complicated world, take a minute and look around to see what kind of friends you've been making lately.
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of "Spiritus Mundi"
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-- William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"
This is the kind of statement one can only make once. What prompted me to post it tonight? The news that supporters of the Islamic courts had driven the warlords out of Mogadishu, and that the warlords had been receiving financial support from the CIA. When you're confused about how you're doing in this complicated world, take a minute and look around to see what kind of friends you've been making lately.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Lapierre
I just looked it up and learned Lapierre did not direct City of Joy. He wrote the book. What I heard of City of Joy sounded like the movie reflected a love of the destitute, and not in a patronizing way. The Constant Gardner had the same feeling.
Friday, May 26, 2006
I was kidding
about the secret mission. I just haven't felt like posting. When I'm going through a learning phase I dummy up. Observe, assimilate, organize, evaluate, and project. I must be going through such a phase now.
But the secret mission thing made me think of John LeCarre, and that made me think of The Constant Gardner. Janett rented it last week and we watched it. I was surprised. It was excellent.
LeCarre doesn't adapt well to film, too nuanced, the insights too subtle. But this director was very successful. Maybe the screenwriter should get the credit, using snippets of conversations very naturally and yet economically to inform us. But now I'd like to see City of Joy by the same director.
I'm almost tempted to glance at Candide (Voltaire), but I won't because I don't think Justin Quayle played very nicely by Ralph Fiennes needs illumination beyond what is presented in the film.
But the secret mission thing made me think of John LeCarre, and that made me think of The Constant Gardner. Janett rented it last week and we watched it. I was surprised. It was excellent.
LeCarre doesn't adapt well to film, too nuanced, the insights too subtle. But this director was very successful. Maybe the screenwriter should get the credit, using snippets of conversations very naturally and yet economically to inform us. But now I'd like to see City of Joy by the same director.
I'm almost tempted to glance at Candide (Voltaire), but I won't because I don't think Justin Quayle played very nicely by Ralph Fiennes needs illumination beyond what is presented in the film.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
I'm a bad man
Reviewing my posts, I come across nicer than I really am. Last week I e-mailed Senator Barak Obama, who has been disappointing me lately and told him that "I'd go out and find a Wobblie or LaRouchite to vote for before I'd vote for some Hillary in drag" I didn't receive the customary thank you note. Barak knows the real me.
Earth to Andy
Hi everybody. Sorry to be out of touch. (I put in the Hi everybody first so I wouldn't be opening with an apology.) It has been an unsettling week. Janett's been mad at me, she would say sad, and that anger is expressed in proportion to pain felt. All I know is some nights I'm afraid to go to sleep before she does. Just kidding.
And then I got beat up in gold on Monday; I didn't have a position overnight for the big sell off on Sunday night (Monday in London), but I kept looking for a bounce on Monday. (Even dead cats bounce a little). Buying and putting in a stop loss order, market falls, I get stopped out with a loss - about four times. Stupid. I'm going to hang a sign over my desk, "Not Losing is the Next Best Thing to Winning." And of course, as always when I do badly in the market what's the first rule? Say it together, children: "Blame Louie." That's right, my technicasl guru just on Saturday told me the market is always up on Monday in a bull marker - pent up demand from the weekend. He could have added, Unless the market is overdue for a correction.
So let's talk about something pleasant. Butera's. My neighborhood grocery store.
I love it. Butera's is a chain of grocery stores in the Chicago suburbs. I suppose the stores adjust their marketing to their locale. My locale is apparently Mexican. Other Anglo's show up with me to shop there, mostly older folks and working class folks; price conscious shoppers. I fit in both those groups. Maybe because they don't advertize prices are lower. But that's only part of the appeal.
I do like the Mexican music on the PA system, it's not too loud and kind of energizing. I especially like the produce, diverse and wholesome and reasonably priced...including a lot of things I don't recognise. I enjoy the meat counter - No salmon or scrod there - Tilapia for 1.19 lb., not frozen fillets - the actual fish.
And all the thin sliced beef steaks with different names. Sometimes I'm going to ask the butcher to tell me what makes them different. No live stock heads, no little eyes looking at you (except thge talapia), but some internal organs and feet (and the ubiquitous tongues). My friend Augie last year about Thanksgiving time told me he was indifferent to turkey, but he was looking forward to tongue for dinner. I guess you kind of peel off the tonguey stuff. The item I really didn't get was the turkey tails. Yep, turkey tails. Gotta be for soup, right?
But the selection in not limited. I can get Pilsner Urquel beer and Janett can spend as much as any sane person would on a bottle of olive oil. Oh and speaking of Janett, she was most amused by the sign by the open display case that read, "Customers, please don't eat the pig skins."
See you there!
And then I got beat up in gold on Monday; I didn't have a position overnight for the big sell off on Sunday night (Monday in London), but I kept looking for a bounce on Monday. (Even dead cats bounce a little). Buying and putting in a stop loss order, market falls, I get stopped out with a loss - about four times. Stupid. I'm going to hang a sign over my desk, "Not Losing is the Next Best Thing to Winning." And of course, as always when I do badly in the market what's the first rule? Say it together, children: "Blame Louie." That's right, my technicasl guru just on Saturday told me the market is always up on Monday in a bull marker - pent up demand from the weekend. He could have added, Unless the market is overdue for a correction.
So let's talk about something pleasant. Butera's. My neighborhood grocery store.
I love it. Butera's is a chain of grocery stores in the Chicago suburbs. I suppose the stores adjust their marketing to their locale. My locale is apparently Mexican. Other Anglo's show up with me to shop there, mostly older folks and working class folks; price conscious shoppers. I fit in both those groups. Maybe because they don't advertize prices are lower. But that's only part of the appeal.
I do like the Mexican music on the PA system, it's not too loud and kind of energizing. I especially like the produce, diverse and wholesome and reasonably priced...including a lot of things I don't recognise. I enjoy the meat counter - No salmon or scrod there - Tilapia for 1.19 lb., not frozen fillets - the actual fish.
And all the thin sliced beef steaks with different names. Sometimes I'm going to ask the butcher to tell me what makes them different. No live stock heads, no little eyes looking at you (except thge talapia), but some internal organs and feet (and the ubiquitous tongues). My friend Augie last year about Thanksgiving time told me he was indifferent to turkey, but he was looking forward to tongue for dinner. I guess you kind of peel off the tonguey stuff. The item I really didn't get was the turkey tails. Yep, turkey tails. Gotta be for soup, right?
But the selection in not limited. I can get Pilsner Urquel beer and Janett can spend as much as any sane person would on a bottle of olive oil. Oh and speaking of Janett, she was most amused by the sign by the open display case that read, "Customers, please don't eat the pig skins."
See you there!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
more bad news
It turns out that Vivendi is concentrating on the entertainment side of their business and sold off the water business to a company named Veolia, who in turn sold off US Filter to Siemens, the German giant, but sold Culligan to a private investment group, Clayton Dubilier and Rice (CDR). Well, we can't buy shares in CDR.
Presumably, CDR will manage Cullican for a couple of years, improve the bottom line and then sell the company to some other corporation. CDR did that with Kinko's. eventually selling Kinko's to Fed Ex.
Man this investing business is tough. I'm giving up for today.
Presumably, CDR will manage Cullican for a couple of years, improve the bottom line and then sell the company to some other corporation. CDR did that with Kinko's. eventually selling Kinko's to Fed Ex.
Man this investing business is tough. I'm giving up for today.
Bad news, good news
Sure enough, Culligan was acquired by American Filter Corp in 1999, which was acquired by the French conglomerate, Vivendi in 2001. Vivendi and its CEO were hit by an accounting scandal in 2002. The company was close to bankruptcy, couldn't afford the interest on the cost of a lot of acquisitions, and the CEO was burning through a lot of cash buying shares of the company on the market, trying to hold the price up. Eventually, the price per share fell from 80 to 10.
Now, it's back around 36. That's with a price/earnings ratio of about 16 and paying a 3.5% dividend. Very interesting. Since it's a French company (but with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange), all its balance sheet and income numbers are computed in Euro's, then converted to dollars. So if the Euro goes up against the dollar that will increase the dollar amounrt of reported earnings.
That all sounds really good.
It's a multi-national, but without the negative connotations I associate with Suez and Bechtel, and it's a friendlier sort of name - don't you think? I'll have to look further into it.
Now, it's back around 36. That's with a price/earnings ratio of about 16 and paying a 3.5% dividend. Very interesting. Since it's a French company (but with shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange), all its balance sheet and income numbers are computed in Euro's, then converted to dollars. So if the Euro goes up against the dollar that will increase the dollar amounrt of reported earnings.
That all sounds really good.
It's a multi-national, but without the negative connotations I associate with Suez and Bechtel, and it's a friendlier sort of name - don't you think? I'll have to look further into it.
Confusion
I decided against the options approach to shorting the Dow index. A put would have cost $1400, and to me that meant the index would have to fall 140 dollars before I made any money. I will continue to look for opportunities to sell the future contracts.
I also have to find some other investment opportunities besides the highly speculative leveraged types. I can think of many stocks to sell short, like Daimler-Chrysler, but what can I invest in and hope to earn gains? I'm thinking about water. I'm afraid a lot of people and places are going to run out of water, and people who have water are going to find out it has bad stuff in it. Companies like Hinkley and Schmidt and Culligan's come to mind. But I'm afraid I'll find out these companies have been brought out by big corporations like Bechtel and Suez (and Nestle's). I don't feel morally comfortable investing in the big internationals. Their profit imperatives lead them to do bad things. I'll try to learn more.
Janett and I were talking this morning about evil in the world, in particular she was talking about the Janjaweed militias in Darfur. I told her it was right to feel compassion and sadness, but not to become depressed, because we must remain strong. As you probably know it is my sense that things are going to get worse (a lot worse) before they get better. My imagination conjured up Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson announcing that the next catastrophe to befall us will have been divine retribution on our nation for tolerating the homosexual agenda.
In fact the catastrophes to come are not God's doing. They're ours. If the avian flu runs amok should we blame God, or should we regret spending 150 billion dollars killing Iraquis instead of investing that money in our health care system?
I also have to find some other investment opportunities besides the highly speculative leveraged types. I can think of many stocks to sell short, like Daimler-Chrysler, but what can I invest in and hope to earn gains? I'm thinking about water. I'm afraid a lot of people and places are going to run out of water, and people who have water are going to find out it has bad stuff in it. Companies like Hinkley and Schmidt and Culligan's come to mind. But I'm afraid I'll find out these companies have been brought out by big corporations like Bechtel and Suez (and Nestle's). I don't feel morally comfortable investing in the big internationals. Their profit imperatives lead them to do bad things. I'll try to learn more.
Janett and I were talking this morning about evil in the world, in particular she was talking about the Janjaweed militias in Darfur. I told her it was right to feel compassion and sadness, but not to become depressed, because we must remain strong. As you probably know it is my sense that things are going to get worse (a lot worse) before they get better. My imagination conjured up Jerry Fawell and Pat Robertson announcing that the next catastrophe to befall us will have been divine retribution on our nation for tolerating the homosexual agenda.
In fact the catastrophes to come are not God's doing. They're ours. If the avian flu runs amok should we blame God, or should we regret spending 150 billion dollars killing Iraquis instead of investing that money in our health care system?
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Trading News
In case you were worried about it, my stop loss sale order got us out of gold before it fell precipitously Wednesday night.
My Dow index short sale order never got filled since the index kept going up. I still want to sell the Dow, but now I'm thinking of options instead of future contracts. If I bought a couple of puts I'd be highly leveraged for a downside gain and the most I could lose would be the purchase price. I'm going to look into it, and I'll let you know what I find out.
My Dow index short sale order never got filled since the index kept going up. I still want to sell the Dow, but now I'm thinking of options instead of future contracts. If I bought a couple of puts I'd be highly leveraged for a downside gain and the most I could lose would be the purchase price. I'm going to look into it, and I'll let you know what I find out.
Blue Gold Game
We traveled to South Bend Yesterday. Left Home about 8 AM and got to SB around 11 (noon their time). After exiting the tollway we found the traffic turning left on Angela Blvd toward campus so backed up we stayed on the main drag into down town. We found a little diner where I could get bacon and eggs with hash browns and toast for $3.50. Lou and Skip had sandwiches that were also pretty cheap. Plus the place had a sign on the door: "This is a smoking establishment." Wow, I'll say. So add Bob's Cafe to my four star dining list.
We drove over to Notre Dame Ave and approached campus from the south with very light traffic, got to within 4 blocks, parked on a side street and hoofed it. I wasn't much of a guide as we walked onto campus. "That didn't use to be here" But once we got past the circle I was pretty much at home. We walked up the main quad to see the Dome and the Basilica, then headed for the stadium. It was pretty crowded. 40,000 + for a scrimmage, and they didn't open the upper deck. We sat for one quarter behind the band, but they ignored my "Down in Front" demands so we worked our way around to the north end zone. Lou and Skip may have been a little disappointed. It looks bigger on TV. But you feel closer to the players and the game. Anyway, now Lou really wants to go to a game in the fall.
Pretty much Quinn to Samardzjia, not a lot of action for Rhema McKnight. But the word is he's 100% percent after last year's season ending injury. Two highlights the Darius Walker/Tom Zbikowski confrontation. Darius juked Zibby on one long run. Travis Thomas was the featured runner on the Gold team and had an 83 yd touchdown run, and Leo Ferrine displayed great speed to run him down at the goal line.
After the game we went back to the student center for a light lunch (salad for me) at the Sbarro's. The old Huddle now also has a Burger King and Subway - sigh.
Then back across the main quad and down to the grotto, to the lake and south past the Rock and the south dining hall to the new book store. What a gold mine that place must be. I got Janett one of the 2006 model tee-shirts. They were out of Ladies Medium so I got her a Child's Extra Large and saved a couple of bucks.
On the way there and back everything was really green and pretty. I saw cows and horses and even some sheep. I guess all the pigs are in Iowa. (sorry, Mark.)
We drove over to Notre Dame Ave and approached campus from the south with very light traffic, got to within 4 blocks, parked on a side street and hoofed it. I wasn't much of a guide as we walked onto campus. "That didn't use to be here" But once we got past the circle I was pretty much at home. We walked up the main quad to see the Dome and the Basilica, then headed for the stadium. It was pretty crowded. 40,000 + for a scrimmage, and they didn't open the upper deck. We sat for one quarter behind the band, but they ignored my "Down in Front" demands so we worked our way around to the north end zone. Lou and Skip may have been a little disappointed. It looks bigger on TV. But you feel closer to the players and the game. Anyway, now Lou really wants to go to a game in the fall.
Pretty much Quinn to Samardzjia, not a lot of action for Rhema McKnight. But the word is he's 100% percent after last year's season ending injury. Two highlights the Darius Walker/Tom Zbikowski confrontation. Darius juked Zibby on one long run. Travis Thomas was the featured runner on the Gold team and had an 83 yd touchdown run, and Leo Ferrine displayed great speed to run him down at the goal line.
After the game we went back to the student center for a light lunch (salad for me) at the Sbarro's. The old Huddle now also has a Burger King and Subway - sigh.
Then back across the main quad and down to the grotto, to the lake and south past the Rock and the south dining hall to the new book store. What a gold mine that place must be. I got Janett one of the 2006 model tee-shirts. They were out of Ladies Medium so I got her a Child's Extra Large and saved a couple of bucks.
On the way there and back everything was really green and pretty. I saw cows and horses and even some sheep. I guess all the pigs are in Iowa. (sorry, Mark.)
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
The Big Fellow
It was giving me the creeps having that picture of the tOSU coach below. So I had to add this picture. By the way this picture is "subject to copyright" Does that mean I'm in some kind of trouble?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
