This and That

Salafi Muslims are warning us that tomatoes can turn you Christian.
I hope that isn't true.
Their "reasoning" is that when tomatoes are sliced a certain way they reveal a cross.
I suspect if Muslim homes are dismantled a certain way, wooden studs and beams that form crosses would also be revealed. 
I love tomatoes and have over 60 plants of various varieties in my garden.
I am not concerned that they will convert me to any particular religion.
Muslims must be weak in their faith if a wonderful and healthy component of the diet can force them to stray.
Since the delicious fruits originate in  Peru I suspect tomatoes are more likely to turn one into a follower of Viracocha instead of Christ.

Perez Hilton noted that several Maine communities are preparing and training for a zombie apocalypse. Perez noted that it is better to be safe than sorry.
It looks like Perez was going for tongue in cheek funny.
I, for one, am hoping that Maine becomes the zombie fighting and training center of the world. ... unless I become a zombie.

Paraguay has impeached their president for little more than being a Leftist. Is that a surprise in a nation that welcomed so many Nazis who arrived via the Roman Catholic ratlines after World War II?
Is it a coincidence that the Bush Family possesses 100,000 acres of land in Paraguay?

The Lone Star Tick is working its way up the East Coast. It is reported that a bite of this tick can cause one to develop an allergic reaction on eating meat. God protect me.

Glen Beck has declared war on Glee, the television program. 
Why is the right so fascinated by this show? I watched it once and it was singin' and dancin' kind of like an old Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney movie. It's not exactly to my taste but I can see why so many like this kind upbeat and optimistic entertainment in a gloomy hopeless world. 
But Glen can't stop watching and it makes him want to go to war. Why? 
Because it is a "horror show."  
Maybe it gives him a little gay tingle. 
All this stimulates me to ask: why do so many of these right wing pundits love to make war, yet when they had the chance to kill for their countries, declined to bring their talents to the Defense Department?

Artist at Scituate Light, June 24, 2012, John Bonanno Photograph

Peony planted 2009, growing by the pond, perhaps Krinkled White, P. lactiflora cultivar, introduced by A. M. Brand, 1928, John Bonanno photograph, June 12, 2012

Darwin's notion of Fitness in human societies is a murky thing.
Nature is barely involved. 
Some humans make rules and the rules favor those who make them.
Humans are the only known animals who adapt to Nature's Environment using Culture.
So humans are forced to adapt to an amorphous somewhat invisible Culture rather than a more consistent  Nature.
Human Fitness is measured by one's ability to read and use other humans in the Cultural context.
Darwin told us a story of life's physical adaptation to Nature.
For humans, this has been a misdirection all along.
We are forced to adapt to Culture.
Nature has been damned by Man who is blinded by the Cultural Artifice.

The Light and The Dark

Now that I am retired, I have returned to home brewing after a few years away from it.
What a rewarding endeavor it is in so many ways.
I am so happy I kept my brewing gear. 
Chin Chin!

Alfred Adler

Sunday Morning EDT/
Sunday Evening Japan Time Unthinkable Disasters Update

Edmund-This is the excellent foppery of the world, that,
when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeit
of our own behavior,--we make guilty of our
disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as
if we were villains by necessity; fools by
heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and
treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards,
liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of
planetary influence; and all that we are evil in,
by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish
disposition to the charge of a star!
-King Lear, I,ii, Wm. Shakespeare

 With the Assistance of Medical Doctor, Psychotherapist and founder of Individual Psychology,
Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937)

Striving For Perfection Through Feelings of Inferiority 

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."

Perhaps there was a tiny little smidgen of truth in Lysenkoism. Some traits can be inherited without specific changes in DNA sequencing. The study of this phenomena is called Epigenetics. This story tells of Professor Eva Jablonka who studies how such life events such as stress and cancer can cause epigenetic inheritence.

"I am a story teller. I read a lot of information and develop theories about evolution. For the last 25 years, before it became a fad, I was interested in the transmission of information not dependent on DNA variations," Dr. Jablonka says. "Epigenetic inheritance is information about us that is not explicitly encoded in our genes. Two individuals may have identical genes, but the genes present very different characteristics. They can be genetically identical but different epigenetically."

"Tears and complaints - the means which I have called water power - can be an extremely useful weapon for disturbing cooperation and reducing others to a condition of slavery."

TEPCO revealed their plan for solving the Fukushima Daiichi problem: Reduce radiation leaks in three months to cool the reactors within nine months. Meanwhile radiation spiked to 6,500 times the safe level yesterday in the seawater at Fukushima Daiichi. Obviously new radiation leaks are appearing, or attempts to plug old leaks have failed, or radiation is increasing inside the plant. No one can tell which is the problem and how does anyone create a plan when the exact problem is still unknown?

Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of TEPCO apologized again, "We sincerely apologise for causing troubles. We are doing our utmost to prevent the crisis from further worsening."

"To injure another person through atonement is one of the most subtle devices of the neurotic, as when, for example, he indulges in self-accusations."

Hard information on radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi complex and beyond continues to be withheld by TEPCO and the Japanese government. 

Despite the catastrophe in Japan, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not intend to retreat from that country's investment in a huge nuclear energy program. The Hindu quotes Singh:

“I am convinced that when all is said and done, when cool headed discussions take place about the future of energy, what are the problems with coal, what are the problems of with other hydrocarbons, in terms of their impact on climate change, there would be no reconsideration about the role of nuclear energy."

The Hindu also reported that Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh would not reconsider the clearance for the Jaitapur nuclear project. Ramesh was quoted so:

“Jaitapur stays and a ‘deeper think,' and not rethink, is required on nuclear energy and safety issues."

"War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man."

Repeating a pattern, rebels in Libya ran away again today when troops loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi went on the offensive in Ajdabiya according to the New York Times.  The rebels were said to be wondering where NATO and the western countries were. It looks like the west almost doesn't care who wins  and will be content to watch the country destroy itself in battle.

"Defiant individuals will always persecute others, yet will always consider themselves persecuted."

Tornadoes that ripped mostly through the Bible Belt killed at least 35 people Friday and Saturday according to the Associated Press. Boone's Chapel Baptist Church was destroyed in Boone's Chapel, Alabama, in Autauga County Friday night. Another tornado collapsed the Refuge Temple Church in St. Stephen, South Carolina, injuring six worshippers. A tornado in Georgia touched down on Fort Benning's Harmony Church. In Bladen County, North Carolina the Elizabethtown Baptist Church was partially destroyed. Bethlehem Church in Monroe County, Alabama was destroyed. Amity Missionary Baptist Church in Tunnel Springs, Alabama was destroyed. On Saturday the sanctuary of Zoar Baptist Church in Deltaville, Virginia was destroyed. Last weekend a tornado shredded the town of Varina, Iowa but spared the St. Columbkille Church, although the parish hall was destroyed. God moves in mysterious ways. 

"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions."

Nicolas Cage had some good news to ponder yesterday in his New Orleans cell after being arrested for domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. His copy of Action Comics #1 which was stolen from him ten years ago was recovered after it turned up in the auctioned contents of  a storage locker earlier in the week. He can give it to his son Kal-El if the IRS doesn't seize it first. A copy sold at auction for $1 million last year. 

"All failures - neurotics, psychotics, criminals, drunkards, problem children, suicides, perverts, and prostitutes - are failures because they are lacking in social interest" 

Serial killers are forty times more likely to target prostitutes. Since Jack the Ripper and probably since the beginning of urban civilization this has been true. Prostitutes are available. They put themselves in the vulnerable position of being  alone with strangers. There may be a misguided impression among law enforcement that they are getting what they deserve or that they are not as high value a case as the murdered housewife or businessman. 

The Los Angeles Times turns to the opposite coast today to give us an overview of the grisly discoveries on Long Island. The Daily Mail in the UK also has a report. The Daily Beast tells the story of one young woman.

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." 

Streamside, South Hiram, Maine, John Bonanno photo

Rowboats at Rest, John Bonanno photograph

Bunker, Peaks Island, April 8, 2011, John Bonanno photograph

Sweepings
And Quotes


"I would like to apologise from my heart over the worries and troubles we are causing for society due to the release of radiological materials into the atmosphere and sea water. We caused worry and trouble for having made this decision without taking sufficient time to explain the matter beforehand to those involved, to the press, to the fishing industry and to people overseas, and we are sorry for this." Sakae Muto, a TEPCO vice president today.

"For the disaster-struck areas to recover their vitality, the entire Japanese economy needs to be vibrant. I would like to see a limit to extreme self-restraint."-Yoshihiro Murai, the governor of Miyagi Prefecture

Here Comes The Putzmeister!

A Russian Antonov cargo plane loads a Putzmeister concrete/water pump at Atlanta today for transportation to its last job at Fukushima Daiishi. 

"Like others all over the world, our thoughts have been on helping the people of Japan. Fortunately, we have a piece of equipment that's working to help cool the reactors, so we're moving fast to get additional pumps to Japan."-Dave Adams, chief executive, Putzmeister America

The leader of Japan's largest crime syndicate, Kenichi Shinoda, 69, was released from jail today after serving a five year sentence for illegal gun possession. He had previously done time for killing another Yakuza with a samurai sword.

Radiation levels at Fukushima Daiishi continue to be kept quite secret.

Large areas of northeast Japan continue to lack electrical power after Friday's strong aftershock.

The Moment Of The Tsunami At Fukushima Daiishi

Trails in the Sky
Or, How to Ruin a Beautiful Day
Southern Maine
December 30, 2010 
about 12:30

I wonder why?

"Chatham Sand Scape" John Bonanno photograph

We just got back from a weekend on Cape Cod. This is the time to go unless you need summer heat. Traffic is thinner and dining establishments are less frenzied. Our compliments go Tom and Rick, the proprietors of Captain David Kelley House Bed and Breakfast in Centerville. Thank you for the exquisite breakfasts and superb lodging.

"Lovely Poppies" John Bonanno photograph, June 26, 2010

Old Ideas Going Nowhere

"Recruits! Before the sacred servants of God and in sight of this altar, you have sworn loyalty to me. You are still too young to understand the true meaning of what has just been spoken. But be diligent and follow the prescribed regulations and teachings always. You have sworn loyalty to me. That means, children of my Guards, you are now my soldiers. You have given yourselves to me, body and soul. There is for you but one enemy, and he is my enemy. With the current socialist machinations it can happen that I order you to shoot your own relatives, brothers, even parents--may God prevent it--but even then you must obey my order without a murmur."-Kaiser Wilhelm II at the Swearing-in of New Recruits in Potsdam, November 23, 1891, according to the Neisser Zeitung

Congressional reform can only be achieved if measures are taken to prevent any citizen having inordinate influence over the body. No foreign entities should have any influence over Congress. Only citizens should have the ability to petition Congress.

Idea: One may not petition a politician who does not represent the district in which that citizen resides.

Professional Lobbying would become almost prohibitively expensive. 

Idea: Make it a felony crime for a citizen to accept payment from a corporate entity or any other organization to "lobby" Congress.

Lobbying, the influence of Congress by proxy, would disappear.

Idea: Increase the size of Congress. Each representative should represent 50,000 citizens as it was at the founding of the republic. It would cost a lot of money to buy the majority of 6,000 congressmen; it would be even more difficult to keep all those members quiet about special arrangements that may occur.

A much larger Congress would be difficult to buy.

Idea: If Congress wants to pass a law, it must abolish an old one first.

There are more laws in existence than any one person can know or understand. This makes "ignorance of the law" the natural state of any citizen, therefore making him vulnerable to the authorities for crimes of which he is ignorant. We all know the adage "Ignorance of the Law is no excuse." This is unacceptable in a democracy. The garden of Law must be weeded out.

Idea: Choose Congress by lot. It would be a better, more representative group than the bought puppets we watch now.

The farce we call "the electoral process" gives us corporate whores. Congress must represent the people. 

Idea: Make it a felony crime for anyone to "lobby" politicians on behalf of anyone but themselves or their immediate family.

Q: Why is there no inflation despite the deficit spending? 

A: The Fed prints the money, not the government.

The government borrows these fiat dollars from the Fed. There is no way the big banks want to be paid back in inflated dollars, although this would benefit the people who would pay back loans with cheap dollars, therefore, the money in circulation was limited.
In recent decades, until the precipitous collapse of the game in 2008, unlimited money for lending was made available to banks by the Federal Reserve at low interest. This easy money was lent out at hight interest for credit card purchases and exploding mortgages with slight qualification attached.  Actual money supply (which now seems to be a state secret) was not increased, that is, greenbacks were not printed to represent the funny money being loaned out. There were not enough dollars printed to allow the economy to service these loans. The people never had a chance make good on all the money borrowed because the moderate inflation that would have been required for this was intolerable to the banks. Wages actually fell even taking into consideration the limited inflation allowed by the system. The banks preferred the prospect of repossessing properties rather than being paid back in cheap inflated dollars. They also influenced Congress to "reform" bankruptcy law to prevent the average worker from claiming bankruptcy protection in any meaningful way. This march to the neo-feudalism continues.

Idea: Make stockholders personally responsible for the crimes of the entities they own.

The most immediate reform that would save lives and money: abolish all drug laws.
But I know none of these things will happen. The rulers of world would rather plunge it into chaos than lessen themselves. 

War is the greatest of all crimes yet there is no aggressor who does not color his crime with the pretext of justice.-Voltaire

Sunday Afternoon Martini
John Bonanno photograph, June 6, 2010

My Martini recipe:
1 3/4 ounces of gin (in this case it was New Amsterdam Gin, a surprisingly good offering with a distinct citrus flavor from Gallo)
3/4 ounce of Lillet
A Dash of Orange Bitters
Tossed in a shaker half full of crushed ice.
Shake and pour into a martini glass.
Enjoy. And resist the urge to gulp it down quickly.

 On the Beach, John Bonanno photo of my daughter Nicki, who is having a baby this week.



This Week's Maine Words of the Day 
Part Two

Maine word of the day: "puncheon" slab lumber used back in the day for flooring and much valued in old homes today. From the French word for "cask for liquor," 1479, from M.Fr. poinchon (13c.), of unknown origin. Uncertain connection with puncheon "slab of timber" (1466), also "pointed tool for punching" 1425–75; M...E ponchoun, punchon < MF ponçon, perh. to be identified with puncheon.

Maine word of the Day: "Fitten" adj. Proper, seemly, example: "It not fitten they gave Alex a letter of warning the day before he retired."

Maine word of the day: "Corn Sweat" a heated effort to cajole or convince, from boiled ears of corn laid alongside a patient under the covers to get him to sweat out a fever. example: "My supervisor thought he could corn sweat me to get  back in eight hours by waving  around the numbers  but I had eight certs, fifteen parcels ...and my DPS was an ugly mess and that just aint in the numbers."

Maine word of the day: "squaretail" the brook trout, not to be confused with a "togue" the lake trout which has a forked tail.

Maine Word of the Day: "Sport" a paying guest at a hunting or fishing camp who has hired a registered guide. example: "Lester's pretty ugly about the sports crowdin' his fishin' spot but they paid for his new truck."

Maine word of the day: "Cowbeef" meat from a cow which has outlived her milking days. Not too savory.

Quote of the Day

"Unto the lewd all things are lewd."-Theodore Schroeder

Intrepid Letter Carrier John Gorham (now retired) would love to help you in a disaster.
John Bonanno photograph, December 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - If the nation ever faces a large-scale attack by a biological weapon like anthrax, the U.S. Postal Service will be in charge of delivering whatever drugs and other medical aid Americans would need to survive. In an executive order released Wednesday, President Barack Obama put the Postal Service in charge of dispensing "medical countermeasures" to biological weapons because of its "capacity for rapid residential delivery." The Rest Of The Story Is Here
The President's Executive Order Is Here

As many of you may know, I am a letter carrier in the USPS who will be retiring December 1, 2010. And, as usual, I have an opinion on this story. The President has made a "feel good" statement to the public in this executive order and nothing more. And I do agree that the USPS is the only organization capable of carrying out this mission. However, the letter carrier who will be tasked to deliver emergency supplies in an environment contaminated with nuclear, biological or chemical agents has received no training to succeed under these conditions. There are no personnel tasked to to train the letter carrier and there is no program to do so. There is no protective equipment now available for the letter carrier to perform this task safely. There are no stocks of supplies warehoused that could be distributed in an emergency. The Postal Service certainly does not have the money to prepare for this function and no funds have been appropriated by Congress for this purpose. The President has not made clear how the Postal Service will prepare to perform in this potentially hazardous environment, nor where it will get the money to train personnel and stage the necessary material needed to successfully achieve this goal. In other words, this is nothing but propaganda. At this time this order is a wish, not a program. The Devil is always in the Details.

Quotes From The Executive Order:

"This policy would seek to: (1) mitigate illness and prevent death; (2) sustain critical infrastructure; and (3) complement and supplement State, local, territorial, and tribal government medical countermeasure distribution capacity."

"In support of the national U.S. Postal Service model, the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Defense, and the Attorney General, in coordination with the U.S. Postal Service, and in consultation with State and local public health, emergency management, and law enforcement officials, within 180 days of the date of this order, shall develop an accompanying plan for supplementing local law enforcement personnel, as necessary and appropriate, with local Federal law enforcement, as well as other appropriate personnel, to escort U.S. Postal workers delivering medical countermeasures."
-Barack Obama, Executive Order, "ESTABLISHING FEDERAL CAPABILITY FOR THE TIMELY PROVISION OF MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES FOLLOWING A BIOLOGICAL ATTACK" December 30, 2009

This Order indicates that we should have some details on its implementation some time in early July. There is no provision for funding in the order.

Quote of the Day

"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."-Dr. Samuel Johnson, (who was born 300 years ago 19 September last) Boswell's Life of Johnson

"The Promise of Summer" John Bonanno photograph

In case you didn't notice, the government has been privatized. The Failed Financiers are in charge. We are their insurance; we are the cattle. Have a nice day. Work hard. The Process is more Important than the People. But if you are One of the Very Special Persons, then you are the Process. How very lucky you are! Feed well on us.

"Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer."-Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book IV Chapter VIII

"Three Rowboats", Appledore Island, New Hampshire, John Bonanno Photograph

Yes, I am reluctant to admit it but Google is fun. Lately I have been setting up custom news feeds for my Google News page.
You can see them here. LINK
It is an interesting mind game setting up keyword links for subjects that keep stories on topic.
Hint: avoid words with many meanings and high use words.

"Art has to do with the arrest of attention in the midst of distraction."
-Saul Bellow

"Concentrate: you can't have it all."
-Twyla Tharp

"Immature Poppy Pod" photo by John Bonanno, July 2009

Observations On Veteran's Day

Here's a message to cable channels with a high definition feed: I will not watch your programming if you distort or stretch the picture in any way to fill the screen of a 16:9 TV.

It's being reported today that Major Hasan never submitted a formal request to leave the military. But he did submit an informal but very emphatic request on the 5th of November. Under the UCMJ Hasan may face the death penalty. Don't count on it. There has been no military execution since 1961. The President must approve all military executions.

They're digging in Bates City (a perfect name for a crime scene), Missouri for evidence after five men ( a 77 year old father and his four sons) were arrested for various sex crimes against children. The charges include giving an 11 year old girl an abortion, forcing children to have sex with dogs, rape, sodomy, and possibly worse. There may be bodies. But the victims say the perps told them to write down their bad experiences and bury them in jars and the bad memories would go away. I hope they find the jars. Oh yeah, this was a multi-generational Mohler family tradition. (LINK)

It happens every now and then. Another idiot went to his high school reunion as a Marine in uniform wearing military decorations he didn't earn. 39 year old Steven Burton of Palm Springs, California arrived wearing a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and, get this, the highest honor the Department of the Navy bestows, the Navy Cross. Very impressive, very ballsy. Unfortunately for Stevie, a female Navy Commander attending the gala event smelled a rat and had her picture taken with him and then sent it to the FBI. They determined that Steve had never served in any branch of the military. I almost feel sorry for such a pathetic creature. His life must really be empty. He could do as much as a year in a federal penitentiary. Well, he'll have some stories to tell at his next high school reunion. (facts from the Marine Times) (LINK)

Oh, by the way, North and South Korea are at each other's throats again and are at high alert.

Germany has sentenced Alexander Wiens to life in prison with no possibility of parole for stabbing (sixteen times) a pregnant Egyptian woman, Marwa Sherbini in a Dresden courtroom last July. She died at the defamation trial of Wiens who had called her a "terrorist" and "Islamist" for wearing a head covering in a children's playground. Needless to say, German/Egyptian relations are at a nadir. The Dresden Orchestra has canceled a visit to Egypt. If you have a German name I wouldn't recommend a trip to the pyramids right now. (thanks for the details to the BBC)

The President of the World Bank is worried about the faster than expected recovery in Asia. I don't get it either.

An 11 year old Boston kid, Jigme Wangchuk, (sounds like a hockey player) has been declared the reincarnation of His Holiness the Second Galwa Lorepa, a lama who died in 1250 in Tibet. His parents have given up their Boston restaurant and moved back to the old country which would be in the old Himalayan town of Darjeeling. The lad will reside in the Drukpa Sangag Choeling Monastery and be trained to perform his duties as Rinpoche. I hope he's a Red Sox fan. Spin a few wheels for them and chant a few prayers towards Fenway, son, er Master. (LINK)

My friend Vyzygoth pointed out that John Allen Muhammad was executed yesterday at 9:11PM. It must be a coincidence. Ah, I can barely recall those weird tales of the shooters from the old days of 2002. Yeah, something about a homeless drifter who had the money to do a lot of traveling to the Caribbean, buy some nice weaponry, support a "foster" son, and whatnot. He died proclaiming his innocence.

The Haunted Tree, South Hiram, Maine, October 28, 2004, photo by John Bonanno

"O Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees" - Herbert Trench, 1907

Listen to the third take (God help us) on Aldous Huxley with myself and Vyzygoth now posted at Think Or Be Eaten Radio here.
Aldous Huxley narrates a radio broadcast version of Brave New World Here.

"Piggies"- John Bonanno photograph, August 2009

"Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure -- one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."-David Rockefeller, Memoirs, 2002

"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis, and the nations will accept the New World Order."-David Rockefeller, 1994 UN dinner, both quoted by Larry Flynt at Huffington Post

"I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay their hands on everything they can get."-- Napoleon Bonaparte

Random Thought, or, A Didactic Pronouncement on Baby Talk:

Talking "baby talk" to a baby is dis-functional, condescending and self-indulgent. Speak to a baby in clear and simple language as if you were speaking to a fully formed human being, for that is exactly what it is. Speak as intelligently, lovingly and as truthfully as possible. You and your child will benefit.

Stone and Shadow, John Bonanno photograph, 2008

Anubis gives strength to my legs and I lift myself up,
Sekhet clears the way to heaven,
My wishes are known in the house of the Ka of Ptah,
I know my own heart, having mastered its passions,
My hands and arms are returned transformed and deft,
I can move with speed my feet and legs that I may go.
I do what is pleasing to my Ka.
My soul is free of the rotting corpse recently bequeathed to Anubis.
The Gates of Amenta burst open, I depart in Peace.

-a paraphrase by John Bonanno from the Egyptian Book of the Dead

This passage is about getting out of Hell, a valuable piece of knowledge.

Papaver Somniferum, John Bonanno photograph, 2009

Cushing In The Sun, Beth Bonanno photograph, 2009

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."-Karl Marx, Capital

I believe Marx saw the varied phenomena of do-gooders as futile manifestations of a guilt complex. Conservatives usually insist on a similar analysis, which, of course, is a kind of atheistic nihilism.

"The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere."-Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto

Marx saw the fallacy of globalism before almost anyone else. Unfortunately his solution (Global Communism confronting Global Capitalism) compounded the problem. Perhaps that was the plan all along. In this case the call to arms of one global movement for battle against another global movement presents little choice at all since the desired result, hidden in plain sight and occult to the many, is Globalism. Communism and Capitalism are irrelevant distractions.

"The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is indeed the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man, state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is therefore indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.
Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."-Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction

At the head of this entry, Cushing, my Boston Terrier is contemplating Marx. And so am I. Marx has been so demonized by the prevailing, recently triumphant, but rapidly declining Capitalist mode one can instantly marginalize himself by the mere admission of having perused and analyzed Marx' thinking and writing. As spiritually and functionally dead as Marxism in practice has proven itself to be, one may garner knowledge from the man Karl Marx. I have long stated that Capitalism and Communism are two sides of the same materialist coin. And this coin has been absolutely debased and its plated dross desperately attempts to simulate spiritual gold. On reading Karl's famous statement that religion 'is the opium of the people' in context, one is led by him to conclude that religion, in practice, in an oppressed world cannot provide true spirituality. (Whether Marx entertains the possibility that such a thing exists is glossed over.) This passage implies that only in a liberated world may one properly pursue what is the object of religion. I disagree, the object of religion must be attained to liberate the world; but this much repeated, truncated, and mangled quote simplifies in a most banal way Marx' essential argument: organized religion provides comfort in misery by indefinitely delaying a possibly fantastic and certainly untestable reward for the common man's endless struggles and serves the masters of the world in so doing. Opium and religion are both incredibly good at what they do to those who are susceptible. It is error to confound the goals of establishment religion and the longings of men and women for the sublime other.

A case in point:

"A Christian man is the most free lord of all and subject to none"-Martin Luther 1520

"And should the peasants prevail (which God forbid!), -- for all things are possible to God, and we know not but that he is preparing for the judgment day, which cannot be far distant, and may purpose to destroy, by means of the devil, all order and authority and throw the world into wild chaos, -- yet surely they who are found, sword in hand, shall perish in the wreck with clear consciences, leaving to the devil the kingdom of this world and receiving instead the eternal kingdom. For we are come upon such strange times that a prince may more easily win heaven by the shedding of blood than others by prayers."-Martin Luther, Against the Rioting Peasants, retitled by its publisher as Against The Murderous Thieving Hordes of Peasants, 1525

Luther admitted that the goals of his movement were now identical with the interests of those who possessed political power and that the peasants whom he had previously championed and had supported him, were shit out of luck. The peasants had the choice between Rome's Catholicism and the local nobles' Protestantism, both of which would screw them into the ground. It was a false dilemma, not even a modicum of freedom was an option for the masses, and the 'reformed' Protestant nobility of Germany killed at least a hundred thousand revolting peasants. Luther's freedom was only the freedom to be Lutheran instead of Catholic. Political freedom was out of the question.

"--People do not know how dangerous lovesongs can be, the auric egg of Russell warned occultly. The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside. For them the earth is not an exploitable ground but the living mother. The rarefied air of the academy and the arena produce the sixshilling novel, the musichall song. France produces the finest flower of corruption in Mallarme but the desirable life is revealed only to the poor of heart, the life of Homer's Phaeacians."-James Joyce, Ulysses

Coming Soon: Marx and Hegel! The Dialectic!

Polyphemus, Hellenistic head, 160 B.C.E., Boston Museum of Fine Arts, John Bonanno photograph. Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, was the man-eating cyclops of the Odyssey who was blinded by the clever Odysseus; his name means "famous" in Greek.

Charles Darwin, Monster and Racist (or, Polyphemus Long Ago)

Whatever one may think of evolutionary theory, there can be no doubt that Charles Darwin was troubled by the fecundity of the 'very poor' sorts of men and his ideas on natural selection (applied to social economics and termed by Herbert Spencer as "survival of the fittest" or "social darwinism") seemed to conflict with his Malthusian influenced notion that the 'superior' types might be overwhelmed by billions and billions of the immoral 'degraded' types. But is it really surprising that Darwin would worry about the "descent" of men and the danger of inferior types when his father was a financier and medical doctor to the upper class and his mother was a Wedgewood and he married his cousin, another Wedgewood of the fabulous porcelain fortune begun when Josiah Wedgewood was allowed by the crown to call his state of the art product, "Queen's Ware"? Darwin was concerned that his poor health was connected with inbreeding yet this and his Malthusian fear of overpopulation didn't prevent him and Emma Wedgewood from having ten children, a brood that in a lower class, non-Saxon family would have horrified him. Let Darwin's words speak for themselves:

"A most important obstacle in civilised countries to an increase in the number of men of a superior class has been strongly insisted on by Mr. Greg and Mr. Galton (19. 'Fraser's Magazine,' Sept. 1868, p. 353. 'Macmillan's Magazine,' Aug. 1865, p. 318. The Rev. F.W. Farrar ('Fraser's Magazine,' Aug. 1870, p. 264) takes a different view.), namely, the fact that the very poor and reckless, who are often degraded by vice, almost invariably marry early, whilst the careful and frugal, who are generally otherwise virtuous, marry late in life, so that they may be able to support themselves and their children in comfort. Those who marry early produce within a given period not only a greater number of generations, but, as shewn by Dr. Duncan (20. 'On the Laws of the Fertility of Women,' in 'Transactions of the Royal Society,' Edinburgh, vol. xxiv. p. 287; now published separately under the title of 'Fecundity, Fertility, and Sterility,' 1871. See, also, Mr. Galton, 'Hereditary Genius,' pp. 352-357, for observations to the above effect.), they produce many more children. The children, moreover, that are borne by mothers during the prime of life are heavier and larger, and therefore probably more vigorous, than those born at other periods. Thus the reckless, degraded, and often vicious members of society, tend to increase at a quicker rate than the provident and generally virtuous members. Or as Mr. Greg puts the case: "The careless, squalid, unaspiring Irishman multiplies like rabbits: the frugal, foreseeing, self-respecting, ambitious Scot, stern in his morality, spiritual in his faith, sagacious and disciplined in his intelligence, passes his best years in struggle and in celibacy, marries late, and leaves few behind him. Given a land originally peopled by a thousand Saxons and a thousand Celts--and in a dozen generations five-sixths of the population would be Celts, but five- sixths of the property, of the power, of the intellect, would belong to the one-sixth of Saxons that remained. In the eternal 'struggle for existence,' it would be the inferior and LESS favoured race that had prevailed--and prevailed by virtue not of its good qualities but of its faults."-Charles Darwin 1809-1882, The Descent of Man, 1871

Yes, it is all about class.

"The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer of the Survival of the Fittest is more accurate and is sometimes equally convenient."-Charles Darwin

"Centaurea macrocephala, Great Golden Knapweed, Armenian Basketflower"
John Bonanno photograph, Hiram, Maine, July 11, 2009

Helios finally deigned to shine on Maine this morning displaying flora to great effect. Centaurea was the herb of Chiron, the centaur. This specimen is about to peak. The big flower heads of this species, hence macrocephala, can be seen here in all states of bud and bloom.