Greetings Gentle Readers!!
I haven't written a blog in quite a while.....nothing has inspired me to opine about anything....all of the folks in our government are clowns and morons.....the stuff I read in the newspaper gets weirder and weirder.....how can I write anything like "today I saw something really weird in the newspaper" when this happens daily. Before I go to the US Civil War, I did see the head of ObamaCare say that "only" 5% of Americans have had their health care policies canceled (something BO said wouldn't/couldn't happen) and realized that the "only 5%" of Americans was something like 15 million people!!!!!
But onto another topic. I've just finished a class on the US Civil War and while I found it interesting, it was also very depressing.....the North's use of "total war", destroying everything, anything in the South that might be useful to the war effort was burned, looted, left as debris. The horrors of the Andersonville Prison Camp where Yankee POWs were starved to the point of looking like survivors of Auschwitz....a horrible, huge tragedy.
Reconstruction of the South produced little good and lots of bad. Which brings me to some questions: Lincoln was assassinated after Lee surrendered but before the war had officially ended. What would have happened if he had survived?? What plan, if any, did he have for the south and how did he envision "reconstruction"??? No one will ever know.
Did he have some plan for those freed from bondage?? Too many of the former slaves were unprepared for "freedom", in that, all they know of life was working on the plantation, all their parents and grandparents knew of life was working on the plantation. To say "lucky you, you're now free!! Go forth and take care of yourself" was unfair to them. If the plan of "40 acres and a mule" had been carried out, it is possible that so much of the ugly that happened later could have been avoided.
If Andrew Johnson, a former tailor with suspected Southern leanings, had not been president, but one of the strong abolitionists had been.....could this country have escaped from the war with more understanding and better economics than share-cropping???
One of the lessons I learned from my class was how "special", the "special institution" of slavery in the southern US was AT THAT TIME....Europe, England, etc. had banned slavery by 1861 and, it seems to be unique to the South, that after the ban on importation of slaves from Africa in 1807, that the whites set up what seems to have been a "breeding" program to get more slaves.....the break up of families was not uncommon...this didn't happen in places like Brazil, a country with lots of slaves or the Caribbean.....It was a US institution.....thanks to rich planters in the South with no conscience what so ever.
And all of us are still paying for their greed and lack of humanity.....rich, greedy, fat, pig-headed morons.....thanks guys for killing 100s of thousands of people to satisfy your desire for the easy life.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, September 2, 2013
Syria, BO's Red Line in the Sand, and his Stand with Congress, some thoughts
Greetings Gentle Readers,
Our beloved prez, BO, made a slight blunder when he spoke "off the cuff" and not off the teleprompter and said that if Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, that this would be a "red line in the sand", or some verbiage like that, and that "we" would do something if this happened.
So it happened and Assad is killing his own people with impunity and Sarin gas.....oops!! So much for BO's threat!! The whole world is now waiting for BO's shot across the bow, whatever that is supposed to mean!! His threat sounds too much like "if you don't stop doing that, I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue", or like something on a playground when the bully smacks some kid who says "I'm going to get even with you. I'm going to hit you. I don't know how hard, I don't know when, I don't know in what part of your body I'm going to hit you, but I'm going to hit you!! after I check with my mother to see if that's ok." The schoolyard bully would then clean BO's clock, or whatever moron would say something so stupid.
BO does have a plan in place....blame Congress!! If Congress says no to his chance to do something to the bully....it's all Congress' fault that Assad keeps using poison gas. If Congress says yes, then it is all Congress' fault that we are involved in Syria.....I'll give him credit for that one, whenever possible pass the blame onto someone else.
I don't like the fact that Syrian civilians are getting gassed. I don't like it one bit. I don't like the present Assad or his father....And we can ultimately blame the British and French for the mess in the Middle East.....their solution to divide "Arabia" into countries and promise the Jews a homeland has caused the deaths of far too many people.....The extremists Israelis claim their were no Palestinian people, that was an artificial creation by the British, as was the Syrian people, the Iraqi people, the Jordanian people......and that the Palestinians should just go away and let the Jews have their birthright.....this argument doesn't fly with me.
For the Syrians, you have Assad and his Shiites fighting the Sunnis who have joined with El Qaida....pick your poison as to which group is worse. Assad is also strongly backed by the Iranians and the Russians (and, if Putin said there was a red line in the sand, I would believe him!! he says what he means and means what he says.) So if we attack Assad, then we will be rubbing both the Iranians and the Russians the wrong way.....Lovely.
I can see no reason for US troops to get involved in Syria, a place where the civil war is between two forces who are not friends of the US....and what will bombing Syria do??? Kill innocent people, make everybody angry and do no good.
If we, the US, do anything it should be, in my humble opinion, to either drop some missile into Assad's bedroom or to send some Navy Seals in to capture the miscreant, bring him to the Hague and put him on trial.
UGH!! YUCH!! PTUI!!
Thank god NFL football starts this week!!!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Women Working as Domestics/MLK Jr.'s Speach "I have a dream"....
Greetings Gentle Readers!!
I have been interested in "Southern Rock" for a while, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and others from the 70s and found this great video of that era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_E1I-ERdJYU
And it is a good video, but at the 40 second mark there is a scene from the south of the cinema of a happy African American "Domestic" serving dinner to her "white" family with what looks like a sense of joy, or "I'm so pleased that I can serve my gourmet delights to my 'white' family".....this is so much bs and nonsense......If a woman had children and no husband or man to contribute income, or if the woman was unmarried, what types of employment were available to them back to my grandmothers' days?? By being a nurse or teacher, if she was fortunate enough to have been educated......and the other choices were prostitution and domestic service. Domestic service was poor paying and made the woman put the lives and well being of their employers above the lives and well being of their own children.
I think that all of my female ancestors who weren't married and some who were worked as domestics....absolutely true of my father's family who arrived in the US in the 1860s and also true of my mother's family who arrived in the early 1900s....the early immigrants suffered a lot but by the 2nd and 3rd generation, the unmarried women died off and the married women produced offspring who were able to do better than their parents....in general....I must add here that my father's relatives tended to work in the leather factories of the Peabody/Salem area and none of the men lived to be 60.....consider Gentle Readers that our skin is our hide and when tanning leather without any sort of concern for the workers, their skin got tanned as well, not to mention breathing in toxic waste at the work place.......the only person I am related to that worked in the leather factories who lived beyond 60 was my grandfather.....he left school at 15, along with every other son of a poor family and went to work in the leather factory.....but he got somehow identified as being bright and was moved into an office, sent to North Eastern University on the leather company's dime and ended up with many single author patents.....
Now I come to the main topic of today's blog, MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech and how this relates to what I have written today....As we look at today's society in the USA, we can see African Americans as president, as politicians, as wealthy sports personalities and not weird to see in the work place......but MLK Jr's dream is nothing but a dream to too many African Americans.....the homicide rate, the black against black violence, the utter hopelessness for youngsters growing up in housing projects who see their local dealer as an example of an "entrepreneur".....I am not sure what was the difference between the Irish, who were discriminated against, etc.....I had a book once "How the Irish became White"....it was too boring to read so I gave it away....but somehow JFK became president and now, when Kerry ran for president, his being Irish was not even mentioned.....This is not true for Obama's presidency or for too many African Americans......I must say that Obama has done little or nothing to help African Americans, particularly the young men, to become part of society......but this is an issue that effects us all......The Irish, not always, but very often, had a family to back them up, to support them.....not always, but most often, the children in a family had the same parents.....this is too often not the case with African Americans......and I can say, in regards to myself, that the short period of time when my family structure was ruptured, and my siblings and I were in essentially foster care for a month.....that in no way could I have been as successful as I have been.....I need peace, quiet, calmness, etc to study and without it, I wonder if I would have graduated from high school......
And this is where we stand now in regards to "I have a Dream." And how to fix this.....I am clueless.
I have been interested in "Southern Rock" for a while, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and others from the 70s and found this great video of that era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_E1I-ERdJYU
And it is a good video, but at the 40 second mark there is a scene from the south of the cinema of a happy African American "Domestic" serving dinner to her "white" family with what looks like a sense of joy, or "I'm so pleased that I can serve my gourmet delights to my 'white' family".....this is so much bs and nonsense......If a woman had children and no husband or man to contribute income, or if the woman was unmarried, what types of employment were available to them back to my grandmothers' days?? By being a nurse or teacher, if she was fortunate enough to have been educated......and the other choices were prostitution and domestic service. Domestic service was poor paying and made the woman put the lives and well being of their employers above the lives and well being of their own children.
I think that all of my female ancestors who weren't married and some who were worked as domestics....absolutely true of my father's family who arrived in the US in the 1860s and also true of my mother's family who arrived in the early 1900s....the early immigrants suffered a lot but by the 2nd and 3rd generation, the unmarried women died off and the married women produced offspring who were able to do better than their parents....in general....I must add here that my father's relatives tended to work in the leather factories of the Peabody/Salem area and none of the men lived to be 60.....consider Gentle Readers that our skin is our hide and when tanning leather without any sort of concern for the workers, their skin got tanned as well, not to mention breathing in toxic waste at the work place.......the only person I am related to that worked in the leather factories who lived beyond 60 was my grandfather.....he left school at 15, along with every other son of a poor family and went to work in the leather factory.....but he got somehow identified as being bright and was moved into an office, sent to North Eastern University on the leather company's dime and ended up with many single author patents.....
Now I come to the main topic of today's blog, MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech and how this relates to what I have written today....As we look at today's society in the USA, we can see African Americans as president, as politicians, as wealthy sports personalities and not weird to see in the work place......but MLK Jr's dream is nothing but a dream to too many African Americans.....the homicide rate, the black against black violence, the utter hopelessness for youngsters growing up in housing projects who see their local dealer as an example of an "entrepreneur".....I am not sure what was the difference between the Irish, who were discriminated against, etc.....I had a book once "How the Irish became White"....it was too boring to read so I gave it away....but somehow JFK became president and now, when Kerry ran for president, his being Irish was not even mentioned.....This is not true for Obama's presidency or for too many African Americans......I must say that Obama has done little or nothing to help African Americans, particularly the young men, to become part of society......but this is an issue that effects us all......The Irish, not always, but very often, had a family to back them up, to support them.....not always, but most often, the children in a family had the same parents.....this is too often not the case with African Americans......and I can say, in regards to myself, that the short period of time when my family structure was ruptured, and my siblings and I were in essentially foster care for a month.....that in no way could I have been as successful as I have been.....I need peace, quiet, calmness, etc to study and without it, I wonder if I would have graduated from high school......
And this is where we stand now in regards to "I have a Dream." And how to fix this.....I am clueless.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Why Some "Scientific" Studies in the media bug me....
Greetings Gentle Readers!!!
I frequently get irked when reading the newspaper or listening to tv at the results of "scientific studies" when I know that the "scientists" or reporters have not thought the issue through and have just discovered that 2 + 2 =5........except that isn't true....The wealthy county of Marin, in California, just north of SF, had a larger than normal amount of breast cancer.....why? Well, there was an old airforce base there and they had lots of chemicals.....OMG!! The women of Marin were being poisoned.....except OOOPS!! Upon further study, the women of Marin drank more alcohol, had a different diet, etc., than the women in the other study groups.
This sort of pseudo-science appears everywhere.....there was some controversy about the ancient Greek poet Homer and his ability to tell colors, or anyone being able to tell colors....were they all colorblind then??? How else can you say why Homer never writes about the blue sky and writes about the "wine-dark" sea, when the sea is blue?? Great idea.....but, it has been written that Homer was blind.....and furthermore, mosaics dating back to a couple of hundred years after Homer show normal coloration.....as to "wine dark sea".....the sea can look all kinds of colors depending on the plant life and the light....and "wine dark" makes the sea sound perilous, which it was to the Greeks.
My point, being, engage brain before believing in "scientific studies" in the media.
Which brings me to my main gripe: http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/many-americans-have-no-friends-of-another-race-poll
A big study posted on MSN.com which claimed that many, and it is implied most, Americans have no friends of another race....uummm......I read that and my first thought was, what is the definition of a "friend" for this poll??? Can a co-worker you have lunch with be a friend? Can a neighbor be a friend? Can someone you haven't seen for 15 years but still exchange Christmas cards with be a friend? How often do you have to be in contact to be qualified as a 'friend"? Do you have to like someone for them to be a friend? Can a relative be a friend? or an inlaw? Etc.....what qualifies as a "friend" is never mentioned. Also, what constitutes "another race"? For my crazy Irish Aunties, anyone who wasn't Irish was "another race". Did my friend who is half Chinese and half English who was born and brought up in Hong Kong until she was 12 and then lived in England, who looks English, acts English.....is she "another race"? Would Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, be considered "another race" to "European Americans"? Without defining exactly what you mean, what is say is worthless.
I think a lot of these studies are the product of people who need to publish something, and anything that gets a big reaction, is good.....even if what they write is silly....as in the ancient Greeks being colorblind. The problem comes when people believe these things and quote them as truisms when they are nothing but bull shit.
Comments always welcomed.
I frequently get irked when reading the newspaper or listening to tv at the results of "scientific studies" when I know that the "scientists" or reporters have not thought the issue through and have just discovered that 2 + 2 =5........except that isn't true....The wealthy county of Marin, in California, just north of SF, had a larger than normal amount of breast cancer.....why? Well, there was an old airforce base there and they had lots of chemicals.....OMG!! The women of Marin were being poisoned.....except OOOPS!! Upon further study, the women of Marin drank more alcohol, had a different diet, etc., than the women in the other study groups.
This sort of pseudo-science appears everywhere.....there was some controversy about the ancient Greek poet Homer and his ability to tell colors, or anyone being able to tell colors....were they all colorblind then??? How else can you say why Homer never writes about the blue sky and writes about the "wine-dark" sea, when the sea is blue?? Great idea.....but, it has been written that Homer was blind.....and furthermore, mosaics dating back to a couple of hundred years after Homer show normal coloration.....as to "wine dark sea".....the sea can look all kinds of colors depending on the plant life and the light....and "wine dark" makes the sea sound perilous, which it was to the Greeks.
My point, being, engage brain before believing in "scientific studies" in the media.
Which brings me to my main gripe: http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/many-americans-have-no-friends-of-another-race-poll
A big study posted on MSN.com which claimed that many, and it is implied most, Americans have no friends of another race....uummm......I read that and my first thought was, what is the definition of a "friend" for this poll??? Can a co-worker you have lunch with be a friend? Can a neighbor be a friend? Can someone you haven't seen for 15 years but still exchange Christmas cards with be a friend? How often do you have to be in contact to be qualified as a 'friend"? Do you have to like someone for them to be a friend? Can a relative be a friend? or an inlaw? Etc.....what qualifies as a "friend" is never mentioned. Also, what constitutes "another race"? For my crazy Irish Aunties, anyone who wasn't Irish was "another race". Did my friend who is half Chinese and half English who was born and brought up in Hong Kong until she was 12 and then lived in England, who looks English, acts English.....is she "another race"? Would Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, be considered "another race" to "European Americans"? Without defining exactly what you mean, what is say is worthless.
I think a lot of these studies are the product of people who need to publish something, and anything that gets a big reaction, is good.....even if what they write is silly....as in the ancient Greeks being colorblind. The problem comes when people believe these things and quote them as truisms when they are nothing but bull shit.
Comments always welcomed.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Misuse of Animals in Zoos in what seems like good causes
Greetings Gentle Readers!
I was reading an article about how visually impaired children were able to get up close and touch an anesthetized tiger. At first, I thought how nice for the children, but then started to think about the tiger......he was not "anesthetized" specifically so that the children could touch him......he was "put out" for a "physical exam" and while out, the kiddies got to stroke his tongue, mess with his fur, etc.....Gentle Readers, imagine if you were anesthetized for surgery and found weird, unfamiliar smells or stuff on your tongue?? Or someone else's perfume on your body?? ...coming out of surgery and discovering yourself having been sprayed with an overwhelming dose of Chanel no. 5??? I think this is an invasion of the tiger's privacy to the point of abuse....I'm sorry that visually impaired children can't get up close and personal with a tiger under better conditions....but tigers are not designed so that humans can get up close and personal and those that try, end up being dinner or "road kill" to the tiger. Damn it!! Give the tiger some respect.
While this riles me, it isn't as bad, IMHO, as when a SF zoo gorilla was dying of heart failure, and instead of letting him die of natural causes, or "putting him to sleep"....a policy I don't agree with.....the zoo allowed cardiac surgeons from UCSF to operate on him.......this sounds just fine and lovely with roses to be given to the MDs for trying to save him from death......EXCEPT....in big capital letters.....the surgeons had no, zero, zip, nil, nada gorilla blood for transfusions....ANY operation on the heart, most operations on anything, require blood for transfusion in case of a problem......as the surgeons had no gorilla blood for transfusions, nothing they did could HELP that gorilla live a longer life. They were just having a fun time playing doctor with a strange "to them" species.
I believe in respect for all living things (except maybe mosquitos and crab grass...and maybe cock roaches..) . I am not a member of PETA, and do see reasons why animals are used in scientific experiments where the results might help mankind or other living kind, and I am a carnivore. But this use of zoo animals as toys for human amusement reminds me of the bad old days of the circuses .....Let's stop this nonsense!!!! Respect our fellow creatures!! Don't use zoo animals as nothing but "things".
I was reading an article about how visually impaired children were able to get up close and touch an anesthetized tiger. At first, I thought how nice for the children, but then started to think about the tiger......he was not "anesthetized" specifically so that the children could touch him......he was "put out" for a "physical exam" and while out, the kiddies got to stroke his tongue, mess with his fur, etc.....Gentle Readers, imagine if you were anesthetized for surgery and found weird, unfamiliar smells or stuff on your tongue?? Or someone else's perfume on your body?? ...coming out of surgery and discovering yourself having been sprayed with an overwhelming dose of Chanel no. 5??? I think this is an invasion of the tiger's privacy to the point of abuse....I'm sorry that visually impaired children can't get up close and personal with a tiger under better conditions....but tigers are not designed so that humans can get up close and personal and those that try, end up being dinner or "road kill" to the tiger. Damn it!! Give the tiger some respect.
While this riles me, it isn't as bad, IMHO, as when a SF zoo gorilla was dying of heart failure, and instead of letting him die of natural causes, or "putting him to sleep"....a policy I don't agree with.....the zoo allowed cardiac surgeons from UCSF to operate on him.......this sounds just fine and lovely with roses to be given to the MDs for trying to save him from death......EXCEPT....in big capital letters.....the surgeons had no, zero, zip, nil, nada gorilla blood for transfusions....ANY operation on the heart, most operations on anything, require blood for transfusion in case of a problem......as the surgeons had no gorilla blood for transfusions, nothing they did could HELP that gorilla live a longer life. They were just having a fun time playing doctor with a strange "to them" species.
I believe in respect for all living things (except maybe mosquitos and crab grass...and maybe cock roaches..) . I am not a member of PETA, and do see reasons why animals are used in scientific experiments where the results might help mankind or other living kind, and I am a carnivore. But this use of zoo animals as toys for human amusement reminds me of the bad old days of the circuses .....Let's stop this nonsense!!!! Respect our fellow creatures!! Don't use zoo animals as nothing but "things".
Sunday, July 14, 2013
The Trayvon Martin trial....some thoughts
Greetings Gentle Readers!
I have been thinking about the Trayvon Martin murder and the Zimmerman trial for a while and have a few thoughts that were too many to put on Facebook....
First thought is that is a tragedy for all involved......no one benefitted from Trayvon's murder, except for the media and political extremists who use this "event" to pursue their own political agendas.....notable, in using this tragedy for their own agenda, is of course, our prez....who added fuel to the anti-Zimmerman fire with his comment about if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon.....notice he didn't add...."act like Trayvon"!!!!
But Trayvon is dead and for no other reason than being the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.....So the natural reaction of all of us......somebody is responsible for his death and they must be punished!!! He was SHOT and died from being shot!!! Let's get the SOB who did this.......
But nothing is simple, Gentle Readers.....nothing from who was responsible for starting a war, who was responsible for the death of JC, is it ok for "our" government to spy on us to keep us "safe" from terrorists??? I suspect that even "Billy the Kid" had reasons for murdering the 21 (I think that number is correct) people in his 21 years.
I was not in the courtroom where Zimmerman was tried. I did not hear the evidence. I do know that originally, Zimmerman was not going to be charged with a crime until enough political pressure made it so and then, the jury came back with the same result as did the local DA's office that Zimmerman was not guilty of murder......he was guilty of doing something that was not acceptable politically, but not guilty of murder.......manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter.....maybe.....
I am not trying to defend Zimmerman who looks like a brain dead moron, or as the prosecution claimed, a "wannabe" cop.....but just that.......this was a horrible tragedy I wish hadn't happened.
Now the NAACP wants the Justice Department to charge Zimmerman with depriving Trayvon of his civil rights.....Zimmerman did so!!! Trayvon is now deprived forever of his civil rights!! But Zimmerman has been tried and found "not guilty"....not innocent!! but not guilty. I think it is time to say enough and get on with things. I'm sorry Trayvon will not become an adult, will not become a father....that he is dead. But the more I think of this, the more I consider it a tragedy.....in every sense of the word that tragedy means....I wish it hadn't happened......and don't know of anyway to make the tragedy mean something. Zimmerman has been brought to trial.....Zimmerman's life is ruined as well and he must take care of his own safety lest some militant kill him....a tragedy.
Comments always welcomed.
I have been thinking about the Trayvon Martin murder and the Zimmerman trial for a while and have a few thoughts that were too many to put on Facebook....
First thought is that is a tragedy for all involved......no one benefitted from Trayvon's murder, except for the media and political extremists who use this "event" to pursue their own political agendas.....notable, in using this tragedy for their own agenda, is of course, our prez....who added fuel to the anti-Zimmerman fire with his comment about if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon.....notice he didn't add...."act like Trayvon"!!!!
But Trayvon is dead and for no other reason than being the wrong color in the wrong place at the wrong time.....So the natural reaction of all of us......somebody is responsible for his death and they must be punished!!! He was SHOT and died from being shot!!! Let's get the SOB who did this.......
But nothing is simple, Gentle Readers.....nothing from who was responsible for starting a war, who was responsible for the death of JC, is it ok for "our" government to spy on us to keep us "safe" from terrorists??? I suspect that even "Billy the Kid" had reasons for murdering the 21 (I think that number is correct) people in his 21 years.
I was not in the courtroom where Zimmerman was tried. I did not hear the evidence. I do know that originally, Zimmerman was not going to be charged with a crime until enough political pressure made it so and then, the jury came back with the same result as did the local DA's office that Zimmerman was not guilty of murder......he was guilty of doing something that was not acceptable politically, but not guilty of murder.......manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter.....maybe.....
I am not trying to defend Zimmerman who looks like a brain dead moron, or as the prosecution claimed, a "wannabe" cop.....but just that.......this was a horrible tragedy I wish hadn't happened.
Now the NAACP wants the Justice Department to charge Zimmerman with depriving Trayvon of his civil rights.....Zimmerman did so!!! Trayvon is now deprived forever of his civil rights!! But Zimmerman has been tried and found "not guilty"....not innocent!! but not guilty. I think it is time to say enough and get on with things. I'm sorry Trayvon will not become an adult, will not become a father....that he is dead. But the more I think of this, the more I consider it a tragedy.....in every sense of the word that tragedy means....I wish it hadn't happened......and don't know of anyway to make the tragedy mean something. Zimmerman has been brought to trial.....Zimmerman's life is ruined as well and he must take care of his own safety lest some militant kill him....a tragedy.
Comments always welcomed.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Suspended disbelieve and Jesus in the Opera
Greetings Gentle Readers!!
No time, no blogs.....but I have been inspired tonight to write because I spend a lot of money on a not very good opera, "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene" and wanted explain why it annoyed me....If of all the music was bad enough that 2 of my friends left the opera at intermission, the first time they have EVER done so because they disliked the music.....my gripe was less about the music than the plot.
When seeing a film, opera, play, etc., the spectator is supposed to have "suspended disbelief" which means that although you know that Superman doesn't exist and if so, couldn't fly, you turn off that part of your brain that tells you and enter the fantasy world where he exists and does fly. Or when watching a play, you turn off that part of your brain that says, this isn't real, it is on a stage.....I am not good at that and am always trying to figure out how the fake leaves are coming out of the fake trees....or looking for the wires that let people fly on stage....or wondering about plot inconsistencies and what happened to grandpa who now is appearing on stage as someone else.....to get me into a state of suspended disbelief, you have to do a very good job of....everything.
Which brings me back to the opera, "Mary Magdalene"......In the very beginning Jesus is married to Tamar (some slut with lots of exes, both husbands and boyfriends)...Tamar gets upset when Jesus gets up close and too personal with Mary and wants to have them both stoned....they weren't. Tamar, JC's wife exits the stage never to be seen again....and then JC falls in love with Mary, they consummate their relationship and eventually married and the disciples are horrified that she would commit a sin of the flesh, conveniently forgetting about Tamar, but they marry anyway....Mary is a super big factor in his life, consuls him, is one of his main advisors, etc....when JC decides to go to Jerusalem where he will die, Mary throws a hissy fit but JC goes anyway.
This story lines makes no sense to me from what I have read from the Bible and even more so, from what I have read about the role of women in ancient times. The idea that a woman would have such an important role in what was a Jewish movement at the time (JC was a Jew and was trying to convert Jews and Christianity only became a big movement when Paul went around converting Gentiles...) but this goes beyond my "suspended disbelief." What goes further is that this opera portrays JC as a loving husband, a good guy, a nice guy, who was being badgered by Peter....think about this Gentle Readers....normal, nice kind married folk don't go around wrecking temples, preaching to elders, etc...it takes a fanatic to do this and most fanatics are not nice, kind, well adjusted people....the JC I picture lived a relatively calm life until he went on his ministry and raised hell for a couple of years until the Romans, after having been prodded by the Jew aristocracy, killed him.
The Gnostic gospels don't think JC was half Devine, and I'm ok with this, more than ok with this!! But Joe the carpenter, the guy next door, no.
The playbill said that drama is supposed to stimulate thought and not necessarily be accurate....this opera stimulated MY thoughts but mostly as to why the composer was a moron with no concept of history.
Comments always welcomed.
No time, no blogs.....but I have been inspired tonight to write because I spend a lot of money on a not very good opera, "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene" and wanted explain why it annoyed me....If of all the music was bad enough that 2 of my friends left the opera at intermission, the first time they have EVER done so because they disliked the music.....my gripe was less about the music than the plot.
When seeing a film, opera, play, etc., the spectator is supposed to have "suspended disbelief" which means that although you know that Superman doesn't exist and if so, couldn't fly, you turn off that part of your brain that tells you and enter the fantasy world where he exists and does fly. Or when watching a play, you turn off that part of your brain that says, this isn't real, it is on a stage.....I am not good at that and am always trying to figure out how the fake leaves are coming out of the fake trees....or looking for the wires that let people fly on stage....or wondering about plot inconsistencies and what happened to grandpa who now is appearing on stage as someone else.....to get me into a state of suspended disbelief, you have to do a very good job of....everything.
Which brings me back to the opera, "Mary Magdalene"......In the very beginning Jesus is married to Tamar (some slut with lots of exes, both husbands and boyfriends)...Tamar gets upset when Jesus gets up close and too personal with Mary and wants to have them both stoned....they weren't. Tamar, JC's wife exits the stage never to be seen again....and then JC falls in love with Mary, they consummate their relationship and eventually married and the disciples are horrified that she would commit a sin of the flesh, conveniently forgetting about Tamar, but they marry anyway....Mary is a super big factor in his life, consuls him, is one of his main advisors, etc....when JC decides to go to Jerusalem where he will die, Mary throws a hissy fit but JC goes anyway.
This story lines makes no sense to me from what I have read from the Bible and even more so, from what I have read about the role of women in ancient times. The idea that a woman would have such an important role in what was a Jewish movement at the time (JC was a Jew and was trying to convert Jews and Christianity only became a big movement when Paul went around converting Gentiles...) but this goes beyond my "suspended disbelief." What goes further is that this opera portrays JC as a loving husband, a good guy, a nice guy, who was being badgered by Peter....think about this Gentle Readers....normal, nice kind married folk don't go around wrecking temples, preaching to elders, etc...it takes a fanatic to do this and most fanatics are not nice, kind, well adjusted people....the JC I picture lived a relatively calm life until he went on his ministry and raised hell for a couple of years until the Romans, after having been prodded by the Jew aristocracy, killed him.
The Gnostic gospels don't think JC was half Devine, and I'm ok with this, more than ok with this!! But Joe the carpenter, the guy next door, no.
The playbill said that drama is supposed to stimulate thought and not necessarily be accurate....this opera stimulated MY thoughts but mostly as to why the composer was a moron with no concept of history.
Comments always welcomed.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Greetings Gentle Readers from a new Blog Site.....MySpace, where I have posted blogs for years has created "New MySpace" and no longer has room for blogs or games, the only 2 reasons I was a member of that antiquated "social networking site" so now I am here.
But to attend to the subject at hand, being a potential juror on a murder case with the two suspects being members of MS-13, one of the most vicious gangs in the USA...Salvadorans, Central American in ancestry and without any sort of morals, empathy, sympathy, to anyone other than their fellow gang members. I followed closely the case of Edwin? Eduardo? Edmundo? Edgar? Ramos, a lovely guy who killed a father and his son coming home from a baseball game and mistaking them for members of a rival gang.....Ramos smiled throughout his trial and his lawyer explained that this was a "nervous habit" of his......I don't think so, the guy was a sociopath, psychopath, nutso-fruitcake and belonged behind bars for the rest of his natural life.
So I am a prospective juror in the case of the people against Rivera and Aguilera....I didn't look up the story online until AFTER I was excused from the jury but here is the case: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/
The two defendants, who committed the crime as juveniles and who are now adults, were a piece of work....both with long greasy ponytails, wearing shirts given them by their lawyers.....Rivera made a "reasonable" presentation, but Aguilera, when asked by his lawyer to say "hello" to the jury pool, made a minimum effort to turn his head and that was it.....He was a scary looking guy for someone who appeared to be 5 feet tall and 90 pounds.....I guess that's why those little guys stick together to get strength in numbers.
When I filled out my questionnaire for the lawyers, I wrote about the Ramos trial and I wrote that I think members of MS-13 belong behind bars, etc.....but to my surprise, my questionnaire was not as negative as some people's......the defense attorney said, "I see in your questionnaire that you call all gang members "scum bags".....".
If you read the article about this crime, Gentle Readers, you will read about two young men who belong either deported back to Central American where they can pursue their activities, or in jail here, for the rest of their natural lives after being castrated or at least, being forced to have a vasectomy, to prevent their reproducing their kind.....
scumbags, disgusting scumbags.
Comments welcomed.
But to attend to the subject at hand, being a potential juror on a murder case with the two suspects being members of MS-13, one of the most vicious gangs in the USA...Salvadorans, Central American in ancestry and without any sort of morals, empathy, sympathy, to anyone other than their fellow gang members. I followed closely the case of Edwin? Eduardo? Edmundo? Edgar? Ramos, a lovely guy who killed a father and his son coming home from a baseball game and mistaking them for members of a rival gang.....Ramos smiled throughout his trial and his lawyer explained that this was a "nervous habit" of his......I don't think so, the guy was a sociopath, psychopath, nutso-fruitcake and belonged behind bars for the rest of his natural life.
So I am a prospective juror in the case of the people against Rivera and Aguilera....I didn't look up the story online until AFTER I was excused from the jury but here is the case: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/
The two defendants, who committed the crime as juveniles and who are now adults, were a piece of work....both with long greasy ponytails, wearing shirts given them by their lawyers.....Rivera made a "reasonable" presentation, but Aguilera, when asked by his lawyer to say "hello" to the jury pool, made a minimum effort to turn his head and that was it.....He was a scary looking guy for someone who appeared to be 5 feet tall and 90 pounds.....I guess that's why those little guys stick together to get strength in numbers.
When I filled out my questionnaire for the lawyers, I wrote about the Ramos trial and I wrote that I think members of MS-13 belong behind bars, etc.....but to my surprise, my questionnaire was not as negative as some people's......the defense attorney said, "I see in your questionnaire that you call all gang members "scum bags".....".
If you read the article about this crime, Gentle Readers, you will read about two young men who belong either deported back to Central American where they can pursue their activities, or in jail here, for the rest of their natural lives after being castrated or at least, being forced to have a vasectomy, to prevent their reproducing their kind.....
scumbags, disgusting scumbags.
Comments welcomed.
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