Thursday, May 1, 2014

Worthy.

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Underway
The Global Climate Convergence - Earth Day to May Day 2014.
The politicians are what? Fat & corrupt? The electorate is complicit. The labour unions are what? Fat & corrupt? The rank-and-file are complicit. Complicity is what mostly unites us.

(aka: Even to the edge of doom.)

Dan Piraro - Bizarro: elephant in the room.Dan Piraro - Bizarro: elephant in court.

Veja, 11 de outubro de 2006: Each Brazilian works 4 months and 25 days for governments.Cornered: Rat Race.

Newton Silva: Ask me how.
Lose weight. Ask me how!
Go fuck yourself! Ask me how!
Roque Sponholz: A prisoner's prayer.
Lord give me a judgement like the mensaleiros got: a nice Cadillac, an Armani suit, and any little job in the PT government. Amen.

I went looking in the OED for the etymology of 'complacence' (it's from Latin complacere to please, be pleasant) but I hadn't gotten to the root of it when I was distracted by this citation: "1490 Caxton How to Die - "This complacence is vayn glorye."

William Caxton printer's device.Vainglory: glory that is vain, empty, or worthless; inordinate or unwarranted pride in one's accomplishments or qualities; disposition or tendency to exalt oneself unduly; idle boasting or vaunting.

The name 'Caxton' rang a bell sort of and with some poking around I eventually found three versions of 'The Craft of Dying' aka 'The Boke of the crafte of dyenge', his translation of a French work (much recommended by priests and whatnot among the literate classes apparently) which he published in 1490-1, just before his death. At that time, March 31 was year end apparently. That would make April 1st New Year's day. Quite a different paradigm (as they say). You could call Caxton an early blogger in a way.

The book is on-line if you're interested: The Book of the Craft of Dying, Frances Comper, 1917.

On 'worth' & 'worthy' the OED doesn't offer much to repeat - except to note the relationship with currency and monetary value. Literature turns up some richer (and well composted) material:

Wolfram von Eschenbach, 'Parzival': "Parzival, the worthy boy, stood full of rage upon the plain."

In Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales': "A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man, that fro the tyme that he first bigan to ryden out, he loved chivalrye, trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisye. Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre, and therto hadde he riden (no man ferre) as wel in Cristendom as hethenesse, and ever honoured for his worthinesse." [This 'trouthe' echoes other depths: ‘plight one's troth’ and betroth.]

In Launcelot Andrewes' The Revelation of Saint John the Divine we turn up some nuggets, one of them even quoted by Handel to close his 'Messiah': "Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

And Shakespeare gives us: "O no, it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken; it is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken." He's talking about love.

The cowardly Buddhist:
Tsesung Kyab, Shitsang Gonsar Monastery, Gansu Province,Monday February 25, 2013.
When I see twenty-something Buddhist children - numbers of them - burning themselves up I cannot comprehend and so imagine a statement - something like: "I would rather die horribly than submit to your tyranny."

I also have this feeling (even living in oh-so-perfect k-k-k-Canada, imagine!) but, being a coward, I just increase my uptake of Akwesasne cigarettes, indulge less severe self-destructive behaviours than self-immolation, and concoct an array of feckless gestures and let it slide. Oh well.

I ask a friend, who knows Buddhist practice better than I do if these monks and nuns are chaste - it seems germane to me - and he answers, yes, for the most part.

Nominally 'Honourable' & 'Right Honourable', but really really REALLY un-fricken-worthy:
The Honourable Andrew Scheer, M.P. Speaker of the House of Commons.The Right Honourable Stephen Joseph Harper, Prime Minister.The Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.The Honourable Robert Douglas Nicholson, Minister of National DefenceThe Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health.The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Public Works and Government Services.The Honourable John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs.The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board.The Honourable Peter Van Loan, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons.
The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism.The Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie.The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Industry.The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council.The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport.The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of Veterans Affairs.The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
The Honourable Edward Fast, Minister of International Trade.The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Finance.The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, Minister of National Revenue.The Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.The Honourable Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.The Honourable Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women.The Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism, and Agriculture).The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular).The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario).
The Honourable Rob Moore, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency).The Honourable John Duncan, Minister of State and Chief Government Whip.The Honourable Tim Uppal, Minister of State (Multiculturalism).The Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (Seniors).The Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport).The Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Minister of State (Democratic Reform).The Honourable Candice Bergen, Minister of State (Social Development).The Honourable Michelle Rempel, Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification).The Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology).


None of them show evident signs of cretinism or madness. ... Oh sure, these pictures they use are dated - generally a decade or two in the past - but that's just vanity. They probably treat their families and friends pretty well - they can afford to. In short, bog-standard humans with big salaries and inflated but meaningless titles.

Here is a sweet lullabye for all of them, the dishonourables (and Sid Ryan too):
Bona nox!
bist a rechta Ochs;
bona notte,
liebe Lotte;
bonne nuit,
pfui, pfui;
good night, good night,
heut müßma noch weit;
gute Nacht, gute Nacht,
scheiß ins Bett daß' kracht;
gute Nacht, schlaf fei g'sund
und reck' den Arsch zum Mund.

Amadeus Mozart, 1788.
       
Good night!
You are quite an ox;
Good night,
My dear Lotte;
Good night,
Phooey, phooey;
Good night, good night,
We still have far to go today;
Good night, good night,
Shit in your bed and make it burst;
Good night, sleep tight,
And stick your ass to your mouth.

(Translation from Wikipedia.)
 
Thomas Nast, 1877: To the victors belong the spoils.Spruikers & ampsters, barkers, shills, touts, posers & hosers, poseurs & poseuses (no gender bar here), slappers - that's what they are. Integrity? Probity? They ain't got!

There is no human court that will deal justice to them for the ecocide they are perpetrating (keeping Ogden Nash in mind :-). I guess that's yet another motivation to invent an almighty seat of justice somewhere else, an imaginary one; say, in heaven?

"To the victors belong the spoils," attributed by the cartoonist to then American president Andrew Jackson. Why 'spoils' I wonder? Must be some odd kind of honesty kickin' in to call things you have stolen 'spoiled'.


Fat old guy among the moon & stars (from Laerte: D. Ruth e o Novo Mundo #8 14-04-02.



Now if there were some arcane Buddhist practice to take this fat & forgetful old man naked into the moon and stars ... well ... it sure beats burning yourself up eh? (Have'ta look up 'arcane' to make sure of what it means. :-) Gotta love that Alz!)



Be well gentle readers.

¿por qué estamos indignados?


"This is not an ideological revolution. It is driven by an authentic desire to get what you need."
 
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