Visiting Rosemary's Castle

Well, with Rudi & Renate, we did three local castles and a cloister yesterday, all within easy driving distance of Berlin, and were rewarded with the first day of brilliant sunshine in more than a week.
One of the castles has a fantastic restaurant in the courtyard, and there, in Burg Rabenstein, we enjoyed a superb lunch (and could play a natural wood xylophone on the way back down).
So you may all know what sort of place this was, here, in a quickly rendered translation of the text on the back of the postcard-sized admission ticket to climb to the top of the castle tower, is the legend of the castle.

The Legend of Rosemary

A knightly couple that once dwelled in the Castle "Rabenstein" had a daughter named Rosemary. One evening, on Saint John the Baptist's Day, she was sitting at her window looking towards the village of Raben and noticed how much fun the village youth were having playing games and dancing. The desire to take part in this joyful activity grew ever stronger in her breast. Rosemary put on simple clothes and sneaked off to the village and mixed in with the common people. She didn't notice how time passed. Suddenly, the clock struck midnight and the horns sounded from the tower of the castle. That meant that Rabenstein's gates were being closed. The maiden was shaken by fright and rushed back to the castle. But she came too late. Only after much pounding on the door was she let in by the tower guard, who of course reported the incident to the Knight. Rosemary's parents ordered her to appear in the chapel before them and all her ancestors. There, she was accused of serious misconduct and her punishment was pronounced. Rosemary was banned to the tower, invisible for everyone, and had to make twelve shirts from the linen given to her. Upon completion of the shirts, her misconduct would be atoned and she would be free again. However, she was only allowed to sew one stitch every fifty years, unless a bold young man managed to climb up the outside wall of the thirty-meter high tower without any aids whatsoever and unite with her.

Rosemary has now been sitting in the tower for hundreds of years, as young and beautiful as ever, though invisible, and wanders through the castle at midnight.

Once a year, in the night of St. John the Baptist's Day, Rosemary's ancestors arise and gather with her in the chapel to reproach her again and again for her misconduct.

We neither saw her nor tried to free her, but the steak béarnaise in her restaurant was delicious, the xylophone was fun, and the pictures below will show you how much fun you can have on a sunny May day visiting castles just west of Berlin.

Satire Perfect

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with ...
... a rabble rouser of incredible venom, slight intelligence, extreme foxiness, obtuse references, and extreme danger,
then watch this to free yourself from the beckon of beck:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Back in Black - Glenn Beck's Nazi Tourette's
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Visionaries in Berlin

Three dimensionality recycled.

8 May 1945 : 65 Years of Liberation

Nicolas Sarkozy in Alsace
8 mai 1945 : Nicolas Sarkozy en Alsace pour "réparer une injustice" - LeMonde.fr

Nicolas Sarkozy a célébré les 65 ans de la victoire des alliés sur l'Allemagne nazie à Colmar, l'une des dernières villes françaises libérées, où il a rendu hommage aux "malgré nous", samedi 8 mai. Dans un discours d'une quinzaine de minutes, le chef de l'Etat est surtout revenu sur le sort des Alsaciens et Mosellans incorporés de force dans l'armée allemande. "Ceux qui n'ont rien fait pour empêcher cette ignominie perpétrée contre des citoyens français ont trahi les valeurs de la France, l'ont déshonorée. Vichy a trahi la France et l'a déshonorée."

Angela Merkel im Gespräch - Süddeutsche Zeitung
''Wir müssen sprachfähig sein über unsere Geschichte''

SZ: Frau Bundeskanzlerin, was bedeutet der 8. Mai 1945 für Sie?
Angela Merkel: Das Ende eines schrecklichen Krieges. Das Ende von millionenfachem Mord, des Holocaust. Damit ist der 8. Mai der Tag der Befreiung Deutschlands und Europas vom Nationalsozialismus.

Rosselini Continues to Seduce

And this link appears to be accessible in Europe, too! (With thanks to DarthR!)

Unification!

And along with Isabella, a little salute to the subversive surrealists of nearly 100 years ago. (Consider how modern you are today!)

Topography of Terror - Finally Opened!

Topographie des Terrors

As long as I have been here in Berlin, I have been visiting the grounds of the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais, where the Gestapo and SS had their "headquarters" for the organization of persecution and terror in Nazi Germany. The basement cells where people were held and tortured for the most absurd reasons were visible along the perimeter on my first visit there. Throughout the years there were various efforts to preserve what had come to light and construct some sort of exhibition space to document what happened here and to provide a roof to prevent the slow decay of those subsurface torture chambers.
Finally, yesterday, the new structure was inaugurated and the grounds once more made accessible to the public. Standing at one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall and across the street from Göhring's Luftwaffenministerium, now the German Finance Ministry, it is a must for anyone interested in history, so as not to forget the extremes of cruelty to man man is capable of.
In our age of rather generalized amnesia, this site of memory, recollection, commemoration, and thought is a welcome signal!
Take the time to visit when you are in Berlin.

Five Years Remembering

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin celebrated the fifth anniversary of its opening yesterday, and I would like to pay this small tribute to this effort to stamp into the heart of this city a suitably sustantial call on us all never to forget the horror of calculating humans rather than encouraging humans to think and live and love.

"Die Fabrikation von Leichen in Gaskammern und Vernichtungslagern" [MH GA 79, S.27] was not only murder, genocide, but indeed also the horrid robbery of the victims' very death, depriving them of their own "Tod ... das Gebirg des Seyns im Gedicht der Welt" [ibid., S.56] .

May this memorial massively restore at least to their memory a mount in the poem of the world.

A Fantastic Day !

Now with some photos of the day.

STOP ARIZONA! STOP DISCRIMINATION! ENTER THE 21st CENTURY!

I simply must quote the New York Times Editorial in full. The world cannot affort such parochial close-minded belly-button gazing as Arizona is attempting to do. We are in this together, on one planet, and had better soon stop allowing powerful lobbyists to persuade us that those who do not look like us are the source of danger. The source of danger is from the bigots and the bigotted, from the well-to-do who tell us to envy the down-and-out.
Wake up and stop hating each other!

Editorial - Stopping Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law - NYTimes.com
Editorial
Stopping Arizona

A fight is brewing over Arizona’s new law that turns all of the state’s Latinos, even legal immigrants and citizens, into criminal suspects. And this is not a local fight. The poison is spreading; there is talk in Texas of passing a version of the Arizona statute.
President Obama has called the law “misguided” and promised to keep an eye on it. But when racial separation finds a foothold in any of the 50 states, the president needs to do more than mildly criticize. He should act. Here’s a partial but urgent to-do list:
DEFEND CIVIL RIGHTS The Justice Department needs to challenge this law forcefully in court. The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant. Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law but says she doesn’t know what an illegal immigrant looks like, leaving that to others who think they do.
The Justice Department knows what kinds of abuse that invites. It is already investigating the sheriff of Maricopa County, Joe Arpaio, who raids Hispanic neighborhoods in and around Phoenix. His deputies demand people’s papers based on the shirts and boots they wear.
Federal law requires noncitizens to carry documents but does not empower police officers to stop anyone they choose and demand to see papers. Arizona’s attempt to get around that by defining the act of standing on its soil without papers as a criminal act is repellent.
STOP ARIZONA COLD Arizona’s scheme will rely on federal databases to determine immigration status. It will also need the cooperation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, in accepting detainees. ICE says its priorities are dangerous criminals and fugitives, not the peaceful workers and families who are overwhelmingly the targets of the new law. In that case, ICE will deny Arizona authorities data, cooperation and scarce resources.
TAKE BACK IMMIGRATION POLICY The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that states cannot make their own immigration laws. The Arizona debacle gives the Obama administration another chance to make it clear that the nation’s immigration policy cannot be left to a ragged patchwork of state and local laws.
As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama praised a federal court’s decision striking down a law in Hazleton, Pa., that made it illegal to hire or rent housing to undocumented immigrants. To start forcefully asserting the central federal role in immigration, the administration should rescind a once-secret 2002 memo from President George W. Bush’s attorney general, John Ashcroft, that declared that state and local police had “inherent authority” to make immigration arrests. It should have done that long ago. It should also weigh in against another reckless Arizona law, now before the Supreme Court, that revokes the business licenses of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
The administration’s actions elsewhere have sent the wrong message. Janet Napolitano once vetoed extremist immigration-enforcement bills as Arizona’s governor, but as the homeland security secretary she defends the use of state and local police as “force multipliers.” Ms. Napolitano needs to end dangerous experiments like the 287(g) program and Secure Communities, which hand over vital federal duties to untrained, unsupervised local deputies, openly enabling racial-profiling and undermining community policing and public safety.
These steps are no substitute for immigration reform, the future of which seems pretty murky after Mr. Obama started gingerly backing away this week. But the federal government must react forcefully to the Arizona statute. Is our core belief still the welcome and assimilation of newcomers? Arizona has given one answer. It’s time for Mr. Obama to give the other.

The New York Times, April 30, 2010

Let's finally start to think and deal with real problems!

Perfect Discourse

New interview with Philippe Sollers, by Guillaume Chérel and Franck-Olivier Laferrère, on April 14. Words more thoughtful are rare indeed!

Entretien Ph. Sollers Partie I
Uploaded by Cid-Errant. - Arts and animation videos.

Philippe Sollers « Pour vivre cachés vivons heureux » The interview as published in full in L'Humanité on April 29.

It Should Be Done !

Too bad this was only a brainstorm, it should be made reality! Everyone everywhere who comes in contact with Maledictus or receives him as a visitor to their country should confront him with modernity. Is he so narrow-minded that he cannot even be expected to HEAR other views?

Pope 'condom' gaffe: Foreign Office apologises - World news - The Observer

The Foreign Office was last night forced to issue a public apology after an official document suggested Britain should mark the Pope's visit this year by asking him to open an abortion clinic, bless a gay marriage and launch a range of Benedict-branded condoms.

I, for one, do NOT think they should have apologized!

ASH !

Ash wasn't gray or black or ugly or smelly;

ash was blue-skied azure, immaculate,

ash was fiery sunshine streaming down at you,

ash was the absence of even the slightest vapor trail,

ash was quiet, calm, pristine, restful.

No ash isn't bright or clear or pretty or fragrant;

no ash is dark skies streaked with all sorts of clouds,

no ash is very little daylight penetrating the gloom,

no ash is renewed jet engine exhaust across the sky,

no ash is noisier, more hectic, blemished, restless.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,

we must simply await the next eruption.

- In Memoriam of the Ash Crisis, April 17-21, 2010

Censored in France!

But via the internet, you can watch this interview with Nicolas Sarkozy there and everywhere. Sarkozy successfully precluded broadcast of this report made by Télévision Suisse Romande because they asked to many questions about his pressure on the press and disruption of free reporting.


So, watch and learn that freedom of speech must NOT be curtailed, even by the president of France!
Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:


And finally a link to the original broadcast from June, 2009, on the website of French-speaking Swiss Television.

Here's To Berlin !

Grateful to relish life amidst urban troubles rather than suffer tranquility in the provinces!

[Thanks to Claudia for putting me on to this one!]

Progress IS Possible !

May Obama prevail over the clouded fears of the manipulated to move the United States ever more out of its self-imposed Dark Ages into the light of thoughtful and compassionate statehood!

Obama extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners of gays [The Washington Post, April 16, 2010]

President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

Presidential Memorandum - Hospital Visitation

I truly welcome all the enlightened actions of this administration, hope indeed that it can push back the resentments that all too many Americans seem to have made into their new guiding ideology.

-- And a note on deficits, people: Who turned a budget surplus into the BIGGEST deficit ever? The Bushbaby ! And that Paling tea cozy babbling in your ears would like to "reduce" taxes and increase the deficit even more. Have you ever stopped to consider that those who benefit the most from tax cuts are those who have so much money they don't notice the difference, while those with hardly anything might just be able to buy one more loaf of unhealthy squishy white bread per month with the benefits they receive?
Come on, think and stop whining!

Penance, Endlessly

Yes, Maledictus, do penance! All of you should do penance, endlessly, for all the crimes you have indirectly committed or directly covered up, all the lives you have abuse that were naive enough to grant you and yours tutelage over them or to come to you seeking ministry.
And you can do penance for your Pius Brother Williamson, now finally on trial for denying the Holocaust.
Penance, though, will hardly be enough.
Begin thinking, and tell all who have been satisfied and betrayed by faith to think as well.

Seaside right next door

A wonderful trip yesterday all within easy reach of home: Rheinsberg, Himmelpfort, Müritz

A Memorial for the WTC & Philippe Petit

One of the memories connected with the World Trade Center in my own mind which make it always tower high into the sky... 1974...

Saturday Before Easter in the City

My Easter Bunny

This year it hopped into my hands as the latest edition of L'Infini, light and joyful for reading on the way here and there during the four-day weekend.

Happiness, Love, Joy

From Sollers' "Paradis caché" in Discours Parfait, p.104-5:

«l'enfer et la damnation, dès ici-bas, est le non-accès à la poésie comme telle.
[....]
La grande poésie , elle, transforme la vie, elle pense plus que la philosophie.
[...]
La joie, le bonheur, l'amour sont gratuits. Un amour qui n'est pas gratuit n'est pas de l'amour.
[...]
Le bonheur rend invisible. C'est la grâce qu'il faut souhaiter.»

Quick rough translations:

• Hell and damnation, here and now, is non-access to poetry as such.
• Great poetry transforms life, it thinks more than philosophy.
• Joy, happiness, love are free. Love that is not free is not love.
• Happiness makes you invisible. That's the grace you must wish for.

Worthy thoughts for a Sunday morning before heading out for a trip along the Oder.

FINALLY - Responsible Action for HEALTH !

Thank you, Mr. Obama; thank you, Congressmen and Congresswomen who voted YES!
Thank you for finally guaranteeing EVERY American health care and health insurance coverage in the United States.
Thank you for finally bringing the US into the modern world where solidarity and compassion for all are ever more a necessity to ensure that all may enjoy the benefits of medicine.

Compassion is always better than greed. Solidarity is always better than sneering at those worse off than you. Sharing never hurts those who have more than enough to share. And perhaps even you will benefit from the new regulations when you switch jobs, and are thus compelled to switch insurance companies, and have some chronic disease that you need to continue to have treated, such as high blood pressure, arthritis, or even post-nasal drip. Pre-existing conditions may no longer be excluded! Even YOU have the right to insurance coverage for what ails you! Congratulations!

Yesterday's Delight

Because it's finally gotten warmer but was drizzly, we opted for a museum visit yesterday afternoon. From here to there by bus to reinforce the notion of a leisure activity, we arrived at the Schloss Charlottenburg stress-free and crossed the street to the Western Stüler Building.

A collection of dimensions you can take in and appreciate without visual fatigue, the Museum Berggruen of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin is a delightful experience of Picasso and contemporaries. Some 100 works by Picasso, from 1897-1972, are complemented by those of Giacometti, Matisse, Klee, and even traditional African artists.

Whenever you have the opportunity to visit, do so!

Widerstehen dem Nichts

The original version of the Hölderlin passage Philippe Sollers places at the front of Discours Parfait:

«Je angefochtener wir sind vom Nichts, das, wie ein Abgrund, um uns her uns angähnt, oder auch vom tausendfachen Etwas der Gesellschaft und der Tätigkeit der Menschen, das gestaltlos, seel- und lieblos uns verfolgt, zerstreut, um so leidenschaftlicher und heftiger und gewaltsamer muß der Widerstand von unsrer Seite werden. Oder muß er es nicht?»

-Hölderlin an den Bruder, 2. November 1797: Sämtliche Werke und Briefe. Hrsg. von Günter Mieth. Berlin und Weimar, 1970. Bd.4, S.283

Word - On the Completion of a Thoughtful Reading

»Wort? Die lautlose Stimme des Seyns.«
»Das Wort nimmt in den Anspruch das Wesen des Menschen dergestalt, daß es ihn für das Da-sein beansprucht.«
«Durch Erdenken der Efahrung des Seyns --> (Ereignis).«

[MH GA71 Das Ereignis, §314, S.283-4]
Word? the soundless tuned-voice of Being.
The word places such a claim on the essence (essential-sway) of man that it claims him for the being-there.
Through the bethinking of the beholding-experience of Beyng --> (Enowning).

[RG trans.]

Enowning: the only event.

Let Writers Travel With Their Words!

CHINA has again violated freedom of expression and freedom of mobility by refusing Liao Yiwu the right to leave the country to attend a literature festival in Cologne.
CHINA must cease endless violations of human rights and no longer maintain that it is subject to some other, "non-western" standards.
CHINA must finally recognize that HUMAN RIGHTS ARE UNIVERSAL RIGHTS FOR ALL MANKIND!
CHINA must cease expecting us to breathe their pollution, buy their cheap products, and incur ever more unemployment due to their cutrate production prices exploiting their own people.
CHINA must be boycotted until it respects and upholds human rights!

LET Liao Yiwu travel! Release him from the house arrest he has been place under. Allow him to publish his works, and read from them publicly. Support LIAO YIWU !

China Writer Blocked From Going to German Festival
Published: March 2, 2010

BEIJING — Chinese security agents in Sichuan Province detained Liao Yiwu, a prominent author and critic of the government, as he prepared to fly Monday to a literary festival in Germany, human rights activists said.
It was the 13th time Mr. Liao had been prevented from leaving the country. The Associated Press reported that he had been placed under house arrest after being questioned by security agents for four hours.
“How can this happen?” The A.P. quoted him as saying. “It’s a cultural event, nothing political. Such drama!”

----

And while we're at it:

Burma, Myanmar, Birma, whichever name you prefer for that country, has enacted a law which forbids Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Aung San Suu Kyi from participating in the upcoming elections in that country, because she is under house arrest for expressing her opinions on the situation in that country. She is the great hope of many of that country's population, and if she remains a member of her own opposition party, it will also not be allowed on the ballot. MYANMAR must institute justice and democracy and release Aung San Suu Kyi!

Change or More of the Same

Take a look at the ad and put pressure on Mr. Obama to bring accused terrorist to trial in criminal courts, as he promised in the campaign. Now he must be true to his word and restore American principles of justice and due process. Terrorism can ONLY be effectively fought WITHOUT violating the Constitution of the United States or the UN Charter of Human Rights !

ACLU Ad: What Will it Be, Mr. President? American Civil Liberties Union

Yann Moix interviews Philippe Sollers on Film

Entretien entre Yann Moix et Philippe Sollers - La Règle du Jeu

The above link leads to the four-part video documentation of the interview on the site La Règle du Jeu.

La Règle du Jeu vous propose un entretien exclusif entre Yann Moix et Philippe Sollers à propos du cinéma. Le premier, écrivain réalisateur. Le second, écrivain ô combien amoureux de la littérature, de la beauté, des arts… et néanmoins réfractaire au cinéma. Mais est-ce si sûr ? Et en ce cas, pour quelles raisons ? La guerre du goût doit-elle (devrait-elle ?) passer nécessairement, par celle du verbe contre l’image ?
Objet d’un dialogue étonnant.

International Women's Day

To all the women I know:

This is YOUR day! May you enjoy it and benefit from true equal rights!

International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. The first IWD was run in 1911. Next year is IWD Global Centenary 1911-2011 ...

The first International Women's Day was in 1911. It followed unanimous agreement at an International Conference of Working Women the previous year. Clara Zetkin proposed that every year in every country there should be one same day when women's solidarity presses for equality ...

Do Not Let It Fail !

The New York Times Editorial
If Reform Fails
Published: March 6, 2010

As the fierce debate on President Obama’s plan for health care reform comes to a head, Americans should be thinking carefully about what happens if Congress fails to enact legislation.

[...]

If reform is defeated, it seems likely that most of the proposed experiments designed to cut costs — first within Medicare and then throughout the rest of the health care system — will die as well. The legislation needs to be passed to establish a structure to force continuing improvement over the years. That is the best chance of restraining soaring medical costs that threaten the solvency of families, businesses and the federal government.
Any change as big as this is bound to cause anxiety. Republicans have happily fanned those fears with talk of “dangerous experiments” on the “best health care system in the world.” The fact is that the health care system is broken for far too many Americans. And the country cannot afford the status quo.

Genocide by any Other Name ...

... remains genocide. Turkey should do put more effort into facing dark sides of its own history than into criticizing those who point out that dark side. The Armenian tragedy should not be swept under the rug. Silence on crimes against humanity is never golden, but instead very close to being a crime itself!

Turkey Criticizes House Committee’s Declaration of Armenian Genocide - NYTimes.com

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s foreign minister said Friday that the vote by a Congressional committee in Washington condemning the mass killing of Armenians early in the last century as genocide would damage ties with the Obama administration and set back reconciliation efforts between Turkey and Armenia.
[...]
Historians say as many as 1.5 million Armenians died in a forced migration by the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Turkey denies that this was a planned genocide, and the topic had long been taboo in Turkey, with no mention of it in history books. Writers and intellectuals, including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced criminal charges for airing the debate.

Freedom of Art

With thanks to Rachel's Joey and greetings to her and to you all with glee as art frames music:

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

No, the Government MAY NOT Collect Data on Telecommunications in General

Today, the German Supreme Court ruled that a law mandating all telecommunications firms to store data on ALL connections (telephone, mobile, internet, email) of ALL users for 6 months to be available to government agencies at their will is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, violates the rights to privacy of the individual, stands in no proper relationship to efforts to combat crime &/or terrorism because too general, and is therefore NULL AND VOID. All data that has been collected and stored must be destroyed IMMEDIATELY. A proper law detailing who has access to whose information for what specific purposes of law enforcement and terrorism prevention may be permissible, in accordance with EU guidelines, the court added, but the current law is sloppy, too general, and does not properly balance individual rights against security concerns. There was NO transition period allowed; the law has been stricken from the books and may not be used. Only with passage of a new and proper law is any such collection of data perhaps possible, but the court has made clear that this must properly weigh the individual's right to privacy of his data. Below, a short video of the Justices announcing the decision, in itself interesting for the formality of such a procedure here.

Rap français alsacien contre le Front National !

Hoorah for this French Alsatian rap against the Front National (fascistic neo-nazi party) using images of their village Ammerschwihr for the campaign posters of Patrick Binder, the head of the party list for the regional elections coming up in Alsace. This is true antifascist work by the kids in the town! They deserve high praise for mobilizing their town against racism and hatred! Let us all hope that the Front National receives as few votes as possible!

Allow ALL Americans Health Care !

It is past time to enact comprehensive health care reform in the United States to enable ALL its citizens to have access to affordable health care, no matter how ill they may be, no matter what their job is, no matter where they live. Going to the doctor when you're ill, receiving treatment in a hospital for major illness should not result in personal bankrupcy. Stop protecting the rich against the poor: the rich can pay for whatever they want anyway; society is responsible for its weakest members, need not be concerned with those "above" it.

Editorial - After the Health Care Summit - NYTimes.com

Here is a basic fact: If the House Democrats voted tomorrow to approve the Senate bill, health care reform would become the law of the land.
The president and Speaker Nancy Pelosi should push the House to accept the fundamentally sound Senate bill. If they still cannot garner enough votes from their own caucus, they should alter the Senate bill slightly with parallel legislation that could be passed with budget reconciliation.
Mr. Obama needs to keep explaining to Americans that this health care reform is critical — to give them security, to hold down costs and ease the strain on federal budgets. His main challenge, and his best chance, for passing it is to get his own party in line.

Obama's plan spells hope for those suffering disease with no hope of treatment, and you could become one of them if you lose your job and thus your insurance or if your insurance decides to cancel your policy when the treatment of your disease becomes too expensive! Of course, hospice measures, palleative only, are available to all. Not even D.A.F. de Sade could have dreamed of something as cynical as that: promise to die within a year and we'll pay to eliminate pain for you...

At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first - Washington Post

The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem -- there's nothing the government or the rest of us should do about it. [...]
That was their clear message Thursday. It was their message during all those years when their party controlled Congress and the White House and they did nothing and said nothing about the plight of the uninsured. And it is clear that they would continue to do nothing if, by some miracle, Democrats were to drop their plan or embark on a more modest approach. For Republicans, the uninsured remain invisible Americans, out of sight and out of mind.

All the All of Life

Shakespeare, according to Salmon Rushdie, with whom I here modestly agree, provides a daunting model of juggling everything at once in a literary work.


Or, as in the concluding line to one of his sonnets: And thou, all they, hast all the all of me!

Could This Be Their Credo?

For the arrogant attitude of the Fully Dum Party polemicists only concerned with sitting in a "cool" office (geil!) and wallowing in unearned wealth and luxury (Strandbar, Presseball), for the Republicans who would rather see people suffer and/or go bankrupt than have a chance to be cured from serious illness (insurance company tea party!), for all those who obnoxiously envy those who have less than they do for having anything at all that they themselves are ineligible for (shit, too rich for welfare!), I may well have stumbled onto the principle on which they operate.

It is included in D.A.F. de Sade's Les infortunes de la vertu [Paris: Gallimard 1970/folio 1977, p.95]. When asked if his refusal to assist the unfortunate in any way - either personally or with state aid - ultimately means they should simply perish, M.Dubourg blithely replies:

«Qu'importe? il y a plus de sujets qu'il n'en faut en France; le gouvernement qui voit tout en grand s'embarrasse fort peu des individus, pourvu que la machine se conserve.»

So apparently, substituting the country name Germany, believes Mr. Westernwave, who quite clearly sees the big picture and is only concerned with operation of the machine sufficient to ensure himself and his dum party friends well-paid governmental positions for which they have neither aptitude nor interest. Why should he be concerned with individual plights outside his party membership rosters?

Republicans against health insurance for all in the US substitute another country's name as they consider the big picture of donation from insurance lobbyists, bonus payments, and stock dividends as opposed to those poor individual subjects suffering catastrophic illness. There are too many of them anyway, and their demise would relieve the economy.

Another diatribe by one of Sade's heroes of vice, Dalville, provides the script Westernwave uses in claiming that recipients of Hartz IV are forbodings of socialism and are in fact simply lazy do-nothings who want money without working, when he explains why any assistance to them is anathema:

«C'est travailler à une égalité dangereuse pour la société, c'est encourager l'indolence et la fainéantise, c'est apprendre au pauvre à voler l'homme riche, quand il plaira à celui-ci de lui refuser son secours, et cela par l'habitude où ce secours aura mis le pauvre de l'obtenir sans travail.» [ibid., p.218]
"It would mean striving for equality which would be fatal to society and encouraging idleness and sloth. It would teach the poor to pick the pocket of any rich man who chose not to give them charity, a lesson the more easily learnt from the habit they would acquire of expecting to have money without working for it." [translation from Wordsworth Classic Erotica edtion]

Perhaps it is not even ironic to find the core philosophy of these beasts in an utterance of one of the "villains" of a more than 200-year-old work by the Marquis de Sade. It could simply be that these so-called politicians are sadists in a sense far worse than the old marquis could have ever imagined.

Roman Decadence and Modern Poverty

Oh, dear, Mr. Westernwave! Are you simply determined to prove how hardheaded and dum your FullyDumParty really is? Roman decadence, which you claim Germany will follow into the late version of, should recipients of social welfare support continue to get as much money as some of the poorly paid workers, who receive so little because your party is opposed to any and all form of minimum wage legislation, resulting in them having to run to the dole for help, a subsidy for cheapskate employers placed on the shoulders of those you like to criticize... But anyway, Roman decadence was the overly luxurious behavior of the elite there, fiddling as Rome burned, enjoying luxury as the borders were stormed, ignoring the calls to help from those in all forms of need. It seems the Roman-style decadents are rather the clients and beneficiaries of your policies: hoteliers with reduced VAT, those opting out of the solidarity-based health insurance system for cheaper premiums for the well and young and healthy and beautiful, not even to mention those shipping their money out of the country into the banks of Switzerland etc. to avoid paying any taxes on it where they "earned" it. And yes, one indication of Roman decadence was Caesars's appointment of an ASS to the position of consul, something Heiner Geißler quite correctly correlated with your appointment to the position of Foreign Minister. And, Mr. Westernwave, there is NOTHING MORE DECADENT than envying people who have LESS than you.
May the video remind you, too, of who the real ass is!

BHL vs Botulism

Because I love the French in all of their philosophical playfulness!

L'hommage des Amis de Botul à BHL (Mediapart)
Uploaded by Mediapart. - Watch the latest news videos.

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: Bernard-Henri Lévy comes a cropper with fake philosopher

Frédéric Pagès (born 1950) is a French journalist noted for his work with the satirical weekly, Le Canard enchaîné. He wrote two books of spoof philosophy under the name Jean-Baptiste Botul:

• La Vie sexuelle d'Emmanuel Kant. Éditions Mille et une nuits. 1999.
• Nietzsche ou le démon de midi. Éditions Mille et une nuits. 2004.

He founded the "Association of Friends of Jean-Baptiste Botul" to promote this fictious philosopher and his school of "Botulism". In 2010, the hoax caught out the well-known philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, whose book De la guerre en philosophie used Botul as the primary source for his attack on Kant.

Waiting for it go online...

But in the States you can watch the broadcast tomorrow evening, a White House Performance in homage to the music of the Civil Rights Movement:
In Performance at the White House PBS

Do You Want to See It Completely Lost ?

I would prefer to keep it operational...

Op-Ed Columnist - America Is Not Yet Lost - NYTimes.com

The truth is that given the state of American politics, the way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government. Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.

So stop thinking obstruction of government is good government! And this message is also valid for many European parliaments, and of course for the F.ully D.um P.arty's continuing harping on a coalition treaty instead of understanding the realities of the country and the world they live in. 11% of the vote never meant control of the country would fall into their hands, nor did it give them a mandate to alter social systems they would prefer to abandon to pocket the money for more yachts somewhere beyond the reach of the tax office!

Before They Melt ...

On Schloßplatz, the site of the old (new) Palast der Republik where the new (old) Stadtschloß is to be rebuilt with the exterior it had in the Kaiser period and where between demolition and new construction a temporary lawn has been laid which is now a gigantic snowfield, as it has been since December 27 last, more and more SNOWMEN have been built. So today, on the bus on the way home, I snapped a couple of shots of them before the gradually warming (+1°C) weather relegates them to history...

From Berlin views

From Berlin views

Don't Let Them Get Away With It !

There are currently many politicians running around in the world trying to hinder or censor YOUR access to information and deny YOU your right to express your opinion freely.
Among them are:

• Nicolas Sarkozyof France, with an office in the Élyssée to monitor anything printed or broadcasted that he dislikes or deems contrary to his opinion.
• Silvio Berlusconi, now attempting to forbid ANY and ALL video transmissions via internet without the uploader first having attained a broadcasting license from his control board.

Add to these those countries well know for repression of free expression of opinion:

• China
• Iran
• Belarus

And always remember what a precious gift it is to be able to think freely and have access to all information at all times!

Add UGANDA to the list of repressive abhorrent regimes, and listen to Pres. Obama & Sec.State Clinton condemning their new "anti-gay" law:

Tell Everyone Now !

Let's use the defense budget bill to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell":

Chairman Carl Levin:

We, the undersigned, urge you to act immediately to stop the discharge of gay and lesbian soldiers as a result of the discriminatory "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy.

Please include repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the upcoming defense authorization bill to ensure the policy is ended by Congress as quickly as possible. Dedicated soldiers who want to serve their country -- like Lt. Choi, an Arabic translator -- can't afford to wait.

I have signed this appeal to Senator Levin, you can sign the letter yourself with this link : Courage Campaign - Don't Wait !

And check out the video of McCain flipflopping on another issue, claiming first he'd do what the military chiefs recommend, now opposing it when those chiefs say repeal the measure!

Solidarity for Solidarity !

While Obama is working hard with sensible people finally to achieve solidarity in the US health insurance system to provide affordable insurance and health care for all Americans, we here in Europe must NOT allow latter-day neo-liberal yuppies concerned only with increasing their own wealth to diminish the solidarity of the European healthcare system.

The F.ully D.um P.arty's Minister of (Un)Health must be returned to the swamp of arrogance from which he emerged and removed from any and all political responsibilities forever. Germany may NOT go backwards when finally even the US is ready to move forwards!

Let all pay a lower percentage health insurance premium on all their income so that all may continue to have affordable health care. Solidarity is human; "head premiums" are robber baron efforts of the wealthy to rob those less well off.

Must Robin Hood return from the forest to save us all?

Here's to Obama for saying yes to health care for all!

Here's to Seehofer, even to Söder, for saying NO to FDP efforts to abandon such solidarity here! (And that means oddly enough, praise for the CSU! Which only goes to show how horrid the FDP has become!)

Finally, A Move for More Rights for People Like You and Me !

'Don't ask, don't tell' policy on gays in military to change
By Craig Whitlock and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, Tuesday, February 2, 2010

'This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are,' Obama said.
Last summer, Gates asked the Pentagon's legal counsel whether the military could ignore allegations made by snitches, civilians or other third parties. Under such a scenario, gay military personnel would face discharge only if they themselves declare their sexual orientation.
Despite persistent objections in some corners, the Pentagon's senior leaders have largely come to terms with Obama's stance on the issue and are operating under the assumption that the law banning gays from serving in the military will be repealed, Pentagon officials said.

This is a move without costs and only benefits for the rights of man! Long overdue, it is reassuring that Gates is moving on this only days after Obama's repetition of his pledge to abolish this abomination in his State of the Union Address.

New Month?

- old snow, still lying around and getting dirty, dusted with yet more during the day
- old cold, rising barely to 0°C today but dipping back down before anything can really melt
- old class, although today was the final session with this fine group
- old books, so to speak, at least in the sense that they are all being carried over into February for completeion
- old notebook, which will, however, be filled within another couple of days at most
- old black-yellow hornet government in Germany still arguing about all the same old things, all of which everyone is glad they are arguing about rather than enacting, because all their plans are too horrible for words, and even the VAT reduction for hotel stays (supposedly a "growth" measure ! ) is unacceptable for some of the black-yellow party leaders who fear losing the next state election in NRW
- old idiocy still prevalent stateside claiming health care for everyone is communist; but then the yellow jackets here claim minimum wage is communist, so maybe that's just the state of the world of idiots
- old newness is nonetheless the novelty of another month ...

Yet the world is there for us if we wish to see it and inhabit it truly, with open eyes and open minds!

A Moment of Silence for Those Executed for Supporting Democracy and Freedom in Iran !

Une minute de silence pour les démocrates exécutés en Iran

Jeudi 28 janvier au matin, deux iraniens ont été pendus pour avoir participé aux
manifestations post-électorales.
L'association Libertés-Culture appelle à observer une minute de silence en leur hommage samedi 30 janvier à 10H00 Place François Rude lors du rassemblement qu'elle organise en solidarité avec les manifestants iraniens pour la démocratie et la liberté en Iran.
9 autres iraniens ont été condamné à mort pour avoir manifesté.
Des députés conservateurs appellent à condamner à mort tous les opposants arrêtés.
600 personnes sont aujourd'hui dans les prisons iraniennes pour avoir manifesté.
Clotilde Reiss toujours otage du régime iranien.
L'Iran est la première prison au monde des journalistes.
Devant cette répression sanglante, la solidarité envers le peuple d'Iran est aujourd'hui une urgence vitale.

- samedi 30 janvier 2010 / Reproduction autorisée avec mention de la source : © www.prochoix.org

State at Stake

"The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people. We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment -- to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."

Keep on working on making the US a more humane and social place and the world safer and more committed to human rights! Thank you.

Laughing While Thinking

Serenity enowns humor as long as we as humans are truly there!

Being in the World !

放....................

109th Issue of Thoughtfulness

Sollers, Lou, Pleynet, Nesselroth, Lanzman, Moses, Mahuzier, Sampson, Mercuri

Papal Discrimination - Again !

The papal malediction has once again proven how little thinking has to do with him and how opposed to freedom he remains:

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS
FOR THE TRADITIONAL EXCHANGE OF NEW YEAR GREETINGS

Sala Regia
Monday, 11 January 2010

To carry our reflection further, we must remember that the problem of the environment is complex; one might compare it to a multifaceted prism. Creatures differ from one another and can be protected, or endangered, in different ways, as we know from daily experience. One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes. I am thinking, for example, of certain countries in Europe or North and South America. Saint Columban stated that: “If you take away freedom, you take away dignity” (Ep. 4 ad Attela, in S. Columbani Opera, Dublin, 1957, p. 34). Yet freedom cannot be absolute, since man is not himself God, but the image of God, God’s creation. For man, the path to be taken cannot be determined by caprice or willfulness, but must rather correspond to the structure willed by the Creator.

This creature was certainly uncreated and is a threat to the humanity of mankind!

So remember, according to the vacantine authority, you only have the freedom to be gay if you are god, so simply become the supreme ruler of your own life and teach this papal miscreant an important lesson!

FREEDOM IS HUMAN, not divine!

Blizzard ?

A lot of snow, but for us a wonderland, as in "walking in a winter ..."

Berlin Blizzard

A Reminder for the F.ully-D.um-P.arty

Es wäre für eine bestimmte Partei in Deutschland mehr als angeraten, den höchstmodernen Text gänzlich zu lesen, von dem der unten stehende kurze Auszug genommen wurde.

The Theory of the Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith, 1759

This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments. That wealth and greatness are often regarded with the respect and admiration which are due only to wisdom and virtue; and that the contempt, of which vice and folly are the only proper objects, is often most unjustly bestowed upon poverty and weakness, has been the complaint of moralists in all ages.
We desire both to be respectable and to be respected. We dread both to be contemptible and to be contemned. But, upon coming into the world, we soon find that wisdom and virtue are by no means the sole objects of respect; nor vice and folly, of contempt. We frequently see the respectful attentions of the world more strongly directed towards the rich and the great, than towards the wise and the virtuous. We see frequently the vices and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent. To deserve, to acquire, and to enjoy the respect and admiration of mankind, are the great objects of ambition and emulation. Two different roads are presented to us, equally leading to the attainment of this so much desired object; the one, by the study of wisdom and the practice of virtue; the other, by the acquisition of wealth and greatness. Two different characters are presented to our emulation; the one, of proud ambition and ostentatious avidity, the other, of humble modesty and equitable justice. Two different models, two different pictures, are held out to us, according to which we may fashion our own character and behaviour; the one more gaudy and glittering in its colouring; the other more correct and more exquisitely beautiful in its outline: the one forcing itself upon the notice of every wandering eye; the other, attracting the attention of scarce any body but the most studious and careful observer. They are the wise and the virtuous chiefly, a select, though, I am afraid, but a small party, who are the real and steady admirers of wisdom and virtue. The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers, and, what may seem more extraordinary, most frequently the disinterested admirers and worshippers, of wealth and greatness.

Adam Smith - The Theory of the Moral Sentiments - The Adam Smith Institute

Also wird geraten: Bescheidenheit, Beachtung der Rechte, Weisheit, Tugend.

(And, dear Mr. Westernwave and colleagues in snobbery, these few German words are to spur you to seek a translation of Adam Smith should you not manage the original.)

Monster At Work

Iran: le Guide suprême soutient la répression

Le Guide suprême de la République islamique, l'ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a apporté
samedi son soutien à la répression des manifestations anti-gouvernementales du
27 décembre, appelant les autorités à faire 'leur devoir contre les corrompus et
les émeutiers'.

This individual deserves no adjective that I can think of; he is BENEATH them ALL !
May the world of free and thinking people CRY OUT without ceasing until this creature no longer has any power in any country ! This is no "religious" leader, no leader of any stature whatsoever, but a criminal attempting to repress all who disagree with any of his ridiculously reactionary and dangerous notions unworthy of the word "ideas" !

FREEDOM FOR THE REPRESSED IN IRAN: women, gays, intellectuals, opposition politicians, thinkers, atheists, and all those who refuse to bow before this paragon of inhumanity and cruelty !

Portugal votes to legalise gay marriage

Progress in 2010! Congratulations to Portugal on this move, and might I add that there are many other European countries with gay civil unions on the books, including Germany and France. Love is a matter that can only prevail!

Portugal votes to legalise gay marriage [pinknews, January 8, 2010]

Portugal's parliament today voted to legalise marriage for gays and lesbians.
The Catholic country is now the sixth in Europe to grant same-sex couples the right to wed, although this will not include adoption rights.
Addressing lawmakers before the vote, prime minister Jose Socrates said the law "rights a wrong" and would end "pointless suffering".
But he added: "This issue of adoption is different as it does not just involve adults who are free to give their consent."
The law will remove any references to gender in the country's marriage laws.
Although centre-right parties opposed the change, all left-wing parties supported it.
The law must be approved by President Anibal Cavaco Silva but parliament has the power to override a veto from him.
It is expected to come into force in April, a month before Pope Benedict XVI visits the country.
Five other European countries allow gay marriage: Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

• Meanwhile, people remain imprisoned in far too many countries for speaking out for their rights and the rights of others. Free those imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression!

Beethoven and Freedom

Let us remember LIU XIAOBO, imprisoned in China for speaking and writing, all those imprisoned in Iran for expressing their opinions, bloggers and journalists around the world put behind bars for speaking out.
Beethoven's opera Fidelio dealt with nothing else: FREEDOM, the struggle to speak freely the truth.
Listen to the prisoner Florestan's lament and consider the urgent need, for only we can help those imprisoned by tyrannies. That is OUR duty!

In des Lebens Frühlingstagen
ist das Glück von mir geflohen!
Wahrheit wagt' ich kühn zu sagen,
und die Ketten sind mein Lohn.

In the spring days of my life
Happiness deserted me!
Truth I dared to utter boldly
And the chains are my reward.

Dänemark Mordanschlag auf Mohammed-Karikaturisten
02.01.2010 Ein Islamist dringt mit einer Axt in das Haus des Mohammed-Karikaturisten Kurt Westergaard ein. Die Polizei stoppt den Täter mit Schüssen. Hat er Kontakte zu al-Qaida?

Somali charged with murder attempt on Muhammad cartoonist

(The Guardian)
Danish police shot and wounded man who broke into Kurt Westergaard's home wielding axe and knife. The Somali man has been charged with trying to murder the Danish artist whose cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked a storm of protest and violence across the Muslim world.

Standoff in Iran Deepens With New Show of Force
NYT, by MICHAEL SLACKMAN, January 2, 2010
Security forces filled Tehran streets to deter protests, as the opposition leader said he did not fear to give his life to his cause.

Light !

Light is the glow of the concealed revealing itself to the receptive.

Think and Thank.

Love and Live.