Poetry Corner
This evening, my friend
BOB! and I were discussing...current events ...when suddenly he broke into verse (as he is occasionally wont to do). He thus summed up the situation perfectly.
"Please don't let this be about politics...or Kipling."
Fear not gentle readers....We'll put it below the fold.
more...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
01:56 AM
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"What's wrong with Kipling"
"Depends on who is being Kippled."
Posted by: Mauser at Thu Aug 14 04:01:41 2014 (TJ7ih)
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I've never understood what "the Gods of the Copybook Headings" refers to.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Aug 14 20:50:30 2014 (+rSRq)
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Lots of copybooks, back in the day when handwriting was something you were expected to pick up on your own, had "headings" (the handwriting you were copying) which were proverbs or maxims. "If you write down a moral statement five hundred times, maybe it will take," was the thinking. So, basically, a shorthand for "the sorts of moral lessons that were expected to be learned by children by rote"...
I happen to favor
MacDonough's Song myself.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Aug 14 21:17:36 2014 (zJsIy)
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Many years ago schools in England had what were called copybooks. These were used to teach penmanship and had in addition to their text, many blank (but lined) pages. The printed pages usually contained bits of wisdom from philosophers, the Bible and great historical figures from around the world. The idea was that one would copy the quotes on the blank pages to practice proper penmanship and hopefully gain some of the wisdom in the words via 'osmosis' after copying said phrases innumerable times.
Copybooks fell out of favor in the US in the 20s or 30s but were still in use in the UK in the 1960s (Bill Whittle has mentioned that he was beset by them when he was growing up in the Bahamas).
The poem refers to a fellow going back in time through all of his previous incarnations and noting the great truths that are often discarded as passe or no longer applicable by utopians but inevitably come back to bite the societies that do not heed them.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Aug 14 21:35:48 2014 (DnAJl)
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I Find to my Astonishment That I Do Not Immediately Despise This Plan
The President just gave a speech.
It was rather more direct than usual.
First some background.
ISIS (or I
SIL) has been
slaughtering, crucifying and otherwise creatively exterminating Christians for some time now. However, they have taken as their latest project the complete extermination of the
Yazidi, an ancient community in Ninevah whose faith is an offshoot of Zoroastrianism,. The Yadzidi survivors have fled in an attempt to make for Baghdad but are now besieged and surrounded on a mountain in the desert where starvation and thirst are beginning to take their toll. Thus we are on the verge of a near total genocide.
ISIL has also taken the dam overlooking Baghdad which means they control vast amounts of electrical power a good percentage of the capitals water and can, should they blow the dam, drown thousands of civilians.
Elsewhere, the Kurds are on the ropes and the whole region is becoming an abattoir. Finally, ISIL, has put their territorial gains and the months they have been largely unmolested to good use, having grown from around 10,000 troops to well over 50,000.
The President is in a difficult position and none of the options before him are desirable. This evening he announced that US forces have begin air dropping aid to the Yadzidi and he
has authorized what he describes as "targeted strikes" to defend them and a US consulate being menaced by ISIL troops.
As many of you know, I am not in agreement with our President on most maters, but tonight he is faced with a selection of wretched options and he chose what he believes is the least dreadful amongst them. There will be a lot of second guessing on this and in the weeks and months to come erudite and voluminous critiques of the minutia of his decision will be made and judgements will be passed with the profound wisdom and knowledge that comes from hindsight.
But for right now, Barak Obama, our president, has decided to attempt to stop a genocide. There is much to warrant concern, but I for one do not immediately despise this plan.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
10:13 PM
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"...our president, has decided to attempt to stop a genocide."
What I fear is that this isn't a sincere attempt, but rather a token effort to deflect criticism and eventual blame.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Aug 7 22:38:32 2014 (+rSRq)
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Well, that's certainly not an impossibility, but for tonight I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Aug 7 22:48:00 2014 (DnAJl)
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I'm just glad he's doing something other than abdicating involvement and
urging the murderers and victims to work it out on their own.
Posted by: Ben at Fri Aug 8 11:40:23 2014 (S4UJw)
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I have been giving our various administrations a pass on the Middle East since Carter in '76. There never seem to be good options there. Only the best of the worst.
The problem with the current administration is public doubt over motive. When all your decisions are based on politics, the citizens will ascribe political motivations to every thing you do. As Steven pointed out, that seems to be his only motivating factor here.
ISIL has come a long way from the JV league, it seems.
Posted by: topmaker at Sat Aug 9 09:19:31 2014 (i0rVe)
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This guy pegged it:
But with Obama's latest decision to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), the Obama Doctrine has now come into focus: pretend to give a damn about suffering of innocents when it hits the headlines, ignore it the rest of the time.
Because Obama doesn't truly care. At all. He is a master emotional manipulator, capable of achieving effective posturing when it comes to the suffering of innocents. That's why the media constantly swoon at his "tone†and his "attitude†during his press conferences. They repeatedly praise his "anger†or his "determination.†But they rarely ask just what he's doing to fight evil.
Any deployment of power will be short-term and ineffective. Obama will do all he can for innocents up until the moment when he doesn't have to do so. Then he'll leave them to die.
I just read that a second round of airstrikes -- four bombs! -- happened today, following the first round of two bombs.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sat Aug 9 19:14:23 2014 (+rSRq)
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