Musings of a crackpot

Once again the United States is embarked on a quest to make the world safe for democracy. The world's policeman is very good at that. And there are many examples of its recent success in that endeavour. Come to think of it, the United States is as successful in exporting democracy as the Cubans (Che the Argentinian) were at exporting revolutionary communism .i.e. not at all. Of course, the Cubans made no such proclamation. The proclamation was made for them by some know-it-all(s) who, to date, have learned nothing; nothing useful; nothing from history; certainly nothing from poetry. I offer this: Rudyard Kipling The Naulahka There was a strife 'twixt man and maid-- Oh, that was at the birth of time! But what befell 'twixt man and maid, Oh, that's beyond the grip of rhyme. 'Twas "Sweet, I must not bide with you," And, "Love, I cannot bide alone"; For both were young and both were true. And both were hard as the nether stone. Beware th

I call him Winnnie; we were that close. Winnie is said to have liked Kipling (though he liked MacCauley - Thomas Babington Macaulay , Baron Macaulay-  more.) Doubtless, he liked this and its arrogant advocacy of imperial might. Everything for Empire,( pronounced "Empah.") Rudyard Kipling. b. 1865    867.  Recessional June 22, 1897    GOD of our fathers, known of old—   Lord of our far-flung battle-line— Beneath whose awful Hand we hold   Dominion over palm and pine— Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,          5 Lest we forget, lest we forget! The tumult and the shouting dies—   The captains and the kings depart— Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,   An humble and a contrite heart.   10 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget! Far-call'd our navies melt away—   On dune and headland sinks the fire— Lo, all our pomp of yesterday   15   Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget,

Yesterday September 3, 2013 we were teased and then mis-informed, though not in an obvious way, by CNN and others that a NYC outfit was ordered by a Federal Court to pay some $285,000, in damages, to a former employee. It was established that some person in authority had abused her by calling her the unspeakable word in a tirade. It appears that that conduct is his wont. He calls it tough love. The focus, or matter, on which the case turned is a conclusion that the "defence" that there could be no "offence", since both abuser and abused were black, was without merit. Methinks the Judge's conclusion is not wholly wrong (although the result is right) and his confusion results conflation of terms and from his lack of knowledge of baseball and Caribbean history. My facts may be wrong, but that will not stop me from writing them or relying on them. Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson is celebrated for many reasons, most prominently for being the first African-a