DROVERIA

[date Sat, Nov 20, 2010 at 7:16 PM]

PN:

The cold has set in. Minus 7 Celsius all de-do day long….. Two snows, two shovels. Mark that calendar, Cam!

Some Kanadiana. Charles Adler has a great radio voice. I like to listen to him. The link below has a pseudo transcript of what he actually says about “Michael “Clouseau” Ignatieff” – listen to the audio and read along:

http://www.charlesadler.com/2010/11/michael-clouseau-ignatieff.html

A short ditty about our brothers to the south. An excellent article highlighting the Obamasiah’s most compelling focus:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/american-narcissus_516686.html?page=1

This is spot on. Anyone who watched (in horror for me) the defeat of Hilary Clinton for the Democrat nomination had several elephants and even a gorilla or two in the room of contemplation….. Who was this jackanapes? Should the voting age be raised to 55 years? How powerful are lobbyist entities in swaying the heads of mere mortals? Am I hallucinating? Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t and don’t agree with Mrs. Clinton on many subjects, but to pick an empty suit……

The link I followed to find this article was via www.smalldeadanimals.com where a cropped John William Waterhouse picture of “Echo and Narcissus” was used to amplify the impact, but featured only Obama (I mean Narcissus). Here is the original Waterhouse –

Reminds me of some of the monkeys I have associated with over the years…. If you find J.W. Waterhouse interesting, you can start here –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse

He is my all time favorite Pre-Raphaelite painter. I have several prints of his work in my house. If you like this type of art, here’s a link to introduce you (if you don’t know them already) to the Pre-Raphaelites. For you “Group of Seven” fans, the PR’s were a group of 7 that predates the Canadian version by over 70 years. And the art is WAAAAY better :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Raphaelite_Brotherhood

Wikipedia is a good starting point for lite history and plenty ‘o links to more detailed sites.

Continuing the theme, Roger L. Simon (founder and CEO of Pajamas Media) discusses the “Gravitas Gap” the MSM and “progressives” feel Sarah Palin exhibits:

http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2010/11/17/the-new-york-times-sarah-palin-and-the-gravitas-gap/

Two comments in the replies to the article caught my eye –

J Reece – says:

Perhaps, like George Bush, she’s simply playing word games that go over the heads of her ideologically-bigoted, oikophobic critics.

She does seem a little short in the gravitas department compared to Obama. Then again Obama’s gravitas often reminds one of Peter Seller’s gravitas in “Being There”. It’s also hard to think of Sarah Palin saying something as asinine as Obama’s assertion that Islamic Spain was a multicultural paradise, or that Islam inspired the Renaissance, or his instructions to NASA to make Muslim outreach a primary mission instead of reaching outer space.

Victor Erimita- says:

Except the Chauncy Gardner’s gravitas was entirely projected on him. There has been much projection on Obama, obviously, but his “gravitas” is also a very studied act. His habit of ending sentences, and even clauses, with that dropped-voice finality thing has been imitated and even mocked by comedians.

Whatever intellect Obama possesses has been applied to absorbing a very narrow set of ideological premises, and strategies and tactics derived therefrom. He appears to think he knows everything about everything, despite having accomplished notoriously little in his singularly unimpressive pre-2008 career. This is the perfect persona for today’s Left, which consists entirely of posing, attitude and self esteem at the expense of the detested excluded classes.

Sarah Palin is the antithesis of this posing, smirking norm. She is humble, openminded, has actually done enough in her life to know she doesn’t know everything and doesn’t waste her time and her soul pretending to know things she doesn’t. And most importantly, she is not a snob, which is the core of leftist self identity today. Palin is certainly not the ideal candidate for president. But at least she’s not an act. Obama is. Gravitas? Bah!

I had forgotten “Being There”, and how wonderful Peter Sellers was as an actor. But I’m all up for the Chauncy comparison. I watched some of BO’s address to NATO this morning. Dangerous tripe….. vacuous and hollow rhetoric.

The adage “……. can’t fool all of the people all of the time” is certainly accelerated via Internet. The power of which is evident to Canadian and American left leaning political elite – it is they who would curb the functionality and freedom of the web.

Oh yeah, that word “oikophobic” – a new, wonderful term to me.

Main Entry:	oikophobia
Part of Speech:	n
Definition:	a fear of houses, homes, or being stuck in a house; also called domatophobia
Etymology:	Greek oikos ‘house,dwelling’

It also has a meaning in psychology as a particular “phobia” related to adolescent children rejecting their family environment. In the above reference the meaning is more along the path of rejecting your country and culture. James Tarantano has this to say about that:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455523068802824.html

And here is another view from a psychiatrist / psychoanalyst in New York:

http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2010/09/oikophobia.html

In addition, lots of interesting stuff to read at the above website (not related to oikohobes), or try Dr. Sanity, also a psychiatrist, who is back blogging from a 6 month hiatus (also not related to oikohobes):

http://drsanity.blogspot.com/

I adore argument. Not that I’m good or calm or objective when I argue, but (in theory) it has an arithmetic beauty and logical symmetry which sends a tingle up my leg (a la Chris Mathews). Here is an argument identifying what is troubling about Islam, written by Gavin McInnes, at Taki’s Magazine, a delightful blog site which promises “Cocktails, Countesses, and Mental Caviar”:

http://takimag.com/article/trouble_with_islam

An excerpt from the article stimulated a broad grin then outright guffaw response from me. Complete with links –

“Look, I know Muhammad said he was the last prophet and “no prophet or messenger will come after me and no new faith will emerge.” And I know he said it was OK to marry your first cousins. But he also said a flying donkey lady took him to outer space.”

My guess is the drug culture in the middle east started millennia ago, and it’s been pedal(phile) to the metal since then……. I could have been an inbred, too. I have some marvelous cousins…. Oh but for the influence of 7th century “wisdom”!

Rounding out the “religion of peace” rant for the day, here’s a treat for you. The immutable Pat Condell with the “mother of all rants” (until next rant). You women out there! You know who you are!….. Well, most of you, anyway……. Take a moment and listen to Pat tell all about life women suffer under Sharia law:

[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=5Ana9w3uSNA&feature=player_embedded#]!

One last funny. Here’s that marvelous application at xtranormal.com with a short vignette about the TSA and screening methods:

[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=WXDLQPfqc04&feature=player_embedded]

And a pertinent cartoon, too –

I’m presently working on my first video. Camera! Action! Now where did I put that script?

Which leads to funniest cartoons, ever! A category I will populate as I see ’em. Dedicated to the Monty Python sketch about “The Funniest Joke in the World”:

[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=LhmnOpoGAPw]

Some contenders that rely on word play. English is such a magnificent bastard of a language –

There is brilliance using animal scenarios to convey a human message…. an anthropomorphic corollary, so to speak.

Not quite Samuel Pepys time yet, but other duties call….

Joe (Punctilious) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is soul balm….

[date Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 4:07 PM]

PN:

A video about the QE2:

[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=player_embedded]

This is supposed to be humor, but (as a retired guy on a fixed income) it ain’t funny.

Busy like the rest of you getting ready for the onslaught of snow.

You Cowgarians haven’t beat us to HOH in solid crystallized precipitation have you?

Joe ( Buddha Hands) Mekanic
p.s. Never to busy for a Ramirez or two…..

[date Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 2:12 PM]

PN:

No poetry in my soul for today…..

Today my ascorbic humor is replaced by sober reflexion.

If you care to explore, here is a link that lists the war memorials throughout the world honoring Canada’s fallen:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=memorials

Did you know that in France alone, there are five cemeteries where our countrymen lie?

Our American, British, Australian and Kiwi brothers lie near ours in marked and unmarked graves all over the world.

The only link I have to our countrymen who fought for our freedom is my father.

My father, like many of his peers, never talked about his experiences at war. Indeed, only in his most tormented rantings (always alcohol induced) did any details of his war experience or internment in a POW camp reach my young ears – and only through the filtered explanations my mother, or one of his friends might offer. That is how I formed a sketchy, incomplete picture of what his experience was.

Here’s my dad in uniform:

All this is happening 10 years before my birth. I don’t know who or where May was or came from, but the admonition on the back –

“Don’t let the Germans get me” – written in a moment of melancholy perhaps, or with flirting youthful innocence, portends an unforeseen event…….

Here’s a picture saved from a magazine dated March 23, 1940 before Dad was shipped out to Italy –

He was born in May, 1923. He was only 17 in the picture above….. These are the only three pictures in our family album of Dad before combat. The next pictures are more sombre – three postcards that arrived in late 1944 –

I’m sure they were in the family “archives” somewhere, but I did not see these postcards until after my father passed away.

The last card is in my dad’s handwriting.

As a father myself, I can only imagine the relief felt by Daisy, William, and all the siblings, to have proof Donald Lloyd was still alive.

Stalag VII-a is and was well documented. It was established in 1939, and on the day it was liberated (April 29, 1945), it held over 110,000 prisoners of war – the biggest single liberation of POW’s during the war. This is a website detailing Stalag VII-a in Moosburg:

http://www.moosburg.org/info/stalag/indeng.html

This link is to an article about the liberation of Stalag VII-a and the capture of Moosburg. The “Liberators” as they became known, were the 14th Armor Division of the United States Army:

http://www.14tharmoreddivision.org/liberationofstalagVIIA.htm

I often wondered where my father’s animosity towards the USA originated. Perhaps it was during this time period. Stalag VII-a at the time of liberation had 30,000 US POW’s. There are stories of Germans trying to pass themselves off as POW’s or non-combatants, and the vetting process was time consuming. All POW’s with suspect or no credentials were processed through Geneva. Here is a story of a Stalag VII-a Canadian POW named Nick Zrobeng who was there at the time of liberation:

http://www.moosburg.org/info/stalag/zrobeng.html

I am ashamed to admit I never discussed this history or his experience overseas with my dad before he died.

My dad was 6′ 2″, and over 200 lbs. when he went to war.

I was told that when liberated from Stalag VII-a, he weighed less than 90 lbs.

He was fortunate. He came home from the war. Perhaps scarred, haunted, and dysfunctional. What has been seen cannot be unseen, da? But home he came to a free land.

Today Canadians fight a different enemy that threatens our freedoms.

I am grateful, and humbled by their sacrifice.

I hope you all took a moment today to reflect on the bounty we all enjoy due to the selflessness of our armed forces.

We owe a debt that cannot be paid…..

D