A Bit From TR

Having run a photograph of Theodore Roosevelt in the last post, it is only right to run a quote from the great man:

Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood -- the things that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

Nuff said.

Men in Hats Part 4

To the right we have a photograph of Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform. As is readily apparent, TR is wearing a hat in a rather dashing manner.

TR was, in the opinion of your faithful correspondent, one of the last of the true great United Presidents. A straight shooter, a stand up guy for the little guy while also being a capitalist, a conservationist and a true fightin' patriot.

He was a bit of a dandy and a showboat, but he was a true American who cared more for the nation than he did for capital. He wore a hat well and he was, if memory serves correctly, the last president who wore a moustache.

After his death there was the creation of many Theodore Roosevelt Clubs nationwide. But, unfortunately those have died away. No other modern president inspired such an action by the citizens of this great land. Now he seem to be governed by men who would be better off being president of Woolworth stores.

Men In Hats Part 3

To the right is a photograph of what is probably one of the most underappreciated Western bands around --Riders In The Sky. ....As you will note, all of these fine hombres are wearing hats. They are wearing cowboy hats. They are all wearing different styles of cowboy hats. And they all have the good sense to wear hats.

Today at church your faithful correspondent discovered that another church member was suffering a form of skin cancer on his pate because he did not wear a hat in the sun.

Let's face it, as smart as the generation born between 1945 and 1965 thinks it is, they have a lot to learn from those who have gone before. Men knew enough to wear hats in the heat and in the cold despite the fact that they didn't have the science that we now so proudly tout. Back in the 1970s yours was in Ireland and noted that the Irish men wore either hats or caps despite the fact that the sun in Ireland is hardly intense. Some genetic information had gotten to them that Yanks rejected.

A good hat is your friend in more ways than one.

What's the Deal With Orange Women?

In the past few years it seems to have become the mode for certain women to make their skin orange. Several examples on recent times are Jessica Simpson, her sister Ashley Simpson, Natasha Henstridge and a certain Los Angeles are news reader known as Mia. In three of these cases the women are of European descent. The fourth is of Asian heritage. Orange is not a natural skin color for any person, let alone Europeans or Asians.

When your faithful correspondent was a callow youth there was a tanning product called QT. QT promised to give the user an overnight tan without the user ever stepping into the sun. The result was orange skin. Every damn body in high school would say something like, "You've smeared on some QT. It looks stupid. You look like an orange." And it did look stupid. Why do certain women feel the need to have some semblance of a tan?

If we look at classic English and Japanese literature we see constant references to the attractiveness of pale skin. And while the pale skin of an Asian woman is different from the pale skin of a European woman, neither of them are orange. There is a delicacy to pale skin that represents rarity, a certain translucence that is almost ethereal. Orange skin, on the other hand, seems to show the triumph of chemistry. On one hand you have fine china. One the other you have styrofoam plates. Life is vulgar enough as it is.

There's no reason to make it more so by women pretending to be field workers.

You Can't Say That! That's My Job

Bill Bennett is about to have a book published, the title of which, in the opinion of your faithful correspondent, just about says it all: America: The Last Best Hope. At one time yours had hoped that America, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland would provide for the hope of freedom and decency in the world, but Great Britain has pretty much succumbed tot the political correctness that is represented by the European Union, and Ireland has turned into a corporatist paradise. A few enclaves in the British Isles such as Unionist Ulster and Old Church Scotland have tried to resist the overwhelming tread toward a kumbaya world at the mercy of every pissed off Mohammedan and West Indian, but it may only be a matter of time before the lean Protestant ministers of the Knox type are replaced in the pulpits by sensitive "with it" types who include the mezzuzin's call to prayer and the voudoun priest's dance with the recitation of the Nicene Creed before his sermon based on the Beatle's song All You Need Is Love.......For years the Anglican Church, and its US counterpart, the Episcopal Church have been undermining Christianity through the promotion of liberal theology, the denial of the exclusive truth claims of Christianity, and broad ecumenicalism. But now, for some reason, the Archbishop of Canterbury, some years after participating in a neo-Druidic rite, has decided that some people have just gone too damn far -- Telegraph News Archbishop attacks Da Vinci Code 'obsession' . We here at Nib Manor haven't much use for the Da Vinci Code except as an entertainment when we can't find or Fu Manchu novels, but for the Archbishop to bitch about an obession with the novel is comical. He's done everything to downgrade the Faith, but when an outsider does it he gets pissed off. Maybe he's made because Dan Brown got there before he did. Oh for the days of Latimer!

Mow Your Own Damn Lawn!

Two weeks ago there was a demonstration in Los Angeles in support of illegal aliens. It is reported that there were 500,000 marchers. Today there was a demonstration in Dallas in support of illegal aliens and against stricter immigration enforcement. It is reported that there were, once again, 500,000 marchers. This week the United States Senate worried over what was basically a proposal to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Fortunately it was shot down.

Here's the deal. President Bush has stated that illegal aliens do the work that Americans won't do. What he neglects to mention is that Yanks will not do the work for the low wages that illegals work for. Illegal immigration has lowered the wages of what used to be good paying jobs i.e, construction, dry wall work, roofing, meat packing. In other words, jobs that used to be considered good middle class blue collar jobs are now jobs that pay almost poverty level wages. John McCain , while being heckled at an AFL-CIO conference challenged the hecklers with the statement that they wouldn't pick cabbage in Arizona in the summer for $50.00 an hour. The hecklers yelled back that they would run to get such jobs. McCain stated that they didn't have the guts to take such a job. Well, let's face it, John McCain came from a family of military elite. His Naval career as a pilot was that of a military elite, and his status as a hero is predicated on his being captured by the North Vietnamese and he has made no bones about waving his POW flag as a symbol of his "specialness" while other POWs such as the late James Stockdale, went on with their lives. Maybe John McCain would pick cabbage for $50.00 an hour, but I sure would. I spent some time in high school picking canning strawberries for $1.00 per flat. It took me a little less than an hour to pick a flat, so I would be making 50 times more than I did and twice as much as I do as a machinist.

Let's face it. Many of us have gotten lazy. People with postage stamp sized lawns hire illegal alien "gardeners" to cut their grass. Upper middle class and higher mothers hire illegal alien Mexican women to act as "nannies" while they, themselves go to the gym and flirt with the tennis pro and wonder why their kids speak Spanish better than they do English. You go to McDonalds and try to buy a burger and fries and the guy behind the counter can't speak English and gives you a cheese burger and apple turnover because the Corporation isn't willing to pay a wage that is decent for a high school kid or college student. Kids who used to be knocking on your door asking to mow your lawn twenty years ago are now hanging around on the street corner trying to sell you drugs. Ain't it great?.

Here's a hint. The problem with illegal aliens has two causes. The first is the absolutely rotten and corrupt Mexican government and society. The second is you because your a cheap bastard. Mow your own damn lawn. Raise your own damn brats. Pay a decent wage to your employees. Otherwise you'll not being fuming over Mexican flags flying in your neighborhood. You'll be seeing the Communist Red Banner and the Anarchist Black Flag while your windows are being broken and your car being burned because a whole lot of people who used to have good jobs will have none.

Men in Hats

Due to the inattention of your faithful correspondent, this is only the second installment of the Men in Hats series.

Pictured at the right is the great American writer Jack London with his two daughters, Bess and Joan. As you can see Jack is wearing a cap in the sun and looking both dapper and business-like. He is not wearing a ball cap or wearing his cap backwards. He is wearing his cap in the proper manly manner.

And for those who think that modern life or life on the west coast of this great nation superfluous, know that London was in many senses a man ahead of his time. He was a life long resident of California. He wasn't a dude or a poseur. He was man who got down and dirty with life and with the written word. He wore hats or caps because he knew that they had value in protecting himself from the elements and because men wear hats to distinguish their role in life.

In this particular photograph Jack is wearing a working man's cap despite the fact that at the time he was one of the highest paid writers in the world. In other photos he wears a west coast type of cowboy hat. He knew that he was from the working class and didn't try to hide it by wearing a homburg or derby. His hats showed what he was in his heart.

What would be your hat if you had the sense to wear one? Your hat reveals to those around you more of who and what you are than your overpriced jeans and stupid slogan tee shirt.

Steyn on the Case

Mark Steyn usually has something interesting to say, often in an entertaining way. Here he has a few words about the the case of the Afghani convert to Christianity who faces death for this move either dejure or de facto:Facing down a culture where they talk like crazies. But perhaps Mr. Steyn doesn't realize that Islam is a religion of Peace (their peace, not ours).

Barbarians Inside the Gates

We here at Bloody Nib Manor cannot vouch for the veracity of this:France-Echos : le blog in English » Blog Archive » Muslims and leftists totali . But if it is true it shows the price of being politically correct.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, there was a rally of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans protesting proposed legislation to punish illegal aliens and punish their employers.

There is one lesson to be learned by both the US and France. If those of childbearing age want to know what their grandchildren's lives will be like all they have to do is either look South to Oaxca or East to Pakistan. And their grandchildren will curse them.

Don't Do It Ladies!

As regular readers of this blog should know, Bloody Nib Manor is a victim of Los Angeles in both sprawl and in television broadcasts. It has come to the attention of the inhabitants of the Manor that all too many women on television are in the process of making themselves look freakish. Such attempts are almost forgivable among actresses. The very act of being an actor or actress is freakish in and of itself. But when women who purport to supply the great unwashed with what is supposed to be news use their various beauticians and plastic surgeons to make themselves look less than natural, one finds oneself wondering, "if the presenter isn't real, could the news not be real".

A case in point is the female newsreader on KCAL at noon. Said newsreader (and for the sake of convenience sake we'll call her Mia) is an of Asian woman of some sort. She may be ethnically Chinese, Korean or Singaporean. Miss Mia, in contrast to her Asian sisters, has hair that is so blonde that it would have made the almost divine Brigitte Bardot, jealous (any excuse to post this pic of BB). Miss Mia seems to wear a larger cupped bra than the average Asian woman and she seems to have had collagen injected into her lips.

As those in the know know, the ever lovely Lady Nib is an Asian woman of the Japanese variety. Until very recently she had hair as black as a raven's wing and as thick and heavy as a Northwestern forest. The last few years a few strands of silver have appeared in her crowning glory and she wears her natural hair color proudly. She was blessed with a Bardot-like mouth, so the collagen injections would be useless. And as far as bra size goes, let's just say that Lady Nib wears a small. The almost divine Lady Nib is who and what she is and sees no reason to try to make herself into what she isn't. She's not a Barbie doll, she's not a California surfer girl and she's not an actress in blue movies. She's proud to be a Japanese-American Anglophile, and the only thing she ever wished to change about herself was to change her voice from one that sounded like Julie London to that of Kim Novak. Lady Nib calls Miss Mia "Freaky L---" because Miss Mia has done so much to deny what she is. Lady Nib looks askance at any Asian or Latin American woman who bleaches her hair (as does your correspondent, making an exception for Rita Hayworth) to conform with some strange homogeneous standard of appearance. It is, to her, like sticking a Mercedes-Benz emblem on a BMW.

Speaking as a male, yours agrees with Lady Nib. Women would be better off not dying or bleaching their hair to a color outside their racial group. Asian or Latin women with red hair, or Black women with blonde hair just looks not right. It's like putting a pinstripe suit on Johnny Cash or a tweed jacket and jeans on Tom Wolfe. No collagen treatment on lips looks good. They usually come out lopsided, and at best look weird. Maureen O'Hara, Margaret O' Sullivan and Marlene Dietrich were all attractive women despite the fact that they didn't have pouting lips. As far as breast enlargement -- have at it if you want to look like a porn star. It'll make your kids proud. Audrey Hepburn and BB were happy with God gave them and they did well in making men trip over their tongues chasing them.

But maybe it's just because I'm a hairist, lipist,breastist dog that I say such things.

How Far Can it Go?

In the county in which Nib Manor is located there are several television stations that broadcast news. Several of the stations have Asian women as anchorwomen. Most of the women are vaguely attractive and do a decent job of reading copy.

But there is a problem which your faithful correspondent has not been able to figure out. Why do so many Asian women insist in bleaching their hair to shades of red and brown or even blonde?

A case in point is Mia Lee, who works for KCAL 9 in Los Angeles. In recent months Miss Lee's hair has become more blonde than the almost divine Brigette Bardot. It is a disconcerting experience to watch her read the news. She has the face and form of an Asian woman, but the hair color of a Swede.

The ever lovely Lady Nib, who is Japanese, with a lovely head of raven black hair, refers to her as Freaky Lee because Miss Lee seems to be trying to deny that she is an Asian woman.

Let's face it. Certain races tend toward certain hair colors and they look best with their natural hair colors. Why bother trying to look like something one isn't? It would be like putting your faithful correspondent in a Bond Street suit instead of Harris tweed. It just don't work.

Cheap Instruments Part ?

In a couple of previous post your faithful correspondent has touted the value of cheap musical instruments. He has, in these post, emphasized the value of the ukulele because he is currently struggling with said instrument. He has fallen into the all too human assumption of, "If I'm interested in it, you should be interested in it. And if you are not interested in the thing I'm interested in you must be a fool and a rogue."

So, in deference to the tastes of those who happen to be fools or rogues I offer the suggestion of a really cheap musical instrument that is easy for the musical fool like yours to play, and yet has potential for those of more advanced musical aspirations -- The Penny Whistle. Sometimes said instrument is called the tin whistle or the Irish whistle. Said instrument is amazingly cheap -- $9.00 to $13.00 for a decent whistle. Add $20.00 for a method book and you can still get change for two twenties.

What can you play on a tin whistle? Anything with a diatonic score. One can play old American tunes, Irish tunes and English tunes, even Italian tunes. Playing the Stairway To Heaven or Purple Haze might be difficult, but I have no doubt that there is some guy in his other's basement working it out. The tin whistle offers one the opportunity to play music that is instinctive.

Yours prefers the classic Clarke tin whistle because it has a rather more mellow tone than the tin whistles with plastic fipples and is more traditional, but any tin whistle is better than no tin whistle.

A Decent Statement. And a Better One

The Danish newspaper that originally published the Mohammed cartoons recently published the following manifesto entitled A Manifesto Against Jihad:Indland Jyllands-Posten .
At first glance the statement, signed by 12 "thinkers", some of them ex-Muslims and some of them French "philosophers" (and it appears that any French streetsweeper is a philospher these days), looks pretty good.
But the Brussels Journal takes a closer look at the Manifesto and see a serious flaw -- Anti-Jihad Manifesto Misses the Point The Brussels Journal . Read the whole thing and pay particular attention to the statements that secularism has destroyed the religious roots of Europe and that Islam is filling the vacuum. The author of the Brussels Journal piece realizes that Europe was (up until some fifty years ago) Europe because of Christianity. ,,, The great English Baptist preacher of the nineteenth century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, addressed the question of theocracy and the proper Christian response to the idea many years ago.
"We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation, we were reformers before Luther or Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the Apostles themselves. We have existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, sometime veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents. Persecuted alike by Romanization and Protestants of almost every sect, yet there has never existed a government holding Baptist principles which persecuted other; not I believe, any body of Baptists ever held it to be the right to put the consciences or other under the control of man. We have ever been ready to suffer, as out martyrologies will prove, but we are not ready to accept any help from the State, to prostitute the purity of the Bride of Christ to any alliance with the Government, and we will never make the church, although the Queen, the despot over the consciences of men."
If we our Mohammedan "brothers" would take a hint from Spurgeon they would do themselves a great favor. But perhaps because they want to impose their false religion on the world by force because they realize that it cannot, by any reasonable and half intelligent person, be accepted in the stead of Christianity, or even outright atheism. One's faith influences a society not by force, but by example. And that shows, sadly, the failing of contemporary Christianity in Europe. The Termites (modern theologians) infected the Christian church in Europe and have made "Christianity" weak and negligible instead of the muscular and confident faith and force that it once was in the Old World. The result has been a malaise and apathy that allows a false religion to become more vibrant than the religion that was once considered the European birthright, while the Europeans have become unable, not only to defend their way of life, but their ideals. Secularism is not something that something that people will fight to protect.
And finally, your faithful correspondent is aware that some readers may bring up the stupid statements made by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell regarding a theocracy in the United States. Robertson is not a Baptist. I don't know what denomination Falwell belongs to, but Baptists, in the US have traditionally taken a hands off attitude toward government outside of voting.

Pretty Kooky

This week a CD crossed the transom of Bloody Nib Manor that demands special mention. The CD is entitled "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" by the Japanese girl duo Petty Booka. The CD is basically a Best of Petty Booka thing. The music is strangely addictive. It's almost hypnotic. If you've got a few bucks to drop you might go to Amazon.com and listen to the samples before you order it. And once you listen to the samples you will order it.

And speaking of music Asian, if you have DSL or Broadband, you might want to check out this link:Crazy Korean Karaoke Girls. It's like watching your little sister. If your little sister had any talent.

And you may well ask, why the Union Jack, Piglet and Eyore image when writing about two Asian musical acts? It's just a good thing to remember that our Western heritage has to be protected from the Moorish horde.

People Who Take A Stand

Realizing that in the past your faithful correspondent has stated that he will stay off topics of a political nature he was reluctant to add these links to this post.

But considering the fact that there are politics and real life, I feel that the following links refer to real life and don't have much to do with real life.

What's the difference, you may ask The difference is that politics consists of a bunch of self proclaimed "wise men" deciding how to run the world while trying to get (re) elected to office. Real life has to do with cultural survival.

First we have an Australian official telling the local Mohammedans that if they want to live under Sharia law they'd best live someplace other than Australia -- Go elsewhere for sharia law: Costello - National Breaking News - Breaking News .

Second, a Nigerian Anglican cleric sounds the alarm about the safety and future of Christians in Nigeria -- Anglican Communion News Service .

Third, the Vatican calls for parity from the Mohammedans --VATICAN: LEADING BISHOP CONDEMNS SILENCE OVER ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE .

And finally, a Lebanese woman describes what Mohammedan supremacy over a nations looks like --- FrontPage magazine.com :: Because They Hate by Brigitte Gabriel . Make a point of reading the first sentence of the sixth paragraph. Memorize it and teach it to your friends and children. There's no point in trying to get your local politician to remember because the first twenty bucks passing under his/her nose will erase any moral lessons that said pol has learned.

A Good, Cheap Uke

In a previous post your faithful correspondent praised the value of cheap musical instruments for the average amateur player. Earlier this week a parcel arrived at Bloody Nib Manor containing a Mahalo uke. Mahalo ukes, unfortunately made in China as is everything else these days it seems, cost less than thirty dollars (not counting postage and handling) over the Internet. WWW.MotelMusic.com sells them, as does Ukulele World. They are available in about a half dozen colors.

The uke I received is not of the quality of a Martin or Kamaka, but it's better than some I've seen over the years. My only problems with the uke are: 1.) it has machine tuners instead of pegs, which makes working the upper part of the fretboard a bit difficult for me, and 2.) the strings. The strings seem to be some sort of fishing line instead of proper uke strings. They go out of tune within a half hour. But changing the strings will change that problem.

It's a decent little uke for practice. I bought mine as a work uke. In other words, it's the uke I leave at work for practice. So, if you're looking for a cheap musical instrument to start your rock and roll career, you might consider the Mahalo uke. If nothing else it'll make people think that you're doing something artistic.

The Trouble with Harry

We here at Bloody Nib Manor read the first two or three Harry Potter novels. While entertaining, your faithful correspondent found them lacking. Perhaps it is because the books were written for children. When yours was of the target age of Harry Potter novels he was reading Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels in the hope of growing up to become an Oriental villain with plans to take over the world. Instead I became a Christian and a machinist and married a wonderful, and decidedly not evil Japanese woman.

The attached link gives a pretty good look at the Harry Potter books: Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy. And if you have the time, read the links at the bottom of the article.

I apologize for the lack of proper paragraphs in this post but the Blogger word processor seems to be having trouble understanding what an Enter key is for.

In Praise of Cheap Musical Instruments

We here at Nib Manor are not a particularly musically educated bunch. Yours likes Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart, but he cannot say why. The ever lovely Lady Nib prefers Italian operas. Yours can play several musical instruments badly; the mandolin, the harmonica, and the ukulele. Lady Nib, at one time, was a passable classical guitarist, but then she married your faithful correspondent and abandoned said instrument in favor of gardening and computer solitaire.

My first instrument was the mandolin. It was a "tater bug" bought at a pawn shop. I don't know how much it cost since Baron Nib bought it for me a a pawn shop. As time went on I bought a flatiron mandolin so I could play chords. My first guitar was bought a a swap meet. It was a piece of junk that couldn't be brought into proper tune without pulling the bridge off. Harmonicas are always cheap. My uke cost my not more than $80.00. My pennywhistles never cost more than ten bucks. I have a mountain dulcimer that cost fifty bucks. And each instrument gave me pleasure. Any failing in the instruments was due to me, not the instrument. And there lies the trick. A good musician can make a cheap instrument sound okay. A bad musician can't. Musical instruments are like golf clubs. A set of Pings can't make a hacker into Tiger Woods, but Tiger Woods can do wonderful things with a set of cheap clubs.

Unless one makes one living at it, cheap musical instruments are okay. In fact, they may be preferred. One, trying to play a Martin guitar for only a halting version of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" , may feel that one is failing the instrument. Plunking away on a Wal-Mart guitar, on the other hand, may make one more experimental. One has nothing to lose (perception-wise) in thrashing a cheap git-box or violin or dulcimer.

Let's face it, music is a little like driving a car. The most adventurous thing we do is drive the freeway. Most of us can get by by driving a Chevy Aveo, a Nissan Sentra, a Ford Focus or a Kia Rio. We really don't need a Lotus Formula One car. We have neither the talent and/or overwhelming desire to take our car/guitar/uke to the higher levels. So why invest in a Corvette when one can get by with a Cobalt? Is it ego? If one is going to have a big ego one should at least have the stuff to back it up. And most of us don't.

I cannot count the times when I've heard a beginning guitarist lament the fact that he or she didn't have a Les Paul Gibson instead of an old Silvertone Deluxe (sold by Sears) or a cheap knock-off of a Fender Stratocaster while ignoring the fact that Willie Nelson, for some reason, was able to make a pretty good song using a guitar that had a hole worn in the top of the sound box.

.

Nowadays (and why is the word not now-days?) a cheap guitar is good enough for the average amateur. The bridges don't pull off the sound board, the necks don't bend and the guitars are probably a lot better than what your favorite bluesman used back in the twenties. The same goes for ukes and mandos. And the same goes for pennywhistles. Anyone who pays more than twenty bucks for a pennywhistle is an idiot trying to buy talent. And consider the great country harmonica player Charlie McCoy preferred the Hohner Old Standby (the cheap harmonica) over the Marine Band (the more expensive version until the Special Twenty). Until you can play Whammer Jammer on an Old Standby you can't bitch about your instrument failing you. Until you can play Malagenea on your Wal-Mart special your really haven't much excuse for not sounding like Segovia.

Most of us amateur musicians are tyros. We have neither the time nor desire to be really good. And even the cheap instruments that are available are better than a lot of the cheap instruments, or even middlin' instruments of times past when great music was being made.

Consider it this way. Roger Bannister was a medical student with little coaching in running. The only coaching he had was from the running coach at Oxford. There were no computers available, there were no biometric data available. He didn't have expensive running shoes. Bannister had two desires. He wanted to become a doctor and he wanted to run fast over the course of a mile. He busted the four minute mile, a goal that is even now, with all the technology available, that is a rarity. Bannister, in effect, played Vivaldi or Hendrix on a cheap git box. He didn't''t depend on his shoes or biometrics to reach his goal. He ran with shoes that current runners wouldn't even consider. He made the shoes. The shoes didn't make him. And the instrument won't make you.

Image-mania

By now, the whole Mohammed cartoon bit is pretty well known. Mohammedans in several nations have rioted and burned Danish embassies. Our own State Department has stated that they have taken a stand against such cartoons as those printed in the Danish newspaper back in September. Meanwhile the foggy noggins at Foggy Bottom have yet to protest against television versions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion being broadcast in Egypt or the fact that the Koran basically calls Jesus Christ a liar and a fraud with a certain prophetic talent. Be that as it may, after all diplomats have never been known for standing for anything but their jobs, the European and American world may have been given a bit of a slap in the face that will prevent suicide. Our Islamic friends may have forgotten that they, themselves, have in the past, portrayed their "great" prophet pictorially: Mohammed Image Archive If the Christian world had reacted to negative or unorthodox portrayals of Christ Nikos Kazantakis, Marty Scorcese, Sorianno and Dan Brown, in the US or Europe, would have been strung up at the nearest lamppost instead of dismissed as misguided or an idiot. Meanwhile, It would probably be a good thing if we all re-read Solzhenizyn's Harvard Address : Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Address

Ukes on the March

Since Christmas your faithful correspondent has had the opportunity to see two DVDs produced by the English/Canadian musician Ralph Shaw.

Mr. Shaw is a musician/entertainer/teacher living in the lovely city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

If you are a uke fan you would be well served by checking out his website: www.ralphshaw.ca and ordering his instructional DVDs or his CDs.

The man's an awful show-off and has good reason to be so.

He also has a pleasant tenor.

Amazing Grace (Yeah) Overuse (No)

The other day you faithful correspondent made the mistake of watching a television news broadcast.

During said broadcast there was an account of some protest or another. The footage of the protest showed Joan Baez on a make-shift stage singing Amazing Grace. Last month, on the night of the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the television news featured footage of Joan Baez singing Amazing Grace.

I'm getting damn tired of Joan Baez (or anyone else for that matter) singing Amazing Grace at this or that protest meeting. It seems that Amazing Grace has become, over the last forty years, the official protest hymn for people who do not evidently believe in amazing Grace.

The hymn was written by an ex-sea captain and slaver named John Newton in the 18th century. Newton abandoned his wicked ways and became an Anglican clergyman. He was, despite his opposition to slavery, a man who supported the establishment. He supported William Wilberforce and John Wesley. His hymn addressed personal conversion to Christ. Not the idea that Grace is universal.

Read the words of the first verse:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost,
And now am found.
Was blind,
And now I see.

Note that in Newton's words Grace is personal. It is not corporate. It refers to one person -- me. It doesn't refer to us. It is the individual who knows whether or not he has received God's Grace. It is not for another to know. For another to claim to know whether another person has received God's Grace is an exercise in presumption, but one often finds those of the liberal bent to be presumptuous in their pronouncements.

The last I heard Joan Baez was a Quaker. Quakers believe in the doctrine of the Inner Light, not the doctrine of Grace as do the (shudder) Calvinists or Wesleyans. So why does Joan Baez sing Amazing Grace? Is it because it's a catchy tune? The tune used in the Americas is based on an English tavern song. It surely couldn't be the words, because if she intended to sing an old Christian hymn she could (and should) sing Isaac Watts' When I Survey The Wonderous Cross. But to do so would ruin the whole thing, I suppose, because the average American liberal has no more idea of the religious definition of Grace than he does of the string theory in physics.

As a Christian of the conservative ilk (though so very flawed) I'm getting tired of a hymn that American Christians have sung for close to two hundred years, a song giving praise to Christ, being used as a protest song by people who can't even spell Christ for the purpose of trying to prevent the state from exacting its due from people who have violated the lives of others.

The hymn Amazing Grace is a CHRISTIAN hymn. It is not a secular hymn. It is not a protest song. It is a hymn that reflects the Christian's awe that Christ has deigned to save him or her.

Did Christ deign to save Stanley Williams? I don't know. But I never saw any evidence of it. His last interviews emphasized no one other than Stan Williams, not Christ. In fact, Jesus was never mentioned. And in Joan Baez's last protest appearance there was not mention of Our Lord and his sacrifice.

So please, Joan and Judy (Collins), if you want to use the tune for Amazing Grace to express a protest of some sort, at least have the decency to write new words to the melody. The old IWW did it for the melody of Revive Us Again by using the tune for Hallelujah, I'm a Bum. If a bunch of uneducated workingmen can make new lyrics for an old melody, why can't you? If you can't, go back to singing Joe Hill.

Amazing Grace (Yeah) Overuse (No)

The other day you faithful correspondent made the mistake of watching a television news broadcast.

During said broadcast there was an account of some protest or another. The footage of the protest showed Joan Baez on a make-shift stage singing Amazing Grace. Last month, on the night of the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the television news featured footage of Joan Baez singing Amazing Grace.

I'm getting damn tired of Joan Baez (or anyone else for that matter) singing Amazing Grace at this or that protest meeting. It seems that Amazing Grace has become, over the last forty years, the official protest hymn for people who do not evidently believe in amazing Grace.

The hymn was written by an ex-sea captain and slaver named John Newton in the 18th century. Newton abandoned his wicked ways and became an Anglican clergyman. He was, despite his opposition to slavery, a man who supported the establishment. He supported William Wilberforce and John Wesley. His hymn addressed personal conversion to Christ. Not the idea that Grace is universal.

Read the words of the first verse:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost,
And now am found.
Was blind,
And now I see.

Note that in Newton's words Grace is personal. It is not corporate. It refers to one person -- me. It doesn't refer to us. It is the individual who knows whether or not he has received God's Grace. It is not for another to know. For another to claim to know whether another person has received God's Grace is an exercise in presumption, but one often finds those of the liberal bent to be presumptuous in their pronouncements.

The last I heard Joan Baez was a Quaker. Quakers believe in the doctrine of the Inner Light, not the doctrine of Grace as do the (shudder) Calvinists or Wesleyans. So why does Joan Baez sing Amazing Grace? Is it because it's a catchy tune? The tune used in the Americas is based on an English tavern song. It surely couldn't be the words, because if she intended to sing an old Christian hymn she could (and should) sing Isaac Watts' When I Survey The Wonderous Cross. But to do so would ruin the whole thing, I suppose, because the average American liberal has no more idea of the religious definition of Grace than he does of the string theory in physics.

As a Christian of the conservative ilk (though so very flawed) I'm getting tired of a hymn that American Christians have sung for close to two hundred years, a song giving praise to Christ, being used as a protest song by people who can't even spell Christ for the purpose of trying to prevent the state from exacting its due from people who have violated the lives of others.

The hymn Amazing Grace is a CHRISTIAN hymn. It is not a secular hymn. It is not a protest song. It is a hymn that reflects the Christian's awe that Christ has deigned to save him or her.

Did Christ deign to save Stanley Williams? I don't know. But I never saw any evidence of it. His last interviews emphasized no one other than Stan Williams, not Christ. In fact, Jesus was never mentioned. And in Joan Baez's last protest appearance there was not mention of Our Lord and his sacrifice.

So please, Joan and Judy (Collins), if you want to use the tune for Amazing Grace to express a protest of some sort, at least have the decency to write new words to the melody. The old IWW did it for the melody of Revive Us Again by using the tune for Hallelujah, I'm a Bum. If a bunch of uneducated workingmen can make new lyrics for an old melody, why can't you? If you can't, go back to singing Joe Hill.

Sex Symbols

One of my casual New Year's resolutions ("casual" here meaning not written down or promised) along with eating less and moving more, is to spend less time paying attention to politics. Your faithful correspondent has long held the belief that blogging and talking about politics, both world and national, is a waste of time because very few blogs have any influence on the body politic and talking about the latest crisis in North Korea at the shop coffee pot only shows one to be a news geek and does nothing for the victims of the North Korean Elvis, Kim Il Jung.

So yours has made a resolution to spend more time blogging about things that he is interested in such as music, culture, religion and literature.

A case in point is the decline of sex symbols. When I was a laddie gambolling about the banks of the San Gabriel River, there were women,why, since we were young sprites unaware of exactly what a sex symbol was, were considered by man, woman and child, to be sex symbols and truly beautiful women. Such women had names such as Jane Russell (a tough but sexy woman), Rita Hayworth, Rhonda Fleming, Sophia Loren, Gina Lolabrigitta (sp?), and the almost divine Brigitte Bardot. The common factor in all these women was that they were women. They were not teenagers. They were not children. They were all women who knew their own minds. A grown man who had the hots for Jeanne Craine in her role as Margie was considered a little suspect because Margie was a teenager.

Now that I am a man approaching senior citizenship I find that the sex symbol has become the child-like teenager as is evinced by Brittany Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Gweneth Paltrow, et al. In other words, youth women who all look like they just got out of junior high school instead of ripe women. Apparently the modern taste is for the green instead of the ripe, and that says something not good about the society. It's as if a bunch of adolescents have taken over the society. When Catherine Zeta-Jones, a truly sexy woman, is considered and oldie, one knows that something is wrong.

It may be that I'm spoiled. I grew up with truly beautiful women. The ever young Baroness Nib (my mother) and her sister were beautiful women. I married a truly beautiful and sexy woman -- the ever lovely Lady Nib --(especially when she wears stocking and a nice pair of black pumps), and she is still, some thirty odd years, later my ultimate sex symbol.

The sex symbols of my youth all smelled of Tabu or Nuit de Noel. The current crop smell of Heaven Scent or bubble gum.

It's sad.

Muslim Moral Values

Since at least September 11, 2001 we have been told that, in the view of Muslims, the West is a place of decadence. Which, of course, explains why the plane hijackers (devout Muslims) who guided the airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon spent the evenings before their highjinks in topless bars badly tipping for lap dances and watching porn on hotel television sets.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Apparently all European women are, by the fact that they aren't Muslim, whores. Consider the following: Gang terrorizes train in France - World - The Washington Times, America's News It was a hell of a way to celebrate New Years in France. And it was a hell of a police response. There are a few things that are better addressed with a nightstick and gun than with being sensitive to cultural differences. Our Gallic friends seem to have not heard the lines from Pirate of Penzance, " A policeman's lot is not a happy one." One gets the idea that the French police are getting ready for service in Vicheystan.

Or perhaps this: Pan-European Arab Muslim Gang Rape Epidemic - IRIS Blog might make one think that Islamic values in Europe and Australia are better than good old Anglo-Saxon values.

Earnestness Hurts

In a previous post or two your faithful correspondent has mentioned his fondness for the ukulele. One of the things that yours finds so attractive about the instrument is that it is so unformed. By this I mean that it has not gelled into a particular form of playing.

Acoustic guitars are usually associated with classical or folk music. Electric guitars go with rock, country or jazz. Clarinets equal classical, big band or klezmer music. But the lowly uke manages to cover all those genres and more.

This very day I have received in the mail a CD of Bach music played on the uke, listened to tin pan alley, rock and comic songs all played on the uke. It's a great little instrument and one of it's strengths is that it that it has not been niched.

On the other hand, the dulcimer, one of which I received for Christmas this year, has been niched to death. In reading over books, notations and the Internet, I see that the instrument has been niched to the point of causing it's own death. The niche for the dulcimer is earnest folk music, either American or English. A whole lot of dulcimer players seem to think that by playing the instrument they are preserving a musical tradition that would be lost unless they kept playing Barbara Allen or Boston Boy. Nothing new, nothing funny beside Little Brown Jug.

The average dulcimer player does not seem to have a sense of humor. Their earnestness is almost painful. The wildest they get is to have hummingbird shaped sound holes cut into their instruments. Or a headstock shaped like a dragon. They're either honoring "roots" America with their songs or pretending to be Elizabethan bards with songs about some character longing for his lily white lady while forgetting that Ben Jonson was an awful drunk and that it was more likely that the song sung among the costermongers was more likely to be something comic about old Jake trying to shag Betsy instead of Lancelot longing for Guinevere.

If you go through the Internet sites selling ukuleles and dulcimers you'll see that the ukes are offered with pineapples, tikis, cowboys or flames painted on the sound boards. Uke players and makers have a sense of humor. But you'll have a long, hard search trying to find a dulcimer with anything more "radical" depicted on the instrument than a hummingbird or a lily shaped sound hole. One wants for the day when some musician realizes that a dulcimer can kick out the jams.

Until that day the dulcimer will remain a painfully earnest instrument. That situation ill be good for the dulcimer aficionado, but it won't be any good for the instrument itself. It will become a new sackbut or psalter.

The Enemy of My Enemy...

Years ago Steve Miller sang a song which contained the phrase, "the pompatus of love." No one could ever figure out exactly what a pompatus was. But Miller was never quit the wordsmith of say, Irving Berlin or Cole Porter. Miller actually tried to rhyme "taxes" with Texas."

But "pompatus" is pretty close, in pronunciation to "pompous." so it's a pretty good launching pad to talk about George Galloway.

George Galloway is a member of the British Parliament. He has been implicated in the UN Food for Oil Scandal and has been accused to funneling money to Saddamite Iraq. As outraged, pompous politicians often do, he blustered his way through it sounding like an old Kawasaki 400 running on one cylinder. He managed to cow the United States Congress because he has a British accent and has a larger vocabulary than your average Congressman. But he was later shown to be a prevaricating weasel

Mr. Galloway likes to make himself out to be a champion of the little guy. As we all know, in the Western world there is usually more sympathy for the little guy than there is for the big guy. In Galloway's case the little guy in the Arab world and various Third World dictatorships. The big guy is the US. It makes good public relations and the press eats it up.

But in this little guyism it is often forgotten that sometimes the little guy is a real jerk and deserves to be be slapped around like Wilmer was by Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon. North Korea is a little guy playing with matches in a dynamite factory. Cuba is a little guy with it's own little gulag. And the Arab world is a little guy ruled by people as crazy and authoritarian as Nazi outhouse rats.

George Galloway recently gave a speech in Syria, part of which follows:

"What your lives would be if from the Atlantic to the Gulf we had one Arab union -- all this land, 300 million people, all this oil and gas and water, occupied by a people who speak the same language, follow the same religions, listen to the same Umm Kulthum.... The Arabs would be a superpower in the world if they had unity, instead of the shameful situation in which Arabs find themselves today.... Hundreds of thousands are ready to fight the Americans in the Middle East, and in Latin America there is revolution everywhere. Fidel Castor is feeling young again. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile are all electing left-wing governments that are challenging American domination. And in Venezuela, the hero Hugo Chavez has stood against them over and over and over again." (Tip o' the lid to Mark Steyn)

So there you have it. Galloway thinks the US is bad. Therefore those who hate the US are good and are his friends. What he doesn't realize is that if the Arab world extended into Great Britain he would find himself out of a job and would be acting as a lickspittle to some mullah sitting in Buckingham Palace. That is if his throat was cut for being an infidel.

But that's the leftist way. It worked for Stalin. Until he found a bunch of Germans parading into Russia.

The Integrity of the Academy

Soon after the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC the Saudi Prince, Alwaleed bin Talal offered to make a donation of 10 million dollars to be used for the rebuilding effort of NYC. In his offer he made several unwise, from the American viewpoint, comments about the need for the US be more sympathetic to the Arab world and quit worrying so much about the security of Israel. Mayor Rudy Giuliani told the prince to keep his money partially because of the prince's remarks.

Giuliani, not running for office at the time, showed some integrity that several universities have not. Talal has made contributions of 20 million dollars each to Harvard and Georgetown University for the establishment of departments, of centers, for Islamic/Western understanding: OpinionJournal - Taste

In other words, the presidents of these universities have sold their souls for filthy lucre. Harvard was originally founded as a training college for Presbyterian ministers. Georgetown was founded as a Jesuit college. In years past the purpose of the universitie's studying other religions was to understand how best to present the Gospel to members of those religions. Now it's all a big ecumenical love-in and the race for the long green, no matter where it comes from.

Some Guys Are Just Made For Killin'

If you don;t live in California you may not have heard of a man named Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

Williams (I refuse to refer to him as "Tookie" or Mr. Williams) is on California's Death Row at San Quentin prison. He has been there for 24 years. He was found guilty of the murders of four people. One was a clerk at a mini-mart. The other three were a father, mother and adult daughter at a motel. The goal of the murders was robbery. All four people were shotgunned.

Williams is also often "credited" with helping to found the Crips street gang. Actually, he was not one of the founders. He was a guest of the California Youth Authority (read youth prison) during that time. But the claim, made by his supporters seem to think that his being a founder of this band of hyenas seems to give him a street "cred" that he would not otherwise have.

If all goes according to schedule, Williams will be walking the last mile this coming Tuesday and will be breathing his last for killing four people. I celebrate the death of no man, but there are some people without whom the world is a better place. Williams is one of those. He did bad things and, for his own justice as well as ours, he deserves to be executed. To deny him the death penalty would be to deny him his justice. He knew the rules when he pulled the trigger and there's no reason for society to cheat him out of his reward.

But there has been a movement afoot among the local glitterati, race hustlers, bleeding hearts and dimbulbs to demand that the state give clemency to Williams because, in prison, about ten years ago, he made a turn around and was, to quote one supporter, "redempted." What did he do to get "redempted?" He said that his involvement in the Crips was a bad thing and "wrote" books for young people telling them that gangs are bad. The word "wrote" is used in the preceding sentence because it is suspected that the books were actually ghostwritten. This despite the fact that prison officials say that Williams is still a "shot-caller" for the Crips.

What's interesting is that Williams has never apologized for, or even admitted to, the murders for which he is in prison.

As I write the governor of the state of California is pondering the giving clemency to this beast. What I want to know is, why? Williams cannot, no matter how "redempted" cannot bring back the lives of those he murdered. "Writing" kids' books about how bad gangs are just doesn't make it. 99.9% of the people on Williams old turf could tell a kid that gangs are bad.

I Didn't Mean Go This Far!

Last week I posted a piece about the value of modesty among young women. In doing so I didn't mean that I condoned the going of this far: International News Article Reuters.com But once again, our Muslim brothers have shown themselves more enlightened than we in the West. Or is it because a burqua covers a woman's bruises inflicted by her husband than does say, a nice pillbox hat?

Round Up O'Links

Christopher Hitchens, apparently, is an ironman. He's survived a long sojourn with the hard Left, has imbibed countless gallons of Scotch and has smoked enough ciggies to supply a small country. But he keeps going on. Even when I disagreed with his formerly hard Left politics I enjoyed reading and listening to him. Red-eyed with a hangover he is able to speak or write better than 99.9% of politicians.

Hitch weighs in on the Saddam Hussein trial and Ramey Clark's place in it:FrontPage magazine.com :: Saddam's Chief Apologist by Christopher Hitchens .

We here at Bloody Nib Manor are not Christmas freaks. We long ago abandoned draping the manse with fairy lights, wearing holiday sweaters in 80 degree Southern California winters or expecting everyone to smile and say Merry Christmas as they hand over a Big Mac. Nowadays we use a dandelion sprinkled with glitter as a Christmas tree, hide under the blankets until Jan. 2 and growl and anyone saying anything to us as we force ourselves out if the local Wal-Mart.

That being said, the leveling of Christmas is amazing to behold. By leveling your faithful correspondent means that a minor Jewish holiday (Hanukkah, Chanaka, or whatever) that used to be celebrated by spinning a top and handing our gold foil chocolates for the kiddies has been elevated to an excuse to go out and shop, the Muslim holiday, Eid, has it's own postage stamp, the fraudulent Kwannza is now honored by greeting card manufacturers and we're forced, while listening to or watching the news, to listen to neo-pagans whine about how Christmas was ripped off from them when, in fact, if Christ had never been born said neo-pagans would probably be sacrificing their first born on December 21 to make the sun return. Never mind the village atheists whining about the "establishment of religion" in the Great Republic while happily accepting Christmas (opps! I meant "holiday") bonuses from their employers. It's all Happy Holidays and Holiday Trees and Holiday Shopping and the Midnight Holiday Mass from the Vatican. And if you don't like it you are the Scrooge for reminding the great unchurched that the reason all this goes on is because of the birth of Jesus. The "holiday" season is supposed to be a bacchanal of buying, partying, groping and regretting the morning after.

Meanwhile, some Jewish thinkers are coming to the defense of Christmas as Christmas and as a celebration of the birth of Christ:FrontPage magazine.com :: Jews for Christmas by Sharon Hughes. And while you read it I'll be singing "Unthinking Physics of the Universe Bless Ye Merry Gentlepersons."

Screen Queen Makes Sense

The television program "Dynasty" was never a favorite of those here at Bloody Nib Manor. It was just too soap opera-like and damn silly. It was "Dallas" without the cowboy hats.

And Joan Collins, despite the fact that she was at one time a real "babe", was never one of our favorite actresses. This may be due to the fact that she never appeared in a demanding role since she appeared in "Samson and Delilah" with Victor Mature and Angela Landsbury, and the fact that she always put herself forward as a Glamour Puss.

But even a thinking a Glamour Puss is sometimes able to see the light:Britain Destroying Itself From Within

I may have posted this link before. It's just too bad that I wasn't able to link a French thinker saying the same thing.

Don't Let It All Hang Out

Bloody Nib Manor is in a metropolitan area. We're not in the back of beyond or the far side of the desert. And we're not prudes. We can remember when young women wore bell-bottom pants and fringed bikini tops. But that wear was worn at such places as Grateful Dead concerts, Love-Ins and parties. Daily life was usually much more modest consisting of bell-bottom pants and t-shirts with inane saying printed on the front.

Contemporary life has given us what we call "hootchie-mama chic." For those not in the know, a hootchie-mama is a woman who dresses like a slut. These young women seem to have woken up one morning, looked down at their chests and suddenly discovered that they have breasts and have had the thought, "Wow! I've got boobs! I have to go out and show everyone these things!" Consider the various Brittaneys, Christinas, Jessicas and Parises, or whoever graces the cover of the latest People/Us/Star/ National Enquirer. The current crop of Pop Tarts has inspired little girls to dress in a manner that would have made a Saigon whore blush back when a bar of soap could buy a Yank dogface out of his virginity.

Finally someone has come to the conclusion that looking like Madonna (not the Madonna) in her early career is not such a good thing for women or girls. Check out this site:Modesty Zone ,and make sure to check out the store.

On a personal note, a few years ago while looking for a new church, I attended a fellowship that was of the Dutch Reformed tradition. In fact, the preacher was a Dutchman. But the way the young women dressed would have made Abraham Kuyper drive them out with a stick. One Sunday a woman in front of me was wearing a skirt so short, with a slit up the back, that if I had wanted to I would have seen more of the woman's inner thigh than I've ever seen of the same of the ever young Lady Nib. The woman in question was in her late twenties or early thirties with two young children. There's a place for such attire. Church isn't the place.

Let's face it: most people look better with clothes than without clothes. There's no point in ruining one's image before intimacy. And why is it that Brad Pitt or whoever never showed up at the Academy Awards wearing only a tux jacket with no shirt when any female actor could do it an not turn an eyebrow?

On the Front

Having called a cease to the Bloody Nib Bardot versus Deneueve controversy, it's time to get back to things that matter.

The French, having not so much ignored the problems that the recent riots raise as much as they have downplayed the problem (It's not cancer. It's just a plum sized bleeding cyst on the inside of my stomach), have decided to try to pay off the rioters with promises of a better life in the land of Roland. So once again, those who hate filthy lucre but believe that all problems can be solved by an exchange of the long green, believe that they can buy peace and love from those who hate them. Meanwhile the Mohammedans in La Belle France continue their march to overtake the nation that was once called the Catholic Church's first daughter:Fundamentalism in French Workplace - Los Angeles Times . We here at Bloody Nib seriously doubt that if there were an underground of Huegenots at EuroDisney or Renault that had unofficially set aside broom closets as "Prayer Rooms" the employers would have been so inclusive. After all, there's nothing so militant and offensive to the body politic as old fashioned Protestantism.

Oriana Fallaci was in the U.S. this past week and had some interesting things to say:Jihad Watch: Spencer: Fallaci: Warrior in the Cause of Human Freedom . Meanwhile those women who don't seem to care much about Islamic women being beaten and treated pretty much like slaves because they want to be allowed to pee standing up at a men's urinal say that Fallaci is being intolerant because of her stand against the Islamic invasion.

It's rather too bad that Gloria Steinem didn't marry a Saudi and tell us all of the joys of being a woman in an Islamic country and how it would be good for Europe and the Americas to embrace the Koran.

Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay Part 3

If you go to the comments of the previous entry you'll find several comments; all by some rascal named Anonymous. Upon closer inspection you'll see that one of the comments was apparently generated by a person who wants to direct the reader to his/her website dealing with miracle cancer cures or financial advise or some other "money-making opportunity." Ignore those. Your correspondent has nothing to do with that stuff.

On the other hand, there are a couple of comments posted by another Anonymous who actually comments on what yours has put forth. For the purpose of this blog, this Anonymous will be referred to as the Real Anonymous and it is his comments that part of this entry will address. The Real Anonymous is worthy of attention. The other guy is the Susan Powter of commenters -- a conman looking for the main chance.

To get to cases. It's unfortunate that Monsieur Anonymous chose Pamela Anderson and Grace Kelly as the Yank versions of Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Pamela Anderson was born and raised in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, and only arrived in the U.S. after her adulthood. Her only talent is the exhibiting of her surgically enhanced figure and her rather plain face. Her motion picture career has, up until now, rather limited, and her television career, in Los Angeles, has pretty much been limited to late night television. At the best Ms. Anderson could be called the better looking (but not by much) older and more shapely cousin of the Olsen Twins from the Great White North.

Grace Kelly, while from a Philadelphia Mainline family, abandoned the States to become a monarch of a Cote d'Azure gambling hell called Monaco. She traded in her Gadsen flag for a tiara. I think I need not say more. Maureen O'Hara, Irish born and bred and now living in Bermuda (or is it the Bahamas?) has shown more loyalty to the Great Republic than did Princess Grace.

If we are going to make analogies of French celebrities regarded as Marianne to American celebrities regarded as symbols of Liberty, the better choices would be Rhonda Fleming (Bardot) versus Jacqueline Smith (Deneuve). One is prettier than the other, but who would you rather have loading your shootin' iron while fighting off Indians, Redcoats, Rebels, or Yankees. Now that I think of it, I'd probably rather have Jane Russell by my side since she could kick Robert Mitchum's ass, and she was eminently huggable. By that's neither here nor there.

The point is that the symbol of Liberty or Marianne, from your correspondent's point of view, is that Liberty is something to be embraced, as is Marianne. Not something to be stood back from and admired. Take Delacroix's painting of Liberty Leading the People to Freedom. The painting shows Liberty (the model for Marianne) in liberty cap and carrying the tricolor storming the ramparts of monarchy.. Is it not easier to imagine the divine Bardot doing such a thing than Mme. Deneuve?

But that's enough of that. I'm suing for a truce with M. Anonymous. He's correct in that it's a Ginger versus MaryAnne argument. I like MaryAnne.

In the real world, we have an old article by a German about the state of Europe:FrontPage magazine.com :: Europe -- Thy Name Is Cowardice by Matthias Dopfner

And if you have a few bucks to spend buy a copy of Robert Spenser's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades. It'll let you know what the Mohammedans are all about.

Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay Part 2

If you turn back the clock and read Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay posted on November 12 you'll see that a kind soul named Anonymous (that chap is as ubiquitous as Forrest Gump, although I think I see the hidden hairy hand of an ex-Eagle Rocker involved in this) made two comments regarding my comment that the French making Catherine Deneueve the model for Marianne was a step down from Brigitte Bardot. To paraphrase my correspondent, I was committing a crime by saying that Deneueve was a step down from B.B. Read the comments before you read any further (or is it farther?).

Finished reading? Here's the scoop from Bloody Nib Manor. Mme. Deneueve was, and is, a remarkably beautiful woman. Her beauty, though, is of the architectural type. It's rather cold, though classic. She is a woman as imagined by a French philosopher/mathematician trying to appeal to the Deconstructionalists and Post Modernists. Has anyone besides me noticed that since Deneueve hit thirty when she smiled it seemed that she was doing you a favor by noting your mere existence. Mme. Deneueve is the Marianne of the French Academy -- a cool, logical (and one wonders when the French traded their vaunted talent for logic for a short term pragmatism that would make William James abandon the philosophy if he had lived long enough). Mme. Deneueve is a sort of Athena version of Marianne, except not so wise.

The almost divine Mme. Bardot, on the other hand, is, and was, a people's Marianne. She may not have the classical beauty of Mme. Deneueve, but she is much more attractive aesthetically, personally and sexually. B.B. is not just French, she is from the earth of France as it once was. She transcends class, region and time. She can be a Breton, a Parisianne, from Marseilles, the Alcelse (sp?) Lorraine, the Vendi or the French Alps. She represents a France that was, and not just a France of philosophers or salon loungers. The average ethnic crapaud has as much idea of Deconstructionalism or Post-Modernism as does the average Iowa corn farmer. He's not interested in, whenever he thinks of it, existentialism or Sartre or Camus or Derrida. He's interested in the survival of his nation. Brigitte Bardot represents the nation of France, as it was and as many Froggies think it is, much better than Mme. Deneueve who seems to think of nothing much more than herself and the appearance of others.

Consider this fact: B.B. has made several publicized comments about the Islamization of France. In fact she's been sued over her comments and has had to pay penalties for her comments. B.B. cares for France. Mme. Deneueve, on the other hand, has only made the controversial comment that the reason that American women are overweight is that they eat too much bread. Who cares about France and who cares about herself? And just remember that B.B starred in a silly movie called Babette Goes to War. The movie took place during World War 2. Deneueve, on the other hand, has, as far as I know, only starred in war movies in which she is pretty much the victim.

Let's put it this way. Beauty is in many way subjective. All I know is that I'd rather have a cup of coffee or knock back a beer with B.B. than have champagne with Deneueve because in my mind Bardot is France and Deneueve is only an elite segment of said benighted nation.

Now let's get down to cases on the current unrest in France. If one watches the cable television news or reads the rags one would think that only cars have been burned by "disaffected" Islamic youth. But this, and the site is translation from the French so the grammar ain't great, shows that more than cars have been torched:Translated version of http://alexcorvus.blogspot.com/

A French Jewish philosopher has a few thoughts about what's going on in France:Haaretz - Israel News - What sort of Frenchmen are they? . Read the whole article.

And finally, if you've got a few bucks to spend, got to Amazon.com and order the novel The Camp of the Saints and read it. You'll see that some Froggies were more prescient than others.

A Couple O'Links

The rioting in France goes on and Chirac et amis continue to attempt to consult the shades of Voltaire, Rousseau and Louis XVI about the correct course of action to take.

Meanwhile, some of the rest of the western world seems to be waking up to the danger of Islamofacsism:

Islamic preachers drive the poisoning of young minds - Opinion - smh.com.au

World Magazine - Weekly News Christian Views

And remember that during the time that the Muslims controlled Spain the majority of Spaniards were not Muslim. They were Christians who gave up their faith and nation to acquire "peace."

Pat Robertson = Knucklehead

Bloody Nib Manor has since the 16th century, been a repository of hard core Protestantism. In fact, certain branches of the clan have gone as far as to adhere to the Puritan faction. Even the ever lovely Lady Nib, who is Japanese born and bred, is a Protestant of the old type i.e., pre Calvary Chapel/ Kumbaya.

And we here at the manse tend toward the conservative politically.

But sometimes we find ourselves wishing that those who have deigned themselves our spokesmen would just shut the hell up.

A case in point is Pat Robertson.

In the past couple of month Mr. Robertson has stated that it might be a good idea for the US government to assassinate Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and last week he told a city in the Northeast that they can forget any help from God because the populace voted out school board members who held to the theory of Intelligent Design instead of the Darwinian Theory of Evolution.

The man has shown himself to be an idiot and a prideful man. I believe that there was an Adam and Eve. I believe in the Creation as outlined in the Bible. But Robertson has gone way out of line. He has taken upon himself the mantle of a prophet. He seems to think that he is an Isaiah or Jeremiah without any proof that he has been given the mantle. But he insists that he knows God's mind. If that isn't pride, I don't know what is. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were reluctant to take on the roles of prophets. They thought they were unworthy. Robertson, on the other hand, seems to think that he deserves to be a prophet. In other words, God owes him.

We here at Bloody Nib Manor will continue to refer and defer to the Scriptures instead of listening to a buffoon who tries to replace the church with the television church.

When your correspondent was a young apprentice Pat Robertson was know among the trade as "that moon-faced guy." Maybe back in those days we knew that he was a lunatic.

I don't know what Robertson's status with God is. He says that he's a Christian and I have to take him at his word. He's not been found in bed with a dead whore or a live boy. But his interpretation of the faith may be a little off.

I happened to come across, on the radio, Randi Rhodes of Air America, a liberal talk radio network. A caller said that her comments about Robertson's latest gassing were Christian bashing. She protested that she was not bashing Christians and that she was insulted by his accusation. But, in her comments it was apparent that she was bashing Christians because she saw Robertson as representative of the thought of all conservative or fundamentalist Christians. Is not the bashing of conservative, evangelical or fundamentalist Christians by using the club of Pat Robertson Christian bashing? The leaving out of liberal Christians of the Spong and Campolo type doesn't matter. When the US at large think of Christians they think of Calvary Chapel. Not Foundry UMC.

And finally, and cruelly, how can anyone take seriously anything that Randi Rhodes says? Her accent (Brooklyn, Bronx, or whatever) is so thick that one could listen to Plato and think it's all nonsense.

Close Your Eyes and Pretend All's Okay

Seventeen days after it started the rioting in France goes on. Apparently Chirac and Villapin and Co. have decided to declare victory over the disturbances by attempting to have "dialogue" with the arsonists. But isn't that the French way? You know the old joke: Why are trees planted along the Champs Elysees? So the German soldiers can march in the shade. It's somewhat reminiscent of Louis XVI trying to have "dialogue" with the Jacobins.

At one time in France it used to be the norm for government buildings to have busts of Marianne prominently placed. Marianne was the anthropological representation of France in the same way the Uncle Sam is of the United States or Jack Bull (and whatever happened to the great Jack Bull?) was of Great Britain. Over the years the image of Marianne changed. In the late 50s and 60s the image of Marianne was based on Bridgitte Bardot. During the 70s the image of Marianne was based on Catherine Deneuve (a step down in your correspondent's opinion). I don't know who the model for Marianne is now. But I suspect that within the next ten years Marianne, if represented at all, will be represented by some unknown woman wearing a chador. And then we'll know that France has become Gaulistan.

Mark Steyn has a few words to say about the current "disenfranchised youth." :Telegraph Opinion Early skirmish in the Eurabian civil war Check it out and laugh through your tears.

The War in Eurabia

Today marks the ninth days of riots in the suburbs of Paris by Islamic youth. If one reads the local rags on would believe that the rioters of just "youth", as if Jules and Marianne, having nothing better to do between their drinking of pastis and the eating of pate de foie gras decided to burn a few cars and a pre-school or two. Meanwhile, the President of La Belle France (Dominique de Villepin)thinks that "having dialogue" with the rioters will end the mayhem. But what can one expect from a man who considers himself a "poet." Poets are good for poetry and seducing silly teenage girls, and not much else. The Minister of the Interior, Nicholas Sarkozy, has taken a harder line. He expects people in France to act like civilized Frenchmen. He has called the rioters "thugs" and, for some reason, that appellation is considered controversial. Sarkozy, the son of Hungarian and Greek immigrants to France, knows what it's like to be a son of immigrants and expects a certain modicum of restraint and good behavior from second generation North Africans and Turks. But, apparently, the liberal faction sees the Muslim youth as somewhat stupid, primitive and naturally violent, so the youth must be handled with kid gloves.

But be that as it may, here's a round up of links concerning the War in Eurabia:
Paris When It Sizzles
Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Arms For the Poor”
The Fall of France The Brussels Journal
The Daily Demarche: Oh, to be a fly on the wall. This is funny.
The Daily Demarche: "The City of Lights"- did they mean burning cars?

And finally, to show that some pigs are more equal than others from Australia. I've never beat the ever lovely Lady Nib, but if I ever do and the local constabulary are called, I'll use the excuse that I'm a Muslim:Herald Sun: Police told to respect traditions [ 25oct05 ].

A Retraction

We here at Nib Manor haven't enjoyed the gift of omniscience for a long time. It came to an end when about the time we turned thirty. At that time we realized that a rotten trick had been played on us and that world had become much more complicated.

So I find myself having to retract a statement made in a previous entry. In a previous post I stated that a savings bank in the United Kingdom has stopped giving out piggy banks as premiums for opening savings accounts because of protests by Mohammedans living in Great Britain. It turns out that the story may be false. I picked up the information from several websites, each of which linked to an English newspaper. Now, some of those sites say that the newspaper may have been duped or have fallen victim to a new urban legend.

So, if you live in England and want a piggy bank, you may still be able to get a free piggy for depositing some funds. BUT, I wouldn't be surprised that the story has inspired a Muslim in Derby to file a protest with the bank for "disrespecting" Islam. We'll be waiting for the story to rise again.

As you may have noticed, the illustration on this post says "Save The Flag (and the pig) Fly Free!" This, of course partially refers to the Islamic fatwah on pigs. But there is also a war on the Cross of Saint George, which is the red cross used on the English flag. Our Islamic friends protest St. George's Cross as an insult to them because many of the Crusaders fought under that flag. Prison officials in England have been told not to wear English flag lapel pins because Muslim inmates may be offended. There's nothing like buckling under to the hurt feelings of convicted criminals.

It's just too bad that George Washington didn't get his way in desiring that the stars on the American flag be six pointed stars. The US is constantly being portrayed, by the Arab world, as a slave to the Jews. Six pointed stars in the jack would just send them into paradoxisms of rage and they might never have immigrated here.

And finally, for those of you who notice such things, you might notice that the font of this post is different than that of previous post. The only reason is because I neglected to change the font to my preferred font before starting this entry. Nothing special here, so move along.