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.