Shakespeare, Murder, the Iraq War and a Letter from a Dying Soldier

Posted on March 20, 2013 by jimmie

“Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural”“Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural”

(Hamlet, act 1, sc. 5)

Comment.  It is the 10th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, when the arrogant ostentation of a nauseating, foul, debased and humanly-worthless elite thought it was courageous to destroy a small and independent country. And all for the obscene profit of a few, the death of millions and the launch of a so-called new world order.  It seems proper to publish a letter from Tomas Young, a young soldier paralyzed during the war, who, by his words, thinks he is dying. Continue reading →

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Shakespeare on Wall Street

Posted on March 18, 2013 by jimmie

If that be right which Warwick says is right, There is no wrong, but everything is right“If that be right which Warwick says is right
There is no wrong, but everything is right.”

(King Henry VI, part 3, act 2, sc. 2)


Comment. Few will disagree that these days it is increasingly difficult to make sense of banks and of the law (at least as banks are concerned). And while bankers amuse their leisure with the most generous gratifications they are in total control of the financial weather and live by an independent law.
About one week ago Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to a Senate committee Continue reading →

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Shakespeare and more on Physiognomy

Posted on March 17, 2013 by jimmie

The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes“…The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes”

(Coriolanus, act 5, sc. 4)

Comment. The preceding blog (Mar 16, 2013, title, “Shakespeare, Physiognomy, the Pope and Lavater”) triggered a few direct e-mails and a comment, more or less condemning the practice to judge a person from his appearance, notably his/her face. Who could disagree?  But the topic blog was not an endorsement of the practice, rather an occasion to expose those who did not know about it to the work of Abbot Johan Lavater – considering also the influence that Lavater had on the writing of a giant of world literature, Honore’ de Balzac.  Noting also, from what I can gather, that many visitors to this web site are writers, Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, Physiognomy, the Pope and Lavater

Posted on March 16, 2013 by jimmie

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters…“Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters…”

(Macbeth, act 1, sc. 5

Comment. As usual, there is a barrage of opposing statements regarding the new Pope’s relation with the Argentinian Junta, responsible for the so-called “Dirty War” and the repression of the 1970s – 1980s. Repression is actually a euphemism as the most circulated number of people “disappeared” in Argentina for the sake of democracy is around 30,000 – it was only Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters…recently that some of the authors of the massacre went to jail.
Consequently the man-in-the-street, naively attempting to reach a conclusion, no longer knows whom to believe. In the circumstances, one of the taken-for-granted methods for assessing character is the old art of physiognomy (from the Greek physis (nature) and gnomon (judge) – meaning  the assessment of a person’s character from his outer appearance, especially the facial expression).
Greek philosophers were fond of the practice, but it acquired a new life when the illuministic Swiss and Zwinglian Abbot Johan Lavater (1741-1801) published his monumental “Physiognomische Fragmente zur Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, Crowds in St. Peter’s Square and the Pope

Posted on March 14, 2013 by jimmie

Pope depicted in a medieval miniature“… is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?”

(King Henry IV, part 1, act 5, sc. 3)

Comment. Gustave Le Bon (1841-1931) was a French sociologist famous for his study of the behavior of crowds. His book “The Crowd – A Study of the Popular Mind” is instructive. As it is the case with some books, LeBon tell us what we may know already, though perhaps hidden in the labyrinth of the mind. His study of the popular mind could well apply to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square during the election of the new Pope.
I think most would agree that both the crowd and the media would have displayed the same enthusiasm, irrespective of who had been elected. While in no way exhaustive, the following Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, Primroses, Austerity and Hypocrisy

Posted on March 13, 2013 by jimmie

The primrose path of dalliance threads And recks not his own rede…. The primrose path of dalliance threads
And recks not his own rede”

(Hamlet, act 1, sc. 3)

Comment. If yesterday it was daffodils, today it is primroses (primula vulgaris, for the botanists), another floral emblem of Spring. Equally laden, furthermore, with symbolic and metaphorical meanings, pertinent to Laertes’ (as it’s the case here), as well as to countless contemporary politicians, economists, bankers, princes of the church etc.
In the Shakespearean instance, Laertes, brother of the beautiful Ophelia, Continue reading →

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Daffodils, Shakespeare, Wordworth, Rustle of Spring, Poetry and Music

Posted on March 12, 2013 by jimmie

Daffodils, that come before the swallows dare, and take The winds of March with beauty“Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty”

(Winter’s Tale, act 4, sc. 4)

Comment. Today we will deflect our gaze from the contemptible machinations of warmongers, thieves, perverts and unpalatable politicians. We are at the edge of Spring among whose heralds are the daffodils, now in plentiful bloom, at least here in the Pacific Northwest. I wish I could say the same about the swallows, who seem to have completely disappeared, given that their habitat is relentlessly destroyed by the despicable and masochistic search for ‘growth’ by humans.
Still, after pausing to admire the daffodils who come before the swallow used to dare, Continue reading →

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Shakespeare and the Physics and Mathematics of NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology)

Posted on March 11, 2013 by jimmie

O Lord, sir, it were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sirBIRON. By Jove, I always took three threes for nine.
COSTARD. O Lord, sir, it were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir.

(Love’s Labours Lost, act 5, sc. 2)
O Lord, sir, it were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir

Comment. As it often happens, when an earth shattering episode becomes a myth, no rational discourse is any longer possible. This is the case with the events of 9/11. Here we will NOT discuss or advance presumed conspiracy theories or equivalent. Rather, we will deal briefly with the report and the explanation by NIST on the collapse of the Word Trade Center Building #7. This was the 47 story skyscraper not hit by a plane that crushed to the ground 7 hours after the towers did.
At the end of the blog I will add the link to a video that covers the NIST exchange Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, Chavez and the Associated Press

Posted on March 9, 2013 by jimmie

Fellow kings, I tell you that that Lord Say hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch“Fellow kings, I tell you that that Lord Say hath gelded the commonwealth, and made it an eunuch”

(KHVI p2.4.2)

Comment. Among the large volume of nonsense uttered in the US corporate media regarding the death of Hugo Chavez, one of the most extraordinary prizes for stupidity (and that is being kind) must be assigned to the Associated Press. And since the statement is incredible, I have to assure the reader that I am not making it up. The article was penned by a Jim Naurekas, with contribution from a Pamela Simpson. The incredulous Continue reading →

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Shakespeare, Obama and the Right to Assassinate US citizens within the US

Posted on March 7, 2013 by jimmie

That he should die is worthy policy; But yet we want a colour for his death: 'Tis meet he be condemn'd by course of law.”“That he should die is worthy policy;
But yet we want a colour for his death:
‘Tis meet he be condemn’d by course of law.”

(King Henry VI, part 2, act 3, sc. 1)

… so says Cardinal Beaufort who wants to assassinate the Duke of Gloucester. But, as you see, the Cardinal and his associates want at least to find an excuse to kill (“a colour for his death”), and kill within the law (“‘Tis meet he be condemn’d by course of law“).
As of yesterday, this is not so (officially) for the Obama administration. The president Continue reading →

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