Apropos of Nothing

“In Romania, on moonlit nights, the peasant women used to look down into a well until they saw the reflection of the moon. Then they let down a pail, slowly drew up water with the moon in it and, with a spoon, drank its reflection. Looking down into the well at that moment, they could see the face of their future bridegroom.”

I’m a sucker for pretty quotes

All Fall Down

Well, here we are. The last week-and-a-half  has been just filled with WTF moments, so many I feel pretty much numb. The Lightbringer

seems determined that, by gawd, if he can’t have four more years, then he’s going to bring the whole mess down around us. It also seems a large proportion of the citizenry are just fine with that.

As Zevon said, It Ain’t That Pretty At All.

Some links for your perusal-

Richard Fernandez talks about shame

The One on Letterman, via Ann Althouse

The Diplomad has a Thought For The Day

Gerard reminisces

Miz Weasel admits defeat

Lastly, House of Eratosthenes (whom, if you are not reading regularly, you should be) savages an old friend from Atlanta.

To close, I’m going to quote an Eighties band I heard this morning, mainly because the song spoke to me about where we seem to be headed. Remember, a tyrant’s best method for diverting attention from trouble at home is to start trouble abroad…

 

Ultravox
All Fall Down

When I was a boy there’s a dream that I had
That a war if it’s fought was for good against bad
And I woke up to find that the world had gone mad
And we’d all fall down

And I feel like a child again sitting observing
You’re toying with power, your fingers are burning
You’re pushing so hard that the worms won’t be turning
We’ll all fall down

While you try to pretend you’re a god upon high
With your party ideals and your squeaky clean lies
When it comes to the crunch you’re no smarter than I
And we’ll all fall down

If it’s colour or creed or your old time religion
Well fighting for that shows a pure lack of vision
The fight that we strive is the fight to survive
And we’ll all fall down

Well look in the mirror and what do you see
An American, Russian, a soldier or me
When you’ve all pressed the buttons just where will you be
When we all fall down

It gets harder to see just what future’s in store for us
Hard to see through all the wool you pull over us
Words that you give are just words to console us
We’ll all fall down

And what will you do when you’ve pulled the release
When the sound of the thunder has drowned out the pleas
Cos after all that was your idea of peace
When we all fall down

No sun for a world that once stood so tall
No wind’s going to blow and no rain’s going to fall
No flowers for graves, in fact no graves at all
When we all fall down

Follow the chain, and out them all

This is the picture that should cost the Lightbringer his job

I want folk to follow the decision chain, from the very top to the deputies who “just followed orders” and arrested this man, and call them all to account. This is not America. At the risk of invoking Godwin’s Law, this is Nazi Germany. They hung a few folk for their behavior then; perhaps it’s time we did the same- pour encourager les autres.

via Glenn

https://twitter.com/rsmccain/status/247167200954302464

Winston Churchill on Islam

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.  The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.  A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.  The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belongto some man as his absolute property—either as a child, a wife, or a concubine—must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.  Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.  Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die.  But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.  No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.  Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proseltyzing faith.  It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science—the science against which it had vainly struggled—the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
via @rsmccain via VA Viper

Numb

I should be shocked, but I’m not-

Yeah, he should have told his bosses- problem is, they had 48 hours of warning

I’m going back to modeling. Building things doesn’t make me feel this bad. Back later.

Sanity break

September 11 has been a hard day to get through for eleven years now. The last two days have been their own special horror show. You know what- there’a a Sherman Tank that wants me to build it. So I am. Carry on!