Friday Crab Blogging

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We are very fortunate to have a Guest Crab (Doctor of Necrophagia*) today as you can see:

Hat tip to Felix from across the pond.

*AKA bottom feeder. May be related to Lawyers.

Taking Liberties

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Over at Unreal Nature, there is posted some early works by Wegman, of doggy fame. I found one of the works not quite what I expected from the title. So, in violation of every copyright imaginable, I have spiffed it up a bit.

The City Party of Yes and the City Party of No

When I was young and randy*, all the young ladies thought it was the height of romance to read "The City of Yes and the City of No" by Yevtushenko. I can't quote it (my copy is at home and its not on the nets), but it did not take one long to be dulled to insipidity with his slurpy, Rod McKuenesqe verse.

However, I was reminded of that doggerel by the history of Republican votes in Congress this year, and especially last night. Not one Republican voted to debate the health care bill. No, not to pass it, but to debate it.

I had thought that the glacial pace of legislation might have picked up a bit with global warming, particularly with in increase in hot air in our Congress. But no, we are to be forever hamstrung by a Party that wishes nothing more than to deliver a stinging blow to the President. This might be acceptable behavior when voting for secretary of the eighth grade, but not when voting for something that will determine the course of healthcare for years to come.

Its going to be a rough time coming.

*Poem - maybe post in future

Friday Crab Blogging

A little late and a sparse collection. Blame it on the "Swine" flu.

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I've been thinking of "swine." It really is a pejorative appellative. If I were a pig, I would be offended. Pigs are pretty smart, you know.

I think that it gets is nastiness from Mark 5:10-20:

11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

One is not completely sure why Jesus did this, but I suspect that they had the flu. Seasonal, not H1N1.

On the other hand, the site just linked to has this interesting thing to say about the episode:

Because this event occurs in “country of the Gadarenes,” which means near the city of Gadara, we are probably dealing with a herd of domestic swine owned by Gentiles because Gadara was a part of the hellenized, Gentile cities of the Decapolis. Thus, Jesus caused the death of a large number of pigs that were someone else’s property.
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Perhaps one clue to the meaning of the passage can be found in the fact that the spirits feared being sent out of the country. This would be in keeping with a point raised regarding the first part of this story: this possession and exorcism may traditionally be read as a parable about breaking the bonds of sin, but at the time it may have been more properly read as a parable about the unwanted presence of the Roman Legions. They, of course, would not have wanted to be sent out of the country, but many Jews would have wanted to see them driven into the sea. I wonder if there was an earlier version of this story in which the theme of driving out the Romans was stronger (emphasis added).

Now this speculation is fascinating on several levels. Most importantly, however, is the suggestion that Jesus was involved in proscribed political activity. Never, in the whole of my Catholic childhood, was it ever admitted that Jesus was politically active. In fact, the whole trial and crucifixion was presented as a big mistake in that Jesus's contention that he was "King of the Jews" was always presented as a spiritual thing. I don't rememver how Kazantzakis presented Jesus in "The Last Temptation of Christ" but I'm pretty sure that it didn't deal with him as a political figure.

In that last line I typed the pronoun originally as "Him." It is amazing how these things stick with you. Once, many, many years ago when I lived in Ireland I was playing the guitar at a party and we were all singing "Plastic Jesus". I looked around the room and every time we came to the word "Jesus" all the young ladies in the room would do a quick little bow of there head.

Incidentally, the link to "Plastic Jesus" didn't have my favorite verse:

Hail Mary full of Grace
Help me find a parking place
etc.

GhostWhiner

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From here in response to a comment from the previous post:

Its hard to imagine the cartoonist (Clay Bennett) is in the small town Chattanooga Times - Free Press he is so good. Of course the Chattanooga Times is the sister of the NYT, both having once been owned by Adolph Ochs. But the News Free Press? It was quite to the right of Rush Limbaugh when I was growing up. However, as the Wikipedia article on this newspaper points out:

The Times Free Press is unusual among U.S. newspapers in that it runs two editorial pages, one leaning liberal, the other leaning conservative, reflecting the editorial leanings of the previous standalone Times and Free Press.

I guess stuff like this is only interesting to Chattanoogians.

As for Sarah, well, I think her days are numbered. At least she provided some entertainment and, hopefully, one more SNL appearance by Tina Fey.

Politics are something you can't make up

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As a work of fantasy, Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household even now is a good read (I couldn't find the original cover so the above is from a British movie in the 1970's. Also, I like Peter O'Toole.) This week another work of fantasy, Going Rogue by our favorite politician (sic) Sarah Palin, hits the news stands.



If I wasn't depressed by the level of discourse in America before, the fact that this clueless idiot is afforded a place at the table as if she had something important to say just makes me want to cry. I know, I know, America has always had its incompetent politicians. But, to think that she thinks that she has a chance at being President of the United States is just mind boggling.

Oh, did I mention that she resigned as governor of Alaska for no good reason? Oh, I see. This is one of her strong points. Sorry. Didn't figure.

Crabs in the Time of Swine Flu - IV

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As you can see from this graph, we are starting to tail off the "epidemic" of 2009 H1N1 previously known as Swine Flu. Of course, the shipments of vaccine are just starting to trickle in. Nothing like closing the barn door after whatever.

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I only have two crabs for you today.

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Crabs in the Time of Swine Flu - III

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First we have two Guest Crabs.


Crab indiginous to the Isle of Wight. There is some indication that this is left over from the England, England theme park of an earlier age. (h/t to JSBlog)

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I will not, under any circumstances, attempt to discuss this crab. Please go here and, if you are brave, here.

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The Sea, The Sea, where is the Sea.

Grits

The essence of good grits lies (in) freshly milled whole-grain products, which helps to retain the flavor. Quick or instant grits are available in cans but the quality seems to suffer in the canning process. The result is grits that are usually described as tasting like "library paste."

That would be my opinion.

The world can be divided into two camps, those who love grits and those that despise them. There is no middle ground. -- Marcus Tullius Cicero

Chattanooga

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There is some confusion as to the origin of the word "Chattanooga." This holds great interest to me since I be a home boy. I, for one, believe it to refer to Lookout Mountain. This source lends support to this with:

"Joshua Ross, a nephew of the chief, declared that the word was taken from the Creek Indian word "Chat-to-to-noog-gee" which means "rock rising to a point," a fitting description of Lookout Mountain."

Lookout Mountain with Moccasin Bend in the mid-ground taken from the side of Signal Mountain.

Tennessee, where the grass is green,
The sky is blue and the water too,
I wish I was rolling home to Tennessee..

I've been to London and to Paris, France
I'll go anyplace that I get the chance,
But I wish I was rolling home to Tennessee...

Tennessee, where the grass is green,
The sky is blue and the water too,
I wish I was rolling home to Tennessee..

I've dined out elegant at the Ritz,
But it don't beat my momma's grits,
But I wish I was rolling home to Tennessee...

Tennessee, where the grass is green,
The sky is blue and the water too,
I wish I was rolling home to Tennessee..

Dublin, Ireland, 1970