SONGS in my head today Roadrunner (Baby) [Jr. Walker]

SAINT OF THE DAY St. John Theristus. 1129 AD. Born of a slave mother, escaped, became a monk at an early age.

LINE OF THE DAY Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do... [Bertrand Russell]

RACCOMMANDAZIONI Some thoughts about Lent for Busy People is here

SONGS in my head today... When Love Comes to Town [U2 & BB King], Desire [U2], Exit [U2] and Pure Shores [All Saints].

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1083-1189)
Born at Sempringham in England, son of Jocelin, a wealthy Norman knight. Received the benefices of Sempringham and Tirington from his father. Founded the order that came to be known as the Gilbertines that survived until the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Imprisoned, but later exonerated of the charge of aiding Thomas a Beckett when the latter was in exile. Canonized in 1202

LINE OF THE DAY
''Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."- Philo of Alexandria -

RACCOMMANDAZIONI
http://www.ifrance.com/golem/ which has a complete catalogue online of chagall's work. can't remember who sent me this link. Thanks, anyway, whoever...

http://www.artchive.com/ Mark Harden's online gallery. Worth several lifetimes of your time...

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/ ''The Web Gallery of Art... a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods...''

SONGS in my head today: O silencio da guitarra [Mariza]

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Josephine Bakhita (c.1868-1947). Born in southern Sudan, sold into slavery and eventually to the Italian consul there. Joined the Canossians and made her final vows in 1896. Canonised 1st Oct 2000 by JPII. Patroness of Sudan.

DUAL-CITIZENSHIP Excellent news. Prof Ghai has taken notice of the Kenyans Abroad dual-citizenship petition. The proposed prohibition against dual citizenship is therefore likely to be removed from the draft constitution...More here

LINE OF THE DAY

Alfred de Musset
Used to call his cat Pusset.
His accent was affected.
That was to be expected.
-Maurice Hare-

This and more philosophical clerihews at Dave Chalmers's Philosophy of Mind page

NIGERIA have finally dished out the beating that Cameroon were cruising for. Not before time. I tip Nigeria to win the whole thing, mostly because we are now living through Jay-Jay Okocha's annus mirabilis.

RACCOMMANDAZIONI
-The Crisis of Liberal Catholicism (Commonweal magazine symposium-type thingy)
-John Burns' BMW page.

SONGS in my head today: Hand in my pocket , the screamfest von Alanis Morissette

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Theophilus the Lawyer. Martyred 300 AD. Who is only the second lawyer-saint I know of.

EXAMS As far as Heidegger went, I felt a little like Pataki did during his exams in Under the Frog.

LINE OF THE DAY
The famous deconstruction of Star Wars scene from Clerks [Kevin Smith, 1994]
...
RANDALL:
There was something else going on in Jedi, I never noticed it till today. They built another Death Star, right?
DANTE: Yeah...
RANDALL:
The first was completed and fully operational before the Rebels destroyed it.
DANTE:
Luke blew it up, give credit where credit's due.
RANDALL:
But the second one was still being built when they blew it up.
DANTE:
Compliments of Lando Calrissian.
RANDALL:
Something just never sat with me that second time around. I could never put my finger on it, but something just wasn't right.
DANTE:
And you figured it out.
RANDALL:
The first Death Star was manned by the Imperial Army. The only people on board were stormtroopers, dignitaries...Imperials.
DANTE:
Basically.
RANDALL:
So when they blew it up, no problem. Evil's punished.
DANTE:
And the second time around?
RANDALL:
The second one wasn't even done being built yet, it was still under construction.
DANTE:
Yeah, so?
RANDALL:
A construction job of that magnitude would require a hell of a lot more manpower than the Imperial Army had to offer, I'll bet they brought in independent contractors on that thing--plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers...
DANTE:
Not just Imperials, is that what you're getting at?
RANDALL:
In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. You think a stormtrooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know how to do is killing and white uniforms.
DANTE:
Alright so they bring in independent contractors. Why are you so upset at its destruction?
RANDALL:
All those independent contractors brought in to do the job are killed - casualties of a war they had nothing to do with.(notices DANTE's confusion) Alright, look. You're a roofer. Some juicy government contract comes your way. You've got a wife and kids, the two-story in suburbia. This is a government contract which means all sorts of benefits. Along come these left-wing militants who blast everything within a three mile radius with their lasers. You didn't ask for that; you had no personal politics, you were just trying to scrape out a living...
(The BLUE-COLLAR MAN joins them)

XAVIER RYNNE I must be the last person in the the world to find out who he is (was?)

THE BIBLE likes neo-liberalism??!!.."Ni undu o mundu uria wina indo, niwe ukaheo, na akiriririo: no uria utari na indo, niagatunywo una kiria arinakio.
Matt 13:12"

The HUTTON REPORT
1. Lord Hutton, given the narrow terms of reference he had to work with, has done a reasonable job of collecting and making sense of the relevant evidence.
2. The BBC publicly made a claim that it could not show to be true, and which it knew at the time it could not show to be true. It needed to be, and has been, held accountable for this error.
3. There is not a fourth arm of government called the media.
4. Those who opposed the Iraq war [as I did] have got to actually make the argument that the war was illegal and morally unjustifiable in public. The Judiciary is simply not going to find post-facto that the war was unjustified...
5. As soon as I'm coherent on all this, I'll update, but I thought it vital to put my preliminary impressions up.

DISGUSTING is not too strong a word. HA! Koigi was stood up. Nation link tomorrow when it will be permanent.

APOLOGIES I caught the flu after a particularly debauched night out last saturday. Which is why I haven't posted all week, dear reader. I'm only now regaining my will to live.

RACCOMMANDAZIONI
The Leiter Reports here ,
The Campaign for Universal Inheritance here,
& Roger's Profanisaurus [now with added vulgarity!!] here.