Silence

“ Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better. Silence is deep as Eternity; speech is shallow as Time. ”

~ Thomas Carlyle

Memorial Day

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

"With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness

All gave some, some gave all

Memorial Day Weekend 2010.In honor of the Fallen Heroes of the US Army, Navy, Air Force,
Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Reserves.
Let us remember where our freedom has come from and honor those who have given their lives for it.

If Cameron is so much more than Blair reincarnated

Simon Jenkins in yesterday's Guardian:

The bond formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg on May 11 produced an almost surreal moment in British politics, not so much a coalition as a fusion. Two lookalikes have become feelalikes, and it is hard to see how they can ever part. A cynic can add: fine so far … wait and see. But something remarkable has happened. It is time to take stock.
[…]
The

'How Great Thou Art'

I love this one! Especially in Spring ...






O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,How great Thou art, How great Thou art.Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When

So spoke Tremonti, and Brunetta answered...

As two of Berlusconi’s most-trusted aides, Paolo Bonaiuti and Gianni Letta, had announced it a couple of days ago, “The time has come for sacrifices,” and they will be “very heavy, very hard and let’s hope temporary.” And yesterday, in an effort to comply with the International Monetary Fund calling on Italy not to relax fiscal discipline, to reduce the public debt and boost its long-term growth

Ahmadinejad was in Khorramshahr to commemorate a victory, but ...

And to think that it was meant to be a rousing speech of national pride, a speech to commemorate the liberation of the south-western city of Khorramshahr after an 18-month occupation, at the time of the Iraq-Iran war. But the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, experienced a very different atmosphere: instead of the usual government-approved cries of God is Great, and Death to America, he

Why Rome is not Athens

National debt. Pourquoi Rome n’est pas Athènes? And at what price will the comparison between Rome and Athens remain a subject of debate for lovers of ancient history?

Le Monde answers as follow …

'The Face of God'

Roger Scruton’s series of Gifford lectures on “The Face of God” are available for listening online. Five of the six lectures have been presented so far. Listeners may leave comments and a recording session is planned in which Scruton can respond to some of them.

Science has a unique authority among thinking people today, and its popularizers have presented a picture of the human condition from

Yvonne Loriod

Paul Griffitths in the May 18, 2010, New York Times:


Yvonne Loriod, the French pianist whose musical exactitude and intensity inspired numerous masterpieces by her husband, the composer Olivier Messiaen, died on Monday at a retirement home in Saint-Denis, on the edge of Paris. She was 86.
[…]
In Ms. Loriod he [Messianen] found a musician who could provide avian qualities of agility and

American Heart

They say that we need changin’
As if all the Founding Fathersseem to get it wrongBut I say I still believe inThe greatest Liberator, Innovator, CultivatorFreedom knows



Sarah Palin called the tune “an amazing love song for America.” Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton recommends it to foreigners “who want to know how the real America feels.” And after hearing the song one woman said,

The Polanski case: prosecution vs. persecution

Several film directors attending the Cannes film festival have signed a petition in support of their colleague Roman Polanski, currently under house arrest  in his Alpine Swiss chalet, asking the Swiss government to refuse an extradition request from California, just a few days after a California judge denied Polanski’s request to unseal testimony in the 33-year-old case (but Hollywood star

Climategate - How the science of global warming was compromised

It was James Delingpole who, on his Telegraph blog, coined the term “Climategate” to describe the scandal revealed by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, namely, the conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth, and the greatest scientific scandal of our age. “The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and

Meanwhile, gold is rising ...

Will the euro bailout work? No, the bailout has slowed the euro’s slip, but it hasn’t solved the problem. That’s what the gold market seems to think, in fact the price of gold is rising against every major currency, not just the embattled euro. This, according to Royal Bank of Scotland foreign exchange strategist Greg Gibbs, is because the market sees the true scale of the sovereign risk

'Scandals were part of the Third Mystery of Fatima'

It has become more and more clear in the past few weeks, to all fair-minded observers, that the attempts to pin dirt on Pope Benedict have failed, and that Benedict’s tougher stance against abusers started in the latter years of his tenure at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It has also become clear that then Cardinal Ratzinger had been thwarted in his efforts to pursue a church

The Austrian School of economics: its Italian roots

Several early Italian economists influenced the development of continental European economic thought in the centuries before Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian School of economics: Gian Francesco Lottini (1512–1572), Bernardo Davanzati (1529–1606), Geminiano Montanari (1633–1687), and Ferdinando Galiani (1728–1787). Galiani, in particular, with his contributions to value theory, interest

One can't solve a crisis of debt by increasing the debt

A postcard from France              By Mirino

In view of the last post, this interview from Le Monde seems suitable.

Thorsten Polleit is the head economist of Barclays Capital in Germany. He is very critical of the massive rescue loan of the euro zone States.

'How do you judge the rescue plan of 750 billion euros for the euro zone?

'One cannot solve the problem by additional debt. To

Why the West’s economic prosperity can no longer be taken for granted

As the Times of London put it, Stephen King writes scary stories, but Stephen D. King writes scarier ones. He is the chief economist of the London-based HSBC, one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world, and Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity is his first book. And a scary book indeed, according to the reviews I’ve read so far (I’ve never

Re-readings

“ “For this reason,” the abbot continued, “I consider that any case involving the error of a shepherd can be entrusted only to men like you, who can distinguish not only good from evil, but also what is expedient from what is not. I like to think you pronounced a sentence of guilty only when ...”
“... the accused were guilty of criminal acts, of poisoning, of the corruption of innocent youths, or

UK set for hung Parliament

The BBC predicts a hung Parliament with David Cameron's Conservatives as the largest party (with more than 500 general election results in out of 650). And who will move into the famous address on the right may not be obvious.





PS: Britain Wakes Up Speaking Italian (Best Wishes!)

A postcard from France

By Mirino
Maybe the idea of  'A postcard from France', will encourage a flagging contributor to send the odd one, based on selected news items from the French press, to Wind Rose Hotel more regularly. Hopefully it will also incite readers to make constructive comments.
To begin with, and as the Polanski case was alluded to here before, it might be  appropriate to refer to a recent article on him

Athens burns

Many feared this would happen, and it has. Three people were killed and four were seriously injured when an Athens bank went up in flames as an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets to protest against harsh austerity measures aimed at saving the country from bankruptcy. Here is a video of the protests (see other videos  here):



And here is a france24english TV report:

Forget about soccer for a moment...

Italy’s national soccer coach Marcello Lippi, speaking at the start of a two-day training camp on Tuesday:

Italy is never the favorite for the World Cup and that helps. But look at our history. We’ve won four times and lost once to Brazil on penalties. If we had won that shootout we would have five World Cups now and Brazil would have four. […] They say a lot of things in the rest of the world,

But the Greek bailout won’t work, says Cassandra

Perhaps it’s because of our fond memories of childhood school days, when we learned about Homer’s Iliad and the beloved heroes and legends of the Trojan War, that, in the present days of economic turmoil, when you say Greece you say Cassandra, the prophetess of doom. It’s almost inevitable, or that’s what seems to be the case. However, if you are an incurable optimist, just keep away from

'The Sun Behind the Clouds'

“The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom,” the documentary film by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam (check out the trailer below), has been greeted by some critics as “a potent update” on Tibetans‘ 50-year struggle for justice and recognition, and “an essential viewing” for anyone who cares about the fate of Tibet and the legacy of the Dalai Lama, while others (this one, for instance)

America's Illegal Immigration Fight

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

Illegal immigration. The President and his political party, and their propaganda section, the Main Stream Media, would have everyone believe that the legislation passed in Arizona is blatantly racist legislation and against the Constitution. The hard cold fact is that all it does is enforce Federal law that’s already on the books, but