Thursday 15 January 2009

A Breath of Fresh Air

Keen-eyed readers will see the blog has a new look. Classier, but a bit pale. Too feeble looking? We shall see. Meanwhile Let me refer you to the following story from Wednesday.

'Joe the Plumber' says war reporting should be 'abolished'


Jerusalem, Jan.14: 'Joe the Plumber', who is now in Israel as a foreign correspondent, says reporting on wars should be completely abolished.
"To be honest with you, I don't think journalists should be anywhere allowed war . . . . I liked back in World War I and World War II, when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for them," he said in an interview with the Associated Press.
"Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to down soldiers-our American soldiers, our Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from reporting," he added.
Joe - whose real name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher - is on location in Israel for the conservative Web site Pajamas Media.
For his first assignment, he was shown remnants of rockets and other war debris and in the video had difficulty coming up with questions to conduct an interview.
"I have thousands of questions but I can't think of the right one," he said.


Clearly, with seekers after truth like Joe stepping up to the plate, American journalism has nothing to fear.
Brooding on this while walking the dogs in the snow yesterday, it struck me, that though I have not had the pleasure of meeting the Great Common Man myself, I have met many other people.
Some were intelligent, some were dolts. Of the intelligent ones, a handful believed in God, but most did not. Of the dolts, everyone, without exception, believed in God. So, if you have ever met me, and believe in God, be assured that you are one of the handful. Naturally.
Does Joe believe in God? I don´t know. I can only surmise.

TODAY´S THOUGHT
A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.
Yogi Berra

The picture below is of Diego Rivera

A FUN VERSE
I PAINT WHAT I SEE

(A Ballad of Artistic Integrity)
by E. B. White

"What do you paint when you paint a wall?"
Said John D.'s grandson Nelson.
"Do you paint just anything there at all?
"Will there be any doves or a tree in fall?
"Or a hunting scene like an English hall?"

"I paint what I see,"
said Rivera.

What are the colors you use when you paint?"
Said John D.'s grandson, Nelson.
"Do you use any red in the beard of a saint?
"If you do is it terribly red, or faint?
"Do you use any blue? Is it Prussian?"

"I paint what I paint,"
said Rivera.

"Whose is that head I see on my wall?"
Said John D.'s grandson Nelson.
"Is it anyone's head whom we know, at all?
"A Rensselaer, or a Saltonstall?
"Is it Franklin D.? Is it Mordaunt Hall?
"Or is it the head of a Russian?"

"I paint what I think," said Rivera.

"I paint what I paint, I paint what I see,
"I paint what I think," said Rivera,
"And the thing that is dearest in life to me
"In a bourgeois hall is Ingegrity;
"However,...
"I'll take out a couple of people drinkin'
"And put in a picture of Abraham Lincoln,
"I could even give you McCormick's reaper
"And still not make my art much cheaper.
"But the head of Lenin has got to stay
"Or my friends will give me the bird today
"The bird, the bird, forever."


"It's not good taste in a man like me,"
Said John D.'s grandson Nelson,
"To question an artist's integrity
"Or mention a practical thing like a fee,
"But I know what I like to a large degree
"Though art I hate to hamper;
"For twenty-one thousand conservative bucks
"You painted a radical. I say shucks,
"I never could rent the offices.
For this, as you know, is a public hall
"And people want doves or a tree in fall,
"And though your art I dislike to hamper,
"I owe a little to God and Gramper,
"And after all,
"It's my wall...."

"We'll see if it is," said Rivera.

.

2 comments:

Gary White said...

Of course, Joe would see ignorance as better than enlightenment. The less we know the better soldiers we will make. Monarchy is ultimately better than democracy, just as capitalism is the best system (so long as you have the capital).

Liz Rebellione Valentine said...

Wow... R u a fan? Thx for the info and I never knew something like this... Thx.....