Quote for the Day: Georges Clemenceau

"Oh, if I could piss the way he speaks!"

- Georges Clemenceau on David Lloyd George

Clemenceau (1841-1929 was a French statesman who led France in WW1 and who served as its Prime Minister 1906-1909 aand 1917-1920.  He was also one of the principal architects of the Treaty of Versailles.

David Lloyd George (1863-1945) was Prime Minister of Great Britian 1916-1922 and knew my father.  No, that's not true, about knowing my father.  He was renowned for the introduction of social welfare, wartime leadership, role in shaping post war Europe and the partitioning of Ireland.

Hear and see Lloyd George speak by clicking on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6k8-GV69no

Song Spot: Protest Songs / The Eve of Destruction, Part 1

Protest songs have existed since at least the 18th century. “Rights of Woman” was published in 1795 as a feminist song, to the tune of God Save The King. Even Beethoven’s Ode to Joy has been regarded as a protest song supporting universal brotherhood.

Songs of social change remain with us to the present day.

According to a Rolling Stone poll, the top 10 protest songs of all time are:

10. Country Joe and the Fish: I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag.

9. Bob Dylan: Hurricane

8. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

7. Bob Dylan: Blowin’ in the Wind

6. Rage Against the Machine: Killing in the Name

5. Barry McGuire: Eve of Destruction

4. Bob Dylan: The Times They are A—Changin’

3. Buffalo Springfield: For What It’s Worth

2. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: Ohio

1. Bob Dylan: Masters of War

I won’t work out an alternative Top 10 but feel that the following should have been considered:

John Lennon: So This is Christmas/War is Over

Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land

Pete Seeger: We Shall Overcome

John Lennon: Imagine

John Lennon: Give Peace a Chance

Edwin Starr: War

Eric Bogle: And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Eric Bogle: Fields of France

Redgum: A Walk in the Light Green/I Was Only Nineteen

Lisa Simpson: Union Strike folk song:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAacb31bltI

Pink Floyd: Another Brick in the Wall

Whereas the 1960’s was the heyday of protest songs, they have diminished up to the present.    My wife, Kate, suggests that protest songs have given way to social media and that people have stopped singing about things in favour of doing something about them. Also that social media is much more immediate and that being known is no longer a requisite for disseminating protest.

Which brings me to a 1960's protest song that killed the careers of the songwriter and the artist who performed it: Eve of Destruction.

I was thinking about the state of the world as I prepared yesterday's post on cartoons reacting to the Charlie Hebdo tragedy and the words of the above song started going through my head.

Released in 1965, it presented a sombre view of the world at that time. The Vietnam war was happening, the Cuban Missile Crisis and Bay of Pigs had happened, Kennedy had been assassinated and the world was being told that the dominoes of democracy were falling. The world was seen to be close to nuclear war, the nuclear arms race was escalating and the Cold War was ongoing.  Was the outlook and pessimism worse then the outlook today? Probably, but that is a discussion that has no final answer,

The song itself has  interesting background and reflections of its era:

Video clip:

Hear the song at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZVu0alU0I

Lyrics:

Eve of Destruction

    - P F Sloan

The eastern world it is explodin', violence flarin', bullets loadin'

You're old enough to kill but not for votin'

You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'

And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin'

But you tell me over and over and over again my friend

Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?

Can't you see the fear that I'm feeling today?

If the button is pushed, there's no running away

There'll be none to save with the world in a grave

Take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy

But you tell me over and over and over again my friend

Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin'

I'm sittin' here just contemplatin'

I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation

Handful of Senators don't pass legislation

And marches alone can't bring integration

When human respect is disintegratin'

This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'

And you tell me over and over and over again my friend

Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Think of all the hate there is in Red China

Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama

Ah, you may leave here for four days in space

But when you return it's the same old place

The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace

You can bury your dead but don't leave a trace

Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace

And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend

Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Some references:

· "You're old enough to kill but not for votin'":

Although the conscription age in the US at the time of the Vietnam war was 18 years, the age to vote in all but 4 states was 21.

· “Even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’”:

A reference to the War over Water, also known as the Battle over Water, a series of confrontations between Israel and its Arab neighbours from November 1964 to May 1967 over control of available water sources in the Jordan River drainage basin.

· “If the button is pushed”

A popular image and expression for the launch of nuclear missiles in the event of nuclear war.

· “Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama”:

The reference to Selma, Alabama is to:

## "Bloody Sunday”, the shooting of an unarmed civil rights protestor, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by an Alabama State trooper, James Fowler, inspiring the Selma to Montgomery marches. A grand jury declined to indict Fowler in September 1965. On May 10, 2007, 42 years after the crime, Fowler was charged with first degree and second degree murder for Jackson's death, and surrendered to authorities. On November 15, 2010, Fowler pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to six months in jail, but served only five months due to health problems which required medical surgery. Perry County commissioner Albert Turner, Jr., called the agreement "a slap in the face of the people of this county".

## The three 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches which led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. All three protest marches were promoted as attempts to walk the 54-mile highway from Selma to the Alabama state capital of Montgomery in defiance of segregationist repression.

· “. . . you may leave here for four days in space

But when you return it's the same old place”

The June 1965 mission of Gemini 4 lasted just over four days. It circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of the Soviet Vostok 5, and featured the first space walk by an American. Both of these accomplishments helped the United States overcome the Soviet Union's early lead in the Space race.

· “The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace”:

The funeral procession of President John F Kennedy on 22 November 1963 on its way to Arlington National Cemetery was accompanied by muffled drumming.

Part 2 next week.

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Quote for the Day: Salman Rushdie

The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them.

How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorised. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.

- Salman Rushdie

Paris 2015

Each week sends another reminder of the sheer barbarity, intolerance and fanaticism of individuals we have conveniently collectively labelled “terrorists”. They are not like us, we think, nothing like us, yet we would not be able to distinguish those same individuals if they stood beside us in the checkout queue at Coles. Like serial killers and other wrongdoers, they do not have stigmata or two heads. This makes their conduct all the more horrifying.

Yet out of the darkness there is also light. From the Lindt Cafe hostage tragedy we saw the emergence of a generosity of spirit under the tag “I’ll ride with you”. From the Charlie Hebdo massacre there has been a worldwide sharing of grief and support under the banner “Je Suis Charlie”, meaning “I am Charlie.”

The words, exhibited at rallies across the globe, are a declaration that people will not let freedom of speech be silenced by bullets and blades. Often these signs are accompanied by pens held aloft, a symbol not only of the pen being mightier than assault rifles but also in memory of the journalists and cartoonists who were executed at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine whose name means Weekly Charlie, a reference to Charlie Brown of Peanuts and an inside joke about Charles de Gaulle.

If the aim of the slaughter had been to silence opposition, then instead it has had the reverse effect.

At many of the worldwide spontaneous demonstrations of support, people have held enlarged versions of cartoons published in various countries in support of the cartoonists' deceased comrades. The cartoons make points poignantly and forcefully in a way that words cannot.

A selection appears below.

Je Suis Charlie.

“And this is our gun.” A cartoon from Chile

Quote for the Day: Dame Edna Everage

“My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.”

- Dame Edna Everage

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Funny Friday

Caution: Risque content

In the words of Monty Python . . . and now for something completely different. 

Well, it’s not actually completely different because this is Funny Friday, as usual. It’s just a different Funny Friday to the standard format.

I will explain.

Today’s item follows on from yesterday’s painted hands post. My own contribution prompted Byter Tim B to comment “Otto, thank you for telling us which one of the hand paintings was yours, otherwise I would never have guessed.” Thank you. Tim, it is always nice to have one’s work recognised.

But I disgress.

Quite some years ago, while browsing in Bob Gould's Book Emporium, I came across a marvellous book called “The Naughty Victorian Hand Book.” It was subtitled “Furtling: The Rediscovered Art of Erotic Hand Manipulation”.

There really is such a thing as “furtling”. According to the online Urban Dictionary, it is “The use of one’s hands to simulate or create the impression of anatomical features in a postcard or photograph. This practice was more commonly for entertainment purposes rather than overt sexual gratification. In an era before radio and television, Furtling was a somewhat common parlour phenomenon in the Victorian era."

The premise is simple. Certain parts of hands and fingers when hands are clenched, open etc, can be incorporated into drawings to create interesting, often risqué, images.  Even young hands can have old looking creases when closed, so that the varying appearances can be incorporated in ways that suit.

Unfortunately I no longer have that book but following are images of Furtling, both from the book mentioned above and from other sources:

Above are some examples of how the hand is placed underneath a page with a hand outline. The previous page is then laid over the first page with some funny, albeit naughty, results, usually with a story that accompanies the illustration:

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Now I realise that some people may feel cheated by not having a couple of wordy jokes.  The next few are for those who prefer their humour in word format rather than pdf: pics damn funny.

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A Scottish old timer in Scotland, in a bar, talking to a young man.

The Old Man says, "Lad, look out there to the field. Do ya see that fence? Look how well it's built. I built that fence stone by stone with me own two hands. I piled it for months."

"But do they call me McGreggor-the-Fence-Builder? Nooo..."

Then the old man gestured at the bar. "Look here at the bar. Do ya see how smooth and just it is? I planed that surface down by me own achin' back. I carved that wood with me own hard labour, for eight days."

"But do they call me McGreggor-the-Bar-builder? Nooo..."

Then the old man points out the window. "Eh, Laddy, look out to sea...Do ya see that pier that stretches out as far as the eye can see? I built that pier with the sweat off me back. I nailed it board by board."

"But do they call me McGreggor-the-Pier-Builder? Nooo..."

Then the old man looks around nervously, trying to make sure no one is paying attention.

"But ya fuck one goat..."

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From a passenger ship one can see a bearded man on a small island who is shouting and desperately waving is hands.

"Who is it?" a passenger asks the captain.

"I've no idea. Every year when we pass, he goes mad."

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Corn Corner:

So I called up the spiritual leader of Tibet, and he sent me a large goat with a long neck.

Turns out I phoned dial-a-llama.

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Quote for the Day: Anonymous

"If a man expresses his opinion in the forest - and no woman is around to hear it, is he still wrong?"

- Anonymous

Some responses on one web site:

His chances of being right are inversely proportional to the term of his relationship with said woman. Just started dating? 50/50. Engaged? 80/20. Married? Zero. So, what's his relationship with the woman who isn't around to hear his opinion?

Seeing as his opinion is straight, factual evidence, and not muddled with emotions and PMS, I'd say he was right, no matter what he said.

This question was written by a man, which makes it wrong. So there is no right answer :)

lol! of course, they will always find a way. Even if telepathy is necessary.

Probably.

It is if he's sporting a crappy attitude like that.