Stanley Cohen: 2016 Person of the Year

Stanley Cohen was a bright silver lining in 2016 — and now in 2017. By simply being himself he bestows hope to the most fiendishly exploited  and he always buoys the spirits of his worldwide supporters.

I flip the calendar back to 2015 and remember when Stanley spent 11/12ths of 2015 in the Canaan PA prison ‘campus’ — down in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania. Imprisoned without cause. His voice temporarily muffled, but he witnessed Prison America firsthand. And so his full-throated voice is back and he’s upped the volume 🙂 Certainly made my 2016 — and not just mine. Click More on Stanley for more on Stanley.

stanley-cohen-haaretz

Trumped up charges raised over the years by a convenient and expedient arm of federal government (IRS) repeatedly found nothing. Investigators found no basis for charges because none exist. So they sent him to Canaan (aIn’t the promised land) anyway.

Wait a minute you may say, this is America.

Read about Kalief Browder. Then discover how he died.

Did the IRS find Stanley Cohen’s secret rumored lucre?

No.

It’s what happens when you speak up for the über disenfranchised on this planet. People such as Palestinians.

See my blog category Palestine for complete details.

How does Israel get away with the longest occupation in modern history? You can stay up to date on that question by following Stanley Cohen on Twitter. He’s eloquent, he’s prolific, he’s been at it for 50 years.

A quick unrelated aside. Does white phosphorous demonstrate characteristic trails?  On Gaza for instance.

white.phosphorous
Distinctive white-phosphorus trails in Gaza

Fortunately, Stanley’s Twitter-feed nourishes the humane soul daily. Click Caged but Undaunted. #UpTheRebels

Stanley Cohen is a dedicated, determined and honest human-rights attorney, a man of integrity — that rare endangered specie of homo sapiens known as Menschen. No vested interest has ever owned Mr. Cohen and none ever will. Truth guides him, honesty defines him.

Few even know that Stanley Cohen exists. Electoral results confirm insatiable ignorance.   

We teeter at the edge of impending dystopia. Thinking critically is passé. Unthinking is the more modern way. I find it curious that George Orwell is the antithesis of Orwellian, but in proper NewSpeak fashion, his very name now defines it.

warispeace

Oddly timely that my favorite  NewSpeak website is no longer available.

 

What is Winston Smith’s job. Where does he work? What does he do?

Winston Smith works as a clerk in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they match the constantly changing current party line.

— Wikipedia

“To hear the simplistic denial of those who scream out with naiveté “give Trump a chance” as they condemn others engaged in selfless protest against a certain political and social tsunami in the making, is to ignore his life-time public embrace of policies that tens of millions reject as not just destructive, but evil per se. They are not mistaken. — Caged but Undaunted 

Thanks for reading.

anon
Source

Leitmotif of a Commonplace Book

A commonplace book is a collection of loosely organized snippets of stuff. It’s a way of thinking that I first encountered by way of detour (my favorite hobby) at the Cincinnati Library — a book caught my eye and subsumed my identity — A Certain World by W.H. Auden. ’twas many a decade ago (4) in what now seems a distant galaxy.

Galaxy (not the magazine) reminds me now of that breathtaking work by Douglas Adams — by golly, esme recently alluded to HHGTTG. Please consult esme for more, much and many. You’ll enjoy the visit. You will, yes you will. Say, I also offer a thread from H2G2 too.

commonplace-book-cartoon-newyorker  

I like to use the word eponymous whenever possible. By gosh, this entire writing adventure is eponymously named billziegler1947. Tell your friends about this ever so clever self-referential weblog, or not.

But WTF is a leitmotif? Doesn’t sound light to us. Har Har.

A leitmotif is a recurring theme in a musical or literary work.  

leit-motif

All so very well Bill, but isn’t it time for an unnecessary ‘detour’, one you cloyingly call a hobby?

A blog is a jarringly clumsy word created in the internet wild-west world: a two character left-string truncation of ‘weblog’ — it removes the ‘we’, or is it the’us’?

Captain’s weblog 2016.366. We is back. Welcome. Just us chicken defenders.

And so, this has all been a rather detour-ridden post. However, it’s a holiday of sorts — the null point , nodding here to Hariod, between 2016 and 2017. Or are we to be taken, in far less than an instant, to arrive in 1957. There to encounter a Back to the Future replay of the fell sort, Biff and all perhaps.

biff-wins-again

Holy heavens, you have completely abandoned every modicum that informs an insistent adherence to proper writing-style. Will you ever stay on task?

No.

Veganism is the best ‘ism’ ever. If you don’t believe that then you haven’t visited Crows Head Soup by Peter Schreiner, have you? Right. Go there now.

As you gather about that soup cauldron, allow me to pass the microphone to a most impassioned advocate, one who brings voice to each and every animal crushed to the marrow for the sake of appetites unending and insatiable — outsidersinsides. Expect no bon appetit if meat be on the table. Thank you! And to all gatherers — grab that mike. My ear enjoys your insights. Always.

Let’s say that you recognize the longest occupation in modern history, one that continues into 2017 and you are also interested in animal rights. Right. Palestinian Animal League.

Let us remind you, Bill, that you are no Laurence Sterne and we fervently pray that you not dash off first lines from Tristram Shandy to cover your untidiness. We merely ask.

First lines

shandy-black-page

Copy. (and paste). But I do recall that page of solid black ink from high school, don’t I?

Yes, I do.

cover-page-tristram

And so, with gratitude for every and each reader, and with appreciation for everyone I follow, a hearty fist in the air on behalf of all the exploited sentient beings who are our fellow travellers.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

Chemistry 001 | 315glenroy

“A merry chemistry-set Christmas to all and each. God spare us, every one!”

This being a cross-post to the lighter aspects of this writer. Written with gratitude for every and each reader I am privileged to encounter on this curious orb.

“A green and yellow exhaust-fuming bus stopped at the top of Glenroy Avenue, just across from the mailbox that was still pai…”

315Glenroy: Chemistry 001 | 315glenroy

You Are What You Eat

A couple recent posts in  SocioLinguini struck a couple vegan themes that intrigue me:

  1. Confronting the slick and well-funded language meat marketers enjoy,
  2. A skin-thin bag of chemicals holds toxin-cleansing organs within and keeps them without.

snappy-answers-veganism

And, so

Confronting the slick and well-funded language meat marketers enjoy

Identity is the inalienable right of *all* sentient beings —  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not the domain of a single unusually arrogant specie. Veganism demands that one think critically about unethical behaviors, else becoming complicit in the business of death camps for manufacturing that slab of flesh between plastic stretch wrap and styrofoam tray:  “wholesome family friendly meat products.” Entree, s’il vous plaît

Now let’s check out the German for “you are what you eat”:

“man ist was man isst.” I like the great economy of that additional “s”

man-ist

I was a student in Germany during the early 70’s and once heard the following exchange between two German companions in the Mensa (Student Cafeteria):

Question: “Wer isst meine Suppe?” (Who is going to eat my soup?)
Reply: “Ich bin nicht deine Suppe!” (I’m not your soup.)

First hint: the verb ‘to be’ is one letter away from the verb ‘to eat’

Second hint: “Ich bin ein Berliner” contains that verb ‘to be.’

Here is something I’ve learned along the way that you might not find hopelessly boring: Saxons invaded Britain around 400 C.E. and brought their language with them, including words for meat in German fashion: name of animal + flesh, e.g. Schweinefleisch. Following the Norman Conquest (1066 C.E.) these words removed a layer of complicity, e.g. porc rather than pig meat.

As you may already know, BillZiegler1947 is a teacher by nature and a pedant by dint of character flaw, or something, oder so etwas.

“Hey, Saxony, that’s where the Anglo-Saxons came from.”

Unfortunately pedantry drives me to continue… the English letter “x” stems from the German letters “chs” — ergo die Sachsen (the Saxons). The English word ‘next’ originated with  nächste.(pronounced ‘nexte’). By the way, “Anglo-Saxon” is a bit of a misnomer; unfortunately mistranslations usually stick around forever.

A skin-thin bag of chemicals holds toxin-cleansing organs within and keeps toxins without.

Actually, skin itself is a toxin-excreting organ.

You really are what you eat, what you ingest.

everytime

That great phrasing captures the process quite realistically. The best kept secrets of veganism threaten the bottom lines of trillion-dollar industries. Once you commit to accepting meat as indispensable you impact consumers, jobs and many a staple cooking show. Imagine anyone who would dare foil the overwhelming plans of the respected captains of Meat, Inc. A heritage over many centuries that showcases animal flesh, hide, organs, marbled muscle, und, und, und.

chemical-shit-storm

More later.

Thanks for reading.