Club du 7e Etage

31/10/2024

AMERICA'S PATRIOTIC SONG

In 1984 the Republican Party coopted the refrain from Lee Greenwood's hit single "God Bless the U.S.A.". At the time America was on the cusp of winning an ideological competition against a militant form of collective socialism we knew as Communism.

"If tomorrow all the things were gone
I worked for all my life
And I had to start again
With just my children and my wife
I'd thank my lucky stars
To be livin' here today
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom
And they can't take that away

"And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

"From the lakes of Minnesota
To the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas
From sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston
And New York to L.A.
Well, there's pride in every American heart
And it's time we stand and say

"That I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land (love this land)
God bless the USA

"And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land (love this land)
God bless the USA"
(https://youtu.be/THwXJ9LSb0o)

Fast forward forty years. It is 2024 and America is on the cusp of a landmark general election that will determine the future of Democracy as we know it. This year however, America has a new standard, an alternative standard based on the example of the French national Olympic effort.

The following "gift" article is the equivalent of an "infomercial", paid advertising produced editorially without oversight from the New York Times editorial board. That said, that the NYTimes would publish such an advertorial is in fact an endorsement of its content.

The central message for me is that France reinvented the modern Olympics as a showcase for society. The planners, mindful of their fiduciary obligations and working from a perspective of sustainability and inclusiveness as defined by national policy and in keeping with the ideals of COP 21 (the Paris Agreement) organized an event of global magnitude as a beacon to lovers of democratic freedoms around the world.

The French Spirit:
An Iconic Approach to the Olympics and the Future
The groundbreaking integration of France’s iconic landmarks into the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics is symbolic of the country’s drive for excellence.
https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/marque-france/french-spirit-an-iconic-approach-to-the-olympics-and-the-future.html?smid=url-share

The groundbreaking integration of France’s iconic landmarks into the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics is symbolic of the country’s drive for excellence.

24/10/2024

EPI-GENETICS ANYONE?

Le scientifique Joël de Rosnay revient sur la nouvelle révolution en biologie, l'épigénétique. Dans « La symphonie du vivant », qu’il publie aux éditions Les...

27/04/2024

ORWELLIAN DOUBLESPEAK

This article from a Pakistani news source is not the ultimate in good writing, but the analysis is good.

US Congress decided that supporting Ukraine and Israel was better for the democratic interest of the American people

11/04/2024

This is a post from seven years ago. It still rings true. I hope my friends will bear a little repetition.

My present to my friends is the story of creator, Ñanderu as told by the Ñandeva, the people of his creation. It is spoken in Mbyá Guaraní with Spanish subtitles for those who will take the time to listen.

In the story Ñanderu creates the world and all the things in it. Assigning to certain spirits the safeguarding of these things, the place they occupy and the functions they serve. But this is more, so much more than a linear story. As you listen and follow the creation narrative, life and living come into focus. Everyone has his or her place beginning with the "naming event", for we are what we call ourselves and what we are called.

This intricate and interconnected folk story, for all of its simplicity and completeness, is the story told by elders, spiritual leaders and people as they go about their lives and sit around a camp fire learning how to smoke the pipe and share their stories.

This is the story of the Mbyá Guaraní, as published on the page "Cronicas de la Tierra Sin Mal", curated by Javier Rodas. For more information, see (https://www.facebook.com/179465888803347/photos/296376333778968/).

07/08/2020

Currently, the Veepstakes dominate the news. It is a hot issue because, let's be honest, the big Sheep (She + Veep) will be the power behind the throne until she is the throne itself. (which brings me to the question of why he is running in the first place, but we are way past that debate) Instead of reassuring the moderates, the main choices Kamela-Karen-Stacey-Susan- accomplish just the opposite. Or does Joe have a joker up his sleeve that he'll pull out at the last moment?

David Gergen writes that the most important question to consider in picking a vice president is this: if history calls, will this individual have the capacity and talent to become a first-class president?

09/05/2019

😣😣😣😣😣

30/04/2019

I am against bullying.

12/08/2018

Sometimes a "fait divers" seeps bloodily through the barrier of its 5 minutes of shock and into the killing fields of the Absurd. Take time out to read this long but interesting article on "two little engines who (thought they) could." Whose goodness did not, alas, overpower their brand of narcissism and so into the jaws of the lion did they jump. And yet, back at the beginning, when the maps were out and all the items in their saddle bags back in Wash DC were weighed until the last ounce, everything in their tiny house world pleaded for the pendulum to swing in their direction - intelligence, education at one of the nation's top universities, wokeness, even the sense of organization. Everything but the gut instinct not to kiss the rattlesnake. God at times throws in the wrench. They started their journey not to seek, but to confirm preconceived notions and the price was fatally steep. Pride goes before the Fall. They had provided the answer before they asked the question and so the motor of their quest turned as pointlessly as the spokes of their broken bike wheels must have whirred in the Tajik mountain winds alongside their dead and mutilated bodies. Death in Tajikstan - a "wherever that is and how do you spell it" place - adds the coup de grace to this tragedy carrying nevertheless the smack of "kilroy was here," thus does this heroic event contain the air of quaintness and admittedly embraces the equally cruel afterthought of they had it coming to them. I mourn them as sacrificial lambs on a journey to nowhere and I fight the torrents of smugness which came inevitably. As a mother, my first thought was Thank goodness Jay was not my son and Lauren not my daughter. You see, a little selfishness sometimes can blend in with love. thank you for bearing with me. Just one last word, I also perused letters and comments to the Times on this incident and was dismayed and shaken that most see these two young people as martyrs and hopes for the future. Shall I end with a "God help us?" or an "Ugh!" ?

Two American cyclists had a vision of the world, or, at least, what it could be. The men who mowed them down in Tajikistan had a starkly different one.

28/01/2018

Monsieur le Président
Veuillez prendre note de cecI
Très Tristement
Diana Pollin