SATURDAY NIGHT CAT STEVENS, ERIC CLAPTON, JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.

Back in the days before Cat Stevens saw the darkness and turned into a raving lunatic, he produced several jewels. All that came to an end with his conversion, which is once more proof of the wicked, destructive character of the death cult known as 'islam'. Ironically, Morning has broken is actually a christian hymn dating back to 1931, when a British author of children's books, Eleanor Farjeon, set its lyrics to a Gaelic tune known as Bunessan (Bunessan is also a village on the southern shore of the Scottish Island of Mull). Stevens did popularize it though when he included a version on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat.





Let it grow. From Eric Clapton's second studio album 461 Ocean Boulevard.





July 1974.


The first half of the following video contains an electronic adaptation by the Russian composer of electronic music Eduard Artemyev of Bach's memorable chorale prelude for organ, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 639). BWV stands for Bach Werke Verzeichnis, Bach Works Catalogue.





You can listen to a classic form here. As you may be beginning to suspect, I am rather fond of baroque music.

The film fragment above is from the second adaptation of Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem's famous novel Solaris (1961), more precisely Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 version. There was a 1968 movie adaptation for Soviet TV, and then there's of course the 2002 Steven Soderbergh version with George Looney. The latter certainly has its merits plus the advantage of a big budget and and an arsenal of special effects; however, personally I prefer the Tarkovsky film. Somewhere in the late eighties, as an engineering student in Ghent, during the yearly International Film Festival in that city, I unsuspectingly walked into a movie theater - IIRC Sphinx, on the Sint-Michielshelling - where they happened to play Solaris. Ghent's International Film Festival offers the possibility to see rare material. Two hours later, I was sold. I did have some trouble with the slow pace, the psychological drama and the obvious paucity on the set, which shows almost exclusively the interior of a decrepit space station that has been orbiting the planet of Solaris for many years. Mind you, this was supposed to be Tarkovsky's answer to Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey.

I can say that as far as I'm concerned, I consider Tarkovsky's movie altogether a far more satisfying movie experience than 2001. 2001 is great, absolutely, and its special effects were groundbreaking - if you check it out even now, more than forty years after its release, the depiction of spacecraft still doesn't look outdated. But... 2001 has forever left me with a feeling of having been fooled. I'm still clueless about it, and I'm sure gazillions of people are. Kubrick hasn't connected with his audience.

How different is Solaris. Frankly, I was baffled at its end. I just hope that I don't spoil it for you, if after this post you intend to see it.

The Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis, whom you see in the fragment above, is a perfect cast for the novel's main characther Kris Kelvin. His neutrino 'wife' is Natalya Bondarchuk, Hari in the movie, a very beautiful woman.


MFBB.

TAUGHT AT A GERMAN HIGH SCHOOL NEAR YOU...

In 2006, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble was the initiator of the so-called Deutsche Islam Konferenz (DIK), simply "German Islam Conference", of which one of the aims was to introduce islamic lessons in German high schools to inform muslim pupils "correctly" about their religion and to enhance a dialogue with non-muslim pupils. At the time, according to Schauble, this was THE tactic par excellence to enter into a competition with radical islam.

"We all agree that this is the way that should now be followed," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who hosted the conference, told journalists.

It was an unexpectedly long and heated debate. But after four hours of discussion, the 30 participants of DIK, a round- table launched by Schauble in 2006, announced their support for introducing classes on Islam at public schools in Germany. Participants also agreed to support the construction of more mosques in Germany and fight against Islamic radicalism.

"In the not too far future, we - where there is a wish and a need for it - will have Islam religion classes at German schools," Schauble said. Classes are to be held in German.

There are approximately 800,000 Muslim children in Germany, but only 12 percent are taught about their religion at school. So far it has been difficult to organize Islam lessons at German schools because Germany's Muslims do not have a central institution to represent them. Education regulations in Germany are decided according to each state. Muslim associations are expected to provide the content of the classes while the state is responsible for organizing and financing the teaching.

In the past, most federal governments have had no contact points among the Muslim community. "There is little unity among Muslims," said Manfred Schreiner from the Nuremberg education department. Schauble appealed to Muslims in Germany to form major associations in each federal state which can represent the many scattered Islamic groups.

"It is a huge step toward integration," said Remzi Guneysu, a Turkish-German engineer and founder and chairman of the Islamic Religious Community Erlangen (IRE). The Bavaria-based IRE is one of very few examples where Muslims in Germany set up an association to cooperate with the state. Six years ago, the IRE was thus able to introduce Islam classes at a German school. "Our teachers have build bridges of integration between the religions," said Guneysu in an interview with the Turkish Daily News. "The classes help to abolish prejudices." Guneysu added that the behavior of children changed after religion classes were introduced. "They treat each other with more respect. And they are able to discuss Islam and other religious issues with their school friends in German."

A model project at a school in Lower Saxony showed that there were less fights between students of Turkish and Arabic origins in school yards after Islam lessons in German were introduced. Also, parents felt more encouraged to participate at meetings or events held at their children's schools.

"After only a few years of experience in Erlangen we can already say that Islam lessons do not block the integration of Muslims into our society but instead foster tolerance and an understanding of each other," said Guneysu. "The overall positive effects cannot be overlooked."

Let us now have a look at such a lesson.





Europe will die because of clueless IDIOTS like Schauble.

MFBB.

ANGELICA KAUFFMANN, NEOCLASSICIST PAINTER (1741-1807).

As a young boy I recall looking eagerly forward every week to my dad's monthly Reader's Digest issue, which in the Low Countries is called Het Beste. One month, there was an article about Angelica Kauffmann, and I've never forgotten that name.

She was a neoclassical painter of Swiss origin (born in Chur, Graubuenden, in 1741). At a very young age, she learned the craft of painting from her father, Johann Joseph Kauffmann. The Kauffmanns seem to have moved around quite a lot, and so it was that young Angelica, who showed marked talent already in her twelfth year, came to the attention of the Bishop of Como, the Duke of Modena and the Governor of Milan, respectively, who all requested her to paint their portraits.





The sorrow of Telemachus


Further honing her talents in Parma, Florence, Rome and Venice, in the latter place she made the acquaintance of English noblemen, who persuaded her to take up residence in London. This was in 1766. Notable works she crafted there are "The Mother of the Gracchi", "The Legend of Cupid and Psyche", "The Sacrifice of Messalina" and the "Meeting of Edgar and Elfrida". In 1767 she rather foolishly married a Swiss crook by the name of Brandt who pretended to be Count Frederick de Horn. One year later, after discovering the imposture, a separation followed. The times being what they were, a divorce was not possible. It was not until the impostor died in 1781 that she was able to marry again, this time to Antonio Zucchi, a Venetian painter, who persuaded her to return to Italy. In the intervening years however Kauffmann had made quite a name for herself in Great Britain, to the extent that the Royal Academy of London elected her as one of its original members.




The Legend of Cupid and Psyche


While in Venice, she painted "Leonardo da Vinci dying in the arms of Francis I", then it was off to Naples, and finally the couple established themselves permanently in Rome, where she opened a salon for the arts. There she opened a salon, where notable visitors included Giovanni Bernardo de Rossi, a Christian Hebraist, Jean-Baptiste Seroux d'Agincourt, a French archaeologist and historian, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German playwright, scientist, author, philosopher and statesman, of which she made a portrait.





Hector calls Paris to the Battle


The Austrian Emperor Joseph II, upon a journey in Italy, became a client also, and for him she crafted "The Return of Arminius victorious over the legions of Varus" and "Æneas celebrating the Funeral Rites of Pallas". Despite her talent and prodigious labor the couple seem to have spent their later years in poverty, and for Angelica this was especially so after the death of her husband in 1795. To an intimate friend she confided that "the poverty does not terrify me, but the loneliness kills me."






Children with a bird's nest and flowers


Denied, as a woman, to attend drawing courses of nudes, Angelica Kauffmann had forever difficulties with anatomical postures which is why her historical and mythical compositions, inevitably figuring personages in full length, display a certain stiffness. It followed that portrait painting became the craft with which she really made her name. In this genre, the one of the Duchess of Brunswick, George III's sister, is considered her masterpiece. My personal favorite is her portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds however.




Sir Joshua Reynolds. The guy had a crush on her. Who wouldn't?


She died November 5th, 1807 in Rome, and was given a splendid funeral. The entire Academy of Saint-Luke followed her to her last resting place in the Sant'Andrea Delle Fratte church, and in the procession, two of her finest works were carried along - just as in Rafael's.





Self-portrait. In her heyday, apparently. Oil on canvas, 1780-1785. This painting is in the renowned Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.


Dead White Female.



MFBB.

INSANE DEBATE IN UN ASSEMBLY: 'GIVE EARTH HUMAN RIGHTS'.

Fox News, April 18, 2011:

"Treaty supporters want the establishment of legal systems to maintain balance between human rights and what they perceive as the inalienable rights of other members of the Earth community -- plants, animals, and terrain.

Communities and environmental activists would be given more legal power to monitor and control industries and development to ensure harmony between humans and nature. Though the United States and other Western governments are supportive of sustainable development, some see the upcoming event, “Harmony with Nature,” as political grandstanding -- an attempt to blame environmental degradation and climate change on capitalism.

“The concept ‘Mother Earth’ is not universally accepted,” said a spokesman from the British Mission to the U.N. about Bolivia’s proposal. “In general, our view is that we should focus on tackling important sustainable development issues through existing channels and processes.”

The General Assembly two years ago passed a Bolivia-led resolution proclaiming April 22 as “International Mother Earth Day.” The measure was endorsed by all 192 member states. But Bolivian President Evo Morales envisioned much more, vowing in a speech to U.N. delegates that a global movement had begun to lay “out a Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.”

Morales, who repeatedly says “the central enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism,” called for creating a charter that defends the right to life for all living things. Morales, who was named World Hero of Mother Earth by the General Assembly, has since made great strides in his campaign.

In January, Bolivia became the world’s first nation to grant the natural environment equal rights to humans. Bolivia’s Law of Mother Earth is heavily influenced by the spiritual indigenous Andean world outlook that revolves around the earth deity Pachamama, roughly translated to Mother Earth..."

World Hero of Mother Earth and Bolivian President Evo Morales


GAIA, Deep Ecology, Ecosophy and whatever nonsense you care to name it are the logical result of the spiritual vacuum that originated in the West's rejection of Christendom. No one of the "great" thinkers of these fake pseudoreligions, because that is what they are, apparently ever came so far, in their 'intellectual' demarches, to notice that the world's NGO's bothered with blind people on Manaus' streets, polio in West Africa, extreme poverty in Calcutta or bilharziosis victims in Egypt.... practically all come from Christian nations... or nations that once were Christian.

In their eyes christianity was always a tool for oppression, and a ludicrous explanation for the wonders of the Universe. So they saw fit to discard it, judging it superfluous in this 'glorious' new world.

But Man is in his essence a Religious Being. Earlier this week I talked about this issue - a.o. - to the priest in my village, who recalled many conversations with ardent atheists (the worst among them Parti Socialiste hacks of course). This Priest, Father Luc D., told me that basically, human beings, a few exceptions notwithstanding, cannot live without some kind of religion. He told me of the troubles many atheists had as their age advanced.

It ensues that most people who discard their religion - and most earthlings who did so in recent decades were westerners - will inevitably look for something else to fill the void.

Now, Christianity is an anthropocentric religion par excellence - it places Man central in this world, and it entrusts him with possession of the earth - for good or for bad, we would of course be smart to rule it wisely - but that is the essence. It is US, men and women and our offspring, who are ENTITLED to this planet and must make best use of it.

Moreover, since according to christianity's Holy Book Man is made after the image of God, Christians get a profound sense of the Being Unique of Man, of his intrinsical value, of the preciousness of human life. It is precisely this worldview that has led to the typical western inclination to help wherever necessary if possible. Charity is a western concept.

Wise men such as e.g. Friedrich Hayek, who himself was an agnostic, fully understood the essentially benign nature of christendom. In his book The Fatal Conceit, Hayek writes:

"Even those among us, like myself, who are not prepared to accept the anthropomorphic conception of a personal divinity ought to admit that the premature loss of what we regard as nonfactual beliefs would have deprived mankind of a powerful support in the long development of the extended order that we now enjoy, and that even now the loss of these beliefs, whether true or false, creates great difficulties.” (Hayek, F.A., The Fatal Conceit, p. 137)

If despite this obviously Positive-Towards-Man worldview people decide to throw christianity under the bus, you'd better hope that if leaders of men who espouse the same anti-christian views replace it with something that's at least as good - for Man, that is.

As history teaches us, not even Leftists who PRETEND to care for Man - and even I am willing to acknowledge that at the basis of leftist thinking there is a kernel of earnestness in their desire to help the downtrodden of this earth...

... not even leftists have come up with something better. Quite the contrary, as massive starvation following socialist and communist experiments have so devastatingly shown in the twentieth century. This is what happens when God the Almighty becomes State the Almighty, for indeed, the God of the Left is the State. Still, in western democracies where the influence of leftism was diluted by the mere fact that they had to share power, their legislature has in many ways contributed to the well-being of many - but only because they could finance it with the milk cows of capitalism. Whether their plans can be sustained is a wholly different matter.

It becomes downright dangerous however if not even the leftist concept of compassion and how to finance it is maintained. Which is why in se, the radical green worldview is even more dangerous than the leftist worldview.

Because once your New Religion places the interests of 'Gaia' higher than those of Man, and the bozos who profess to this travesty achieve power, Man is REALLY in trouble. Luckily, greens represent thus far a smaller challenge to humanity's well-being than leftists since their numbers are less impressive. Leftists have left their trail on this planet from Marx, Engels and Hitler in Europe over Nasser in Egypt and Nyerere in Tanzania to Pol Pot in Cambodia and Kim Il Sung in North Korea. But Greens are a relatively recent phenomenon and to be encountered in force only, thus far, in Europe and North America. The fact that their worldview is so insane is another reason why it's less widespread.

But they are gaining, and the April 18 vote in the UN Assembly, orchestrated by a Bolivian quack, is proof for that. That, plus the fact that if you are a father of young children, you will doubtlessly find green insanity in your kids' schoolbooks - the indoctrination starts early.

People who would dismiss the UN vote on Earth's 'Human Rights' as a funny but otherwise harmless pastime, would do well to study the works of the fella who launched the Gaia concept: scientist, futurologist and environmentalist James Lovelock. Believe me, if you walk on two legs and can speak you're better off with good ole Christianity than with the Religion of Mother Earth, as designed by Mr Lovelock, because for him Humanity is 'an out of control cancer that Gaia will soon eradicate'.

Mr Lovelock has ardent supporters who are somewhat more specific:

"The first task is population control at home. How do we go about it? Many of my colleagues feel that some sort of compulsory birth regulation would be necessary to achieve such control. One plan often mentioned involves the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food. Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired population size."

— Prof Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb, p.135

"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels."

- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, patron of the World Wildlife Fund


The Gaia concept is bogus. Earth is made up of inanimate matter. Earth is OURS, and it's our RIGHT to use it resources as befits us. We would of course be wise to do that in a smart way. But to advance the idea that humanity should lay its head on the chopping block of Green Radicalism for the benefit of the magma under our feet or the wellbeing of the nickel and iron in earth's core is BEYOND STUPID. If you feel so bad for the third rock from the sun because 6 billion plus ungrateful two leggers trample on it, you can just as well feel soooooo sorry for Jupiter hurrrrrrrrrting when Shoemaker-Levy 9 ploinks in it, as happened in 1994. Did I say Beyond Stupid?

No, it's insane.

It's not only insane, it's also inhuman.

Or, given the April 18 debate, shall we say...

UN-Human???



MFBB.

ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS POLICE TARGETTING WOMEN, GAYS IN LONDON'S CENTER.

Regular reader and commenter Joanne linked to this story about the 'London Taliban' imposing their will on the populace of the Tower Hamlets neighborhood. From the Daily Mail Online, April 18, 2011:

"An Asian woman who works in a pharmacy in east London was told to dress more modestly and wear a veil or the shop would be boycotted. When she went to the media to talk about the abuse she suffered, a man later entered the pharmacy and told her: 'If you keep doing these things, we are going to kill you'.

The 31-year-old, who is not a practising Muslim, said she has since been told to take holiday by the pharmacy owners and now fears she may lose her job.
She said: 'Why should I wear a hijab (headscarf) or burqa? I haven't done anything wrong.'

Other incidents reported include the placing of stickers across the white-minority borough which state it is a 'gay-free zone' and the daubing of paint on posters for clothing shop H&M featuring women in bikinis."

It should be noted that Tower Hamlets is definitely not a drab suburb on London's outskirts. No, it's a borough almost smack in the center of London, just east of the City, on the north bank of the River Thames. It's encompassing much of London's redeveloped Docklands region, a.o. Canary Wharf and the West India Docks. Many of London's tallest buildings in London are actually located in this area, notably on the so-called Isle of Dogs.

The enemy is not only inside the gates, he's lunching in the donjon.


Sad as this tale is, it does not surprise me in the least. London is simply undergoing an amsterdamization - Amsterdam in The Netherlands knows this phenomenon perfectly well.

Here and here are a couple of stories about gays being harassed in Amsterdam, to the point that they are actually forced to leave a thorughly islamized neighborhood. Yes, it has come this far. But it won't stop here, to the contrary, it is just the beginning.


This is a story about a lesbian couple in Amsterdam's East. The couple is leaving the neighborhood. The ladies can no longer bear being harassed, humiliated and threatened each and every day by moroccans.





The title reads 'Chasing away lesbian couple new deep mark'. On the video still you can read 'Voice of victim of anti-gay violence' and 'then I was called after: next time we knife you down dirty queer'.


I am willing to acknowledge that there is quite possibly a segment of muslim immigrants that just wants to keep a low profile and earn a living, and this within the law or possibly just skirting it. That does by no means mean that I think they don't bear non-muslims ill will. Islam simply has to produce hatred, and even in non-practicing muslims the hatred permeates to a level that is maybe shallow, but that is nevertheless there. The only good muslim is a muslim that is leaving islam.

The thing is, it deduces that a society would do wise not to consider an islamic presence as something like a fruit salad bowl. It's not that we can say, oh, we will just accept this kind of unharmful muslims and dispense with the radicals. No no no. It doesn't work like that. You always get the full package. You know a muslim family that's apparently reasonably integrated, with dad working, obviously staying away from politics and not visiting the local mosque too often, and teen daughters wearing jeans and long, visible hair.

Watch their eleven-year old boy.

A few years hence, he may develop into an islamic zealot.

Only if a country has no muslim immigrants, will it be able to have a society at peace. Mind you, that still does not make it safe from islamic terrorism.



MFBB.

RIO SHOOTER MENEZES DE OLIVEIRA WAS A MUSLIM CONVERT.

We have all read the sad news that on April 7, a Brazilian madman entered a school in Rio de Janeiro, and started emptying his guns in the schoolcrowd. Ten girls and two boys were killed, and ten girls and two boys wounded. All victims were between 10 and 15 years of age. Given the circumstances, police were quick on the scene and when one shot the killer in the leg, he put a gun to his head and killed himself.

The shooter appeared to be 23-year old Wellington Menezes de Oliveira.


Then, suddenly, the story went cold.


We now know why.


The killer was a muslim convert.





But you won't find that on any western media outlet. You have to check out Spanish-speaking sites and al-Arabiya, for God's sake, to get to know that tidbit. According to his sister, de Oliveira was 'obsessed with muslim things' and last time that she saw him, he had grown a beard.


Now, what do you think the chances are this case would still be with us if that guy had been a Tea Partier hmmmmmmm?



MFBB.