Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Beautiful! Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill Still Dutifully Supports Absurdity That Russia's Intelligentsia Bothers To Malign Religion

With much bigger fish to fry, Russia's modern Intelligentsia is still being scapegoated for Russian discontent with having their lives manipulated by this era's manifestation of totalitarian control.  

According to RT - In a speech to a group of Cossack commanders, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has warned the recent string of attacks on the church is similar to what happened before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917Patriarch Kirill said, Just like now, back then they performed a reconnaissance by engagement – to see what will be the Orthodox Christians’ reaction. They performed acts of blasphemy, humiliation and provocation.” 

Then RT prints - The Patriarch noted that the methods of the “enemies of the Church” (that he again did not name) were too uniform to his taste. “It is all the same, these accusations – in the beginning of the twentieth century, after the revolution and now." However, he expressed hope that the people of Russia would understand the dangers that come with the attempts to resurrect the spectres of the past. The violations of religious rights are committed under an invented excuse of freedom of expression. We all know very well that there can be no freedom of expression if it violates the rights of ethnic groups but it is somehow possible, through the wrongly understood freedom of expression, to insult the believers, destroy their inner world and humiliate their dignity.

Really? Nothing like the platform of a stage to enable a speaker to feel they can carve anything into their listeners' minds. Especially an audience,  and speaker, that no doubt seek to stay on the payroll and remain in their jobs as well.

RT states - The Patriarch thanked the Cossacks for their vigilance for preventing many acts of blasphemy and called on them to continue their work to defend the church. 

RT explains - This was not the first time the representatives of the church accused some mysterious unnamed forces of launching a concerted attack against Christianity in Russia. These statements occurred more often after the mass media started reporting of the clergy’s growing interference in public life, as well as the impious and luxury lifestyles of some of the priests. The public discussion led to the preparation of a bill that criminalized insults to believers, expected to be submitted for approval next year. Also the Church has officially allowed the clergy to take part in elections though their participation in political parties is still banned.

Whatever.

Right. The undertone of the Patriarch's remarks being that the impudence of any member of the  public to question the integrity of the current entrenched elite is more than just disrespectful and unpatriotic, but an affront to Allah

Fabulous. Merry Christmas.

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THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN's New York Times editorial, Iron Empires, Iron Fists, Iron Domes, succinctly details the tragic fault line in the Middle East, alluded to in earlier Soapbox View essays.

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Sometimes headlines don't do their subjects justice as when Dave Brubeck died this morning, as reported by The New York Times under the headline, Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back In Vogue, Dies At 91. The obituary is a very nice, worthily readable, review of Dave Brubeck's life and distinguishably honorable career the headline seems to misinterpret by, possibly, insinuating he was the white guy that made the marketplace more palatable for the marketers. The headline hardly reflects the hard work and dedication of he and his, surviving, wife Iola that the obituary does chronicle. Falling short of adequately highlighting that Mr. Brubeck's classic Take Five is the cornerstone masterpiece upon which Dave's fame was deservedly planted. 

Dave Brubeck and Sons
The Times prints - Dave Brubeck, a pianist and composer whose distinctive mixture of experimentation and accessibility made him one of the most popular jazz musicians of the 1950s and ’60s, died Wednesday morning in Norwalk, Conn. He would have turned 92 on Thursday.


November 8, 1954
His quartet’s 1959 recording of “Take Five” was the first jazz single to sell a million copies.

I had the honor of seeing  him and a band of just his sons play a theater on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando, Florida in 1977, and Winter Park's Rollins College gymnasium with a different group under his name in 1979 after a friend at work said he had a ticket and couldn't go and asked if I'd be interested. I was just grateful to learn about the show and probably could have listened from outside if I wasn't able to attend one of the greatest musical shows on earth. The smile said he was enjoying this and hoped everyone got a kick out of it too. Thanks Dave.

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