December 2009 archive

The Night before Christmas on the NCC 1701 20091225

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Stille Nacht, The 191st Anniversary

“Silent Night” aka “Stille Nacht”, was first performed at the Nikolaus-kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndor, Austria on December 24, 1818, and is perhaps the best known of all Christmas carols, having been translated into at least 44 languages.  The melody was composed by Austrian headmaster Franz Gruber and the lyrics by Austrian priest Father Josef Mohr.

Stille Nacht was originally written as a “sprightly, dance-like tune” in 6/8 time, in marked contrast to the slower, “meditative lullaby” that is so familiar in the present day. The melody of “Stille Nacht” has been described as sharing aspects with Austrian folk music and yodelling of that time.  

According to historical accounts, Mohr wrote the lyrics two years earlier, in 1816.  During Christmas Eve of 1818, the church organ was apparently not working, so Mohr approached Gruber, asking him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for the church service that evening, which eventually became the tune that we so often hear today.

During World War I, “Stille Nacht” was sung together by both English and German troops, in their own native languages, during the Christmas Truce of 1914, since it was one of the few carols familiar to soldiers on both sides. This most incredible event would be, without question, worthy of a separate diary in its own right, and must surely have been one of the most profound moments in the history of warfare.  This astounding lull in the war provided the basis for a 2005 French film, “Joyeux Noël”, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film honor at the 78th Academy Awards.  

I rarely find myself overcome with emotion upon hearing music, however, the version of this song by Mannheim Steamroller still produces a noticeable lump in my throat.  I can’t imagine that I’m alone in this regard, however, I would welcome comments from anyone else who takes the time to listen to this most incredible rendition of “Stille Nacht.”

Without further ado, here is the Mannheim Steamroller version of “Silent Night”, accompanied by a beautiful light show — the northern lights (aurora borealis) over Norway:



 

A Merry Fucking X-Mas

It’s Christmas Eve.  

But, I’m not supposed to be able to feel the joy, or, if there is some, the pain.  Because I take anti-depressants.

Do you know what an anti-depressant does to you?  It flat-lines your brain.

It is designed to keep those feeling down from being able to feel down.  It also keeps you from feeling good.

Do you know how we counteract it?

Ornaments

Some days I am reminded of things I would rather not remember.  Growing up in what was undoubtedly one of the most dysfunctional families around is one of them.  And remembering the Christmases of my childhood, filled with family disharmony.

Is anything more painful for a child than watching family members fight at times which are meant to bring us together?

Peace on earth.  Goodwill towards men…and women and the rest of us, too.

Or, you know, we could fight among ourselves until there is no longer an Us to worry about.

The series of graphics is called Ornaments.  They are freely offered for this holiday season, intended as a gift to all of you.  Clicking on a graphic should open a larger version in a new tab.

gather ye round

yea, gather ye round

Photobucket

(another reprint)

.

One of Us

I’ve always liked this song.

If God had a name what would it be?

And would you call it to his face?

If you were faced with Him in all His glory

What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, yeah, God is great

Yeah, yeah, God is good

yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Tryin’ to make his way home?

Bernie Sanders, Member of the Progressive Caucus, Cuts to Chase with Maher



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Open Light

Photobucket

Christmas Eve…

(Happy Christmas, Kyoko

Happy Christmas, Julian)

So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

A new one just begun

And so this is Christmas

I hope you have fun

The near and the dear ones

The old and the young

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let’s hope it’s a good one

Without any fear

And so this is Christmas

(War is Over)

For weak and for strong

(if you want it)

The rich and the poor ones

(War is Over)

The road is so long

(now)

So happy Christmas

(War is Over)

For black and for white

(if you want it)

For yellow and red ones

(War is Over)

Let’s stop all the fight

(now)

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let’s hope it’s a good one

Without any fear

And so this is Christmas

(War is over)

And what have we done

(if you want it)

Another year over

(War is Over)

And a new one just begun

(now)

And so this is Christmas

(War is Over)

And we hope you have fun

(if you want it)

The near and the dear ones

(War is Over)

The old and the young

(now)

A very merry Christmas

And a happy New Year

Let’s hope it’s a good one

Without any fear

War is over

if you want it

War is over

now

Happy Christmas

Goldman Sold Bad Debt Bet Against It And Won

According to the NYT, Goldman Sachs and other banks sold their customers collateralized debt obligations, or C.D.O.’s, and then bet heavily that these investments would fail.

Goldman Saw It Coming

Before the financial crisis, many investors – large American and European banks, pension funds, insurance companies and even some hedge funds – failed to recognize that overextended borrowers would default on their mortgages, and they kept increasing their investments in mortgage-related securities. As the mortgage market collapsed, they suffered steep losses.

“The simultaneous selling of securities to customers and shorting them because they believed they were going to default is the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen,” said Sylvain R. Raynes, an expert in structured finance at R & R Consulting in New York. “When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else’s house and then committing arson.”

The woeful performance of some C.D.O.’s issued by Goldman made them ideal for betting against. As of September 2007, for example, just five months after Goldman had sold a new Abacus C.D.O., the ratings on 84 percent of the mortgages underlying it had been downgraded, indicating growing concerns about borrowers’ ability to repay the loans, according to research from UBS, the big Swiss bank. Of more than 500 C.D.O.’s analyzed by UBS, only two were worse than the Abacus deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12…

Lewis Sachs, left, who oversaw C.D.O.’s before becoming a Treasury adviser (ie he works for Geithner now) , and John Paulson, whose company profited as the housing market collapsed.:

So, basically, not only are we not regulating these guys, we’re rewarding them– and more importantly promoting them into the government to run the show–where they presumably steal directly from the US Treasury.

How is this different from what Mussilini had in mind as a system of government? Such a constant revolving of government, military, and corporate figures, that the lines are entirely blurred.  

Health Care Truths, Not Health Care Myths

Having passed a long-overdue Health Care Reform Act, expect the media to dust off long-composed narratives it kept in cold storage until this point.  The instant President Obama signs the bill into law in a massive ceremony full of important people, flashbulbs, and saturation coverage, there will be many who will seek to make the gravity of the event better understood by means of analysis and interpretation.  Contrary to what some may write, I am not entirely convinced that Health Care saved Obama’s Presidency, though it would certainly have removed the last of the luster around him had it failed.  There will be many contentious fights to come, but the passage of the bill will likely limit GOP gains in next year’s Mid-Congressional election.  It will provide momentum to force through other reform measures and will be a face saving device to aid vulnerable incumbents.  But like much of politics, the ultimate impact of it all is indebted to future understanding and events yet to come, of which none of us is privy.  

Also to be found in copious quantity are the requisite gross of stories lamenting the end of good cheer among legislators of different parties.  One would think that this health care bill has ushered in a golden age of distressing polarity, but it has not.  Most people are terrified of change.  Many will sign on to change in the abstract, but once the concrete is poured, their opposition hardens.  Trusting in the known is much like betting on the favored horse, but trusting in the unknown possibility comes with it 50-1 odds.  Most people are not riverboat gamblers, but if they were, they’d often reap the rewards of taking a chance for the sake of positive gain.  This truism has no allegiance to party or ideological affinity.  Nor is it an American institution.

While the Senate has always been structured to foster some degree of collegiality by its very makeup and its relatively small size, one mustn’t let the myth obscure the facts.  The Senate may be a family, but it is a strangely dysfunctional one, and the House equally so.  This is, we needn’t forget, the same collective body where Representative Preston Brooks savagely bludgeoned Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the latter chamber’s floor.  At other crucial points in our nation’s history, decorum has been replaced by nastiness and I think perhaps our latest group of elected representatives do not remember or have not studied precisely what happens when measures this large and all encompassing are further hyper-charged by massive displays of public sentiment and outcry.  Regarding this subject, Senator Orrin Hatch strikes back at us in the blogosphere for daring to hold his feet to the fire as well as the feet of other legislators.  We ought to take this as proof of a job well done and aim to keep it going.  

I am also not particularly sympathetic to Representatives and Senators who have complained about the extended hours needed to pass this bill.  If they had resolved it in a more timely fashion, then this matter would have been dealt with long ago.  Republicans have used stalling tactics and obstructionist procedural measures, but as we all knew, the Democratic party itself was the real enemy at work.  Attempting to pacify various factions within itself to hold together a fragile coalition is what took so long to reach resolution.  Moreover, if this is what it takes to achieve true fairness and equality, I wish they’d be in session every year and even up until Christmas Eve, if needed.  It is, of course, true that Senators need to spend a certain amount of time campaigning, raising funds, and observing for themselves the nuts-and-bolts of the policy issues upon which they will propose and vote.  However, too often these are excuses cited for not being in session at all, especially when needed legislation is allowed to die a needless death or is tabled in committee with no re-introduction ever intended.

It is true that,

[f]or more than 30 years, the major parties – Democrats and Republicans – worked every angle to transform politics into a zero-sum numbers game. State legislatures redrew Congressional districts to take advantage of party affiliation in the local population. The two-year campaign cycle became a never-ending one.

Politics, however, has always been a game of knees to the groin and leaps to the jugular.  When contentious matters and contentious times existed, collegiality was the first thing to be discarded and shed.  In times of plenty with few especially pressing matters, then party lines could sometimes seem obscured or unimportant.  The so-called “Culture Wars” are a partial explanation for that which we have been facing.  In truth, the Republican party began to take a sharp right turn beginning with the Contract with America in 1994 and then culminating in the election of George W. Bush.  When Bush played directly to the Republican base at the expense of the middle, this caused a correspondingly swift and sharp reaction in the left wing of the Democratic party, which the Progressive blogosphere correctly considers a call to arms.  Returning to the idea of truth versus saccharine sugarcoating, yet again, it is tempting for all of us to invent our own mythology, particularly when it suits our cause, but this is a compulsion we must never adopt for whatever reason may be.  The truth will set us free, but freedom is often pricey, especially when we remove it from circulation.      

Lindorff: A Visit From St. Barack

Original article, by David Lindorff and subtitled An Afghan Christmas, via counterpunch.com:

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land

Not a creature was stirring in Afghanistan.

The bedrooms were bunkered with piles of hard stones

To protect from attacks by the Predator drones.

The children were huddled, afraid, in their beds

While visions of night raiders danced in their heads.

Unfortunately appropriate for the season.

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