Peace, Music, Genocide and Samantha Power

The Power behind Policy - Samantha Power

Last night I attended a concert at Orchestra Hall ( Symphony Center, but it will always be Old Ted Thomas' Orchestra Hall to me) developed and conducted by Francis Cardinal George and Sir Gilbert Levine. Cardinal George was the Executive Producer of this concert and had brought together people of many faiths, talents and points of view.

Leading the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Chorus in a special concert celebrating the first anniversary of the beatification of John Paul II. "Peace Through Music: In the Spirit of John Paul – Chicago 2012" Sir Gilbert Levine helped bring people of all faiths and political points of view together through music.

This event coincided with the visit to our fair city by the Nobel Peace Laureates and Sean Penn.  The concert's genesis was the seventeen year partnership and intense friendship between a young musician and the Pope who brought down Communism.  One of the Nobel Laureates was Lech Walesa who along with the Polish Pontiff defied the balkanizing and soulless dictates of secular materialism through their faith, courage and commitment to something greater than themselves. It would be pretty tough to be a self-absorbed celebrity on the docks of Gdansk.

Music is essentially math.  What we consider mathematics in our post-spiritual material world is bean-counting, whether it measures glaciers, or counts the bodies of slaughtered innocents.  Music is God's math in truth. Music sweeps our souls clean. It is the primal  antiseptic and narcotic. 

In celebration of the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, music brought people together.  Jews and Catholics, secularists and people of faith.  The first half of the concert featured a 1,000 year old Polish hymn to the Mother of God, a modernist choral and orchestral piece, and Bach's Magnificat in D Minor.  J.S. Bach was a Lutheran whose devotional  sense of music shunned not the Faith from which he and his family parted company.  The second half of the evening's performances was devoted to Ludwig Von Beethoven's Symphony # 3 - The Eroica. Eroica means "Heroic."  Hero comes from Old English or Anglo Saxon - ἥρϝως meaning protector, or defender.

Beethoven originally dedicated Symphony # 3 - to Napoleon, until the Little Corporal crowned himself Emperor.  Instead, the deaf man of Bonn praised the human spirit without borders. Sir Gilbert Levine swept notes, talents, personalities, assumptions, backgrounds and beliefs into a tornado of spirit in the Fourth Movement.  I have listened to The Eroica many times and at the command of the batons of Sir George Solti, James Levine, Henry Mazer, Carlo Maria Guillini and Andre Previn. I have heard it live as a a teenage punk janitor laying on the stairs, or the red plush boxes of Orchestra Hall while the CSO rehearsed or performed.  May Malibu CD player has churned out Beethoven's Third.  I did not really get it until last night with the 4th and final movement - Beethoven is all over the place guided by a bass-line.

The bass-line, it seems to me anyway, is the recognition of  the human constants - the sanctity of human life, the courage required to move here and there and at subtle but necessary changes of pace and tone in order to be truly heroic - to protect life, liberty and human happiness.  Music is math.

The human spirit tires.  Pope John Paul II seemed to instinctively know that we all need to become souls refreshed - he too suffered under the worst that the human spirit allows when it gets too tired of counting costs and bodies - nationalistic fascism and international Communism.  Through music, Pope John Paul seemed to say "It is easy to go along when you are tired; snap out of it and get back in the game!"

I got home at 11:45 P.M. last night and woke up at 4: A.M. most refreshed.  I don't remember what I dreamed about, but it must have been good.  I read.

I read about President Obama's visit to the Holocaust Museum yesterday and his announcement of  the U.S. Atrocities Prevention Board to be headed by National Security Adviser Samantha Power.

Nobel intentions and goals.    Ms. Power was a force behind President Obama's outreach to the Muslilim World, his promises to Hamas, his dismissal of Amercan Exceptionalism and his policies against Israel.
 Ms. Power's board is yet to be named.  That will bear some attention, I believe. Samantha Power was  ayoung reporter who covered the War in the Balkans and wrote a best seller about America's failure to act while Croatians, Serbs, Christians and Muslims engaged in ethnic cleansing,  She was most affected by the slaughter of Muslims there.

Ms. Power has taken a view of Israel besieged that makes sense to Oscar nominees, but is lost on most people.  Ms. Power even advocated a US invasion of Israel to prevent another Holocaust. No, really.



Genocide is about as unheroic as human beings can get.  Islam has been pretty clear on its intentions with regard to Israel from the Grand Mufti to the leadership of Hamas.

Dafur, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, Soviet history and the Third Reich are warnings of the failure to refresh the human spirit - the bass-line was ignored.   The bass-line theme of The Eroica.  Pope John Paul II understood the power of music.  Ms. Power knows accounting.  I do not believe that President Obama understands music, much less accounting.

Common Sense on Israel from Kevin Myers Amid Hamas Hysterics

Chicago's own lisping dipwad ISM's Kevin Clark recently stooging for Hamas.

Gaza is Lefty Never-Neverland. Israel is Lefty Jolly Roger commanded by Chaim C'hookThe Flotilla(s) are the Lefty Lost Boys/ Faeries/Mermaids and Redkins. Gaza is being treated to a full script by Leftist activists for earnest ninnies that makes Palestinians the Redskins of the Wild Mideast.

Chicago has provided the enemies of civilization with talented and protected mopes like Kevin Clark a pan-activist ( Gay/Anti-War/Pro Hamas/Redskin) who helped get Rachel Corrie killed by an IDF bulldozer. This same mope encouraged a bunch of young idiots to toss fale blood on Catholic worshippers at Holy Name Cathedral.

Ireland which for the most part has contributed no small number of robust and steel-eyed foes of cant and nonsense in the world of letters and public life, but recently has become a Leftist playground for the bored and famous. Kevin Myers, a later-day, Swift skewers his countrymen for playing patsies to terrorists.

. What is it about Israel that prompts such a widespread departure from common sense, reason and moral reality? As another insane flotilla prepares to butt across the Mediterranean bringing "aid" to the "beleaguered" people of Gaza, in its midst travelling the MV Saoirse, does it never occur to all the hysterical anti-Israeli activists in Ireland that this is like worrying about the steaks being burnt on the barbecue, as a forest fire sweeps towards your back garden?

I took part in a discussion about the Middle East last weekend in the Dalkey Books Festival. It was surreal. Not merely was I the only pro-Israeli person in the panel of four, but the chairwoman of the session, Olivia O'Leary, also felt obliged to throw in her three-ha'pence worth.

Israeli settlers on the West Bank were on stolen land, she sniffed. Palestinians in their refugee camps had title deeds to the ancient properties. The UN had repeatedly condemned Israel. Brian Keenan, who was held hostage by Arab terrorists for four years, then detailed Israeli human-rights abuses, to loud cheers.

Israel -- and its sole defender on the panel (is mise)[that's Irish for that's me] -- were then roundly attacked by members of the audience. But what was most striking about the audience's contributions was the raw emotion: they seemed to loathe Israel.

But how can anyone possibly think that Gaza is the primary centre of injustice in the Middle East? According to Mathilde Redmatn, deputy director of the International Red Cross in Gaza, there is in fact no humanitarian crisis there at all. But by God, there is one in Syria, where possibly thousands have died in the past month.

However, I notice that none of the Irish do-gooders are sending an aid-ship to Latakia. Why? Is it because they know that the Syrians do not deal with dissenting vessels by lads with truncheons abseiling down from helicopters, but with belt-fed machine guns, right from the start?

[translation my own]

Irish Spring/Arab Spring - same soap.

Read the whole piece -click my post title.

NY Times 'We Are All Egyptians!' Really? 82% of 'We' Want to Stone Women?

The weak kidneys of America's Media cause it to micturate down our legs and proclaim a rainstorm.

Nicholas D(Cousin Weak Kidneys)Kristof's idiotic and gushy proclamation that We are the World; We Are Egyptians! is another such trouser moistening announcement of the Heavens about to Open.

The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support — and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!

Now, hold there, Hoss! I'm agin stoning women, but 82% of your "We" thinks that is just dandy. Shake hands with an Alsatian! Bump booty with Botswannan! Have a hoe-down with a Hapsburg! Love a Laplander!

Gee, let's all sing the Marseilles like in Casablanca and confound the Wehrmacht, Nicky! What do mean WE?

The most recent Pew Polling of Egyptian Opinion states: -

Well, take a gander!

ON ISLAM IN POLITICS

-- Is it good that Islam plays a large role in politics? 95 percent said "yes" and 2 percent "bad."

-- Is Islam's influence in politics positive or negative? 85 percent said "positive," 2 percent said "negative."

-- How much of a role does Islam play in Egyptian politics now? 48 percent said "large" and 49 percent said "small."

-- Is there a struggle between groups that want to modernize Egypt and Islamic fundamentalists? 31 percent said "yes." Of them, 27 percent described themselves as modernizers and 59 percent called themselves fundamentalists.

ON ISLAMIST EXTREMISM

-- Are suicide bombings justified? 46 percent said "never," 34 percent "rarely," 12 percent "sometimes" and 8 percent "often." (NOTE: Support for suicide bombing has dropped since 2006, when 28 percent said they were justified sometimes or often.)

-- Are you concerned about Islamist extremism in the world? 70 percent said they were "very concerned" or "concerned."

-- Are you concerned about Islamist extremism in Egypt? 61 percent said they were "very concerned" or "concerned."

ON FOREIGN ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS

-- What do you think of Hamas? 49 percent were favorable.

-- What do you think of Hezbollah? 30 percent were favorable.
-- What do you think of al Qaeda? 20 percent were favorable.

-- Do you have confidence in Osama bin Laden? 19 percent said "some" or "a lot," 73 percent said "not much" or "none." (NOTE: Confidence in bin Laden has fallen from 27 percent in 2006).

ON TRADITIONAL MUSLIM PRACTICES

-- Should men and women be segregated in the workplace? 54 percent said "yes" and 44 percent "no."

-- Should adulterers be stoned? 82 percent said "yes."

-- Should apostates from Islam face the death penalty? 84 percent said "yes."

-- Should thieves be flogged or have their hands cut off? 77 percent said "yes."

ON DEMOCRACY

-- Is democracy preferable to any other kind of government? 59 percent said "yes."

-- Can a non-democratic system be preferable in certain circumstances? 22 percent said "yes."

-- Is it irrelevant to you what kind of government you have? 16 percent said "yes."

(Compiled by Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor)

Irish Independent writer Kevin Myers mocks the wee-wee spilling goofs of the European Press.

One of the striking features of the pro-Mubarak demonstrators was that none seemed to speak English, which suggested a certain closeness to the grassroots of ordinary Egyptians. One elderly man (apparently) said in Arabic that Mubarak was a strong man, and Egypt needed a strong man, and he didn't want to see Egypt going the same way as Iraq, with beheadings. Quite so. We all know that Mubarak ruled with the torture chamber and the secret police, which everyone deplores. But is there an Arabic Denmark upon which Egyptian social democrats can model a new political regime for their country, a Copenhagen on the Nile?

Because our European media are so deeply-anti-Israel, their instinct has been to show its Arab neighbours in a favourable light -- which partly explains the non-stop images of the anti-Mubarak intelligentsia, with auburn highlights and beautiful English. They no more speak for Egypt than the citizens of Ballsbridge speak for Kerry South. The recent Pew survey of Egypt tells another story, without tonsorial highlights or Anglophone urbanity. Some 54pc of Egyptians can justify suicide bombings in some form or other, with 20pc supporting al Qa'ida. Additionally, 54pc believe in segregation of the sexes in the workplace; 82pc think adulterers should be stoned to death; 84pc think apostates from Islam should be killed; and 77pc think thieves should have their hands cut off. Doesn't sound much like Denmark.

Egypt has received billions of dollars in aid in the last 30 years, and much of which has gone into buying Park Lane apartments in London for the kleptocratic crooks who run the country. Meanwhile, Egypt's population is growing at an unsustainable 2pc a year, making it about the same size as Germany's -- but not for long. Germany has eight births per thousand; Egypt has 25 births. And to give you a sense of the appaling economic prospects ahead for Egypt, German GDP (remember, with the same population) is about 1,700 times greater than Egypt's.

The government-in-waiting in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood -- "the Ikhwan" -- is supposedly not in favour of terrorism, well, for the moment anyway. But then was not Sinn Fein a supposedly pacifist movement? Nationalistic pacifisms tend be conditional on the complete absence of an opponent, which is not very passive at all. Either way, the Muslim Brotherhood is certainly not non-violent in its utter opposition to Israel.

The gushers have ruined America's britches as well as lied like Egyptian rugs.