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Micheline's Blog

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Tag Archives: Francisco Goya

Mostly Covid-19: the Sleep of Reason

25 Saturday Sep 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in COVID-19, Pandemic

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bill 105, Covid-19, Cultist, debt ceiling, Francisco Goya, Loi 105, Pandemic, The Sleep of Reason

FRANCISCO GOYA, EL SUEÑO DE LA RAZÓN PRODUCE MONSTRUOS (THE SLEEP OF REASON PRODUCES MONSTERS), 1799, PRINT N°43 OF THE CAPRICHOS SERIES (MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO, MADRID). (PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIPEDIA)

I have used the above image several times. It is Goya’s 43rd print in his series of 80 prints entitled Los Caprichos. It is a fine illustration of cultism and extremism.

—ooo—

The Debt Ceiling

I will be writing about Covid-19. Cases are numerous and given the number of individuals who are contracting Covid-19, we are looking at the harm anti-vaxxers are causing, including self-harm. Reason has fallen asleep. Let us first look at the need to raise the US debt ceiling.

Some of my readers may not have understood a reference to the debt ceiling. It applies to the economy of the United States. This subject is both difficult and easy to understand. Superficially, it goes as follows. If the United States does not raise its debt ceiling, it is proving that it hasn’t enough money to pay its debts. If it does not raise the debt ceiling, it can no longer borrow money and it loses the confidence of investors, the stock market. If investors do not invest, and the United States cannot borrow money, a recession, if not a “crash,” is unavoidable. The pandemic has been very costly, which means that the debt is high, and that the debt ceiling must be raised. A nation cannot put aside its economy. The following article contains a little drawing that may be helpful.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/debt-ceiling-explained/

At this point, the Republicans (Mr Trump’s party) are suggesting that they may not allow the Biden administration to raise the debt ceiling. It’s a nasty game. If the Republican party prevents the United States from raising its debt ceiling, everyone would be hurt, including the Republicans and our global economy. Therefore, in a comment, I used the expression “to cut your nose off to spite your face,” which means that Republicans would hurt themselves in an attempt to hurt the Democrats. Therefore, sanity and plain common sense dictate a rise in the debt ceiling. One must cultivate a conciliatory spirit.

Covid-19

© Fournis par La Presse Canadienne

—ooo—

Loi 105

Manifestations antivaccins: Québec adopte à toute vapeur le projet de loi 105 (msn.com)

MSN Actualités | Actualité du Québec, actualité de Montréal, MSN Canada

Quebec rapidly passes ban on COVID-19-related protests near schools, hospitals (msn.com

Quebec records 795 new COVID-19 cases, five more deaths (msn.com)

Similarly, sanity dictates vaccination. People who are not vaccinated are at risk and these unvaccinated individuals are probably cultists. Tens of thousands will die and the dead will soon be anti-vaccination militants. We are no longer looking at unvaccinated individuals who were neglectful. If they have lost a dear-one in the Pandemic, these persons may be convinced to be vaccinated. Cultists will not. They do not believe in Covid-19 and think the vaccine will poison them. If one tries to persuade them that Covid kills and that the vaccine is “adequate” protection, cultists will dig in their heels. Cultists do not think. They do not use “reason.”

There is plentiful evidence that millions have died globally. Moreover, there is plentiful evidence that following sanitary rules and vaccination provide “adequate” protection. President Biden and Dr Fauci have not died. Nor have the people living in this building. They have followed the rules and most, if not all, have been vaccinated.

So, yesterday, Quebec passed a law prohibiting demonstrations by anti-vaxxers and by Covid related activists near schools or near institutions where persons have not been vaccinated. They must keep 50 meters away. Initially, children did not contract the coronavirus. They are, therefore, the last to be vaccinated, hence Bill 105. If one cannot reason with someone else, a law is passed. Governments protect their endangered population. A person who sues the government for violating his or her freedom will lose. Yet, anti-vaxxers may sue. Under Bill 105, protestors will pay a fine, but they are not facing imprisonment. Not yet.

Covid-19 and its Variants: an alarming number of cases

After hearing that we were required to obtain a vaccine passport and that healthcare workers who were not vaccinated before 15 October 2021 would be replaced, I could see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, but I now see darkness. Governments know how many have died of Covid-19, and they know that the vaccine is “adequate” protection. So, cultists are like Republicans contemplating not raising the debt ceiling. They may and will die to avoid death. Extremism is very dangerous.

Would that their defiance and plain arrogance did not boil down to anti-social behaviour. Cultists are not mere Doubting Thomases. As inferred above, doubting Thomases will be vaccinated if they lose a wife or a husband. I agree, some medications, including the vaccine, are potentially harmful. But the vaccine is all we have.

Once again, humans are proving that they are their own worst enemy. Not only are the unvaccinated cutting off their nose to spite their face, but they are causing others to contract the coronavirus, thereby making themselves agents of the virus, and worse… They themselves will suffer the death they wished to avoid: their own death.

Cultist | Definition of Cultist by Merriam-Webster

Everything you need to know about COVID-19 in Alberta on Wednesday, Sept. 22 | CBC NewsAlberta doctor under fire for spreading ‘completely false’ COVID-19 claims | CBC News

N.S. top doc says anti-vaxx video claiming girl’s heart stopped after vaccine is false | CBC News

Hospital protests pushing already exhausted staff to the brink, says Vancouver doctor | CBC Radio

Manque d’infirmières : Legault défend sa « petite révolution » (msn.com)

—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

Gnossienne N°1 Alexandre Tharaud (Erik Satie : Gnossiennes)
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas 
by Caravaggio, c. 1602

© Micheline Walker
24 September 2021
WordPress

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Théodore Botrel : “Le Grand Lustucru”

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Colette Magny, Croquemitaine, el coco, Francisco Goya, French chanson, Le Grand Lustucru, Théodore Botrel, the Bogeyman

 
Here comes the Bogey man  Que viene el coco Francisco de Goya
Here comes the Bogeyman
¿Que viene el coco?
Francisco Goya, c. 1797
(Photo credit: [all images] Wikipedia)
 
Francisco Goya (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828)
487PX-~1
Portrait of Francisco Goya,
by Vicente López y Portaña
(1826)
Oil on canvas, 93 × 75 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
 

Le Grand Lustucru

Please start the Video now.  Lustucru is the second song.

Lustukru (Lustucru) is a croquemitaine (a bogeyman), a folkloric and transcultural figure who eats up children still awake past bedtime.  Lustucru is el coco depicted by Francisco Goya, whose Tres de mayo 1808 (May Third 1808), 1814, and Desastres de la guerra, Los (The Disasters of War) constitute a haunting depiction of the horrors of war.

Théodore Botrel (14 September 1868 – 28 July 1925) is the composer of Le Grand Lustucru.  His greatest success was La Paimpolaise (The Girl from Paimpol).  At the height of his career, Théodore Botrel was associated with Aristide Bruant.  He sang in his cabaret, Le Mirliton.  However he performed mainly at the Chat Noir, a cabaret known because of Théophile Steinlen‘s cat posters, and at the Chien-Noir, a club.

This was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec‘s Montmartre.

The translation of Le Grand Lustukru or Lustucru is mine.

1. Entendez-vous dans la plaine (Do you year in the plain)
Ce bruit venant jusqu’à nous ? (A noise reaching us?)
On dirait un bruit de chaîne (It seems the noise of a chain)
Se traînant sur les cailloux (Dragging itself over pebbles)
 
2. C’est le grand Lustukru qui passe (T’is tall Lustukru passing by)
Qui repasse et s’en ira (Passing by and will go away)
Emportant dans sa besace* (Taking away in his bag)
Tous les petits gars (All the little fellows)
Qui ne dorment pas (Who are not asleep)
Lon lon la, lon lon la
Lon lon la lire la lon la
*(besace: a bag often worn like a sporran) 
 
3. Quelle est cette voix démente (What is this demented voice)
Qui traverse nos volets ? (Piercing through our shutters?)
Non ce n’est pas la tourmente (No, t’is not a storm)
Qui joue avec les galets (Playing with the pebbles) 
 
4. C’est le grand Lustukru qui gronde (T’is tall Lustukru growling)
Qui gronde et bientôt rira (Growling and soon will laugh)
En ramassant à la ronde (Rounding up and picking up)
Tous les petits gars (All the little boys)
Qui ne dorment pas (Who are not asleep)…/Refrain
 
5. Qui donc gémit de la sorte (Who is moaning this way)
Dans l’enclos, tout près d’ici ? (In the enclosure [enclosed area] nearby)
Faudra-t-il donc que je sorte (Will I have to go out)
Pour voir qui soupire ainsi ? (To see who is sighing thus?)
 
6. C’est le grand Lustukru qui pleure (T’is tall Lustukru who weeps)
Il a faim et mangera (He is hungry and will eat)
Crus, tout vifs, sans pain ni beurre (Raw, alive, without bread or butter)
Tous les petits gars (All the little boys)
Qui ne dorment pas (Who are not asleep)…/Refrain
 
7. Qui voulez vous que je mette (Whom do you want me to put)
Dans le sac au vilain vieux ? (In the nasty old man’s bag?)
Mon Dorik and ma Jeannette (My Dorik and my Jeannette)
Viennent de fermer les yeux (Have just closed their eyes) 
 
8. Allez-vous en méchant homme (Go away bad man)
Quérir ailleurs vos repas ! (Get your meals elsewhere!)
Puisqu‘ils font leur petit somme (Since they’re napping)
Non vous n’aurez pas (No you won’t have)
Mes deux petits gars… (My two little boys)…/Refrain
 
426PX-~1
 
Source
http://www.lyricsmania.com/le_grand_lustukru_lyrics_theodore_botrel.html
 

—οοο—

Berceuses françaises, Colette Magny (French Lullabies)

1 (0:00) Toutouic 2’40
2 (2:42) Le Grand Lustukru (Théodore Botrel) 3’13
3 (5:57) Le P’tit Quinquin (Alexandre Desrousseaux) 3’06
4 (9:05) Le Pardon de Ploërmel (Meyerbeer) 0’54
 

Botrel© Micheline Walker
November 26, 2013 
WordPress
 
 
 
Théodore Botrel
in Breton clothes

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The National Rifle Association: Comments

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by michelinewalker in Music, Sharing, United States

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Americans, Boccherini, Francisco Goya, Madrid, Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid, National Rifle Association, NRA, Second Amendment, Stefania, United States

Executions of the Third of May, by Francisco Goya, 1814

Executions of the Third of May, by Francisco Goya, 1814

Il sueño de la razón produce monstruos, by Francisco Goya

El Sueño de la razón produce monstruos, by Francisco Goya

 
 

Self-entitlement

Allow me a few more comments on “entitlement” or “self-entitlement,” a state of mind that currently numbs reason among members of the National Rifle Association.  As I have written before, the spirit of the Second Amendment is to protect the American people, which it no longer does despite the presence of a “well regulated [sic] militia.”  Consequently, by virtue of the Second Amendment itself, one cannot allow the bearing of firearms by civilians as it now endangers “the security of a free state.”  Matters have turned around and the law should reflect current needs.

El Tres de mayo 1808 
Francisco Goya (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828)
Museo del Prado (Madrid)
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (second image)
Photo credit for both images: Wikipedia
 

Entitlement or Self-Entitlement

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”  (The Second Amendment)

Citizens all over the world are entitled to safety.  In other words, they have “rights.”  However, entitlement, when carried too far, may and does stand in the way of reason.  In fact, at a certain point, self-entitlement constitutes a mental disorder.  Let me quote Wikipedia again:

“In clinical psychology and psychiatry, an unrealistic, exaggerated, or rigidly held sense of entitlement may be considered a symptom of narcissistic personality disorder, seen in those who ‘because of early frustrations…  arrogate to themselves the right to demand lifelong reimbursement from fate.'” (Entitlement)

The initial purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure “the security of a free state,” the “free state” lacking a “well regulated militia.”  If members of the National Rifle Association cannot see that the United States now possesses “a well regulated militia,” i.e. the necessary law-enforcement agencies, and that the bearing of arms currently threatens “the security of a free state,” they and their supporters have lost the ability to use “reason” and imperil “the security of a free state.”  Thousands of Americans die from gun violence every year, including children, thereby making it obvious that people who bear arms threaten the safety of a “free state.”  If Americans did not bear arms, no American could shoot another American and potential killers could not purchase the powerful firearms that enable them to shoot innocent schoolchildren.

The Social Contract

Interestingly, by threatening “the security of a free state,” the NRA also threatens the Social contract and, therefore, the very concept of nationhood.  The purpose of nationhood is safety.  In its entirety, the United States Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) and adopted by the Second Continental Congress, reads as follows:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…”

There may be flaws in the United States Declaration of Independence, but it would be my conviction that “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” are “unalienable Rights.”  Consequently, members of the National Rifle Association are at odds with the United States Declaration of Independence.  Because of guns, lives are lost.  If I were a parent living in the United States, I would fear letting my children attend school.  Moreover, those parents who have lost children to a gunman, the parents of Newtown, grieve profoundly and will probably do so until they reach the end of their own journey on earth.

In short, given that they live in defiance of the Social contract, members of the National Rifle Association cannot be considered fully fledged citizens, no more than the rich people who deposit their money in offshore accounts.  Such people also threaten the concept of nationhood.  In fact, it could well be that Americans who once owned slaves and now refuse to pay their fair share of taxes feel they are entitled to a measure of compensation for a “right” they have lost.  Yet, slavery is not consistent with the declaration of independence which holds as “truths” that “Life, Liberty [my bold letters] and the pursuit of Happiness” are “unalienable Rights.”  Slavery was an aberration.

A Quotation from the Boston Globe

May I quote the first paragraph of an article by Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby entitled: ‘All men are created equal’ is not hypocrisy but vision and published on 4 July 2010 (please click on the title to read the entire article).

‘HOW IS it,’’ the great English man of letters Samuel Johnson [my link] taunted Americans 235 years ago, “that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?’’ His fellow Englishman Thomas Day [my link] remarked in 1776 with equal scorn: “If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature it is an American patriot signing resolutions of independency with the one hand and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.’’

The Spirit and the Letter of the Second Amendment

We owe Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), a political thinker, as were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the useful distinction between the spirit and the letter of the law.  Within bounds, the letter of the law does not always reflect faithfully the spirit of the law.  Yet, the letter of the law cannot contradict the spirit of the law in its totality.  That would be a mockery of justice.

In my opinion, worded in full, the Second Amendment should state that “a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, [in the absence of a well regulated militia] the [current] right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  That would be its spirit.  Statements need not always be worded in full because parts are inferred (see inference) and, therefore, understood.

There is currently in the United States a well-regulated militia.

Conclusion

I will conclude by writing that certain goals remain, such goals as “the security of a free state.”  However, the means can change.  Before the invention of airplanes, a New Yorker’s goal may have been to go to Paris, but his means of getting there was to board a trans-Atlantic or Ocean liner.

Similarly, a former means of ensuring the safety of citizens, the use of firearms by civilians, has changed.  Given that the United States now has “a well regulated militia” and because the former right to bear arms currently threatens the “security of a free state,” bearing arms should be controlled to the fullest extent.  At the moment, the goal, i.e. the “security of a free state,” or its safety, has rendered null and void the former “right” to “bear arms,” firearms threatening the “security of a free state.”  The means, bearing arms, must therefore be changed, and, as I wrote above, it must be changed by virtue of the Second Amendment itself: “the security of a free state.”

* * *

Luigi Boccherini (February 19, 1743 – May 28, 1805)
“Quintetto In Do Maggiore La Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid Op. 30, No. 6 (G. 324): Il Rosario – Largo Assai – Allegro – Largo Come Prima”
Rolf Lislevand, Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall 

(My dear colleague Stefania has used this piece of music.  Allow me to praise her excellent taste.)

The painting is by Francisco Goya and is entitled: “Dance of the Majos at the Banks of Manzanares.”  (Photo credit: Goya, The Complete Works).  
 
 
 
Prado_-_Los_Desastres_de_la_Guerra_-_No._15_-_Y_no_hai_remedioLos Desastres de la guerra. Y no hai remedio
(The Disasters of War. And there is no remedy),
by Francisco Goya, Museo del Prado
Photo credit: Wikipedia
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Micheline Walker©
June 11, 2013
WordPress
 
Related articles
  • Natural vs Civil Law (pwhlee.wordpress.com)
  • The Social Contract: Hobbes, Locke & Rousseau (michelinewalker.com)
  • The National Rifle Association: Unrestrained Individualism (michelinewalker.com)
  • Self-entitlement and the NRA (michelinewalker.com)
  • Me, Myself and I (michelinewalker.com)

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