Yes, he did bow to the Tyrantasaurus Cubanus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Folks, just a very quick note.   The moving pictures of this event were on the various Mexican national channels.   The conservative party in Mexico is stunned to say the least and even the centrist party people were puzzled if this was a signal of some kind or if Obama is just that stupid as to allow himself to become a pawn in the propaganda mill of the Cuban government.   Amazing.   I noticed that Drudge has a take from the Mexican video...so if you all tune in to some Univision or Televisa connection that you might have during the nightly news to-night, you might be able to see the full 90 second clip.   It was not a 12 second strained encounter.  There might have existed the slightest chance that HRH Barry did not know who Raul Castro Ruz was or is, nor what he looks like.

Yes. Virginia, HRH Barry does bow before

corrupt, deadly tyrants.

 

 

 

Please forgive this late posting but we had to back up this still shot with the facts from reliable Mexican international news fountains of information.

 

El Gringo Viejo 



How to Give a Campaign Speech at a Funeral

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Clash of the Narcissistic Titanics
 Barry vs. Michelle
This is the stuff from which soap
 operas and Oprah shows
draw their inspiration!


 

 

     Ah, Barry, you're such a predictable Bolshie.  Mix in a bit of white-trash and you are the new standard for something lower than low class. 

 

    But, but Gringo Viejo....you must show respect of the Office of the President! It is simply not appropriate to speak of the President in such terms.

     But, dear observer, I am showing respect for the Office of the Presidency.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

      The idea that a President of the United States of America could spend time taking "selfies" during a memorial/state funeral "production"....is now the new basement-level deportment for self-absorbed white trash over the age of 9 years.




Michelle contemplates which pin goes into the voodoo doll, and which voodoo
 doll looks most like that cracker cow.  And of course, this is all so presidential.
The amazing thing is that the Prime Ministerette of Denmark, and the Prime
Minister of the Netherlands would be taking
 the plunge into the sludge with Barry.

 

 

      The protocol officer for the White House be required soon to say, "Now remember, Mr. President, when you are talking to the Pope or listening to His Holiness talk to you, please try to appear sincere and interested.  And remember, try not to pick your nose or take any 'selfies' while you are having your conversations.    Mr. President.....Mr. President, and it would be appreciated if you would pay attention while I'm trying to talk to you....there is no need to make a mirror-reflected, triple 'selfie' while I am trying to clear up a few issues here."

     The next point, Barry....as we wander through the high grass and weed of the mind of an immature Bolshie whose main concerns are wonderfully autocentric....is that it is terribly bad form to shake hands with a despot whose record of destroying liberty, establishing corruption, and practicing totalitarianism to perfection is well known.

     It is also bad form to yuk it up and do saloon laughs during a funeral.   A few polite jokes by the eulogist and some pleasant chuckles are appropriate, but not the rollicking good time of a demonstrably chronic, pathological liar so obviously concerned that he be the centre of all attention.

     The hyper-afterburner switch has been put in play by the press, and Mandela is busy being bronzed, gilded, and raised to  higher point of the altar of Marxism, just below Frida.  But, after a generation since the abolition of apartheid, conditions for the common black African citizen in South Africa, the conditions have become worse.   Socialist policies and "depraved benevolence" of one party rule seem to have worked not quite as well as "benign neglect" and free enterprise might have done.
     The huge number of empty seats at the "funereal rally" seemed a bit incongruous when compared to the almost incessant leg-tingling and heavy breathing of the press....both about Father Obamaham and Saint Madiba (why wait for the beatification committee to meet?).   Some noted that, it being a cold Winter's day and rainy, a lot of people could not make the show.   That all sounded good until they who so spake began to realise that they were in the deep part of the Southern Hemisphere....in, like, what is kinda like called, you know, like SUMMER!   Bummer, dude. 
       It could be pointed out that not a lot of people in South Africa could afford to dress for the occasion, and also, not a lot of people could afford to drive, take a taxi, take a bus, use the family motorcycle, or had shoes that could handle the trek.   And, it would be necessary to leave a large part of the family behind in order to make certain that nobody would saw a hole into the cardboard wall and come in and steal everything in the "house". The crime and murder rate in South Africa makes Mexico's problems literally look like a day in the library.   South Africa's crime problem is even worse than Chicago and Detroit's.  Not by much, but it is even worse.

     It will last through these, my remaining days, my memory of  the robot-like shift by HRH Barry into the campaign speech, full of purposeful inaccuracies, nearly shouted like a cheerleader to a crowd that had probably already tired of sitting and listening to so many self-impressed speakers.   My thought was, "Perhaps he'll just cut to the chase and urge the people to 'Take your revenge', as he had during his mendacious campaign just past."

    Barry and Billy Jeff...two disgusting slugs....and one wonders if this is really the best we can do?   Is this what we have become?   Where has the critical thinking gone...and where is the notion hiding that requires us to first ask, 'Is this in the best interest of the Republic?'   Is public assistance the best we can do?   Is the idea that "If he gits disability, then I wanna git disability"?
     Of course the following words can be used in lieu of disability:   stamps, SSI, crop subsidy, 99 weeks of paid vacation, free housing, Medicaid, WIC, utility subsidy, and several hundred other "free money" programs that are used to buy off the slothful and the businesses that attend to them.

It always goes back to re-establishing the Republic of Texas as a citadel of functional inefficiency, relying on the jumbled interaction of people who are morally centred and aware of the Golden Rule.   The existence of a place where, in very large part,  self-interest replaces selfish interest and where state control, bondage, and political correctness is replaced by self-reliance and a friendly smile, seems like a much Shinier City on the Hillside.
El Gringo Viejo

Special Note to Jos. A. Banks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

     We approach the day on a grumpy note.  It has turned very cold again, drizzly, with periods of moderate rain.  El Zorro has a bit of a problem that seems to be going to take him out of circulation for a bit....nothing serious probably....but something that has to be looked in to and adjusted a bit.

 

 

     And so, El Gringo Viejo has to worry about more important things like returning to his grumpy old standby complaint about the notion of "FREE".   There are exactly 3,205 advertisements every hour on FOX News from Jos. A. Bank men's wear, showing a bunch of guys who look like Ken Dolls acting just like "real people".    The new ebullient announcer, who replaced his clone apparently, booms forth incessantly with the good news of the world to-morrow, "Buy One and get one million FREE!"

 

     A local radio announcer from down here in the Magic Lower Rio Grande Valley, normally a pretty sharp fellow, asks to no one-everyone in radio-land,  "How do they do that?  How do they make any money?" 

 

     And that is when I know that the Republic is lost and that the capacity for critical thinking has been flushed into that great septic tank that holds all good things that are lost forever, never to be recovered even in the afterlife. It's over.    Even Don Imus was asking on his early morning FOX Business program, "How do they do that ? Are the other suits made out of paper?"

 

     El Gringo Viejo twists his over-sized spoon that is used to meld two big scoops of brown sugar, two drops of vanilla, a quarter cup of whole milk, and two cups of extra double strong coffee....and he twists....and he twists....until the life is gone from the spoon.   He flings the lifeless, twisted remains of the noble old spoon at the television (smallish flat-screen), but as so many spoons before, it misses the screen.  El Gringo Viejo was a pretty good pitcher in his day, but the old arm and eye are what they used to be....perhaps they never were what they used to be.

 

     But here is the point.   Please take notice, Jos. A.   There is a law in the universe that reads, "If any person, especially a minority or a non-minority, is required to pay for something, the secondary and tertiary items involved in the acquisition by that minority or non-minority of the items are not free.   Those items are considered to be...''....included in your purchase"   or "...at no extra charge."

     If a payment is required to obtain those secondary and tertiary items, none are "free" then there is nothing "free" in any of the transaction.

 

     If, in fact, the Jos. A. Bank suit that is bought and the others are "free" then there is a serious problem in the department of the company in charge of pricing.   It would indicate that the first suit was terribly overpriced.

   

    "But wait!  Buy this fluorescent bass masher that doubles as a nose-hair remover within the next 15 minutes and we'll double your order for FREE!!!  (just pay separate shipping and handling).   We refer to that idiocy as "double dipping for dip-sticks".  Not only is the second item not free, but the dummy who is buying the package has to pay to have it delivered.   NOT FREE. Money changes hands for goods and services delivered.   It might be the best deal ever, in the history of the Universe, but IT IS NOT "FREE".

 

     What really most comes to mind is the issue following the aftermath of the Sandra Flukie escapade, where she demanded that my daughter and her daughters pay for Sweet Sandra's contraceptives.   After the uproar about the  horrible pain and suffering the poor Sandra had to endure because of the need to pay 3,000 USD per year for her contraceptives (?), Father Obamaham trundled to the podium to teleprompter a pronunciamento magno by royal decree that "....I am ordering that contraceptive coverage be included for FREE to all insurance coverage in the Obama Socialised Medicine Initiative".

 

     That last sentence in the previous paragraph is not a joke, invention, or piece of poor sarcastic humour.  It is a fact.  It happened with all the appropriate drooling dunces standing behind HRH Barry...some, if I remember correctly, were even wearing white lab coats.   Why the Republicans do not point out this hideous, and very clear, demonstration of royal hubris on a daily basis I do not know.   Perhaps the notion that, if one buys "this" he will receive "that" for "free" is so ingrained now in the lexicon of the American form of expression that it is impossible to make the point.

Chipotle: Buy One, Get One Free Burritos, Burrito Bowls, Salads, and Tacos Coupon (text offer)

Oct413

October 4, 2013 By Michelle Hovestadt

 

Tell me, please,  how one can receive "one free burritos"?

 

Thanks for your time and tolerance.

El Gringo Viejo

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MLK, Michael Jackson, and now the Magical Madiba Mess - Saints Preserve Us

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

   We invent sacred cows, bulls, heifers, and toadstools.  We are fed a diet of how so-and-so is the greatest person in history and such-and-such is the unassailable truth....this bar of metal is .999 fine silver and this bar of metal is 24k gold....trust me.   When it turns out to the false, then it is time to shoot the messenger. 

 

    The time arrives when morality becomes false and the worship of false gods living or dead, becomes true.   The glorious raiment of the Emperor, no matter how hideous or non-existent must be described, and believed to be, glorious raiment.  Or else.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

     With a few changes, two of America's icons and their estates, can be folded into the story published in the Canadian press, quite openly, as they analyse the developments coming down the road concerning the reality of the Mandela phenomena.  To wit:

 

 

  Following his death on Thursday at the age of 95, the scramble for control of the Mandela legacy - both financial and moral - will involve his family, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and the Nelson Mandela Foundation he set up to protect his broader message.

 

      At stake is the inheritance that will go to Mandela's more than 30 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, some of whom already use the Mandela name and image to market everything from clothing to reality TV.

      There are also the Mandela brands and trademarks that help fund the Foundation. And for the ANC, Mandela's reputation as an anti-apartheid hero is worth votes for years to come.

      There are no available public figures of Mandela's wealth, making it difficult to put an exact value on his estate, which includes an upscale house in Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural Eastern Cape home province, and royalties from book sales including his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom".

     Several South African branding experts have declined to estimate the annual value of Mandela's trademark and brands.

    Maintaining control over the copyrights is already a difficult business; protecting the Mandela brand may be even harder now that he is gone.

    "The beauty of the Nelson Mandela brand is that it has been lived by him exactly as it has been presented by him. His behaviour is his brand," said Jeremy Sampson, the executive chairman of Interbrand Sampson de Villiers.

    "In the rush to commercialize it, we run the risk of watering down or destroying the good that the brand stood for purely with the crassness of finance," he added. "GOOD LORD"

 

     Mandela divided the management of his legacy between a series of trusts to handle his finances and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which serves as custodian of his wider moral legacy.

   

    In total, he set up about two dozen trusts, mostly to pay for the education of his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

 

    It hasn't all been straight forward.

 

   A legal tussle between Mandela's long-time friend, lawyer George Bizos, and two of Mandela's daughters became public this year as the daughters sought to have Bizos and other Mandela associates ousted from companies set up to sell his handprint for use in art and memorabilia.

 

   According to an affidavit filed by Bizos and the others, the two daughters, Makaziwe Mandela and Zenani Dlamini, had been trying to gain control of the main Mandela Trust since 2005 and eventually became trustees without Mandela's knowledge.

 

   Mandela became angry when he found out what the daughters had done, Bizos and the other associates said in the affidavit.   "Mr Mandela was shocked and used a common expression 'Good Lord!' He was most infuriated and wanted to know what had happened."

A portion of the revenue from the Foundation's 46664 clothing line - named after Mandela's prisoner number on Robben Island - and the artworks also goes to pay for family members' education, according to Bizos.

 

     "The trust has adopted the procedure of requiring the applicant for money to furnish an invoice," Bizos said, adding that every request accompanied by proper paperwork has been granted.

 

      But some family members have asked for a lump sum payment of 12 million rand, he added.    Such demands fuel the notion, widely held in South Africa, that some of Mandela's children have exploited their father.    Makaziwe, Mandela's eldest daughter, bristles at that.    "This is what we are, in a sense, entitled to, that my father worked for, and he did it with his own hands to create something for the welfare and upkeep of himself and his children," she told the Financial Times in April (emphatic graphics added by El Gringo Viejo) .

 

      "If everybody wants a little bit of the Madiba magic, why is it so sacrilegious for the rightful owners ... to use the Madiba magic?" she said, referring to her father by his clan name.
(full article: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/family-politicians-battle-over-quot-brand-mandela-quot-110444682.html#ugccmt-container )

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

    Another of the great magical majestic magicians are people like Madame Mitterand, wife of the famous Mitterand of Vichy France...one-time Communist, one-time Nazi, one-time Socialist, one-time wannebe Conservative.... one-time bon vivant.... one-time Riviera Barnacle.... one-time Villa connoisseur. His  widow ran funds and estate monies and all nature of public monies funnelled into the control of poor, old Francois...used later for the Sendero Luminoso, the Frente Armada y Revolucionaria Colombiana (FARC), Frente Sandinista para la Liberacion Nacional (FSLN -  sub-Comandante Marcos / Chiapas) among other major financial backings of hot-pink and red organisations.
 

    Then that personality of great fame, like Hillary and her concern for women's and children's issues, we name the now long forgotten parasite, Yassir Arafat with the wife of the net-stockings....whose estate is thought to have approximated something like 600,000,000 USD.   The wife has been on a spending spree in Paris since 10 years before the death of the man who appeared to be the union of tubercular maggots and dung beetle larvae.  Mrs. Shearhfat's Olympic Shopping Team training efforts continue to this day.

 

    And of course we give due recognition, lauding and magnifying the name of that greatest of all democratic, agrarian reformers, a people-type person, a really nice guy and his brother, Fidel and Raul Castro Ruz.....who control something like 2,000,000,000 USD. That's two billion dollars....stolen from the people of Cuba....and anyone else. That money is on deposit in various institutions in Europe.  Everyone knows it so that's why it has to be kept secret by Barbara Walters, who still thinks she is the only one who knows it.

 

    And sadly, most folks know about the horrid, narcissistic arguments between family members that began at the very instant after the burial of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Only one niece is known to have carried herself in a dignified and respectful manner since that interment.  She is a FOX News commentator and is seen on that network at times.

    We shan't even elaborate on the Michael Jackson mess.

 

 

Failing in my desire to want a little of that Madiba Magic, I remain

Faithfully,

 

EL GRINGO VIEJO

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special Note to Americas Quarterly

This opinion piece appeared in the Americas Quarterly on the 6th instant of the present month of December, 2013.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lima Must Deliver on Inclusive Climate Decision-Making

December 6, 2013

by Keith Madden 

A year from now, Lima, Peru will host the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  For Latin American Indigenous peoples—who make up a large proportion of the populations of Peru and neighboring Bolivia and Ecuador—COP20 is a pivotal chance to coordinate and leverage their influence on the international stage.
2010 was the last time Latin American Indigenous peoples had the opportunity air their concerns about climate and environmental inequities—albeit outside of the official process. In April of that year, the first World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The conference brought together over 30,000 activists from over 100 countries, largely as an alternative to the failures of the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.            
    Indigenous peoples fed up with the lack of results from the UN conference articulated their own vision of climate justice at the 2010 Cochabamba Conference.  The resulting People’s Agreement aimed to construct a new system based on harmony and balance between humans and Mother Earth.  They reconceived a series of rights that were overlooked during the official negotiations, drafting the landmark Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
What has happened to Indigenous people’s voices since then? Few Latin American Indigenous groups are able to travel to far-flung conference locations like Doha and Warsaw. Indigenous peoples continue to struggle for recognition and fair access to the closed intergovernmental negotiations.
Amazonian and Andean Indigenous groups have minimal say in critical decisions that affect their livelihoods.  For now, they are limited to non-governmental organization observer status, with restrictions that permit only a few registered conference entrants per organization. Thus, their impact on the tone and course of the central negotiating process is limited, especially in moments of tough deal-brokering.
Indigenous peoples continue attempting to influence the process from the inside. Rodolfo Machaca Yupanqui was representing Bolivia at this year’s COP19 in Warsaw as an Aymara Indigenous person and rural farmers' union leader. He identified a sad misalignment in outcomes between the Cochabamba Conference and the COPs—for example, the difficulty of inserting ideas about Mother Earth as the ultimate provider of life into the vast G77 negotiating group. However, he reiterated the consistency in principles between the Cochabamba Conference and Bolivia’s official negotiating positions.
The few Indigenous representatives at this year’s COP seemed somewhat reluctant to express views that reflect poorly on their government leadership. In a process where Indigenous peoples lack direct influence, governmental representatives often become their only link to closed decision-making sessions. Cutting off engagement could mean losing their diplomat spokespeople.
As Latin American Indigenous people work to ensure that their interests are incorporated and protected in future climate agreements, Peru must create the conditions necessary for the Lima COP to be reinvigorated with the spirit of the Cochabamba Conference.  This means allowing Indigenous voices to be heard directly—not merely through the actions of a few official delegation leaders and regional blocs, as in Warsaw.
For Indigenous people to protect their interests in Lima, the Peruvian government has a role and responsibility to facilitate an equitable process as hosts and ensure moral leadership that recognizes the broad ramifications of climate change for Indigenous and marginalized peoples worldwide.  If the answer is not another World People’s Conference, then Peru must play a very active role in setting new precedents for inclusiveness in Lima.
Domestic recognition of Indigenous people’s legal autonomy and self-governance (such as in Articles 57 and 171 in Ecuador’s Constitution) is seldom effectively enforced and protected. However, it is even more of a shame that Indigenous groups struggle with these same representation issues at the UN, by being denied the sovereignty that would give them a seat at the negotiating table.
For the world to finally witness a more inclusive COP, Peru and the UN must begin planning now to open the channels for Indigenous participation and make closed negotiations accessible to non-diplomats. The equity issues raised at the Cochabamba Conference should be at the heart of the debate. Article 6 of the UNFCCC Charter guarantees “public participation in addressing climate change…and developing adequate responses,” but Indigenous people contend that the UN process shuts them out.
The next major opportunity for Indigenous inclusion will be in Lima, where facilitation by the COP20 host could be crucial. Fortunately, Peruvian Minister of the Environment Manuel Pulgar-Vidal has shown signs that he is committed to an inclusive process by recently signing a joint commitment with WWF International to collaborate at the COP20.
Still, details about the proposed setup and participative format in Lima are only slowly emerging. Being equipped with more information will enable Indigenous groups to organize and have a voice in the proceedings. With the COP20 now less than a year away, the stakes could not be higher for Indigenous peoples.

*Keith Madden is a researcher at Brown University with the Climate and Development Lab and is working towards a degree in environmental studies and international relations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

El Gringo Viejo, responds:                                                                                                                                                                    

 

      United Nations? Climate Change? Used to be "Global Warming"?  Used to be Industrial Colonisation and Exploitation of the Developing World?  Used to be called Nuclear Winter?  Used to be called Atomic Armageddon?  Used to be called Global Cooling?

    It has always been called the Global Shakedown by effete, impudent, narcissistic Bolshies who are out to perfect the condition of man by establishing a worldwide proletariat democracy....with Hillary and Soros and the arrogant professorial class holding the reins of power.

    They demand, "You arrogant developed countries that exploited the dark peoples and those who have not had the 'good luck' of the exploiters, must pay for your sins and abuses!"
     And the money flows into the United Nations...and the Mugabes and the Husseins, and others of their ilk laugh and slurp up 300 year old brandy and run with fat, bleached blond prostitutes in the posh hotels of New York, while their limousines remain triple-parked on 42nd Street. The best they could do was South Africa which to-day, still to this day, remains a hell-hole anthropologically...murder, violence, poverty, inter-tribal conflict,...even as we are exhorted to reverence and honour another secular "Saviour" of the human race. Sandino? the Castros? Ferandez de Kichener? Lula? Stalin? Ho? Pot? Mao? Is there any end to the thousands of greedy tin-horn dictators waiting to crunch the bones of the masses so that they can strut and demand that the productive pay them to damn the productive.
      If you want to clean up the world, do it with the despots and the people who have the words "Democratic Republic" in the formal name of their country. Do it where the kazoo-played national anthem includes lyrics about the 'struggle for economic equality'. Do in the God-forsaken nations that have white-sidewall tires on their mobile artillery pieces and armoured personnel carriers. Do it in places that have ruling parties with names like the German National Socialist Workers' Party.

     Finally, spend another billion dollars or so per week to save the "indigenous populations" of the Mountains of the Backbone of the Americans" from Chile's southern tip to the tip of Point Barrow in Alaska. The fat, bleached-blond United Nati0ns Official Committee for Diplomatic Escort Services  customer service specialists in New York City, and the cheesy restaurants with the elaborate wine lists need the business.

Thank you for your time and patience.
El Gringo Viejo

Perspectives, Objections, and Agreements

_________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

     We enter the Uni-season now, made more efficient over the last fifty years or so by combining the depths of Winter's Solstice with the Orthodox notion and understanding of Advent, Christ's Mass or the Feast of the Nativity in my Grandmother's time, the notion of Yule-tide, Hanukkah,  and then of course the Feast of  the Epiphany.

 

     Parenthetically, we urge that the OROG wade into deep water at the Anglican Curmudgeon's address and work through the fairly easy to understand complexities that attend the uses of the terms Catholic, catholic, Christian, Orthodox.   In an astute and non-hostile manner, our cyber-Confessor explains how those things are intertwined in the framework of the Two Testaments, the Prophesies, and the manner by which the many-petalled flower that is Christianity came to look as it does to-day.   Those of us on the Conservative side of the issues affecting the Anglican Communion as well as the rest of the Catholic-traditioned part of Christianity are aware of the inclusive - exclusive dynamic our issues and arguments present.   We lament the willingness by the "Progressives" to have no interest in such a dynamic, but rather prefer to exclude totally any influence by the traditionalists.  The Anglican Curmudgeon's present treatise,  along with Barrack Hussein Obama's paralleling of his own understanding recently as akin to Pope Benedict's understanding of economic fairness have inspired this writer to pen a few notes on this issue....and at this time in the Church's Calendar.   

     The matter of income redistribution, social democracy, and how the Bishop of Rome fits into the issues of "social justice" as he defines it as opposed to how Barrack Hussein Obama defines it might be a topic that seems best left alone or at least dealt with at another time.   But, alas, this might be the best time of all to try to set a bit of the record straight.   Part of the confusion we have....as in the case of the terms "redemption" and "salvation"....comes from our own efforts to make our understanding reasonable, efficient, and compatible with our secular schedules.

     But, reason mixes poorly at times with efficiency, and understanding becomes easier if we mix  comfortable phrases with scenes of how things might have been....or perhaps how they might should have been.

    And, do not feel as if this is a scolding by some ivory-tower perfectionist, who is demanding the purity of historical and ecclesiastical facts.   El Gringo Viejo was not there, and he does not know anyone who was there.  Our inventions are nothing new, as well, so no one is going to be chastised for having yielded to some new heresy of the moment.   This is not even a matter of heresy, as it is well known that Buddhists and Christians are very malleable, most of the time, in the application, practice, and employment of the tenets and/or canons of their philosophy and/or religion.
     The wonderful image above shows what has to be a collision of the plausible and the impossible.   It is the Coyote treading air for about 10 seconds before he realises that, during his pursuit of the Roadrunner, he has run off the edge of a 5,000 foot cliff and is doomed to a massive crash on the canyon-floor below.   But the above picture is still a wonderful image.  It shows the Christ Child as a new-born, being reverenced by Three Kings (or Wise Men, or Astronomical Philosophers), and lo! and behold! there is no Black King.  In fact, they all look like Mediterranean personalities, and they are expressing their reverence for the Baby at the door of what appears to be a very Sistine / Tuscan mixed-style of a boutique bed and breakfast.  So much for the cave or corral and the manger and all that messy farm stuff.

    We seize upon the above image, however, not for what might be accused of being  incorrect but rather to move towards the consideration of another reality, a greater probability in fact, that Jesus of Nazareth  was not a child of poverty leading the poor of the world to a greater reward, because the rich  were, and are, not deserving of reward.
     Analysing the nature of the sociology of the time, and wringing out the best understanding of the events surrounding the Announcement by Gabriel to the arrival of the Magi...we notice that Yeshua is frequently in close contact with people of position.  We know that he was recognised by an old man at the Temple when he was taken for circumcision and for the delivery of the thank offering....during the baby's infancy.  We also know that both Joseph and Mary were of the House of David, a royal house, and therefore, in order to be enrolled in the Census and the Imperial Revenue Service, they were required to go to the City of David for said enrolment.
     We know that Mary, although much younger, was the cousin of Elizabeth, the wife of one of the most important rabbis in all Judea.  We know that the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth was John the Baptist, who even during the childhood of his cousin Jesus, was out exhorting the Jews to turn away from issues that were not relative to the interests of Yahweh.  John was highly placed enough to engender a huge and troubling following throughout the Holy Land.  Troubling it was, both to the Roman  government, and especially in the palatial precincts of the satrap King Herod.

     We might be able to say that John was a "social issues" Tea-party type, and his cousin, the Son of God, was likewise much more concerned with the condition of peoples' souls than with the availability of government provided balanced diets for the poor of the Empire.  We also note that most of the popular "quotes" from the Bible about rich people are misinterpreted or totally misquoted.  Along with that correct statement we add another true observation that property owners, vineyard owners,  tillers, farmers, stockmen,  tradesmen, soldiers merchants, and even lawyers are advised to practice good stewardship over their possessions and professions as well as to develop their talents (monies and wealth).   In the Parable of the Talents it is pointed out that the slothful servant was scorned for not having invested his single talent, while the other two servants went and doubled their money during the master's absence.

     We also know that throughout the Nazarene's life, he dealt closely with the wealthy, often being received in homes of the influential.  We know  that his step-father Joseph was a talented man with a trade/profession who could plight his trough for the hand of Mary, who was as stated before, highly placed in the social structure of the Jews.  We could continue to point out things like the water to wine incident and the fact that Jesus had to admonish the Apostles to allow "the little children" (perhaps of the hoi polloi) to come close to Jesus.  The Apostles' understanding was reasonable in that they were trying to keep the "Important Person" removed from mundane and troublesome over-energised children.

     Other more nuanced points about discrimination, racism, ethnic "apartness", and the like were made by the Nazarene when he pointed out that even Jews could learn from a (ycccchh) Samaritan, when a rich Samaritan would risk his wealth and health to aid a Jew who had been victimised of highway robbers.  While other Jews would not stop....because of their pride, fear, and lack of willingness to spend the shekels and talents for the restoration of the fallen "fellow Jew", the Samaritan did.  The story about the incident actually reads like a police report, and one has the feeling that it was an incident that most certainly actually happened.

    To summarise, it can be demonstrated that the Son of God came to this Planet on a mission to restore souls to the favour and pleasurable service of the Creator.   He came and dwelled among the rich.  He had, if anything, an extreme upper-middle class background, with overtones of aristocracy and even royalty.  He was literate and well-studied.  Even with his comforts he lectured all to do good unto others in the same way one might wish to have the well and good done to ones self.   He was comfortable with the common people, and even the lepers and the wayward.  In his own anguish, He could make a friend of the malefactor suffering the same fate during His crucifixion.
    He asked us to care for the poor, the bereaved, the sick, the naked, the homeless, and  the prisoners and downtrodden.   He did not ask us to turn the task over to the government.   Or to a government.

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      It would appear that the Argentine Pope, after years of fighting, in his way, against the liberation theologists of that poor-in-spirit country, is searching for a third or fourth path for the Roman Communion and perhaps even for the entirety of Christianity as a social, worldly force.  His first months have seemed to be full of new messages that are hard to interpret from any perspective.
    We must have faith, however, that there be no resolution into a common focus about the present Bishop of Rome's view of economic fairness and the marxist predilections of Obama.  

 

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    As an aside, El Gringo Viejo was raised on a farm, under rules of austerity, because both parents had been through the Depression and two world wars, the Spanish Flu, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the polio epidemics.  Although I was last born and terribly spoiled to no good end, there was no great splurging even during those times when my parents thought that we were in a strong economic position.

    We did splurge on a Christmas tree, however, and we did share a few gifts on Christmas Eve, saving for the morning such that might have been left behind by Santa Claus.   The tree was put up normally during the last week of Advent to commemorate the journey to Bethlehem, and then the tree would remain for the entire Twelve Days of Christmas, to be taken down on the night of the 6th of January, the first day of Epiphany.  That was to commemorate the arrival of the Three Kings and their delivery of fine and expensive gifts from afar.  My parents would normally have some relatively expensive or what could be styled as "the best"  gift reserved for that day, and only for the children.

 

     Perhaps in moving towards a second childhood, we have tried to prohibit and/or preclude gifts for the last few years from any source,  to us.  We will give small things to our children, but most if not all  of the gift-giving we do is to the grandchildren.   I would prefer to give them their things on the 6th of January,   but that is a difficult matter when they live 360 miles away.  So we take it up during Christmas Tide, because it just doesn't make sense to send a half of a cup-cake, a strange looking rock, two jelly beans, and a quarter by FED EX to each granddaughter for 30 dollars.  So we drive it up instead.