The Amazing Art of Svetlana Petrova with Zarathustra

Since I no longer have a television set and radio reception of NPR is iffy at best here in the boondocks on the eastern edge of Metropolitan Louisville/Jefferson County, I have obtained all of my information about what happens in the world via the Internet. So, I read/watch the BBC on the Internet daily.

I often encounter extremely unique features at the BBC. On May 26^th I came across this wonderful article entitled, The paintings 'made better with cats' by Genevieve Hassan.  Ms Hassan, an entertainment reporter for the BBC News, introduced me to Russian artist Svetlana Petrova and her delightful online artwork of famous portraits featuring her big ginger cat, Zarathustra.

I simply must share the works from the BBC article here on Nick’s Bytes:

You can view much more of Ms. Petrova's creations at Great Artist Mews, where Zarathustra tells us:

Our name is Zarathustra. We are a cat. According to our assistant (named by ignoramuses as our “owner”) We are the best cat in the world. By the will of the gods, We have been relieved of our animal desires, therefore Our postprandial time is given to the reflections on lofty matters. We are so gracious in Our enjoyment of repasts. And We are also very very fond of Arrt. Our main passion is to sit for the great artists. Only great artists can appreciate Our generous body and sublime soul.

By the way, Alex and Sugar are devotees of Zarathustra. (Midnight, being a kitten, is too hyper to appreciate great Arrt). 

Please

The Row Over Devyani Khobragade, Deputy Consul General of India

I have Louisville friends with family ties to India as well as numerous Internet friends who live in India. When I first read of the arrest, and especially the strip-search, of Ms. Devyani Khobragade, Deputy Consul General of the nation of India in New York, I was appalled. Now I am angry at the U.S. State and Justice Departments continue to push the case regarding “making false statements on a visa application” against her.

The situation is much more complex than it appears at the surface. While few in the United States have expressed any concern about the incident, anger has exploded in India leading to various forms of retribution taken again U.S. diplomats in India. The best exposition of the affair that I have located on the Internet is by The Indian Express: Everything you need to know about Devyani Khobragade's story

I am and never have been a professional diplomat; however, my undergraduate major was diplomatic history, with courses taught be a U.S. diplomat who was present in 1945 when representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations Charter. As a U.S. Army office in Germany, I was the battalion liaison with the German Landespolizei and worked out problems with the German authorities and soldiers in my battalion. 

As such, I am appalled that Deputy Consul General Khobragade was arrested, much less hand-cuffed and strip-searched. This is a breakdown caused primarily by inept bureaucrats in the United States State and Justice Departments. If you have read The Indian Express article referenced above, that this was a case on which the Indian side was in touch with the US authorities right from the start and that no one in the State Department paid any attention to the Indian concerns that the incident.  The Indian government conveyed to the State Department that this could be part of an immigration racket, given that Khobragade received offers of a settlement from a lawyer on behalf of her domestic help after she went missing.

I am also appalled that the United States has allowed this to deteriorate to the point that it is have negative affects on the relationship between Indian and the United States. The diplomatic row seems to be increasing each day (See the Reuters article, India tells U.S. to close embassy club; dispute exposes flaws in ties). Anger at the United States is increasing among the people of India because of the treatment of their diplomat. (See The Christian Science Monitor: An angry India pops the expat ‘bubble’ in Delhi).

Indians demonstrate outside the US Embassy in New Delhi
to protest against the  mistreatment of Devyani Khobragade

What is to be done to remedy this absurd situation? I believe that the United States must admit that our bureaucrats screwed up, take seriously and investigate the Indian allegation of an immigration plot hatched by the domestic worker and her husband. 

Before you decide yours, my I suggest one last article to read: The Christian Science Monitor: Who's more wrong in row over Indian diplomat's treatment? It's complicated. 

... with a whimper

Many years ago I saw cartoon that picture two men with long hair and beards standing together, each carrying a sign that read TOMORROW THE WORLD ENDS.  One man was saying to the other, "Same time, same place tomorrow – if there is a tomorrow."


There a lot of people who have gotten it into their heads that something catastrophic will happen tomorrow. I do not know what they know that I don't know: I do know that if one believes the New Testament no one knows when the world will end.

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among* you.’ ~ Luke 17.20-21

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Messiah!”* and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines* and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. ~ Matt. 23.3-8

‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son,* but only the Father. 3For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 3For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 3and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. ~ Matt. 24.36-39

If those Scriptures do not convince you that the world will not again tomorrow, that no one – not even Jesus – knows when the world will in, may I suggest that you click over to this article for further confirmation: A Guarantee: The World Will Not End On Friday.

Many many years ago I was in high school each student in my senior English class was required to read a poem allowed. I selected The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot:

May I suggest that, if the world does end on 21 December, 2012, (which I doubt) it will do so in the manner T.S.Eliot suggested: not with a bang, but a whimper.

There is an evil in this land

I awakened this morning to realize that yesterday's horror was not a nightmare. The murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School are real. Twenty little girls and boys are dead, as well as adult educators. My morning prayers have centered upon the victims' families and upon the ridding of the evil that is in this land.

There is an evil in this land that preys on the innocent.

Every year three times as many people are murdered with guns in the United States as were murdered on Sept. 11, 2001. ~ The Washington Post

We may never know the why of atrocious murders such as those yesterday at Sandy Hook Elementary School; however, we can identify the means of the evil. Like so much of what in wicked in the United States, it relates to money and greed. Specifically it centers in the greed of the firearms industry  gun lobby and the politicians who accept their bribe money.

Guns are big business in the United States—very big business. The U.S. manufacture and sale of firearms is a multi-billion dollar business in the United States and that doesn't include the U.S. weapons exported, legally and illegally, to foreign lands.

In 2012, prior to yesterday’s murders in Connecticut, the United States has witnessed multiple mass shootings—at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin and at a mall in Oregon. Existing gun-control laws did nothing to prevent any of them.

Last month a study of U.S. gun control legislation, prepared by a specialist in domestic security and crime policy at the Congressional Research Service., was presented to Congress. The report noted that, since the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives…

much of the gun control debate in the 112th Congress has swirled around allegations (regarding the failure of) …the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives mishandled a Phoenix, Ariz.-based gun-trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.

In other words, the GOP ignored the murders in Colorado, Wisconsin and Oregon in favor of meaningless accusations against government agencies. No new legislation restricting the firearms will come about as long the gun control lobby has the political right wing in its very large and wealthy pockets.

I end by addressing  this question to politicians who accept contributions from the gun lobby: ‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? (Psalms 82.2)

For further reading:

• The Washington Post: Why killing is a profitable enterprise By Michael F. McNulty
• ABC News: Gun Control Laws in America
• Congressional Research Service: Gun Control Legislation
• The New York Times: Republicans and the Gun Lobby

The following appeared on FaceBook a few moments ago:

12/14/12
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, 
Forever untouched, for no one was there.

The tree was unlit, the presents lay scattered,
Forgotten by families whose lives were just shattered.

One nation, one wail, rose into the night,
Echoed by God, for children reft of life.

Then a candle was lit, then another and another.
And a whisper was heard mixed in the sobs of the mothers -

"Clasp hands with me, Neighbor.
Share with me this grief.
Let us comfort each other
Until we find peace."

The whisper grew louder,
Transformed to a roar -
One Nation, undivided, could take no more.

Amen

Justice in the Face of Taliban Agression

Malalai Yousafzai

When I read that fourteen-year-old Malalai Yousafzai had been shot in an assassination attempt by Pakistani Taliban, I was overwhelmed by rage and sadness. Two other girls were also injured in the attack; one of whom remains in a critical condition. I am pleased that Pakistani officials have offered a 10 million rupee ($105,000; £66,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of her attackers. However, that the Taliban even exist to perpetrate such an injustice makes me ill.

Fundamentalist groups, whether they be the Taliban or the U.S. Tea Party, are a great concern to me and have been since the 1970s. After reading the works of Karen Armstrong I gained an understanding of fundamentalist mindset: their war is not a religious war but rather a war against modernity. And, unless the peoples of the world want to return to a dark age, it is a war that we cannot allow fundamentalists to win.

I strongly recommend the writings of Karen Armstrong. Here are a few:

A Mishmash of Thoughts

Here are some thoughts that have passed through my weird mind in recent days:

We call them insurgents and terrorists; they call themselves patriots and freedom fights and servants of God. What history will call them depends upon who wins this absurd “War on Terror” and who writes the history.

Steve Mumford: Dying Insurgent, 2005 

oil on linen, 48 x 60 inches

Todd Akin would have made an excellent member of the Inquisition,

or perhaps a Puritan witch hunter.

I am feeling an anxiety that is pushing me down into depression. It isn't what I can do or can't do that drives me into depression, it's the threats and power of idiot bureaucrats, politicians, religious freaks, and the lackeys of the 1% who frighten me.

 Leon Trotsky has interested me since I first read of him almost 50 years ago. An intellectual activist all of his life, he was a mitigating force between the revolutionary forces of preBolshevik Russia. Had Trotsky followed Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union, I am certain that the horrors brought to Russia and the world by Stalin would not have occurred.

There seem to be elements within the U.S. intelligence (spying, not intellectuals)community  who want to get their hands on Julian Assange because of the embarrassment he caused the U.S. spy community (CIA). At least they are using semi-legal means of doing it (rather than paid assassins): extradite to Sweden from which he can be extradited to the U.S. where he can be tried for exposing classified documents and (they hope) sentenced to die from a lethal injection.

I love these kitty cats!

Alex

Sugar

Little Girl

No more thoughts at the moment!

You are  cordially invited to visit my new blog:

Sometimes Saintly Nick's Daily Journal 

This is the way the world ends?

I generally ignore that ramblings of fundamentalist preachers, especially if the rambling is on radio or TV. I would probably ignore this latest doomsday proclamation, except that for the past couple of months, in my daily telephone conversations with her, my 87-year-old mother has been talking about the end times.


Mom began by asking if I knew when the world will end. I responded from Mainline Christian theology: no one knows. Although my mother doesn't suffer from dementia, she either forgot my answer or didn't want to accept it because she would ask the same or similar questions each time we spoke to each other.


That routine began to change about three weeks ago. Mom still asks if I know when the world will end, but now she also shares with me third party answers: this TV preacher said or that minister said. The obsession that Mom has developed  about apocalyptic theology has me wondering about her mental well-being.


I fear that there may be many more folks other than my mother who are concerned about tomorrow. CNN reports people have been leaving their jobs and homes and families, happily expecting to be raptured into heaven. (Sigh)


I wonder if these folks have been told that this announcement of doomsday has has been made over and over  for the past 2,000 years. Even Harold Egbert Camping, who made the prophecy that the world will end tomorrow, made similar forecasts before:

...he (Camping) predicted that Jesus’ second coming was to take place between September 15^th and 27^th in the year 1994. Camping pushed his book frequently on the radio, teaching from it on his program, “Open Forum” and other Bible teaching sessions. When September 1994 rolled around and Jesus did not return, Harold worked like a showman who is caught and said that he had not understood the message from God, but predicted a new date which was good. The date was afterward changed eight times until he settled for the year 2008. Look at the following dates:1.   September 6, 1994?  (Subsequently extended a few days, given the slight variations in the ancient calendars). 2.    September 15, 1994, the Jewish Day of Atonement? 3.    September 25, 1994, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles? 4.    October 4, 1994, the actual birthday of Jesus as calculated by Camping? 5.   December 25, 1994, our traditional celebration of Christmas and Christ’s incarnation and birth, based on the statement in Revelation 11:10 that the enemies of God’s people would ‘send gifts one to another?’6.     February 25, 1995, the Jewish feast of Purim?7.   May 3, 1996, when he was so sure of this date that he devoted several Open Forumprograms to explain how the ‘four watches’ (alluded to in Mark 13:35) extended the date until September 6, 1994. 8.    His current teaching, that September 6, 1994 was the right date after all, but it was for the beginning of the Great Tribulation, not Judgment Day.  Simple arithmetic would put the return of the Lord no later than 2008.” ~ John S. Torell

OK, as you may have suspected, I give 0% credence to Camping's "prophecy."  When I consider the end of the world, I perceive that T.S. Eliot is more on target that all of the apocalyptic prophets:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
~ The Hollow Men 

As others are doing this evening, I am enjoying the humor in all of this uproar, especially the suggestion that the end of the world will be a great media event, beginning at the International Dateline at 6:00 PM and moving west through each time zone, hitting each at exactly 6:00 PM. As I await thje doomsday hour, I may as well spend my time laughing at the whole absurd thing:

Well, we don't have much longer to wait: as I publish this post, it is 12:50 PM, 21 May 2011, at the International Date Line  Less than six hours before "it" begins. 


I'll see you with my T.B.I.M post on Monday -- if there is a Monday!

New News from SSN's Cave

Cable TV

I do regret switching from satellite to cable TV. The folks with the cable company are friendly and, I believe, well meaning. However, I question their competence. Last week I had the 5th different cable dude (his name wasn't Larry) here for the 5th time in the past couple of months to repair an on-going problem that has existed ever since the cable company "upgraded" itself.

This dude couldn't repair it either" I am still accessing cable via my DVD player. However,. this cable guy added a new twist to the failed attempt to fix the problem. This dude suggested I buy a new TV.

I think I shall go back to satellite.

Google Out, Amazon In

Do you remember the period (not long ago) when I would end posts with graphics such as this one:

...that referred to the Google Adsense advertisements on my sidebar? After five plus years of posting those ads on my sidebar (not only of Nick's Bytes, but all my blogs), I finally earned enough last December to receive a paycheck from Google. I suppose enough readers responded and I thank each of you.

It took another two months for me to get enough clicks to earn another paycheck. However, before I was paid, Google canceled my Adsense account. Google wouldn't tell me why and rejected my appeal, but I suspect it was because too many of the same readers clicked on the ads.

I still can't make ends meet with my pension and social security totally $1700 a month (especially with rent and utilities averaging $1300.00 a month). I have been an Amazon Associate for years, but used it only to link to books, music, and films in my posts. The commission is only 4%, but I am desperate for income.

So now up and down on my sidebar you'll find links up and down Nick's Bytes sidebar in boxes that say My Favorites I Recommend:

If you decide to purchase on one my favorites, please click on the item to Amazon and I receive a 4% commission. Thanks! I really need the income.

My Father

My father, Robert Lawrence Temple, was born 90 years ago today. He died 26 years ago, when he was my age. I wish that we had spent more time together.

Alex's New Chair

The chair isn't new. It has been sitting in my living room for 15 or so years, where Alex paid absolutely no attention to it. Last week I had Osamy move it into my library so the he and I could play chess. Suddenly Alex noticed the chair and he has now claimed it as his own: