Myanmar: The Ongoing Tragedy

I honestly believe that there is more than meets the eye (via our Western news media outlets) going on in Myanmar. I am referring, particularly, to the military government's resistance to permitting "relief workers" to enter the country and dispense aid. I have a strong hunch that there is a very simple, common-sense reason for this.

I believe, historically, the U.S. and other countries have used crises in other countries to slip undercover operatives into those countries under the guise of being "relief workers". Once they are in, they do more than simply "dispense aid". They work to destabilize military regimes and established governments in order to, ultimately, create a war zone in which the government they work for can eventually invade for "peacekeeping reasons". Ultimately, a puppet regime is established, paying tribute to Washington or the government of whichever nation that regime is subservient to. The Western-style "democracies" that Western governments really want to establish elsewhere have, as their ultimate goal, the enhancement of Western wealth at the expense of the nation under its influence and control. It's really a modern form of colonialism, in a new guise.

Thus, I am hardly surprised that the government of Myanmar refuses to permit Western "aid workers" to set foot in its territory and that they are doing their best to police their land in order to prevent infiltration by espionage agencies.

Just a thought that you probably won't encounter via regular news agencies, as they bombard us with horrific pictures of devastation and tragedy.

JM

My Sweetheart and Me

With all of the pics being posted by members here of themselves and their wives, I thought I'd contribute one of ours.


My dear wife is a scrapbook-a-holic, and a shutterbug (in order to generate the pics necessary to continue her obsession with scrapbooking - a vicious cycle Virgil can relate to, I'm sure). Carrie's a sweetheart though, and helps keep me balanced on an even keel. She's also an excellent Mom to our boys and friend to me. I am truly blessed.

My sister took this pic of us down by the Gold River, on our old 35mm Pentax (now expired). That was a great camera, but our new Canon digital camera has helped us over the loss. Carrie went for an accidental swim in some quick sand with our old camera, and I don't think the camera every fully recovered. But the new one has many excellent features, including (like all digital cameras) the option to delete instantly any picture that isn't good enough (on review of the instant display).

An Ancient Death Star Discovered?

This is going to make one heck of a news story once it hits the major media. Everyone is being understandably coy at NASA, and all scientists involved are doing everything in their power to play it safe and not jump to any outlandish conclusions.

By the same token, however, NASA HAS shown significant interest in the most recent fly-by closeup shots of Iapetus - one of Saturn's moons. The "Cassini" space probe took these shots of it back in December, and ever since, the entire space exploration community has been abuzz with rumor and speculation.

According to Richard C. Hoaglan at www.enterprisemission.com , Iapetus exhibits certain intriguing characteristics, including a massive, geometrically perfect "wall" around its equator. On closer inspection, certain topographical features are just a little too linear and artificially shaped to be strictly the result of natural phenomena (erosion, meteorite strikes, etc.). The horizons on this moon are likewise too straight and angular. The closeup camera shots DO give the impression of a gigantic space station - an ancient one left to deteriorate in outer space.

Take a look at "A Moon With a View" and decide for yourself.



JM

The funkiest Christian alive

I've gotta say it folks - Toby Mac seriously rocks! I'm not big on "rap music" as a general rule, but this guy has some serious musical talent and it shows. His rapping takes a back seat to some seriously funky vibes and smooth vocals - with a little heavy rock thrown in for good measure.

If you haven't given "Welcome to the Diverse City" a listen yet - I'd seriously recommend doing so (if you have any interest at all in this genre of music). It's high-energy pop/rock, with a little bit of almost everything (including a cute rap by his little guy "Tru Dog").

It's a must for your Jesus Rock collection. I have his debut CD also ("Momentum"), although he also released a CD of "Momentum" dance remixes that I currently don't have in my possession. There aren't alot of Christian musicians that interest me nowadays, but Toby Mac is definitely one of the exceptions to the rule!

JM

My Favorite Author

One of the most brilliant thinkers - and certainly one of the greatest novelists and playwrights - of the 20th Century (in my somewhat informed opinion) is Roberton Davies. In masterful prose, this Canadian author introduced unforgettable characters and imagery with such grace, compassion and insight that one cannot help but emphathize with even the worst scoundrels in his stories.

The plots of his novels are complex, and yet realistically and intricately intertwine the lives of the various protagonists and antagonists in these tales. They are developed within scholastic settings, such as Salterton, Ontario - a charming college town, home to Waverley University - and the beloved "Spook" (College of Saint John and the Holy Ghost), located in Toronto, Ontario.

Davies' prose is a heady wine - intoxicating, soothing, refreshing and intellectually stimulating. I own all three of his trilogies, have read the Salterton trilogy three times, and am working my way through the Cornish trilogy for the second time. The sparkling wit in his writing has a razor's edge, touching and informing the reader's mind AND heart. His erudite, elegant style is not inaccessible to the average reader, and yet it elevates his literature to the status of the great, enduring classics.

Robertson Davies was born on August 28, 1913, in the small village of Thamesville, Ontario. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Queen's University, and earned a degree in literature from Oxford. After a few years in theatrical life, he shifted into journalism, as the literary editor of Saturday Night magazine, and later the editor of the Peterborough Examiner. During this period, he began to write plays, and then novels, starting with Tempest-Tost in 1951. He wrote 10 other novels, grouped into trilogies, as well as many plays. In 1961 Davies was appointed Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, the post where he remained until his retirement. Robertson Davies died on December 2, 1995, at the age of 82.

Those are the very bare and incomplete facts. Man of Myth, Judith Skelton Grant's biography of Davies, is a definitive source for more information, and will provide many insights; the biography draws significant parallels between incidents in Davies's life and in his fiction. (from )


Here a few notable quotes from some of his novels, plays and essays.

The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to an idealised past. - Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic

Sometimes for us in Canada it seems as though the United States and the United Kingdom were cup and saucer, and Canada the spoon, for we are in and out of both with the greatest freedom, and we are given most recognition when we are most a nuisance. - Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic

It is particularly displeasing to hear professional critics using the term "layman" to describe people who are amateurs and patrons of those arts with which they are themselves professionally concerned. The fact that the critic gets money for knowing something, and giving public expression to his opinion, does not entitle him to consider the amateur, who may be as well informed and as sensitive as himself, an outsider. - Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic

The clerisy are those who read for pleasure, but not for idleness; who read for pastime but not to kill time; who love books, but do not live by books. - Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic

This is an age of groups, clubs, associations, and whatnot; most members of the clerisy belong to enough of these already. It is within the groups to which they already belong that they can best assert the values of the humanist -- curiosity, the free mind, belief in good taste, and belief in the human race. - Robertson Davies, A Voice from the Attic

Art is always at peril in universities, where there are so many people, young and old, who love art less than argument, and dote upon a text that provides the nutritious pemmican on which scholars love to chew. - Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man

You would not serve junk food at a banquet, & your book must be a banquet. Get your language from Swift, not from Shopsy's. - Robertson Davies, to a graduate student who had used "hopefully" for "we may hope"

I have never consciously "used" humour in my life. Such humour as I may have is one of the elements in which I live. I cannot recall a time when I was not conscious of the deep, heaving, rolling ocean of hilarity that lies so very near the surface of life in most of its aspects. If I am a moralist -- and I suppose I am -- I am certainly not a gloomy moralist, and if humour finds its way into my work it is because I cannot help it... - Robertson Davies, "Ham and Tongue"

It is not always easy to diagnose. The simplest form of stupidity - the mumbling, nose-picking, stolid incomprehension - can be detected by anyone. But the stupidity which disguises itself as thought, and which talks so glibly and eloquently, indeed never stops talking, in every walk of life is not so easy to identify, because it marches under a formidable name, which few dare attack. It is called Popular Opinion... - Robertson Davies, "Can a Doctor Be a Humanist?"

"Children, don't speak so coarsely," said Mr Webster, who had a vague notion that some supervision should be exercised over his daughters' speech, and that a line should be drawn, but never knew quite when to draw it. He had allowed his daughters to use his library without restraint, and nothing is more fatal to maidenly delicacy of speech than the run of a good library. - Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost (Book 1 in the Salterton Trilogy)

Students today are a pretty solemn lot. One of the really notable achievements of the twentieth century has been to make the young old before their time. - Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost

"I am full of holy joy and free booze," said Cobbler. "I feel moved to sing. It is very wrong to resist an impulse to sing; to hold back a natural evacuation of joy is as injurious as to hold back any other natural issue. It makes a man spiritually costive, and plugs him up with hard, caked, thwarted merriment. This, in the course of time, poisons his whole system and is likely to turn him into that most detestable of beings, a Dry Wit. God grant that I may never be a Dry Wit. Let me ever be a Wet Wit! Let me pour forth what mirth I have until I am utterly empty -- a Nit Wit." - Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost

"A pretty girl is like a melody," hummed Roger. "Excuse me," said Cobbler, turning toward him, "but I must contradict you. A pretty girl is nothing of the kind. A melody, if it is any good, has a discernible logic; a pretty girl can exist without the faintest vestige of sense." - Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost

"Curiosity killed the cat," said Hector, who was a little embarrassed by the turn the conversation had taken; nevertheless, he wanted to show himself a man's man, and something witty seemed called for. "I deny that," said Cobbler; "the cat probably died a happy martyr to research." - Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost

Those excerpts from various of his novels, essays and public addresses are just a sampling of his witty insights into the human experience. This man was a wise, generous spirit who, with characteristic candour, imbued his (and our) time with great nobility and empathy.

I cannot recommend his books and plays highly enough. I would recommend (to the initiate) that he/she start with either The Salterton Trilogy or his last novel, "The Cunning Man" (the fictional biography of a Canadian doctor, from his childhood in a remote, isolated northern community to his flourishing practice in Toronto).

JM

First Item - A Wee Introduction

My wonderful wife and I are enjoying life in our small village of Gold River on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Our two boys are healthy, active and constantly keeping us on our toes. They add tremendous joy to our lives, and Carrie's obsession with scrapbooking only serves to highlight how much they mean to us.

I'm currently working on some writing projects, on the side, as I continue my seasonal employment as a heavy-duty equipment operator and truck driver (snowplows and sand trucks). I'm running a road grader this year, so it's been a whole, fresh new challenge. I don't have trouble fighting sleep when I'm behind the wheel of that big machine, although 8 or 9 hours of steady road grading can wear you down! Fortunately, an excellent CD player in the machine makes the hours fly by fairly quickly!

I'm trying not to have too many irons in too many fires at present. It's difficult. I've started my own PalTalk room and hope to get it open on the weekends on a regular basis, but my family needs my time and so does my writing. A friend of mine and I are also working on a a commercial website. So time is precious, and I'm trying not to shortchange sleep needs.

Planet Preterist has become a real "home" for me, online. After being involved in MANY online forums over the past several years, I've settled at PP as the site providing the best opportunities to expound upon my views and vision.

Kudos to Virgil for making Planet Preterist a reality and maintaining it/administering it so well!

John