Perhaps due to the Super Bowl, we are a week behind here. With your permission, I'll go ahead and include both weeks' readings here.
This is the climax and dénouement of the book. Ben goes to New York City and wins his love; he returns to duty, helping people along the way survive a snowstorm that drifts over the tracks. (Easy to feel some sympathy for that bit of the plot, for those of you up north!) They go to the medicine wheel and resolve the last fight with the rogue Shoshone.
Some last questions about the book:
1) What do you think about how the town turns out, and the future plans of the main characters?
2) We should talk about the question of what constitutes a proper education. Drake Morrell ends up being highly praised, after his initial introduction as a murderer on the run. He introduces the children of the backwoods to Latin, classics, history, and many of the things that Bendigo has been introduced to as well.
L'amour describes the effect of this education as "pride of bearing and appearance, as well as a love for knowledge," but "not... 'scholarship,' for that is often a different thing."
Is this the right vision of education? If so, why? If not, what is missing?
3) What do you think of how Webb turned out? Was it what you expected from the early foreshadowing? Is he a virtuous character, or not?
Finally, there's a last question:
What should we read next? I had originally intended to follow some of Ben's education, and we could talk about which of those books he read that we might want to read also.
However, it occurs to me that it might be a good idea -- given recent discussions -- to branch into some material that concerns our recent debates. We've debated some descriptions in Chaucer in isolation from his broader works; it might be good to read one of the Canterbury Tales (I am thinking of the Wife of Bath's tale, which you might describe as an early feminist take on the story of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnall). We could also look at some classic texts on how men and women view each other, both by Medieval and Renaissance men and women; Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette, perhaps, along with some of the Marie de France or Christine de Pizan stories. That might give us a deeper view of that material.
I'm quite open to your opinions here. Please chime in, and let's discuss it.
GHBC 34-53
The Lady of the Lake, a post from 2008 that was one of the most discussed ever written here, talked about how the courtly love tradition allowed men to channel their romantic love into practical service. It examined how this form of chivalrous love is an ethic of willful service, one to the other; how this service diffused the tensions that endangered feudal bonds, and instead let a knight serve his lady as energetically as he might serve his lord; and thereby opened the way for women to occupy positions of genuine power in the Medieval period.
Such service needn't be grand, though. One might channel the romantic energy of the holiday into something as practical as making lunch:
Some lucky marriages incorporate this broader ethic of love and willful service. In time faithful service may win a lady's love, and her friendship; and her heart, so that she feels a duty to serve in turn. That is what gives you the strength for harder times. I have missed the last two Valentine's days, but we survived on stores laid in earlier years; and now is the hour for refilling the store, while we may, against future troubles that may come.
Happy Valentine's Day.
St. Valentine's Day
This video is said to be the St. Valentine's Day concert at the "Guacheros Club" in Belgrade.
Who was St. Valentine? There were three! The most likely was a martyr put to death for conducting marriages among Roman legionnaires, who had been instructed not to marry. It has an interesting history, as a celebration. Our friend Chaucer features.
Speaking of Chaucer, and without meaning to rekindle the previous discussion, I did run across another description of the female lead in one of his tales that might better suit some of you who objected the last time. It is of Griselda, from the Cleric's Tale:
Amongst these humble folk there dwelt a manUnfortunately, the rest of the tale is nearly unbearable -- certainly to those who love truly. Still, I thought perhaps you would appreciate this much of it: a girl, though poor and only 'fair enough to sight,' but the fairest under the sun inside her heart.
Who was considered poorest of them all;
But the High God of Heaven sometimes can
Send His grace to a little ox's stall;
Janicula men did this poor man call.
A daughter had he, fair enough to sight;
Griselda was this young maid's name, the bright.
If one should speak of virtuous beauty,
Then was she of the fairest under sun;
Since fostered in dire poverty was she,
No luxurious in her heart had run;
More often from the well than from the tun
She drank, and since she would chaste virtue please,
She knew work well, but knew not idle ease.
But though this maiden tender was of age,
Yet in the breast of her virginity
There was enclosed a ripe and grave courage;
And in great reverence and charity
Her poor old father fed and fostered she;
A few sheep grazing in a field she kept,
For she would not be idle till she slept.
And when she homeward came, why she would bring
Roots and green herbs, full many times and oft,
The which she'd shred and boil for her living,
And made her bed a hard one and not soft;
Her father kept she in their humble croft
With what obedience and diligence
A child may do for father's reverence.
Upon Griselda, humble daughter pure,
The marquis oft had looked in passing by,
As he a-hunting rode at adventure;
And when it chanced that her he did espy,
Not with the glances of a wanton eye
He gazed at her, but all in sober guise,
And pondered on her deeply in this wise:
Commending to his heart her womanhood,
And virtue passing that of any wight,
Of so young age in face and habitude.
For though the people have no deep insight
In virtue, he considered all aright
Her goodness, and decided that he would
Wed only her, if ever wed he should.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2010 - U.S. forces in the Marja region of Afghanistan are engaged in a series of missions to prime the Taliban stronghold before a massive assault that's expected soon, defense officials said today.
Some 12,000 U.S. and NATO troops and 3,000 Afghan forces are expected to be involved once the larger-scale operation begins in earnest. Officials declined to reveal when the assault would start, saying only that it is expected to commence soon.
Good luck and God Speed.
Snowfall
I have no doubt that my friends in the north are very tired of it, but for me, this is the first time I've seen falling snow since Baghdad. That was two winters ago, and in a way it's hard to believe I was ever there. I can remember that, when I was there, it was hard to believe I had ever been here. It was like remembering a different life, more than a different place.
When was the last time I saw snow in Georgia? Perhaps it was 2002, when we lived on Burnt Mountain, high enough that it snowed from time to time. It has been a while, to be sure.
The house is well-stocked, and there is the smell of roasting pork and apple, with cinnamon and wine. The snow is welcome.
Lincoln
A figure quite controversial at times, at other times treated as a kind of saint, Lincoln is today celebrated at Powerline. They quote his anti-slavery speech from the Republican national convention of 1860, but let's look at his military judgment instead.
A friend sends, via email, a selection from General Order #100. We can see several things in it that clarify what ought to be done with certain classes of unlawful combatants.
Art. 63.
Troops who fight in the uniform of their enemies, without any plain, striking, and uniform mark of distinction of their own, can expect no quarter....
Art. 83.
Scouts, or single soldiers, if disguised in the dress of the country or in the uniform of the army hostile to their own, employed in obtaining information, if found within or lurking about the lines of the captor, are treated as spies, and suffer death.
Art. 84.
Armed prowlers, by whatever names they may be called, or persons of the enemy's territory, who steal within the lines of the hostile army for the purpose of robbing, killing, or of destroying bridges, roads or canals, or of robbing or destroying the mail, or of cutting the telegraph wires, are not entitled to the privileges of the prisoner of war.
Art. 85.
War-rebels are persons within an occupied territory who rise in arms against the occupying or conquering army, or against the authorities established by the same. If captured, they may suffer death, whether they rise singly, in small or large bands, and whether called upon to do so by their own, but expelled, government or not. They are not prisoners of war; nor are they if discovered and secured before their conspiracy has matured to an actual rising or armed violence.
Forcing
I mean, it is the French, but still...
Elisabeth Badinter, a leading French feminist, has warned the green movement is threatening decades of improvements in gender equality by forcing women to give up their jobs and become earth mothers.I'm not sure I recognize any part of that as "holy," though in general I think breast-feeding of infants is a fine idea, and "back to nature" is a concept that -- within certain reasonable limits -- could do a lot of good for a lot of people. Still, it's horrible to hear that they've forged themselves into so powerful an alliance that they can "force women" to give up their jobs. How are they accomplishing this?
Mrs Badinter claims a “holy reactionary alliance” of green politicians, breast-feeding militants, “back to nature” feminists and child psychologists is turning Frenchwomen into slaves to green “fads” like re-usable nappies and organic food.
In her new book, Conflit, la Femme et la Mere (Conflict, the Woman and the Mother), Mrs Badinter contends that this politically correct cabal is burdening mothers with intolerable guilt unless they stay at home and breast-feed for as long as possible.Guilt! Ah, well.
Look, people tried to burden me with intolerable guilt for supporting the war in Iraq for several years. I don't recall feeling any actual guilt. I certainly felt some responsibility for the war, and a personal sense of duty to contribute to restoring peace and order to Iraq.
Why not guilt? Guilt comes from the inside. Someone may wish to make you feel guilt, but all they can actually do is bring the guilt you already feel to your conscious attention. If it isn't there, they can't create it.
If you find that you really feel "intolerable guilt" that you aren't spending more time with your child, perhaps you should listen to that. It isn't coming from them; they're just drawing it to your attention. The guilt is coming from inside of you, and you should probably draw off somewhere quiet and reflect on why you feel that way. It may save you regrets later in life.
If you don't find that you feel such guilt, their attempts to motivate you to feel guilty will certainly not create guilt in you. For someone who feels no guilt, such attempts sound -- I speak from experience -- more like a braying ass than the trumpet of judgment.
Lightning Advisory
Robert Gibbs today tried to take credit for the success in Iraq even though both Biden* and Obama voted against the successful surge that stabilized the country. That’s not all. Biden caused rioting and protests when he pushed legislation to divide Iraq into three countries. Barack Obama told supporters in 2007 that, “Preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn’t a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there.”2007 was the year of the Surge. A lot of things happened in Iraq in 2007 that gave us reason to hope for the future of that nation.
Not one of them had to do with this lot.
Mv2-lit fuse
Boom.
We have not only fixed nothing the so-called "coordinated actions" of so-called "world leaders" have set up a potential catastrophe originating in Europe.Hat tip to Dad29. One of his commenters points out an additional, serious problem: the tool of devaluation of currency is off the table in the Eurozone. As with the U.S. during the 1920s, tied to the gold standard, it's not an option.
More than two years ago I predicted that Europe was the most likely place where the second leg - the real "Oh.... My...... God" moment - would originate in this economic mess. These ratios were the reason for my prediction, and all that has happened over the last two years is that they've gotten worse.
Neither Germany or the rest of the EU can fix this without massive reform - read that as restructuring and/or default - of the external debt in these nations, including Germany itself....
The United States, ironically, is one of the better-positioned nations to survive what is coming. No, it won't be easy for us, but of the developed world there are few who have the internal capacity to pull in the horns and make it - not comfortably, but to survive.
So what does that leave? Admission of failure, combined with the cuts that are necessary to restore long-term solvency; or actual failure. Social unrest in the first case, war in the second.
Movement
From the National Review:
Imagine if a Republican administration had proposed various cost control initiatives to trim the growth of Medicare spending. Does anyone doubt that Democrats would attack the notional cuts vociferously? Paul Krugman actually had a canned argument ready in case Republicans ever did follow through: while Democrats use cuts to fund coverage expansion, Republicans use them to cut taxes for the rich (cue evil laughter). Now, it's obvious that we're trapped in this dynamic because the median voter reigns supreme, and it is cheap and easy for incumbent interests to distort and oversimplify wrenching reforms on either side of the partisan divide.A fair point. It also means that the Tea Party movement -- if it becomes successful at achieving power -- is going to need a response to the charge that it is intending to wage war on the poor. All of the things it wants to do involve restoring the government to its constitutionally-specified role; this includes dismantling the social-welfare state, at least at the Federal level.
The only way out of this trap is to persuade the median voter of the central importance of achieving fiscal sustainability, even if that means short-term sacrifice. That is a tough job, and it's not clear that conservatives are willing to take it on. The good news is that many in the Tea Party movement understand the stakes and the difficult decisions that have to be made going forward. I'm far more skeptical about the Republican leadership.
There's nothing in the Constitution that prevents the states from running any kind of socialist program they want; that's a 10th Amendment issue. Is that the right response? "No, we're fine with you doing whatever you want for the poor at the state level, so long as you understand I'll be moving my business to a state that doesn't require me to pay confiscatory taxes. But anything you find that you can do for them, funded with such taxes as you can confiscate from those who cannot or will not move, go ahead and do."
It seems that globalization hates socialism; we can always move our business to somewhere cheaper! There are some advantages to remaining inside the United States, of course, but these turn out to have limits: for example, the advantage of easy access to markets can be overcome if transportation costs are cheap enough; the advantage of peace and good order can be overcome if the place we move to is willing for us to fund our own security services (and undermined by the increased efforts of our Federal government to act as a corporate shakedown racket).
Part of the answer, then, may be practical and budgetary: we have to make these changes, like it or not. Part is doctrinal, or legal: we ought to restore the idea of Constitutional limits to the central place in our public life. And part is a concession, so as to let the world make our argument for us: do what you can at the state level, freely, understanding that you'll be paying for it by having businesses flee you.
Sports metaphor
Here’s the New York Times article documenting the president’s pick, the Colts.Dennis the Peasant:
(Update: Joe in the combox points out that over a week earlier the President had apparently picked the Saints to win as well. So, ESPN is both wrong and right, and the President predicted both correctly and incorrectly. Just like in Neoplatonism, all apparent contradictions dissipate in the being of the One.)
But the classic line in all this nonsense is this:Of course it is. The president has always supported the House or the Senate bill, or anything else that could pass.“While he’s been very clear that he supports the House and Senate bills, if Republicans or anyone else has a plan for protecting Americans from insurance company abuses, lowering costs, reducing prescription drug prices for seniors, making coverage more secure, and offering affordable options to those without coverage, he’s anxious to see it and debate the merits of it,” the White House official said.Both of them? Both of them? How in the world can you support both of them? This is leadership?
Peyton Manning is a fine young man, I have family connections to the University of Tennessee where he became famous, and the wife is from Indiana; but the Saints are surely the underdog, having never before seen a Super Bowl from the inside. So, I shall be a friend to the weaker party, as Ivanhoe's Richard the Lionheart avowed was always the duty of a true knight.
Good luck, Saints.
UPDATE: Congratulations, champions.
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
I wonder what they'd think of Johnny:
But then, maybe he had some idea, because he did come armed.
A Boy Leaves Home
In this scene from La Nef's "Perceval: La Quete Du Graal", Perceval asks his mother to get him something to eat... for he is leaving her, to follow a roving band of knights.
The opera is worked around an old Irish ballad, "The Star of the County Down." It is a rollicking piece when it is done as a folk song; but La Nef is probably right to think of it as something older. The tune is simple, and beautiful, and has probably lived long past the time that men can remember where its fountainhead lays.
Here is the folk song:
And here the opera's version:
Sir Perceval is originally the knight who finds the Holy Grail. In later versions it was Galahad, Lancelot's son, who did: a perfect knight, without flaw inside or out. We have lately discussed how Galahad borders on blasphemy; but Sir Perceval has no such troubles. He is full of flaws, and misunderstanding, but at last brings the quest to a close. "You have wars you hardly win, and souls you hardly save."
In Sir Thomas Malory's version, Perceval's sister is the exemplar of true virtue. She readily lays down her life to save a wicked lady who has preserved herself only by slaughtering maidens to drink their blood: but so little cares Perceval's sister for this world that she gives her blood freely, to save even a wicked life. I reflect on how such spiritual generosity might prepare one well for the next world, but poorly serves this one. Such kindness to the cruel and the wicked only empowers them. It is better to strike them down: the Bible says that God reserves vengeance to himself, but perhaps he might forgive us. What otherwise are we for, and what chivalry, and what justice?
Perhaps only to be forgiven; but, by God, to be forgiven for something.
Professor of Law
The lady gives him too much credit. It was not expertise in the law that led him to bait the Supreme Court before the unified Congress.
Now, I tend to think Instapunk has been overwrought of late, but he's got a point here.
I want to know how the President says "Peace Corps" now.
Intellectual my ass.
Press does not know economics
For several months, every time an unemployment report showed unemployment remaining high or going up, the press reported it as happening "unexpectedly." That suggests that the expectation was that unemployment would go down, right? I mean, we spent all this TARP and stimulus money.
Today, good news on unemployment: it seems to have declined slightly. What's the press' reaction? How unexpected!
Come on, guys. Just admit that you have no real expectations, because you haven't any idea at all what's going on. It's OK: we know. Just report the facts, and quit trying to act like you understand the facts. People who were paid millions of dollars a year to predict the course of the economy blew it; there's no reason you should be expected to act as an oracle here either. Just say, "Unemployment is now at X%, up/down Y% from the last report." We'll be OK with that.
Nashville
Looks like fun.
As much as I like a kilt, though, I'm not sure it's all that effective as a political ploy.
One of the things that the media is making a big deal about is that this is a for-profit movement. That shouldn't be considered a negative: it should scare the crap out of the existing political class.
This removes one of the main obstacles to success for conservatives: normally having a full-time job, they can devote very little time to politics. Even though they have money to support such a 'habit,' they can't leave off their job for a year every two years to help contest the face of Congress.
If it proves that you can make a profit fighting for small government, though, a whole lot more people are suddenly free to do that full time.
The scariest thing in the world for the political class ought to be a for-profit movement to reform the government. That means it is a movement that is genuinely sustainable: it won't run out of money, because it's making money.