Fragmente

„Albert and The Lion” Performed by Roy Hudd 

Poem credit.

Albert and the Lion

There’s a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That’s noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,
All dressed in his best; quite a swell
With a stick with an ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle,
The finest that Woolworth’s could sell.

They didn’t think much of the Ocean:
The waves, they were fiddlin’ and small,
There was no wrecks and nobody drownded,
Fact, nothing to laugh at at all.

So, seeking for further amusement,
They paid and went into the Zoo,
Where they’d Lions and Tigers and Camels,
And old ale and sandwiches too.

There were one great big Lion called Wallace;
His nose were all covered with scars –
He lay in a somnolent posture,
With the side of his face on the bars.

Now Albert had heard about Lions,
How they was ferocious and wild –
To see Wallace lying so peaceful,
Well, it didn’t seem right to the child.

So straightway the brave little feller,
Not showing a morsel of fear,
Took his stick with its ‘orse’s ‘ead ‘andle
And pushed it in Wallace’s ear.

You could see that the Lion didn’t like it,
For giving a kind of a roll,
He pulled Albert inside the cage with ‘im,
And swallowed the little lad ‘ole.

Then Pa, who had seen the occurrence,
And didn’t know what to do next,
Said ‘Mother! Yon Lion’s ‘et Albert’,
And Mother said ‘Well, I am vexed!’

Then Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom –
Quite rightly, when all’s said and done –
Complained to the Animal Keeper,
That the Lion had eaten their son.

The keeper was quite nice about it;
He said ‘What a nasty mishap.
Are you sure that it’s your boy he’s eaten?’
Pa said „Am I sure? There’s his cap!’

The manager had to be sent for.
He came and he said ‘What’s to do?’
Pa said ‘Yon Lion’s ‘et Albert,
‘And ‘im in his Sunday clothes, too.’

Then Mother said, ‘Right’s right, young feller;
I think it’s a shame and a sin,
For a lion to go and eat Albert,
And after we’ve paid to come in.’

The manager wanted no trouble,
He took out his purse right away,
Saying ‘How much to settle the matter?’
And Pa said „What do you usually pay?’

But Mother had turned a bit awkward
When she thought where her Albert had gone.
She said ‘No! someone’s got to be summonsed’ –
So that was decided upon.

Then off they went to the P’lice Station,
In front of the Magistrate chap;
They told ‘im what happened to Albert,
And proved it by showing his cap.

The Magistrate gave his opinion
That no one was really to blame
And he said that he hoped the Ramsbottoms
Would have further sons to their name.

At that Mother got proper blazing,
‘And thank you, sir, kindly,’ said she.
‘What waste all our lives raising children
To feed ruddy Lions? Not me!’

Marriott Edgar

Astăzi, la TVR, la Jurnal Plus, de la 20.00

Voi fi astăzi la TVR, la Jurnal Plus, de la ora 20.00, unde comentez pe teme de actualitate.

Update: Linkul către înregistrarea emisiunii Info Plus.

Anti-lecturi de contributors

Pe tema summitului NATO am început, plin de speranță, lectura unui articol scris de Paul Ivan – Chicago 2012 – Concluzii si problemele nerezolvate. Afganistan, Rusia si Smart Defence. Fatalitate, am renunțat  repede pe la partea cu Afganistanul unde autorul nostru ne informează:

Procesul de transfer al responsabilității de asigurarea a securității către forțele afgane și planificarea retragerii forțelor NATO din Afganistan până la sfârșitul lui 2014 au dominat summit-ul de la Chicago. În momentul de față forțele de securitate afgane au responsabilitatea asigurării securității pentru aproximativ 75% din populația Afganistanului. Finalizarea procesului de tranziție urmează să aibă loc în 2014 când forțele de securitate afgane ar trebui să asigure securitatea pe tot teritoriul țării, misiunea NATO urmând să fie substanțial redusă și să se tranforme într-o misiune de sprijin și training pentru armata afgană.

Am zis să verific, un așa autor și cercetător, care mai și lucrează la un centru de studii din Bruxelles, musai că știe el mai bine.

Știe Ivan chiar știe mai bine decât Casa Albă, care, uitați și voi dragi cititori ! sunt muuult în urma expertului român. La Washington sunt chiar depășiți:

White House on Afghanistan Transition Milestone

21 May 2012

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
May 21, 2012

Fact Sheet

Chicago Summit – Afghanistan Transition Interim Milestone

At the 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon, the United States, our NATO Allies, ISAF partners, and the Government of Afghanistan agreed to transfer responsibility for securing Afghanistan from ISAF to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in a transition process that would begin in 2011 and be completed by the end of 2014. This strategy is on track. Already more than 50 percent of Afghans live in areas where the ANSF are in the lead for security. This number will reach roughly 75 percent when the recently announced third tranche of Afghan provinces, districts, and cities begin the transition later this summer. As an Alliance, we are fully committed to the Lisbon transition strategy and timeline, and we remain committed to executing it together. This transition process will allow us to responsibly draw down our forces in Afghanistan, while preserving our hard-won gains and setting the stage for our core objectives to be achieved now and into the future.

At the Chicago NATO Summit, leaders reaffirmed this Lisbon framework for transition and agreed on an interim milestone in mid-2013 to mark our progress toward the transition goal. Concurrent with the announcement of the fifth and final tranche of Afghan provinces to enter the transition process – to be determined by the Afghan Government – the mid-2013 milestone will mark the beginning of the ANSF’s assumption of the lead for combat operations across the country. At this time, ISAF’s main effort will shift from combat to supporting the ANSF. As it shifts its primary focus from combating the enemy to training, advising, and assisting, ISAF will ensure that the Afghans have the support they need while they adjust to their new responsibilities in preparation for transition’s conclusion at the end of 2014.

ISAF forces will continue to conduct combat operations as necessary through the end of 2014. However, after the mid-2013 milestone, ISAF’s composition will continue to evolve to reflect the new primary focus on training, advising, and assisting. Troop numbers will continue to decrease in a planned, coordinated, and responsible manner. By the end of 2014, transition will be complete and Afghan Security Forces will be fully responsible for the security of their country.

Așa că am renunțat la continuarea lecturii, dar îl încurajez pe domnul Pavel Ivan, dacă nu are încredere în comunicatele Casei Albe, să solicite o întrevedere ori cu un expert român de la Delegația Permanentă a României la NATO sau chiar cu Oana Lungescu, purtătorul de cuvânt al Sec. Gen.   Anders Fogh Rasmussen.  Iar distanța dintre Place du Congres și Bulevard Leopold III nu e chiar așa de mare.

Fragmente

The Administration of Things: A Genealogy by Ben Kafka

May 21, 2012

“If men never disagreed about the ends of life, if our ancestors had remained undisturbed in the Garden of Eden, the studies to which the Chichele Chair of Social and Political Theory is dedicated could scarcely have been conceived,” Isaiah Berlin told his audience at Oxford when he assumed that position in 1958. Philosophy was at its best when it was being contentious, especially when it was being contentious about the meaning and purpose of our common existence[…] In Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss argued that “in order to reach his highest stature, man must live in the best kind of society, in the kind of society that is most conducive to human excellence. The classics called the best society the best politeia. By this expression they indicated, first of all, that, in order to be good, society must be civil or political society, a society in which there exists government of men and not merely administration of things.” 3 He reiterated this criticism in a slightly more confused way in The City and Man: “On the basis of the break with Aristotle, one could come to believe in the possibility of a simply rational society, i.e., of a society each member of which would be of necessity perfectly rational so that all would be united by fraternal friendship, and government of men, as distinguished from administration of things, would wither away.” 4