caroljane

and so on.

The previous post seems to have escaped from its proper thread - it's abut Stan Rogers, not Gov-Gen. Johnston.Sorry to be more confusingthan usual. No more Canada Day coolers for me.

Everytime he said goodbye, he saluted his bandsman and his brother, and took no bows for himself. He sang with joy for himself, and for what loved, his whole life long.

George, All right, I'll do it. But grumpily. I didn't make the agreement. You did. And I'm not so sure this guy deserves the thing of trying to get others to adhere to your personal agreement with a third party. After all, asterisks-dude is a lawyer (which I inherently find suspect) and a back-pedaling one to boot. The only reason I believe he recanted was because of his reputation, not because of any great love of the truth or wishing to atone for any injustice he committed against you. I certainly don't detect the same fervor in his recant statement as in his previous accusations. In my opinion, he may deserve your adherence, but not mine. But you and I are friends, so I'll do it. (I don't know this guy, but I'm keeping his name on file in case I have to restore this stuff later.) Michael EDIT: Done. Ahem, fine. More tea, anyone ?

You won't get much intelligence out of me until after tomorrow, what with the Royal Visit!All clothes. all the time! I have not cared much about my own clothes since, well, I got married.but I am as interested in rich peoples' clothes as anybody else. I have enjoyed the official itinerariy. Love the "rest" times thoughtfully provided for the newlywed couple. Love the way our Governor General (of whom I'm a huge fan) greeted them: "welcome to the honeymoon capital of the Commonwealth"! I do not wish to presume but I think the message is, get pregnant in Canada or die trying.

Tony, you are so eerily right. I am so entirely, quintesentially Canadian. I have always felt, basically, lucky. I have got the things I wanted and needed most in life, not from conscious focused choice, but from unthinking rejection of what I did not want. Outside my little life was my country, my nanny state, which let me do whatever the hell I wanted as long as I didn't frighten the Mountie horses. Pretty much like my real nanny, and mama come to that. Being born in a lucky time and place is an unbelievable blessing,which I have had. Overcoming lesser luck is a great achievement. To you Tony. and others who know what I mean,life is long and the world is wide. All are glorious.

Enervplease 9th, I don't know anything about Feynman and can't tell if you're doing Enervated Postmodern or True Confessions or what! You're supposed to be enjoying your confusion. Enjoy! --Brant OK. What kind of sandwich, exactly?

Enervplease 9th, I don't know anything about Feynman and can't tell if you're doing Enervated Postmodern or True Confessions or what!

Okay. I only watched the video once, and I do recall the sailor saying something about the song. But since I already had it in my head that he was a survivor of the Mary Ellen Carter, I thought he was uttering words that later inspired Rogers to write the song. A convoluted explanation, I know, but that is how my brain works. My brain and Occam's Razor -- never the twain shall meet. Thanks again for the poem/lyrics. They are truly excellent. They strike me as something that took a while for you to write. Correct? Ghs No, actually, unless the time it took was subconscious. Having always loved that song, when the idea of your travails fit into it, I started humming on my way to the store this morning, and wrote it down when I came home. I'd say about an hour of actual thinking. I was going to change the refrain to "Let the Moral Vindication" rather than "and.." but decided to let it alone. The longest time I spent thinking was, to try and think of a better term than "Moral Vindication" (the GHS Elation? The Hedon Reputation?_- the George and Wendy Barter?) - but no, this one was not for the cheap laugh.= I went with what was there. You probably understand this.

You're right. We did not have an "Independence Day", since we had in the essential ways been independent before the country was incorporated. We were Canadians, with an intense territorial patriotism, before our otherness was acknowledged by the mother country. We have remained pretty much the same as we have grown, fought, and evolved, while maintaining a mainly symbolic relationship with silly old Ma and Mere. Conversely to you, we proclaimed not Independence but Confederation. We fought for freedom to, not freedom from. We're the pragmatic contented collectivists of North America; you are the brilliant, clamouring, anguished idealists of liberty; and as to Mexico, ay de mi. Long may we share the continent, somehow. For our part we promise never to set fire to the White House again. Can't answer for those loco Mexicans though.

Addendumb all over the place today - notice I left out the most salient point of contact - "That (her) name not be lost to the knowledge of men"

George, so many thanks for finding that performance. I saw the original docu it and the clip were part of...it has made me cry. I so loved Stan Rogers, still do. The true story of the MEC, and yours, were too janglingly cognate to pass up. Slight correction, this sailor was a survivor of the Marine Electric, it was the song which helped him through his near-death experience. The good ship Mary Ellen Carter thankfully had no casualties, but sublime descendants.

Addendum: This is nothing without Stanny's music, of course. The original song has been attested by at least one man, that it helped save his life.

Mille remerciements, cher ami. As is obvious to anyone with a cursory knowledge of French, this version is not a translation of the English lyric but a whole different narrative. There was a great parody in the old Frank magazine - a mangled attempt by the then Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, to translate the French words in a hurry. I wish I'd kept it. I remember one part - lines 3-4: "If you get in a sword fight with me, you better cross yourself!"

He went down in the 90s in a deadly druggie hell, His dealer, he was stalking and the in-laws were as well, Too close to Point of No Return, he stowed his words away, To use them if he lived another day. There were just a few believed him when the fatal book appeared, The wide world was indifferent and the narrow world just jeered, But the blow he bore when on the ground, it caused him to proclaim That a Moral Vindication rise again. So he talked of her all decade, in person and in post. He brought to light the darkest days and laid the mortal ghost. From the Valley of the Shadow he has made the story plain, that a Moral Vindication rise again. He's documented all their deeds, refuted all their lies, He's spurned with scorn the prince of porn who slandered in disguise, Tomorrow and tomorrow he'll resume his own refrain, And Moral Vindication - rise again! ----------------------------------------- And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow, With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go, Turn to, and put forth all your strength of arm and heart and brain, And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again. Rise again, rise again Though your heart it be broken and your life about to end, No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend, Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again! --with apologies and hommage to the immortal Stan Rogers

And yet, it got you talking. And yet, it worked in South Viet Nam and Tunisia. Worked? I don't believe that those Buddhists died to "get people talking." To die in such a hideous way, in order to "get people talking" about his personal grievance, however well-founded and attested, which had grown to overcome his concern for his children and to blot out every other aspect of life- was the most tragic thing about this desperate, driven, soul-sick man.

How can you tell how many posts a person reads on each visit? It is possible that many people check this thread, say, once each day and then reads all the posts for that day. Ghs I have no idea. --Brant I don't understand this either, but I have been looking at the online list lately and I notice that there are always 4 Guests, at least, reading the thread, as well as the usual members and Anon Users. Also, it seems to me that the latest Best of Week where George got a long-overdue award, has got more readers than it usually does. I think a lot of, or at least some, people read every post where Ghs is mentioned, if it's possible to find them when his name isn't in the topic title.

Jonathan, I am glad for you that you have recovered from your newtiness, but now I am alone again slithering around in the damn shallows with nobody to blame, and the whole freaking McGillless School flapping and leering around like they always do until August. Oh wait - I may be currently a cuttlefish,but by God I'm a Canadian cuttlefish! I'll get the government to fix it for me!

Was that how it happened? Jeez, I've been a cuttlefish since 2005 and I've felt so alone! Thank god you shared this -- now I can go on, at least till spawning season which frankly I am getting fed up with. What say we get together and write Ghs a real scary lawyer's letter?

Of course it's ethical - it isn't like stealing from a Brother. This guy Smith isn't even a Knight of Columbus as far as we know.

Hapless trolls is good lingo -- it has been a painful pleasure to see Ghs deal with the hooded folk. It is not nice to see the mystery names visit only to park a slur and a sneer at George, while he lays open his life. It is a strange genre, isn't it? A confessional and polemic and wound debridement. I would definitely read a fictionalized serial, since it would take us all on a rollicking ride through decades of libertariobjectivish fiends and also-rans and snakes and lambs and others. Meaty, decadent, wonderful folks . . . George, could you squeeze some fiction out of this? I am sure it would sing. You are perhaps uniquely qualified to pen a 'must-read' romance/roman a clef. It would be a secreted treat for potentates and passersby of the last thirty-odd years. It just makes me think of those tested airport bookrack marketing blurbs: "A lusty, brawling saga of a lusty brawling family." The characters you know! Neil Schulman alone in a Bizarro Objectiville George H Smith Tell-All . . . other philosophically-damaged folk each a savoury chapter in itself. Well, he hasn't said anything...you know what that means. We can steal his material and write the book ourselves! Whooee! This could be our big break. Meet you at the Productivity Lodge right after the Brotherhood Bison 'n'Bustard Breakfast.

Hapless trolls is good lingo -- it has been a painful pleasure to see Ghs deal with the hooded folk. It is not nice to see the mystery names visit only to park a slur and a sneer at George, while he lays open his life. It is a strange genre, isn't it? A confessional and polemic and wound debridement. I would definitely read a fictionalized serial, since it would take us all on a rollicking ride through decades of libertariobjectivish fiends and also-rans and snakes and lambs and others. Meaty, decadent, wonderful folks . . . George, could you squeeze some fiction out of this? I am sure it would sing. You are perhaps uniquely qualified to pen a 'must-read' romance/roman a clef. It would be a secreted treat for potentates and passersby of the last thirty-odd years. It just makes me think of those tested airport bookrack marketing blurbs: "A lusty, brawling saga of a lusty brawling family." The characters you know! Neil Schulman alone in a Bizarro Objectiville George H Smith Tell-All . . . other philosophically-damaged folk each a savoury chapter in itself. Well, he hasn't said anything...you know what that means. We can steal his material and write the book ourselves! Whooee! This could be our big break. Meet you at the Productivity Lodge right after the Brotherhood Bison 'n'Bustard Breakfast.

Yeah, just watch the nameplate on that statuette. Before long, I bet there will be an and on it. If I know my assistant, it will probably read And!, as if a drumroll were taking place. Do I get to give a boring acceptance speech? Ghs I'm afraid we don't consider you capable of that. You could give it a try on the Canadian Boring channel though.

Georgie, baby, what are you talking? The BOTW don't do bye-bye awards, we're about the buzz, and you're the hot buzz right now, right along with the other stuff we happen to have noticedlaboriously selected from the best of the best. By the way, your nice lady assistant just picked up your statuette for polishing, she said it was OK by you. Congrats again!

"Platitudinous, plebeian, odious, pablum-celled, Borborygnic Americans!" -attr/Lord Black of Crossharbour. Toronto Sun, June 27