Sappho, Chávez, energy ignorance

Sappho
a newly complete fragment 58,

You, children, be zealous for the

beautiful gifts of the
violetlapped Muses
and for the clear songloving lyre.

But my skin once soft is now
taken by old age,
my hair turns white from black.

And my heart is weighed down
and my knees do not lift,
that once were light to dance as fawns.

I groan for this. But what can I
do?
A human being without old age is
not a possibility.

There is the story of Tithonos,
loved by Dawn with her arms
of roses

and she carried him off to the
ends of the earth
when he was beautiful and young.
Even so was he gripped
by white old age. He still has his
deathless wife


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Alma Guillermoprieto attacks Hugo Chávez in nybooks

"I went to one of the Petare outlets of the Misión Mercal, a network of stores that has put basic foodstuffs at subsidized prices within walking distance of most poor Venezuelans. At the cash register of a refurbished warehouse, a woman bought rice, dried beans, and a handsome, fat chicken at cost. There was meat, too. Chávez is trying to undercut the traditionally conservative cattle ranchers by importing Uruguayan and Argentine meat..
...
Johnel Guzmán, a thoughtful man in his twenties who was the store's assistant manager, cleared his throat in embarrassment before allowing that he had never held a job before. Now he and two of the cashiers were taking courses toward a college-equivalency certificate, and receiving monthly stipends from the Misión Sucre, an education program. The quality of the education provided may be terrible, as its critics claim, and the need for adequate elementary schooling may be far more urgent, but at the Mercal the young people's energy and impatience were almost palpable: for years their lives had been at a standstill, and now, thanks to Chávez, they were on the move.
...
among the extremely few things most members of the Latin American upper and lower classes have in common these days is a shared loathing and fear of Bush.
....

Tendentious journalism : note that Chávez is not accused of denying fair elections, but these 2 sentences leave the image in the mind that he does. The word 'always' exposes the snide supercilious prejudice of AG.

Strongmen or caudillos like Chávez, and dictators, too, have always depended on fervent popular support to consolidate their hold on power. How else could they push through the measures that deny their opponents access to a fair hearing or fair trial, or fair elections, and cripple the press?

in a sidebar AG attacks Castro.
After admitting that "Cuba has provided 30,000 internacionalistas, doctors nurses.. teachers" for the Misión Barrio Adentri which has provided health care within easy walking distance to nearly every poor neighbourhood in the country" AG then calls Cuba a "moribund regime" and ends by saying Chávez "might think"

The old man is getting tiresome Wouldnt it be nice if he left soon"

- this is tendentious elitist propaganda
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Ignorant Australians

I watched in amazement as a fellow worker prepared his green tea. This is a man who hates Bush & Howard, and who seems intelligent in most respects. However he fills the electric glass kettle right up to 8 cups, then _runs the hot tap_ to warm the pot. He says to me "it takes ages for the water to get hot, the heater is so far away" Shocked at this extravagent venting of coal carbon into the air, I can only joke about the coming extinction, perhaps like the last one, when every animal over 25 kgs went extinct. "leaving only models" says another co-worker,
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Brain Surgery on flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/woodcreeper/27562599/in/set-598206/