The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Pikes are not allowed but tar is a dream come true

    By Oxy Mora on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 3:03pm |

    My 70 lb. Chesapeake Retriever jumped up on the bed sometime around midnight and we both had fitful nights. She had her legs stretched straight out and dreamed intermittently of chasing bad people and varmints from the yard, clawing my backside every thirty minutes. When I finally got out of bed and tripped over the round mattress where my dog is supposed to sleep an exit dream stayed lodged in my mind.

     
    I had been dreaming that my car was being blocked by two fire-hose-caliber sprinklers battering the driver's door. The water was shooting over the top of a tall thick hedge. I had yelled across the hedge,"As I jeer a lot, I value tar".
     
    Walking the dog in the alley and thinking of the dream I wasn't surprised about the image of the fire hose sprinklers. I usually wake up in frustration of being blocked, or stuck, can't find my brief case or haven't studied for an hour test. But the words "jeer" and "tar" puzzled me. I remembered where my brain had been just before going to bed. For one thing I had seen the disturbing image of Blankfein's head on a pike. And I had watched a Charlie Rose interview of George Clooney which included a clip from his new film.
     
    In the clip Clooney a political candidate is interviewed by Charlie Rose, acting himself, and Clooney is asked about capital punishment which he opposes. The standard question is asked, what if a member of his family is murdered. Paraphrasing, Clooney said, I would hunt the killer down and kill him. "But I thought you were against capital punishment", says Rose. "I am, but that's the difference between what the state does and what the individual does. I would kill the killer knowing I would go to prison."
     
    Then I realized that my dream, and perhaps my dog's as well, were about the redress of grievances. If the state doesn't redress grievances, it falls upon the citizens, as for example in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. 
     
    The image of Blankfein's head on a pike was a bridge too far, but perhaps the word "jeer" and the public act of "jeering" need to be brought to the surface. Where can we go to jeer these days? What happened to the practice of stockades in village squares? One could do a lot of jeering there, especially in concert with the rest of the town folk. There is an easy segue to--tar and feathers. Jeering someone who has just been tarred and feathered would not only redress grievances but be especially entertaining.
     
    Even though many on Wall St. should be excoriated it seems as if Blankfein's transgressions are particularly insidious and hard for the state to rectify. Selling clients faulty debt instruments and then making money by betting against the instruments as your clients lose money seems especially egregious. So redress is needed although like all the banksters he will probably just be fined and still wind up retiring as a Billionaire. And for jeering to work it requires shame on the part of the accused--a possibility which in Blankfein's case and most other banksters has probably been congenitally eliminated. 
     
    But putting Blankfein's head on a pike is over the top of the hedge whether in reality or in a retributive dream. What we need to redress our grievances are better and more effusive community venues for jeering. Along with jeering we should revive the practice of tar and feathering. 
     
    And as far as dogs redressing their grievances, maybe we could find some angry dogs and perform experiments with Blankfein himself as the subject--instead of we the people being the experimental subjects as usual and having our own backsides gouged out again by Mr. Blankfein and the banksters of Wall St.  

    Comments

    Tarring and feathering was occasionally fatal ...


    by Donal on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 5:24pm

    Damn!


    by Oxy Mora on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 6:02pm

    only when flame was applied to the feathers...sorta like kindling for the tar. Maybe we should rethink the pike?.


    by jollyroger on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 11:39pm

    Answers

    While it wasn't directly fatal, it was indirectly fatal and debilitating. It was certainly more than just humiliating. It irreparably damaged the body. Oftentimes first degree burns were sustained from the initial contact with the tar. Also, you cannot get cooled tar off your skin without taking the skin with it. So when the victims or their families tried to remove the tar or even just the feathers stuck in the tar, it would take a good portion of the skin with it leaving the victim open to shock from the trauma and drastic infections, not to mention the damage to their bodies and skin. Trying to remove the feathers or the tar, if successful, would leave horrible scars. Depending on how "complete" the job was done, there was also a risk of heat stroke as the tar would prevent the body's skin from breathing.


    by Donal on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 8:12am

    I was thinking more of a soft malleable road tar, the kind on a hot summer day in Ohio we would scrape up off the Dixie Highway and chew like bubble gum.

    And lighting the feathers is probably not necessary. But rolling the perps around in turkey buzzard feathers after they've been tarred would be justifiable. Hey, look out for the semi headed down Rt. 25 for Florida.


    by Oxy Mora on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 8:36am

    What happened to the practice of stockades in village squares?

    Strange you should ask that. I was looking into that the other day for a totally unrelated reason:

    "Enforcing the Law"-Delaware Public Archives

    To punish criminals, a unique two-story whipping post and pillory was located behind the New Castle County Courthouse. This photograph was taken about 1900. In Delaware, the whipping post was finally abolished in 1972.

    [.....]

    ....The pillory was abolished in 1905, but the whipping post was law until 1972. The post was last used as a form of punishment in 1952.

    (My link will give you a larger version of the photo.)

    Because I was researching the painting "The Gallery and The Whipping Post, New Castle, Delaware," from 1896 by E.L. Henry:

    (My link will give you the much larger, high resolution photo.)

    Here's another artist rendition:  the front cover of Harper's Weekly from 1868 depicting the New Castle pillory and whipping post, by Earl Shinn.

     


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 5:59pm

    Unfortunately it looks like the perps are the guys who refused to pay their debit fees and the bankers are down below.

    Note: I love the way the light source emphasizes the law, the enforcers and the perp's back in the four principal reflections of light within the courtyard, aside from the wall to the left.  Also, the bright and serene world outside this frightful court yard as you look above the back wall.  

    Thanks, Artsy.


    by Oxy Mora on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 6:37pm

    Legal advice for protesters

    Legal Advice for Protesters - Occupying America from KLL Video Productions on Vimeo.

     

    http://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/occupy-wall-street-protestors/


    by Resistance on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 9:11pm

    Thanks for the reference. I'd like to join a protest but I think I'm too long in the tooth to put myself in the position of being detained.

    Before the Iraq war my son joined a protest in New York and was detained and kept in a paddy wagon for eight hours or so. It worked, he hasn't gone to any other demonstrations that I know of.


    by Oxy Mora on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 10:25pm

    If this protest becomes prolonged, many will tire of the oppressive tactics committed.

    The status quo feels empowered now; wait till the soldiers come home....to no jobs, no safety net, family "mom and dad, wife and kids, kicked to the curb.

    I suspect some will snap, then watch out, sides will be drawn.   

    “If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.”.
    Napoleon Bonaparte

    Arab spring ... America fall


    by Resistance on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 10:56pm

    Resistance,

    Lately many of your "dire predictions" comments sound almost gleeful to me about the possibility of violence and destruction of U.S. society. Are you aware they might come off that way to some? Sort of like a fire-and-brimstone preacher really getting into the horror of it all.  Just sayin'....and if intentional, whatever floats your boat.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 11:18pm

    Sort of like a fire-and-brimstone preacher really getting into the horror of it all....

    I didn't predict the dire times we are facing.

    Only a fool ignores the warning signs.

    Where do you get off attacking the messenger, whose only pointing out a scenario, that is more than likely to bring on a predicted event.

    Are so many Americans so afraid to look at all scenarios, to ascertain what consequences are likely to happen. Has the present ruling class thought about the consequences of ignoring the warning signs, as I suspect they have and will continue to do so; which in turn vindicates the prediction?     

    I ask; are you to blind to see them, do you not hear the anguish of the sufferers, with no hope.

    Empty promises. Do you believe them?   

    I am only an observer. speaking out against the corruption, well aware of the history of the world. and the repeated conflicts between the oppressor and the oppressed.

    1) This year has given me a new perspective about the "agitation of the sea" (A scriptural reference)

    Arab Spring, uprisings of multiple national groups  WORLD WIDE AGITATION.

    (Sea of Mankind)

    Governments are coming down;  what was once recognized as strong foundations of civilizations; we see political upheaval, financial upheavals, religious upheavals on a scale I've never seen before, although I heard these things were possible

    2) Civil society is collapsing, as recognized by the peoples own congress, a representation of the people themselves..

    You don't think so?

    http://www.esvbible.org/2+Timothy+3/

    3 heartless, unappeasable........

    http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+3&version=NIV

    The foundations of the world are failing;  they are coming down. The whitewash isn't working any longer.  

    Where will you place your trust?

    Will you place them in false messengers, telling you everything just fine, you have nothing to fear? 

    I didn't predict these events; I am only aware of the predictions.

    I am like Jeremiah,  my message is bitter to some.

    I  suspect there will be those who want to hear false messengers tell them everything is going to be just fine, don't fear.

    Can you trust them, willing to put your life in their hands?

    I am not going to believe the lies of  bankers, of clergy, or politicians, their days are numbered. 


    by Resistance on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 12:38am

    Where do you get off attacking the messenger?

    You weren't attacked, merely observed. To my ears you do appear to delight in speaking of the destruction you anticipate.

    Who knows? Maybe your occupation is crushing you into a tiny ball of pain. To me, it sounds like you are roasting marshmallows in the purifying fire you have gathered the kindling for.

    However it may be for you, there is a sangfroid regarding violence in the worldview of the end-of-days crowd that reminds me of how Lenin and the Bolsheviks calmly accepted that "heightening the contradictions" involved death and suffering on a massive scale for change to be possible at all: The arrogance of being on the side of "history" itself.


    by moat on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 2:56pm

    Where do you get off attacking the messenger, whose only pointing out a scenario

    Where commenting is allowed on publicly published opinions, it is not "attacking" to comment on them. It is assumed that one publishes to the public to both get read and get feedback, and that it is not the holy word of god almighty that must not be commented upon or questioned. Yet my feedback here wasn't even regarding actual opinion, but a query about whether you knew how some of your writing comes across. Normally, the writer would say "yes, I mean it that way," or "no I don't mean it that way."

    that is more than likely to bring on a predicted event.

    So you're saying your passport says clairvoyant? You know for a certainty that returning soldiers are going to be taking to violent action over the situation of the country? And to my main point: You are very happy that is going to happen, you can't wait for that to happen? That's what you mean to say?


    by artappraiser on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 3:28pm

    Did you know that you came across as suggesting that I am gleeful; Gleeful at the thought that a Great Tribulation that has never occurred before, is coming upon mankind?

    Your question came across to me, as an attempt to impugn me. as though I had bad motives, that I was gleeful at the death of anybody.

    You slander me with innuendos, that I am like many of  the Hell fire and brimstone preachers, "Did you know your acting just like them?"

    Acting like whom  LIARS?

    I don't preach hellfire, never have, because its a lie, and for you to associate me with liars was what I believed was an attack on my integrity.

    Guilty by association, was that your intent? Because thats how it came across to me..

    ______________________________________________

    ______________________________________________ 

    Many have posted about the occupation of wall street; folks are looking for a solution to the problem.  Whose going to deliver us from the wicked bankers, the corrupt politicians and the immoral clergy.

    (Egypt erupted today, people are being massacred in Syria, world wide governmental authority is being challenged. (Prophecy of the Nebuchadnezzar's  image of the ten toes, made of clay and iron;  is what comes from meditation, from my Bible readings ))   

    Will some messiah show up and save us? YES 

    I have concluded, mankind will never be able to solve the problem and unless the wall street occupiers are forgetful, they will come to that realization too.

    Unless of course, they fall for another empty promise?

    The problem makers are to deeply entrenched, they will have to be rooted out and a higher source than man, will be needed to do that.

    I've reached that conclusion, I would imagine this higher source, will tell me what I need to do, and what to look for. 

    The current events World Wide, are significant warnings for me, The appointed time has arrived.

    Knowing what I know about the prophecies, I know conditions are going to go from bad to worse. Is it blind faith to believe otherwise? 

    When I look at what is bad now and think; how could it get worse. Easily

    Does it take an extraordinary imagination, when we know many are angry and desperate  and that violence will be at the door? 

    From bad to Worse.,... people are losing their jobs, their homes, their health, What events would need to occur, to make it worse? 

    Worse enough that the prophecy says "that unless those days were cut short; no flesh would be saved.

    NO FLESH, why would I be Gleeful AA?   

    Knowing what I know about Bible prophesy, the Warning signs are clear to me, the appointed time of the end days, are upon the Earths inhabitants.

    I think it is necessary to point out the lies by the politicians, the money changers, and the lies and cover ups of the church. otherwise how would the people know, these are the warning signs.  It's going to get a lot worse.

    Can you honestly say you know it wont ?  

    I don't see it as teaching Hellfire,

    I see it as trying to get as many to see and to escape the coming storm thats going to hit the entire inhabited Earth.

    "Don't get caught up in believing the lies spread by our leaders; that things are going to get better. Who told them that?  Even Bernanke is warning otherwise, our generals have said the changes on the planet are going to lead to wars. 

    How many more millions are going to die from starvation?  

    Stay out of debt, be ready to flee.   

    People are afraid;  they sense things are getting worse..........and they are.  

    It's your choice to ignore the warnings and suffer for it.  Maybe to you they are too dire, I know they are for me too and I expect it'll be worse. 

    You want me to sugarcoat  it , tell you a lie?


    by Resistance on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 9:42pm