CASBAH SOAP BOX: ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

OBAMA AND THE WAR ON BRAINS
by Nicholas D.Kristot
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09kristof.html

I think this says it all about the difference between the two parties: McCain is campaigning with Joe the Plumber; Obama is down in Florida campaigning with Al Gore. One guy won the Nobel Prize in climate science; the other guy can get a fork out of a garbage disposal. – Bill Maher

Le Couvercle

En quelque lieu qu'il aille, ou sur mer ou sur terre,
Sous un climat de flamme ou sous un soleil blanc,
Serviteur de Jésus, courtisan de Cythère,
Mendiant ténébreux ou Crésus rutilant,

Citadin, campagnard, vagabond, sédentaire,
Que son petit cerveau soit actif ou soit lent,
Partout l'homme subit la terreur du mystère,
Et ne regarde en haut qu'avec un oeil tremblant.

En haut, le Ciel! Ce mur de caveau qui l'étouffe,
Plafond illuminé par un opéra bouffe
Où chaque histrion foule un sol ensanglanté;

Terreur du libertin, espoir du fol ermite;
Le Ciel! Couvercle noir de la grande marmite
Où bout l'imperceptible et vaste Humanité.

— Charles Baudelaire

The Cover

Wherever he may go, on land or sea,
Under a blazing sky or a pale sun,
Servant of Jesus, courtier of Cythera,
Somber beggar or glittering Croesus,

City-dweller, rustic, vagabond, stay-at-home,
Whether his little brain be sluggish or alert,
Everywhere man feels the terror of mystery
And looks up at heaven only with frightened eyes

Above, the Sky! that cavern wall that stifles him,
That ceiling lighted by a comic opera
Where every player treads on blood-stained soil;

Terror of the lecher, hope of the mad recluse:
The Sky! black cover of the great cauldron
In which boils vast, imperceptible Humanity.

— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)