My Archives: November 2006

My Archives: November 2006

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Not There Anymore But Still There
Death is a black camel, which kneels at the gates of all.
~~Abd el-Kader
Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of Life.
~~Goethe
A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own.
~~Thomas Mann
There were some who said that a man at the point of death was more free than all others, because death breaks every bond, and over the dead the united world has no power.
~~Fénelon
It is exactly six weeks today since the day my Raffi passed away. In my (former) Roman Catholic tradition this would have brought some priest or priests some revenue for celebrating a mass or in this case a High Mass or even a Pontifical Mass, when family and friends, community members and others, would congregate in church. Even now, if I could afford it, I might do it, as such rituals link you to the wider unknown reality of the universe. I would very much regret though that new Protestant liturgy introduced by the Second Vatican Council.
As I write this, an exceptionally bright sun is shining right into my face, a sun which doesn't seem to stand still, but is vigorously dancing and having large light tails quickly moving around it. I do not remember having seen such a thing. The other night, I noticed the very bright evening star (Venus) from my desk. I was happy, as this announces good weather of which we haven't had too much the last couple of weeks. I went to my little balcony and watched the sky to see that it was very full of bright stars, something I hadn't seen in a long time. I couldn't determine the constellation, as my knowledge in this field has always been small and has much faded over the years, but I was intrigued and then even scared by the fact that all these stars not only were very bright and seemed much closer than normal, but I had to watch them a very long time to make sure that these were indeed stars and not some man-made objects, as most seemed to be lit and move in an unusual way. I hardly could discard the possibility of man-made objects. I am rarely watching the sky during the night these days: maybe I am badly informed here, maybe I saw satellites, of which, I hear, the lower sky is so chock full lately, and they may have been more visible due to special light conditions that night (maybe due to the ozone hole we are particularly affected by here in Hamburg). Or is St. Raffi podcasting to me from his new playgrounds? Maybe somebody among my readers is knowledgeable enough about astronomy, meteorology and such to be able to enlighten me. Or were those stars and satellites cats' eyes gleaming in the dark?
Click the above group of three pictures (at age 19, 20, 21) to see an enlarged version.
If you would like to see two pictures when he was about one year and a half, click here please.
Even though I have never been able, and it was not for lack of trying, to take a snap of those very best moments with the most marvellous expressions (it is as if he did not want that, offering those intimate moments only to me, not to the public), as I was lacking the right camera equipment and software for this, I nevertheless had built, over the last couple of years, a collection of far more exciting photographs than the ones I can show here. I had planned to look through them all to select those to be put here on this day, but I discovered that most have disappeared from my hard disk in an inexplicable way. I am mad as hell and ready to kill myself. This no doubt has to be attributed to the actions of that bastard of PC dealer a few months ago I have mentioned already in this blog. And now I will put this unfinished post online and skip for the moment the quoting of some more condolences I have received.
A video with Raffi was taken in 1986 at the Open Mind Festival, but I have no access to it. And as a deserved monument to him I wanted rather that you get a glimpse of that unique love that so strongly had built up during his very last years of life. So sorry!

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 07:14 PM GMT+1 [Link]
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Milton Friedman
This site could not pay any better homage to Milton Friedman than to make you read the following two obituaries:
Milton Friedman, A Modern Galileo
Remembering Milton Friedman preceded by Milton Friedman dies. which includes an excerpt from Friedman's TV series Free to Choose. Verify the settings of your browser should you not see a great picture in each of the two articles.
I wish that putting his essential ideas into practice will spread, even much quicker, to those still remaining countries suffering from their absence, thus opening the door to that staircase at the horizon the steps of which we should try to climb cautiously but courageously to reach still greater freedom and security, a second step that seems not possible or easy without the first one. I am alluding here to the more radical concepts sailing under keywords like market anarchism, stateless society, anarcho-capitalism (Rothbard and Milton Friedman's son David), panarchism, exterritorialism, polycentric law, personal law etc. To do away at long last with all non-voluntary collectivisms!
PS: I am sorry that the following wire service/news agency announcement from The Associated Press sounds so matter-of-fact: Nobel-winner Milton Friedman dead at 94. But, except for the title, it is better than I had been afraid it would be. As it is informative, giving a few interesting details, I thought I add it here. I unfortunately had mislaid my print-out with the URL for a couple of days...

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 11:44 AM GMT+1 [Link]
Wednesday, November 8, 2006

e e
Cosa pensare della Gay Pride a Gerusalemme?
Io, personalmente, sono contro tutto quello che è grottesco o burlesco.
Non mi piace nemmeno la commedia dell'arte.
Trovo che le street parade e le gay pride sono degradanti, anzi le trovo un'offesa al buon gusto ed anche un'offesa contro gli omosessuali.
(mi piacciono invece i concerti rock: Johnny Hallyday e Zucchero e i Rolling Stones !!! e CARLOS SANTANAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!! )
Tuttavia davanti al ritorno delle ipocrisie e dei puritani (come certi cristiani o certi musulmani) - per me - ogni modo di ostacolare l'ipocrisia ed il puritanismo va utilizzato.
Ragion per cui, per strategia, sono favorevole a tutte le street parade, gay pride, nudismo, donne svestite, minigonne, topless, uomini nudi (molto) , pubblicità scandalosa, ecc.
Perché per me vale TUTTO pur di combattere l'ipocrisia ed il puritanismo (che odio particolarmente).
Odio il puritanismo perché si inizia con controllare il vestito e subito dopo c'è la censura.
Quanto al matrimonio degli omosessuali sono contro perché l'istituzione stessa del matrimonio non risponde più alla realtà ed è da cambiare.
I drammi dei divorzi vanno evitati.
I diritti dei partner vanno garantiti.
I bambini vanno protetti.
Ma l'istituzione stessa del matrimonio è antiquata e non risponde più alla realtà e va cambiata.
Quindi gli omosessuali non vanno sposati, ma tutti i cittadini hanno diritto ad un nuovo modo di gestire le loro molteplici convivenze.
L'adozione dei bambini: conosco dei casi di "famiglie" nelle quali sono presenti diversi adulti e dei bambini di genitori diversi. Il tutto riesce a vivere in armonia se si è capace di rispettare ognuno per la sua propria persona e dove tutti appartengono a tutti e senza dire "questo è mio figlio mentre questo non è mio figlio". Cioè i figli appartengono a loro stessi e non ai genitori. Pero è necessaria una responsabilità ed una autorità che permetta di proteggere ed educare i bambini. Ragion per cui anche l'adozione va abolita nella forma che conosciamo oggi. Vanno inventati nuovi modi di garantire la protezione e la guida dei minorenni.
Anzi, l'aumento della delinquenza giovanile prova che addirittura la famiglia non svolge più il suo ruolo e quindi va inventata una nuova forma di inquadratura dei giovani.
L'essere umano è un animale gregario. Nel passato viveva in tribù. Oggi la tribù non è più questione di sangue ma di cultura, interessi, convinzioni, anche risparmi, aiuto reciproco, ecc. Comunque il bisogno di vivere in comunità esiste e quindi le nozioni di famiglia, matrimonio, adozione ecc vanno aggiornate soprattutto per evitare le sofferenze.
Segnalo inoltre che dall'età di 16 anni ho degli ottimi amici omosessuali.
Inoltre scientificamente: il sesso del cervello dipende dello sviluppo di aree particolari nel cervello il ché determina la tendenza della personalità.
Cosi un cervello può svilupparsi femminile in un cranio appartenente ad un corpo femminile o ad un corpo maschile ed un cervello può svilupparsi maschile in un cranio appartenente ad un corpo femminile o ad un corpo maschile.
Cioè anatomicamente e biologicamente non sempre il sesso del cervello corrisponde al sesso del corpo corrispondente e quindi tutto quello che esiste nella natura fa parte della natura e va rispettato in quanto tale.
Ne è degli omosessuali come di tutti gli altri a secondo della curva di Gauss: pochi estremi e molti medi vale a dire in un gruppo ci sono pochi estremi: pochi molto buoni e pochi molto cattivi - e molti medi : molte, anzi una grande maggioranza di persone normali.
Ed i “religiosi” ?
C’è gente che crede che Dio esiste. Credono anche che Dio ha creato l’uomo, anzi spesso non accettano nemmeno l’evoluzione di Darwin.
Se si accetta che Dio ha creato l’uomo si deve anche accettare che ha creato esseri umani con gambe storte, capelli rossi, occhi azzurri, situs inversus (cioè umani che hanno il cuore non a sinistra ed il fegato a destra, bensì umani che hanno il cuore a destra ed il fegato a sinistra, caso abbastanza frequente per essere documentato nella letteratura scientifica) ci sono anche uomini che hanno il pene che tira verso il basso invece di tirare verso l’alto quando va in erezione e ci sono anche esseri che hanno nella loro scatola cranica un cervello del sesso opposto al sesso degli organi sessuali che appartengono al loro corpo, ci sono anche esseri ermafroditi cioè maschi e femmina nello stesso tempo.
Tutti questi sono casi della natura. Se Dio crea la natura crea pure tutti questi casi diversi e quindi questi vanno accettati, anzi rifiutare le creature di Dio è un peccato.
Aggiungerei che l’uomo “normale” cioè quello teorico o ideale che vediamo nei nostri libri di anatomia o fisiologia , nella realtà NON ESISTE. È una visione utopica e semplificata per la semplice ragione che i parametri che compongono un individuo sono infiniti ed è impossibile che questa infinita di parametri sia perfetta.
Cosi basta che un muscolino del piede abbia 1 millimetro fuori norma perché la volta plantare sia squilibrata e di conseguenza tutta la struttura corporea ne subisca le conseguenze che a loro volta perturbano il funzionamento degli organi che a loro volta influenzano la mente, ecc.
Ragion per cui il normale non esiste ed il non-normale è normale.

In conclusione vanno accettati, per quello che sono, i belli ed i brutti, quelli col naso lungo, la pelle nera, gli occhi verdi, il pene sbilenco, i gobbi, i ciechi, i sordi, i pazzi, i geni, gli eterosessuali e gli omosessuali, eccetera !!! perché sono creature e basta.
Se gli omosessuali venissero considerati per quello che sono non avrebbero bisogno di sbizzarrirsi.
L’ipocrisia ed il puritanismo non risolvono i problemi anzi sono una minaccia per la Libertà.
No ai puritani ! No passaran !
ite missa est
pax domini sit semper vobiscum
Anna Lauwaert

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 06:50 PM GMT+1 [Link]

A Mother's Absent Perspectives for Her Children
In June a mother and reader of this website wrote me asking for solutions regarding her exemplary problem. I agreed to publish her appeal, but due to my own problems, I am finally dealing with this only today. Adriane writes:
Subject: Deadbeat Dads
I just read an article regarding the imprisonment of Deadbeat Dads. I agree imprisonment takes away the father's earning power, but if they continuously do not pay, what consequense should they face?

My situation is a little different. I divorced when my children were two and four years old. He was ordered to pay support, but never did. My children are now thirteen and fifteen. Their father has not played an active role in their lives, not so much as a birthday or Christmas card. We live in Texas and he is in prison in Illinois. He has spent the last eleven years in and out of prison (mostly due to drugs). He doesn't suffer any consequenses for abandoning his children or failing to honor the court order for child support. Meanwhile, I support my children on my own with no help from their father (or anyone else). Its been a tough eleven years for me and there is no end in sight.

Does anyone ever think about the women who are supporting their children on their own? Does anyone think about the sacrifices we have to make so our children don't suffer further due to the absence of their fathers? Most single mothers make their children their lives because of the guilt of having children with a man who doesn't care about them. Most single mothers don't go out with their friends because they can't afford to due to the fact that the weekly grocery bill is eighty dollars (with coupons), the mortgage is due, the car needs to be serviced and the co-pay to have the older child's wisdom teeth pulled is $200.

Talk about imprisonment.

What options do I have to keep him from walking away without ever having to take any responsibilty for his children? How do I get him to help me pay for these kids to go to college? If he is in jail (for something other than being delinquent on child support) who pays for the children then?

I would appreciate it very much if many people could send me comments to help Adriane and all persons in similar situations. Adriane, please let me have your new email address. A message to you just bounced, unlike the previous ones.
People interested in the subject should look around here:
http://www.butterbach.net/guests.htm#wendy
http://www.glennsacks.com/

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:41 AM GMT+1 [Link]
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Partial Exchange of Personnel
Today licences to steal and kill wholesale are created or renewed. Retail operations remain illegitimate.

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 07:39 AM GMT+1 [Link]
Friday, November 3, 2006

Condolences, Stupidity and Meanness

The above is one of the four very nice gifts that Prof. Jackie Ernette Z. Athey brought Raffi from San José, California, on September 14, 2006. A mouse from Silicon Valley! It is filled with catnip. Though Raffi in general didn't fancy catnip particularly (he preferred valerian...), he liked this cloth mouse, a welcome change from my, sorry, our, digital and optical one, clutched or hugged it with his paws and put his head lovingly against it, seemingly quite happy, as he lay down in that position a good while. This had been one of his many minor joys a few weeks before his passing.
To keep the memory of Raffi green like that mouse, I would like to quote a couple more of the condolences received (see previous ones):
My friend Nicolas Junck, after his condolences by phone on October 17, sent the following for All Saints' Day:

The back of the card:

Translation: in remembrance of your friend Raffi ...and always with all my heart with you.
your friend Nico
Mary Lou Seymour wrote:
"Aww, I'm so sorry ... but he had a great life here and is waiting for you at 'the bridge'"
Which is a very nice thought I like. So I answered: "Thank you, Mary Lou. Nice thought. It is good to have friends like you and who really love animals, as I too often stumble over statements by libertarians insisting on putting animals so much below humans. They certainly are not below our level regarding the things that really count."
Which prompted Mary Lou to state:
"Well, anyone who doesn't or can't love a pet probably can't love a person either. I try to avoid people like that."
Which leads me, to fully justify the heading of this post, to the following two quotes of a different kind:

Upon mentioning in an email message that "I have to care for my cat who is ill, had to buy medicine and administer it several times a day for weeks" I got this "marvellous" reaction from a libertarian:

"Maybe you should care more about your own life than for that of the cat. How many intelligent conversations have you had with it? If you like stroking its pelt - wouldn't any cat pelt of any dead cat do almost as well?
What is a cat really good for - except for itself? To play a servant to it? Become more of a Stirnerian and learn to look out for number one. Or just become friendly with the cat of a neighbour - and let him feed it, shelter it and provide it with medical care."

Well, that was over three years ago and the guy seems lately to have gotten second thoughts on the matter.
But this really beats it:

Someone who had received my recent circular sent to not many people (actually, some of the reactions received kept me from sending it to the remaining people on my list), practically only rather close ones, and asking for help (financial and other), as it looked as if I would have to finish my days without any old age pension at all (unless you call 37,54 Euro a pension...), had the following to say (and this is one of the nicer sentences in his letter):
"Rutsch mär de Bockel erof, géi op den Armebüro, bei de Paschtouer oder friess déng Katz."

Translation: Get lost, go to the welfare office, to the parish priest or eat your cat.
This real gentleman is an intimate friend of the Grand-Ducal family in my home country Luxembourg. Need an introduction?
PS: Regarding Saint Raffi and All Saints' Day:
I was born into what largely was a Roman Catholic tradition (there were some additional elements I'll skip here). Imperial, national and smaller monopolistic territories and mostly your parents and "society" do not give you much of a choice here till you are grown up, when the damage is done. Those experts who pretend to know more than you and thus are less honest than you, the theologians, those protopoliticians at the origin of power, sticking to old primitive arrangements, in this case the Roman Catholic ones, hold that All Saints' Day is not only devoted to those Saints that have been officially canonized by the Church or like Saint Raffi officially by courageous, rational and honest Freedom Lovers, but also to those who have existed at all times whose lives have succeeded for ever and ever. This view is based on the following piece of high literature:
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. (Rev. 7:9)
Don't ask me why. Anyway, in that respect All Saints' Day expresses the confidence that many deceased persons are in a community or union with God and can therefore be called saints. If this is true, I have no doubt that Raffi is included, like all animals. Theologians though might not be.
See Raffi sitting on the lap of Jesus/the Father/God/Yahwe/Allah? And " frequently looking up backwards and upwards into His face with great affection and approval", while He is working on His websites for us... The Web 3.0?
The lines you just read are probably what that retinue member in his letter is referring to as the "obscenities" I am spreading via the Internet...
Most humans are still not capable of grasping Freedom!

Posted by Christian Butterbach @ 09:55 PM GMT+1 [Link]

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