Speaking of international law...
"The White House responded Wednesday to a congressional outcry over U.S. military action in Libya, saying that President Obama has the authority to continue the campaign even without authorization from U.S. lawmakers.
In a detailed, 30-page report sent to Congress, the administration argued that the U.S. has a limited, support role in the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya. Because U.S. forces are not engaged in sustained fighting and there are no troops on the ground there, the White House says the president is within his U.S. constitutional rights to direct the mission on his own." (here)
Of course I have no opinion on the matter yet I cannot fail to notice, once again, how flexible and adaptable law is at the hands of the power holders. Talk of a reliable tool when it comes to international relations!
I dare not imagine what any American (or French for that matter) Administration would sound like if the Chinese or the Iranians were to issue such a convoluted statement after they'd bombed Tawain or Bahrain for three months in a row.
As a matter of fact I previously thought that this Libyan war had something Shakespearian about it but Alfred Jarry's character comes also to mind. Black is white and head is tail but such is the law since Ubu Roi has so decided!
(Picture: Ubu imperator by Max Ersnt)
(Picture: Ubu imperator by Max Ersnt)
23 commentaires:
The Ubu character is very well known in France but maybe not so in the U.S
Yet an American band chose hits name for their group.
I was a big fan of Pere Ubu back in the seventies along with another punk group Devo.
Republicans are strange animals. Because of a few military deaths in Somalia, they forced Clinton to withdraw when he seemed to be having success, but they tremendously supported more bloody wars like Iraq afterwards.
If McCain were president, the Rethugs would call for more intervention.
Also the war on Libya and the absence of war on Syria are completely contradictory.
Horror! Je vois que j'ai écrit hits name dans le premier commentaire. Le lecteur aura corrigé de lui-même...
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re the Rep and war I abstain to have an opinion but your remark suddenly makes me think of the end of the UssR which simply couldn't afford to continue the arms race (and the space exploration -Buran) because it was broke.
The cost of wars seem to have landed the US in a very deep financial dire straits. Iraki and Afghani wars have brought America on her knees and that may well be Ben Laden most lasting legacy.
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"the war on Libya and the absence of war on Syria are completely contradictory"
Il n'y a effectivement aucune logique (contradictory is a term used in logic) dans cette affaire mais il n'y a également aucune logique dans l'Histoire.
Libya like Irak was an easy target (so they thought), Syria is less so, located as it is in the middle of the M.E cauldron.
Pardon d'être hors sujet, mais souviens toi les 'ti aigles ? They are nearing the time in their life to fly the nest perhaps.. link.
At first sight they look like ravens.
I didn't see there was a farm in the background but I only saw the video at night.
"They are nearing the time in their life to fly the nest perhaps."
All your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free
Another blackbird
I didn't see there was a farm in the background but I only saw the video at night.
There is a new camera angle now because the young eagles are hanging out on lower branches of the tree (the next was much higher up). That song blackbird is perfect for this situation. Thank you!
the next was much higher up
oops.. I meant the 'nest' was much much higher up in the tree.
There are about 40.000 viewers watching this video at any given time Anijo and I understand you're one of them...
re the song by McCartney. When the record was issued I was 16 and had no idea about the context he had in mind when he wrote Blackbird.
Only when I posted the link did I have the curiosity to go and read what it says on Wiki.
Over 40 years in complete ignorance!
And again I am in the situation to ask myself : What do I know for certain and irrefutable?
Montaigne : Que sais-je?
Kant : Que sais-je? Que dois-je faire? Que m'est-il permis d'espérer?
As ZapPow would say : back again to the baccalaureate!
J'ai jeté un coup d'oeil sur cette page wiki et voilà
Live and learn..
Et puis wiki français explique beaucoup plus sur la connexion "aux Noirs américains".
Et puis souviens toi deJethro Tull et son connexion avec Bach et son Bourée in e minor?
As concerns the blackbird and his wings, this is why the election of Barack Obama meant so much to me.
Anijo,
Oui j'ai aussi lu le passage où McCartney fait mention de la bourrée de Bach mais à part le picking à la guitare je n'entends rien d'une possible ressemblance avec la mélodie de Blackbird.
He may have had the piece by Bach in his mind but I fail to recognize any similarity between the two melodies.
Or maybe is my case more serious than I thought and I don't know :-(
I perfectly remember the Jethro Tull version which so amazed me when I was a teen ager.
Also on the English page of Wiki someone goes in long depth in order to decipher the musical structure of the song.
McCartney not knowing how to read or write music certainly didn't think "Oh I'll go in the key of G, with the bass and melody lines on the guitar progressing mostly in parallel tenths, all the while maintaining an open G-drone on the fourth string"
But it's a very beautiful song anyway and like many songs by the Fab Four it haunts my memory.
McCartney not knowing how to read or write music certainly didn't think "Oh I'll go in the key of G, with the bass and melody lines on the guitar progressing mostly in parallel tenths, all the while maintaining an open G-drone on the fourth string"
LOL! True enough. And yet I do hear a similarity.
Flocon,
Play Blackbird and the Bourrée in e in minor simultaneously. They're both in the same key and work together uncannily.
Anijo,
Blackbird is in G major as indicated by the score on Wiki (one sharp at the beginning (un dièse à la clef).
Since McCatney himself said he was influenced by the Bourrée there's no denying which I don't. I just say I can't hear the similarity.
It may be another case of what you linked to : The more one is convinced of his opinion, the less one is likely to change, quite the opposite.
Here it's not an opinion that I have, rather I've had this song for over 40 years in my head and now I learn both that it was a reference to the black people's struggle in the US during the 60s, well OK, and that there is a troubling ressemblance with a work by J.S.Bach.
I simply am unable now to hear any similarity between the two pieces although I acknowledge there may be one since I'm told there is one.
It says somewhere else that As children, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bourrée as a "show off" piece (children may not be the appropriate word though) and that McCartney adapted a segment of Bourrée as the opening of "Blackbird," and carried the musical idea throughout the song."
Bien sûr il y a une ressemblance mais je ne pense pas spontanément à la Bourrée.
Mais maintenant que tu me l'as dit je ne vais plus penser qu'à la Bourrée though! Grrr...
Flocon,
See here E minor.
See here G major.
Notice anything in common? ;)
Ben non... :-(
A l'écoute Blackbird paraît être en mineur mais sur Wiki il est dit que la chanson est en sol majeur.
So which is which?
Not that I want to argue anything about solfège or whatever, it's just that I hum the melody of the Bourrée and then the one of Blackbird and to me they are two different melodic lines.
Why don't you make the correction on Wiki Anijo?
The German page says nothing about the tonality, the French as well as the Italian one identify the song to be in G major (with the refrain being in F major on the Italian page), while the Spanish one is mute re the key.
They all refer to the Bourrée origin of Mc Cartney's inspiration though.
Flocon,
The key signature of both G Major and E Minor have only one sharp (F#) (un dièse à la clef)
E Minor's relative major is G major.
G Major's relative minor is E minor.
The relative minor of a particular major key, or the relative major of a minor key, is the key which has the same key signature but a different tonic
D'accord pour le sol majeur et le mi mineur mais la chanson ne peut pas être dans les deux tonalités.
Which is which alors? Is Blackbird in E minor or in G major?
Funny thing is I learned the solfege many, many years ago (1969 to be sure) because I wanted to play the Beatles' songs on the piano.
Since I learned it by myself and it's been so long now you make me remember all, well... some of the things I had forgotten like this relative thing.
Blackbird is in G major because E Minor would have the 7th note raised, i.e. one would find d# accidentals.
It's been quite some time since i have studied or read any music. These days I just play by ear.
Flocon,
Here is the key of E minor. Note the accidentals for d#.
Just so you know, I agree that I was wrong about the two tunes being the same key, but they did sound similar being relative keys.
Flocon,
Did you not indicate that ZapPow is a musician? If only he could add something to this repartee.
I now remember how to distinguish on a music sheet if the key is (as in your example) in G major or E minor.
If the last note is an E then E minor. If the last note is the G then G major.
And now this exchange reminds me of an old post I wrote on this topic and which you commented.
December 2007, hmmm... as time goes by...
For what I know, ZapPow has run his own radio station with him programming unconventional musics such as this one.
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