God Himself has gone underground~~~to escape the bitter cold of His Children at war~~
Underground sanctuary: The chapel at Confrecourt in the French lines near Soissons, from a collection by British photographer Michael St Maur Sheil Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058917/Remembrance-Day-2011-Haunting-pictures-Great-Wars-battlefields.html#ixzz2VzOYKsJT Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Verdun~~The Great War, 1916~~at its end, the difference between death and survival had merged into a continuum of icy passivity~~above~~one lays dead, the other, indifferently, awaits his chance at what peace in heaven may come to man after~
| Date | 21 February – 18 December 1916 (9 months, 3 weeks and 6 days) |
|---|---|
| Location | Verdun-sur-Meuse, France |
| Result | Tactical French victory[1][2] |
| Belligerents | |
|---|---|
 France |
 German Empire |
| Commanders and leaders | |
| Henri Philippe Pétain Robert Nivelle |
Erich von Falkenhayn Crown Prince Wilhelm |
| Strength | |
| 1,140,000 soldiers total in around 75 divisions | 1,250,000 soldiers total in around 50 divisions |
| Casualties and losses | |
| 542,000[3]-400,000;[4] of which 362,000 were killed in action. | 434,000[3]-355,000;[4] of which 336,000 were killed in action. |
On Ne Passe Pas! on a French medal commemorating the battle of Verdun~~
His plan was not actually to capture the city, but simply to kill as many Frenchmen as possible. He would ‘bleed France white’. So began one of the most savage struggles of the First World War, one that claimed over a million casualties in under a year.
The ordeal of Verdun is even more deeply ingrained in the French consciousness than the Somme is in the British. It was a national struggle, a battle for the survival, the honour, and the sacred heart of France.
This article was originally printed in The Military Times, March 2011.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The hell of war makes man very inventive~ as we can see~~
The experience of 1914 taught the French Army that to be conspicuous on the battlefield meant certain death; especially on the modern battlefield with massed machine-guns and artillery. In 1914 alone France had lost over 300,000 Poilus killed in action and despite going to war locked in the mentality of the Franco-Prussian the French Army proved remarkably quick to adapt to the war when it went into stalemate during the winter of 1914/15.
The French Army was the first to introduce a steel helmet; a first this was a light steel skull cap worn under the issue Kepi. Then an officer called August-Louis Adrian adapted the design of the Paris fire helmet to produce the M15 Adrain helmet, worn by the men in this illustration, which became the standard French helmet for the rest of the war. The French also discarded the dark blue serge and red trousers and adopted the Horizon Blue uniform, also seen here; it was felt the blue would blend in with the skyline when French soldiers attacked, rather than attempt to develop a uniform colour that would blend in with the shattered landscape.
New uniforms also meant new weapons and stuck in trenches unable to emerge and fire their weapons, both sides turned to using the periscope rifle, also seen in this illustration; in this case enabling the Poilu to fire his 8mm Lebel rifle remotely and safely using the periscope fitted to the frame. It was just the start of adapting old weapons to work in a new way, or re-introducing old weapons from earlier siege wars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suddenly, this summer, one can see one’s breath.~~
We are freezing.~~
It is Washington in summer.~~
Bloody hot and unrelentingly.~~
And yet, we shiver.~~
Why?~~
Icy indifference stalks the land.~~
A tasteless vapidity plays in all theatres.~~
The hot, savage wars of just yesterday have settled, this summer into static, frozen, trench warfare.
We think on the Great War here~~of the trenches~~of the terror first, and then, of an indifferent stillness as men wait for their turn to die and do not any longer care when it comes.
Politics in America are unimportant~~but they are emblematic.~~
Up and over, brave Laddies~~into No-Man’s Land~~
Historical reality: French soldiers at Verdun in 1916. Photographer Michael St Maur Sheil has taken images of the landscapes today which show signs of old battles Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058917/Remembrance-Day-2011-Haunting-pictures-Great-Wars-battlefields.html#ixzz2VzLzmNDD Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Political positions in this city of circuses and side shows are today frozen into place.~~
Destroying the enemy is reflexive but no longer satisfying.~~
Eventually, we will kill him, but we don’t really care the if or when anymore.~~
Numbness settles over us.~~
Our small victory feasts~~insipid~~
We move~~reflexively~~
We react–Palovianly~~
We read from our little hymn books the songs romantic of combat, yet we are bloodless fighters now~~our virile smiles have flown~~flat champagne is a bloody awful drink~~
Teachers tell students that this was a great battle–military men study it~~what do they take from their lesson books?~~
Historic match: The scene at Cape Helles, Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 where 20,761 British, Australian and Indian soldiers were killed Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058917/Remembrance-Day-2011-Haunting-pictures-Great-Wars-battlefields.html#ixzz2VzNj9aPT Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Young Edouard died for France~~or so the story goes~~
Monument: Grave of French soldier Edouard Ivaldi in Champagne. This is the only grave left from WW1 and still has Ivaldi’s helmet marking the spot he fell in 1917
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058917/Remembrance-Day-2011-Haunting-pictures-Great-Wars-battlefields.html#ixzz2VzS3MNBO Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Germans too~~Awaiting the liberty of death~~
Awaiting a way out and ~~ yet~~distracted momentarily~~ by the vapid masquerade of God~~King~~Country~
“Up and over, once again, lads~~back into No-Man’s Land~~and, yet another, chance at death’s sweet embrace~~
~~”The enduring lesson of the Great Panic of 2008 is that, suddenly, that summer, politics in America became important. Prior to that, politics was unimportant and, that now somehow distant and bucolic time when politics did not matter, was very pleasant.
One of the happy glories of liberal democracies is that politics does not matter.
That is a very good thing. Having travelled widely and to virtually every country on this earth I can say with alacrity that nations in which politics matters are most unpleasant places.
Americans do not want to live in a country where politics actually matters. They won’t like that at all.
The blessing of liberal democracy is likewise the curse of liberal democracies in that they are, and they attract a cut of men to them as an occupation in their politics who are, constitutionally incapable, of dealing with serious matters. This incapacity is in their DNA.
They cannot help it. But they must ignore their DNA at this moment and address, in a draconian way, the horror of poverty and unemployment in America if there’s to be a shot at our survival as a nation.
When a calamity such as the Panic of 2008 hits, these men cannot even see how serious it is and, if they do see, they’ve no idea what to do about the panic. They must learn to recognize and address properly this horrific situation very quickly.
America is now a desolate, fearful place and all Americans know this with few exceptions.
Most who do not know live at Washington~
How is it possible to not know about the destruction of America since 2008 and to say such a heartless thing as “things are looking up,” with so many millions of our fellow citizens in poverty or just above that sad border and many millions more worry at night that they are next up for the bread lines?
Shame on him!!~~he, who says~~ “things are looking up”~~
The lawyers call this “willful blindness”~~
The cancer that has, for full 5 years, eaten away at the fabric of this land has now metastasized to this city~~
This city does not know the danger of the cancer, yet~~
Things here feel~~
Tenuous~
Uneven~
Choppy~
Jittery~~
Trepidatious~~
Men feel somehow indifferent~~
Eerily uneasy~~
It must be~~the other fella’s fault~~to be sure~~
The champagne here is~~somehow~~ flat~~
Must get a new bottle~~
~~ Flat champagne is a bloody awful drink~~~
The melancholy Marxist, Mr Krugman, joins the, now listless, fray here~~we quote him from The Times of New York now~~and will do so until noted by us end quoting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Policymakers, including the Federal Reserve, have given up fighting high unemployment, writes New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
They seem indifferent to persistently high unemployment and weak job reports. Krugman calls it “the big shrug.”
The government on Friday reported a 7.6 percent unemployment rate in May and that more than 4 million people have been out over work for over six months.
Yet that dismal jobs report received a good reception.
Before the financial crisis, normal meant an unemployment rate close to 5 percent, adding a million or more new jobs a year and few people out of work for extended periods.
“In other words, our policy discourse is still a long way from where it ought to be,” Krugman writes.
Policymakers, he argues, should be worrying about “the plight of the jobless and the immense continuing waste from a depressed economy.”
Unfortunately, that’s not happening, he notes.
“Instead, policymakers both here and in Europe seem gripped by a combination of complacency and fatalism, a sense that nothing need be done and nothing can be done. Call it the big shrug.”
Even the Federal Reserve, who Krugman calls “the good guys,” seems to have lost interest and are talking about tapering quantitative easing, even though inflation is below its target, the employment picture is dreadful and the recovery rate is “glacial at best,” according to Krugman.
Policymakers feel no urgency in not facing a disaster, and the unemployed hold little political clout. “Profits are sky-high, stocks are up, so things are OK for the people who matter, right?”
Plus, the monetary hawks continue to loudly warn about low interest rates causing disaster. “It doesn’t seem to matter that the monetary hawks, like the fiscal hawks, have an impressive record of being wrong about everything,” Krugman writes, noting their warnings of runaway inflation have yet to materialize.
Instead of warning of inflation, they’re now warning of asset bubbles, but still pressing for higher interest rates.
Arguments that high unemployment is the “new normal” because workers’ skills don’t meet demands of the new economy disintegrate on close examination. Washington must end its budget cuts and the Fed must show more resolve, then it would show that long-term mass unemployment is not normal, Krugman asserts.
“So here’s my message to policymakers: Where we are is not OK. Stop shrugging, and do your jobs.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in recent testimony to Congress said high unemployment and low inflation “requires a highly accommodative monetary policy.”
Washington, he said, “could consider replacing some of the near-term fiscal restraint now in law with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The melancholy Marxist, Mr Krugman, and The Times of New York ~are thanked for their contribution to us here today~~ and~~we note now~~ cease quoting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A chill is in the air~~
The champagne is not flat, boys~~
It’s the cold outside, you see~~
In summer~~
It’s the icy indifference~~
Suddenly, this summer, a frigid, cancerous, indifference has settled over the land~~An American Ice Age has come~~
The sole survivors of this nightmare will turn to a man who promises to do 2 things~~
Promises to~~very swiftly~~
**Flood the country with good jobs by any means necessary~~ANY MEANS~~
Dorothea Lange’s 1936 portrait of a destitute mother and her children, called ‘Migrant Mother,’ is one of the most famous images of suffering in the Great Depression. Lange’s notes on this photo say Florence Owens Thompson, 32, was working as a pea picker in California and had just sold the tires from her car to buy food when this photo was taken.
There are many families like this today–under bridges–in alleys–in shelters–all over America and West Europe–forgotten and abandoned~~in the champagne haze at Washington and New York~~WE WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION~~ONE WAY OR~~THE OTHER WAY~~
And~~then~~we~~will~~
**End the war machine~~
~~The Dove of Peace~~
~~Pablo Picasso~~
~~Κύριε ἐλέησον~~
Rejoice and Glad!!
Amen~~
Ex Libris
John Daniel Begg
At
Washington DC
Wednesday, 12th Juin, Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, 2013
One is remembered~~in romance~~after The Great War was finally still~~the dead are beautiful heroes with romantic head stones~~but their last days lacked all romance and far, far, worse~~any feeling at all~~numbness precedes death~~
JOHN DANIEL BEGG 