What has been separated from the mother,
Must again be joined; for we were born of spirit,
& to spirit all mortal things return,
As it is necessary in the method of the earth.
So sings the parable of singleness.
My comforter does not conceal his face;
I have seen appearances that were not marshalled
By sleep.
— Kenneth Patchen,
excerpt from The Cloth of the Tempest
Daily Bleed, web page updated, in full,
http://www.recollectionbooks.com/bleed/1225.htm
excerpts,
DECEMBER 25 -- JESUS OF NAZARETH
Persecuted leader of an underground liberation movement,
jubilator, social radical, martyr, son of a God.
CHRISTMAS. Santa Claus -- Capitalist Tool or Red Menace?
BIRTHDAY OF MITHRAS.
Congo: CHILDREN'S DAY.
______________________________
0 -- Symbolic beginning of the destruction of the
world in the name of Jesus Christ & Western
Civilization.
Apocryphal birth of Jesus Christ, in an obscure village,
child of a peasant woman. Worked in a carpenter shop
until 30. Then for three years an unemployed itinerant
preacher. Never wrote a book, never held office, had
a family or owned a house. Didn't go to college, had
no credentials. Never visited a big city nor traveled
more than 200 miles from his birthplace. Did none of
the things one usually associates with greatness.
He was 33 when the tide of public opinion turned
against him & his pals ditched him.
Fully fits the description of a bum, a vagrant, a
ne'er do well.
1611 -- Merry Christmas?:
Settlers under Sir Thomas Dale
destroy Apamatuks village on the
lower Appomattox River in Virginia.
Christ-bearer & his accomplices find things,
objects, which they automatically categorize as
obstacles or as potential instruments...The names
are not only projections. They are also
definitions. Once defined, the objects can be
manipulated. Savages are potential instruments;
they can be put to work. Cannibals are obstacles;
they have to be liquidated.
— Fredy Perlman, Against His-story, Against Leviathan!
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/PerlmanFredy.htm
1621 -- No More "Age of Empires"?: Massachusetts halts
all sinful game-playing, confiscates toys. Sorry, No more
Wii. No more Sony Playstation. Toy R Us lays off thousands.
Toys.com sees shares fall
from 86 bucks
to two-bits.
1887 -- Overwhelmed by poverty, ideological
confusion, grief at his grandmother's death, &
ineligibility as a peasant to enter the Imperial
Kazan University, Maxim Gorky
attempts suicide at 18.
1892 -- Rebecca West lives. English journalist,
novelist, critic. Her companion for 10 years was
H. G. Wells. Their son Anthony is also a noted
author & critic. West is perhaps best known for
her reports on the Nürnberg trials (1945-46).
1899 -- Film tough-guy Humphrey Bogart lives again.
Stars in John Huston's film of B. Traven's
novel, Treasure of the Sierra Madre & other excellent
films such as The African Queen, Casablanca, The Big
Sleep & The Maltese Falcon.
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes.html
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/TravenB.htm
1902 -- England: Dec 25/26, founding Congress of the
Federation of the Anarchist Groups of Yiddish language
of the United Kingdom & Paris, held in London. Rudolf
Rocker was the most influential figure in the movement...
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/12ref.htm#25/1902
1903 -- Radical illustrator Raphael Soyer, lives —
the quintessence of weary wistfulness.
1914 -- All Quiet on the Western Front?: Just after
midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of
German troops engaged in WWI cease firing guns
& artillery, & commence to sing Christmas carols.
At certain points along the Eastern & Western fronts,
the soldiers of Russia, France, & Britain even hear
brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous
singing. At the first light of dawn, many of the German
soldiers emerge from their trenches & approach the
Allied lines across no man's land, calling out
"Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues.
At first the Allied soldiers suspect it to be a trick,
but soon climb out of their trenches & shake hands
with the German soldiers. The men exchange presents
of cigarettes & plum puddings & sing carols & songs
& the Christmas Truce lasts a few days.
Documentation is fragmentary since it was contrary
to direct orders & the legal penalty for such fraternizing
with the enemy was death! But even in this brutal war,
peace was found on this day by ignoring political
& military authority.
All quiet on the Western Front, nobody saw
A youth asleep in the foreign soil, planted by the war
Feel the pulse of human blood pouring forth
See the stems of Europe bend under force
All quiet
All quiet
All quiet on the Western Front
— Music by Elton John,
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin
http://homepage.mac.com/dmhart/WarFilms/AQWF.html
1923 -- ToysRUs?: 57-year-old author/socialist
H. G. Wells spends Christmas morning
playing with his new toy soldiers.
1926 -- Nicaragua: The prostitutes of Puerto Cabezas
help Augusto Sandino obtain arms & ammunition.
1936 -- Spain: Generalitat de Catalogne publishes a decree
legalizing abortion. Pushed for by the women's group
"Mujeres Libres." Article 4 specifies abortions should not
exceed three months pregnancy, except in the event of
therapeutic need.
1946 -- W.C. Fields shoots his last billiard ball.
Loved dogs & children.
"Taint a fit night out for man nor beast..."
1946 -- First of several years of White House
Christmas demonstrations seeking amnesty for
conscientious objectors (COs) convicted for refusing
to fight in the ever-popular World War II.
1948 -- Bulgaria: The Bulgarian Communist Party
declares as "outlaws" the anarchist founders of the
FACB (Federation Bulgare Anarcho-Communist).
1956 -- US: A good white Christian bombs the home of
anti-segregationist Fred Shuttlesworth. Birmingham,
Alabama.
1963 -- Tristan Tzara, Romanian-born French
poet/essayist known mainly as the founder of Dada,
a nihilist revolutionary movement in the arts, dies.
http://www.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/tzara.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Tzara
1965 -- Timothy Leary stopped at the Mexican border
& busted for marijuana.
1977 -- Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) dies.
Daily Bleed Saint 2002-2004
"In the end, everything is a gag."
1983 -- Joan Miro, Spanish surrealist, dies
at his home in Majorca at 90.
1990 -- India: Mass demonstration to protest dam building
& flooding of thousands of farms. Project is eventually
significantly reduced, proving that the IMF & World Bank
don't always succeed in keeping the rabble in line.
2006 -- James Brown, Godfather of Soul, dies.
Singer, jail bird, soul brother #1 ('Say It Loud - I'm Black
& I'm Proud' (1968). A massive influence on most forms
of black music — soul, hip-hop, funk, R&B & disco.
______________________________
Who's this bum
crept in from the streets
blinking in the neon
an anarchist among the floorwalkers
— Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
Director of Alienation
http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/huntingSanta.jpg
_________
Christian, n.
One who believes that the New Testament is
a divinely inspired book admirably suited
to the spiritual needs of his neighbor.
One who follows the teachings of Christ in
so far as they are not inconsistent with a
life of sin.
I dreamed I stood upon a hill, &, lo!
The godly multitudes walked to & fro
Beneath, in Sabbath garments fitly clad,
With pious mien, appropriately sad,
While all the church bells made a solemn din —
A fire-alarm to those who lived in sin.
Then saw I gazing thoughtfully below,
With tranquil face, upon that holy show
A tall, spare figure in a robe of white,
Whose eyes diffused a melancholy light.
"God keep you, strange," I exclaimed. "You are
No doubt (your habit shows it) from afar;
& yet I entertain the hope that you,
Like these good people, are a Christian too."
He raised his eyes & with a look so stern
It made me with a thousand blushes burn
Replied — his manner with disdain was spiced:
"What! I a Christian? No, indeed! I'm Christ."
— G.J.
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Garrison Keillor had it right some years ago
when he said that these "Christmas Letters"
should be composed by Liars Anonymous. To
wit:
"Bookends has rejected take-over offers from both
Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble in the past year. Bruce
was pleased this year to have won the Nobel Prizes for
both Peace & Literature, a feat never before
accomplished in history. Judy will be using her
MacArthur Grant to further her research in
micro-nuclear-anthropological physics, when she's not
lecturing at the Sorbonne on Cordon Bleu culinaria. Our
children have been selected as Time Magazine's first
ever People of the Year & our grandchildren (all of them)
have been invited to join the Bolshoi Ballet, where they
will be featured performers."
— anti-Pouring Forth, 1997-4070
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