Monseigneur in the White House

[blogslut]

President George W. Bush places a
Presidential coin into the hand of Specialist Jeremy Lee as the
Dallas soldier’s mother, Garla Grubbs, right, and sister, Dana Lee,
look on Friday, July 1, 2005. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandonment of consideration not easy to be understood in these days, the carriage dashed through streets and swept round corners, with women screaming before it, and men clutching each other and clutching children out of its way. At last, swooping at a street corner by a fountain, one of its wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged.

But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would not have stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and leave their wounded behind, and why not? But the frightened valet had got down in a hurry, and there were twenty hands at the horses’ bridles

`What has gone wrong?’ said Monsieur, calmly looking out.

A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among the feet of the horses, and had laid it on the basement of the fountain, and was down in the mud and wet, howling over it like a wild animal.

`Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis!’ said a ragged and submissive man, `it is a child.’

`Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?’

`Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis–it is a pity–yes.’

The fountain was a little removed; for the street opened, where it was, into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As the tall man suddenly got up from the ground, and came running at the carriage, Monsieur the Marquis clapped his hand for an instant on his sword-hilt.’

`Killed!’ shrieked the man, in wild desperation, extending both arms at their length above his head, and staring at him.

`Dead!’

The people closed round, and looked at Monsieur the Marquis. There was nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him but watchfulness and eagerness; there was no visible menacing or anger. Neither did the people say anything; after the first cry, they had been silent, and they remained so. The voice of the submissive man who had spoken, was flat and tame in its extreme submission. Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes over them all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.

He took out his purse.

`It is extraordinary to me,’ said he, `that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in the way. How do I know what injury you have done my horses? See! Give him that.’

He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the heads craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it as it fell. The tall man called out again with a most unearthly cry, `Dead!’
— “A Tale of Two Cites” Book Two, Chapter 7, Monseigneur in Town

link to original story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20071010/pl_bloomberg/awwpmilea_ag_1

[1monster]

1. Yes, Dickens certainly understood the attitudes of the elite corporatists...uh, I mean,

the French aristocrats.

Same attitude more than 200 years later.

And so many don't believe in reincarnation...

[blogslut]

2. He took out his purse

That line still chills me.

From the Bloomberg article that inspired the post:

"Now he's dead,'' Halley, an artist, says she told Bush, no longer able to contain her anger. "For what? I've lost my soul mate.''

"I am so sorry for your loss,'' Bush said more than once.

Their conversation ended shortly after Halley began urging Bush to end the war. "We see things differently,'' he told her.

Halley says the encounter wasn't "sharp,'' even with her strong words and emotions. As they parted, they shook hands, he kissed her on the cheek and gave her a souvenir presidential coin.

[Glorfindel]

4. A souvenir presidential coin?

How truly offensive. I had no idea such a thing existed. I hope she "accidentally" let it drop on the carpet on her way out.

[blogslut]

6. He gives them out to the survivors of fallen soldiers

From another story on the coins:

"President Bush, he just didn’t see that, and he told me I was kind of, seemed like I was kind of hostile. I said, ‘yes I am hostile, because you sent my son over there.’ So my thing is -- all the questions that I asked him, he didn’t know nothing then, and he definitely don’t know nothing now, because the United States is in worser shape now that it was in 2003 that my son died.''

Martin asked: "So when you left that meeting did you leave with determination to do something or did that happen over time?''

Johnson said: "When he told me -- I said what’s, what’s the mission? He couldn’t give me an answer. I says, well I’m going to tell you what: I’m on my mission now. My mission had just begun. And my mission is to fight to bring these troops home, to take care of these troops when they get home.

"Then he gave us a presidential coin,'' she said. "Now you check this out: He gave six of us a presidential coin, tell us not to tell the rest of the people that was there, and then after that he told us don’t go sell it on eBay. Now you tell me how insensitive that can be? What kind of caring person is that?''

link: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/05/bush_to_mother_.html

[1monster]

11. Poppy Bush does that a lot, too. Instead of leaving real currency for a tip

at a World Golf Village restaurant, he left the waitress a souvenir Presidential coin.

"Cheep, cheep," said the little bird.

[Jim__]

10. A fucking souvenir coin!!!!

The man's stupidity has no bounds.

[Glorfindel]

3. Excellent! Monsieur the Marquis met a most satisfactory end

if I recall correctly, slightly in advance of many of his gilded compatriots. May one be allowed to hope that a similar fate lies in store for our current crop of arrogant, preening, supercilious, perfumed apes? (And, sincerely, no offense intended to our noble anthropoid cousins, the gibbons, orangs, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos.) :evilgrin:

[blogslut]

5. Let's hope things don't go that far

I would rather the man resign and/or be impeached. I would like for his crimes to tried in a court of law.

I use the Dickens quote to illustrate his callousness - not as an instruction manual. The Reign of Terror weren't no party and this ain't no disco.

[Glorfindel]

7. You're right, of course

Removal from power and exposure of their crimes would probably be more humiliating for these monsters than more sanguinary measures anyway.

[blogslut]

9. Yes, it would

:)

[blogslut]

8. kick

I wonder if it takes four servants interns to bring president peddles his nightly chocolate?