Wales castles and the southwest of England: Grosmont and Skenfrith Castles

 

Grosmont Castle

Grosmont Castle is a ruined castle in Wales very near the English border. It was one of three castles in the area and dates to the 11th or 12th century. It was probably used as an administrative center before being converted to a fortress. In the 13th century, King Henry III‘s son Edmund made the castle his residence and rebuilt part of it. He constructed a giant false doorway through which one could access the castle’s lower floors but not his living quarters. How, then, did he get in and out? More… Discuss

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Twilight of the Elites: Chris Hayes on How the Powerful Rig the System, From Penn State to Wall St.

Twilight of the Elites: Chris Hayes on How the Powerful Rig the System, From Penn State to Wall St. (from Democracy Now)   (click on th epicture to access and watch the video)

From Democracy Now: “Amidst a series of recent scandals that have rocked the global banking system, journalist Chris Hayes joins us to discuss his new book, “Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy.” The book examines how Wall Street and other major institutions — from Congress to the Catholic Church to Major League Baseball — have been crippled by corruption and incompetence. Hayes is host of the MSNBC weekend show, “Up with Chris Hayes,” and is editor-at-large of The Nation magazine. “One of the most insidious aspect of the current distribution of resources in this country, the current inequality we have, isn’t just that it is bad for people in the bottom of the social pyramid, but that it makes people at the top worse,” Hayes says. “It conditions them to be incompetent and corrupt.”

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Leonard Cohen – The Gypsy’s Wife

Leonard Cohen – The Gypsy’s Wife. Clips from Original Sin. Actors: Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Jane, Jack Thompson, Gregory Itzin Directors: Michael Cristofer.

And where, where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight 
I’ve heard all the wild reports, they can’t be right 
But whose head is this she’s dancing with on the threshing floor 
whose darkness deepens in her arms a little more 
And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight? 
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight? 

Ah the silver knives are flashing in the tired old cafe 
A ghost climbs on the table in a bridal negligee 
She says, “My body is the light, my body is the way” 
I raise my arm against it all and I catch the bride’s bouquet 

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?… 

Too early for the rainbow, too early for the dove 
These are the final days, this is the darkness, this is the flood 
And there is no man or woman who can’t be touched 
But you who come between them will be judged 

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?…

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Leonard Cohen – “Going Home”

(Read more, including the lyrics of this song at the New Yorkers: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2012/01/23/120123po_poem_cohen#ixzz1mDCODrjL)

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