A Poetic Morality Tale That Still Haunts Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is told by a sailor roaming the world in a perpetual state of contrition. By David Lehman

The scariest great poem in the English language was written by a young genius of limitless potential who turned into an opium addict, was besotted by German metaphysical philosophy, and was plagued by ill health and a loveless marriage. Though he considered himself a slothful failure, Samuel Taylor Coleridge left us a portfolio of astounding poems that includes not only “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” but “Kubla Khan” (which he characteristically denigrated as a mere “fragment”). He also produced a prose masterpiece (“Biographia Literaria”), invented the conversation poem (“This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison”), and was present at the creation of a major literary movement.
One of Gustave Doré’s celebrated engravings illustrating the poem. ENLARGE
One of Gustave Doré’s celebrated engravings illustrating the poem. Photo: Art Resource

With William Wordsworth, Coleridge was co-author of “Lyrical Ballads” (1798), the book that launched the Romantic revolution in English poetry. The first and longest poem in the book—one of only four by Coleridge (his collaborator had 20)—is the immortal “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

SHAME ON THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FOR PUBLISHING THIS LIBEL ABOUT ISRAEL….SEE NOTE PLEASE

The Palestinian People Ask: Where Is Israel’s F.W. de Klerk? If a two-state solution fades away, Israel will consolidate apartheid across all of Palestine.By Saeb Erekat

This is specious and gratuitous libel- calling Israel an apartheid state, and by referencing de Klerk equating Israel with formerly apartheid South Africa. Saeb Muhammad Salih Erekat is the PLO Committee Chairman who most recently threatened to yank “recognition” of Israel .He is a member of the Fatah party which canonizes terrorists and reveres the memory of arch terrorist Arafat. And by the way, readers should take notice that after de Klerk ceded control, South Africa did not become a “peaceful democracy” but descended into mob rule, endemic corruption, usurpation of white owned farms and property and general chaos. One can only imagine what would become of the “two state dissolution” if Erekat and his genocidal minions got their way….rsk

“The only way to stop the deteriorating situation in Israel and occupied Palestine is to address the root causes. Israeli leaders, however, stubbornly reject this approach, instead choosing to blame, attack and incite against the people they oppress for refusing to submit to inhumane discriminatory treatment decade after decade.

Years of systematic violation of Palestinian rights, allowed by an unprecedented culture of impunity, have led to a situation whereby an unarmed, and very young, generation is willing to confront the region’s strongest military.

This young Palestinian generation, the Oslo generation, was promised freedom when the agreement was signed on the White House lawn 22 years ago. This generation was raised with the hope that the brutal Israeli occupation would soon come to an end. But it did not. The Palestinian people continue to endure humiliation; they cannot travel freely, their studies and work are impeded by checkpoints, and they cannot even marry across the Green Line without severe restrictions on where they may live. At every turn, Israel continues to demand our submission to its occupation, oppression and apartheid policies.

Healing the Brains of American GIs By William McGurn

Intrepid Centers are making remarkable progress against the ‘signature wounds’ of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

When Arnold Fisher mustered out of the U.S. Army in 1954 after a stint in Korea, he left as a corporal. But he didn’t leave the service.

Through his day job at the family real-estate business, Mr. Fisher long ago made his mark on the New York City skyline by building several high-profile office towers. Now he is in his eighth decade, and this Veterans Day will find the Fisher Brothers’ senior partner aiming much higher than skyscrapers. Today his obsession is the human brain—specifically, how Americans can help our warriors who return from the battlefield with injuries few understand.

“You take a guy who’s missing half an arm or in a wheelchair and everyone can see what he needs,” says Mr. Fisher, sitting in a midtown Manhattan office whose knickknacks include a personal letter from George W. Bush and a knighthood signed by Queen Elizabeth. “But when a guy comes back and looks normal but doesn’t act normal, we don’t know what to do. And we’ve got hundreds of thousands of these people.”

Sorting the GOP Candidates on Immigration. By Mortimer Zuckerman….see note please

Mr. Zuckerman has often mentioned that either George Bush or Hillary Clinton would be good presidents. I will stick with Marco Rubion and Ted Cruz….rsk

Carson speaks about it in moral terms, while Trump takes the low road. Bush has the most rational plan.

I was born in Canada, a country I love, but entered the United States for education and stayed for a career. I have rejoiced at the opportunities, openness and friendliness of this society, and I became an American citizen many years ago. That is why I have looked on with perplexity and some astonishment at the way candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have approached immigration.

The retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has made an unlikely vault into the front of the Republican presidential pack with a weird mix of ideas—and an apparently shaky grasp of his own biography. But the gentle political novice’s appeal is easy enough to understand: He dares to talk about morals, including in reference to immigration, in an age when that has gone out of fashion. “Is it moral for us,” he wrote in “America the Beautiful,” his 2012 book, “to take advantage of cheap labor from illegal immigrants while denying them citizenship? I’m sure you can tell from the way I phrased the question that I believe we have taken the moral low road on this issue.”

The Tombstone Pipeline Obama kills thousands of jobs for climate-change symbolism.****

“Maybe Keystone can be revived in the next Administration, assuming a Republican wins the Presidency and the TransCanada company hasn’t written off America as too politically risky. For now, workers and the economy will have to suffer for Mr. Obama’s green illusions.”

President Obama personally killed the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday, dismissing the project as a mere “symbol” that “has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse.” The irony is that the pipeline’s benefits would be tangible, while the symbolism and overinflation are entirely political.

A President more invested in the real economy would have long ago welcomed Keystone’s contribution to North American energy development. But on Friday Mr. Obama emerged, seven years into both his Presidency and multiple State Department reviews of the pipeline, to declare that Keystone is not in the national interest of the United States.

This position is—to borrow his phrase—well outside the bipartisan political center. Mr. Obama would have been more honest if he’d admitted that he is bowing to the interests of the green-left fringe and the Democratic donors who oppose all forms of carbon energy.

Obama Administration Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline, Citing Climate Concerns President says project wouldn’t lower gas prices, improve energy security By Amy Harder And Colleen McCain Nelson

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline Friday ends a seven-year saga with a declaration that the project is not in the national interest and would undermine U.S. global leadership in fighting climate change.

The permit denial, which was cheered by environmentalists and lambasted by the energy industry, capped a politically charged review of the oil project that had escalated into a broader debate on climate change, energy and the economy. In the end, the administration’s decision likely will not have much impact on the industry’s operations, and the White House said the rejection was important to bolster the country’s credibility as the U.S. urges other countries to confront climate change.

President Barack Obama, who had signaled deep misgivings about the project as he pursued an expansive agenda aimed at combating climate change, said the pipeline ultimately took on an overinflated role in the country’s political discourse.

Hillary Clinton calls veterans’ healthcare deaths a GOP created scandal : Jim Kouri

The leading Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, has distorted the facts regarding a nationwide disgrace: the incompetence and dangerousness of the Veterans Affairs healthcare system, according to a number of former military officers and investigators.

During an interview with the arguably far-left cable news channel MSNBC, Clinton insisted that the so-called wait-list-scandal just an exaggeration by Republican lawmakers and conservative media: “It’s not been as widespread as it has been made out to be,” she claimed referring to the length of waiting time for veterans who needed medical attention.

She went on to assert that most veterans are satisfied with their treatment in the VA medical system and that the Republicans created a narrative based on a fake crisis in order to get votes in the upcoming presidential election.

The Know Nothings: Edward Cline

Welfare statists refuse to grasp the fact that an Islamic society is not an “open society,” but a closed one, closed to freedom of speech, closed to freedom of thought, closed to productivity, closed to liberty, closed to the pursuit of happiness.

So, there you are, a Muslim male, age 25, in the prime of life, ready to settle in Europe. Specifically and preferably, in Germany, or in Sweden. You had a lively debate with your fellow travelers the other night in the barracks-like marshaling center somewhere in Syria, or Jordan, or Gaza, or Tripoli, or Turkey, over which country had the prettiest Caucasian women to rape or take as brides (if any are dumb enough to become Muslim wives). They are all fresh, exposed meat, and you are the cat always on the prowl.

You’ve been outfitted with two €500 bank notes, a fresh change of clothes, an iPhone or a cell phone, a backpack chock full of things to help you make the trek from Syria (or Libya or Turkey or Gaza) in reasonable comfort, such as halal power bars and “RTE’s” just like they give to American soldiers in the field, a basic medical kit that includes a bottle of Viagra, and a pair of the latest style tennis shoes that will wear well over a thousand miles of rough road and highways. You’ve also been given a handbook and map in Arabic of Europe showing the best routes to take to Germany.

The foundation of the special US-Israel ties Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

http://bit.ly/1ksah6q

The special attitude by the American people, and their representatives in both chambers of Congress, toward the Jewish State transcends transient politics, geo-strategic considerations and formal agreements…. A 6 minute documentation of the 400 year old roots of US-Israel relations: http://bit.ly/1ksah6q

1. Israel’s contributions to US national security: http://bit.ly/16FP01N

2. The mutually-beneficial US-Israel relations: http://bit.ly/1RniWWB

3. The Jewish-Arab demographic balance: http://bit.ly/1I60R9h

4. Is the Palestinian issue an Arab crown-jewel? http://bit.ly/1MZP1fo

Eco-green Sharia: Words of wisdom from Muslims about the environment. By Ruth King

Who would have thought that a group that has created so many terrorist “hot spots” would be so concerned with environmentalism?

Check out: Muslim Environment Watch and their goals:

“Environment, climate change, pollution etc. have occupied world wide attention, including the Arab and Muslim world, since the 1980s. Especially during the last twenty years, more and more environmental organizations have been established throughout the Arab and Muslim world and the awareness to environmental issues has increased.”

And lo and behold…

”The administrator and writer of this blog is Dr. Moshe Terdman, who has written on the subject of environmental security and who has conducted research and lectured on the subject of Islam and the environment and the environmental policy and projects in the Arab and Muslim world. “

What’s in a name huh?

They have published a book:” The Environmental Problem, It’s Causes, and Islam’s Solution. Hizb ut-Tahrir”

Now, we do know that they have been active in “population control” but they go beyond with critical analysis of climate change. They explain Western guilt in despoiling the planet:

“The western world in which the western culture is prevalent has formed the ideological foundation and the intellectual framework that has dominated the industrial revolution and its achievements.This culture is materialistic and benefit-oriented, and its philosophy dictates that the Creator (the Glorified and Exalted) should be separated from the affairs of life, just as it calls for freedom, including freedom of property and personal freedom. It makes benefit the criterion for actions and believes that man’s happiness is achieved through the realization of his maximum share of sensual pleasures. This culture also considers the economic problem as being the scarcity of goods and services, makes the state a tool to protect the freedoms, and assigns man the right to legislate.”

They also fault capitalism:

“The solution to the global environmental problems and problems concerning poverty and other global issues is to remove and discard the real reason, which has caused these problems, i.e. by a global rejection of the inhumane Capitalist doctrine, which still controls the destinies of nations, and by looking for an alternative that ensures mankind’s happiness and tranquility.”

“Moreover, there is no room for morality in regards to the economic transactions of Capitalism, since it is an economy that only aims at realizing material values, and which considers the increase of wealth for the individual as the key to success, regardless of the consequences to the society andnature. The founder of capitalism, Adam Smith, expressed this when he stated that greed is the individual’s moral, and thismoral controls the economy.”