Pemberley

I have been a Pemberlean since 2001, and may be the oldest (in terms of birthdays) member. In the years since I was a Newbie, I have seen many come and go, and have made a number of friends, most of whom I have never seen and never will this side of the grave. It seems to me that in the last 2 or 3 years the Republic has become overly politically correct. I am in full agreement that Pemberley is no place for religious or political arguments. However, matters of religion and politics are very apt to come up on some of the boards. I often post on GK Chesterton and it is hardly possible to talk about GKC while ignoring religion. None of my posts on him have been deleted.

Religion is a vital part of Jane Austen. For example, it is hardly possible to discuss Mansfield Park while ignoring the religious matters that are so important in the story. The matter of divorce and the Church of England's position in the matter came up for a lot of discussion, especially as many Pemberleans knew almost nothing about it. I doubt that we could have the same discussions today.

Early in my years at Pemberley we had the Fanny Wars, which were a lot of fun. At least one lady accused me of being an immoral man because I like Henry Crawford. Again, today,
I doubt that our exchange would be tolerated. Hope I'm wrong, and I will try to start the Fanny Wars up again.

Pemberleans

My Pemberley friends who visit my blog (and how I detest that word) will find not a great deal on it yet, but have patience. I have much to say, and will get around to saying it in due time. There are 7 people in this household and only 2 computers, so there are times when both are in use by people who need it for school, or work, or Our Lady of Peace church. I will always relinquish it for them.

Pemberley itself will be the subject of a post in the near future.

Gianna Jessen

I recommend all visitors to look up Gianna Jessen. This young lady is the survivor of a botched abortion. She lived against all expectations, was raised by a foster family, and became a lovely singer and speaker. As a result of the botched abortion, she has cerebral palsy, but it does not restrict her singing and speaking. I had the absolute delight of meeting her 3 years ago and buying her book. She insisted on talking to me rather than just shaking hands and signing the book.

By all means, look her up on the net and find out more about her.

Take the trouble to think about the fact that Gianna was the sort of baby that Barack Obama would have let die and be tossed into a dumpster or torn apart and flushed down a garbage grinder. Any normal human who hears her must be glad she is with us.

Golden Parachutes

15 or 16 years ago a big and famous manufacturing company in the Pittsburgh area was on the verge of bankruptcy. Several thousand employees were laid off, and the company almost went out of existence. The board of directors got around to taking action by firing the CEO. Now I don't think that this man was the only culprit, but he was the man in charge, and was highly paid. In order to send him off quietly, the board awarded him an increase in pension (though he was retiring early--by insistence) from $700,000 to $900,000 a year, $10,000,000 in stock options, and get this--the craziest of all--an $800,000 1 year contract as a consultant.

His consulting must have been easy; all he needed to do was to tell the other executives to study his actions and do something different.

This man's golden parachute is nothing compared to the gp's given to the CEOs of the banks and other financial institutions that failed in the current economic crisis.

Rewarding failure has become common in the business world--at the highest levels. I am sure that the lower level employees in the failure did not get millions of dollars. Also, I would like to know how the companies could find the money to pay out these high-level incompetents (or perhaps embezzlers) when they can't pay their regular expenses.

What the hell is the matter with our financiers?