Juror #8: It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice
out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always
obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose
anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant
is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities - we may be wrong. We may
be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we
have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our
system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's sure.
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Letter from Monteiro Lobato to Getúlio Vargas (in Portuguese)
São Paulo, 20 de
janeiro de 1935
Dr. Getúlio
Vargas
Por intermédio do
meu amigo Rônald de Carvalho, procurei no dia 15 do corrente, fazer chegar ao
seu conhecimento uma exposição confidencial sobre o caso do petróleo, estou na
incerteza se esse escrito chegou a destino. Talvez se perdesse no
desastre do dia 20. E como se trata de documento de muita importância pelas
revelações que faz, seria de toda conveniência que eu fosse informado a
respeito. Nele denuncio as manobras da Standard Oil para senhorear-se das
nossas melhores terras potencialmente petrolíferas, confissão feita em carta
pelo próprio diretor dos serviços geológicos da Standard Oil of Argentina, que
é o tentáculo do polvo que manipula o brasil. E isso com a cooperação efetiva
do sr. Victor Oppenheim e Mark Malamphy, elementos seus que essa companhia
insinuou ou no Serviço Geológico e agora dirigem tudo lá, sob o olho palerma e
inocentíssimo do dr. Fleuri da Rocha. É de tal valor a confissão, que se eu der
a público com os respectivos comentários o público ficará seriamente abalado.
Acabo agora de obter mais uma prova da duplicidade desse
Oppenheim, cornaca do Fleuri. Em comunicação reservada que ele enviou para a
Argentina ele diz justamente o contrário, quanto às possibilidades petrolíferas
do Sul do Brasil, do que faz aqui o Fleuri pelos jornais, com o objetivo de
embaraçar a marcha dos trabalhos da Companhia Petróleos.
O assunto é extremamente sério e faz jus ao exame sereno do
Presidente da República, pois que as nossas melhores jazidas de minérios já
caíram em mãos estrangeiras e no passo em que as coisas vão o mesmo se dará com
as terras potencialmente petrolíferas. E já hoje ninguém poderá negar isso
visto que tenho uma carta em que o chefe dos serviços geológicos da Standard
ingenuamente confessa tudo, e declara que a intenção dessa companhia é manter o
Brasil em estado de "escravização petrolífera".
Aproveito o ensejo para lembrar que ainda não recebi os
papéis, ou estudos preliminares do serviço que V. Excia. Tinha em vista
organizar, por ocasião do encontro que tivemos em fins do ano passado, no
Palácio Guanabara.
Respeitosamente,
J. B. Monteiro Lobato
Friday, 15 November 2013
"Retrato" by Cecília Meireles (in Portuguese)
Eu não tinha este
rosto de hoje,
assim calmo,
assim triste, assim magro,
nem estes olhos
tão vazios,
nem o lábio
amargo.
Eu não tinha
estas mãos sem força,
tão paradas e
frias e mortas;
eu não tinha este
coração
que nem se mostra.
Eu não dei por
esta mudança,
tão simples, tão
certa, tão fácil:
- Em que espelho
ficou perdida a minha face?
"Laudes Creaturarum" by St. Francis of Assisi (in Italian)
Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore,
Tue so' le laude, la gloria e l'honore et onne benedictione.
Ad Te solo,
Altissimo, se konfano,
et nullu homo ène
dignu te mentovare.
Ad Te solo,
Altissimo, se konfano,
et nullu homo ène
dignu te mentovare.
Laudato sie, mi'
Signore cum tucte le Tue creature,
spetialmente
messor lo frate Sole,
lo qual è iorno,
et allumini noi per lui.
Et ellu è bellu e
radiante cum grande splendore:
de Te, Altissimo,
porta significatione.
Laudato si', mi Signore, per sora Luna e le stelle:
in celu l'ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.
Laudato si', mi'
Signore, per frate Vento
et per aere et
nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,
per lo quale, a
le Tue creature dài sustentamento.
Laudato si', mi Signore, per sor'Acqua.
la quale è multo
utile et humile et pretiosa et casta.
Laudato si', mi Signore, per frate Focu,
per lo quale
ennallumini la nocte:
ed ello è bello
et iocundo et robustoso et forte.
Laudato si', mi
Signore, per sora nostra matre Terra,
la quale ne
sustenta et governa,
et produce diversi fructi con coloriti fior et herba.
Laudato si', mi
Signore, per quelli che perdonano per lo Tuo amore
et sostengono infrmitate et tribulatione.
Beati quelli ke 'l sosterranno in pace,
ka da Te,
Altissimo, sirano incoronati.
Laudato s' mi
Signore, per sora nostra Morte corporale,
da la quale nullu
homo vivente pò skappare:
guai a quelli ke
morrano ne le peccata mortali;
beati quelli ke
trovarà ne le Tue sanctissime voluntati,
ka la morte
secunda no 'l farrà male.
Laudate et benedicete mi Signore et rengratiate
e serviateli cum
grande humilitate.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
"The Hunting Of The Snark an Agony in Eight Fits" by Lewis Carroll (Fist the First) (in English)
Fit the First
THE LANDING
"Just the
place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
As he landed
his crew with care;
Supporting each
man on the top of the tide
By a finger
entwined in his hair.
"Just the
place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone
should encourage the crew.
Just the place
for a Snark! I have said it thrice:
What I tell
you three times is true."
The crew was
complete: it included a Boots—
A maker of
Bonnets and Hoods—
A Barrister,
brought to arrange their disputes—
And a
Broker, to value their goods.
A Billiard-marker,
whose skill was immense,
Might
perhaps have won more than his share—
But a Banker,
engaged at enormous expense,
Had the
whole of their cash in his care.
There was also a
Beaver, that paced on the deck,
Or would sit
making lace in the bow:
And had often
(the Bellman said) saved them from wreck,
Though none
of the sailors knew how.
There was one who
was famed for the number of things
He forgot
when he entered the ship:
His umbrella, his
watch, all his jewels and rings,
And the
clothes he had bought for the trip.
He had forty-two
boxes, all carefully packed,
With his
name painted clearly on each:
But, since he
omitted to mention the fact,
They were
all left behind on the beach.
The loss of his
clothes hardly mattered, because
He had seven
coats on when he came,
With three pairs
of boots—but the worst of it was,
He had
wholly forgotten his name.
He would answer
to "Hi!" or to any loud cry,
Such as
"Fry me!" or "Fritter my wig!"
To
"What-you-may-call-um!" or "What-was-his-name!"
But
especially "Thing-um-a-jig!"
While, for those
who preferred a more forcible word,
He had
different names from these:
His intimate
friends called him "Candle-ends,"
And his
enemies "Toasted-cheese."
"His form is
ungainly—his intellect small—"
(So the
Bellman would often remark)
"But his
courage is perfect! And that, after all,
Is the thing
that one needs with a Snark."
He would joke
with hyenas, returning their stare
With an
impudent wag of the head:
And he once went
a walk, paw-in-paw, with a bear,
"Just
to keep up its spirits," he said.
He came as a
Baker: but owned, when too late—
And it drove
the poor Bellman half-mad—
He could only
bake Bridecake—for which, I may state,
No materials
were to be had.
The last of the
crew needs especial remark,
Though he
looked an incredible dunce:
He had just one
idea—but, that one being "Snark,"
The good
Bellman engaged him at once.
He came as a
Butcher: but gravely declared,
When the ship had been sailing a week,
He could only
kill Beavers. The Bellman looked scared,
And was
almost too frightened to speak:
But at length he
explained, in a tremulous tone,
There was
only one Beaver on board;
And that was a tame one he had of his own,
Whose death
would be deeply deplored.
The Beaver, who
happened to hear the remark,
Protested,
with tears in its eyes,
That not even the
rapture of hunting the Snark
Could atone
for that dismal surprise!
It strongly
advised that the Butcher should be
Conveyed in
a separate ship:
But the Bellman
declared that would never agree
With the
plans he had made for the trip:
Navigation was
always a difficult art,
Though with
only one ship and one bell:
And he feared he
must really decline, for his part,
Undertaking
another as well.
The Beaver's best
course was, no doubt, to procure
A
second-hand dagger-proof coat—
So the Baker
advised it—and next, to insure
Its life in
some Office of note:
This the Banker
suggested, and offered for hire
(On moderate
terms), or for sale,
Two excellent
Policies, one Against Fire,
And one
Against Damage From Hail.
Yet still, ever
after that sorrowful day,
Whenever the
Butcher was by,
The Beaver kept
looking the opposite way,
And appeared
unaccountably shy.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Untitled Poem by José Thiesen (in Portuguese)
Minha face no espelho
Me olha e sorri.
Minha corrida ao espelho
Levou-me ao nada,
Vazio de angústia brava.
Louco, furioso, no espelho
Recordo o caminho feito.
Quero voltar mas o
Regresso no espelho
É ir mais fundo no vazio
Que ocuparei um dia.
Me olha e sorri.
Minha corrida ao espelho
Levou-me ao nada,
Vazio de angústia brava.
Louco, furioso, no espelho
Recordo o caminho feito.
Quero voltar mas o
Regresso no espelho
É ir mais fundo no vazio
Que ocuparei um dia.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)