Dear Marion,

More about text and music. My recent disparaging analysis
of the Zauberfloete libretto was overly simple. More
consideration leads me to suggest that there is synergism
between words and melody. Admittedly without the music
the text of the Magic Flute is prosaic and uninspiring,
but even so, the melodies endow the words with an emotional 
content otherwise lacking. I observe also that words at
all levels of poetry enhance the effect of music on the mind.
There seems to me to be a synergy between words and music
which greatly enhances the forcefulness with which each
penetrates consciousness. Consider the glee with which we
sing songs whose words without music would be of no consequence
and whose melody would hardly be memorable if it were not
conveyed with words, even those of little independent
meaning. Such an interpretation, it seems to me is made
all the more plausible by the intimate relationship in liturgy,
of words and music, at least in the religious traditions
with which I am most familiar.

As for the hypothetical annual return to earth of the Christchild,
I know of no Christian Talmudic account to this effect. My exposure
is to poetry and music. I remember a well-known Christmas carol:

1. Alle Jahre wieder kommt das Christuskind
Auf die Erde nieder, wo wir Menschen sind.

2. Kehrt mit seinem Segen ein in jedes Haus,
Geht auf allen Wegen mit uns ein und aus.

3. Steh auch mir zur Seite still und unerkannt,
Dass es treu mich leite an der Liebe Hand.

Aus dem Jahre 1837
Text: Wilhelm Hey
Melodie: Ernst Anschütz

It seems to me that it is natural for the reality underlying every
anniversary to be deemed to recur annually. Happy Birthday to You.

In preparation for the hearing next Thursday, it's occurred to me
that a polite and socially acceptable characterization of the
Appeals Court's setting aside procedure (MGL 30A) to arrive at
its judgment is to describe it as an exercise of its jurisdiction
in Equity as opposed to its jurisdiction in Law. From the time of
the Middle Ages, the English monarch had the power to set aside
the decisions of the Courts of Law when these were inequitable, or
contrary to (the king's) conscience. In 1615 Francis Bacon, the
Attorney General to James I, conclusively declared the primacy of
Equity over Law, - something to think about, - because it implies
the intrinsic dialectical repudiation of the judicial process. The
(king's) conscience which has bestowed the law, now repudiates the
law and takes it back. This morning it occurred to me that the 
Constitutional prohibition again the taking of life, liberty or
property "without due process of law", had for the framers a very
technical meaning and in effect proscribed adjudication in Equity,
a prohibition which initially applied only to the Federal government
and became incumbent on the States with the 14 Amendment; a prohibition
that has in practice been universally ignored because it is unworkable.
I found Wikipedia Equity (Law) informative, though not as thorough as
one might like.

The Arizona shootings reminded me of my days as a general practitioner
in Damascus VA, when I had my share of paranoid schizophrenics with
arsenals of weapons under their beds. I plied them with Thorazine and
tried, innocent optimist that I was, to talk them our of their craziness.
I remember trying also to educate our chief of police, John Henderson,
for his own safety, about the irrationality and unpredictabiolity of the
schizophrenic's behavior. I began to understand that the distinction
between sanity and insanity is often as hazy as is the definition
of criminality. With the exercise of absolute power, the distinctions
between sanity and insanity, between criminality and legality disappear:
Might makes right. Rex non possit peccare. You won't like this, but it's
true: to become a "good citizen" one must become a good fascist.

Jochen