Saturday, October 5, 2013
Mount Nemrut
Crowning one of the highest peaks of the Eastern Taurus mountain range in south-east Turkey, Nemrut Dağ is the Hierotheseion (temple-tomb and house of the gods) built by the late Hellenistic King Antiochos I of Commagene (69-34 B.C.) as a monument to himself.
With a diameter of 145 m, the 50 m high funerary mound of stone chips is surrounded on three sides by terraces to the east, west and north directions. Two separate antique processional routes radiate from the east and west terraces. Five giant seated limestone statues, identified by their inscriptions as deities, face outwards from the tumulus on the upper level of the east and west terraces. These are flanked by a pair of guardian animal statues – a lion and eagle – at each end. The heads of the statues have fallen off to the lower level, which accommodates two rows of sandstone stelae, mounted on pedestals with an altar in front of each stele. One row carries relief sculptures of Antiochos’ paternal Persian ancestors, the other of his maternal Macedonian ancestors. Inscriptions on the backs of the stelae record the genealogical links. A square altar platform is located at the east side of the east terrace. On the west terrace there is an additional row of stelae representing the particular significance of Nemrut, the handshake scenes (dexiosis) showing Antiochos shaking hands with a deity and the stele with a lion horoscope, believed to be indicating the construction date of the cult area. The north terrace is long, narrow and rectangular in shape, and hosts a series of sandstone pedestals. The stelae lying near the pedestals on the north terrace have no reliefs or inscriptions.
The Hierotheseion of Antiochos I is one of the most ambitious constructions of the Hellenistic period. Its complex design and colossal scale combined to create a project unequalled in the ancient world. A highly developed technology was used to build the colossal statues and orthostats (stelae), the equal of which has not been found anywhere else for this period. The syncretism of its pantheon and the lineage of its kings, which can be traced back through two sets of legends, Greek and Persian, is evidence of the dual origin of this kingdom's culture.
Criterion (i): The tomb of Antiochos I of Commagene is a unique artistic achievement. The landscaping of the natural site of Nemrut Dağ is one of the most colossal undertakings of the Hellenistic period (some of the stone blocks used weigh up to nine tons).
Criterion (iii): The tomb or the Hierotheseion of Nemrut Dağ bears unique testimony to the civilization of the kingdom of Commagene. Antiochos I is represented in this monument as a descendant of Darius by his father Mithridates, and a descendant of Alexander by his mother Laodice. This semi-legendary ancestry translates in genealogical terms the ambition of a dynasty that sought to remain independent of the powers of both the East and the West.
Criterion (iv): More so than the tombs at Karakus and Eski Kahta, the tumulus at Nemrut Dağ illustrates, through the liberal syncretism of a very original pantheon, a significant, historical period. The assimilation of Zeus with Oromasdes (the Iranian god Ahuramazda), and Heracles with Artagnes (the Iranian god Verathragna) finds its artistic equivalent in an intimate mixture of Greek, Persian and Anatolian aesthetics in the statuary and the bas-reliefs.
Friday, October 4, 2013
The Boys Are Back In Town
"The Boys Are Back In Town"
Guess who just got back today?
Those wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, haven't much to say
But man, I still think those cats are great
They were asking if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
I told them you were living downtown
Driving all the old men crazy
The boys are back in town
You know the chick that used to dance a lot
Every night she'd be on the floor shaking what she'd got
Man when I tell you she was cool, she was red hot
I mean she was steaming
That night over at Johnny's place
Well this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's face
Man we just fell about the place
If that chick don't want to know, forget her
Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drink will flow and blood will spill
If the boys want to fight, you'd better let them
That jukebox in the corner blasting out my favorite song
The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long
It won't be long till summer comes
Now that the boys are here again
The boys are back in town
The MSM’s not-so-surprising lack of curiosity about the new poster boy for Obamacare
Of all the people who have signed up (or at least tried to) for health insurance on an Obamacare exchange, the media and administration officials seems to be focused on only one person: His name is Chad Henderson.
Henderson is just a regular, random 21-year-old guy, so we’re told, who is apparently being prepped for his close-up as a sort of male counterpart to Sandra Fluck.
Search his name combined with “Obamacare” and you’ll find a laundry list of articles and mentions by Obama administration officials, holding him up as a random example of somebody rescued by Obamacare.
Here’s Henderson describing his wild, totally coincidental ride so far:
I’ve now been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Huffington Post, Enroll America, and POLITICO!! Those stories will be published in the coming days. I have a press conference call with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services later tonight. Also, local folks….. my interview with Kimberly Barbour Wrcb-tv will be aired TONIGHT at 5:30pm on WRCB Channel 3 Eyewitness News so be sure to check it out thanks for all your support!
One of Henderson’s glowing reviews of Obamacare was also re-tweeted by Kathleen Sebelius.
As Mediaite pointed out, the press doesn’t really seem to have much interest in this item in Henderson’s LinkedIn profile:
It’s been called “Organizing for Action” since January, so they go back a ways. Henderson’s bio on the page also lists some of his activities within the Democratic Party in Tennessee. None of those things are mentioned in articles such as this one in the Washington Post. Ditto for this HuffPo articleabout Henderson. “Reporters” can be incredibly incurious when they apply themselves.
You’d think these things might warrant at least a tiny “full disclosure” kind of mention in some of the many profiles of Henderson. If the Republicans were passing this guy off as a “Joe Sixpack” type who was being helped by one of their programs, and his bio mentioned an affiliation with, say, Crossroads GPS, not only would that get mentioned in MSM stories, it would be the story.
*****
But let’s wipe all that off the table for a moment. Using Henderson as an Obamacare “success story” is a joke in and of itself regardless of his background, according to Michael Cannon at Cato:
Kliff reports that after a three-hour ordeal, Chad bought an Obamacare plan that cost him $175 per month – pretty steep, considering he makes less than $11,500 per year. His Obamacare premium comes to least 18 percent of his income. And no, Chad is not eligible for subsidies.
Compare that to what Chad could have paid if he bought one of the pre-Obamacare plans still available on eHealthInsurance.com until December 31. The cheapest such plan for someone meeting Chad’s profile is just $44.72 – as little as 5 percent of his annual income and about one-quarter of his Obamacare premium.
I can’t yet say whether Chad’s $175 premium is the lowest-cost plan available to him through the Exchange. (I’m in the process of researching that. Let’s just say it’ll probably take a few hours.) But it’s probably close. The cheapest plan available to him through eHealthInsurance.com after Obamacare’s community-rating price controls take effect in 2014, and drive up premiums for young, healthy people market-wide, is $190.23. That’s with the maximum cost-sharing allowed under Obamacare. So it appears Obamacare quadrupled Chad’s premiums, and Enroll America thinks that is a success story.
Forward!
**Written by Doug Powers
Henderson is just a regular, random 21-year-old guy, so we’re told, who is apparently being prepped for his close-up as a sort of male counterpart to Sandra Fluck.
Search his name combined with “Obamacare” and you’ll find a laundry list of articles and mentions by Obama administration officials, holding him up as a random example of somebody rescued by Obamacare.
Here’s Henderson describing his wild, totally coincidental ride so far:
I’ve now been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Huffington Post, Enroll America, and POLITICO!! Those stories will be published in the coming days. I have a press conference call with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services later tonight. Also, local folks….. my interview with Kimberly Barbour Wrcb-tv will be aired TONIGHT at 5:30pm on WRCB Channel 3 Eyewitness News so be sure to check it out thanks for all your support!
One of Henderson’s glowing reviews of Obamacare was also re-tweeted by Kathleen Sebelius.
As Mediaite pointed out, the press doesn’t really seem to have much interest in this item in Henderson’s LinkedIn profile:
It’s been called “Organizing for Action” since January, so they go back a ways. Henderson’s bio on the page also lists some of his activities within the Democratic Party in Tennessee. None of those things are mentioned in articles such as this one in the Washington Post. Ditto for this HuffPo articleabout Henderson. “Reporters” can be incredibly incurious when they apply themselves.
You’d think these things might warrant at least a tiny “full disclosure” kind of mention in some of the many profiles of Henderson. If the Republicans were passing this guy off as a “Joe Sixpack” type who was being helped by one of their programs, and his bio mentioned an affiliation with, say, Crossroads GPS, not only would that get mentioned in MSM stories, it would be the story.
*****
But let’s wipe all that off the table for a moment. Using Henderson as an Obamacare “success story” is a joke in and of itself regardless of his background, according to Michael Cannon at Cato:
Kliff reports that after a three-hour ordeal, Chad bought an Obamacare plan that cost him $175 per month – pretty steep, considering he makes less than $11,500 per year. His Obamacare premium comes to least 18 percent of his income. And no, Chad is not eligible for subsidies.
Compare that to what Chad could have paid if he bought one of the pre-Obamacare plans still available on eHealthInsurance.com until December 31. The cheapest such plan for someone meeting Chad’s profile is just $44.72 – as little as 5 percent of his annual income and about one-quarter of his Obamacare premium.
I can’t yet say whether Chad’s $175 premium is the lowest-cost plan available to him through the Exchange. (I’m in the process of researching that. Let’s just say it’ll probably take a few hours.) But it’s probably close. The cheapest plan available to him through eHealthInsurance.com after Obamacare’s community-rating price controls take effect in 2014, and drive up premiums for young, healthy people market-wide, is $190.23. That’s with the maximum cost-sharing allowed under Obamacare. So it appears Obamacare quadrupled Chad’s premiums, and Enroll America thinks that is a success story.
Forward!
**Written by Doug Powers
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