... your alternative "Word-of-the-Day" ; and fitting tribute to
this forum, perhaps.
El Filibustero = "free-booter".
If you saw the fine little film, "Walker" you were one of the few
witnesses of such a jewel, and were treated to some fine
'strummer' music (another of those 'names that work'). Walker,
sans fiction, was the prototypical Filibustero - which is a
revived but antiquated concept in either old-Espanol or
neo-Anglais.
The Spanish "filibustero" once meant a common pirate - ultimately
coming from the Dutch word "vrijbuiter" (free booter) and was
first applied (in a highly derogatory sense) to persons raiding
Spanish ships in the West Indies, the most famous of which was Sir
Francis Drake (a fondly remembered murderer, thief, and
scum-bag)... but nevertheless 'fondly remembered' because he was
"our scum-bag" ...not unlike some of the modern-day
crude-oil-filibusteros, operating out of 5-sided castles. Drake is
now even regarded, in 'Merry Olde' at least, as a "sir". History
is written by the winners.
Nowadays, in the case of many vortex filibusterous-ramblings,
booty=free-energy.
But historically in the hot and sultry, soon-to-be 'banana
republics', the word came to mean an "irregular military
adventurer" especially from el norte: the displaced 'Yanqui'
Johnny-Reb vet, looking for a fight under false-pretenses, and
hopefully a fiefdom to run, and engaged in insurrection in Latin
America in the mid-19th century ... of which there were many.
Surprise, surprise. Our lauded agents of "manifest destiny" were
also scum-bag pirates in the eyes of many, little different from
Hitler's putschers ... but hey, history is written by the winners,
no? Yep, many former noose-dodgers are now Alamo-heroes, thanks to
filibusterous-martyrdom.
The so-called "filibuster" in USA politics, in a strange turn of
verbal nuance, refers to the use of extreme dilatory tactics to
prevent action, especially in a legislative assembly... such as
where an ornery senator (usually from the South for some reason)
speaks incessantly about nada, or even reads from arcane books -
arguing to empty chairs; and does not yield the floor for hours,
even days, paralyzing the business of legislation, until he gets
what he wants - or has to go to the bathroom. Sometimes he is
standing in a pool instead. I guess political filibusteros have
both water and outrageous conduct in common with the earlier
models of same.
El Filibusteros de OU ...has a nice ring, wouldn't you say?
Especially for those of us free-booters who write outrageous
pieces on the possibility-of-the-impossible - and even if they are
not personally convinced - those who might advocate a renewed and
well-financed look into the possibility of using water-as-fuel...
free booters indeed, but are they proto-martyrs ?
Depends on who will be writing the history of free-booting, oops I
mean the history of free-energy for the next generation.
Jones
