. . . and then I killed him!

But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest. - Buddha

I love that saying attributed to Buddha. It is very 'Hollywood', don't you think? Enough hope, deception, drama and elegaic reflection to fill a blockbuster cinema peplum or perhaps a really good book. The problem with it is that its beauty isn't perceptible until one is already a long way down the road from the conquered kingdom, already far into the deep forest. And, it isn't a one-time occurrence or opportunity - such forks-in-the-road fall into a life more than once, each occasion demanding a new decision and, perhaps, a brand new path. Like everyone, I have made good choices and bad choices about "whose company I keep," yet I think that when the bad choices were made I kept the "I'm outta here" option wide open and available, as if I knew that it would be needed sooner rather than later. It also demands that you be able to discern what constitutes "intelligence", "wisdom" and "comportment", as well as having a triple-faceted understanding of the similes of the king and the elephant. Above all, the saying glosses one's life with a brush of grandeur and historicity, making it larger and brighter than one has the habit of perceiving it. That is very buddhist, viewing one's life that way yet knowing that it is only illusion, a brief mist on the ocean of reality, which is itself a brief mist etc.etc. . . .

There is panic in St. Tropez. The regional aviation authority is cracking down on unauthorized & illegal helicopter landings in the seaside sequin sanctuary (CNN). The 'real' residents of St. Tropez, fairly regular French citizens of the everyday type, complained to said authorities about the crushing noise & disturbance of the myriad flights of the glitterati to & fro. 1200 flights a year had been allowed, but in three months alone this year more than 5000 were logged. Thus, airspace crackdown - which sounds like a joke to me. What is the penalty for the rich and famous, a fine? That will simply be considered an "extra" landing tax. Of course, one can ask as well why the feudal villagers are complaining, St. Tropez wasn't exactly a money mint before the advent of Bardot and the 1950s (jet-boosting said villagers' local economy & thus their own lifestyles). Like many crises in France, this one is both ironic and laughable. I tend to think of celebrities as a subset of the genus "vampire". When one considers a vampire's thirst for immortality, driving fear (of a personal death), ignorance (of maya) and reactionary stance, it brings to mind both celebrities and republicans.

Bridging the Atlantic, there is a kind of weird assonance in Sarkozy's vacation in New Hampshire and the luncheon chez les Bush (Reuters). I imagine that both Wolfeboro and Kennebunkport enjoy bathing in the illusion of being "simple" New England communities with good, "old-fashioned Yankee values". Nevermind the Secret Service, the 'copters, the paparazzi etc. Frankly, I hope that franco-american relations do warm up, that Americans begin flocking back to France in hordes, it helps the French get a grip on themselves. Left to their own devices, the French bathe in their illusions, too, and the water is awfully murky.

Flash from the past! The Draft! I read, open-mouthed, the statement by Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the "War Czar", that reinstituting the draft was 'probably' a great idea (CNN). My first thought was, "Good luck!" It is difficult to imagine the base public reaction to that idea, but I would be immensely surprised if it survives "preliminary committee studies". Or perhaps the idea is being floated to simply scare the public into supporting the war effort in situ. Anything, literally anything, is possible, no matter how ludicrous, if it issues from Washington, D.C.

I found the Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, by chance, online the other day and as I expected it was informative and amusing in the extreme. I am only vaguely aware of Ariana Huffington, the political pundit and publisher of the online magazine, but do know that she is a shining light in the camp of profoundly conservative republican spinmasters despite her mercurial political mood swings. To see her is to know her: she is the something-aged, immaculately groomed, pricely clothed & bejewelled shining-helmeted blonde of aryan good looks & equal froideur on the Sunday morning talking-head shows. Informative because it is intelligent, amusing because it is sly & relentless in its presentation agenda, it is worth a look simply to gauge the ideological competition. The latest fluff is the Dem evening with the gays in LA, the "don't ask don't tell" dithyramb, and the latest stats on American opinion on gay marriage (57%-, 43%+), civil unions (reversed %), and gays in the military (79% YES). Oddly enough, mentioned in the HP as well was a link to a story (the Sun) about Angelina Jolie "giving up" lesbianism and S&M kinky sex to stay married to Brad Pitt. Whoa! A sharp left jab from the surreal!, finding this in the HP. What is that supposed to say, other than "????" For clarification, refer to the previous paragraph on celebrities.

I had a wonderful, liberating laugh last night thanks to American television. I couldn't sleep, so I was up late watching Larry King Live on CNN-TV. The show's theme was "the transgendered", and the guests ranged from a longtime post-surgical sex-changed person through the spectrum to a pre-op, pre-hormone individual who wants to start down that particular path. Throw in a sex-change therapist and Larry, and, Shazaam! you have the show. My laugh came mid-way through the show when Larry asked one of his guests, a rather wan, lank, dirty-blond mr. everyman, when he knew that he was a woman trapped in a man's body. The guest responded in his wan, lank, trembling alto that he knew very early in his childhood because "I wanted to skip to the candy store in my sister's shoes". . . I couldn't help it - I burst out guffawing, hopelessly shattered by the nuclear humor of the moment, startling the cats who were keeping me company in the room. Needless to say, I slept quite soundly soon thereafter.

The Tarot says that my day is a day of fulfillment and completion, so I shall go reap the rewards of such a bright & sunny indicator. Like all advice, it can only suggest which filter to wear, not choose it for you, which is, after all, the raison d'être for this illusion in the first place, isn't it?
Leducdor