". . . I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply . . evil."

Dr. Loomis Halloween (1978)


Hello, I am ahead of schedule for the next update, but so many silly, stupid things have been happening in the news that my list has grown too large, thus a commentary at this point. I shall start with a new blog feature, the "Hail, Prince of the Obvious!" mention in each update. This time the mention goes to Kevin Corriveau of CNN Int'l Weather, who breathlessly reported that "24 heat-related deaths in India were due to" (-- wait for it --) "the heat." Devastating insight, Kevin. CNN also ran a feature on how social networking is lowering morality, that people are becoming socially retarded due to the lack of real interaction rather than virtual interaction. The last part of that statement may actually be true. It reminds me of a science fiction book I read decades ago about a future world where one's entire life was lived in a small steel room and all interaction was done virtually. The novel went on to describe the utter chaos that resulted from a breakdown in the system and the necessity for people to leave their chambers and search for real food, real things and the utter bafflement and fear of having to actually interact with other living beings. The novel may even have been written by J.G. Ballard, who died this week at the age of 87 in his London home. He was also the author of the critically acclaimed autobiographical Empire of the Sun, another tale of foundering morality set in war-torn China. I think it is rather specious to blame social networking for our society's failing moral quality although it may certainly contribute. Overpopulation, capitalism run rampant, the alarmingly deep-seated roots of crypto-fascism, the willingness to abandon personal responsibility for State oversight, greed in all its forms, the failure of the concept of the Divine because by and large humanity can find none in itself, all of these and more contribute to the vast, inexorable and painfully slow-motion implosion of all of our societies, not just the Western version. E.E. Gibbon is shaking his head in his grave. We are not the only falling monolith. Islam was never meant to become what it is becoming thanks to radicalism and intolerance. This month the Taliban "executed" a couple for trying to elope and openly espoused the death of a young woman because she was seen dancing on television and we are not talking Pakistani pole-dancing here, people. She was just moving across a stage while she sang in a talent contest. The Saudi Arabian courts upheld a man's divorce from his wife, a divorce he accomplished by sending her a text message, "I divorce you." For those of you who do not know, a Muslim man may traditionally divorce his wife by saying to her, in front of three witnesses, "I divorce you" three times. Needless to say, women do not have this right. In another case, an 8 year old Saudi girl's marriage to a 47 year old man was upheld, even after two appeals (not the same case I have previously mentioned). The girl's mother had not even been apprised of the marriage, it had been arranged by other family members and the mother was threatened with flogging if she complained further. Iran has sentenced a female American journalist of Iranian descent to eight years in prison in a trial that lasted less than one day in a closed courtroom. The charges started as the buying of cigarettes, progressed to the buying of wine and finally became full-blown espionage. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opened an United Nations Geneva conference on racism with a vitriolic attack on Israel and the "lie of the Holocaust" on the anniversary of Hitler's birthday this week. European delegates streamed out of the hall while the speech was wildly applauded by the Arab representatives. Pakistan continues to regress to a medieval warlord state and one can only surmise the colossal amount of corruption that must be present, while their nuclear capability remains intact and waiting as the Taliban edge closer and closer to control. It all just keeps on going and the heart, head and soul reel from the pre-apocalyptic vision of our world rushing toward the abyss. If Jesus, Mohammad (pbuh) and the Buddha are not weeping in unison, it is only because they have abandoned hope and are busily at work trying to save a planet more worthy of their efforts.

It is not just the Middle East that is insane. The 41 year old CFO of Freddie Mac, David Kellermann, committed suicide this week, just ahead of the revelation of a Securities & Exchange Commission investigation findings. Hang on to your hats, American mortgage holders. The president of Paraguay, a former Roman Catholic bishop, has acknowledged paternity of at least three illegitimate children during his years in the church and asks for understanding as he continues to hold power. Mexico continues its slide into full-blown barbarism along with the quaint reports that the peculiar slant on Christianity in that nation has produced two new narco-saints, Saint Death and Saint Jesus Malverde. The former is actually the Grim Reaper dressed up in the trappings of a saint and the latter is a fairly recent highway bandit know for his good looks and utter cruelty. People at large, drug cartel members in particular, pray to these two in scattered shrines across the country, making offerings of cigarettes, tequila and cocaine (it is conveniently placed in the Grim Reaper's nasal cavities). Castro of Cuba and Chavez of Venezuela are trying to chum up to Barack Obama, offering open discussions and paperback books, even though Mr. Chavez continues to blast America as an imperialistic power. He is right, of course, but not for the reasons he imagines, The United Fruit Co. is no longer a first-line policy arbiter. Wake up and quit dreaming of Carmen Miranda's hat, Mr. Chavez. A front row seat at the new Yankee Stadium now costs $2,625.00 USD. The last baseball game I attended I believe I paid $5 for a front row seat. Carrie Prejean, Miss California in the Miss America pageant, supposedly gaffed a question on gay marriage when she replied, "I don't want to dictate for other people, but I believe marriage is between a man and a woman." Well, I find nothing wrong with that answer because she is certainly entitled to her opinion. What I DO take exception to is her "clarification" of her answer on a talk show that her answer was "biblically correct." Perhaps, but tell me, Miss Prejean, is it "biblically correct" to walk across a stage in front of thousands, televised to millions, wearing a genitally-molded bikini and a pair of towering white high-heeled shoes, exhibiting your charms in such a way that would make even Salome or Delilah blush with shame? Hypocrisy has a golden mane and a perfect tan. Texas is talking of leaving the Union, it seems. Even the governor of Texas is batting around the idea. Hmmm, aside from one really decent human being in El Paso (do not worry, my dear, we will relocate you), I say let them leave. They can throw open their border with Mexico while they are at it. While the idea of leaving the Union is patently ludicrous, it does throw light, if more is needed, on Texan mentality, akin to Alaskan mentality which supported the idea during a petrol crunch a few years ago (they had plenty) of "Let the bastards freeze in the dark!", a popular Alaskan bumper sticker of the time. What they are saying to the Union is, "What have you done for me lately?", helping bear the burden of hard times is the farthest thing from their minds.

In India, a month-long election is under way. Why so long? They have 714 million registered voters is why, more than twice the entire population of the USA, handwritten ballots and a list of political parties and candidates that is mind-numbing. Giving credit where it is due, they are still electing to try a democratic form of government with direct representation of, by and for the people. India's Maoist rebels are trying to disrupt the voting, of course, principally by means of transportation hijackings, but I do not think it possible to stop all 714 million, do you? By comparison, the USA had it easy in 2008. There are 25 political parties in South Africa, where the recent vote has (probably) elected Jacob Zuma, head of the African National Congress, a man suspected of vast bribery and corruption charges. His rallies typically consist of him dancing onstage to a Zulu beat while pumping his right fist in the air. I wonder if Nelson Mandela is weeping as his country slides away and continues to deny entry to the Dalai Lama because of Chinese economic pressure? Perhaps I shall form my own political party in the near future, the Crypto-Christian Islamic Solidarity Movement for Youth, the Aged and the Sexually Subversive, or CCISMYASS for short. I shall keep you informed when I develop the party platform.

This month the Conspicuous Consumption Cup goes to Alexander Amosu, a fashion designer who unveiled his new $100K business suit. It has 22kt gold lining and diamond and gold buttons. It was immediately purchased by someone from the Middle East (surprise, surprise). Perhaps the purchaser is the same man who bought an Airbus A380, the world's largest new plane, to have outfitted as personal transportation - normally it carries 550+ people. They have come a long way from the days when Prince Faisal, fighting for Arab independence during the first World War, declared, "We Arabs do not like the desert, we long only for green spaces and running water." Perhaps he meant most of England. One is faintly reminded, in mirror image, of a remark made by Gen. George S. Patton, who said, when asked his opinion of Morocco, "I love it. It's a combination of the Bible and Hollywood."

To end at the beginning, I shall make a final double-barreled blast at CNN. They have been shamelessly promoting Twitter© as the hot!hot!hot! new social networking tool (this despite their piece on failing morality of the masses). I checked it out and after an initial trial, can unhesitatingly say it is utter rubbish, useless to the nth degree. What is the point? What is wrong with already existing methods of communication such as e-mails, blogging, a telephone call or, God forbid, even a letter? Can everything worth saying be reduced to an 140 character squib? Failing marks on this one, both to CNN and Twitter©. A final failing mark to CNN for continuing to broadcast MainSail, their half hour presentation on a regular basis of everything going on in the world of yachting (very little sailing, mainly yachting). They inevitably piggyback the presentation on a news piece on the millions who cannot find drinkable water or a piece on the billions suffering during the economic collapse - but here, folks, let's all look at the glamorous world of multimillion dollar boats and their glittering jet-set ports of call. It is such an egregious slap in the face to their audience.
Remember, friends, when in doubt, aim for the nerve stem. Until the next,
Leducdor

"Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!"

Henry Frankenstein, Frankenstein (1931)

"Be afraid. Be very afraid." Yes, I am back. The DHOSF has lain fallow for the winter, like a field in repose, like a bear in hibernation. But now it is back with the Spring and ready to roar in the wild woods once again. Winter was rather dreary here in the DHOSF, no spectacularly bad weather, no local heart crushing disasters, nothing very jubilatory, either, but one notes that was not the case in most of the rest of the world. The dreary drum roll of death and disaster continued and continues to roll relentlessly around the planet, with the shining moment of the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America thus glittering even more brightly. Fires, floods, wars and revolutions, murders and mayhem continue their ceaseless cacophony round the globe and, sad to say, it all becomes rather numbing, like a pain that one has suffered far too long that eventually becomes a kind of warped and malign companion. The world is frankly insane, perhaps more insane than it has been for many a century and its citizens are simply weary with fatigue. The stress is so constant, so all-pervasive that, if one can, one retreats into the private space of one's home and pulls the curtains and locks the door, or if one cannot, it is back to trudging the streets, carrying that invisible cement block on one's back, "Tote that barge, lift that bale."
Devi and I have not been particularly divine in our daily lives recently. You will remember Devi, of course, my wife, who in her many incarnations has spread good cheer to the countless millions who pray to her as the goddess of Compassion. We remained rather palace-bound the greater part of the winter, but as Spring continues its steady inroad into the DHOSF I imagine that we shall recommence our sorties into the greater world at large to partake of the simple festivities of the woad-daubed hordes.

In keeping with my previous habit of noting some of the greater inanities in this our world, I shall remark on a few that caught my eye in the past few months and some that are still in development. One I particularly enjoyed was a story of elephants in a Kenyan game preserve texting park rangers. The elephants have been fitted with devices that notify the rangers when they are agitated, i.e. being hunted, chased, or dead. It seems rather redundant to receive a text message stating, "Hello, it is Jumbo, and I have been killed by ivory poachers," especially when the carcass is found minus its tusks, but there you have it. Still in the animal kingdom, from China came this news service highlight: "BEIJING (AP) -- A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear's enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday." Well, he got one, did he not? There is also a heartening tidbit from Germany this week; a woman jumped into the pool in the polar bear habitat at the Berlin zoo during feeding time. She was rescued by zoo employees but not until she had been decently mauled by one of the bears, upset that this rude woman would crash his dinner party. She was given a citation by the police for trespassing, as well. The Darwin Awards never lack for nominees and it is a shame that the animals were not allowed to finish the job of removing these fools from the gene pool. I was intrigued to read that when Moses returned to Egypt to free the Jewish people, he left his hounds, Tophah and Ketaph, behind in Canaan. I imagine he did so fearing that they would be ridiculed by the sleek and elegant Egyptian hunting dogs, torn apart by jackals or, even worse, seduced and then savaged by the merciless Egyptian cats. He should have known better than to have orthodox shepherd dogs.

In the sphere of the upright, I-walk-on-two-legs genre of animal, I note that the top Saudi cleric has reiterated the appropriateness of child brides in Islam, this despite a recent (nonreligious) appeal ruling in Saudi Arabia granting a divorce to an eight-year old girl who was horrified to find herself married (without her knowledge or consent, of course) to a fifty-six year old man. And they find that appropriate - Mohammad would weep (I think). On the plus side for the Saudis, a recent royal visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota had an actual, visible impact on the local economy. I imagine it did, considering that the royal entourage is two or three Boeing 747s, they book entire luxury hotels "for privacy" and their shopping jags are legendary, wiping out entire malls in private, late night visits. The Pakistani government has all but ceded the northeast of its country to the rule of the Taliban, hoping that "diplomacy and dialogue" will bridge the gap and that they will be content with that. Umm hmm, sure, right, whatever you say. What unbelievable fools. In Malaysia, the Fatwa Council has officially banned yoga and tomboys, under the enlightened viewpoint that both "contradict the spirit of Islam." A $60 million dollar replica of the Taj Mahal has been built in Bangladesh. Why?? The one and only original is not enough? Leaving aside the other idiocies of this idea, it strikes me that perhaps Bangladesh has better things to do with sixty million dollars, ummm, perhaps feed its starving millions? When you really think about it, you know that $60M could not even come close to replicating the Taj Mahal, so one wonders, is it papier-mâché? "Marbleized" contact paper on plywood? It certainly cannot be even remotely real or life-sized. Perhaps Sudan is "clearing" Darfour in order to build a replica of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, complete with mortuary temples, Solar Barque and a miniature Nile running past its feet. They already have a good stretch of the real Nile, but what the hell . . . . I note that the Somali pirates took a high hard one right up the trunk this weekend in a meeting with some US Navy SEALs. Good for the SEALs and good for Obama to have authorized that. Score: one rescued American captain, three dead Somali pirates and one captured pirate. The French pulled off a similar feat last week with an hijacked French yacht - unfortunately, they killed one of the French hostages, but rescued the rest and made a croque-monsieur out of the pirates. Knowing that this is going on, why do companies continue to send their ships down/up the Suez Canal? (Yes, it is more expensive to re-route them, but so what?) If the international shipping community were to simply stop doing it, I imagine the Egyptian government would look at the loss of revenue and quickly decide to have a very serious talk with Somalia. The Egyptian armed forces are not powerless nor do they suffer from the "Italian High Command Syndrome." They have not intervened thus far because continental Islamic politics weigh more heavily, for the moment, than international opprobrium. Let the dollar speak for itself; they had to do something serious with their own insurgencies when tourism in Egypt almost died a few years ago.
Mass shootings (again) in America and Germany, Belgium continues to produce the most psychotic child molesters anywhere in the world, Italy suffers a massive earthquake and people are outraged the buildings fell over (they are medieval, you fool), Sarkozy makes France rejoin NATO (DeGaulle could be heard twirling in his grave), the Queen of England grazingly hugs Michelle Obama and the British are aghast ("the Queen does NOT do that!") or delighted ("A charming and natural show of affection! Bloody marvelous!"), take your pick, the Swiss are forced to cough up some of their banking secrets, the Czech Republic welcomes Obama like an homeboy, Russia and the Ukraine throw punches over who gets to gouge Europe the deepest, China tries to jilt the US dollar as THE international currency and is laughed out of the room (thus forcing them to save face by buying billions more of the American debt), Zimbabwe continues to be simply unreal, South Africa denies a visa to the Dalai Lama, the headliner for an international peace conference there and thus the conference is cancelled, Col. Qaddafi storms out of an African League summit because some Arab countries are "too conciliatory" with the West, which is hilarious considering that he is the recently elected president of the African League, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is considering nationalizing himself, etc., etc., etc. The tragicomedy never ends, folks.

I have spent the latter part of the winter (and am still continuing) carefully, slowly and painstakingly reading a glorious edition of The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day trans. by Dr. Raymond O. Faulkner, Dr. Ogden Goelet, Jr., based on the original color illustrations of E. A. Wallis Budge and produced by James Wasserman. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1998. For anyone with a love of Egyptology it is irreplaceable, an absolute must-have. It is a full-color reproduction of the entire Papyrus of Ani with an up-to-date translation by Drs. Faulkner and Goelet. Many of the constructs of an Egyptian papyrus are strange for a modern reader, such as the idea that chapters exist but not necessarily in order. Thus, you might start with chapter 33, then follow on to chapter 16 and not actually find chapter 1 until halfway into the papyrus. Also, the Book of the Dead is not a religious text, not theological philosophy, nor is it a book of "Egyptian magic," so to speak. It is, for lack of a better term, an instruction manual on how to transit from mortality to immortality for the recently deceased. I have decided that from time to time I will end my blog entries with excerpts from the papyrus, the better to let you know that you must prepare yourself for your inevitable journey, and that the best way to do so is to be at least fleetingly familiar with the Book of the Dead. These excerpts will be at random and shall not be excessive (or at least so I hope). Wherever you read the name of Ani, I suggest you replace it with your own. With that in mind:

Excerpt from Chapter 30B: Chapter for not letting Ani's heart create opposition against him in the God's Domain

O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart of my different ages! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance, for you are my Ka which was in my body, the protector who made my members hale. Go forth to the happy place whereto we speed; do not make my name stink to Entourage who make men. Do not tell lies about me in the presence of the god; it is indeed well that you should hear!
Thus says Thoth, judge of truth, to the Great Ennead which is in the presence of Osiris: Hear this word of very truth. I have judged the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands as a witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the great balance, and no sin has been found in him. He did not diminish the offerings in the temples, he did not destroy what had been made, he did not go about with deceitful speech while he was on earth.
Thus says the Great Ennead to Thoth who is in Hermopolis: This utterance of yours is true. The vindicated Osiris Ani is straightforward, he has no sin, there is no accusation against him before us, Ammit shall not be permitted to have power over him. Let there be given to him the offerings which are issued in the presence of Osiris, and may a grant of land be established in the Field of Offerings as for the Followers of Horus.
Thus says Horus son if Isis: I have come to you, O Wennefer, and I bring Ani to you. His heart is true, having gone forth from the balance, and he has not sinned against any god or any goddess. Thoth has judged him in writing which has been told to the Ennead, and Maat the great has witnessed. Let there be given to him bread and beer which have been issued in the presence of Osiris, and he will be forever like the followers of Horus.
Thus says Ani: Here I am in your presence, O Lord of the West. There is no wrongdoing in my body, I have not wittingly told lies, there has been no second fault. Grant that I may be like the favored ones who are in your suite, O Osiris, one greatly favored by the good god, one loved of the Lord of the Two Lands, Ani, vindicated before Osiris.
Here is hoping that your heart does not lie about you in the great beyond. Until the next,
Leducdor