garden party crashed - snide follow-up

How (?) come the Muslim counterpart of the infidel Angelina "Lara Croft" Jolie has yet (!) to make her appearance in Darfur.



Oh, alright (!) already, so, it doesn't take much to evoke the snide in me. No doubt about it, I was inspired by the clipping to insert the above quip in green text.

Elsewhere in this blog, I pose a provocative question. "Is there any Muslim in the world, capable of introspection." In response, someone avowed the question practically begged for NO as an answer.

And in response to that, I allowed that Iraq's Grand Ayatollah for the Shi'a, al-Sistani, does, from time to time, display that capacity. In this instance, were he worthy of the high regard in which he's held, being informed about that clipping should've caused the grand ayatollah to weep with shame.

Really, just were (?) in the world are those Muslim groups, who are trying to prevent Muslim slaughtering Muslim. So far as I'm concerned, the Darfur genocide is a Muslim scandal. Really, how (?) does it happen that Muslims have to depend on Jews to keep from being murdered by other Muslims!

. . . well, there might be more to come, but focused on the "general run of humanity", as regards the Palestinian alleged failure to seize a "once-in-a-millennium" opportunity . . . we shall see . . .




. . . snide continues . . .

There's a story in ancient Greek mythology about a king, who offended some god or goddess. In reprisal, his ears were transmuted. In all of his kingdom, only his barber knew the truth about the king's ears.

The barber was an incorrigible gossip to the point that keeping mum was incinerating his nerves. Were he to blab, he would in short order incur the king's wrath, execution. Near the barber's house, there was a pond, wherein grew a bed of reeds.

Seeking relief from the burden of the king's secret, the barber would, at dawn, visit the pond, making sure nobody was around, close enough to eavesdrop. Then and there, he would whisper his secret to the reeds.

Evidently, the offended deity was hell bent on punishing the king. So, whenever the wing blew through the reeds, people would hear, "the king has ass's ears, the king has ass's ears, the king has ass's ears . . ."

For years, I had to wonder why Avram Beilitzsyn had bothered with me. Now, I believe that story goes a long way towards clarifying the mystery. Whereas everybody else saw in Avram a brilliant but sorry ass loser, I saw a casualty for the sake of his ideal of spirit. In my considered opinion, just as a military casualty for the sake of worthwhile cause is worthy of respect, so too is such a casualty as was Avram.

I realize now he was bursting at the seams to impart to somebody, with the capacity to appreciate, startling insights, disruptive observations. Simultaneously, he was living in a world that was in no way ready for such.

Often, we would pass the night in conversation, splitting six-pack of Coors after six-pack of Coors. I never drank so much beer before, or since. . . . whatever the government, the authorities found Avram a bit much . . . eYep, that's the kind of hairpin he was.

Back when I could stay up all night, swilling beer, discussing the eschatological implications of Nietzsche, I was fascinated by people, such as Avram, who were driven . . . I mean absolutely driven . . . to plumb the depths, to scale the heights, to pioneer in undiscovered countries of mind and spirit and heart.

Nowadays, in this the beginning of the 21st century, bits and pieces of those conversations bob up in my mind . . . oh, just for the heck of it, I'm repeating, as best as my Coors-impaired memory allows, here what Avram claimed as the "truthiness" about the relationships among Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.

In the Judaic Old Testament, Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice Isaac. According to certain Muslim scholars, Allah rather demanded Ishmael as the huam sacrifice. According to Avram, both traditions report certain facets of the truth, while omitting certain other facets.

Here's what should've been reported, according to Avram. Ishmael begged Abraham to spare Isaac.

. . . here's where my Coors impaired memory gets, well, blurry . . . maybe, Abraham was petitioned to defy God . . . maybe, Abraham was petitioned to try appeasing the Almighty with a vol--

. . . ew, please excuse me for a moment, the mere attempt to recall that bit of conversation evokes the absolutely heinous nausea of the most wicked hangovers I ever had to endure . . . nowadays, when it comes to indulgence in alcoholic beverages, I'm pretty much restricted to a goblet of merlot with a nice steak dinner . . . I mean fillet mignon, smothered in mushrooms and sautéed leeks, and absolutely NO ketchup . . . oh, yeah, and I want a decent orchestra in the background, playing Eddy Duchin.

. . . oh, yeah, oh, yeah, now I recall . . . oh, yeah, Avram was intrigued by some Arab proverb . . . "those who ask Allah for nothing insult the Deity." . . .

Now, let's suppose, Avram would say, that God, out of sheer generosity, without being asked, bestowed upon somebody most in need a marvelous boon. If asking God for nothing riles the Deity. Spurning just such a gift has got to be infuriating, to say the least. . . . ya'know, Avram would say, with a wink, there's darn little percentage in ticking off the Almighty.

Not too long ago, somebody had the nerve to throw my own words in my face. I had absolutely no right to be so hard on an entire religion for making an allegedly "wrong" choice . . . "let the infidel Americans have the moon, we'll keep the mount" . . .

To allow for the simple possibility of making the allegedly "right" choice for the moon, the general run of humanity had to be settled, at that time, on a much loftier plateau of spirit, the quest for which via heart and mind and soul inspired Avram . . . now that I think about it . . . that might be another reason for why he bothered with me. Unlike so many of my contemporaries, I could at least posit, well, if only as a matter worthy of intellectual discussion, if only for the sake of pleasant diversion, the possibility of this or that "lofty" plateau of spirit.

ah, sorry about that long list of qualifiers . . .

Anyway, that bit about that "plateau of spirit" does reflect exactly my thinking about the impossible choice that fate or history or Providence or the Deity had dropped upon Islam.

We have it on the word of five-star General Douglas MacArthur, Japan's American pro tem satrap, that success is a poor teacher . . . failure must make for a wondrous one, or should at any rate.

Truthiness be told, I'm perturbed by what might be the task, assigned me by the general scheme of things. In as much as I am struck by my awe-inspiring humility being my most illustrious virtue, well . . . anyway . . .

Maybe, I'm putting the finishing touches on that aforementioned task. If so, great, I would like to start selling life insurance to the end of paying down my credit card debt . . . wood'ja (?) buh-leave! It was embarrassing, when I told "Tony Thumbs" about how interest I'm paying. That man wept with envy.

. . .

What if, Avram threw out, after we had finished splitting a third six-pack, God or Jehovah or Yahweh or Allah sets up tests, with the intention of having us fail . . . perhaps, the tests could be for us as individuals . . . perhaps, for us as secular institutions . ... as entire religions . . .

Being adamantly adiaphorestic, even back then, I took that "what if" as some sort of joke rabbinical students share only among themselves. Even so, I latched onto it, in spite of my inebriation. Back then, I was eager to listen to Avram as he compared and contrasted Jewish theionics with Christian theionics.

At this point, I am compelled by my snide nature to refer another military worthy, namely, brevet Admiral James Tiberius Kirk, master and commander of the starship ENTERPRISE (NCC-1701). In one episode, the good captain recalls the test he had to take, when he was a midshippeur at "Star Fleet Academy". Every midshippeur and midshippeuse, who had preceded him, failed the test. Kirk passed.

As the test was set up by Kirk's instructors, there was absolutely no chance for him to complete it successfully. On his own, without bothering to asking for permission, Kirk altered the test constraints, thereby allowing him to complete the test successfully. Funny thing, instead of getting reprimanded for that gambit, Kirk the midshippeur received a commendation.

Here's where I honk my own horn, so to speak. Midshippeur Kirk's approach resonates beautifully with the fourth item in my The CORLEONE MANIFESTO . . . "what is above our heads and what is underneath our feet are small matters, compared to what is within us" . . . oh, yeah, I'm obligated to admit that the foregoing is cribbed from Goethe.

Anyway, the manifesto in question is found at the very bottom of this blogsite. Between there and here, you, dear Reader, are bound to encounter some very interesting material . . . honest injun . . . my five doughnuts to your three . . .

toodles
...../
.he who is known as sefton

the problem with the Palestinians -

Their problem is not so much that, whatever their leadership, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It goes deeper than that. Given the chance to shoot themselves in the foot, the Palestinians do so . . . in a heartbeat ... cheerfully.