The JFK conspiracy is as easy as ABCDE

18/10/24 at 6.45am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Leader A gives mission B to subordinates C and D.

Subordinates C and D fail to accomplish mission B.

Two years later, Leader A travels to a distant city under the protection of city official E.  Leader A is assassinated in distant city while under the protection of official E.

Conspiracy? I hardly think there is enough evidence pointing to persons C and D. Is there means, motive and opportunity? Not so far. But wait, what about the details? Each letter used above are clues to a conspiracy.

After the failure of mission B, Leader A fires subordinates C and D. Subordinate C publicly calls Leader A a traitor and vows to get that “son-of-bitch”.   Less than a year later, subordinates C and D are forced to resign their jobs working for Leader A.

Subordinates C and D have motive to want Leader A dead. However, with such a high visibility and conspicuous circumstances, opportunity is hardly knocking.

Official E, responsible for person A’s protection was the brother of the fired subordinate C. Also, mayor of the distant city where someone took the opportunity to assassinate person A.

What means would subordinates C and D have to carry out such a difficult act?  Both were former military.  Subordinate D was involved in multiple assassinations of leaders of other countries in the world over a period of decades.

How would they get away with it? Getting away with it would be easy. Fired subordinate D was appointed to the commission to investigate the assassination of Leader A. The person who succeeded Leader A in leadership wanted fired subordinate D to coach the commission on how to interview and what questions to ask.

In the end, what was the attitude of fired subordinates C, D and official E (brother to fired subordinate C and designated protector of assassinated Leader A) concerning their former Leader A?

Three days after the assassination, during the burial of Leader A, fired subordinate C held a gathering of high-ranking military at his domicile in the same city where the funeral was taking place.  The crowd in the room was upbeat.  Former Leader A’s funeral playing out on TV.  Drinks in hand. A knock on the door.  It was the guest of honor. Official E flew from the distant city, where his responsibility failed to protect Leader A from assassination, to attend this auspicious event.

Fired, threatening, subordinate C was never interviewed by the commission being directed by fellow fired subordinate D.

How come?

An Enchanting Rare Book

18/09/29 at 5.42am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Fresh off my latest social disaster, I decided I would review the book which would answer a contemporary mystery.

The book was rare.  It was only printed on demand.  No local or online book seller had it.  No near library held it.

I found my prize at Jelly Fenellie Books in London for the purchase price of $100.  I ordered it and it arrived in three weeks…what a surprise!

It was NOT a stogie mimeographed copy or plainly wrapped amateur creation.  A hard back. A fine dustcover. A clear library-like protective coat.  And more…

This book had the editor’s signature, date, best wishes. This book had the embossed stamp of its prominent owner.  Inside, in just the preface and first chapter pages, I found more surprises.

At first, I tried to acquire this book by other methods.  I checked the online book brokers.  I called a rare book shop in Pennsylvania.  I called the publisher, the son of the subject, in Dallas.  I contacted the library listed in a universal library search.  No luck.

I found this premiumly priced, rare book at Amazon UK site for a high price and ordered it immediately.  I waited anxiously.  I feared something would happen in transport or delivery that would spoil my self-assessed treasure.  Not so.

The book arrived bubble rapped and well taped, though packaging torn, in my mailbox as in the timeframe estimated. I perused it then put it down as if the excitement was over.

When I did cautiously approach the book to read, I anticipated that I would be at first slow to find enjoyment in it followed by boredom followed by drudgery.  But that wasn’t the case.

First, I was delighted to see the signature of the author.  As mentioned, it was the editor but also the son of the subject.  It turned out early that this accomplished military edited amateurishly, but lovingly.  He caught the high points the father would have wanted.

Tracing the identity of the embossed stamp, I discovered an author of prodigious works in the area of intelligence and espionage.  Also, a colorful politician and public figure, if not an occasional scoundrel.  I pursued his trail and found other books and authors to the point I was afraid I would lose my original intent, to review my new rare book.

I reluctantly returned to my expensive find and, after reading only the preface, wondered why I had wandered off.

Great names and events of the mid-twentieth century fell easily on to the preface pages.  Fine, precise words. Time lines and lengths of time. Teasers.  Resistance to publishing this memoir.  A philosophy which I expect will guide this tale or reappear at the epilogue.

One Night in Chickville

18/08/30 at 6.14am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Blood. A spot. On Syndee’s ear. Not good. Something else is dead.

It’s the end of summer here and I sit outside for a few minutes with the two dogs and fondle their ears.  There is usually something to find, burs and stickers mostly. Blood? Not so much. I know what this means without knowing the whole story. First blood could be one of a very few perpetrators, but this blood presents only as a clue. Before I put them in the back pasture and before I make the early morning rounds of the chickens and the ducks, I need to walk the near earth and discover who did what to who.

Feathers.  Outside the goose pen gate.  White feathers, scattered about, mostly the little fluffy ones.  The geese count three and look in good shape. Another pile. Not white. An attack pile away from the others, towards the Americana chickens in Coop 5.  Not good.  I thought never opened it yesterday, so I didn’t bother going up and closing it last night. This is the source of the blood.  But Big Syndee wouldn’t be the culprit. She doesn’t kill my chickens.  Her chickens.  But she’ll accept an invitation to a free meal.

The other one.  Smaller, pure white Sydnee, she would do this.  But she couldn’t.  Not reasonably.  Yesterday, when we went out in the afternoon, I had closed the pasture gates.  I know because I had to open them…very early this morning.  The dogs were barking.  I got up and went out to see.  I opened the gates and walked back…nothing to see.  Something had happened or was happening, and the dogs ran to it.  Now, with the light, I could see what that something was.

A sinking feeling came over me as I walked further back to Coop 5. Where were the chickens? I saw that the little coop door was left open.  There were no chickens behind the water tank where they usually congregated.  None either among the high weeds and reeds that cloaked the fenced in chicken yard. Nor in the fence enclosed chicken run which protected Coop 5. Looking through the wire into the coop I didn’t see a single bird. Last hope, I went around to external nest boxes to see who might be laying eggs. I unlatched the door to the first set of four boxes. Nadda.  Then the second. No luck. With a sickness at the bottom of my stomach I started to accept that whatever happened, all of my Coop 5 chickens were gone.  In one night.

Enlightenment on Ca-moo and Absurdism in Literature

18/07/26 at 6.43am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

My interest in Absurdist literature and Albert Camus led me to email the blogger Robin Bates, author of the blog BetterLivingThroughBeowulf.Com, and ask him about these subjects.  Below is his reply:

Albert Camus was a superstar during his life, in part because he summed up intellectuals’ distress over a world

  • which old certainties seemed to be vanishing away
  • when religious belief was on the decline
  • after a second world war
  • now with an atom bomb

Existentialism has some connection with the theater of the absurd. If there is no god, the reasoning went, then our lives have no ultimate meaning and our lives are absurd. As put by some: We are just a chemical reaction that occurred on a small pebbling hurling through the vast reaches of interstellar space, and an encounter with a large enough meteor would put an end to everything in a moment. Existentialism was a response to that bleak view of the world.

It’s always useful for me to remember that existentialism has the word “existence” at its core–it’s a philosophy that directly addresses existence questions, such as

  • why are we here?
  • where did we come from?
  • why do we die?
  • what is the meaning of our suffering, etc?

If there is no meaning to life, then it shouldn’t matter if Meursault shoots the Arab in The Stranger. In The Plague, such a sickness causes us all to question the meaning of life. Is there meaning in pushing a rock up a hill over and over, given that this could be a metaphorical expression of many of our lives.

Existentialists traced their thinking back to a number of others, including

  • Dostoevsky (especially the Grand Inquisitor chapter in Brothers Karamazov),
  • Nietzsche (wrestling with the death of God),
  • Kafka, and
  • Kierkegaard (Christian existentialists look to him).

The hard-boiled detective novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler have been described as existential, with the private eyes seeking to solve sordid crimes, even though the world won’t be that much of a better place even if they are successful. “You’re just a grubby little man in a grubby little world,” one villain tells the detective in Murder My Sweet. In The Maltese Falcon, when pushed to defend why he does what he does, Sam Spade replies, “When you’re partner dies, you’re supposed to do something about it.” It didn’t matter that his partner was a sleaze.

And that gets at one of the existential answers, one that existential authors like Ernest Hemingway also arrived at. If there’s not greater meaning [in life], then you determine a meaning and then you dedicate your life to that meaning. Sisyphus’s life has meaning because he dedicates it to pushing the rock up the hill, even though from another vantage point it’s all absurd. In fact, certain existentialists saw a kind of heroism in dedicating efforts to something which might be absurd.

There’s not much heroism to Vladimir and Estragon waiting around for Godot (God?) in Samuel Beckett’s play–so there’s a thin line between absurdism and existentialism.

Now, there are Christian existentialists, with the apparent absence of God from the world requiring a leap of faith (Kierkegaard). Existentialism is often seen as a very individualist philosophy, which is why it has fallen out of favor with some. After all, as soon as you start talking about families and communities, individual searches can seem somewhat selfish and self-absorbed. But there’s no doubt that existentialism has had a major influence on world literature. A whole generation of young people looking for meaning saw Camus as their spiritual guide.

Wolf traps are not always for wolves.

18/06/28 at 6.40am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

I just returned today from four days in Virginia.  It is the first respite of more than one day from my little chicken farm and its unpretentious responsibilities.  When I get away, I use the time to reflect on my concerns and put them in perspective.  The short trip to Vienna (VA) provided plenty of metaphorical fodder for my symbolically oriented mind.

Wolf Trap, VA is an area named by early pioneers for the pursuit of the menacing wolves which were a constant threat to community livestock.  The menace of wolves represents to me the menace of flood back at Sawmyl Synders Farm.  A certain “Wolf Trap Farm” sat on the Difficulty Run tributary.  Difficulty Run would surely describe, for me, the last three years of three floodings and recoveries.  The Difficulty Run, in VA, flows along mildly, for a while, until it meets the treacherous rapids at a juncture with a larger flow…the Potomac.  Potomac in Algonquin means “the place to which tribute is brought”.

Back at the farm, each time my hope was restored, my birds repopulated, and my buildings put back to near normal…I looked up to the heavens. The clouds ominously gathered.  They inflated and then darkened.  They came thundering down to exact tribute.  This treacherous Difficulty Run tributary ends at Dranesville, VA.  “Drainsville” is about where I am.  I’m not quitting but I’m not going to tell you I’m hopeful either, that would be a trap.  Prevailing over this difficulty will not look like anything I can imagine at this time.  I’m still draining.

Pub Theology 6/19/2018 Wrestling with Angels

18/06/28 at 6.30am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Flying: How do you make sure to be on time for your departure on commercial travel (airline flights, etc.) these days? What are your rituals, checklists, notes, and secret strategies? Talk about a time your flight prep wisdom failed you? Talk about a time your strategy saved you?

Jacob Wrestles with an Angel (Genesis 32:22-32) In this biblical story, Jacob wrestles with a man (thought to be an angel or God) and the angel does not prevail. Jacob will not release the angel until the angel blesses him. The angel’s blessing is to rename Jacob to Israel, meaning, roughly, to prevail.
We wrestle with mankind and heavenly spirits our entire lives.
Can you relate to a monumental life struggle in which you prevailed even though you didn’t technically win?
Upon reflection, do life’s most devastating struggles seem to be strategic challenges for growth or demonic curses meant to demoralize?
Have you had pointless struggles which did NOT benefit you later in life? If so, who do you blame?

Self-Authoring: You decide to write your autobiography. In your memory search, you discover that there is someone who contributed mightily to who you are today. You are out of contact with this person. You never said thank you. What can you do to thank a long-lost person who was instrumental in your development? What if they are gone?

Sisyphus: Albert Camus ~ The human condition is characterized by the probability of suffering and the certainty of death—a fate which human reason cannot accept as reasonable.
If Camus’ characterization is right, what can a human do to be able to accept his/her unreasonable fate?
If Camus’ is not accurate, how should his prophecy be re-written to become reasonable?

Dante’s Inferno: This 14th century epic poem puts flatterers in the Eighth Circle of Hell, and condemns them to “living in excrement”, among other things. Betrayers, on the other hand, are directed to the Ninth Circle of Hell, which features sinners being “encased in ice” – and that’s just for starters.
Aren’t you occasionally guilty of both flattery and betrayal? Did you consider these common human behaviors as sins or merely means to an end? Are you less guilty of flattery and betrayal today? Why or why not?

Better Living Through Beowulf: Chinua Achebe (from Things Fall Apart) ~ Okonkwo … strives to show no weakness. He wants to dispel his tainted legacy. Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely on his own. He is also obsessed with his masculinity, and any slight compromise on this is swiftly destroyed. He has attained a position in his society for which he has striven all his life.
When has your striving for something brought you down? How can distancing oneself from their disavowed legacy become a liability?

Philosophy: Václav Havel ~ There are no exact guidelines. There are probably no guidelines at all. The only thing I can recommend is a sense of humor, an ability to see things in their ridiculous and absurd dimensions, to laugh at others and at ourselves, a sense of irony regarding everything that calls out for parody in this world.
Can a recommendation of perspective and distance be also a guideline to living in awareness?
Does an awareness of all the most dangerous kinds of vanity protect us from both others and ourselves?
Can a good mind and a modest certainty about the meaning of things in turn transform our innocence?
Is having a gratitude for the gift of life and the courage to take responsibility for it a result of:
• a vigilance of spirit or
• merely the result of the circuitous struggle with life and our own stubborn selves?

This Day in History: June 19, 1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 41 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.
What legal, social, or political restrictions are being resurrected in the U.S. or around this world?
When have you emancipated yourself from the restrictions imposed by feckless rule?

Loss Must Be Urn-ed

18/05/28 at 5.17am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

It was late. It was dark. We pulled into the driveway and something caught my eye. In the shadows, in the driveway next door, a tiny red dot betrayed dark figure. I opened the garage door and stepped cautiously from the truck. My wife took things from the cab and headed inside. I dropped the tailgate in order to remove the unwieldy cargo. The burning cigarette attached to a man’s mouth approached quickly.
“May I help?” puffed the cig.
“Gladly!” say I.
In a sec the mini-freezer gently met pavement, but with a groan.
“Thanks”, says a me, looking curiously at the grown man.
“I just had surgery on my arm. Ah, she hurts.”, puffed he.
“Lordy!”, I concorded. In this stranger’s efforts to help me, he may have hurt himself.
It turns out, this man was waiting for others to arrive. Upon our last words, several vehicles raced for the curb and piled out into street and marched toward the house of Puffy’s. The neighborly homeowner among them informed me that a friend of theirs, a young adult I surmised, had died suddenly (tragically?). This explanation served as a purpose for the gathering.
The next morning, the next-door driveway and the curbs were clear. Nothing to see here…but… What looked like a tall, rounded vase with a base sat solitary and distinctive near the attached garage. Filled with something which seemed to give it external texture, it was. Internal gravitas? But what was it? Remnants, but of what? A tribute, but to who? Ashes for Algernon? Butts!

When Doting Parents Care

18/05/28 at 5.09am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

As a child, I was well loved, but… One time, when I was a young boy, my old man (Dad), yelled at me, “You have the temperament of an old man.” Not knowing what temperament meant at that time, I didn’t have an immediate retort.

Dig if you will the picture, a local winery event with band and vendors and a Saturday family crowd. Two uninterested vino connoisseurs (NOT winos) seek out a spot far from the madding crowd. A place where they can share stories and observations which challenge veracity. There it is! A pergola covered courtyard opposite the banter and the band with the expansive winery buildings in between. With appropriate glass wear and beverage acquired, seats in a semi-sunny spot are selected and the games begin. But the skeptic in the pair somehow knew that serenity found would soon devolve into paradise lost.

Dream, if you can, a courtyard. First, there arrived a quiet lady with a glass who sat an appropriate distance. Next, they came, a romantic couple who chose a table as distant as possible. After them…the deluge. Prominent among them was the young fit couple with a baby carrier and a noisy gaggle of boys trailing off after those youths spotted a corner for creating mischief. This young couple, with expansive seating still available, sat European close to our perimeter table. So be it.

“Brunswick!”, thundered the parental scream. The startling break in the quiet almost bowled me out of my chair. It seems the fit couple dad had a fit because his boy baby (improbably named Brunswick) split out of sight with the soccer jocks. Slipping out of sight with this dad ran a foul of his rules. Ok, enough, nothing to see here. Settle back into to your conversation. But minutes, seemed like seconds, later…

“Brunswick!”, boomed the now familiar mezzo-frantico voice.

Maybe I’m just too demanding. My lofting impatience hitting the ceiling, I directed barely audible invectives at the near table – you know, the kind you hear in the background when you’re giving your monthly committee status report.

“What?”, yelled back the puzzled little Brunswick. I was puzzled, too. He was clearly visible this time through the glistening concertina wire, between the deep effluent filled roadside gutters and he looked to be escaping the several stray dogs playfully chasing the urchins.

Why do they scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doting parents care.

Yeah, Dad, I get it now.

Pub 5-15-2018: Youth, the Past, Going Mad; a Robin, an Eagle, a Wulf; Thesis for an Anti-Thesis

18/05/28 at 4.56am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Memories of Youth: Talk about an achievement from your youth that seemed to have gone unnoticed then.  That effort is still sitting proudly in your memory and holds as a reminder of who you were and what you can accomplish.

How does this past effort affect your present?

Today in Church History: Isidore the Farmer, was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. He is the Catholic patron saint of the farmer. His feast day is celebrated on May 15.  The story of St. Isidore is a reminder of the dignity of work, and that ordinary life can lead to holiness… St. Isidore’s life demonstrates that: If you have your spiritual self in order, your earthly commitments will fall into order also.

How is the work you do dignifying?  In what ways is the life you live ordinary?
Is your spiritual self always an asset in your earthly commitments?

Don’t go away mad… Members in your family are mental.  Friends in your friendship are fiendish.  Characters in your corporation are corrupt.  How do you survive inextricable relationships?  Fix? Suffer? Abandon?

If I don’t allow you to choose any of the aforementioned three options, what is the best way to handle relationships conceived in hell and neglected by heaven?

Who Killed Cock Robin?… is a poem thought to originate in a Celtic myth.  In that myth, the red sun of summer, a robin, is killed by an arrow shot by the god of winter, a sparrow.  The image of birds is predominant because of the Celtic belief that souls became birds after death.  For the sake of argument, assume the soul physical attributes.

How do you envision your soul as manifested in the following presentations:
Before conception?  During life?  After death?

Are you an ethics eagle or a foul falcon?  Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon (1931), created the character Sam Spade.  This fictional private investigator solved mysteries with hardboiled, sometimes illegal and often unethical methods, giving up lovers and friends.  Hammett himself professioned also as a PI.  He neither broke the law nor gave up sources (even spending time in prison) – The antithesis of Spade.

When have your personal ethics stunted your professional ambitions?
As a result, did you recalibrate your ethics or reevaluate your profession or simply temporarily ruminate on your ethical enigma?

Better Living Through Beowulf… St. Mary’s English Professor Robin Bates’ BLTB blog entry, Which Fictional Death Still Haunts You?, inquires as to your most enduring fictional fatality, be it book, movie, or play.

Do you have one?
If so, why do you think that fictional tragedy evoked such real pathos in you?
Did the writer draw you in?  Did you have a relatable personal encounter?

Not a Joke: Police interview three people at a crime scene, a priest, a lawyer and the victim.  The priest describes the crime in detail.  The lawyer describes the crime in facts.  The victim tells the truth.  The ability to articulate requires one to concisely give the facts.  The ability to express emotions allows one to tell the truth.

What is it about emotions which make them superior to facts when the truth is the pursuit?

This Day in History: May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio begins his “unbreakable” 56-game hitting streak.  In 1967, Simon and Garfunkel’s song “Mrs. Robinson” featured the lyrics: Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.  Simon concluded that DiMaggio was the antithesis of both the authority-defying “hippie generation” and the hypocritical “older generation” of the 60’s.

Who would you consider the respectful and genuine role model of our age?  Can you lyricize it?

Rob Bell Meets Supertramp

18/04/27 at 7.09am   /   by Pat Der Sin   /   0 Comment

Sunday, our house church watched a video titled Rain performed by American author and speaker Rob Bell.  When it came time for group discussion and my turn to answer a question, I was like a deer in the headlights.  But Monday morning, I sought solace for my aforementioned silence in the lyrics of Supertramp, hoping that inveterate English progressive art rock band (formed in 1969) could help me answer Rob Bell’s probing questions put forth in his video’s spiritual narrative.  Singing true, I present some of Mr. Bell’s questions with answers parsed from the Supertramp’s lyrics to “It’s Raining Again” with my annotations as parentheticals:

 

Rob Bell Supertramp
What are some of the storms in your life? It’s raining again (memories of the 2016 Magnolia flood disaster…thought to be a Fluke)
Is it raining now? Oh no, it’s raining again (Hi! Fluke II Harvey… recovery)
Do you think God intentionally puts us through trials? And you know it’s hard to pretend (it IS a trial and it SEEMS intentional…a curse?)
Looking back, do you still feel the same? Oh, will my heart ever mend (trauma waters run deep but eventually run out)
Have you ever felt like God failed to come through for you? La, la, la, la, la, la, la
Do you ever act like everything is okay even when it isn’t? You’re old enough some people say
To read the signs and walk away (acting okay is what we do)
Looking back, do you still feel the same? It’s only time that heals the pain
And makes the sun come out again (when faith betrays – cliché!)
Why do we do this? La, la, la, la, la, la, la
Do you have anyone in your life who you would do anything for? Too bad I’m losing a friend (in crises, some relationships break allowing new ones to blossom)
Do you think that’s how God feels about you? Come on, you little fighter (an ethereal voice keeps singing)
When you’re going through really hard times and everything seems hopeless, do you still trust that God knows the way and that you’re going to make it? And get back up again (that’s hope He’s bringing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVZv2Yq70Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZUE4_PtOk0