Monday, November 08, 2004

Somebody Loves Us In the Land of Pharoahs

I've been meaning to put a few more blogs out for reading and appreciation and one that I read regularly is GM form the Land of the Pharoahs (that would be Egypt for my historically impaired friends). GM always has good information about what is going on in other parts of the Muslim world with reviews and analysis of the Arab news, TV and his own personal takes. He absolutely loves America and is probably the only liberal Republican in the entire country of Eqypt!

Today he pointed us to an article and labeled it Somebody's got BAAAAAAALLLLLSSSSSS!!!!

His words not mine (though I agree whole heartedly). He points out a high ranking Iraqi who thinks the UN and France ought to "shut the hell up".

Annan warned in a letter dated October 31 to the United States, Britain and Iraq that such an assault would have a "negative impact" on the prospects for elections, now scheduled for January.

But Sha'alan said on Sunday that Annan did nothing to help Iraqis under the rule of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

"Where was Kofi Annan when Saddam was slaughtering the Iraqis like sheep?" Sha'alan said.

"Where were the calls we hear from Arab and Islamic countries when Saddam was messing up the country?


Something most of us have been saying for months now and glad to see somebody go off the reservation and give the stupid UN sheep a go at it with the sheers. But it's going to take decades to sheer the crap off that sheep.

Also, our friend Froggy offers a prayer for the troops going in and I echo it in the inner sanctum. I'm not much for chain letters, but I sincerely hope that some of you will add this prayer to your own blog if you've got it. Now onward to the inner sanctum.

Samuel II Ch:22 2-7 These are the words of David, the greatest warrior the world has even known. He was also described as a "man after God's own heart".
And he said:
"The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation,
My stronghold and my refuge;
My Savior, You save me from violence.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
"When the waves of death surrounded me,
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry entered His ears.


2Sa 22:33-43
God is my strength and power,
And He makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.
He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
"You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your gentleness has made me great.
You enlarged my path under me;
So my feet did not slip.
"I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
And I have destroyed them and wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose against me.
You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
They looked, but there was none to save;
Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth;
I trod them like dirt in the streets,
And I spread them out.


Amen


4 comments:

Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files said...

Or since you mentioned a ballsy Egyptian, let us include one in the ancient texts of his land:

"Amma aau en Ra neb pet athi ankh, ut'a, senb
Ari neteru
Tua-ten su em aru-f nefer em khaa-f em attet
Tua-tu heru
Tua-tu kheru
An nek Tahuti Maat ment ra neb
Kheft-k ertau en set
Sebau kher
Aaui-f qaus
Nehem en Ra ret-f
Mesu betes an un-sen!"

Translated from the Papyrus of Ani:
"Ascribe praise to Ra, lord of heaven, the Prince, Life, Strength, Health
Creator of the gods
Adore ye Him in His beautiful Presence in his rising in the Attet boat
The beings of the heights shall worship thee
The beings of the depths shall worship thee
Thoth and Maat write for thee day and night
Thine enemy is given to the fire
The evil one has fallen
His arms are bound
Ra hath removed his legs
The sons of impotent revolt shall never again rise up!"

...can I get an Amen?

...or at least an Amun?

Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files said...

I am stricken, on rereading the Papyrus of Ani, by some close cognates between ancient Egyptian and modern and archaic Tahitian:

Egyptian: Aau
Tahitian: Faau
(Both mean "to praise")

Egyptian: Ra
Tahitian: Ra
(Egypt's sun god, in Tahitian the literal "sun")

Egyptian: Athi
Tahitian: Arii
(Prince or king)

Egyptian: neteru
Tahitian: atua
(gods)

Egyptian: aru
Tahitian: aroa
(presence)

Egyptian: Tehuti
Tahitian: Tu
(a god)

Egyptian: Maat
Tahitian: Mata
(a god)

Egyptian: Ment
Tahitian: Mahana
(day)

Egyptian: Aaui
Tahitian: Aui
(arm in Egyptian, left arm in Tahitian)

Some words are very different, but others are eerily similar. I knew a shaman on Ra'iatea who swore up and down that the holy ancestral homeland of the Polynesians, which they called "Havaiki Nui" was actually Egypt. The Greek word for "Egypt", "Aigyptos", actually comes from the Egyptian place-name for Memphis (root HT-K3-PTH). I've been scrambling trying to find the Egyptian word for Egypt as a whole, or as a land, without much luck, but my old Tahu'a friend used to tell me it was "Ai Fit", which looks suspiciously like "Aigyptos", so maybe's he was more "on something" than "onto something".

The language cognates are still impressive though.

Kat said...

Actually, I have seen this theory around for some time that the polynesians were actually very adventurous egyptians. But doesn't it seem likely that with the development of language amongst ancient people, that similar syllables would come forward? Particularly if they had any interaction in later years with other peoples?

Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files said...

It's possible, but then the earliest Marae (stone temples) of Polynesia were... step pyramids.