Egypt: what would Bastet do?

As recent as Jan 2010, they found new discoveries of ancient relics in Egypt. As pictured above: "This limestone feline is among some 600 cat statues from a newfound temple dedicated to the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet. The ancient temple was recently discovered under the streets of modern-day Alexandria, Egypt.

Egyptian archaeologists who found the temple say it was built by Queen Berenike II, wife of Greek King Ptolemy III, who ruled Egypt from 246 to 221 B.C.

Cats were important house pets in ancient Egypt and were often depicted in private tombs. In some cases, cats were mummified in the same way as humans and buried at temples.

"This is one of the most important discoveries in Alexandria in the last hundred years," said Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of antiquities of Lower Egypt for the Supreme Council of Antiquities and lead archaeologist for the find."

Bastet is "probably the most famous Egyptian goddess after Isis. Bastet was a wild goddess. To those who were in her favor, she gave great blessings, but her wrath was legendary and she was sometimes listed as one of Ra's avenging deities who punish the sinful and the enemies of Egypt. This is of course in keeping with her totem animal, the cat. Cats were sacred to Bastet, and to harm one was deemed a great transgression. Bast's importance in the Egyptian pantheon might be due to the great value placed on the domesticated cat by the Egyptians."

Would Bastet back the current Egyptian protestors? Or would she just want stability in her land? Are some in Egypt praying to her right now?

She was "a giver of blessings to the good and a deliverer of wrath to the evil, just as was Sekhmet."

The goddess may need to be appeased...

"In accordance with the complex conceits of ancient Egyptian religious concepts, powerful, and often destructive forces, had to be appeased and allayed in order to effect their transformation into benevolent, useful powers. In keeping with this conceit, feline goddesses were possessed of opposing characteristics often given visual form in the contrast between a lioness and a cat. The destructive forces associated with felines was often manifest in the lioness as Sakhmet whose belligerent characteristics could be soothed by the playing of a sistrum in order for her to metamorphose into a more docile pussy cat."

Which cat will prevail in today's egypt? The tamed pussycat or the ferocious lion...? I think the outcome is way beyond the paygrade of American pantywaists in Washington conspiring to get their CAIR bear pals into power...

This is out of their reach... Prrrrrr prrrrr... HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

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Sultan Knish does some excellent debunking commentary on Egypt fallacies:

1. "Egypt has undergone a democratic revolution"
comment: Egypt has not undergone anything of the sort

2. "This is a struggle for freedom and democracy."
comment: Feedom and democracy are not synonymous except in political speeches.

3. "Mubarak is a dictator"
comment: Mubarak is certainly not your Uncle Fred, but Egypt is still one of the more freer and open societies in the region.

4. "As Americans we should support democracy in Egypt"
comment: Kefaya, the National Movement for Change, is an anti-American organization. It is already allied with the Muslim Brotherhood.

5. "It's in our ideals to support a people's struggle for self-determination"
comment: It's not in our ideals to support people who bomb churches and murder little girls.

6. "How can we support a dictator over a democratic movement?"
comment: Why do we have to support either one?

7. "We have to take the chance that everything will work out!"
comment: Is that how we make policy now by hoping for change?

8. "It's in our interest to remove Mubarak because dictatorships breed terrorism"
comment: Then how do you explain all the Islamic terrorists who were born in the United States and the UK.

go read the rest... meow, baby, meow

death of thieves allowed: detailed Egypt ground report from AT

Fascinating ground report at AT today with inside summary of events taking place in Egypt. Story of the Egyptian Revolution:

"I do not aim to turn this into a personal story, but those people are my friends and family. It is a personal story to me. My neighbors were all stationed in my father-in-law's house with men on the roof to lookout for possible attackers. A friend of mine was shot at by a gang of thieves and another actually killed one of them to defend his house and wife. Another friend's brother arrested 37 thieves that day. The army's only role in all of this was to pass by each area to pick up the arrested thieves. Army officers informed the street committees that anyone with an illegal weapon should not worry and should use it. Any death of one of the thieves would not be punished."

What will next happen now in Egypt?

"So where are we today? Well the answer is still not clear, yet a couple of conclusions are evident.

1. The Gamal inheritance scenario is finished.

2. Mubarak will not run for another Presidential term. His term ends in October and either he will serve the rest of his term or will resign once things cool down for health reasons, which are real. He is dying.

3. The army is in control now. We are heading back to the "golden age" of army rule. The "kids" are no longer in charge. The "men' are.

4. Until the economy fails again, the neo-liberal economic policies are over. Forget about an open economy for some time."

What about CNN's coverage?

"You seem to wonder after all of this where El Baradei and the Egyptian opposition are. CNN's anointed leader of the Egyptian Revolution must be important to the future of Egypt. Hardly! Outside of Western media hype, El Baradei is nothing. A man that has spent less than 30 days in the past year in Egypt and hardly any time in the past 20 years is a nobody. It is entirely insulting to Egyptians to suggest otherwise. The opposition you wonder? Outside of the Muslim Brotherhood we are discussing groups that can each claim less than 5,000 actual members. With no organization, no ideas, and no leaders they are entirely irrelevant to the discussion. It is the apolitical young generation that has suddenly been transformed that is the real question here."

Long term plans for the Egyptian people?

"On the long run the Egyptian question remains the same. Nothing has changed in that regard. It is quite remarkable for people to be talking about the prospect for a democratic transition at this moment. A population that was convinced just two months ago that sharks in the Red Sea were implanted by the Israeli Intelligence Services is hardly at a stage of creating a liberal democracy in Egypt. But the status quo cannot be maintained. A lack of any meaningful political discourse in the country has to be addressed. Until someone actually starts addressing the real issues and stop the chatterbox of clichés on democracy, things will not get better at all. It will only get worse."

Well with TheUrkel regime in charge? What could go wrong?!

Read full commentary here.