The Court of Last Retort was itself "anthraxed" by angst no different from the contagious gloom that is contaminating the body polity. Kidnapping has climaxed to record highs while the stock market index has taken a steep nosedive. The bulls have been eaten alive and are inside the belly of the bears that rule the sluggish economy.
After coming out of a long weekend recess, politicians rushed to the frontpages and resumed throwing muck and mire at each other’s faces  the kind of muck and mire that stinks to high heavens. We’re nearing the end of the year but the entries in the scandal sheets and in the scam ledgers suggest that with what we are all going through, the end of the year may just presage the end of the world. God forbid.
Worse, the litany of lamentation essays more jarring developments. Coup rumors sweeten the talk in coffeeshops but sours investor confidence to do business in the Philippines. More bizarre is the explanation from officialdom that the intermittent blackouts have been the handiwork of mischievous jellyfish who’ve been deliberately sabotaging power plants. Well, how about issuing subpoenas to the jellyfish and hauling them all to a senate inquiry? Geez.
The tropical depression code-named "Nanang" which battered the Paradise Island of Camiguin caused a personal depression for the Court’s female magistrate which has previously adopted the island as her regular sanctuary. Argee, for his part, providently avoided a bout with the monsoon as he luckily put off his plans to visit Camiguin during the time when the typhoon pummeled the province.
But what pains your starstruck, jologs justices of the Court of Last Retort most is the gruesome parking-lot murder of affable and amusing movie leg
In as much as everyone hates the Court to sound like prophets of doom and gloom, at least for this week, Argee and Honey  like countless others  can’t avoid being sucked into a wrestling match with the ennui and enigma of a calamitous November.
Just picture this: On a gimmick-less night in November, when you are unfashionably unproductive at home and hunkered down by an island-wide brownout, the bugging noise of the nocturnal downpour pitter-pattering against your roof and window pane interferes with