By The People and For The People?

Mr.Thick was all curves; and with three doublechins and a belly that just fitted Grand Canyon he had the star billing. As for Mr.Thin he was pencil thin and the mere sight of him made a beanpole snigger to think he was fighting fit. Mr. Thick and Mr. Thin were a team. Whenever they did the aerial act it was the showstopper and all the spectators held their breath to see the outcome.
Yes Mr. Thick had promised to let himself free fall. Against much of the misgivings of the Circus manager and the investors who ran the Megalopolis Circus Company. Before the astounded spectators Mr. Thick let go himself from so high and got up with nary a scratch.
Next was the turn of Mr. Thin who thought he could not be a wimp and let a safety net as usual. “If Mr. Thick can do a daredevil act so can I. I am as light as a feather” so said he. Before he climbed to the top he winked at the fellow who looked after the safety net to take a breather. So he dropped his net and went out for a smoke.
There was the drum roll and silence from the crowd to catch the breath and they waited. Mr. thin let go from his perch. He did three turns and four twists before hitting the sawdust. But the height and the concrete floor beneath the sawdust, Man, you gotta be kidding to think you can surive the fall. Well Mr. Thin didn’t.
How come Mr. Thick could do it? Well Mr. Thick was indispensable to the owners of the Circus Company. The auditor also had shown how much profits he alone raked in. So the company had almost invisible net to break Mr. Thick when he fell.
The way the Republican government under President Bush has managed has its peculiar logic. The rich, filthy rich are like Mr. Thick.
Average tax rates on the richest 0.01 percent of Americans have been cut in half since 1970 while taxes on the middleclass have risen.
benny

Million Dollar Legs

The top 25 hedge fund managers in the USA according to Alpha magazine made 14 billion dollars last year. It would seem the times are good for those who want to play with other peoples money and one can make a killing if one has the cool nerve for it. “ Perhaps you think I am crying ‘sour grapes’?
Let me admit I haven’t seen a $1000 bill let alone thought of dollars in terms of millions. The only time I lovingly thought of millions was when Betty Grable showed her legs and I thought, “Wow, Million dollar babe!” I had even a pinup carefully hidden under my mattress, which my father one morning had in his hands. His look said it all: shades of hell yawning for you! If his looks said that, his tearing it, he vowed was for the good of my soul. Yiikes! It still makes me sigh, “ Betty’s gams! She was my kind of babe!”
Having lost the yen for the real thing like a woman’s curves and shapes what does a billion call to the mind of an old fogey like me?
14 billions is much more than it would cost to provide health care for a year to 8 million children. Some of them for the lack of adequate care might end with osteoporosis and other disabilities as they age. They may never be Betty Grables or Jane Russels. They may not even make the grade of a GI Joe!
benny

A Footnote

News On The March of yesterday is to be read in context of the following:
The US military operation in Iraq in April 2003 (according to what we are led to believe) was to bring down the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein. He belonged to the minority Sunni sect while the majority of the population belonged to Shiite. In knocking him out the USA merely made the hand of Iran stronger.
Thus the president of the USA has proved to be the closest ally that Iran has now got.
benny

News On The March!

Grand Ayatollah Ramda’n II of Karbaala according to unconfirmed reports of The Shi’ite Charivari has recommended to the College of Holy Prophets sitting in the Mosque of Hundred Beatitudes, the name of President Bush to be declared as a ‘Mah’di of the lesser name’.
The reason: did not President Bush at a great cost of his prestige and political powerbase invade Iraq in order to remove Saddam Hussein? The Ayatollah who has supported the candidacy of Bush feels that the infidel President, by his single act has earned his place among the blessed and true.
My contacts say the Shi’ites everywhere add a line in their morning prayer and as far as I can understand it roughly translates thus: ‘May the blessed one who sit in Capitol Hill, hallowed be thy name.’
benny

Other Side Of The Coin

Mr. Ladder became a saint on a single act. Host of angels who descended the heavens in Jacob’s dream needed a ladder, and it was Mr. Ladder who served as one. Or rather as a model for the angels. Mr. Ladder considered himself sanctified for the Lord’s use. Like all those articles set apart for the Lord’s Tabernacle.
It so happened one night Mr. Ladder was hauled in the cover of night. It was a thief who used him for this occasion. The masked robber climbing the ladder reached the terrace of the sleeping mansion and gained entry. Unfortunately he was caught. In his defense he said he broke in on the Lords statement” Behold I come as a thief!”
Can a ladder be both a holy article and a means for man’s wicked purposes?
Yes a ladder may be both as some of the wisest ones in our world behave in the most foolish manner.
How come? In order to understand this split nature of our existence we need to understand our own basic make up.
At the level of atoms we are all one. Even the Lord Almighty would require a lowly thing as a ladder to teach Patriarch Jacob a lesson. Similarly Lord Jesus would need to rely on a similie of thieves and adulterers in order to teach some spiritual truths.
Like overtones that give a musical note its special timbre, evil and good are so inalienably intermixed in anything that makes up our world.
benny

Profiles In Courage

I quoted the title of a book by JFK. It has however nothing to do with my main topic.

From the previous entry would it mean that there is no difference between a fool and a wiseman? Of course not! Mad Max was a thundering fool. In Nanavut his iceboxes had no place. Despite of that his aim to be a salesman in something unsaleable ( of refrigerators) naturally was unrealistic. He put the wellbeing of his family at risk by his sticking to his aim..
It is as unrealistic as President George Bush trying to emulate his predecessor Ronald Regan. Knowing well his misadventure in Iraq was putting lives of soldiers and civilians at needless risk what would it prove? That he is a man moral courage? Bush is a fool and as impossible as Mad Max.
In the story of Mad Max, global warming was yet in future and had nothing to contribute for the weal of his family. How an individual works within his time and place and takes advantage of every push and pull of events must underline his wisdom. Wisdom of which kind is another point to which I shall come back later.
Tailpiece:
He who disregards here and now for the ‘maybe’ of tomorrow is a fool.
benny

Mad Max

First of all let me greet you from my present hide-out.
Yeah I am hiding from some serious contagion that seeps across my life: age is something of a virus and it has caught me good and proper. Each day I can feel its clammy breath saying," Don't fight me!" I would like to give some retort but gasp, It makes me feel somewhat breathless. So I thought I might clue you in. This blog is a rehash of Sufficient unto this day but with some changes here and there. ( Just to prove even ageing has some useful lessons I can profit from.)
My wife and I are happily settled in.
Till I have some fighting spirit in me I shall stay put in this quiet corner. Even corners have names and this one is called Coonoor. I am surrounded by blue hills and the mist rises each day giving them some peculiar quality. Picturesque place, as beautiful and serene as any other hallowed spots that may still be found unspoilt on the earth,- and for all that heavenly qualities I do not think it lets me off the slow contagion that we mortals have to put up with. So I ask you why should I escape from what is our common fate?
A Fool Is A Wiseman (Who just missed the bus)
‘Mad’ Max was designated as the biggest fool who ever lived in a town with a curious name Pie-In-The-Sky. As soon as he learnt to assemble a refrigerator he knew he wanted to sell one. So he took off to the North Pole. But the Inuit didn’t buy a single one and he died a very poor man. All that he left behind was some ice boxes and a technical manual.
On the other hand Dr. Faustus having made a pact with the devil became the most celebrated scholar who knew everything that went under the Sun, which passed for knowledge. How the crowned heads and scholars alike feted him! Then came the computers that made him redundant. He died in grief. He said that a machine beat him. Yes.
The world went a-changing! Then came a thaw and ice melted. The polar caps vanished as an icicle in a furnace. The people in Nunavut learnt to live with the climate changes. Then someone found the papers of ‘Mad’ Max and it was a discovery that electrified the whole region. They learnt to make fridges themselves and control their houses to the right temperature. Who contributed to the welfare of the world more? A fool or a scholar?
benny