Augustus Douw Outpost

Religion: The Other Government

2010-01-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

Ever since the Garden of Eden, when the Serpent asserted his ecclesiastical view of governance into Eve's attentive mind and gave her his interpretation of the constitution of God's Kingdom, world politics has always paused to consider the reckoning opinions of religious powers.

The kingdoms of the world have never since been completely able to draw a line between the two competing ideals that constantly struggle to dominate social governance or balance the weights of morality and legality.

The crusaders of past fallen empires conquered new territory with double ideological convictions of political liberation backed by religious conviction, often with two representative flags respectfully hoisted to certify the the facts. And when religion from the conquerors came with the power of the king, the new subjects were often forced to show their loyalty by converting to the faith of new invaders as a sacrament of obeisance. The consequence of dissidence was often death or damning dungeons.

The Catholic Church was one time an empire in itself, ruling the world in the historical "Dark Ages", enforcing the doctrine of the church with a mighty, heavy hand. The facts of the Spanish Inquisition testify to the power of religion in those days as a super power that pinned the world under its thumb. In its era, all non Catholics were considered heretics and ground to pieces by the Inquisitor.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, The Church of England repeated the merging of powers of church and state, bringing the church under the control of King Henry VIII as the Supreme Governor of the Church. Henry desired to cause the king to be the supreme leader of the kingdom's church, and wrestled acrimoniously with the Pope for control of England's monasteries and clergy.

In May 1532 the Church of England agreed to surrender its legislative independence and canon law to the authority of the monarch. In 1533 the Statute in Restraint of Appeals removed the right of the English Roman clergy and laity to appeal to Rome on matters of faith and church.

The first Act of Supremacy confirmed Henry VIII by statute as the Supreme Head of the Church of England in 1536. This constitutional change made it possible for Henry to access the considerable wealth that the Church had amassed.

The founding of the great United States and its constitution was an attempt by freedom-seeking citizens to liberate themselves from the strong absolute controlling power of the Church of England. They wished for a free government system that didn't use religious loyalty as a sign of loyalty to the flag or king, and to practice faith outside of government-mandated doctrines. But one might rightly conclude that that was asking too much. Although the constitution has always guaranteed separation of church and state, it's ideally only on paper. Politics has never disentangled freely from religion. George Washington's faith in God led him to guide the design of the constitution along Bible principles. Abrahan Lincoln's faith was a fundamental conviction in his fight against slavery. Martin Luther's 'Dream" of complete civil rights for all people hinged upon his Christian believes.

The First Amendment prohibits the Congress from making laws respecting an establishment of religion. The one-dollar bill of the United States currency is inscribed with the motto: "In God We Trust." Mark you, this is the property of the United States Treasury, a department of the federal government. The inclusion of the motto on all currency was required by law in 1955. How does this go over the First Amendment? It was as though Congress confessed at that time that although the wish of the people is to keep the two institutions separate, the political can never exist without the confederation of the religious.

Religion's influence on politics continues to operate in stealth up to date. The assertion of religious powers continues to dominate world politics in a semi-underground fashion just barely demarcated with a thin, obscure line between the church and legislation. The separation of state and church in United States is at best just hypothetical anymore, with many state legislators paying close attention to opinions--and sometimes arm-twisting--from churches who support voters and powerful interest groups.

Besides the influence of Christian churches on politics, Islam has evolved into a major player in the field, albeit from a different direction. As a law in itself, Islam is viewed by the faithfuls as absolute constitution from God Himself, and a fundamental layer of governance for any country that claims Islamic values and heritage. Any ideologies or systems that work contrary to that law are considered fundamentally satanic, or evil and subject to judgment according to that law, for which most crimes death is prescribed. Thus terror becomes judgment in behalf of God, according to them.

The harsh strictness of the Islamic law and the zeal with which the faithfuls work to uphold and protect those laws, is not understood in the Western conventional interpretations of religion or laws. The two sides come into conflict in a complex misrepresentation of each side's motives, intentions and values with a resultant loud clash that has now significantly altered the world's perspective on security and freedom. The conflict is now irrevocably coined "the war on terror, or terrorism."

Religious ideologies and churches wield superpower status anymore on their own. The Catholic Church still maintains strong influence on many countries' governments and special interest groups. Catholic politician's the world over listen carefully to their diocese and bishops before they vote.

The church's influence is on every piece of legislation at every level. The recent health care debate was largely steered by the pressure and wishes of the Catholic Church, when a last minute impasse around using publicly funded insurance programs to pay for abortions almost derailed the bill at the Senate level. Senators understood to do the will of the church or forget passing the bill at that point.

In the same context, the West needs to understand that in the views of the faithfuls, Islam is both a government system and a law, as well as a religion. The three are inseparable. An Islamic state is just that: all three fundamental elements represented in one ideal, by which an Islamic government rules its subjects. A holy war is demanded by the Koran and triggered by the invasion upon the religious law or state by a non-believing force or occupation.

Osama Bin Laden's motivations are not selfish, but ideologically and fundamentally right according to Islamic law. His murder of thousands or millions of "unbelieving invaders" is just obeisance to the law. He would never see it as crimes or appreciate prosecution for murders. If convicted and executed, he would be dying for the faith, a martyr, in his conviction. For being so faithful and dedicated, he is admired by his supporters as a heaven-bound, zealous soldier.

With Islamists determined to protect the sanctity of the Islamic laws with such zeal, it should not surprise anyone in the West that such fundamental acts of obeisance, marked by violent punishment for lawbreakers as proscribed by Sharia Law, have been escalating. The conflict will not cease any time soon, or ever. To ask Moslems to stop terrorizing the world is tantamount to asking them to stop believing in or protecting the perceived sanctity of their laws, according to the Koran. The outlook of the conflict appears bleak . The standoff may not be suppressed or even stopped with bombs, guns or forced political reorganization.

As Islam spreads its influence and terror into nether parts of the world, taking advantage of technology and improved communication to garner support, foment training and recruitment, a change in engagement policy by the West would probably have better results and decrease the conflict. Negotiations and relinquishing of native territory to the Islamists and working in economic fronts rather than military ones would probably render more appeasement and decrease motivations to violent conflicts and terror. If they were left to their thing and kept from flying into the West, they would be more content than being invaded and forced to rewrite their religious values in exchange for economic development.

An Israeli Strike On Iran May Not Be Worth It

2009-12-31T22:45:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

Before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared president in an election largely viewed by many Iranians and most of the world as fraudulent, Iranian's Supreme Council and the president were bent on chest thrusting and defiant rhetoric toward America and the West, pushing their nuclear agenda and Islamic fundamentalist politics. But since Ahmadinejad's reinstallation triggered loud and violent backfiring from the opposition, Iran has slowly been self-destructing.

At the top of the West's agenda with Iran was nuclear processing negotiations, which Iran had taken up in a cat-and-mouse game with support from Russia and China. But that was before Ahmadinejad became barricaded by violent opposition and got distracted from his chest-thumbing attitude. Now he is probably considering what ways of escape out of the country might be available. Things haven't turned out at all like expected.

Ahmadinejad's hope of stepping up to Obama's challenge and invitation to open talks might have paid off if the homeland politics hadn't go awry. He had appeared ready to go all diplomat in a changed attitude and tone, to show to the world, perhaps in more diplomatic prowess, that he could meet Americans any distance they called. But his cage has been badly rattled by the opposition who are determined to run him and his sponsors out of office by all means. Now Obama will have to wait for him to put out the fires at home or worse still, find a safe place to hide outside of Iran, the way things are going.

If the Iranian government was jettisoned now, it would be another long,uncertain wait for the West to find a willing diplomat in Iran to resume open talks with. The Opposition, though totally against Ahmadinejad, are not too keen to show themselves pro-western, or appear to support the idea of denuclearized Iran. Though they want and desire outside support to push the current regime out of office, they appear to have two faces about it; one hardline revolutionary fundamental identity, and another reformist. And they want to win on both sides.

As the opposition demonstrators keep up the pressure, Iran's offensive rhetoric toward Israel and the West is taking third and forth priority positions. It is as though the regime and the puppet president are getting defanged by the fervent demonstrations. The unprecedented media criticism and exposure to the rest of the world have unnerved the clerical regime and the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. A report on the UPI news blog says a special jet has already been prepared to fly him to Russia in the event the opposition overruns the government. It is a sign that despite the rallying of pro government supporters all over Iran last Sunday, the regime might be getting ready to throw in the towel.

The unassuaged and surging demonstrator's confidence may be the last straw. They have taken every opportunity, prayer time and holiday to keep up the pressure. It's toll is beginning to appear in the media consensus that the government may not last very long in place.

At the outset of nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran, and all through George Bush's administration's tenure, several options including military strikes by Israel or United States have always been on the table. Israel has been pondering the issue for years, and even now it viewed as a last resort by many analysts if Iran persists with clandestine nuclear maneuverings of uncertain definitions. But with the Iranian regime fighting home-made fires and getting ready to run for their lives, the focus and effort on the nuclear program may not be top priority for the regime, or a successive opposition government for a while.

Would an Israeli strike still be worth it at this time? Among Israeli security analysts, there is a consensus that a strike on Iran now might be more counterproductive that any good. The broader repercussions of a strike on Iran might draw more reiteration and harm to Israel from Hezbollah and Hamas and perhaps Iran's own surface to surface missile apparatus than what Israel can cope with at once.

Israeli air force commanders, quoted in Tel Aviv by UPI on a December 30th report, argue that even if Israel's air force was fully deployed in an Iranian strike, the targets are no longer clear, Iran having hidden and spread out its nuclear processing plants and buried some more. Moreover, the doubtful final achievements could be outweighed by resultant political and regional repercussions.

According to retired Maj. Gen. Issac Ben-Israel airforce, the best Israel could hope for is to "set back the Iranian nuclear process -- even if it can't mount the sustained campaign that would be required to cripple it." He added that Israel's missile defense system is still on the drawing board stage, and would be several years before a system that can stop a rain of missiles fired at Israel can be put in place. In the event a reactionary rain of missiles was fired from Iran's current stockpile of Shehab-3B and Sajjil-2 ballistic missiles, at least 80 of them would strike inside Israel, he said.

Ben-Israel also warned that an Israeli strike against Iran "also carries strategic costs, which will only be aggravated if the operation against Iran does not succeed."

"Israel will be denounced as a militant and aggressive state, the price of oil will soar, America and its allies in the Gulf are liable to be adversely affected -- and worst of all, Iran will be perceived as the victim of Israeli aggression and will obtain international legitimization to renew the devastated nuclear project."

Obama A True Grit Bronc Buster

2009-12-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

For youth who have little self confidence, have poor self concept or no faith in their potentials, they should study President Obama closely. He exudes confidence, hope, faith, patience and determination to find a solution that fits all, and to include all.

He believes in himself too. If he didn't he wouldn't have come all the way from a common boy in the basket ball pitch, plow through college, the Senate and into the White house against more massive odds than any president in history.

And make health care reform a victory again after more than 40 years since Medicare.

Health care reform is not a subject a lot of leaders had stomach for when Obama took over the presidency, and since Bill Clinton failed miserably to keep the debates going, and suffered a massive defeat in the House. But Obama's extraordinary determination to tree this horse was medal-deserving in its own right. It took grit to rekindle the motivation of the Democrats again since 1994, fight against fierce Republican opposition and plunge a bill through the House and the Senate to the finishing line.

Republicans played true to reputation again: oppose health and social reform to the death just like they did in 1960s, when Ronald Regan was their point man. Reagan used the then opposition movement against Medicare and Social Security to hoist his political platform and into presidency. Now, despite their hot spitting opposition to health care reform, Republicans are the loudest defendants of Medicare and Social Security. They are so predictable. History goes around full circle again.

It was said in the beginning that health care reform would be the make or break for President Obama. Well, he made it, just like most people expected. And this could be the make or break for the Republicans as well. Soon the manifestation of their bad politics will show. None of them voted in most of the bills for health reform, as though they were elected to be spectators in government, or they didn't care about the welfare of their constituents. But people do remember. Health care reform is all positive, and with time, Republican's will have nothing to show in their record for this historic achievement, that they refused to vote for a better America.

But for Obama, he has yet broken his most wild bronc, health care reform. The economy is getting back on track and the health bill is almost under his belt. Immigration reform will seem as nothing compared with the environment and health reform rigors.

It needed a true-grit president to come through the most difficult part of this period.

Can The Iranian Government Turn The Tide?

2009-12-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

The Iranian government and its strappings of power is in danger of being swept out of office. The government is turning from an arrogant revolutionary rhetoric to a besieged and worried entrapment.

Massive Inflation, worsening economy and political turmoil are just a few of the haunts facing the ruling elite.

Tehran made a mistake, banking on the shored up power of the corrupt elite, and the infallibility of the supreme leader, when they rigged the elections to shove Ahmadinejad again down the throats of the Iranian public. It was a mistake they regret now. It could cost them their thrones. Or their lives.

They had not banked on Iranians beginning some of the most violent and widespread demonstrations against the government in the history of the revolution. They had instead believed the cowered and subdued voices of the masses would stay whimpering under the whips and suppressive power of the revolutionary guards, the Basij.

But the power manipulators miscalculated the mood and vanishing patience of the Iranians. Since Ahmadinejad was imposed upon the people in a rigged election, the rulers have never had one day of peace. The country has been in unsettling turmoil. Every last national and religious holiday has been marked by local and scattered demonstrations, reports of deaths and torture among political prisoners and hot speeches by the opposition.

The Internet has dramatically changed the odds of political games in Iran. In the old days when local journalism was completely suppressed and international media kept at bay, little was known about the goings on in reclusive regimes like Iran and North Korea. But wide access to the Internet with thousands of portable personal devices and has enabled dissidents to broadcast live events on the ground to the world. More scrutiny and publicity of the government's oppressive activities has began changing the demeanor of such regimes. Anymore, their rhetoric and fundamentalism is more defensive than defiant. The Iranian government was recently forced to admit amid publicized evidence that political prisoners had been tortured, raped and murdered in prison, something they would never have done before.

The Iranian government is walking a tightrope. Unable to stem the demonstrations now springing up almost weekly and spreading like wild fire across the country, they are under siege. The Basij guards have used their biggest weapons and are now firing indiscriminately at the crowds. They are are limited in their potential ability to suppress the countrywide demonstrations short of mass murders and imprisonments. But even then, the Iranian public has shown its readiness to be martyred for another revolution.

The government is beginning to show white feathers. The admittance of murdered prisoners and subsequent prosecution of the perpetrators--revolutionary guards--is a sign of changing attitude and fear of worse things to happen. These signs of weakening government resolve alone have invigorated and emboldened the public more than ever. The tide is rising.

There are serious doubts whether Ahmadinejad's government can survive demonstrator's push against his government. A leading opposition leader said recently Ahmadinejad's days are numbered. That seemed to reinforce the activists vigor and resound their goal: to overthrow the regime.

Iran's political violence comes at a bad timing, when the leaders were striving to show themselves capable of meeting American and UN challenges in nuclear processing negotiations. Ahmadinejad had began to step forward to show his diplomatic prowess in the process, but is now seriously hampered by the threat of being jettisoned by the people, and perhaps being disowned by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution as everyone digs in for their political survival.

If the violence continues to threaten the government's survival, the nuclear negotiations will soon be a low priority for the Iranians. The hope of drawing Iran closer to the international community of cooperating nations will keep dwindling. Iran will also be getting closer to being bombed by Israel as a last resort to the nuclear saga.

Iran is at a point when borderline supporters of the government could begin to show doubts and defect. If more of these, especially security forces, lent a hand to the demonstrators and the opposition, the ruling regime would be on its way out the door.

But whatever happens, the people of Iran are determined to complete the new revolution they started, by giving Ahmadinejad and the supreme leader a run for their money.

Copenhagen: An Unlikely Market Place

2009-12-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

Who would have thought that one day the whole world would congregate their leaders in the north to discuss the cost of raw sewage and the value of fat from slaughtered cows? Or how to use cow dung to heat water? The last time such a thought prevailed was in the pioneer days. You got that right, buffalo chips for cooking fuel.

It is as though the world has suddenly realized where they wandered off the trail, about a hundred and fifty years back. That's about the last time everything was innocent on earth. There was no talk of endangered species then, disappearing forests, greenhouse gases or carbon by the ton for sale.

Planet Earth is becoming very precious. The Copenhagen market is one last effort to divide it among those who can afford to buy the remnants after a century of waste and destruction.

Right. In case you had not noticed, climate change talks have decisively boiled down to one thing: who will have the greatest rights to use up what is left of the earth, and can afford to pay for it? Or who really cares to pay for the greed of the past and future generations?

Climate change talks are already mired by the competition among three blocs of competitors: the West rich nations, upcoming rich nations like Brazil, India and China, and finally the islands and of course poor Africa. With the whole world heavily represented, the talk of money, blames for past sins of pollution and evasive measures against shouldering future debts have debuted one of the loudest markets ever known on earth.

They have come to their senses finally, that the earth is one little planet, dressed by God to be a home forever for man, to feed, cloth and protect him from hunger. He even buried a lot of oil in the ground, made sure there were lots of animals for food and beauty and clean air to breath, fresh water to drink and more than enough places to grow all sorts of food. But in a short few decades, man has destroyed all that with greed, selfishness and inconsiderate malice.

We did not value the earth, because we were given it free. We did not appreciate it when we could. Now we know it cannot really last forever, can it? And there's not much left of it. And there are too many of us on it to fit, survive and be happy ever after. We are falling over each other and dying from our own manufactured poisons. So we fight for the remnants, and make bids with money to buy portions of the earth, whatever is left of it. Whoever pays the most gets the most. But no one wants to shoulder the blame, especially those countries who have consumed and polluted the most.

The blame game has been frantic, everyone holding back as though for a chance to see the others' moves first. First it was the Kyoto Protocol. No one wanted to commit to it. It's still contentious after so many years. Now we need something more accommodating and less committing.

The US blames China for dilly-dallying on the progress toward making a climate treaty. China blames the West. Europeans are holding back while waving a paltry amount they already committed toward developing nations and swear they will not budge another inch. Africa and the islands blame the West for all the reaping and running, sins they have committed since Christopher Columbus, and want the West to shoulder the whole burden of paying for the future and past. The standoff gets louder while a thousand different negotiations take place at spitting speed in the background. What a market place.

The world is getting frugal, all of a sudden. We are ashamed of the forests we have been clearing to grow food, throw a lot of it away and fill the air with greenhouse gases. And the oil we have been wasting for a hundred years. The atmosphere has suddenly become precious. Garbage is being turned to gold, and even raw sewage is getting a price tag. There's not much left t waste. At today's climate change market you can bargain on wind, negotiate for solid waste by the kilogram or even supermarket trash for a price!

If only we had such a market a hundred years ago!

But whatever the outcomes in Copenhagen by Saturday morning, we know this is the last chance ever or man to redeem the earth.

Fear and Greed, Brakes And Gas

2009-12-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

Where did the money go to just before the economic crash?

Apparently it wasn't there. Only so many million signatures and pieces of plastic. I owe yous.

We thought we had money coming, that's why we spent and shopped and borrowed way over our heads. The banks didn't have it all either; they were banking on borrowing from somewhere and on the future--on hope. So they loaned imaginary cash left and right on that hope to anyone who cared to ask, assured that if and when we paid back, they would have some money finally. So neither the banks had it all, nor the borrowers. Major securities were tied to mortgage prices and the borrowing frenzy since 2004.

We were running on fumes, hope and adrenaline. Greed. Wall Street led the rush, by cajoling, spurring and threatening the corporate world and the banks. But the blissful times were only mirages . Consumer spending was going great. The Federal Reserve rammed more fuel into the engine by stoking the interests rates to give the banks a false sense of bliss. The banks kept the hammer on the floor, and there was music on Wall Street. It was a great ride, until someone blew a whistle, stepped on the brakes hard and the fake party stopped dead!

Some of the first casualties were the Lehman Brothers. Bear Sterns wobbled and crashed. Meryl Lynch flew out the window followed by AIG, and the pileup was complete! The groaning and wailing could be heard reverberating all the way in Tokyo, London, Soul and St. Pittsburgh. What a terrible crash!

Whew! The sense of blissful confidence on which we had banked evaporated like a light cloud. Suddenly, the contracts, plastics and mortgages were not worth a plastic dime. The banks can't collect, because the customers didn't have it to begin with. And the jobs they had secured their mortgages upon are long gone. Everyone is stuck with their worthless notes and papers and plastics. The markets ground to a halt. Who could have imagined even the great Dubai, City of Gold, folding? Scary, that. Only the bankruptcy lawyers came out of the fiascoes smiling. They really made a killing this time. It didn't hurt their reputation none.

The gold rush was only a feeling, a good roller-coaster ride, fueled by greed. When fear takes over, reality sinks hard.

Well, 'twas a good ride while it lasted. Perhaps even a good thing to check this thing's speed. Who knows where else it might have ended. Even some long-hidden secret Ponzi schemes got jettisoned in the inadvertent crash. Just as well. One renown schemer even said it was a good thing, 'cause he didn't know how to get out of the jam of many years and stop ruining his hapless customers. Now he's happy counting his life's last days in a federal hotel. Ouch!

I wonder when the next big one will happen. You'd hope such a terrible thing would check the market's greed and haste but I am cynical. Hopefully it will be more than seventy five years this time around...or never again.

Tommorow Is Suddenly Here For American Households.

2009-12-13T02:01:00.000-08:00

By Augustus Douw

The American national and household debts have become harrowing phantoms that now stalk every citizen, business owner and school child. It is no longer just a trifle for the money mongers and politicians far away in Washington and Wall Street to spend sleepless nights over.

Like a little boy whistling for nerve through a graveyard in the dead of night, we have tried to quell our fears and haunts from our past spendthrift lifestyles. Our knees quake with fear of the unknown, the skeletons of bad debt are crawling out of the graveyards, and the screams of real fear are loud in the shuttered households. The unemployment, soaring national debt, wars and more inevitable federal deficit has finally obliterated the mask of naive comforts of living today and paying tomorrow.

We designed our lifestyles along a naive belief that things will always get better tomorrow, that they will be greater, bliss, bigger and we will always live happily ever after.

The credit-ridden culture of America has finally caught up with us after decades of wanton overspending, disproportionate spending against disposable incomes and living above our means. Now we know; there was no real bottom to the greed, overspending, wanton borrowing, unnecessary shopping, bigger SUVs, boats and large homes for small family's just to keep up with the Joneses.

More that 70% of America households are at least 60% in debt. The consumer spending thrift of the last seven years has been akin to spurring a dying horse into the ground. The horse collapses finally under us, and we are in the middle of nowhere. We can look back and lament the bad riding, and look forward and fear the unknown vastness of economic distance into the mirages. But have we learned from this?

A lot of economists had foreseen and predicted the financial collapse, but greed and naivete are a bad combination. One economist, W.P. Carey, spent a good time warning everyone bout household debt and the coming crises. He even chided the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, in 2004, about the illusory wealth created by interest rate cuts which attracted borrowers to the banks and mortgage lenders like flies to honey. It was a trap that finally caught a lot of households and choked their financial illusions to death.

Carey then wrote in his "The Econtrarian" report that "Today's 'partying' in terms of a disproportionate share of national output being 'consumed' by the household sector is a recipe for a 'hangover' tomorrow." Some might call that a prophesy, but was indeed only common sense. Most Americans ought to have seen it coming. But like I said, greed and naivete are a bad combination.

There was a time when it seemed the national debt and federal deficit were small numbers that could be knocked down easily with a stick, and the threat would be obliterated. That was about the time Bill Clinton left the White House. And that was probably the last chance America ever will have to buy the country back. There was surplus and extra cash to go around, and the barns were full and the horses fat. Then came the war spenders and couldn't buy the bombs fast enough. The banks were lending money so fast to almost anyone with a social security number. Wall Street was heaven.

The hope of ever getting America out of debt is fading into the darkness like the last tail lights of a high speed train. The clout of the American economic stronghold has been lost in the world. The dollar, once a symbol of power and progress, is being shunned by even third world markets. Most prefer gold or a mixed bag of strong currencies to depending on the weakened dollar.

The day America went begging the Chinese for help marked the end of America's economic superiority dream. President Obama in November did not approach the Chinese with the staunchness and overbearing superiority of the once dominant economic giant, but with humility and almost begging for acceptance. Equal partnership, he called it. But the Chinese maintained stoic, straight faces and couldn't care less what America's financial problems were. The Chinese bank reserves are much deeper than America's. They know it and are smiling. They have the last laugh.China also holds the greatest percentage of the US external debt in treasury securities, at 23.4 %, followed by Japan at 21.2%.

Treasury statistics indicate that, at the end of 2006, non-US citizens and institutions held 44% of federal debt held by the public. About 66% of that 44% was held by the central banks of other countries, in particular the central banks of Japan and China. In May 2009, the US owed China $772 billion. In total, lenders from Japan and China held 44% of the foreign-owned debt. This exposure to potential financial or political risk should foreign banks stop buying Treasury securities or start selling them heavily was addressed in a recent report issued by the Bank of International Settlements which stated, "'Foreign investors in U.S. dollar assets have seen big losses measured in dollars, and still bigger ones measured in their own currency. While unlikely, indeed highly improbable for public sector investors, a sudden rush for the exits cannot be ruled out completely.

This is the last chance for serious soul-searching for the American household. Living frugal is getting attractive. Some folks have woken up to reality. They are beginning turn around the principles of personal spending and earning. Instead of spending today and earning tomorrow, they are earning today to spend tomorrow--by saving more.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the national saving percentage has increased from 1.2% in 2008 to 5% by August of 2009. Some folks are fast adapting to new lifestyles. Instead of shopping in highfalutin luxury stores, they have now found comforts and comradeship in the salvation army and discount thrift stores. Some large stores are also adjusting to the wizened consumers' demands, stocking their shelves with discounted goods which have increased in popularity.

Car dealers, grocery stores, property developers and even airlines have seen more customers cutting back from luxury spending and first class services to economy solutions. Until the economic recovery is is in full swing, there may be a complete new culture of smarter thrift savers and frugalists in America.

Its about time.

America's New Terror Front

2009-10-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

The recent crackdown on Mexican drug traffickers and cartel members all over United States that netted almost 1200 suspects is a red flag blowing in the face of the war against drugs. It is also a sign that a problem which has been festering for two decades has now reached severe chronicity, and perhaps irreversible state.

United States is already inundated with multiple domestic and foreign terrorist, crime fronts and illegal immigration, which fronts keep law enforcement agencies and local police working at battle speeds around the clock. The surging threat of Mexican cartels infiltrating the US markets in large numbers across the country is a frightening tale about the future possibilities and state of security.

The insatiable drug market in the United States presents one of the greatest defeatist factor to law enforcement efforts in the country. It is as if the law enforcement agencies are fighting two battles; one against the ever increasing demand for drugs and the other against the Mexican suppliers who are ever inventing new methods and ways of delivering the supplies to their moneyed customers north of the Rio Grande.

The cartels have recently increased in boldness in the States and across international channels, determined to get their products to the markets in United States and Europe by all means. Just recently the US and Guatemalan Police intercepted a makeshift submarine from Colombia loaded with ten tons of cocaine worth $200 million in the street.

In recent FBI and DEA reports, the cartels have found new havens in West African countries where they ship their wares in a beeline. From there they stage easy deliveries to Europe. West African poor countries are only so eager to join in the lucrative trade and provide high dollar services to the cartels who own their own armies, town bases and even hang out with government officials.

The Mexican cartels have boldly challenged the Mexican government's 45,000 troops sent out to combat the trade by President Felipe Calderon. There is no sign so far that the Mexican federal troops have made any dent on the cartel's operations. Already over 15,000 people have been killed in the last three years in drug related violence in Mexico, including federal troops, lawyers and politicians, and the blood letting continues.

With the same boldness and increasing power, the cartels have infiltrated most US communities and federal reserve lands from where they stage marijuana growing and cocaine distribution enclaves. The threat of the cartels on US security is beginning to be felt. Their boldness to take on the Mexican federal system with powerful artillery is suggestive of their nerve to attempt to fight the US law enforcement agencies from inside the borders.

They say that the war on drugs was lost a long time ago, and it is perhaps more fact than speculation. As the US government cannot stamp out the insatiable demand for drugs from the south, it is going to be that much harder to eradicate the upsurge movement of the desperate suppliers north of the border. This has to be seen as the next greatest threat to United States after Islamic terrorism.

Health Care Reform An Inevitable Revolution

2009-10-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

They say every so many years a system has to undergo change, be it government, ideology, religion, business trend, you name it. Nothing ever stays the same with man. He's ever learning, changing the way he does things and getting smarter. So Wall Street had to change its money game tactics. The auto industry reached the end of a limb, and the banks found the end of the road with their lending practices.

So why shouldn't we expect that the American health industry, about to derail with the weight of high costs, expensive insurance premiums, heavily mined medicare and medicaid and tens of millions of uninsured folks should change for better?

So why do Republicans heehaw and snort about health care reforms, and the insurance industry resist changes for better, as though it were an invasion of United States by a foreign ideology?

Before Lyndon Johnson signed into law an amendment of the Social Security Act in July 1965 to form Medicare, the event had been preceded by a long, protracted war by the Republicans, the American Medical Association and other interest groups, including former president Ronald Reagan, who spent millions campaigning against the bill, some calling it socialist health service, and bucking and snorting about the costs to the nation. Today, the AMA is the greatest defender of Medicare and Medicaid, a huge percentage of their clients being beneficiaries. But almost all of those opponents later went on to retire on social security as Medicare recipients, the very thing they had fought passionately.

Today, one of the greatest concerns of the AMA is the threat of collapse of Medicare.

But if one could have interviewed those congressmen and senators who opposed the creation of Medicare then in private, and in the sincerity of their non-partisan minds, they would most certainly have confessed that they opposed Medicare bill because of their political advantage but not because they believed it was wrong. Ronald Reagan made his debut as a politician with the speeches he made against social security and medicare in those early years of the sixties.

Most opponents of health care reform today do it for the same reasons and purpose: just because a political opponent from the other party proposed the bill. Deep inside they know the health service in America cannot go on for another decade in its current order, not to mention the millions of the uninsured in their own constituencies who cannot afford health care. But the passions of the opponents are not driven by the needs of the constituents, but by their political and financial advantage. The health insurance industry is driven by the depth of their pockets first, and welfare of the poor be darned.

So there is your problem. Wall Street all over again.

To prove that Republicans knew better all along, even the passionate Joe Wilson, there comes a time when they get tired of playing the same cards and show their wry smiles and begin to support, apparently grudgingly, the very thing they opposed passionately before. They also have began to realize their constituents can only allow so much partisan horseplay before they risk loosing favor altogether in the next elections.

After Senator Olympia Snowe, R-Main, voted with the Democrats to pass the health reform bill from the Senate Finance Committee, most Republicans began to count their political cost--they are smarter than you think--and began warming up to the bills passing around to save their voting record.

Various bills are moving along, and most observers and even Republicans, are now convinced that one kind of a health reform bill or another is going to pass the Senate to the President's desk, perhaps including even the much opposed public option, by the end of the year.

It had to happen sometime, and both sides of the partisan line knew it, despite the loud horseplay.

As we predicted way before Obama completed his Western tour back in August campaigning for health care reform, he's going to break even this wild horse, like he busted the recession. Anything else will seem like a picnic after that, hopefully even Afghanistan and immigration reform.

IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM TOO ADVANCED TO TRUST

2009-10-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

Despite all Iran has been saying for a decade, that it was not processing nuclear material in hidden facilities, it turned out to be so. Tehran then began denying that it is processing nuclear material for weapons, a denial which flies now in the face of recent activities in Iran leading the first effort at cooperative negotiation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN.

It is worth noting that Iran quickly test-fired short- and long-range similes just before rushing to sit and begin negotiating with the UN, a suspicious quick change of attitude by Tehran and unexpected cooperation which should have raised eyebrows all around. It was about the same time that Iran disclosed with a wry smile that it had another nuclear facility in Qom that it had never disclosed to the IAEA before, which move caused an angry stir among the security council member nations--except, perhaps, Russia.

These suspect last-minute maneuvers by Tehran point to one possibility: Iran already had a nuclear bomb complete with help from some other country, perhaps Russia or North Korea, but is now playing good boy diplomatic games in attempt to cash the same check twice: own a secret nuclear weapon and appear to cooperate with the rest of the world community for alternative nuclear fuel sources and get blessed for it.

When the IAEA proposed to inspect the Qom facility, Iran began delay dallying as if reluctant, not to appear too eager, also delayed a commitment to shipping its nuclear materials to Russia for processing. This should be seen as another stiff arm against the world community, not to let anyone too close yet to sniff around and get any hard information which could lead to more disclosure(s) of the real secrets, that a bomb in fact exists and is hidden somewhere in the rugged, vast country where EL Baradei will never find it in his three-day boy scout expedition.

Further, Iran applied the same delaying tactic when its officials met recently with Israeli officials to discuss exporting of nuclear material processing for its research facilities. Iran came out of the meeting noncommittal.

When the UN begins to treat Iran as a nuclear armed country, and Israel begins to view Iran as a potentially lethal country with an armed nuclear weapon, they will be closer to a safer approach against Tehran than being led on a wild jerk-and-dance goose chase by Tehran.

The bottom line is, Iranians planned the chess game exactly the way its playing out today. President Obama's reach out to Tehran only made it easier for them to play their game. Their post-election violence delayed their plans, but Ahmadinejad had this new false diplomatic face in the plans all along.

They already have the weapon they long sought, and they are right now laughing the world's back. Russia is only playing along to get along.

Israel better be ware. It is later than they think! Should have done the search-and-bomb in Iran a long time ago.

Obama: Whipping Boy And Savior

2009-10-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

The world can only endure so many spasms and fits. Economic upheavals, drastic climate change, spiraling terrorism threats, increased fanatical violence, nuclear proliferation and competition, out of control nations with secrete nukes, unwinnable wars in Middle East, health care costs, gay rights pressures, unemployment…

It used to be a short list of problems for most former American presidents, and one could say, most have seen the best days ever from the White House’s perspective.

Obama inherited a world leadership that is wrought with more woes than a human messiah can endure. The global calamities of the 21st century, compounded by the worst economic crash in 75 years, have thrown the earth into desperation, anxiety, disturbing uncertainty and palpable stress. People are looking for a new order, a new beginning, reassurance, hope of surviving the global rocking boat, and a leader who can save the world.

It appears Obama didn’t sound his whistles none too soon when he rolled into the scene a year ago. He was the only person who said anything closest to what the scared world needed to hear: The Audacity Of Hope, Yes We can, and Time For Change, and all those other invigorating, reassuring, soothing slogans that brought tears into grandmothers’ eyes and made the homeless and unemployed wipe tears and blow him kisses.

The savior of the world had arrived.

The expectations were not just from the desperate Americans watching their homes foreclose and jobs slip away faster than a busted aorta. Europe, Asia, Africa…were all waiting for someone who could push the right button to stem the flow and stop the dollar from sliding into third world value. Someone to heal the world and save it from mass suicides, and perhaps, reverting to frontier lifestyles again in adobe huts, horse-and-buggy and bicycle transportation.

But in the desperation, buoyed by Obama’s audacity of hope and ‘Yes We can’, did not stop to separate what Obama can really do from what he is: a mere human being with just a little courage and confidence than most. A mortal being.

Obama’s icon has since, however began a slow, sophisticated evolution, from a superman president to a whipping boy-cum-savior image, someone who can do it all as the President of the United States as well as someone to blame for all that has not yet changed for good, from climate change to being “prematurely awarded” the Nobel Peace Prize. As though he even went seeking for it all the way in Scandinavia.

The huge—and getting bigger—burden of the world’s problems besides America’s have all been heaped on one mortal human being. It is as though he possesses more virtues, supernatural powers or extratelestial abilities to change the world, and does not, in fact, need the cooperation of other leaders, citizens and friends. He lives anymore on a diet of criticisms, character analysis, out-of-the-blue awards, buffeting opposition from republicans, scathing blames, impatient finger pointing, stress from prolonged wars and the urgent need to live up to campaign promises.

At first they loved him, followed him wherever he went, and listened to his pep speeches, and America was going to be great once again. The war in Middle East would end with a sure victory, they thought.

The world’s ‘savior’ is now in trial, and almost ready to be crucified for the sins of the world. His enemies blame him for whatever is wrong, and his supporters hail him for whatever is good has happened so far. He gets whipped and blessed all in the same stroke.

The Nobel Peace Prize could be the worst thing ever happen to Obama. Some analysts almost feel it’ was not fare to hang it around Obama’s neck, giving his critics more cause to pile criticisms and find fault. It is something to live up to, a challenge, like an assignment rather than a recognition for achievement, that could haunt Obama throughout his presidency. There are so many things he can or may not change, and they will be flagged constantly on the world’s bulletin boards and scorecards as failures, bouquets and barbs. At the end, they may very well conclude it was give to the wrong person.

For the world’s most challenged president and leader, Obama must dig deeper his spurs and recalculate his moves and decisions every second to match the demands, avoid pitfalls and come through with the expectations of the masses. Or be crucified in the White House Lawn.

But bouquets, barbs or messianic tribulations, the world must remember that they scoured the earth, listened to many other leaders, eliminated most and finally bet their very lives on the one man: Barrack Obama. At the end of his presidency, whenever that is, historians will have to admit one thing: he will be one of the greatest leaders the world has ever or will ever see.

So let it be written, so let it be done!

Iran: Nuclear Talks Too Good To Be True?

2009-10-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

It is almost too good to be true, how Iran, after years of fussing, denying and refusing to cooperate with the IAEA and the UN on opening up its nuclear enrichment facilities for inspection, has suddenly become very cooperative and run across the floor to the negotiating table. It is suspicious, and surprising. Is it possible that Iran has been playing a game, and has finally achieved the objective?

It's reasonable to suspect that, like Heather Hurlburt of The Guadian, most of the world has been fooled by Iran into a hasty pow wow. A lot of analysts and intelligence experts feel that Iran's hasty announcement of the existence of a second nuclear facility in a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday came as a result of Iran's realization that the west had extensive knowledge of the secret facility.

Iran did not make a blunder! That's exactly what they wanted the world to believe.

I believe that Iran had been building and perfecting a nuclear warhead for a long time in a hidden facility. US, Israeli and UK intelligence experts all agree that a large country like Iran has many places to build hidden nuclear facilities.

Most people presume that pressure from President Obama and the rest of the world has now forced Iran to come clean or show its hand, eventually confessing that there is a second nuclear facility they had not revealed to the IAEA. But this might have been all a game, cleverly calculated to hide their intentions and buy them time to finish building and testing the bomb. It's very likely that they now have a bomb! That explains best why they were hasting to test their ballistic missiles.

Figure this out:

1. Iran has been vehemently denying that they were developing bomb grade plutonium for a long time, a country that is known for dishonesty, repressive politics and hard line Islamic fundamentalism. The same amount of pressure applied on Iran recently was nothing new. Why did they all of a sudden decide to confess "another" facility? They were buying time to complete the making of a nuclear weapon, most probably with help from North Korea or Russia.

2. Why did Iran suddenly decide to cooperate with the IAEA? It's most probably because now they have the bomb, and want to capitalize on the goodwill extended by the international community--continued insistence on nuclear development for fuel is no longer necessary, it was for covering the real motive.

3. Iran wants to both have the secret weapon and belong to the nuclear compliant international community, and retain the option to use the weapon against Israel any time they want--what a surprise it would be for the rest of the world!!

4. Why did Iran agree to sudden talks with US? Because it stands to gain everything: keep the secret nuclear bomb and kiss around with the rest of the crowd.

5. How else can one explain why Iran quickly test-fired short and long range missiles, then quickly wash hands and run to a nuclear negotiation meeting almost the next day? Because it was the end of a long secrete project that perhaps even Israel didn't quite know about. Iran simply wanted to be sure their missiles can deliver the warhead they made and hid. End of project. "Now let's talk business with the west".

Like I said, Iran has fooled everybody, playing the same game of denial and half-measure cooperation like North Korea for years, keeping the IAEA at arm's length until their nuclear bomb was ready and hidden away. Now the IAEA can go in and see an empty barn--the horse is hidden somewhere else.

Now North has a nuclear weapon or two, achieved the same way. Now who will dare attack North Korea? Or who will dare attack Tehran? You can never tell what they will do.

Israel is in trouble, and the rest of the Middle East. And Iran can now claim credits from the west for cooperating and showing the IAEA their empty barns, and also keep their secret bomb while hoodwinking western negotiators. And that's as close as they would let the IAEA come.

According to Mr. Chubin, author of "Iran's Nuclear Ambitions", Iran wouldn't want the inspectors sniffing too close and wide. Why? They might uncover the hidden warheads.

"I do think the Americans are willing [to] accept some enrichment – not a [complete] rollback – in exchange for very intrusive inspections," says Mr. Chubin. "But I don't think the Iranians will accept very intrusive inspections. They don't want to be singled out."

It could be very catastrophic for the IAEA and the west to accept the face value confessions and cooperation Iran is showing. There's more to it than the Iranians are saying.

It's a very dangerous game.

Obama: Time To Stop The Horseplay On Health Care

2009-09-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

After much milling, sunfishing and stomping around, President Obama finally made a decisive move to take control of his runaway mustang--health care reform--perhaps the most difficult task he is likely to face in his first term as president.

Obama, hinting that he was getting tired of the horseplays and the stubborn, wild thing was getting out of control as the Republicans continued their side show distractions, he finally jammed in his spurs and jerked the reigns in a decisive message that he was still in the saddle and this nefarious bronc was going to be broken, come sandstorms or tornadoes, before he quit the saddle. And he seemed to make believers of even some former skeptics, and more so his ambivalent Democrats who had been shucking his opinions.

Obama was even lent a hand unwittingly by Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who called him a liar during the speech, stirring much chagrin and embarrassment among Republicans and Democrats alike. It was later reported that even the undecided Democrats, galvanized by the arrogant and rude insult from Joe-what's-his-name, closed ranks and swelled the President's support.

In yet another sign of the President's resilient ability to remain calm and sure under fire, Joe-what's-his-name got off easy after yelling, "You lie" at the President. Either Joe has a poor upbringing or is totally ignorant of the founding culture of the true America, when men were called out on the street for a gunfight duel of honor. Calling another man a liar is deserving of a character duel. And, as though to prove Joe was truly yellow, he turned off his website and office phones when challenges started pouring in, then went into hiding out of public eye.

Anyway, the gist of the outcome is that there now all signs that the task is back on track and, like we predicted before, Obama has got his tricks in order, enough support and bulldog determination to tame his run away mustang.

The Republicans will continue to hee-hoo from the sidelines, because it is expected of them. And the loudest of them have failed to rise to the President's challenge of contributing to the important national debate instead of braying and snorting from cover of numbers. Most are expected to vote against any health care reform bills tabled in Congress, but just as sure as God made horses, they are bargaining for their political grave markers.

Health care reform is one of Obama's trademark endeavors from way back in the campaigns in 2008. It had been tried by two presidents before and defeated soundly in Congress.

"I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last," Mr. Obama told a joint session of Congress, adding, "Our collective failure to meet this challenge - year after year, decade after decade - has led us to a breaking point."

But if Obama can get this beast tamed this time around, it will vindicate him as a real resilient go-getter and perhaps help propel his presidency into a second term.

email: bbfforum@gmail.com

Gordon Brown Finally Breaks The Silence

2009-09-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

Ah! The man found his tongue, finally.

Two weeks since the row erupted and folks began waiting for Gordon Brown to speak up, he has finally come out.

Many were almost convinced Prime Minister Gordon Brown would never come out to answer the critics down the street demanding his explanations or part in the scandalized release of al-Megrahi from a Scottish Jail two weeks ago. The matter has had the Scottish semiautonomous and the UK Governments defending themselves loudly against accusations of double-dealing with the Libyan government in order to clinch an oil deal. Gordon Brown had been quiet the whole time.

Amid many scathing attacks from main opposition leader David Cameron et al, Brown kept outside of rifle range while his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw fended off the attacks. Apparently, Straw did all he could do to silence the shenanigans, but quite unsuccessfully.

The opposition and other critics kept up the attacks till Brown realized this wasn’t going away. The only way to quell the sustained verbal riots was to release all the documents on record between the UK Government, the Libyans and the Scotts regarding the planned release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi from a Scottish jail, and negotiations on oil deals between UK and Tripoli. While the documents did not erase all the doubts about links between the release of Megrahi and the oil deal, they gave speculators a distraction and bought Brown a couple of days to rearrange his thoughts and strategy. Finally, he spoke.

"There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to influence Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Kadhafi," Brown said. "Our interest throughout has been to strengthen the coalition against international terrorism," but "There was never a linkage between any other issue and the Scottish government's decision about Megrahi's future," he added.

It was a simple statement which said everything he wanted to say, perhaps too simple, given the gravity of the perceived scandal and the mileage the opposition politicians hoped to extract out of it.

David Cameron was not satisfied by the simple kill-button explanation. He said Brown had got it "badly wrong". But whether he was satisfied or not, Gordon Brown said all he wanted to say, and left the skeptics and speculators doing what they do best: find fault with his style.

It is clear that the people with all the excitement about being politically correct in this matter are not the ones in Downing Street, but the ones who hope to occupy the office come next elections. Gordon Brown already signaled his lack of appetite for the job last June, when he said “you could walk away from all this tomorrow,” referring to his job as Prime Minister.

That must have sounded real good to the hopeful David Cameron

Gordon Brown Ain't talkin'. Did He Know Somethin'?

2009-09-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

People ride out their nightmares in different ways. Some scream loudly and crash out of bed, and some just whimper in their sleep and sweat it out.

Gordon Brown's current nightmare has people holding their breaths, wondering if he's still breathing or passed out in shock.

Since the Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi was released from a Scotland jail and received a hero's welcome back home in Tripoli, the British community got riled. Since then, they have been milling and arguing, pointing fingers and asking questions about 'who dunnit'.

"Who let the down the bars on Megrahi? Was it really connected to the oil deal with Libya? And did Downing Street know it was going to happen?"

The Scottish justice secretary MacAskill first came under serious fire for the release of the accused "on humanitarian grounds" because, as he said, the Scottish cabinet didn't want the man, suffering from cancer, "to die in jail", as though he would be the first prisoner to ever do so in the history of United Kingdom, or as if it were taboo.

As the bickering and finger pointing continues, the Scots claim they did it on their own. The UK cabinet claim Scotland made the decision to release Megrahi on their own, but Tripoli claims the deal to release Megrahi was tied implicitly to an oil deal with Libya, a deal clinched by Tony Blair with the Bedouins way back in 2007.

Now the scandal is unravelling, but Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, having resigned long ago and left the secret baby with Brown, is no longer liable to answer to the public regarding his pow wow with the Bedouins. Gordon Brown is now catching all the flak.

Most of the UK cabinet, opposition politicians and public now are convinced that Gordon, then Tony Blair's Chancellor of the Exchequer, knew all about the scandalous deal and should come forth and come clean. But it's been two weeks since Megrahi returned home, and Gordon is not talking. It is not even clear whether he will ever talk. Either his nightmare has rendered him speechless or he has a severe case of word finding difficulties.

But whatever Gordon's strategy is, he probably doesn't care too much about the yells and calls from down the street. When he said last June that he 'could walk away from all this tomorrow', he made it clear that he couldn't care less for the glamor of being Prime Minister, and wouldn't miss any of it here after.

It's very likely that Gordon simply doesn't care right now. When they are tired of yelling, which they have done at him lots of times before, they will quit. Or may be so he hopes.

email: bbfformum@gmail.com

Gordon Brown's Nightmares Not Over Yet

2009-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

When the global recession bit deep and governments began reeling from the pressures, UK was no exception. Prime Minister Gordon Brown almost began then to wonder why he had coveted for the driving wheel from Tony Blair. Earlier in 2009, when reports of false expenses by MPs began to surface and culprits started resigning in shame, the Tories and Liberal Democrats, led by David Cameron's voice, joined in a sustained chorus calling for Gordon to step down. Even two of his own MPs turned on him from the backbenches. He could have resigned, but it was a critical time in which to abandon the wheel when the economy of Britain was hurtling downhill at crashing speed. But by then, Gordon didn't have any scruples or egotistical sentiments to protect. He could have quit, he said.

Brown said that he had been hurt by personal criticism and calls to resign from his own party and the opposition, but he wouldn't hang on for his image but for the country's sake. He had lost the stomach for the glamor and the strappings that came with the glory of being Prime Minister. He called it the toughest point of his "political life".

“To be honest, you could walk away from all this tomorrow,” he said. “I am not interested in what accompanies being in power. I wouldn’t worry if I never returned to all those places-Downing Street, Chequers… And it would probably be good for my children.”

It was clear at that point that whatever illusive attractions Gordon had when Blair handed him the mantle before resigning, they were long marred and turned into bad political dreams. After inheriting the fallout from the Iraqi war shenanigans, the sinking economy and graft by less than honest MPs, Gordon had started understanding why Tony Blair had quietly and graciously slipped out of the scene and left him holding the punching bag.

For a while since G20 meeting in London, Gordon has had a reasonable reprieve and the pressure valves had opened a little wider. Then suddenly, ghosts from the past--or skeletons--have began crawling on Gordon's political grave again. Where they emanated from is still anyone's guess.

When the possibility of the release of the Lockerbie Bomber, al-Megrahi, surfaced in the news, it seemed at first a preposterous notion, and many hoped the Scottish government was only reviewing a formal ritual code in the jail manuals. The life sentence of al-Megrahi in Scotland was supposed to be a closed chapter to both the families of the victims and at least the Western world. But lo, and behold! Mr. MacAskill, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, pulled a fast one, surprising everyone with the release of one of the world's most infamous prisoners. Amid worldwide protests in a controversial move that riled even the FBI and drew sharp criticism from Obama, al-Megrahi was not only released suddenly but was also accorded a hero's welcome back home in Libya, where Gaddafi himself welcomed him like a long-missing brother. So much for justice for the aggrieved victims and families.

While trying to enjoy a quiet summer recess and pull off the last ditch attempt to salvage the reputation of his party at next election, Gordon is now dodging fallout from nether politics and drawing heavy fire from several directions over the fiasco. Call it ghosts from the past.

The first instigator was Gaddafi's own son, Saif Gaddafi, who suggested in a controversial statement that the release or al-Megrahi was tied into oil industry deals between the UK government and Tripoli. That sent suspicion sirens going off and many crying foul around the globe. In recent reports, Tony Blair was mentioned as a broker in the 2007 deal in the desert that was cinched in a prisoner transfer agreement which implicated but never mentioned al-Megrahi directly.

The blame game is just now beginning, and the Scottish cabinet is yelling loudly about having made the right decisions, but are also suspicious that the UK government duped them by making the deal behind the scenes. Tony Blair is not talking yet, and Gaddafi's son now vehemently denies a direct link between the release of al-Megrahi and the oil deal. Two different animals, he calls them.

But no matter who is yelling loudest, Gordon Brown is catching all the flak and dodging the fire from the Scots and the Tories, whether he was wise to the desert deals by his predecessor or not. And poor Gordon will have to brace himself and clean up the mess again.

How many more skeletons will come crawling at him from out there in the political minefield, only time will tell. In the meantime, Gordon's nightmares keep getting more grotesque. And one can understand why it would be easy for him to walk away from all this any day.

Obama's Call: Keeping All Irons In The Fire

2009-08-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

There are few who would not agree that Obama's energy level and faith--or the audacity of hope--is a challenging phenomena as witnessed in his campaigns and his penchant for a go-getter approach to America's and global problems. But even he would agree that he's now got so may irons in the fire he almost couldn't remember which one goes where any more.

A recent poll indicated that 69% of Americans believe Obama is trying to do too much at once, and that his effectiveness and accuracy in guiding critical policy for the country may be divided. And they may be right. But, just as sure as there is right and there's left, there are two sides to a slice.

The one of trying to tame too many animals at once may be a cynical view by those who have not critically studied the short and long-term state of the country and world's affairs. A broader view would show another side of the country left in shambles by the Bush administration and eight years of war, succeeded by a caved-in global economy and out of control climate change besides the long neglected health care cost crises, immigration reform, Mideast conflicts, Iran and the North Korea nuclear crises. Obama did not create these problems, rather he was elected among peers as the person most convincingly capable of dealing with them. He inherited the problems. Left unaddressed at this critical point and time, they could see the country and the rest of the globe crawling to its grave.

Both conservatives liberals agree that the problems need to be nailed down now and not later, but as Obama is chasing about his wild animals trying to get them under control, there is a motley mixed multitude out there of cynical spectators, critics, supporters, fear mongers, left and right sided visual fielders and outright haters, many of whom have no suggestions or contributions, but criticize anyway because it seems more sensible to do.

Many Americans are already afraid that Obama will raise taxes to pay for the health and other economic reform activities. There are already loud complaints about this possibility. But perhaps such critics and whiners should suggest where the American family, already buried 76.7% in debts, will get money from to buy the country back. From the Vatican? Or maybe borrow from the Chinese?

The day of free lunch for Americans has passed, and the cost of the lifestyles is finally catching up with us. Some states are looking at selling, taxing and legalizing marijuana just to pay for education and basic services. If that's not desperate measures, what is?

The intensity of the prevailing passionate debates in public and congress are a sure sign that there are many desperate and intense problems impacting social economic recovery and survival, and each one pressing. Some analysts predict that America and the world have seen the best of the times. The future could be one long, drawn out struggle in a dark tunnel full of economic goblins and environmental phantoms.

But for Obama to win, he must keep grabbing and shoving his hot irons in the fire as fast as he can. At the end, no one will ever blame him for not trying.

Sarah Palin's Savvy In Poetic Smoke Screens

2009-08-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

Before Sarah rushed into the grueling, desperate campaign brawls in 2008 as vice presidential candidate with McCain, she perhaps had not realized so many things about herself. First, she had never appreciated that she was a poet from the breaks, shaped by hunting and proximity to wild beasts. Again there was so much she didn't know about politics and the real world out there beyond the secluded Alaskan frontier.

For a long time, Sarah had figured the only wild beasts to be wary of were the Alaskan wolves and polar bears that she hunted and slaughtered in state-funded campaigns "to protect the moose and caribous", and that the toughest job a man (or woman) could get into was dog racing on a sledge. She had not anticipated that Washington and real wild west politics were another frontier where two-legged beastly politicians ate other humans for a snack, and that beyond Alaska and the the folksy Midwest, there was another world out there like "Ayraq" and "Ayran" which made even the most iron-nerved, resilient presidents lose sleep.

The McCain campaign experience turned out a far cry from running for governor in a sparsely populated state. Sarah had waded into the campaign with her own naive style of showing the Republicans how it should be done. Soon, she was singing from a different page from the McCain campaign, and it was easy to understand after that how she so easily became the scapegoat for the sinking Republican ship. And the experience knocked her sick in the stomach. Sarah begun to realize her own warped ideas of a super go-getter would be vice president virago were only an illusion--or delusion.

Many people think that Sarah Palin had already decided to resign by the time the campaign dust settled. She had too many conflicting issues she realized about herself, the least of which were not domestic criticism and credibility at home. Apart from running off on her people in Alaska, she had wantonly embarrassed them abroad by showing her ignorance about foreign affairs and events, her on-now and off-then folksy talk and extremely shallow touch with economic and current affairs. In a campaign speech in the Carolinas, she was unable to name a single newspaper she had ever read. Someone said Sarah Palin didn't know where Israel was exactly on a world map.

Here are some of Sarah's famous dumb quotes from her nightmare campaign trail:

1. "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" --Sarah Palin

2. "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." --Sarah Palin

3. "I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out."...Sarah Palin. (No one has ever heard of such a department in the White House.)

4. "They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan." --Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Oct. 5, 2008

When Sarah returned home limping from the brawls in the presidential campaign, she started packing--and crying. The resignation was the only way out of the embarrassing public spectacle. Sarah needed a smoke screen. It was going to be a very painful thing to do, but Sarah discovered a new skill: she had untapped savvy at poetry and art in subterfuge. In a long string of confusing and controversial poetic statements, she kept the country and world at large guessing what and why she would do such a dumb thing.

First, it was something about changing her political stage. Where to, another state, or to Washington? Was she aiming at the 2012 presidential campaign, or was she cutting and running? In another poetic statement, before she left office she continued:

My choice is to take

a stand and affect change

not just hit our head

against the wall and watch

valuable state time and money

millions of your dollars

go down the drain in this new

political environment

rather we know we can affect positive change

outside government at this moment

in time on another scale

and actually make a difference

for our priorities so we will

for Alaskans

and for Americans

"I love my job and I love Alaska, and it hurts to make this choice, but I'm doing what's best for them," Palin said. Some of the other reasons she spewed in subsequent public addresses are:

1. To protect her family, which has faced withering criticism and mockery, and to escape ethics probes that have drained her family's finances and hampered her ability to govern.

2. To protect Alaskans from herself as a lame duck governor. "I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she continued. "I promised efficiencies and effectiveness. That's not how I'm wired. I'm not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual."

3. Palin said that it was possible to be more effective outside of governance.

Where would she be operating from now, where she would be more effective for Alaska than in the governor's office? Somewhere in the North Pole?

But whatever the reasons Palin really had for cutting and running, most people are still not sure, but some blogs and forums suggest Palin needed a face-saving last act to exit the scene gracefully, something better than the playacting, folksy style she vainly put on in the McCain camp. So she worked out several scripts for the last stage show, spinning them in the air in a kaleidoscope at the stupefied audience before the curtains fell one last time.

As of the moment, Palin is keeping the smokes palling from the safety of her Facebook account, petrified by more delusions of destruction and "death panels" by the federal government, and scary illusions of Putin "flying in from right across the border', and spurring her campaign to exterminate Alaskan wolves and to drill oil in the North.

Palin was a quitter from the beginning. She failed all the tests for anything from governor to vice president to president. She couldn't take the pressure and would probably have quit on McCain from the White House , if (God forbid) they both had managed to get in there, after realizing that you can't make enough time for wolf hunting, dog sledge racing, folksy playacting and GOP-sponsored fashion shows once you are vice president--or president.

But wherever Palin is hiding now, it is getting more and more certain she is not going to show her disillusioned political face for a long time. At least most people hope she won't, and especially the Republicans. It would be one last act of disgrace for them. But the GOP hopes that whatever her folly, she has enough horse sense left to stay behind Facebook with her hunting gear and come out no more to public spotlighting. At least for few years.

e-mail: patlinx@gmail.com

Obama In Montana: Quit Spooking My Horse

2009-08-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

As Congress scattered out of Washington for a much deserved wound-licking break, Obama hauled in from Mexico and hit the ground running. One would be forgiven to think that if you really gonna break a mustang, you should do it without finesse, with sleeves rolled up and your jacket hanging on a mesquite bush. And this style was justified in Obama's thinking. As soon as he arrived from Mexico, he grabbed his saddle and headed out West to tackle the most cantankerous wild horse he's likely to ever break: health care reform.

Obama, as if convinced that a real Western crowd would be more sympathetic and supportive of the difficult task ahead, started out to Montana on Friday. Now, the West is known for being skeptical of the controlling abilities of the Federal Government and its ever-increasing encroachment on the cowboy's freedom of thoughts and lifestyle. Judging that if he's ever gonna make believers of those mountain people, about his good intentions, Obama chose his direction carefully. If he could prove to the cowboys that he's a real horse tamer from Washington, then he as good as has his mustang broke.

Sounding a little riled by the shenanigans and hee-howing going on on TV across the country about the government's 'killing programs' and 'takeover of insurance industry,' Obama tried to quieten the jittery crowds by first downplaying the town hall and TV horseplay, saying it wasn't nearly as exciting as what he was trying to do: get people to debate constructively about health care reform instead of bucking and snorting on television. He claimed the 'ruckus' was spooking the people and distorting the purpose of what he was trying to do. And, as though the people of Montana believed in him, they stayed civil and quiet, giving the man a chance to say and all that was in his heart. No 'ruckus' over there.

But Mr. Obama had to cling onto the saddle while the crowds listened and applauded, trying to stay focused on healthy, constructive horse-breaking debate, advocating for those without health coverage and keeping the costs down. He emphasized the need to end current insurance industry practices of dropping coverage when people got sick or denying coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. Obama used the occasion to pacify those with phobic ideas of "death panels" recently proclaimed by Sarah Palin out of her present hiding, and increase in taxes, and declared that none of the scares were about what health care reform discussion was aiming at. He borrowed two historical examples from the hall of fame of presidents.

“When President Roosevelt proposed Social Security, opponents warned it would open the door to ‘federal snooping’ and force Americans to wear dog tags,” Mr. Obama said. “When President Kennedy proposed Medicare, opponents warned of ‘socialized medicine.’ Sound familiar?”

After two critical challenges by skeptics who doubted his horse-breaking skills--one of whom insisted Obama didn't have the money to come through with his (bluff) plan--Obama stood firm and made many believers in Montana of his skills, then hauled further down to Wyoming, stopping to sight see in the Yellowstone National Park with his family.

The Obama horse show opened again in Grand Junction, Colorado, Saturday, where he continued to blast away at the 'scare tactics' on TV. "I don't want government bureaucrats meddling in our health care - but the point is I don't want insurance companies' bureaucrats meddling in our (show) health care either," Obama said, and the crowds cheered.

The Obama horse show has so far made stops in Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. And as sure as God made horses, the few skeptics left in the Western states which are predominant NRA fanatics and Republican strongholds are almost now convinced that Obama's bulldog determination is going to win again. Since the campaign days, when Obama made his circuit rides and worn most of the cowboy states, and again now, without having ever been thrown by his wild horse even once, most are now certain that he is sure a determined, ride-or-die bronc stomper. And, chances are, as the Republicans and corporations whine and sponsor fake horse shows on TV, Obama is going to break this mustang too. Just you wait!

e-mail: patlinx@gmail.com

Economic Recovery: Three Broncs For Obama

2009-08-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

As it happens, a lot of mustangs appear docile and easily tamable, but seasoned bronc busters will agree that you never can tell with a mustang until you are in the saddle, what kind of a brain-rattling, neck-snapping and bone-jarring spin you might get. But once you are in the saddle, it's always too late then. You must hang on or get thrown to hell and gone.

The raging health care debates are pitting friends against family, neighbors against friends and even serving good recipes for aggravated assault from fisticuffs and disorderly conduct. Senators are wary of showing openly in their own constituents, or just open their mouths in their own home turfs about health care reforms. They cannot be sure what reaction they might draw. Many town hall meetings have resulted in embarrassing disruption. The best most of them can hope for is a quiet, uninterrupted vacation with close friends and aids.

When Obama declared his game and raised the ante and the stakes way back during the campaigns and made wagers on health care reforms, he perhaps had not reckoned how difficult it was going to be to break his wild horses. Buoyed by the waves of support among the democratic ranks and desperate masses yelling, "Yes we can" around the rings, perhaps Obama saw nothing but landslide dust and victories in Congress for the the bills he was proposing: health care reform, fixing the economy, immigrations, environment, withdrawal from Iraq and perhaps winding down the war quickly in Afghanistan. But the stomping, sunfishing mustangs are proving a tough man's job. Does anyone remember the last time Obama said publicly, "Yes we can? He's probably been winded by the first wild rides: wrestling with the economy and getting the first stimulus bills passed. And he did pretty good job by that. There is not a critic who would not admit that the tide is turning. Even reports coming in from the feds and Europe show the measures have gone a long way to stem the economic downturn and slow down job losses.

Bronc number one busted and broke!

But before Obama even gets his first drink of water or slaps the dust off his sombrero, he's on bronc number two. Now this one is such a feisty wild beast that the very mention of health care reform is causing such passionate spasms and disagreements, fights and arguments that even Obama sounded almost unnerved when he spoke in a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on August 11, trying to calm the crowds and clarify the controversial points of the debate. What's more, this is only a tip of the iceberg. There is a relative lull since Congress is on recess and most senators and congresspeople are taking quiet vacations to lick their wounds after the first rounds. It will be most interesting to see what happens back on Capitol Hill after they resume and weigh in for the real brawling duels in the house and (hopefully) senate. Then the dust clouds will really rise. Fraternities will be redefined with much passion and partisan loyalties shuttered. The Blue Dog Democrats have already promised to give Obama a run for his money, even before the Republicans properly get set for the life-and-death brawl.

This is certainly one bronc Obama is eying warily--or rather they are eying each other with wild eyes. But if Obama can break this one, the third horse might be a picnic. And even if he does, it is hard to imagine the bruising, the groans and broken bones that will emanate out of Washington by the time the dust settles. And if he doesn't break it, it is even much harder to imagine him crawling into the saddle of the third.

Just as equally as rough and mean is the third wild mustang: immigrations reform. It is as old a problem as health care costs and health insurance in America. Almost every president has proposed one type of an immigration reform law, amendment or bill or another, some of which died at their inception. The problem of immigration has almost as many passionate proponents as it has opponents, and just as many diverse interest groups. In the past, a few immigration lawyers and nonprofit groups used to be the only activists lobbying feebly for positive and balanced immigration laws. But lately, demographic, economic and environmental changes have recently drastically rattled the melting pot. There are umpteen discrepancies and conflicts aggravated in the last one decade by controversial immigration law changes, the least of which is not the 1996 law that allows blanket and arbitrary deportation of almost any alien who smells, looks funny or has had a questionable run-in with the law. The aftermath of the ensuing mass deportations, the swelling numbers of Mexican immigrants across the country, post-September 11 passions and fears, security scares and outright discrimination have caused an upheaval in immigration procedures, which department is not regularly supervised by immigration judges. It also means there is no law that protects the immigrants suffering under this program because immigrations is an administrative branch of DHS and not a judicial process.

Now there is a backlash. Human Rights Watch is crying foul. More immigration lawyers and recruitment firms are up in arms, claiming limited number of available visas. Employers want more professional workers allowed in the country and nonprofit groups are swarmed with aliens seeking assistance again unjust immigration proceedings. Deportations are at a record high. Every bored jack law enforcement agent is out there scanning for faces that don't look white for a cause to begin harassing people for their legal documentation or lack of documentation. America has almost become a police state.

There are umpteen websites and blogs decrying the injustice and mistreatment of aliens by the ICE. One of the broncs Obama promised to tackle is immigration reforms. But reality is setting in.

When Obama went to a North America meeting recently, and after listening to the Canadian and Mexican leaders, he almost as good as confessed that three wild horses were too many to break for one person. He declared that bronc number three, immigration reform, would have to wait. The bone-snapping, dust-raising, hell screaming thrashing that is waiting him in Washington in the fall was enough to almost take the fight out of him.

As it happens, whether Obama can break all his horses before they break him is something every person around the ring fence is anxiously waiting to see.

I can't wait!

e-mail: patlinx@gmail.com

US Foreign Policy: Somalia Is a Sinkhole

2009-08-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

As it happens, one would wonder why the Obama Administration has recently been in such a rush to ship dozens of tons of weapons to Somalia. Anyone who has been following the events in that beleaguered country for the last five years, much less twenty when there last was a functional government, would know that what little government is there has been under siege for a long time, surrounded by remnants of Islamic militias and pirates in endless bloody skirmishes. The installation of a ragtag, feeble peacekeeping force from the OAU has only been a band aid against the deep cuts and contusions that are now the remnants of the war-torn country.

After the US recently decided to rush arms to Somalia, one wonders if they had clearly calculated the consequences of such an arbitrary and impulsive attempt at solving such an extensive and chronic problem. First, the skeleton government in Somalia has been under siege since the Ethiopians retreated north and washed their hands of the fiasco. That's what the Islamic warlords had been demanding for a long time. When the warring militias reformed and regained ground toward Mogadishu in June, the government cried for help from 'anyone, please ,' while artillery rained on the government buildings. And the shelling is still going on, as it happens. The OAU forces are clearly not in control, and as their mandate does not include fighting the militias directly, they have to defend themselves while trying to keep the militias from overrunning the hopeless government installations.

When US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was in Nairobi recently in consultation meetings with Somali's officials, she pledged more "support," probably referring to the US government's recent pledge to double the armament shipments. It is like doubling the amount of runoff water flowing into a sinkhole.

Rushing more arms into Somalia can mean only one catastrophe is getting strengthened with another. The Somali government forces are few and seriously outnumbered. Without adequate personnel, training or a bolstered force to fight back the advancing militias, the arms are falling into the hands of the enemy, strengthening them further against the government. It is a defeatist strategy and could soon be the coup de grace for Somalia.

e-mail: patlinx@gmail.com

World Peace: Time To Start Singing?

2009-08-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

By Augustus Douw

As it happens, the world has just narrowly survived another fit of severe, prolonged attack of status economic jerks. It might be easier, even comforting for historians and economists to compare past economics fits all the way from the great depression to this date, and use the historic data to pacify the Wall Street and other market phobics with hopes and promises of recovery, but surely they would all agree that this time around the attacks have been more intensive, more widespread and are bound to have longer lasting impacts across the world.

It is not merely enough to use actual numbers from the past to make comparisons in order to forecast the economic weather. We must remember that, for example, the environmental impact on climate, population growth and rate of consumption and pollution have all tippled, and in some ways quadrupled since after the first world war. Terrorism, increased world security fears and proliferation of rogue nations with clandestine nuclear weapons have all weighed into the global arena of conflicts and challenges since then. Recent scares from scarcity of food, market collapse and skyrocketing of fuel prices cannot be a mere repeat of the past, rather new signs that the world is staggering under the impact of cumulative burdens it is no longer able to bear. And this time it barely stayed on its feet. A worse sprawl than this cannot be ruled out in the near future if the threatening problems are not solved in the next few years.

As it happens, although a few honest analysts and politicians have been able to name the right culprits and perps who caused the apple cart to spill its cargo, we must all agree that greed is the principal aggravating factor in this crises. Compounded by fear, hate, warped egos and lust, greed and selfishness of individuals and governments have managed to steer the markets off the highway and cause a catastrophic crash of the whole world. And although Obama et al and the EU might try to write legislation and economic policies to check some of this greed, it is like plugging holes in a sieve with salt. There aren't enough legislation, militaries or activists to stop the anarchy and the wild staggering the world is going through now. The challenges are too many to fight, the crises too many to control and the burdens too heavy to bear.

Humans must make a decision now. How do they want to die? The nuclear bombs or the inevitable natural calamities?

The Comanche Indians, once mortally wounded, used to go over to a rock with their javelin and sing their death song until the Great Spirit carried their soul away. At that point, the Comanche would confess that he had no choice, it was time to save his dignity, what was left of it.

It might be time to start singing....

email: patlinx@gmail.com

After Visiting Hours by Augustus Douw

2009-08-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

Joel Amaleki follows the bizarre trail of his brother’s spiraling health complications in a maze of a hospital run by an underworld conglomeration of doctors, security guards, police and cartels. At his brother’s deathbed, he vows to dig into the foundations of the syndicate that rapidly murdered his brother. In the ensuing hospital fiasco he marries the one sympathetic nurse who becomes his lookout in the cloak-and-dagger, hide-and-seek, nerve racking, adrenaline-and-blood trip that finds them running, hiding and fighting for their lives in hospital corridors and operating theaters.

Don’t get sick around here...!

Order from any bokkshop near you or from Raider Publisher International.

The Ultimate Speed by Augustus Douw

2009-08-10T06:33:00.000-07:00

A Maltese cartel has the secret formula, concocted by a CDC researcher at gunpoint in Atlanta. The test subjects are derelicts and winos from Kenya and the Bronx in New York. The product is perfected in secret bush labs using special sports teams and the fastest running animal on the ground to almost supersonic bursts. The feds have only spidering, cold trails, but have no clue what is going on or what they are looking for until too late. Finally, FBI agents crawl deep inside Africa and manage to see only the last wisps of smoke from the heist, long after the markets have closed.

Coming soon to a bookshop near you or order directly from Raider Publishing International

The Street Chidren by Augustus Douw

2009-08-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

A real life thriller

Michael Manyu is altruistic and loves kids to a fault. He abandons his secure world to befriend and rescue the underworld of city slum children. His philanthropic perspective is innocent, but soon he discovers he’s bitten more than he can chew. His little maimed friends, scalded and branded by fires beyond pain and care, are not as innocent as poverty itself. The choices for Michael are tough. Either throw in with the little rascals in the trenches against the city cops or betray them by picking up his pieces and turning tail back to Indianapolis. But pretty soon it’s too late to show white feathers.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you. Or Order directly from Raider Publisher: