18 August 2014

Washington 'logic' and other tidbits

Washington ‘logic’
The USA invaded Iraq on a pretext.  The USA messed up that country and then ‘left’.  Now the USA is back.  The USA has returned because of the ISIS, we are told.  ‘Targeted strikes,’ Washington says.  We know that when the USA says ‘Targets’ it includes innocent civilians, children, elderly people and so on.  Let’s leave all that aside.  ‘No quick fixes in Iraq,’ Obama says.  Let’s read that as follows: ‘We are not going to pull out any time soon’.  But here’s what it is all about.  The USA is bombing Iraq to fix stuff that needs fixing BECAUSE the USA bombed Iraq in the first place!


How the ‘left’ has fallen!
Time was when this country had the strongest Trotskyite movement in the whole world. Back then it was ‘workers of the world unite -- you have nothing to lose but your chains’.  Things have changed.  The ‘left’ ministers (so-called) have been politically reduced to ‘exploring the formation of a common front against the Bodu Bala Sena and its General Secretary’.  Aney Pau, did someone say?





Pet laws for whom?
There are going to be laws pertaining to pets kept in homes and also those in pet shops.  Interesting.  We think that the laws should apply to all pets, in and out of households and pet shops.  For example it is customary for the powerful to keep pets.  Officials make good pets, this is well known.  The powerful (and this includes not just politicians but top corporate entities as well) are known to keep journalists and other media personnel as pets.  Then we have various foreign governments that hurathalfy NGO personalities, trade union leaders, human rights activists and academics.  Some judges make good pets too, we have seen. Police officers and even police spokespersons are good pets.  They have to be treated right of course.  The question is, will the new laws cover all these people?  Will it be a requirement for the ‘owners’ to vaccinate all of them?


All beggars are crooks.  Hmmm…!
All beggars are crooks according to Maithripala Sirisena. Fine.  So who are the biggest beggars in this country?  There was a time when Ronnie De Mel, then Finance Minister, was regularly lampooned with the begging bowl.  That’s what all Finance Ministers have had to do in a country where leaders have no clue about the political economy of underdevelopment.   How about politicians themselves?  Aren’t they the worst kind of beggars or rather crooked beggars?  They pretend they have nothing.  They beg for votes.  They make a good collection and then they spit on the voters!


Additional Ministries
The existence of two ministries- the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Private Transport Services –was unnecessary, President, Private Bus Owners Association (LPBOA) Gemunu Wijerathne said.   He is dead wrong.  There has to be a ministry for every MP.  And if there aren’t enough subjects to pass around some would have to have more than one minister.  That’s why they contest.  Even member of the opposition must be given a ministry each.  Each minister must be paid well and all perks currently enjoyed by ministers must be quickly doubled.  That will keep them happy.  That’s very important.  What’s more important is to make sure that none of them work.  When idiots ‘work’, they make things worse.  Their JD should read ‘Twiddle your thumbs; if you do any work you will be stripped of your portfolio’. 




0 comments: