Friendly Government functioning

This could help explain, how some governments function. The size of the robbery has somewhat increased in recent times.

Hurry up, dear chap!

  

 When my boss phoned me today, he asked,

"Is everything okay at the office?"

I said, "Yes, it's all under control.

It's been a very busy day, I haven't stopped for a minute."

"Can you do me a favour then?" he asked.

I said, "Of course, anything!

What is it?"

He said, "Then hurry up and .......................

.......................take your shot....

I'm right behind you..... .........on the 7th hole."

My Thanks to Dr. Surjit Patheja for this hilarious piece.

'Pancho Villa' - An unlearnt history lesson

It was the 18th of Dec of 2011, my friends and associates were readying themselves to celebrate the New Year.  I watched the last of the American soldiers departing from Iraq into Kuwait on my television. I was overcome with sadness at the foolishness and arrogance of some leaders and the anguish and terrible destruction such people spread on this earth and fellow man.

Study history we have often been told because history repeats itself.  Those that fail to learn are doomed to repeat the blunders but with increasingly grave consequences. 

________________________________________________

Had American leadership studied their history lessons well they might have not done what they did. Mighty economic and military strength demand great restraint and wisdom, for if it falls into the hands of the arrogant, the power is easily manipulated by the unscrupulous. The misuse of power often results in tragic consequences.

Almost exactly a century ago, the United States government went after one of Mexico’s most prominent revolutionary generals,  José Doroteo Arango Arámbula popularly called ‘Pancho Villa’. Much admired across Latin America and by his fellow countrymen, several towns, main roads etc.  are named after Pancho Villa.

Villa made a name for himself by converting himself from an ordinary bandit into a sort of Robin Hood. He hijacked trains, robbed the rich, took over their ranch lands and redistributed land and money to peasants and soldiers.

From 1913 to 1914 Pancho Villa was the provisional governor of the mineral rich Mexican state of Chihuahua located close to the United States border. 

Documented evidence shows that the United States initially supported Pancho Villa with weapons and other resources. In 1915 the Americans changed their stance, allied themselves by supporting and giving its official recognition instead to Venustiano Caranza's national government. This led to trouble between the Americans and Pancho Villa.

In January 1916, some Mexicans attacked and killed 16 American employees of the local railroad company near Santa Isabel, Chihuahua.   In March 1916, there was an attack on Columbus, New Mexico by a group of Mexicans. 8 soldiers and 10 civilians (an American arms merchant and his staff) were killed in the attack.  The American public was outraged and the newspapers and politicians blamed Pancho Villa for the two attacks. Villa admitted he had ordered the attacks, but he denied ordering the killings of Americans. 

The American President, Woodrow Wilson advised patience. Baying for blood, the war hawks sought revenge and closure on this perceived outrage on American pride. The situation forced President Wilson's to react.

In Jan of 1916 President Wilson ordered General Pershing to lead a powerful force of 4,800 men into Mexico to capture or kill Pancho Villa. The force grew almost immediately to 10,000 and by June 1916 swelled to 130,000 men.  The expedition was backed by latest armaments, radio, and air cover using newly inducted Curtiss JN-4 airplanes for reconnaissance and attack.

Merely throwing money, weapons, people and technology at problems rarely solves them. Appropriate strategy, based on deep understanding, diplomacy, and tact to win hearts is a softer approach and often succeeds at low costs. However the powerful rarely have patience for tact, they never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate their military and economic prowess. 

Admired as a hero for standing up to the Americans, Villa received immense local support. The locals despised the presence of American foreign troops on their soil. They often misled and misguided the Americans who braving the heat, dust and mosquitoes trampled all over Northern Mexico without any success. The Americans plight was made worse by the vast unmapped terrain and places that Villa took shelter in and used for counter-attack

A huge reward of US$ 50,000 for information leading to the capture of Villa also failed to deliver results. The Americans who had estimated that they would need a couple of weeks to meet their objectives withdrew the bulk of American forces in January 1917. 

General Pershing publicly claimed the expedition was a success, although he complained privately to his family that President Wilson had imposed too many restrictions, which made it impossible for him to fulfill his mission. He admitted to having been "outwitted and out-bluffed at every turn" and wrote, "When the true history is written, it will not be a very inspiring chapter for school children, or even grownups to contemplate. Having dashed into Mexico with the intention of eating the Mexicans raw, we turned back at the first repulse and are now sneaking home under cover, like a whipped dog with its tail between its legs."

The greatest weakness of powerful people and mighty nations is their overly sensitive egos, and their preoccupation with always looking invincible. Thus they can easily be provoked to play into the manipulative games of their enemies.  

History repeated itself, in addition to creating global disorder and chaos; the price paid has been tragically very high,

• Approx 150,000 Iraqis killed (many of them civilians)
• Approx 5,000 deaths of US and Allied soldiers
• Approx 2 Million Iraqi’s displaced from Iraq to neighbouring countries.
• Approx 1.8 Million Iraqi’s displaced internally within Iraq
• Approx 1 Million orphans in Iraq
• 36% of Iraqi people have been uprooted and a majority of them have lost their homes.

The financial burden to be borne by the two main nations of USA and Iraq are,

• US citizens will have to pay a whopping debt of US$ 3 trillion (that is US$ 3,000,000,000,000)
• Iraqi’s will have to invest US$ 500 Billion just to get back to where they were before the start of the Gulf wars 22 years ago. Of course no amount of money can bring back the lives of those killed, maimed, separated, orphaned and traumatized.

The only beneficiaries of this war are the powerful lobbies of arms manufacturers, oil companies, trigger-happy generals, the undertakers, scrap merchants and evil people who spread hatred and violence etc.

Once upon a time I like many others was a great admirer of America and what it stood for, now I am not so sure.   I pray that,

I pray that your thoughts and actions never be clouded by your ego, anger and greed.   May you always remain cool and composed and therefore always be able to respond rather than react to challenges in your life.

 _________________________

Living like a King and for free.

• My dog sleeps about 16 hours a day.
• He has his food prepared and served to him.
• He can eat whenever he wants, 24 hours a day, 365 days.
• His meals are provided at no cost to him.
• He visits the doctor at least thrice a year for his checkup, and for any medical treatment. For this healthcare he pays and does nothing.
• He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep. 
• If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.
• He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep. He receives these accommodations absolutely free.
• He lives like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.
• All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day.
• I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick in the head.......
• 
  
• My dog is an Indian POLITICIAN !

My thanks to Ms. Priti Quinn for this article

Time to use Ostrakas?

One of the objectives of writing this blog is to force myself to think out of the box, or think differently within the box.

Protests all over the world including India on how a few individuals destroy the peace of mind of the vast majority. Provided below is a 2600 year old concept borrowed from history.

Long ago there existed in Europe several powerful city states. A fine example was Athens, which had with great difficulty got rid of the petty tyrants and introduced a very successful democracy which lasted several hundred years.

As is well known democracies give rise to a peculiar problem.  Some people claiming to work in the  interest for the people but really working for themselves game the system. They distort the basic goodness of democracy and corrupt democracy and entrench themselves completely. 

Once in power these self centered power maniacs are almost impossible to eliminate.  The Athenians recognised that such people left to their antics would divide the people into factions  and unnecessarily cause anxiety to the people. They had to find a solution.

The solution the people of Athens evolved was the system of 'ostracism', wherein each year one high profile person, mostly a leader, who become haughty, rude, inconsiderate, scheming etc and was likely to cause anxiety to the people, was banished into exile for 10 years from Athens.

The simple procedure required the Athenian citizens to gather in the market place and write the name of the person who they thought should be banished on ostrakas (pieces of broken pottery) which were used as voting tokens. At that time papyrus was imported from Egypt and hence expensive whereas  ostrakas were abundant and cheaply available.  The citizens scribbled the name of the person they wanted on their individual  ostraka and the person who got most number of ostrakas ( but with a minimum of 6000 ostrakas) was exiled for 10 years.

Many powerful people such as Astrides the most powerful general who defeated the Persians at Marathon was exiled in 490 B.C. and as was the famous and powerful general Themistocles in 472 B.C because they became haughty and did not care for the people but only about themselves.

The selfish system is slightly odd because the person is exiled even without being guilty. The citizens decide to punish someone first and then decide who it had to be.

This unusual practice forced leaders to take into consideration the opinion of most of the citizens and those that were socially inferior to them. Ostracism was a simply a pragmatic preventive measure that ensured no one ever became to big for his boots. The exiled person did not suffer any monetary loss or property confiscation etc, he or she just had to remove their presence from the community. 

Would it not be a great idea if each year the citizens could banish one person who they believe is causing anxiety to the people from a village, taluka, district, municipal corporation, state and at the national level.

If this idea were ever implemented I wonder;

• In this age of technology distance may not be a barrier anymore for troublesome people to cause anguish 
• Who would provide residence and asylum to these wretched people who would be exiled. 

December leads in breakups

December Leads Year In Breakups, But Lags in Promotions, Weddings, Divorces

December is probably the most exciting month of the year, but other than the retail sector going crazy, how does December really measure up to some other months?

For example, December is not the best month for relationships. The most popular day when boyfriend/girlfriend call it quits is the Monday closest to two weeks before Christmas, according to a Facebook graphics posted by blogcritics.org.

That day was yesterday, December 12. If you weren’t dumped, you are doing good.

Why? Perhaps the stress of Christmas approaching leads to a boiling point in relationships.

Perhaps the coming of the New Year motivates people to make a new start. Or, perhaps it is as simple as not wanting to spend money on a Christmas gift. Very few are cruel enough to dump someone on or immediately before Christmas, so this can force somebody as hand to do it about two weeks before, concludes blogcritics.

December is also not the best time of the year to get a promotion.

According to data collected and analyzed by LinkedIn, January, June and July are the most popular months for U.S. workers to receive promotions. Globally, January, July and September are the top three.
January represents the new calendar year, while in June and July evaluations are being conducted. Bosses like to wrap things up before leaving on vacation in August, and if they don at, then those in line to be promoted will have to wait until September, according to LinkedIn.

And if you want to get married, June is the most popular month. That as when the start of moderate temperatures and reasonable outdoor weather begins in many corners of the globe.

Also, a wider and cheaper array of flowers are available, according to bridetide.blogspot.com.

But cheap flowers are not the major reason why June is so popular for weddings. It as tradition.

Back in the day, couples often chose to marry in accordance to their peak harvest time. Having a June wedding meant that a possible summer pregnancy would still be early enough in the season that a wife could help out with manual work during that year as harvest period. It also meant that after a spring birth, the recovered bride would be in good enough health to assist in the next year as harvest, according to Bridetide.

Here is my favorite reason.

A long time ago, regular bathing was not exactly considered a necessity and was therefore reserved as a once-a-year event that most of the population observed during the last part of May or beginning of June. As expected, right after their annual bath,  many couples decided to tie the knot since each person was probably their most presentable (and less stinky) during this time compared to the upcoming 12 months.

August is the most popular month for giving birth, according to lifeslittlemysteries.com, although all summer months rank pretty close in this category. February ranks the lowest.

Experts theorize that the timing has a lot to do with weather conditions nine months earlier. Go figure.
As the mercury drops in the late fall and winter, things heat up at home as people spend more time indoors. About nine months later, a summer baby is born. Makes perfect sense.

Cold, dark January may be a good month for promotions, but it as a bad month for marriages.

That is when most divorces are filed.

Perhaps January is a popular time to divorce, says YourTango.com, because the December holidays can be a time where emotions run high, leaving people to become angry or unhappy with their marriage. Just after the holiday season, many people might feel that divorce is their best option.

There you have it, a small cycle of human civilization. Enjoy the holiday season, make it through Dec. 12, and watch out for January, unless you are up for a promotion

John Toth publishes The Bulletin weekly newspaper in Brazoria County, Texas. He was an award-winning writer for The Houston Chronicle until he decided to leave all that serious stuff behind for a chance to participate in high risk business ventures like publishing a weekly, which he has done since 1994. He can be reached atjohn.bulletin@gmail.com

Fire at AMRI hospital

Early this morning on the eighth of December a terrible fire broke out at the AMRI hospital in Kolkata. As the senior staff  fled,  89 persons lost their lives and many more were seriously injured, all of them patients. No later had the media broadcast the news that political damage control and finger pointing began.


As of now;

• Two owners and four managers have been arrested, and they will be released shortly on bail. 
• The hospital cannot function practically and legally because the government has cancelled its licensee.
• A compensation of Rs 50,000 has been awarded to survivors of the deceased. The hospital's junior staff and the  ill equipped brave firemen who risked their lives doing a very tough job are being blamed for a bad job and responding too slowly.
• TV anchors  shed crocodile tears as will be their hosts on the talk shows.

Tomorrow;

• The factories inspector will make a report showing that he did his job as will the concerned fire inspector. 
• The concerned municipal officers in charge will move some files and reports here and there trying to pass the buck, and some junior person will be suspended. 
• The newspapers will blare this tragedy on their headlines. 
• The politicians will start a one up-manship game.

The day after;

• Wheels of corruption will turn.
• The owners and managers will look to influence by monetary or political pressure, the police, the concerned legal persons from the government, the victims families. 
• Various vultures political and others will descend on the situation sensing a good killing to be made. 
• Money will change hands and the situation will quieten down.
• The TV stations will suffer amnesia.
• The newspaper will relegate the incident to history after taking it sequentially through pages, 5, 9 and finally page 16.

Six months later;

• The hospital will be restarted under a new name and management with old owners having new politically powerful partners.
• The owners will start a new hospital flouting the rules.
• The suspended officials will be reinstated and the case will join the million other cases pending in our judiciary.

This is not how a modern civilized society functions, this is how a sad joke is played on citizens by their chosen political leaders, civil servants, police and merchants of death.
Each one of us has every right to feel indignant, angry and sad. Since we are normally mute spectators or participants in small ways we have no one to blame but ourselves. We play our own little games of trying to get ahead by manipulating or ignoring the system by;

• Just being indifferent.
• Refusing to exercise our voting franchise or voting for bad /corrupt people. 
• Bribing bureaucrats and government officials rather than follow the correct way.
• Teaching our children all the wrong things or by setting poor examples of behaviour.
• Give up hope of exerting our right and cower in front of two bit tyrannic public servants.
• Do not contribute to our communities and humanity in general, remembering all our rights but forgetting most of our responsibilities. 

If we want to make a difference then we should remember that;

A different world cannot be built by indifferent people; 

and    

As we sow, so shall we reap.