why the brits chuckle

In previous pieces, I express my regrets, in one way or another, for my support of this country's invasion of Iraq, one unholy fiasco. In this piece, I mull over how come the British government under their current Prime Minister Tony Blair got involved in that fiasco. However hard I try, I'm unable to shake off a rather risible notion that the brits took way too much to heart advice, uttered by another prime minister.

In this regard, I'm referring to Winston "Winnie" Churchill, who is gratefully and pridefully acknowledged by British historians as their country's saviour. Oh, alright (!) already, so I like the way the brits spell that word. I think it shows "savoir faire", if ya' known what I mean. Just when it looked as if the British people were about to be conquered by those nasty nazis, it was Winnie, who rallied the brits and their empire.

Okay, now that I've provided some idea of who the man was, I shall now convey to you the gist of his advice. And here it is: NEVER SEPARATE YOURSELVES FROM THE AMERICANS.

Yeah, it's in big block letters to match, in some way, the intensity, with which the brits took Winnie's advice to heart.

And here's something else he left, sort of as a legacy ya'know, with his fellow brits. And here's how it goes: Trust the Americans to do the right thing after they've tried everything else.

Yeah, gotta admit, first time, I became aware of that "bon mot" I chuckled. Ah, I'm can hardly be considered an anglophile. As I say elsewhere, I'm free of discrimination. I harbor equal disdain for all men.

Recently, I've come to have a massive problem. It saddens me to reveal. And it exasperates me to reveal. It looks like that brit gasbag was right. By the bye, I'm plagued by another emotion ... dread.

According to Lou Dobbs, one of the few teevee commentators with good hard sense, this country is in thrall to corporate supremacists. I take him to mean that Americans are being ruled, not so much by the "investing class", but rather by massive corporate interests. Somebody once said, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."

From what I can tell, those huge corporate interests insist on installing in high elective office right-wing quacks. When ya come right down to it, how (?) else can anyone explain why "fetal alcohol syndrome" ... my nickname for President George Walker Bush ... is in the White House.

If I may, I should like to insert another "bon mot". This one comes from the Pygmies of the Congo. It's a proverb of sorts, and here it is. "Better a smart enemy than a stupid friend".

Here's the upshot of all the foregoing. The "stupid friend" that the corporate supremacists had installed in this country's presidency has cost this country, after the damages have all been added up and by CONSERVATIVE estimate, one trillion dollars. Ah, that's trillion with a "t". Here, lemme inscribe in actual numerals and with a dollar sign:

$1,000,000,000,000.00

I threw in those last two zeroes to emphasize the point. According to the news, some couple in New Jersey hit the lottery for a net of some one hundred and twenty million dollars. Let's just posit the average adult in the street has a tough time getting their arms around something like this:

$120,000,000.00

Now then, please count all the decimal places to the left of the decimal point. Do so, and you'll come up with NINE (numeral 9). Now go back up to the trillion, and again count the decimal places to the left of the decimal point. And you'll come up with THIRTEEN (numeral 13). So, if one hundred and twenty million dollars (numeral $120,000,000) is a lot of money, then one trillion (numeral $1,000,000,000,000) has got to be a god-awaful amount!

Ah, yes, my little chick-a-dees, if you think you're getting nickled and dimed to death now, just you wait. For any corporate supremacist reading this piece, let's put it this way. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. Ain't no way in hell, you're going to get that "death tax", also known as the estate tax, repealed.

One may guess those funny diminutive Pygmies were onto something. The damage a smart enemy can cause can be horrendous, but the damage a stupid friend can cause can be mind boggling.

Here's something that should keep you awake at night. Just suppose dear Winnie was dead right about Americans. What (?) else do those corporate supremacists have to pull, before they do the right thing! Oh, dear Lord, what the heck (?) else do they have to try!

Here's a little lagniappe for my devoted scholarly fans. Supposedly, the Democratic Party was able to run successively against President Herbert Hoover in the 40 years, after he had left office. Something tells me that same party will be able to run successively against this current president in the next 80 years, after he leaves office.

toodles
.. . . . he who is known as sefton