Written by U Ne Oo on 2006-10-31
In the Kingdom of Neo-Cons, there is a "White Sailors Club". The Club is the most prestigious institution of the Kingdom and, as its name suggests, the membership is granted only to the privileged. The White Sailors Club usually launch various expedition and ventures. These ventures are normally turned out to be quite lucrative and profitable. And, also, such expedition and ventures have brought more prestige to the sailing club.
Over the centuries, also, the world gets to know about the great Captains and their vessels on various ventures. This is because the White Sailing Club distribute propaganda about the Captains and its ventures that were being printed often on the glossy papers. Of course not all ventures and expeditions turn out to be smooth sail-along. To be fair, there may be some justification for glorifying the work of those captains.
There are also stories about the great passion of captains when their ships were confronted by the storms. In extreme situation, it said, the strong captains did not abandon their vessels, but prepared to go down in glory with their troubled ships.
LATEST VENTURE BY WHITE SAILING CLUB
Of recent, the White Sailors Club from the Kingdom of Neo-Cons had launched a new venture. On board the vessel, there are well known identities such as the Dumb Captain and the Ordinary Sailor. Understandable that the Captain and the Sailor -- with any shortcomings in them -- do have a legitimate reason to be on board that ship.
Not to anyone's surprises though, onbord that ship was also a smart Rat (I usually label it as a Racist Rat). The Rat has no reason to be on that sailing ship. So far as I can see, the Rat neither has the capacity to command the ship nor the strength to steer her in any such direction. Nor even does it possesses any quality to contribute in the running of the ship.
SO WHY WAS THE RAT ON BOARD ?
Obviously, the Rat should have no interest whatsoever to be on board that vessel. Though it would appears that the Rat's craving for the glory and prestige had attracted it to jump on board that ship. It all make sense considering the shipping venture was launched by the prestigious "White Sailing Club".
From the outset, both the Captain and Sailor are aware that the Rat is on board. Why would they kept that Rat on board ? May be the Captain and Sailor are superstitious that if only two of them on board, which is an even-numbered, could spell a disaster for the voyage. So, they probably counted the Rat as one and made total number to three in order to prevent disaster.
HOW WOULD THEY JUMP THE SHIP
The latest venture launched by the White Sailing Club, as it turned out, is going through a serious storm. It sounds like the ship is about to sink. It is an interesting as to how and when those on board will jump the ship. Question also, should we grant any glory to the Captain if outstanding sacrifice is made in the sinking of the vessel.
For the ordinary Sailor, he acknowledge early on that the ship had sailed into a serious storm. He had tried unsuccessfully change the course of the ship. However, more dumb than stubborn, the captain did not listen to the sailor. Of recent, we saw that the Sailor had put on his own life-jacket, and is ready to abandon the ship when the time comes.
As for the Dumb Captain, he didn't know the ship was sailing into the storm in the first place. The vessel is unstable and is in a state of severe stress. But the Captain doesn't aware those trouble because the Captain is always drunk: the Captain couldn't distinguish unstable deck from his drunkenness.
NO GLORY FOR A DUMB CAPTAIN
The Captain vowed not to change the course and, in all likelihood, he will go down with the ship. Any captain who prepared to go down with his ship, in the past, has been accorded with some glory. But this captain is a "dumb" one who does not know what is happening to the ship. Even after the ship has lost all her buoyancy and sink into the seas, the Dumb Captain still will not know what had happened. Even that Captain goes down with the ship, that would never be his conscious decision. Would that captain deserves glory ? I don't think so.
THE SMART RAT MANEUVER
As for the Rat, there is still some conclusion to be made. Most opportunistic among all the known parasite species, the rats do survive and often thrive on disasters. In the event of the ship went down in the storm, the Rat's instinct will surely serve it to jump from the ship. For this while, the Rat feels more comfortable staying onbord the sinking ship. Then, it is a matter of time we would witness how that cunning Rat would maneuver to jump off from the disaster.
In Solidarity, U Ne Oo.
Troops will only leave a stable Iraq: PM
October 19, 2006 08:58am
Article from: AAP
PRIME Minister John Howard said Australian troops will leave Iraq only when he is satisfied the war-torn Middle East nation is stable.
"I want to see a democratic Iraq," Mr Howard told ABC radio.
The US-led military coalition in Iraq has been criticised heavily by a host of detractors including leading US military officials, human rights groups and opposition political parties.
Mr Howard said his belief in the war had only strengthened as the conflict continued.
"None of us want to stay in Iraq any longer than necessary, but if the coalition were to pull out of Iraq now it would be an unqualified victory for the terrorists and that unqualified victory would be used as a recruiting argument by the terrorists."
Labor has promised to pull troops out of Iraq if it wins government next year. It is a plan condemned by Mr Howard.
"If it's good enough for Australia to go, it must, by any test of fairness and logic, be good enough for the Americans and British to go," Mr Howard said. Mr Howard said the details of Iraqi democracy were something to be worked out by the Iraqi government although a single state was his preference rather than splitting the country along ethnic and religious lines into separate entities. "I think there are great advantages in having a single state," he said.
No Iraq exit before UK, US: PM
www.news.com.au
October 29, 2006
PRIME Minister John Howard says Australian forces will leave Iraq when it is suitable for US and British troops also to leave, but not before. Withdrawing coalition troops from the region before Iraqi forces could take charge of security would condemn the country to even greater violence, Mr Howard said today.
"If it is all right for Australia to go, it's all right for Britain and America to go," he said.
"And if we all go, the country will descend, certainly, into greater bloodshed and chaos."
Mr Howard said history would judge Australia and its allies harshly if they deserted Iraq and left the country to deteriorate into further violence. "We all ultimately want to go - of course nobody wants to stay there indefinitely," he said.
"But you can't go until you are satisfied that the Iraqis can look after the situation.
"If we go, and condemn the country to civil war and greater bloodshed, history will rightly condemn us."
Mr Howard said US President George W Bush was reviewing his approach to the Iraq war, but the overall policy would not change.
"President Bush is looking at his tactics and he's looking at different ways of advancing the situation in Iraq," Mr Howard said.
"There's been no fundamental change in strategy. But that doesn't mean to say that tactical changes, different approaches within that strategy, won't constantly be examined.
