Why camels don't have wings

"Daily", said Mullah Nasrudin to his wife, "I become more amazed at the manner in which nature is organized; and the way in which everything upon this
earth is in some way planned for the benefit of mankind."

She asked for an example. "Well, for instance, you note that camels have no wings, by the mercy of Providence."

"How does that help us?"

"Don't you see? If they had wings they might roost on housetops, and destroy the roofs, to say nothing of the noise and the nuisance of their chewing
and spitting their cud."

I heard this story differently.

Nasrudin had just purchased a brand new turban and was out to show it off with one of his students. Suddenly a flock of birds flew overhead, depositing on Nasrudin's new turban a large splatter of bird shit.

"Thanks be to God!" exclaimed the Mullah,"God is so great"

"Mullah"said his student,"How can you thank God when your brand new turban is now ruined"

"I thanks God" said Nasrudin,"because in his infinite wisdon, he did not give camels wings"

Bernie Madoff versus B.P. american justice

We all know the Bernie Madoff story, his Ponzi scheme, and subsequent arrest. Madoff is now suffering a humilating house arrest in his 7 million dollar apartment. While senior citizens, who invested their life savings with him, are eating cat food tuna in Florida. B.P. was a student at very prestigious military university, on scholarship, due to his football talent. I knew his family, so I'm not making this up. In the summer of his freshman year,B.P. made a grave mistake in judgement and was involved in a local armed robbery of a small restaurant. There was much local outcry, as the restaurant had just been bought by one of its waitresses,was a popular local eatery and B.P.'s accomplice was African American. B.P. recieved an 18 year sentence for this crime. His appeal, based on the serverity of the sentence(he pleaded nolo contendre) was lost in legal and bureaucratic shuffling. The sentence exceeded all legal guidelines and was based,probably, on emotions current at the time.I do not condone B.P.'s crime, although, aside from this one mistake, he was pretty good kid. However his life is ruined. A 19 year old kid, at the time of his arrest, he'll be almost 40 when he gets out of prison. He will probably be hardened, angry and antisocial. A life wasted.
Meanwhile Madoff is trying to hide his assests under the bed. Spiriting out jewelry and money. He's 70, by the time he comes to trial, he'll be unable to attend, due to health reasons.( the old Mafia don ploy) If he goes to jail, it will be to some country club federal resort, and not for long. His fortune will remain in tact and those seniors in Florida will continue to enjoy Nine Lives tuna casserole.
We have two seperate justice systems in America, one for the poor and one for the rich. If you can afford a great legal mind(very expensive!) you either get off, or get a slap on the hand. If your poor or a minority, you get slapped into some hellhole, where only the very strong survive(and the others become their wives) I have no doubt that no one will try to bugger Madoff if and when he goes to jail.
As this nations goes to hell, because of the greed of the wealthy, be it Wall street traders,bankers, or members of government, its time to reexamine the American justice system. The Bernie Madoff's of this nation need to pay for their crimes under an eqaul justice system. Madoff, to me, is no different than Jeffery Dahlmer. A monster. But not a monster who will suffer for his monstrousities.

Hamid Karzai's outfit

What's with Karzai's getup anyway. How quaint,one is tempted to say. Very ethnic, Afghani chic!
Not! It appears to be an attempt at symbolizing unity. Although he is from the same Pashtun clan that has provided Afghanistan's kings, he must want to appear as an everyman. OK,the cloak is chapan, its Uzbek,Turkic people. Its usually not worn as a cape and is usually belted. The hat is a Karakul(means black fur, in Turkic also) and is worn by a lots of Tajiks( an Indo Iranian people) Afghanis wear turbans or Pakols( the beret like hat of the mujaheddin), not karakuls. Oh yeah, a western suit,like hey guys,I'm hip, I like hip hop and pizza too! And the shirt, well looks like a cut down thobe or dishdasha, like they wear in Saudi and the Emirates. Western, Islamic, and culturally aware all in one. Maybe it works in Kabul. Maybe everyone will start wearing these things,just like Iraqi's all sported Saddam style moustaches.
But lets say I showed up to big event wearing a bishops mitre, a cowboy shirt, kilt and gothic motorcycle boots. Would that work? Is this what Afghani's see? Some do.

And now a word from our sponsor,

Nasrudin!

Nasrudin is with his cronies drinking coffee:

They are discussing death, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"

The first crony says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man."

The second says, " I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow."

Nasrudin says, " I would like to hear them say... LOOK!! HE'S MOVING!!!"

" I can see Russia from my mosque!"

Well, Uzbekistan anyway. What ever happened to Mullah Omar,infamous one eyed head of the Taliban? We never hear about him anymore. Yet he is just as important as Osama bin Laden. Two peas in a pod.They compliment each others existence. So who is Amir Mullah Muhammed Omar. Nothing more then the Sarah Palin of Afghanistan. He comes from a rural,tribal(read redneck) area of southern Afghanistan. He was a local Mullah( teacher,dispenser of Islamic law). Not well educated, even in Islamic religious tradition, he has no world view and longs for a time 1400 years ago when the prophet Muhammad walked the earth. He claims to be imposing the Shariat.(Islamic law) But his interpertation of it is rigid and highly influence by something called the Pashtunwali. The Pastunwali is the ancient code of ethics for the Pashtun Afghan tribesmen. It is more than medieval, it harkens back to the old codes of the steppe nomads, lke the Yasa of Genghiz Khan.The Taliban(the name comes the Arabic talib, student) is composed of many young Pashtuns,products of war, refugee camps and madresses(Islamic schools). These young men know nothing of th history and tradiitons of their land. These old tribal traditions and old crafts have been lost in the 20 years of civil war. Brainwashed in fundamentalist medresses,having no talent or occupation,they became his army and his government. They knew little of women, and succumbed to Omar's fear that sex and adultery pollute Islamic ( a hell of alot more uptight than a Massachusetts puritan.) He makes the Ayatollah Khomeini look like a liberal, hippy,pinko fag. His brand of Islam hails from the ultraconservative Wahabi teaching of Saudi Arabia. Only his are a hell of alot more conservative. Women are shut in the house with no education. War widows now have no way to earn a living. Most of Afghanistan's modern schools had women teachers,he closed them all.
His brand of Islam coupled with bin Laden's world view make up the philosphy of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Without Osama, Mullah Omar would have been one in a hundred minor Afghani resistance leaders. Without Omar,bin Laden would not have been able to have a base(Al Qaeda means the base in Arabic) to build his empire.
He is equal to, and just as dangerous as Osama,maybe more. He has declared himself to be Amir al Muminin, the commander of the faithful. Maybe a meanless title to us, but to Islam it is the very title Muhammad's successors used as Caliph(Khalifa, successor, leader of the world of Islam, the Ummah) He claims ultimate leadership of the whole Islamic community. Together, both him and bin Laden have trained thousands of soldiers and exported them to Islamic nations to stir unrest and lead a revoltution to build islamic states through out Dar al Islam( the world of Islam) Osama bin Laden accepts and endoreses this position and bows spiritually to Mullah as his leader, his Caliph. Fundamentalist Islam is not mainstream Islam, not intellectual thinking Islam. It is the rhetoric of demi gods who appeal to the poor and oppressed Arabs and other Islamic nationaliiies in refugee camps and war torn nations. They appeal to the Afghan, whose country was destoryed .They appeal to thousands of Afghan refugees in camps. They appeal to refugee Palestinians and Muslims locked in nationalistic wars, like Chechnya,Bosnia,Sinkiang(Chinese Turkestan), Algerians, Indonesians, Somalis and a host more. They envision once again driving the Jews and Crusaders out. Its not everyones Islam for sure, but it adherents are growing.
This is why Mullah Omar should share billing with Osama bin Laden as "most wanted"

Running down the road,

going to a doctors appointment, I engaged in one of my favorite fantasies. I win the lottery( of course, I don't even play the lottery, but recently
I entered publishers clearing house stuff) OK truck and TV cameras roll, I win a couple of million. Wow! build me a new house , , go to Kashgar, to India, buy a cherry red '40 Ford coupe all restored.Go back to Okinawa, maybe even Vietnam and put a few loose ghosts to rest. No booze, no drugs, I,m clean and wouldnt go there for a couple of mill. World cruise.
Anyway it was a simple visit,new doctor now that insurance is running out. Local clinic, a quicky.WRONG a very nice doctor and thorough exam( even though I brought records) He discovers more skin cancer. OK been there, done that..ole pussy kind o cancer.. basal cell. No sweat.Not TODAY, today its melanoma, and a biospsy is taken. this shit can kill you.
So running down the road, going back home, its a whole math thing. My chances of this biopsy being positive, of being relatively advanced, being untreatable and killing me in six months are far better than winning a lottery.
So that puts my new found lottery riches in different perspective. I am back to being mortal, old and not in the best of health now. A couplamill. Hmm Jenny needs a new house built. a brand new storage barn with kennels, her bills paid and some kind of retirement set up for her. So thats maybe half my winnings. OK leave some money to some needy friends( my ex fiancee Judith, comes to mind, shes struggled all her life.) My ex wife, A Charity endowment of some kind, Native American schools come to mind. Oh shit, I only have $500 left! Oh well.
Later, much later I wonder why a country clinic took the time to check when my fancy and expensive HMO never follows up on by basal cell carcinoma by checking me. Why this country clinic took the biopsy today not made another appointent for next week and the HMO does.I won't get on a healthcare thing, but it does make ya wonder.

Nasrudin

From time to time, I will be posting some stories about Mulla Nasrudin. No,he is not some evil Taliban, stoning adultresses. He probably existed in the 12th or 13th century in an area of Persia called Khorasan. He was a Sufi teacher and local mulla. His zen like parables spread throughout Persia,Central Asia and Turkey. Today a book has been written in the west using Nasrudin's philosophy to guide corporate management. The thesis is so oxymoronic that one thinks the Mulla just might approve. Anyway here is our first Nasrudin story.

Thankful not to loose myself

One day there was news in every corner of the town about the Mullah's donkey which he lost it. When his neighbours heard the news they got sad and decided to go to mullah's house and help him to find his donkey. So they came to mullah's house and they saw that mullah is very happy and very thankful from god! They find it very interesting and asked mullah: " Mullah aren't you sad about loses of your donkey?" Mullah laughed and said I am happier because god helped me that I was not riding it other wise I was lost as well.