DESPITE GETTING BUT HALF AN INCH OR SO OF SNOW HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI YESTERDAY, it's shaping up to be a rather cold President's Day where Your Correspondent is sitting.
And should remain so the next couple of days, especially in view of pre-sunrise windchill readings likely to crash to the -20 to -25 range.
Speaking of weird weather, Your Correspondent has to wonder whether the late spate of tornadoes across parts of the Deep South are some class of Divine Wrath and Judgement for such being major bastions of support for the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right.
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ONE OF THOSE "DEFINITELY NOT FOR TOURISTS" SIGHTS TO BE ENCOUNTERED in parts of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Bhangladesh is dog fighting a la mode--traditionally the enclave for the local version of Angry White Men Eating Krispy Kreme Donuts, with many such contests featuring under-the-table betting and substantial cash prizes.
Seeing as how a suicide bomber disrupted a dog fighting tournament in Khandahar, Afghanistan yesterday (with 84 deaths ensuing) makes me wonder if said suicide bomber really had as motivation therefor a protest against such a cruel, inhumane and degrading sport--especially given the laxity of police power in parts of Afghanistan.
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STAYING WITH ANIMAL-RIGHTS ISSUES, AS IT WERE, FOR THE MOMENT, you can expect the People for the "Ethical Treatment" of Animals crowd to be rejoicing @ the news of the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service recalling some 144,000 tons of ground beef produced by the Westland/Hallmark company out Southern California way--most of which you may have already eaten, alas for it! by way of either:
The order being issued in response to undercover video made by Humane Society officers discovering where halt and lame cattle as should not otherwise be processed for human consumption were being forced into the abattoir--in some extreme cases, resorting to cattle prods or even forklift trucks.
Remember, boys and girls, that PETA sees releasing flatulence for the sake of dietary reform to be a Badge of Honour--the louder and smellier, the better.
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SO MUCH FOR THE CONTINUING HANNAH MONTANA MANIA ABROAD, especially to the point where such is getting too much attention as "junk food" news (a/k/a prolefeed) serving only to distract the attention of the weak-minded and vulnerable from The Bigger Picture of the ur-RAHOWA's failings and Indecision 2008.
Which recalls this Burma-Shave sign from the around 1936:
RIOT AT
DRUGSTORE
CALLING ALL CARS
100 CUSTOMERS
99 JARS
BURMA-SHAVE
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MUHAMMAD AL-FAYED, THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN BUSINESSMAN AS OWNS THE RITZY LONDON RETALER HARRODS (motto: Omnia Omnibus Ubique--"Everything, for Everybody, Everywhere"), finally got his opportunity to tell his version of events in what he always wanted all along: That inquest by the Paris authorities into the tragic 1997 accident as killed Mr. al-Fayed's son Dhodi and Diana, Princess of Wales.
To hear Mr. al-Fayed put it, such was actually part of a Greater International Conspiracy--involving, if not the Usual Suspects in conspiracy theories of Jews and Freemasons, then the British Royal Family, MI6 (Great Britain's overseas intelligence agency), Interpol, the Central Intelligence Agency and Other International Operatives acting, if not exactly sinister, then weird and unwholesome.
Which is enough to wonder whether Mr. al-Fayed may be overdoing it in his claims and substantiations, let alone fearing the likelihood that he may have to reimburse the French courts if it emerges that the grounds for his inquest request turn out being frivolous, vexatious or otherwise tending to malicious prosecution. Let alone the prospect of al-Fayed having close connexions to the Britophobe extraordinaire, Lyndon LaRouche, considering the British Royal Family being implicated.
And if it turns out that Mr. al-Fayed has to make reimbursement (yet wants to avoid needlessly tying up his own cash resources), he can always turn to Harrods Bank, Ltd., the in-store banking service of Harrods, for an overdraft facility on any personal accounts he may have as a matter of course with same, catering largely to the gin-and-Jaguar belt along the M25's outer fringe with much the same range of banking products and services as the High Street such--howbeit in a more personal and discreet stylee.
In other words, Harrods Bank isn't for everyone.
But then again, if the Banking Halls (where Harrods Bank has its premi on the Ground Floor of the Harrods premi in Knightsbridge) were to demand timely repayment of any overdrafts from Mr. al-Fayed, the question is whether he's likely to make repayment @ all, invoking his position in the management of Harrods.
"Think about it"
