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THE WORLD WAR II-VINTAGE CONTRIVED ACRONYM OF "JAAFU" (AS IN "JOINT ANGLO-AMERICAN FOUL-UP"), ITSELF CREATED IN THE WAKE OF "SNAFU" ("SITUATION NORMAL, ALL FOULED UP"), could probably apply in like measure to the Afghani Question, what with the presence of American and British troops in an ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism only making matters worse in the name of stopping Islamic extremist terrorism.

(As witness a number of al-Qaeda/Talebani terror attacks of recent days just across the Pakistani border, the lion's share of which were in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar or otherwise in tribal areas of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, of which Peshawar is capital.)

Which, in any event, has prompted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call for an International Conference on Afghanistan and the Afghan Question under United Nations auspices sometime around Hogmanay, what with his admitting that the Afghan Question may be too big for the British and Americans (even as part of NATO-command forces) to deal with alone. Especially so deeper issues like corruption and mismanagement to such depths as could, in the right circumstances, have the average Afghan in the street support al-Qaeda or Taleban elements as a show of protest against what Our Morally Superior Troops Brought In.

Especially considering that the Taleban gets a cut of the proceeds on the sale of opium poppies and its byproducts (heroin in particular), not to mention cannabis and its byproducts (hashish in particular)--those being pretty much the only profitable crops many Afghan farmers can be expected to cultivate in local soils.

Besides, as I'm fond of saying many times more often than not, echoing Disneyland and Walt Disney World's co-National Hymn, "it's a small world, after all." And sometimes, it may be better to have the Afghan Question be resolved through a purely cosmopolitan approach.

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NEWS THAT THE SO-CALLED "TEA PARTY" MOVEMENT MUST CERTAINLY BE DROOLING OVER(!!) IN THEIR LUSCIOUS GLORY MOST PERVERTO: Rescue services in Berlin have sent bills for about €250 each after being called out to a local fairgrounds to rescue 16 persons who got caught upside down on a carnival ride for 45 minutes after the power failed the other day.

Which these same specimens of misguided Zealotry and True Belief, coming for the most part from easily-led and ignorant backgrounds as may explain their lacking decent job or career skills as may preclude their being considered retrainable, would consider as "just what they deserve."

(Yesh, right ... and Evita Reincarnate, t/n Sarah Palin, tells Oprah that she has no designs for the moment on the GOP Presidential Nomination for Indecision 2012, instead concentrating on Inecision 2010 and hoping to be an ideological shill for conservative-leaning candidates, articles of faith and any ballot plebiscites seeking to advocate same, especially so-called "TABOR" (TAxpayers' Bill Of Rights), "takings" and "Wise Use" questions.)

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SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT THE FLAWED MATHS HERE: The Postal Service in our "morally superior" United States, despite cutting some 40,000 positions in the last fiscal year through contract buydowns and early retirement and the annual cost-of-living-linked postage rate increase to 44¢ for letters and 27¢ for postcards, has announced a net loss of $3.8 billion in the last fiscal year.

Which, in any event, leaves the Postal Service with a number of potentially unpopular options to try and cut losses further while still avoiding Government subsidies (not to mention resisting automation and other technological efficiencies as could translate into further cost savings within measurable distance), and protect its cherished monopoly on letterpost deliveries to every address in the United States--among them discontinuing Saturday carrier deliveries (a throwback to when many offices still had a half-day on Saturdays) and closing Post Office branches in major metropolitan areas.

To which the conservative Zealots and True Believers will probably respond by calling for the letterpost monopoly to be modified, a la Great Britain (so long as it weighs @ least 50g and costs @ least 50p/item) and Australia (so long as it weighs @ least 30g), thereby scaring the Postal Service into further efficiencies through the agencies of competition and free enterprise For G-d, Country and Family. (BTW, non-profit youth organisations such as the Scouts, the Boys' Brigade and the Girl Guides are allowed, during the Christmas/New Years' holiday period, to deliver holiday greetings between Land's End and John O'Groats in competition with Royal Mail. I'm not sure if the same policy would apply with the postal agencies in the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Ellan Vannin.)

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THOSE WHO COUNTERFEIT FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES IN SPITE OF MAJOR REDESIGNS THEREOF IN RECENT YEARS TO DETER COUNTERFEITING, in addition to seeking the destabilisation of the economy towards armed insurrection and overthrow of the government (usually in army with weird and unwholesome types towards such ends themselves), no doubt see the annual end-of-year holiday season as The Most Wonderful Time of the Year to pass counterfeit notes into the financial system--and especially now in the current socioeconomic circumstances.

I say this because, per an item on CNN Headline News this morning, retail clerks having to deal with the crush of shoppers buying holiday presents are too busy with their duties to take the necessary precautions against counterfeit notes, especially such of the $20, $50 and $100 values (the last two being especially popular with counterfeiters to such extent that many small businesses refuse to take such @ the till lest they wind up getting in Dutch, so to speak).

And from what I've heard, fake $20 notes are starting to make the retail rounds with just over a week to go before the holiday-shopping season begins in earnest.

Which, in any case, is enough to recall this classic hybrid of moral tale and puzzle as makes the rounds every now and then (and which requires some serious thinking to arrive @ the answer):

Man goes into a hatters' to buy a $7.50 hat.

Man pays for the hat with a $50 note.

Hatter has no change for the $50.

Hatter goes to his neighbours' to get change on the $50.

Man gets the hat and $42.50 in change.

Few days later, hatter's neighbour learns that the $50 note given him was really a counterfeit such, and demands that the hatter pay good money on it.

Hatter is forced to make good the loss.

Your Jackpot Question: What loss did the hatter suffer?

If you think you have the answer, send me an e-mail posthaste and let me know. No prize of any kind is being offered; understand this in advance ... instead, think of this as an exercise in Applied Critical Thought as opposed to the Orwellian Doublethink which Fox Prolefeed and their droogs in "winning of hearts and minds" easily-led and ignorant prefer.

"...and that is is a way."

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