BLAME IT, BY AND LARGE, ON THE WARPED AND MISGUIDED ZEALOTRY AND TRUE BELIEF in certain scions of His Fraudulency's Great Within, but their belief in a Classless Ownership Society especially targeting the Lower Classes may be backfiring thanks to the meltdown in the "sub-prime" and "Alt-A" mortgage-lending crises aimed @ steering the Lower Classes into a healthy embrace of the Classless Ownership Society through owner-occupancy housing, for starters.

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FOR STARTERS, you've got what could best be called pure, unadulterated carpetbaggery by way of what could best be called Emotional Mortgage Rescue, which targets such with "sub-prime" mortgages in clear and present risk of foreclosure and ensuing eviction.

In such a scheme, the perpetrators claim to be either affiliated with some class of a "foundation" or have found "angels" among the wealthy who would be more than willing to take over the mortgage on the house of such targeted, allowing the same to remain and not face eviction.

But that's in theory.

In Reality, however, there are no "foundations" or wealthy "angels" extant; instead, those involved push documents on such in danger as actually sign over title to the "foundation" and advise the dupes to make all future mortgage payments to the "foundation" rather than the original lenders.

It's enough to wonder if Emotional Mortgage Rescue could be a cheap and cheerful fundraising front for the Extreme Right of the highest order, taking advantage as they enjoy doing of the vulnerable and easily-led.

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MOVING FROM THE RIDICULOUS TO THE DOWNRIGHT STUPID, you could just imagine where so-called "Christian" mortgage lenders, in their Zealotry and True Belief of homophobia being one with Christian Love, might try exploiting the "sub-prime" crisis by way of:

• Buying up whole neighbourhoods of foreclosed properties for what may turn out being their true value (IMHO, about 10% of the value of the last mortgage taken out on same) from real-estate auctions;
• Offering (you guessed it) "Christian" home mortgages through so-called "Christian" marketing channels as are financed through "convertible securities" (debt-backed such easily convertible into receivables under the right circumstances) sold to churches, mission societies and "Christian" investors (all the while claiming exemption under securities-registration laws); and
• Doing the "Minneapolis Flip" (as in inflating real-estate pricing based on arbitrarily-inflated appraisals having nothing to do with the real property value of the affected) before suckering in "Christian" homebuyers with claims that the neighbourhood is "emerging" as a major "Christian" socioeconomic centre.

And the obvious rationale they have is to prevent "further serious dilution of property values" by way of "morally deviant elements" (read: gays and lesbians) seeking to "exploit" such solely for profit above Healthy Regard for Family and its Values.

I admit this may be a stretch; however, you never can tell about just such a possibility.

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AND IT'S NOT JUST HOME BUYERS AND MORTGAGE LENDERS WHO WERE "taken to the cleaners," so to speak, in the whole "sub-prime" lending imbroglio:

New York and Connecticut securities regulators are reportedly looking into claims that "sub-prime" mortgage lenders managed to have debt securities backed by "sub-prime" mortgages bundled into debt securities offered en tranche to especially institutional investors and bond funds not expected to be consciously aware of the "sub-prime" mortgages being serious investment risks in their own right.

Next thing you know, expect these same lenders as are In Liquidation to resell such "sub-prime"-backed mortgages as "fully-secured, bank-guaranteed Accounts Receivable Acquisitions" paying (or so claimed) up to 40% p.a.--and sold all along as "low-risk" investments, even to the extent of resorting to patsies and bromides to explain why the marketers could not issue an Offering Circular as required by the securities laws.

Let alone fail to explain that any such securities advertised as "bank-guaranteed" all the while:

• are not considered bank accounts or products;
• are not FDIC insured; and
• carry risk for loss of value, including loss of all or significant part of the original investment.

And more than likely through "spam" e-mail, "cutting out the middleman" and "avoiding unnecessary regulatory burden"--or so the promoters think all the while.  

SO MUCH FOR THE SOUTH RISING AGAIN AS A SOVERIGN ENTITY: Groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Centre, who make it a habit of keeping the que vive on Hate and Extremism, will tell you that one of the more dangerous movements in service to Hate is that known as Neo-Confederacism--a belief that the Civil War-era Confederate States of America should be reestablished as a soverign entity modelled on Celtic and Scots-Irish models of law, jurisprudence and "cultural heritage."

Sadly, though, the Scots and Scots-Irish cultural imperative has traditionally been premated by the use of fear and violence as agencies of resolving disputes, the fact of which has long been confirmed by history and scholarly studies. And which explains, in substantial measure, the latent "cultural heritage" argument many Southerners of Scots or Scots-Irish descent have for justifying use of violence, if need be, in the name of Law and Order.

Which, in effect, is enough to raise some interesting issues which Your Correspondent will try to address this time around.

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Given that violence is something of a cultural black mark among those of Scots and Scots-Irish descent, Your Correspondent has to wonder if the designs of the Southern Party and the League of the South, two of the more prominent Neo-Confederacist movements abroad, with regards to Law and Order are based upon sadisto vigilantism in the Ku Klux Klan vein.

And especially so the sort which can get to be racially selective, not to mention carried out under cover of darkness and under Al Cohol's influences--which can only make things even more dangerous under the right circumstances.

Not to mention requiring the exercise of doublethink in the extreme to avoid attracting suspicions while believing that "the ends justify the means," no matter how repugnant or distasteful they could be.

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Neo-Confederacist belief systems are also the sort as expect Church and State to be one and inseparable.

But then again, Scots are more than likely to subscribe to Presbyterian teachings (as per the Church of Scotland, whose governing body is the annual General Synod, presided over by the Moderator, himself chosen from among the Synod's delegates), whereas Scots-Irish are more likely to follow Roman Catholic teachings.

Begging another interesting enquiry:

Whether they would like to have the legislative functions of a reborn Confederacy wedded onto those of a General Synod of the Presbytery of the Confederate States of America, whose Moderator would be expected to have Presidential powers.

Or is it more likely to be Cumberland Presbyterianism?

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Given where Neo-Confederacists are calling for their ideal of a reborn Confederacy following Scots models of law and jurisprudence, you have to wonder if these same elements have any basic understanding of the Scots body of law, rooted as it is in Roman jurisprudence and formally recognised as a pecuilar in the 1707 Act of Union which saw the Scots crown and throne amalagamated into the English such.

Which can make for some rather interesting differences between English and Scots models of law and equity, as the Law Society of Scotland explains on their website. Basically put, though, some of the key points are:

• Age of consent is 16 years, as opposed to 18 in England and Wales.
• Common law (as based on past precedent and opinion) figures heavily in matters of criminal law, with the added doctrine of "corroboration" being a requirement in cases thus brought.
• What Americans would call tort law, Scots law calls "delict," based on the doctrine encapsulated in the Latin expression damnum injuria datum (loss wrongly caused). Put simply, where A suffers loss or harm @ the hands of B, B is under legal obligation to pay damages to A.
• In the case of contracts, Scots law recognises the concept of unilateral promise in addition to bilateral contract; however, as Wikipedia notes in their article on Scots law, "it is possible to have a gratuitous contract, i.e. a contract where only one of the parties comes under any duties to the other (e.g. a contract to perform services for no consideration)."
  Wikipedia, for its part, adds as a caveat, so to speak, that "not all declarations made by a person to another person will amount to a promise that is enforceable under Scots law. In particular, a declaration of intention, a testamentary provision and an offer will not be a promise."
• In terms of property law, Scots law regards land, homes and other forms of real property to be "heritable" property and movable and intellectual property as "movable" such. Until recent years, feudal tenure was still permissable when it came to land and real property, causing some problems when it came to developers.
• Matters involving the State and other government agencies come under "public law," whereas such involving individuals, corporations and partnerships (considered a separate juristic person in Scots law) come under "private law."
• In addiction to verdicts of "guilty" and "not guilty," Scots law allows for a verdict of "not proven" in criminal cases. (Put another way, a verdict of "not proven" means that the prosecution's case was flawed, and then some. Meaning, in effect, that a notorious murderer could get away with it because of the prosecution's lack of credible and compelling evidence.)
• Juries in criminal cases under Scots law have 15 persons, as opposed to the 12 common to English jurisprudence.

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Staying on the subject of the Scots model of law for the moment, there are separate court systems for civil and criminal cases, divided thusly (in ascending order of authority):

• CIVIL COURTS:
  • Sheriff Court (similar to an American district court)
  • Court of Session (similar to a Court of Appeal)
  • Outer House of the Court of Session
  • Inner House of the Court of Session
• CRIMINAL COURTS:
  • District Court (similar to a local or county court)
  • Sheriff Court
  • High Court of Justiciary
  • High Court of Justiciary, as a Court of Criminal Appeal

Additionally, there are a number of specialist courts governing specific issues such as land and property rights, young offenders, tax and VAT law and intellectual-property law.

Sheriff Courts are thus known by virtue of their being presided over by judges known as "sheriffs," in some cases working circuits revolving around the six Sheriffdoms (equivalent to a district-court circuit) currently extant in Scotland:

• Glasgow and Strathkelvin
• Grampian, Highlands and Islands
• Lothian and Borders
• North Strathclyde
• South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway
• Tayside, Central and Fife 

Of note, too, is where Scots law has the Court of the Lord Lyon (presided by the Lord Lyon King of Arms), which has pecuilar and exclusive jurisdiction in cases of Scots heraldry, genealogy and claims to clan tartans.

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I hope you're satisfied....    

"SAINTS PRESERVE US, MR. KEEN" DEPARTMENT: Your Correspondent got to thinking the other day over a milder gem of "blooper" from the late Kermit Schaefer's collections as were collected on record as came from an episode of the long-running radio drama Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons as opened (following, as per usual, the show's theme "Someday I'll Find You"):

"We now bring you 'Mr. Keen, Loser of Traced Persons.'"

And Another Thing:

Considering where the principal characters of Mr. Keen and his assistant Clancy had Irish brouges, it might be interesting to enquire, based solely on accent alone, what part of The Auld Sod the characters may have come from.

*************

SINCE WHEN DID HOMOSEXUALITY SUDDENLY BECOME ONE WITH "SCHIZOPHRENIC GERMS"? Notwithstanding the 1973 pronouncement of the American Psychiatric Association that homosexuality was no longer to be seen as a Loathsome Mental Aberration and Disorder, there are still some (especially among the amen-snorter crowd and their target audience of poor, undereducated and easily-influenced trailer trash) who argue that homosexuality is a Mental Aberration.

Not to mention a Clear and Present Danger to the Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity of the United States of America, with attendant risks for same being "unwittingly and unsconsciously usurped" into the so-called "New World Order" under United Nations suzerainity.

Which begs some interesting questions as are worth asking your local religiopolitical homophobe, or such politicos pushing homophobia as an article of faith vis-a-vis American Soverign Identity for Indecision 2008:

• What exactly prevents your recognising the American Psychiatric Association's 1973 statement that homosexuality no longer qualified as a Mental Aberration and Disorder, setting aside the inevitable invocation of Holy Scripture and Writ?
• In how many instances do you know of in which homosexuals are still in psychiatric hospitals, the American Psychiatric Association notwithstanding? Were court proceedings under relevant State laws involved? Was there the likelihood of "homosexuality" really being a patsy for more serious mental disorders the family was unwitting to acknowledge openly? Was hearsay evidence (otherwise technically inadmissable) and/or perjured testimony involved in said hearings?
• How many such homosexuals are from lower-income or otherwise working-class backgrounds? How many such were from families with histories of what you would call "chronic and habitual dependency" upon State welfare?
• Can you prove a connexion between welfare dependency and increased risk of "homosexual tendencies" in children?
• How many such homosexuals are receiving treatment regimens inapproriate to their condition, including medications, shock therapy and other questionable techniques (including your beloved "reparation therapy")?
• How many such homosexuals have had requests for release or discharge Against Medical Advice denied? Were such denials based on "clear and present danger to the community," howbeit lacking credible evidence to substantiate?
• Are we to follow that homosexuality should be looked upon in the same league as "schizophrenic germs"--as some class of a sham "disease" created out of thin are "just to keep people scared" and to reinforce primitive patriotic feelings?
• Can you name specific examples of instances in which "our antient and pecuilar soverignty and soverign identity" is being compromised as a direct consequence of homosexuals and homosexuality? Have you any valid substantiation, or what prevents your disclosing same @ this time--"orders from my superiors," perhaps?
• How many other "developed" nations do you know of in which homosexuals are subject to officially-sanctioned fear, loathing and contempt? What could the United States thus learn? Or are we to follow that the United States is the world, and vice versa?
• Are you now, or have you ever been:
  • an alcoholic?
  • addicted to, or otherwise dependent upon, narcotic, hallucinogenic or otherwise habit-forming drugs?
  • a sex fiend, perverto or addict?
  • a "john" (one who frequents women of easy virtue on a regular basis)?
  • a chronic and habitual gambler?
  • a sufferer of certain loathsome diseases or disorders (especially such affecting the mental faculties)?
  • associated with weird and/or unwholesome elements contrary to the peace, safety and good order of the community (including criminal gangs and syndicates, racists, white supremacists and bigots)?
  • imprisoned for a misdemeanor offense?
  • committed involuntarily to a psychiatric institution?
• Have you a police record?
• Have you sought 12-Step or similar treatment?

(I admit where some of the questions @ the end are set-ups; historically, police and the courts have questioned the credibility of certain persons with criminal or otherwise questionable backgrounds as reliable witnesses or informants.)

*************

CHILD ABUSE TAKEN TO A NEW AND EXCITING LOW: Your Correspondent understands where a mother in suburban Sydney, Australia was arrested by the police recently for being in an illegal highway drag race while her children were in the car with her.

I just hope it isn't common practice among the Lower Classes, even if the defence is one of "building character."

*************

NO WONDER SOME CONSERVATIVES STILL HAVE THIS DELUSION ABOUT AMERICAN CULTURE BEING "MORALLY SUPERIOR," AND THEN SOME: With the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right's known objections to pornography as a Threat to Morals, Decency and Family Values, not to mention their warped delusions of Branson, Missouri's music shows being the defining acid test of Amerikanischer Realkultur, the following "WaiWai" item from Japan's Mainichi Daily News (notwithstanding a general want of credibility, in common with the Japanese gutter press as is source material for the department) could well be insightful into what cultural conservatives would love to see imposed upon America:

Over 100 days have passed since the ethics body supposed to make sure Japan's direct-to-video adult movies didn't get too dirty was raided on suspicion of proliferating obscene materials, but the status of the industry remains up in the air, according to Weekly Playboy (12/24-31).

When the Nihon Ethics of Video Association (Biderin) was raided on Aug. 23, many feared it would spell the end to the ultra-thin digital mosaics superimposed on private parts to circumvent Japan's ban on the public display of genitalia.But it hasn't quite turned out that way and the industry remains waiting on tenterhooks before deciding how to proceed.

"Ever since the raid, association employees have been called in for questioning for hours at a time by the police regardless of the time of day, even weekends," an adult video production company insider tells Weekly Playboy. "I'd say it's having a direct effect on the association's work."

Biderin was at one stage running the risk of becoming irrelevant. Independent makers were coming out with racy material that flaunted the genital display law and didn't even bother to get Biderin's certification. As these makers gained popularity, Biderin responded by relaxing its rules, allowing makers to display previously blanked out anuses and pubic hair. And that's when the raid happened. Now, the adult video industry is waiting to see whether Biderin will be punished and they'll be forced to tone down the materials they produce.

"At the moment, Biderin and makers who were pinpointed by the police haven't been either charged or let off, so we don't know what way things are gonna turn out," an adult video magazine editor tells Weekly Playboy. "Even so, some of Biderin's member makers continue producing videos, some of which are incredibly filthy. And it's not like the companies that were raided have particularly toned down the material they're coming out with, either."

Some adult video makers are not waiting, though. Over 30 companies joined together in November to form their own ethics organization, VSIC, an acronym for Video Software Contents Industrial Cooperative. VSIC has already taken a hard line in the standards it applies, banning makers from displaying objects being inserted into the anus--which had previously been regarded as acceptable to show on screen--and also outlawing bondage and discipline tactics from being showed in movies that do not have an S&M theme throughout.

Also changing in the wake of the raid on Biderin have been adult video covers.

"Packaging has become a hell of a lot less provocative. Some video covers regularly featured pictures of hardcore sex scenes, but there is a trend away from that now," the magazine boss tells Weekly Playboy. "But rather than this being a result of the raid on Biderin, I think this has probably come in response from nervous retailers who don't want to have video packages that go overboard."

IT LOOKS AS IF RON PAUL'S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS are about to become toast: CNN has picked up on the story, first reported on by The New Republic earlier in the week, about Libertarian-turned-GOP Presidential longshot Ron Paul lending out his name to a succession of newsletters in the late 1980's and well into the 1990's as were replete with appeals to racism/White Supremacy, xenophobia, homophobia, nativism, producerism and worse.

(For his part, Mr. Paul denies any responsibility for the remarks in question, notwithstanding where many of the articles in the newsletters in question lacked bylines or signatures, let alone Ron Paul's name appearing in the title and masthead.

(The which, no doubt, raises some questions most interesting by way of The Huffington Post.)

=============

In any case:

With Ron Paul denying all claims of racist and bigoted views in newsletters published under his name, how do we know that he didn't resort to, say, licencing his name out to some hatemongering newsletter publisher, with Mr. Paul collecting licencing royalties all along (and keeping quiet about the racist tone of said newsletters as part of the licencing agreement)?

If this be the case, such might be a rather clumsy back-door approach to avoid attracting initial attention to Ron Paul's name being attached to racist propaganda.

Remember when Henry Ford used his Dearborn Independent to push anti-Semitic propaganda?

*************

THE GOP'S "DIRTY TRICKS" DEPARTMENT could be preparing for a whole go-round of sadisto attacks through the electoral silly season on such bloggers suspected of being "treasonous" or otherwise "disloyal" through especially force, fear and even the old "night and fog" act.

All protected by lettres de cachet issued by highly-secretive operatives within the GOP, not to mention plans to evacuate those involved to some offshore jurisdiction in case the blogosphere "starts getting suspicious."

Their inspiration? Chinese goon squads beating blogger Wei Wenhua to his death when he tried to record with his cameraphone scenes of corruption and inefficency among municipal officials in Hubei province for the sake of his blog.

Already, the incident has produced serious repercussions within China's tightly-controlled blogosphere: Many bloggers across China have condemned the incident and the excesses of power and corruption such sought to protect. Typical was the blog Northeast News, which commented thusly:

It's no longer news that urban administrators enforce the law with violence***[b]ut now someone has been beaten to death on site. It has brought us not surprise, but unspeakable anger.  

As well, one city official connected to the incident was sacked, another 24 are in police custody and close to 100 others are being sought.

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MEANWHILE, ON TAIWAN, still seen by Beijing as a "renegade province" whose claims to antient and pecuilar soverignty are highly dubious, elections for a new, downsized legislature (the better, we understand, to reduce the risks of corruption and abuses of power by legislators) have led to a substantial victory for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Party, whose articles of faith calling for improved ties between Taipei and Beijing are likely to put them in serious odds with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Not a very easy prospect, especially when you consider the KMT's legacy of corruption, abuses of power, contempt for civil rights and cronyism as prevailed during its 1949-80 monopoly on power.

*************

ANOTHER FORGERY FROM HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GREAT WITHIN as could, under the right conditions, be used to provoke expanding the ur-RAHOWA's Iraqi Front into Iran, could best describe United States naval vessels in the Arabian Gulf being "confronted" by Iranian-flagged speedboats earlier this past week.

Only now, the Official Version of this "confrontation" is coming undone and being exposed as nothing more than PSYOPS (psychological operations) gone haywire--aided and abetted by voice-manipulation technology which @ least one online reporter has suggested could explain all manner of "Usama bin-Laden Tapes" showing up from time to time since 9/11, released "just to keep people scared" and whip up the most primitive in patriotic feelings.

Now, it turns out that a legendary Gulf Region heckler by name of "The Filipino Monkey," (in)famous for obscenity-laden taunts on marine-radio frequencies in the Straits of Hormuz since the "Tanker Wars" of the mid-1980's, may have been behind the whole misadventure. (BTW, Filipino guest workers are employed on construction and infrastructure projects in the Arabian Gulf region, especially so in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.)

Say, could it be likely that "The Filipino Monkey" may also be a fiction in the "keeping people scared" department?

*************

OVERZEALOUS INTERPRETATION AS A PROPAGANDA WEAPON is a favourite among especially the religiopatriotic crowd trying to explain to The Great Unwashed the Greater Significance of certain recent events.

Unlikely candidate in this vein:

Wildlife officials in Alaska coming across the filthy and injury-laden carcasses of 19 American bald eagles from a flock of 50 as had converged on a truck carrying away fish-cannery offal, with fighting and related injuries ensuing. The dead birds had been sucked into the morass during the avian donnybrooke--sucked in so deep, in fact, that they wound up too filthy to fly away.

The remaining 31 were taken to a makeshift rehabilitation facility for cleaning and rehabilitation; however, wildlife officials are not holding out any hope for any of them lasting much longer.

IN OTHER WORDS, THE SUBJECT LINE OF THIS MESSAGE is to let you know that Your Correspondent has reached the 57th posting--as in Heinz 57 Varieties.

"Beanz Meanz Heinz" has long been a well-known ad slogan between Land's End and John O'Groats, and Your Correspondent thought such would be a cute segue into this reminder.

Now you know.

*************

WHEN THE BROOKLYN DODGERS LEFT FOR LOS ANGELES IN 1957, many thought that Brooklyn would wind up losing that sense of notoriety guaranteed to earn cheap laughs in Peoria or Dubuque.

The kind as led Brooklynites, from Red Hook to Brighton Beach, Greenpoint to Sea Gate, to be considered eccentrics in the much the same spirit as led them to nickname their beloved Dodgers "Dem Bums."

Looks like Brooklyn may be earning that sort of je ne sais quoi as inspired the term "Philadelphia lawyer" in referring to such with a notoriety for exploiting all manner of legal loopholes in especially infamous criminal cases, yet staying one step ahead of the Bar Association's Ethics Committee.

I say this because quite a number of cut-price online camera stores as operate on the Information Stuporbahn turn out to be in Brooklyn. You know--the sort as can be found on eBay or similar who resort to shady and questionable tactics to sell you what turns out being "gray market" goods, if @ all. (As in merchandise technically intended for sale overseas, the fact of which must be disclosed to consumers up front--not usually the case, as it turns out, especially when you notice the instruction manual being in Japanese or Korean, for example.)

(That, and using high-pressure sales tactics to strongarm you into buying all manner of accessories after some order representative calls you back a day or so after placing the order online, telling you that the price you were quoted was for the camera only, not for add-ons like flash units, batteries, memory cards, usw.)

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TO FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF WHAT I MEAN, Don Wiss has taken it upon himself to document the "real" addresses of numerous Brooklyn Online Camera Stores photographically--and has posted the photographs thereof on this webpage for your enlightenment and edification.

As you can see, quite a number of these Brooklyn Online Camera Stores seem to be located, for the most part, along Coney Island Avenue, with a few outposts thereof around Nostrand Avenue, Lee Avenue in South Williamsburg, Avenue U and Gravesend Neck Road. Many such have warehouses located in Red Hook or (in one instance) the Brooklyn Army Depot, and, for the most part, will really be nothing more than mail drops such as FedEx Kinko's, The UPS Store, Mail Boxes Etc., or similar.

Some such "online camera stores" have been known to operate from addresses which turn out to be private residences, plasma-collection centres and, in one instance, a glatt kosher delicatessen. A few have addresses just inside Queens from Brooklyn, and many have their "real" addresses over in New Jersey, some in close proximity to the Bada-Bing Club (or so rumoured).

As Brooklyn boy Chester A. Riley would put it, "what a revoltin' development this is for Brooklyn!!!"

*************

IT LOOKS AS IF THE AFGHAN FRONT IN THE UR-RAHOWA AGAINST INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM may have something new to deal with in the Threats to Morals and Decency Department:

Around Mazar al-Sharif, in the north of Afghanistan, efforts among local authorities to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation have led some farmers out that way to switch over to--don't laugh--marijuana as a viable cash crop, what with local soils and climate not quite apropos to more conventional grains and, instead, more suited to narcotics and other habit-forming substances.

Especially when you stop and consider where marijuana extracts can be processed into hashish, a more potent form of Mary Jane which has the consistency of Play-doh that translates into added value for such Afghani farmers willing to take the risk. Add to that the rather rugged terrain thereabouts around Mazar al-Sharif as is rather attractive for smugglers trying to export the marijuana and hashish to European-based criminal syndicates for onward distribution via Iran or Tadjikistan.

The whole operation protected by militias or tribal warriors sympathetic to the now-disgraced Taliban or even (shock! horror!!) the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, all the while turning the blind eye to such sinister goings-on as more conventional Muslims would consider to be haram (forbidden).

In other words, Afghani farmers are being forced to give up on one obviously illicit cash crop (opium poppies) and start cultivating another (marijuana, with its added-value derivatives of hashish and hashish oil), saying all the while that the soil can't support more traditional crops.

Perhaps the NATO forces in Afghanistan might want to arrange for sending over some soil and agricultural experts into those same regions as are infamous for opium-poppy and marijuana production and do some soil tests to confirm for themselves that not much in the way of cereal grains can be cultivated in and around Mazar al-Sharif. Even if the drive from Kabul can turn out to be an adventure under even more conventional conditions, what with frequent sharp turns, lack of guardrails on steep cliffs, heavy snowfall in the winter that can disrupt travel for days and a tunnel rather notorious for its narrowness as much as lack of proper ventilation, so explaining the hazy and smoggy conditions (enhanced by the aroma of low-grade diesel fuel) frequently encountered by motorists who brave the journey as translate into headaches and nausea, aggravated by the high altitudes and thin air.