Parvinder and Habib are beggars. They beg in different areas of London ..

Habib begs just as long as Parvinder but only collects £2 to £3 every day.

Parvinder brings home a suitcase FULL of £10 notes, drives a Mercedes,
lives in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend.

Habib says to Parvinder 'I work just as long and hard as you do but how do
you bring home a suitcase full of £10 notes every day?'

Parvinder says, 'Look at your sign, what does it say'?

Habib's sign reads 'I have no work, a wife and 6 kids to support'.

Parvinder says 'No wonder you only get £2- £3

Habib says... 'So what does your sign say'?

Parvinder shows Habib his sign....

It reads, 'I only need another £10 to move back to Pakistan ' !

Five Germans in an Audi Quattro arrive at the Italian border.

The Italian customs officer stops them and tells them: 'Itsa illegala to putta 5 people in a Quattro!'

'Vot do you mean, it's illegal?' asks the German driver.

'Quattro means four!' replies the Italian official.

'Quattro iz just ze name of ze fokken automobile' the Germans retort unbelievingly.

'Look at ze dam paperz: Ze car is dezigned to carry 5 people!'

'You canta pulla thata one on me!' replies the Italian customs officer.'Quattro meansa four. You havea five-a people ina your car and you are therefore breaking the law!'

The German replies angrily 'You ideeiot! Call ze zupervizor over! ... Schnell! I vont to spik to zumvun viz more intelligence!!!'

'Sorry' responds the Italian, 'He canta comea ... He'sa buzy witha two guys in a Fiat Uno.'

Humans and not 'perfectly' programmed computers can cherish the gift of life. 'Life of each individual is truly beautiful' with its wide arrays of joy, ecstacy, emotions, pain and drama. I can vouch for myself that I love life and all that it begets and I am sure it is the same for each one of you.

However, is life less beautiful for an individual who is crippled, ugly, deformed, blind, deaf or mute or born with a defect? Should the foetus or an unborn baby diagnosed with a defect leading to ailment be aborted?

Helen Adams Keller been would be the most appropriate individual to respond to the first question, had she been alive. I would not dare to pose the second question to the Indian public after the results of yesterday’s CNN – IBN poll. Indian society is deeply split in support and against the judgement. Foetus and unborn babies being aborted for deformity can result in an entire medical industry which facilitates ‘cleaning-up’ of un-born babies that do not match pre-defined standards. I must confess that I have been deeply disturbed in the last few days since the debate on pro-life and pro-choice commenced since the judgement by the honourable Mumbai High Court in Mehta's case.

In the Mehta’s case can the doctors conclusively conclude that the ailment in question has no cure once the child is born? Science and medicine is limited by human boundaries. Cure has been found for diseases and ailments which were considered un-curable in the past. Research and Development departments of leading pharmaceutical companies are identifying/ innovating new medicines, molecules and processes in their crusade against pain and disease… (not to mention thereby increase their bottom line). May be the baby, once born, can be cured with new medical advancements. It is better to strive and live in hope than in despair.

Let’s give life a chance to survive than pluck, before it blooms!

Continued Part 1

Only months after the euro-launch, Saddam's Iraq announced it was switching from selling oil in dollars only, to euros only breaking the OPEC agreement.. Iran , Russia , Venezuela , Libya , all began talking openly of switching too -- were the floodgates about to be opened?

Then aero planes flew into the twin-towers in September 2001. Was this another Houdini chance to save the US (petro) dollar and the biggest financial/economic crash in history? War preparations began in the US But first war-fever had to be created -- and truth was the first casualty. Other oil producing countries watched-on. In 2000 Iraq began selling oil in euros. In 2002, Iraq changed all their petro-dollars in their vaults into euros. A few months later, the US began their invasion of Iraq .

The whole world was watching: very few aware that the US was engaging in the first oil currency, or petro-dollar war. After the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, remember, the US secured oil areas first. Their first sales in August were, of course, in dollars, again. The only government building in Baghdad not bombed was the Oil Ministry! It does not matter how many people are murdered -- for the US , the petro-dollar must be saved as the only way to buy and sell oil - otherwise the US economy will crash, and much more besides.

In early 2003, Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela talked openly of selling half of its oil in euros (the other half is bought by the US ). On 12 April 2003, the US-supported business leaders and some generals in Venezuela kidnapped Chavez and attempted a coup. The masses rose against this and the Army followed suit. The coup failed. This was bad for the US .

In November 2000 the euro/dollar was at $0.82 dollars, its lowest ever, and still diving, but when Iraq started selling oil in euros, the euro dive was halted. In April 2002 senior OPEC reps talked about trading in euros and the euro shot up. In June 2003 the US occupiers of Iraq switched trading back to dollars and the euro fell against the dollar again. In August 2003 Iran starts to sell oil in euros to some European countries and the euro rises sharply. In the winter of 2003-4 Russian and OPEC politicians talked seriously of switching oil/gas sales to the euro and the euro rose. In February 2004 OPEC met and made no decision to turn to the euro -- and yes, the euro fell against the dollar. In June 2004 Iran announced it would build an oil bourse to rival London and New York , and again, the euro rose. The euro stands at $1.27 and has been climbing of late.

But matters this month became far, far worse for the US dollar. On 5th May Iran registered its own Oil Bourse, the IOB. Not only are they now selling oil in euros from abroad -- they have established an actual Oil Bourse, a global trading centre for all countries to buy and sell their oil!

Currently, almost all the world's oil is sold on either the NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange, or the IPE, London's International Petroleum Exchange. Both are owned by US citizens and both sell and buy only in US dollars. The success of the Iran Oil Bourse makes sense to Europe , which buys 70% of Iran 's oil. It makes sense for Russia , which sells 66% of its oil to Europe . But worse for the US , China and India have already stated they are very interested in the new Iranian Oil Bourse.

It makes sense for Europe , China , India and Japan-- as well as all the other countries mentioned above -- to buy and sell oil in Euro's. They will certainly have to stock-up on euros now, and they will sell dollars to do so. The euro is far more stable than the debt-ridden dollar.

The problem for so many countries now is how to get rid of their vaults full of dollars, before it crashes? And the US has bullied so many countries for so many decades around the world, that many will see a chance to kick the bully back. The US cannot accept even 5% of the world's dollars -- it would crash the US economy dragging much of the world with it, especially Britain .

Does Europe and China/Asia have the economic independence and strength to stop the whole world's economies collapsing with the US ? Their vaults are full to the brim with dollars.

The US has to find a way to pay for its dollar-imperialist exploitation of the world since 1945.. Somehow, eventually, it has to account

An interesting article which I would like to share on Petro-Euro Vs Petro-Dollar - Good Eye opener

*Why the Dollar Bubble is about to Burst?** *
IRAN HAS REALLY DONE IT...more deadlier than the nuclear..

The Voice (issue 264 -) ran an article beginning, ' Iran has really gone and done it now. No, they haven't sent their first nuclear sub in to the Persian Gulf . They are about to launch something much more deadly -- *next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade oil, not n dollars but in Euros'* This apparently insignificant event has consequences far greater for the US people, indeed all for us all, than is imaginable.

*Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York . It is not accidental they are both US-owned.*
The Wall Street crash in 1929 sparked off global depression and World War II. During that war the US supplied provisions and munitions to all its allies, refusing currency and demanding gold payments in exchange.

*By 1945, 80% of the world's gold was sitting in US vaults. The dollar became the one undisputed global reserve currency -*- it was treated world-wide as `safer than gold'. The Bretton Woods agreement was established.

*The US took full advantage over the next decades and printed dollars like there was no tomorrow*. The US exported many mountains of dollars, paying for ever-increasing amounts of commodities, tax cuts for the rich, many wars abroad, mercenaries, spies and politicians the world over. You see, this did not affect inflation at home! The US got it all for free! Well, maybe for a forest or two.

Over subsequent decades the world's vaults bulged at the seams and more and more vaults were built, just for US dollars. Each year, the US spends many more dollars abroad that at home. Analysts pretty much agree that outside the US , of the savings, or reserves, of all other countries, in gold and all currencies -- that a massive 66% of this total wealth is in US dollars!

*In 1971 several countries simultaneously tried to sell a small portion of their dollars to the US for gold. Krassimir Petrov, (Ph. D. in Economics at Ohio University ) recently wrote, 'The US Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971 . While popular spin told the story of `severing the link between the dollar and gold', in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the US Government.' * The 1945 Breton Woods agreement was unilaterally smashed.

The dollar and US economy were on a precipice resembling Germany in 1929. *The US now had to find a way for the rest of the world to believe and have faith in the paper dollar. The solution was in oil, in the petrodollar. The US viciously bullied first Saudi Arabia and then OPEC to sell oil for dollars only -- it worked, the dollar was saved. Now countries had to keep dollars to buy much needed oil.* And the US could buy oil all over the world, free of charge. What a Houdini for the US ! Oil replaced gold as the new foundation to stop the paper dollar sinking.

Since 1971, the US printed even more mountains of dollars to spend abroad. The trade deficit grew and grew. The US sucked-in much of the world's products for next to nothing. More vaults were built.

Expert, Cóilínn Nunan, wrote in 2003, 'The dollar is the de facto world reserve currency: the US currency accounts for approximately two thirds of all official exchange reserves. More than four-fifths of all foreign exchange transactions and half of all world exports are denominated in
dollars. In addition, all IMF loans are denominated in dollars.' Dr Bulent Gukay of Keele University recently wrote, 'This system of the US dollar acting as global reserve currency in oil trade keeps the demand for the dollar `artificially' high. This enables the US to carry out printing dollars at the price of next to nothing to fund increased military spending and consumer spending on imports. There is no theoretical limit to the amount of dollars that can be printed. As long as the US has no serious challengers, and the other states have confidence in the US dollar, the system functions.'

Until recently, the US-dollar has been safe. However, since 1990 Western Europe has been busy growing, swallowing up central and Eastern Europe . *French and German bosses were jealous of the US ability to buy goods and people the world over for nothing. They wanted a slice of the free cake too. Further, they now had the power and established the euro in late 1999 against massive US-inspired opposition across Europe , especially from Britain - paid for in dollars of course. But the euro succeeded.*


Continued in Part 2