I am a foreign investor and...

Received today:

Dear Friend,

I am a foreign investor and I want to invest in your country in any profitable business / investment that will profit me and you. I want to invest in any business venture or Investment that you can handle either as my Investment Manager or Partner (Partnership) in your country. Kindly get back to me with your telephone number so I can call you and discuss further about this with you. Kindly reach me / respond to me via my e-mail: frankhamilt@hotmail.com

Mr. Frank
dvillegas@upvm.edu.mx

Dear Mr. Frank,

I cannot adequately express the joy with which I received your email. That you would select me for this honor has truly touched me. Unfortunately, it has been proven time and again that I am incapable of handling money in a responsible manner and any such commission from you would put us all into financial peril including some legal liabilities that don't bear mentioning though I imagine you can imagine what I mean by this.

There is also the point to be made that my country might not merit further investment by you or anyone else at this time. I would, however, be interested in acquiring the title of 'Investment Manager or Partner (Partnership)' as you suggest. This would impress me, if not my friends, though I think 'Premier Manager of the Investment Partnership' has an undercurrent that I rather like.

Please advise soonest.

Your new friend,
Ray D Shosay

Secret torture prison revealed in Baghdad

In the Los Angeles Times today, the headline read:

Iraqis Ran Torture Prison

"Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured until the country's Human Rights Ministry gained access to the facility, Iraqi officials say."

I remember a time when the United States government would have had the moral authority to chastise the torturers. Today, they'll likely be invited to dinner with Dick Cheney and a few others. Welcome to the club fellas! We're all in it together--right up to our necks!

Georges Brassens

The quote of the day from Le Figaro is "Sans technique, le talent n'est rien qu'une sale manie." ("Without technique, talent is nothing but a dirty habit.") Georges Brassens

I think what he meant to say was that without dirty habits, there would be no art (with or without technique).