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Remembering Aquino Braganca (b. 6 April 1924), who fought for freedom
of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. An online tribute
http://aquinobraganca.wordpress.com/ (includes many historical
references, some photographs and documents)
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Thank you, VP, for this brilliant website, Alternet. Ponzi schemes work
every time. We forget at our peril: "If something is too good to be true
....." Human nature being what it is, corporate man & woman are insatiable.
Corporate crime (fraud, mis-information, insider-dealing, incompetence,
waste and resulting cover-ups have never been worse) eg. Tax avoidance is
legal in UK, tax-evasion is not!!!! Overcharging, surcharging and
revenue-raising have become global occupations. This week the Wall Street
Journalist Karen Blumenthal was interviewed on the 1929 Wall St crash in
which trading conditions and the means used had the same results as we have
now - legalised robbery in my opinion.
Across the world, parasitic forms of government and business are
self-perpetuating. The G20 has made no real effort to relieve poverty,
address global warming/climate change. It is all political chicanery, to
maintain status and position, at all cost. The US learned nothing from the
Vietnam War, why else are we paying for Iraq & Afghanistan?
Has anyone seen the Open Democracy website, great but too high brow for me.
Alternet seems pretty comprehensive, yet easy to digest.
Yesterday I had a phone call from a man from the Medway district of Kent.
The local papers print his letters which protest about car parking charges,
closure of essential services like public toilets which were built with our
taxes but are out of use for cost savings, etc. He fears the fascist BNP
will get elected to power, because people are sick of the mainstream
hypocrites in parliament who are robbing us blind.
No wonder, unlike Goan bazaars, our high streets are dying, rents and
business rates are punitive, and shops struggle to attract shoppers who have
been conditioned to demand one-stop-shopping trips. USA type malls like
Bluewater and Lakeside draw crowds who spend the whole day there.
To return to Madoff, and the rich list of Bush's cronies, Ponzi schemes
exist because they work for the perpetrators. Just look at the EU, not once
in its existence has its accounts been in order, or been signed-off as
correct but our MEPs are lapping up their ill-gotten expenses and salaries.
Rita Grootendorst
