Who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

Bernard Madoff is listed on the wrong side of the Naughty and Nice List, administrated by Alabaster Snowball. While Bernard made off with a few billion of other peoples dollars and received 150 years sentence in return the question remains: who will forgive Bernard Madoff?

Apparently Bernard prayed to God for free money but quickly found out it did not work that way... so he stole it and prayed to God for forgiveness.

Pen is mightier than the sword

English novelist and dramatist Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) uttered the wise words "The pen is mightier than the sword" in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy:



True, This! —
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! — itself a nothing! —
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword —
States can be saved without it!

Indeed, the opposite often happen to states - or more correctly speaking, statesmen. Currently the British Labour Party, is feeling the sharp end of the newspaper quills. The British leaders should have taken in the wise words from an old enemy of theirs, Napoleon Bonaparte: "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets."

Time will tell how well US journalists have been sharpening their words against the blunt ideas of the elected. Of course, you can follow the mood on the blogs but they still have an awful long way to go to reach the edge that newspapers still swing. And to think, the end of newspapers and, indeed, the end of the book has been predicted since the dawn of the personal computer. Alas, thanks to their online presence, newspapers actually have more readers than ever before (even though they sell printed newspapers, thankfully).

Books are doing pretty well too. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling became the world's first billionaire writer. She sold more than three times as many books as the next two, Enid Blyton and Theodor Seuss Geise (Dr Seuss), who have an estimated 100 million sales each. And those numbers ain't too bad either. Unless you are the villian in the story.

"Bloodletter Quill", the shown art work, is by Dan Scot, a master of the color quill.

The duck stops here!

There might not be Christmas-in-July for British MP children as their daddies (and some mommies) got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The British public is fuming over members of their parliament claiming expenses on anything from porn watching to benefits on second houses. Other items include cuddly toys, fancy TV sets, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, oven, carpets - the list goes on - but the most infamous item is the duck house island (as in picture) claimed for by Peter Viggers.

The expenses whistleblowing by John Wick, a former SAS (Special Air Services) officer, to The Daily Telegraph (see their MPs expenses section) not only was evidence that newspapers still have more impact than blogs but it also led to the resignation of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin and a number of others with an appetite for those cookies. Note, Michael said he did not have any of the cookies but he left the jar open.

The British public reaction is "The duck stops here!"

By the way, you can get your very own similar duck island for £2,850 ($3,500) at Heytesbury.

Susan Boyle - 100 million video views and tons of inspiration

Better known than any banker, more votes than any local politician, Susan Boyle has become a symbol of hope and inspiration for all. The 40-something singleton from Scotland wowed the world with her performance on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, the video of which has been viewed more than 40 million times on various video tubes within a mere two weeks. And as if that is not all, the Daily Record newspaper discovered a copy of a song Susan recorded for a charity CD in 1999 - of which only 1000 copies were made - featured in this video. Simply awesome. Simply Susan.

Update April, 28: Susan Boyle videos has now brought in more than 100 million times smiles.

Poorer billionaires shopping for smaller airliners

"Last year the world had 1,125 billionaires. Today there are 793." $1.4 trillion vanished. Thus according to Fortune's Billionaire Bust article. Not to worry, they probably just lost it to each other. The billionaires on the receiving end of their own system have been seen shopping for smaller private airliners.

Ordained priest confesses terrible sin

Stephen Green is an ordained priest and amateur theologian and banker. In 1996, he published Serving God? Serving Mammon? Christians and the Financial Markets. He also is the chairperson of HSBC.

In a Spectator article, he is quoted: "Christians can serve God in the world of finance and commerce, but it is also possible to fall into the trap of serving Mammon there." Which obviously has happened. Recently Stephen confessed: "Banks have clearly done things wrong. Some of the practices did not contribute, by any reasonable standards, to human welfare."

A good confession is hard to beat.

Lifespan of a housefly

The average lifespan of a politician is about 4 years. The average lifespan of a housefly is 14 days. Many homeowner find them infestious.

The lifespans of wanna-be politicians and ex-politicians are a little longer.