Short Takes On The News and a Great Song

In a breach of protocol widely panned as demeaning to his office, President Obama bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia at the G20 summit in London . It is not expected of heads of state that one bow to the other. White House protocol expert Pogue Mahone defended President Obama's breach of protocol by noting that the Saudi monarch was facing America's chief executive at the time of the bow.

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Why is Alberto Fujimori serving time? 65,000 people were killed during a war against the Shining Path insurgency movement in Peru that raged through the 80's and 90's. The guerillas, who controlled considerable parts of rural areas were compared to the Khmer Rouge in their extremism, cruelty and unpredictability. Whatever may be said of Fujimori, he captured Abimael Guzman, the elusive leader of the Shining Path terrorists and presided over a return to normalcy in the nation of 20 million people.

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At one point when the Pope made an official visit to Peru, the Shining Path movement coordinated a massive light display in the Peruvian Andes of a hammer and sickle .

There certainly were human rights abuses and perhaps Fujimori deserved some punishment, but enough is enough. Let him free and give him a medal.

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Two Liberians were found murdered in the Long Island condo of former New York Jet Jonathan Vilma. Evidence points to involvement of the two Liberians in a Nigerian style internet scam which is described in Newsday as follows.

"Typically, black paper scam artists dupe victims into believing they have smuggled millions of dollars from overseas, the bills covered in black ink to avoid detection. For a fee, scam artists promise they can buy a bleach-based chemical to wash away the ink.But "the whole thing is a scam," Kelly said, and when the dupes buy their money "it turns out to be construction paper."

Evidence found in the apartments of the two dead men points to the perpetration of the black paper scam.

There are a lot of crimes that leave me filled with revulsion and indignation. This is not one of them. There are much higher priorities for law enforcement than solving this crime, such as expired inspection stickers and selling candy bars on the subway.

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Following is a music video for a classic East German song by the famous East German rock group "The Puhdys" Its title "Alt Wie Ein Baum" translates as "Old Like a Tree"

The Puhdys lyrics dealt with universal themes that transcended the boudaries of the police state in which they functioned. They did a great job of maintaining artistic integrity under trying conditions

Following are the German lyrics of "Alt Wie Ein Baum and a rough translation into English.

Alt wie ein Baum möchte ich werden,
genau wie der Dichter es beschreibt.
Alt wie ein Baum mit einer Krone die weit, weit, weit, weit
die weit über Felder zeigt.

I want to be old like a tree
Exactly like the great writer described
Old like a tree with a crown that can be seen far away in distant fields


Alt wie ein Baum möchte ich werden
mit Wurzeln, die nie ein Sturm bezwingt.
Alt wie Baum, der alle Jahre so weit, weit, weit, weit
Kindern nur Schatten bringt.

I want to be old like a tree
with strong roots impervious to a storm
Old like a tree that brings children from afar to its shade.

Alle meine Träume - yeah - fang ich damit ein
- yeah - alle meine Träume - yeahyeah -
Zwischen Himmel und Erde zu sein
Zwischen Himmel und Erde zu sein.

All of my dreams start like this
all of my dreams..
To be between heaven and earth...
To be between heaven and earth.

Alt wie ein Baum möchte ich werden,
genau wie der Dichter es beschreibt.
Alt wie ein Baum mit einer Krone die weit, weit, weit, weit
Die weit über Felder zeigt.

I want to be old like a tree
Just like the great writer described
Old like a tree with a top that is seen
far over the fields

Alle meine Träume - yeah - fang ich damit ein
- yeah - alle meine Träume - yeahyeah -
Zwischen Himmel und Erde zu sein
Zwischen Himmel und Erde zu sein

All of my dreams start like that
All of my dreams
To be between heaven and earth
To be between heaven and earth


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