Zimbabwe Threatens Black Market Diamond Sales
Time and again I have told you that one of the classic stores of value during hard times I do not recommend is high quality stones in the 1/2 to 1 carat range, and never mind that they brought fortunes through most wars for the last two hundred years safely.
Why? Because I figured the day would come when the boys from DeBeers would be unable to keep their artificially high price on one of the most common carbon formations, that’s why. Diamonds are beautiful, but they aren’t really scarce. The IDC has controlled availability for a very long time but the more we tolerate falling standards and increased governmental interference the less anything is safe to count on.
Diamonds aren’t hard to find. They aren’t particularly hard to mine. The real problems are keeping the miners (official and amateur) from stealing them, shipments from being high-jacked, and iron-clad control of the price.
I lay the latest silly soap opera out below, but unless you have a taste for the usual suspects saying the usual things and looking perhaps sillier than usual, I’d quit reading as soon as I grasped that it doesn’t matter who is right (if anyone is), but that the threat to your investments, if they include diamonds, is that the man who brought you the Zimbabwe currency coup has more or less control of an estimated 25% of the world’s unmined diamond supply, and he says calmly that he’s going to sell them on the black market. He’s got a nice supply of mined diamonds, plenty of diamond sands, and an agreement with diamond cutters, so your decision is whether or not to sell investment grade diamonds and dump jewelers’ stocks, or just to mark your calendar to see where diamond prices are in time for your wife’s birthday.
Mugabe’s opposition is the bleeding hearts crowd serving, I conjecture, as a mask for the no doubt terrified diamond cartels, although they are dreadfully earnest, of course. Be of good cheer, the Big O is on top of this one. Obama says he will forbid diamond imports into the USA! Another great call, Barry. The threat is that cartel control will be loosened to some extent and the price of diamonds fall somewhat. Even considering we’re dealing with Robert Mugabe, surely he has enough sense to see that he can’t afford to knock too much off the price of diamonds because he’ll be one of those with the most diamonds to sell. Although…perhaps that doesn’t matter when you have a quarter of the world’s supply…he can make up in volumn what he loses in price.
The howls world-wide are not about upsetting every diamond buyer, cutter, and vendor on the planet or dealing every jeweller from Harry Winston to Zales a crushing blow via depreciation of inventory, but about alleged “human rights” violations. Contemporary thought holds that people have a right to cross some boundaries in search of what they want, such as the border between Arizona and Mexico and into poorly-guarded diamond fields.
Suppose those were your diamond fields, looking like giant ant-lion hills, and 30,000 “unauthorized” (“undocumented?”) “miners” descended on them. (I put “miners” in quotation marks because it requires no skill to sift lumps out of sand.) I don’t think you even need to channel the leader of Zimbabwe to figure out you would do what it took to get those thieves out of your diamonds, particularly since all they have to do is sift through sand and pick out dull grayish pebbles. I doubt many of us would worry about public opinion or being gentle. Do we hear anything about how those are Zimbabwe’s diamonds, or that their leader is responsible, one can only suppose, for preserving such a vital asset in a country whose currency is a joke? Only from those who are not admirers of Mr. Mugabe. Never mind worldwide economic tremors, gotta protect the “right” of people to steal. But which people? I was amused by an indignant report from in country that “The troubled African nation is rich in diamonds and other natural resources. However, critics of Mugabe say his economic policies have contributed to precipitous economic decline.” Not only that, but they have charged “smuggling by members of the elite close to President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF.” No! Say it isn’t so! The President, his brother, and his friends have had their fingers in the till? Whoever heard of such a thing? We sure don’t put up with goings on like that in America.
I’m still with Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe; he may have messed the fiat money up brilliantly, and anyone with any sense supposes he has some nice off shore bank accounts, but having somewhere between 25 and 30% of the diamond supply and selling it for the benefit of his people (and himself, and his advisors, friends, and anyone else bright enough to cut himself into the action, with the people coming last) should buy him a lot of forgiveness. I don’t know what Robert’s plan is, but I know what I would do in his position. We spiritual descendents of robber barons aren’t dumb, you know. You let the big guys buy you off, of course. For massive amounts of boodle. No matter how many guards are hired or glossy seals are affixed to formal agreements, you can always renege on them later.
Mugabe is (you should pardon the expression, considering the allegations) sticking to his guns.
Philimon Bulaway reports for Reuters: “A defiant Mugabe told lawmakers diamond sales have ‘huge potential’ to revive the shattered economy. He says Zimbabwe can account for one-fourth of the world’s diamond supply. ‘Let there be no doubt whatsoever about our resolve to sell our diamonds for the benefit of our country and its people,’ Mugabe said in a speech to open a new session of parliament (back in February. Ed. note)…With Zimbabwe now projected to contribute around 25 percent of the global diamond output, there are huge prospects for the diamond sub-sector to emerge as a major driver of the country’s economic turnaround.” Mugabe commented quite recently that the country will sell the diamonds, “even without clearance,” a reasonably polite way to say “on the black market.” An admirably blunt follow-up statement was, “We can sell our own diamonds our own way, any way.” It just hit me: he may view money like a Keynesian, but he’s got a good grasp of “what’s mine is mine.”
The second meeting of an international do-gooder commission in less than a month is due in St. Petersberg’s, but President Mugabe announced recently that the country would go ahead with diamond sales despite not receiving authorization from the world’s diamond control body. Here’s where we have to sort out WHICH diamond control body, because there are two, now. DeBeers and so forth have been keeping the price of diamonds artificially high since the days of Cecil Rhodes in large part by restricting supply rigorously and limiting the number of those authorized to buy and sell. The new bully/busybody on the block is a group formed after the civil war in Sierra Leone rising twenty years ago where diamonds were used to fund the participants. This lead to certain stones being referred to as “blood diamonds,” and the result was the Kimberley Process, a program that attempts to guard against the illicit sale of gems that finance those conflicts. The gems now come with certificates attesting they were sold by authorized sources, not guerilla bands. Another layer of bureaucracy, and, we old hands suppose, taxation. Who ever heard of free stamps/certificates?
“Governments, industry executives and human rights groups signed onto it,” and whyever not, with something for everyone? Governments get more power, the industry makes more money, and human rights groups feel all warm and fuzzy. Zimbabwe hasn’t received certificates that allow it to export diamonds which come from its “controversial” Marange (mare-AN-gay) fields, controversial primarily because of the actions purportedly taken to get the claim jumpers out of the sand pits, since January. Bulaway notes, “The Kimberley Process diamond certification scheme has not authorized international sales amid allegations of killings, human rights violations and corruption in the massive diamond fields discovered in eastern Zimbabwe in 2006.” One basic problem is that the Kimberly Process deals with diamonds that are used to fund insurrection and invasions, not those which are being squabbled over internally by a country’s government and assorted people who cannot resist dull gray pebbles in sand pits that do not belong to them. Any excuse is fine for the leaders of the left to expand regulations, so they are glad to stand up for those alleging “continuing human rights abuses in Marange and smuggling by members of the elite close to President Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF.” No, those don’t have anything to do with the case, but that’s how movements and governments grow.
Enter Briggs Bomba, director of campaigns at Africa Action, a Washington-based non-profit group purportedly worried that black market diamonds would touch off an international crisis. Fear not, he has a solution: “With or without KP certification, there is a market out there that diamonds from Zimbabwe can go to. So, what I see as the way forward is to really to speed up the process of making sure that whatever is outstanding in terms of Zimbabwe’s meeting the KP requirements is resolved speedily and Zimbabwe is allowed to sell diamond through the KP process.” Nice office, manages to make a khaki shirt and paisley tie look like a uniform, interesting accent (“MAN-i-uh,” for example, instead of “mane-ee-uh”) and I wouldn’t buy a used car from him.
AA and others say that without certification so called “conflict diamonds” “would re-enter the international market in large numbers and the Kimberley Process would become meaningless.” Yup, next thing you know we’ll be overrun in diamond-financed terrorists, diamonds being so easy to steal, and all. “In the extreme, some experts say, the US, the largest consumer of diamonds, could bar diamond imports,” and sure enough, Obama just threatened that very thing. And he meant it to sting, by jingoism. No, dears, I have no idea what happened to America not being arrogant and interferring in the internal affairs of others. However it may be, “the Obama administration opposes any attempt to export Marange diamonds without certification by the Kimberley Process,” having spare time on its hands.
“We look for Zimbabwe to make further progress implementing the necessary steps to bring the Marange diamond fields into compliance with Kimberley Process minimum requirements,” State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley pontificated. Do ALL of these people believe in fairies and taking the word for the deed? Do they ever listen to anyone else? The KP bunch in Tel Aviv said last month that Zimbabwe had met the minimum requirements. They stated specifically that certification was not approved, “even though a KP monitor said Zimbabwe met the minimum conditions for certification.” Run that by me again? They agree that Zimbabwe met the minimum conditions, but nobody is satisfied? “Some say the international community should make an effort to understand the political reality of Zimbabwe and engage with its leaders.” Bizarre. Meaningless. My best guess is that this is a power play by Mugabe (who has most of the right on his side) that the IDC is trying to stay well away from, hiding behind beards and useful idiots.
“Let’s not get caught up in the false polarities that characterize Zimbabwe discussions where it’s Mugabe mania or Mugabe phobia. The challenge is how we break an objective path that brings back ordinary people to the center of discussion and how they are affected,” Bomba said. (Remember him? From the “non-profit” action group located in Washington, D.C., where real estate and salaries are so cheap?) Ordinary people haven’t got any business in the discussion, and they aren’t really affected. If Mugabe sells some diamonds, he’ll trickle down a bit, but nobody takes “the little people” seriously in Africa any more than they pay attention to the Silent Majority here. Bomba says he “fears that if the diamonds are sold in the black market, without KP certification, it will be difficult to monitor the revenue from those diamonds which should directly benefit the people of Zimbabwe, not a few corporations or government officials.” Don’t you love these high-minded types? This has nothing to do with profits, monopolies, or taxes. It’s about the children.
My best guess is that Bomba’s group is getting a nice present from De Beers and that nobody much expects more than a very few, very carefully selected people of Zimbabwe to benefit, the important part being to restablize the system–that is, restore the diamond monopoly first, and then stabilize Zimbabwe enough so that Mugabe can be president as long as he wants to and then retire elsewhere with a steamer trunk of cut stones.
Which puts us back to where we were at the end of the fourth paragraph. You can pour sparkling stones out of your little chamois pouch and ponder whether the price will go up or down. You can peer at your stocks in big or fancy jewelers–if you still own anything that dangerous–and decide whether or not to get rid of them. My preference is to keep a casual eye on the diamond market and plan on upgrading your wife’s solitaire that you bought her when you were young and not nearly as successful if prices fall.
If the diamond market ever really gets away from the cartel, the average modestly nice stone will run about $5/carat–or perhaps $20, considering velocity and when creating $1.3 TR out of static electricity finally bites us in our checkbooks.
Regards,
Linda Brady Traynham
Whiskey & Gunpowder
July 14, 2010
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Linda Brady Traynham
Linda Brady Traynham is a former editor and analytical project report writer and is now a Whiskey & Gunpowder field correspondent on a ranch in the Republic of Texas. She studied Counseling at Boston University and got her Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii.
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I will allow my colleague Briggs Bomba to fully respond to some of the points that were made in this article, however, I should very clearly point out that Africa Action does not accept U.S. or foreign government funds, and we do not have big corporate underwriters to support our work. Many individuals give through the Combined Federal Campaign and state and local campaigns for which we qualify. Our work requires the support and trust of the public and this shapes how we manage every aspect of our work. Africa Action is audited each year by an independent accounting firm.
Readers should also see some of our most recent resources and analysis on Zimbabwe catalogued here: http://www.africaaction.org/zimbabwe.html
And finally, I would also recommend people read the full story by VOAnews available here:
http://www1.voanews.com/englis.....68834.html
One hardly knows where to begin! This whole deal practically makes one helpless with laughter.
Okay, so DeBeers used marketing techniques to control the price of its diamonds, and politics to control the Angolan diamonds. That Mugabe and friends will wind up with most of the money from Zim diamonds is beside the point, really. Daimonds are about all that’s left to steal.
The question, really, is, “Who’s going to buy?” I’m guessing the oil-rich crowd, and the wealthier Chinese, just off the cuff. I doubt that Mugabe will “flood” the market, but the amount of sales will likely lead to lower prices.
I see it as something that will be fun to watch. I have little sympathy for market manipulators such as DeBeers.
Besides all that, I happen to think that emeralds are prettier.
Dear Mr. Stulman: Thank you for clarifying your position in such a nice way. I did my basic research on Google and quoted lavishly from several sources. A response such as yours speaks well of your organization. I’m a very old lady, and I have seen natural resources turned into wealth for the very few in power far too many times. Mr. Mugabe will do well to get through this without someone attempting a coup, because that, too, is the usual outcome. When a country in great economic distress suddenly hits a mineral deposit jackpot there is bound to be a power struggle. In this century matters are complicated by charges of civil rights violations and damages to the ecology. My apologies to Mr. Bomba for a wisecrack that older Americans recognized easily as referring to former President Nixon. I was not laughing at his grasp of English, either; I don’t speak a word of any African languages, after all. That was a continuation from yesterday’s article which led to comments on phonics–part of why I put in how to pronounce Marange. I have a big audience, but it never occurred to me that you at Action Africa might read this article, which is a very poor excuse. The best recompense I can offer is my pledge that I will look at both the sites you gave, and to suggest that you write an article on what AA does and send it to me at http://www.thetexasring.com. Sincerely yours, Linda Brady Traynham
Dear Rat: I do love you! You saw exactly what I did, that this mess is FUNNY. What’s the point of having a monopoly if you don’t get and stay wealthy? DeBeers got there “the fustest with the mostest.” Wish I’d thought of it. Emeralds are my favorite to, but all the good ones were mind nearly a century ago. There has long been a very good substitute that costs about a quarter of the real thing, although I am collecting prasiolite right now. That’s an incredibly dense, rich, dark green. I am distressed that I may have hurt the feelings of the Action Africa bunch and not fully grasping the power of the web is no excuse. Thanks for the uplift of understanding what I wrote. Hugs, Linda p.s. My photo, which has been up for a year and a half, is 3 years old right about now, and no, I don’t think I’ll change it, even for one with dry hair and makeup, since we had just come in from swimming.
Dear Doc: Dang, I did it again! Wrote “lead” for “led.” Well, if you composed at four a.m. you might make ancient mistakes, too. Smiles, Linda
[...] Whiskey and Gunpowder – Zimbabwe Threatens Black Market Diamond Sales [...]
I checked both sites Mr. Stulman of Africa Action supplied and was delighted to note that the first is one of several I read, and one I quoted heavily from. Please go to http://www.africaaction.org/zimbabwe.html and see what a Zimbabwean diamond mine looks like. Those who worry about “black lung disease” and dangerous conditions (an indignant reader comment from elsewhere) can relax, because it is just what I told you: a cone in the sand with workers scrambling around and sifting sand. It will give you a very good idea of the difficulties mine supervisors have with workers popping stones into various body cavities when unobserved. I have apologized on-site to Mr. Bomba for using a political reference he may well not be familiar with and explained that phonics was an on-going subject from the China article. I even explained how a vowel can jump over one intervening letter to make a previous vowel “say its letter name.” I am truly envious of those who speak several languages fluently, having grown up when it was 500 miles to where Spanish was the native language and 1800 to where people spoke French. My problem with all of the official statements was that they didn’t really tell me what in particular is alleged or what remedies are sought, that being what reminded me of Richard Nixon. Life is so much simpler when we say simply, “I’m sorry.” LBT
Blah blah blah. Politicians and do gooders of the ilk of Africa Action are all full of something stinky good only for growing plants. Fact: the diamonds belong to Zimbabwe, not the US, not Africa Action, not Debeers. Fact: it is not a mandate from God that Africa Action, nor the US, nor anybody else as far as I can tell, to tell Zimbabwe how it should handle it’s own affairs. Yea, I can hear it now “but think of the children, think of the poor, think of the human rights abuses”. I could say the same thing about US policy. The CIA now has permission to kill American citizens, US Federal agents can now write their own search warrants without going through a judge, and lets not bring up Gitmo shall we? Put your own house in order, let the rest of the world decide what to do with what is THEIRS not yours.
Before you ask “Who are you and what have you done with Mrs. Traynham,” I’ll give you a quote from my favorite fictional spy, Matt Helm: “Always call them ‘Sir.’ They aren’t any harder to kill later!” Seriously, I’m a great believer in apologizing if there is the slightest chance that I have offended anyone, because offending unintentionally is a dreadful thing to do. I should have realized the man was speaking “Washington” or “politician!” Nobody is communicating, or at least they weren’t communicating with ME. What else is going on? WHY didn’t KP agree to certification in Tel Aviv? Where are we supposed to go for gory confirmation of the allegations? What do various parties want (other than Mugabe, who stated his position very clearly) and what makes anyone think banning ALL diamond imports in the US is a solution?! The whole point of the black market is that it is outside regular channels. For financial analysis we have all the info we need: there is possible turmoil in the diamond market. The rest of my mind is curious, though…
[...] Via whiskeyandgunpowder. com [...]
BRAVO, Brendgard #61! That is exactly how I felt about it, but it isn’t my style to put it quite that bluntly. Thank YOU for doing so. You know girls, always so prissy and worrying about hurting people’s feelings. Those are “Zimbabwe’s” diamonds (meaning they belong to whoever gets them out of the ground and to the cutters, some combination of rulers, thieves, and cartels.) They come with the territory. (Moral: go capture the territory.) They don’t belong to the people; if they did we could all claim “our” shares of the oil under US territory. The bleeding hearts and Leftists should go do something meaningful instead of embroiling themselves in the business of others. We should worry about the dictatorial impulses gleaming in the eyes of our overlords before we concern ourselves with the perfectly normal activities of others. Ah, I feel revived, uplifted, and encouraged–and anyone who thinks I’m spoofing doesn’t know me very well. ‘Bout time we had some plain talk. Gingerly hug, Linda
“Great honk!” as my uncle-in-law the Baptist deacon exclaimed in times of stress. Are we on to something here? How about starting a campaign against “blood oil?” As much as I loathe red tape, do-gooders (many with nasty, devious notions), and groups bigger than the Texas Ring (All barstool number holders are at least shoo-in candidates if not de facto members), I think this is a bouncing beauty of an idea. Let’s make the Saudis and Hugo and friends chase their tails certifying that their gooey product isn’t being sold to those who might use it for nefarious purposes.
May Mugabe and the diamond cartel are missing a prime opportunity. They should all get together with the IMF and offer all of their diamonds as the base for the new world currency. It meets the prime requirements of Money. Ya can’t produce it and its portable and can be valued by weight. Easily horded and traded.
Lol, a bit more nonesense. Looks like a nice market for emeralds, rubys and gold and silver, and will add real quality to costume jewelry.
If diamonds are a girls best friend, and a dog is mans best friend, sure increases the value of a dog.
Sorry just tired of being serious all the time.
Perhaps I am mistaken but isnt the certification that diamonds are not conflict/blood diamonds simply a marketing ploy for the wedding industry in the USA? It basically creates a value enhanced product, that will assuage any fears that a young lady’s big day be tainted by unpleasantness. I think I read somewhere that upwards of 3/4 of the diamonds sold in the world are sold as wedding/engagement rings in the USA. So far I have resisted being part of the whole racket. lol
“Don’t take life seriously. It won’t last forever.” — Anon. A good “gimme-cap” logo…
Well, lessee: Mugabe successfully wrecked a country’s money and its agriculture. Promoted a near-genocidal effort against a racial minority; sadly, that minority was the primary source of food and wealth. All under the color of law.
Haven’t seen genocidal efforts in or by the US, but othewise we seem to have a certain amount of Mugabitis running rampant here. Prob’ly gonn bite us.
Dern typos…
“Haven’t seen genocidal efforts in or by the US, but othewise we seem to have a certain amount of Mugabitis running rampant here. Prob’ly gonn bite us.”
Terrorism in the middle east? Give it some time, they will figure out a way to bring it home to the US. They have millions of plastic coffins stacked just waiting ya know.
“Ah, I feel revived, uplifted, and encouraged–and anyone who thinks I’m spoofing doesn’t know me very well. ‘Bout time we had some plain talk. Gingerly hug, Linda”
I tried to back off a bit over at the Ring lol. Me thinks me was getting on some people’s nerves
I agree here, this is a plain as it gets
My best guess is that Bomba’s group is getting a nice present from De Beers and that nobody much expects more than a very few, very carefully selected people of Zimbabwe to benefit, the important part being to restablize the system–that is, restore the diamond monopoly first, and then stabilize Zimbabwe enough so that Mugabe can be president as long as he wants to and then retire elsewhere with a steamer trunk of cut stones
It is the power of the Elite, would anybody believe otherwise. The puppeter pulling the strings, they will own the country in the long run, and do you really think they care about genocide. Have you seen any nation do anything about genocide in the African nations for years let alone get a handle on the HIV and Aids problem, I’m surprised the IMF just didn’t jump in and just buy the country, write off the debt, own the diamond fields and put their own people in power.
Hmm, maybe I am naive, that’s probably already happend.
Here I was feeling sorry for myself because Illinois says I can’t buy/sell raw milk because of some silly overblown public safety concerns. This guy can’t sell rocks and for no good reason. Guess I’ll stop moping around.
PPD, I just saw where EPA has declared milk to be an oil, and therefore it’s a pollutant, and therefore dairymen must build holding facilities agains spillage from storage tanks.
once i bought a diamond for my dainty, feminine, confused, polite girlfriend.
it was 1/3 carat and, w/ the 14 Karat ring, cost over $200.
it had an enormous occlusion, but she had astigmatic vision and didn’t “notice”.
she just wanted a ring.
and a wedding.
what a happy day we had that Christmas!!!
i was the king of the world!!!
she was my queen!
she showed it to everybody and, as usual, was totally unable to shut up.
she, whom i had nicknamed, “mistress of the obvious”, was eventually advised of the “quality” of the ring, by a sincere “sister”.
now, i still loved her, but what was REALly important was that i had been trained, post being drafted, and prior to ‘Nam, to disarm a crazed banshee with a knife.
we spent another decade together.
and, i never had to marry her!
she was almost 20 years my junior.
life is pretty good, sometimes!
@steverino: I’d appreciate this more if I could hear HER side of the saga. Is she, perhaps, commenting on some site, telling the story, and saying, “Thank god, or the gods, I never married that guy”? He said; she said.
Chrysalis…no wonder you’re a left-winger, you’ll believe anything. True, Steverino is bright, knowledgeable, and entertaining, and we can imagine him enchanting a lollipop two decades his junior, but the youngest he could have joined the Army was 17 and the oldest, 35. She wasn’t alive when he went into the Army so the youngest we can postulate was 17 to his 37. As we like to say around here for obvious reasons, “Tell it to the Marines. The old sailors won’t believe it.”
hahaha!
she was alive!
1 was 22 when i went in. she was 4.
“almost 20 years”
and, she enchanted me!
she was 26 when we met; i was 44.
damned pheromones!
can no one “do the math?
when i introduced her to one of the best men to ever flunk outta stanford, he said to her, “have you ever heard of the Beatles?”
then they got into a contest: he tried to keep me in the weekly “toxic golf” foursome. she tried to interest me in “other events”.
it was fabulous! life was wonderful!
i have no memory of the details…
well, none for marines or sailors…
of course, they would probably just be envious, anyhooo…
can we get the ladies to launch a few gelatinous cubes here, pullllease??!!??
maybe a toga party would be more fun, today, than a food fight…
…how about a road trip?
nice to have the writers’ guild functioning again.
always a pleasure to take one 4 the team…
hugs!!!
i hope nobody writes from zimbabwe about the split infinitive!
[...] Whiskey & Gunpowder – Zimbabwe Threatens Black Market Diamond Sales [...]
Steverino…ALMOST you persuade me, but Chrysalis should be whacked on sight for the good of his character. I keep hoping to set up a semi-hippie (very relaxed and casual, that is) event here at the ranch, everybody in grubbies, lodged in motor homes, and lively conversations in every nook and cranny. Barbecues and libations, but no group singalongs and definitely no s’mores. The roof is finally going up on our 1200 foot expansion, hurrah, but it is likely to remain the same disorganized Mildew Manor for at least months. Still, what a gathering it would be. Do you suppose Janet and the BATF boys would bug the mulberry tree? Or…we could think of something ludicrously bright and funny and paint it on the side of the 40′ Greyhound bus and tool majestically around Texas A&M and the Bush Library, confusing all the little Liberals. BIG hugs back.
What keeps the writers’ guild functioning is people who write. Where’s your contribution, Sterino? Rat, your turn. James the Wanderer, we’re panting for more. Tex, you’re a slacker. Tony, the submission you sent me disappeared into cyber space. Send it to Michael. Nobody would turn down a Tony de Maio! Get involved with my new site, everybody, and let’s spread some of our common sense, camaraderie, and joie de vivre around. Love you all. Linda
If you haven’t seen the film – “Lock, stock and two smoking barrels” – that British comedy-drama of 10 years ago, then now is the time to do so. In the movie, various groups of crims squabble over a large amount of narcotics and end up killing each other. The ‘hero’ arrives at the scene of the bloodbath and walks off with all the loot. And this is different how?
Linda, your story is marvellous. Perhaps the producer of that movie could broaden the appeal of this potentially wonderful sequel by setting it to music.
Linda,
Something tells me I wouldn’t be welcome at the Mildew Manor. Shucks. I have a feelin’ I’d liven up the conversation just about as much as you. And nothing would give me more pleasure than protesting at the Bush Library. Ya think there’s a copy of The Pet Goat? Seems Mr Bomba got your goat.
between linda and tony, i barely made it to chrysalis.
but i’m glad i did…
how about a chorus of “here’s to the busdriver”?
followed by firesign theatre–we’re ALL bozo’s on THIS bus!
too liberal?
i like to drive and i’m barely qualified to handle my schwinn. my tercel’s been broke so long, i’m having to re-learn how to drink, smoke and sing while driving with my knees.
so, you folks take the damned bus–i’ll take the jag and see how she handles going sideways…
facts can be so confusing and limiting,
we can just as well be confused w/out them!
fondly, too!!!
to quote the mogambo:
Wheeeeeee!!!!
Chrysalis, I’m game. Say something interesting. What conceivable good would protesting at the Bush Library do? My goats are all still in residence, thank you, seeing possibilities for new toys everywhere during the construction. I won’t comment on Mr. Bomba. An excellent rule in life is “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”
How I miss the Mogambo! Ya gotta come see our two buses, though, Steverino. We’ve got a genuine Blue Bird school bus, which is painted yellow, of course. It has an ashtray for the driver! We also have a 40′ Grayhound, made by them as a motor home 40 years ago. It has everything, including a small washer and dryer. I’m thinkin’ mebbe we should paint the sides to look like a rock group, Los Horribles, perhaps…
Something interesting. There! I said it. Say goodnight, Gracie.
There’s hope for you, Chrysalis. G’nite, George.
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