Palin not Pairin

John McCain, the 72-year-old presumptive Republican candidate in the US presidential elections, made a maverick political move last Thursday by placing a woman almost half his age on the vice presidential ticket.

Pretty, sassy, 44-year-old Sarah Palin, it is hoped, will weave her magic to divert female voters, especially the ones that voted for Hillary Clinton in the democratic primaries.

No one really knows if that will happen until the elections are over and a winning party is announced. Until then of course the very private family life of Sarah Palin is going to be fair game and her dirty laundry not just washed in public but torn to shreds.

Palin, a mother of five children, is currently under the microscope because her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. The one common question is naturally: If she can’t handle her children how is she going to look after the interests of the nation?

A typical question, I say, because she is a woman. Had the VP nominee been a man it would never have come up – or his wife would be blamed for being a bad mother.

Quite a few of my younger female colleagues also pointed out that, "Young people do stupid things. Should parents really be punished for the sins of their children?"

Sarah Palin is a former beauty queen and may appear to be a light-weight foil to John McCain.

Those in the know however, are telling us that she is a true political savant. She is a former mayor, a former governor, a former chief of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Disgusted with the old boys network and the back scratching that went on between them she took them on with a savage competitiveness and won. She knows how to appeal to the voting public and she knows how to win. That harmless little girl look is simply a mask.

All in all, the coming election is going to be very interesting. It won’t matter if the Republicans or the Democrats win.

That will be decided by the voting American public.

There will, however, be quite a few firsts – the oldest president, the youngest vice-president, the first African-American president, the first woman vice-president and that will make watching it closely very worthwhile.

Malaysia & Corruption

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures "that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption." Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation's coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre! .

The article below is a comment made by a Malaysiatoday reader name ez42get as a response to my article "Despite knowing, the BN did nothing except remove oil subsidy" which is published by MalaysiaToday. ( Thank you Malaysiatoday).

I believe the summary is concise and easy for anyone to understand. Enjoy

Ez42get writes:

Looking at the list below, it looks like the BN government are more determined to help themselves rather than the citizens.

And this list below is not even barely exhaustive as these are the ones uncovered – the tip of the ice-berg, if you might want to put it! What lies beneath could be much larger:-

1. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit)

2. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s is believed to have cost some US$500 million. (RM1.6 billion)

3. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia RM30 billion in the 1990s.

4. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion). Eric Chia, was charged with corruption for allegedly steering US$20 million (RM64 million) to a Hong Kong-based company

5. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. operation to shore up the stock market

6. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam

7. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of €75.99 million (RM 348 million)

8. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty on Terengganu RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007

9. For the past 10 years since Philharmonic Orchestra was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500 million

10. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (women and social development affairs) RM404,726 and Abdul Hamid Othman (religious) RM549,675 per annum

11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is unable to give a breakdown.

12. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

13. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion "Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge"

14. RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge

15. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks

16. National Astronaut Programme - RM 40 million

17. National Service Training Programme - yearly an estimate of RM 500 million

18. Eye on Malaysia - RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket

19. RM 4.63 billion, 'soft-loan' to PKFZ

20. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink

21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. RM 380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hike in 2008 alone.

22. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family

Bailouts –
23. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion. At a time when MAS incurring losses every year, RM1.55 million used to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman's (Munir) office.

24. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion

25. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion

26. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million

27. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million

28. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million

29. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million

30. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM 3.5 Million

31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.

32. APs scandal had been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a total mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgits

33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits

34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that looks more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilised government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to the hundreds of billions of ringgits!

35. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 billion ringgit in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge profits. In addition, there were much wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea of the amount.

Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL! In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures "that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption." Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages and mismanagements which could be higher!

If the above list (which represent moneys saved) is added to the nation's coffer and together with Petronas profits, palm oil profits and profits from rubber, tin, agriculture produce, aquaculture produce, electronic and hardware exports, etc, for the past 5 decades, we can all agree on one thing - our country could be wealthier than Venezuela who has little resources except for oil. The petrol in Venezuela is RM0.16 per litre!.

ex-Child Stars

Country with the Most Billionaire

I got the oppurtunity to visit Zimbabwe with UN peace watchdog group. It was an eye opener in this world *richest* country! No doubt, they got the most Billionaire in the world!

500 millions is the minimum amount needed for an everyday lunch! Is worth about USD 2 only!
Zimbabwe hold the world record for the single most valuaed note!
Daily necessities are sold in millions!
6,000 for an egg! Unbelievable

This much to buy a beer....
A month salary for Zimbabwean
School pocket money!
Money are weight... not count!

LV, Gucci, Prada... all ran out of business because they capacity is too small!

My Friend Tigers

Miss X vs Mr Gentleman

One evening, after attending the theater, two gentlemen were walking down the avenue when they observed a rather well dressed and attractive young lady walking ahead of them. One of them turned to the other and remarked, "I`d give $250.00 to spend the night with that woman."

Much to their surprise, the young lady overheard the remark, turned around, and replied, "I`ll take you up on that offer."

She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding his companion good night, the man accompanied the young lady to her apartment.

The following morning as he prepares to leave the man presented her with $125.00 cash. She demanded the balance of the outstanding sum, stating "If you don`t pay me the balance of $125.00, I'll sue you for it."

He laughed, saying: "I`d like to see you get it on these grounds."

Within a few days, he was surprised when he received a summons ordering his presence in court as a defendant in a lawsuit. He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the case.

His lawyer said: "She can`t possibly get a judgment against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see how her case will be presented."

After the usual preliminaries, the lady`s lawyer addressed the court as follows:

"Your honor, my client, this lady, is the owner of a piece of property, a garden spot, surrounded by a profuse growth of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of $250.00. The defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively for the purposes for which it was rented, but upon evacuating the premises, he paid only $125.00, one-half of the amount agreed upon. The rent was not excessive, since it is restricted property, and we ask judgment be granted against the defendant to assure payment of the balance."

The defendant`s lawyer was impressed and amused by the way his opponent had presented the case. His defense, therefore was somewhat different from the way he originally planned to present it:.

"Your honor, my client agrees that the lady has a fine piece of property, that he did rent such property for a time, and a degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction. However, my client found a well on the property around which he placed his own stones, sunk a shaft, and erected a pump, all labor performed personally by him. We claim these improvements to the property were sufficient to offset the unpaid amount, and that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for the rental of said property. We, therefore, ask that judgment not be granted."

The young lady`s lawyer answered thus:

"Your honor, my client agrees that the defendant did find a well on her property. However, had the defendant not known that the well existed, he would never have rented the property. Also, upon evacuating the premises, the defendant removed the stones, pulled out the shaft, and took the pump with him. In doing so, he not only dragged the equipment through the shrubbery, but left the hole much larger than it was prior to his occupancy, making the property much less desirable to others. We, therefore, ask that judgment be granted."

In the Judge`s decision, he provided for two options:

"Pay the $125.00 or have the equipment detached and provided to the plaintiff for damages."

The defendant wrote a cheque immediately!

Lessons learned: Respect a contract and honor the terms and conditions as agreed. If you are unsure, request for inspection and tests before agreeing to the contract.

Section 5 of the Contracts Act 1950 states that: A proposal may be revoked at any time before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the proposer, but not afterwards. An acceptance may be revoked at any time before the communication of the acceptance is complete as against the acceptor, but not afterwards.

Under Section 23, A contract is not voidable merely because it was caused by one of the parties to it being under a mistake as to a matter of fact.

Section 38 says: The parties to a contract must either perform, or offer to perform, their respective promises, unless the performance is dispensed with or excused under this Act.

Section 40 states that: When a party to a contract has refused to perform, or disabled himself from performing, his promise in its entirety, the promisee may put an end to the contract.

Section 65 provides for the consequences of rescission of voidable contract and Section 74 provides for the consequences of breach of contract.

真的豬喔....

咦~~ 還真的有這種豬喔?!Mangalitza是一種既有全身的卷毛卻又屬於豬的一種奇怪的動物，它原產於匈牙利和澳大利亞，屬於一種非常稀有並且古老的物種。

如今在威爾斯有一個叫做小豬天堂的農場，他們正在盡力培養一些罕見的豬類，其中也包括這種既像豬毛發又像小羊的動物。不要懷疑我們的眼睛啦，這種東西的確存在，而且它還不止一種顏色，非常有趣並且奇怪。