Farooq Hussaini

My friend Farooq Hussaini just passed away Sunday. He was a mere 50 years of age. Farooq suffered from kidney disease. And after two transplants failed, he contented himself with living with dialysis. And yet: I never saw him once depressed; never heard a word of self-pity pass his lips. Instead he was always positive, always excited about what each day had in store, always warm, always loving, full of good humor. In many ways he was an enigma to me. It was no front. He was genuinely filled with gratitude for every second of his life. And he loved me. If he knew how often I've cried since hearing the news, he would wag his finger at me. "Where's your faith, my friend?" Where indeed?

Please watch this, for Farooq:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L9_8vwx2w8

And a Diamond Mercedes for Prince Walid...

This diamond encrusted Mercedes is allegedly the property of Saudi Prince Walid. The price tag: $ 4.8 million (U.S.).

As I write, George W. Bush is in Saudia Arabia at this very moment concluding a security agreement with the Saudi royal family: assuring them that, as far as the U. S. government (i.e., the plutocrats who own it) is concerned, their lives and lifestyle will be protected with American blood and treasure. Prince Walid is just a spoiled child. Three generations of the Bush family have used the powers of the legislative and executive branches of our "democracy" to act as the Saudi royal family's enablers. The Bush family (and their co-conspirators) have been richly rewarded for this "public service." The price of a gallon of gasoline in this country has more to do with the nest-feathering of oil men in U. S. corporations and government than with this particular bauble--as egregious as it is. At least the Saudis have the good taste not to pretend that they are anything but a fiefdom. We in the U.S., on the other hand, live under the delusion that we have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The joke's on us.