My Friend Michael Jackson

There are some subjects it is unwise to disagree with popular opinion about. Politics, religion, and Michael Jackson are on that list of taboo subjects. However; I have something of a reputation for rushing in where some folks fear to tread. And, I feel a certain obligation to defend my friend, Michael Jackson Five. He quickly became a child star. Everything he could dream of except a normal childhood was there for him. He was loved and pampered by everyone around him. He saw hundreds of millions of adoring fans populating his entire universe. He could do no wrong. No harm could befall him. Goodness and mercy surrounded him.

As he grew older, he applied his business skills and became one of the world's super wealthy. Older more experienced people advised him against paying 0 million for the publishing rights to the early Beetles music catalog. Nobody had ever paid nearly as much for publishing rights. He followed his gut and went against their advice. It has proven to be a very astute business move. His many decisions concerning the composition, production, presentation, and promotion of "Thriller" were equally astute.

Michael Jackson

His downfall and early death sprang from that same fairy tale life. He had more than enough money to buy anything he could imagine. There was nobody for him to envy. He had it all. He was by nature a truly considerate and compassionate person. He had achieved his amazing success without harming anyone. He had lived in a world that was sheltered and isolated from mean and angry people.

My Friend Michael Jackson

The negative emotions of fear, envy, greed, and uncontrolled ambitions were alien concepts to him. He had never been the carrier or victim of such thoughts and feelings. He understood the meaning of those concepts the same way most people understand war. They were bad things that happened far away to people he did not know. They existed in a world he had never been exposed to.

I tried to explain bad people to him. I told him there are two ways to have the tallest tree in town. Loving people do so, by planting, nurturing, and caring for their trees. Maladjusted, angry, envious, blindly ambitious, and bitter people do so by cutting down everyone else's tall trees. He just shot me that famous smile, rolled his eyes, and said, "You should have more faith in our fellow man."

Michael loved people. He especially loved children. He enjoyed being around children. It provided a vicarious way of experiencing the "normal" childhood he never experienced. Children shared an innocence his fairy tale life had left intact within him. Other adults had lost that innocence. The advice I offered proved my own fall from grace. I and those who offered similar warnings were cynical and unable to see all the love and beauty surrounding him and each of us.

Michael's first exposure to the evil side of people was the original accusation of child molestation. In his mind, it was a very rare aberration. It was not indicative of people in general. He adopted the Christly response of, "Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do." He responded to the parents' greed with loving kindness. He gave them a few million dollars. Perhaps; it would allow them to grow, be happy, and lay down their ways of sin. If nothing else; it would teach them how insignificant a few million dollars were.

I tried to warn him the out of court settlement marked him as an easy target for similar people. I said other greedy parents would be willing to use their children to extort greater amounts. He had not lost his faith in love and goodness. The fact two poor misguided parents had given in to greed did not mean others would behave in a similar fashion.

I pointed out the long established career paths of many politicians. The successful prosecution of celebrities has taken many unscrupulous blindly ambitious politicians into higher more powerful offices. Power hunger has driven bad people to do anything imaginable to acquire and abuse power over ever increasing numbers of regular people. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Prosecuting attorneys have near absolute power.

Of course; it did happen again. Another set of parents was willing to rob their child of innocence. Another power hungry prosecutor viciously used Michael in a bid for higher office. The international broadcast news media used his misfortune to raise audience ratings. They joined in the effort to smear what was left of his reputation. They became foul smelling vultures feasting on the bleeding flesh of a magnificent and graceful antelope.

Michael won the battle, but lost his faith in the fundamental goodness of humanity. He left the country of his birth. He changed his entire life. He ran to avoid the next accusation and trial. He knew it would come, if he remained here. This country he loved so much was no longer safe. He knew would be tormented by a long string of prosecuting attorneys. Each seeking to be the one who put that "menace to society" behind bars.

I fully expected the international media report his death was linked to drug abuse. It was linked. However; I know the true cause of his death. My friend died from a broken heart. He could not live in the vicious greedy world he was immersed in. The exposure to greed, envy, and run away ambition came too late in life. He never had a chance to develop the immunity most of us develop at a much younger age.

His death has deprived our world of a great talent, a truly kind and generous person, and the most innocent adult I have ever known. I hope the parents and prosecutors who did this to us find themselves in the worse part of Dante's Inferno.

As a closing comment I am compelled to say, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

My Friend Michael JacksonMaster's Challenge: Madworld (Machinima.com) Video Clips. Duration : 5.67 Mins.

Madworld : Chainsaws, Baseball Bats and Crotches oh my!

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A Friend Like Ben

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Ben, most people turn away

Not hear a word they say

Do not see how I do

I wish they would attempt to

I'm sure we could think again

If he had a friend like Ben.

From the song: Ben

Copyright 1972 Walter Scharf / Don Black

Performed by Michael Jackson

Bella, not words, right? The melody, though the song is very nice as well. The irony, of course, that> Michael Jackson sings this beautiful song of a mouse. That's right, a big, hairy, dirty, ugly (and aggressive) rat! The song is the theme music for the film with the same name.

The "Ben" I want to talk about, but it is Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He is not a rat. On the contrary, but I do not know him personally, it radiates, appearance, integrity and professionalism.

The bulls on Wall Street, but cansee it as a mouse. Unlike Alan Greenspan, l '(bow to bow, too) to political pressure after 11 September and aggressively cut the Fed funds rate to support the financial markets panic, Bernanke is for the most part, with the its dry powder to determine if the recent turmoil in the subprime mortgage mess and is in fact a threat to the global economy.

Greenspan's policies have, in fact, help to minimize buoy a market which is sinking, and reduce the recession of 2001-2002,just time for the tech bubble, which will be replaced by a housing bubble. The latter was the bladder, it seems, is almost exclusively a function of historically low prices, brought to us from Mr. Greenspan. E 'was also the source of the subprime mortgage fiasco and predatory lending practices that enable people with questionable credit, property or could not afford them, or turn their existing homes, as the' use of piggy banks' the seemingly endless shopping sprees. InInterim Report, aroused great increase in their taxes, lender, and the economy is booming, as people spent and spent and spent. All the while knowing that the creditor would be (and the defendant must know) that a day of reckoning awaits, one day, the teaser will revert to the mortgage interest. Those days are now upon us, and almost everyone, it seems, from the sub-prime borrowers to lenders, hedge fund managers want Bernanke, Greenspan's successor to bail them out. So far, even if underincredible pressure from the Bush administration and said the company and consumer groups, it appears that Bernanke may be willing to play ball.

Bernanke, you see, just does not seem to understand that the Fed, as a bulwark against the stupidity of consumers and the greed and irresponsibility of the economy. 30 August was revised GDP in the second quarter to 4.1% upwards. The robust growth of the economy suggests. Unless the sub-prime situation hascomplete inversion of one (there are only data for one or the other on this point, as the left), an official of the Federal Reserve would certainly be in the wisdom of reducing prices in an increasingly economic engine. Interestingly, many of the leaders to "talk" the economy tell us that the economy remains strong and the envy of the world, while at the same time, desperately Bernanke urged easier. Why? If you are convinced that the recession is in us?Maybe a few. But most economists tell us that we should expect a growth (slower growth, but growth in each case) until the end of 2008.

No, I think the agenda is behind these calls to arms much more narrow and transparent. Concern for marginal homeowners on Main Street by the highly compensated people on Wall Street is issued touching, to be sure. But what's really driving this train is that the centers of economic power and political capitalMarkets saved from his excesses. He wants to continue the bull market for his meteoric rise earlier, and they want to escape the financial services industry for the consequences of mismanagement and greed. Substantial reductions will probably reach the right results, but also trigger a further collapse of the U.S. dollar and, if the economy really sound as if the underlying numbers suggest, such a move risks of overheating and to report on what the Feddetest above all for inflation.

Bernanke is to resist, but the jury is still out whether you can take the pressure. What is at stake is not only the potential danger of too accommodative Fed mentioned above, the role of Bernanke as chairman of an organization seemingly independent from political powers will be put to the test.

Thus, for the Bulls, the question is, is Ben, a friend or advice? Only time will tell.

Warren R. Graham

Copyright 2007

My husband, My Best Friend

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Love, a word that is sometimes exaggerated.

So often they say, is not really serious

sounds just right,

this is what I first thought.

But now, here we are, you and I.

long together

The highs and lows.

I never thought we'd make it at this point,

But now I think

every time we said, "I love you" to each other

says that so often

repeating,

slightly because of the depth ofwhat it means to truly love.

It 'just a word, but it brings so many things.

Love is give and take, as we all know.

This is a compromise, said: "I'm sorry."

And sometimes, sometimes

They also feel that you have enough.

But love is patience,

And 'better, for worse,

Of course you get angry at each other,

but you can also laugh together.

Just as love can be sweet, but can be difficult.

It now has over timepast

We grew up together

older together.

We came to understand that love beyond the physical world.

There is much more.

We are not just husband and wife,

We are best friends, best buds.

Your what I want with me

No matter where I go or what I do.

Your questions what I say.

I thought it was "Dear overstated.

A people always used the word

not really mindanything,

It just sounded good at the moment.

But now I know that you and I,

when we say all the time,

say "I love you all the time,

It is not just a word. Means much more;
more than life.

This is for you, darling.

I will always love you.