Money babies

Money solves everything. Have babies, more babies. We will give you money. No one wants to know why must have more babies. No one wants to know what life will be like for the babies when they come. Having babies is no longer an emotional or sentimental thing. It is about got money or no money. It is not about loving the children and giving the children a life that is worth living. No need to think about such things. How much you need? Tell me how much you want for each baby you produce. Very clinical. Very economic. The state needs your babies. For what? Come to think of it, it is better to produce babies for money. At least there is a reason to do it. Many produce babies without knowing why? No reasons, just keep producing.

Myth 186 Foreign talent and cosmopolitan city

We need the vibrancy of a cosmopolitan city to prosper like New York or some big American cities. We also need the foreign talents, given the few and limited talents we have among ourselves. The American formula is the way to beat the world. But the American formula comes with other terms. A big country with abundance of resources and opportunities, a lawlessness culture with a can do attitude. Then the contradiction of a strong constitution and a legal system. The fourth estate and a people who are ready to challenge the highest office when the law is broken or undermined. There are many other conditions to add on, not just the influx of foreigners to make America a great country. And obviously an authoritarian culture with a submissive or dismissive population are not compatible to what makes America what it is today. Then there is that big American Dream to look forward to. Actually America is an aberration. Not many countries can survive a mixed bag of communities and continue to be the number one super power, the number one economy. If foreign talents is the prerequisite to making a nation great, there would not be any German Empire, Dutch or Spaniard Empires, the British Empire or the Japanese Empire. All these empires rose to prominence because of a strong sense of nationalism and homogeinity. If the American formula is right, we can forget about the reemergence of India and China, both relying heavily on indigenious talents and resources. On the other hand, the former empires like the Brits are falling apart and fading into oblivion with a huge influx of foreigners into the countries. But the homogenous countries like Germany and Japan are doing exceptionally well. Is the American Dream sustainable? Or is the American formula the way to go? Before we get near to our Singapore Dream, there may not be a Singapore to talk about in the future if we no longer become a people built on some shared values and history. The broth is too small and too little and will not be able to retain its originality when too much new ingredients are added into the cooking pot.

A little window dressing may do the trick

As the opposition corner quiets down in their protest against organ trading, there are still some whimpers of unhappiness. Words like organ trading, selling or buying organs seems to be getting on the nerves of the protesters. To overcome such great misgivings, I would suggest that we shall henceforth desist from mentioning the words organ trading or buying/selling organs. In its place we shall creat a Organ Donation Charity Fund. The organ donors can donate their organs to this Fund and be allowed to have a lucky dip. Depending on where he/she is from, the price will be the equivalent of a sum of money decided by the Fund either in S$, US$, rupiah, pesos or whatever. On the other hand, kidney patients can donate a sum of money as decided by the Fund and be entitled to another draw which will be his date for a transplant operation. By doing these, both will be donors to a charity fund, no buying or selling. And the public can help by donating as well to boost up the Fund. And celebrities can also do their parts to participate in a Organ Donation Charity Show. The telco will be happy as well. Actually all will be happy. Nothing changes. And some eminent people can lend his or her name to the Fund or charity show. Back to square one. To cater to those who have strong objections on moral, ethical or religious grounds, HOTA scheme should remain. The poor or those who do not want to donate to the Fund can continue to remain in this scheme. And people who do not want to donate their organs to the Fund can have their organs harvested by HOTA and distributed free to those in the waiting list. Nothing changes. Nothing to cry about. And we shall not deprive those who have the money and willing to pay for it from external sources on their own effort. They should be allowed to do as they please as long as they don't cut the HOTA queue or the queue in the Organ Donation Charity Fund. With these well thought out plans, am I brilliant, I think no one shall have any more objections or unhappiness, except me. I will be giving this plan away free, not collecting the consultancy fee, the survey fee and the research fee. My estimate is that I will lose about half a million by sharing my plan openly. What the heck, it is for a good cause, though a bit silly not getting paid for it. Hope people would not think it is not a good plan because it is free.

Signs of decline or complacency?

In one of my earlier posts I did mentioned about the unusually high standards set by the first generation leaders and their intolerance for mistakes. Basically the message coming down from them was that 'Don't fool around and no slipshod work.' No mistake was tolerable. Zero defects was the standard. What we are hearing from Parliament yesterday would make our first generation leaders cringe or turn in their graves. We are not perfect. So mistakes must happened. Fatigue, too much work, different facts, different circumstances, so mistakes happened. We are only humans! Yes we are only humans. We all made mistakes every now and then. But to use such arguments as justifications is simply bad. A mistake is a mistake, is a mistake. Period. Deal with it. No amount of excuses is good enough and the more one tries to explain them away, the more ludicrous it will sound. Just simply said, yes, it is a mistake and unacceptable and inexcusable. How to react to all the finger pointings? Just listen quietly and show some shame and remorse. Nod the head in acknowledgement that the criticisms and unhappiness are justified and deserving. Eat the humble pie.

No gems in Parliament

The brevity in the reports on TV last night did not disclosed any gems worthy of posting here. The closes that one can get is a gleam of a shiny and beautiful head of Siew Kum Hong. I was so distracted by the glare that I totally missed out on what he was saying. I will now have to refresh myself from the factual reports in TOM.