"WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE" (Or take Copenhagen, Please!!)

,"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"--or at the very least, make it up in summer school.
Ya know, a bunch of really high-profile human beings who have inhabited this planet have said many wise things like the above (which I believe is from the introduction to "Bartlett's Quotations"--which he assembled while eating his pears---I would add---at one time I had trouble multiplying , but that's another issue---or no issue---altogether!)
It was Mark Twain who pointed out that "April Fools Day is the one day of the year that reminds us what we are the other 364". Or take that current voguish definition of insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"---well, that takes me uncomfortably back to my multiplication problem, but as I indicated before that's a whole other kettle of missionaries.
Or as George Bush manfully tried to say, "Fool me one, shame on you---fool me twice, well... that's twice as many times as you fooled me the first time...won't be fooled again!!".

This all brings me to Copenhagen, where as many of you know, who are not waiting to see if the number of Tiger Woods's bimbos makes it into triple digits-(hey, didn't Three Fingers Brown have "triple digits Just thought I'd ask), the world conference on Climate Change is going into its tenth day, and so far the climate there has been something less than paradisical.
You see, along with the representatives of all world nations: the "industrialized",i.e.---RICH--the ones that don't give a rat's poop-shooter about global warming and the possible end of life on earth after they're taking their dirt naps--yeah, even their kids and grandkids be damned! But they feel it's a nice gesture to show up at these things and bring an assortment of pastries.
And then there are the "developing nations", i.e, the wretchedly poor---ya know, the people who make those 'Feed a Kid in Africa' Christian con men rich---not to mention those stalwart, upright, representatives of their deity, "Free Trade", the -Multi-National Corporations (or as Mel Brooks would have one named (Engulf and Devour---again, they don't give a rodent's exhaust pipe about the all those poor people---what they are extremely interested in is what may be under their feet---oil, minerals, diamonds, whatever it is that goes into cell phones so Heather can tell Amber "This mall is like s-o-o-o-o whatever!"
Which all brings me the "fools" business.
I refer to the hundreds of thousands of environmental activists who flocked to the conference to hold protests and to try to crash the conference.
I mean, those are worthy goals---but seriously, were these people born yesterday?
Haven't they seen film of the Chicago convention or Prague in 1968?
Haven't they seen Tianneman Square?
Haven't they seen the Battle of Seattle ten years ago?
And all the other G-8 conferences before and since?
What' funny is that these protestors and dissidents are surprised and shocked that they're
being beaten like starving policemen going at pinatas, thrown in jail by the hundreds and being banned from a conference at which just yesterday they were officially welcomed guests.
Could it be that they don't understand by now that the rich and powerful who rule this disreputable ball get very annoyed at the idea that the "common rabble", otherwise known as over 90%% of the world's people, want to take their toys and power away and distribute it fairly---the very idea!!
Nah--the rich will show up in their nice suits and with their big box of doughnuts---but it's all play---they decided how this thing was gonna go long ago.
The rich will get richer and will be well air-conditioned, while the poor will be able to cool off in the ocean water that will cover the places where they used to live.
"Le plus ca change, le plus le meme chose"
Translation--"It ain't so much one damn thing after another as it is the same damn thing over and over again!"