Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater

And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",

oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no senator's son,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no fortunate one, no,

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,

Lord, why don't they help themselves? oh.

But when the taxman come to the door,

Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no millionaire's son.

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,

ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,

And when you ask them, how much should we give,

oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no military son,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no fortunate one,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no fortunate one, no no no,

It ain't me, it ain't me,

I ain't no fortunate son, son son son

Usury (Random House Dictionary): 1. the lending or practice of lending money at an exorbitant interest. 2. The exorbitant amount or rate of interest, esp. in excess of the legal rate.

Usury (Dictionary of Cultural Literacy): The practice of charging more than the legal interest rate.

Law separates interest and usury by defining what is exorbitant. From a mathematical perspective, the determination is arbitrary. Interest and usury are conceptually synonymous. The difference between interest and usury is an arbitrary legal determination with no basis in mathematics.

Deuteronomy XXIII:19 (Old Testament): Thou shalt not lend upon usury to the brother; usury on money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury:

Deuteronomy XXIII:20 (Old Testament): Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon a stranger; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury...

Deuteronomy was a base of morality for Hebrews. Usury could be applied to a stranger, but not to a brother. For some, usury was viewed as a weapon to be used against an enemy who could not be defeated in direct confrontation.

De Tobia by St. Ambrose (340-397): From him, it says there, demand usury, whom you rightly desire to harm, against whom weapons are lawfully carried. Upon him usury is legally imposed. On him whom you cannot easily conquer in war, you can quickly take vengeance with the hundredth. From him exact usury whom it would not be a crime to kill. He fights without a weapon who demands usury: he who revenges himself upon an enemy, who is an interest collector from his foe, fights without a sword. Therefore, where there is the right of war, there also is the right of usury.

As the argument goes, the New Testament proclamation of universal brotherhood negated the use of usury in any circumstance.

The Idea of Usury by Benjamin N. Nelson, Princeton University Press, 1949: St. Jerome (340-420) contended that the prohibition of usury among brother in Deuteronomy had been universalized by the Prophets and the New Testament. There was, in short, no scriptural warrant for taking usury from anyone.

The Koran, the Holy Text of Islam delivered by the seventh century prophet Muhammad, also mentions usury.

The Glorious Qur’an, Translation by Marmaduke Pickthall

Surah II - 275: Those who swallow usury cannot rise up save as he ariseth whom the devil hath prostrated by (his) touch. That is because they say: Trade is just like usury; whereas Allah permitteth trading and forbiddeth usury. He unto whom an admonition from his Lord cometh, and (he) refraineth (in obedience thereto), he shall keep (the profits of) that which is past, and his affair (henceforth) is with Allah. As for him who returneth (to Usury) - such are rightful owners of Fire. They will abide therein.

Surah II - 276: Allah hath blighted usury and made almsgiving fruitful. Allah loveth not the impious and guilty.

Surah II - 278: O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remaineth (due to you) for usury, if ye are (in truth) believers.

Surah III - 130: O we who believe! Devour not usury, doubling and quadrupling (the sum lent). Observe your duty to Allah, that ye may be successful.

Surah XXX - 39: That which ye give in usury in order that it may increase on (other) people’s property hath no increase with Allah; but that which ye give in charity, seeking Allah’s countenance, hath increase manifold.

It is interesting to note that the New Age translation of Surah III - 130 [above] incorporates the modern concept of usury as separate from interest.

The Essential Koran, Translation by Thomas Cleary: Faithful believers, do not take usurious interest, multiplied and compounded, and be wary of God, that you may prosper.

Today, the use of usury remains a source of contention within the Islamic world and amongst religions.

Osama bin Laden: You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury.

Bird Flu Could Take Its Toll on Business

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4598150.stm

The World Bank has identified bird flu as a "large shadow" that could harm growth in some parts of the world. The global economy could be badly hit if sick employees were forced to stay at home. A number of key industries, such as tourism, would be directly affected.

The airline sector would also suffer if business and holiday travel fell. Currencies in outbreak hotspots could be hit and quarantines might disrupt global trade. Widespread industrial closures could have a knock-on effect on oil prices.

Imperial San Francisco by Gray Brechin, 1999

http://www.formofmoney.com/ximperialsf.html [Link Added]

The close association of mining with warfare is ancient. To insure that growth, the rulers of cities needed the metals to make both weapons and currency. Metals requires mines (metalla in Latin), which in turn need cheap and expendable labor to work them. Mines likewise demand forests to smelt the ores, power the machinery, and prop the tunnels Those requirements alone spell expansion. Rome's citizens would have appreciated the wisdom so tersely embodied in San Francisco's motto, Gold in Peace, Iron in War. Yet truth is somewhat more complex, for gold has long served as one of the chief stimulants and objectives of war.

As mining has long been associated with war, so too does its workforce require military organization and oversight. At Rio Tinto, a long-distance chain of command emanated from those who enjoyed the fruits of the mines in Rome, through managers, soldiers, and engineers down to an army of as many as forty thousand slaves at the mine head. As long as strict order was maintained and the profits continued to flow back to the city, Rio Tinto served as the greatest mining school of the ancient world. Engineers trained there took their expertise to all parts of the Roman Empire, just as their successors would take what they had learned in California to the remotest corners of the earth.

The miner's lot has been more difficult to romanticize, for throughout most of history, mining has meant punishment. Few men, women, or children went willingly into the pits or the refineries, venues traditionally reserved for slaves, convicts, and prisoners of war. To be condemned to the mines was, for the Romans, a fate comparable to the the arena. it guaranteed the condemned to a short and brutish life.

Poverty remained the lot of most miners even when freed from serfdom in the Middle Ages, for rarely are mining's returns democratic. The industry typically concentrates wealth in the hands of a few at the lasting expense of the regions and people that produce it.

Mines are usually located in mountainous regions far from the cities they enrich and the estates they create. Their remoteness permits city dwellers to remain ignorant of those workers long known simply as "hill men." The distinction is seldom lost on the miners themselves, who watch the "sums defying belief" leave their towns to enrich those living in distant cities.

Large-scale mining therefore requires not only military order for the miners but the military itself to assure continued production. Mining tools can easily be turned to weapons, and desperation to rebellion. Throughout history, "hill men" have risen in strikes and revolt against their masters, wrecking the source of wealth itself and directly or indirectly threatening the cities to which that wealth flows.