Charades.....

Let's see.... once upon a time, then... in a far-off kingdom where happiness was the main thing in the whooooollle wide world, there was an evil count. (No, it wasn't Disney World Florida). Even though he wasn't able to USE his title, everybody still knew... he was a count. Uh-huh. And the count was eeevil because.... he was an arms trading lobbyist, and for years, rumours and suspicions were muttered among the populace, because... they thought he was doing illegal things. And let's face it, selling arms isn't exactly a noble thing to do.

And the count took a wifey... who in the happy kingdom became the minister of health. And the people who sucked up to the count were even more happy, indeed, she provided a wonderful cover for him to continue in his 'business'.

Well, governments come, and governments go, and even in the happy kingdom, there was a regime change, and elections. The outcome was so close, the parties had to form a coalition. And the rumours about the count had become very loud indeed, so the old-fashioned party supported by the count decided to help the minister, saying they would only negotiate to form a coalition if the rebel party would apologise to the count. Which they did, thinking that a consensus would be constructive.

So the years went by, and the wifey and the count separated.... seemingly divorced, and the evil count was free to wheel and deal without compromising his spouse, and wheel and deal he seemingly did. The story teller isn't so clear on that... his attention was focused on another story.

Now, being a count has priveleges. And traditions! Like hosting hunts in the autumn, and all the lower intestinal acrobats among the populace were very lucky indeed to get trips, and kill bambis, and their mommies, and pheasants, and whatever moved in the woods.... but that was just camouflage. They were there for business. Or go golfing on the world's best courses... and do business.

Now oddly... the count always maintained he was poor and a modest sort of person, possessing not so much in means. But he had friends in the telecomunications industry, seemingly, and they were very happy to provide loads of monies to finance any junket the count thought would bring in revenue to what he considered a paltry estate. I mean, he WAS a count, after all... and that mattered to some people... because, being a count, he had influence, and 'knew' people and 'connections'.

And they provided tons of money to the candidates that the count liked for elections, the ones who would help him do even more business... seemingly with faked bill receipts. So it wouldn't look political, of course.

And one fine day, someone finally noticed, and the parliament of the tiny happy country decided to try to find out what threads of deceit had been perpertrated. And the count was cited to appear before the grave and disconcerted comittee.. and took a 'forget' pill, and couldn't remember 45 things that were important. Except the populace didn't buy that and got very angry, especially with his friends.

Now, the friends, who had feasted and dined, and hunted and golfed with the count were suddenly outraged, OUTRAGED, I tell you, that anyone in the populace would even think that they would have been involved in such nefarious behaviour. Why, they never had anything to do with the man, let alone condone anything he might have done.... Forgetting about the apology thing with the wifey.... Nope, they never knew him, never had anything to DO with him, nothing, nada, never. Except there were facts and documents showing that they did.

Of course.

And the grandee of all the counts' friends, and of high renown in his party said, 'if having a private company give money to an election campaign is illegal... we should change the law and let any private entity contribute as much money to a campaign as they see fit.'... That might have seemed like a good idea, but it seems the grandee got it from a very unhappy kingdom that was very far away, so he thought it would pass muster and no one would notice. AND... the grandee would devise an 'honor code' that everyone in their party would have to pledge to and follow.

This story doesn't have an end yet... in the happy kingdom, the populace are being forced to live on a restricted diet, because they were living too well. And the count and his ilk are miffed over all that lost revenue.

So the story teller can't pretend to know if there will be a happy end in the happy kingdom. But the story teller told it to Peter... and he giggled and grinned, and was thrilled about it. But some things made him indignant.

Disclaimer: any resemblance to the happy kingdom or the unhappy one and real places.... are purely coincidental. I must've dreamed it. And watch too much news.