"If they've got any sense, they won't touch the World Bank with a ten-foot pole."

Most ten-foot poles are playing in the NBA and doing very well, thank you.

Now, regarding the World Bank and East Timor. Why shouldn't your basic East Timoran have the same opportunities everyone else in the world does to assemble tennis shoes and eat at McDonalds?

The World Bank can make that happen for them. To deny them these economic opportunities and the opportunity to more fully participate in the world cultural experience is discrimination, a foul slight, a scurrilous attempt to keep this impoverished part of the world poor and deprived.

Cold, heartless, and cruel. I understand the East Timorans are quite dextrous and quick learners, can glue shoes and solder connections very, very rapidly. To not let them use their God-given talents is like pulling off the wings of butterflies.

It's the "World" Bank. You can trust them. (To what is for another post.)

Arf (T-I-C = tongue in cheek)