FIFA WORLD CUP INSPIRES WINNING PHOTOS

Shadows and dreams surrounding the world cup will get forever taller.

Thanks to the FIFA world cup in Africa, the goal of many a child to sink that golden ball through the posts is now a reachable horizon.

Our local Iniesta strikes the golden World cup goal.

As one sun sets on FIFA, many a sun rises across the broadened horizons of budding players.

All over the world, far terrains away, FIFA has inspired Africans and all. To sink that golden goal ball through the posts is now only a horizon away.

Ile Maurice - Industrie Canniere - Juste Denouement Negociations Salariales

Cher Jacques,

Tu es le digne porteur du flambeau de l’idéologie de papa et de mon parrain.

Tu as le même bon regard franc et sincère de ton papa, de mon papa et de mon parrain.

Mon Papa: Fernand Leclezio

Mon Parrain: Claude Noel

Avant que mon frère Fernand me le fasse ressortir hier soir peu avant les nouvelles de 9 :00PM,
Je n’avais pas réalisé que tu es le fils de Bouboule !!!

Tu es avant tout le très digne fils de ton père qui avait dès son plus jeune age le respect de tous à l’école.

Avec toi à la barre, le dénouement de l’impasse concernant les négociations salariales n’était pas surprenant.

Le sang du Baron D’Unienville et ton sens de la justice t’ont donné la sagesse et le courage nécessaire pour prévaloir auprès des barons sucriers pour le meilleur avenir de tous et ‘nou tou pa pou tombe lor la paye’.

Avec l’aide de notre Gouvernement et surtout de notre Premier Ministre visionnaire, avec l’aide des syndicats, avec la bonne volonté admirable des artisans et laboureurs et avec ta propre vision, pour le bien être de tous, tu iras et tu conduiras l’industrie cannière toujours plus loin.

Félicitations.

Bien sincèrement,

Louis Leclezio.

Ile Maurice - Industrie Canniere - Negociations Salariales

Cher Jacques,

Je te connais seulement à travers la MBC/TV.

Tu ne me connais pas.

Permets moi donc de me présenter. Je suis Louis Leclezio. Fernand Leclezio est mon père. Claude Noel, un des administrateurs de Savannah, est mon parrain.

A l’époque, mon papa était considéré comme étant un visionnaire et un avant-gardiste dans l’industrie sucrière et dans ses relations avec tous les Mauriciens.

Ce constat se justifie pleinement aujourd’hui quand on réalise que papa a été le précurseur de la centralisation des usines sucrières. Une politique embrassée pleinement aujourd’hui par le Gouvernement dirigé par notre brillant Premier Ministre, l’Union Européenne et les propriétaires sucriers. Du ciel, papa et nous ses enfants ici bas, sommes heureux de voir qu’il y a 60 ans, papa fut le fondateur de trois des quatre usines qui restent opérationnelles aujourd’hui.

Le rôle de papa dans la centralisation de F.U.E.L., dans l’est du pays, et la contribution de papa dans le développement et l’expansion, à travers la fermeture de Trianon par exemple, de Médine dans l’ouest, sont bien connus. Mais dans le Sud, concernant la structure de Savannah, son empreinte est moins reconnue. Les archives de la compagnie pourraient peut être te révéler les faits à ce sujet. Pour honorer la fondation de Savannah par papa, quoique Claude Noel ne fût pas un membre de notre famille, il éprouva le désir d’être, non seulement administrateur de Savannah, mais aussi d’être mon parrain sur les fonds baptismaux en 1946.

Papa nous disait souvent comment il s’était assuré que Claude recevrait une compensation nettement supérieure à la sienne, et ce, avec le consentement du board de direction de F.U.E.L. et de Médine.

C’est cet esprit de générosité et de justice envers les autres, les plus petits comme les plus grands, qui, selon papa, faisait sa force, celle de son entourage et surtout celle du pays.

Cela fut reconnu par plusieurs membres du Gouvernement Travailliste pendant des décennies.

Pour sa part, le père Guy Le Juge de Segrais, dans un sermon adressé à papa et maman lors de leur noces d’argent, faisait aussi ressortir : « Trop souvent, les industriels ne cherchent qu’à mesurer leur succès par rapport aux profits de leurs entreprises. Mais vous, cher Fernand, c’est avant tout le bien être de tous, que vous rechercher. C’est pourquoi vous avez toujours visé beaucoup plus haut que la médiocrité. L’esprit des entrepreneurs sortant tous du même moule n’était pas le vôtre. Vous avez compris mieux que tous et vous vous êtes assuré que c’est seulement lorsque vous, le patron, vous oeuvrez dans l’intérêt de vos artisans et de vos laboureurs, que vous travaillez en concert avec l’Esprit de Dieu, notre Créateur. En cette année 1961, alors que vous célébrez vos noces d’argent, l’église universelle célèbre le 70eme anniversaire de l’encyclique ‘Rerum Novarum’ du Pape Léon XIII. Cette encyclique fut reconnue comme étant la charte des travailleurs.

Mon cher Fernand, quand je passe en revue la charte de vos accomplissements, le plus édifiant et celui qui vous élève le plus, est bien ce que vous avez fait pour améliorer les conditions de vie de vos travailleurs, en leur fournissant des maisons confortables.

En ce faisant, vous avez répondu généreusement à l’appel de l’encyclique d’un Pape, qui lui aussi, sortait de l’ordinaire.

Vous méritez, à travers cet accomplissement gigantesque sur notre toute petite île, la reconnaissance de l’Eglise Catholique Universelle.

J’aimerais souligner que, personnellement, je reconnais que le monde entier a bien besoin de capitaliste catholique visionnaire comme vous pour combattre le communisme dans nos villages, sur notre petite île et dans le monde entier. »

Cher Jacques, depuis mon retour au pays et après un tour d’horizon, autre que notre honorable Premier Ministre et son rôle prépondérant auprès de l’U.E en faveur du pays et de l’industrie sucrière, je me suis souvent demandé, qui, aujourd’hui, strictement dans l’industrie, occupe un peu la place que papa occupait dans le passé.

Apres t’avoir brièvement observé à la TV, tu me parais être celui qui pourrait porter le flambeau visionnaire et avant-gardiste de papa.

Je dis bien ‘parais être…’. Quand tu m’auras convaincu que tu ne te retourneras pas pour mordre la main qui a, il y a plus de 60 ans de cela, tout planifié pour nourrir tous équitablement et non encourager la gourmandise de certains, quand tu auras prouvé que tu souscris pleinement à l’idéologie d’un des fondateurs de Savannah, alors je serais heureux de dire : « Tu es le digne porteur du flambeau… »

Ta contribution dans le juste dénouement des négociations entre l’industrie sucrière et les artisans et laboureurs viendront me confirmer qui tu es vraiment.

Je termine en te laissant savoir qu’aujourd’hui, je ne suis que le fils de Fernand et sans aucun intérêt financier dans l’industrie sucrière. J’ai investi le temps nécessaire pour t’écrire cette lettre
dans l’intérêt de notre pays et de tous ceux qui oeuvrent pour le rendre meilleur pour tous.

Sur cette note, je termine en te disant que papa et moi aimions particulièrement le séga de Serge Lebrasse qui disait si justement : « A be mwa si mo pa travaye tablissement tombe lor la paye… a be mwa si mo pa travaye l’île Maurice tombe lor la paye »

Il serait important de le parodier en disant : « a be NOUS si nous pa travaye pou la zistis sociale, nous tou pou tomb lor la paye ! »

Cher Jacques, j’ai essayé de t’appeler à ton bureau et sur ton portable, mais en vain. Je reconnais qu’en cette période, tu as beaucoup d’autres chats à fouetter et aussi à caresser.

J’ai tout de même trouvé cela une drôle de coïncidence, qu’alors que l’Esprit me poussait à te contacter lundi matin, tu étais à la messe. Cela me motive encore plus à te contacter et à publier cette lettre, en espérant qu’un jour, un prêtre ou un évêque t’adressera les mêmes éloges que le père Guy le Juge de Segrais adressait à papa.

Bien sincerement,

Louis Leclezio.

cc. Ministres et députés du Gouvernement et la presse.

Publié sur le blog : www.lleclezio.blogspot.com

Court Injunction against First American Corporation

Should Bank of America and/or New York attorney General, Andy Cuomo and/or Hagens Berman and/or numerous other plaintiffs seek an injunction against the First American Corporation?

In my opinion, the Court should be asked to prevent the First American Corporation from splitting and spinning off assets until the extent of damages real and punitive for which the First American Corporation will be deemed liable under the various suits are established.

When a worm is split in two it wriggles. The more it wriggles, the muddier the water gets. The muddier the water gets, the harder it is to pin either end of the worm down.

The splitting of First American Corporation is rigged up to accomplish just that.

The First American Corporation - 'Liars Title insurance'

First American Corporation’s track record:

Liars title insurance is a long established way of life at the First American Corporation.

In 1996 First American Title adopted the motto: ‘Insure anything – Litigate everything.

In the same year, First American Title Insurance admitted taking a considerable risk. It issued a ‘liars title insurance policy’ just to make a couple of thousand bucks and secure future business.

Has anything changed since?

According to law suits filed in 2010, First American did not hesitate in the mid 2000s to issue numerous ‘liars title insurance policies’ to make hundreds of thousands of dollars and secure big business.

The First American Corporation historical track record:

In 1996 no lender would lend money to my partner on our property without my signature.

A hard money lender agreed to make a loan to my partner subject to getting title insurance.

My partner sought title insurance behind my back from various title companies. All declined to issue title insurance without my knowledge and signature.

Only First American Title agreed to insure the loan subject to an indemnity agreement from my partner.

First American prepared and obtained the highly secret indemnity agreement from my partner prior to insuring the loan.

Obviously First American failed to disclose the existence of the indemnity agreement to the lender.

The lender made the loan.

When I found that my property had been illegally encumbered, I asked the lender what possessed him to make such a loan without my signature?

The hard money lender replied: “Why not? We knew you were of record. Indeed, First American provided us with a title report showing your interest in the property. We realized that First American was willing to insure a lie. There was smoke all over the deal. But First American was prepared to insure our loan. We would have been stupid not to buy the insurance policy. We bought the insurance and made the loan. How could we lose? It was like we were getting full coverage insurance after a fire had started!

Of course once the fire had engulfed everything, First American refused to live up to the considerable risk they deliberately took.

First American ignored and denied my claims and the lender’s claims. First American simply refused to pay. To make matters worse, First American did not even dare enforce the secret indemnity agreement they had secured to insure a blatant lie.

I consulted a leading title insurance attorney. After reviewing the case, Mr. Jerome Lasky of Moses and Singer, New York issued a letter of opinion addressed to me and to First American.

See excerpt from Mr J. Lasky’s letter:
http://books.google.mu/books?id=zXzilH1JfgUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=first+american+title+to+injustice&source=bl&ots=Dsm3cnKMyr&sig=eDvB8FsmlTzm6J0D9ktpQjVcqMQ&hl=en&ei=OeDsS6KhCZC-rAf87eC1Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Upon receipt of Mr.Lasky’s letter, First American invited me to meet at their offices in Santa Ana, California.
At the meeting, James J. Dufficy, offered me $750,000 to settle.
See confirmation e-mail from First American counsel and senior claims officer, James J. Dufficy:
From :
Dufficy, Jim
Sent :
Monday, November 27, 2006 1:52 PM
To :
"Louis Leclezio"
CC :
"McMahon, Frank"
Subject :
RE: "No Duty to do the Correct Thing" (Dufficy) Louis: “For the record, maybe you'll remember how, before the litigation gotrunning at full speed, I agreed to meet you in Santa Ana and offered to
pay you $750,000.00”

That was about ten cents on the dollar.

I told Dufficy to keep his cents. I would keep my freedom of speech and my right to sue.

In the face of my refusal to settle, the First American senior executive, James J. Dufficy warned me that if I did not agree to settle, they had a battery of in house attorneys and many more for hire off the street. Dufficy tried to intimidate me by stating that First American and their attorneys had the power to drown me and my attorneys under paper work. They would make the case last until they bankrupted me and or my attorneys abandoned the case!

I sued.

My attorneys deposed various First American executives who had colluded to issue the ‘liars title insurance’.

Under oath, various First American executives acknowledged that they went out of their way to insure the loan behind my back.

For example, the following is an excerpt from the transcript of the deposition of Ad Zetz, a First American senior exec:

At page 102 line 6 of his deposition, my attorney, Carl Hagens asked Zetz::

(You or Your company) “… wanted to do this loan without Mr. Leclezio’s consent; isn’t that right?”

Under oath at line 8, Zetz answered: “Obvious, yes.”

Carl Hagens sought confirmation by asking:

“That’s obvious to you?”

At line 10 of his deposition transcript, Zetz again answered: “Yes”!

Zetz was one of the key figures participating clandestinely in that fraudulent liars title insurance transaction.

During the same deposition, when Carl Hagens went on to ask Zetz why his company would insure such a high risk loan; Without even blinking an eyelid and under oath Zetz casually replied:

“We had the chance to make a couple of thousand bucks – Why not”?

Another First American senior exec wrote in a memo: “It is worth taking this high risk in view of future business”!
Obviously, nothing has changed at the First American Corporation over the last 14 years.
In 2010, according to the Bank of America lawsuit, the First American Corporation denied or ignored most of Bank of America’s claims in 2008 and 2009. Thereafter, once again, in a typical attempt to drown Bank of America under paper work, last August, First American started sending more than 2,000 letters to the bank seeking information and documents related to the claims.
In my case, financially I was obviously no match for the First American Corporation and their battery of in house and outside lawyers for hire. When I was spent out, I hired an attorney on contingency. After two more years of litigation in a ‘no lose case’ according to the high profile attorney firm, I believe my attorney won big and I lost bigger.

Lawyers and executives for Bank of America, in your case, the stakes are high enough. Do not let the First American Corporation drown you under paper work. Do not negotiate a cheap settlement as Carrie Gaska of First American suggest you might do. Too often the First American Corporation has won by default or more fraudulent settlements. The result is unabated crime leading to losses in the millions for the many continues to be perpetrated by the First American Corporation. Wipe them out.

As Forbes pointed out in their November 13, 2006 issue the First American Corporation plays a key role in America’s richest real estate racket – An $18 billion a year hoax on the American public. Their product is outdated and unneeded. Even the more so when one considers the minimal percentage of claims under which First American has historically paid out. The Motto of First American: Insure anything – Litigate everything has paid off handsomely to the First American Corporation up to now!

I hope Bank of America sues right up to the winning post.

I pray and hope that NYAG, Andy Cuomo also wins his suit against First American.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Cuomo’s statement:

“First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion.”

The First American Corporation should pay the piper for all the international chaos they contributed to set in motion.

I’ll be glad to help establish with existing transcripts of depositions, testimony etc. that fraud and liars title insurance has been, is and will continue to be a systemic fraudulent way of life at the First American Corporation. Sadly up to now for the First American Corporation it has been: Business as usual…

References: Mr. Jerome Lasky’s opinion as reported in First American Title to Injustice – Pages 11 – 18. Google book search: ‘First American Title to Injustice’.

The Bank of America sues the First American Corporation

Bank of America Corp. stepped up efforts to curtail the cost of soured mortgages by suing First American Corp., claiming the title insurer refused to cover more than 5,500 loans that caused $535 million of losses.

The policies described in the First American case sound like “liar’s title insurance.”

The First American Corporation has a history of getting involved in “liar’s title insurance” going as far back as 1996! I know it first hand. Yet, for the First American Corporation, it is still business as usual.

My blog or my posts under ‘leclezio’ or louis_wendy_leclezio on the Yahoo FAF message board dating back to 2000, offers a well documented track record of the First American Corporation's historical “liars title insurance” systemic 'modus operandi'. To make matters worse, when the lie is so blatant, First American issues the title policy subject to an ‘invalid’ indemnity agreement. Of course the existence of the indemnity agreement is not disclosed to affected parties. First American has never dared to collect on some of its dubious indemnity agreement preferring to sink its victims.

A most respected leading real estate attorney, Mr. Jerome Lasky of Moses and Singer, New York issued an opinion about this odious practice of the First American Corporation on June 2, 1998! It can be viewed on Google: Book search: First American Title to Injustice – Mr. Lasky’s opinion being on pages 11 to 18.

http://books.google.mu/books?id=zXzilH1JfgUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=first+american+title+to+injustice&source=bl&ots=Dsm3cnKMyr&sig=eDvB8FsmlTzm6J0D9ktpQjVcqMQ&hl=en&ei=OeDsS6KhCZC-rAf87eC1Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

I hope the various litigations involving fraud by the First American Corporation finally expose the cynical and savage culture of the First American Corporation to commit fraud on customers solely to feed their selfish corporate greed".

Since 1996, I have been asking Congress to haul the First American Corporation in and to overhaul it!

Much international misery could have been spared the many victims of the First American Corporation.

First American Corporation considers customers on both sides of the aisle as sheep to be fleeced..

To make matters worse for all those left holding the bag, in the face of so many damning law suits, the First American Corporation has decided to split. It is expected to do so this summer. Traditionally the First American Corporation has excelled at muddying the waters with the help of their legal sharks.

Once again by splitting in the face of so many litigations involving fraud, First American Corporation muddies the waters not to have the picture as sharp as HDTV,"

Mauritius Island - Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam - Elections

Dear Children & Grand Children, Dear brother and sisters, Dear family and friends,

Sons and daughters of traditions…

For at least the last 70 years, on May 1st, the Labor Party of Mauritius has held its traditional massive Labor Day meeting.

Ever since our return to Mauritius uncle Fernand and I, when I was still in MRU, have attended. Over the last few years uncle Fernand got a special ticket from our Prime Minister to step on the Labor party podium on May 1st!

This year, national elections have been scheduled for May 5th. The Labor Day celebrations were planned to be the biggest ever! There were to be over 60 candidates on the May Day celebrations platform.

So Eve and I told uncle Fernand not to be disappointed if he did not get his podium ticket.

But you know uncle Fernand… He could not imagine not participating fully. Fortunately, our Prime Minister, Navin, showed yet one more time what a big heart he has. I have never found or known a person in such a high position show so much compassion, kindness, love and patience towards anyone. This is what sets Navin apart as the beloved and undisputed (except by a few losers) leader of each and every member of our rainbow community.

Regardless of the pressure and stress Navin must have been under, on the eve of one of his biggest days, Navin must have sensed what it meant for uncle Fernand to be by his side on that important day. So, uncle Fernand got his usual special pass to the platform. Navin is a Godly man!

I am for ever grateful and thankful to Navin and his team for making uncle Fernand’s May 1st so very special. To my mind, that is just one of the small examples that establish Navin as an extraordinary world leader among so many other ordinary ones!

To record this unforgettable event, Eve & I had told uncle Fernand to be sure to take a camera to memorialize that unique moment in the history of Mauritius – A Labor Day meeting only 4 days before elections on May 5th, our Mauritiano version of Mexico’s Cinquo de Mayo.

On May 5th and 6th Eve and I gave up work and stayed glued to the TV until the final results. Navin scored an outstanding victory.

In the mid ‘60s Mauritius was considered doomed by ‘brilliant’ British economists, professors Titmus and Meade. My father told me then, and was often heard saying, that the only man who could set the course for a new Mauritius was Dr. Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. Failing that, Mauritius was deemed to be facing a bottomless abyss!

History proved my father to be absolutely right. The vision and determined perseverance of Dr. Ramgoolam were foreign to the foreigners and Mauritians who in the ‘60s firmly believed that Mauritius was destined to be engulfed in a spiraling vortex of chaos! Many abandoned ship then! But with wisdom and perseverance Dr. Seewoosagur Ramgoolam stayed at the helm and with a fatherly hand, he led every Mauritian remaining in the land, away from a bleak future. Dr. Ramgoolam had successfully defied The Malthus theory – Mauritius would not die from within!

He fathered the Mauritian Nation. With single vision (literally & figuratively) The Honorable Dr. S. Ramgoolam turned history around and interred prophets of doom. He provided a springboard for long term sustained economic growth through initiating a policy of free education for all. Then together with Gaetan Duval, Dr. Ramgoolam launched and gave much impetus to the tourism industry, one of the solid and flourishing back bones of the Mauritian economy!

Today I am delighted to tell you my children and grand children, my brother and sisters, my family and friends around the world that Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam successfully passed the ‘baton’ to his son Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

In turn, I confidently assert to you all that the only person who can and will set the tone for a multi faceted durable Mauritius for decades to come is our returning Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam.

With full confidence in Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, in 2005, soon after Navin’s election as Prime Minister, I joined the multitude of other Mauritians who now choose to return to our land so full of promises! The grass is greenest right here… This is no accident. Two generations of the Ramgoolam family have strived and succeeded to make Mauritius durable, spiritually, culturally, socially, economically and environmentally.

Over the years, from one generation to the next, God has His ways of rewarding those transcending figures who seek His wisdom, place all their faith in Him and strive for the overall betterment of all of God’s creation.

It is no wonder then, that Sir Seewoosagur was granted the wisdom and perseverance to defy the foreign economist pundits in the sixties. Thus SSR successfully commandeered Mauritius. He enabled this small island with no natural resources to maintain its position as the key and the star of the Indian Ocean.

Most worthy of wearing his father’s shoes and walking beyond his father’s footsteps our returning Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam has also managed to successfully defy the recent world financial crisis. In so doing, in 2009, Navin has firmly established Mauritius as a shining beacon of light to world economists! Today financiers from all over the world confidently scramble to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in various sectors of the Mauritian economy!

An American ambassador recognized once that Mauritius is more complex and difficult to govern than America.

Another American, Mark Twain, wrote in 1897 in his book, ‘Following the equator’, “You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and that heaven was copied after Mauritius”.

God has undoubtedly handpicked His architects to continue His work in heavenly Mauritius. Two generations of the Ramgoolam family, SSR and his son Navin have succeeded to maintain Mauritius as a heaven on earth for all Mauritians as well as hundreds of thousands of visitors and investors. Our new Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam airport is gearing up to welcome over four million travelers to our heavenly island in the sun.

I hope you enjoy the photos of our family hero and heroic friends.

Cherished Navin

Navin, Xavier Luc and uncle Fernand

Arvind & Uncle Fernand shaking hands

Uncle Fernand... Proud & so happy to be there!

As I looked at those pictures I was lifted by the power of such durable traditions. I thanked God for the friendships that have united us for generations.

After an absence of some 40 years from Mauritius I recalled the warm words of Navin on World Book day on Saturday April 28, 2007. Navin had, as usual, kindly accepted to launch my book, First American Title To Injustice. In his speech Navin recalled our long and stable family ties: “I was happy to learn that the National Library has been behind the launching of several books, the next one being one by Mr. Louis Leclezio, whose family has a long standing friendship with mine.” Worldwide time and tide wait for no man. In Mauritius time and tide wash away no sincere friendships

When I spent time gazing at the picture of uncle Fernand shaking hands with Arvind Boolell, our ex foreign affairs minister, I was stirred by a remark Arvind’s father, Sir Satcam Boolell had made concerning our father.

In an interview with l’Express published on Friday November 21, 2003, Sir Satcam Boolell was asked:Quels sont les chemins que vous avez croisés au cours de votre carrière et qui restent pour vous des références ? (During your carrier who stands out among those you have crossed paths with?)

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, Bickramsing Ramlallah et aussi Fernand Le Clézio qui était un avant-gardiste. Je le rencontrais souvent. Il avait une grande ouverture d’esprit. Et puis, il y a Guy Rozemont. Si je ne l’avais pas rencontré, je ne serais sans doute pas dans le Parti Travailliste.

Note that Grand Pa had died in 1990 ! Yet 13 years later Sir Satcam Boolell still remembered him!

And now decades later their sons Arvind and uncle Fernand are on the same podium shaking hands on May Day!

That’s sons of traditions…

How could I forget! There are also daughters of traditions…

I must point out that among other names, Sir Satcam Bollell mentioned: “Bickramsing Ramlallah et aussi Fernand Le Clézio”.

Well, although Eve and I had asked uncle Fernand not to forget his camera, for uncle Fernand, all that was important was to be there! In spite of the painful calluses under his feet, he walked under the rain to take the bus to the celebrations. To be present was what was all important to him – Period!

After uncle Fernand had waited for a bus for a long time to get home, we asked him if he had pictures for us to see? Oh! No he said, I forgot my camera but that does not matter, I was there…!!!

We felt most sorry for uncle Fernand and all of us!

Surprise! Surprise! Sadhna Ramlallah, the daughter of Bickramsing Ramlallah was there. Sadhna was most thoughtful and kind to take photos of the meeting and of uncle Fernand. Sadhna surprised and delighted us when she e-mailed the pictures above to us!!!

In his book, entitled Social Problems, Henry Georges, the nineteenth century social philosopher, said:

“Social reform is not to be secured by noise and by shouting, by complaints and denunciation, by the formation of parties or the making of revolutions but by the awakening of thought and the progress of ideas. Until there be correct thought, there cannot be right action”.

Certain sons and daughters of traditions most certainly know how to awake correct thoughts and inspire right actions!

We thank God for them.

P.S. Uncle Fernand is arriving next week. We look forward to his surprise when we hand him over those pictures!!!

First American Corporation - Washington Mutual - Lehman Brothers - A bag of rotten apples...

When will First American execs be hauled in before Congress to testify to their collusion with WaMu?

Just a question of time.

Former senior executives of mortgage lender Washington Mutual, the biggest U.S. bank in history to fail, are appearing before Congress on Tuesday for the first time since the bank's September 2008 collapse.

Testifying at a hearing of the subcommittee Tuesday is former Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger.

Was Killinger not one of Parker’s closest colluding conspirator?

Other very close past associates of First American Corporation making the dark side of the news today:

Lehman Channeled Risks Through ‘Alter Ego’ Firm

On Tuesday April 13, 2010, 2:46 am EDT
“It was like a hidden passage on Wall Street, a secret channel that enabled billions of dollars to flow through Lehman Brothers.
In the years before its collapse, Lehman used a small company — its “alter ego,” in the words of a former Lehman trader — to shift investments off its books.
The firm, called Hudson Castle, played a crucial, behind-the-scenes role at Lehman, according to an internal Lehman document and interviews with former employees. The relationship raises new questions about the extent to which Lehman obscured its financial condition before it plunged into bankruptcy.”

Is this not a ‘Deja vue’ at First American also? Was FAF not caught for setting up and dealing with dummy shadow entities recently? Was this fraudulent modus operandi introduced to FAF by ex Lehman senior exec, Frank McMahon after Frank became a senior exec at the First American Corporation? Are Rotten Apples not all usually found lumped in one same basket?

Note that both of First American’s ex high profile fraudulent business partners are under the spotlight in today’s news!

First American’s long overdue day of reckoning cannot be far away surely!
Birds of a feather flock together… First American deserves to and ought to be the next to be hauled up before Congress and to go down soon!

Mr. President Obama - US Health Care vs. Mauritius Health Care

Mr. President Barack Obama,
The White House,

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Washington, DC 20500.

USA.

Re: Ill effects of poor health care and abusive insurance companies.

Dear Mr. President,

Today, I heard your poignant speech on our local TV channel about your mother spending the last six months of her life lying in a hospital bed dying of cancer. Your mother was forced to spend much precious time left, talking on the phone with her health insurance provider. Your mother was thus unable to concentrate on getting better or sharing valuable moments with the family.

Every day how many such moving stories go unheard in America? You, Mr. President are our voice!

Today, I am forced to live on the island of Rodrigues off the coast of the Republic of Mauritius. I have been torn away from the US, from my four children and sixteen grand children all living in the US. I would so love to be able to focus on them and share unique aspects of their American life. But, here I am suffering from poor health in ‘health driven exile’! My poor health and loneliness is exacerbated by the ill effects of no health care in a country supposedly as great and as rich as America.

Had I not listened to you speaking so convincingly with the powerful voice of your heart, talking about your mother, my story might have remained unheard. How many more other pathetic health stories are buried under the layers of a whole range of subdued emotions?

In February 2002, my wife died of ALS at home in America. Harborview Hospital and the University of Washington Medical Center had declared that there was nothing more they could do for my wife and sent her home to die! For a month and a half, I became her health care provider with the help of my children and Hospice. Thank God for Hospice!

I have been so scarred by my experiences of no affordable or free health care in America that ever since you became President, I have been routing for you. I have been cheering you on and praying for you to keep finding the constant necessary courage to fight a contaminated and contagious system that is getting progressively sicker to the core. Yet a system that has been so rotten for so long that no other than you has dared to take a scalpel to carve out this cancer and stop it from spreading into the very marrow of North American society.

Today, as I listened to you, I applauded you so loud that I hoped you could hear me all the way across the three oceans that separate us! (I am writing to you just in case you missed my applause!) I applauded loudest when I heard you say that neither you nor should any American tolerate a status quo that comtinuously benefits insurance companies to the detriment of the American public! Yyyyyyeeeeessssssss!

Today whenever my children and grand children ask me: “Dad, or Bopa, when do you feel that you will be able to come back to America to be by our side, to be where you lived for 27 years, to be where you educated us, to be able to watch your grand children/us grow, to be able to meet some of the grand children you have not even had the chance to know yet?” Unfortunately my ever more desperate and poignant sad stock answer has to be: “I will be back when President Obama gets health care approved!”

So although I am so, so very far away, rest assured that I am watching your fight blow by blow. Indeed I am probably a lot closer to you and your ultimate goal than many in America. I know first hand that your victory means so, so very much not just to you, not just to me but to all Americans. Therefore I also applaud all those courageous politicians who have gone on a limping limb to be relentlessly behind your fair and just vision of a truly great and rich America.

Today I am grateful that Mauritius, my native country, a country without any natural resources, has free health care and free primary, secondary and tertiary education for members of its population. If a country such as Mauritius can do it for the benefit of all rather than protect the privileged benefits of a few, why could America not do it too? Change – Yes you can – Yes you should – Yes you must change the American health care system so we can all return to a sane environment. By the way Mauritius is the only country that I know of that subsidizes religions. In effect the Mauritian Government pays for people of various color and creed to pray!!! Is it why it has been so blessed with such an enlightened and most able Prime Minister – Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam – The son of the father of our nation!

Today I am alive and living in Mauritius because I have had free health care and free medication in Mauritius. Ever since I had cancer surgery in March 2006 followed by heart problems I have received free health care and medication on a regular basis although I had been away living for 27 years in America just prior to my cancer surgery!!! At what real human cost can America claim that it cannot afford to care for the health of its population or its immigrants? Is this a cost that cannot be measured in Dollars? Your mother, you and I must have experienced that hard cost first hand to really know that there is unspeakable pain and suffering beyond the boundaries of a greedy insurance system solely focused on the ‘well being’ of a comparatively privileged few unhealthy tsars!

But my sad story does not end there. The rest of my story has to do with another aspect of abusive insurance companies in America.

Today I am alive but forced to live here far from those I love most because I am broke after living the nightmare side of the all American dream gone wrong. I was defrauded of millions of dollars by a title insurance company. To crown it all that particular title insurance company usurps your image by calling itself: ‘The First American Title Insurance Company’!

In August 2006 I published a book, ‘First American Title to Injustice’. My book is my and my family’s true life story. It highlights the corrupt and criminal aspect of ‘Title gods’ such as The First American Corporation.

On November 13, 2006, the capitalist world was most surprised to see that even Forbes unreservedly exposed the $18 billion fraud perpetrated upon the American public by title insurance companies! The title of the Forbes article was: "America's Richest Insurance Racket"

On November 1, 2007, Reuters reported “New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday sued First American Corp (FAF.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and one of its units for allegedly colluding with Washington Mutual Inc (WM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to inflate the appraisal values of homes, helping trigger the mortgage market meltdown.”
By using preferred appraisers, "First American helped set the current mortgage crisis in motion," Cuomo said in a statement.

But for that First American nothing has changed. It is business as usual!!!

There also, unfortunately, I know first hand why Forbes and Mr. Cuomo felt so incensed by the abusive practices that have marred the American real estate landscape. There also, much change is needed to stop the unnecessary fleecing of Americans for the benefit of a most undeserving few! Will you ever have the courage to purge America of the evil practices of title companies?

I pray that you do! Change! Yes, you can! Yes, you must! Yes you will. Many will then join in the loud sustained applause you should hear resounding in your ears for years to come from around the globe.

Keep up the good work! As if you needed some extra motivation, I am sending you by mail a copy of my book!

Yours truly,

Louis Leclezio.
P.S. Your staff can get further input from my blog: http://www.lleclezio.blogspot.com/

Republic of Mauritius Independence Celebrations

SSR held the key to be the father of our nation.



Now Dr.Navinchandra Ramgoolam and the labor party hold the key to a durable Government.



A durable Government is the key to a durable Mauritius!

Five more years...

Many more returns of Happy Independence day reflecting much unity in our diversity.

Honourable Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam – Congo – US Chevron Corporation.

Too often intrigue, hatred and killings make the headlines in International news.

By contrast, the overwhelming power of good old fashioned friendship, love, humility and discreet diplomacy seldom gets the kind of much needed exposure that could plant the seed to make the whole world a better place.

In the last week killings, the issuance of false passports, alleged terrorists arrests and the accidental slaughter of a group of innocent people killedby arms gone wild made the news around the globe!

While the wild choose to kick and kill, the wise pick the path of diplomatic skill.

Last week our honorable Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam scored a most newsworthy victory on the world scene through quiet diplomacy.

Yet, to date it has had no world media coverage! Is it because our Prime Minister’s arms are made for hugging and not for killing that his outstanding achievement got no global coverage?

Two Mauritian citizens working for the US giant Chevron Corporation were arrested and thrown into jail after uncovering alleged corruption in the affairs of the Chevron Corporation in the Congo.

Where and when the power of a US company the size of Chevron failed to obtain the release of its employees, our Prime Minister stepped into the foray to obtain the freedom of our citizens.

On the local news our Prime Minister humbly stated that where other means had all failed, he had achieved that international feat through friendship and love.

Our Prime Minister told our nation that the President of the Congo is a personal friend of his and was also a friend of his father, the late most Honourable Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. The long lasting bonds of friendship alone were at the root of the ‘miraculous’ release of those Chevron employees who were luckily citizens of Mauritius under the leadership of Dr. Navin Ramgoolam!

Decades ago, our Prime Minister’s father, the founder of our nation, had told my father: “Fernand, we are a small nation. We have no resources other than our spirit. We have no military arms other than the arms God gave us. We are bound to use our arms to hug the whole world community regardless of creed, color or race.”

Decades later, our Prime Minister is most wise to be still walking in his father’s footsteps. Should the world media not report such a transcending accomplishment? It might just be like a breath of much needed fresh air on world air waves.

It would highlight the supremacy of love over hate, the superiority of friendship over the power of the military. Are friends not a lot easier to deal with than foes?

In November 2008, shortly after the election of President Obama, under the heading: America – Dream beyond all frontiers… I wrote in this blog:

“Does Obama have much to learn from our Prime Minister? Having crossed so many horizons and observed so many different Government leaders from so many different worlds, I unreservedly say: “YES!” Mauritius is a small country. It hosts a great nation under the exemplary leadership of our Prime Minister! Mauritius under Navin is worthy of world stage recognition."

In deeds “…how big a player does our Prime Minister deserve to be on the world scene? God knows best. And I trust that God will thrust Navin on the International stage to help the US urgently establish better relations with the world community.”

Is God using Navin once again to set an example to the rest of the world? Should the world community not be better informed about the power of love as illustrated in this critical instance? Come on Associated Press! Come on CNN! Come on BBC! Come Reuters! Where are you all?

Come on Chevron! This meaningful victory may not be worthy of a Nobel prize. But is it not worthy of a novel prize?

At the very least, the successful involvement of our Prime Minister should well deserve a token prize taken from vast reserves.

Our Prime Minister offered the very best of his winning diplomatic spirit, skill and friendship to resolve an International impasse. Our Honorable Prime Minister will ask for nothing in return. But to recognize the immense value of Dr. Ramgoolam’s intervention should the Chevron Corporation set an example? Should Chevron offer a novel prize in the form of some tankers of oil and gas to reward the leader of a country whose only natural resource is its boundless spirit of love, goodwill and diplomacy?

Chevron could seize this opportunity to lead the way in starting a new trend. A trend that would recognize that human arms are mightier than military arms. A trend that would reward the supremacy of diplomatic skill over those who choose to kill! A trend that would highlight and encourage the resolution of international conflicts by peaceful means!

Rodrigues Christmas...

My ears are ringing… All of your laughter is echoing… Let us receive a King! Let our hearts prepare Him room… He will not find much else in Port Mathurin… Let us listen to heaven and nature sing… To create that feeling… Otherwise we would not know that Christmas fills the silent muggy tropical air…

Street hawkers’ bells are ringing… Forget the snow flakes… Only sweat drops are falling… No shortage of drunks are singing… Forget the street lights… Above that drab, dreary and dreamless street… The stars will still shine bright through the silent holy night…

Santa will not appear… There are no chimneys to go down through… He will not bring a treat to this poor corner of the world… What a dirty trick…

But since there is no egg nog or reindeer, Grandma will not get run over… And for sure, we can say there is no Santa here… How could we ever believe in what we do not even know… But, you can be proud of us… We are taking it all very well… We have no gifts to take back… Even the man who drives the sleigh has no bells… Only a license to drive…

However, dreaming about the goose on the table gives us goose bumps… With our eyes closed and taste buds wide open, we can taste the pudding made of beer through the flaming brandy.

In this humid place there are no puny poinsettias… Besides everybody here is called uncle or aunt… So, unlike Percy the poinsettia, no one will spend Christmas alone… We will bloom and not be dismayed… Here is to the lonely… You are not the only… Neither are you alone without Santa… Or any family around you…

The red and green flame tree fills the neighborhoods with Christmas colors…

And Jesus says to us ALL: “I want to make you ALL mine…”

This is the Christmas Jesus brought to us ALL… This is the Christmas Jesus wants us ALL to dream about…

May all your Christmas dreams come true…

Forget the church bells… Our ears are ringing… Jesus is singing… That is good enough for us…

Kingly and kindly, Jesus has lit a light so bright, way above Port Mathurin… Indeed, way beyond any kind of town… Rich or poor… With or without Santa… With or without any Christmas decorations… Just look at the sky… Dream the impossible dream… We are all born under a lucky star… We all know what to keep and what to throw away… Every hand in the hand of Jesus is a winner…

Mauritius Prime Minister - US President will meet...

Dear Navin,

On this holy day we celebrate the birth of the outstanding son who became the father of a nation.

Everyday when I observe the son of the father of our nation speak to his children straight from and with all his heart, my heart goes out to him for all he is to the great nation he represents.

Indeed, in my heart, mind and soul, you have been such an exceptional father, capable of uniting such diverse children through such an outflow of love and genuine affection that, today, we view your father as the grand father of the nation and you as the most caring father of us all!

Thank you Grand father! Thank you father!

Shortly after Americans elected Barack Obama as President in November 2008, I wrote on my blog:

“…how big a player does our Prime Minister deserve to be on the world scene? God knows best. And I trust that God will thrust Navin on the International stage to help the US urgently establish better relations with the world community.”

Some time ago, you reminded us, Navin that an American ambassador had once told your dad that Mauritius was more difficult to govern than the US.

Having lived both in the US and Mauritius, I believe that American ambassador was correct.
Therefore I know that the success and example you have set as the present day father of our great nation places you as the most outstanding world leader of our times!

It is with that respectful appreciation in mind that my prayers accompany you and I wish you a most successful meeting with President Obama on September 22, 2009.

I am confident that the whole world will be a better place because and after your meeting.

Proud to be one of your Mauritian children, I say: “Go for it Dad”!

Bon Voyage,

Most sincerely,

Louis.

Rodrigues Island Tourism Promotion Plan ©

Country : Rodrigues Island

Location : Indian Ocean

Population : Creole

Mascot : Tortoise

The young and old love to adopt tortoises between one and a hundred years old.

Motto: Slow Down

Don't miss out kid... Just slow down around life's corners

Discover : Us

Dig & Find : During your voyage to Rodrigues find the buried treasure within you.

Hike: Across the 300 year old footsteps of Francois Leguat, marooned (1691)

Learn: From our caring folks & our rich tropical endemic flora and fauna.

Who needs to write a book? My face tells the story...

Taste: Creole cuisine created from locally grown staple food and rich spices.

Entertainment: Step into our night rhythm and dance to our traditional ‘Sega’ music.
Let our accordions, triangles and ravanes set your senses on fire.

Friendliness: Feel secure greeting that island stranger. A friend you longed to know.

No man is an island.

Sun, Sea, Stars: The unpolluted South East Trade Winds sweep our island clean daily.
Swim in the sun. Lie under the Filao trees along white sandy beaches.
By night gaze upon the dazzling stars through our clearest skies.

Island old Charm: Not as dead as the Dodo, we are the uniquely secure ‘Solitaire’ island.
Rodrigues Island: Where nature lovers branch out

Rodrigues Island: How so very peaceful…
Rodrigues Island: Discover that hidden treasure island known to Buccaneers!
Dig it! You’ll treasure it … for ever…!

Publicity Author: J. M. E. Le Clezio ©

First American Corporation (NYSE:FAF) - Massive Systemic Fraud

Someone just opined on the Yahoo/First American Corporation message board that Kennedy has to repay $50 million immediately, that Kennedy should be in jail and that his house should be auctioned off.

Since 1999, I have been saying publicly that Kennedy and his henchmen should be in jail.

Massive systemic fraud has been ‘the’ way of life for Kennedy and First American going back to the mid 90s!

Starting in the mid 90s, Kennedy and First American were after the lion’s share of the market. The word from the top down was: “Get a piece of any business by hook or by crook”.

Kennedy had launched the new company policy: ‘Insure anything – litigate everything’.

This new culture was very much deplored by company veterans and senior execs such as Bill Heslington and Tom Brusca. Prior to being retired and dismissed somewhere in South Carolina so he could not testify in my case, Bill Heslington told me: “We could lose our license for doing what the company did to you with the approval of John P. Dahl in Seattle!”

Veteran, Tom Brusca was equally aghast that the company could and would engage in such an outright fraudulent transaction behind my back at the behest of a crooked ex partner of mine! Indeed, the transaction First American engaged in had been shunned outright by all other insurers.

At the time Tom Brusca remarked that under the old guard, such an outrageous dark shady deal would have been remedied and set straight forthwith without any arguments. But that the new blood within the company ranks was out to get business at any cost and had adopted the policy to litigate everything. Tom pointed out that the company had banked on the fact that it would take on average between three to four years to settle any claim. Few claimants could finance the prohibitive legal costs that would extend for that long in Court. On a legal cost versus return ratio, most claims would peter out and First American would win by default. Indeed at the time Tom pointed out that on average only three percent of premiums collected by First American were paid out to settle claims. Tom then laughed saying: “We could even avoid paying that if we chose to. But we do pay that much to warrant our existence!!!

In the mid 90s the whole Title industry was well aware of the new directive adopted and passed down the chain of command by First American. Veterans at Chicago Title were in utter disbelief to note what kind of fraudulent deals First American would insure in exchange sometimes for confidential and undisclosed ‘Indemnification Agreements’ from the insured. To make matters worse, on occasions such Indemnification Agreements became such hot potatoes that when the deals went bad, First American did not even dare to enforce the Indemnification Agreement and collect thereon. First American sought then to limit its exposure by letting the insured crooks run loose for fear the crooks might squeal and First American would be further exposed!!! This was to the detriment of both First American shareholders and the victims of such misplaced company greed.

In the mid 90s, concurrently with the adoption of such an abhorrent modus operandi, the new blood at First American embarked on a buying spree. In order to do so First American had recourse to a number of strategies designed to inflate the price of its stock.

Thus seeking outside expertise and assistance to manipulate its stock price, First American appealed to a well known stock manipulator who had been banned from the Alberta Stock Exchange. One would think that it could not get very much worse than that. But it did!

At its shareholders’ meeting in Santa Ana on April 22, 1999, The First American, KKK clan of senior execs (Kennedy, Kermot and Klemens) conceded that they had engaged in ‘Creative Accounting; That the Feds got them to restate their figures; And Kennedy admitted that adjustments made to the creative accounting figures had a temporary negative impact on the company stock price. But that they would get the price up again so they could buy companies cheap again!!! (I have a variety of the ‘creative’ statements of the KKK clan on tape to this day!)

No sooner said, then done.

At the same shareholders meeting on April 22, 1999, Kennedy ‘guaranteed’ (Kennedy’s word) to stockbrokers and shareholders present at the meeting that the company would increase its dividend by the end of 1999! That statement had the immediate effect of driving the stock up. But 1999 went by and the dividend was not increased as ‘guaranteed’ by Kennedy! At the time, numerous entries on the Yahoo/FAF/Message Board by me were refuted by the same shills haunting the board with disinformation today. Those same shills wrote that I was a liar and that Kennedy could not have ever made such a statement; That Kennedy by himself could not ‘guarantee’ a dividend increase; That it took Directors’ Board approval to do so!

Finally, to call up all of the lies from execs as well as shills, I published the Kennedy, Kermot and Klemens misleading statements on the web through Geo Cities. This was obviously so embarrassing to the company and the KKK clan that somehow my message was made to disappear. All relevant statements caught on tape are still all in my possession today!

Now let us review what if anything has changed in the First American rapacious greed mentality ‘Get the business by hook or by crook’:

In June 1998, one of the most eminent lawyers in the Title Industry, Mr. Jerome Lasky of Moses & Singer, New York, reviewed the evidence produced by First American in my case, albeit that it was discovered in depositions that John P. Dahl had tempered with exhibits. Mr. Lasky concluded and wrote:

“Indeed, we have been provided by you with an internal document of the title company, obtained by you through discovery, which shows that the title company, although fully aware of the risk they were assuming, decided to issue the policy to the lender in order to get this piece of business, and specifically with a view to obtaining future business from your partners. The policy was thus issued for the business reasons of First American, despite their knowledge that by issuing the policy they were enabling your partners to breach their contractual agreement with you.”

Mr. Lasky’s opinion affirmed the belief within the whole title industry then that First American was indeed out to get the lion’s share of the market by hook or by crook!

That was in 1998. Does the same mindset endure through to 2009?

On November 1, 2007, Paritosh Bansal and Martha Graybow of Reuters report:
Washington Mutual pressured the First American unit to inflate appraisals as a condition for doing future business together, the AG's office said, adding that the alleged scheme was detailed in numerous e-mails.
Cuomo also released e-mails he claims showed executives were aware they violated federal regulations. .

Cuomo said eAppraiseIT and the parent company knew its actions were illegal, citing an April 17, 2007 e-mail from eAppraiseIT's president to First American that said: "We view this as a violation of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice influencing regulation."

What’s new to First American?

Other than that the thievery through repeated and customary breach of fiduciary duties goes on:

On Monday June 1, 2009, 8:30 am EDT

Eagan O'Malley & Avenatti, LLP filed a complaint in California state court against the First American Corporation (NYSE:FAF - News) and its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Parker S. Kennedy.

The Plaintiffs allege that First American and Kennedy purposely engaged in unlawful acts in an effort to enrich themselves and misappropriate vital technology from their business partners, RE3W, Inc. and RE3W Worldwide. The Plaintiffs further allege that First American and Kennedy breached numerous fiduciary duties owed RE3W as a result of their business dealings which began in 2000.

First American has got away with it for so long – Why should they change their modus operandi now?

Consider what Washington State Deputy Insurance Commissioner, Jim Hopkins told me in the mid 90s:

“Mr Leclezio, from all the evidence I have reviewed in your case, it is clear that First American defrauded you of millions. The mere fact that John P. Dahl drove all the way from Seattle to Olympia in an attempt to justify his company’s actions shows they are horribly worried by their latest misdeed in the State where they have already been fined for a number of violations. But this is America! If someone steals $100 from a 7/11 store, it will make the newspaper front lines and the thief will be in jail. But if an insurance company like First American steals millions of dollars from you they will have a battery of lawyers to defend them and we do not have the resources to fight them!

Yes Kennedy and his henchmen should all be in jail (Consider how Kennedy hand picked McMahon from Lehman to further manipulate the First American stock price and how McMahon used his entrée into Lehman to dump First American stock on international investors at a conference Lehman hosted for First American in London). Kennedy and his henchmen should be made to repay all they have stolen from Americans and the international community through the years. In fact they should face triple punitive damages awards.

Is it a wonder that stalwart financial gurus faithful to the company for years have already bailed out?

However realistically, who has the resources to go after those white collar criminals and see to it that First American and its top execs are put in the shade for a long time? The world would be a fairer and better place and the American and world economy would have a chance to recover faster.

But once again I ask: Can greedy leopards change their spots whether in liberty or in cages?

Art from the heart

"The true work of art is but a shadow of nature's perfection."

“God provides the heart. We are His tools shaping it all together.” Louis Leclezio.

This art represents a world full of holes.
By the power of the rock on the wood, we are made whole.

The story behind this art is the story of the rock on the wood.

The rock would so transform the dead wood
That the wood could in turn transform
All who looked at the rock on the wood.

A piece of wood lay abandoned, lonely, worm eaten and forlorn on the forest floor.
Little did it know that it was about to be metamorphosed.
A river of lava from a sudden volcanic turmoil entombed the wood.
Its whole world suddenly turned dark.
It was all petrifying as it lay captivated by the rock.

Time ticked away.
Wind and rain chipped away.
Over millenniums little by little the wood was exposed.
Emerging from the tomb,
It had kept its identity yet it had been transfigured by the rock.

Petrified it had been.
Solidified by the rock, it now was.
Ground and polished by Providence, it could finally disclose its holy beauty.
Its red and grey color reminds all of the dripping blood and water that transfigured it.

Released from the dark tomb that held it captive, it revealed its transsubstantiation.

Indeed the story of this one bleeding art is the story of:

The bored out wood that bore the rock

Medium

Rock and wood bond to elevate the inner beauty of petrified wood.


The Base

Aged Tamaka Driftwood tossed about by waves, winds and currents landed and remained trapped for years on the reef surrounding the Rodrigues Island lagoon.
Finally freed, it was transported by a tsunami wave beyond the high water level mark.
There it lay caressed by the rain, the wind and the sand being slowly polished.
It was waiting for its day when it would forever reflect the beauty of its creator.

The Foundation Rock

An age old millstone holed and shaped out of the rock by the hands of man.
It was used for years to grind grain to nourish the body if not the soul.
It was also waiting for the right day to testify to the grounding power of the Word.

The Foot

The forlorn forward hull of an old sailing boat laid still in a lull on the beach.
How could it possibly take anyone to a safe harbor in its present broken up state?
A wreck on the beach it was. Could it ever bear witness to the rudder that steered it?

The Pedestal

A slab of petrified wood millions of years old.
Perhaps not a Cedar from Lebanon – But a Conifer nonetheless
How long had it stayed captivated by the rock that would transform it?
Could such a transfiguration take place in three days or did it take three million years?

This is a new day! This is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad.

Today the wood, the rock and the petrified wood have come together to symbolize the bonding power of love. Our creator so loved this holed out world that we must hold on with hope for the day faith will make us holy by the loving power of the trinity!

May this art nourish the soul!

James J. Dufficy aka Jim Dufficy

James J. Dufficy aka Jim Dufficy

Is it true that ‘Jump Jim jump…’ has jumped ship once again?

Is Dufficy out of Stewart Title already?

Does anyone know why?

Is Jim Dufficy reaping what he sowed?

Has Jim been cursed?

Whatever? May we pray?

May Jim discover the rewards of Truth, Justice and honest dealings!

Gift of Life… & Love... That’s Cricket…

Dear Children, Grand children, family & friends,

Some of you children may remember how we used to love to go to Issaquah creek or Soos creek or the Chittendam Locks in Seattle to watch the ‘salmon run’ returning to spawn.

I was always fascinated by that supreme sacrifice …It often reminded me of the passage in John 15: 13… “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends”.

Lest we forget, lest we forget…; How a mere salmon or a tiny cricket can bring those words vividly back to mind!

I used to sit by Soos creek or yet again by the Cedar River to watch the returning salmons struggle to live and stay the course to release new life! Time would pass much too quickly as I gazed motionless in sheer wonder. In no way did I want to affect the concentration of the salmon or divert him from his focused end goal… to pass on precious life to the next generation.

Truth is that with much faith, for the salmon; up the river way also lay the way to new life…

In silence I loved to observe the supreme effort of those salmon persevering and battling up the creek. Sometimes the water level was so low at the end of a long dry summer that the top half of the salmons would stick out. In the crystal clear glacial waters, I could see the salmon’s belly being torn while scraping against the round or sharp river rocks. With a common purpose the salmon were all struggling in an uncommon way to live. Did they sense that they were on their way to die so as to leave behind new life? The salmons were certainly being torn from above and from below. Were they also torn from inside at the thought of the ultimate sacrifice they were about to go through? Were those ripples on the water surface vibrating with the echo of their cry: Lord! Oh Lord! Why have you abandoned us?

As with the crack of a whip tearing into the flesh, birds of prey were swirling above the salmon. With precision and regularity, the birds dove to mercilessly tear off pieces of flesh when they could not snatch the whole salmon in one swift passing scoop.

Yes! Indeed, with much admiration I often prayed to have the salmon’s courage some day…Regardless how it was being ‘crucified’, its skin and flesh torn from above and from below, the salmon kept striving forward towards the cross roads of its ultimate sacrifice of love. At that cross road, one of the street signs leading the salmon to its original place of birth spelt ‘Death’. But the other street sign read ‘Life’! There, at those cross roads the salmon would say ‘Adieu’ to his world travels spanning some four years across the ocean. Concurrently the salmon would proffer ‘Fare Well’ to the new generation springing along that traditional old spring, creek or river channel!

Year after year, along the flowing waters of various Northwest water ways new life would flow downstream towards the open ocean’s adventure until at the end of the voyage once again imminent death would battle upstream to bring about new life. The thought of that yearly cycle of new life issued from death going on for millenniums in a seemingly endlessly repetitive process used to captivate my imagination. Year after year watching the same looking salmon, I often questioned if life submitted to death or if death surrendered to life?

I concluded that since the salmon lives on, St Paul was correct in claiming: “Death where is your sting?”

Since my return to Mauritius and lately in Rodrigues, I have also been fascinated by coral life. Corals take hundreds of years to reach any meaningful size. Over decades they know that they can only find new life from and can only grow on the skeleton of their ancestors! Again in a vast sea of life I am amazed to find that there also, death supports new life!

That’s what I love to observe more and more at the animal level. Did God create that sacrificial instinct in animals in order to help us better comprehend the awesomeness of His only Son’s sacrifice? Is that one of God’s ways of helping us find truth and have life along the way?

What goes on ‘naturally’ at the instinctive animal level is exemplified through the strongest possible testimony of Love given to us by Jesus. The reading on the second Sunday of lent out of ‘Living Faith’ and the Bible spoke to that sacrifice. The ‘transfiguration’ precedes the turning point in the life of Jesus and therefore the life of the world through the life of the Word made flesh to die in order for us to have eternal life!

Living Faith: “Jesus’ total gift of His life for and to humanity will be, at the same time, the Father’s gift of His only son to us. John 3:16 – God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Jesus makes it plain for us to see and Jesus sets the scene for us to grasp the cycle of life from our observations in this world – We are transfigured by the transition from the one form of life to the next.

Death unveils the mystery of life. Death brings about the transfiguration that propels us from a worldly life to an eternal one.

In the same vein, even if unable to fathom the mystery, in a more ‘basic instinct driven will to live’, animals ensure the perpetuation of life through love and through ultimate sacrifice.

All created by the Word, the animal world instinctively chooses life over eternal death of the species!

Hence, because the Word created this world, the Word often uses small miracles/coincidences in this world to increase our awareness of the beautiful life that surrounds us and the supreme life that awaits us through the on going gift of new life.

Here, under the tropics, we are very far from the Northwest salmon runs. I am physically very far from you my children, grand children, old and young friends. But I am never far from those I love so much and from all that I have so loved to observe.

I continue to be fascinated by the thought of life conquering death through love. Even if and when it is at the price of great pain and suffering!

When I was young I had to learn by heart the famous fable from La Fontaine: ‘La Cigale et la Fourmie”.

« La cigale ayant chanté tout l’été se trouva fort dépourvue lorsque l’hiver fut venu… »

It is the story of the cricket and the ant. It illustrates how the care free cricket sang all summer while the laborious ant worked all summer to save for a Seattle rainy winter day. I always felt that the ant was put in a most favorable light while the cricket was pictured as a no good partier!

That old concept and the discovery of the beauty of new life emerging out of a cricket’s death have radically changed my opinion of the cricket.

It took only one day for me to learn to have much more love and respect for crickets. Whether that love and appreciation is born out of myth and local folklore matters little. The first time we drove up the hill on the way to Mont Lubin, the sudden squealing noise of the shrieking massive swarm of crickets was so deafening that, not knowing what it was; Eve and I imagined that it was a loose fan belt screeching. We stopped the car and turned off the engine but the wailing noise went on unabated. Eventually we learnt that crickets endemic to Rodrigues made that constant screeching noise.

Lately, to try and escape from the torrid coastal summer heat, we take afternoon drives up the hill to go walk in the woods under the towering pines and Eucalyptus trees leading us towards the nursery of Solitude. During our walks, deafened by the squeaking endemic crickets, we often searched up the trees through the umbrella like dense growth canopy to see if we could find at least one cricket. But not trained to find that kind of insect within its century’s old natural habitat, we did not know they could be found at eye level. Instead, we searched towards the sky, way too far up. It was a constant vain and fruitless effort. We could never find or pinpoint any of those multitude of insects lost in a confounding sea of noise coming seemingly from everywhere at once!

Luckily last Saturday, as we were returning from Solitude we saw our friend, Cola, who was heading towards his home in Solitude. I asked Cola if he had ever seen a cricket? He laughed! Then he asked how many did we want to not only see but to hold? Effectively he started pointing at dead ones still clinging tightly to the tree bark at eye level all around us! This endemic cricket has so adapted to its environment that it is absolutely camouflaged within its milieu. So much so that unless you know where and what to look for, you can totally miss them a foot away from your eye!

As Cola unclenched a few of those endemic crickets from their age old environment and handed them onto us, we were surprised to note that they were all split open along their ‘backbone’! I asked Cola if it were other insects that came to split them open to eat them up. Again Cola laughed and said: No! They try to overcome death by gripping on to life and by tightly digging their tiny claws in the tree bark. But eventually they realize that life can surpass death. The crickets let go and let God. So! As they surrender to the forces of new life, their whole body splits open and as they die, new life emerges from them! It is symbolic of a simultaneous resurrection!

That’s cricket! They are a fact of life here! The cricket’s ultimate sacrifice helps it pass instantly from one life to the next! Aside from the new life it conceived, harbored and released all it leaves behind as a reminder of its own passage through the woods under the leaves is the envelope it leaves behind. Along the back of that envelope we can discern the lasting smile that one death and a new life joined together to carve down the spine of the old envelope. Under the vast canopy of leaves, it is a compelling reminder that others now live because some died! One life and all its empty veins has gone by, but not in vain…



Cola even found a live cricket for us.

After much wrestling, he managed to unclench it from the tree. As Cola handed it to me, I asked him what do they eat? With much conviction and an obviously deeply anchored belief Cola swore high and dry that unlike Rodrigues goats who ravage all growth, the crickets do not eat and or destroy anything throughout their lifetime! I insisted: “But Cola, to live they have to eat!” No, No, No said Cola. Their food is their song! Singing is what feeds them! That is their one and only nourishment! I said: Come on Cola, how can that be? Cola explained that, that was their one and only purpose in this world. The endemic Rodrigues cricket is born solely to sing to God’s glory. Cola went on to explain that they are born happy.

According to Cola and the local folklore, from birth the cricket inherits such a store of enthusiasm for life that they need absolutely nothing else but song and laughter to live on! And believe me, no one and nothing will ever make Cola believe otherwise!!!

Indeed I realized that, that cricket folklore or myth could very well reflect the spirituality/mentality of many of the people we meet in Rodrigues! It seems that many instinctively believe in just being rather than having, in just living rather than worrying about what more life should they be craving for from a God given life! The Rodrigues natives embrace life with a contagious smile and place all their trust in God’s Providence to go on living happily.

Most Rodrigues natives reject the ways of the world and place no faith in its wildly spinning wheel. Faithfully relying on the wise will of the Word, Rodriguans remain unaffected by the world’s financial crisis or any other form of panic to live another day only to want more.

They are satisfied to learn from nature and to know that Life will go on surrendering to new life with God meeting their needs, as and when only God wills. Cola told me that the cricket is most happy because it understands that in this world it cannot cling to anything, not a scrap of food, not a note that it was born to sing, not even its life; Nothing belongs to ‘us’ in this world We must let it all go…

And laughing Cola said and we, humans, who are supposedly cleverer than animals, we try to cling to ‘our’ life as though we possess it just as our possessions possess us! We would be better off to learn from the happy and care free constantly singing cricket. Like Jesus died on the wood of the cross to give new life to the world, the cricket dies singing to God’s glory on the wood of a tree to give new life to its progeny. The tree of life that heard the cricket sing throughout its life may remain standing but of that cricket all that will be left behind is its happy notes and smiling empty envelope.

Yesterday I asked a local entomologist to verify Cola’s belief about the cricket living only on laughter and song. He told me that according to him that local deep rooted myth that the endemic cricket lives only on laughter and song is embedded in the fable of La Fontaine. I told him that to me it matters not where the belief originated from. But it matters immensely for me to know that even in today’s world there are people who can firmly believe that joy and peace, song and laughter can still feed some of us up to the time we are ready to let go, to split ourselves open and die for others to live a renewed life of happiness!

Jesus referred to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. I am confident that when He returns, He will refer to the salmon of the Northwest, the endemic cricket of Rodrigues and the trusting local natives of this island that is so remote from the world that it has time to be close to the Word, to its creation, its songs and all the ever present glaring realities that feed it whether they are camouflaged to some yet plainly visible to others!

It seems to me that along that endless channel of perpetual happy new life ensuing from deaf, the prayer of St. Francis: Make me a channel of your peace… takes on its deepest and most real meaning. May we sing to God’s glory as we live every minute as if it were the last of our life.

I love you all. God bless you.