This is like the preface to a Sci-Fi movie

Before I get into my rhetoric about a recent article I read in the IHT I would like just to thank Diana from Rouse & Co. for saving my week from eminent disaster.

And now my rhetoric. This morning I was doing my usual scan of international news and the Bear Stearns saga and how JPM will be upping their offer to $10 per share to quell the cries of the Bear Stearns shareholders (obviously the American homeowners don't scream loud enough for the Fed to bail them out) and I saw an article at the bottom of the IHT page entitled "Star Spanish bull to be cloned in bid to preserve fighting genes". I couldn't resist so I clicked and found this:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/23/europe/journal.php

So let me summarize this in laymen terms. They are cloning a bull that dies spectacularly. The article goes on to describe "The bull allows the matador to create a work of art, a beautiful dance," said Lázaro Carmona, a veedor, or inspector, who visits ranches on the matador's behalf and helps select animals for the fight. "It's a joint performance."A strong, aggressive bull that runs at the matador's cape allows him to shine, he said. "I think the bull should take 90 percent of the credit for a matador's triumph," Carmona said.

I don't know about you but I find that creepy. Not only does bullfighting itself seem stupid but then copying a losing bull is like Dante's hell meets groundhog day. No matter how many times you kill it. It comes back the next day with no memory of dying, fully healed as if yesterday never happened. Except the matador continues to age. Day by day this endless onslaught of identical bulls are killed and weathers down the matador until one fine day......the bull wins. The matador (aged 50) is gored by the seemingly indestructible horn. The matador vision starts to blur as the blood loss causes his body to shiver. The sound of the screaming fans fade to silence and the blue sky above fades to white as his eyes close for what he thinks will be the last time.

The screen goes black and there is silence for a moment. Then suddenly, the sound of the crowd jolts open the matador's eyes and there he is standing upright in the middle of the arena again. Cape in one hand and sword in the other. Disoriented for a second, he realizes that he is facing the bull again. But this time his strength and his youth has returned. He too has been cloned to preserve the spectacular fight between man and beast.

The next scene is 3 men in thick spectacles and lab coats sitting in a room with no windows counting the money from the ticket sales of this gladiator style event......

Like I said creepy.