Pray for Indian pseudo democracy

Head lines Farooq opts for Omar as J&K CM

Congress party leaders voluntarily chose Indira Gandhi (emergency, blue star, killed), when she died they ran to Rajiv (IPKF - Killed) then to Sonia, then now grooming Rahul Gandhi. This is a sham democracy.

Laloo installs his wife as chief minister and runs the state from the prison.

MGR dies his wife Janaki is installed as a puppet. then his concubine Jaya are running a reign of devils. PMK Dr. Ramadoss' son, Murasoli Maran's son ...

Sheikh Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and now Omar Abdullah. The family whose shoddy governance is a huge factor in the militancy in the valley.

These are not exception, though one would hope it to be. Nepotism and dynastic rule is across the board (From prime minsters to the Chaprasi in the lowly Panchayats. I guess people don't even seem to think this as another form of corruption. Which spreads incompetence and costs everyone dearly.

Pacific NW under seige ... by the governments in action.

Cliff mass has a nice blog that contrasts the problems of the Pacific NW snow storms to others. No matter what the problem is it has come @ a great cost. Entire pacific northwest has been under virtual house arrest since Dec 18th. It has hurt the local economy in more than one ways. With economy hurting it is the worst time for them to fail. It has not only ruined the Christmas gifts for thousands, it prevented employees from getting to work and hitting them hard on their wallets. Plowing could have also provided hard to come by jobs for 10s of drivers from construction industry. Cost of plowing loses hand over fist to cost of lost productivity and tax revenue

One of the biggest stumbling block here is, the fact that Government is running low on cash. Nobody wants to spend money preparing for an event that happens every 5-8 years. Plowing cost is not just the cost of the plows. The cost of renting and operating plow trucks. Cost of hiring plow drivers. Cost of sand/salt. There is cost in running a big operation like that in terms of choosing when and where to apply those resources effectively on the fly. I hope there is someone with a reasonable answer for complicated question.

Secret service "protecting" the president

Secret service has become secretive in service, they ware no where to be found when needed. When disgruntled Iraqi threw his footwear at the president, President Al Maliki did more than the entire service @ that point. He put his hand in front of presidents face. May be they were provide their service in complete secrecy, May be they have some invisible agents who came and covered the president.

Al Maliki celebrity guard service



Now a days Secret service, NSA et al are so busy spying on American citizens they have completely forgotten how to do their their real jobs.

British Bigotry Corporation aka BBC

When Muslim citizens of Britain bomb London they call it "Rocked by TERROR". When Pakistani based, terror camp trained, terrorists come and shoot random people and foreigners they are just gunmen. Why don't we just go ahead and call them freedom fighters like Pakistan does.

I am disgusted by the double standard that clearly shows the hypocrisy and colonialist attitude of BBC. I guess I don't understand, barbarians from third countries do kill each other meaninglessly and hence they don't necessarily have to be terrorists. See it for yourself, try to find the word terror anywhere in this page or related pages that is page from BBC reporter/Writers, ie not in double quotes.

In defiance to the threats from the terrorist thugs

My hats off Mumbaikars. Within a matter of days after the Mumbai terrorist massacre was over I saw pictures of Cafe Leopold buzzing with life, not withstanding the scars of terrorism in every picture. My special kudos to its international patrons who not only chose to stay instead of fleeing, they even chose to come back to the place where the terrorist came to make a point. So to make a counter point that you cannot cow us down, next time I go Mumbai, I have decided to go eat in Cafe Leopold, Stay @ Oberoi Trident or Taj Mahal Palace hotel and stop by the CST train station too. I saw bold and defiant statements from Tata who owns the Taj Mahal Palace to bring it back to its full glory and from the Chabbad organization to start a bigger place. I hope the world business community makes such bold decisions too.

There nothing called recession in land of "Pork"

CNN reported that "Mayors want funds to fix their cities". I know I sound like a guy who is never going to be happy. I don't trust any politician. The fact that most of them are former attorneys isn't exactly a very helpful to earn trust. This is moment is rife with opportunities for irregularities. Because public and the market are anxiously waiting for the government to act "quickly and decisively".

Lets lets look at a few scenarios:

1. The contract was over priced: Our Governor chose to give the contract to company that could get going with project in the most expeditious manner.
2. A no bid contract was awarded to Haliburton: Our secretary of transportation had to act on a war footing to organization that had the most experience in doing the full spectrum of the project (including what the government's was supposed to be doing).
3. A project was ill conceived: (if they every agree to their mistakes) We worked across the aisle and put together a bipartisan plan with the knowledge and expertise available at that time. We active with interest of the public in our mind and the economic downturn has changed the conditions.
4. Newly constructed structure has serious design flaws: Contractors fault, Opposition party had cut the funding for the government employees who were to oversee the projects.
5. Shoddy construction: Same answer as previous line.
   
6. Project was never finished on time and is way over budget: We told you, reviving America was not going to easy. It is not a one year or ever a one term thing. We made some tough choices and we have to stay the course and actually we may need a surge of another $100 Billion to win.
   

It sounds lobbyist firms are going to be busy hiring all the crooks from wall street who lost their jobs first cooking books, then selling worthless bonds now re-tooling America. I am so elated. Recession is over my friends lets open that bottle champagne and start day trading again.

Affirmation: Hope history does not repeat itself ...

NY Times article: The Kashmir Connection: A Puzzle wrote "After the attacks of September 2001, it was clearer that Al Qaeda had formed alliances with Lashkar: the first high-level Qaeda prisoner taken after 9/11, Abu Zubayda, was captured in a Lashkar safe house in Pakistan, as Mr. Riedel, now affiliated with the Brookings Institution, pointed out in an article posted online last Wednesday. Other Qaeda operatives who fled after American forces arrived in Afghanistan also holed up with Lashkar, he noted."

This is exactly what India has been screaming about since mid 90's, Clinton administration chose to bury their head at that time and now everyone is paying the price.

Hope history does not repeat itself this time...

India has been screaming since mid 1990's that what Pakistan calls freedom fighters also include a a long list of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. Clinton/Albright team chose to ignore that, sticking to the old cold war posture and blindly supporting their old allies. Common perception in India was that Madeline was an anti India hawk and it was of no value to US interests. But what was surprising was, the administration almost did nothing when the terrorists bombed the embassies in north africa and went hit USS Cole with devastating effect. They not only did not do anything they even did everything in their power to stop India from doing something decisive. They blackmailed week coalition governments that ruled this young democracy in acting their own self interst to protect their citizens and national interests. They did this knowing fully well that Taliban is an instrument of Pakistani establishment and Osama bin Landen and his Al Qaeeda thugs were thriving in their patronage spreading their reighn terror from India in south to Chechenya in the north and Bosnia in the west and Philipines to the esast.

If only US had acted or even let others act on their own behalf, that too at least after being hit three times directly, I am very sure 9/11 would not have happened. Those 19 hijackers would have died in the fight that ensued in Afghanistan. Those camps where the plans were hatched and trainings were being provided would not have existed. The planners of London and Madrid bombings would not have had the guts or the infrastructure to carry out such adacious attacks against humanity. The 19-21 year old terrorists from pakistan wouldn't learnt their correct lessons when their were still children, instead they grew to become terrorists to commit such attrocities against the humanity. But then here we are once again, getting ready for another Clinton foreign policy team. A cabinet over flowing with former Clinton "team" members. I am not sure why one would need a team, when you are planning to do nothing. Clinton/Albright team did nothing to stop Rwanda massacre, ran with their tails tucked between their legs when buch of criminals shot down black hawks and killed american forces, Serbernica and the list goes on. Now the task @ hand is even harder. Pakistan has had time to develop and perfect their nuclear and missile technology. Terrorists have grown in numbers, are emboldened by the success of many successful spectacular attacks and grown technologically savvy. US has gotten lot weaker financially and interms military preparedness. My hope against hope is that the new president Obama seems to a student of history and has made the right noises and I wish that Clintonites have learnt from their mistakes and right the wrongs this time around.

Its always the other indians who are wrong ?

Once again I want to visit a scenario:

1. Terrorists open fire in crowded train station. Lucky ones die immediately.
2. Ill-equipped and under trained and barely motivated police arrive late.
3. Ill equipped ambulances arrive even later and take the victims to woefully ill equipped hospitals.
4. If you think the families of the dead or the seriously injured are in a the nightmare it just got worse.
5. There is no way for them to find out what happened to their loved ones, because there isn't any volunteer based or government organized system to co-ordinate with the hospitals or police. Needless to say, by this point, under paid and under trained staff are also overwhelmed. To the police the victims families are just another nuisance or a cash cow depending on where the crisis is.
   
6. Finally by some miracle when the loved ones locate their deceased kin in some hospital, one would think would bring some kind of relief, but no, a new chapter of nightmare has just begun.
7. Just as the smoke clear, India is back in business, as usual. Now the babu's (also called civil servants) hands start itching. It is like trying to snatch the remains of your loved ones from hungry vultures, hyenas and crocodiles. The pillaging happens at the very steps of the way from getting a death certificate, to getting the remains released, getting government grants announced for the victims, getting insurance claims filed, getting insurance claims cleared .....and on and on.
   

The utter heartlessness and "professionalism" of the Indian Babudom that has lead to the state of the current state affairs. And trust me all those people who took the streets today, lit candles last night, the ones who blogged about it when the guns were blazing will be more than happy to take part in these delude without a second thought come tomorrow morning. And I won't be surprised to find some of them on the other side of the table ... with an itchy hand and heart without any remorse.

Does it even make sense to say "God save India" ?

Affirmation: is America failing ?

At least one other person in this world seems to agree with my previous posting "Is America Failing ?" here is the link to Businessweek cover story: "Sub-prime wolves are backed" - FHA-Backed Loans: The New Subprime

News: Goldman execs "forgo" bonuses

Wow!! so nice of them to "forgo" their hard earned bonuses in the unprecendented bull market. Especially when Goldman and their customers are doing so well now and have such a rosy future ahead of them. May be we ought to send them our next tax rebate check to help out their starving families.

Unfortunately can't fire mail them and their criminal cronies to Mars. Its amazing how well the cronie networks work. Too bad most of us are not in one and obviously have failed to even get a fraction of the congress out of these even in these direst of times. Board of directors who are supposed the protect the company and its assets, use the same to protect their cronies. And the congress is working overtime pumping public funds into these as fast as they can get their hands on them. And the news media is happy to play along with them, diligently following the line and eating the sound bites (like the title above) off the hands. And too bad suckers ... you just voted for reform or change and we are going to get neither. This time we have voted for change and hope that we will be left with at least that in our pockets when all this ends.

Media obsession with "Pregnant (wo)man" stupidity

what are top news items this week
"US in recession",
"Germany is recession",
"Japan is in recession",
"Man is pregnant"
"100s of homes burnt to ashes in California"

I don't have words in my dictionary to explain the level journalistic brankruptcy here. It is simply unbeleivable to see channel after channel disect and discuss this nonsense, this hoopla about nothing ... about a woman who called herself a man and has already delivered a baby recently. And "CNN means politics" decides that this deserves a full hour with mr Larry King while LA is burning, Congo is falling off the world map and a couple of millions of Americans have just lost their jobs.

Is America Failing ?

American economic bailout package
Version 1: Buy bad mortgages
Recapitalize banks and financial institutions
Verson 2: Recapitalize banks and financial institutions
Force them to lend to individuals

@ the same time
Socialist Europe came up with
Take over banks in the name of recapitalization
Communist China
Rebuild infrastructure.

Can't for the life of me someone remember why we have this foreclosure crisis. It is just ridiculous solution that looks exactly like root cause of the problem itself. Is Henry Paulson so retarded that he can see this simple thing. Government allowed banks to lend to people who are not credit worthy and hence housing bubble followed by the foreclosure mess. Then how come lending more money to the same people becomes the solution all of a sudden ? Or is it corruption or cronyism ? How else could one explain the haste ? The explaination that pruchasing bad mortgages would take time screams, "I need to spend the money before the current presidents term runs out" (and hence my time to take care of my partying cronies in AIG and CITI).

Why can't we the start infrastructure projects to aging american infrastructure and massive reeducation programms to sagging education standards. Infrastructure projects will like i wrote in my previous blogs will be the most cost effective thing to do given the cost of labor, raw materials and energy at this time. Then instead of forcing banks to lend to insolvent individuals without jobs, they can actually lend to subcontractors with actual government projects and their employees with good salaries. And investing in education will not only gaurantee a bright future for young americans but also create new job opportunities aging baby boomer population. Which can only only help the younger generation benefit from the knowledge base. Education also means cutting that shortage in medical staff and stem increase in the medical costs. The possibilities are endless but will america take the challenge and do the right thing .... or will it fall for populism ?

Best time to boost infrastructure and revive economies

Every time you turn on the television or radio you hear the word economy, infrastructure, unemployment etc.. You hear countries that lack infrastructure or countries whose infrastructure is crumbling. You hear lay off of 1000s of workers. Prices of raw materials like copper, steel and aluminum dropping. Energy prices going down etc..

But it is always followed by more doom and gloom than the silver lining. There is no better time than now for the governments around the world to say "yes, we are going to take charge and borrow money and fund infrastructure projects". Because:
1) credit is cheap, investors would be more than glad to buy government bonds when their stock investments are going negative by the second.
2) plenty of construction labor, equipment and companies are idle at this time. They would be more than glad to bid on a government project which is guaranteed to pay than for a company that might file bankruptcy tomorrow night. There will be great competition and government could choose the company with best quality and fastest track record for the lowest price.
3) raw materials are cheaper, oil price is lower and dollar is stronger so more bang for the buck. Together this is a strong concoction that could be a shot in the arm for any government project.
4) recent high prices oil price and economic downturn together have reduced traffic on the roads. Which means best time to do road repair, expansion and improvement projects. Which also means opened opportunity for public transportation to have another shot (since trams were systematically done away with, by Detroit automakers). It has opened up a chance to develop high speed train corridors like SFO/LA, PDX/Vancouver-BC, DC/Montreal etc, NY/chicago etc.
5) recent high oil prices have also raised awareness and a need for US energy independence. Which also opens need for building power lines to connect places where there is abundant and uninterrupted supply of solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and hydro powers with high demand centers.
6) Fence along the border to reduce illegal immigration, drug trafficking and prevent another terrorist via porous southern borders.

I sincerely pray that politicians regain some sense and do something sensible and responsible once their lives at this time of crisis.

If I were an incumbent @ capital hill

This is how I would handle the "bail out" voting pressure from our beloved "el presidente de estades unidos".

1) I would vote against it.
2) Then I would blame the opponents for trying to bail out the rich wall street high rollers
3) On the other hand, I will explain to the supporters of the bill how hard it is get elected now a days.
4) Ensure that they show their support with enough greens in my re-election fund.
5) I would then vote for “Revive American Main Street Act”.
6) Obviously, claim that I fought for the best interest of the nation and got the job done by working from people from both sides of the Aisle (as if they are any different).
5) I would campaign using new shot in the arm.
6) Blame anyone who disses my vote FOR reviving the main street America, I just voted for as unpatriotic and anti-American.
7) I would laugh all the way to the congress on Jan 2009.
8) Pray that I can do it all over again. .. I mean pray for another opportunity to serve America.

Isn’t that so awesome. Power baby... power, it has its strange ways to change people.

relief: the Indian government way.

Floods in Bihar. Indian army finally moves in after thousands are dead and almost the entire state is underfloods. Babus of India order relief. releif = "throw food down from helicoptors or planes". Disgusting, it's so sad to see how the government treats its citizens. Why the hell can't they organize a place where they can distribute relief material in an orderly fashion with dignity instead of throwing food like feeding animals. Then they organize thousands of dingy's to rescue people where millions are clinging on to their dear life. Why the hell can't they find some money to stop these floods where 10's of millions live.

Why do we always need a savior ?

Cafferty of CNN is talking asking "Are you better off than 8 years ago?"

Is this some kind of a kingdom where wellness and affluence of his subjects are the responsibility of the king ? In the past 8 years I have gone from doing well to doing really bad after 911 and then back to doing OK now. Yes this administration has screwed up in lot of fronts and failed in utterly in others. But what happened to this wisdom of keeping the government's meddling hands out of the economy. They have screwed up the value of dollar by giving MFN status to China and now by borrowing money for a bloody war and nation building in middle east. If some has to elect Obama or Mccain, expecting them to revive this economy they have their head stuck in the sand.

The best I can expect from the candidates is to stop the damage done by torture and unwarranted wiretaps and do some good by taming pollution and C02 emission. Neither one is going to stop the borrowing which is killing the dollar and causing inflation. Obama will not stop the borrowing because he has his social programs and McCain will still not stop the borrowing because he is not going to stop the war.

When will people start doing their part like Kennedy asked them to. Do every thing they can to stop sending $$$ to Putin, Chavez and Al (sponsors of) Qaeda. Do our part by being healthy and stop being the drain to the American medicare system. Making sure that the kids are getting the right kind of education and motivation, preparing their shoulders to carry America forward in ways that we haven't. Give them a chance at creating another Microsoft/Apple/Google, become another Phelps, Lebron James, Lance Armstrong, Michael Crichton, Erin Brockovich, General Swartzkopf .... I guess we do need a hero to lead us by example. Trade in the coke can for glass of water, beer and big screen TV for a Book or pair of running shoes or garden gloves, arrogance born out of ignorance to genuine care for fellow citizens and the rest of world. The question is are they listed on the ballot paper on election day?

Olympic size nausea

I could not pull myself to watch even a glimpse of the Chinese Olympics. Especially after 100s of people being "relocated" to make space for "flower garden" for the Olympics. This is just one of the N number of things the Commies have been doing to show how western their cities look. Disgusting. They have zero respect for their culture as well as the wests. Shiny roads paved on destroyed lives in their own countries and in other parts of the world like Burma, North Korea, Vietnam, Sudan and Pakistan just to name a few.

Not to mention how they have destroyed Tibet and how they have wiped out the promised one country two system and imposed Commyism in Hongkong. What they would not mind doing to Taiwan the moment they get to lay their hands on it. And then dear Mr. Bush flies all the way from here to attend this shameful event run by the most corrupt organization in the world IOC. And barely few minutes before the event makes lip service to human rights and then opens a brand new embassy in China. Go figure that logic.

Divided path to heaven

As per this CNN Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated

"Americans may be poised to nominate a black man to run for president, but it's segregation as usual in U.S. churches, according to the scholars. Only about 5 percent of the nation's churches are racially integrated, and half of them are in the process of becoming all-black or all-white, says Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-author of "United by Faith," a book that examines interracial churches in the United States."

Blame my stupidity, but to me traditional religions appear more a part of the problem and than the solution. Do we have a seggregated football match. Seggregated bar, Seggregated college ? No. But when it comes to religion it exists every where. When it comes to religion or religious practices, be it New York, Alabama, California, communist Yugoslavia, liberal United Kingom, religious Saudi Arabia, India people seem to fall into these divisive traps. And see no end to this insight.

Absurd news of the week

Pakistani militants abduct 30 police

Lets face it. Can you really tell between Pakistani "security personnel" and terrorists (or if you want to address them nicely, militants). They are one and the same. They fought along side the terrorists against Soviet union (sorry rebels, coz they were with the west), they fight along side them in Kashmir, they now fight against NATO in Afghanistan. So they took the next logical step, simply go work for the real boss. In corporate lingo they where dotted line to the Jihadists, while the salary came from "the government", if you can call this mockery, that.

The non politically correct version of the news would read, "Scores (not 30) of Pakistani security personnel defected to Terrorist organization(s)".

Pakistani army killed by US and pak is crying foul

Act 1
Pakistani forces see enemy they start shooting. Then their friends start crossing the border to take care of their mission against enemy. In this case the enemy happens to be India and years was 1999. Then next day announce that Indian troops started the unprovoked firing and call uncle Sam to put pressure on India. India does nothing fearing larger war and bowing to US pressure. India pleads to US in the next high level meeting with US to stop there terrorists and US does not want to interfere in political problems and freedom struggle. Terrorists go scot free.

Act II - Deja vu.
Pakistani forces see enemy they start shooting. Their friends start crossing the border to take care of their mission against the enemy. But this time the country is Afghanistan and Enemy is US and year is 2008. US forces call in air strikes because they can and kill a bunch of "professional soldiers". Pakistani cries fowl and puts US on the defensive. Terrorists go scot free.

Is there a lesson to be learned here ..