Telugu Cinema.. Possibly on the eve of rejunevation

The mark of good movie lies in it's ability to take the viewers through uncharted territory, surprise them, thrill them, leave them pondering about what was and what could have been, and open up new possibilities.

Prasthanam has come close to being one. The complexity of characters, the elaborate story, visually powerful scenes, and substance of dialog made it very exciting. the vagaries of selfishness, survival, leadership, sibling rivalry, and fondness for one's own blood kin were dealt with very well.

If this movie really does start a cycle, this may be a sign of the rejunevation of Telugu cinema. Leaving behind the Master Movie makers of the previous decades who made movies like saptapadi and swatimutyam possible, Telugu Cinema seemed set on a cycle of decadence with a steady loss of boldness in story telling.

Over-reliance on commercial formulae, emphasis on actor focused roles, lack of substance and quality of language used, stereo typed roles, unnecessary violence, and tasteless humor for the most part have sent Telugu movies down the wrong path. I'm not sure any of the current telugu movies of the past decade could be deemed to have substance that can withstand screening in an international film festival. (The movie Vanaja was an exception to the rule in recent times. I still remember the claps that the movie received at the end by a mostly non-indian audience). There is no lack of technical prowess, or directorial ability in the Telugu movie industry. All that's missing is the boldness of expression.

The bigger problem is that a steady dose of these movies may have corrupted the audience itself. Like a tail wagging the dog instead of the other way around, i think people have become accustomed to what was served and seem to want more of it, or atleast the movie makers seem to think they do. The result being that there is no incentive to change the menu anymore.

Movies like Prasthanam offer hope of better times for telugu cinema.

Talk about Commerialization!

Little is talked about James Otis's negotiations with the indian government on pulling out gandhi's personal effects from the auction.

One of them was a demand to increase india's budget for poverty eradication, and another asking india to fund a world wide exhibition on pacifism.

The indian government responded that this whole endeavour was "Crass commercialization of a great man's legacy". How? Even if it was, would this even come close to what's done by the indian government.

Gandhi's picture is everywhere to be seen in india, on currency, and government office walls. His birthday is a holiday. Government buildings are named after him. His autobiography is compulsory reading in most schools. Politicians emulate his style, by wearing khadi clothes, and sitting on hunger strikes. But, no one talks any more about "What made this little man move the world in ways it has not seen itself shaken". Pacifism and the principles of non-violent movement are not studied in indian schools or society as much as they should be.

Back to Writing again!!!!

Something about my horse not winning the election made me lose all interest in the world around me. Here i am, back again, taking a shot at the world.

After a recession confirmation, a former Miss Alaska who almost became vice president, a dirty terror attack in mumbai, and bankruptcies galore, here i am sitting back to write.

Who would have thought? Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State under president Obama!! if i said that six months ago, i would have been asked what i smoke?

Nepal going the wrong way??

The Maoist party actually won the elections in Nepal this month. While this is a positive development when it comes to ridding the country of it's monarchial baggage, one cannot help but see this as a victory for china.

One can draw parallels with the cold war when russia was out to convert the entire world to it's brand of communism. Could china be doing the same? There's no denying that china has always funded the guerilla groups with communist agendas, be it the maoists of Nepal or the Naxalites in india.

With Nepal having turned itself to maoism, china has become more influential on the other side of the himalayas. A recent announcement by the Nepali government that "any flame protestors to the Olympic flame could be shot if necessary" shows that the nepali government is all out to pander to china.

This could be a bad development for India. The last thing India needs now is Nepal acting as a proxy for China and lending more support to the Naxalism movement and other anti government groups.

Democrats...get your act together!

The best thing to do now is to buy up some Defence stocks, and wait for the presidential election next year.. For they are surely gonna go up with trigger happy Mr.McCain as a president, the odds of which are increasing by the day.

Democrats are brutally divided. Obama's cult like followers would never vote for Hillary and it will not be a easy ride for obama either. There's only one solution, that of a combined Hillary Obama ticket. it would solve all problems. Democrats will then stick together, and Mr.McCain could then be left behind to retire.

Of identity.. and of living a Job.

Years ago, on a good nice day when i quit a job, and felt like i found my bearings, i looked up a page from Peter drucker's book and what he said was very appropriate at that moment.

"Unemployment causes unhappiness, not because of financial deprivation, but primarily because it undermines self-respect. Work is an extension of personality, an achievement. It's one way in which a person defines himself, measures his worth, and humanity".

The question is whether your self-respect is so cheap, that you need your profession to define it. There are thousands of other ways to define oneself besides one's profession: One's personality, Interests, Opinions, Inclinations, Passsions, ability to convey and communicate, and so on.

How silly it seems when people make major decisions around a career, judge people by what they do for a living, choose people to mate with, insisting that they belong to a certain profession.

Looking around.

There's trouble all around. One of the top five investment banks goes under, the federal reserve has begun lending short term loans (more like a payday loan for someone squeezed tight) to the financial sectors, the visa ipo, the largest ever, came out of nowhere.

The Visa ipo may just have been the last resort by banks to raise some money. Considering the big stakes of the larger financial houses in the company, the Visa IPO may have been the emergency money stash that the banks realized they have to dip into.

The stock market seesaws with every single story, seemingly oblivious to the trouble underneath that's shaking the financial system to it's core. Will america's financial system weather this mortgage mess? It will. The questions is what it will go through as it does this.

The mortgage trouble... Who really benefited?

Now, if someone were to pay to correct the mortgage troubles that stalk the country at large.. it really isn't totally the lenders who pushed the wrong loans... or the uninformed consumers who sometimes took more than they could afford..or the federal government where the buck stops.

It's the damn Home builders: KB, Lennar, Centex, Pulte among others.

Save for resold homes, they were the biggest benificiaries of the mortgage mess.

The unbelievable part, they are totally impervious to the everything that's happening around them.. and the only thing they are worried about is the 20 year old hike in New home inventory.

Instead of waiting on the side lines for the Feds to fix the problem, the home builders should push some of their outrageous profits from the past four years to rescue the home owners into a payment plan fund of some kind. This way, not only will they live up to responsibility, but will also continue to make sales as the housing market stabilizes.

The question is, will they ever? Unless of course, if the feds slap their wrist with an investigation into their price fixing practices during the housing boom and announce some serious fines.

Corruption... Only at New York!!!!

If there's one place that's got everything... It's New york city.

I couldn't believe my ears when i heard a shuttle driver ask me 10 bucks to drive me to a building within JFK airport. Else, he said i could wait an hour if he had to go by the timetable.

Now, this guy was guyanese, and of indian descent. Either i made him feel like he was back home or maybe he thinks he's still in guyana.

Doesn't the larger attitude towards law and order prelavent in the greater america not permeate the concrete jungle? Do third world tendencies to corrupt stay the same if a person has to fend his way amidst a heavily populated city? I'm pretty sure that the same person, had he been in suburbia would do as he is told, and not get too creative.

Maybe, the affinity to corrupt stays hidden amongst the wishy washiness of a fair system, and is perhaps a basic part of human group dynamics.

The Delusion of Hope...

What kind of change can a junior senator with hardly less than 3 years of experience in the senate and no executive experience at all bring about? How could this inexperienced 40 something possibly influence veteran committee chairmen, who have more experience than him, to change things.
Talk is cheap and evangelical talk is often delusional, but is best suited for a religious deliberations, not politics. If one wants to be a captain, one ought to be a deck hand, an oarsman, and a navigator first. Else, everyone knows it'll be a ship that shall sink.
There's another word for hope talk without a plan, it's called BS. And that's one thing america cannot afford to dance with, especially in a bleak time with challenges on the economic and foreign policy front. There's an urgent need of someone who knows how to and can do things that need to be done.

There's no denying that Obama is a phenomenon like no other, but the best course for him would be to be a Vice President under hillary. That way, he can use his famous charisma to do things that hillary cannot, get some executive experience and better yet, learn how to be a good effective president when his time comes, as it surely will if he waits.

The Good thing about Obama....

While there's no telling.. How bad it would be to have an inexperienced person like Obama become the next president of the united states. There are none the less some advantages with having him at the helm.

On the foreign policy front, america stands to benefit considerably. The world may no longer see america as a "Gun slinging cowboy country". If any of the new policies follow his lofty evangelical words, america might be able to reach ideological high ground.

By electing obama, America shall join the ranks of the few democracies in the world, which were able to elect a person of a minority group as a leader. There would doubtlessly be new empowerment of the african american community and many of the initiatives aimed at lifting the community above poverty would receive more than just lip service.

The presidency shall look very very clean. For Obama seems to have nothing big to show.. neither money...nor any skeletons in his closet. He would perhaps be the least richest president in terms of personal worth.

One more thing, Every immigrant in this country could perhaps set high targets for their kids. For if this guy can, a second generation immigrant kid should be able to.

But, alas... Obama has hurdles ahead of him in the form of McCain and Ralph Nader to cross, that if he ever manages to fend off the ruthless clinton machine.

The Lady ought to fight.. and win!

The mood was sullen in the democratic debate two days ago. Obama seemed like he was looking down upon a visibly shook up hillary. Does this mean she is down for good? going by history... the clinton's have always been their best when they were beaten down.. and fight hard to get what they need.

The lady will fight.... win the three big states remaining... bag all the super delegates... and send obama and his so called message of hope back to illinois.

If hillary clinton were to bow down... Can women voters ever forgive themselves? This is the best shot women have at a presidency. It may take a whole generation before someone like hillary clinton can emerge.

A disturbing Trend....

Pakistan appears to have taken a u-turn in political alignment. The general and his cronies(PML-Q) have fallen from grace. The PPP under Asif zardari and the PML under Nawaz Sharif have begun flexing their muscles with their new found power, and might work out a coalition government between themselves.

These may be bad times for Pakistan. These newbies may reverse the general's policy of keeping fundamentalist elements in check. Furthermore, they might start engaging in a clean up of power structure and shall of course have several disagreements over power sharing. Having two kings in power is never workable. Nawaz sharif will ofcourse try his very best to unseat Asif zardari, who does not wield as much influence as his wife did.
This would only mean more chaos, a ripe condition for the jihadis to thrive.

The question as to whether the new government will be stable enough to wield power like the general, and give a good hand to the united states in it's fight with islamic terrorism remains unanswered.

The deluded mobile providers of America....!

The three relevant mobile providers left standing (sprint doesn't count anymore) came up with yet another grand stupid idea today... a $99 plan with unlimited minutes!

Maybe some business users might switch on to it... No sane regular idiot with a job that doesn't involve using a mobile phone would ever want to get on to a plan like that... Not with the economy this bad.

Why don't these companies get it? Firstly the yearly contracts that make a mobile plan sound so restrictive, secondly those crappy handsets they sell at unrealistic steep prices , thirdly their outdated service or lack of variety in service offerings.

hell... there isn't a good pay as you go option, nor data plans that make sense.

Look where Japan and South Korea... Or even india are. America has only just begun to wake up to texting.. while the world is cruising away with all kinds of wild fourth generation services.

If there's one thing the Mobile service companies can do.... they can cheapen up the rate plans to make more users use their services. And they should stop selling the devices and leave that part to the phone makers. That way, Users shall have more choice and they may also end up having better devices in their hands.

Think of it...If everyone in the US had access to a fully loaded fourth generation phone, they would use it so much to do so many different things that countless number of applications will then be developed to serve them. The phone companies could then collect little chunks of fee off these services that ride off the mobile bandwidth.

That i'm sure would amount to a lot more money than what they make now by squeezing out consumers with their stiff plans.

Sony in the Limelight......

Toshiba calling off it's fight with Sony by pulling it's HD DVD's off the shelf.... would mean one thing....elated PS3 owners and unhappy Xbox 360 owners.

The folks at Sony must be happy.....This was best thing ever that happened to them for decades after all those lost battles. After having seen their BetaMax lose to JVC's VHS, and with Toshiba's DVD standard prevailing over their high density CD's, having their format win at last must taste real sweet.

Sony had some serious losses of market share and businesses this decade. They gave up their lead in gaming to Microsoft's XBOX, and after failing to come up with an extension to the Walkman, their dominance in the music player business was gobbled up by the IPOD. Their futuristic AIBO robot business had been abandoned, and Sony was left to stick their memory sticks in their own devices.

If only the suckers at Sony realized that opening up standards, and keeping thier technology open would have kept them great like they were when they started with akio morita at the helm.

Wonder who is gonna buy those HD DVD players? Maybe the Science museums.

Of Childhood...

"Taare Jameen Par"... what a movie!!! I'm sure anyone who grew up battling the indian school system and parental expectations could relate to the movie in more ways than one. The movie brings to light the ignored plight of a dyslexic kid caught in a school system that does not recognize his problem. The problems of dyslexia during childhood, they say are usually overcome if they have a understanding mentor or parent who sees them through the turmoil of coping with basic learning.
The movie drives this point through while portraying the world from the eyes of a kid. The life of a kid who imagines things like there's no tomorrow. A beautiful world of fist fights with the water shower, fishing in a drainage pond, buck teeth, playing with dogs, day dreaming is shot in a very real way.
The movie hints that every Kid is important, whether he is dyslexic or disabled. Childhood is the greatest gift on earth and nothing should rob it of it's innocence.
There's a strong message in there for all those cuckooed up indian teachers, and those unfortunate confused parents who seem to think the only way out is to breed their kids for competition, no matter what the cost. Hopefully, this movie might awake some sleepy heads and make them realize that it's not worth making kids chase class room marks and competing like the sky is about to fall.
A good informed mentor or parent is all a kid needs, and he is best left alone to figure his way out without too much pressure. After all, a kid is still supposed to be growing! and how can he grow to be himself, if he's asked to be someone else or be subject to unnecessary pressure.
Aamir Khan has a quality that distinguishes him from all those other indian cinema actors. He seems to be chasing movies with a message these days, and he is getting very good at it. Whether it be rang de basanti, or this one. The script is beautifully written by a Mr.Amol Gupte, who supposedly spent 7 years researching and interviewing kids, teachers and parents.
http://taarezameenpar.com/

Of Super Delegates... and Obama.

There are reports of huge voter turnouts at democratic primaries, with the whole obama and hillary equation.


Hillary has defied predictions too. She won the Massachussets primary, in spite of the big weights of the state, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry endorsing Obama. Only thing she appears short of is campaign cash, which she's more than filling up with her own money (5 million recently). On the top of it, She is capturing the Hispanic vote in a major way.


Obama, it seems may have captured more of the popular vote so far and his campaing coffers are clinking with money. His campaign appears to have attracted funds at the rate of 1 million dollars per day in january, and 30% of that coming from people who have contributed 200$ or less. It's interesting that obama is being able to generate so much enthusiasm from the grassroots of the democratic party.


Could Obama the one? He could be, but they will not let him be. Who they? The super delegates who represent the undemocratic side of the democratic party elections. The super delegates are nominated members (usually ex-presidents, governors, congressmen and senators) who number around 20% of the overall delegate count.

And the fact that they can vote for anyone irrespective of the popular vote make them a very decisive factor. Hell, they could even vote for a candidate who has dropped out of the race. This group was created for the sole reason of protecting the party from nominating an unwinnable candidate, even if the party liked him.


The super delegates may prove to be obama's achille's heel even if he managed to run well till the end zone. Hillary has far too much influence on the Super Delegates, and they may come forward to save the day for her if she needs it. Maybe they will, for the popular obama may sink the democratic ship if he has his way.

Why do the Good men get left behind?

The first round of primaries did their work of sifting candidates.... but maybe the wrong one's were left behind. The candidates with the sanest and most pragmatic view of all.... were left to fend for themselves. What of Fred thomson on democratic side who folded soon after iowa? What of ron paul on the republican side who is not even asked questions at debates any more?

If there was one thing ron paul did in last night's GOP debate..he tried to bring attention on what should be the main issue. He spoke of how cheap it was for McCain and romney to fight over statements on a war, which was being fought for the wrong reasons and how the administration doesn't seem to get it that devaluing the dollar would take the country down the wrong path.

As everywhere around the world.. ...Maybe it takes more than just having the right causes at heart to win elections.

Speech Outsourcing????

I couldn't believe it for a minute when someone mentioned that a friend of his (who has Ph.D in literature) actually writes speeches for a Senator here in the US. The surprising part, he works for an outsourcing firm in india that offers speech outsouring as one of it's services.

Apparently, the speech writers do some serious research on the senator's political views, past speeches, future vision, and style..of all things, before they proceed on to write his speeches. If there can be market for speech writing, what next?

http://www.b2kcorp.com/testimonials.html

Will Obama sink the Democratic Ship?

Mr.Obama must be thanking his stars these days. After the "New Hampshire and Nevada" double whammy from Hillary, everyone thought he might bow down for good now.


No one suspected he might lose South carolina, but no one thought he would win by a two to one margin. It's too bad that the Clintons tainted themselves with dirt and at times were even portrayed as being racist. Bill Clinton, who was once praised as being the closest thing to a black president has become the raison d'etre for the blacks voting across racial lines in south carolina.


The endorsements from the Kennedy's, and John Kerry reinforce the notion that those in the democratic party who are unhappy with the Clintons are siding with Obama now. Even if obama won the democratic nomination eventually, will he be able to win a Presidential election? Especially if he were to face someone like John McCain. The chances are slim, considering that he is not battle tested like Hillary and the Clinton political machinery.

Lessons from a Jigsaw puzzle

While any grown up would dismiss the idea of a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle as childs play, It's nothing but. Found myself struggling in disbelief as it took almost four days to bring together all the 500 pieces. There's no doubt, it's a fantastic right brain activity that will test your pattern recognition ability and your sense of direction in the two dimensions.



Much like life, the act of piecing the puzzle together brings hope, despair, and frustation along the way. It teaches you that there are times when being smart gets things done, but there is no substitute for rote hard work sometimes and being smart would not be enough. The puzzle also brings home the point that working on your disadvantages sometimes is not as smart as working on your advantages. Highly recommended if you haven't racked the right side of your brain enough lately.

The size of the Stimulus Package.

The 140 billion dollars of stimulus package announced on Friday says one thing clearly. With the Fed Chief himself hinting at a Save the Economy plan, chances are we may already be in a Recession.


But how paltry the 140 billion dollars seem....? It's roughly 1% of the Overall GDP of the US. It's assumed to rescue the economy from the troubles caused by the housing market. The housing market makes up around 10% of the economy and indirectly influencing consumer spending (that in turn makes up two thirds of the economy) in big ways. How can a 1% injection save a 10% that has gone really really bad?

Maybe, the neo cons in the administration should go easy on the unnecessary war, bring the boys back, and divert the 150 billion dollars being spent there to homeland security. More homeland security would indeed mean more on land jobs for many people. It's a pity that the 600 billion dollars spent on the war may have been spent on the wrong cause of propping up an unstable state, and may have been better spent keeping the country safe from the inside.

Big Bank cries "FIRE!!!"

When the tall guy in a crowded room cries "Fire", what follows is a stampede. There was surprise in the markets when "Goldman Sachs", perhaps the only bank untainted from the sub-prime mess predicted "Recession" coming in 2008.

Given the gloom in the larger market, it could only get worse given such statements. Hope it does not lead the crowd to jump the gun. Thank goodness... Houses don't sell as quickly as Stocks. If not, we would have seen a quick domino fall. Unfortunately for everyone, if there were a recession, it would be a slow painful one.

RIP..... Sir Hilllary!

Edmund Hillary passed away yesterday. ahh.. what a wonderful life it may have been? By scaling the mountain that the world almost gave up on, he set the limits high on human endurance and resolve to conquer difficult odds.

Hillary did not stop at Mount everest. He went on expeditions to the south and north poles, scaled around 10 more peaks in the himalayas, and even went on a jet boat expedition to the mouth of river ganga. All the more, he channeled his fame from younger days towards philanthropy ends, helping the Nepali sherpa's in many ways, thus earning him a honorary nepali citizenship.

The world would miss men like Sir hillary, true Knights with guts and heart.

Small, Cheap, Efficient.... The Nano from India

The Tata Nano was let out of the wraps today.. A 10 foot long, 5 feet wide 4 seater car at 2500$ that goes 65 mph, and gives 50 miles to the gallon. They expect it to go into production this fall season.

If anything, this ought to scare the auto majors making inroads into the developing world and the chinese who may face some serious competition in the cheap car business.

Nano beats the 35 mpg goal set by the US congress for 2020. Maybe, this car is what the world badly needs in this era of $3 per gallon fuel prices.

The car may fail to meet the quality standards at many parts of the world, but it would surely get better as Tata gets to work more on it. If this car were to be a big hit, it sadly means more traffic to india's already clogged up roads, and more carbon emissions.

The Lady is back in action...

Thanks to New Hampshire... Madame hillary is back in the game. She may have learnt a thing or two from her husband, who did the same in 1992 to earn the name:"come back kid".

This should put brakes on the junior senator (Obama) from illinois, who wants too much too soon. Or maybe not because the upcoming primary in south carolina might swing his way easily, with african americans forming a major part of the democratic party there.

Whom will the coming election Empower?

2008 may be a pivotal moment for two rights movements that have been fought for far too long in america. On the one hand, the Womans Suffrage movement from the 1920's and the Modern African American Civil rights movement from the 1960's


The fact that the next presidency shall belong to the democratic party, does not surprise anyone anymore.


If Obama wins, He would perhaps, on account of representing black america in some way, would close the gap between white and black america, that minorities have always complained about. Although Obama does not have any civil rights background (His father being kenyan and him being far removed from any of the hard battles that african americans had to fight), He brings something very unique to the presidency. He's half white and half black, in race terms, and the fact that his father is not an american might elevate america to being the most liberal and representative democracy in the world.


The fact that he is black in a sense, will set the bar higher for the african american minority. Maybe, we shall not see statisticians beaming details of "first black this.. and first black that" anymore. Because the presidency, the highest goal of being represented would have been achieved.

The downside to obama winning would be that he comes to the table without much experience. Wil he run the country or will those under him tell him how to run the country?

If Hillary wins, women would win their badly denied representation and find their heroine in her occupying perhaps the most powerful position in the world. It's a pity that one of the oldest democracies in the world is late to the party of having a woman as it's leader, but it's never too late. There could not be a more opportune time than this. For woman leaders as hillary, are few to be seen in american politics. She is perhaps the most equipeed, with her experience and background, to take on the male political bastion. And the fact that she would come to power with the entire clinton machinery, that her husband painstakingly built, would signal a return to those roaring 90's when america basked in economic prosperity.

The downside to having hillary as a leader is that america would go in history as having been ruled by two families, the clintons and bushes, for 24 years. America would not look much different than any of the budding democracies where a few families control power.


Whatever the result, the next election is expected to make either the women or the african americans sigh in relief after a long battle for representation. What if it were both? A Hillary presidency with Obama as the Vice President. Would that not be wonderful?

What will you bring... 2008? a Recession??

The job numbers from december came out short with private businesses actually cutting jobs, taking unemployment to the worst since 2003.
The much spoken about 400 billion dollars in ARM loan resets this year are still up in the air. There are no numbers announced yet on how the Fed's plan to freeze rates worked it's wonders.
The larger banks of wall street are showing quarter by quarter of losses, and are being brought out by overseas investors.
Could this be recession? we'd have to wait. Maybe, the Fed's expected rate cut at the end of the month shall say more. Maybe, the spending numbers for the holiday season shall reveal more.

Not Obama... Not Huckabe...!!! Come on.. Iowa.

If there's anything that iowa showed last night, it's a great place for the wrong candidates to win.

It's too bad that Joe Biden is out of the race.

Maybe all the female voters were wooed by oprah winfrey towards Obama. Maybe his charm helped too. He talks well and has good personality.. No doubt! But, does he have experience to back him? The fact that he lacks any executive experience and no foreign policy background at all makes Obama an untested candidate that america cannot afford to play with.

As for Mr.Huckabee with his NRA endorsements and pastor background, he would be the most unappropriate candidate at this point of time when a more pragmatic approach towards foreign policy is required. If Mr.Huckabee were to be nominated and win, it would be the most bleakest moment for america's liberal values and world leadership.

Both candidates are mentioned as being change candidates. But what record of change do they bring to the table? Obama has no record of ever having achieved change anywhere, and Huckabee is more likely to change things for the worst (Just think of what would make a man say such insensitive comments as he did about a kid with HIV a decade ago).

Maybe, New hampshire shall change things for good, and undo all the damage from Iowa.

If only the Best came out!!!!

Iowa shall shape up the presidential candidate list for the two parties tonight, and going by the past "Iowa spares none but the best three" and everyone else is reminded that they should now sit on the side lines.

Would iowa provide a reality check to the junior senator a.k.a Obama and his lofty ambitions?
Would iowa shake up madame hillary's invicibility?
Ofcourse, it would push actor politicians like guiliani to the side.
But can Iowa show to america the worthiness of unpopular candidates like Joe Biden.
Would it embrace zealots like huckabee and do injustice to liberty?

Unfortunately.. the results seem predictable. On the democratic side, it shall be obama, hillary, and edwards. On the Republican side, it shall be huckabee, mcCain, and Romney.

Aren't they the popular bunch? If only Iowa propped up the Best, and not the popular candidates.