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?

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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.