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.