Forrest Gump Confesses

The Forrest Gump of Global Terror has confessed. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is one of the three hundred and twenty seven (courtesy : random number generator) people the US considers to be Al-Qaeda No 3. This Global terrorist was arrested in March 2003 in Pakistan and was placed in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The terrorist confessed on March 10th of 2007.

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You might have heard this one, but can't resist, this is my all time favourite. Once, way back in early 90's there was a competition for the best police force in the world. The top three finalists were the Russians, Israelis and Kerala police. The challenge was to go into the Muthodi forest and catch three "absconding" tigers.

The Russians took the first turn, and after a day returned with the tiger. Next the Israelis went into the forest and caught the tiger in half a day. Finally, Kerala police went in. Days passed without any news and after a week a search team was sent out to look for them.

The search team found the KP guys just half a mile into the forest. There was a Bear tied to one of the trees and a constable was standing next to it, punching the bear in the stomach. The bear was wailing "I'm not a tiger,I'm not a tiger". The Kerala police chief said " we caught the tiger in less than ten minutes, but this sonofabitch is not confessing".

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has confessed to personally beheading journalist Daniel Pearl, 1993 World Trade Center bombing,Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States,''Filka Island Operation'' in Kuwait, Bali bombings, Shoe-bomb plot for bombing trans-Atlantic flights, plotting to bomb Sears Towers and Empire State building, Plotting to assassinate all American Presidents including Jimmy Carter, Plotting to attack Straits of Hormuz, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Port of Singapore,Panama Canal, Heathrow Airport, Big Ben ,Canary WharfS,NATO headquarters in Brussels, Israel Embassies, US Embassies, plotting the Bojinka Operation to take down 12 American planes in Indonesia AND planning to Kill the Pope, Kill Musharraf and Kill Clinton.

Read full confession here (there are many that I left out after fainting)

Khalid is not just the Forrest Gump of terror, he is the James Bond of terror or rather the Rajnikanth of terror. Osama Bin Laden is reportedly fuming in his cave despite the Afghan winter. Reports say he feels betrayed and mugged in broad daylight. OBL is planning to confess and take responsibility for JFK assassination, Katrina Hurricane and Global Warming to regain his terror status.

Khalid in the meantime on a fast track to terror sainthood in Pakistan and the middle-east might claim responsibility for "plotting" in this mega case as well. That might be another feather in the cap for FBI and Kerala Police.

The Slow Drumbeat of Another war

One can sense it, the slow drumbeat of another war. In the past two weeks the military-intelligence-government complex has been building up a new case against Iran. A confrontation with Iran seems inevitable when one looks at the way the story is being built-up in the media, especially the news deprived 24\7 network channels.

It could be a war or a swift and precise bombing of key installations in Iran. The truth being a full scale war with Iran will be unacceptable to the USA at a time when the extrapolated cost of the Iraq quagmire is touching a senseless 1 Trillion dollars and the fact being Iran is no Iraq.



The war in Iraq was a success in meeting the short term goals of the US,
1. Checkmating Iraq's firepower - Especially the Scud threat against Israel
2. Unseating the Saddam regime and a cleanup of the Baath-Sunni oligarchy

But in a war with Iran, what would be the short term goals,
1. Taking out Iran's nuclear capablity - this will not be easy, given the fact that Atomic installations in Iran are geographically wide-spread and high in count.
2. Unseating the regime - Iran is a functioning democracy and even in their wildest dreams, the US will not be thinking about this.
3. Containing Iran's reaction - will be tough. Iran could go on a rampage in the Persian Gulf and across the middle-east if it is hit. Iran has the firepower to accomplish that and the American forces in Iraq and rest of the middle-east will be sitting ducks despite any ramp up the US intends to and is perhaps currently doing in the Persian Gulf.

Going into a war with Iran has two critical reasons against it,
1. American public opinion - which a propaganda campaign over a period of time may perhaps be able to change
2. World opinion - which asks this Question, but which, if Iraq is any example the current establishment does not really care about

Despite this why would the US make this mistake perhaps in another year or two - the answer is, the conservative right which has placed George Bush and Dick Cheney in charge of the country will not let them go back home without doing something about Iran. There is not much of a choice here and the way things are piling up, it is surely going their way. It may not happen soon, but there is another 'solid' two years left in the Bush Presidency.

Before the bombing starts, lets take a minute off to see what Iran (which has not invaded a country in the past one hundred years) looks like. After the bombing we'll be left with rubble, like Afghanistan and Iraq, it is in the nature of bombs.


P.S : Per the state of the Union did you hear about yesterday's "Valentine's Day Massacre"

P.P.S : Take a look at the 2008 Budget Request (courtesy : RoseCoveredGlasses)

Road to the White House - Miami Caucuses

With the Presidential race for 2008 getting heated up , Miami Caucuses yesterday decided on a bipartisan ticket for 2008. The Caucuses across Budweiser suggested a Republican as President and a Democrat as his VP. The Lincoln-Kennedy '08 ticket was announced by the Caucus leader Stephen Colbert with much fanfare outside Sunday's Superbowl venue. Within minutes CIA's closest base at Bay of Pigs with written authorization from Langley informed the Caucus that both Lincoln and Kennedy were killed and probably both were dead. The Caucus in a state of extreme shock, downed a gallon of Mojito and observed a moment of silence. The Caucus also decided that probably a bipartisan ticket might not be a good idea in a country that has opinions. The search for a new President is on.

How does this CV look like ?

Eric Seagal's book Love Story was closely based on him and his Harvard roomie Tomy Lee Jones.

Serves in Apple's board of Directors and advisor to Google's senior management.

Consistently opposed the war in Iraq and Abu Ghraib, stating the facts. He said "We would not have invaded a country that did not attack us. We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families. We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people."

He didn't say he "invented the internet" but played a major role in creating it. This is what Vinton Gray Cerf and Bob Kahn - the two founding fathers of Internet have to say about our candidate - " He was the first political leader to recognize the importance of the Internet and to promote and support its development. No one person or even small group of persons exclusively "invented" the Internet. It is the result of many years of ongoing collaboration among people in government and the university community. But as the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge his contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater contribution over a longer period of time. "

He led the foreign policy initiatives during the Clinton years. Remember South Africa, Israel-Palestine, Bosnia - Yugoslavia.

He says Global Warming is not a myth and many of us are convinced. His latest Documentary on global warming has created a new found awareness on the issue. Its the third highest grossing documentary in US history, nominated for the 2007 Oscars. Point is he's been saying this since 1980s and got a copy of the Kyoto Protocol for record - though it didn't do much good.

Nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Global Warming.

He served in Vietnam (unlike Bush and Clinton who dodged the draft)

Pioneered the National Performance Review - something every country can do with.

He was elected President of the United States in 2000. But that was the year the US Supreme court elected its own President, our hero - Dubya.

More written word on PBS and NYTimes

Its a long campaign ahead - fresh faces, old horses, promises, vested interests and hypocrisies. More on the 2008 race later. Btw, according to Conan O'Brien, President Bush visited the New York Stock Exchange. It was an awkward moment when President Bush asked, "When do I get to meet Dow Jones?. Then he went on to say the economy is doing pretty good and all the Indian techies smiled. He said Iraq situation is difficult. If Iraq is 'difficult', 'pretty good' for the economy is surely an understatement.

Good Night and Good Luck :-)

The State of the Union

Joseph Palmi: Let me ask you something... we Italians, we got our families, and we got the chuch; the Irish they have the homeland, jews their tradition; even the niggas, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have?

Edward Wilson: The United States of America, and the rest of you are just visiting.

- Good Shepherd, 2006

Pfizer announced Monday that it will cut 10,000 jobs and close five plants, including three R&D sites and two factories, by the end of 2008. Pfizer reported that fourth-quarter sales were $12.6 billion, while net income surged 257 percent.

Source : CNN-Money

"Hey, hey, Uncle Sam,
we remember Vietnam.
They cheer you on when you attack,
when you come home they turn their back
Bush and Cheney talk war-talk,
but we know they’re chicken hawks.
Bring our troops back to our soil.
We say NO blood for oil.

Hey, hey Uncle Sam
We remember Vietnam
We don't want your I-raq war
Peace is what we're marchin' for
We don't want another war
Peace is what we're marchin' for"

- Vietnam Veterans, Peace March on Washington, Jan 27, 2006

CNN and NYTimes imply there is a gradual leftward shift in US politics (after the far right days of '01) . FOX says the new legislature is leftist with San Fransisco values. I listen. Its not my job to analyse news, I pay for Advanced Cable.

State of the Union

Tags from outside the speech, or as it seems to a couch news-freak, scavenger.

US is all about its foreign policy for the rest of the world, but foreign policy did not figure much in the agenda of the new Democratic Congress, the supposedly left leaning one. The much hyped tag First 100 hours wasn't such a waste - Ethics reform, An increase in the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years, Enactment of the 9-11 commission's recommendations, Expanded stem-cell research, Government negotiation of prices with prescription drug companies, Student loan interest rates cut in half and The elimination of billions in subsidies for big oil companies. Not bad for the first hundred hours - NYTimes calls it a qualified success. The United States has a mature democracy that comes home again and again after straying right or left. Which makes one feel, maybe the founding fathers got it right.

The tag Speaker Nancy Pelosi implies just one thing - the Bush Presidency is over. There is no point in discussing Bush anymore, he'll be a lame duck keeping that chair in the Oval office warm till that cold January morning of 2009.With the rout the Republicans faced last November in both the House and the Senate and the overwhelming public opinion disapproving of his performance, you don't need a Karl Rove to figure out that Bush's only option is to buy time and then get out.

President Hillary Clinton or so it seems (blogger relies completely on Las Vegas bookies for future prediction; more on the '08 race later) will inherit Iraq for sure. But the tag Adm William J Fallon could be a trojan. The appointment of this Navy patriarch to head the Central Command (including the hotbeds Afghanistan, Iraq and Horn of Africa) has been ridiculed, as operations and combat in the region is overwhelmingly army. But this could be part of another broad move for more involvement in the Persian Gulf (Iran - the obvious target) and Somalia (which was bombed last week). The war has to go on somewhere.

Iran -an armed intervention by the US in Iran seems unlikely, but that prediction is based completely on the mood of the nation, opinion of experts and the stand of the legislators - three things Bush really don't care about. Will Israel unilaterally make a move against Iran, which threatens its existence quite vocally. Quite possible, but in that case, conflict in the middle-east will reach a level never seen before with a total realignment of forces stretching from Beirut to Kashmir.

Israel - Palestine ; Condi Rice will not accomplish anything in the mid-east even if the Bush Administration changes its "Dont give a damn about Palestine" stand. Because Israel and Palestine have their weakest leaders in history now - Ehud Olmert (with the least popularity ratings of any Israeli leader) and Abbas who is more concerned about his life. Other than that, there will be an overall lack of support for any bold political moves in the middle-east or Iran or North Korea, with Japan and France going into elections,Tony Blair retiring and US public opinion hovering around Iraq and nothing else.

In the few minutes they have between news and opinions on the War, the media rages on immigration and Racism in the US. Paula Zahn *She's got the most genuine look and the most pretty face in Prime-time news* follows the Duke rape case and the LA gang wars hinging on the racist side of this nation. But no one crying over immigration seems to mention the fact that this country is 80% white and it will remain so. It is more like Hindu fundamentalists in India crying over the higher growth rate of the Muslim population - while being completely unaware of the actual figures. And in the US, no one crying over race seems to mention or want to change the fact that cities like Detroit and Michigan and almost all major retirement destinations in Florida are 70-80% segregated in terms of housing. Which means , if you are a white kid, chances are that you wouldn't see a black kid anywhere near your house. And this is the America of 2007.

Back to politics, the Bush presidency will die out into insignificance in the days to come, as T S Elliot put it, 'not with a bang, but with a whimper', while USA will survive, bringing glory and disrepute to the human kind with their huge complex of myths, values, recipes, slogans, figures, and rites - the height of which one will see this coming Tuesday in Miami when the Bears meets the Colts for the crowning glory. Because USA is not just a melting pot, its a Super Bowl.

Good Night and Good Luck !

American Women

“A gentleman asked me to marry him and I said no,” she recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m just beginning to fly again, I’m just beginning to be me. Don’t take that away.’ ”

Elissa B. Terris, 59, of Marietta, Ga., divorced in 2005 after being married for 34 years and raising a daughter, who is now an adult.

NYTimes story citing Census Bureau figures looks like a close follow up to the Time story on Women in affluent Western Europe.

Read the full story here :

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

Excerpts :

"For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one"

"Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom"

“The benefits were completely unforeseen for me,” Ms. Fidler said, “the free time, the amount of time I get to spend with friends, the time I have alone, which I value tremendously, the flexibility in terms of work, travel and cultural events.”


Blogger's : Indian media is all praise for Abhishek Bachan who inspite of all odds decided to save Aishwarya Rai though she is a Manglik. For all my readers from Madagascar, Abhishek and Aishwarya are stars and Manglik is something about planets - if that is of any help.

Western Europe and now the US , do we see any light in Asia . I've maintained throughout, its this simple and see - it works !

Martin Luther King Jr - "I have a dream"

I haven't seen anything more powerful before, full video - Youtube, 17 minutes

Martin Luther King Jr - "I have a dream"

Full text of the speech

Excerpts :

"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

"This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

Isn't it time the Dalits of India have a Martin Luther king of their own, atleast a dream of their own ?

Iran and USA - why cant they talk ?

"One of President Bush’s daughters had her purse stolen while she was in Argentina. The big problem was his plan for Iraq was in the purse. Looks like we have to start all over." - Jay Leno

President Bush is in Europe. Today he visited the country of Estonia. He thanked them for sending troops to Iraq. His exact words were, "Those two guys are doing a good job.” - Conan Obrien

Jokes apart, the mood in the USA is one of despair, the civil war in Iraq has turned out to be the nations worst ever nightmare with comparisons to Vietnam and no easy way out. The news channels are flooded with casuality reports from Iraq and a mounting death toll of american soldiers. Lebanon is headed for another stint of instability, Jordan suspects an imminent Islamic outrage and to top it all Jerusalem is still burning - maybe Saudi is safe, but how safe. The writing on the wall is crystal clear - middle east has exploded and there is no way out. Hope is no more a strategy and despair is not a method. This is where Iran becomes very important.




Iran on its on will not destabilize the Persian gulf region. Iran is the only country that fought the Taliban militarily before 9/11. It has high stakes in the future of Iraq, Afghanistan and stability in the persian gulf as the country heavily depends on the crude oil trade in the region. USA as such has no leverage in the Shia world and normal relations with Iran will help reining in the Shia militias in Iraq and averting an impending apocalypse. It will also help in bringing normalcy in Lebanon where Hezbollah is answerable only to Iran. Syria will automatically fall in line. Now if we look at the map, the mid-east picture could change. Then why cant these guys talk ?

The differences and mistrust between USA and Iran are because of several reasons,

from USA's perspective it could be,

1. The Hostage crisis and its fallout in the American psyche
2. Iran's support for Hezbollah and Shia militias
3. Iran's overt statements and actions against Israel
4. Iran's aspiration for a state-controlled-capitalist economy defended by a nuclear arsenal
5. Overall threat perception in the media and intelligentsia

from Iran's side ,

1. Mossadegh's overthrow and Shah's installation
2. US's overt support of Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war
3. US's attempts to destabilize the Islamic republic
4. US's support of oppressive regimes in Saudi and Iraq
5. Palestine and the "Zionist" Israel supported by the US
6. Axis of Evil statements by the US after 9/11
7. US has virtually surrounded Iran - they are in the gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan and Armenia.Its quite obvious they want the bomb.


At the same time,

1. USA has destroyed Iran's enemy No 2 and 3, Saddam and the Taliban.
2. Al-qaeda is a threat to both countries, US and Shiite Iran
3. Iran and US want peace in the persian gulf
4. US investments in Iran could reduce its dependency on oil money
5. Iran's leverage in the region could possibly offset an instability in the Saud kingdom




The world we live in depends a lot on middle-east as you see in the picture. Iran,USA and the world at large stand to gain from direct talks between the two countries and normalcy in relationships. Iran will have to accept the state of Israel and end its diatribe against the Jewish state which is not helping anybody. USA will have to urgently workout a road-map for a Palestine state. The situation in Israel occupied territories of Palestine is very ugly and getting worse by the day. This one single issue is the primary political cause of terrorism in the region and the world's only super-power should show the spine to address it. Clinton did it, Bush messed up.

The point in starting a conversation is that a channel would be open between the two countries, there wouldn't be drastic steps from either side if talks are on, mutual mistrust will be cleared to a some extend and maybe Israel will start behaving. Iran will not risk ending a dialogue with the USA by making stupid statements like 'Death to America' or 'Nuke the Zionists'. This will pacify the tensions in middle-east to a large extend. Converse is the word on the street.

There have been media reports that the Bush administration may militarily target Iran's nuclear installations. That would be a bad move. Maybe Bush wants to use the WMDs he found in Iraq. Then again if Saddam had WMDs, Bush senior should be having the receipts, right ?


Iranian President's open letter to the American people was published today morning. The letter as usual has been trashed by the media here. But the american public has this unique habit of making their voices heard, like they did on Nov 7th when the Republican's were routed in both house and senate. Hope they will give peace a chance.

Good Night and Good Luck !

Bowling for Columbine

Naomi Rose Ebersol was 'a seven year old angel', she went to school this monday morning and was taken hostage by Charles Carl Roberts,a 32 year old milk tank driver turned gunman. When they found her after an hour, she had twenty bullets in her body. Maybe one could imagine what she went through - twenty bullets in the fragile frame of a seven year old ,what would she have gone through - she only knows; and she is not here anymore to trouble us with that knowledge. Yet the american lawmakers are still very sure that they love their guns more than their kids ,they cling on to the 2nd amendment while the kids dodge or take bullets at school. School shootings have become USA's morning cup of tea - every other day this country wakes up to another school massacre.

On September 13 Kimveer Gill in Dawson College, on September 27 Duane Morrisson in Platte Canyon high school, September 29 Eric Hainstock in Weston High school and October 2nd Carl Roberts in Amish school,Pennsylvania - still parents wake up their kids in those wee morning hours to catch that yellow school bus, what do they lean on ?

The Amish school massacre has taken five lives till today -Apart from Naomi, the others who died were Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, Marian Fisher, 13, Mary Liz Miller, eight, and her seven- year-old sister Lena . Five other girls are hospitalized with critical wounds. The Amish school was a single room school run by the Amish community, with twenty six students. Roberts had entered the school this monday morning with plans to eventually commit suicide.

"He had come armed for a long stay with two guns, sexual lubricant and a makeshift torture rack — a plank of wood with ten eye hooks to secure the children.". He secured the ten girls and asked the boys to leave. As police surrounded the school , he shot all the girls and finally turned the gun on himself without getting unto his full,sick intentions.

Another school shooting and all that gen X grief ?

Well, the real story began after the shooting.

Today, two days after the school shooting and the deaths, one particular thing that surprises me is the forgiveness of the rustic Amish community. Not a single person from that small community appeared angry despite their grief - they are unwilling to accept that the killer who took those innocent lives was evil. Many of them were on the networks saying they forgive the killer, especially moving was the account of Naomi's grand-dad at the side of her body - with her wounds clearly visible - talking about the importance of forgiving the man.

Today they had a small prayer meeting where a slain child's mother prayed with the killer's mother - maybe they talked to god about those small things only mothers talk about. The clippings on the networks were heart rendering as a small village prepares to bury their little ones. They have forgiven the man who did it all and his family is receiving the forgiveness. It is easier to forgive than to receive it with all the humility and grace - and Carl Robert's mother is doing exactly the same.

Maybe those 'little angels' didnt die in vain, maybe we'll make of it some human sense or maybe its just my imagination that says five little kids are singing the sermon on the mount , somewhere in some distant meadow in Pennsylvania - make of it, what you will.

Good Night and Good Luck !

The Commandments of Fascism

George Bush has coined the new term 'Islamo Fasicm'. The new rhetoric is going around with the punch line that if you do not support the War in Iraq ,if you do not support the invasion of Lebanon and if you do not support the bombing plans for Iran - you are a supporter of Fasicm . The rhetoric is very similar to the "either you are with us or against us" doctrine advocated by the Republican administration immediately after the '01 invasion of Afghanistan.

Comparisons are being made wherever possible to the War against Fasicm in WWII - repeated over and over in press conferences, policy statements,University addresses and the right-wing 'fox' media. It might appear attractive to a world blinded by the fear of Islamic terrorism and its global derivatives but on a closer look there are a few very subtle differences between Europe in 1940s and Iraq in 2005.

1. Germany,Japan and Italy were countries trying to take over the world and had invaded other nations making a war inevitable. Iran and Iraq had no plans to take over the world ; They never declared war on USA ; Iran never invaded another country.

2. Allied forces in WWII had more than two thirds of humanity behind it . "Alliance of the willing" in Iraq has a coalation strength less than the fingers on one hand .

3. America's participation in WWII was approved and supported by almost every American, latest polls put support to war in Iraq or plans to invade Iran at less than thiry percent.

4. America's sacrifices in WWII made the world a safer place,its invasion of Iraq has made the free world a lot lot more vulnerable.

Wickipedia defenition of Fascism says - Fascism is a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism.

And look who's Fascist going by that - The 14 Commandments of Fascism

Dear Mr.Bush , movie-makers in hollywood invoke Hitler and the Nazi party to sell holocaust movies -thats for a living , but should the most powerful man on the planet start imitating
Joseph Goebbels for a living .

Hollywoodland

"Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures ... and not enough actors." - Walter Winchell

Motion picture is arguably the greatest art form human race has laid its hands upon and Hollywood is one place we look out for the best movies in the world. Hollywood is another place where honesty comes after its major export - vanity ; And this has in no small way led the industry from one crisis to after another in time - this very lack of candour.

Last few months have been a welcome break from this. Hollywood has started addressing the issue of stars who raise their price and demands to astronomical proportions. The recent firing of Tom Cruise by Paramount , Disney's take on Shyamalan's 'genius' and the indie offshoots are all signs of a change. Sure,its risky business but no mission impossible. Star power has an impact ,but when it starts bleeding studios to death and taking the fan population for granted as suggested in this smoking guns report its time for changing direction of the cruise .

Its true that tinsel world sells vanity or vanity sells in hollywood, but a reality check would make the industry a better place.

Of Human migration

We are all immigrants,some of us geographically,many of us socially in times of upward or descending mobility and a few of us find ourselves in wastelands or newfoundlands after the flood waters of the exodus recede. I remember the poignant scene in the middle of Vasthuhara set in the swelling backdrop of a Calcutta drizzle where Neena Gupta's character says 'everyone of us is a refugee,a migrant'.

Immigration is the biggest debate in the USA these days,I would not call it the biggest issue.The country is divided right through the middle on this debate.Every poll coming in the media and the internet suggest a divided country with a slight edge for those who support legalization of illegal immigrants.This is where we need to celebrate this great nation.Imagine an opinion poll in India about legalization of Bangladeshis in Bengal,ninety nine percent of the smug faced,pseudo nationalistic middle class netizens would opine against it,the rest one percent would obviously have messed up while voting.That is where the spirit of USA comes into play,they really meant it when they put the lady with the torch in the river off Lower-Manhattan.This nation was built by immigrants who shoved their sweat,blood and brains into this cauldron of civilzations and the two and a half centuries old nation still craves for more.The lady still says -Give me your tired... your poor

The new debate on immigration has been triggered by the inflow of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the Southwestern states like Arizona and California.The larger issue remains on what needs to be done about the twelve million odd non-legal immigrants already in the USA.A very harsh law "HR-4437" passed by the Congress also known as Sensenbrenner bill made Illegal Immigrants into felons the same category as murders or rapists, and would incarcerate people who would give aid to Illegals.This piece of law has triggered nationwide protests of mammoth proportions from pro-migrant and liberal groups ,something unseen after the anti-Vietnam movement in the late sixties.

In this world divided between excess and need,immigration is inevitable.These immigrants bring in the much needed human capital into the USA,a country with a dwindling population in many states.They do the kind of jobs that white and black USA never do.I have never seen a white American sweeping the streets,tarring the road or waiting counters in swap shops,it is always the immigrant who takes care of this.The mexican never does it because it was his childhood ambition to sweep the streets of US cities of all the litter but it is the abject poverty,unemployment and the biggest motivator of all - hunger .When their children cry for nourishment in the impoverished streets of Chihuahua and la Paz,at the height of unemployment and poverty when the yellow obscurity of hunger sets in across their eyes,national boundaries may disappear,they may slip into the land of oppurtunities across the deadly desert.

Everybody wants the mexican to work for them,in their farms,stables,roads,schools,gas stations as jobs are aplenty and at their all time high in the booming economy.The open border works more or less based on the supply -demand way.These migrant workers sustain many industries in the USA.On May the 1st when they quit work for a day on 'the day without the immigrant',many industries especially food and meat processing came to a virtual standstill.The impact was felt across the states,the immigrant is not here to steal food,he feeds you.
There is surely an underlying thread of racism against the immigrant.The Ultra-right america which wants the government to deport the migrants and seal the border does not seem have issues with an open border with Canada.A brown immigrant from south is treated differently from a white caucasian from the north or a black jamaican from the east.There is the fear factor around the growing immigrant population which is clearly changing the demographics of continental USA.

The Human side of the issue should not be missed here.Do you deport a person who has stayed in the US for decades,paid his taxes,obeyed the laws of the land citing nuances of immigration procedures.Do you separate him from his family because the law is blind.Do you uproot people in flesh and blood,crush there livelihoods and break their lives because your legislations are unchangeable.Will you throw a child out of school citing issues of national security.
These immigrants are not terrorists or gansters,they are here for a living,let them live,they are a necessity,America needs them.

**********************************

USA is a mature and strong democracy.The law of the land is above any other consideration as these laws are framed after a lot of genuine deliberations.Illegal immigration is an issue that weakens the credibility of law enforcement in the US.Even if the law does not make much human sense,it needs to be followed and enforced.Every American has reason to be pissed off when the sea of protestors wave Mexican flags and sing the US national anthem in spanish.Some radical groups have even demanded that California be made part of Mexico.Imagine protestors in Mumbai waving Bangladeshi or Nepali flags.These claims do not make sense and do not help when lawmakers try to find a middle path on this issue.This will only strengthen the hawks who plan to torpedo any workable legislation on the issue.

**********************************


Illegal Immigration - an honest opinion on this will not come from both these warring sides,each have their own vested interests.Who knows the most about illegal immigration - check out this guy in the photo.To cut a long story short,centuries back he welcomed the illegal immigrant ,they in turn took his land,his forest,his women,his Gods,his rivers.They built ugly urban landscapes in the heart of his habitat,they pushed him into tiny tracts of wasteland and made him an outlaw,they raped his women and killed his children.Now he exists in the cold ramparts of elite museums,take a thirty five dollar day pass and we can find from him - the dialectics of human migration.

Good Night and Goodluck !

Hillary

When this lady, Hillary speaks,you feel like listening.It is not like the rhetorical diatribe that Mrs.Gandhi comes out with everytime she makes a serious speech.Last week Mrs.Gandhi spoke about the office of profit debacle,her point was that many in the Ganges heartland doesnt like her and all that debate in both houses of parliament was because these MPs hate her.It seems these same MPs hated Indira and Rajiv as well,its all personal.She didnt make sense,she cant expect us to sob and cry and call her back everytime she plays this all sacrificing 'bahu' persona.Its true that we like her,but she shouldnt be exploiting our fondness for her every time elections happen in some state.

Hillary Clinton,she was giving this fourty minute long -at times rambling speech in Brown University,C-SPAN was airing it.You like her for the wide variety of things she speak about,at times she opens a whole new perspective on a topic.She's got clarity,strength and a sense of urgency.The political part of the speech was pure rhetoric and mostly around the blunders of the 'Mission Accomplished' administration.That part comes easy I suppose because everytime she said 'our President' the crowd laughed their hearts out for no understandable reason.The second part of the lecture was fresh, and nicely done too.She spoke about,

Office Decoration

When she started practicing law,there was this unique office decoration protocol.If you are a guy, you fill your office with family photos and kids stuff so that people think you are a devoted person with family values.You are from the fairer side,anything that reminds you of family is out of bounds in office,because that would be a sign of a distracted professional.Hillary according to her, camouflaged office space with family signatures.


Descriminations and prejudices of this kind are widespread even today in conservative streams like law as well as sunrise streams like information technology.I know of this Business capablity command center where women work on monitoring the health of systems but in the connected high visibility crisis management group its an unwritten rule that only men should be on the team.This often if not always has a debilitating impact on the women members of the team,they find that few floors are out of reach no matter how hard they climb.The reason cited for the above was women get married,relocate,brain drain,odd hours,pregnancy - except for the last rest is common for both sexes and as for the last I think organisations should be mature enough to understand that women get pregnant.Such an exclusion affects the team in such a way that these women employees stop competing, rather contributing,they dont give a darn if the system goes to hell 'cause they are not the system anymore.Rest is what we see around us.

Washing machine and Dryer

Hillary's mother didnt have a dryer thereby spending her entire afternoon doing the laundry.Nowadays new technology and small families create a lot of productive free time which was spend earlier on these mundane chores.Women should put it to better use,they should dare to compete.

I thought about India,we had excluded women from nation building for a very long strech of time,on top of it we excluded dalits from our thought process,we had divided the rest into four ambiguous groups and again restricted any free flow of ideas.What a waste of human capital and we continue to do that as much as we can.Now I have to contradict myself,women work from dawn to dusk and after that, in some two hundred million households in India,they raise the next generation,feed the future India with food,ideas and values - I think this could be nation building - though it never shows up on the national product,never gets recognized anywhere in developmental economics.

Many of these women are denied a say in household decision making as they dont have any measurable produce.It would be fun if they stop all their work for a week,just to measure the kind of impact it causes.

Almost half our women cant read or write,not that literacy is so important,but the world around us is changing,economics is changing,we cant be a peasant country anymore,hands to mouth existence of Indian villages will have to undergo radical changes,economic output per household will need to increase in the indian countryside as the market dynamics set in,indian villages will have to consume more if this nation needs to go any futher from here and for this incomes will need to increase and it cant be done without value adding extensively to our products.This where education becomes a basic need from now on for the Indian woman.

A clear shift from 'welfare' of women to 'well-being' of women and womens' 'agency' is needed in our policy orchestrations.Respect and regard for womens wellbeing,is enhanced a lot when she has a economic and social role outside the household.Empirical data says so,one respected feminist economist wrote.

How does one manage office and home ?

She said 'everyone of us is a pioneer' and went on to say some bad jokes.
That was one great answer.

The first genocide of 21st century

Is happening in Darfur,she said.Women and children are the worst hit.Killings,abductions,gang rapes and more evidently mutilation of body parts to leave a stigmata of a lifetime are occuring at mind numbing rates.The west needs to intervene.

The west had apologized for Rwanda,Sudan seems to be the mother of all Rwandas.I tend to believe that if Hillary was the Commander in chief of the world instead of Bush,she would have send her troops to Sudan instead of Iraq.War and abject poverty in the dark continent undermines all the glory human kind has acheived in this world.

Hotel Rwanda said 'nobody cares about afrikans,they are not human,they are not even niggers' - I agree,if one hundred thousand people get killed somewhere in godforsaken cantsaythename place in Africa,its just a number for us.If it happens in Europe,it will be World war IV.

Constant Gardener said women never went to war anywhere - we can think about this.

Hillary showed that she can make people think and still be a politician and I believe she should run for the President of the United States.Not that she should win,but that will be one hell of a campaign to watch.

Back home,dear Mrs Gandhi is fighting another election.Nobody asked her to resign,nobody asked her to contest again,we'll spend a lot of our money to bring her back into parliament where she will be doing absolutely nothing and we'll wait for her to cry and resign and leave and contest again when some Samajvadi party MP snorts.Not that we have an issue with that,the Gandhi family has sacrificed so much for us,we continue to love them and Mrs Gandhi is so adorable a person,but I really believe madam could put her time to some better use - like make some nice pizza or something like that.Maino,think about it.

Goodnight and Goodluck !