What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war…A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics…
As Sen. Clinton pointed out back then, this speech is the only thing Obama brought to the Primary campaign. It was enough. In that speech, of which only a few seconds of video remain, Obama laid out a vision for how to use (and not use) military force in the complicated world we live in.
There is an apocryphal story about Gandhi, said to have taken place when he was working as a lawyer in London. It was unusual for an Indian to have an Englishman working under him, but Gandhi had an English assistant. One day Gandhi asked him to do something and the Asssistant asked,
Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves.
We have all heard these explanations.
These are complicated companies.
We’re competing for talent on an international market.
The President was having none of it.
Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that. My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
The pitchforks are out. And not just on Wall Street.
Typically, people like their own boss. But ask anyone and you will hear complaints about extravagant benefits and salaries that others in their company are receiving. Unlike other People, Americans are not resentful of the wealthy. Those who become wealthy by talent and effort are admired. People do not mind their bosses being paid well as long as they feel they are doing a good job.
But there is a lot of anxiety out there. There is a suspicion that too many people are in administrative positions and too few in productive roles. I posted a (whose author is still unknown to me) on this blog about layoffs. It has been an instant hit. Everyone feels they are Andre’.
Obama understands the public mood. He made sure that the bankers understood as well.
The titans of finance — men used to being the most powerful man in almost any room — sized up a new president who made clear in ways big and small that he expected them to change their ways.
….
“The anger gentlemen, is real,” Obama said
It had been a landmark day in the history of American capitalism. Unbeknownst to the financial executives, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner was also on Pennsylvania Avenue that day, meeting with Obama’s auto bailout task force. Although the finance CEOs got a meeting with the president, Wagoner saw only Obama’s senior advisor Steven Rattner at the Treasury Department. During the meeting, Rattner demanded Wagoner’s resignation.
What Went Wrong? is the title of a book by the Orientalist scholar Bernard Lewis about the Decline and Fall of the Islamic Civilization. There was a time when the Islamic Empires ruled from Spain to India and beyond. They had the best scientists, the most sophisticated literature. The basic degrees given out in Western Universitites today (Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate) are translations of Arabic terms used at Madrassas from Morocco to Egypt. The idea of tax exempt foundations to support research and charitable work is Islamic. The Shariah Law gave women the right to property, unheard of in the West till the eighteenth Century. And then it all fell apart. The Ottoman Caliphate lingered on as the sickman of Europe until it was finally abolished in the 1920s by the British.
Something like this is happening with the American Car industry. Obama just fired the Chairman of GM, the closest thing to a Caliph in America. (more…)
So that is the payoff. A few months ago India launched a spy satellite for Israel, using its PSLV rocket. So why take the risk of doing a favor for Israel, when the political situation in South Asia is so inflammatory?
Now we know. Indian satellites lack the Synthetic Aperture Radar that can see through clouds and at night. The Mumbai terrorist attack highlights the importance of being able to track small vessels in the Indian ocean and to watch terrorist training camps within Pakistan. The two countries can fill the gaps in each other’s capabilities. And then there is the whole enemy of my enemy thing happening also.
It is not something either side wants to talk about much: (more…)
Looking at these smiling people, you would never think that the topic of the day was possible layoffs, reduction of employee benefits, and other such matters. As promised in my message a couple of days ago, we held the first of a series of town meetings yesterday to explain our financial situation and to solicit ideas and suggestions from people as to how we might meet this year’s budget gap. Keep those ideas coming. This company is about you. If you were not behind me I would not not be able to lead you to a promising future. (more…)
The best part of Stewart’s merciless takedown of Jim Cramer was the old videotape where Cramer brags about manipulating the market. Just a few months ago people would have watched that tape and nodded in admiration. But now it exposes him as a fraud and possibly a criminal. Every time Cramer would try to weasel out, Stewart would call out a time “2:20″ and his flak would play another damning clip. Why is this guy Cramer not in jail?
It is not just fools who are taken in by market mania. Even Sir Isaac Newton lost twenty thousand pounds in the South Sea Bubble back in 1720. This time around, the victims of Bernie Madoff include a Nobel Laureate (Elie Wiesel), a newspaper tycoon (Mort Zuckermann) and several foundations. (more…)
The Democratic Leadership Council was formed by Al From in the wake of Reagan’s victories. Its aim was to move the Democratic Party to the center. It claimed that America was a center-right nation. Bill Clinton is its most prominent former head. Zel Miller and Joe Lieberman had a turn. Currently it is chaired by Harold Ford Jr.
Things are not going well for the DLC. America no longer looks so center-right. In fact, it looks kinda center-left these days. It is the Republicans who need to correct course towards the center,dragging the mighty whale Rush Limbaugh .
The Democratic Leadership Council — a group of centrists that dominated politics during the Clinton presidency but is laboring to remain relevant in the Obama era — is on the brink of a major shake-up.
At the same time, the Progressive Policy Institute, an influential think tank closely affiliated with the DLC, will soon part ways with the council. Will Marshall, who heads the think tank, said the recent Democratic electoral gains and a massive new agenda being pushed by the Obama administration “require us to think anew.”
Rush Limbaugh is Bobby Jindal’s main sponsor in the Republican Party. They need a couple of dark skinned guys and a gal or two to show that they are open-minded too. As long as the new faces obey the guys who run the Party they are allowed to stand in front of cameras. Bobby understands that. That sycophantic smile on his face is to reassure them that he knows he is pwned.
But Michael Steele does not. Just because they chose him to be head of the RNC, Steele thought that he was the head of the Republican Party. Not only that, he went on a TV show run by another uppity fellow and declared ” I am the head of the Republican Party”. And then called Limbaugh some ugly things.
Such as, he is ugly. Was calling Limbaugh `incendiary’ a reference to the low burning point of all that body fat?
That is why Steele was taken behind the woodshed, his trousers lowered and beaten but good. That was not just to teach him a lesson. A lesson for Bobby too. If ever Bobby thinks that just because he is a Governor he is his own boss, let this be a reminder to him. Sarah Palin is on a looser leash.
I had to write a report this week and was looking through my calendar from last year. Noticed a curious entry, a talk I missed because I was out with a cold. Who exactly is Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, this denier of Global Warming? The magic of Google and Wikipedia allows us to find out easily. The drawback to such convenience is that such information is often superficial.
Publisher’s Note
The original author of this photo-cartoon remains anonymous. I took it from a post on Daily Kos and added the following speech explaining Andre’s fate. The photo has since appeared on many websites. The second speech below is a totally unfair parody of one by the CEO of Beth-Israel Medical Center. I blame our staff member Richard Saunders for the biting tone of that parody. Richard has been properly chastised. His only excuse is temporary loss of sanity from performing experiments on the nature of electricity.
Hello everyone. Thanks for taking the time to get together today at an actual work site. How is everyone feeling in those work overalls? Thought it would be a nice change from the eleventh floor.
I’m not going to waste your time or mince words. The reason for getting together is to bring you up to speed on the company’s status. Unfortunately, it’s not as good as we all would have anticipated even 6 short days ago.
I was humbled and honored to be chosen to give the Republican response to Pres. Obama’s address to the nation last Tuesday. The response to my response has been consistent. Democrats think it was awful. The Republicans are hanging their heads in shame. Only Rush Limbaugh stood up for me. God bless him. He might make me President yet.
I want to begin my response to my critics with another condescending remark about President Obama’s blackness. After all, that is the most important thing about him. It is not important that Obama inherited a country mired in two wars, one of them completely unnecessary. Or that his predecessor was spending twice as much money as he was collecting. I must always start by noting the remarkable personal story of Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and an American mother. I mean, it is just awesome how I noticed that about him. Without me pointing it out, some of you could have missed that. (more…)
A couple of years ago I stopped by Dubai on the way to India. Because many Malayalis work there, Kerala is better connected to the Middle East by air than to the rest of India. I wanted to avoid the maddening crowds at Mumbai airport and also look up my brother who worked in Dubai at that time.
It is the most bizarre place in the world I have ever been. (more…)
In President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, there is a Nobel Prize winner, a former mayor, and a veteran CIA agent. Surrounding him in the White House West Wing are a former four-star general, one of the nation’s most eminent economists, and a handful of this generation’s most talented political operatives.
There are no former CEOs in the Obama Cabinet. And among the people who make up his daily inner circle, there is only a dollop or two of top-level private sector experience.
That was a masterful performance. It has been eight years since we had a President who could utter a coherent sentence. Too long. When is the last time we had a President who could go from describing the desperate situation of the economy, comparing it to Japan’s crisis of the last decade, and then without losing a beat, comment on nuclear weapons in the Middle East and switch to Alex Rodriguez? Eight years.
He even called on that guy Major Garrulous from FOX. Of course Major G. tried to make a big thing of some dumb remark of VP Biden and Obama had to laugh it off. The President did not fall into the trap set by Helen Thomas when asked if he knew of any country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons. He smoothly said that he is trying to enter into a nuclear weapons reductions agreement with Russia so we will have the standing to tell other countries not to pursue them. When is the last time we had a President who gave a shit about our standing in the world? Eight years.
As soon as I saw a picture of Rod Blagojevitch (back during the Dem Primaries) I knew he was up to no good. This judgement, now vindicated, did not come from deep knowledge of IL state politics. I just knew that someone with such a lush growth of hair on his head had to be a bounder. This would be true even if the hair were fake. Donald Trump. Gary Hart (in the eighties, not now). Bill Clinton. Elvis. All talented people, all got in trouble. What do they have in common? Hair where it is supposed to grow, not on their ear or back.
IL has a second chance now with Patrick Quinn. He is different from Blagojevitch in every possible way.
“He’s the anti-Blagojevich, for sure,” said State Representative Jack D. Franks
Mr. Quinn, 60, can be so unassuming that he watched the inauguration of President Obama in Washington crunched down on his knees so that people behind him could get a better view. When prone to boasting, which is not very often, it can be about miserly stuff, like staying in budget hotels and eating discount meals.
More to the point I am making,
And with a hairline more John Lithgow than Elvis, he does not even look the Blagojevich part.
Engineering is the most sought after career among the Indian middle class, replacing Civil Service in the British days. In addition to several elite schools like the IITs, India has several hundred Engineering colleges that churn out techies by the thousands. There is no shortage of talented and well-prepared students for these professional schools, despite the poor conditions in most of India’s high schools. The secret is that students, and parents, spend a fortune on private tuition. There is a whole cottage industry preparing students for the entrance exams.
There is a negative side to this. Sciences and humanities suffer as talent is sucked away into the professions. Still, overall, the system has benefitted society: the Indian economic boom is powered by the graduates of these many regional engineering colleges and to a lesser extent, the IITs.
Pakistan on the other hand has failed in its many attempts to revive its educational system. Not having outlets for their energies, young men-and some women- turn to militant religious organizations for inspiration and guidance. The havoc they cause is a problem for India and the rest of the world, but it is threatening the very existence of Pakistan. (more…)
For someone living within American culture, India’s response to the Mumbai attacks looks either suicidally passive or diabolically clever. Despite daily statements that make vague threats (”all options are still open”) the most direct action India has taken so far is to cancel a cricket match with Pakistan. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister even sent the President of Pakistan a New Year’s greeting card.
The card carries the picture of a white dove with flowers in its beak
Zardari must have said ” Dammit! Why didn’t I think of that card thing?”.
What is going on here? Why coddle people who are still denying that one of the most vicious attacks on innocent civilians was launched from Pakistan? (more…)
I come home from a business trip to see a large envelope from the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Inside is a handsome card embossed with a Golden Seal.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee requests the honor of your presence to attend and participate in the Inauguration of
My heart beats faster. Finally, all those blogs I wrote on Daily Kos are paying off. Impassioned arguments with Hillary Clinton supporters back in the Spring of 2008. Alegre, eat your heart out in your little corner. We are the ones going to the Inauguration.
Barack H. Obama as President of the United States of America
India and Israel have both been victims of terrorist attacks in recent months. Their response could not be more different. Israel has opted for direct action, in a bold and widely condemned attack on Gaza, from where Hamas launched rockets to attack Israeli civilians. India has taken a judicial approach, collecting evidence against the Mumbai attackers and pressing Pakistan to extradite the terrorist commanders who directed the operation from within its territory. Which strategy will work in the long term?
I will not go into the root causes of either conflict. Instead, I will try to explain why each Nation is acting the way it is, and examine whether it is rational for them to act as they do. (more…)
Ever since the Salman Rushdie incident, the word Fatwa has had a negative connotation. Perhaps no word has been as misunderstood, with the exceptions of jihad and madrassa.
It turns out that a fatwa is a kind of judicial opinion from an islamic religious authority. In nations that have adopted the Shariah as part of the legal system, a fatwa could have the force of law. But mostly, it is guidance for the faithful. Because Islam does not have a hierarchy like the Catholic Church, each religious authority has to rely on its own reputation as the force behind its fatewa.
Outside of the Middle East, the most respected school of Islamic studies is Darul Uloom, located at Deoband near Delhi in India. It was founded in 1866 after the defeat of Indian forces by the British. The school played an important role in the Freedom Struggle of India. It opposed the creation of Pakistan, and asks its followers to participate peacefully in Indian democracy. Its influence extends well outside of India. The mainstream of Islam in Pakistan is historically of the Deoband school. After Partition, certain logistical difficulties clearly exist and Saudi Arabia is playing an increasing role in providing support to the madrassas. (more…)
Hoax phone calls used to be funny. As a teenager, Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the Apple computer, figured out the Bell System technical protocols- he and Steve Jobs had found the manual at the SLAC Library. Woz used this knowledge to call the Pope, pretending to be Henry Kissinger. His fake German accent was good enough to get the Holy Father out of bed. But before he took the phone, an aide figured out that it was some California teenager pulling a prank. (more…)
The US National Intelligence Director has taken the unusual step of placing blame in public: AP
The same group that carried out last week’s attack is believed to be behind the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed more than 200, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell said Tuesday during a speech at Harvard University.
McConnell did not identify the group by name. However, the Indian government has attributed the 2006 attack to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group based in Kashmir, and the Students Islamic Movement of India.
Hard to know how to evaluate this information. The Bush Administration just isn’t that credible after the epic failure of intelligence on WMD in Iraq. They could be right this time: the boy who cried wolf was right one time too. Whether or not the LeT are behind this particular attack, it has already been designated a terrorist organization based on its previous record.
At first one may think that the LeT is a secretive organization, operating out of some cave in the mountains. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Although it is banned, the LeT actually operates freely in Pakistan: it just changed its name. It runs schools, hospitals and provides social services. Its headquarters is in Muridke: a suburb of Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city.They even have a website in English. and in Urdu ( the national language of Pakistan.) (more…)
Anger in India is currently focused on its own Government. The mindless bloodbath that followed some previous attacks has not happened. What we see instead is a quieter rage, one that can be channeled to something constructive. For, rage has its uses too.
Every one, the US Sec State included, seems to be counseling the Indian Government against an overreaction. Certainly, no one wants a war between two Nuclear-Armed adversaries.
But what of the dangers of under-reaction? What will be the consequence to India and to the world if they are allowed to get away with it?
There seems to be consensus that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is behind this attack: (more…)
