http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7715896.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7647708.stm
When I started my life in US, in Bay area, what surprised me was that series of big car dealerships, located on either side of El Camino Real. It created an impression in me that Americans eat cars for breakfast. Car is a utility and I do not think that should be elephant in the room. And with this rising environment consciousness, US can no more afford to have elephant. So what I am saying is that Auto industry has to shrink and adjust to global reality. (Please note that I am not an Auto industry specialist :-) )
Auto industry has not played fairly; I read about an instance where GM bought a public transportation system just to kill. Also, just few years back, GM was broadcasting it's lack of support for sensible cars. So I do not have any sympathy for Auto industry. Yes, jobs will be lost but as I described above, Auto industry may need a correction.
US Auto industry may need a correction
Showcasing Indian Government's failure
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7754190.stm
This terrorist attack comes as no surprise to those who are living in any Indian city that is under going so-called change. All these years, we all billionth know very well that every Indian Government is ridden with corruption. And then came this age of growth through the multi-national companies, and Indian Governments instead of rising to occasion, festively continued their corrupt way of life. But we billionth, in spite of having democratic process are not able to turn this tide of irresponsible politics in a non-bloody manner. But unlike we citizens, someone had to show these Governments, the consequence of being dis-functional, and these terrorists have just done that, in a mammoth scale.
Am I happy? I can not say NO, and my feelings have gone past frustration.
Unlawful elements of Nature come back
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7732239.stm
Current forest fire in California has made me say following.
We try to domesticate nature by cutting forest and draining wetlands. Animals, one of many elements of Nature, loose their habitat and also find the law of their land changed. So these newly branded unlawful animals, get hunted or punished for being in domestic land.
Yes, by hunting we take care of one element of nature, but what about weather(hurricanes, forest fires and draughts)? Without the wetlands to dampen hurricanes; and extra forest to negotiate with fire, we continue to pay dearly, again and again.
It is high time that we act on reducing the growth of population, shrink our foot print, so that we can maintain respect full distance from Nature and its elements.
Let us have a baby; they are so.. cute
Today I was in Newyork city and had to walk for 30minutes to reach my friend's home. On the way I came across 3-4 Newyorkers, walking thier dogs.
-First dog-walker was a young lady with two dogs; and when I first set my eye, she was almost standing still, texting on her mobile pc phone. Then she started moving in strides and one of the dog was not ready for straide, and she started yelling at the dog and dragged it.
-Second dog-walker was also young man, with a dog; and when I first set my eye, he was standing near a store, and when he started walking the dog, it was not keeping pace with him, and he went on dragging it.
-I also came across few elderly people, walking their dog leisurely.
I have heard that some of these people have dog because they are living alone.
Yes, puppies look cute but that is not enough of proof, to say that the individual would be responsible to take care of it. I had dogs in my home and know that it is not easy to manage them. The city dogs may want to walk leisurely, especially after staying locked up for long hours inside small apartments. This behaviour is just another example showing that the people are impulsive and are unable to see the depth of responsibility. Any sensible individual would agree that modern communication devices have made us impulsive, anxious and could leave dangerous scars in life, and I believe these devices are just good for utilitarian professional communication.
Look at the irresponsible moms & dads; it just takes spontaneous emotion to throw a veil on responsibility and make a baby. One should not bring a puppy or baby, just because they are cute :-)
Shades of liberalism (Pacifica, NPR & CNN)
When I came to US I started with Pacifica radio station. I used to listen to Amy Goodman's Democracy now, every day from 9.00am to 10am. And I also used to watch CNN at home. Then when I started talking to my friends about politics, they started telling me that CNN is a liberal channel, which I could not accept at all because CNN was no where near Pacifica. Then I started listening to NPR radio and even that did not sound liberal to me. I felt NPR hosts, like Diane Rehm, are afraid to go anywhere near the controversial line. And compared to Amy Goodman & Naom Chomsky of Pacifica, NPR did not sound liberal to me; BTW, I am yet to hear Naom Chomsky on NPR; I guess he Chomsky is too radical for NPR. From past few yaers, I am listening to NPR, everyday for few hours, and I am able to see the shades of liberalism, and I see Pacifica as a far-left, NPR as a center-left and CNN as center-right.
Pacifica station has pacifist agenda and it seems the founder was pacifist and also parent of NPR. Pacifica does not take any kind of corporate contribution and depends entirely on listeners' donations. Even the some of the hosts during night time are volunteers, and keep on asking for volunteers. It seems Pacifica runs on rags and stands for its ideals (See kind of donations they are seeking http://www.democracynow.org/get_involved/donate).
Pacifica gives platform for critics of US, like Naom Chomsky. If you want another views of America which you do not get on main stream, including NPR, listen to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now(War & Peace report); you can even get the mp3 podcast, free at http://www.democracynow.org/ Like Pacifica, NPR station does not let you download mp3 files for free, and that itself shows where they stand. Amy Goodman is a fantastic host, broadcasts controversial issues much weeks before main-straems dares to glance, and she has a bold voice which I am yet to hear on any other radio station.
How easy to close a factory
This article describes the method used by factory owners in China, to close their operation. Owners, showing total lack of accountability to their employees, burn the books and flee. After reading this article, I can understand why major brand names, would rather heavily depend on contractors than run their own factories. Most recent example is DELL, which closed all of their assembly plants. In case of China, it seems fleeing is a best cure for industrialists from other countries like Taiwan, South Korea and province like Hongkong.
Some owners deserting factories
"Tao Shoulong burned his company's financial books. He then sold his private golf club memberships and disposed of his Mercedes S-600 sedan. And just like that, China's biggest textile dye operation -- with four factories, a campus the size of 31 football fields, 4,000 workers and debts of at least $200 million -- was history."
"Government statistics show that 67,000 factories of various sizes were shuttered in China in the first half of the year, said Cao Jianhai, an industrial economics researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. By year's end, he said, more than 100,000 plants will have closed. "
What is Govt. doing?
"Others may flee not out of aversion to bureaucracy but because they want to get away with what cash they have left and not face angry suppliers, lenders, employees or regulators. Sometimes relatives and managers who help run operations flee too, and without anyone who can take responsibility, some factories have little choice but to shut down."
Post US election speeches
Here are some of the speeches given right after Obama won the election. Not that I adore these speakers for anything, off course except Obama, but I was interested in their response to historic nature of Obama's victory.
George Bush speech
McCain's concession speech His best line was "I wish ...... to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.."
Obama victory speech
devide to win: an ancient method
An interesting way of deviding people to win election, as suggested by US Republican operator
Kevin Philips:
"He told the "New York Times" in 1970: "The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republican.""
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11072008/watch3.html
Kevin Philips, was interviewed by Bill Moyer on PBS, on the eve of Obama's election to US presidency.
Federal law or State law
In US, every State can make their own law, in some areas. This has advantages and disadvantages.
This model helps when we are trying to solve a problem which needs some kind of radical action. In such circumstances, adventurous State can take the first leap, recklessly, when every other States are contemplating. Such adventurous states set standard and cultivate the minds of dis-aggrieng people to accept the change. Example: Califorina seems to take a leap when it comes to environment laws, and this may convince other states to adapt atleast some of the changes.
Negative thing is, when we are trying to solve mundane problems. In these circumstances, we may end up solving same problem again and again for every State. Example:- When it comes to voting policies, every state has its own law, and a good voting system is needed, and this is something for which everyone is going to agree, so we can make a one blanket federal law to solve once for all states.
I should conclude saying that this is lay-man's view.
On Obama before the election Day
This is the first time I am blogging specifically about Obama, but have lot to say because I have tracked him consistently, and this is an email that I wrote to my friend living in India.
I do not know to what extent you are in touch with presidential election in US. I have followed this election since 2 years and understood how US presidential election works; it is made up of Primary race which is confined to a political party and eventual Presidential race. Leave these procedure aside, I am writing this to tell my views about Obama.
Saying Obama is a charismatic person is a understatement, and his continental background makes other get curious. He looks studious too. Obama has become a phenomenon is US; TV comedians call him has magician and say he has hypnotic power. Media loves Obama and so many young people. Sometime I get a feeling that supporting Obama is making me look trendy. Few thoughtful Obama supporters, who have understood candidate's policies make fun of other blind followers. I think it is these political-junkies who sit and read online newspapers, blogs understand candidate's policies.
Obama has auto biography called "Audacity of hope", and a reviewer interviewed the author(Obama), on NPR radio, and that interview went for an hour, and that is when I heard about Obama for the first time(Interview was on Diane Rehm). He sounded interesting. Then he started running for presidency and think that was 2years back. I should point out that this presidential campaign started way too early, that is nearly 2 years before the actual election day, and I have followed since then, I should say, on a daily basis.
Obama has many good qualities; he is humble when compared to other, US presidents. In some of his speeches he implied that America is not a perfect country, which one would think is a sign of modesty, but his opponents staged it as unpatriotism. Obama has spoken about integrity and has proved it, in his campaign by being civil towards his opponent and refraining from character assassination. And Obama is good at disagreeing without angering the other person and I have heard him do that many debates. Obama has not shown any intention to exploit his race, in fact he has tried to under play the role of race, and this reticence has made conventional black leaders(like Jessie Jackson) say Obama is not black enough, alluding to the fact that he was bought up by white mother (His dad, Kenyan, was black).
Obama has many qualities but he is not Gandhi, I mean does drive against wall. To give you an example, Obama's full name is Barack Hussein Obama, and he does not use his middle name very often, and I think that is because any association with Islam, including a name, is not popular in US.
Obama is a great orator; his sentences are not exotic but deliverers very effectively. I say 'effective' because it changes voters' mind. Let us go back a bit; when he started his campaign two years back, hardly anyone knew his name, and this is not surprising because he has not spent 20+ years in Washington like Hillary or McCain. Many people, who did not know him at all, have said that they decided to vote for him after listening to speech. People throng to his rallies; last week. in Colorado, he had 100 thousand people and that is not unusual for him; few months back he went on a world tour to meet world leaders, and he was more than well received in EU and middle-east. In that world tour, which was big success, he gave a speech in Berlin and 200 thousand people came to listen to it. As the election day approached, I heard listeners call radio program and tell that after hearing Obama's speech they decided to vote for him.
Obama's consistency, in past 2 years tells something about his discipline; and in past 2 years he has climbed a big mountain, inch by inch slowly showing his stamina. To become nominee of Democratic party he had to defeat Hillary Clinton; she is a such a political heavy-weight to Democratic party, Clinton is somewhat like Gandhi family is to Congress party(Note Kennadies are not that active now.). In fact Hillary Clinton thought that she is entitled to become the presidential nominee of Democratic party and she could not.
Obama has non-intrusive foreign policy; he is not planning to police the world, like George Bush or RNC; instead he wants to negotiate with Iran while his opponent, McCain wants to start war with Iran. People around the world seems to have recognised this attitude of Obama, so he was well received when he went on his world tour. In fact people outside US speak as if he is already a president. In fact, some Canadian's said "US, if you do not elect Obama, we will take him :-)".
Obama has bought so many young voters this year. Till now, youngsters were not active in politics, as if country is outsourced. Now Obama has bought back many of those. Obama he is a big hit in college campuses, there are so many teenagers working for free for his campaign. Some college students, who are working as volunteers, go to night-clubs, in the early hours, looking for eligible voters. I think 75% of people(<30yrs) are voting for Obama. There is so much enthusiasm that people make joke saying that Obama is a messiah and no wonder his opponent, McCain lessened Obama by comparing him to Britney spears and branded Obama as a rock star candidate without any meat. Obama has used Internet and text messaging effectively to keep the all those activists connected/informed. For us technology is a usual thing but it is new for politics.
And candidates have the option rising money for campaign, and Obama made a record in campaign fundraising; traditionally big corporates are the main source; and there are limited corporations and there is a limit on corporate funding too, so corporate funding saturates at some point. But Obama revolutionised fund rising by going directly to regular people, using Internet, and highest percentage of contributions are less than 200$(according to law, maximum a person can contribute is $4K ). So this model of depending on people is highly scalable, compared to depending on corporations. My colleague (an Indian) gave $700, and I gave lowly 10 :-)
Internet has played a big role in Obama's campaign. If you search in google, there are so many bloggers writing/defending Obama's policies, and those bloggers is made of professionals and armatures like you and me. This election season is like festival for bloggers; what surprises me is there are so many people like you & me doing it. And I think party with more educated members gets more bloggers; for example, Democratic party having more educated followers, has edge when it comes to Internet presence.
Internet is so crucial in organizing people for campaign, for example: if I want to work for Obama's campaign, I can go to a website, enter my ZIP code and get the address of nearest office. In any election, irrespective of roar of campaign, what matters is how many people actually vote; so parties should make sure that their supporter make time for voting. Yes, we in s/w know that technology can do many things, but very few can use this in such a mass scale and still make it sound it like a symphony.
In India we take it for granted that anybody can become Prime minister(off course, it happens because of wrong actions) but in US it has taken so many years for black person to become President, so this is going to be a historic election. Still there are people in West Virgina, who say(on BBC radio) that they are not going to for Obama because he is black. And some Jewish people think that Obama is a Muslim so do not want to vote for him. But, but, Obama seems to have turned such crowd in to minority, which is a tremendous work. And people are worried about threat Obama's life; there are people in US who can not accept black person as their president and they could resort to kill him. Many of my friends expressed concern about Obama's safety.
I am writing this because I wanted to let you know and also wanted to document for myself. I wanted to send this few weeks back but did not make time but I can prolong no more because election is on Nov 4th and I am sure Obama is going at least win if not sweep :-)
Democracy
I am not at an expert in constitution and structure of Govt. My knowledge comes by what I hear on radio.
I believe both US and Indian democracies should be decent, but Indian democracy if drenched in corruption. The load of corruption is makes one feel that they are not living in on; it is a window with think coat of dust. If some one can clean that, for which we may need a miracle, then citizen would *really* see the power of democracy. Voting does not make a place, democratic.
In US it feels the people really have rights because one can it working; so feels like you are living in a democracy. What is the use of democratic constitution, however stellar it is, if it is just limited to paper?
May be it was my ignorance, in Bangalore I always felt that Govt. is entitled to access every bit of my information, but in US rules are very different; till they came up with 'Patriotic Act' Govt. did not have free access to public libraries records.
And when Govt. fails protect people from morality police, like Shiva sena, democracy looks useless.
Sex laden TV shows breed teen pregnancy-Solution
Sex laden TV shows breed teen pregnancy... Link
Well, i suggest viewers, young and old, should wear condom before turning on the TV.
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