tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65865910168055335322024-02-20T00:49:55.282-05:00Pocketful o' WryWatching the caravans pass by...Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-10029871940860263412012-08-05T09:44:00.001-04:002012-08-05T09:44:57.289-04:00"Pigs are people too, my friend!"<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQZQNbOEYipyVVh2m9KrhGTYvML4guD4wlu2HlUfEX4MV3fIHy15bqRj6dPB_-jHs_9_sdgbhlly54vtt_750ayXoojb5ttirvFhNwvaQZvOmEFqzNcfpGJUNEP5U-E76t0qFgSqtVIw/s1600/nykrcartoon_600x450-797290.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQZQNbOEYipyVVh2m9KrhGTYvML4guD4wlu2HlUfEX4MV3fIHy15bqRj6dPB_-jHs_9_sdgbhlly54vtt_750ayXoojb5ttirvFhNwvaQZvOmEFqzNcfpGJUNEP5U-E76t0qFgSqtVIw/s320/nykrcartoon_600x450-797290.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5773184646810865554" /></a></p><div>Oh No! Missed the <a href="http://contest.newyorker.com/CaptionContest.aspx?tab=vote&affiliate=ny-caption">New Yorker caption contest</a> #342 July 23rd, 2012 - check their finalists and tell me I wouldn't have won with this one!!!</div> <div>[category Politics]<br>[tags humor, new yorker]<br></div> Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-46384384115343208352011-04-21T18:53:00.009-04:002011-05-22T07:25:29.883-04:00ABC "Made in America" analysis<p>The <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/MadeInAmerica/">ABC "Made in America"</a> series of segments indeed made for good TV - challenging Smithsonian about its gift shop sourcing, daring an average American household to turn its possessions out for inspection, and collaring Everyman on the street daring them to strip down to American-made-only clothing if any right there in front of their candid cameras and all turning up at the short end. </p><br /><p>However I'm not sure that I care too much for their in-your-face journalism. </p><br /><p>Can we now turn the tables on them and ask them: </p><br /><ul><br /><li>Diane Sawyer - what is the car you drive? your desk, your computer where were they made? your roofing, carpetting, at home... give us an accounting! where was the scarf you wore made? the suit? the jewelry? the perfume, the lipstick? </li><br /><li>David Muir - hey is that name your own? or is it French? Scotch? and the suits you wear? the shoes? the car?</li><br /><br /><li>And ABC - could we please find out how local your suppliers are? </li></ul><br /><p>It would be so much better if they would just do their real job as journalists. There are so many layers to this story that I wish they would spend the remaining segments on addressing those layers: for e.g. </p><br /><ul><br /><li>could they probe beyond the consumer level; is consumption at the business consumption level also all non-American? planes, trains, ships, tractors, elevators? perhaps we are ceding one type of production to the world, just so that we focus on where our country's value-add is greatest - is there enough mark-up and volume there in handmade furniture to keep all our demographics gainfully employed? if so we should all become hand-crafting carpenters and get the chinese out of the business of cheap machine made furniture, if not would we be better off learning the truth and redirecting our energies? </li><br /><li>could they go beyond why America consumes so much more of goods produced outside but why does America consume so much at all? can we learn to live less largely, and within our means? </li></ul><br /><p>And then in this interconnected day and age, shouldn't we celebrate our so-very-healthy diversity of tastes and interests? granted much of the diversity is motivated by bargain-hunting, but some of it reflects our complete open-mindedness; I so love it when I walk into a World Market's store and can't tell whether I'm in my native India, or the Fisherman's Wharf at San Francisco where I first ran into one. And that is something that should be celebrated, something that the world, China, India, Brazil can emulate - for if they followed our lead and shut their markets to the rest of the world and to us, the whole world will very soon hear the giant sucking sound that Ross Perot (I never thought I'd be taking his name this reverentially!) talked about nearly 20 years ago!</p>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-55017207194584095632011-04-20T19:35:00.011-04:002011-04-21T21:23:33.298-04:00Ai Weiwei - Julian Assange deja vu??I agree with Rushdie's observation, that artists even in free societies risk derision when they perform a public role. It seems that it is not just artists, it's anyone who tries to live an authentic life could be in such danger. Salman Rushdie writing in NYT yesterday in a piece titled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/opinion/20Rushdie.html?_r=1">Dangerous Arts</a> tells about the experience of artists in protesting against public authorities. And as he rightly points out, this is something that happens in free societies as much as in repressed ones. So may be free societies need to set a better example?<br />Just read Rushdie's account of the treament meted out to Mr. Ai Weiwei.<br />"The authorities have embarrassed and harassed him before, but now they have gone on a dangerous new offensive.<br />On April 4, Mr. Ai was arrested by the Chinese authorities as he tried to board a plane to Hong Kong. His studio was raided and computers and other items were removed. Since then the regime has allowed hints of his “crimes” — tax evasion, pornography — to be published. These accusations are not credible to those who know him. It seems the regime, irritated by the outspokenness of its most celebrated art export, whose renown has protected him up to now, has decided to silence him in the most brutal fashion. "<br />If it isn't almost to the last line taken from the West's playbook on Julian Assange, I don't know what else is!!!<br />I think the only thing left for us to do is to slap an Intellectual Property lawsuit on the Chinese for stealing our tactics on dealing with artists, bohemians and now plain old database engineers who hold a mirror to our faces and dare to spill the truth!Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-6459731821898932532010-09-19T11:30:00.020-04:002010-10-03T23:54:02.954-04:00Are we lost in the shuffle?And even if not, is it too little too late? or does it matter?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12476">This week's issue of "America"</a> - the Catholic weekly - carried a story that threatens my already fragile sense of identity - or maybe not! It's the story of the Church's attempt to address the problems of the "historic churches of the Middle East" including the <span style="font-style: italic;">Syrian Catholic</span> church.<br /><br />Wait a minute, did they say 'Syrian Catholic' without mentioning that other (Kerala) Syrian Catholic church? did they forget to include the Syro-Malabar or the Syro-Malankara churches even as they talked of 'historic churches' (see picture below from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic_Churches">Wikipedia's entry </a>on same subject)? Yes, and, yes!<br /><br />Ok, perhaps the issues behind the story did not really relate to anything that might resonate with Kerala Syrian Catholics?<br /><br />Oh, wait another minute! The issues they are to talk of, are Immigration and Emigration! If anyone has experience of those two topics that would be Keralites indeed! Whether the issue is that of immigration <span style="font-style: italic;">into </span>the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) "where public observance of christianity is prohibited" and so presents a problem, or emigration <span style="font-style: italic;">to </span>host countries like USA, Canada, Australia, Kerala Syrian Catholics have direct and relevant experience of both topics!<br /><br />So why would the Church not include the Syrian Catholic churches of Kerala (the Syro-Malabar Church or the Syro-Malankara church) in these discussions? Is it perhaps that the Church is not so much interested in tending to the needs of her flock, as much as playing politics in the Middle East??<br /><br />According to the story emigration puts "their historic communities in jeopardy. When they assimilate in their new countries, they are likely to lose their distinctive historic identities. Even when they remain Catholics, they are likely to join Roman Catholic congregations." You bet it does that - puts their communities in jeopardy - it's been doing that ever since Kerala Syrian Catholics have been migrating outside of their home state of Kerala whether to neighboring states within India or to countries outside. From the loss of their genealogically significant and colorful family names, to the slow mainstreaming of their womenfolk from chatta and mundu of yore to saris and now to the ubiquitous salwaar kameez, or the withering away of songs and hymns and ritual in Syriac, in favor of christmas trees and fruit-cake, Kerala Syrian Catholics in the diaspora in India and abroad, I think, have lost, failed to hand down or be handed down a core sense of Keralite identity, instead assimilating the dress, speech, and rituals of the dominant elements of their host societies.<br /><br />Whether it's totally a bad thing is debatable - better to lose an atrophied identity and remain a living vibrant tolerant human being, I would say! In some later posts I'll try and document what those losses and gains have been for me on a personal level.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/St_Thomas_Christians_divisions.svg/500px-St_Thomas_Christians_divisions.svg.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 354px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/St_Thomas_Christians_divisions.svg/750px-St_Thomas_Christians_divisions.svg.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-55477812936371660962009-01-20T17:36:00.002-05:002009-01-20T17:39:40.851-05:00Dr. Lowery's Inaugural PrayerDr. Lowery's Inaugural benediction<br /><br />Also known to be the Black National Hymn??<br /><br />http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/01/rev_lowery_inauguration_benedi.html<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"> <p>God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.</p> <p>We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.</p> <p>For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.</p> <p>We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.</p> <p>And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.</p> <p>And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.</p> <p>Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.</p> <p>We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.</p> <p>Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.</p> <p>Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.</p> <p>Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.</p> <p>AUDIENCE: Amen!</p> <p>REV. LOWERY: Say amen --</p> <p>AUDIENCE: Amen!</p> <p>REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.</p> <p>AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.) </p> </blockquote>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-86067114304992903542008-11-05T08:38:00.004-05:002008-11-05T09:22:24.620-05:00Historic Day! Barack - the Blessed and the Good!So many emotions fighting to take control of this page!<br /><br />The first, that America, the country, the institutions, the people have come through and made good. It still will not compensate for the many lives that have been lost or marred forever, it will not bring back the vast sums of money and resources squandered in terms of arms and munitions equipment that were built to merely destroy life and property, it will not bring back the economy that was used to deficit-finance this paranoia-driven conflict. But America has brought itself back from the brink!<br /><br />The second, that it was achieved by this brilliant talented young man so appropriately named Barack Hussein Obama, as <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/barack-hussein-obama-omar-bradley.html">Juan Cole so beautifully explained it:</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Barack is a Semitic word meaning "to bless" as a verb or "blessing" as a noun. In its Hebrew form, bara</span><u style="font-style: italic;">k</u><span style="font-style: italic;">, it is found all through the Bible. It first occurs in Genesis 1:22: "And God blessed (</span><i style="font-style: italic;">ḇāreḵə </i><span style="font-style: italic;">) them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Here is </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.studylight.org/lex/heb/view.cgi?number=01288">a list</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> of how many times </span><i style="font-style: italic;">bara<u>k</u></i><span style="font-style: italic;"> appears in each book of the Bible.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Now let us take the name "Hussein." It is from the Semitic word, </span><i style="font-style: italic;">hasan</i><span style="font-style: italic;">, meaning "good" or "handsome." Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form." </span></span><br /><br />The graceful way he carried himself, conducted his campaign, politically and strategically challenged his opponents through the primaries and the general elections, are so completely in synch that there is not one discordant note. All this while attending to the needs of his young family and holding on as much as possible to their privacy, while at the same time drawing on their support where possible... I'm just blown away by it all. My younger son, so presciently remarked - and he's just a human being after all. Well, he's a human being "with a righteous wind at his back."<br /><br />This is what originally drew me to America. This is why I thought it would be a good idea to become a citizen. Only to be ruing the thought for the past 8 years!<br /><br />But I have come back, come back from the brink myself! And I'm ready to believe in it again.Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-71131379748426849092008-11-01T11:17:00.002-04:002008-11-01T11:53:42.165-04:00Well its all coming down to Texas vs Taxes.And this year Americans will be going for 'Taxes', 'lower taxes', that is. Out with Bush from Texas, and in with Lower Taxes. Wish it didn't have to just be that - but we don't look gift horses in the mouth.<br /><br />What I would have really loved though, would have been if things could have been rolled back in the following order:<br /><br />1. Americans had voted Al Gore in with a resounding majority in 2000, because they could see the real thing.<br />2. Gore would not have been left hanging with the chads in FL in 2000.<br />3. Failing that, the Supreme court had sided with Al Gore in Bush v. Gore in 2000.<br />4. Pre-9-11 Bush had taken the Clinton admin briefing on Al-Quaeda threats, read the August Intelligence briefing on the same, and along the way stuck to his principles of Compassionate Conservatism and not splurged the Clinton surplus on unneeded tax rebates for the wealthy, and Social Security privatization efforts...<br />5. Immediate post-911, Bush had not taken the "let's see if we can squeeze out an Iraq war out of this 9-11 tragedy" stand<br />6. Congress had not gotten hoodwinked by Bush and given him via the AUMF what he thought was a carte blanche on War, but what they thought was merely the power to make growling noises to threaten the other side with war.<br />7. Colin Powell and the CIA had not gotten hoodwinked by Bush and cheney into placing all risks of misrepresentation about the war into little asterisked footnotes in their UN and Intelligence reports. (which footnotes were ignored the very same way as the American people refused to read the footnotes on the IPO and hedgefund and sub-prime mortgage offerings from Wall Street - same modus operandi as used by the 3-card monte scam artists you find in any urban back alley!!)<br />8. Members of Congress had the gumption to call Bush on his overstepping the authority granted by their AUMF when he did go to war.<br />9. Members of the Congress had the gumption to impeach Bush for war crimes that were beginning to be committed in their name.<br />10. The Dems had a better candidate to offer the country in 2004 (McCain was correct - wish Obama could have run in 2004!)<br />11. The country could have seen that only the Devil's side would swift-boat a real war hero like Kerry.<br />12. The country would have spurned Bush unequivocally in 2004, knowing he took us to war on FALSE PRETENSES, against a country that did us no harm, killed half a million people (both US soldiers, and coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians), displaced another few million ordinary Iraqis, all in ever-changing reasons to go to war (Al-Q, WMD, democracy, ME chaos...). That would be the Pro-Life stance!<br />13. In 2008, when Obama eventually ran on an anti-dumb-war, pro-people, pro-economy platform, people would without pre-condition flock to his anti-war message.<br /><br />But the Lower Taxes message resonated.<br /><br />Yes $1000 saving in annual taxes to your pocket resonates far louder today than all the other tugs to American heartstrings and pursestrings and sense of fairness and logic and outrage and...!<br /><br />Why am I not surprised???Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-19328632223596392592008-11-01T10:12:00.001-04:002008-11-01T10:14:34.192-04:00A beautiful comment on NYT<div>You will appreciate this comment below from someone on NYT (riffing off of one of loveliest Psalms in the Bible - "My Shepherd is the Lord, nothing indeed shall I want... "</div> <div> </div> <div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/obamamercial-divided-we-watch/index.html?hp#comment-164057"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1225548781_0">http://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/obamamercial-divided-we-watch/index.html?hp#comment-164057</span></a><br /></div> <div><br />"McCain’s experience is<br />defeat after defeat,<br />being captured,<br />crashing planes,<br />panickly picking Palin etc. </div> <div>The Lord is Obama’s Shepherd,<br />He will not lack votes,<br />He makes him composed and not panicky;<br />The Lord leads him as like a Pastor tending great multitudes; The Roaring Crowds waving by;<br />Obama’s table hath the Lord furnished;<br />In the full glare of Palin and McCain;<br />As Abel’s Sacrifice was accepted by God in the full glare of ‘Cain!<br />Obama’s Vote boxes overflow with votes;<br />White house and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1225548781_1">Oval Office</span> therein shall surely await Obama;<br />And he will dwell and reign there-from four years and four more;<br />To the pleasure of all Americans and all Men of Goodwill the World over"</div>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-76191348249290604422008-11-01T09:55:00.002-04:002008-11-01T10:02:17.832-04:00Own 1/millionth of a chance to party in Chicago :) !!!Today I succumbed one last time to Obama's plea for cash to outwit the OTHER One, the Maverick! The carrot (pshaw! I don't need no carrot!):<br /><br />"<span style="font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/m2/55c139c9/5012b12d/102a1c3d/11884928/1287178274/VEsE/"><strong><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1225547839_1"></span></strong></a>As a bonus, any donation you make today means you could be selected for a trip to join Barack in Chicago on Election Night. We'll fly you and a guest in, put you up in a hotel, and make sure you have some of the best seats for our huge public event with tens of thousands of supporters"<br /><br />Don't disturb me, I'm busy checking out the flight schedules...<br /> </span>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-939942050873450712008-11-01T07:50:00.005-04:002008-11-01T09:55:16.496-04:00Response to NYT on Taxes and RegulationI wrote this originally in response to a letter from an NYT reader to their OpEd editorial by Egan on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26egan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">"Party of Yesterday"</a>. But NYT came back with an autoreply on their standard conditions for publication - less that 150 words (this was more like 570), and while I made a half-baked effort to edit it it meant cutting out 2/3rd of the meat and potatoes, so I found a next-best home for it as a comment on <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/better-not-just-more-regulation/">NYT's economix blog</a>, and which I'm transplanting down here.<br /><br /><indent><span style="font-style: italic;">One of the Letters to the Editor on Egan’s “Party of yesterday” is typical of Americans attitude towards taxes, as well as regulation and anything government-done.<br />The writer (Cliff Johns, KY) claims “Demand for our products and services, not government programs, allowed us to create these jobs.”<br /><br />I have been raised and lived all my adolescent/young adult life in India, during a period where there was a rampant black market i.e. tax-free parallel economy. Paucity of public revenues forced all then existing infrastructure to go to pot, and new ones were built on black-market cement to faulty codes bringing with it post-construction mishaps. Adulteration of everything from foods to cement along the lines of the chinese baby-food scandal, was rampant. Even an honest entrepreneur in the India of those times would have to pay “black-market” protection money to everyone up and down the line that would guarantee his company’s existence, and allow his product, compromised as it might be, to reach the hands of his consumers. Not because Indians lacked the intelligence or creativity or even honesty of Cliff Johns and the like, but because the infrastructure and the environment (labor, electricity, roads, you name it) conspired to weaken their products and their attempt to reach them to the market, and there but for the grace of God goes you Cliff Johns!<br /><br />On the other hand during my lifetime here in the US I’ve seen upstart companies like Fedex, Microsoft, Walmart, incorporate, set themselves up in business, grow and themselves become the infrastructure upon which newer American ingenuity can foster and become commercially productive. Were it not for roads, rail, electricity, law enforcement, and each one’s personal integrity, this could not be. The UPS that delivers my e-bay purchase within 2 days of the click of the mouse would not reach me were it not for all these invisible layers of infrastructure, laws, regulations, public supervision, that we take for granted.<br /><br />Americans, the Republicans (really or mostly), take for granted such foundations of a civil society, and at their peril. They falsely and childishly attribute all their (real or stock market) success entirely to their own smarts. We are already seeing the unravelling of civil society in the Wall Street and corporate dishonesty that has produced the bailout crisis. The illness has spread so far so deep. And I am not talking of lack of demand and economic woes, but the inability to differentiate between the private good and the good of those to whom you have a fiduciary duty whether your customer, your shareholder, your employee; I am talking of the inability to differentiate between the private good and the civic good whether it is to contribute your share of the infrastructure, environment, the parks, the very emergency funds from which the bail-outers are so wantonly dipping their hands into. This myopia was so rampant in India, but so rare in the America that I was first privileged to see. The argument that it is the “rich” that are helping create the wealth that is trickling down fails to see that it is the many hands of the middle-class that have helped build and maintain the infrastuctures that the rich have built their empires on.<br /><br />It is not “giving money away” as Cliff Johns the letter-writer says - it’s just paying the piper, and when you forget to pay the piper don’t be surprised to find the music will stop.</span></indent>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-69727876694576080032008-09-23T08:03:00.005-04:002008-09-23T08:16:12.288-04:00What is $700 billion going to mop up?When you have a $ 45 trillion spill?<br /><br />Here's some facts to remember/read on <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/21/9322/74248/245/602838">Three Times is Enemy Action</span></a> by <a href="http://devilstower.dailykos.com/">Devilstower <br /></a> over at Dailykos Sun Sep 21, 2008 at 06:03:41 AM PDT<br /><br />"Here's business correspondent Bob Moon and host Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media's <em>Marketplace</em> from back in the spring.<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"> <p>BOB MOON: OK, I'm about to unload some numbers on you here, so I'll speak slowly so you can follow this.</p> <p>The value of the entire U.S. Treasuries market: $4.5 trillion.</p> <p>The value of the entire mortgage market: $7 trillion.</p> <p>The size of the U.S. stock market: $22 trillion.</p> <p>OK, you ready?</p> <p>The size of the credit default swap market last year: $45 trillion.</p> <p>KAI RYSSDAL: That's a lot of money, Bob."</p> </blockquote><br />FYI - 'Credit default swaps' are just hot-air trades - i.e. as in trades in the hot-air that steams off of hot-potato (no-doc mortgage-backed securities) trades, exactly that!Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-33873335599476472532008-09-22T21:48:00.002-04:002008-09-22T21:52:11.340-04:00What Marrying into Money Can Buy You<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/MvO_compare.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/user/3/MvO_compare.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-62465675859820580642008-09-20T06:49:00.004-04:002008-09-20T07:41:58.804-04:00Difference between Bush 41 and Bush 43?Just 2.<br />$2 <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Trillion</span></span>, that is!<br />Iraq War (ref Joseph Stiglitz) - <tab>$ 1.5 Trillion</tab><br />Crony bail-out so far* - $ 0.5 Trillion<br />Of course that's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not counting</span> the as-yet-to-be-decided bail-out to purchase the toxic securities on investment banks' books!<br /><br />* Crony bail-out broken down as follows:<br />Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (US Treasury) - $ 200 billion<br />Loans to banks - $ 183 billion<br />Loan to AIG - $ 85 billion<br />Loans to investment banks - $ 60 billion<br />Financing to JP Morgan to buy Bear Stearns - $ 29 billion<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Total deal - $ 557 billion</span><br />(* Ref Washington Post, Sept 19, 2008, "The Insiders - In Crucible of Crisis, Paulson, Bernanke, Geitner Forge a Committee of Three")<br /><br />And the tab for Bush 44, another Republican administration?<br />At the going rate probably another Trillion dollars!Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-34210607713057482272008-09-18T21:36:00.005-04:002008-09-18T22:07:50.891-04:00Unforgettable campaign 2008 quotesMaureen Dowd - NYT 9/18/2008: about an Alaskan protester's handpainted sign <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"McPain + Palin = McPain"</span></span><br /><br />Obama in Nevada on 9/17/2008 on McCain fighting the old-boy network (as reported on NPR and paraphrased): <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"The old boy network? In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting!"<br /></span></span>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-67403581830938590182008-09-18T07:03:00.008-04:002008-09-18T08:14:19.279-04:00Voter Registration, deadlinesMade me want to tear up, reading this poem over at Daily Kos <br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Old black man<br />With cane<br />Slowly<br />walks by me....<br />...<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/18/73344/7813/581/602502">Read in full here</a>!<br /><br />(For a full list of voter registration deadlines <a href="http://www.rockthevote.com/voting-is-easy/important-dates/">check out Rockthevote</a>)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-12562585673582071562008-09-18T07:03:00.002-04:002008-09-18T07:10:29.223-04:00why does WP's Tom Toles read my mind?Like he's got a direct feed off my head?!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinion/ssi/images/Toles/c_09182008_520.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinion/ssi/images/Toles/c_09182008_520.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Newspaper cartoonists lend the news media - shameless advocates of the Bush regime - a little shred of dignity!<br />I've always loved Tom Toles!Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-80246171687318334202008-09-13T11:32:00.001-04:002008-09-13T11:34:07.792-04:00ABMAFO - Signed onto campaign for O!After being a lurker and $ (small) contributor, I have signed in to campaign for O!<br /><br />Sent emails to some friends who so kindly replied and agreed to join! (Was scared about that at first, as I felt I was using my friends, but I think the cause is indeed right - I wonder though do all activists feel the same way - Republicans too (I'm going to stop calling them Repugs, for one thing - let it be a grown-up discussion, and may the best grownup win!)<br /><br />First event at VA this Sunday!!<br /><br />Will make calls, and go door to door in VA the next few weekends! A friend will also join me from Long Island on the weekend of October 3rd!<br /><br />Why? I asked myself for the 3 most important reasons why I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and do this, and after going beyond the horse race aspect of it - the anger of the past 8 years, the disappointment over Gore's loss (a good man against an air-head only, I originally thought - boy, was I mistaken!), the anger over Kerry's loss (the deceitfulness of the swiftboating of a veteran by a draft dodger no less!), (all of which made me realize I was complicit in those events because I did not participate, tho' I did donate to Kerry's campaign, and kept up a pro-Kerry buzz at work; no one in my immediate circle of friends/office-mates were left unaware of my political persuasions) - after going beyond all of that I settled on the following three reasons why I need to be doing this.<br /><br />First - I have 2 children who are born and bred here in the US and consider it their home, their country. I cannot bear leaving them a legacy of financial debt, deteriorating health, education, social, environmental, infrastrucutural prospects combined with foreign policy fiascos that will leave this country mired in one crisis after another, with only the law of the jungle - might is right - prevailing. That is the exact opposite of what attracted me and brought me to this country, and I certainly don't want that to be what I will leave my children to, if I can help it. McCain will guarantee that that will be the case. Obama will guarantee that it will not!<br /><br />Second - I have friends and family in many parts of the world, and strong immediate family in India. The approach taken by the US in the past 8 years and under a McCain administration threatens the world, in short my friends and family, and indirectly pits my children against my own siblings' children. It is a metaphor for what is happening to others - unwittingly all of us, children of the same god, are being pitted against one another by right-wing paranoia that plays on our nerves. Under Obama, I know bridges will be built, friendships secured and we will be be able to rebuild from the present wreckage as after a disaster storm.<br /><br />Third - while I come from and am in comfortable circumstances both when in India, and where I am now, I know of many who just struggling to get by there as well as here; and I can imagine many similar others the world over, in most of the ravaged political hot-spots of the world. I think a powerful, wealthy country in the name of its citizens in the US has an obligation to better the circumstances of such less fortunate people the world over, or at least do no harm to those less fortunate, and certainly not plunder and loot from the meager resources of those less fortunate (in the name of spreading democracy no less!). It is patently clear that the past 8 years we have seen such a devilish operation in place. And under McCain, Compassionate Conservatism Phase 2, will come into operation. This cannot happen.<br /><br />So ABMAFO - Anyone But McCain, All For Obama!!<br /><br />I understand I have just stated as a fact that McCain will continue what Bush and Cheney have set in place, and Obama will overturn or gradually correct things - how do I prove that?<br /><br />Well for starters take a look at their campaigns - <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Cobject%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22movie%22%20value=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22allowFullScreen%22%20value=%22true%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cembed%20src=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1%22%20type=%22application/x-shockwave-flash%22%20allowfullscreen=%22true%22%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22344%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/object%3E">here's a good summation.</a><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IH0xzsogzAk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-66164936106329266782008-09-13T07:31:00.013-04:002008-09-13T09:11:38.866-04:00Do you hear the people sing? Les Mizbarack<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W3ijYVyhnn0&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W3ijYVyhnn0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-7607345672059373092008-07-17T06:15:00.002-04:002008-07-17T06:22:22.159-04:00Geography BeeRan into this c-u-ute video - Bet you can find <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/1211060">the spot on the globe that's home</a> to you!! (Say it's all of them!)Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-55809821943670571982008-03-16T09:12:00.000-04:002008-03-16T09:13:28.060-04:00Obama - Right on Wright<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7piGy0u43c"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_7piGy0u43c" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-37616473384474397102008-03-09T07:59:00.003-04:002008-03-09T08:10:51.448-04:00Obama leading Intrade on SuperdelegatesObama trades at 57 (to Clinton's 36) on the "<a href="http://www.intrade.com/">Receives most superdelegates</a>" contract!<br />(go to from Intrade homepage go to Politics/Dem. Pres. Primaries / "Most Superdelegates - Clinton or Obama?")Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-63991957045073935662008-03-09T07:41:00.003-04:002008-03-09T07:50:39.721-04:00Imitation is the purest form of flatteryHill-St.John co-opts Obama's message, tweaking it to personalize it like I do with my Yahoo homepage - it's still the Yahoo homepage, who am I kidding?<br />BHO - Yes we can,<br />Hill - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfa9XIJxdAg">Yes we will</a> -<br />And now watch St.John at the end of the tape below - Yes we must<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_A53PAxeR8&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_A53PAxeR8&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-89584280030224590972008-03-08T16:44:00.004-05:002008-03-08T16:53:19.457-05:00The threshhold story - now I get itWhen you hear what she said <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Cobject%20width=%22425%22%20height=%22355%22%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22movie%22%20value=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/RZsYWiywdCA&rel=1&border=0%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam%20name=%22wmode%22%20value=%22transparent%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cembed%20src=%22http://www.youtube.com/v/RZsYWiywdCA&rel=1&border=0%22%20type=%22application/x-shockwave-flash%22%20wmode=%22transparent%22width=%22425%22%20height=%22355%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/object%3E">here </a>-<br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RZsYWiywdCA&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RZsYWiywdCA&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />and put it together with what she says <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/03/07/politics/fromtheroad/entry3917679.shtml">here</a><br /><br />it all makes sense<br /><br />that she meets the Commander in Chief threshhold when Obama's holding her hand helping her over the stile!<br /><br />Obama nips that bud with <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/08/politics/main3919513.shtml">style</a>Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-36822815442232528062008-03-08T15:50:00.003-05:002008-03-08T16:09:55.756-05:00Wyoming - first in women's suffrage - votes for ObamaWyoming <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/08/obama-leads-in-wyoming-democratic-caucuses/">knows the real deal</a> when it sees it!<br />Obama: Clinton 58:41 as of 4.pm EST<br />Wyoming is apparently the first state to grant<a href="http://www.museumoftheamericanwest.org/explore/exhibits/suffrage/"> women suffrage in 1869</a> (just heard it on CNN and googled this link to the full history). And its caucus results today at first blush may seem contrary to this this tradition; however that is not so. It has kept up the true spirit of the suffrage movement, that women's rights are symbolic of rights for every person, race, gender, creed; when we are so far removed from prejudice that we not only do not prevent another class of people (based on gender, creed, color, whatever) from <span style="font-style: italic;">voicing</span> our choice, or do not prevent another person based on gender, creed, color, whatever from <span style="font-style: italic;">representing </span>us in enforcing our choice, then only can we truly claim to have advanced as a democracy.<br />Till then we are still another "developing" nation!Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6586591016805533532.post-81911360830429477462008-03-08T07:27:00.005-05:002008-03-08T07:39:33.851-05:00Hillary - for Senate Majority LeaderJust didn't want to forget <a href="http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/03/07/hillarys-plan-b/#more-2695">this </a>(*) -<br /><br /><blockquote>As a result, the Capitol Hill grist mill is now turning with rumors the New York senator is hatching a deal to replace the inept Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as Senate majority leader.<br /></blockquote><br />Are they ‘rumors’ or ’speculation’ - isn’t there there’s always more basis for rumors? someone drops a guard, and in this day and age you can track that down lightning fast - e.g. the ‘monster’ remark. But speculation is more difficult - the half attentive public composed of those who once liked her and feel sorry for her humiliation, and those who never liked her but like her grasp of the minutae of dry statistics (jobs are x% down, gas is x dollars up, you are sick with no insurance, vote for me), have often speculated that she could take her energy to the Senate and be Majority Leader - which is what I was thinking of when I wrote<a href="http://pocketfulowry.blogspot.com/2008/01/mlk-lbj-suggested-obama-response.html"> this post</a><br /><br /><br />But is it a rumor? what’s the basis? who told who told who told who?<br /><br />Anyway - as I said in my previous post, Hillary you can forget about being VP on a "dream ticket" - you burned too many bridges with BHO. So this is as good a plan as any.<br /><br />(*) Update - this was on the Hill's Armstrong Williams blog - <span style="font-style: italic;">Armstrong williams</span>? he of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/national/08education.html">Bush Education fake/consultant fame</a>?<br />Looks like it is so indeed: Ugh - I had to go and quote him, did I?Wrywraphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14317402304147386262noreply@blogger.com0