Kasab's visit to India

Indians gave Kasab a fair trial and punished him with death. Kasab was sorry about what he did in the end. So many times there are comparisons of how Americans would have dealt with Kasab. If Kasab asked for chicken biryani, it became front page news and he was often called the national guest. Clearly, people saw that Kasab would not dare ask for chicken biryani in an American prison. The treatment America provides so called terrorists are far from fair and not even legal. The public is not involved in trials of so called terrorists. America gave Saddam Hussein a trial and that was the only decent thing they have done so far in the war against terror. India has fared far far better than America in dealing with criminals.

The unromantic diabetes

Diabetes is the biggest killer in the world but it roams free without garnering much attention. The movies have focused mostly on cancer and gorgeous pop stars died of aids. Diabetes never made it to the movies or to the mainstream news. So no one gets teary eyed when they meet a person suffering from Diabetes. Diabetes is leprosy from the inside affecting every part of the patient's body causing slow death. It is time to understand the true dangers of Diabetes.

A year without Gaddafi

Gaddafi came to power with his anti west rhetoric. But in reality he safe guarded western interests in Libya. He could not survive without the west. Now fundamentalists are in power. Unless there is an embargo like in the case of Iran, they will also lean towards western interests. Pakistan is an example of a democratic country that has no mind of its own. When the rulers become unpopular and still want to rule they look outwards to stay put. If Libya truly becomes free the world will pay a fair price for oil when all the battles are done. But this is a distant dream. For now things have only gotten worse for Libya.

Why religious frenzy is bad for women

I recently read a news item that described how a woman was stoned death by a group of men in Afghanistan for infidelity or some such reason. It was a bit shocking. The way to deal with infidelity would be divorce I would think in these civilized times. That got me thinking. That its not a particular religion that is mean to women. The Christians burned women for being witches and the Hindus burned them for being widows in yesteryears when religion was all too powerful. Therein lies the problem.

US facing third world problems

Unemployment and cultural issues have become new problems for the US. Who cared a decade ago what religion you followed in the US? I remember someone telling me that religious strifes were third world problems. I am sorry that US is now a changed place and dragged in to unnecessary controversies.

Chicago teachers strike out

Teachers are paid pittance and their lives are difficult. How can you teach children to dream if your own dreams do not meet you halfway? At the end of their lives teachers surely look at the low returns they got for a life spend teaching others to become rich. Its time teachers learn to make demands so that they can teach their students to demand their just rights from the world. The Chicago teachers surely have my support.

India's regionalism problems

India should never have been divided in to regions. Regionalism thrives so do the political parties that depend on these sentiments. I wonder why there are no popular nationalistic parties. Its time for young and dynamic nationalism that will overthrow the divisive forces of regionalism. India's constitution did not anticipate regionalism. Hence there are no good laws to tackle separatists. Its a sorry state.

Some habits that Democracy inherits from Autocracy

One of the main bad habit a democracy inherits from autocracy is that the soldiers must listen to the political leaders.  I think in a democracy a war should be fought with a consensus from the military. Every soldier votes whether the country should go to war or not.  Not just the parliament.

Greek athelete thrown out of olympics and rightly so

Greek athlete posts a joke about mosquitoes and African people and gets thrown out of Olympics.  Some people think it was a bit too harsh. I think it was just. Mainly because people are beginning to forget manners  and  say what they like. This leads to unpleasant environment in activities that involve global participation.  The Greek athlete would rather the players were all just Greek. She must play in only national sports then and not international. She has a choice.

The unrest at Maruti Suzuki

Workers beat up management and set the Maruti factory to fire. This is a Japanese collaboration that sells the majority of cars in India.  It is time to look at the worth ethics of this seemingly clean company. People who work there at all levels have been unhappy for some time. Physical violence of this scale is unheard of at other work places in India. I wonder what the Japanese management did to disturb Indian workers so.  

Lost glory of Joe Paterno

One is glad that people are angry with Joe Paterno though he is not directly committing the crime but rather did not actively stop the crime. If he was alive he probably face a jury. I think a lot of Penn state officials need to see some  jail time for ruining lives of so many young children.

Why the Asian countries are not affected by the current recession

Asian countries are faring well though there is a recession in the western countries.  This is because Western prosperity is directly related to middle east money. When the oil money was placed in US banks, people did well. But when that same money went to oil companies everything fell apart.  Oil money and  tax money build   the west in recent decades. Now both these sources are controlled by oil companies.  I say if the oil companies are so profiting by the war then they should fund the war, not the public.

World dependency on Pakistan

Whenever a regime any where in the world  wants a few military hands, it is Pakistan they turn to. Be it Bahrain or the USA - Pakistanis are part of every war.  Worlds supply of mercenaries come from Pakistan.  

Bal Thackeray pissed with the Karnataka Govt

Bal Thackeray has appealed to the President to do something about the Karnataka Govt's anti Maharashtra behavior. He is pissed. Unlike Maharashtra where there was only one Bal Thackeray to appease, there are many regional leaders in Karnataka. States are becoming increasingly regional. It is only fair that the Central Govt keep a watch on what clandestine and anti constitutional policies regional govts follow.

MLA gets beaten up in Assam

Okay, now the media is all upset about a woman getting beaten up for leaving her husband and running off with a lover. But when a man gets beaten up for doing this, all is mum, and even think justice is done. We have watched many a wife with a mob  beating up a husband and his new love interest and have not raised an eyebrow in objection. But surely a mob can get this close to an MLA says a lot about Indian security lapses.  I would not trust my life with Indian security. Having said that one is reminded of the song koi patthar se na maro mere deewane ko ................

Medical care in America wins this time

The Supreme Court of America realized that change in Medical care was long overdue in America. Cheers!

Satyameva Jayate

Amir Khan has done a wonderful job with his program Satyameva Jayate. He has brought to light many problems that plague Indian society.  It is indeed nice to see the Indian Government lending support and trying to help fix problem. I wonder if such a program happened in the US, would the government go gunning  for Amir Khan?

Assange needs to be free and happening

It is not about US. A free and happening Assange is a blessing to many problems in the world.  This kind of investigative journalism is the need for the hour. Governments are becoming very powerful and a free press can keep checks on them.

Extradition of Assange to Sweden

If  Assange has to go to  Sweden, he should.  He should  go and fight the cases against him. Win and then stand  for elections. Make Sweden the next best country in the world where people can breathe free and live a just life. Needless to say, every decent person on earth is disturbed by the trials and tribulations of Assange.  God bless. Its a tough almost impossible fight for honest people these days.  The world is controlled by liars and cheats.  But truth like always will overcome.

Outsourcing and the Obama viewpoint

There are many people in the world, but you cannot love everybody. Likewise, there are many people in the world but they cannot do that job. Mr Obama, grow up. Yes, in the Obama world, all the great work will be  done by true blood Americans.  The foundation of America's greatness  is immigration.  If Obama's father had not decided to study in the US, where would he be now?

Jerry Sandusky and a typical attitude of US universities

US universities usually victimize the victims of sexual abuse. Many a times, when students complain, the students have to leave the universities but the teachers are protected. I wonder why they formed this attitude. I am glad that Jerry Sandusky is now in the news. Hopefully, more schools will be exposed on how they deal with student problems.

Asylum for Assange

Julian Assange has applied to Ecuador for asylum. Ecuador is a small country and cannot afford bombardment (like Afghanistan) from the big countries.  China is where he should apply. China could a decent thing and give Assange asylum.  It will be  just returning  favors to all the countries who gave China's political opponents asylum time and again. Cuba is another choice for him. I guess Castro still has a bit of fight left in him.

I for one want the likes of Assange free and happening. Its not just about anti-US documents. Its about many other issues he could successfully tackle. Assange is quite a defense tool and must be treated with the at most respect.

What the US must do is to look at the leaked documents and fix their behavior if flawed instead of targeting Assange. Investigative journalism is not a crime and people are grateful for it.  US is forgetting basic decency. So many incriminating documents by Wikileaks and there is no mention by US leaders about what they will do about it. They see no need to answer public concerns. Instead they go after the man who is bringing some truths to light. This is a shameful era in American history or perhaps in human history.

Gunning for the American workers unions

These days American worker unions are increasingly becoming unpopular with politicians. Romney was saying how these unions make the costs of making a car increase by 2000 dollars for each car. Seriously, 2000 dollars is not the reason why Americans will not buy a car. They buy foreign cars because the quality is way better.  Now can America compete in the auto industry given the record of being behind European and Japanese car makers for so long?  Yes, with technology.  Smart cars and other gadgets can take American car industry to another level.  Paying the American worker all the perks he asks for is not the problem here.

Now American workers unions have affected the manufacturing industry negatively,  because they wanted to protect their jobs and were against automation and new technologies. The problem with that is that they could not compete with other skilled workers in other parts of the world, and instead of losing their jobs, lost interest in their jobs. So many of these jobs are now done by illegal Mexican workers.

Labor is getting scarce across the globe. Having access to unlimited labor who are willing to work hard is one of the biggest assets to any country in the world.

What Americans want to hear

Come November and all that Americans want to hear is economic recovery. All the tax money wasted fighting an invisible enemy must return to the hands of the  hardworking American middle class.  Nothing has gone right for the American people in the last decade.

The storm caused by the fine private sector

President Obama says the private sector is fine when clearly it is not.  One might say the president is not directly involved in private sector  but he is. The policies of the US govt has resulted in the mess and jobs continue to be shipped abroad if it needs to get done. Whether it is chip building or ship building, America plays a peripheral role.   We need a return to pleasant American work environments of the nineties and perhaps Romney understands that better.

Difficult protests of Egyptian women

We raise a toast to Egyptian women who are demanding more respect in the world they live in. We understand that they face an uphill battle. But they will overcome the molesters one of these days if they keep their courage up.  Egyptian men on the other hand have lost face on the international scene and one would worry if you met one of the species somewhere out there. They are plain yuck!

Will Mumbai remain the city of dreams?

Mumbai in the past few decades have regressed compared to other cities.  Employment opportunities have dwindled. Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Delhi became the places  for software jobs. No big software companies came to stay in Mumbai. A lot of textile industries have moved out. Other industries prefer Gujarat. Fashion and Bollywood still remains in Mumbai but for how long?

One of these days Maharashtrians will have to move out of Maharashtra in large numbers and face regionalism.  The jobs in Mumbai were created from people across the country and not by Marathi speaking people alone. When these peope are gone the jobs will too. Mumbai was the origin of regionalism in India after independence. Since damage control was not done the disease has spread across the country.

France and liberty

France is way ahead of America in terms of acceptance of what the first family can be.  Americans want a first family that is classical. This mandatory  image requirement is what feeds trials like Edwards. A lot of gossip and waste of tax money.

Persian trade and India

Hillary Clinton tries to influence India and Persia trade. India and Persia has traded for centuries and this trade is based on robust history of trust. On the other hand US with its sanctions and habit of keeping money of countries they become unfriendly with over trivial reasons is a dangerous partner.

Ron Paul makes a splash

Among the current candidates for 2012 elections, Ron Paul is the only man who calls a spade a spade. Plus also maintains  a sense of old  school decency and common sense. Ron Paul is emerging as a strong candidate for the high seat in my opinion.  

Changing political scenario

Sarkozy is on his way out. People are voting for change. Most of the times the alternative is not good enough to make a change. But sometimes, we need to bring in change just so that a good guy out there has a chance when he stands for election. May be not this time but the next. Plus to send a message to lousy leaders that just because there are no good choices does not mean that you will stay put.

When I vote I will ask - did my life get any better under this leader? I will also ask - will the next leader make my life better?  If the answer is still no, the first leader goes out anyways. Yes, Mr. Obama, even America will vote for change this time.

Political Asylum for Chen

Chen must study says China.  Need he return to home country after completing his studies like the F1-visa holders are supposed to do?  The whole thing is a joke. Can US provide political asylum to Chen? If so what happens? What will China do? If US refuses asylum what happens? Where does Chen go? Chen may prefer to study under the circumstances.  Study English in the US, Chen. Such a great idea.

Clearly political asylum should be dealt with separately.  Either US refuses or gives Mr Chen asylum. But to decide how political asylum should be given by another country is taking it a little too far.  In History, not everyone who has applied for asylum has got one. If you take up a fight, you must take it to the finish yourself. Consequences of public life.

Edwards and his affairs

One thought family was off limits in American politics. But Edwards did not make this bargain it seems. His wife is now dead, why drag his children through murk?  It is all so distasteful. Off late American politicians sex life makes more news than policies.

Human rights in this era

Who now can give asylum to the Chinese human right activist?  He is forced to stay in China. That is the fate of human rights activists in general fighting powerful countries.  Where can a human rights activist from America go?  New Zealand, Canada, and Australia may be a choice for our Chinese man. Europe and America has too much vested interests to get in to a direct conflict with China. India and Africa not strong enough. People like Gaddafi who liked a good fight is no more. Cuba may be a choice if Fidel Castro takes an interest.

Domestic violence in Indian homes on foreign shores

A big reason for the domestic violence we witness in immigrant homes in the US is the H4 visa which make adult women dependent on a strange man like a child. H4 visas are evil.  One wonders why a group of people who are supposed to be there for each other turn murderous but do not think of leaving or other options.   

Human rights and a blind man

China and US will meet but will  act blind to an escaped activist. Both the countries violate human rights time and again one more than the other. Who has the right really to point fingers?

2012 - and another elections on the card.  Things only got worse for the American people as time went by no matter what any one says. The 2012 elections are redundant and a waste of money from the looks of it.