Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Bright flash before the crash

This tongue-in-cheek quip from a Forbes article about the TARP bailout for banks is a jewel:
It's tough to say no to an overbearing uncle who prints money.
As with American banks, so with American states:

One of the more underrated news stories earlier this year was that of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford turning down federal stimulus money. He was one of the few Republican governors who had resisted federal assistance for his state, and was left the last man standing.

Sanford had refused to accept the $700 million handout on grounds that the United States is moving toward a "savior-based economy"and that increased spending won't solve economic woes. At one point, he offered to accept the money provided half of it was used to pay down South Carolina's dues. His state's legislature, however, turned against him; his administration got sued and ended up having to accept the money.

Very little of this made the national headlines. In a society where being neck-deep in debt is considered a sound financial position, who would empathize?

*****

However, what did make the news was Sanford's disclosure yesterday about his extramarital affair. Not news, BIG news!

Media priorities, huh?

*****

Personally, I don't give a paisa about what a politician does in his private life as long as it is not illegal. As a matter of fact, I am sad that Sanford's promising political career is practically over. We may not agree with him or other Republican nutjobs on their social views, but who can not respect a dude who turns down free federal paper?

In spite of my sympathy for Sanford, I am enjoying myself seeing liberals of all colors laugh their nuts off at the irony of a valuewala Republican cheating on his wife (of the one-man-one-woman type marriage, mind you). I wouldn't have been so cruel if I hadn't seen the picture below. Wtf? I mean, what kind of craven person flaunts his family for professional gain? (Answer: all American politicians)







And there was blowback


It is perverse how much the marital condition matters to the electorate in America (always feel proud to think of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and APJ Abdul Kalam, both bachelors, being voted in without any questions being asked). For the politicians themselves, it can be a double-edged sword, as Sanford's case shows.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Democracy when convenient

He was a legitimate candidate.
He campaigned fairly and squarely.
He got an overwhelming share of the votes.
He got cheated out of power.

No, I am not talking about Mousavi, but any one of the candidates who got elected on a Hamas ticket in the Palestinian general elections of 2006. Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats up for grabs, against the then-ruling party Fatah's 45, which gave it a clear mandate to form a government.

However, what followed was instructive in the definition of democracy as the "free world" knows it. Immediately after the election, Israel started putting the screws on Palestinians, cutting revenues and restricting trade and movement. America and the European Union said they would not recognize a Hamas-led government until the latter recognized the state of Israel. They threatened to hold back aid to Palestine until Hamas did so.

That's conditional democracy for you. Democracy of the people, by the people, and subject to approval from some foreign people.

The blackmail continued till early 2007 when Hamas was finally forced to withdraw its electorally-mandated government and form a "unity" government with Fatah, led by Ismael Haniyeh. But shortly thereafter, President Mahmoud Abbas - with the tacit support of Israel, EU, and America - dismissed the government and appointed a crony to the Prime Ministership of the new, phony government.

With the above context, read on....

Last Thursday, the US House of Representatives voted 405-1 for Resolution 560, "expressing support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law, and for other purposes".

It appears that when Palestinians voted in Hamas, they had these very things in mind. As a matter of fact, then-President Bush has this to say with reference to the results:
Obviously, people were not happy with the status quo. The people are demanding honest government. The people want services. They want to be able to raise their children in an environment in which they can get a decent education and they can find health care.
Nonetheless, America and the rest of its freeworld gang humiliated and isolated Hamas, leaving Palestinians with a government they did not elect. Apparently, Palestinian yearning for democracy is not as exalted as that of Iranians liberal Iranians.












Who stole my vote?

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As I mentioned above, the ass-backward Resolution 560 won by a margin of 405-1. Care to guess who the lone Congressman voting against it was? Yep. Doing me proud for supporting his presidential run.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Day of the moochers

On Monday, General Motors announced that it would be closing one of its parts facility in the city of Norton, Massachusetts to cut costs.

Now Norton lies in the constituency of Barney Frank, a US Congressman, and he did what he had to do when he heard about it. Frank lobbied GM CEO Fritz Henderson and "urged him to reevaluate the center's value to GM". The "urging" worked (remember that the federal government now owns 60% of GM, and Barney Frank, the Chairman of the House Financial Committee, is a powerful politician) and by Thursday, GM said it will keep the plan open another 14 months.

"Hundreds of CEOs for General Motors", cried out the Wall Street Journal, but Frank was unmoved.

When asked if he was concerned about the government meddling with General Motors, he replied:
That's a very odd question. If the government hadn't 'meddled' in General Motors, there would be no General Motors. 'Meddle' is what you say when you don't like it. 'Involve' is what you say when you do.
The sad thing is, he is right. And that is a very, very good reason to be wary of the government in the marketplace, whether it seem helpful or not.

Footnote: Barney Frank looks like the stereotypical dirty politician from popular media. Having his face in your mind's eye when reading the above quote definitely adds character to the words. Try it now:


















He is frank, seriously

Monday, June 15, 2009

Deja vu

In 1953, America aided Iranians Iranians aided America in the overthrow of a democratically elected leader of Iran. Will they oblige again?

I haven't heard of any material support from outside to the "revolutionaries", but the media here is flush with moral support. There is a clear line between wishing that fairness prevail (i.e., a recount or re-election happen) and wanting a coup, and that line has been crossed everywhere in the American media (although the state has remained remarkably uninfected, so far).

Check out the provocative front page at Huffington Post, for example. And they have been at this for the past 3 days; everyone from the aforesaid muckraker to the New York Times.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Cap and trade, dude

National Public Radio had this primer on the cap and trade program for carbon emissions this morning.

[Click to listen]

Funny and intelligent; illustrates why I stick with NPR in spite of its hoidytoidyness.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Between understatement and hyperbole

Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M) today charged the Trinamool Congress with trying to unleash "semi-fascist" terror in the state.

[Link]

That's controlled outrage for you.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

China buys...

...some more of the unreasonably valued, unsustainable stuff from the US. I am talking about Hummer, not treasury bonds.
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