Politics of Insanity

United States is going into an election November 2, which will sweep in the Republicans in the House and a Democratic Senate with a much stronger Republican control. Nothing will change, but the pace will slow. For US, the divided branches are good in general. The country has progressed well, whereas if one party rules it all, excesses happen, and everyone feels jipped.

Mr. Obama has three things going against him: businesses don't trust him and do not want to invest the vast amounts of cash on the sidelines into jobs, the people think he just is too aloof to care, and then Fox News and Murdoff media skillfully has made people believe the world is going hell in a handbasket.  The economy is recovering for at least 4 quarters, but ask the 10% unemployed who dont feel that way.

In 2 years the economy would still be growing. The unemployment rate would be at 8% levels, and everyone will call that a huge win. The ware will still be on Afghanistan, only because the Right don't want to let the defence contractors down. The budget will be bloated as ever. The Health care money will be throttled but still very much around. Just for BHO to feel good about a rerun paritcularly if the other side puts up Palin, who if she is smart shiuld wait till 2016.

As for the rest of us, we still wont be cared. Life is go on. One  soundbite, one moment, and one breath at a time.

Water anyone!

World is fast running out of water. In 30 years, many portions of the world will be severely overpopulated and severely parched (e.g., India, Middle East, parts of North Africa for starters).  Many people in the US, Europe and parts of Latin America have plentiful supply, but most others do not. Water has always been a public right, like the right to breath air, and freedom and liberty. 

But the villainous and what at that time seemed a far fetched idea of someone taking over the world water resources, as depicted in the latest Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace" is about to play out all over the world. Private parties all over the world are banding to control aquifers and lakes to feed the unquenchable thirst of the world.

We are surrounded by water, nearly 70% of the planet is, and 90% of the human body is...but very little of the water around is potable and drinkable (less than 1%). Ultimately someone is going to figure out a way to cost effectively desalinate the oceans - till then water is going to become the new "clear" gold. There is not way around it. And certain countries will hold other hostage to it, and will to war for it, Pakistan, India, China come to mind.

We cannot live without water, so we do care about it as individuals, already purified water marketed by the like of Coca Cola and others is 5x more expensive than a gallon of gas..but no one pays attention. At least not yet. But as global warming takes grip and our fresh water sources under assault, we will always be fighting a downward battle.

Tea Party Anyone!

What started as an innocent protest by a stock trader in February 2009, asking folks to ship a tea bag to Congress for bailing those good-for-nothing-don't care-bonus gauging-electionbuying-loanlending-moneyhoarding financial institutions, is now - a bonafide phenonmenon.  Tea party is here to stay and influence GOP politics for years to come, much like the arrival of Lord Ronald Reagan thirty years ago.

Tea party manifesto relies on constitutionfollowing-healthcarehating-prorich-antienvironmenal-simpletaxation-balancedbudget-controlled spending manifesto. Parts of them noble, parts of them just pot crazy. But as in life, nothing is perfect. But they have struck a nerve, people just have had it from everybidy, nobody seems to listen to them. Congress does what the lobbies who got them there tell them, people seem to not get it. Well, they do, they are just not sending the useless reps back. But would the new breed be truly faithful or power and influence and the soft money that comes with it change them? Initially no, but eventually absolutely yes. Mass Senator Brown is one example, great in the initial days, but he does take much of his directions from whoever care to provide it to him. Fill in your influence blank. That said, he is being a maverick and thats what makes him cool for now.

Eventually a balance budget and reduced deficit would be nice, but then taxes have to go up, they cant both be at logger heads. Right now, people just want to work, and poverty is at a 30 year high, what were we expecting after all that blood bath. Now the really painful news is that $780 Billion of the Govt gave (our money) to Banks is still sitting there. That is a $2300 per person, we could have all used, spent some of it and brought the economy back, single handedly...but that did not happen.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has also shown that  resignation from her post, having all the personal issues, and lack of any good grasp of anything, does not have to effect anything-it infact is a plus! Many americans have come to see her as themselves, and thats a sad state of affairs for the country. But Palin is here to stay and nothing really sticks to her. One has to be as whacky as Glenn Beck to get some attention around here. Common sense? What common sense. Patience? What patience? Middle ground? That does not exists. Consensus, compromise, bipartisonship - all new four letter obscenities.

We care about us, we want it now...and we will remove whoever is in our path...we are not watching, and we don't care.

Koran and September 11

A crazy preacher in Florida wants to burn a Koran on Sept 11 on the 9th anniversary of the terrorist strikes in America.  It was when 19 completely deranged people decided to administer a medicine to a superpower, that collateral damage is not just confined to the Middle East. America woke up, and a trillion dollars have been spent in misdirected wars. A lot more than 3000 have been killed since, another 4000 of brave Americans, and tens of thousands of Iraqis, Afghanis have died as part of the collateral damage. Yes, the hard core elements have died too in that process, but innocent lives came with it.

That brings us back to the Koran. It was interesting when the whole world was commenting on an action of a crazy preacher wanting to get his 15 minutes of fame, a disgrace to the cloth he wears. Just two years back hundreds of Bibles were burnt in Jerusalem by Palestinians, where was the American outrage and world outrage then? No one screamed, no one asked for peace.

The reason is simple: the imam has a megaphone 5 times a days, and can stir up emotions as no one else can. Most Christians do not even go to their churches, even if they do its once a week. Therein lies the difference. Emotions can be whipped up easily one way. Hence the fear.

When a bunch of un or under employed people, with no or poor family ties, living in extreme poverty, get together they are look for a goal - any goal, to find purpose (which comes with food and money), you have them to do anything. They know living such a life, unheard, is no life at all. Dying young in glory is another matter. Koran binds them that way...its the way of life...so even one book burned goes a long way.

On the flip side, unless better employment conditions are not created (a la Dubai, Abu Dhabhi), talking to this crowd is pointless, force is everything.  Inspite of all the aid poured in from United States, Pakistanis will always hate Americans...nothing positive we do matters. All they want is their money, and then go away.  In many movies in  Bollywood, the explicit dialogue is to do whatever to "get money from that white man (gora)", then make fun of all their ways behind their back.

In other words, every bird cares about itself first. If burning a Koran endangers our birds, then we should not encourage it. But don't expect the other flock of bird to understand. They only care about themselves.

Chilean tragedy: price of a human life

The grainy images brought a sigh of relief. It showed a bunch of Chilean miners buried nearly two thousand feet below were alive and  in good spirits given this could very well have been their grave, and for some before the ordeal is over, it could still be. Trapped in a small space breathing the stale air, sparse food, little water, and no light showcases to what extent we risk our lives to want for a better life. Most of the world does much care except watch it on TV as it makes good TV.  They will watch Beck rally, even participate in it rather than empathize with their plight. Same is the case of the millions uprooted in Pakistan.

It will take two to three months not weeks or days to get them. The human and psychological tool is incalculable. Even if a few perish, all they will get is a lump sum payment of a few thousand dollars. That's it. There will be no rallies, no taking back the country, no bringing back the honor.

Most nation in US and by default some parts of the industrialized world is now obsessed with an errant hurricane that could dent up the east coast. The damage could be catastrophic, it could be minimal. Impeding doom is much more thrilling than being buried in the earth. With all the technology in man's possession, drilling ocean floors. It will take more time to get to the miners than it did to breach the BP Oil well, there is something wrong with that.

Meanwhile 40 odd people live in dim lighting with a camera, sparse ration, and attitude to see through three long months. There is nothing anyone can and will do about it. There are ways to get to them faster, but why? These are no VIPs, they are just ordinary miners. Their life is worth less, anyone else could have fared better, and there in lies the rub.

Pakistan: the next forgotten nation

Africa has long been the lost continent. But the events of the past week, and the generic apathy demonstrates that Pakistan is soon becoming the next lost nation. Almost a fifth of the country is underwater, displaced and in risk of disease, amongst sweltering heat and humidity. Nearly a $1 Billion of aid is needed, but not much has trickled in. In the end, not much will trickle in.

Why is this apathy? Well, the rich particularly in US who are most generous in the world, think Pakistan is a terrorist state, and in general, they are right. It may not be state sponsored, but the mismanagement in general, means anarchy prevails. So the ones who will loosen their purse strings, the ones who will have benefits, the ones who will go door to door to get the aid - pretty much don't care when it comes to Pakistan.

Pakistan - the land of the pure, is filthy, unruly, waterlogged, hungry and disease prone right this second.  Not much of the richer Muslim brothers are doing anything much either. What can do against the wishes of Allah? Why help if that is what God wanted?

Mismanagement here will single handedly change the course of history. Extremist elements are pitching this calamity as a signal from Allah, that he despises people who help the infidels (read: Americans) and more of the ruin is to follow.  So their recruiting tool: join us, we pay, we provide a brotherhood, we provide a focus, and we on the side of Allah. Pretty compelling right? Well, from an unemployed youth's viewpoint, whose home got uprooted, whose family is in tatters, and there is no sustenance - this is the perfect storm.  Many a future extremist will be born in the next few weeks and months, thanks to this crisis in Pakistan.

Even if the liberal rich did show any apathy, it will not be received well or reciprocated, the die has been cast one way or the other. There in lies the conundrum.

Meanwhile, welcome to the next forgotten nation. "Paak" (pure) is soon under the threat and the  risk to become "naa-Paak" (impure). 

To have a mosque or not have a mosque, thats the ?

So they want to build a mosque at Ground Zero, not near it, pretty much at it. And almost everyone in New York is up over arms about it, at least 5 to 3. Anti-defamation league on one end, Mayor Bloomberg on the other. The Mayor says,"We would betray our values and play into our enemies’ hands.." if we did not do this. Others argue the World Trade Center Ground Zero cite that it should be left alone as a grand graveyard honoring the dead, but the real estate is too enticing for any such noble gestures. There is money to be made here, a lot of it.

The proponents of the minority argue such an opposition goes against the very nature of our immigrant mentality and tolerance. Really ? Our history suggests as waves of different Europeans, then Asians, then Mexicans came such issues always flared up. Even the Jewish community with all its clout is not integrated into the society. We truly tolerate each other for fulfillment of our capitalistic dream. There is no kumbaayah of any sort. Birds of the same feather flock together, and they hate the other birds unless getting along means overall survival. We only care about us!

Now, the country allows for the freedom of religion and faith. Using those rules nothing should prevent the Mosque from being set up. In defence, they say the emams are moderate: he espouses peace. In the end of the day, the question is not about the emam, but about how the community embraces United States. Speaking from experience, the community broadly does not espouse the kind of values the emam has, or the intellectual integrity of a Fareed  Zakaria.  They are exceptions on one end, there are several moderates who want to keep their head down and try to achieve the dream so that their relatives can too down the road in their home country or here in the middle, and the un or underemployed radicalists on the other end. For this under-employed group with rich relatives, inclusion in this Muslim community is limited to finding an unanchored Causasian women (not African American or Spanish or Asian origin), lure them with stability, money, and marry them (and almost always convert them to Islam) to use that funnel to get blood relatives entry into this country-legally of course. For what: a shot at prosperity. However, the "kaum" (Arabic for the broader society/people for Islam) must go on.  Right or wrong, that does happen, and denying it, intellectuallizing it,  is pretty much letting your heads remain in the sand.  The education levels in the Muslim world, where most of the early influence comes from, will never reach a level where such moderate behavior and enlightenment will be achevied and prevail. It is true, that most of the community if employed are peace-loving more for economic progress, but bear deep resentments to the actions in the Gulf and elsewhere (lets face it: we may not like human rights issues in China, but we can't do much about it; but we can always lord over the Gulf, we need their oil, they need our money, at least for now). It is just how it is. America will never be first, "kaum" (قوم )  will be, when push comes to shove.

Memories in that subcontinent run thousands of years, ask any Afghan or any Arab, or any Pakistani, or any Palestinian - memories run long. A country with a memory of  400 years, with tons of problems of its own, slavery to start with, racism that still lurks with us, tries to take the high road (becasue otherwise it will look bad and somehow "help" terrorist recuirting) and expects everyone will understand - well, not really.  There lies the problem and disconnect. The hue and cry is more xenophobic, but the underlying problem is bigger - it has the same patterns of distrust as the other waves but none had religion mixed in, it was pure ethnicity, this time it has religion in the center of it. There is no denying.

The country is at a 'beggars cannot be choosers' stage, they want any country which has money to  buy our debt. Well, Arabs are one of them, right behind the Chinese. In the end, the prayer room will go up, the big money from outside is on it, there will be incidents around it, but eventually life will go on. This will not stop the extremists to recruit, that is not why they hate America. There are thousand other betrayals in the past, and there is no way to make them forget that, mosque no mosque. But, I do think in the future, it is quite conceivable that the next attack at the country may in fact be have roots at this site.  Particularly if some fool tries to demolish that structrure after its commissioned and built (ask the Hindu nationalists in Ayodhya, that grudge battle is still going on). That brings the most inconvenient question of all, while praying how many people praying at this mosque will be thanking the almighty for amity, peace to the world vs. thanking those "shaheeds" (شَهيد) who brought those towers down for all those atrocities in the name of oil. It hurts even writing this thought.
The best answer is that the Ground Zero be left "as is" as a shrine where people of all faiths come and offer their prayers for the fallen (much like the Wailing Wall in another sub continent) - but that will never happen. So all this posturing will continue.