Time to fold e’m up!

Today is Memorial Day here in USA, when we remember the soldiers who died for our country. Memorial Day becomes even more poignant when we have our soldiers currently fighting and sacrificing their lives overseas.
I have been reading and watching news stories related to the trials and sufferings of USA military in Iraq and Afghanistan. In both countries, our service men and women live in extremely dangerous surroundings, under attack by an enemy they cannot see (like it was in Viet Nam?) The stealth attacks on them with bombs and IED’s are getting more sophisticated, and frequent (they average over 80 a day in Iraq!).
In USA, we are told that our military is in Iraq and Afghanistan to make the lives of the people there better -- by establishing democracy and removing terrorists. It is very clear that the Iraqi and Afghani people do not see things the same way. Most of them hate Americans, and want them out of their country right away. (Today’s news story about the riots in Afghanistan is ironic in its timing). The USA military personnel, comprised mostly of young men in early twenties, are equally frustrated and angry. They know they are not appreciated, and that every ‘local’ can be an enemy who wants to kill them. Some vent their frustrations by committing horrible atrocities like what happened in Abu Ghraib and Haditha. Altogether USA is in a no-win situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no end in sight. It is high time for USA ‘fold e’m up' and come back.
“You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run”
– The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers

Tears for answered prayers

I wonder how the Bush administration is taking the recent statement by the Iraqi foreign minister insisting on the right of Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Is this what they were expecting from the new democratically elected Iraqi government they are so proud of? This should not have been a surprise. The majority of people in Iraq are Shiites-- like it is in Iran. So, they would support Iran whenever they can.

Sometimes you will be sorry for getting what you wished for -- like democracy in Iraq!

This has to stop!

I sympathize with agitation of the Indian students and professionals against the continued quota system for the backward community there. The Government is going to allot a whopping 27% of the seats in highly sought after medical colleges and engineering colleges for the Other Backward Classes (OBC). This means that one out of four students in an educational institution got there by a shortcut. This is outrageous, especially when you realize that most of these ‘backward’ students are actually well off having faced no handicaps in their lives. They still qualify, as seats are allotted on a purely ‘caste’ basis without taking into consideration of ones household income and other means of support. (I remember that when I completed the pre-University exam (with honors), some of my affluent friends with lesser qualifications, managed to prove that they are indeed backward, and got into more prestigious colleges. I was not bitter about it then as I was not the ‘questioning’ type)

I am very much for the system here in USA, where a few seats of every college are given based on special circumstances of the student– some economic and some cultural. In India it is all based on race. Nothing else. This has to stop!

The lament of a sports fan

I am a sports fan. I like to watch almost any sport, with the possible exception of bowling. I am not a ‘rabid’ sports fan, although I root for the local teams like Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Angels. I have a select list of sports heroes who have entered my life suddenly, and put me under their spell. It is almost like love at first sight. Boxer Muhammad Ali was my first one. I saw him fighting a Canadian boxer in 1966. The beauty of his boxing mesmerized me, and I became a lifelong fan instantly. Tiger Woods became an instant hero when he won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes. Tennis star Maria Sharapova is another favorite of mine, although my daughter suspects that my admiration is not purely based on her tennis skills! I look forward to the times when I can watch my heroes in action. I feel cheated and upset if something stops it from occurring. (I was quite angry when the USA Boxing Association revoked the boxing license of Muhammad Ali for refusing to be drafted for the Viet Nam war, thereby depriving the world four years of his prime boxing period).

Two weeks ago, I had found a new sports hero in the Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro. What was made me ‘fall’ for that horse was the way he finished the race. At the end of the race, he was galloping so fast that it looked like the jockey was holding on for his dear life! (Barbaro won the race by six and half-lengths, the biggest margin in 60 years). I was so looking forward to see him win the Preakness, and the Belmont afterwards to complete the Triple Crown. I had no doubt about it, as Barbaro was so special – like Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods. Alas, Barbaro broke his ankle in the race, and will most probably be put to sleep in a few hours. I am quite upset.

No millionaire left behind!

I am outraged at the recent 70 billion tax cut passed by the Congress. This is a tax cut which will benefit only the very wealthy. All polls show that majority of people, irrespective of the party they support, are very concerned about the Government’s huge budget deficit (which amounts over $8 trillion now). But what does the Congress do? They pass this tax cut without a whimper. How can they do this? Why cannot the opposition (Democrats) hold strong, and protest loudly against this? I guess, when dealing in trillions, a few billions do not add up to much. But you have to take a stand somewhere.

I can see it coming!

The Bush Administration’s cold reaction to the letter from Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinehad, has convinced me that USA will attack Iran shortly. The letter was an attempt by Iran to start a dialog with USA. But, no! Nobody here is interested in that. Have you noticed that all USA responses to Iran so far have been one-sided demands and threats (‘You stop this, and if not.’)? One cannot negotiate without being open to make some concessions. Any concession to Iran will only strengthen that country. So an attack on Iran is the only option for USA. It will happen soon. And Iran can do nothing about it.

This situation is similar to the time of the U.N. inspections in Iraq before the war. The Iraqi government did everything they could to give U.N. inspectors unrestricted access to any part of the country to prove that they did not have WMD. (I remember them even letting the U.N. inspectors drop into a palace of Saddam Hussein without giving any notice). But that did not make any difference. USA attacked Iraq anyway.

I expect the attack on Iran to occur under the guise of some trumped up national security emergency -- just in time for the mid-term elections in USA where Republicans have a serious risk of losing their majority in the House and the Senate. Karl Rove must be working hard on this strategy.

You cannot be too careful!

Just heard that an American Airlines flight was detained in the Newark airport today for the suspicious behavior of some passengers. What happened? The airplane crew noticed a few ‘foreign looking’ passengers reading aviation manuals, instead of the complimentary shopping catalog they have in front of their seats. That is suspicious, right? Must be terrorists, who are not that smart, cramming up before hijacking the plane. So the security in Newark was alerted, and a few passengers, in addition to the five ‘readers’, were detained in the airport for questioning. Now, it looks like the whole thing was a misunderstanding – a case of students of a flight school studying in the plane! But no harm done. You just cannot be too careful.

In reaction to the sudden resignation (or was it firing?) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Porter Goss, all the analysts and pundits agree that CIA has been in total disarray for some time. As a result, our national security is quite vulnerable. But it is good to know that our airport security is top class as they leave nothing to chance. The whole situation reminds me of a high stakes gambler in Las Vegas who fussed about calculating the exact amount to tip a waitress!

An outrageous cover up!

The true cause of the sudden death of a 14-year-old teenage boy in a juvenile boot camp in Florida has finally come out. I just cannot believe the outright lies the authorities have told to cover up this crime. There was a videotape of the whole incident, which clearly showed that the poor boy was roughed up by the brutal guards at the camp. Still, it was justified as the tape not being too clear, or that it only showed that the guards were trying to revive him after collapsing to the ground! The most outrageous was the autopsy results by the Bay County medical examiner who found that the boy died due complications from sickle cell anemia (‘We all know that the blacks have that problem, right?’ wink, wink). Thanks to the widespread protests by the black community and students, the truth has finally come out. Now, I hope that the main culprits, including the dishonest medical examiner, will be punished.

Time to break the tradition

The assembly elections are underway in five states in India. The election turnout is over 70% in most places. Here in USA, election turnouts are much smaller (around 50% for Presidential elections, and less than 40% for mid term elections). The people in USA are more educated, and, thanks to the barrage of T.V. advertisements, are more aware of the issues and the party platforms they have to vote for. Still, the Indians, especially the poor from the villages who have wait usually two to three hours to vote, show more faith in democracy! I feel that the main reason for the low election turnout in USA is that here the elections are always held on Tuesdays, a working day. People have no time, or are too tired at the end of the day, to go to a polling station and vote. In India, the election law requires the businesses to declare the day of voting to be a holiday, or to give enough paid time off from work for the employees to vote. Why can’t there be such a system in USA? Any reason we cannot hold the elections on a Saturday?

You do what you learn!

The story of a Harvard sophomore, Kaavya Viswanathan, having to withdraw her newly published novel from the bookstores due to charges of plagiarism, has been in the news lately. Kaavya was born in India and was brought up in USA by her Indian parents. I find it ironic that Kaavya’s novel is about the an Indian girl like her, Opal Mehta, whose parents were willing to do anything to get her admitted in Harvard University. When an issue about Opal being good only in her studies, and not having much of a social life, came up before the Harvard Admissions, her parents encouraged her to create a false impression of her being a ‘cool’ teenager. This story is not a stretch of imagination. While most parents want their children to attend good schools, Indians in general are obsessed about their children getting admiited to a prestigious college like Harvard or Stanford. Many show no hesitancy in taking short cuts or in creating false credentials to achieve this goal. (For example, a summer holiday in India 'to serve the poor in a hospital' is a ploy used by some high school students to make their credentials more impressive. Nobody knows that they have been enjoying their hoildays in India with some token work in a hospital!) Kaavya was obviously writing from her observations and experiences. (In her case, when she was 17, her wealthy parents hired a ‘special tutor’ to prepare her to qualify for Harvard). Is it any wonder that she did not think twice about copying her favorite passages from someone’s novel?