A refreshing change!

According to political pundits, President Obama is taking a big gamble by going to Copenhagen to lobby for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. If he fails to convince the Olympics Selection Committee, he will be blamed for ‘cheapening’ the office of the Presidency, getting distracted from the thorny issues at home like health care reform, so on. People are used to Presidents taking such missions only when the success is guaranteed. But that is not the case here. According to inside sources, Rio de Janeiro is actually ahead of Chicago in the preference list of the Olympics Committee. But President Obama’s prestige and standing in the world can indeed tip the scales for Chicago. So the trip makes sense to me. In fact, I am glad that we have a President who is not afraid for take chances without always worrying about his reelection. What a refreshing change this is from our previous President with his ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner, and the New Orleans flyover pose!

Toothless tiger!

The chances of a health care reform with a ‘public option’ being passed by the Congress look slim. This means that the long waited health care reform will mainly be some new requirements on health insurance companies like they cannot deny coverage based on preexisting condition, no maximum on insurance payments, etc. However, there will be no new regulation on premium increases. This means that the insurance companies can raise their premiums as they want to cover the new ‘risks’ they are taking. (No wonder that we do not hear any protest from the insurance companies on these new requirements on them). Now, the 'beauty' of the health care reform is that the Government is going to make health insurance coverage mandatory for all, like it is now for auto insurance and home insurance. This means that over 40 million in this country, who are currently uninsured, will become the new customers of the insurance companies. What a wonderful bonanza it will be for the insurance business! It will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Yes, the lobbyists are going to get a wonderful return on their donations (bribes?) to the members of the Congress.

It is estimated that over 30% of the currently uninsured, will require subsidy from Government to get health insurance. This means that the cost of medical care provided by government is going to skyrocket, and will become ‘unsustainable’ even quicker! The only way to control the rising cost is to have a ‘public insurance option’ provided by the government, which will give a fair competition to the insurance companies to keep their premiums low. Without public option this health care reform is a toothless tiger, which will actually benefit the private health insurance companies, and skyrocket the cost of medical care by the government. I am frustrated that only few people understand this!

What is wrong with South Carolina?

In any group, there will be some bright and smart ones who stand out, while there are some who are quiet and dull that you forget that they even exist. (Think about your high school graduating class). Among the fifty states which comprise of USA, South Carolina used to be one of the dull ones. There is nothing remarkable about this state apart from some unpleasant tidbits in her history like being the first state to declare its secession from the Union (when it became clear that Lincoln would be the President). But lately ‘South Carolina’ has been in news, thanks to the outrageous antics of her people. It is like the quiet student getting attention by coming drunk to the class. It all started with Miss Junior South Carolina who gave the most pathetic answer ever to a question in a beauty pageant. Few months ago, there were the antics of the South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who flew off to Argentina to be with his mistress in the guise of hiking in the Appalachian Mountains! Now we have Joe Wilson, the Congressmen from South Carolina, calling President Obama a liar during his address to the joint session of Congress yesterday which was seen by millions of people. When is wrong with these people? (May be Lincoln should have let this state go!)

Ask Sania!

I was watching the U.S. Open Tennis today. I love seeing talented newcomers getting their ‘place under the sun’ by defeating well known players. Today two teenagers, Melanie Oudin (USA) and Petra Kvitova (CZE), caused major upsets by defeating top ranked players. Both these youngsters have the talent to become big tennis stars. However, talent alone does not assure one's stardom in tennis. Ask Sania Mirza of India, who crashed out of the tournament two days ago with a humiliating 6-0; 6-0 loss. I remember what a big name ‘Sania’ was at the 2006 U.S. Open. She had a few good upset wins that year. In addition, her ‘exotic dark good looks’ and nice personality created a huge fan base for her in USA. Although unseeded, she was the tennis player most requested by the news media for interviews that year. Then what happened? Well, Sania Mizra became a big box office draw in India. Everybody wanted a piece of her, starting with Bollywood, politicians, advertisers, so on. She became a big celebrity who could hardly go anyplace without people mobbing her. Of course, she made a lot of money sponsoring products and showing up for big events. (I remember her once getting into trouble for speaking about premarital sex at an international conference attended by world leaders). Anyway, her tennis started to suffer with these distractions (a wrist injury did not help matters). She stared losing in early rounds, and gradually faded from the sights of American fans. This time there is hardly a mention of her in the press. Nobody cared about her except for the die-hard tennis fans of Indian origin, like me.

Unforgiving nation!

I am bothered by the denial of parole for terminally ill Susan Atkins , one of the Charles Manson murderers. Ms. Atkins has served over 38 years in prison for the horrible crime she committed. She has been a model prisoner all these years helping others. Now she is dying of brain cancer. Certainly she is not a threat to the society any more. But the Parole Board refused her request for mercy with the justification that Ms Atkins did not show any mercy to Sharon Tate when she killed her. This spirit of getting even, revenge, permeates the US justice system. USA is one of the few civilized countries in the world where death penalty meted out in abandon, although there is no proof the death penalty discourages crime. 'An eye for an eye' is the rule of law in this country!

The stupidity of people!

There is an article in LA Times today which says that the states most likely to win under healthcare overhaul are home to its biggest foes of the healthcare reform. ‘Rural states have more uninsured and lower-income people who stand to benefit from legislation, but it's there where the effort faces the most vocal resistance. It's a factor that stymies legislators.’ Let us face it -- the people in USA are basically stupid as far as politics is concerned. They can be easily manipulated. This is the country which reelected George W Bush, and went crazy about Sarah Palin until her gaffes became too much to ignore. I think the poor villagers in India who stand hours in line to cast their votes, have more sense. They had no hesitancy to throw the BJP party out of power, despite of it being so pro-Hindu!

Jinnah and my uncle

I hear that a book by former Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh 'on Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the 'Father of Pakistan', has caused a huge uproar in India. This has resulted in his expulsion from the BJP party.

My uncle, Mr. Pothan Joseph, a well known journalist, had worked for Mr. Jinnah as the editor of the newspaper ‘Dawn’ . He had the amazing record of having worked as the editor for over 25 newspapers in his life. He was quick to resign from his job if he felt that his boss, the newspaper publisher, is not keeping the promises made to him when he took the job, or is meddling too much in the internal matters of the newspaper. Anyway, according to my uncle, Mr. Jinnah was the most decent and fair person he had ever worked for. Mr. Jinnah was straight forward, showed respect to the newspaper profession, and never tired to exploit his employees (which my uncle would not stand for).

In India, Mr. Jinnah is blamed for causing the partition of India and Pakistan. He was a legal scholar who believed in achieving India’s freedom through constitutional means instead of a mass freedom struggle. He might have been wrong about his approach. But according to my uncle, the threat of a ‘separate Pakistan’ was a negotiation ploy by Mr. Jinnah, and he did not really mean it. It was the Indian Congress leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhai Patel, who played their cards wrong, and made Jinnah want out of any deal with them. The sin of Jaswant Singh was in pointing this out in his book.

(There is a juicy tabloid story that the Mr. Jinnah gave up all his thoughts of a unified India, when he heard that Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru was having a steamy affair with Lady Mountbatten, the wife of Lord Mountbatten who was the mediator of the dispute. There is no credence to this, although it makes interesting reading!)