We need a butcher!

One rule of life, which I have found seldom wrong, is that the people who ‘talk the big talk’ are not good at ‘walk the walk’. I had an uneasy feeling that this would be the case with President Obama, and it is proving to be right. Please do not get me wrong. President Obama is sincere about what he advocates, and he really wants to change the world for the well being of the humanity. But he is not capable of doing some arm twisting and bashing a few heads to get his way. He can make up this deficiency by keeping some tough ‘executioners’ behind him (like Cheney and Rumsfield for President George W Bush). Rahm Emanuel, the Chief of Staff, is supposed to be the enforcer for President Obama. So far he is proving to be thoroughly useless. Rahm made a big huff and puff about getting the Congress to come up with an effective healthcare reform. His backroom meetings with Congressmen and Senators yielded nothing useful. (Now, thanks to the last minute efforts some veteran Democrats like Senator Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid, there may be a health reform with some meat behind it). Even the Pentagon, U.S. Military, has started showing disrespect to their Commander-in-Chief. I am shocked at the temerity of Gen. Stanley McChrystal who leaked his report on Afghanistan before the President can act upon it. Why is he allowed to keep his job? As President Nixon said, one has to be a good butcher to be an effective leader. Should know when to let go people who are not useful. President Obama certainly is not a butcher, and there is no one behind him to do that dirty job for him. I am concerned.

How much land does a man need?

I was thinking about the arrest of hedge fund owner Raj Rajaratnam for insider trading. Here is a man whose worth is estimated be around 1.5 billion dollars. He is accused of violating the basic trading laws to make a 'paltry' 20 million dollars. What makes a person do something stupid like that when he has all that money? How much land does a man need?

An amusing side story is that Mr. Rajaratnam once paid 4 million dollars to singer Kenny Rogers to come and sing at party in his house. He reportedly made the singer sing his trademark ‘Gambler’ song 12 times, before Rogers refused to do it anymore. Here is a question someone posted in Internet :

Question: Exactly WHEN did Kenny Rogers start to feel like a whore?
Was it during the middle of the 5th performance of the song?
Or during the chorus of the 7th performance, when he realized he was in someone's kitchen?
Or was it during the 11th performance?

Why does a multimillionaire like Kenny Rogers go and take this type of humiliation? Again, how much land does a man need?

Train wreck in slow motion!

I hope that today’s announcement (threat?) by the health insurance companies predicting big increases in insurance premiums resulting from the proposed healthcare reform, is an eye opener to everyone. A disaster is in the making for the Democrats. Unless there is a ‘public option’ to keep the private health insurance companies in check, this healthcare reform is going to make matters worse for everyone. If that happens, the Democrats will lose their majority in the Congress in the 2010 elections. (People will be so angry that they will vote for their only other choice, the Republicans, however disgusting they are). With Republicans in control, there will be a gridlock in the Congress which will destroy the Obama presidency. I see a train wreck in slow motion.

Premonition?

Although quite surprised, I agree with the decision of the Nobel Committee to award President Barrack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Although, President Obama has been in office only nine (9) months, his message of a drastic change in U.S. foreign policy using international diplomacy, respecting very nation’s rights and needs, has resonated around the world. Since the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize is to encourage the actions for world peace, awarding this honor to the President who is starting his work, makes sense to me. Now, Obama has to prove to the world that he deserved the award. I feel that a plan he has to shelve, thanks to this award, is the bombing Iran for their nuclear ambitions. This is something the Israel and the Jewish lobby desperately wants him to do, or support.

I am bothered about the statement by the committeeto the effect that ‘this is the right time to give President Obama this award, as two or three years later it may be too late’. Do they have any premonition of something bad happening to him in the coming years? I wonder.

The other shoe is about to drop!

There is overall praise about the popular talk show host David Letterman coming out in the open with the story about his affairs with the female members of his staff, and someone trying to exhort him. ‘It is a matter between two consenting adults’, ‘No law has been broken’, ‘Dave was smart take control of the story before it got leaked out ' so on, are the reactions in USA. But I feel that Dave is in huge trouble. In this litigious society, it will not be long before someone comes out with a sexual harassment claim against him. ‘I wanted to end the relationship, but was forced to continue as I was worried about my job’ will be a very convincing complaint. I am sure that the money thirsty lawyers are on the prowl for the Dave's ‘victims’, hoping to convince one of them to file a sexual harassment suit. This is what happened to singer Michael Jackson. Poor Michael was tricked by the British journalist Martin Bashir, to talk openly about his joy of hosting young children in his Neverland Ranch which included they all sleeping in a big bed. Sure enough, shortly after the interview was broadcast on TV, the parents of one of the boys filed a complaint of inappropriate sexual behavior by Jackson, which a spiteful DA (Thomas Sneddon Jr) was happy to run with. Although Michael got acquitted after a long and costly trial, he never recovered from the shock and humiliation of it. Same can be the fate of Dave Letterman. It will be a miracle if Dave survives this and keeps his job!