These have to go!

People are getting angry and frustrated about the high rate of joblessness and associated hardships in the ‘Main Street’, while ‘Wall Street’ is getting ready to doll out largest bonuses ever (even exceeding their ‘prosperous 2007' bonuses). To appease the public, some heads have to roll in the Obama administration. Chief Economic Advisor Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner are in the front line for this. I fully support it, as these two Wall Street veterans are focused on the welfare of financial institutions and big companies, while keeping the welfare of the common people of secondary importance. Now the markets have stabilized, and it is time for an ‘outsider’ to come and put things in order for the benefits of the Main Street. Another person I would love to see go, is the Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. This slimy Washington politician is crippling the style of President Obama with his ‘CYA’ tactics and bad advice. Unfortunately, only few realize this. So he is going to hold on to his job until the 2010 mid-term election blows up on President Obama. (Remember the hasty exit of Don Rumsfield after the 2006 election?)

A Cover Up?

I am puzzled by the story about Tiger Wood’s car accident – the top news story today, being a slow news day. Tiger gets out of his house at a strange time (2:25 AM), runs over a fire hydrant , and then crashes into a tree. How fast the car must have been moving in reverse, to cause such a chain reaction? According to authorities, the car damage was so severe, that Tiger’s wife had to break the car window with golf clubs to get him out of the vehicle. Police say that no alcohol was involved in the accident. If so, I suspect something else unpleasant was the cause. Any tarnishing of Tiger’s reputation will cost millions of dollars in sponsorship and advertisement fees. I will not be surprised if a concentrated cover up is under way to suppress the facts of this 'minor accident'.

Doomed Afghan strategy

I watched last week’s 60 Minutes, a popular news show in USA. It covered a group of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan tasked with finding and destroying bombs buried in the roads by Taliban. The reaction and comments of the U.S. soldiers reminded me of software engineers who work on projects they know are doomed. They will be working hard knowing the truth, but keeping quiet while the management spouts small accomplishments as the harbinger of ultimate success. The resigned looks and wry smiles of U.S. soldiers are familiar to me, as I have been in a few disaster software projects in my lifetime. I have no doubt that U.S. is going to get her a** kicked in Afghanistan with or without more troops. The proposal of ‘winning’ the Afghanis over to support U.S. army is simply ridiculous. How can the local people ever like the heavily armed U.S. soldiers who move like robots, carrying over 60 pounds of armaments and other equipments? People of any nation hate foreign occupation, however well intentioned it may be. They will do anything to get rid of it. I am surprised that this rudimentary law of human nature is ignored in the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. I think President Obama knows the hopelessness of the situation. But he is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as any proposal of U.S. withdrawal will be politically damaging -- it will give the Republicans a golden opportunity to reinforce the perception of Democrats being soft on national security. So, I expect the President to come up with some ‘stop gap’ measure which will only delay the inevitable. Another train wreck in slow motion!