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| Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Ernakulam, Kerala. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Saturday, April 05, 2014
Rahul Is A Natural
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
The Recession Is Over
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| Hillary Clinton 1 (Photo credit: Angela Radulescu) |
And so I say, on to Immigration Reform.
The Clintons have been good soldiers to Barack Obams's presidency, and that cements the party's unity. It is deep and genuine.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Obama: Nobel Peace Prize Speech
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:
I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations – that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.
And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize – Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela – my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened of cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women – some known, some obscure to all but those they help – to be far more deserving of this honor than I.
But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by forty three other countries – including Norway – in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.
Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict – filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.
These questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease – the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.
Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers, clerics, and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a “just war” emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when it meets certain preconditions: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the forced used is proportional, and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.
For most of history, this concept of just war was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different God. Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations – total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of thirty years, such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it is hard to conceive of a cause more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.
In the wake of such destruction, and with the advent of the nuclear age, it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another World War. And so, a quarter century after the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations – an idea for which Woodrow Wilson received this Prize – America led the world in constructing an architecture to keep the peace: a Marshall Plan and a United Nations, mechanisms to govern the waging of war, treaties to protect human rights, prevent genocide, and restrict the most dangerous weapons.
In many ways, these efforts succeeded. Yes, terrible wars have been fought, and atrocities committed. But there has been no Third World War. The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall. Commerce has stitched much of the world together. Billions have been lifted from poverty. The ideals of liberty, self-determination, equality and the rule of law have haltingly advanced. We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.
A decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.
Moreover, wars between nations have increasingly given way to wars within nations. The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts; the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies, and failed states; have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. In today’s wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflict are sewn, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed, and children scarred.
I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.
We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.
I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago – “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak –nothing passive – nothing naïve – in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.
I raise this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter the cause. At times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.
Yet the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions – not just treaties and declarations – that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: the United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest – because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.
So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another – that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause and to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.
So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable truths – that war is sometimes necessary, and war is at some level an expression of human feelings. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. “Let us focus,” he said, “on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.”
What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?
To begin with, I believe that all nations – strong and weak alike – must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I – like any head of state – reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards strengthens those who do, and isolates – and weakens – those who don’t.
The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense. Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait – a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.
Furthermore, America cannot insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don’t, our action can appear arbitrary, and undercut the legitimacy of future intervention – no matter how justified.
This becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.
I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That is why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.
America’s commitment to global security will never waiver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.
The leaders and soldiers of NATO countries – and other friends and allies – demonstrate this truth through the capacity and courage they have shown in Afghanistan. But in many countries, there is a disconnect between the efforts of those who serve and the ambivalence of the broader public. I understand why war is not popular. But I also know this: the belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That is why NATO continues to be indispensable. That is why we must strengthen UN and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That is why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali – we honor them not as makers of war, but as wagers of peace.
Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant – the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.
Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.
I have spoken to the questions that must weigh on our minds and our hearts as we choose to wage war. But let me turn now to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.
First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to change behavior – for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure – and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.
One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: all will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work toward disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I am working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russia’s nuclear stockpiles.
But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.
The same principle applies to those who violate international law by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur; systematic rape in Congo; or repression in Burma – there must be consequences. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.
This brings me to a second point – the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.
It was this insight that drove drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.
And yet all too often, these words are ignored. In some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation’s development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists – a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values.
I reject this choice. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither America’s interests – nor the world’s –are served by the denial of human aspirations.
So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear to these movements that hope and history are on their side.
Let me also say this: the promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach – and condemnation without discussion – can carry forward a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.
In light of the Cultural Revolution’s horrors, Nixon’s meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable – and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty, and connected to open societies. Pope John Paul’s engagement with Poland created space not just for the Catholic Church, but for labor leaders like Lech Walesa. Ronald Reagan’s efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe. There is no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement; pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.
Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights – it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.
It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine they need to survive. It does not exist where children cannot aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.
And that is why helping farmers feed their own people – or nations educate their children and care for the sick – is not mere charity. It is also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and activists who call for swift and forceful action – it is military leaders in my country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.
Agreements among nations. Strong institutions. Support for human rights. Investments in development. All of these are vital ingredients in bringing about the evolution that President Kennedy spoke about. And yet, I do not believe that we will have the will, or the staying power, to complete this work without something more – and that is the continued expansion of our moral imagination; an insistence that there is something irreducible that we all share.
As the world grows smaller, you might think it would be easier for human beings to recognize how similar we are; to understand that we all basically want the same things; that we all hope for the chance to live out our lives with some measure of happiness and fulfillment for ourselves and our families.
And yet, given the dizzying pace of globalization, and the cultural leveling of modernity, it should come as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish about their particular identities – their race, their tribe, and perhaps most powerfully their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we are moving backwards. We see it in Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.
Most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint – no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but the purpose of faith – for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. We are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.
But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached – their faith in human progress – must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.
For if we lose that faith – if we dismiss it as silly or naïve; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace – then we lose what is best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.
Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, “I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.”
So let us reach for the world that ought to be – that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls. Somewhere today, in the here and now, a soldier sees he’s outgunned but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, who believes that a cruel world still has a place for his dreams.
Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.
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Monday, November 26, 2007
Abraham Lincoln Had No Experience
Abraham Lincoln Had No Experience
There is a direct relationship between the fact that Abraham Lincoln had no experience and he went to become the greatest president America ever had, and his record still stands. There is a reason why all the top names in the tech industry today are college dropouts. There is a reason why Bill Gates did not first join IBM and worked his way to the top before launching Microsoft.
For Abraham Lincoln to have worked his way up the system, he would have had to make soul level compromises on the slavery question. He would have to give in to the system. I am so glad Barack Obama has not chaired any Senate Committee, ever. When JFK went to the White House after his election, that was his first time. That was the only way for a Catholic to break the glass ceiling. You come from the outside in because, well, you have been outside the entire time.
But if it is experience you are looking for, as counted in the number of years, Hillary is not that person. How long has she been an elected official? Has she ever held any local or state level office?
And what about life experiences? The reason the US intelligence agencies so miserably failed in the months before 9/11 is because they are peopled by people whose life experiences fall short. They are people too steeped in one worldview, the white American worldview. That makes them unprepared for the other worlds that exist out there. One of those worlds broke the American window on 9/11.
Hillary's mistake on Iraq, her refusal to learn from it, and her repeat mistake on Iran shows it is very hard to get out of that worldview. You are imprisoned by it.
With Barack, you get the best of several worlds, and I don't just mean culturally. You get his life experiences, his experiences as an elected official at the state and national levels, you get the experience of a guy who was the Democratic Party's top campaigner for the 2006 victory, and you get the national experience of a guy who has run a presidential campaign that shows all signs of becoming a classic. The presidential campaign is designed to test if you are ready, and he has been acing the tests.
But, with him, you also get freshness, guts, newness, boldness of vision, boldness, ease and classiness of style. He is no Ronald Reagan, Reagan looked contorted. Barack is so very comfortable in his skin. He will carry more than 35 states next fall.
Lincoln liberated America from slavery. Barack will liberate America from racism. If America wants to benefit from this new, globalized century, it will have to grow like that. FDR gave social security. Barack will give that program a new birth, a new life. He will deliver universal health care, an unkept promise of half a century. He will expand education and credit opportunities. JFK offered charisma, youthfulness, vigour, and a global reach. So will Barack.
I am going to say Barack is an amazing package deal. This is not a presidential election, yo. That happens once every four years. This is different. This is more than even a movement. Whatever this is, this s__t happens once a generation, maybe once every few generations. Barack is more than the best candidate. There is a best candidate every four years. Barack competes with the top five in the league for greatness. He is going to be epoch making.
Barack means deliverance.
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A Game of Chicken on Iraq Funding "denial and deception" is a key part of any military campaign ....... the Administration is encouraging the sense of an impending train wreck, shouting early and often that doom is just ahead. ...... Congress has already sent the military $460 billion for its operations in fiscal 2008 ....... Bush is for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ....... seeking $196 billion more..... the betting inside the Pentagon is that the Democrats will fold in the coming weeks ..... Bush's announcement in September that he was beginning a drawdown was "a study in calculated public deception" ...... The pullout of 30,000 troops by next summer will still leave about 140,000 troops in Iraq, the same size force that was there before the 30,000-strong "surge" began earlier this year. "He made clear in that speech that as far as he's concerned," Obey said, "we're going to be there for the next decade." ........ "Because the Pentagon says it, you believe it?" .... "Go back and look — 'Mission accomplished,' al-Qaeda connection, weapons of mass destruction, on and on and on, and you believe the Pentagon?" He calls the Pentagon's alarmist warnings "Rumsfeld-like," which is perhaps the ultimate insult in Washington today.
The Last Mideast Peace Conference? a conference that ends all peace? ....... the two-state solution and its hope of peace may die forever. ...... Palestinian leadership has become badly splintered ...... transforming Arab dictatorships into pro-Western democracies will not be simple ....... The Iraqi quagmire has helped Iran rise as a leader of forces opposed to a Pax Americana, with the clout to play a spoiler role in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. ........ the launching of a serious new round of comprehensive negotiations based on a solid consensus for realistic solutions. ......... accept Jerusalem as two capitals for two states. ...... an increasing consensus about Israel's need to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders ...... Israel will agree to allow a symbolic number of perhaps several thousand Palestinians to return ....... the bulk of refugees will be incorporated into the Palestinian state, or given citizenship in their current countries of residence or in third countries under an international humanitarian program ...... If the sides can agree on that much, what's holding them back? The answer is the rough-and-tumble of Israeli and Palestinian domestic politics ..... a past tendency toward unsuccessful brinksmanship in negotiations. ........ The Clinton administration waited until its final six months in office to tackle the main issues of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The Bush administration ignored mediation altogether for its first six years in office. .......... She has now, quietly and painstakingly, re-launched comprehensive peace negotiations based on past agreements and plans that enjoy a wide consensus. .... "the prolonged experience of deprivation and humiliation can radicalize even normal people." ...... "My fear," she said, "is that if Palestinian reformers cannot deliver on the hope of an independent state, then the moderate center could collapse forever and the next generation of Palestinians could become lost souls of unbridled extremism."
What Sharif's Return Means to Pakistan
Clinton Critiques Obama PAC Washington Post "response to another false attack from hillary clinton." .... "Whatever happened to the confident front-runner who said she wouldn't attack other Democrats just two weeks ago?" .... "The latest personal attack from Hillary Clinton is a completely false attempt to misrepresent Barack Obama's full disclosure of his campaign finances. Senator Obama's commitment to disclosure is one that Hillary Clinton does not share, and until Senator Clinton is willing to make this commitment - by disclosing her White House records, the list of donors to her husband's presidential library, how much her bundlers raise, and releasing her personal tax returns to the public -- she's not really in a position to point fingers at others." ............. Burton called the PAC and lobbyist donations to Hopefund irrelevant to Obama's campaign pledge. "Apples and oranges"
Review: Costly 'Kindle' reader gets a lot of it right Christian Science Monitor this product was not designed by anybody working for Steve Jobs. ....... like the iPod, it could be the tipping point in a whole new way to access a popular medium – in this case, books. ....... Amazon has included free wireless (so no monthly service charges), and not just any middling wireless, but top-quality Sprint EVDO wireless. This means anytime you want to read a new book, you can download one right away. ....... another smart move by Amazon: e-book pricing. The company is offering many top-selling books and new releases for $9.99 each. ........ crushed ink on dead trees ..... just over 10 ounces ...... the revolutionary e-ink technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, which duplicates the look of a book page pretty faithfully. That means no glare. ....... will hold up to 200 books ...... $399. It's too much. ...... wait for the price to drop. ...... a Web browser and the ability to send and receive e-mail (each Kindle comes with a free e-mail account). ....... Give it a year or so, a few tweaks, a lower price, and the Kindle is going to be a machine you are going to want to own.
Obama Touts His Time Away From Capital
Clinton Bores Into Obama pac's Distribution of Money in Primary States
In West Iowa, Obama Man Thinks Locally He stepped across a few rows of soybeans, climbed up the steps of a red Case combine and squeezed into a seat next to Lyle McIntosh, who was circling a field. ....... think like a local, which in this part of Iowa means only gently pestering people about politics. ........ has worked as a truck driver in the Pacific Northwest and a crab fisherman in Alaska ..... one of the most competitive presidential races that anyone here can recall. ....... 1,781 precinct meetings ...... creating a strong and loyal person-to-person network ...... building — and sustaining — those networks throughout the state’s 99 counties. ....... Obama DVDs he lends to neighbors. ...... getting the office computer printer to work falls on his abilities to beg and barter. ...... neither Mr. Steele, a soft-spoken, bearded man, nor his ever-growing cadre of young staff members spend time tracking daily campaign developments on cable television or the proliferating blogs. They seldom have time to watch the presidential debates. Their lens is purposefully microscopic. ....... precinct captains, the supporters who will organize Obama followers on caucus night ....... ....... On the Fourth of July, he “Snoop Dogg breaks” — brief naps on the sofa near the front doorway of the campaign officevowed to have himself tattooed with the initials of whoever turned in the most signed supporter cards. Delane Adams, a campaign organizer from Chicago, won by submitting 33. ......... “DA 33 July 4.” (“I thought it would have been weird to tattoo “Obama” on my arm,” he said, “but now I have some dude’s initials on me.”) ...... He is intimately familiar with Mr. Obama’s voice, his positions and his biography, yet Mr. Steele has had only a few passing conversations with him. ...... sprawling national headquarters in Chicago, on the 11th floor of a downtown skyscraper, with views of Lake Michigan ........ “We never want to burn those bridges and we never — ever — speak ill of another candidate.” ....... “maven,” which is campaign shorthand for a community leader, party official or, quite simply, someone who can persuade others to join the Obama team. ........ Steele mostly listened and took pages of notes on a yellow legal pad, writing down Mr. Knock’s concern about presidential powers and what he fears are threats to the Constitution and the politicization of the Justice Department. ...... “But I’ve got to figure out how I can step away from Biden. They gave me the cellphone of his national political director and his niece!” ....... his daily report to state headquarters in Des Moines ..... Within a week, a campaign policy aide from the Chicago office was on the phone, answering Mr. Knock’s specific questions. ...... When Mr. Obama went to Creston a month later, Mr. Steele arranged a brief one-on-one meeting between the senator and Mr. Knock, who signed on to the campaign soon after. ..... Jefferson-Jackson dinner ..... who was seated at Mr. Obama’s table? Mr. Knock and his wife, Jan. Later, Ms. Knock told her husband that Mr. Obama had “swept her off her feet”
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My face is ugly enough: Amitabh Bachchan Hindustan Times "That's as far as I go. My face is ugly enough. I can't do anything to improve it. Nothing can save it." ..... "From January 2008, I'll be working with Mira, Warner Bros and Johnny Depp on Shantaram."
I like Salman very much:Big B
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Online Nicknames Google better than Real? Slashdot
"Black Friday" sales rise an unexpected 8.3% BloggingStocks
Soccer Roundup S. Africans to Receive World Cup Tickets Free New York Times
Teen's Suicide Spurs Anti-Cyberbullying Law
In Broadway Dispute, Both Sides Agree: It’s All About Fairness New York Times
Firefighters make progress against blaze near Malibu CNN International
Sharif makes it back to Pakistan second time lucky Reuters
Nepal's Maoists threaten to take up arms again
Obama says his health package does more
The Lord at Obama's hypothetical dinner table Los Angeles Times
Ron Paul: A big tent, but unlikely bet
Clinton Takes On Student Loan Industry
A New Face for Australia TIME
Former US President in bid to save Nepal's peace process
French transit workers back on job
Kindle; the demise of books; rise of the e-reader YourHub.com
Obama closing in on Clinton Chicago Tribune Perceptions are nine-tenths of reality in politics. ...... What's changed? He's gone on the attack. ...... Or, as he puts it, he is drawing sharp contrasts and distinctions between his own positions and those of his leading opponent. ..... Obama has since made a theme of criticizing Clinton as lacking honesty, candor and consistency. Clinton countercharges pointedly that Obama lacks experience. ..... The poll is the first in which Obama has scored a higher percentage than Clinton in Iowa ....... "honesty" versus "experience"
Democrats 2008: Hillary 52%, Obama 29%
Regardless of Kadima Leader, Likud First in Israel
Russians Back Mostly One Party Before Election
High Support for Democratic Reforms in Hong Kong
No to health care mandates, Obama says
Candidates' Stances on Social Security
Clinton Unveils Autism Plan The Associated Press
Official: Nepal pushes for SAARC transportation corridors Xinhua
Former US Commander Criticizes Bush on Iraq Voice of America
As Democrats See Iraq Gains, a Shift in Tone
Vote Is Postponed as Lebanese President Leaves New York Times
Attacks on Pakistani Military Kill 15 New York Times
Moscow cops suppress democracy march, arrest Kasparov Chicago Tribune
jotspot to replace Google Pages soon? ZDNet
google bets on open-source software Canada.com Speculation around the potential of the two projects had investors pushing the company's stock to a record high of US$741.79 this month ...... the company hopes the product will drive more traffic to the rest of Google's application offerings. ...... "OpenSocial has nothing to do with making our slice of the pie bigger but making the pie itself bigger." ..... "Google is an advertising company, first and foremost, and one of the things that makes that possible is a fair and free Internet" ...... if Google can manage to work its advertising model into Andriod-run cellphones, the revenue potential is astronomical.
Scratched Discs Can Wreck a Rock Band Washington Post
Dell Remakes Itself InformationWeek the future of his company lies in reducing IT complexity for customers. "We're simplifying your client infrastructure, we're simplifying your data center ...... launching services to assess complexity and simplify your environment." Dell said he plans to triple the size of the company's services business within three years. ...... Acquisitions are one way he plans to get there. In a turnaround from its historical organic-growth strategy, Dell has acquired five companies in the past four months, topped off with the Nov. 15 agreement to acquire Everdream, a provider of on-demand software services for managing business PCs. ...... Dell tends to commoditize things and lower prices ..... IT buyers for whom simplicity means having fewer technology vendors to manage. That makes Dell like Oracle, where the one-stop-shop philosophy for software has outweighed occasional complaints of service and support hiccups arising from its manic acquisition strategy.
AMD v Intel Oil money and hafnium Economist Mubadala Development, an investment arm of oil-rich Abu Dhabi, would pay about $622m for 8.1% of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) ..... it has only two chip fabrication plants, or “fabs”, compared with Intel's 15 ...... Intel can usually introduce new manufacturing processes faster. ...... hafnium, an obscure metal, to insulate the transistors in its chips ..... Intel was able to recover quickly from its missteps because it has deep pockets. After slashing nearly 11,000 jobs in the past 12 months, its profit in the third quarter soared by 43% ....... Mubadala Development will not get a seat on AMD's board. But the deal will prompt worries that if technology spending slows, as many industry-watchers expect it to, America's high-tech industry will suffer, and more resource-rich countries will take the chance to buy their way into it.
Cisco launches network on wheels Business Standard The company has decided to take its networking solutions to SMB customers, on a mobile van ..... ‘Network On Wheels’ (NOW), a customised van with a live network environment on board will visit industrial locations across Karnataka, hosting live demonstrations for customers. ...... The NOW van has already covered cities including New Delhi (NCR), Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Karnal, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai
Microsoft Blows Zune Supply PC World the last-generation Zune ...... the Zune 80, the Apple competitor's top-of-the-range Zune player ...... 80GB device includes Wi-Fi and an FM radio
Nintendo Wii pulls even with Microsoft's Xbox 360 Seattle Post Intelligencer
Live Documents enters the Office suite ring ZDNet Sabeer Bhatia was the co-founder of Hotmail, the Web email service Microsoft acquired for $400 million in 1998. Now, Bhatia wants to bite the hand that fed him. He formed a new company, InstaColl, and is joining Zoho, ThinkFree, Google, Yahoo (Zimbra), Adobe and lesser know others in the effort to squish Microsoft Office with a new suite and complementary collaborative component, Live Documents. ....... a set of Flash-based Office 2007-like applications and also embeds collaborative capabilities and adds online/offline synchronization into Microsoft Office documents. ........ “We are just a few years away from the end of the shrink-wrapped software business. By 2010, people will not be buying software. This is a significant challenge to a proportion of Microsoft’s revenues.” ..... The idea of software moving mainly to the cloud and collaboration is a logical outcome based on what is going on today ....... Office 2007 accounts for 17.4 percent of all PC software dollar volume and retail sales the suite are about double the rate of Office 2003 at a similar post-launch stage. ....... Zoho has less than 500,000 users of its array of browser-based applications. Microsoft has hundreds of millions of Office users. ...... the shift from shrink wrapped software to “live” services is not unknown to Microsoft. The company probably has something similar to what Live Documents has developed waiting in the wings for the day, or year, when the balance shifts and Google Apps or another suite becomes more than an ankle biter. ........ Microsoft is developing a Sync Framework for adding synchronization, roaming, and offline capabilities to applications, and using any data type, data store, transfer protocol, or network topology. ...... InstaColl describes its offering as a “software plus services” value proposition, using Microsoft’s way of characterizing its approach to marrying the client and the Web. ...... Live Documents is a full-featured suite of online Office productivity applications offering functionality equivalent to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Built using RIA technologies such as Flash and Flex, Live Documents allow users to view and edit documents within any common browser on any operating system from anywhere. Live Documents uses a Flash-based user interface that offers a richer and responsive user experience that is comparable to native Office software applications. ........... Microsoft Office is a justifiably huge target for competitors, a $16 billion business. Bandwidth, browser technology, development tools, infrastructure costs and user expectations are enabling more sophisticated applications to live on the Net.
Google races ahead of Yahoo! and Microsoft ihotdesk - IT News
City IBM execs to work 6 days a week Times of India
JOHN DVORAK'S SECOND OPINION How Oracle can lose by winning MarketWatch The crux of the case stems from Oracle's ability to track down what seems to have been a spidering operation, where TomorrowNow allegedly sent a crawler into the Oracle support site and downloaded every document it could find. ....... Oracle charges that TomorrowNow, using Honeywell's and other customers' accounts and passwords, went on the support site and downloaded what it could. Oracle also says that this was to be used for providing the exact same support services sold by SAP. ...... Oracle is 100% in the right and SAP is bad. ...... once on the Oracle treadmill, you'll never be able to get off it. ...... pricey support and endless upgrades. To Oracle, support and upgrades add up to $2.1 billion in revenue ...... Because Oracle has created a gravy train for itself with no escape routes for the clients, it will not be able to give up any of the free money. Who would? .... I'm not jazzed about software plans where, like it or not, you are wedded for life.
sap's tomorrownow Looking Like Yesterday's Toast
Shoppers pack area stores before sunrise Cincinnati Post the same things that other shoppers were searching for from Connecticut to California. ..... Toys and electronics
On Black Friday, Shoppers Display Pragmatic Restraint
Judge Rejects Wal-Mart Effort To Block Public View of Documents
AT&T’s 3G wireless broadband network goes live in Virginia TeleGeography
tanzania: wimax network set up AllAfrica.com
AT&T launches wireless broadband service in western Massachusetts
Eyes Will Be on Bush At Talks on Mideast Washington Post
Australians Vote on 11 Years of Conservative Rule Voice of America
Obama's Generation X Factor CBS News old grudges and revenge plots hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago -- played out on the national stage .... the Millennials ..... Obama's own generation, i.e., Generation X, the Lost Generation, whose name has been virtually erased from the national conversation. ...... X-ers -- a sociocultural label typically used to describe those born between 1961 and 1976 ...... "lazy," "passive" and possessing "only a hazy sense of their own identity." ....... lost in translation, their rejection of politics-as-usual mistaken for apathy, their questioning of liberal credo interpreted as "backlash" politics, their anxiety about economic security condemned as materialism and their reluctance to be identified either by labels or with larger institutions dismissed as a lack of commitment. ........ The X-er economic philosophy was better described by Ted Halstead in The Atlantic Monthly as "balanced-budget populism," combining fiscal responsibility with a concern for income inequality. ...... many of the political and cultural orientations of Gen X have been recast as the "new progressive" politics. The scalding contempt for the mainstream press expressed by bloggers was ingrained in the Gen X point of view long before the Iraq War. ........ angry idealism with a studied disdain for ideology and partisanship ...... Clinton was in many ways "our first political love who broke our hearts. We've never been able to trust any politician quite in that same way again." ...... X-ers had never embraced street protests like the boomers. So they turned to the medium most of them knew best: the Internet. ...... the Internet offered something just as valuable in the jittery aftermath of 9/11: community ...... "We didn't like being controlled or defined by an association with these fake communities like nationality, or religion or [corporate] brands." The Internet always carried the potential for connection, but X-ers would use it to create a vast array of political and purely social blogs, networking sites and other forms of community, which we now refer to as Web 2.0. ....... we also understood the technology in a way that baby boomers did not ....... the potential of online activism -- from raising money to organizing meet-ups -- having been present and intimately involved in the development of the web during the dot-com heyday. ...... the revolutionary opportunity to get involved in politics so late in our life, and enter it at a fairly high level ....... from her outsider status in the green movement to her entrepreneurial spirit, community-based focus and emphasis on fiscal responsibility and real-life outcomes. ...... relationships between ideology, identity and activism ...... "see politics as a fluid field of choice rather than a hard-and-fast test" of ideological commitment. ........ "challenging the tired orthodoxies of both the right and the left." ...... progressives intensely focused on outcomes ...... a certain impatience with the "romanticism" of boomer lefties ...... far less inspired by the idea of "saving the world" than fixing the local school system or creating a green transit alternative ..... a specific problem with a concrete solution ...... a roll-up-your-sleeves, nuts-and-bolts politics, built on collaboration ....... collaborative, open, transparent, bottom-up, fair ...... X-er ambition is perfectly embodied by the now infamous anti-Hillary spoof of Apple's "Big Brother" ad, created by 33-year-old Phil de Vellis, who declared it a victory for citizen politics. "The underlying point," he says, "was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power." ....... if a Republican or a conservative or a libertarian or a free-marketer has a better idea, I am happy to steal ideas from anybody, and in that sense I'm agnostic ..... his netroots strategy looks a lot like old-fashioned marketing. "He's skipped right over the blogosphere to the younger social networking sites ...... "Anxious Xers" as the swing voters to watch in 2008. ..... Or X-ers may end up like the Silent Generation, who, sandwiched between the GI Generation and the baby boomers, were simply squished into obscurity.
Drudge Report Leaks, Web Media Integral Part of Clinton's ... Wired News
Democratic Presidential Campaign Is Boiling Down to a 4-Letter ...
Clinton hits China again on toy safety
Exiled ex-leader Sharif ready to return to Pakistan Guardian Unlimited spells a further headache for Pervez Musharraf ...... has his powerbase in Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous. .... Musharraf flew to Saudi Arabia this week to meet King Abdullah, apparently to try to stave off Sharif's return.
Pakistan Court Orders Musharraf to Step Down as Military Chief ...
Iran: Allegations About Nuclear Program 'Baseless' Voice of America
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