Its no secret to the readers of this blog, I am a big Obama fan and have been for a while. Obviously I am not alone, the country loves him and now the world at large is giving him his due credits. His every move gets watched, his every action gets analyzed and replayed on national TV. Tough position to be in, but for the most part he has done it right, and I like to point out to some of his recent actions which has caught my attention ( as brought to me by the likes of huffingtonpost.com ,nytimes.com, cnn.com,latimes.com and so on).

1) His recent speech in Cairo to the Muslims of the world- beyond the obvious attempt at placating the Muslims ( “Maleekum Salaam”, the word “holy Kuran” not that common from US presidents), the speech was great on substance as well- he talked about Israel Palestine peace efforts, rising fundamentalism and woman’s right. Tough subjects to handle but its a good start and he has shown dexterity, maturity and guts in dealing with them. What remains to be seen is how the Muslim world reciprocates, although initial response is encouraging. Here’s what Deepak Chopra thought about the speech and the challenges ahead.

2) Obamas speech to Notre Dame where he made the famous call to service, for the graduating students and I quote verbatim “When you serve, it doesn’t just improve your community; it makes you part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens – when people set aside their difference to work in common effort towards a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another — all things are possible”

3) Actually even before he made this call to service as President, back in 2007 he had this powerful speech on serving the nation. Some startling statistics in his speech- 1 out of 12 American works for non-profit sector and 115 non-profits are launched every day.

4) Probably inspired by Obama’s call to service speech(s) , recently a criagslist like website was launched by progressive forces in public-private partnership ( Google, Adobe, Youtube, Craigslist Foundation). This is really amazing and I am so excited about the potential it holds. Hopefully a new chapter in volunteerism will begin and the site will match those willing to offer service to those who badly need it and have no where to turn to.

5) President Obama was greeted by anti-abortion protesters when he showed up for commencement speech to the Notre Dame graduating class of 2009. He handled that pretty well too , a balancing act where he had to acknowledge pro-life groups as well as liberal view points like a woman’s right to choose. He talked about seeking common grounds and for the opposing groups to see each others perspective and respect it, a conciliator-in-chief!

6)If you thought I liked everything Obama does, you be surprised, I have my shares of complains too:-) We had a monster of deficit already from Bush’s legacy, add to that the TARP, auto bailouts, stimulus plan and we have a perfect storm in the making. When will we ever get to paying them back? Most of this deficit is being financed by foreigners, Americans already are deep in debt with very low savings rate. China holds around .76 trillion dollars worth of US treasury, Japan holds around .69 trillion dollars ( source US treasury), that means US is at the mercy of these nations to keep holding its treasury bonds. If and when they decide to sell US treasury ( fed up with this unsustainable deficit), be a nightmare, interest rates will shoot up ( they have already doubled from 2% to around 4% on 10 year bonds in the last three months, reflecting those concerns) and whatever little disposable income US consumer is left with, will vanish into servicing loan and mortgage payments. A financial tsunami is in the making, get the details here from the most recent and most authoritative study done so far by Professor Alan Auerbach and William Gale of University of California, Berkeley.

That’s it for now, been a busy two weeks for me, tired of frequent traveling to client sites Will pen down some more thoughts in other areas- the recent Air France crash and the implication for maintenance industry, Killing of the Abortion Doctor ( Dr Tiller) , the Sarah Palin controversy with David Letterman- lots of stuff, keep watching this space!

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Its no secret to the readers of this blog, I am a big Obama fan and have been for a while. Obviously I am not alone, the country loves him and now the world at large is giving him his due credits. His every move gets watched, his every action gets analyzed and replayed on national TV. Tough position to be in, but for the most part he has done it right, and I like to point out to some of his recent actions which has caught my attention ( as brought to me by the likes of huffingtonpost.com ,nytimes.com, cnn.com,latimes.com and so on).

1) His recent speech in Cairo to the Muslims of the world- beyond the obvious attempt at placating the Muslims ( “Maleekum Salaam”, the word “holy Kuran” not that common from US presidents), the speech was great on substance as well- he talked about Israel Palestine peace efforts, rising fundamentalism and woman’s right. Tough subjects to handle but its a good start and he has shown dexterity, maturity and guts in dealing with them. What remains to be seen is how the Muslim world reciprocates, although initial response is encouraging. Here’s what Deepak Chopra thought about the speech and the challenges ahead.

2) Obamas speech to Notre Dame where he made the famous call to service, for the graduating students and I quote verbatim “When you serve, it doesn’t just improve your community; it makes you part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens – when people set aside their difference to work in common effort towards a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another — all things are possible”

3) Actually even before he made this call to service as President, back in 2007 he had this powerful speech on serving the nation. Some startling statistics in his speech- 1 out of 12 American works for non-profit sector and 115 non-profits are launched every day.

4) Probably inspired by Obama’s call to service speech(s) , recently a criagslist like website was launched by progressive forces in public-private partnership ( Google, Adobe, Youtube, Craigslist Foundation). This is really amazing and I am so excited about the potential it holds. Hopefully a new chapter in volunteerism will begin and the site will match those willing to offer service to those who badly need it and have no where to turn to.

5) President Obama was greeted by anti-abortion protesters when he showed up for commencement speech to the Notre Dame graduating class of 2009. He handled that pretty well too , a balancing act where he had to acknowledge pro-life groups as well as liberal view points like a woman’s right to choose. He talked about seeking common grounds and for the opposing groups to see each others perspective and respect it, a conciliator-in-chief!

6)If you thought I liked everything Obama does, you be surprised, I have my shares of complains too:-) We had a monster of deficit already from Bush’s legacy, add to that the TARP, auto bailouts, stimulus plan and we have a perfect storm in the making. When will we ever get to paying them back? Most of this deficit is being financed by foreigners, Americans already are deep in debt with very low savings rate. China holds around .76 trillion dollars worth of US treasury, Japan holds around .69 trillion dollars ( source US treasury), that means US is at the mercy of these nations to keep holding its treasury bonds. If and when they decide to sell US treasury ( fed up with this unsustainable deficit), be a nightmare, interest rates will shoot up ( they have already doubled from 2% to around 4% on 10 year bonds in the last three months, reflecting those concerns) and whatever little disposable income US consumer is left with, will vanish into servicing loan and mortgage payments. A financial tsunami is in the making, get the details here from the most recent and most authoritative study done so far by Professor Alan Auerbach and William Gale of University of California, Berkeley.

That’s it for now, been a busy two weeks for me, tired of frequent traveling to client sites Will pen down some more thoughts in other areas- the recent Air France crash and the implication for maintenance industry, Killing of the Abortion Doctor ( Dr Tiller) , the Sarah Palin controversy with David Letterman- lots of stuff, keep watching this space!

Since the OLC ( Office of Legal Counsel, under Department of Justice) memos on torture during Bush era came out some two weeks ago, the media is caught in a frenzy. I go to CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, every one is talking the same stuff albeit with dramatically different viewpoints. The right wing Fox News channel as expected is full of rhetoric favoring Bush administration whereas if you go to MSNBC, the liberal leaning channel, the commentators are outraged over alleged torture reports. CNN , caught in the middle, is probably still making up its mind and will likely break one way or another, depending on the intensity of public outrage.

As for myself, I think I have liberal leanings, I am a proud Obama supporter, and of course I am outraged with the torture reports! I am glad ACLU ( American Civil Liberty Union) won the case against administration under “Right to Information Act” and the court ordered release of these memos, but for we would never have known the truth. It is important for those who enjoy political power to respect the laws of the land, no one is above the law. If it turns out ex VP Dick Chenney or Judge Jay Bybee or ex Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice share the blame, so be it, they are not above the law either. Actually these being members of public office, should be held to a higher standard. Of course in America everyone is considered innocent unless proven guilty, and I do not want to prejudge these individuals, but hey if their guilt is proven in a federal investigation, let the law take its own course and punish them suitably!

To torture someone- waterboard, sleep deprive (48 hours or more), cramped confinement, wall standing…even if he is accused of crimes…come on he is a human too and let a judge decide on what punishment he deserves, not CIA or any such agency. An animal does not deserve such a cruelty.. let alone humans.., and god forbid if he is wrongly framed and turns out to be innocent…you have just created a very hardened criminal. It’s a slippery path, lets stop before it gets too far and I am glad Obama has actually signed executive order banning all form of torture..err..enhanced interrogation in previous administrations language.

>
Since the OLC ( Office of Legal Counsel, under Department of Justice) memos on torture during Bush era came out some two weeks ago, the media is caught in a frenzy. I go to CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, every one is talking the same stuff albeit with dramatically different viewpoints. The right wing Fox News channel as expected is full of rhetoric favoring Bush administration whereas if you go to MSNBC, the liberal leaning channel, the commentators are outraged over alleged torture reports. CNN , caught in the middle, is probably still making up its mind and will likely break one way or another, depending on the intensity of public outrage.

As for myself, I think I have liberal leanings, I am a proud Obama supporter, and of course I am outraged with the torture reports! I am glad ACLU ( American Civil Liberty Union) won the case against administration under “Right to Information Act” and the court ordered release of these memos, but for we would never have known the truth. It is important for those who enjoy political power to respect the laws of the land, no one is above the law. If it turns out ex VP Dick Chenney or Judge Jay Bybee or ex Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice share the blame, so be it, they are not above the law either. Actually these being members of public office, should be held to a higher standard. Of course in America everyone is considered innocent unless proven guilty, and I do not want to prejudge these individuals, but hey if their guilt is proven in a federal investigation, let the law take its own course and punish them suitably!

To torture someone- waterboard, sleep deprive (48 hours or more), cramped confinement, wall standing…even if he is accused of crimes…come on he is a human too and let a judge decide on what punishment he deserves, not CIA or any such agency. An animal does not deserve such a cruelty.. let alone humans.., and god forbid if he is wrongly framed and turns out to be innocent…you have just created a very hardened criminal. It’s a slippery path, lets stop before it gets too far and I am glad Obama has actually signed executive order banning all form of torture..err..enhanced interrogation in previous administrations language.