Cliff Hanger

Found this cartoon on the Miami Herald site and couldn’t resist sharing. 🙂

We still have the GOP telling us what we are doing wrong. And some of us are still listening!

Top 10 reasons why it is difficult for Indians to be Hijackers or Terrorists!

I recently received this tongue-in-cheek missive that I thought was really hilarious, because it is so true! Here it is for your enjoyment.

1. We are always late;  we would have missed all 4 flights.

2. We would talk loudly and bring attention to ourselves.

3. With free food & drinks on the plane, we would forget why we’re there.

4. We talk with our hands; therefore we would have to put our weapons down.

5. We would ALL want to fly the plane.

6. We would argue and start a fight in the plane.

7. We can’t keep a secret; we would have told everyone a week before doing it.

8. We would have put our country’s flag on the windshield.

9. We would have postponed the mission because a cricket match was on that day.

10. We would all have fallen over each other to be in the photograph being taken with one of the hostages.

Party at Capitol Hill Dunk Tank!

There is something to be said for the party at the Capitol Hill Dunk Tank that periodically invites the creme-de-la-creme from the Wall Street and Financial fraternity for cake, since they don’t eat bread. Even as we are crying foul at the massive re-distribution of wealth that is taking place under our noses, our house reps, in an effort to wipe our tears and divert us, have hauled up various economic criminals (bank and auto heads), real criminals (peanut tycoon), camouflaged criminals (Treasury and SEC officials who plead incompetence rather than malicious intent), and financial criminals (Madoff et al), to a Capitol Hill Dunk Fest.

Our brave leaders have put their heads in the lion’s jaws for our sakes. They recognize that we are yelling for blood. And that we want justice. Because we know, in our heart of hearts, that the money the CEOs have earned is not for an honest day’s work. It is “earned” with a loaded dice – by knowing the “right” people, “lobbying” for their interests, and fighting against legislature that benefits the country.

So they drag these suited, booted, arrogant, smirking, know-it-all, talking heads to Capitol Hill.

“Did you know that you were indulging in risky behavior when you encouraged your loan officers to push high interest mortgages to people who couldn’t repay them?
Dunk!

“How much money did you lend out last year after you took TARP money and how much did you lend out the year before when didn’t have access to TARP money? Why are both amounts the same?”
Dunk!

“How many millions did you pay as bonus to your employees with one hand, when your company was in the red and grasping taxpayer money with the other hand?”
Dunk!

“Weren’t your companies the ones that fought hard against legislation for building energy-efficient cars? Now why are you coming to us for help when gas prices make your cars unaffordable to run?”
Dunk!

“How did you come to Capitol Hill today? Did you use the Corporate jet?”
Slam Dunk!

Oh, I know, I know, one cannot shame the shameless. To all intents and purposes, a tongue-lashing is not the same as a lashing.

Our only hope of reprieve from yet another bubble is to enact strict and loophole-free laws before we hand out our money to the grubby hands of the banks. But since our interests are not protected here too, we must rely on Wall Street’s sense of shame and well concealed patriotism in order to help dig our nation out of the mess of their making.

Even if the dunkfest does not accomplish its goal – to shame the CEO’s into good behavior, it at least indicates that at least our lawmakers feel our pain, while they are handing out the futures of our children and grandchildren to dishonest and avaricious people. We should be able to take comfort in that.

Sex and the TARP!

Here is a riddle: What is more scandalous than “Sex and the City”, costs $2000 / hour, gives intense pleasure to someone other than you, but is paid for with your hard-earned money under TARP?

Guess? Didn’t get it?

Ok, here is another hint: What is a legitimate business expense for big Wall Street CEOs in order for them to perform their high-stress, high-paying jobs, delivering “great” rates of returns for their investors?

Give up? Beyond your imagination?

I don’t blame you. It is hard to wrap your minds around this creepy excess.

According to an NYC Madam, Wall Street execs and CEOs have been utilizing high-end prostitutes at $2000/hr and paying for them with their corporate credit cards. They have been deducting these expenses illegally as legitimate business expenses. Looks like the TARP money will come in handy to rescue their firms since their routine expenses to “conduct” their business is higher than the profit generated from the business. It is no wonder that the companies that they manage are now running at a loss and need tax payer money to help offset losses. To add insult to injury, even after this  illegal, deceitful, fraudulent and distasteful behavior they have the gall to resist Govt. oversight for the TARP money and fight the restrictions placed on their compensations. And they try to get the Republicans to spout crude “wisdom” about Govt interference in their business.

By rights, we, the public, should ask the Govt to prosecute all these executives and recover this money from them.  We should also be defining the oversight of company expenses for companies that accept TARP money since we have paid for all this:

– a major New York real estate developer who, according to the list, “will come to the door wearing women’s panties,” and who spent nearly $100,000

– a partner at the Wall Street law firm Cravath Swaine Moore “looking for a party girl to come fully equipped” and spent a total of $20,000

– an investment banker from Lehman Brothers who saw “Kelsey and Keely together” and later saw “Aria and Skyler at the same time”

– an investment banker at JP Morgan Securities who “loves Brooke” and spent $41,600

– an investment banker at Goldman Sachs who “only wanted all-American girls” and spent $27,000

– a managing director from Merrill Lynch who saw “Lana” using the name “Nataly”

– a managing director from Deutsche Bank “who called about seeing Nataly again”

Join in to leave a message if you don’t want to pay for all this.

Plumbing the depths – GOP style!

Here is a nice story: The sun is shining brightly. The seas are calm. The fish are swimming close to the surface of the azure blue waters practically begging to be reeled in by the fishing lines. And GOP is sailing their boat looking up proudly at their captain at the helm. He is doing a great job. Everything is under control because the GOP is IN control!

Suddenly, the weather changes. Dark, ominous storm clouds gather. The sea gets rough and choppy. The fish have swum deep into the sea, hiding in fear. The GOP’ers glance up at the wheel. The captain is nowhere in sight. He’s on vacation at his Texas ranch. So they look for the 2nd in command. Oh no, he’s gone hunting and has shot his friend in the face.

So they grit their teeth and ask for “all hands on the deck” to prevent the ship from sinking. Somehow they muddle through, to hold the ship afloat until the captain retires. Now they are looking for a new captain. Someone with a spine. Someone who knows how to stay in the limelight. Someone who will grab on to opportunity and hold tight. Someone who will stand firm (if muddled) about their conservative stances.

They cast around for a leader. They search high and low. For as far as they can scan the horizon, they cannot find anyone to captain their floundering ship.

So they finally cast their lines in the deep choppy waters of the GOP base and reel in a dead fish. This was the fish that John McCain, the previous de facto leader had reeled in earlier to help his sinking ship stay afloat. For lack of a better alternative, they resurrect it and lo! Here is our leader. Guess who?

Our intrepid, opportunistic, tax-dodging, unlicensed, Joe, the plumber!

Slumdog Millionaire – Movie Review

As an Indian myself, I can see why the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” would disturb most Indians. And going by the comments posted on the Internet, it indeed does.

To our collective shame, the movie depicts the stark reality of the life of a homeless child from the slums of Mumbai. And for the British Director, Danny Boyle to be able to accurately reflect that child’s life in India, seems to most Indians like we are washing our dirty linen in public and hanging it out to dry under the world’s eyes. That is exactly what the movie did – hung our unmentionables out to dry in the world’s laundry line.

Slumdog is a hard-hitting movie – a difficult movie to see, especially if you are very imaginative and sensitive. But it is also a must-see movie, if you want to know exactly how the less fortunate people live in other parts of the world.

India, with the dubious honor of being the world’s largest democracy, obviously has her unique share of challenges in taking care of some of her most vulnerable population – the women and children. That challenge is truly revealed in the movie. To all those not familiar with life in India, who have watched or will watch Slumdog, I will say this: all that has been depicted as the life of a youngster living in abject poverty in India, is indeed real. There was no artistic license used by Director Danny Boyle to enhance those horrors.

The movie is about a child of the slums of Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums. The main protagonist is Jamal, played by Dev Patel, who works as a “chai boy” (tea boy) at one of the call centers. Patel has excelled in his role. He emotes beautifully and is very effective in accurately portraying the pain of his life. I cannot do justice to this review without mentioning Jamal’s 2 younger selves.

The role of Jamal as a 10 year old is played by the cute, round-eyed, and most adorable cherub, Ayush Khedekar. Ayush, with no acting experience under his belt, has done an exemplary job. As an young teen, the role of Jamal is played by Tanay Chedha, also performed very well.

The other main protagonists are also less known or unknown actors with little or no experience. Frieda Pinto is gorgeous and sweet as the adult Latika. Her younger selves, Rubiana Ali (a real child from the slums of Dharavi), and Tanvi Lonkar have also done a great job. So has Azharuddin Ismail (another child from the slums of Dharavi) as the youngest Salim. Azharuddin has accurately portrayed how a child from the slums needs to be a fighter in order to survive the harsh realities of life.

It is to Director Danny Boyle’s credit that every single actor in this movie has performed par excellence. There is no slowing of pace in this movie. You dont have the luxury to think while watching. Everything moves at such a fast pace, that you will be on the edge of your seat throughout the duration of the movie. The music, handled by India’s favorite music director A.R.Rehman, is also fabulous. I love happy endings and this movie ended with the much anticipated song and dance sequence that is a must in every movie that has Indian actors. The grand finale song was fabulous, upbeat and victorious.

I cannot end without mentioning what has been my biggest nightmare about the life of vulnerable children in India. The depiction of the character of “Maman”, the guy who lures kids off the street and miams or blinds them in order to make them more pitiful, so that he can get more money when they go out begging is India’s most terrifying, shameful secret. I must confess, that I hid behind my coat and did not watch when the scene of blinding one of the children was shown.

I am certainly very empathetic to India’s social challenges. I do believe that despite all that the country has had to face since independence, it has come a long way.

But, as Robert Frost put it, we all have “miles to go before we sleep” – this is not just India’s problem, it is the mankind’s problem to deal with. If we are to progress as humans, we need to take all our folks with us.

Profiting from Tragedy – the Caylee Anthony doll

The commercialization of civilization.

It is a shameful time. A time to reflect about how low things have sunk. And how crass and how utterly mercenary some people have become. How they think that material gain excuses any insensitivity to the pain of others.

I was shocked that a business from Jacksonville even thought they could profit from poor Caylee Anthony’s death, when I read this post on CNN: Outrage halts launch of Caylee Sunshine doll. The post went to explain that the public was outraged that Jaime Salcedo, president of Showbiz Promotions created a doll called Caylee Sunshine. I am glad that people stood up for what is right and denounced this act of profiting from tragedy. It tells me that there is some hope left for us. That there are still good people around.

When asked about his profit motives, Mr.Salcedo demurred, saying that he was only doing a public service. He was donating money to charity. But, was he? The dolls were priced at $29.99 and he was planning on donating $3 to charity. He had not even identified a charity for donation yet.

Regardless of whatever excuse Mr.Salcedo has come up now in the face of public uproar, the very thought that he even took this idea to fruition is sickening and insensitive.

This is what commercialization of our civilization has done to us. Look around you: Bernie Madoff, John Thain, Joseph Bruno, Ted Stevens, Jack Abramoff, Citibank Jet purchase with public money, AIG spa treatment with public money, and now hundreds more scams being revealed.

We’ve gotten so deep into consumerism and materialism that people don’t matter anymore. Nothing matters except money. That’s what got us in this economic mess. The greed. The corruption. The insensitivity. The lobbying. The racketeering.

Maybe this is our time to stop and ponder about our missed path.

It’s not welfare as long as it is corporate welfare! :)

…So commented a fellow about Huffington Post’s article titled, “Citi Jet Purchase: $50 million, 12-seat plane despite $45 Billion Bailout“.

I completely agree. There’s a different standard out there when it comes to Corporations and Corporate bigwigs. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been and continue to be irresponsible. Doesn’t matter that they’ve made bad decisions. Doesn’t matter that they feel entitled. Doesn’t matter that they lived life large and enjoyed all the money in the good times and didn’t save up for bad times. Doesn’t matter that they ran their companies by over extending their debt…

In America, Corporations can do no wrong and are never punished.

It is the people who carry the brunt.

– Bought a home that was within your means but got taken in by an unscrupulous mortgage lender who saddled you with a fancy mortgage instrument that “balloons”?
Hey! you should have done your homework!

– Been absolutely responsible with your money, but now have lost most, if not all, of your hard-earned 401(k)?
Tough  luck, mate! No one could have predicted this!

– Been very careful with your home purchase but the value of your home has fallen so much that you’ve lost all your savings?
Sorry, old champ! That’s life!

– Got laid off because your CEO spent the company money on refurbishing his office and now cannot pay you for the honest day’s work you are doing? Lost your health insurance since you don’t have a job and now cannot pay for your terminally ill wife’s treatment?
– Buddy, this is a capitalist society. Don’t expect welfare!

But, if you are a bigwig in a Corporation, just go wailing to Washington with a begging bowl.

“Baawwwwlllllllllll! The economy tanked. No one could have predicted this. We cannot run our business. We didn’t foresee this.  HELP US! Bail us out so that we can continue to squander the common man’s hard earned money. ”

And the poor sucker taxpayer will come to your rescue.

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Tamil Movie Review – “Villu” – watch at your own risk!

Friday night was, unfortunately for me, nostalgia night. I wanted to hear someone speak my mother tongue, Tamil, so I succumbed to the nostalgia and dragged my unwilling husband to see the new Pongal release Tamil movie called “Villu“. I went because of the the famous names associated with it – actor Vijay and actress Nayantara playing the lead roles and actor Prabhu Deva foraying into Direction for this movie.

I want to give you some positive feedback and so I have racked my brains all night. Ah! I got it! I heard people speak in Tamil! And at the end of the movie, my husband and I (when we finally figured out the story line) got to spend another hour discussing how the movie should have actually ended: with the sandstorm revealing Vijay’s father’s body, buried all those years ago, and Vijay finally cremating his father’s body with honor. My husband was of the opinion that it too, would have been incorporated, had the Producers not run out of money! 🙂

The movie was splice of nearly every imaginable scene ever played in a Tamil movie and some of the horrific atrocities committed on women in most Indian movies.

MGR’s old films were spliced in and copied; there were animated cows dancing, kicking and spewing turd on the very boring Vadivelu (I would like to meet the person who still thinks he is a comedian!); animated beehives falling, with animated bees stinging real people; German men who believed that African Chimpazees can look and speak like humans and who gyrated badly to Tamil movie songs; fat women bathing; a blue ray disc that was a blue CD stored in some blue room accessed via a blue corridor; thugs who wanted to abduct a girl on her wedding day; army officers who suddenly became rich thugs and lived in Germany…

Add to all that, the lead female role played by Nayantara was some kind of nightmare. It appeared that Nayantara had been directed to display all the navarasas (nine emotions – love, hate, disgust, cruelty, kindness, courage, wonder, sorrow and fear) in 9 seconds. Her face contorted every ninth second, making the scenes she was in, a blur.

Vijay, who played the lead male role, did what he is usually good at – danced around, acted tough, and looked good. It appeared that in one of the dances, Prabhu Deva (the dancing maestro, who has unfortunately strayed from his real talent as a dancer and actor) has danced and superimposed Vijay’s face. It made for weird scenes of a body juxtaposed horribly with the face. In addition, the dance steps were repetitive. When the step was performed for the first time it was cool. The second time it hit me on the head. The third time, it drove a nail through my heart. Enough!

Prabhu Deva is a much better actor and dancer than he is a director. I implore him to switch back to his original career.  I used to love his acting and really enjoyed his dancing.

The film was disjointed and muddled. The comedy made me want to cry. The editing was choppy. The story line was tired. It was the longest 3 hours of my life. I wanted to walk away 10 minutes into the movie, but by then, my husband was in the mood for being a sleuth so we stayed in order to see if we could eventually discover the existence of a story line. To Director Prabhu Deva’s credit, we finally got the story (I think!) by the time the curtains came down 3 hours later.

I guess I could have reviewed this movie with one sentence: if you plan to spend $8 on this movie, don’t!

Buy a burger instead, and call me if you want to hear spoken Tamil!

Walll Street Fiddles as America Burns!

We Americans have our very own reincarnation of Nero – The fools at Wall Street.

Nero, the fifth and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was known for his tyranny and extravagance. But, his greatest claim to fame was that he fiddled while Rome burnt!

Our Neros think John Thain’s (Merill Lynch’s CEO) profligacy is warranted and a “just a drop in the bucket” compared to the money that Merrill Lynch makes each quarter.

I wish the Wall Street types who said this would do their homework first. Merrill was posting losses every quarter. There was no money being made. Merrill was laying off employees in order to save money. And John Thain was preaching to his leftover employees to CUT spending while he refurbished his office!

Is this the reason why we are all in this mess? Because the CEOs who are hired by corporations dont think they need to do their homework before spouting nonsense? Because they refuse to face reality? Because they are so puffed up with their own importance that they think they are worthy of an office costing $1.22 million?

Because they continue to fiddle while America burns?