Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Where's Obama's Savvy?

Has Obama lost it? Where's the passion and the constant vigilance of his campaign?

Extremists have taken hold of the so-called debate on healthcare. Downright lies and scare tactics are growing roots. During his campaign, Obama's team would be there to fact-check and fix the nasty stuff. Not so on this healthcare reform issue.

We had a president of questionable intelligence aided by a vice president who had no respect for this country's constitution or traditions. Yet, they managed to get their way for most of their 2 terms. Yet, on healthcare reform we have people screaming "we want our country back" and "say no to socialism" - funny how that works.

If Obama lets others define him and his position on healthcare reform, it doesn't bode well for the rest of his presidency. Maybe instead of going on ritzy vacations, he ought to bring back the troops from his campaign to set the record straight on this critical issue?

Lastly, I mourn the nivite of my fellow citizens. The only people protesting this reform should be the super-wealthy insurance companies (i.e. the major shareholders in those companies). To say our healthcare system is broken is such an understatement. Yet, they have been scared into thinking the fix is better than their present state. Sigh!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Twitter Hype Machine - Give me a Break!

If Twitter ran for President of the United States last year, I have a feeling Obama would not have made the history he did. Twitter's PR department seems to have embraced and proven the observation of some perceptive figure in history who had noted that the bigger the lie, more readily people believed in it.

Her Royal Highness Queen Nur of Jordan has a Twitter account, she actually posts stuff so the rest of us can know how grateful she is to be married. His Highness, the Ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Mohammed has an account verified to be his (yeah, with a Twitter ID of HHShaikhMohammed). I am waiting for their press release that Michael Jackson has been Tweeting from the other side (Suggested Tweeter ID NDMichaelJackson for Now Deceased Michael Jackson). This last one would be really helpful, it would save California courts a lost of time and California taxpayers could use a break.

This morning Twitter's server went down (again). My reaction to this cataclysmic event:

This is yet another irrefutable proof of the fact that Twitter is the fastest growing company in the history of humans, apes, microbes and celebrities. Data center cables must have literally burst into flames and melted as a result of the heavy traffic to Twitter’s servers…needing liquid Nitrogen to control the imminent fire.

Northern Air Command (NORAD) must appeal the Armed Services Committee to buy Twitter more cryo-server farms so homeland security is not compromised.

The only down side to this outage is that the democracy movement in Iran will not be able to oust Ahmadinejad for another 48 hours. Oh, not to mention, Obama’s economic recovery is going to take a few days longer. Sigh! We hope there has been no impact on the timeline for the cure for cancer and AIDS. This certainly must have disrupted the routine of the 200 million malnourished humans around the world, imagine, having to wait for their tweets!

On a serious note, Twitter’s PR department must be away on summer break. I was shocked Bill Clinton did not attribute his success in bringing home the journalists to Twitter and he didn’t post tweets during his dinner with KJI.


Update: Obviously, I am not the first to have figured out this hype machine's amazing performance. However, as with any lying...it eventually starts to catch up with you.
http://www.webguild.org/2009/08/twitter-hype-bombs-iran-key-to-acquisition.php

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Compromised Bedrock

A set of common core values and systems have served as the foundation on which America became a wealthy, powerful and even great nation. Many of these core values and systems have constantly been under threat and the onslaught has never been more blatant as in the present times.

Consider capitalism. A system that establishes rights of individuals and private enterprises and defines a framework in which people invest, buy and sell in order to advance their personal interest. The magic in capitalism was that in pursuing such self interest the common interest was also advanced (within limits of course, and often regulation was required to ensure that). I believe those days are over - regulation can't keep up with the thieves and the abuse has become shamelessly blatant.

Let me explain. Capitalism was epitomized by Wall Street which, in theory, provides a level playing field by making information available to everyone so the collective marketplace can determine the true value of any publicly traded company and no one has any unfair edge on information (knowledge) which translates into money and wealth. Tell me how badly this institution must be breached when Goldman Sachs reported making over $100 Million on 46 out of roughly 60 trading days in April, May and June of this year (and that in a bad economy). A bunch of people sitting in posh offices made money at such amazing levels merely "trading" which generates absolutely no tangibel or intangible asset of value (no inventions, no products, no new ideas from which any human derives any benefit). On all but two days in those three months, they made over $50MM.

Legally sanctioned heists of this sort will leave our society weakened and permanently damaged.

I say the fort called the United States of America has been breached and it cannot stand intact too long unless corrective action is taken. Thieves have figured out paths and channels that the rest of us do not know and it is only a matter of time before this thing collapses. Is anyone doing anything about it?