Manmohan's strogest reaction to terror attacks in India yet

Once again the Indian PM makes a mild statement condemning the horrendous attacks in Mumbai. I don't really know what the scale of attacks must be for him to use harsher rhetoric.
Oh by the way no talk his incompetence in providing basic security to India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Terrorists_strike_Mumbai_80_dead_900_hurt/articleshow/3761410.cms

A few dead and Indians start complaining

In the wake of recent attacks in Bangalore and Ahmadabad, the mood of the Indian public has been tense. Fortunately India has been blessed by outlandishly capable leaders who have led the country to its present condition fighting against a billion people who are stupid and lazy. One of them is the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is sometimes unfairly blamed as being utterly incompetent in managing India’s security. Anyone who reads the news knows well enough that Mr. Singh’s record is not discouraging. Below is a list of all the major attacks and the prime minister’s responses:

29th October 2005 – Bomb kills 62 people. Little known Kashmiri group claims responsibility.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

7th March 2006 – Bomb kills 14 Hindu pilgrims in Varanasi.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

18th May 2006 – Suspected Islamic militants kill 35 Hindus in Kashmir.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

11th July 2006 – Bomb blasts kills more than 180 people in Mumbai.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

8th September 2006 – Bomb blast outside Mosque in Malegaon kills 31 people.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

18th February 2007 – 68 passengers are killed traveling on a train from New Delhi.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

12th May 2007 – 9 people killed in bomb explosion near a Mosque in Hyderabad.
PM’s comments: He could not comment. No time.

25th August 2007 – Twin bombings in Hyderabad kill 44.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

14th October 2007 – Bombs explode in Ludhiana killing 6.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

15th November 2007 – Bombs explode in UP. 15 killed
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

13th May 2008 – Bomb explodes near Hanuman temple. 63 killed.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.


31st May 2008 – Police defuse a bomb. None killed.
PM’s comments: Are you kidding me. Dude you got have at least 10 dead for some response from him. 0 dead does not deserve any comments.

4th June 2008 – Bomb explodes in Thane. 7 injured.
PM’s comments: No response

25th July 2008 – Bombs explode in Bangalore. 2 dead.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

26th July 2008 – Bombs explode in Ahmadabad. 49 dead.
PM’s comments: Please keep calm.

At this point we have to understand that Prime Minister Singh has done an outstanding job of being consistent. He always sends the same message irrespective of grim the situation is – “Keep calm”. Now if you were to make these many mistakes in any job, you would have been fired a long time ago but the consistency and the absolute lack of any pride make Prime Minister Singh an “unfirable” candidate.

His absolute disregard, for the hundreds that have been killed, increasing boldness of terrorists and unthinkable sadness that victim’s family members undergo, are overshadowed by his calm demeanor and consistent message. The same demeanor which often is construed as utter weakness by many has been even negatively commented upon by many terrorist organizations.

One of them even went to say “Bombing India is like screwing a whore, now-a-days you don’t even hear a whimper. I guess Manmohan is a good pimp, but we are not having any fun. We at least want some heated rhetoric. If this is the case we will stop bombing India.”

Meanwhile a senior Congress party official claimed “That is the plan. We will let terrorists screw India to a point where they are tired of screwing India. Then they will leave for a different place.. We in the congress have a joke about him. Most politicians have a moral fiber that is pretty thin like silk, but Singhji has a single thread. He absolutely has no shame in spite of his myriad of failures. Our brave and fearless leader, Manmohan Singh, is the right man for this job. People have to be patient.”

Peace

American Economy in a recession. Americans urged to consume

A recent spate of events dominated by the sub-prime lending crisis has led to fears that the American economy might go into recession. The capable leaders of this great country have decided that it is time to direct the bovine and uneducated masses in the right direction. A wide array of politicians led by President Bush are once again urging Americans to consume.

"Buy, buy, buy" said one Politician and when informed that the median American family income is about $43,200 he commented "Well if they don't make money they must be lazy and what the hell happened to credit cards or taking money out of house equity? More over I don't believe we have anybody in this country who is that un-patriotic"

Analysts are hoping that the American Public hears this message and starts consuming. James Fairbanks the III rd, an investor, said "We are expecting Americans to dip into their savings or trust funds. If not investor confidence will be shaken. You would not want that to happen would you. It could lead to very bad things".

The American Public opinion has been very varied on this topic. Teshawn Williams, an employee of Burger King in Atlanta, said "Where the hell can I get money to spend. I'm ready to spend it if I have some. By the way 145 dollars is not going to cut it for me. I ride in style. Why can't we get tax money from the Mexicans. My girl Shanequa also needs money. They don't take no food stamps in a lot of places."

Although there are varied opinions about the American economy and all the experts expressing their thoughts seem to be supremely confident about their ideas. From my stand point I don't really care as my existence is so well insulated by other problems that the impact of the economy will be least bit felt.

Peace

Poland 1

Finally landed in Poland after about 24 hours of flying. The flight is typically 8 hours from New York to Warsaw but my flying time compounded because I flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles to New York to Warsaw.

The flight attendants were very polite (absolute angels when compared to those in US Airlines) and even gave me a vegetarian meal although I had not asked for one in advance. Baggage took a little longer than what I'm used to but immigration was a breeze.

Polish people are fairly friendly but you would have to initiate the conversation. My hotel room is a little smaller than most American hotel rooms but facilities are comparable. Yesterday I was out try to buy an adapter plug for my laptop as the piece of shit, Radio Shack sold broke in about five minutes. After getting directions and an address for an electronics shop from the hotel receptionist I some how got lost. So I started asking people for directions making liberal use of body language and I got an overwhelming response although none of them could actually help me until I asked a girl.

Unfortunately her English was as good as my Polish. She started giving me directions in Polish and some sort of heavily accented English but stopped in the middle of her rant when she looked at my clueless face. So she decided to switch to sign language and said "Go straight (Using her hands), down - tuk tuk tuk, up tuk tuk tuk and turn left (using her hand again)". Considering my outstanding navigational skills, I did not get the directions so she finally said something in Polish and starts walking. At this point I thought I bugged her enough so I was looking around for a different person and all of a sudden I felt somebody tugging me. It was the lady I was talking to. I realized that she was actually going to show me the place which was very considerate of her. When we finally reached the little electronics store her initial directions made absolute sense. By the way down - tuk tuk tuk meant I had to go down a tunnel and walk up. This is how you cross major streets in Poland. The tunnel itself is very fascinating but I will talk more about in the next post. I thanked her profusely.

Warsaw's landscape is very interesting. It is mix of beautiful old buildings sprinkled with modern high rises, reflecting western European taste and dilapidated structures - a constant reminder of the years of communism. The city seems to have lots of trees but this being fall most of them have shed their leafs. The picture is not a true representation of Warsaw but a good one.

Arguing Rationally

I have always been a sucker for rational arguments but lately I have noticed that most of the people I reason with don’t understand the concept of arguing rationally. Here are a few key characteristics of a good argument:

1. Arguments must be logically valid: You cannot make a logically invalid argument. If you cannot deduce back to you conclusion based on your premises then you are not making a logically valid argument. Give yourself a few minutes to organize your thoughts before you start arguing.
2. Have a conclusion: More often than not people start off with a point but when then cannot substantiate their conclusions; they will listen to the opponent and try to find un-related flaws in their speech. This does make for a good argument. Have a coherent and conclusive argument and stick to the central point.
3. Present Facts not personal examples: It is quite common to derive from personal experiences and argue based on those derivations. This will not work well when discussing universal subjects because your personal experience might not be representative of the majority. So either get facts that indicate that your personal experience is in the majority or don’t base your argument on it.
4. Listen to your opponent: It is very important to listen to your opponent and give her/him due credit. The purpose of a good argument to share opinions and learn. Don’t demean others.
5. The loudest one is not necessarily the winner: This phenomenon is quite common is people who are aggressive and some how believe that the louder you are the better you are. More often than not these people lack coherent thought, refuse to listen to the other person’s view. Don’t argue with such people because it is a waste of time and energy. You cannot learn anything or impart any wisdom in these situations.
6. Begging the question: This fallacy, also known as circular reasoning, occurs when writers simply restate what they seek to prove as their conclusion. For example, one might say, “This test is hard because it is so difficult!” The reason offered, that it is very difficult, would certainly make the test hard, but this statement is circular because it does not address why the test is hard. In the editing process, arguers will likely benefit from persistently asking themselves, “But why is this true?” If one looks for support for this answer and merely find a restatement of it, then the reasoning is circular. At this point, it becomes necessary to either support the point or to make the point less sweeping and then support it.
7. Ad hominem: Another Latin name, this fallacy translates, “To the person.” In other words, to make an ad hominem argument is to attack a person rather than the person’s argument. The following is an example of this: “Sally says I should drive a more fuel efficient car, but her car gets even less mileage than mine; therefore, there is no reason for me to drive a more fuel efficient car.” The conclusion the argument makes is simply too strong: it is not entirely clear that Sally is being hypocritical (she may not be able to afford a more fuel efficient car, for example); and even if she is hypocritical, it is not clear why her hypocrisy makes it bad for the author of the argument to drive a more fuel efficient car.
8. Learn to Lose: This is probably the most difficult aspect to master. Know when you have logically been beaten and accept it. It is okay, well imperative that you lose as one cannot be right all the time. This is where arguments take a bad turn most of the time.

Rational and civil arguments are an important part of learning and try to use them effectively.

(Works Cited: Kahane, Howard and Cavender, Nancy. 1998. Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric. 8th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth and David Roberts, UR Writing Fellow)

Nokia to sell $25,000 phones

Fueled by the rising demand especially in China and India, Nokia the cell phone manufacturer, has started selling a Ferrari cell phone which costs about $ 25,000.

The Indian and Chinese consumers are in frenzy about this new introduction. Ling Vu, a resident of Beijing, said “I cannot wait to get my hands on this phone. Iphone is so yesterday. The only problem is that there are a lot of homeless people on the street where the Nokia store is located. I don’t understand it, why can’t they go away.”

When asked about whether spending $25,0000 on a phone is justifiable, Pam (Parmila) Mehta of the plush Juhu, Mumbai said “Well my husband makes the money and I have the right to spend it. I think poor people are lazy and that is why they are poor. So don’t expect me to feel sorry for them and by the way we were poor once too. My parents used to have 2 cars only. They worked hard to get where they are and so did my husband. I gotta go as I have a 1 PM appointment to pray at the Ganesh temple. I like god. Then I have to rush off to the Nokia store.”

Peace

Facts:

India

Per Capita Income: $979

% of population below poverty line: 25

China

Per Capita Income: $2034

% of population below poverty line: 10

Iraq war almost won - New French president Nicolas Sarkozy hints at supporting US

The election of the new French President Nicolas Sarkozy imparts a phenomenal boost to all those who want the Iraqi war to end. Mr. Sarkozy has hinted towards establishing better relations with the United States, which is the primary player in the Iraqi war. Many a defense analysts have pointed out that the inclusion of the French Army will radically change the scenario in Iraq. The logic behind this statement is derived from that the French Army's war record. The last war that France won, fighting by itself, was during the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte (1805-1815) and they won the hundred years war which started in 1337.

The recency and consistency of the French Army, reflected by the above stated facts, is a very desirable quality. I think that the coalition forces in Iraq would get the badly needed shot in arm with the introduction of the French Army. There are others, who have a lot more faith in the French military strength. Guy Pierre, a French Analyst and part time pickle taster, said "I think the terrorists will be shaking in their boots the moment they find out that the French might decide to help the Americans. I can see Osama and the rest running scared. Well you cannot blame them; the mighty French will suffocate them (Not with their body odor as some you thought). Look at our track record."

Meanwhile Renuka Choudhary, the women’s and child welfare union minister of India, has sent a letter to the French Government asking for their help in her fight against any sort of Fundamental Intelligence or Common Sense.

Peace