Ruminating Out Loud

Taibbi has two commentaries on the state of media viewed through the prism of the Palin Phenomenon: (1) Yes, Sarah, There is a Media Conspiracy and (2) “Sarah Palin, WWE Star.” Below is my take on the state of media environment

The danger of the current media climate is that there is no rational assessment of the merit and demerit of ideas and candidates. As Taibbi puts is accurately, the decision for coverage and the narrative that gets cultivated about what is being covered is dictated by interests that do not always have the good of the public and country at large at heart. Profit incentives have got quite out off hand to the point where the popular outlets have completely abandoned their responsibility as the fourth estate of this democracy. There is nothing that testifies to this more than the following apt critique from Jon Stewart.

The other danger is that not only there is not that much responsible journalism, but also it is becoming increasingly easier for folks to be immersed solely in propaganda that seeks to amplify their point of view than challenge it. This reinforcement of prejudice and narrow-mindedness makes for increased polarization of the population. You can watch the videos I posted recently at Voices of the Times.

That is not to say I am not guilty of similar tendency. I, however, would like to think that I am more amenable to reason and have been willing to entertain ideas from the other side that are more than reflexive objection. I don’t hold dogmatic views about policy. There are some clear cut issues which do not stand to reason. Such is the issue of whether Sarah Palin merits to be the leader of the free world. Sullivan has been doing an excellent job exposing her for the incompetent and fabricated political figure she is. That she can command this much attention and credence is a symptom of the unfortunate media climate that exists.

In my small and humble attempt at blogging, I have made attempts at pulling together information that is relevant and interesting. As far as politics is concerned, I admit there is a bias towards seeing Obama succeed and giving him the benefit of the doubt and believing that he has the acumen and wisdom to make good decisions that are beneficiary to the country. Some of these benefits may not be apparent in the near term or may not even result in political fortunes for him or his party at large. The sober and determined effort he continues to display at tackling big issues is what gives me confidence about him. I am, however, not a journalist by profession. As such, not bound by the professional obligation to act as a medium through which unfettered information is channeled to the masses with out the influence of my own personal opinion. Journalists have an awesome responsibility to get to the unvarnished truth and communicate to the masses. It is not clear that the majority are playing this role effectively. What passes for being effective these days is acting as a mouthpiece for the talking points of opposing sides with the claim of balance and without a critical attempt to get to the truth.

In the advent of social media there is probably hope for the Truth to bubble out to the surface with the help of citizen journalism. The barrier to mass communication has been significantly reduced thanks to the great equalizer that is the internet. However, until effective aggregation and synthesis of the vast amount of information generated is developed, most of it may continue to be damped into the null information with little chance of it becoming relevant and available for informed decision making.

It is incredible how much progress has been made in just a short one year. This is a wonderful summary of what is in the Senate bill, which for all the screaming and counter-screaming going on about public option or other tangential issues, has managed to accomplish a great deal. There is an incremental and impressive revolution going on under Obama’s watch that will do great things for our country. Those on the right are being as blind, reflexive, and short-sighted as they were during the campaign. The sad thing is that those on the left are also starting to show the same qualities. There is a lot of good that is being done within a framework of a political systems that has grown to be increasingly incapable of addressing significant problems, which Brooks addressed in a recent column.

In another column, Brooks also makes an accurate assessment of the under-appreciated role played by Geithner and the administration at large in their approach to dealing with the financial crisis. The short-sightedness is pervasive these days, not just in the way politicians behave, but also in how news is presented. To think that less than a year ago this country was on the brink of a major depression and that in just a short one year period the they have managed to stabilize the overall state of the economy is impressive. There are many liberals who were arguing of a major involvement of the government in taking over the financial institutions that was more than necessary. Those folks forget what is fundamentally unique about the US is what at once separates it from the many European countries they are quick to cite as an example. The essence of individual liberty and free will is at the heart of the innovative and transformative free market system that has allowed it to prosper and reach the level of superpowerdome that it solely enjoys. The role of a government in such a system is not one of a provider, but a regulator and overseer to ensure the inherent greed and self-interest of an individual entity do not overrun the collective good. One can make the case that past administrations have not played an effective role in that regard, but that is no excuse for wanting to institute a regime where the government plays an intrusive and controlling role in the way the economy operates. Given the lessons of the past, it is also no excuse for those on the right to continue to insist on unhinged market place where the greed of the few can put our economy at the risk of collapse and loss of trillions of dollars in wealth. Empty rhetoric about “big government” or “small government” is almost irrelevant as no sane person can now argue against the necessity of effective government.

The underestimate effect of the Great Recession on the job outlook of the economy continues to be a major concern. The undying truth about our system is that we shall make a recovery. The jobs will inevitably come because of the entrepreneurship and ingenuity of folks who are interested in advancing their own interest will need to hire help. Obama’s team will continue to try various things to stir the economy through recovery to a status of maximal employment. Some will fail. Others will surely succeed. One thing is certain, in the mean time, he is getting the folks in congress do the job they are hired to do. They are busy legislating and dealing with significant issues, which have long not been touched. I think the credit for that goes to the presidential leadership Obama has demonstrated in charting out few priorities (e.g. health, education, energy,…) to which congressional effort can be channeled.

Hands tied together, he looked up

As if to beg for a sliver of hope

Mercy maybe to a life short lived

Looked down to see the suffering and misery

To find, the hands which were thought to be tied

Free, but crippled and incapable of reach

For the hope dangling upfront to silence the hungry mind

He sensed, though, without letting go off the inflated ego

That which tied the hands so as to hide

In the arm pit, deceiving the passersby and self

Denying much needed linkage, belonging, and meaning

Being among those who care with stretched out arms

Reaching for contact like a branch of a conifer tree

Spreading out and together growing forward…

Basked in sweet and agony, he sat upright

Upon the the realization he, too, has really become inanimate

Just growing and being, like the branch soon to be detached

Off the tree, left to rote on the ground

Where am I? He asked with no being near to respond

Even the room seemed like a grave; echoless and dark

Quiet, distant, alone; is it the essence of being, the meaning of creation?

With a sudden shock of death, he awoke again

To realize all that was just a dream, or so he thought.

He could see the old lady, gracefully aged sitting next to a son

He also heard the cry of a baby and the soothing of a mother’s sound

He felt comforted, he thought he wasn’t alone

Then, a rude awakening besets drenching him in more sweat

He was really alone, he concluded, having estranged from parents

And left his beloved now miles away; receding by the minute

Hands tied, can’t bridge the distance left behind

He awoke again, his hands reflexively reaching out and desperate

Stretched out to shake and hug; to rub and massage; to hold

“Well, hello!” the old lady sounded; “what is the matter, son?”

He could sense the roughness of a life hard-lived, and the warmth

As she held and pressed, life and hope into this inanimate vessel

He begged for this to never end, never to wake or sleep

“Thanks, mom!” He blurted out, while admiring the rising sun at the horizon.

What is happening to us, America?

Unable to listen, screaming at each others’ throat

Quick to affirm our rights, in a shouting match of sound bites

Denying the right of others, are we growing intolerant of the other

Who appears foreign, forgetting that this land we call home

Is a gift to all, to the peasant off the boat generations ago

To the immigrant of tomorrow disembarking of a Boeing plane

None owning her, a gift to the freedom seeker

In search of justice, equality, and opportunity.

Birthers of those who landed on her a long time ago

Why can’t they care for the new in rememberance of the old

The toil and persecution, the hunger and oppression they fled

That which is evident in the torment of of waterless eyes

Lifeless skin, barely hiding the bone – crushed by the weight of pain

Of the novice eager to belong and take a bite of burger

Founding a new and promised destiny to the next generation may be.

Why don’t we awake in awe of the privilege

That which our forefathers died for in order for us to bask

In the entitlement fight of the land.

Let us remember and celebrate, the gift of care and nurture

That this land gave to the slaves and slave masters alike

To the protestant and hungry, fleeing the oppression of bigotry

To the Holocaust survivor that found a safe home

The political refugee who found respite from having to look over his shoulder

To the woman made to live in a subhuman and subservient order

Coming home to a land, where her fight for civil rights

Would awaken a peoples’ conscious, mobilizing a nation.

Imperfect she may be, but malleable always

Willing to be shaped, by the blood and tears

Of those who choose to partake in the arching of her destiny

Towards a beacon of hope and a promise land for the free.

At the fulcrum, hangs the balance between I and we

Defining the equilibrium of love and belonging.

Does she worry about asserting of her right

Or her happiness, her body, or her income

All used to define the essence of an independent woman

Does he care just about his needs

Gratification of self, stroking of ego

Being the center of attention, effusion of machismo.

In the celebrated self reliance gained, at the expense

Of the lost interdependence of nurture

The feeding of care and compassion for the other

His hunger hers, her pain and joy always his

The lever tilting at the fulcrum towards me and I

Away from we, dissolving the bridge

Destroying love and care, exchanging  caress for self.

They claim thousands of years of glory

A civilization unlike any other

The foundation of humanity and being

Philosophy, architecture, art and history

But, where is civilization now

In a population, tied down to the barrel of a gun

Where is the glory now

In the millions of people suffering everyday

Poor, sick, illiterate, and hungry

Where are the marvels of architecture

In the home-less, destitute and lonely

For all the claims of ancestry to the glorious generation

Of vast wisdom, anarchy besets in the land

Steeped in the thousands of years of history

Where the force of military is used to silence the mass

To kill the innocent, to spread hateful ideology

Where is the golden glory of humanity

In the suffering of mothers and baby

Raped to death by the merciless children no less

Turned into killing machines fueled by

Guns and dope delivered for a profit that builds

An oasis of life nurturing and plenty

To children of arms dealer, the corrupt politician

And the drug lord, squeezing humanity out of the land.

In all the despair and imperfection there lies and example

A union of many bound together by a common destiny

Of immigrants: European, African, Asian, and Latino

From east to west north and south

Black, white, red, and brown; together as one

Protected by rule of law with unalienable rights

With a military standing guard of a nation

By the people, for the people, and of some people

A proud institution of protection and defense

With a might of destruction unparalleled

A testament to the perfect balance of power

Between professionalism and passion of voices

Striving to affirm their right; yearning to be heard.

Feeling ill, dysfunctional and sick

Lack of interest reaching the peak

Like a fruit wasting away; nearing harvest pick

Uncovered by fashion, which normally sleak

Hiding the rote, masking the stink

Frustration, disgust, and hate; piled like a rick

All matters of cure, unable to break

The vicious cycle, stuck in a wreck

Soul dripping away, essences of being leak

Left a flying zombie, fur seals in Raikoke.

Like a bird in the sky

With wings spread out to fly

My thoughts sit above clouds

Textured and smooth, fluffy and light

Separating earthly life from heavens

Entrapped in a thin can

With a comfort of air conditioned home

Bound to a seat, in a moment of liberation.

Oh! The cruelty of creation

Delivering Adam and Eve to a land

Dry and sea forever tethered

To the ground incapable of flight

Forever looking up, pleading to heavens

Above, as if living and world that is flat

But, to the omni present blanket clothing the planet

All around the globe, a tapestry of clouds and dreams

Telegraphed upward in seeking and servitude sent.

There, on the planet live, with the vastness of ego

Paralleling the grandiosity of universe beyond

Left to fight for resources finite

In a mission of self-destruction.

Up here, thousands of feet in the sky

There are no gun shots, screams and disorder

All beings and thing aligned in one purpose

Driven journey, anxious to arrive at a destination

Clouds and dreams outside, dispersing in agreement

As if eager, to let go of unwelcomed guest

To the marching forward of the can

Pacing to return, in obedience of creation.

Speckles of sand flow

From one side to the other

In obedience to gravity

Marking the timeless evolution of time

In symbolism of a body figure sculpted at the waist

Into a proportion of man-made beauty.

The narrowness of the neck dictates

The flow of time in the hourglass

Separating the present from the past

Or is it a testimony to the depravity of delight

In the fullness of body and waist

Manifest in the religiosity of diet.

The bifrication of of purpose distinctly evident

While the diameter of the neck serves

To mark the passage of time infinite

That of the inward pulled and strapped

Serves only to please a fleeting standard

In vanity, of beauty and perfection misplaced.

The ups and downs rendered in formation

Like a marching band befitting of a dawn

The oneness of rhythms and the imbalance of movement

Up and jumpy, happy and limitless at once

Down and thumping, deafening and hardened in instant.

Where is the sigh when it is sought

Where is the melody when one dances

Fickle it is flowing between fingertips

Tangible in the wetness of skin left behind

But, echoless chamber filled with screams.

Where is the engine that could

Pumping more vivacious spirit than just blood

Without fail, day in day out without effort.

Why is humanity the combined sum of parts

Of limbs farflung and lungs charcoaled by smoke

Of flesh weak and enslaved of craving and addition

Of brain and heart like a hardened brick, fearing and knocking

All that is foreign, destroying the other and losing

Self with every chipped corner of fortitude and empathy.

They ask why; why are you not jovial?

Alone, pensive, and distant

They ask why; why are you so banal?

Small, shallow, and trite

Their wills live on parallel universes

Governed by rules disparate and diverging

Unbeknownst to them the gulf widens

Like the parting of the sea, only to come

Together at last up on the awakening

On the emotional journey bridging the divide

The essence of completion in the co-joining

Of the complementary universes; through time warps.

This is not to be confused with imaginary or otherwise writings seen on real clouds. This entry refers to the word cloud representation of my Writings, which are created using wordle, in what I call cloud-100, cloud-500, cloud-1000, cloud-10000, and cloud-100000 images. The number in each of these representations refers to the maximum number of words represented in the computation. That is, cloud-X contains the top X number of most heavily utilized words.

The most frequently used words (ignoring the most commonly used words in the English language) are one, information, people, president, time, Obama, life, time, process, think, sense, world,… How interesting! It is apparent that the majority of words are used infrequently (notice the resemblance in the proportionality of words in the cloud-1000, cloud-10000, and cloud-100000). I am not sure what that says about my writing, but it is, nonetheless incredible that we can transform data (information) and present it in such visual and easy to comprehend format.

cloud-100

cloud-500

cloud-1000

cloud-10000

cloud-100000

I saw you, wished you into reality

A vision of perfection, epitomized

By the grace of movement, dancing

By the lucidity of feeling, sympathetic

By the curing of words, uplifting

By the electrifying touch, erogenic

By the insense of breath, soothing

By the sound of laughter, euphoric

You are not a dream, you are here

A wishful vision realized, heeded

By living in reality and seeing

Beyond imperfection, the lovesick heart.

It’s the kind of thing that’s intangible, untouchable

Indescribable, but to a calmed nerve or senses

Vivid and there, in a state of panic or desperation

In times of gain or pain, simply cruising

In autopilot, floating upstream undeterred

The feeling of empowerment with the knowledge

Of a likely failure not being a life sentence

Of doom and gloom, pain and despair.

It is the certainty in waving the sun goodbye

With the knowledge it shall rise yet again

Delayed by a night or a season, but it rises nonetheless.

It is what it takes to step into a river not knowing

How deep the bottom lies and how little breath is left

After a breathtaking realization that today

Is better than tomorrow and yesterday

And tomorrow better than yesterday, because of today

It is what it takes to live and let live with courage

Conviction and comfort in the unknown

Allowing to be tested by the depth of peace and fortitude.

Much has been said and made about the the leaked memo directed to Pentagon staff, in which an official from the defense department’s office of security review noted that “this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT]. Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.” As pragmatism goes, I find this approach to be telling of the approach the Obama administration is taking in redefining the goals of the Afghan engagement in particular and defeating terrorist elements at large. In the face of little structural foundation for establishment of western democratic system of governance and the rampant corruption and little resource available for “nation-building,” the administration is keen in narrowing the scope of ambition in this already more than seven-year old war. The mission has been re-defined to “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat” al Qaeda and destroy its safe haven in the region. The specificity of this goal is what allows the administration to put in place concrete measures to assess progress towards the eventual extrication of the U.S. from this conflict. The renaming of the “global war on terror” is in line with this purpose. Much like the ineffectual declarations of war on drugs, crime, cancer, and others malices that pose a threat to humanity, which have rendered the nation with vacuous and diffused effort and sloganeering with the appearance of stalemate even in the face of progress, the phraseology of a global war on terror has done little in isolating the enemies we wish to defeat and advancing the goals of eliminating the influence they exert on free people in every corner of the world.

Our conception of war is largely defined by the gigantic conflicts of decades, and generations, past which involved the marshaling of resources against an enemy with a well-defined territorial location and where winning meant conquering of a land and liberation of a nation. Terrorism is a different animal all together. The battle is waged in the minds of innocent individuals. One can not marshal resources and armies against the brainwashing and propaganda, the dissemination of which has been made easy with the pervasive nature of communication apparatus in the current age, that pollutes the young in the most desperate and disparate corners of the world. Moreover, the declaration of war against these small and increasingly fragmented entities elevates them to the level of parity worthy of partaking in a battle against nations as powerful as ours. It provides these entities legitimacy and power, which they should be denied if they are to be made irrelevant and defeated. That is where the Obama administration has excelled. Its efforts against those who did us harm and continue to plot for further harm are defined. The focus is guided by the undertaking of operations, covert or otherwise, to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat these elements.

On a parallel track, President Obama has made increasingly warm and overt reach to the people of nations that harbor extremest elements by appealing to our common humanity and shared history of their country and the rest of the world. This charm offensive, as some have called it, is as effective and targeted as the approach discussed above. While the the de-legitimization of their cause relegates the extremists to state of disgruntled and fragmented bands that are not worthy of war-like engagement against the most powerful nation in the world and its allies, the charm offensive isolates them further from the population that harbors them. In the long run, the efficacy of the administration’s effort in making us safe and ensuring peace and stability in the world will strongly depend in its ability to isolate and destroy the elements that wish to us harm and deny them the platform for propagandist exploitation of their futile effort as an epic war against the west. It appears to me, based on the effort that is put in place in just a couple of months into his administration while actively engaged in averting an economic disaster of historic proportion, President Obama is well on his way in accomplishing this goal.

As definitions go, this one caught my attention while reading Hitchen’s essay, The Revenge of Karl Marx. I found the essay to be unsatisfying in terms of addressing the essence of the promise (What the author of Das Kapital reveals about the current economic crisis) in spite of the numerous touchstones of historical anecdotes about and philosophical inspirations for capitalism vis-a-vis socialist-order. To be certain, the article makes an unashamed case for the deterministic superiority of capitalism in organizing resources and decisions while settling for the mockery of ideas pushed by Karl Marx. Revealing excerpts are shown below:

Not all of these ironies are at capitalism’s expense, or at least not in a way that can bring any smirk, however wintry, to the grizzled features of the old leftist. (After all, who was predicting even 30 years ago that Russia and China would today be turbocharged capitalist systems, however discrepant in type? And the present crisis was actually triggered by a “subprime” attempt to transform low-income people into property owners, albeit indebted ones …)

Whether one adopts a moralistic or an analytic approach, there is scant doubt that capitalism continues to outmaneuver all attempts by wage earners to shift the odds in favor of shorter hours and more pay. In the story of the class struggle, it’s invariably a case of one step forward and two steps back…”

The main deficiency of the essay, in my opinion, is that it distills the cause of the current economic crisis to the “a “subprime” attempt to transform low-income people into property owners, albeit indebted ones…” with no mention of the imperfection of the capitalist order as it is practiced in the current age. It ignores the fact that the capacity for capitalism to “decide, if not on the value of a commodity, at least on some sort of price for the damn thing” is predicated up on the confluences of selling and buying interests powered by transparent flow of information about the commodity in consideration. In an environment where the few practice the fixing of price based on privileged access to information or influence while taking risks of enormous proportions and posing systemic risk to the health and very nature of global economy, the “subprime” attempt at helping the poor is a scapegoat, not the true culprit. No matter how overzealous the poor may be at transforming themselves in to property-owners or policy makers for advocating for such a cause, which by itself is not atypical of human characteristics, it is the imprudent practice of the property owner or the intermediary to push for selling of a property that is clearly not afforded. After all, the distribution of risk with the assumption of stability in the collective interconnectedness of these shady dealings and the likely scenario that not all of them will fall apart at once (unless of course prices, in a true capitalist fashion, decide to obey the the laws of supply and demand), is not a free lunch. All the risks taken and pushed into commoditized securities, will soon catch up to the objective reality of the ground and the principles of capitalism, as we are painfully experiencing now.

To the attentive observer of the trajectory President Obama’s political career has taken from having to be relegated to the back of a march, just in front of the garbage collectors (as he described it) and denied entry to the democratic convention, no less, to being the president of these United States, this article will not come as a surprise. He has been sending the right signals in what he intends to do with the power bestowed on him by the voters. During the primaries, granted that there may have been a political reason for undermining the significance of the Clinton brand, it might have actually been a true reflection of his inner conviction when he stated that Reagen was one of the most transformational presidents in recent past. He was also eager to point out at many times that running for presidency was not a symbolic exercise for him. He actually intended to win and govern.

So, having come to this point with the the proper measure of reflection about the institution of the presidency and the powers of the executive branch, it does not surprise me that he and his close advisers are invested in strategizing and charting a course for a maximally effectual presidency – or a muscular presidency as described in the U.S. News article. To that effect, his choice of Rahm Emanuel, as it has been recounted at numerous times and places, has a distinct significance. Given his legislative, political, and policy making experience, the learning curve for getting a young presidency off to a great start in the capacity of a chief orchestrator of the administration’s actions has surely been minimal. Indeed, the fruits of such a strategy have already been realized in the passage of significant legislations and the reversing of prior order.  The seeds for the implementation of other priorities have also been sown by focusing incessantly about the immediate term resolution of economic crisis and the laying down of long term foundational building blocks for strengthening the economic backbone of the society. So, I say it should not come as a surprise that Rahm Emanuel holds weekly meetings with the inner circle to map out the action plans for the upcoming weeks and months. I can imagine the president himself kicking ideas back and forth with his closet advisers on a regular basis… As he has admitted, he cares very little about shoveling papers through government bureaucracy. He is more of an idea person, and there surely have not been that many presidents who were dealt with this type of historic privilege for shaping the destiny of a nation and a people. I am certain, he, more than anyone else, can sense the fierce urgency of now – with the daunting challenges and generational opportunities it presents.

Finally, a wish granted, freedom from servitude

To the looks and homogeneous conformity

For pretend belonging, a steep price paid

Denying a creation’s print, subject to humility

The DNA from within, a fingerprint of outer manifest

The risen self inside, proclaiming confidence and bold

Dead of socialite-solitude, a free spirit born again, finally.

Oh please, stop dreaming that you are a superman

Able to fly and blessedly succeed, unbounded by gravity’s prison

You’re only human,  made of flesh dying by the day and imbalance

Of emotion, conflict, imperfection, happiness, and annoyance

Seeking nurturing like a plant needing water and nutrients

Constant attention duly paid or accidental, to rise above others.

Stop day-dreaming now, or a rude awakening awaits

After a life long-lived in numbers, short-lived in experience

Of the thrill of a reward of a hard-earned fruit

Of loins may be; but  sweat and tears too

Ploughing the ground and tilling the sand

Until the day of reckoning arrives to lend

A perspective never had, a glancing into the Truth

That you’re only human destined to a life of hard-work and reward.

Of late, David Brooks, columnist at The New York Times and one of “The Liberal Media’s Conservatives,” has taken to pushing the idea that President Obama and his administration are stretched too thin in attempting to do too many things at once. His recent column was filled with sentiments that can be summed up in the following sentence: “But the Obama budget is more than just the sum of its parts. There is, entailed in it, a promiscuous unwillingness to set priorities and accept trade-offs. There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once.” Here is another excerpt from The Conversation:

As for what policies I’d drop from the to-do list because of the crisis, at this point I’d have to say all of them… I think this economic crisis could be like nothing we’ve seen in our lifetimes. Big-name economists are talking seriously about another depression.

In that context, I don’t think we can do anything but fixate on this. That is, I think the president should spend 50 percent of his time on the banking crisis, 25 percent of his time on getting our allies to coordinate with a global stimulus package and 25 percent of his time beginning work on a second round of stimulus. He’s taking his eye off the ball if he spends hours every day working on health care, education and energy. Worse, he adds uncertainty into the market.

This is despite the enormous level of attention the president and people around him have been giving to the economic crisis even before they took office. Obama’s own senior advisers, as presented in another Brooks column, I think do a good job in countering his arguments.

The best way that I think to counter Brooks’s obsession about focusing on the short-term alleviation of the economic stress without the long-term thinking about how the post-economic-crisis economic and budgetary foundation can be laid down is to quote a portion of President Obama’s inauguration speech:

The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. [...]

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply….”

I can’t resist the temptation to also superimpose the rude awakening Brooks is experiencing about the political leanings of the president, as described in his recent column, with, yet again, President Obama’s own words.

Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice.

Here is President Obama talking about the American Promise in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention:

…What is that promise?

It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It’s a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who’s willing to work.

That’s the promise of America – the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper.

That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right now…”

It is no secret that the president is a strong believer in the robust role the government can and should play in providing an equitable opportunity to all. If such an approach is “trasnsformational liberalism,” then I think David Brooks and others are in for a bumpy and unpleasant ride of their lifetimes deligated to spectatory role as they witness a nation being transformed into a more perfect union.

She is like a fall morning sun breaking

The dark night sky, suddenly springing

Hope, like a fountain, endlessly bleeding love

In sickness or health, a gentle dove

Selflessly, tenderly flying, carrying us

To forever land, tirelessly and joyous.

.

Melodic fragments, discordantly dissonant

Cacophony of instruments, boom and bust

A maestro-less orchestra, as if a disheveled fat

Flapping off the body, off a skin unkempt

Disharmoniously dashing on a collision tract

Jarring to the sense, inducing asymmetric heartbeat

Foolish and confused flesh, rendered insolvent

Letting go of the clutch of a lover’s hand

Causing, shards of porcelain cylinder scattered

About the floor and objects in between, ashes of head

Limbs, worries, laughter, and pain; cremated

Consumed by fire like a California desert

Fueled by wind, gushing with lust and thirst

Exploding out, to eat lives frozen in freight

Into a night sky crowded by galaxies

Stars, nebulae, dust, satellites, and clouds

Ashes escaping the confines of the home

Unshackling the dreams, the short-lived lamb

Sacrificed for accounting of heartbeats and breath

Monotonously consumed, without the experience

Of being a part of bigger than self, foreign

To the moments that take a breath away

In a family with love; touch, feeling, and belonging

Escapes, the confines of the walls of a protectorate

Of earthly existence characterized by delight and disappointment

Joining the ranks of the randomness spread, disordered

Across the vastness of bodies and space

Racing to consume, process, and excrete; living chaos.

.

They call it a spirit of self-reliance

Excusing a futile existence in a trance

For profit and alone, selling unpaid attention

To a worldly and gothic, discombobulating distraction

Not realizing that the self is indeed reliant

On the interdependence of a family and friend

Sense of bonding long-survived, delivered

Via a mother to a new being in a child

Through the tethering of an umbilical cord

Extending blood, nourishment, and feed

Which despite being cut at the outset

Of an introduction to the doormat

At a brave new world awaiting

Amidst family, friends, and community

Remains timelessly connected in normality

Of generations passed, enshrined in nobility

Until society preaches, willfully forgetting

What’s always been, the essence of its being

Teaching a teen to declare independence

And go it alone, severing ties

As a virtue of growth, a rite of passage

Towards adulthood – ignoring a society’s sage

That albeit the celebration of the individuality

We survive, together as one, in a shared destiny.

.

The short answer is: avoid becoming a machine or being easily replaceable by one. The more blabbered explanation lies in the following statements.

• If the task you are currently working on can simply be mapped out onto a probability tree of actions and outcomes, then sooner than later you will find yourself being replaced by a capable machine.
• If you are occupied in your day to day endeavors detached for the human side of business and work, then you are slowly turning into a robot and will soon be replaced by one.
• If you are working on a task that can simply be accomplished by short-term training regiment of a novice, then you are at risk of being a victim of the economic downturn. In the condition that the economy rebounds back, you may still find yourself replaced by a cheaper alternative at a distant shore or a capable machine.
  

So, “what is the solution?” you may ask. I say it is differentiating oneself from a machine. This is simultaneously the responsibility of the individual and those charged with crafting educational policies. Machines are, or will soon be, good at discerning binary choices. They do not have instincts or gut feelings. Machines are not sociable and their interaction is perfunctory and lacks spontaneity. Humans have developed the skill of reading inferences and a keen ability to operate in the grey areas of our experience where there is no obvious black-vs-white contrast of choices. Machines also rarely think or invent. That is not to say that they will not gradually catch up to the capability of humans; it is the admission of the inherent difficult of transforming a set of instructions into a meaningful new insight. For all the predictions of artificial intelligence taking over the world, I believe there still will remain a need for skilled humans to rein over the world. The sooner we realize it and train ourselves for this eventuality, the less painful our collective experience will be in a machine world.

It stunk with odor so foul

For a briefly lived effect

Of wind and gas, minuscule

In volume, but potent

In its diffusivity beyond

The culprit’s hole

As soon as, it’s allowed

Out in the open

Beginning as a hissing of a sound.

To unknowing eye

Its effect would belie

Such a small thing as a lie

Would be able to fly

From a humble beginning

At the mouth and tongue.

.

The sheer ferocity and tremble shook

The field as dews streaked down leaves

Stampeded in a fight between an elephant

In asymmetric warfare with an ant

One felt so big, one empowered

By strength of agility versus

Storming and overwhelming force

Lacking agility, the elephant

Took a step hoping to land on the ant

Sooner than when the foot

Landed on an empty land, the ant

Jumped aboard the legs and trunk

So small the sting, piercingly stung

Forcing the elephant to fly

Off the ground into the sky

To land back on the ground

Welcomed, as butterflies cheeringly flapped

Their wings up and down, side to side

Not to be outdone, causing

The oceans to shake lose

The tsunamis across the continents

Flooding islands and streams.

.

Shall we dance to the rhythms of tango or salsa

Chifera or cha cha cha, boiling-beings and flowing bodies

With the music, souls unified in the feet sliding, in union across

The floor floating, hearts beating, pumping blood to extremities

With awakened senses and heightened sensations

Tingled, ticklish, ecstatic, and levitated in the feelings

Of the touch of the hands, legs, and warmth

Beating in resonance to the music, we dance

Together again, attracting as the poles of a magnet

Intertwined fields of happiness blissfully lost

In the music blended in essence

Ears now closed unhearing of the sounds

Of the rhythms rising and falling with the melodies

Only listening to the beating of the hearts

The warmth of the touch, the endearment of glance

Of eyes looking beyond the iris deep inside

Seeking refuge and belonging, for connection made

Until reality sets by the song’s end

Parting the flesh drained of fluid and renewing the mind.

.

At this point in the human experience, the existence of a super natural force that brought the universe into being is at best the likeliest conclusion, at least a convenient answer to the grand existential question, one arrives at. That is fundamentally due to the fact that no matter how definitive scientific insights may be in unearthing the secrets of creation, there remains an astounding lack of totality of knowledge. In the instance where a deep and fundamental knowledge is acquired or a giant leap taken, there still exist postulates and assumptions that make the knowledge more of an approximation of the absolute truth. In other instances, the fruits of scientific pursuits bring one asymptotically closer to the truth with the uncovering of yet another hidden question that is to remains unanswered; each time taking a step forward in the seemingly infinite cascade of discoveries.

The vastness of our ignorance about existence and the meaning of it lends itself to the belief in human constructs that attempt to make sense of and provide answers. Such human constructs have the simultaneous benefit of providing simple answers and also instituting order and interdependence within society. The manifestations of the good that comes out of believing are not just societal order and organization, but also personal. A recent report in Time magazine indicates “a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don’t attend. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. No less a killer than AIDS will back off at least a bit when it’s hit with a double-barreled blast of belief. “Even accounting for medications,” says Dr. Gail Ironson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Miami who studies HIV and religious belief, “spirituality predicts for better disease control.” This outcome is not contrary to the nurturing that is gained from a close familial upbringing or the sense of togetherness achieved through cultural, racial, or other related relationships. The evolution of the human kind into a social being reliant in the collective well-being of a group, I believe, has conditioned us to be needy of such interpersonal and inter-group connectedness. Moreover, the quest for answering the grand questions of existence can be an isolating and unsettling experience. The inherent incapability of the human mind to provide answers to all these questions renders one helpless and receptive to ease of faith-based explanations.

Faiths and religions have the unique ability of providing definitive answers, no matter how incomplete and unsatisfying they may be. They prescribe an absoluteness of knowledge about the absolute truth. They have the unique trait of inducing a calming effect in troubling times by the promise of a better life tomorrow or in the after life. They also have the ability to affirm the exaltation of present well-being by interpreting them as being manifestation of the unique and destined blessing of the few. Such combination of explanations to the highs and lows of the human experience make them powerfully appealing. In exchange, the believer is subjected to the necessity of unwavering allegiance to one pathway to salvation as a testament to the affirmation of faith. Any derailment from such path is met with the strong condemnation and warning of a lost reward for obedient behavior.

The model of interrelations between the creator and the follower is one of a master and slave, very much reminiscent of the societal organization that existed when the holy texts were brought onto the Earth and the people. Such construct is common to most religions, each of which aspiring to provide exclusionary answers and redemption through the belief in a particular creator and adherence to specific set of rules and guidelines. It is not, therefore, a stretch of imagination and explanation, to think that not all of these belief systems can truthfully co-exist in the same space. It is either that there is a multitude of manifestations of a creator each of which being uniquely appealing to select few, or a great many of these beliefs are misplaced in their target in the condition that there is just one creator. Since there is just one expansive form of existence and simplicity of organization rules over it, the belief that there are multiple creators or manifestations of one is rendered to be unnecessary. The likeliest conclusion one can arrive at is then, most religions as they are organized are human constructs that have been put in place to fill the void in understanding and satiate the aforementioned quest for answers.

With in the context of creation and existence, a defining issue that is usually raised and needs to be addressed is the question of morality. What are good and evil? How do we discern one from the other? The answers to these questions can simply be attained by the understanding of evolutionary interdependence of members of a group. Such co-existence of the individual and the group depends on the rewarding of behaviors that ensure long-term survival and condemnation of and punishment for those that bring about extinction. As such, reward-able behaviors are perpetuated over a long period of time resulting in the definition of what is “good,” and by necessary contrast what is “evil.” Such interpretation is complete in its analysis as long as the question of the source of creation is answered. On the contrary, one could invoke the existence of a creator and the transformation that occurs within the created upon the acceptance of a certain core principles of belief. This transformation could be one of altruistic inclination or due to the pursuit of self-interest in ultimate salvation resulting in benevolence towards other beings.

The irony is that the seeker of meaning for life and answers to existence are left to investing faith one way or another: The believer in the existence of a super-being invests faith in the doctrine being adhered to; the non-believer invests confidence in the ability of the human endeavor to continue to uncover the mysteries of existence and provide answers to the questions of existence. The vastness of the unknown in comparison to the individual leaves both approaches seeking comfort in intangible beliefs derived from either historic teachings or scientific pursuits. Therein lies the freewill; the distinct choice between two is left to the individual. Of course, one can also choose to believe in the existence of a super-natural being that is not confined by the constructs of human religions or the total birthing of existence out of nothing, however that may be accomplished.

Stretched on the summer day into the desert sand

The asphalt fizzling hot, steaming the life underground

Light and life float of the oasis wide and confined

Accentuating the feeling of thirst magnified

By the salty exchange of romance and sweat

Of the lovers burning of greenhouse effect

In their two-door lovebird with windows rolled

To the ground, receptive to the malice and joy of the world

Allowing the air and dust to quench the sweat.

Desolated was the space with no life in sight

Shrubs and sand joined in existence and as if obedient

To the winds swatting this way or that

Or to the love-birds, however expansive in flight

Their fondness and affection, unhinged by the heat.

Within the lovebird, a heavenly calm ascends with the steam of Earth’s crest

They look in the distance as the oasis shifts is position

A vacillating twin of love and hope, a propeller in deep ocean

Streaming forward, away from the isolation towards the horizon

Of lives flourishing and nurtured by exchanges of hormone

A life is created, completeness achieved – happily ever after

In the cuddling arms, joined hearts, and senseless ears

To the sand-storm gathering and racing to the oasis

Faster than the lovebird or the united dreams

Intent on tasting the floating beads of waters.

.

Daniel Lyons, who runs, or used anyway, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, argues in a post at Newsweek that there is no money to be made in blogging and chronicles the ~ 2 years of engagement that he has invested before getting burned out and deciding to quit.

The whole article strikes me as a good example of a case where one misses the forest for the tree. I consider blogging to be a medium of communication and a platform for engagement in self-expressions. The value in the process or the final product is not the intrinsic revenue that may be drawn from the distracting ads buried inside the content. I do not think it is even the content of the pages where these expressions are being poured in. I believe it is in the connection that is established between the audience and the creator. It is the establishment of a two-way dependence of attention-giving; the dependence of the creator in the interaction with the audience to draw inspiration for further creative endeavors and the dependence of the audience on the creator to obtain the intellectual and artistic stimulation of self, and hence draw pleasure from the experience of viewing and reviewing contents of the pages. When this interdependence is successfully established it has a way of resulting in rewards, monetary or otherwise, for the creator.

I think there needs be a paradigm shift in the way monetization of content on the web is accomplished. All the current models rely on the expectation of and banking on the distraction of visitors of a given page by clicking through ads to generate revenue. I think the working model for the future is one of interdependence and loyalty that is established between a creator and an audience. If I am sold on the stimulation that I receive from a given blogger or author, the likelihood of I spending money to see him/her speak in person and buy a published content by him/her is high. In this sense, the future of paper and web publishing will find a way to complement one another and co-exist with out friction. I suspect that the ease with which information can be spread and low-cost publishing can be accomplished through the internet allows for it to be used as an enticing tool. I think a blogger or a web-based newspaper at large should focus more in becoming more relevant and almost indispensable. The one consequence of the explosion of Null Information is that there will always be a tremendous amount of value in the gathering, consolidation, and synthesis of information. The more effectively one accomplishes this task, i.e. the more valuable the content of a blog is, the more meaningful following it garners and the easier it will be to translate it in to a source of sustenance.

All men are created equal says the constitution

Telling a bald-faced ambition of astronomic proportion

Is the life of a child born at the Hamptons or Beverly hills

Equal to one birthed into ghettos, inner cities, or townships

Choiceless in arrival time or destination

Thrown into the worlds and opportunity apart by ocean.

No, they are not created equal no matter the ambition

Of a nation aspiring for perfection

In a shared destiny tethered by milk and blood

Ruthlessly on a new land, in defense and persecution spilled.

If the equality is the physical structure of a body

Magically constructed to the perfection of human envy

That is apparent in the nose, eyes, ears, tongue, and skin

Carried by all as a burden of creation

Still the pleasures of sight of beauty and tranquility

The smell of roses and the delight of tasty

Spices of life enjoyable to touch and feel

Of the soothing voices of order renewing the soul

Are experienced by the few privileged to sense

The world around with its awesome glories

Of joy and rejuvenation, renewal and peace.

The equality is in the rights promised

By the creator to the masters bygone on enslaving land

And generations freed feeding on remnant freedom food.

.

The waves tickle evading one another

The light shimmers reflecting of faces

Of troughs and crest created in collision

On wind and water married at the surface

Submissively given to the random motion

Of the rise and fall of water molecules

Bound by forces of togetherness and gravity

Collectively free flowing every-which way.

The cars pass-by buzzing as a colony

Of bees in pursuit of the queen-bee

Or may be as the ants marching forward aimlessly

Albeit orderly movements north and south

Chasing after a presumed destiny along the lake-shore

Composed of impatience and entrapped souls

Of a life filed of discordant hurry and wait

Contrasted in the calming blue waters

Majestically stretched to the horizon out of sight.

Another world of existence lives

In the immediate vicinity, a parallel universe

Housed in inanimate objects tall

Reaching for the sky in competition

As the trees in a tropical rain-forest

Wishing to grab all the offerings of sun, air, and rain

Buried in to texts, wishing to contain

The wisdom of giants and surrounded by ghosts

Of the past framed in books, there live

Lifeless lives completely oblivious

To the lake and buzzing lives beneath.

.

What is freedom to the free-living

Who never tested the depravity of feeling

In control of own destiny of mind and life

Absent the contrast of high and low

Is it possible to appreciate and know

The depth of rest in the rights guaranteed

Foreign to residents in a lawless land

Is it possible to know the value of free speech

To the tongue-less robbed of means for self-expressions

Is it possible to value the freedom of worship

As experienced to the voiceless trapped in godless state

Is the meaning of poverty known

To the free-living with limitless destiny

Living with the safety of provision and protection

In a dream home with a paid for life-plan.

Is liberty known to free-flying eagle

Soaring freely to skies higher and farther.

Is the beauty of smell of a rose known

To the bystander staring from afar

Without having to experience the piercings

Of the skin from the throne of the stems

On the way to the petals guarding the scents

Of heavenly smells of nature.

Well, the answers may be hidden

In the depths of human experience unknown

To me, it boils down to appreciating

Each breath taken with little recognition

Of the sustenance of life breathed in

Until that day when the nostrils are blocked

Of irritating and nauseous mucus and cold

Only that person knows the precious

Value of a breath an unobstructed and fresh

Having experienced a loss, with a new-found contrast.

.

Out in the distance of the horizon

Looms the profile of a cloud

Concatenated of parts fair and dark

All conspiring to block the rays of the sun

In their eight-minute journey to the planet

Distant in sight yet unwaveringly dependent

On the light proclaiming the arrival of a new day

Of water vapor or sand, uncertain to the gauzing eye

Until the thunderous explosion of a sound

Gives away the sign, clearing out the doubt in the sky

But, is it a cloud of a drizzling rain or hiding a cyclone

With ferocity of force unparalleled

Sweeping all the living hopes and dreams in the way

Destroying monuments erected in celebration

Of wimps and greats alike, in glorification of past

The unknowing hangs in the uncertainty

Buried in the belly of clouds distant.

Or, is it a pleasant bombardment of droplets

Of wetness longed for by the earth and skin cracked

Almost ready to swallow all beings in sight

Awaited by dying vegetation of thirst

Frizzling in the heat, unable to make use of nutrients

Dreamt by children anxious to run out and play

In the tingling feeling of a drizzle falling

On the faces unbeknown to suffering and drought.

Uncertainty clouds the clouds afar

Until they arrive and unleash the hidden

Pleasures or devastation soon to be here

Awaiting is certainty helpless in pursuit

Subservient to the forces of nature

Outside its provision and dominion.

.

Why is it that we fancy the chase to a destination to only reach it and have a let down? It is a common utterance that people enjoy the courting phase of a relationship than a marriage. Broadly, it is also a common belief that the chase is more fun than the catch. I have a theory that may explain this. Could it be that there is an underlying dormant, but forceful when activated, urge for humans to take pleasure in uncertainty? I think we are wired to seek thrill in an environment where the outcome of an action is probabilistically less than determined. The primary source of this seeking of uncertainty may be evolutionary. It is in the interest of the species to be on the look out for what could potential go wrong and adapt accordingly in order to avert disaster or extinction. Inherent to that process is the undetermined nature of the threat that poses risk for survival. A known outcome, on the other hand, is very much nonthreatening and requires no foresightedness and induces little anxiety. So, no wonder that we are left conditioned to seek for sources of imbalance and, indeed, enjoy the chase more than the catch. The trick of course is to exercise will over this hardwired urge in ensuring that the proper measure of pleasure is drawn from the catch after a chase, whether gruelingly or easily acquired.

A thought occurred to me that highlights the cause of the dissatisfaction in life that most experience. I think most of us live and breath a fantasy life. Expectations and dreams are channeled into the rumination of what is missing than in the realization of the fulfillment in what is being had in the moment. The relentless focus on the negative and the missing element of anything, be it life in general or any issue or entity we interact with, has the effect of robbing the pleasures of satisfaction out of a task accomplished and a goal reached, no matter how half-full it may be. There is a distinct tension between the dissatisfaction driven out of the focus on what is absent and the need to identify possible areas of improvement. It strikes me as being a difficult balancing act to work out, and hence the pervasive nature of dissatisfaction. For one to continue to make advancements in the pursuit of happiness, it is crucial to have a concrete understanding of where life is heading, how well positioned we are to capitalize on opportunities that may come our way, or having a good feel for areas of strength and weakness. The most successful among us, I think, have the ability to use the missing elements in life as a motivational tool to continue to persevere and improve. I think there also has to be an inherent contentment in life as is balanced with the healthy dose of impatience for advancement. The successful leaders have a way of highlighting the strengths and providing encouragement while paving the way for correcting the weaknesses. It is a conscious choice one has to make in order to enjoy the gift of the moment while still keeping goals and aspirations for the future in sight. The beginning of the healing process is one that should start with the acknowledgments of the privileges of life as it is and drawing satisfaction from it. The world around us is littered with more examples of lives that have been dealt with a destiny less fortunate than those of the luminaries that we obsess about day in day out. Without that an honest realization of this fact, not amount of material wealth, influence, or acquaintances will be fulfilling.

By now most of you must have read and heard about the squabble that is going on at the Congress regarding the recovery and investment plan that was put forward by President Obama. There have been a few illuminating incidents about this issue which I wish to highlight in this entry. My affection and admiration for the president is apparent and needs no mention. As such, there may be a hint of bias towards holding the hopes and ambitions of President Obama, as they are manifested in the goals of the current plan, in high regard.

As usual the media has been completely wrong in the reporting and analysis of this issue. Most accuse the president of not being involved enough in the process. Well, these same people have forgotten that the president and congress account for co-equal branches of the federal government. As a constitutional scholar, President Obama has a deep understanding of this fact. He realizes that his task is one of leadership. He said he is interested in creating or saving 3-4 million jobs. That is a goal that he does not seem to be willing to compromise on. He has also expressed his vision for not only getting through the current crisis, but also putting in place fundamental structural advancements in the society that will serve as a breeding ground for a future growth and prosperity. That is the task of leadership – setting clear objectives. He realizes that the job of the congress is to legislate. As such, it seems to me that he has allowed for the representatives and senators to exercise their constitutional duty. To the myopic observers, this amounts to the legislation process getting out of hand. The careful and thoughtful observer understands that democratic processes are inherently chaotic where multiple interests are in continued friction with each other. Of course, the sensationalizing of disagreements between legislators is what most in the media are interested in, and I suspect that they are at best willfully ignorant of the nature of democratic processes.

That said, I find the obstructionism that is being put forward by the republicans to be quite remarkable and very much reflexive. Here is why I think they are marching blindly in a losing trajectory:

1. The president has made public and noticeable overtures in the interest of building bipartisanship. The president has the power of the bully pulpit and is able command more attention than all the 535 representatives and senators combined, no matter how loud they may be. So, when the republicans decide to collectively and almost unanimously oppose this measure while the president is out campaigning and lending an ear to the concerns of the people and describing how it is that the intended plan helps address the problems facing the country, it makes them appear to be quite detached from the general public. They come across as politicians who put the interest of party ahead of country. The country is in the mood for solving problems; it is receptive to trying ideas, which is exactly what the president is trying to do.
2. No mater how principled a lot of the republicans may feel about their new found obsession with fiscal conservatism after many years of excessive federal spending, their attempts come across as the ultimate manifestation of hypocrisy. Specifically because such objections were not being voiced under Bush’s presidency, the current unified and loud voice only goes to re-enforce the perception that they are more in the business of politicking than problem solving.

So, what is the alternative? Imagine for a second if the republicans in congress truly find it in themselves to be willing to work with the president and act in a bipartisan manner. Imagine if instead of ridiculing the bill that is under consideration, they choose to amplify the good programs, of which there are many, while attempting to draw attention to the parts of the bill which they find to be objectionable? That is, of course, not the first instinct of a leadership of a party in the minority. It has been common practice in politics that a party in the minority positions itself for a game of blamocracy. A few years from now when their darkest wish of this recovery plan not working is realized, they want to say if only they had their way… Well, the problem with that approach is that this time period comes at the heel of an election in which the population collectively exercised a moment of reconnection to the idealism that makes this country unique – the belief that all things are possible. It is also being played out with a popular and historic president at the helm of power. I suspect that the historic nature of this presidency has unleashed a level of good wish and prayer for success from the population at large that has not been experienced in recent past. The action of the republicans in congress is to be contrasted uniquely with this state of affairs. For a party that has electoraly found itself to be regional, I believe the courageous and bold course of action to take is not to cater to the approximately 30% of the population that gets overjoyed with every utterance of tax-cut prescriptions or moral-values irrespective of the political or socioeconomic environment; but, to broaden its appeal to a significantly larger proportion of the population and symbiotically feed from the good wish invested in the Obama presidency. Why is that a politically smart move as well us beneficiary to the country? Because, the republicans right now need a way to make themselves relevant again in national politics. The people know that our country is in trouble and serious work needs to be done to rekindle vibrancy of the economy. The recovery plan will most likely pass and get implemented with or without their support. Besides the fact that republican mayors and governors, who actually have to face to task of governance not just in words, but also in works, are behind the president in seeking to pass the plan under consideration will only make the national politicians look out of touch and divorced from reality. It is also the patriotic thing to do. Instead of political positioning to rip the benefits of a presumed failure of policy, it would be in the nation’s best interest if they could work with the president and the majority to carve out a plan that would catapult the economy out of the current miserable state. In president Obama, I think they have a leader who can work with them and is for the most part not interested in political gamesmanship. The sooner they realize it, the better of their chances of returning to a party of national acceptance and the better of the political system and the culture in Washington will be.

How come I am blessed

one who stumbled at the confluence

of preparation and luck

paving the way to success.

How come a boy goes hungry

across the ocean and behind the alleyways

and a girl mourns of a family destroyed

standing on shattered limbs

in a village raided, burned to ground

by the cruelty of humanity

aided and comforted

by the willful ignorance of many.

How come I am blessed

a sinner like any, born to a biological miracle

sudden and unique, ubiquitous at once

how can I pretend I am chosen

for a lucky destiny special

and ignore all the choiceless

women, men, boy and girl

caged in eternal prison of hopelessness.

How come I am blessed?

.

Will you remember the time we spent

together in happiness or the nagging angst

of relationship building painful and long.

Will you remember the sight of joy

of my relief in seeing you finally missing

your loving care of compassion

or my discomfort in feeling alone and helpless

in my inability to be together in emotion.

Will you remember the happiness shared

in triumphs unlikely overcome with bravery

or the cowardice in the fear of the unknown bend

coming around the corner hidden in a blind spot

leaving us shaken in a future uncertain.

Which will you care to remember

the happiness and joy or the restless quarrels

which brought us closer unveiling the true self

hiding behind the mask of completeness and fulfillment

glorified in pretentiousness hiding the dying being underneath.

We have been stranded into a helix of a DNA

at once a duet and binary in unison eternity

I pray you celebrate the moments of uplift

along with the desperation of moments empty

vacuum of words yet populated in thought

of the togetherness we have formed

at the highland and low, the home we’ve built.

.

An epidemic of hope

avails itself to escape

to the dreamer locked

in a confined cage of no end

invading the emptiness

left behind in the abyss

from a struggle of pain and sorrow

brought to an end in a breakthrough

brightening the future and day

as a sunny night spring sky.

Oh! alive and elated

feels the heart hope filled

ready for a renewed life journey

sailing by the wind of dream and joy.
.

There is one phenomenon that I find to be intriguing. It is the issue of limited perception that we experience in our day to day lives. The best manifestation of this is how we see the persons we are introduced to in our sphere of interaction everywhere once they have been brought to our attention. Has it ever happened to you? Whether at school or workplace, there have been a few instances where a person who co-inhabits the same space for quite a long time without it being known to us. For all we know the same persons frequent the spaces that we spend a significant portion of our lives completely oblivious to us. Then suddenly, once they are brought to our attention, we start to see them everywhere. What does that say about the human experience and how perceptive we are to our surroundings? Is there a limit to how information that is all around us is brought into bearing meaning? Is the learning process one that requires a conscious acknowledgement of the process? All these are questions that I have no answer to. I find them to be intriguing nonetheless.

Where does hope begin and when does it lend itself to believing and certainty? Can one afford to take risk if failure means losing all? For hope to be effectual, I believe it is a human instinct to need an insurance against future ambitions to align our thoughts and dreams into one or limited targets. The vision in the minds-eye that one can see and the safety-net one feels in the imagination of the fruits of a labor being applied at a goal and ambition are crucial in sustaining ones hope about a future outcome. But, that is only where hope finds sustenance. The birth place of hope requires the fertile ground for meeting the mundane everyday survival needs. I think it is in human nature not to take leaps of faith without the knowledge that the fall from failing to meet the goal is less than catastrophic. In some instances it may just be the realization that even when one fails, the basic needs for survival like food and shelter can easily be met.

Insurance in life is the less-than-desirable outcome and the fall-back position. So, what separates the pioneer from the rest? The answer to that rests in the impatience the leaders, trend-setters, and pioneers have with the status-quo. That feeling of restlessness can propel one into a state of willingness to take the fall in the knowledge if all else fails, there is still the status-quo to fall back to.

America, the promise land of people varied

to her shores flock, teleported identities

in pursuit of freedom fleeing misery

immigrating with hope and unbridled dreams.

Escaping from tyrants human and natural

destitute, depravity, and lack of dignity

away from a life endured, staring down evil

yearning for her promise of inalienable rights

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

She is made for and by a people freed

with uprooted identities forging new lives

charting and living a liberated destiny

she is the land of promise, aspiration aplenty

a promise for all, a promised land for the free.

.

I see a land green

prosperous and lush

a brighter future ahead

open, free, and fresh.

Out on the horizon

I say to you my friend

the pastures are green

on this and other side

come along I say

for one joyful ride.

.

Keep at it, my friend

for sooner than later

something will materialize

out of the red sky

a destiny blue.

So, hang in there my friend

for this too shall pass.

I can see it coming

the moment of relief

a progress forward

a time of recognition

you shall be rewarded

for your efforts handsomely.

The moment is near

for you to be liberated

from anxiety and fear

of an uncertain future.

Your destiny is mine

we are linked in prayer

separable by none

irrespective of the present

which may be hopelessly bare

my prayer is one

that you do not despair

so stay strong, my friend

for this too shall pass

in a future near.

.

I have come to realize that a number of actions President Barack Obama takes require meditative reflection in order to grasp the full measure of the intention and desired outcome behind them. The hyperventilated punditry, which passes for media and analysis these days and has been so common place in the past some odd years, seems to be finding itself incapable of appreciating the strength of drive and the intellectual fortitude behind the decisions the president makes and the way he goes about executing them. He is a grand master; they, novice players of chess. They say great ones can see the whole game play itself out over multiple moves. They have a keen insight into the tango of action-reaction and move-counter move dances of thought and will played out on a chess board. I believe that the president exhibits similar characteristics in the arena of leadership and shaping public perception.

They said his inauguration speech was bland – lacking poetry and oratorical flourishes. These are the same people who were accusing him of being empty on specifics and all about speeches and words. They said words are easy, where is the beef. They had it really backwards. Whether you are chess player or a fighter in combat, understanding the opposing side and knowing the characteristics traits and tendencies give one the upper hand paving the way to a seamless victory. From the outset of his campaign for the presidency, he wrote and talked about the smallness of the politics as it was being practiced, which he believed was in direct contrast to the magnitude of the challenges facing the nation. He knew there was a yearning to believe again; to believe again in the yes-we-can mentality. There was a yearning for rekindling the hope and aspiration and dream of a world that could be in spite of the world as it is. There was a yearning for a political system that works; a system that is more capable of solving big problems than one engaged in a tit-for-tat game of blamocracy. There was also a generation yearning for inspiration to challenge oneself and provide meaning and purpose to life. He clearly knew that. He rightly sensed that the issue was not the absence of a multi-point policy prescription or a plan of one kind or another. He channeled the dreams and hopes of many and articulated his messages into melodic symphonies of words that are so uplifting, which leave the listeners levitated and overcome with emotions. That was one presidential campaigning and half.

Then, the inauguration arrived in a moment that is as equally challenging and intransigent for a system that is broken as it is to a people who have come to expect little from government. With the majority converted and the rest willing to lend a hearing, he was set with the challenge of communicating the hardship facing our nation while reminding us all of the glorious past and the seemingly insurmountable challenges that have been overcome in the unlikely experimentation is self-governance and organization that is America. The symbolic significance of his rise to the highest office in the land was self-evident in his image and needed no proclamation. In this regard, I was reminded of his acceptance speech for the democratic nomination in which he referred to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a young preacher from Atlanta, which the self-aggrandizing elements of the black community predictably riled up against. How could he dare not mention his name, they exclaimed. How could he shy away from the dark history of race relations in this country, they asked. When asked by Steve Kroft a similar question, the president in response said “I think people notice that… I think people understood the significance of that…” It is also that depth of insight not to blabber the obvious and let moments speak for themselves that characterized his inauguration speech. There was no need for poetry. Nor was there a need to engage in a collective-kumbaya-moment. The people who where there and the billions of eyes glued to their televisions knew the arrival of a new historical demarcation. They also knew that not only America, but also the world is amidst troubled economic times. The task at hand was not to provide an escape from that reality. It was one of facing challenges with grit and determination in the knowledge that this too shall pass. “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met,” he inspired a people.

Then, in recent past there have also been few examples where some of his decisions were met with a quick anger, only to be brought to light in their full significance with the advantage of  hindsight. A prime example is the mini-controversy around his selection of the Rev. Rick Warren for providing the invocation and opening prayers for the inauguration ceremony. Those on the left we fired up for all the wrong reasons. How could such a person be given a platform that is as grand as this, they asked. I sense that it was not lost on the president that the Rev. Warren believes in truths drawn from the strict adherence to the bible. What could a preacher of the bible be expected to believe in after all? Yet, I think it was also clear to him that Rev. Warren cares not just about issues such as gay marriage and abortion, which have lately been adopted as being defining litmus tests for what constitutes as christian and moral values, but also about those of social justice. The president realized the task at hand was to bring about more understanding and accommodation. Bridging the gap between those caring about one issue or another and getting them to come closer is what the president seems to be good at. I can not help but think that Rev. Warren was left touched by the gesture extended to him. I read somewhere that some of the less agreeable language was taken of his website in the aftermath his selection. I sense that those who were so offended by his  selection were probably better served by it than would have been otherwise. Then, the other day we heard that he granted the first formal interview as a president to an Arabic television network. Some found this odd and weak. But, he realizes the fight against the religious extremists is not just one of conquering land and military engagement. It is one of winning the hearts of those who are willing to listen. Such an action broadens the avenues of communication and provides a higher platform for engagement and understanding. It is precisely these types of actions that steal innocent minds from the dangerous brainwashing that is fed by the extremists to perpetuate their destructive agenda.

The distinguishing quality of the president, which should have become apparent to many long before, is that he is not afraid to face big challenges. I sense that he realizes greatness is not for the faintest of hearts; it is earned by those who see the significance and consequence of their actions in the immediate future, but also take them with a methodical and precise understanding of their effects in the long run. That is what makes him the chess player at heart and an effective leader. Those who continue to underestimate and lose sight of the less-than-obvious intentions and wit of the president find themselves as being a minor footnote of history as he continues to trail-blaze an uncharted path into greatness.

In glory of the mind

they say it is

a super-power of an organ

complex and massive

with dominion over matter

and all things physical

conquering all if only

there is the will.

Deep in thought

a conversation I heard

relentless and vigorous

between the body and mind.

I am the master

and you are the slave

says the mind

rested you have

now it is time to work.

Irritated and restless

responds the body

there comes a point

when you lose

the power over I

no matter the urgency

to catch a shooting star

no matter your will

I am unwilling and

will render you alone

aimlessly trekking the thought-land.

I see, says the mind

I see that you may be

needing a respite and wastefully tired

drained of energy, fallen under the rock

that serves no one

now get up and work.

Well, says the body

well let’s see your magic

I see you getting

helpless and frantic

unable to control a fiber of my being.

So continued the debate

between the mind and body

unresolved and beastly left

to the sleep which suddenly

swept through me

leaving the body laid

and the mind on bended knee

giving in the end

to the powers to be

relocated in thought

in a motion slow

uprooted from reality

am I dreaming now?

.

He stood

beaming hope

on a day icy cold

preaching truth.

He stood

with a nation

tall and proud

born again

vivacious and free

basking in memories golden.

He stood

with echoes of past

on shifting sand

a union

built on blood

of distant shores

in suffering shed.

He stood

with a people brave

seekers of liberty

free and gallant

in pursuit of happy.

He stood

with humanity

of corners of the world

yearning liberation

freedom and food.

He stood

the 44th president

confident and bold

in a future bright.

.

In the sense of time I die

I die cell by cell

and piece by piece

destined for a life mortal

in war and peace.

Yet I breath

knowledge I absorb

expressions of self

in spite of death.

In the sense of time we die

yet dreams of a preacher

live on to see

a destiny fulfilled

a changed generation

and a nation perfected.

The hope distilled

of pain and despair

seeing no end

lives on to inspire

elevating a son

of a mother single

a bearer of light

a hope-vessel half-full.

In the sense of time we die

dreams live

but you and I.

.

In her presence I delight

in her absence I shiver

missing the glow

of her warming care.

Her love,

a thirst unquenchable

undying hunger

a sibling never had

a companion in sorrow

a believer in truth

a guiding arrow.

Without her,

a life aimless

floating above

a lifeless canvas

restless in thought

flying aground

soulless in spirit

frozen and bound.

Her love,

eternal and enlivening

a kindred life

worth living

music to the soul

complete in her

union alive

that is why I love her.

.