the rest of the country dont think would happen, or hopes never happen. These isolated incidents are just the harbingers of numerous other instances where FBI and other law enforcement agencies under the clout of Ashcroft will use their newfound power, power that was bestowed on them by our representatives, in the name of making this nation more secure against faceless terrorists, to serve their corporate masters.
What we as a collective need to do, and need to do now, is to take a look at the ambiguities in this act, and the scope of it and put down strict guidelines as to when and where it could be enforced and put some damn oversight while you are at it.
The Govt has cleverly chosen depictions of late night arrests and mysterious black cars/helicopters as the evidence of a communist/totalitarian regime. They hope you would never equate that with Feds in uniforms. They hope to turn your attention to daily terrorist warnings, to turn your attention away from the extent to which these antiquated laws can be abused.
You all have a clear choice this November. Even if that choice is starkly different from the other half of the nation, act now to ensure you still have civil liberties when all this is over.
Kinda makes you wonder whether Sal posted the story himself..and must be laughing his way to the bank knowing the site's getting its ass raped by millions of pointed clicks..
By the way, hope Sal finds his way to the following conversation.
O' my crisp 55 Dollars and my beautiful wife.. I bid thee both farewell, atleast for a while.. Now, to my 55 Dollars this is for ever.. To my lovely wife, this is a short respite..
My hard earned money, gotta let you go.. To fill the Coffers of Carmack and ID-eo So that he maketh new game engines and new bump mapped creatures And I, cowering in the dark, salivating at the games new features..
And to my dear wife, I will see you soon But first I have to kiss my double barrel shotgun and my precious ammo Before I can warm the sheets next to you For here cometh the Cyberdemon and I gotta runnoo..
It was sounded because the computer was receiving more instructions than it could handle and it was getting to the point where it would have just stopped executing them, leading to an abort.
.... Drifting forward just a little. That's good. Contact light. Shut down. Okay. Engine stop. ACA out of detent. Out of detent. Auto. Mode control, both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm off. 413 is in. We copy you down eagle. Engine arm is of. Houston, Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed. Roger Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again, thank you..................
I wasnt born then. Still there is a lump in my throat when I read those words. I wish I am alive when we hear something along these lines when we touch down on the Red Planet..or even farther..
Wish for a moment, we could stop all this crap going around and remember those brave souls who perished in our urge to leap higher and honor their souls by setting higher goals and achieve them.
And not because Tom Ridge just woke up today morning a changed man either.
Its because they realized when senators and congressman and lobbyists on either side of the spectrum told them that snooping on influential people aint a good thing. Its not me or you they are worried about offending, its the people who they need, who can make or break them that they cater to.
But they would violate the rights of every non-american who step off or on their planes with out a second thought, because every immigrant is a potential terrorist, isnt it? Every tanned face will be pulled aside, strip searched, his financial / public and private records scoured and reviewed by people who could very well abuse that power.
Everything that you just wrote, each word applies to the situation in Iraq as well..
It is a civil war in Iraq right now. Fox might call them "tewwowists", but they are Insurgents, nonetheless. And its a civil war because the insurgents are mainly of the Shiite population who oppose being ruled by the Sunni. Also there are Sunni's as well who are opposed to the coalition being there in Iraq.
Every Govt might turn a blind eye to Africa, but then not every govt were so eager to go to war at the drop of a hat. This administration has shown that willingness. About Africa not being of strategic importance, now thats cruel as well as asinine. The trouble in middle east would not have bothered us a bit, if (a) Israel wasnt in the midst of all of it and (b) Oil, billions and billions of gallons of it. You know when Africa will get back on the world map? When a bunch of Sudanese commandeer planes or what not and ram them in to the heart of a few cities. Then, I assure you, they would take notice. The world would take notice.
Also you blame culture and corruption as the core of all evils in Sudan and the rest of Africa, I am surprised these two evils are only found in that subcontinent and nowhere else. Ofcourse, Culture and Corruption had nothing to do with in the Middle East and the quagmire in Iraq
And finally, Iraq is fixable now???? Which newspapers do you read? Where do you get information from? Cause the rest of the world definitely do not subscribe to that view. Even when the US transferred power to the Iraqi Govt, two days in advance, despite how Bush wanted it to be portrayed (as a show of eagerness to transfer power back to the people), it came off as an act of weakness and cowardice, of a super power who once again had its fingers burned 30 years later..
Now that its out of the way, let me take this further..
No matter what the Govt, or Fox News tells you, Saddam Hussein was not the gravest threat ever to walk the earth. He was neither the baddest dude alive. Do you have any fucking idea as to whats happening in Africa?? Sudan?? Ethiopia?? Nigeria?? Are you fucking insane or just clueless, like half this country?
Even if you round up the total number of Iraq's citizen this murderous villain had slaughtered, it would still pale in comparison to the number of people who are dying in Africa in the last year. Sudan can easily be compared to Hell, considering the number of men and children who are slaughtered like cattle, women who are raped and killed. Can you even compare the atrocities that happen there every day to what did happen in Iraq?? Ofcourse not.
Then why is it that Bush turns a blind eye to Africa, why is it that Powell after his recent visit to Sudan proudly proclaims that it still hasnt achieved the so called status "Genocide" when we actually care a fuck!! Can you justify their tears, kids with out limbs, with out parents, without shelter and food. Can you justify this travesty in Iraq when a greater threat looms in Sudan threatening to wipe out a country, snuff out a million lives in less than an year??? Where is Bush's God amidst all this? Or does the President listen to his God only when the response meets his needs?? Why proclaim the fact that you are a devoted christian when you turn a blind eye to Africa?
So dont you fucking say that you step in and regulate every now and then..not when it doesnt serve your needs.
in the senate, as GW had blatantly professed his undying devotion to the Patriot Act as well as he had decided to Veto this bill if it had cleared the Senate.
So its not enough there are 210 people out there who think this law stinks, we need to get GW out of his chair so as to salvage what little freedom this country still possess.
GW doesnt scare me, he makes me laugh, but he doesnt scare me. Cheney and Ashcroft scares me. The indifference of half the country scares me. People who are willing to send other people's kids in to war, in to a hail of bullets, scare me. People who will stomp all over the rules of the land so as to feel powerful, to win their own private dirty war scares me. The Presidents dependence on the religious right scares me.
I am not an american and neither have I the right to vote. I am helpless in what I can do, despite the immense respect to the people around me as well as the country that I live in. I believe America can be a whole lot better than what it is, its standing among other nations, its perspective. I believe this country and its people are being held back, day by day, kept on check, from being a true leader of the free world. I believe, if we do not turn back this course, come November, the road ahead for America is bleak and fraught with peril.
I wish I had the link to the article, but the fact is 90% (or some other ungodly figure ) of their revenue comes from MSOffice and their Operating System division.
Imagine, Almost 90%..that sure should give the rest of them infinite amounts of inferiority complex.
Whenever my mind veers off the beaten path in to its unchartered perverse territories, I have memories of *horror* Ballmer singing and dancing to "Developers..Developers..Developers."
And whenever my mind pulls it off, I am reminded of Eddie Murphy (playing Anna Pearl "Mama" Jensen Klump, Sherman's mother in Nutty Professor II) jumping up and down with fake titties bouncing going "Hercules..Hercules"
Now, Balmer dancing on stage with Fake tits.. and Powell running around in circles in a Construction worker's outfit singing "YMCA..", THAT I will pay to see..
Everyone look at poor M$ in the corner, dying a slow death for the lack of another Billion in the bank.. Lets not let that happen..shall we..being the good neighbours we are..
So here is what I recommend.. The slashdot community will, painful as it is, will map out the various product lines of Microsoft with their perceived value, which needs to be truncated or snuffed out completely. Once we are all in agreement as to the total worth is a Billion, Cmdrtaco, the chosen representative, will submit said list to the powers that be (read: Balmy Balmer) for review and acceptance.
So get your thinking caps out, check your emotions , pay no heed to the thousands of M$ programmers who will obviously hate you for nixing their much loved products, let reason run rampant..and lets choose what Microsoft needs to put another Billion in the bank!
You still havent responded to my question as to whether the Office of the President of India has the power to dictate Govt policy?
As long as he doesnt, what he spoke of would be mere advice that may or may not fall on deaf ears. What's needed instead is a consistent push from the public and private support groups towards the use of OSS by different depts.
The question is not whether Kalam can teach all of us a few things, there are bound to be people of equal or better calibre here as well. Thats not the point.
Kalam was right in exhorting the need to move to an open framework for all defense systems so as to reduce our dependence on closed systems as well as build security in to the framework which allows us to be ready for exceptions, how ever nasty they are. But the question is how do we get there. And if they are basing their work on OSS, then arent they legally bound to make the resulting system open for publish as well? He hasnt exactly thought out through and through in this scenario, I believe he was just setting the goal and expected everyone else to play catchup.
The issue here is the President does not dicate policy, atleast to my knowledge. The Govt is still free to choose closed systems to meet their needs. The Army/Navy and Airforce has enough intelligent people to know the advantage of using OSS, but unless the change starts right from the top, Kalam's words will be wasted. I believe the LUGs as well as other OSS groups in India need to play a more proactive role in gathering support for the use of OSS by the various wings of Govt.
As for Bill Gates being taught a few things, I sincerely hope he learned a few.
Expect Indians to open up their defence security solutions the day after West does the same. He is asking to implement them on an open platform, not necessarily calling the actual implementation to be an inherently open one.
The former makes sense, the latter is just moronic, in the matters of national defense. The last thing you want to do is to have public access to boolean launchmissile(...)
As for me folks, I have been an IE user for the last seven years of my life, and as of today, I am downloading FireFox and pledging my support. Its time we all gave Firefox(or other Browsers) a chance.
Remember, we dont have to run IE just because it came with the desktop. There are obvious better choices out there, free, secure and looking far better.
I, just as anyone else here, is worried over the potential abuse of this system, but there can be improvements as well.
I dont know whether its such an issue here, but outside US, anyone or anything can walk in to a baggage terminal and walk off with someone else's bag with out being stopped. And Usually this happens when the owner of the baggage hasnt gotten to the baggage terminal from the gate. What if Delta has a counter where travellers once they collect their baggage and on their way out, can scan their RFID's, verify they were the rightful owner of the bag and then remove the RFID to go their own merry way? Someone trying to steal the baggage could get flagged since his RFID will still be in place when he attempts to leave..
This might lead to long lines again in the baggage terminal and can cost the airline more, but does this make sense?
What people dont realize is that technology and information is slowly, but surely making its inroads in to the poorest corners of India as long as there is someone who wants to learn.
Sure, corruption is rampant, but I blame the people for not waking up and realizing that they dont have to bribe them anymore. They dont realize the importance and the reach of media (or the media simply dont care) or they have not been educated. Wait a minute, corruption is not the achilles heel for India, education is. Millions of its citizens never went to school, especially in the rural northern states, noone ever taught them their basic rights, they were put down to indentured servitude from the day they were born. Education once it reaches india's masses will teach them and guide them towards liberty and respect towards their neighbours, towards other religions. Thats what we lack, and thats what is changing and we need more of that change.
We have a billion citizens to feed and limited resources. We have enjoyed freedom for only the last half a century, we are still a very young democratic nation. It is still to a large extent a secularist nation (especially the southern states which wont stand any nationalist/religious agendas),one that has been veritably peaceful to its neighbours.
Try and imagine this small piece of machine, an artificial eye, open to the wonders of our solar system, falling through the infinite depths of space, so that we can forget for a moment, all the troubles and tribulations around us, the cold steel and the raging fire and look beyond the physical confines of what makes us human and gaze in awe at this small contraption carrying a message of hope, of peace, of our thirst for knowledge in a never ending journey towards everything that is unknown.
Reagan didnt get any coverage other dead Presidents didnt enjoy. How about Kennedy? Also, its been a while we lost a President and a Republican one at that, during a Republican administration, at these times of turmoil.. Ofcourse, half the country would want to show their respect.
Now, I disagree about the part about him changing the world for the better. Rest of the world really doesnt care when he was alive, far less now that he is dead. The only time that I ever heard of him was his name associated with the infamous "Starwars" and Reagan-omics. Both really bad ideas (ofcourse can be disputed). But the fact of the matter is Gorbachev had more to do about putting things in order than Reagan purely because (1) Russia was already crumbling (2) Gorbachev was more far sighted than all the Russian presidents before him and (3) Gorbachev realized the world was changing and he had to lead his country to change with it.
The only smart thing Reagan did was he realized what Russia was up to and instead of thwarting their efforts (and making sure Cold war stayed the same), he realized his legacy would be remembered for ending it, and helped Gorbachev speed things up. Also like how Clinton is remembered for not screwing things up when the economy was in an upswing, Reagan will be remembered for not screwing things up. You cant measure a president and his legacy especially when he passed away recently, especially when his memories are fresh and emotions supercede reason and logic, but for definite, years from today, he will be known as a president who was sensible and farsighted enough to let Russia and Communism die a slow death and not for being a visionary neither a statesman.
Now your thoughts about W just plain out scares me. W is neither a statesman nor a visionary. He spoke of bipartisanship and pledged compassionate conservatism but showed neither. The country is more divided than ever and we are at war with different enemies and the army is stretched thinner than butter on whitebread. What were to happen if a new adversary emerges, taking advantage of this situation? How would the world respond? No Sir, these are troubled times and instead of being fortunate enough to be led by a president who were a true leader, a free thinker, an optimist and a realist, what we have here is a fragile humanbeing who is being manipulated by his cohorts, by the religious right, by the same people who should keep his course straight, but instead choose to lead him astray. No Sir, W will be known as a president who could have achieved far more, but fell far short of his goals and led the country through a path of gloom, down a road littered with the corpses of its own soldiers and its shattered dreams.
Slashdot Mirror
the rest of the country dont think would happen, or hopes never happen. These isolated incidents are just the harbingers of numerous other instances where FBI and other law enforcement agencies under the clout of Ashcroft will use their newfound power, power that was bestowed on them by our representatives, in the name of making this nation more secure against faceless terrorists, to serve their corporate masters.
What we as a collective need to do, and need to do now, is to take a look at the ambiguities in this act, and the scope of it and put down strict guidelines as to when and where it could be enforced and put some damn oversight while you are at it.
The Govt has cleverly chosen depictions of late night arrests and mysterious black cars/helicopters as the evidence of a communist/totalitarian regime. They hope you would never equate that with Feds in uniforms. They hope to turn your attention to daily terrorist warnings, to turn your attention away from the extent to which these antiquated laws can be abused.
You all have a clear choice this November. Even if that choice is starkly different from the other half of the nation, act now to ensure you still have civil liberties when all this is over.
Kinda makes you wonder whether Sal posted the story himself..and must be laughing his way to the bank knowing the site's getting its ass raped by millions of pointed clicks..
By the way, hope Sal finds his way to the following conversation.
Sal, meet Bubba.
Bubba, meet thy Bitch.
O' my crisp 55 Dollars and my beautiful wife..
I bid thee both farewell, atleast for a while..
Now, to my 55 Dollars this is for ever..
To my lovely wife, this is a short respite..
My hard earned money, gotta let you go..
To fill the Coffers of Carmack and ID-eo
So that he maketh new game engines and new bump mapped creatures
And I, cowering in the dark, salivating at the games new features..
And to my dear wife, I will see you soon
But first I have to kiss my double barrel shotgun and my precious ammo
Before I can warm the sheets next to you
For here cometh the Cyberdemon and I gotta runnoo..
Can be found here
It was sounded because the computer was receiving more instructions than it could handle and it was getting to the point where it would have just stopped executing them, leading to an abort.
.... .................
Drifting forward just a little.
That's good.
Contact light.
Shut down.
Okay. Engine stop.
ACA out of detent.
Out of detent. Auto.
Mode control, both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm off. 413 is in.
We copy you down eagle.
Engine arm is of. Houston, Tranquility base here. The eagle has landed.
Roger Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again, thank you.
I wasnt born then. Still there is a lump in my throat when I read those words. I wish I am alive when we hear something along these lines when we touch down on the Red Planet..or even farther..
Wish for a moment, we could stop all this crap going around and remember those brave souls who perished in our urge to leap higher and honor their souls by setting higher goals and achieve them.
to vote down this motion..
As usual, our weekly PC-users-smarter-than-all-UG will take place in the backlot of Intel Building 486 today evening at 6:00 pm
And not because Tom Ridge just woke up today morning a changed man either.
Its because they realized when senators and congressman and lobbyists on either side of the spectrum told them that snooping on influential people aint a good thing. Its not me or you they are worried about offending, its the people who they need, who can make or break them that they cater to.
But they would violate the rights of every non-american who step off or on their planes with out a second thought, because every immigrant is a potential terrorist, isnt it? Every tanned face will be pulled aside, strip searched, his financial / public and private records scoured and reviewed by people who could very well abuse that power.
Well..here's to Good Ol America.
Everything that you just wrote, each word applies to the situation in Iraq as well..
It is a civil war in Iraq right now. Fox might call them "tewwowists", but they are Insurgents, nonetheless. And its a civil war because the insurgents are mainly of the Shiite population who oppose being ruled by the Sunni. Also there are Sunni's as well who are opposed to the coalition being there in Iraq.
Every Govt might turn a blind eye to Africa, but then not every govt were so eager to go to war at the drop of a hat. This administration has shown that willingness. About Africa not being of strategic importance, now thats cruel as well as asinine. The trouble in middle east would not have bothered us a bit, if (a) Israel wasnt in the midst of all of it and (b) Oil, billions and billions of gallons of it. You know when Africa will get back on the world map? When a bunch of Sudanese commandeer planes or what not and ram them in to the heart of a few cities. Then, I assure you, they would take notice. The world would take notice.
Also you blame culture and corruption as the core of all evils in Sudan and the rest of Africa, I am surprised these two evils are only found in that subcontinent and nowhere else. Ofcourse, Culture and Corruption had nothing to do with in the Middle East and the quagmire in Iraq
And finally, Iraq is fixable now???? Which newspapers do you read? Where do you get information from? Cause the rest of the world definitely do not subscribe to that view. Even when the US transferred power to the Iraqi Govt, two days in advance, despite how Bush wanted it to be portrayed (as a show of eagerness to transfer power back to the people), it came off as an act of weakness and cowardice, of a super power who once again had its fingers burned 30 years later..
You are a moron!
Now that its out of the way, let me take this further..
No matter what the Govt, or Fox News tells you, Saddam Hussein was not the gravest threat ever to walk the earth. He was neither the baddest dude alive. Do you have any fucking idea as to whats happening in Africa?? Sudan?? Ethiopia?? Nigeria?? Are you fucking insane or just clueless, like half this country?
Even if you round up the total number of Iraq's citizen this murderous villain had slaughtered, it would still pale in comparison to the number of people who are dying in Africa in the last year. Sudan can easily be compared to Hell, considering the number of men and children who are slaughtered like cattle, women who are raped and killed. Can you even compare the atrocities that happen there every day to what did happen in Iraq?? Ofcourse not.
Then why is it that Bush turns a blind eye to Africa, why is it that Powell after his recent visit to Sudan proudly proclaims that it still hasnt achieved the so called status "Genocide" when we actually care a fuck!! Can you justify their tears, kids with out limbs, with out parents, without shelter and food. Can you justify this travesty in Iraq when a greater threat looms in Sudan threatening to wipe out a country, snuff out a million lives in less than an year??? Where is Bush's God amidst all this? Or does the President listen to his God only when the response meets his needs?? Why proclaim the fact that you are a devoted christian when you turn a blind eye to Africa?
So dont you fucking say that you step in and regulate every now and then..not when it doesnt serve your needs.
in the senate, as GW had blatantly professed his undying devotion to the Patriot Act as well as he had decided to Veto this bill if it had cleared the Senate.
So its not enough there are 210 people out there who think this law stinks, we need to get GW out of his chair so as to salvage what little freedom this country still possess.
GW doesnt scare me, he makes me laugh, but he doesnt scare me. Cheney and Ashcroft scares me. The indifference of half the country scares me. People who are willing to send other people's kids in to war, in to a hail of bullets, scare me. People who will stomp all over the rules of the land so as to feel powerful, to win their own private dirty war scares me. The Presidents dependence on the religious right scares me.
I am not an american and neither have I the right to vote. I am helpless in what I can do, despite the immense respect to the people around me as well as the country that I live in. I believe America can be a whole lot better than what it is, its standing among other nations, its perspective. I believe this country and its people are being held back, day by day, kept on check, from being a true leader of the free world. I believe, if we do not turn back this course, come November, the road ahead for America is bleak and fraught with peril.
I wish I had the link to the article, but the fact is 90% (or some other ungodly figure ) of their revenue comes from MSOffice and their Operating System division.
Imagine, Almost 90%..that sure should give the rest of them infinite amounts of inferiority complex.
Whenever my mind veers off the beaten path in to its unchartered perverse territories, I have memories of *horror* Ballmer singing and dancing to "Developers..Developers..Developers."
And whenever my mind pulls it off, I am reminded of Eddie Murphy (playing Anna Pearl "Mama" Jensen Klump, Sherman's mother in Nutty Professor II) jumping up and down with fake titties bouncing going "Hercules..Hercules"
Now, Balmer dancing on stage with Fake tits.. and Powell running around in circles in a Construction worker's outfit singing "YMCA..", THAT I will pay to see..
Now..now..play nice.
Everyone look at poor M$ in the corner, dying a slow death for the lack of another Billion in the bank.. Lets not let that happen..shall we..being the good neighbours we are..
So here is what I recommend.. The slashdot community will, painful as it is, will map out the various product lines of Microsoft with their perceived value, which needs to be truncated or snuffed out completely. Once we are all in agreement as to the total worth is a Billion, Cmdrtaco, the chosen representative, will submit said list to the powers that be (read: Balmy Balmer) for review and acceptance.
So get your thinking caps out, check your emotions , pay no heed to the thousands of M$ programmers who will obviously hate you for nixing their much loved products, let reason run rampant..and lets choose what Microsoft needs to put another Billion in the bank!
You still havent responded to my question as to whether the Office of the President of India has the power to dictate Govt policy?
As long as he doesnt, what he spoke of would be mere advice that may or may not fall on deaf ears. What's needed instead is a consistent push from the public and private support groups towards the use of OSS by different depts.
The question is not whether Kalam can teach all of us a few things, there are bound to be people of equal or better calibre here as well. Thats not the point.
Kalam was right in exhorting the need to move to an open framework for all defense systems so as to reduce our dependence on closed systems as well as build security in to the framework which allows us to be ready for exceptions, how ever nasty they are. But the question is how do we get there. And if they are basing their work on OSS, then arent they legally bound to make the resulting system open for publish as well? He hasnt exactly thought out through and through in this scenario, I believe he was just setting the goal and expected everyone else to play catchup.
The issue here is the President does not dicate policy, atleast to my knowledge. The Govt is still free to choose closed systems to meet their needs.
The Army/Navy and Airforce has enough intelligent people to know the advantage of using OSS, but unless the change starts right from the top, Kalam's words will be wasted. I believe the LUGs as well as other OSS groups in India need to play a more proactive role in gathering support for the use of OSS by the various wings of Govt.
As for Bill Gates being taught a few things, I sincerely hope he learned a few.
Are you on weed?
Expect Indians to open up their defence security solutions the day after West does the same. He is asking to implement them on an open platform, not necessarily calling the actual implementation to be an inherently open one.
The former makes sense, the latter is just moronic, in the matters of national defense. The last thing you want to do is to have public access to boolean launchmissile(...)
It has begun and already underway..
As for me folks, I have been an IE user for the last seven years of my life, and as of today, I am downloading FireFox and pledging my support. Its time we all gave Firefox(or other Browsers) a chance.
Remember, we dont have to run IE just because it came with the desktop. There are obvious better choices out there, free, secure and looking far better.
I, just as anyone else here, is worried over the potential abuse of this system, but there can be improvements as well.
I dont know whether its such an issue here, but outside US, anyone or anything can walk in to a baggage terminal and walk off with someone else's bag with out being stopped. And Usually this happens when the owner of the baggage hasnt gotten to the baggage terminal from the gate. What if Delta has a counter where travellers once they collect their baggage and on their way out, can scan their RFID's, verify they were the rightful owner of the bag and then remove the RFID to go their own merry way? Someone trying to steal the baggage could get flagged since his RFID will still be in place when he attempts to leave..
This might lead to long lines again in the baggage terminal and can cost the airline more, but does this make sense?
Correct-a-mundo!
What people dont realize is that technology and information is slowly, but surely making its inroads in to the poorest corners of India as long as there is someone who wants to learn.
Sure, corruption is rampant, but I blame the people for not waking up and realizing that they dont have to bribe them anymore. They dont realize the importance and the reach of media (or the media simply dont care) or they have not been educated. Wait a minute, corruption is not the achilles heel for India, education is. Millions of its citizens never went to school, especially in the rural northern states, noone ever taught them their basic rights, they were put down to indentured servitude from the day they were born. Education once it reaches india's masses will teach them and guide them towards liberty and respect towards their neighbours, towards other religions. Thats what we lack, and thats what is changing and we need more of that change.
We have a billion citizens to feed and limited resources. We have enjoyed freedom for only the last half a century, we are still a very young democratic nation. It is still to a large extent a secularist nation (especially the southern states which wont stand any nationalist/religious agendas),one that has been veritably peaceful to its neighbours.
You sonofabitch, you made me laugh! :)
Actually it is a slow day and I had nothing better to do.
Try and imagine this small piece of machine, an artificial eye, open to the wonders of our solar system, falling through the infinite depths of space, so that we can forget for a moment, all the troubles and tribulations around us, the cold steel and the raging fire and look beyond the physical confines of what makes us human and gaze in awe at this small contraption carrying a message of hope, of peace, of our thirst for knowledge in a never ending journey towards everything that is unknown.
Reagan didnt get any coverage other dead Presidents didnt enjoy. How about Kennedy? Also, its been a while we lost a President and a Republican one at that, during a Republican administration, at these times of turmoil.. Ofcourse, half the country would want to show their respect.
Now, I disagree about the part about him changing the world for the better. Rest of the world really doesnt care when he was alive, far less now that he is dead. The only time that I ever heard of him was his name associated with the infamous "Starwars" and Reagan-omics. Both really bad ideas (ofcourse can be disputed). But the fact of the matter is Gorbachev had more to do about putting things in order than Reagan purely because (1) Russia was already crumbling (2) Gorbachev was more far sighted than all the Russian presidents before him and (3) Gorbachev realized the world was changing and he had to lead his country to change with it.
The only smart thing Reagan did was he realized what Russia was up to and instead of thwarting their efforts (and making sure Cold war stayed the same), he realized his legacy would be remembered for ending it, and helped Gorbachev speed things up. Also like how Clinton is remembered for not screwing things up when the economy was in an upswing, Reagan will be remembered for not screwing things up. You cant measure a president and his legacy especially when he passed away recently, especially when his memories are fresh and emotions supercede reason and logic, but for definite, years from today, he will be known as a president who was sensible and farsighted enough to let Russia and Communism die a slow death and not for being a visionary neither a statesman.
Now your thoughts about W just plain out scares me. W is neither a statesman nor a visionary. He spoke of bipartisanship and pledged compassionate conservatism but showed neither. The country is more divided than ever and we are at war with different enemies and the army is stretched thinner than butter on whitebread. What were to happen if a new adversary emerges, taking advantage of this situation? How would the world respond? No Sir, these are troubled times and instead of being fortunate enough to be led by a president who were a true leader, a free thinker, an optimist and a realist, what we have here is a fragile humanbeing who is being manipulated by his cohorts, by the religious right, by the same people who should keep his course straight, but instead choose to lead him astray. No Sir, W will be known as a president who could have achieved far more, but fell far short of his goals and led the country through a path of gloom, down a road littered with the corpses of its own soldiers and its shattered dreams.
Its sad that my first born has to go..
But perversly exhilarating to hold an SLI configuration in my hands instead..
From the article
There was no information on the baby's father
Second Coming of Christ! This time, he's kicking your ass!!
Shows the navy sure has some humor left..
"Our bottom line is that if we can put millions of joules of energy onto a target, something will happen."
Hell Yeah!! Lets line up Osama and his cronies..
Multi-Kill!!!!