Tibet Is Just The Beginning

People seem surprised by the protests in Tibet, which seems to be growing in scope everyday. I wasn't. Tibet is just the tip of the iceberg. China is more restive than it's being reported by the mainstream media, who tend to focus on China's red-hot economy.

For one thing, the countryside is not as placid as China would have us believe. It's a region of great ferment. Violent protests have broken out in all parts of rural China, which the government brutally represses. Only sanitized version of events appear in state-controlled media, which much of the world media parrots without comment or skepticism.

And it's only going to get worse. The Communist Party, which rules China, has no mechanism to channel protests of any kind. It perceives any dissent, no matter how trivial, as a threat to its authority. There are no democratic institutions in China: no free press, no political parties, no freedoms-- nothing! As long as the economy is strong, and jobs are plentiful, people are happy. But what will happen when the economy weakens? That is the dilemma that will plague China in the days to come.

He Deserves To Die, Without A Doubt

I'm not a real fan of the death penalty, as it's applied capriciously, but I have no druthers giving it to this guy, who is a piece of garbage.

Indian Labor: Whimisical Unions

The Airports Authority Employees' Union (AAEU), a CPI-M backed outfit, has decided to call off its 'strike'. The AAEU was protesting the closures of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, which are being replaced by privately-operated airports, which would cause massive job losses and the thinning of union ranks.

This brief PTI article doesn't say why the 'strike' was called off, but I suspect one of two scenarios: first, the government, in its infinite foolishness, gave concessions to AAEU, the type that one regrets later; second, the union, whose last strike was wholly unpopular, decided not to raise the ire of passengers, who they treat as burdens rather than customers.

When I first heard the AAEU was going on strike, my reflexive response was for the government to fire each and every one of them. I'm not anti-union, and I do believe the AAEU has legitimate concerns, but unions should not be allowed to strike on a whim. Mechanisms should be adopted to address the grievances of unions, including mediation boards and collective bargaining agreements.

Hasina Medical Visit Blocked

Sheikh Hasina needs to be sent abroad for medical treatment, a team of doctors attests:

Prof Mohammad Abu Tahir, Prof Tofail Ahmed, Prof Pran Gopal Dutta, Prof Modasser Ali, Prof MU Kabir Chowdhury, Dr ABM Abdullah and Dr MH Millat examined her for over an hour after her admission in the morning. They concluded there is no alternative to sending her abroad for treatment if she is to avoid permanently impaired hearing.

In another development, the US doctors, who had earlier treated Hasina for the ear injuries she sustained in the August 21 grenade blasts, have requested the jail authorities to send her to their hospital in Florida without delay.

It makes sense that doctors who have treated her before would be in the best position to treat her again. So why is the government so reluctant to release her? What's she going to do? Apply for political asylum in the United States? Her position is not that weak, especially that the Awami League is poised to win the next election. So I see no harm in temporarily releasing Hasina.

On the other hand, there's a raging debate why the rich, elites and politicians have to go abroad for treatment when there are facilities in Bangladesh, but that's a whole different can of worms.

Why Is Pakistan Unpopular In the United States?

Interesting letter in Dawn that deserves further analysis:

AN article, ‘Unpopular countries’ (March 10), portrays a misleading picture of what ordinary Americans think about certain countries. The Gallup’s 2008 world affairs survey, as it is called, puts Pakistan among 10 most unpopular countries in the US.

A total of 1,007 Americans were interviewed for this survey. This means about 20 people from each state of the US. Is this figure representative of the whole state? Did the survey organisers take into account the ethnicity, age, education, occupation, gender, etc., of the respondents before presenting the results as facts to the unsuspecting recipients of the report?

In addition, how were the questions framed? The report also states that the popular perception endorsed the official US policy as all these countries are also denigrated by the US administration. Is it not the other way round, the administration’s policy being the reason for the development of these ill-feelings against certain countries?

Emphasis is mine.

The writer is right, for the most part, when he says the U.S. government is the driving factor why Americans have ill-feelings against countries branded as unpopular by the survey-- Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc.

But in the case of Pakistan this does not apply because the Bush Administration has consistently backed Pakistan to the hilt. So the negative perception is not being driven by the Bush Administration, as the writer hints, but by the media, who have often questioned Pakistan's commitment on the war against terrorism, its flirtation with radical Islam, and its anti-democratic nature.

Laptops In The Classroom: A Distraction?

Laptops have become so ubitiquous in classrooms these days that I'm probably the last of my generation to take notes with pen and paper-- and I'm only 35!

I'm not a Luddite. After all, I'm part of the PC generation, but I do believe there's a time and place for everything. Sitting behind a screen, anonymously pecking away at a keyboard, doing God only knows what is not a good way to learn, in my opinion. Laptops also get in the way of the teacher-student relationship, fragile as it is, distracting students from giving their professors their undivided attention, the only thing they demand.

So put away that laptop, if only for a moment. Is that too much to ask?

Is There Viagra In My Drinking Water?

A good reason why sales of bottled water will continue to be strong:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

Comedian Lewis Black has a funny rant about bottled water:



In light of this new revelation, however, how did pharmaceuticals get into our water supply? I believe it's a conspiracy: that bottled water companies are intentionally spiking our water supply with drugs in order to boost sales. Paranoid? Maybe. It's a scene straight out of Dr. Strangelove, where General Jack D. Ripper believes there's a communist conspiracy afoot to "sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Dirt: TV Worth Watching

Saw the season premiere of Dirt last night. It was damn good. I've seen bits and pieces of the first season and thoroughly enjoyed it. The second season looks just as good, if not better.

What am I talking about, you ask? Dirt is about the Hollywood gossip machine, pitting tabloid journalists (can we call them that?) and the celebrities they cover. If there is one thing this remarkable series makes abundantly clear is that there is a symbiosis between the two-- one simply cannot live without the other, like parasites. In this case, who is the parasite in this relationship depends on whom you ask.

It's a sick, twisted relationship that Dirt delivers with style. It's well written, well acted, and well made. Buy the first season at Amazon, or rent it through Netflix.

The Wise Man And The Fool

Compare and contrast these two young baseball players, both in the same boat experience wise, in how they cope with their weak bargaining positions regarding contracts. First, Prince Fielder:

The Milwaukee Brewers renewed the slugger's contract for $670,000 on Sunday after he finished third in NL MVP voting last season, when he made $415,000.

"I'm not happy about it at all," Fielder said. "The fact I've had to be renewed two years in a row, I'm not happy about it because there's a lot of guys who have the same amount of time that I do who have done a lot less and are getting paid a lot more."

And second, Jonathan Papelbon:

Jonathan Papelbon may be young, but he knows how the business of baseball works.

He knows that, with a little more than two years of major-league service time, he has no contractual leverage with the Red Sox. Not yet eligible for arbitration, Papelbon has little recourse at the bargaining table.

But he also has a benchmark for what he should be paid in 2008, and if the Red Sox don’t come close to his figure, he would rather they renew him at a lower salary figure, without further negotiation.

It's obvious Papelbon is the wiser of the two. Papelbon knows full well he can't do anything about his contract, the collective bargaining agreement between the owners and union exclude him from the negotiation process, so he'll concentrate on being the most dominant closer in the game, knowing full well come arbitration time he'll get his money one way or the other.

Fielder, on the other hand, needs to take a reality check.

Bloggers Are Writers Too

JK has written a great post about the writing process, something I'm keenly interested in as well. JK says that we bloggers can benefit from a more disciplined approach to writing as practiced by professional writers like Orhan Pamuk, Suketu Mehta and Kathy Sierra, all of whom JK profiles. An important quote:

Pay attention to the structure of the post, spend time editing it and finally make it interesting to read.

Lessons I have repeatedly learned and forgotten (often within seconds of each other). It's hard enough to write something interesting on a daily basis that the blogosphere demands, but writing and then editing is a never-ending struggle for me. This is why I write so infrequently, and when I do, the most I can manage is a few paragraphs, often only a couple of sentences (that is why I like twitter and tumblr so much). Writing is not easy. I can take comfort in the fact that writing is not suppose to be easy-- even for professional writers!

There are two things in my mind that can make a blogger better: reading and writing Obvious, I know, but hear me out. It's no coincidence that good writers are often good readers. Good readers in that they not only read widely, but pick good books to read. Quality is important here. After all, reading John Grisham, Tom Clancy, cereal boxes, and People magazine will only take you so far. Not surprisingly, most writers read the classics. Classics are classics for a good reason, they are a fount of good writing. Bloggers should read more of them.

But reading takes time. Time is a precious commodity in our fast-paced culture, where bite-sized blog posts is all we have time to digest. We value doing many things as possible in the shortest span of time, hence the mantra: volume is more important than quality. I suffer from this problem acutely. I'm always obsessed with reading as many books as I can before I die, only realize that there was no way I was going to read all the books I wanted to read, even if I did nothing but read and live to 200. It's just not possible. So I have become more pickier in what I read. And instead of trying to read a book as fast as I can. I read slowly. Letting the author's word sink-in. To meditate on the books meaning. In my opinion, a good book cannot be read once, but twice, even thrice. Each time something new, absent in previous readings, comes to the surface.

The second part, of course, is writing. Reading provides a foundation, in that you learn what good writing is. Nevertheless, reading and writing are two different functions. I've read Charles Dickens or Jane Austen and wonder why I can't write like them. My writings are consistently filled with choppy sentences (or run-on sentences), grammar mistakes, misspellings, incoherence, or is downright banal. The only way to improve my writing, I find, is practice, practice, and more practice.

A Castro Lovefest...

Frontline magazine, the unofficial news magazine of the Left Front, has devoted the cover of its latest issue to Fidel Castro, who is reluctantly stepping down from his various posts due to poor health. Surprisingly, there are no articles by foreign editor John Cherian, Fidel Castro's number one fan (though Aijaz Ahmed comes in a close second with this sycophantic article), and is no doubt rushing to Cuba this very second to kiss El Presidente's ass, and write glowing articles about him, before he expires.

Manny Wants To Stay, Do The Red Sox?

Manny Ramirez is in the final year of his guaranteed contract. The club holds options for both 2009 and 2010 season. Though Manny may be acting nonchalantly about it, claiming that its up to the Red Sox if they want him or not, he has repeatedly dropped hints that he wants to finish his career in a Red Sox uniform. If not, he'll just play elsewhere next year. Yeah, he can do that-- for a lot less money, though.

Let's be honest. The current management has never really liked Manny. He's a holdover from the previous regime; and his commitment and work ethic have often come under question. The club has tried to trade him repeatedly, but his hefty contract was a nonstarter. And it may be a nonstarter for the Red Sox at the end of the season as well. Though I don't have Manny's numbers in front of me, he is overvalued. Manny will need to have a monster season if he wants the Red Sox to exercise his option.

I don't think Manny will be signed, but, then again, I never thought the Red Sox would re-sign Curt Schilling, who the Red Sox knew had a bum shoulder.

Stimulate This....

What will I do with my share of the economic stimulus plan? Not what President Bush wants: to spend it on goods and services in order to give the good ole' GDP a major kick in the ass. Like most Americans, I'll use it to pay down some debt, specifically, a car loan.

Pakistan Elections: The Day After

What to say about Pakistan’s recent election that hasn’t already been said elsewhere: the elections were not rigged as previously feared, no protests of the results, and there was very little violence leading up to, during, and after, the elections. The question is: where will Pakistan go from here? Specifically, what will Musharraf do now that the National Assembly is under the control of the PML(N) and the PPP, two parties he has completely antagonized during his near eight year reign. Can he work with them? Will he work with them?

I strongly believe this election asks more questions than it answers.

Castro Replaced By Castro

Fidel Castro, who is 81, has finally stepped down as President of Cuba for health reasons. His brother Raul, who has been acting President, will take his place. Raul was not elected-- not by the people, nor by the rubber-stamping parliament-- but hand-picked by his own brother. Like all dictatorships, I guess, politics is a family affair.

It will be interesting to see if Raul can hold on to power. Fidel possessed a forceful personality, a charisma, that allowed him to lead a country on shear willpower alone. Raul, on the other hand, is the complete opposite: a heartless, soulless technocrat. Raul is also 76 years-old, so it's very doubtful he'll last very long. Regardless, Cuba will soon have to deal with a post-Castro world.

And, hopefully, the United States will stop acting like an ass and finally normalize relations with Cuba! Republicans are beholden to the Cuban community as a vote bank, so I can understand their obstinate but foolish position; but Democrats should muster the courage to say that enough is enough. Communism is dead. Cuba ceased to be a threat when the Soviet Union collapsed. So why keep up pretenses?