Sarah Palin Resignation Speech: The Edited Version

Remember Sarah Palin, the now ex governor of Alaska, the vice presidential nominee in the 2008 election. You betcha!!!

You might also remember the verbose and soporific resignation speech that she made on the July 3rd. If you dont, you can catch the speech in the video below.



If you are still awake and wondering for the love of Alaska, could this speech have been shorter. You Betcha!!!. Your prayers have been answered.

Vanity Fair has published an edited version of the speech. I will say this much; it is the most colorful speech,literally, that I have seen.

The Health-Care Debate

The topic for the last few week across the country has been whether we can get a significant health care reform bill passed. Since there are so many stakeholders involved including physician groups, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and medical device companies, patients, politicians and of course lobbyists, any significant reform which will address the needs of all these stakeholders will be a tall order.

Every stakeholder has an interest to protect, and nobody is willing to coincide, as coinciding would mean significant loss in revenues and profits for them. In addition health care reform has to address a whole host of issues including, providing some sort of coverage for the 47 million uninsured, improving efficiency of care and slowing the growth of health care costs. All of this without adding to the burgeoning federal deficit.

So will there be any significant reform this year, only time will tell. But in the meanwhile, these two websites provide a basic understanding of what is at stake.

The first website is the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center, and the second website is Health Beat a blog dedicated specifically to health care.

Suppandi and Shikari Shambu will soon be on TV

Remember Suppandi, the village simpleton, and Shikari Shambu, the lazy, bungling hunter.

For people of my generation, both these characters were an essential part of growing up in India. Now they are all set to go live on the idiot box. If an Indian entreprenueur, Samir Patil, has his way, these characters will be on Indian television starting early next year.

Hindutva and Hinduism

In my recent readings, I came across two quotes about Hindutva and Hinduism.

The first comes from Sashi Tharoor, in his book The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone:

There are some, like me, who are proud of Hinduism; there are others, including much of the VHP, who are proud of being Hindu. There is a world of difference between the two; the first base their pride on principle and belief, the second on identity and chauvinism. My Hindu pride does not depend on putting others down. Theirs sadly does.

The second comes from Ranjit Hoskote, a columnist for the Hindustan Times. In one of his columns, Painting The Art World Red, he writes:

It appears that the champions of a resurgent Hindu identity are acutely embarrassed by the presence of the erotic at the centre of Hindu sacred art. As they may well be, for the roots of Hindutva do not lie in Hinduism. Rather, they lie in a crude mixture of German romanticism, Victorian puritanism and Nazi methodology. What happens next, we wonder? Will the champions of Hindutva go around the country chipping away at temple murals, breaking down monuments, whitewashing wall paintings, and burning manuscripts and folios? Perhaps they will not stop until they have forced the unpredictable richness of Hindu culture to conform to their own tunnel vision of life, art, image and narrative.

Sashi Tharoor was writing in response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Ranjit Hoskote was writing in response to an attack on an arts student for painting Hindu Gods and Goddess's.

Pocketless Pants - Think Again?

This video demonstrates that not all pockets in pants are bad. Nepal airport authority, are you listening

Neanderthal's in the Age of Homo Sapiens

This just cracks me up. I wonder what species Brian Kilmeade belongs to?

Why Indians are the Way They Are?

This topic comes timely. We were having this discussion just a few days ago. Why is it that we as Indians do not obey the rules be it in traffic, are averse to general cleanliness in the public place when we keep our houses clean, do not think twice before relieving oneself in a public place. When the same Indians go abroad, they follow the rules to the hilt. We are one of the most law abiding citizens when we go abroad even though we may not be so back home. Why is that?

In response to a column by Aakar Patel in the magazine Mint, Amit Varma writes:

It’s a human characteristic, not an Indian one. How much we follow rules depends on the incentives offered. Abroad, as in Singapore, the laws of littering may be strict; or your peers may frown upon loutish behaviour, which is disincentive enough. In India, laws, where they exist, aren’t implemented; and littering and jumping lanes in traffic is normal, not deviant, behaviour.