NY City Cab drivers are often the butt of jokes especially on late night television. I was pleasantly surprised to find on several cab rides in NY city that these folks are actually just fine. There is no question they are all very aggressive drivers. But I consistently noticed that they never made any demands of rates, they always used the best available routes to get you to the destination the fastest, they went out of the way to take you very close to your desired stop, never asked for tips etc. I fact one one occassiona cab driver actually took less money than the metered amount because he didn’t have the change! Many of them were Asians or from the Carribean.
David Kuo: Good timing?
With elections rounds the corner David Kuo, former number 2 in President Bush’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, has chosen to blast the Bush team for abandoning the evangelicals after the last elections. Is this a case of perfect timing for a book release? Is the Bush team really on the verge of loosing a vote bank?
“President George W. Bush is a politician and is ultimately no different from any other politician, content to use religion for electoral gain more than for good works. Millions of Evangelicals may share Bush’s faith, but they would protect themselves–and their interests–better if they looked at him through the same coldly political lens with which he views them….”
Check out the Time mag article.
Is this another case of perfect timing for a book release or Is the Bush team really on the verge of loosing a significant vote bank?
Pak Cricket: The “smoking gun”
Pak cricket is on a free fall. Shoaib and Asif were sent back for taking performance enhancing drugs. To make matters worse there are reports of them smoking pot during the England series. These guys are a “party” bunch. Their beards and prayers are just a facade. What next, a sex scandal perhaps?
The best part is that they continue to win despite missing their top two bowlers!
New Rules, Habaes Stripping, Spineless in Washington
President Bush signed legislation giving the investigators a free hand when dealing with terror suspects. Considering the approach of the current administration, this is an understandable and desirable piece of legislation. However, one can’t ignore two related issues — The Perils of Habeas-Stripping, or the completely spinelessness of the Dems in fighting this issue. The Dems have unfortunately succumbed to election year pressures and fears of being labelled as “weak on defence”.
Bush Press Conference: Classic “Staying the Course”
Bush’s press conference today was no different from his prior ones. The questions were interesting. But the answers were clearly pre-planned and thought out irrespective of the questions! In short, the President was “staying the course” as far his press conferences are concerned. The good news is that he does not plan to attack North Korea.
Carly & Mush: Titles Interchanged?
Carly Fiorina’s new book is titled, “Tough Choices“, while President Musharraff’s book is titled, “In the Line of Fire“. Did the publishers get the titles mixed up? 🙂
“Its all about timing” and both these folks could not have timed their respective book releases better.
HP Drama: Gender Bias?
Carly Fiorina and then Patricia Dunn, both women, were fired from positions of great power at HP in a span of less than two years. It begs the question, does gender have anything to do with it? The WSJ has an interesting article about this issue. Interestingly enough, this was precisely what came up in a casual conversation I was having at home the other day. While one could argue that gender did play a role, it does have a lot to do with these individuals and their respective situations. While Carly took on the Hewlett family and her board, Dunn took on Tom Perkins, a Silicon Valley heavy weight. It remains to be seen what comes of Mark Hurd because it appears that he was aware of the investigation all along. Besides, the three (Dun, Perkins, Keyworth) instrumental in bringing him on board are no longer around.
Cricket: UP vs Rest of India
The impressive performance of Indian bowlers — VRV, Balaji and Zaheer – just shows the huge gap between domestic and International standards. The same bowlers were badly whacked around in the Challenger series by Sachin, Dravid, Viru and others. Its time the top guns took more time to play domestic cricket. The Aussies are such a strong team with tremendous bench strength mostly due to the high standards in their domestic circuit. Its time for the cash rich BCCI to try and plan the cricket season so the superstars can play “some” domestic cricket.
Caifornia Governors’ Debate
Saw the debate over the weekend. Angiledes vs. Arnie. Since this was the only debate, the stakes were pretty high especially for Angiledes. While he didn’t exactly make a mess, Angiledes didn’t come anywhere close to a home run. In fact, Arnie did a fine job of throwing in facts, a joke or two, delaying without looking ackward etc. It would take a miracle to beat Arnie who is well ahead in the polls.
Its hard to compete with a Hollywood star on TV debate. For starters, while Arnie looked straight at the camera, Angiledes was for the most part looking at the audience and not into the camera. Besides, he came across as too detailed and boring. He tried his best connecting Arnie to Bush, Republicans in Congress, etc etc. But ulitmately, it seemed like too tough a battle to overcome the Terminator.
Movie Review: Akeelah and the Bee
Movie: Akeelah and the Bee
Language: English
Its a movie based on the National Spelling Bee. The story revolves around an African American girl who makes it to the final despite all the challenges she faces growing up in the LA area. Nicely made movie. Highly recommend watching it with kids, they are bound to enjoy it. The acting is very good overall and the movie maintains a good pace throughout.
Pakora Korner 