Saddam vs Bush

What's the difference?

A dictator authorizes killing and torturing of his own people
A democratically elected president acts like a king and under a facade of WMD starts a war in someone's land and authorizes killing and getting 2400 of our own brave soldiers killed. A bloodstain on both, but one is under trial, the other continues with usual swagger.

New pictures emerge: Abu Gharib, GITMO, civilian killings by Marines, cover-ups, domestic spying.

A land and a people that take pride in fairness, justice, and equality find itself with a "king" like president and an unjust war with no end in sight.

We are trying to send Enron CEOs to prison for fraud, but we can't seem to comprehend the lies, deaths, and misery caused by this president. There is no outrage; there is no cry for trial. We even tried to impeach a president earlier for his personal behavior that was no cause of misery or death. However, this one continues to manipulate a whole mass using "terrorism fear" as his "mantra".

Life goes on in these United States because we don't suffer like the Iraqis or like the bereaved families of those brave dead soldiers.

Tomorrow we will raise a few flags to remember those war dead, many of whom did not have to die.

From coast to coast

I wasn't able to post for the past two weeks. I had a few hectic but fun filled days. Here is a brief account of these few days.

May 13, Saturday: Witnessed a group of Indian percussionists lead by renowned Zakir Hussain and a group of Manipuri Dancing Drummers perform a phenomenal show at the Wortham Center in Houston. One must see it to believe what they can do with those instruments.
May 14, Sunday: I rode my bike in the morning sun ("Sun shine on my shoulder makes me happy")
May 15, Monday: Busy at work with three projects staring at me.
May 16, Tuesday: Drive to Lafayette, meeting with an offshore contractor, an evening at a high school auditorium with a couple of friends to watch their son play with the middle school orchestra group. I wish I could play an instrument like those kids.
May 17, Wednesday: Drive to Breaux Bridge, LA, meeting with Solar Turbines' and Sulzer Pumps' representatives about commissioning some turbine and pump packages at some platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
May 18, Thursday: Off to San Francisco on a short vacation to visit our daughter and my niece's new baby. Her parents (my older brother and sister-in-law) were visiting her from India.
May 19, Friday: Visited my wife's cousin and her husband (who had a stroke sometime back). Sometimes illness may break the body, but it's not so easy to break the spirit. In the evening we had a sumptuous dinner at a friend's house in Los Altos. They were tremendous hosts. After dinner, we had an impromptu musical evening. My friend even pulled out his accordion. Time moves fast when one is having fun. We left our friend's place at 2:00 AM (4:00 AM Houston time).
May 20, Saturday: Had lunch at a Thai restaurant in the city with some friends from Bronx, NY. Then we went to see the Golden Gate Bridge. The majestic bridge, the sail boats in the bay, the famous Alcatraz at a distance looked magnificent.
May 21, Sunday: My bother, my daughter, and I participated in the Bay-to-Breaker run. With an over cast sky, thousands of people in costumes (a few totally nude), a group of Salmon (costume) running upstream, and flying tortilla - it was a once-in-a-life-time experience for my brother. All good time comes to an end. In the afternoon, my brother and I flew from SFO to Houston. My wife picked us up. It was midnight.
May 22, Monday: I took another day off and took my brother to Galveston. We walked on one of the fishing piers made of giant rocks. We had lunch at Saltgrass restaurant. I think my brother liked the taste of the steak and the beer.

Well, tomorrow is almost here. I looked at my office emails. I have 95 emails. It will be a busy day tomorrow too, but busyness will be of a different kind.

Life is almost back to normal

My nasty cough is gone. The throat is not sore. The voice is back. I am not sure if I was stubborn enough to fight it off or the antibiotics during the last three days did the trick. It's nice to be able to sing (scream?) aloud in the bathroom again.

We talked to our daughter in Tokyo. Now she has a stiff neck. The older one in San Francisco had a funny dream about some old time drama ("Bhaona"). I finished reading the Da Vinci Code. I must say that it's heck of a story. I am waiting for the movie with Tom Hank to be released. My wife and I picked out some furniture the past weekend. The next-door neighbor had a party (a wedding shower for some one). Our senior most citizen, Tigger, seems to be on a long siesta; he wakes up to eat and wakes up when he has to "go". I think he has a good life, not a so-called "dog's life".

I picked up the Chinese tourist visas for my wife and me today. We are all set for the summer trip to Tokyo and Beijing. Airline tickets, hotel reservations, visas, all set. I can't wait to take a break from my 7-5 work. Oh yes, I still have to make a few trips to some platforms offshore before I take off. But it's good to be dreaming of the vacation and be able get away for a few days from the war stories, evening crime news, GITMO prison abuse etc. etc.

Perhaps I will be fresh enough when I get back to stand some more of these morbid news resulting from Bush doctrine (whatever that is).

What the world needs

Violence, poverty, child labor, ...
Iraq, Darfur, Nepal, Sri Lanka, ...
More bomb, more war, more deaths, religious imperialism, ...
Economics of war, poverty, and ignorance
You bomb, I bomb, you hate, I hate
Tit-for-tat
What the world needs is a Gandhi (Mahatma), or a King (Martin Luther), or ...
who can talk, unarmed, to the worst enemies and enlighten the dark hearts of the powerful to spend a little effort on reducing violence, poverty, ...
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind"

Living with war by Neil Young

Listen to Neil Young at
http://www.hyfntrak.com/neilyoung2/AFF23079/go.php