Def mulling

Hahaha what a bunch of hypocritical farts. Also "Weaponised Keynesianism"!! The term hits the spot bang on! Sounds like an RATM song or something.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/23/frank-f22-monopoly/

Point to note - Concerning the system of governance in the US I didn't know that House Armed Services Committee can over overrule the objections of a Defense Secretary as well as the Presidents Administration (essentially the President himself). Does this not nullify the failsafe of having an elected representative itself? Especially when you have a president with a fairly strong hold over Congress.

Also, what's the process out here? All I hear about is the delays in funding defense projects and the fact that we are very slow when in this sort of situation (which may actually be a good thing?? dunno).

Add to places to travel to

Illegal Arms market - Durra, Pakistan

Moron of a filmmaker but what a crazy market. Now that is a trip worth making.

Tiananmen Square Blues

It is a sign of the times we live in that so few people remember the Tiananmen square massacre whose' 20th anniversary would be today. Except fo the usual "we need to make this token protest - but we don't really mean it - and everyone is gonna forget about it by tomorrow anyway" stuff nothing much seems to be happening in the international communiy. The weird thing is why nobody has said a thing about why the media has been so silent on the subject.

I guess if things were different now it would sort of be ok to ignore the anniversary - but the truth is that nothing's changed since '89. China continues to have a miserable civil rights record, the Commie govt still does what it likes to the environment, what happens outside a Shanghai or a Beijing is still anyone's guess, even the actual figures and facts about what happened in Tiananmen square that day is murky. The Tibetan issue has been shot to hell and back. Hell! I recently met more than one person who did not know that Tibet had been an independent country just around 40 years back.

Actually let me correct the 'no change' bit - China's economy is booming. This has basically resulted in the governments of most countries stampeding over each other in order to kiss some Dragon ass. This has obviously resulted in most nations "suggesting" that mainstream media go easy on China. As far as Indian foreign policy on the issue is concerned it's simple - there pretty much isn't any. Ignore it ever happened and maybe China will suddenly feel for us and give up their claim over Arunachal Pradesh - HA!! What else do you expect from a bunch of old fogey babus who can barely take a stand to pee much less on an issue of concern.

Anyway, I am going to do what most well-meaning, direction-less folks do in this situation.... light up, curse, and probably hope that the times actually are a' changein'.

Kam dhanda nahi tha. And for the uninitiated, yes I am carrying a Bo.