First Presidential Debate

Watched the first Presidential debate between Obama and Romney.
Romney was more glib and aggressive than Obama.
He kept making assertions that are simply not true.
Romney is a snake oil salesman.
Romney falsely stated that Obama had doubled the deficit. “The president said he’d cut the deficit in half,” Romney charged. “Unfortunately, he doubled it.”

From the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/opinion/an-unhelpful-presidential-debate.html?_r=2&ref=politics

October 4, 2012

An Unhelpful Debate

The first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, so long anticipated, quickly sunk into an unenlightening recitation of tired talking points and mendacity. With few sparks and little clarity on the immense gulf that truly separates the two men and their policies, Wednesday’s encounter provided little guidance for voters still trying to understand the choice in next month’s election.

The Mitt Romney who appeared on the stage at the University of Denver seemed to be fleeing from the one who won the Republican nomination on a hard-right platform of tax cuts, budget slashing and indifference to the suffering of those at the bottom of the economic ladder. And Mr. Obama’s competitive edge from 2008 clearly dulled, as he missed repeated opportunities to challenge Mr. Romney on his falsehoods and turnabouts.

Virtually every time Mr. Romney spoke, he misrepresented the platform on which he and Paul Ryan are actually running. The most prominent example, taking up the first half-hour of the debate, was on taxes. Mr. Romney claimed, against considerable evidence, that he had no intention of cutting taxes on the rich or enacting a tax cut that would increase the deficit.

That simply isn’t true. Mr. Romney wants to restore the Bush-era tax cut that expires at the end of this year and largely benefits the wealthy. He wants to end the estate tax and the gift tax, providing a huge benefit only to those with multimillion-dollar estates, at a cost of more than $1 trillion over a decade to the deficit. He wants to preserve the generous rates on capital gains that benefit himself personally and others at his economic level. And he wants to cut everyone’s tax rates by 20 percent, which again would be a gigantic boon to the wealthy.

None of these would cost the Treasury a dime, he insisted, because he would reduce deductions and loopholes. But, as always, he refused to enumerate a single deduction he would erase. “What I’ve said is I won’t put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit,” he said. “No economist can say Mitt Romney’s tax plan adds $5 trillion if I say I will not add to the deficit with my tax plan.”

In fact, many economists have said exactly that, and, without details, Mr. Romney can’t simply refute them. But rather than forcefully challenging this fiction, Mr. Obama chose to be polite and professorial, as if hoping that strings of details could hold up against blatant nonsense. Viewers were not helped by a series of pedestrian questions from the moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS, who never jumped in to challenge either candidate on the facts.

When Mr. Romney accused the president of supporting a “trickle-down government,” Mr. Obama might have demanded to know what that means. He could then have pointed out that it is Mr. Romney whose economic plan is based on the discredited idea that high-end tax cuts trickle down to the middle class and poor.

Mr. Romney said he supported the idea of regulation but rejected the Dodd-Frank financial reform law because it was too generous to the big “New York banks.” This is an alternative-universe interpretation of a law that is deeply despised and opposed by the banks, but Mr. Obama missed several opportunities to point out how the law limits the corrosive practices, like derivatives trading, that led to the 2008 crash and puts in place vitally important consumer protections.

On health care, Mr. Romney pretended that he had an actual plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, and that it covered pre-existing conditions. He has no such plan, and his false claim finally roused the president to his only strong moment of the evening. The country doesn’t know the details, he said, of how Mr. Romney would replace Wall Street reform, or health care reform, or tax increases on the rich because Republicans don’t want people to understand the hard trade-offs involved in these decisions.

There are still two more presidential debates, and Mr. Obama has the facts on his side to expose the hollowness of his opponent. But first he has to decide to use them aggressively.

The US loves the Kurti

By Visi R. Tilak

Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The ‘kurti’ is now among the most sought after garments in the U.S, says Visi R Tilak.

Michael Phelps’s mother was sporting one while watching her son compete in the London Olympics, and gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton also wore one when interviewed on television. Mothers in the U.S. are wearing kurti style tunics while waiting outside school for their kids, and trendy young women in nightclubs are dancing with their glittery kurtis swaying. Even women at the beach are wearing them.

Yes, the kurti is everywhere – it is becoming a versatile, sought after garment in the U.S., even among non-Indians.

Chico’s, a trendy store at most malls in the U.S., carried a typical Indian kurti it called the “Luxe Linen Bethany Top” in its online store. Below this was a note that said, “We’re so sorry: this item sold out sooner than expected. For an equally chic substitute, please call our Personal Service Associates.”

Walking into any large store in the U.S., be it Nordstorm or Macy’s, Gap or Talbots, one cannot help but notice a popular variation of the kurti.  Ann Taylor, which operates 280 stores across the country, as well as an e-commerce website, had a similar issue to Chico’s. Its “Everyday Tunic,” a very simple collared white kurti, was sold out, according to the company’s website.

Why are kurtis so popular? Is it the Bollywood influence, is it their elegance, or is it just that they are comfortable to wear and suit all body types?

“Indian tunics/kurtis are just great easy pieces to have in your wardrobe. Since the comeback of leggings, tunics have gotten even stronger,” say Vivek Patel and Radhika Rana, co-owners of Vira Boutique in Boston Massachusetts. The two were voted among the 25 most stylish Bostonians of 2012 by the Boston Globe.

“When we first opened, we had a small collection from Indian designer Masaba. She does bright pops of color and print mixed with Western elements. This collection sold out with the first two weeks. The richness of silks and unique prints were very eye catching for customers,” says Mr. Patel.

“While they are great casual or dressy, they are easy and very flattering on all body types, hence people are more likely to opt for them. They prove comfort yet still show a sense of style. They are great styled casual with leggings during the day. Or another option is dressing them up with dark skinny jeans and a pair of heels,” he adds, noting that this versatility is an important reason for the kurti’s popularity.

Designer Rachel Roy, who has dressed Michelle Obama and Hollywood actresses such as Kate Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Sharon Stone and Penelope Cruz said in an interviewthat she plans to incorporate Indian styles into her outfits.

While many Indians in the U.S. choose to eschew Indian outfits and “blend in,” Indian influences are manifesting themselves in the Western fashion scene.  “A couple of years ago, Naomi Campbell wore a sari by designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai. It was beautiful! I have always been attracted to the sari because not only is it part of my heritage, but it is effortless, elegant and exotic,” Ms. Roy, whose father was Indian, was quoted as saying in an article in “SheKnows.”

“I am venturing to India in October and I plan to study the tradition behind the sari, in hopes to recreate and modernize it for a future collection,” she added.

The fabrics used are sometimes very traditional, yet when executed in a popular design style they are easier to sell to Western clients, adds Mr. Patel.

Vira Boutique plans to carry Indian designers such as Rohit Gandhi, and Rahul Khanna for Fall/Winter 2012. “We have chosen some tunic style tops and hand embroidered dresses.”

According to Mr. Patel, what makes fabrics and designers from India enticing is that they are unique and have great quality. He adds that as retail businesses go more global, it helps people be more unique in their fashion sense.

“Pairing a white tee and jeans with a beautiful embroidered waistcoat from India is just what global fashion is. The designers from India just see a very unique vision for their garments. The mix of Western silhouettes with Indian fabrics and embroidery is just what is needed. These garments are very different and that’s what people are looking for these days,” he says.

Visi R. Tilak is freelance writer with bylines in publications such as the Boston Globe, Indian Express, India Today and Tehelka.  She can be reached via email visitilak@gmail.com, her website www.visitilak.com or on Twitter @vtilak.

Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.

Saiyaara

Banjaara from Ek Tha Tiger

As Republican convention emphasizes diversity, racial incidents intrude

By Rosalind S. Helderman and Jon Cohen, Published: August 29 TAMPA —

 From the convention stage here, the Republican Party has tried to highlight its diversity, giving prime speaking slots to Latinos and blacks who have emphasized their party’s economic appeal to all Americans. But they have delivered those speeches to a convention hall filled overwhelmingly with white faces, an awkward contrast that has been made more uncomfortable this week by a series of racial headaches that have intruded on the party’s efforts to project a new level of inclusiveness. The tensions come amid a debate within the GOP on how best to lure new voters. The nation’s shifting demographics have caused some Republican leaders to worry not only about the party’s future but about winning in November, particularly in key swing states such as Virginia and Nevada.

  “The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” On Tuesday, convention organizers ejected two attendees after they reportedly threw peanuts at a black CNN camerawoman and told her, “This is how we feed animals.” Organizers called the conduct “inexcusable and unacceptable.”

That followed an on-air shouting match between MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus over whether presidential nominee Mitt Romney was injecting race into the campaign by joking about President Obama’s birth certificate and attacking his record on welfare reform. “There’s no doubt he did,” Matthews declared. “Garbage,” Priebus retorted. And on Wednesday, Yahoo News fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after a live microphone caught him telling a colleague, before an online event, that Romney and his wife, Ann, were “happy to have a party with black people drowning,” a reference to the RNC’s decision to go ahead with the convention while Hurricane Isaac lashed New Orleans. Chalian later apologized. By early Wednesday, the conservative Drudge Report featured a block of headlines devoted to issues of race at the convention, most of them critical of liberal news outlets that didn’t air speeches by the GOP’s diverse lineup. Not all of the race talk has been of the party’s own making. Many Republicans argue that Democrats’ obsession with the issue has forced it to the forefront. They say Democrats have used overtly racial appeals to fire up their base, citing Vice President Biden’s recent charge at a Virginia campaign event attended by hundreds of black voters that the GOP’s approach to financial regulation would“put y’all back in chains.”

Still, the discussions of race this week have highlighted the Republican Party’s continued difficulty in attracting non-white supporters. Exit polls from 2008 showed that 90 percent of GOP voters were white, a homogeneity that has been consistent for more than 30 years, even as the percentage of the electorate that is white has fallen. Nonwhite voters favored Obama over Romney by better than three to one in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll from early August; 74 percent of Latino voters and 90 percent of African Americans backed Obama. And despite a speaker lineup in Tampa that includes Artur Davis, a black former Democratic congressman; former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; and Utah congressional candidate Mia Love, who would be the party’s first black congresswoman if she won in November, just 2 percent of convention delegates are black. That’s according to an analysis by David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Bositis also said that only two members of the 165-member RNC are black and that none of the leaders of the committees responsible for drafting the GOP platform and adopting the convention rules are black.

 “This Republican Party base is white, aging and dying off,” he said. Many Republicans, however, worry about making overt racial appeals to minorities. “Amongst politicians, amongst people who cover politics, there’s an overwhelming tendency to silo voters,” said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a breakfast hosted by The Post and Bloomberg News. “As Republicans, we take on a huge risk if we try to appeal to voters . . . within a mind-set of silos instead of making direct appeals on the issues that they’re actually talking about in their household — not necessarily in their category, but in their household.” A new Post poll put the difference between the two parties’ perception of minority voters on stark display. Respondents were asked an open-ended question:

Why do most black voters so consistently support Democrats? Though “don’t know” was the top answer for members of both parties, a close second among Republicans was that black voters are dependent on government or seeking a government handout. Democrats more often said that their party addresses issues of poverty. In Tampa, Republicans have devoted significant time to brainstorming how to expand the party’s appeal to Latinos. At various forums and lectures, they have debated whether the GOP should change its tone in discussing illegal immigration, appeal more directly to religious Latinos on social issues or make a more explicit argument that Republicans can help boost the economic prospects of Latino communities. “We as a party have got to get it,” said Mel Martinez, a former senator from Florida and a former RNC chairman, speaking at a Tuesday event sponsored by Univision and the National Journal. “We’ve got to get smart about this. We could be relegated to a minority party. . . . We’ve got to find a way to make that connection.” There has been less discussion of new ways to reach out to black voters, in part out of a recognition that the first African American president has a special relationship with African American voters. Davis, who in 2008 helped nominate Obama at the Democratic National Convention but became disenchanted with the president’s handling of the economy, said that to reach black voters, Republicans must expand their message beyond limiting government. “It’s not just enough to go into the black community and say, ‘We want to keep government from taking over your life.’ That doesn’t resonate in a whole lot of the black community, who have come to see government as a salvation and as economic leveler,” he said. “It’s going to take being willing to define conservatism as not just a defense of economic liberty but as a broader way of constructing a society that can promote social mobility.” Romney adviser Tara Wall said, “We know that a majority of black Americans will vote for President Obama,” but “that doesn’t mean Democrats or President Obama own the black vote or can take every black vote for granted.” She said Romney’s policies on school choice, social issues and job creation appeal to black families. “These are some common principles that we share and that we can engage on,” she said. “This is a long-term effort. It doesn’t happen overnight.” Raynard Jackson, a black GOP political consultant, wrote Tuesday on the RootDC Live blog that he is “embarrassed by the lack of diversity” at the convention and frustrated by his party’s empty promises. “The Republican line is that the overwhelming majority of blacks will vote for Obama because he is African American,” Jackson wrote. “I find this thinking extremely insulting as a black Republican. The reason the majority of blacks will vote for Obama is because Republicans have not given African Americans a reason to vote for Republicans or Romney.”

 Aaron Blake contributed to this report. © The Washington Post Company

Bollywood goes to Cuba:

Anniversary of 911

Hard to believe 911 was eleven years ago.
Sometimes it seems like yesterday.
It was a terrible day.
I remember going to the roof of my apartment building and seeing the first tower collapse with my own eyes.
The stench of the dead downtown sometimes misted up in a cab and reminded you of the awfulness of death.
The sad notices all over downtown of people looking for their missing ones.
The empty hospitals downtown because there were no wounded, only the dead.


The  inane and criminal actions of the Bush administration using 911 as a justification:

Torture
Rendition
The invasion of Iraq and the terrible suffering of the Iraqi people.


Thank god Bush is gone, Osama is dead, and Obama is now the President.

A History of the Computer Age

First there was Babbage
then Turing
then IBM and the Seven Dwarves
then Microsoft and Intel
then Apple
then Google
then Facebook and Twitter