BarackObama.com: The Dashboard Is Too Slow

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

BarackObama.com: The Dashboard Is Too Slow

I am beginning to think the engineers behind BarackObama.com and the top staffers in Chicago are not avid users of BarackObama.com, or maybe they are, but just of the front pages and not the Dashboard. Even if they do go log onto the Dashboard once in a while, perhaps they don't have that many points, few friends, few blog entries, and so the problem is not being experienced, and so is going unaddressed.

But for the top volunteers across the country, the Dashboard at MyBO is the only office you have, there is no offline office for the most part. There is your Dashboard at MyBO and there is offline action. And so the Dashboard is critical. It has to load up in two seconds. It should feel like a Google search. Google market research has shown that they are already so fast, your search results here in 0.04 seconds, but they do 20% worse, they lose 20% of their customers. We are talking milliseconds here, not minutes. Right now the MyBO Dashboard takes minutes to load up. And you lost me. I have not logged on for most of the pat week or more. This is not a good sign.

I have over 2,000 friends and over 4,000 pending friend requests all over the country. I have many blog entries. I have more than 50 unread messages and I am going to not try to read them now because a message takes forever to show when you click on it.

In Google's case they realized the 20% extra time was because they were showing 20 results per page. And so they cut down, they went to 10 results per page.

I am beginning to think my Dashboard takes minutes to load because I have over 2,000 friends at MyBO and most of their profiles come with pictures. And that is what is slowing things down. But that is no excuse. This still has to be fixed like now, definitely before January 4.

My guess is the top 1,000 volunteers at MyBO are all experiencing the same problem: a really, really slow Dashboard. Right now my ranking is 24. I am fairly dedicated. But you lost even me for more than a week. This is not a good thing.

The only way out might be to reduce the clutter on the Dashboard. How about not displaying photos of friends either on the Dashboard or on one's public profile page and instead giving a link to another page that has all that stuff. Got to turn the Dashboard into something light like the front page is. The front page is looking real good. I just noticed BarackObama.com has been redone. It has a more sophisticated look now. It is jazzy.

This is not a bandwidth issue. It is not in Obama 2oo8's control as how fast or slow someone's connection is. If my download speed were 1GB per second, I would not be complaining.

But do the Google thing, take a tip from them: Unclutter The Dashboard. Make it super light.

Facebook has the same problem. If you have too many applications on Facebook, your profile page can take longer to show up fully. Clutter is what is bogging the MyBO Dashboard.

List how many friends someone has, but get rid of that box of profile pictures of those friends. Instead provide a link to a page with that box and more. That should take care of the speed problem.

I will admit, I went on a major rampage. I was sending friend requests left and right. I sent one to everyone in the "near you" category, for example. I sent one to all who had "updated" in October, November and the first half of December. Nothing wrong with that. That is the cyber version of working the rope line, shaking hands. It is legit. I have said I am not going anywhere outside the city boundaries. But that does not apply online.

This cheetah video at the top, that is my personal theme video for Obama 2008. I want that also to become my theme video for the MyBO Dashboard. Chicago, make it happen.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

If Hillary Has So Much Foreign Policy Experience, Why Did She So Mess Up On Iraq?

I can't believe Hillary is casting foreign policy as her strength in these final days. She just so happens to be part of the biggest foreign policy disaster in a generation.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

Benazir: What If It Was Not The Al Qaeda

What Pakistan needs is a new constitution born out of a popularly elected constituent assembly. That is the only way to bring the army under the thumb of civilian leaders.

An independent international investigation has to be conducted. That should have been done after the first attempt on her life the day of her arrival.

She was killed a few miles from where her father was killed. Perhaps her enemies in the army and the intelligence services saw poetic justice in that statement.

The president of Pakistan has to be popularly, directly elected.

And the killers have to be taken to international court.

It all starts with an independent, international investigation.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

Increasing Spending

It might be worth it to spend a little more the final few days. Run again that ad that starts with Barack's mother that was run months back, the one on health care. That woman was ahead of her time. She was working on microfinance for women in the Global South decades before Yunus bagged a Nobel for the same.

Looks like a lot of 527s are coming out of the woodworks. We can't afford to be outspent these final few days. The people are king of making up their minds right about now.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

Bill Clinton's Bar Hopping

That guy has started campaigning like he were barhopping.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

Iraq

Got to hit Hillary on Iraq. Got to hit back.

Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down

Jewish

Nobody is more Jewish than my Hasidic neighbors.

An Amazing White Media

For all of this year they kept saying how Hillary was invincible, inevitable, and all that. And now they are saying, if Barack wins Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, the race is going to turn competitive. Unbelievable.




In The News

Presidential Candidates Gear Up for Iowa Caucuses Voice of America the campaigning has become intense. ...... Senator Clinton downplayed the notion that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, would take a leading role in policy matters. Her comments produced laughter from John Edwards during an interview on the CBS program, Face the Nation. ...... "Well, I think it is a complete fantasy," said Edwards. ..... latest pre-caucus poll of Iowa voters. It shows Hillary Clinton with a narrow lead
Candidates Digging for a Deeper Pool of Iowa Voters New York Times Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are trying to expand the tiny universe of caucusgoers, a fundamental shift in the way candidates have approached the Iowa caucuses. Mr. Edwards is focusing mainly on voters who have reliably voted in the past. ...... this contest could be determined by a swing of as few as 1,000 voters. ...... “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Gov. Chet Culver ...... Mrs. Clinton’s office here is filled with hundreds of new green snow shovels that were being strategically distributed on Saturday to precinct captains to clear the walks of older women who might be particularly wary of going out to the caucuses in bad weather. The campaign has printed doorknob hangers with caucus locations printed in extra-large type, also to accommodate these older first-time caucusers. ......... Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has contracted with a local supermarket chain to deliver platters of sandwiches for pre-caucus parties at caucus sites late Thursday afternoon. The idea is to entice people to arrive early and thus give Clinton aides time to see who has not shown up and get them to the caucus before the doors close at 7 p.m. ....... are betting that they can use computer-driven research to expand the relatively small pool of caucusgoers ........ The Clinton campaign has mailed refrigerator magnets marked with the caucus date to the women they have identified as first-time caucusgoers who might determine her fate. Mr. Obama has promised baby-sitting to any parent who needs it caucus night. ...... “It is definitely the most highly organized caucus of all time,” said Michael Whouley ........ sophisticated voter identification models, using detailed demographic and consumer data ........ make multiple personal visits to the homes of those people ...... After his speech, he holds a brief meeting and photograph session with his young supporters who belong to a program called Barack Stars. ........ a yellow slip of paper — a “Ticket to Change” — with directions to their caucus site and a telephone hot line (one for each of Iowa’s five area codes) to answer questions............ finding voters through microtargeting
Edwards, Obama Boost Efforts to Avoid 3rd Place NPR
Was Obama Comparing Edwards Unfavorably to John Kerry? ABC News Edwards, for all his strengths, does have a list of major issues he's changed his position on
Obama: Mo Money, Mo Problems Yahoo! News "unprecedented" spending by Democratic groups could "impact the outcome" in next week's Iowa Caucuses. ........ some of the advertising by unions and liberal organizations is "underhanded," "negative," and "misleading."
Obama Derides Outside Spending Washington Post two pro-John Edwards groups -- the beneficently named Working 4 Working Americans and the Alliance for a New America -- have spent nearly $2.1 million on direct mail, radio and television ads. Three groups promoting Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy -- the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers and EMILY's List -- have dropped $2.6 million, including, according to the memo, $309,000 against Obama. ....... average voters simply do not follow elections that closely and much of the back and forth is lost on them ......... Poll after poll shows voters are following this election more closely than any one in modern history
Edwards Fights to the Finish Washington Post Edwards is on the move. Independent analysts see his support firming up ....... he cannot afford to lose here on Thursday night. ..... His "America Rising" theme is not a variation of "Morning in America." ...... It is a call to arms that is raw and angry, populist and pugnacious. It is a message that is as exhausting and is it confrontational. .... has turned street-fighter for the final stretch run. His message can be boiled down to a single word -- "Fight!" ...... He was, as he now explains, a brawler as a kid, taking on bullies the way he later took on corporations and insurance companies as a trail lawyer. ....... if you're not willing to stand up for yourself and if you're not willing to fight, no one will stand up for you ...... The rich have an "iron-fisted grip" on democracy and won't let go through negotiations...... the beneficiary of an independent expenditure campaign run by his former campaign manager. ........ He promises not to fix the system but to blow it up.
Clinton victory could hang on the weather forecast Times Online There is no state whose collective decision I would trust more. Iowa is largely a farming state, with few large cities and a first-class university, Iowa State. Iowans have the core values of the American Middle West, practical, serious, good-natured, religious and thrifty. .......... Six weeks ago none of the political commentators gave Huckabee any chance. ......... in Iowa, the race is much closer — Clinton 29 per cent, Obama 27 per cent and Edwards also 27. ...... Foreign policy has played only a small part in the Iowa debate, even after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. ....... The weather forecast for the coming week is bright and sunny. ....... Barring catastrophe, Hillary Clinton should be ahead or level in Iowa, ahead in New Hampshire and should virtually win the nomination on Super Tuesday. ...... a presidential race in November between Mike Huckabee and Hillary Clinton
Poll: Clinton leads in Iowa; Huckabee, Romney even Reuters 31 percent to 27 percent, with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards a close third at 24 ....... 6 percent of likely caucus-goers in each party are uncertain ...... narrowly leading Obama among women voters and ahead among older voters, who are the most likely to participate. ........ a big lead among younger voters ..... Clinton's supporters were the most dedicated, with 76 percent saying their support was "very" strong, compared to 65 percent for Edwards and 56 percent for Obama. ...... Edwards was the most popular second choice with 30 percent, while Obama had 25 percent and Clinton only 12 percent.
Staying out front hasn't been easy for Clinton Newsday It took Obama the better part of a year to tear down Clinton's facade of certainty - even his supporters jokingly called him "Obambi" because he seemed awed by Clinton at times. But he pounced on Clinton's disastrous showing at a late October debate in Philadelphia, shedding his passivity and tapping into pent-up hostility toward the front-runner. ....... Shorn of her air of inevitability, she has spent weeks groping for a coherent message, and only recently hit on a hybrid theme her campaign believes is a winner. Some backers jokingly call it the "Mama Bear" approach, emphasizing Clinton's toughness and experience, while using friends and family to melt her Ice Queen image and demonstrate her commitment to change. ........ By the third quarter, she had reasserted her fundraising dominance, beating Obama $28 million to $20 million. ...... But at the Philadelphia debate it all seemed to fall apart for Team Clinton when a series of gaffes cascaded into a full-scale collapse of the inevitability argument. ........ But earlier this month, Team Clinton rolled out the kinder, gentler approach that many in the campaign credit for stemming Clinton's slide ....... "Within the last couple of weeks they've settled on a single message that's just a lot more comfortable for them and it shows. They're doing a lot better," said a top Clinton donor.
Clintons' dual jab at Obama on experience AFP Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton are raising new questions over her White House rival Barack Obama's experience, warning perilous national security decisions loom for the next US leader. ....... the latest bid to paint Obama as too green to serve as US commander-in-chief. ..... Clinton said she had unsuccessfully urged her husband to intervene militarily to halt Rwanda's genocide in 1994, and then traveled to Uganda to say sorry to the victims of the atrocity. ........ "I personally apologized to women whose arms had been hacked off, who had seen their husbands and their children murdered before their very eyes and were at the bottom of piles of bodies," she told ABC. .......... the next president had to be ready for sudden, national security challenges. ...... "You have to have a leader who is strong and commanding and convincing enough ... to deal with the unexpected," he was quoted as saying ....... "There is a better than 50 percent chance that sometime in the first year or 18 months of the next presidency, something will happen that is not being discussed in this campaign. ....... Clinton's comments were reminiscent of the Bush administration's successful gambit of framing the 2004 campaign against John Kerry as a question of who was most fit to lead a global war on terror. ........ The former first lady also said that the ex-president would not have a formal role in her White House ..... argued Sunday he had more experience in global affairs than Bill Clinton did when elected in 1992. ...... Clinton's comments on Rwanda appeared to be a new jab at Obama, who last week said his multi-ethnic background and childhood years abroad meant he was more in touch with the world than someone who had taken tea with US diplomats. ..... Madeleine Albright recalled how Clinton had traveled to scores of remote villages and refugee camps.
Clinton: My Foreign Policy Experience More Than Just Drinking Tea CBS News While discussing a visit to Bosnia during the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords as First Lady, Clinton took a swipe at Obama saying, "We landed in one of those corkscrew landings and ran out because they said there might be snipers. I don't remember anybody offering me tea on the tarmac when that was happening." ........ "Senator Clinton has been in refugee camps, clinics, orphanages, and villages all around the world, including places where tea is not the usual drink. In addition to these experiences she has met with world leaders and has known many of them for years. I have been with her on many of these occasions, and it is this combination of experience and understanding that sets her apart from the field, and why I am supporting her for President." ....... We used to say in the White House that if a place was too dangerous, too small or too poor send the First Lady. I had the time of my life
Warning of Threats, Clinton Sells Clinton Washington Post who could best manage unforeseen catastrophes. ...... the experience argument was bolstered by the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the threat of wider unrest in that country ..... "I'm not asking you to take me on faith. I'm not asking you to take a leap of faith." ...... "Who better to explain what it takes to be president than the last two-term president the Democrats have had since FDR?" said Mark Penn, chief strategist for the Clinton campaign. ....... He did not elaborate on what he meant by the prospect of the audience members' grandchildren not being there in 50 years....... In past weeks, he has argued that there are three reasons to nominate his wife: her vision, her plans and her record. In Nashua, he said there was a fourth reason: her ability to deal with unseen threats. ......... "If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again ...... those Hillary Clinton aides who had come to worry about his occasional freelancing ........ Clinton is able, some supporters believe, to help neutralize the concerns among women about the authenticity of the Clinton marriage. ......... Clinton spent much of the 45-minute speech talking about the achievements of his own administration ...... Clinton, who took no questions
Bill Clinton Stumps for Wife NH The Associated Press Bill Clinton praised the Democratic field of presidential contenders Saturday, noting that as president he had close ties to almost all of them. ....... her high-wattage husband ...... He noted he had campaigned for John Edwards' 1998 Senate campaign and Obama's in 2004 and that Bill Richardson served as his United Nations ambassador and energy secretary. He said he counts Joe Biden and Chris Dodd as "two close friends of mine and our friendship has remained since I left the White House and it's even endured this campaign." ........ He draws crowds as large as she does and has helped her campaign build its list of volunteers and supporters ...... Part of Clinton's plan is to derail any momentum Obama might build.
Bill Clinton Warns of "Unexpected" Washington Post

Making Nevada's Caucus Count the state's Young Democrats organization. ....... Clinton leads Obama by 8 points in a recent poll ...... nothing will be settled after Iowa and New Hampshire ..... 10 straight days of attention ....... One third of Nevada's 2.5 million people are Hispanics, Asian-Americans and blacks ....... Unions — particularly Culinary 226, which includes Strip hospitality workers ........ when Hillary Clinton campaigned in Pahrump, a small town outside of Vegas known for its anti-government leanings and several well-known brothels, more than 2,500 people showed up ........... the first time [in the campaign] a presidential candidate has to stand before a crowd that looks like America. ........ western, Hispanic and labor issues. ........ issues that are transcendent in the west — water, public resources, public land-83 percent of Nevada land is public ...... Steelman explains caucusing by having the group decide what their favorite movie is. ..... ("The Godfather" wins this mock caucus.)
Bhutto's Warm Smile The most striking characteristic of Benazir Bhutto, back when she was a student in the 1970s, was the contrast between the intensity of her eyes and the warmth of her very large smile. ...... She tended to wear blue jeans and baggy sweatshirts, fitting in with the dress code of the day, but she told me she dressed that way (never shorts, skirts, or t-shirts) also because it honored the Muslim custom of covering her body as a woman. Another contrast was between her nickname Pinky — she even typed some of her essays on pink paper — and her serious personality. ........ at Harvard ..... she stood out as a powerful figure in the dining hall of Elliot House, where she lived, and she displayed a passion for international politics that went beyond the antiwar rhetoric that passed for political discourse in those days ....... the Oxford Union, the venerable debating society, and she viewed it as her mission to become the first Asian woman in that post. She lost her first campaign for the post, but when her father was deposed and arrested the following year, we used that crisis as a reason to urge people to vote for her, and she won. ........ Benazir Bhutto navigated through personal as well as political turmoils that were far more intense than most of us can imagine. Over the years, on those rare occasions when we’d meet and reminisce, I’d notice how the features of her face had hardened a bit, as had the intensity of her stare when she talked to you. But she never lost the warmth in that very big smile.
Bhutto's Jihadist Enemies Benazir Bhutto had long been an outspoken critic of Pakistani militants and this made her the mortal enemy of a galaxy of extremist forces inside Pakistan. "Bhutto was the only Pakistani politician willing to stand up and say, 'I don't like violent terrorists,'" says Stephen Cohen, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Many of these groups have intertwining histories and common loyalties — as well as shadowy links with Pakistani intelligence. As the probe into her assassination begins, investigators will have to sort through a morass of violent groups that were gunning for Bhutto. And while all have some historic link to al-Qaeda, they have just as much ideological impetus to act on their own — or at the behest of rogue elements of the Pakistani government sympathetic to Islamic radicals. ...... In a briefing Friday, the Pakistani government emphasized that al-Qaeda had Bhutto in its sights. ....... "She was on the hit list of al-Qaeda." ....... the suicide bomber who killed Benazir Bhutto belonged to a domestic terrorist organization with links to al-Qaeda called Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. The group is responsible for dozens of attacks inside Pakistan over the past decade including sectarian killings of Shi'ites and Christians, a failed 1999 assassination attempt against then-Prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and involvement in the kidnapping and beheading of the Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl. .......... Lashkar-i-Jhangvi had claimed responsibility for Bhutto's assassination ........ another suspect: Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban leader and an influential tribal chief in Waziristan ....... Pakistani intelligence services intercepted a supposed conversation in which Mehsud congratulated those who carried out the assassination. "Fantastic job," reads the transcript released by the Pakistan Ministry of Interior, "[They were] very brave boys who killed her." But a spokesman for Mehsud told the Associated Press on Saturday that the militant was not involved in the attack, calling the allegation "government propaganda." ......... Mehsud is a very convenient [person to blame]. ....... the Taliban and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi emerged from the two decades of fighting in Afghanistan, where eventually a Taliban regime would give refuge to al-Qaeda ........ Lashkar-i-Tayyba or the "Army of the Pure," which Pakistani intelligence agents, after the end of the Afghan war, would redirect toward Kashmir and the Indian troops stationed in that disputed region. ........ The group has close ties to al-Qaeda. The leadership of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi fought alongside many high-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001. ......... many in its ranks trained in al-Qaeda-run camps in Afghanistan during the late 1990s. When al-Qaeda retreated from Afghanistan in 2002, many of its fighters are believed to have joined forces with Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Lashkar-i-Tayyba ....... In March 2002, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi retaliated against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the resulting fall of the Taliban by launching a grenade attack on the International Protestant Church in Islamabad ...... "It is probable there are links between Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and al-Qaeda," says Grare, "but it is certain they do have links to the government." He adds, "If the government itself says Lashkar-i-Jhangvi is involved, it is suicidal because it opens the door to speculation about their own role." ...... Pakistani authorities have had a hand in encouraging groups like Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Lashkar-i-Tayyba, Islamabad has done little to systematically dismantle these jihadist "armies" now that their original purposes — fighting the Soviets and supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan or fighting the Indians in Kashmir — are over. .... "It's like a cancer you've started elsewhere that comes back to eat you up."

Was It Al Qaeda? Newsweek Mehsud is described by the officials as one of the Taliban's most senior leaders inside Pakistan. He supposedly operates from loosely governed tribal areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and is believed to be in contact with elements of the Al Qaeda central command, whose leaders, including Zawahiri and bin Laden, are believed to be hiding out in the same rugged region.
Bhutto Conspiracy Theories Fill the Air TIME On jihadi websites, al-Qaeda claimed the assassination was their work .... the sentiments provide a powerful insight into how angry Pakistanis are at their President and how mistrustful they are of the U.S.
Al-Qaeda's New Terror Tactic? one of Bhutto's assailants was a known member of the extremist organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group it said was allied with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. If so, it could mean further evidence of a dramatic and disturbing diversification in Al-Qaeda's terrorism playbook. ....... Up until now, the violent methods employed by al-Qaeda and its operatives around the globe have largely eschewed single assassinations or the targeting of political leaders. .......... creating chaos and panic through large terror strikes that claim large numbers of random victims — carnage that creates pressure and fear in the societies and governments that the jihadists view as enemies ......... "There is so much scheming and double-dealing in Pakistan that the country is the analyst's worst nightmare. ...... it has helped create the uproar and turmoil al-Qaeda has always seen as its best method of destabilizing enemy regimes it wants to replace. ........ They're willing to do anything, and with anyone's help.

An Asteroid Hurtles Toward Mars
Kenya Opposition Poised to Sweep New York Times
Clinton and Obama exploit Pakistan crisis Telegraph.co.uk
Obama: US needs to come down hard on Musharraf Chicago Sun-Times“As long as we are supporting somebody who the Pakistani people themselves believe has subverted democracy, that strengthens the hand of the Islamic militants,” Obama told the crowd. ...... Obama started four campaign stops Thursday apologizing for being late because of phone calls he said he had to make to ambassadors early Thursday to get a reading on Bhutto’s assassination. He continued using that opening up to and including his 8 p.m. appearance about eight hours after he made the calls.
Clinton, Obama Seize on Killing Washington Post
Clinton demands Bhutto probe, slams Musharraf AFP Clinton Friday called for an independent, international probe into Benazir Bhutto's murder, as the turmoil wracking US anti-terror ally Pakistan reshaped debate in the White House race. ..... Clinton paid a personal tribute to the former Pakistani prime minister, and also turned on Musharraf, saying he had failed both to usher Pakistan towards democracy, and to crush Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. ...... the US invasion of Iraq was a distraction from the "war on terror." ...... "We've got to reverse policies, but we've got to see this in a bigger context which is that our invasion of Iraq resulted in us taking our eye off the ball," Obama said. ....... "We should have been focused in Afghanistan, finishing off Al-Qaeda."
Obama catches Clinton in NH; Iowa remains a 3-way contest Los Angeles Times Obama drew backing from 32% of New Hampshire Democrats who intend to vote in the primary, compared with Clinton's 30%
Google gets even more ambitious CNET News.com
Google gains in US search in November BusinessWeek
Google’s Market Share Grows and Grows and Grows New York Times Blogs

Benazir, One Whose Looks Have No Parallel

All those men were there inside,
when she came in totally naked.
They had been drinking: they began to spit.
Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The insults flowed down her gleaming flesh.
Obscenities drowned her golden breasts.
Not knowing tears, she did not weep tears.
Not knowing clothes, she did not have clothes.
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.
She did not speak because she had no speech.
Her eyes were the colour of distant love,
her twin arms were made of white topaz.
Her lips moved, silent, in a coral light,
and suddenly she went out by that door.
Entering the river she was cleaned,
shining like a white stone in the rain,
and without looking back she swam again
swam towards emptiness, swam towards death.

That is what her name means, Benazir. One whose looks have no parallel.

Gagan, Michelle, Benazir

Gagan




Gagan was the top student leader during Nepal's April Revolution. I got to meet him in NYC months before the revolution.

An Open Letter To Gagan Thapa
Gagan Thapa's Right To Free Speech
Gagan's Talk In New York
A Day In The Life Of Gagan Thapa
The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Gagan Thapa
Gagan Thapa October 22 Saturday 2 PM Columbia University

About a week before Benazir's cold murder, I woke up after having had a very bad dream. Gagan had been assassinated and noone really knew who did it. He was there, and then he was not there anymore. In my dream I had to live through the knowledge of the aftermath.

A day or two later Dipta showed up on my Gmail chat. Dipta was a few years junior to me at high school. I talked to him more than to any other Nepali in the US during my two intense years for Nepal's democracy and social justice movements. Dipta lives and works in DC. But he was in Kathmandu when he showed up in a chat window. I told him about the dream. I said tell Gagan to be extra careful on personal safety issues.

But something kept tugging at me still.

Michelle


I Stand With Michelle: Iowa Must And Can Be Won
Michelle Obama Is Just Fabulous
Wife Won't Do, Got To Court Women With Policy And Outreach

I remembered reading a line in some news item online from one of Michelle's recent Iowa appearances. She seemed to be bragging about how she was still a normal woman with a normal life. "I still go to Target. I still pump my own gas." A cold shiver ran down my spine.

Long months back, on national TV, a reporter had asked her if she worried about her husband's safety, now that he was running for president. The tigress got agitated, her cub husband sitting next to her. "As a black man, Barack could get shot walking down to the gas station!"

Memories of when a motorbike hit her vehicle in Iowa months back flashed.

And so I blogged about it, hoping to get picked up by the people in Chicago. Obama 2008 must make sure Michelle is not an everyday woman no more. Her everyday woman persona has to end by January 3. She does not get to pump her own gas anymore. She must only move around in a motorcade of three, one in the front, another in the back. Obama 2008 must hire bodyguards. That is a legitimate campaign expense. If she gets into another car crash, Obama 2008 pays a political price. You end up looking like you can't even take care of the candidate's wife.

But something kept tugging at me still. And I thought maybe because I did not get picked up. Maybe Michelle would still be pumping her own gas on January 5.

I logged onto BarackObama.com where I am now the 25th volunteer in ranking. And the dashboard took minutes to load. Obviously they did not pick up my urgent suggestion from days back. (Warning Sign: BarackObama.com Is Melting Down) At this rate, BarackObama.com is going to crash on January 4.

But something kept tugging at me still.

Benazir


Benazir Bhutto: No American Stooge
Benazir Should Address Many Mass Rallies, Hold No Street Events, Keep Tight Security Around Her House, Office
Benazir And Islamofascism

I was not thinking of Benazir. After the attempt on her life immediately after arrival in Pakistan after a decade in exile, I had this naive feeling that she was now immunized. Sure, those wanting to kill her are still out there, but now it is very well known that she is a target, and so those whose job it is to protect her will now work extra hard. You can't keep her from holding rallies, that is her lifeblood, but you can make sure you whisk her safely to and from the stage. I tuned her out. It might have been denial on my part. I tuned her out. I was going to tune back in after she is elected and is ready to be sworn in as Prime Minister. Then I was going to follow her in news.

Usually I wake up, hit the button to turn the computer on, and head to the restroom. By the time I am back, the computer has booted up. Usually I like to glance at the headlines at NepalNews.com first thing. Then I like to glance at my customized page for Google News. I like to follow Barack and Google.

But this day two things were unusual. I just had had a few weird days when my hours of sleeping and staying awake had been totally thrown out of whack. I would be up until five in the morning, and then go to sleep. I was not liking it. Then I even fell kind of sick. I blamed it on the cold outside, the walks I had taken, the beer at that party. A few times I felt like throwing up.

So I wake up and it is afternoon. As if I were trying to avoid the news. It was three in the afternoon. I hit the button. But instead of heading to the restroom, I proceeded to NepalNews.com. I had broken the routine.

The first news item on top of the page was about Benazir.

Pakistan's oppn leader Bhutto killed in suicide attack NepalNews

I immediately went into denial. Perhaps I was not fully awake. Maybe I should take the restroom trip first like I usually do. When was the last time foreign news was top of the page at NepalNews.com? Never. Maybe I was seeing things. Perhaps I should go wash my face first. It was not an active thinking process of denial. It was a feeling of daze, disbelief, and denial.

So I slumbered into the restroom, as if wanting to tell myself, see, you are practically asleep, you can't walk straight. I sat for a long time on the commode, unfeeling, unthinking. I pulled on the flush, washed my hands, washed my face. Okay, now I am awake, let's see what NepalNews.com has on Nepal today.

The headline was still there.

Pakistan's oppn leader Bhutto killed in suicide attack NepalNews

It was there, loud and clear. I became unfeeling. I was alone in my three bedroom apartment. Usually my two Estonina roomies would be out working at this hour, but this time they were not even in town, they were out for Christmas. I was alone, I could afford to not feel. Usually when something big shows up in the news, like bomb explosions in India, I immediately open up 20 different news sources online, tabs, to get a clear picture of what really happened. With Benazir, it was a long time before I even clicked on this one link. I just looked at it.

Then a small part of my mind got a little clinical. Who did it? The headline itself showed there was Al Qaeda's signature all over it. But Pakistan's ground realities are different. Pakistans' intelligence agency gave birth to the Taliban's rise in Afghanistan. If your loyalty is to God, would you swap that for a loyalty to Musharraf, let alone Bush? Indira's Sikh guards made a choice, their loyalty was to God, and they fried her up with their machine guns. Musharraf could claim the Al Qaeda has not penetrated the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency known as a state within a state, and he might not even be lying, he might just be in denial.

A few months back there was a newspaper ad by a unit of the Pakistani army about some stolen nuclear material. Please help us track it if you can. To them it was probably funny. But it is not funny. The ad came and went like a mirage, it was taken down. That gives rise to a technical question. Could some people guarding Pakistani nuclear material claim some of it got stolen but instead have had it passed on to some of their Islamist allies? What if they did that out of Islamist pride? What if they did that for God? For money? Out of hubris? Because they are stupid? All of the above?

Stepping into Bin Laden's shoes, a dirty bomb in a major American city would be his idea of outdoing 9/11. It could be Dallas. You could move the material from Pakistan to Africa on over to Mexico, cross the border, and explode it in Dallas. The fear generated in the national population would be crippling in ways 9/11 was not.

I proceeded to read the news item. Then I had to blog the pain before I did my usual thing of opening up 20 tabs. I wanted a clear picture of those four seconds.

Since I have gone for two very long walks across Brooklyn. I went for a very long one today. This time I cried. I was walking, noone saw me cry, but I cried. I wanted the numbness and the disbelief to go away. I cried and then I started feeling. Tender sadness. Loss.

Since her death, her image has become even more vivid in my mind. More so than ever before. This smiling, brave, eloquent woman who insists she has not gone anywhere. She is still here.

Her eloquence I have wished were mine. Her eloquence I have wished upon world leaders on all continents. Her eloquence whose echo I hear in Barack when he speaks.

Benazir, Last Month
Benazir, Benazir

Thursday, January 3

7:30 pm

DL21C's Iowa Caucus Night Party!!

Live Returns on the Big Screen, Interviews from Iowa, Special Guests and much more!

Coverage begins at 8:00pm
O'Lunney's Pub (upstairs bar/lounge)
145 W 45th St (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York, NY
1/2/3/N/R/S to Times Square
B/D/F/V to 42nd Street

A Bhutto Successor? Time the slain former prime minister's 19-year-old son, Bilawal, will likely be named as her political heir and the new party leader on Sunday. PPP members are due to meet to discuss the party's future and to give Bilawal, a student at Oxford, a chance to read his mother's last will and testament. ....... accorded with Benazir Bhutto's wishes. If confirmed, the teenager will become the third leader of the 40-year-old center-left party ......... Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who founded the PPP in 1967 ...... The quick anointment of a Bhutto to head the PPP will help rally party members ....... The party hopes to ride a wave of sympathy in parliamentary elections that are set for Jan. 8 ...... PPP officials say their party intends to participate. ....... Bilawal was born in September 1988, nearly three months before his mother was elected Prime Minister for the first time. ....... Dubai, where Bilawal attended the Rashid School for Boys, serving as vice president of the school's student council. In Fall 2007 he enrolled at Oxford ........ A 2004 profile of Bilawal in the respected Pakistani daily newspaper Dawn said the teenager liked target-shooting, swimming, horseback riding and squash, and regretted being away from Pakistan in part because it meant he played less cricket. His grandfather, he said, "was a very courageous man and I consider myself very lucky because I have three powerful role models that will obviously influence my career choices when I am older." ........... a consensus has emerged that the person needs to be a Bhutto, a name that retains incredible power and vote-winning influence ......... "This was also the situation when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was murdered," says Babar Awan, a PPP Senator and close ally of Benazir. "Benazir was a teenager, she was a student at Harvard in 1979 [when Zulfikar Ali was hanged]. It is basically the hard core of the PPP that rallies around their great hope and that they attach to the House of Bhutto." .......... All those who don't accept the military role in politics are controversial. The charges are 100% unfounded and fake. ...... Bilawal will head the party, and that the party's deputy leader and longtime Benazir loyalist, Mukhdoom Amin Fahim, is likely to become the prime minister .......... Bilawal would take over as the parliamentary leader once he finishes his studies and once he has more experience ....... Bilawal was a natural future leader...... Last year Benazir told a reporter that she hoped her three children would choose a different career. "My children have told me they are very worried about my safety," she said. "I understand those fears. But they are Bhuttos and we have to face the future with courage, whatever it brings."

Barack's Politics Of Hope, Hillary's Politics Of Fear

If we needed another shred of evidence that Hillary is a Bush Republican. The Bushies cashed fear in 2002 and 2004. They tried hard again to cash it in 2006. It did not work. They are trying equally hard to cash it for 2008. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Don't get me wrong. I am hard nosed on this security stuff. The threat to America is continued and very real. But that is precisely the reason to kick Bush out and not pick Hillary. America is less safe today. There has not been another attack on US soil since 9/11, and that sure is good news, and the branches of the US government at the forefront of that have to be commended. But why will you not hold people in leadership responsible for the fact that the Al Qaeda is stronger today than ever before? If Al Qaeda can strike with eery abandon in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia, is it not only a matter of time before it strikes America again? How much sense did it make for the US to take its eyes off the Al Qaeda and jump into a misadventure in Iraq?

If the Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan, that is where the action was. If the Al Qaeda moved to Pakistan, that is where the action shifted. It did not shift to Iraq. W's mistake has been to go after the wrong target. Wait until he goes into Iran, and then he will have taken both eyes off the Al Qaeda.

Hillary does not get this. I don't really know why. She is smart, she is tough. Maybe it is because it is a paradigm shift. It asks for out of the box thinking.

Benazir was the world's best hope to drain the swamp in Pakistan. But look how easily the Al Qaeda got her. The Al Qaeda is inside the Pakistani state and spreading like cancer. The Al Qaeda was a new virus in 2001. Saddam was the old virus. But W went after the Al Qaeda with the antibiotics he had. He was a medicine looking for a disease, and that is why he felt so gungho about going after Saddam. His disdain for basic scientific thinking is nowhere more dangerous than in how he has approached the Al Qaeda. No, it is not on stem cell stuff.

And our very own Hillary likes to play by the W book. She is with Bush on Iraq, and then she is with Bush on Iran. And now her closing argument is should something unpredictable, unfortunate happen, who do you want in the Oval Office? Nothing unpredictable will happen. If there is another 9/11 style attack on America, it will not be unpredictable. And the world will know who did it. And the world knows where these people are.

Hillary's experience argument makes me want to give W a third term. The guy was Governor of Texas, he has been president two terms. He is older than Hillary.

Fighting the Al Qaeda will not be easy, but it is not exactly rocket science either. You start with the disease, not with the medicine. The medicine you design in response. And all the time you objectively measure the reality out there, on what works and what does not.

Hint, hint. Al Qaeda is not a state, it is not a standing army. It took one semi defunct cell of one lone operative, one motorbike, one gun, two gun shots, one bomb, to destabilize a country the size of Pakistan. They are not trying to take over Pakistan like the Soviets tried to take over Afghanistan. They are just trying to destabilize it. That is all they want, that is all they need. They don't care about the ordinary Pakistanis who are rioting in all Pakistani cities in protest.

Hint, hint. They are only a few thousand in number.

Hillary took America onto the wrong battlefield. Barack will scale back and take America to the right battlefield. And the idea is not a military invasion of Pakistan, something unthinkable. That would be like punishing the rioting Pakistanis for what the Al Qaeda did to Benazir. Those rioting Pakistanis are also mad at the Al Qaeda.

The first order of business was to protect Benazir. She was democracy embodied. Democracy is what will drain the swamp. As for mosquitoes, you need the right weapons. You need super human intelligence. If you can't locate and penetrate the Al Qaeda, what good are you in this day and age?

The Dream

MLK talked of a dream. Barack is that dream.

The Bridge

Bill Clinton talked of the bridge to the 21st century. Barack is that bridge.