Deficits As Far As The Eyes Can See

Barack has come out saying he sees trillion dollar deficits for at least a few years. That worries me.

Possible Pitfalls In Barack's Way

I can see the rationale behind the trillion dollar stimulus package. If you don't do it, you risk a deep recession, a global recession. Better a trillion now than two trillion tomorrow.

But to rely totally on the stimulus package would be to miss the mark. White collar crime style irresponsible behavior brought this about. The number one would be the Iraq War. The Iraq War has been the biggest white collar crime in history. Hitler killed six million Jews, Bush killed a million and a half Iraqis. After a half century of further civilization, a million and a half today probably is equivalent to six million back then. The white collar crime of the Iraq War - a trillion or so dollars - got mirrored in bad Wall Street behavior.

But the number one lesson to be learnt is that global finance is just like global warming, just like global terrorism, there is no national solution, not even by the mighty power of America. So the number one solution can not be the trillion dollar stimulus package, necessary as it is. The real challenge is, so how do you create a new global financial architecture? Minor tinkering with the IMF and the World Bank will not do.

When the dust on this financial mess settles, more of the global power is expected to have shifted to China. There is no free lunch.






In The News

Dossier From India Gives New Details of Mumbai Attacks New York Times In the beginning, they were 32. A squad of suicide bombers raised in Pakistan, they were taught how to make bombs, withstand interrogation, and fight to their death. ....... they set sail from Karachi with coordinates plotted on a global positioning set ...... all the while receiving detailed instructions and pep talks from their handlers across the border ...... training the commando-style fighters ..... a steady exchange between the attackers in Mumbai and their counselors. ....... they are told how to damage India’s standing with a key ally, Israel. ..... “If the hostages are killed, it will spoil relations between India and Israel,” Wassi continues. ....... The leader of the crew, identified by Indian investigators as Ismail Khan, 25, from a town called Dera Ismail Khan in the Northwest Frontier Province, contacted their handlers and received instructions. ....... five teams of two ...... targets: the city’s busiest railway station known as Victoria Terminus, a tourist haunt called Café Leopold, the Jewish center in Nariman House, and two luxury hotels, the Taj and Oberoi. ........ they kept a safe distance of at least 60 kilometers from Indian shore until they got closer to Mumbai. ........ “Brother you have to fight,” says the caller. “This is a matter of the prestige of Islam.” ......... Ten were kept in isolation for more than three months, in a house near Karachi, until they were instructed to go to Mumbai.
Former eBay CEO preps for California power post? Register
Ex-EBay chief Meg Whitman quits board seats Los Angeles Times
Facing Losses, German Billionaire Commits Suicide New York Times
Strike costing India Rs 10000 cr daily: Truckers Indian Express
Expo: Apple introduces iLife '09 Macworld
Expo: Apple adds productivity features to iWork
Clearwire Launches WiMAX in Portland GigaOm
Google Expands Lead in Search Race Adweek
Pending home sales plunge to record low in Nov. BusinessWeek
Dell Hits the Sweet Spot of Form, Function and Affordability with ... WELT ONLINE
Anne Hathaway Just Wants a Good Husband People Magazine

The Irish Economy’s Rise Was Steep, and the Fall Was Fast New York Times
Automakers Fear a New Normal of Low Sales
Investors Strain to Sell Start-Up Companies
For the Blind, Technology Does What a Guide Dog Can’t
Credit Card Companies Willing to Deal Over Debt
Bid to Revoke Madoff’s Bail Cites His Gifts

In Sri Lanka, Victory Brings Reprisal Time
Sri Lanka's Civil War: Not Over Yet
Sri Lanka Kills Rebel Leader
The Tamil Tigers
Obama Gets Ready for His Washington Close-Up
Endless War

Is the Euro the New Dollar? Time
Nuclear's Comeback: Still No Energy Panacea
Israel Enters Gaza: Negotiating With Extreme Prejudice
Can the Jewish People Survive Without an Enemy?
Facebook's War on Nipples

Concerns of civilian deaths rise in Sri Lanka The Associated Press
Young pro-India leader sworn in as Kashmir chief AFP
The Evil of Google is Steeped in Perception, Potential eWeek

What is Apple Inc.'s plan if CEO Steve Jobs dies? Los Angeles Times No American CEO is more intimately identified with his company's success. Jobs is deeply involved in every facet of Apple development and design, and he's justly admired for his instinct for the human-factor engineering of Apple products. He is Apple's visionary and carnival barker. ..... The Jobs role that Apple may find hardest to fill is that of one-man Supreme Court, settling disputes between warring engineering camps by decree. There have been countless battles at Apple over such things as how many buttons a mouse should have and what keys should be on its keyboards. The ultimate authority belongs to Jobs. ..... Google and its Android mobile phone operating system. ......... a CEO whose talents and personality are so inextricably entwined with a signature American brand.
Writing the Web’s Future in Numerous Languages The next chapter of the World Wide Web will not be written in English alone. Asia already has twice as many Internet users as North America, and by 2012 it will have three times as many. Already, more than half of the search queries on Google come from outside the United States. ....... Quillpad, an online service for typing in 10 South Asian languages. Users spell out words of local languages phonetically in Roman letters, and Quillpad’s predictive engine converts them into local-language script. ...... India, whose online population Jupiter says is poised to become the third-largest in the world after China and the United States by 2012 ....... Wikipedia now has more entries in Indian local languages than in Korean. ...... Even among the largely English-speaking base of around 50 million Web users in India today, nearly three-quarters prefer to read in a local language ..... “Localization is the key to success in countries like India" ....... Google engineers are also plugging away on voice recognition, translation, transliteration and digital text reading that it plans to apply to other developing countries.

Obama says got "choked up" leaving Chicago Reuters
Sprint WiMAX misses Chicago launch, now aiming for 2H 2009 Boy Genius Report
Think your WiFi is fast? WiMax is coming to Chicago The Windy Citizen
Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books New York Times Revenue will be generated through advertising sales on pages where previews of scanned books appear, through subscriptions by libraries and others to a database of all the scanned books in Google’s collection, and through sales to consumers of digital access to copyrighted books. Google will take 37 percent of this revenue, leaving 63 percent for publishers and authors. ........ The settlement may give new life to copyrighted out-of-print books in a digital form and allow writers to make money from titles that had been out of commercial circulation for years. Of the seven million books Google has scanned so far, about five million are in this category. ........ Even if Google had gone to trial and won the suits, said Alexander Macgillivray, associate general counsel for products and intellectual property at the company, it would have won the right to show only previews of these books’ contents. “What people want to do is read the book” ......... When the agreement was announced in October, all sides hailed it as a landmark settlement .......... In May, Microsoft ended its book scanning project, effectively leaving Google as a monopoly corporate player....... Students and faculty at universities who subscribe to the database will be able to get the full contents of all the books free. ......... a lot of reading is going to happen on screens
Google Unlocks G1 Android Mobile Phone NewsOXY
Bachchan's aura built on sheer talent, performances: Amir Press Trust of India
Russians Raise Ukraine Gas Bill New York Times
How the SEC Can Prevent More Madoffs Wall Street Journal
Dell Elevates Insiders in Strategy Change Wall Street Journal
'Marley & Me' stays No. 1 at box office Los Angeles Times

Dow Climbs Above 9000 for Best Close in Two Months Washington Post
On the First Trading Day of the New Year, Markets Surge New York Times
Chicago to take over at the White House guardian.co.uk Obama brings with him the baggage of Chicago's political culture - the roughest in the US. ......... the sharp suits, naked ambition and political trading ..... 50 elected officials from Illinois jailed over the past 30 years. ...... It has been a long time since we have had an urban president. Kennedy would be the last. ...... It would have been hard for Obama to have risen without engaging in the city's rough-house politics. ....... Obama has managed to be above the fray on the local political scene. ...... Emanuel, in a tactic that Al Capone might have applauded, once sent a political opponent a rotting fish. ....... "DC has its own culture and absorbs other cultures. When people try to behave differently, it bounces off, like Teflon. The Clintons were outcasts for trying to bring their culture to DC."
With eye on polls, Nitish to pitch camp in Bihar villages The Statesman
What Microsoft Should Do in 2009 eWeek
Obama's Internet Allies Plan Continued Engagement eWeek One of the great unknowns heading into Barack Obama's presidency is the influence of the online legions that helped propel him into office.
Getting Mrs. Clinton Wall Street Journal
The time has come: Can Barack Obama really make a difference? Independent Never, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, have so many invested so much hope in a single individual. ..... He has run nothing of note, except an admittedly brilliantly conducted campaign for the White House. ...... a federal budget of three trillion dollars ..... a moment when Americans look more intensely to government for solutions than at any time since the Great Depression. ...... the US remains the world's supplier of last resort of hope, the belief against the odds that the human condition can be improved. America's struggles, excesses, failures and triumphs are those of all of us. ......... the 95 per cent of human beings who are not American. ....... The US car industry remains on the brink of collapse. The interlocking crises of the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan look, if anything, more intractable than they did 12 months ago. ...... he embodies the magic of America, its endless ability to reinvent itself ..... Barack Obama is but the latest proof that in America, everything is possible.
Bill Clinton For NY Senate? CBS News
Report: Paterson To Pick Kennedy For Senate New York State's most powerful legislative leader tells the New york post he'll support Kennedy. State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver
Bill Clinton rumored to be offered Hillary's Senate seat MSNBC
NY-Senate: Much Ado About Nothing (Yet) Washington Post Paterson is casting a very wide net in terms of potential appointees -- a move designed to show that he will not simply accede to the will of the party establishment and pick Kennedy.
Clinton, Familiar With Pitfalls of Mideast Politics, May Face ... New York Times
Barack Obama’s Election Voted Top News Story of 2008 Voice of America
Democrats say McCain almost left the GOP in 2001 You Decide
Rankings: Top 25 For GOP 2012 The Phoenix
Sri Lankan army captures Tamil Tigers' capital, Kilinochchi Times Online Civil rights activists believe that the Government’s military successes have come at an unacceptable human cost. An estimated 250,000 civilians were forced to flee their homes as the Army advanced. in the past the Tigers, who pioneered the use of suicide bombers, have been at their most dangerous after enduring some of the worst defeats. .... Velupillai Prabhakaran, who remains free, suggested that the rebels would revert to terrorism. “No sane voice is being raised to abandon war or to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict”
Cuba celebrates 50 years of revolution Christian Science Monitor
Fire dies under China’s once booming manufacturing industry Times Online China’s unexpectedly high vulnerability to the global financial crisis.
Google's Microsoft-esque landgrab for IE's market share CNET News
Google: A little more like Microsoft every day
Firefox, Chrome virtually tied for JavaScript speed
Google Chrome Web Browser Shines eWeek
You've got mail wars: Google making an inbox push Los Angeles Times
Google Spreads Cheer in The New Year With Bling, Android Market eWeek
Airspan Selected for WiMAX Network in Okinawa, Japan Your Communication News (press release)
Bollywood gears up for romance of the elderlies Indian Express
Chrysler Gets $4 Billion Infusion From US Treasury Bloomberg
Russia accuses Ukraine of siphoning gas to Balkans International Herald Tribune
Dell Elevates Insiders in Strategy Change Wall Street Journal
Will This Bold Shakeup Save Dell? BusinessWeek
HP Can Thank Dell for Its Good Fortunes TheStreet.com
Study: Religious Teens More Likely to Abstain from Sex FOXNews
Wikipedia meets $6 million fundraising goal The Associated Press
Diamonds suggest comets caused killer cold spell Reuters
IE falls below 69% market share, Firefox climbs above 21% TG Daily

As a Candidate, Kennedy Is Eloquent but Elusive New York Times After weeks of criticism that she had not opened up to the public or the press, Ms. Kennedy has embarked on a series of print and television interviews.
Kennedy Notes Being 'Unconventional Choice' Washington Post
Video: AP Exclusive: Kennedy Talks Senate
How normal will life be for Obama's famous tweens? The Associated Press
Bihar sacks 15000 teachers for faking degrees Sify
The Return of the Military Coup AllAfrica.com
Pakistan: 'Does Not Want War' with India Voice of America
WiMax to take country by storm Taiwan Journal
Alvarion snags WiMAX contract in Italy SmartBrief
Are Android, Chrome-flavored Netbooks On Tap For Google in 2009? eWeek
Hollywood Stars, High-Tech Titans Pitch in for Obama Inauguration FOXNews
Amitabh Bachchan goes for total transformation Real Bollywood
Amazon Claims ‘Best Ever’ Christmas (Whatever That Means) New York Times
California Surgeon Used Human Fat to Power Car FOXNews
Why Wal-Mart is the key to the iPhone's domination CNET News
Aniston Tops the Box Office! Extra TV
Jennifer Aniston Defeats Brad Pitt At The Box Office Celebuzz

Independent For Bloomberg

Barackface: Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard

Towards the end of the Jesse Jackson event, one elderly volunteer kept emphasizing upon me the point that it was okay to take Bloomberg's money if he gives ...
democracyforum.blogspot.com/2005/10/jesse-jackson-on-martin-luther-king.html

I rooted for Fernando Ferrer when he ran for Mayor. One day I found myself in the Bronx, and this old, Hispanic dude approached me and said in all earnesty: "Take Bloomberg's money if he gives it to you, just don't do the work!"

I don't know what he saw in me but apparently he knew me better than I knew me back then. It helped that Bloomberg who changed from Democrat to Republican changed from Republican to Independent.

I am declaring myself an Independent for Bloomberg. He will win a third term easy.

• He is a billionaire. I am going to be a billionaire.
  
• He is Mayor. I am a bigger political talent than him.
• He is Jewish, Jesus was a Jew. I am a Madhesi, Buddha was a Madhesi.
• He has been a very good Mayor.
  
• He is for Caroline Kennedy for US Senate. So am I.
• He is no Michael Corleone, he is Michael Bloomberg. I am Barackface.
  

I am an Independent for Bloomberg.

I am an Independent for Barack.

I am an Independent for Biden.

I am an Independent for Bobby.

I am Bhagat.

Plenty Of Fish: Chemistry Test Results

Congratulations! You just completed the Plenty of Fish Chemistry Predictor! http://www.plentyoffish.com

The Plenty of Fish Compatibility Predictor (CP) measures five broad relationship variables that are each essential for building romantic relationships. People don't need to score "high" on each of these characteristics to be in a fulfilling relationship. What's important is how your profile interacts with the profile of a potential romantic partner -- or what is commonly called “chemistry.” Based on decades of empirical research in the social sciences, the CP captures the five key ingredients that can determine whether or not two people have the “right” psychological chemistry. The relationship variables are: Self-Confidence, or the degree to which a person feels comfortable with him or herself. People that are high in self-confidence tend to be assertive and competent in both their private and public relationships. People that are low in self-confidence tend to be reticent and somewhat anxious. Family Orientation, or the degree to which a person supports and values the family. People that are family-oriented tend to want or already have children, are very close to their immediate relatives and prefer cooking at home to eating at a restaurant. People that are not family-oriented tend to be individualistic, unconventional and very much enjoy attending parties and social functions. Self-Control, or the extent to which a person exerts control over various aspects of life. People that are high in self-control tend have strong emotional reactions to things and try to regulate those feelings by micromanaging and attending to specific details. People that are low in self-control are usually relaxed, even-tempered and lenient. Openness, or the extent to which a person is open to and dependent upon others. People that are high in openness tend to like a wide range of things (e.g., food, music, movies, etc.), in part because they are concerned with pleasing other people. In contrast, people low in openness are very independent and opinionated; they know what they like and aren’t apt to change their opinion. Easygoingness, or a person’s work ethic and degree of mental flexibility. People that are high in easygoingness are very relaxed, broadminded and unaffected by change. In contrast, people low in easygoingness tend be hardworking, firm, and sometimes inflexible. IMPORTANT: Before reading your profile, remember that the report is based on generalizations from research on an international validation sample. Some feedback may not apply to your case. For instance, we know that overall those scoring "moderate or high" on Family Orientation tend to either want children soon or are open to the idea in the future. However, this generalization may not be accurate for all moderate and high scorers. Use these results for self-awareness and self-reflection...and hopefully as a conversation piece with other Plenty of Fish members!

Your Chemistry Test Results

Self-Confidence

As someone with high self-confidence, you feel quite comfortable interacting with other people. Indeed, you find the company of others very stimulating and enjoy meeting new people. Your relaxed demeanor in groups makes people around you comfortable too. Perhaps because you feel comfortable talking about yourself, others tend to enjoy being around you and perceive you as socially competent.

The confidence that helps you feel comfortable talking to people also spills into your own personal beliefs about yourself. Although you have several strengths, it’s likely that you also acknowledge and accept your weaknesses. But unlike some people, you take full responsibility for your actions—you rarely regret things you’ve done in the past and are not embarrassed easily.

Perhaps the defining feature that sets you apart from most people is the exceptionally high standards that you set for yourself. Your competence in social gatherings as well as at work should provide ample evidence for this. With these characteristics, it’s very likely that people come to you for advice and generally think of you as someone with leader-like qualities.

Family Orientation

As someone who is oriented to familial matters, you value the company of family-members and domestic life. If you have children already, you enjoy spending time with them very much and work hard to be a good parent. If you don’t have children, you very much desire having children in the future. And your preference for cooking and entertaining guests at home will likely ease the transition into parenthood.

You take pride in maintaining and cultivating a healthy family and work hard to achieve this. This natural tendency is easily illustrated by your preference for doing things around the house as opposed to going out to clubs and restaurants.

What really sets you apart from people that are low in family orientation is that you know how to manage your frustrations and work well on your own. This means that you are well-equipped to manage a family without letting all the work that is involved wear you down. However, as someone with strong family values, all the work that is involved in maintaining a tidy home and well-stocked kitchen might occasionally make it difficult for you to finish everything that you need to do.

Self-Control

The self-control personality dimension captures the way in which a person regulates and directs him or herself. Being low in self-control can be both good and bad. Occasionally people may be compelled to follow their intuitions and give in to their temptations, and your degree of self-control makes this likely to happen more often than not. This can be good in circumstances where being relaxed and open are important. However, in situations where it is necessary to be focused and careful, you might find that you do or say things that may be inappropriate.

As someone who exerts little control over your actions, you may find that you commit social blunders that might offend other people and get yourself in trouble. For example, if you’re given responsibility to work on a project that requires close attention to detail, you may be likely to overlook important details because you have difficulty staying focused. Consequently, you might feel more comfortable delegating such tasks to other people who are more detail oriented. Being able to recognize such characteristics in yourself and having more detail-oriented people do such tasks could be an effective way to manage your own stress level.

Low self-control may diminish your effectiveness at work. Acting too relaxed can make it difficult for you to focus on projects that require organized sequences of steps or stages. Thus, your ability to accomplish may be inconsistent. Indeed, it’s possible that you might be criticized periodically for being unreliable or unable to “stay within the lines.” Nonetheless, you may still experience many short-lived pleasures and never be thought of as boring.

Openness

As someone high in openness, you have a strong appreciation for beauty, both in art and nature. Indeed, it’s likely that you are easily absorbed in music and art, as well as natural phenomena. Another aspect of your openness is your emotional insight; that is, you probably have good access to and awareness of your own emotions.

Another aspect of the openness dimension is the tendency to think about abstract concepts and ideas. This thinking style may take the form of artistic and metaphorical use of language, and/or music composition or performance. Thus, it is likely that, either in your work or spare time, you enjoy activities that get your “creative juices” flowing.

Your tendency to be open-minded can have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, when there are no clear rules about how to approach a particular problem, your openness makes it easier for you to identify new ways to solve problems that might not be very obvious to people that are not as open as you are. In contrast, you may be bored easily in situations that lack high amounts of intellectual stimulation. In such cases, you might have difficulty excelling on projects that do not provide much stimulation or require much creative thinking.

Easygoingness

Easygoingness refers to one's ability to relax. Based on your score, you appear to work and play hard. The benefits of being moderate in easygoingness are that you achieve success through hard work, but you also know when and how to relax. Your colleagues and friends likely consider you as reliable and fun to be around.

Being moderate in easygoingness can cause you some stress, however. For example, you may sometimes find it difficult to complete tasks thoroughly and efficiently, which can cause stress for both you and the people around you. You may occasionally experience stress by working hard to reach your goals, but you value having fun and just relaxing. Knowing how to balance both work and play is a gift, and you have the key ingredients for doing this.

You have enough mental flexibility to think creatively and enough focus to implement those ideas well. This might be epitomized by your occasional difficulty focusing on subtle details, but the ease with which you’re able to adjust to changes in your life.

As someone who is neither rigid nor careless, you likely get along with most people well. On the one hand, you recognize the value of working hard and therefore consider such qualities in others beneficial. On the other hand, you know how to relax and thus appreciate people that know how to do this too. Chances are your friends and colleagues perceive you as someone that works hard, but also knows how to have a good time.

How does your personality affect your love life?

With your strong degree of confidence, it’s no surprise that you get along well with most people. Indeed, it’s self-confidence that allows people to feel comfortable interacting with others without feeling insecure and vulnerable. For this reason, you shouldn’t have much difficulty in romance, at least not initially. Your social skills will likely help relieve any anxiety your romantic partners might have on those first few dates. However, over time, the high standards that you have for yourself could potentially frustrate your partner.

Given how much you value family life, you probably get along best with people who share your values and beliefs. In fact, it’s likely that you maintain close connections with members of your immediate and distant family. For this reason, you would probably be most satisfied in a romantic relationship with someone who also values domestic life. Being in a relationship with someone who enjoys going out to parties and staying-up late at night might be fun, at least initially; yet it’s likely that you will find this tiring over time. Thus, it might be easier and more satisfying for you to develop a long-lasting relationship with a person who also enjoys spending time at home and desires starting a family. On first dates, perhaps you might suggest to your partner that the two of you spend a quiet night having dinner at one of your respective homes instead of going out to a restaurant or club.

As someone who is more relaxed than most people, you’re likely be attracted to most people. However, your free-spirited nature might make being in a relationship with a person that is more rigid than you difficult because you might perceive the person as being too uptight and controlling. For this reason, you may ultimately be most satisfied in a relationship with someone that is shares your level of self-control.

Your openness probably makes it easy for you to respect and appreciate people that are different from you. However, when it comes to romantic relationships, your openness might make it difficult for you to tolerate people that cannot appreciate diversity as much as you. Therefore, you may be happiest in serious relationships with people that share your open-mindedness. But, your openness might occasionally cause a certain degree of dependency on your end because you may be so open that you easily adopt the preferences and habits of your partners and gradually relinquish things that make you so unique.

January 5 Court Date: Request For Case Dismissal Based on Voluntary Pledge

December 26, 2008

9:30 AM, Part C
100 Centre Street
New York, NY 10013

2008 NY 040082

Mr. Youngblood.

Thank you for taking the time to appear on my behalf in court on December 18. I would like to offer this voluntary pledge based on which I request that you push for a case dismissal.

Voluntary Pledge

• Not mentioning the ERC name at my Barackface blog going into the future. (http://democracyforum.blogspot.com)
• Not showing up for DL21C events.

Quiet Pledge *

• Not mentioning the name of any NYC young progressive at my Barackface blog going into the future.
• Not going to political events in general.

* This is me saying to myself and to my business partner I wish to focus on my tech startup like a laser beam.

Please arrange for me to address the judge directly for one minute on January 5.

This is the woman I am looking into right now. This is not Elizabeth Caputo, this is Red Rose.

Switching Mode

Brunch With Adam Carson

During the six months I felt the emotional presence of my sister first and foremost. And I also felt Adam's presence. And there were people in the Nepali community. Anil and Chandra would meet up with my Nepali lawyer to express concern. Binod Shah had me stay at his house after I got out. He is the most connected-among-Madhesis Madhesi in New York Metro. My brother-in-law bailed me out. My high school alumni association's North America's chapter founder, classmate Kiran also wrote a letter.

Adam was a top Web 2.0 person at Morgan Stanley. My job is to get him to drop out of business school when the startup can afford to have him full time. I feel like I compete with Facebook in having him with me full time, by my side, working, dreaming of billions, Facebook and perhaps some consulting company in NYC. For me personally it is not about the money, it is about the vision statement.

Madhesi, Jewish

There are some overlaps, and then there are not. Jesus was a Jew. Buddha was a Madhesi. There are about 13 million Jews and Madhesis on the planet, 13 million each. The Jews got their own state, Israel. We Madhesis are working to get our own state in a federal Nepal.

But there is a direct connection between Jesus and anti-Semitism. The Holocaust at some level was the Jews getting blamed for killing Jesus. There is no direct connection between Buddha and the anti-Madhesi prejudice in Nepal. We have nothing even remotely close to the Holocaust in our heritage.

Both Madhesis and Jews are good looking people.

Two Cases: Immigration, Criminal

And to think there were people back in 2000, 2001 who thought I should go to Law School. The legal process is not creative enough for me. It feels like people using clever words to keep bothering you.

The immigration case is exactly where I want it at this point.

January 5

I want the criminal charge drama to come to an end on January 5. I am in talks with a criminal lawyer. But on my own I have thought up of something. I have no desire to go down the spiral of lawsuits and counter lawsuits. And fuck Charlie Rangel. I want to spend some time thinking about Caroline Kennedy, not Charlie Rangel. He should meet me in the halls and galleries of history if he can. I really don't have any desire to meet him in court. At some level I feel plain sorry for the guy.

Voluntary Pledge

• Not mentioning the ERC name at this blog going into the future.
  
• Not showing up for DL21C events.
  

Quiet Pledge

• Not mentioning the name of any NYC young progressive at my blog going into the future.
  
• Not going to political events in general.
  

Startup

I need to focus on the startup like a laser beam. That is the only way to take it to the heights I wish to take it to. Showing up for political events made sense when I was doing Nepal and Obama work. Both are behind me. I am a crisis man. When Nepal was in crisis, I was needed. When it was not at all obvious Barack is that man, I was needed. No more. Nepal is on track. Barack is in office.

I already stole six months from the startup. Three hours at a political event is three hours stolen away from the startup.

An Hour Or Two For Barack On Saturdays

Instead of first thing in the morning every morning, I do want to continue following Barack through Google News, but now I want to limit myself to an hour or two on Saturdays.

Five to six days a week it has to be, get up, workout, and devote the day to the startup.

Get A Life

Work and life. Taking better care of me. Making conscious chunks of time for family and friends. Working hard, living well, having fun. More me time.

No Career Switch

The startup work is going to be intense fun. It does not feel like a career switch. Internet access is the voting right for this 21st century. I never imagined myself a legislator. An executive office like the presidency fascinates me. The startup might be closer to my personality. Action.

Life: Part 2

This feels like life, part 2.

Autobiography

I think I am going to end up writing 1000 pages. So it might be quite a few months before it is out online. It is going to be experimental, nontraditional. The online format is going to have a major impact on its form and content, on its style. It might be blunt and detailed.

Plenty Of Fish

First time I heard of this site. I am surprised considering it has become so big.

Working Out

I relish the freedom of the freehand routines. And I am proud of my achievements so far. My body has sharper contours. It has been fleshing out nice. 600 pushups on Mondays and Thursdays, 600 crunches on Tuesdays and Fridays, 600 situps on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I don't know how the ancients kept track of the week.

Creative Guy

I am primarily a creative, not a combative guy. Combat is for once in a while. Creativity is for every single day. My hero Larry Ellison says he thinks of competitors as people who are trying to steal grains of rice from his children's teeth. Time for combat will come. Capitalism has its creative destructions.

Near Death

I once got into a real bad road accident in upstate New York. That was a near death experience. There was another incident in northern Texas that was a near death experience. The six months fall in that category, very literally, in a few different ways. On to life, part two. Appreciate the air, appreciate the water, appreciate.

Katie Halper's Night

I hope I did not give the impression that Katie made fun of the Holocaust for two hours and I laughed for two hours. That is not what happened. She dealt with all sorts of themes she has been cultivating over her stand up career. It is just that once in a while she would touch upon the Holocaust as a topic as in, it is okay to talk about it, it is okay to even find a few comic twists, and, people, maintain perspective, what about Hiroshima, Nagashaki, Darfur, Rwanda, the Armenians? Most of the two hours were comics making fun of the Jewish identity like Jon Stewart makes fun of his Jewish identity on national television.

January 5 Court Date: Bogus Court Order Violation Charge

9:30 AM, Part C
100 Centre Street
New York, NY 10013

2008 NY 040082

Hello Mr. Harris. Rudra mentioned your name back in July when I was in immigration detention. Ms. Elizabeth Caputo charged me with harassment. That triggered a May 13 deportation order because I was out of status. I was arrested for overnight on May 21. On May 22 I was ordered by a city judge to not contact her and was given a court date of June 4. A week later I showed up at the police station to pick up my wallet from night one of arrest. They arrested me again for a court order violation charge - bogus. On May 28 the judge refused the court order violation charge, refused "the people's" request for a $500 bail and let me go, and bundled the two cases. I showed up in court on June 4. Immigration got me. I spent six months in detention. Rudra got me out.

The city long ago dropped the original harassment charge "for lack of prosecutorial evidence." The court order violation charge is based on her claim that I ccd an email to her that I sent to two friends. That simply is not true. Please go to this page to see an image of the email yourself.

Lingering Detail: December 18

Ms. Caputo made a knowingly false charge.

Charlie Rangel's office got involved early on. That office pressured the NYPD to register a charge that should never have been registered for long enough that I would get deported. Could Rangel be sued for that?

Since her court order violation charge is completely false, can I countersue and make her pay for my legal expenses? Your fees? How does this work?

Can someone seek an order of protection against me for no reason? How does that work? Or if the case does get thrown out, does the order of protection vanish? Would I then be able to go to political events put together by her organization? I might not want to on my own, and it might not be wise, but would it be legal for me to go to those events?

I don't really want to get into a fight. But I want to know of all my options, upto and including suing Rangel?

She is a very talented woman. At one time we respected each other much. We have also liked each other a few times, although nothing happened. That complicates things. What I want is I want the legal mess to come to an end. I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to go after her. I just want things to get normalized.

Maybe you can call up her lawyer and try for an out of court settlement. Is that even an option?

Bringing The Criminal Charge Drama To An End: A Potential Lawsuit

Is it possible she never knew about my deportation order of May 13? As in the NYPD would not tell her about it? How does that work?

One way this could end is I would pledge to (a) not mention her at my blog going into the future, and (b) not show up for her DL21C events. But this would be a voluntary pledge, and she would not push for an order of protection. And of course she would drop the court order violation charge and pay your fee. And I would not sue Rangel.

Please talk to her lawyer and see what our options are. And what is your fee? Can it be paid in installments?

December 22, 2008

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December 26, 2008

Hello James. It was good to talk to you even though you are in Wyoming. This is the latest.

I want this whole thing to come to an end on January 5. I don't want to have to spend a single minute on this after January 5. I just want to be able to focus on my work and my life.

Will a voluntary pledge to (a) no longer mention ERC at my Barackface blog going forward, and (b) not show up for DL21C events do it? On my own I am also going to make a quiet pledge to myself: (a) to not mention young progressives in NYC in general at my blog, and (b) to avoid political events in the city in general. The quiet pledge is meant to help me focus on my tech startup like a laser beam.