Barackface

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Reshma Is Better At Raising Money, Way Better

Reshma 2010: New Office: Party: June 21 Monday

I totally see why Pelosi and Obama need to keep the House in November. I absolutely, totally see that. That is a big reason why I am supporting Reshma. Reshma is going to win on September 14, and then she is going to help the party raise a lot of money for the races across the country in November. Maloney can't do that. In her own district. Look at how much money Reshma has raised as someone noone ever heard of. The first quarter she beat Maloney two to one in fundraising. Imagine how much money she will be able to raise after she hits the national headlines on September 14.

Maloney has done some good work, but her time is up. It is time for some fresh blood into the New York congressional delegation. It is time for both Rangel and Maloney to retire. They are both past retirement age.

When it comes to fundraising, Reshma's hands are magic. She was one of John Kerry's top 10 fundraisers in 2004. I am waiting for John Kerry to endorse her any time now. It is called gratitude.

You want Reshma Saujani to win in New York on September 14 because you want Democrats to win across America in November. That is as good a rationale as any to support Reshma now going onto September 14.

Randi For Reshma
Zuckerberg Has Stature
Reshma 2010, Square, And Pro.Act.Ly

Reshma Saujani At The Huffington Post
An Afternoon At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters
A 14-7 Office For Reshma 2010
My Political Resume, Reshma 2010, And September 14
Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
My Talk With Kevin Lawler Of Reshma 2010
Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India
Reshma Saujani Ad Spotted At The New York Times Website
Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt
Reshma Saujani, Haiti Earthquake, Harvard Yale, And 2016
Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech
Reshma Saujani: Innovation, Ethnic Pride, Thought Leadership
Do I Know Rajiv Shah?

Reshma 2010: New Office: Party: June 21 Monday

Food and Drinks
Monday, June 21st at 6:30 p.m.
The fifth floor of 143-145 Madison Avenue
(between 31st and 32nd Street)
Office opening party!

"And keep an eye out for our Queens office -- coming soon!"

Randi For Reshma
Zuckerberg Has Stature
Reshma 2010, Square, And Pro.Act.Ly

Reshma Saujani At The Huffington Post
An Afternoon At The Reshma 2010 Headquarters
A 14-7 Office For Reshma 2010
My Political Resume, Reshma 2010, And September 14
Reshma Saujani, Carolyn Maloney
My Talk With Kevin Lawler Of Reshma 2010
Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India
Reshma Saujani Ad Spotted At The New York Times Website
Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt
Reshma Saujani, Haiti Earthquake, Harvard Yale, And 2016
Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech
Reshma Saujani: Innovation, Ethnic Pride, Thought Leadership
Do I Know Rajiv Shah?

Monday, June 14, 2010

Bush: Genius? Visionary?

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times: U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan: The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan ..... huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium ..... Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys. ..... could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war. ..... Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion. ........ charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House. .... the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country. ..... Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced. ..... officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth ..... mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country ....... In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989. ...... using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to an old Navy Orion P-3 aircraft that flew over about 70 percent of the country. ...... the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted. ..... iron and copper, and the quantities are large enough to make Afghanistan a major world producer of both

Bush spent over a trillion dollars for his wars. Is this news the guy getting validation after all? The Afghans were just sitting on top of it, and did not even know it.

NextGen Africa Forum @ NYU June 14

Image via Wikipedia

I have been seeing a lot of buzz around this event at NYU this evening. I signed up and I think you should too. Pass it on.

NextGen Africa Forum
Monday, June 14, 2010 from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET)
NYU's Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY

And there is an after party at Amity Hall, proceeds from drinks to go to Goods4Good.

80 West 3rd St

Amity Hall is showing all World Cup games live. That would be one great reason for many people to keep going back there: to celebrate Africa. I love soccer.

Christine Huang: The Huffington Post:NextGen Africa: What's Next for Africa's 50 Million Orphans?

Of the 2.2 billion children that populate the world, 163 million of them are parentless. ..... "It's getting worse," Aronson explained. "The number [of vulnerable children and orphans] is increasing because the number of adults living with AIDS and other diseases is increasing; because of conflict and war... These are all large contributors. But the most important reason is the increase of extreme poverty. This is an issue which has been growing over the decades; the hundreds of millions of people living in poverty is growing daily, and the financial crisis we're living in today is adding to that." ....... Goods for Good, a New York-based nonprofit organization, that partners with international corporations and grassroots organizations to provide school supplies, clothing, health products, and other necessities to orphans and vulnerable children in developing nations. ........ "Children's and women's issues are not given their due in mainstream press -- they're the least interesting topics in the media. And yet they're the most interesting topics -- because the success of the planet is up to them," Aronson said with conviction. "If I were asked, what would be the best bang for you buck in helping the world be a better place to live, I'd say it would be investing in women and their families -- so that all women would have prenatal care, and so their babies are born healthy, and their families could live in a healthy environment."

Dr. Jane Aronson
Joyce Banda
Ann Veneman
Dr. Claire Gaudiani
Melissa Kushner

This event is not going to be easy to attend. I am already going through so many emotions. So many large scale problems grip the continent of Africa. But one has to always make the effort to fall on the side of hope, not despair.

I roam the tech circles in town hoping to contribute to the idea of universal broadband. I am a Third World guy. Africans at college looked so different, but they knew what mud huts were, and we bonded. I was one of Obama's earliest supporters in New York City. 500 years of world history can not be remedied in five years, but the journey has to begin.

On my way to this event I am also reminded of Madonna. I have always liked her. So I was not surprised with her Malawi work.

Iran: The World Has Wasted A Year

The Azadi Tower is the symbol of Tehran, Iran,...

Image via Wikipedia

It has been a year since the Iranians have been braving the streets. Their courage is in stark contrast to the Iranian diaspora that has failed to help steer the political goal of the revolution from forcing the mullahs to hold a re-election to pushing the theocracy out of power altogether and turning Iran into a modern democracy, and in stark contrast to the global netroots/grassroots that has been myopic, unreal, shallow, and just plain not pragmatic. And I am not even going to talk about the world leaders and the world governments.

A theocracy and a dictatorship is designed to be unreasonable. If you want to feel the warmth of reason from Tehran, you help the democracy movement. You help the reform movement. But the people who are pissed the mullahs might be sharpening nukes want to act cautious lest they cross those mullahs. That is insane. There is not much logic in that thinking. The world has to help the Iranian democracy movement to the hilt. Talk of moral support sickens me. Turn your Twitter avatar green. You impressed someone else, not me. Because I have been under the impression you are going to start and stop with that. That's not enough. This democracy movement should have been over and concluded by now. This is taking too long. A democracy movement is supposed to last weeks, not months and years. This is unreal. The world has not stood with the people of Iran.

There are two huge reasons for the world at large to get behind the democracy movement in Iran. One, nukes. Two, the larger so called War On Terror. You want Iran to become a democracy because a democracy makes sense. A democratic Iran the world will be able to reason with. And you want the democracy movement in Iran to succeed so that success can be replicated in every other country in that region. I can't wait for democracy movements to erupt in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for example.

I am glad the people in Iran are still going strong. I am sad they have been so let down by the world.

Effort has to be made to shift the goal. Begging the mullahs to hold a re-election will only lead to frustration and possible failure. You give the mullahs a deadline. They step down or you shut the country completely down until they step down and make way for a caretaker government that will hold elections to a constituent assembly. And you announce all human rights violations to that point will be persecuted by the caretaker government. The beatings of protesters and the torture of those detained has to be accounted for. There has to be a price to pay.

And the world has to give logistical support. A democracy movement asks for logistics just like military misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan do.

Iran: An Opportunity
Iran: Yes, We Can
How We Have Failed Iran
Dumb White People (DWPs) And Iran
The Fraud In Iran
Iran: This Is What I Am Talking About
The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal

A democracy movement is science: it can be made to work every single time.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Samuel Eto'o

NewPage Bit The Hand That Feeds It And Is Hurting

Image via Wikipedia

A robust free trade global and domestic environment is the optimal condition in which a company like NewPage can best flourish. But NewPage did its level best this past year to pour oil into that water and in the process has damaged itself and more than a few players in its industry and especially in its affiliated industries. It is high time for counter arguments and counter measures. A counter balance has to be provided so paper and publishing industries go back to being in a healthy state.

The US economy has always been in a state of change, some major some not so major. A country that elected Abrahan Lincoln was primarily agricultural.

There is a right way to get rid of the competition and there is a wrong way. There is a market way and there is a non market way. The market way is the right way. NewPage has made some shady moves the past year. And now the situation has to be rectified. Common sense has to prevail in September.

Coated-Paper Maker NewPage Withdraws Planned IPO Wall Street Journal NewPage Group Inc. Tuesday pulled its planned initial public offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing
NewPage Withdraws Plans For $805 Million IPO Reuters NewPage manufactures coated paper, which is used in corporate reports, brochures, magazine covers and catalogs. The filing did not give a reason for the withdrawal. .... NewPage filed to float shares in May 2008 but never said how many shares it hoped to sell or gave an expected price range, despite two amendments to its initial filing.
Paper Manufacturer NewPage Cancels Plans For IPO BusinessWeek Coated paper manufacturer NewPage Group Inc. withdrew a two-year-old plan for an initial public offering ..... The company, based in Miamisburg, Ohio, makes paper used by the media and in marketing materials such as corporate annual reports and high-end advertising brochures. .... Earlier in May, NewPage said its parent company's first quarter net loss widened to $179 million from $114 million a year ago .... NewPage was formed by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP in 2005 to acquire the printing and writing papers business of MeadWestvaco Corp.
Proposed Paper Tariff Pits Jobs Vs. Costs Hartford Business Journal A U.S. Department of Commerce proposal to impose stiff tariffs on coated free sheet paper imported from China and Indonesia would help save American jobs and allow domestic companies to compete more fairly for business, supporters say. ..... But the plan could launch an international tariff war, warns a Connecticut printer and other opponents, that could backfire and almost certainly would drive up the cost of printing everything from multicolored catalogs, magazines and books to advertising flyers, menus and greeting cards. .... Chinese and Indonesian producers already hold 30 percent of the U.S. market for coated paper. ..... “If this decision holds, which I think it will, it will be a very good one for our industry,” said John Williams, president of the Maine Pulp & Paper Association. ...... Whether they make coated free sheet (CFS) paper or not, U.S. producers will benefit from the ruling because it likely will reduce Asian imports worth more than $269 million and drive up domestic sales, said Williams. ........ But there’s another view. ..... duties will hurt U.S. printers. ...... “Duties in this case will lead to reductions, delays and disruptions to the paper supply that will increase business costs for thousands of U.S. printers and related industries” ...... “It will jeopardize the competitiveness of U.S. printers as higher costs force many publishers to seek cheaper foreign printing solutions or use other media.” ......... The dispute came to a head when three paper companies — New Page Corp., Appleton Coated LLC and Sappi Fine Paper North America, the U.S. arm of South Africa’s Sappi Ltd. — joined the U.S. Steel Workers in filing a joint anti-dumping petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission last year. ........ New Page Corp., the largest paper manufacturer in the U.S. ....... “We haven’t seen any new coated free sheet paper mills in decades.” ....... As part of its preliminary anti-dumping ruling in March, the U.S. Department of Commerce suggested a rate of 135.8 percent on certain CFS paper products imported from China — up from a range of 30.82 percent to 89.71 percent; the agency proposed a single rate of 10.62 percent for all coated paper products imported from Indonesia. ....... That means a Chinese company assessed at 30 percent would pay the U.S. Treasury $300,000 in fees to export $1 million worth of coated paper to the U.S. For companies assessed at 135 percent, the import rate would be $1.35 million for every $1 million sent to the U.S. ...... In a similar case brought by U.S. paper manufacturers in December 2007, the International Trade Commission blocked final duties from going into effect because the domestic paper industry had not been harmed. ...... a final determination expected from the U.S. International Trade Commission in September.
Paper jam hits Cerberus The Daily Deal NewPage, the Cerberus-owned coated paper manufacturer, filed for an $805 million initial public offering two years ago but never got close to market.

(Blog post ad)

Pages

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Related articles by Zemanta

Related articles by Zemanta

Monday, June 14, 2010

Related articles by Zemanta

Related articles by Zemanta

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Related articles by Zemanta