Brained Out

Ron Paul proposes to do away with the federal reserve system if he became president. You have to be an idiot or a genius to even consider such a thing. But Dr Ron Paul is a genius and that is his failing and why he wont be president.

Ron Paul comes across as a straigth talking dude, much like a college professor and nothing like a cool politician. How he came to be a congressman, is something else.

The shake out has already happened with the main contenders now hogging the imagination and attention of Americans. Ron Paul is way out of the race now. Obama, in particular has brought about fresh dimensions to the race, drawing in a lot more new voters in the process.

The presidency of the United States is a thinly veiled pretension as the world monarchy. With singlehanded might to run the affairs of the world, the president needs to be one who looks regal, and being able to stir the imagination of the masses. America has more clever people than it needs, some probably cleverer than Ron Paul.

It is not the presidency that holds ultimate sway over the citizens of the world; it is the USA. The president, finally, is a mere symbol for pax americana.

Destiny's Wimp

PPP's special one*

It is about dynasty, and it's the wrong game plan. 19 years old, and chairman of the PPP; no experience, no charisma and decades before he would be in effective leadership of his party.

To be the president of Pakistan is something to die for. That, is absurdly true. It is a disservice to the people of the country that their future must be put to ransom by the Bhutto family. As it is, Pakistan is run on a warlord system, whatever they chose to call it. If its people let their destiny ride on the fortune of some warlord, then they deserve the leaders they get. Having a country's future hijacked in order to perpetuate a dynasty, is unacceptable and is a legitimate concern of the world community, and its people must wake up to their reality.

Modernising Pakistan is next to impossible. Its heart is still ruled by Islamic clerics with 14 centuries old mindsets. In order for authority to be established, ruling the country needs strength first: social equity becomes a distant, warped objective. The concept of democracy is anathemic.

That is why if the Bhutto's have any sense of the larger picture, trumpeting the continuance of blood lineage should sound arcane and inconsonant to them. The larger good should be to free Pakistan of its medieval shakles. This takes courage, sacrifice and a strict volitional choice of what one's place in history should be. In life, Benazir's struggles had some meaning. In the end her death meant nothing.

*Bilawal means "without equal" in urdu.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” Einstein

It's a Question of Character

Mr Chua Choi Lek should have resigned the moment he knew the cat was out of the bag. Better still, he should have resigned the moment he has cheated on his wife.

It is a question of character. Whether it is done openly or behind closed doors, a wrong is still a wrong. Confessing to his errant ways does not absolve him. In this case he thought a confession would clear him of his moral crime.

We need our leaders to be strong intellectually and morally for these two traits are the foundations of a civil society. A leader cannot be both dirty and clean.

There is much to be said about the honesty and moral standing of people in power, but all who claim to be leaders must show the minimum respect to those below them. You lose claim of being a leader once your moral credential is tainted.

Mr Chua is a rotten fish. He says" at the end of the day, it just tells you that sometimes honesty does not pay". Does he expect to get a prize?