Rajan Parrikar wrote: > I just peeped into Goanet after a long time and saw one Merwyn someone > quote the doofus Tom Friedman.....
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:55:02 -0800 (PST) From: Mervyn Lobo <[email protected]> Rajan Parrikar, Just in case you are not aware of it, Thomas Friedman is one of the most decorated journalist in America. He has won the Pulitzer Prize. Three times. Mario observes: This is like citing Nobel Prize winners on subjects other than their own, or citing the Nobel Peace Prize for recognizing peace-makers with awards to Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat, Kofi Annan and Mohammad al Baradei. Friedman is a journalistic gadfly, who sometimes writes sense - as in this article on H1-B visas - and just as often writes absolute nonsense. Mervyn wrote [to Rajan]: You are well known for resorting to calling people names when you are unable to debate their point or contention. This time, you were unable to make even a feeble point on what you did not like about Friedman's article, before you started your regular and childish name calling. Mario observes: I will leave the name-calling to Rajan, who is far more skilled at slipping "gallis" into his posts than I am, and stick to Friedman:-)) As they say, even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice a day. So it is with Friedman on several issues. In the article Mervyn posted, I agree with Friedman that Obama's protectionist measures to reward his union and liberal supporters by restricting H1-B visas will hurt the American economy by restricting hard working and computer skilled Indians. Friedman has always admired Indians in America because they are without doubt the highest working and highest achieving ethnic community in the United States. I have no idea how Rajan or Prof. Norman Matloff of UC-Davis can dispute this since a) I could not download the article Rajan posted, and b) the status of the Indians as the highest achieving ethnic community in America is confirmed by US census figures going back to 1980, and the importance of Indian computer specialists has been confirmed by public testimony by Bill Gates, who has far more credibility on this issue than Prof. Matloff or anyone else. Rajan wrote: > To those who don't know - Friedman is a certified donkey who has simply > lucked out and gotten a slot on prime newsprint real estate that is the > NYT.? He is a laughing stock of both the liberal and conservative > commentariat in America. Mervyn replied: Mais oui, there is a different opinion. Here is something from wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman. Mario adds: See what I said about Rajan's skills:-))??? I have no idea what support Mervyn thinks he gets from Wikipedia which hardly provides a "different" opinion as Mervyn says, because it shows how Friedman is a journalistic gadfly who frequently often speaks out of both sides of his wordprocessor. For example, He supports a compromise solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without any answer to the fact that the radical Islamicists want no compromise that includes the existence of Israel. He is described as a free market proponent, yet he supports government intervention whenever it suits him. For example, in the auto industry on fuel effiency standards, and in the oil industry especially his advocacy of higher taxes as a means of keeping US gasoline prices high to discourage consumption. This would reward the very organization that has created the shortage in American crude oil and refined gasoline - the US government and the liberal Democrats who have blocked all efforts at US crude oil production and new refining capacity for several decades now - at the expense of the organizations that explore, drill, refine and bring gasoline to US consumers at low free market prices - the big oil companies who ear a paltry net profit of only 8% on every dollar of sales - lower than my corner convenience store and the bottlers of purified tap water sold at a higher price per gallon than gasoline. He was on both sides of the Iraq liberation issue - and has been proven wrong by the outcome. Rajan P. Parrikar parrikar at yahoo.com Thu Feb 12 20:29:55 PST 2009 My prescription for India: build clean toilets first. Samir wrote: What support Shekar Gupta is willing to give to local entreprenuers who are trying to sell into the Indian market? There is only corruption here, and govt. bureaucracy. Does Shekar Gupta the so called renonwed journalist have any shame or patriotism ? This is the height of hypocrisy that Shekhar Gupta shown. Mario adds: Samir, I have just returned from a month in the Fatherland and the public dirtyness there is disgusting to say the least and several generations behind the west in standards of public cleanliness and civic behavior. Kachra is everywhere, with rare exceptions like the walled IT Park enclave called Magarpatta in Pune. No one gives a sh.., I mean, hoot. Shekhar Gupta is like most middle-class Indians - they are blind to what is going on right under their noses - or choose to ignore it - living in a world of their own. Can you believe Amitabh Bachchan, who has spent a lifetime creating a delusional fantasy of Indian life, getting livid because Slumdog Millionaire showed India's dark underbelly, a place you can smell before you can see it? Can you believe, two and three storied jopdis now in Mumbai, all built illegally, with satellite dishes, TVs and refrigerators in some cases, but no toilets or running water? Bootlegged electricity. Bribery and corruption is rampant and I had to even bribe the bas....., ...er, babus in Pune to get a Municipal Death Certificate for my Mother, even after I could prove she was certifiably dead and buried for several weeks. Had she been alive it would only have cost me a few bucks more. If it sounds like I'm only joking I'm as serious as a heart attack. No one who does not earn a salary or interest and dividends that are taxed at the source pays taxes honestly, if they pay any taxes at all - this in a country where self employed people and small and medium sized businesses dominate the economic landscape. Rajan, You should know better than most that the Indians who are needed to keep a fire lit under the American economy are different from those Indian politicians, bureaucrats and social leaders who are failing in their responsibity to encourage, leave alone provide, clean public toilets, drinking water, urinating and defecating, spitting and throwing thrash in public places, and the unbelievable selfishness, inconsiderate attitude and impatience that creates anarchy on the public roads and highways.
