Somewhere in the backdrop, McCain doesn’t like the campaign that he is running. It is against his nature, and he recognizes it. This moment captures that in all earnest.

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I would think that such an argument is rather too simplistic. China has had a long history of Government bailouts of banks. So it is not as if the system is perfect. Far from it. But the control that the Government has on the system makes it easier for the Chinese to make light of such problems.

Extending the control argument into a different sphere, one can say that the Chinese Government controls the media in that country, so, even if there were to be a systemic failure in China, the Government can stage-manage it to create an impression as if all were well.

In countries, like the United States or even India, where the media is not a mouthpiece for the Government (OK, I’m not talking about Fox News), systemic failures are covered in all their gory details. (The downside is that a such coverage deals blow to the public’s confidence, and feeds into fears and causes a vicious cycle of fear-induced-fear.)

Lastly, China is a net exporter. According to Wikipedia, in 2007, China’s exports, of over $1.2 trillion, were $262 billion more than its imports. The US alone accounts for a fifth of these exports. If the economies of the US and Western Europe spiral into a recession, Chinese exports would be hit, thus crippling its economy. That the Chinese are not big domestic consumers doesn’t help at all. Nor does the fact that they like to save their money rather than spend (all of) it.

But yes!

That is not to say that the United States’ model is superior. With a growing external debt, and population that has a negative personal savings rate, the country is a model for how not to be. The public can criticize Washington for its problems, but it wasn’t the politicians who goaded the commoners to spend beyond their means, and wind up with massive credit card debts.

The people worked themselves into the mess, and only they can get themselves out of the hole. This does require massive governmental intervention, but what is more important is an attitudinal change towards personal finances. That said, to point to China, growing economic superpower as it may be, and call its economic model as superior is simplistic and ill-founded.

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One can see that Google is exploiting this successfully with the Chrome browser. Here’s how. In Internet Explorer or Firefox, if you navigate to a page, but the server is down, a 404 error page is displayed. Google Chrome, however, shows an error page that has a link that can retrieve a copy of the page from Google’s cache. (Google’s cache is so well updated that some people joke that even if a majority of web sites were to crash some day, users could still retrieve pages from Google’s cache.)

This, I think, is a significant advantage for users. A 404 page is of no use, but Chrome turns it on its head. Just where are these guys from?

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Crammer v/s Crammer.

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Like John McCain invented the Blackberry.

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A fabulous read.

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Please! I mean, we don’t want someone who is just like us. “Just like you” does not mean that the “you” is some exalted person. It means that the person who is touted as “just like you” is just average. So so. Nothing special. Fair. Tolerable. Mediocre. Passable.

In any country, the average citizen is a loser. Outside of statistics, the term is almost derogatory. It is not a compliment to tell a host that the food was average.

Consider this. A random Google search leads one to peg the average IQ of Americans at 98. The technical term for a person with an IQ of 70 or less is “moron”. Sure, there is quite a lot of daylight between the two figures, but it isn’t a world apart. Is the McCain campaign telling the American people, “My pick for Vice President is just as intellectually challenged as you are”? Surely they deserve better.

Or, consider the per capita personal income of the average American - $38,611 per year. Again, that is quite some money, but not a lot. While the intention here is not to be patronizing of people who make that much annually, you sure won’t be astounded by that figure.

That is not to say that a candidate running for President or VP should have at least 10 patents against his / her name, two of which were gained while working towards a PhD at Harvard, and half of the remaining were filed during a second PhD at MIT. Oh, not to forget about the annual 10 million dollar-royalty that the patents earn him / her.

Leaders should command respect. They should be inspirational. Either through force of character, or a history of achievement, or something else. For all the criticism that he has come under, there is no denying that John McCain commands respect. A war hero, a veteran Senator, his resume shines. Senator Obama, though a freshman Senator, is inspirational not only through the story of his life, but also through the freshness of his message. Senator Joe Biden has as impressive a CV as any Senator on Capitol Hill.

And Sarah Palin is thrown into this ring, an epitome of Shakespeare’s “… and some have greatness thrust upon them” quote. It is not politics or male chauvinism or condescension when one is led to remark that Governor Palin is uninspiring, even putting-offy.

When was the last time you were inspired by someone who only inspires fear in you? Fear and pity not for yourself, but for that selfsame person.

The stakes are so high, and of the many crises that America is faced with at this moment, the primary crisis is of confidence. An uninspiring, average, er… just-like-you leader is something that the country can do without.

Think, America, think!

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Nothing serious, but I was hoping to find out if Sarah-ppalling had gotten back to Katie as the former had promised during last week’s CBS interview - “I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you” - when asked about John McCain’s record in the Senate seeking for more regulation.

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The exam can be given at Prometric testing centers between October 15 and November 15, 2008. If you wish to register for the exam, you can do so between 13 and 15 October.

Registration details and exam information can be found at the SCSN Beta Exam site.

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“… That means we have to stay on top of our customers’ needs, and we have to monitor and understand the innovations in the material science world- everything from semiconductors to polymers to liquid crystal displays. You need to track anything having to do with the flow of electrons, and you need to keep asking how these marvelous developments might be useful to customers.

The customer doesn’t come to you and say, “Boy, I really like lithium ion batteries. I can’t wait to get my hands on some lithium ion.”

The customer says, “I want a notebook computer that lasts the whole day. I don’t want it to run out when I’m on the plane.”"

Reminds me of a quote from Henry Ford: “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, “Really fast horses!”"

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As someone rightly pointed out, this woman makes George “Dubya” Bush seem like an intellectual.

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McCain’s supporters and campaign managers had gone on every single news program claiming that it was the Arizona senator who had engineered bipartisan support for the bill, while also calling for the plan to be rewritten and expanded upon. This from a man, who had just a couple of days earlier claimed not to have read the original 3-page Paulson plan. And a man who openly agrees that he does not understand the economy.

Yes, quite a few House Democrats did not vote for the bill. But House Republicans, who Senator McCain claimed to have convinced voted “Nay” in large numbers. This is a huge failure for Senator McCain; it shows that neither does he have any knowledge of the economy nor does he have the leadership required to run a country in crisis. Damn, he doesn’t have his “House” in order.

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Else, why would zero-IQ Sarah (like that Miss Teen USA or someone) continually mispronounce the names of these two countries? I mean, just because the iPod is so popular, not everything that starts with an “i”… no, forget it.

I am an ay-ndian, so I’ll never get it.

By the way, can you believe, this Palin woman, she talks foreign policy in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys”? Like some 3-year old. Reminds me of this Youtube video.

McCain should have considered the young girl for his running mate. OK, but he has already picked me.

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Well, there are many reasons why he need not. For one, I am not a former Miss Alaska runner-up. I don’t know what a moose is. Hockey-moms won’t vote for me. When last measured, I had a three-digit IQ  (and the first digit isn’t a zero!).

But here is one strong reason why. I have had a photo of me taken outside the gates of the White House. That means, I have a thorough understanding of foreign policy, defense, the economy and handling crisis situations. At least, that is what Palin-logic leads me to infer:

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

(Courtesy: CBS News)

Oh, and I have been to a couple of other countries as well. I’m so confident of getting onto the ticket! Moreover, I’m only 25, so the average age of our ticket is lesser than the Obama-Biden combo. So all you folks, go out on November 4, and vote for Senator McCain and me. Remember, we’ve seen it all.

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And he continued, tongue-in-cheek, “You see, the economy is like a bathtub - you can’t have cold water in the front, and hot water at the back!”

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