So, lately I have to admit I have been pretty engulfed in election but more is happening around the world and one thing that continues to haunt us – and will probably haunt us for generations to come – is terrorism. You know I’ve spoken about this topic in the past but last weekend I saw terrorism from a different standpoint. See in India – as with many other nations around the world – terrorism isn’t something new. We really got our first initial blow on 9/11 but others have been facing its ugly face for decades. Last week on the recommendation of a dear cousin I watched a movie entitled “A Wednesday” – I was very touched by the movie and had to recommend it to others. It’s a movie that makes you realize how much our lives have changed and how scary the world is we live in today. Hats off to Neeraj Pandey for addressing this issue and for Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher for enacting his story so well.

This movie is not so much about the terrorist but more about you and me – the common folks that get pulled in neither by choice or desire. I’m not going to spoil the movie, but will say that this is definitely a movie that should be watched to get those juices flowing in your brain to make you think about our lives and the direction we are heading in. Also, another such movie that makes you think outside the box is the movie “Aamir.” Again this movie touches on terrorism and our lives – I just wanted to share these movies with you all because it’s great to see such cinema coming from Bollywood. Keep it up!

Yes, I watched the VP debate last night and thought both candidates fared well; however, I am still not won over by Sarah Palin. She, to me, was too much like a cheerleader for McCain then a person of substance herself. She did not exhibit any qualities that make me confident that she can run this country if she had to (and her chances are higher than Biden’s). In fact, by her constantly dodging the questions and just trying to get out all the material that has been shoved into her head for the past month; she proved she is not ready to take on the responsibility of aiding or running our nation. In fact, it still boggles my mind that, in the entire Republican Party, this was the best candidate McCain would find.

I don’t see how her leadership in Alaska can transcend into our nation. Her state probably benefited greatly from the rising cost of oil and hence you see a surplus there; it had nothing to do with her leadership! That is, had the cost of gas still been at a dollar a gallon, I doubt we’d even hear about her. She merely got lucky to be in position at a time when her state’s natural resources turned out to be profitable. How, though, does she plan on using that expertise (as she likes to state) to benefit the rest of us who are not fortunate enough to have oil in our backyards. Also, by constantly saying “drill, baby, drill”, does she not realized that oil won’t be there forever? I don’t see drilling as the answer; we need to find alternative sources. Palin doesn’t seem to have the capability to think outside the box; for her drilling is the answer – well, I don’t happen to agree!

Furthermore, I was disgusted with her language – yes, maybe she was trying to talk to the average “Joe” at home but in reality that will not be who she will have to deal with if she becomes the VP. She does not give me any hope that she will be able to converse with delegates and foreign nationals – Governor Palin winking your eye may have worked in Alaska but won’t get you far in the rest of the world. Let me make an analogy, say you have to go in to get surgery performed on you would you want an experienced doctor or a freshly graduated student? I know I’d go with the experienced doctor and as VP I see those characteristic in Biden. He held his own; I personally think he was up against a harder task. Everyone had already lowered their expectations for Palin – they were so low she was bound the meet them and she did not exceed them. Biden showed true diplomacy and I think he could represent us with dignity in the world. He despite having the opportunity to attack Palin stuck with his agenda. He was focused and very well spoken. I’m actually sick and tired of hearing how Palin is a breath of fresh air and that people like her because she is not a politician but one of us – well, people wake up because this is political race. That is, we are here to elect a politician – we need someone who can walk and talk the language of Washington DC. If my plumbing isn’t working in my house, I don’t call an electrician I call a plumber; likewise, in DC I need someone who will have the skills and knowledge to interact with the big wigs there. She will be ridiculed beyond belief!

Oh and before, many of you start to talk about Obama’s lack of experience as compared to McCain – let me just tell you this at 72 years old and with the way he has conducted his campaigning (wait, is that still on hold?), he experience has been negated by this current behavior. I think he is just too old for this job, its time for him to just retire and enjoy his senior years. Why would he want to take on a job that is going to be physically and emotionally draining? In stead, I would say he should just go back to his family and let Palin get back to hers.

And one last comment, I don’t need a maverick in power; currently our society needs stability not chaos. The past eight years have shown us what happens when we choose the wrong person, please don’t let this go on anymore, this November vote for the betterment of our nation.

Okay, so I, like many of you, watched the Presidential debates and it seemed to me there was a no clear “winner”. However, I was impressed at how Obama carried himself and, considering this was supposed to be an area he was not to “ready”, he held his own very well. On the other hand,

I felt that McCain’s constant reminders of his not being voted “Miss Congeniality” just goes to prove that he has truly lost the notion of the race. Maybe he signed up for the wrong race and he thought he was supposed to be running for Miss USA (wait… that would be another race he’d lose), and that is why he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Anyways, besides that, I was utterly disgusted in his mannerisms whereby he couldn’t even make eye contact (not even once) with Obama. Oh my god, it was so childish; do we truly want such a figure head to represent us in the global world? Could you imagine how he’d deal with representatives from around the globe? If he didn’t agree with them, would he give them the silent treatment? Maybe Obama’s approach of sitting down with open chats isn’t realistic; they do, however, at least give us hope that he would work with others.

Now with the Vice-Presidential debate lingering, I am curious to see how Palin will fare. She has been royally screwing up her interviews and I have to say that Saturday Night Live’s depiction of her Katie Couric interview was outrageous! But I’m wondering if she will – especially since she been preparing for such a long time now – come across a lot more knowledgeable than she truly is. Will she just recite the jargon provided to her and manifest herself as what the Republican Party what as opposed to what she truly is. As a female myself, I have to say that she has embarrassed the daylights out of me. I am actually insulted that McCain choose her to depict as a woman who could hold her own in this very demanding position. Either it’s a slap in the face for all of us women, because she is truly coming across as a Bimbo (and she isn’t even blonde!), or it just goes to show how McCain has a lack of knowledge in coming up with decisions. He had longer to choose his running mate and all he could find in the whole bloody party was this sorry excuse for a mate? C’mon please don’t let these guys take over Washington DC; do we really want to be ridiculed even further in this global environment? Just remember we need to pick someone who can personify us with dignity and maturity, not someone who can’t give straight answers. We don’t need a rash decision maker; we need someone who is thoughtful and rational – these are characteristics I do see in Obama. He may not be perfect, but I doubt anyone is. He does, however, come across as someone who can lead us out of the mess of the past eight years!

The government’s plan to bailout homeowners and banks got me wondering as to who is next? And my God, I think I know who… our local state governments. How many states are currently struggle with budgets? I know in New Jersey we hear about it all the time along with the crazy ideas to try to raise revenue (via NJ Turnpike toll increases). Well, Governor Corzine, I’ve an idea for you: why don’t you take our huge deficit and run to the Feds; they may just come to our aid. And why only NJ; Governor Schwarzenegger, you may want to try it too. But all kidding aside, this is getting bloody ridiculous! Am I the only one who thinks that when you take a loan, knowing that you cannot pay it back, you should suffer?

People who brought homes outside their budgets should lose their homes. It’s not my fault that they chose to go beyond their means; so why would I or the future generations pay for their stupidity? Equally, these financial institutions that gave out mortgages to people with little or none collateral have to pay the price. If their investments tanked, why should I be held responsible? I have a question for these bankers: if the home prices were still going up and you were making a hefty profit, would you have shared some of those profits to help reduce the deficit? I think not! Yet, our government thinks it fine to burden us with further financial losses simply to help out the greedy banks.

Truly, its time we start to take our responsibilities; seriously, whether it be a state, bank or homeowner, we have to step up. We are in such a financial mess that I feel sorry for whoever takes over in January. We can’t just erase the problem by pumping more money into the economy; all that does is to just increase the deficit. After all, when we are behind in payments, we can’t just borrow more money to pay back right? So, why are we doing this as a nation? And eventually who will be paying for all this mess? Me? My kids? My kids’ kids? Instead of just borrowing and borrowing, how about cutting? We have to spend our money wisely. We have wasted too much money on trying to fix other people’s problems (see Iraq) that now our own huge mess is staring us in the face. Just stop for a second and look around and see how dreadful times have become: there are huge numbers of job losses; the cost of basic living (food and clothing) is insane. When are we going to wise up and take care of our own backyard?

We are expected to put ourselves out there all the time for other nations, now in this global interdependent world I think I’d like to see someone lend us a shoulder. We just kept building the world around us – all in the name of democracy – while we ourselves were falling apart. Democracy to me means having a say in what is going on in our nation, I don’t feel like I had a voice in crucial decisions that have now led us to the mess we are in today. Stop throwing our money away and start putting it where it counts – in our own infrastructure and people.

So, I’ve been sitting back and just seeing the general response to John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin, was I the only one who thinks it was a bad choice on his behalf? Yes, for the moment he has the “shock” factor going and I hear about all these women rallying behind her because she is one of ‘us,’ but all this will die down and then when we look at her we’ll see she was not a great choice. First, let me start of by saying that I would love for a woman to be in the position of President or even Vice President, but I just personally don’t feel she is the one. I have seen some great women leaders – mainly Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, but there is no comparison between these legends and Palin.

I just believe she is not ready for the job, maybe in another twenty years or so she may be a great candidate but today I think that that her kids and family need her far more than we do as a nation. Palin, is a mother of five or which one is barely  five months old and another is going through a teenage pregnancy. In my eyes, a mother who forsakes her first priority – her children – is not someone I’d want watching out for me. Those two kids need her more than we do as a nation and I only wished instead of accepting the nomination she had thought of that first. What kind of message is she sending to her children? Is that the kind of commitment we want? What is there to say tomorrow she won’t ditch us too?

The Republicans also seem to use her as an example of pro-life and how she is true to her beliefs. Now maybe I’m wrong but does pro-life only mean taking care of the child only while pregnant, what about the responsibilities that come thereafter? If pro-life is merely producing babies then I have to say being pro-choice  is far better, at least we can stop our society from having kids and then neglecting them. We already have enough kids that miss out on parent involvement, I don’t want to be cause for another.

Another assest that she lacks is pure and simple common sense, how does any sane women travel eight hours after her water breaking? As a mother myself I know its against airline policies to travel after during the later part of ones pregnancy, so not only did she lie while boarding but she also placed her child at risk? These are all examples of how I don’t think she fares well as the Republican choice. We all know the old saying “Charity begins at home.” Well, Ms. Palin I think its time you took some time out to start focusing on issues in your own backyard before tackling ours as a nation. Maybe in 15-20 years from now you may be the right choice, but today I can honestly say you do not represent every woman out there and I say shame on you Mr. McCain for using her gender to suit your own needs and shame on you Ms. Palin for taking up the offer!