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The Arrest of General Fonseka

General Sarath Fonseka has been arrested:



There has been enough said about it throughout the International Media and I won't go into it here. Not withstanding how he was arrested and the fabricated charges, what I find disturbing is how paranoid the President of Sri Lanka has become. The Tigers were a bunch of thugs and terrorists and their leader met his maker because of what he put the country through. But, the President of Sri Lanka should have used this victory to help build a new Sri Lanka. He should have worked to bring the nation together and overcome this reputation of corruption and nepotism that seems to have become the order of the day. Yet, he has decided not to do that and just focus on power.


I am sure that General Fonseka understood the risks What is it about power that insures that people get to be ever more drunk?
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February 9th 2010 @ 07:01

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


SP Week-end II (2/6/2010): Al Franken's Duel w/Brian Roberts


I spent Friday afternoon listening to the hearing held by a US Senate Committee on the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal. I find this merger to be of profound concern. I first wrote on this in SP's sister site, Kitten Politics when it was first announced back in November 2009. Al Franken laid it on the line with both his opening statement and his subsequent questioning of the witnesses. I commend him for speaking for those of us who have railed against this consolidation which is set to continue.


The hearing itself was quite technical at times. There were discussions about horizontal vs. vertical merges, about pipes/etc. and also about access and transmission lines and so on. Unfortunately, I am not an expert in that area. I have, however, been quite leery of the increased consolidation of the media industry. Any company that controls both the means of production and the delivery is bound to have an undue influence on what people see. This is where I see the problem.

Although a lot of the questions were quite of the softball type, I found Al Franken's give and take with Brian Roberts and Jeff Zucker to be quite refreshing. He basically called them liars. Although I am sure that Brian Roberts is an honorable man, he is also a very powerful man by virtue of the control he exerts through the delivery of content to households. What I do agree is that people are increasingly moving away from traditional television and are basically pulling the plug. As I write this, I am listening to my nightly interent live feed from Al Jazeera.

Those of us who are new media practitioners must not be discouraged as this sense of change goes on. We must continue to embrace it, monitor it, be engaging and speak up. I see no other way. As I always like to say, that is why I am here!!!!



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February 6th 2010 @ 05:34

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


SP Week-End (2/6/2010): Conservatives on the March

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


The Constitution of the United states is a wonderful document. The First Amendment allows anyone to say anything within reason of course. The US Supreme Court has reminded us of this time and time again. This is why Fox News has the right to say whatever it wants. I commend Bill O"Reilly and Jon Stewart for engaging in the dialogue as they did. Not withstanding Keith Olberman's sarcastic spin, it is quite enlightening. It underscores what is great about Freedom of Speech.

What was even more important was how Jon Stewart indicted Fox News and its' entire way of reporting the "news". It underscored the utter hypocracy that starts with IMUS on Fox Business, goes on with Fox and Friends and then ends with Cavuto, O'Reilly, Hannity, Van Sustern and now Stossel. John Stossel had a rant questioning Global Warming n his recent show on Fox Business. I wonder what response does he have for the President of the Maldives as he struggles to save his country. I wonder what response does he have to the 30 Million people living on the coastline of Bangladesh that have to move away with no where to go. I wonder what he says to the natives of Alaska (Sarah Palin's Home State) as they lose their habitats.

What is clear is that such people have a right to say what they have to say. Compared to some of the other lunatics, the folks at Fox are truly sane. There is of course Tom Tankerto who was a featured speaker at the Tea Party convention that went on about Obama being a committed socialist and made it a point of mentioning his full legal name: Barack Hussein Obama. The overt racism and outright contempt was just simply sickening. Even worst than that, was the speech by Joseph Hannah of WorldNet Daily. He told his audience of the march by Mr. Obama and the Democrats to destroy American Freedom and the American Way of Life. Mr. Hannah told his audience that the challenges being faced today--global warming, the healthcare crisis--were being hyped up by the Obama Adminstration were being used to impose a socialist way of life on America. I wonder where Mr. Hannah and the rest of the amen crown has been. They seem to have created this fantasyland that has no basis in fact.

The November elections will determine whether their attacks will in fact pull the country away from this path of change or not?




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February 6th 2010 @ 05:22

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


California's Wake-Up Call

California, the largest US State and the 8th largest economy in the world, is in the midst of another election season. As I write this, I am profoundly concerned about the State. I have written about it extensively in SP's sister site, outsider views. When I read about Justice Kennedy's admonition at a Pepperdine Law School Forum, I nearly fell off my chair.

Justice Kennedy wrote the infamous Citizens United Decision which I also blased in a writeup in Outsider Views. What Justice Kennedy and the majority did was to usher in Government of the Corporation, by the Corporation, For the Corporation. I regard it as having institutionalized what Chris Hayes of the Nation recently called Corportaism in a major way. His comments, though, about the State of the Prison System was telling. I think he at least told the State to wake up and realize what was happening


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February 5th 2010 @ 10:11

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


SP Cool Facts (2/4/2010): Some Interesting "Stuff"

This is a new feature I have decided to launch here in "outsiders". I am a fan of politifact and FactCheck.Org. The reason that I decided to do this is because there are some startling stats that I ran across courtesy of the indepdent author John Kador who has done a wonderful job complying this data for Chief Executive Magazine. Here are some telling stats:

1) Number of US Bank failures in 2009 as of Dec 15, 2009


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February 4th 2010 @ 05:23

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


SP Newsflash (2/3/2010): Deaths in Pakistan

I have been reading with horror reports out of Pakistan detailing the death of 3 US Servicemen when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a school. Although US personnel operating in Pakistan have been a fact, the fact that they were targeted and paid with their lives changes the dynamics in a major way. It reinforces the aloof nature of the so-called Government in Islamabad that is supposed to defeat the terrorists. The more shocking fact is how kids were targeted. Children should be protected and shielded at all cost. This is biggest tragedy of it all.

I continue to wonder whether the escalation will lead to an eventual peace. What I am fearful of is an open-ended committment that will not have an end in sight. I heard the President and believe that he really wants to end the conflicts. But, what if that does not work? What if the Taliban prove to be even more agile and adaptive as the US and NATO become ever so? What happened at the CIA Base and what happened now udnerscores the fights that is yet to be fought


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February 3rd 2010 @ 19:40

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


The Continued Plight of Anwar Ibrahim

Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, is about to go on trial for the second time for sodomy. What I find very strange is how Dr. Ibrahim has been subjected to this again after almost 10 years of prison that finally culminated in him being released. He has made a remarkable political comeback and I am a fan.

I have continued to question why has he been faced with such a dilema. Although I think that Mahatir Mohammad put Malaysia on the map, I think that some of his more authorative ways tarnished his reputation. The fact, for instance, that he forced all to learn English may well have been simple. But it helped Malaysia to be one of the tigers. Mahatir's conflict with Anwar was another one dark episode that made me question his legacy. I continue to wonder what would have happened if Anwar would have become Prime Minister instead of Abdullah Badawi


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February 2nd 2010 @ 06:45

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


SP Week-End (1/30/2010): Iran's Quest For Law and Order

The Iranian Regime will be beginning ten days of celebrations to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. There is a film festival that showcases films glorifying the Revolution and other activities and festitivies culminating in a big parade in Tehran and other major cities. But, now, things are going to be different.

The key opposition figures, Mehdi Karoubi and Mir Hossein Mossavi, have called for demonstrations during that day. I have written extensively here and in SP's Sister Sites about what has been going on and the belief I have had that the regime will crush all opposition without mercy or regard for human rights. Yet, Karoubi and Moussavi defy arrest and threats on their own personal safety to continue speaking out in spite of the immense cost being paid. The hanging of the two young kids a few days ago was another indication of the desparation of the regime. Yet, pathetic figures like Jannati and others continue to call for more executions and mass trials to protect the "revoulution". Jannati is the Secretary of the Guardian Council that is supposedly one of the key arbiters of the Constitution


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January 31st 2010 @ 07:18

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


The Hanging of the 2 Kids in Iran

Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani were hanged in Iran. These two kids' name not be important to some. But, these two kids were convicted of being Mohareb (enemies of god). When I saw the State Prosecutor outlining the so-called case, I nearly threw up.

The State Prosecutors' claim was directly refuted by one of the kids fathers. Al Jazeera even had the Lawyer for one of the kids tell the World that the regime only allowed one meeting before being subjected to a Kangaroo Court


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January 29th 2010 @ 07:23

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


The Taliban in the driver's Seat?!??

Over the last twenty four hours, I have seen some very curious statements from Senior U.S. officials. Secretary Gates noted during his "walk-about" in the region on how the Taliban have become part of the POlitical Fabric of the Country. General McCrystal, has been making noises about the Taliban being brought into a power-sharing arrangement.

Such developments are amongst a series of reports and comments that seems to be the order of the day now. This underscores the scepticism that many of us have had in the fallacy of the "business-as-usual" approach that has been the order of the day. I welcome such comments because there seems to be a realization that a long-term solution to the Afghan Problem will not be possible without the involvement of the Taliban


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January 26th 2010 @ 08:02

Posted By: Mike Pouraryan - Category: No Category
   


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