OMG! Federal budget in 2020

This is from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

(A much simpler graphic than the one on PIIGS, and infinitely simpler than that nasty military Powerpoint slide!)

ht

Hail to the Chief!

Well put:

David Brooks: Gail, would you mind if I praised Barack Obama today? I thought not. I’m feeling grateful to the prez these days because we happen to be in the middle of a bunch of midsized crises. There’s the oil spill in the Gulf (which is verging on a big crisis, I guess). There’s the Times Square bomber. There are various floods in Tennessee and elsewhere. The European Union is falling apart over the Greek debt crisis, and so on and so on.
It seems to me that Obama is handling his role, which ranges from the marginal to the significant, in these events with calm professionalism. He’s active yet not annoying. He’s not taking credit for everything. He’s not creating friction by making any missteps. He is calm, cool and collected.

And, Brooks has more to say:

David Brooks: Sometimes people fault Obama for being too cool. I can see their point 5 percent of the time, but 95 percent of the time, it’s good to have a president with equipoise. Times like this — with stuff bubbling in all directions — are typical.

Yes, sir!

The Greek Tragedy, or if PIIGS could fly!

The Eurozone crisis is essentially:

I owe you
You owe me
We owe each other

this image is worth more than a few thousand words (ht):

Ain't got no job ... I've got life

Yes, a follow-up to mashed-potatoes winning :) 
The one and only Nina Simone working her wonders ...

Mashed potatoes win :(

Yep.  It is an inside joke of sorts. 
Will be funny, if only it did not have immense implications

Maybe someday I can write about it ...

cartoons of the day

The DC Follies :)

Afghanistan and Bollywood--Feroz Khan

I tracked down, and listened to, some of my favorite songs from my childhood days in India, and one of the songs is this one:

The neat thing (other than Hema Malini, of course) is that the movie was apparently shot in Afghanistan.  Imagine that!

This was before the civil war--though not necessarily termed that way--which then brought the Soviets in a couple of years later.  The kid I was, Afghanistan seemed exotic, with all the stories of invaders from Central Asia coming through there and the Khyber Pass.  With fabled conquerors like Mahmud of Ghazni, who was the figure that parents and teachers pointed out as example of one who tried and tried until he won--as inspiration not to give up.

Anyway, Feroz Khan, who sings and dances with Hema Malini in that YouTube clip, was born to a Pashtun (Pathan) from Ghazni--well, the father had immigrated to India with the British departing, and his mother was of Persian descent.  The guy was born in Bangalore.  What a story of globalization, eh!

Feroz Khan died almost exactly a year ago--on April 27, 2009.  His greatest, greatest, hit ever was Qurbani (sacrifice).  I was in my last year of high school when the movie was out, and boy were the songs ever popular!  Non-stop on the radio.  I was not much into watching movies--because they were too long and formulaic, but listened to a whole bunch of songs.  Here is my favorite from Qurbani (the male actor in this sequence is not Feroz Khan though; it is Vinod Khanna):

Thanks, Feroz Khan.  Thanks, Afghanistan; I hope things settle down, soon.
Ok, one more from Qurbani--this one with Feroz Khan :)