India's Triumphant Cultural & Political March:
From The Slums Of Bollywood To The Red Carpet Of Hollywood
By Imran Anwar
(New York) It was nearly 30 years ago that my first writings were published in a major Pakistani newspaper, the once defunct and then reborn Pakistan Times. The writings continued during my time with the Jang group, in particular MAG Weekly, in the late 1980s, until I left for the United States.
All during that time, despite all my criticisms of whoever was in power at that time in Pakistan, my writings were always full of hope, desire and confidence of a great future that Pakistan had ahead of it. I also often wondered about why people older than me, some who had also travelled abroad, were far more cynical and much less hopeful.
All through that time I had always been the staunchest supporter and the defender of the name of Pakistan, whether it be in writing letters to the editors of foreign journals and newspapers critical of Pakistan or trying to convince foreign diplomats and journalists, as well as Western citizens, about how great Pakistan was going to be.
One of the important yardsticks, which would perhaps now be called a Meter stick under the metric system, was how we were doing in comparison to India. I distinctly recall how Pakistan had always been a pro-western, America-allied, fairly liberal, capitalism driven society.
India, on the other hand, was a country we competed with on the field of sports, the battlefield, as well as for international influence. We used to laugh at the ugly, dinky little cars that the Indians made, instead of importing the fancy ones we were driving in Pakistan.
Yet in the last 20 years that I have lived in America, India has made amazing, impressive and steady marching progress towards becoming a major global player - in almost every industry in the world. Pakistan during that same time seems to have sprinted downhill - faster than any Olympic athlete could.
It should have been a matter of concern for us when India, the long staunch Soviet and Communist ally, became a major trading partner of the United States, a country on which we had long relied, and whose foreign policies we had often followed. India developed a pool of engineering and other professionals, providing services, engineering, talent and operational capabilities to the world's largest companies.
In doing so they earned billions and billions of dollars for their country. During this time, we in Pakistan saw the decline of the educational system, the breakdown of institutions, if any existed, and simply the beginning of the end of what might have been a great future.
It was a matter of personal disappointment, almost shame, for me that the day that India launched its first astronaut into space was also the same day that Pakistan went to the International Monetary Fund to beg for survival money. Shame.
During the same time that we were making a name for ourselves, for kidnapping and beheading visitors to our country, India launched, and continues to run, one of the most impressive media campaigns to promote tourism in its country.
Titled "Incredible India!" this campaign appears in major newspapers, magazines and many other places. It simply takes almost exactly the same kind of tourism places and situations that Pakistan could offer visitors but turns it into a must-visit, mystique-filled, once-in-a-lifetime, cultural experience image.
During this time despite the proliferation of private TV channels in Pakistan, another field where the Indians have done an amazing job has been their film industry. They have leveraged it not just in making a name for themselves, but marketing their country and becoming a source of talent abroad. In addition, in exchange, they are bringing even more visitors and foreign exchange to their country,
First their hottest movie stars started appearing in Hollywood films. Then, despite many Indian movies being barely concealed copies of Hollywood scripts, India was able to convince Hollywood to make many Indian-themed movies.
Then they tied their greater and greater visibility in Hollywood, ever improving quality of Bollywood films - which were getting screened in America. They then mixed in marketing of India and its culture and cemented it with the welcoming of American tourists and filmmakers. This was an amazing recipe to lead India to one of its greatest global public relations successes just a few minutes ago.
The Academy Awards ceremony has just concluded in Hollywood, California. As this publication is going to press, the whole world (including a television audience of probably 1 billion people, along with the many millions more who will read newspapers and see photographs online) has seen India emerging as a triumphant victor on yet another field. This time it' the red carpet of Hollywood and the Oscars ceremony.
Even a movie called Slumdog Millionaire, set against the backdrop of the intense poverty that can be found in India, has turned into a global publicity and financial victory for India, its culture, its movie industry, its tourism and its economy.
And this is not just about showbiz or something that has no global or historic significance. India's clout, its visibility, its popularity and its new-found confidence - even from something as simple as a movie award - is manifesting itself in its ability to dictate to the world.
India can now even dictate what President Barack Hussein Obama's team can or will discuss with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan - who are now in Washington DC.
India not only did not attend the meeting, it made clear to the American government that Kashmir is not to be discussed. The American administration agreed to that. In the meantime the same American Administration has expanded the missile strikes it will carry out within Pakistan – while Pakistan's shameless politicians are merely fighting over dissolving assemblies and not even worried about justice, the one promise that people had asked to be fulfilled, from Karachi to Swat.
The early copies of tomorrow's New York Times show the exactly opposite paths that two countries born on the same day in history have taken.
The Indian movie industry's massive triumph on the Hollywood red carpet is one headline related to India. On the same page, the news item related to Pakistan is about a secret United States unit now in Pakistan to train its commandos to battle AlQaeda and the Taliban.
While American companies, and even individual creative types, are literally discussing over cocktails this very minute the next project they want to do in India, the few people discussing Pakistan are wondering if Pakistan will even survive as a nation.
I wonder if I will be around in 20 years to write a similar analysis. And I wonder where in history, geography and world affairs Pakistan will stand on that day. What do you think?
--
Imran Anwar is a New York based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com . You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar
Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Yellow, Red & Dark Blue Frame Stiltsville Frames, Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida
I only had the pocket Nikon S6 when we went through Biscayne channel heading back to Miami from the Atlantic Ocean. This is a crop of the merely 2MB image so it cannot compare to what the Nikon D300 takes, but still shows the magical moments to be captured, the memories to be made, never knowing when the world changes.
Imran
Friday, February 20, 2009
Speed(y)boat, Slow (air)ship to Miami - IMRAN™
Underway in Biscayne Bay, I was able to fire off a few shots of this shiny speedboat flying across the shimmering blue water as an equally bright and blue airship languidly circled the Miami skies over mansions and highrises, ports and parks. Nikon D300 shot, taken from my Sea Ray Sundancer 360.
© 2009 IMRAN
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Three Trillion Dollar Question & The Answer Is….
The fact is that the American and the global economy are in a severe recession. The biggest problem is a crisis of confidence. Uncertainty is always known to be the enemy of confidence. I am reminded of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle that we were taught in our electrical engineering studies, at the University of Engineering and Technology at Lahore 25 years ago.
The problem with the uncertainty today is that no one seems to know what they are uncertain about. Almost everyone agrees that the economy will eventually recover. Most people can also see the signs, not just here in America, but also abroad. These show some economic activity has begun to take place.
Some of the positive news that has come out in the American media recently has been a decline in the number of homes going into foreclosure. This has come at the same time as higher retail sales figures for the month of January. Of course these numbers may look higher compared to the very dismal sales figures of December 2008. Regardless, it is a positive sign.
However, it seems that at every stage, and at every piece of news, the stock market reacts adversely. My personal suspicion is that most large investors, including players in the stock market, and other influential figures may also be playing an active but insidious role in ensuring volatility in the stock market.
Mind you, I have no actual proof of this. It is merely a hunch. My suspicion is that these people play the stock market not just for regular profit but for nefarious purposes.
The volatility is actually not random but manipulated by certain key investor groups. It is their way of ensuring that people in government, the media as well as the public at large remain uncertain, as well as demanding of a bigger and bigger stimulus package, that is likely to benefit fewer and fewer people.
In other words, the more volatility they show in the market, the more they can get people to panic. The more that happens, or the more things appear uncertain, the greater the likelihood of being able to force the government to spend billions of dollars more, mostly on pork barrel spending or bailouts of crooked bankers.
There are several other positive signs. The price of oil continues to remain low. President Baraka Hussein Obama, with the support of his Democratic majority in Congress, has succeeded in passing a massive stimulus package. This stimulus package as it is called is nearly $800 billion worth of mostly government spending.
This package has come on top of nearly $2 trillion being pumped into American banks. In other words almost $3 trillion is getting spent on restarting the American economy. But is it going to be enough? That is the massive historical question.
My personal feeling is still ambivalence towards these amounts being spent.
I am highly opposed to the massive money poured into banks that did not lend money to consumers. Some of these shameless perpetrators of corporate malfeasance, and gross negligence and incompetence, went on to give themselves billions of dollars in bonuses. One yearns for the days of public hanging of vile characters like that.
Similarly, the money being spent on big government projects are not the answer for short-term solutions that we need to jumpstart the economy really quickly. For example, many projects will take months, if not years, to actually get rolling. Many approval processes and similar formalities will insure other delays. That means any hiring or new jobs that come from these projects may take years to come into the economy.
As a matter of fact, if the economy recovers on its own, especially with the private sector leading the way, it is even possible that by the time these government projects come online most of the capable talent will already be in private service. That means either less experienced or less capable people will end up running those projects. That increases the likelihood of failure and wasted money.
For months I have been proposing an alternate economic recovery plan. My proposal was based not on spending $3 trillion but one trillion.
My proposal is very simple. I suggest that the government set aside $1 trillion and create a state run bank. This bank would issue a short-term limited use credit card. On average the $1 trillion would be given out as a $10,000 credit card to 100 million American households. The range of credit available on these cards would be $5000-$25,000 (hence the average of about $10,000 per household).
The credit cards would be issued with a very simple set of rules. They would only be given to people who are legal residents, or citizens, and who had paid taxes in the last three years. They would not have filed bankruptcy during that period. People would have between 30 and 90 days to use up the entire limit on their credit card. That means "use it or lose it" would be the rule.
This would ensure that one trillion American dollars would jump right back into the economy within 30-90 days. People would be allowed to buy anything legal at any American merchant who accepts these credit cards. These credit cards could even be used to buy an American automobile, if people wanted to. That way American consumers money would be going to American automakers to help them recover - but without it being a no strings attached bailout, as was previously being asked for.
This credit card would not be a giveaway. The entire money borrowed by the consumers would have to be repaid in full, with interest, to the government. However, instead of 15-25% interest rates that most banks charge on credit cards, if they were even issuing new credit, people would be able to pay in this credit card loan back to the government at a nominal interest rate of about 5%.
Even at this 5% rate consumers would be saving a ton of money in interest payments. At the same time even the government would be making a lot more money in interest income than it has been getting from literally giving away taxpayer money to banks at nearly 0%.
Instead of the government trying to set up the infrastructure for doing this, I would have MasterCard, Visa and American Express compete for the business of merchant processing. The condition would be that they would not charge the typical 3-5% transaction fee to merchants but 0.5%
In exchange merchants would have to pass that in savings to consumers. It would still be a win-win-win for everybody.
The credit card companies would still get to process hundreds of millions of new transactions - without having to do any marketing. Merchants would be ensured of immediate new cash coming in through these transactions - without additional cost. Consumers would benefit from the lower costs being passed on to them - without having to wait for expensive credit lines from sleazy banks.
People would have the choice of paying this credit card in monthly statement payments, just like any other credit card. In addition they could also make payments to this credit card loan by adding some of the amount due to the annual taxes that they pay.
Within five years most of the money will be recovered in full, with interest. $1 trillion will immediately go into the US economy to jumpstart it. Many consumers will be able to buy things that they are unable to afford for lack of credit right now. Thousands of merchants will be able to stay in business with the influx of cash. States will benefit from sales tax revenues starting up again. Manufacturers will be able to keep factories running and people employed. Above all, the solution benefits every American, at every level of education and economic strata, not just a few.
I believe my $1 trillion answer is the solution to the $3 trillion question. What do you think?
The problem with the uncertainty today is that no one seems to know what they are uncertain about. Almost everyone agrees that the economy will eventually recover. Most people can also see the signs, not just here in America, but also abroad. These show some economic activity has begun to take place.
Some of the positive news that has come out in the American media recently has been a decline in the number of homes going into foreclosure. This has come at the same time as higher retail sales figures for the month of January. Of course these numbers may look higher compared to the very dismal sales figures of December 2008. Regardless, it is a positive sign.
However, it seems that at every stage, and at every piece of news, the stock market reacts adversely. My personal suspicion is that most large investors, including players in the stock market, and other influential figures may also be playing an active but insidious role in ensuring volatility in the stock market.
Mind you, I have no actual proof of this. It is merely a hunch. My suspicion is that these people play the stock market not just for regular profit but for nefarious purposes.
The volatility is actually not random but manipulated by certain key investor groups. It is their way of ensuring that people in government, the media as well as the public at large remain uncertain, as well as demanding of a bigger and bigger stimulus package, that is likely to benefit fewer and fewer people.
In other words, the more volatility they show in the market, the more they can get people to panic. The more that happens, or the more things appear uncertain, the greater the likelihood of being able to force the government to spend billions of dollars more, mostly on pork barrel spending or bailouts of crooked bankers.
There are several other positive signs. The price of oil continues to remain low. President Baraka Hussein Obama, with the support of his Democratic majority in Congress, has succeeded in passing a massive stimulus package. This stimulus package as it is called is nearly $800 billion worth of mostly government spending.
This package has come on top of nearly $2 trillion being pumped into American banks. In other words almost $3 trillion is getting spent on restarting the American economy. But is it going to be enough? That is the massive historical question.
My personal feeling is still ambivalence towards these amounts being spent.
I am highly opposed to the massive money poured into banks that did not lend money to consumers. Some of these shameless perpetrators of corporate malfeasance, and gross negligence and incompetence, went on to give themselves billions of dollars in bonuses. One yearns for the days of public hanging of vile characters like that.
Similarly, the money being spent on big government projects are not the answer for short-term solutions that we need to jumpstart the economy really quickly. For example, many projects will take months, if not years, to actually get rolling. Many approval processes and similar formalities will insure other delays. That means any hiring or new jobs that come from these projects may take years to come into the economy.
As a matter of fact, if the economy recovers on its own, especially with the private sector leading the way, it is even possible that by the time these government projects come online most of the capable talent will already be in private service. That means either less experienced or less capable people will end up running those projects. That increases the likelihood of failure and wasted money.
For months I have been proposing an alternate economic recovery plan. My proposal was based not on spending $3 trillion but one trillion.
My proposal is very simple. I suggest that the government set aside $1 trillion and create a state run bank. This bank would issue a short-term limited use credit card. On average the $1 trillion would be given out as a $10,000 credit card to 100 million American households. The range of credit available on these cards would be $5000-$25,000 (hence the average of about $10,000 per household).
The credit cards would be issued with a very simple set of rules. They would only be given to people who are legal residents, or citizens, and who had paid taxes in the last three years. They would not have filed bankruptcy during that period. People would have between 30 and 90 days to use up the entire limit on their credit card. That means "use it or lose it" would be the rule.
This would ensure that one trillion American dollars would jump right back into the economy within 30-90 days. People would be allowed to buy anything legal at any American merchant who accepts these credit cards. These credit cards could even be used to buy an American automobile, if people wanted to. That way American consumers money would be going to American automakers to help them recover - but without it being a no strings attached bailout, as was previously being asked for.
This credit card would not be a giveaway. The entire money borrowed by the consumers would have to be repaid in full, with interest, to the government. However, instead of 15-25% interest rates that most banks charge on credit cards, if they were even issuing new credit, people would be able to pay in this credit card loan back to the government at a nominal interest rate of about 5%.
Even at this 5% rate consumers would be saving a ton of money in interest payments. At the same time even the government would be making a lot more money in interest income than it has been getting from literally giving away taxpayer money to banks at nearly 0%.
Instead of the government trying to set up the infrastructure for doing this, I would have MasterCard, Visa and American Express compete for the business of merchant processing. The condition would be that they would not charge the typical 3-5% transaction fee to merchants but 0.5%
In exchange merchants would have to pass that in savings to consumers. It would still be a win-win-win for everybody.
The credit card companies would still get to process hundreds of millions of new transactions - without having to do any marketing. Merchants would be ensured of immediate new cash coming in through these transactions - without additional cost. Consumers would benefit from the lower costs being passed on to them - without having to wait for expensive credit lines from sleazy banks.
People would have the choice of paying this credit card in monthly statement payments, just like any other credit card. In addition they could also make payments to this credit card loan by adding some of the amount due to the annual taxes that they pay.
Within five years most of the money will be recovered in full, with interest. $1 trillion will immediately go into the US economy to jumpstart it. Many consumers will be able to buy things that they are unable to afford for lack of credit right now. Thousands of merchants will be able to stay in business with the influx of cash. States will benefit from sales tax revenues starting up again. Manufacturers will be able to keep factories running and people employed. Above all, the solution benefits every American, at every level of education and economic strata, not just a few.
I believe my $1 trillion answer is the solution to the $3 trillion question. What do you think?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Anybody Know What 'Smart Power' Means?
Lionel Beehner asked "Anybody Know What 'Smart Power' Means?" about Hilary Clinton's "Smart Power" approach.
It sounds like a meaningless phrase. But, are you expecting specifics in 24 hours to undo 8 years of grievous harm done by Bush?
Sure, why not solve the Middle East problem on Saturday... no, wait, Sunday because Jews are off on Saturday. Oh, Christians need Sunday off. OK, Monday the latest. Tuesday let's solve Kashmir. By next weekend we can celebrate fixing Darfur. Mission Accomplished, 3 years 363 days to celebrate until the next election!
Back to the question Lionel asked.
Yes, it IS good to make and announce a DECISION to be SMART (something people forgot government can be because of the retarded George W Bush) and STRONG.
That is what the world needs, and responds best to. Cowboy diplomacy does not work well on anyone, least of all those who know they are weaker than the US. It makes them want to smack the cowboy and have him fall off his high horse.
It is time we have smart use of our power while growing our influence. Can there be better "branding" of the concept? Yes. Do we need to wait to start working until the marketing committee comes back with ideas? NO!
On a lighter note - the phrase could mean Hilary Clinton is launching a new line of surge protectors for computers. That way she can help make the planet more green and steal Al Gore's thunder as well.
Imran
About Obama's First 100 Days
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Monday, January 19, 2009
IMRAN.TV: (Urdu) "What's Next In Pakistan-India, Palestine-Israel Issues & Obama Administration?"
Imran Anwar, IMRAN.TV, New York, Local video feed clip of Pakistani TV channel's question:
Q. What is the situation in America and what comes next for India-Pakistan, Israel-Palestine and other issues under the Obama administration?
What is your opinion?
Category: News & Politics
Tags: IMRAN, IMRAN.TV, Urdu, Obama, President, Politics, Inauguration, Israel, Kashmir, Palestine, India, Pakistan, "Imran Anwar", ImranAnwar, Muslims, Hindus, Zionists, Media, PR
Q. What is the situation in America and what comes next for India-Pakistan, Israel-Palestine and other issues under the Obama administration?
What is your opinion?
Category: News & Politics
Tags: IMRAN, IMRAN.TV, Urdu, Obama, President, Politics, Inauguration, Israel, Kashmir, Palestine, India, Pakistan, "Imran Anwar", ImranAnwar, Muslims, Hindus, Zionists, Media, PR
Sunday, January 18, 2009
IMRAN.TV: (Urdu) "What Are People's Expectations From Obama?"
Imran Anwar, IMRAN.TV, New York, Local video feed clip of Urdu TV channel's question:
Q. What are people's expectations of President Barack Hussein Obama?
What is your opinion?
Category: News & Politics
Tags: IMRAN IMRAN.TV Urdu Obama President Expectations Politics Inauguration Israel Kashmir Palestine India Pakistan Imran Anwar ImranAnwar
Q. What are people's expectations of President Barack Hussein Obama?
What is your opinion?
Category: News & Politics
Tags: IMRAN IMRAN.TV Urdu Obama President Expectations Politics Inauguration Israel Kashmir Palestine India Pakistan Imran Anwar ImranAnwar
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Do You Need Help In This Economy? - "Help Us Help US" - Real Economic Recovery Plan
Are things looking bad in this economy? Who's bailing you out? Could you use $25,000 right about now?
Here is a working plan that will save us and the US.
Financial deregulation started under the Clinton era and, through the terrible mismanagement under George W. Bush, the economy melted. Now TRILLIONS of Dollars were given away by Bush to bailout industries that put you, me and our entire economy at risk. Even failing carmakers are getting Billions. Are you getting a dime?
Obama has good ideas but they are not enough to do anything for you, for us, for the US in the immediate situation. We need help NOW.
Here is the IMRAN Economic Recovery Plan.
It provides a specific way to trigger an economic recovery within 90 days. Ninety Days, not 9 months or 9 years.
Imran Anwar ( http://imran.com/media/blog/ ) explains the plan and the specifics on how it would work. Using a simple example with numbers, he shows how much money you would get, how you can spend it to stabilize your situation and help the economy. Finally, he explains how the government gets the money back - so we are not all paying trillions in higher taxes for money that makes bankers and other failed executives even richer at our expense while we lose homes, jobs, cars and our future.
This plan ensures legal American residents, citizens and taxpayers are bailed out. They can spend money on American businesses, so more Americans can be hired and the American government can get tax revenues again to ensure a stronger future for AMERICANS.
Would $25,000 to $30,000 help you today? If you want to get help, do something. Take action. It's easy.
Please tell everyone you know about this ERP (Economic Recovery Plan).
Please share via FaceBook, MySpace profile, your blog, Twitters, Digg, StumbleUpon... call in on radio shows, email TV programs and hosts that you like. Write letters to editors.
If you don't take action, no one will bail you out but you will be paying for years for money given away to bankers, oil companies, automakers and other sleazy businesses. It's your choice. Watch now and please rate it positively so others can hear the idea and support it. Help Us Help US!
Tags: Economy, Recovery, Bailout, Banks, Banking, Taxes, Tax, Bush, Clinton, Obama, Money, Borrow, Buy, Shopping, IMRAN, "Imran Anwar", ImranAnwar, IMRAN.TV, "Economic Recovery Plan", HelpUsHelpUS
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Israel Celebrates New Year With Palestinian Genocide, Before Obama Takes Office
Israel's blockades and targeted killings were Hamas' excuse to shoot rockets into Israel.
Maybe 5 Israelis killed in 2 years. Israel has killed nearly 1000 Palestinians in just a few days, mostly civilians and many children.
Who's responsible, and what needs to be done?
Strong opinions. Responses welcome whether you agree or disagree.
Monday, January 05, 2009
CLICK! 40 Years Of Photography - FLASH! A Lifetime Of Memories
CLICK! My ~50 Years Of Photography
By Imran Anwar
I wrote the following words on December20, 2008 to celebrate nearly four decades of photography and to salute my father for setting me on this hobby, and many other great paths. I am sure readers will recognize some of the items and gadgets I mention in this trip down photographic memory lane; no pun intended. (Updated on my birthday in 2017 to reflect soon to be Fifty YEARS of having used a camera since I was a kid!)
My Father gave me a camera when I was 6 years old. It was a small 35mm film camera, made in Japan. It was a time when cameras were expensive, and processing film even more so. At that time I had to start with simple black and white films. I had to use pocket money in Karachito develop photos taken with that camera as I grew up in Karachi, and attended St. Paul's English High School in Saddar.
In four decades I sure have come a long way. From that startup Japanese camera to today's amazing Nikon D300 DSLR that I received on my 46th birthday, a lot has happened.
55 years of life, 50 years of photography, a lifetime of memories.
I hope to see and capture a lot more, God willing, and to share with my family and friends the many unforgettable sights I have seen.
So, as I said, I started with a nice little Japanese camera my dad gave me as a kid going to Karachi. He also had the confidence in me to let me use his more expensive and also more breakable camera, a really reliable Argus (that still works!).
From his passion for photography and traveling to new places with us, he and I captured our memories and our lives as I grew up in Pakistan.
After my O' Levels exams I moved to Aitchison College, in Lahore. By then I "borrowed" (ahemmm…. somewhat permanently!) the camera Abu had started using. It was a truly awesome (for it's time) Yashica Electro35 camera.
That camera was amazing in its own right - telling over and underexposure by its orange and red LEDs! A "Wow" back then is something even 10 years old kids expect to see in cell phone camera these days! The amazing progress of technology and photography does not cease to amaze me even today
I then found myself studying (well, that is a liberal use of the word!) for an Electrical Engineering (Electronics) degree.
Unfortunately, some of my work from the late 1970s to mid-1980s is lost forever, turned to ashes when USA and Reagan-Bush Sr. backed Taliban type right-wing fundamentalists ransacked and burnt my stuff in my hostel room at Lahore's University of Engineering & Technology. (Ironic how similar people are now called terrorists, back then they were "mujahideen" supporters of Zia and the US policy of promoting Islamic fundamentalism against the Soviet Union).
The Yashica Electro 35 was stolen and not recovered. Even terror(ist)s know how to use a camera.
The typewriter I used to get published in the then popular newspaper The Pakistan Times was also stolen but later returned. Terrorist supporters, even the jeans-wearing ones in Mumtaz Hall who hung out with the hot babes of UET didn't need no stinkin' typewriter. Why use words when you can use guns, I guess?
Anyway, even before I finished my engineering studies, I was invited to, and was thrilled to join the owners of Jang Group's (especially the brilliant owner and publisher of MAG Weekly as well as Jang and News, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman) team in Lahore.
Even though I came on to write a youth page, within a few days I was privileged to become Business Manager, and also started writing weekly articles in MAG Weekly in Karachi. I would rush them to my then colleague, later friend, and now a fond memory, the late Wahab Siddiqui who was Editor of MAG.
Since I drove around in Lahore a lot, I also started carrying a portable camera in my car and took 'slice of life' photos called PIC(K) OF THE WEEK with a caption that made people think about the ironies, absurdities and tragedies of life we see everyday and just drive on by.
My late mother, Mrs. Nargis Anwar, had always taught me to be sensitive to those moments of life's drama that unfold around us every day. My father taught me how to capture them on film. I still hope to "some day soon" put together some of my tongue in cheek articles (a dangerous thing to do under then dictator General Zia) and photos with captions from back then into a book. Yes, one day
But, life has it's own plans. After a few years of working at Jang, I picked and packed my proverbial bags and came to America; exactly 20 years ago (January 1989 to be precise). I was fortunate to come to America on a scholarship to get an MBA at Columbia University in New York City.
My parents came to visit me a few months later (Abu had to go for some higher studies on a fellowship of some sort). When he went off for studies (somewhere in Utah I believe) my mother and I went around town (Manhattan) from my Columbia University apartment. Our favorite visit together was to the top of the World Trade Center in New York. It was one of the best times of my life spent with my mother, whom I lost just 2 years after her return to Pakistan at around age 50.
When we were in New York, my then current model camera stopped working so I was saving up for the camera I badly wanted. She wanted to buy it for me but my dream camera at that time, the MinoltaMaxxum 7000i, was too expensive for me to let her buy for me in 1989. Maybe I should have - as I could have captured many more memories of my parents' only trip to America together.
I did buy it a few years later and took some stunning pictures - of beautiful places, gorgeous faces - during my Manhattan years.
I loved taking these photos especially when I was living a blessed life at The Monterey (on the Upper East Side of Manhattan overlooking one of North America's largest and very beautiful mosques) and when visiting loved ones in Washington, DC and friends in California.
Life, time, lifetime friendships, captured in memories in the heart and on film.
(continued...)
FLASH! A Lifetime Of Memories In A Blink
By Imran Anwar
In last week's article I mentioned how I came into photography, thanks to my father inspiring me in every way a father can inspire his son.
He loved photography, and got me a camera at age 6. I mentioned how I progressed from a small, simple 35mm camera in the late 1960'sto one of my favorite film cameras in the late 1980's.
The 1990's brought along a new revolution. Along with the 35mm film Minolta Maxxum 7000i, I became one of the earliest users of digital cameras when the first Apple QuickTakedigital camera came out. I even have some of its pictures on my web site, at IMRAN.COM .
I later upgraded to the next Apple model and I still have it as a memento. It seems so ancient now! It's part of my Apple collection of Mac IIfx, ColorOne scanner, StyleWriter and LaserWriter printing equipment that still reminds me of my love affair with Apple and its technologies. Maybe I will give it to a museum some day (if I don't end up having to sell everything to survive this economic downturn, that is!!).
Not much later 2 Megapixel cameras were coming out so I invested in, and loved, a Minolta DimageX 2MP. My flickr photo-sharing page ( flickr.com/imrananwar) has some taken with that camera. That camera was unfortunately lost but it was impressive both technologically (a marvel in how it "double-turned" light rays to provide an actual optical zoom lens without having a lens protrude from the camera body!) and color quality.
During the next few years I got the 5MP NikonCoolpix E5700, which took some of the amazing Palm Beach and Singer Island, Florida, photos you see on my flickr pages. You should take a look, too. Some of these have been enjoyed by more than three thousand people!
I still use it with an amazing panorama EyeSee 360 lens.
Hundreds of panoramic images of Europe, United States and other places are still to be processed and put online. I hope to do soon, so my family and friends can view them and feel like they were right there in the room or city or museum right beside me. It helps me bring the joy of going to the most remote places in the world and knowing I can share the experience with my father, and my loving family and friends.
For portability, and to get back to taking "slice of life" photographs as I used to take in Pakistan for MAG Weekly, I had also added another Nikon to the mix. I replaced the lost Minolta Dimage X with a Nikon S6 (slightly larger than the S1/S5 but WiFi built-in for ease of transferring to the Apple MacBook Pro laptop).
But for real SLR photography with changeable lenses I was in a quandary.
I did not know whether to move from Minolta (my Maxxum 7000i film and Dimage X digital) to another Minolta, their newest DSLR, or complete the migration to Nikon by adding another Nikon like the D60, to accompany the E5700. (As my photographer readers will know, it is not as simple as just picking up a Sony or Panasonic DVD player. Selecting cameras is almost as much a matter of taste and preference as wanting to be a Mac user).
Minolta made it easier by selling out their camera business to Sony. For a while I even found the Sony AlphaA700 a better deal than Nikon (you may have seen an old review I wrote) but I did not make the jump to Sony. I refused to indulge Sony's choice of forcing us to buy expensive Memory Stick and not regular SD Secure Digital cards that are so great and cheaply available
Anyway, on the photography front, though I did not get the Sony Alpha DSLR, nor did I move to the Nikon DSLR ship right away. I found the Nikon D40 and D60 not enough of an advance to make the jump.
And, then, on my return from my recent trip to visit my father, I finally did. I had decided on the Nikon DSLR D30012.3 MP camera when it came out and I got it as one of the best birthday gifts I have ever received from a loved one.
I invested in some additional lenses and flash, etc. and I love it. Sheer magic and take a look at flickr.com/imrananwar. That page has just some of the photos to prove the magic. Some have already won awards, been used in calendars and traveling road shows by companies here and 2 will be used as "INSPIRATION" posters by another company.
Check them out and leave comments. I hope to be back in Pakistan soon and put it to use on photos of my family and beloved homeland of Pakistan. I have also selected some photographs to make a printed coffee table book for my father to see and show his friends the amazing magic I was able to capture from a gift he gave his son 40 years ago.
So, there you have it.
My 40 years journey in photography so far. It was started by my father's gift of a camera. It developed from my mother's gift of telling us never to miss any moment of the beauty in the world around us - before it is too late.
I try to do that, every day, in my own way, by living and capturing that incredible journey, for myself, and, I hope, online, for you and others. The photographs of that journey are online and on my computers, now and in my mind for as long as I live.
Forever? I hope so. The Internet and my "Live, Forever" project (at neternity.org ) give us a chance to leave coming generations a permanent record of our having seen the amazing world I saw, we saw, with our eyes. I hope our visions are seen, for an Eternity, if you do the same.
I emailed the first draft of this tribute and article to my father by email. He had just arrived back in Lahore from a trip. I spoke to him late on the afternoon of December 20, 2008, and had a wonderful conversation with him on the phone.
A few hours after my salute, Mr. Anwar-ud-Din, beloved father to my siblings and me, passed away from unexpected cardiac arrest early on December 21, 2008. ILWIR.
His smile, his love, his words, his sacrifices for us, his very presence in the lives of all that he touched - they are all etched in our hearts and memories for far longer than an eternity, far deeper than any photograph can capture.
May Allah bless him and my mother with a great place close to Him in Heaven.
I thank you, dear reader, for saying a prayer for my parents, and all the great people who have left us and now live forever in our memories. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
(The End)
By Imran Anwar
I wrote the following words on December20, 2008 to celebrate nearly four decades of photography and to salute my father for setting me on this hobby, and many other great paths. I am sure readers will recognize some of the items and gadgets I mention in this trip down photographic memory lane; no pun intended. (Updated on my birthday in 2017 to reflect soon to be Fifty YEARS of having used a camera since I was a kid!)
My Father gave me a camera when I was 6 years old. It was a small 35mm film camera, made in Japan. It was a time when cameras were expensive, and processing film even more so. At that time I had to start with simple black and white films. I had to use pocket money in Karachito develop photos taken with that camera as I grew up in Karachi, and attended St. Paul's English High School in Saddar.
In four decades I sure have come a long way. From that startup Japanese camera to today's amazing Nikon D300 DSLR that I received on my 46th birthday, a lot has happened.
55 years of life, 50 years of photography, a lifetime of memories.
I hope to see and capture a lot more, God willing, and to share with my family and friends the many unforgettable sights I have seen.
So, as I said, I started with a nice little Japanese camera my dad gave me as a kid going to Karachi. He also had the confidence in me to let me use his more expensive and also more breakable camera, a really reliable Argus (that still works!).
From his passion for photography and traveling to new places with us, he and I captured our memories and our lives as I grew up in Pakistan.
After my O' Levels exams I moved to Aitchison College, in Lahore. By then I "borrowed" (ahemmm…. somewhat permanently!) the camera Abu had started using. It was a truly awesome (for it's time) Yashica Electro35 camera.
That camera was amazing in its own right - telling over and underexposure by its orange and red LEDs! A "Wow" back then is something even 10 years old kids expect to see in cell phone camera these days! The amazing progress of technology and photography does not cease to amaze me even today
I then found myself studying (well, that is a liberal use of the word!) for an Electrical Engineering (Electronics) degree.
Unfortunately, some of my work from the late 1970s to mid-1980s is lost forever, turned to ashes when USA and Reagan-Bush Sr. backed Taliban type right-wing fundamentalists ransacked and burnt my stuff in my hostel room at Lahore's University of Engineering & Technology. (Ironic how similar people are now called terrorists, back then they were "mujahideen" supporters of Zia and the US policy of promoting Islamic fundamentalism against the Soviet Union).
The Yashica Electro 35 was stolen and not recovered. Even terror(ist)s know how to use a camera.
The typewriter I used to get published in the then popular newspaper The Pakistan Times was also stolen but later returned. Terrorist supporters, even the jeans-wearing ones in Mumtaz Hall who hung out with the hot babes of UET didn't need no stinkin' typewriter. Why use words when you can use guns, I guess?
Anyway, even before I finished my engineering studies, I was invited to, and was thrilled to join the owners of Jang Group's (especially the brilliant owner and publisher of MAG Weekly as well as Jang and News, Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman) team in Lahore.
Even though I came on to write a youth page, within a few days I was privileged to become Business Manager, and also started writing weekly articles in MAG Weekly in Karachi. I would rush them to my then colleague, later friend, and now a fond memory, the late Wahab Siddiqui who was Editor of MAG.
Since I drove around in Lahore a lot, I also started carrying a portable camera in my car and took 'slice of life' photos called PIC(K) OF THE WEEK with a caption that made people think about the ironies, absurdities and tragedies of life we see everyday and just drive on by.
My late mother, Mrs. Nargis Anwar, had always taught me to be sensitive to those moments of life's drama that unfold around us every day. My father taught me how to capture them on film. I still hope to "some day soon" put together some of my tongue in cheek articles (a dangerous thing to do under then dictator General Zia) and photos with captions from back then into a book. Yes, one day
But, life has it's own plans. After a few years of working at Jang, I picked and packed my proverbial bags and came to America; exactly 20 years ago (January 1989 to be precise). I was fortunate to come to America on a scholarship to get an MBA at Columbia University in New York City.
My parents came to visit me a few months later (Abu had to go for some higher studies on a fellowship of some sort). When he went off for studies (somewhere in Utah I believe) my mother and I went around town (Manhattan) from my Columbia University apartment. Our favorite visit together was to the top of the World Trade Center in New York. It was one of the best times of my life spent with my mother, whom I lost just 2 years after her return to Pakistan at around age 50.
When we were in New York, my then current model camera stopped working so I was saving up for the camera I badly wanted. She wanted to buy it for me but my dream camera at that time, the MinoltaMaxxum 7000i, was too expensive for me to let her buy for me in 1989. Maybe I should have - as I could have captured many more memories of my parents' only trip to America together.
I did buy it a few years later and took some stunning pictures - of beautiful places, gorgeous faces - during my Manhattan years.
I loved taking these photos especially when I was living a blessed life at The Monterey (on the Upper East Side of Manhattan overlooking one of North America's largest and very beautiful mosques) and when visiting loved ones in Washington, DC and friends in California.
Life, time, lifetime friendships, captured in memories in the heart and on film.
(continued...)
FLASH! A Lifetime Of Memories In A Blink
By Imran Anwar
In last week's article I mentioned how I came into photography, thanks to my father inspiring me in every way a father can inspire his son.
He loved photography, and got me a camera at age 6. I mentioned how I progressed from a small, simple 35mm camera in the late 1960'sto one of my favorite film cameras in the late 1980's.
The 1990's brought along a new revolution. Along with the 35mm film Minolta Maxxum 7000i, I became one of the earliest users of digital cameras when the first Apple QuickTakedigital camera came out. I even have some of its pictures on my web site, at IMRAN.COM .
I later upgraded to the next Apple model and I still have it as a memento. It seems so ancient now! It's part of my Apple collection of Mac IIfx, ColorOne scanner, StyleWriter and LaserWriter printing equipment that still reminds me of my love affair with Apple and its technologies. Maybe I will give it to a museum some day (if I don't end up having to sell everything to survive this economic downturn, that is!!).
Not much later 2 Megapixel cameras were coming out so I invested in, and loved, a Minolta DimageX 2MP. My flickr photo-sharing page ( flickr.com/imrananwar) has some taken with that camera. That camera was unfortunately lost but it was impressive both technologically (a marvel in how it "double-turned" light rays to provide an actual optical zoom lens without having a lens protrude from the camera body!) and color quality.
During the next few years I got the 5MP NikonCoolpix E5700, which took some of the amazing Palm Beach and Singer Island, Florida, photos you see on my flickr pages. You should take a look, too. Some of these have been enjoyed by more than three thousand people!
I still use it with an amazing panorama EyeSee 360 lens.
(Ooops, typed too soon, that beautiful camera and specialized lens were shattered a shortly after my writing these lines, when the Nikon strap slipped out of the hook, sending the camera and the lens sliding to hit the road and smash into little pieces! Note to readers, never assume that cameras and other things connected by straps will not slide off. Always check the straps regularly).
Hundreds of panoramic images of Europe, United States and other places are still to be processed and put online. I hope to do soon, so my family and friends can view them and feel like they were right there in the room or city or museum right beside me. It helps me bring the joy of going to the most remote places in the world and knowing I can share the experience with my father, and my loving family and friends.
For portability, and to get back to taking "slice of life" photographs as I used to take in Pakistan for MAG Weekly, I had also added another Nikon to the mix. I replaced the lost Minolta Dimage X with a Nikon S6 (slightly larger than the S1/S5 but WiFi built-in for ease of transferring to the Apple MacBook Pro laptop).
But for real SLR photography with changeable lenses I was in a quandary.
I did not know whether to move from Minolta (my Maxxum 7000i film and Dimage X digital) to another Minolta, their newest DSLR, or complete the migration to Nikon by adding another Nikon like the D60, to accompany the E5700. (As my photographer readers will know, it is not as simple as just picking up a Sony or Panasonic DVD player. Selecting cameras is almost as much a matter of taste and preference as wanting to be a Mac user).
Minolta made it easier by selling out their camera business to Sony. For a while I even found the Sony AlphaA700 a better deal than Nikon (you may have seen an old review I wrote) but I did not make the jump to Sony. I refused to indulge Sony's choice of forcing us to buy expensive Memory Stick and not regular SD Secure Digital cards that are so great and cheaply available
Anyway, on the photography front, though I did not get the Sony Alpha DSLR, nor did I move to the Nikon DSLR ship right away. I found the Nikon D40 and D60 not enough of an advance to make the jump.
And, then, on my return from my recent trip to visit my father, I finally did. I had decided on the Nikon DSLR D30012.3 MP camera when it came out and I got it as one of the best birthday gifts I have ever received from a loved one.
I invested in some additional lenses and flash, etc. and I love it. Sheer magic and take a look at flickr.com/imrananwar. That page has just some of the photos to prove the magic. Some have already won awards, been used in calendars and traveling road shows by companies here and 2 will be used as "INSPIRATION" posters by another company.
Check them out and leave comments. I hope to be back in Pakistan soon and put it to use on photos of my family and beloved homeland of Pakistan. I have also selected some photographs to make a printed coffee table book for my father to see and show his friends the amazing magic I was able to capture from a gift he gave his son 40 years ago.
So, there you have it.
My 40 years journey in photography so far. It was started by my father's gift of a camera. It developed from my mother's gift of telling us never to miss any moment of the beauty in the world around us - before it is too late.
I try to do that, every day, in my own way, by living and capturing that incredible journey, for myself, and, I hope, online, for you and others. The photographs of that journey are online and on my computers, now and in my mind for as long as I live.
Forever? I hope so. The Internet and my "Live, Forever" project (at neternity.org ) give us a chance to leave coming generations a permanent record of our having seen the amazing world I saw, we saw, with our eyes. I hope our visions are seen, for an Eternity, if you do the same.
I emailed the first draft of this tribute and article to my father by email. He had just arrived back in Lahore from a trip. I spoke to him late on the afternoon of December 20, 2008, and had a wonderful conversation with him on the phone.
A few hours after my salute, Mr. Anwar-ud-Din, beloved father to my siblings and me, passed away from unexpected cardiac arrest early on December 21, 2008. ILWIR.
His smile, his love, his words, his sacrifices for us, his very presence in the lives of all that he touched - they are all etched in our hearts and memories for far longer than an eternity, far deeper than any photograph can capture.
May Allah bless him and my mother with a great place close to Him in Heaven.
I thank you, dear reader, for saying a prayer for my parents, and all the great people who have left us and now live forever in our memories. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
(The End)
Friday, January 02, 2009
It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's The First Sunset Of 2009
It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's The First Sunset Of 2009 - © IMRAN, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.
The sun looks burning hot, the bird gives a sense of warmth, while passengers in the JFK bound jet in the distance must be feeling cozy - but this was the coldest temperature photo I have ever taken.
It was 22 degrees F (with blustery winds making for a windchill of near Zero) at Fire Island National Seashore on Long Island, New York. It was a new year but different from previous years.
The first sunset of 2009 burned itself into memory for tomorrows as memories of another kind flood my heart and mind, of the many new year's days spent with my beloved parents, who are now both gone forever.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=XUIMAKK4-ao
Monday, December 29, 2008
12/25/2008 Sunset Tribute Departed Parents, Beloved Father Anwar-ud-Din 1932-2008 & Cherished Mother Nargis 1942-1992
December 25th, 2008 - birth anniversary of Nargis Anwar, my beloved mother. A tribute to her & my beloved father, Anwar-ud-Din, who left us forever on December 21, 2008. Sunset at Fire Island, Smith Point Park, Long Island, New York, one of his favorite places to visit in 1996.
100 seconds for a lifetime of giving more than 100% of their lives to giving us incredible lives of love. Ami, Abu - as the sunset on your time on earth - you are now free as two birds - seen flying in unison in front of the sun before disappearing from sight, forever.
God bless you, always.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
IMRAN.TV: Should India Attack Pakistan Over Mumbai?
There is a lot of discussion going on about the possibility of India attacking Pakistan over the Mumbai events. Even in the best of times two countries considering war as an option is usually a lose lose lose situation for them and the world.
For them to be two nuclear armed countries simply means an even bigger disaster for the whole world. For India to be a predominantly Hindu country, with Hindu extremists tried to come into power, and for Pakistan to be a dominantly Muslim country, with Muslim fanatics trying to take over power, the plot thickens. The possibility of a mushroom cloud rising over many cities in South Asia becomes even greater.
India was attacked, possibly by people from Pakistan. Pakistan denies it, but may also be in denial in itself. Kashmir is the most likely root cause. Should India attack Pakistan over the Mumbai events? Let's view the video.
For them to be two nuclear armed countries simply means an even bigger disaster for the whole world. For India to be a predominantly Hindu country, with Hindu extremists tried to come into power, and for Pakistan to be a dominantly Muslim country, with Muslim fanatics trying to take over power, the plot thickens. The possibility of a mushroom cloud rising over many cities in South Asia becomes even greater.
India was attacked, possibly by people from Pakistan. Pakistan denies it, but may also be in denial in itself. Kashmir is the most likely root cause. Should India attack Pakistan over the Mumbai events? Let's view the video.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
IMRAN.TV: Should USA/Canada Stop Buying Chinese Goods
Poisonous pet food. Counterfeit goods. iPhone knockoffs. Internet attacks on American defense system computers. Industrial espionage. Wholesale theft of American product designs. Not to forget, lead tainted children's toys China shipped to USA and Canada.
A Twitter contact of mine, Christine Lu, who happens to be Chinese and affiliated with a Chinese business related organization, had posted a comment on Seesmic arguing against USA/Canada rejecting Chinese made goods.
This is a serious economic and geo-poliical issue. Here is my opinion on that:
What do you think?
A Twitter contact of mine, Christine Lu, who happens to be Chinese and affiliated with a Chinese business related organization, had posted a comment on Seesmic arguing against USA/Canada rejecting Chinese made goods.
This is a serious economic and geo-poliical issue. Here is my opinion on that:
What do you think?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Use Tweets Instead Of Bullets To Win Your Wars
The last two weeks have been a blur of activity all over the world. Ranging from the good to the bad and the ugly, everyday we learn not only how flat our world is but how interconnected everything is.
The attacks that took place in the Indian city of Mumbai were just the kind of excitement that we did not need this holiday season. I can understand Kashmiri freedom fighters and their supporters wanting to lash out at India, and its economic centre, saw the Indian occupation of Kashmir and the treatment of the Kashmiri people. I can even understand their frustration that61 years have gone by but the rest of the world does not seem to care about United Nations resolutions calling for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination.
In the meantime more and more American, and European, investment continues to pour into India. From Bombay to Bangalore one can see India becoming a magnet for international investment as well as outsourcing of jobs from countries like America. Even the Indian film industry, which used to be entertaining, to say the least, has now become a force and is beginning to make its mark felt even in Hollywood and the West.
Perhaps it is for this reason that the Mumbai attackers decided to target tourists and visiting businessmen, whose Dollars and Euros are strengthening India and enabling its to continue its policy of occupation and terrorizing of the Kashmiri people.
However, there is no excuse for the indiscriminate murder of innocent Indian citizens going about their daily lives. I cannot understand how this attack on Mumbai in any way made the Kashmiri issue more important to the rest of the world. Or, how it made the world in any way more sympathetic to Kashmir.
Even if calling attention to the Kashmir issue was their primary goal, one would at least expect some communication from the masterminds or strategic leaders of this kind of attack. One would request them to at least explain their version of a rationale for such mayhem. Even the PLO, when it was successfully hijacking airliners in the 1970s, was communicating to the rest of the world that it was trying to call attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. Of course, as we can see that did not lead to the independence of the Palestinian people from Zionist Israel.
At the same time, carrying out an attack like this when it would obviously lead to severe Indian reaction against Pakistan shows that these terrorist killers were no friends of Pakistan. It would be foolish of us to argue that they did not come from, or have some support in, Pakistan - as my fellow Pakistanis tend to do. At the same time the jingoistic and "let's use this as an excuse to bash Pakistan" tone and tenor of India's words on the issue is not the smartest response either.
One hopes that saner heads prevail on both sides. Not that I am in any way advocating war, but India would be well advised to remember that Pakistan is its nuclear armed, capable and militarily strong neighbor.
Pakistan may not be able to "defeat" India in a conventional war, but any war that takes place because of the circumstances can easily spiral out of control and turn into a nuclear conflagration. In that, neither India nor Pakistan would win. They, and the whole world, would be defeated.
It is for this reason that it is essential for Pakistan and the Kashmiri people to immediately start using more effective tools of communications to call world attention to these issues. We are living in a connected age. Almost everybody has access to the global network, either through computers connected to the Internet or even through SMS on their cell phone.
Services like Twitter, which enable millions of people to have a real time conversation with short messages of 140 characters (called Tweets), are where the current and future battles for hearts and minds of the global audience take place.
In places like these Muslims in general, and Pakistanis in particular, are few and far between. People from, and supporters of, India and Israel are always active in general. They become even more hyperactive when Muslims, or Pakistanis, or Palestinians, carry out these types of murderous attacks we saw in Mumbai, which backfired on all of us.
If you have not already done so, and have Internet connectivity, I invite you to join up Twitter. Follow the conversation and respond to it. The easiest way to start is to go to http://twitter.com/imrananwar ,sign up and use the Follow button. This way you can see what I am saying in response to the attacks on Pakistan.
Then simply by clicking Reply you can join the conversation. In this case not only would your response come tome, but it would go on the "global public timeline" which means it is there for the whole world to see.
As you say interesting and useful things, or have interesting points and counterpoints, more and more people will begin to follow you. That enables you to build relationships as well as open doors of communication with people from all over the world.
Remember, just because you are not in the same room as the person you are responding to, don't lose your sense of decorum no matter how angry they try to make you.
Being abusive, narrow minded, or just plain offensive only ensures that your words reflect poorly on the very country or cause that you are trying to support. Or it will mean more and more people blocking your messages AND opposing whatever you were supporting!
Remember, a conversation is most effective when you are open minded and balanced. Even people with opposing, or somewhat negative opinions of your country or cause, can become more aware of your point of view, or even become supporters. Be opinionated, but be courteous. Be firm, but be open-minded.
That is the most effective way to communicate your point of view, as well as helping educate the rest of the world on what the root cause of the Pakistan and India problem is. In one word, it's Kashmir.
The only way to win that battle of hearts and minds in a global, interconnected, world is through using tweets instead of bullets to win your war. Get online, follow and tweet me!
The attacks that took place in the Indian city of Mumbai were just the kind of excitement that we did not need this holiday season. I can understand Kashmiri freedom fighters and their supporters wanting to lash out at India, and its economic centre, saw the Indian occupation of Kashmir and the treatment of the Kashmiri people. I can even understand their frustration that61 years have gone by but the rest of the world does not seem to care about United Nations resolutions calling for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination.
In the meantime more and more American, and European, investment continues to pour into India. From Bombay to Bangalore one can see India becoming a magnet for international investment as well as outsourcing of jobs from countries like America. Even the Indian film industry, which used to be entertaining, to say the least, has now become a force and is beginning to make its mark felt even in Hollywood and the West.
Perhaps it is for this reason that the Mumbai attackers decided to target tourists and visiting businessmen, whose Dollars and Euros are strengthening India and enabling its to continue its policy of occupation and terrorizing of the Kashmiri people.
However, there is no excuse for the indiscriminate murder of innocent Indian citizens going about their daily lives. I cannot understand how this attack on Mumbai in any way made the Kashmiri issue more important to the rest of the world. Or, how it made the world in any way more sympathetic to Kashmir.
Even if calling attention to the Kashmir issue was their primary goal, one would at least expect some communication from the masterminds or strategic leaders of this kind of attack. One would request them to at least explain their version of a rationale for such mayhem. Even the PLO, when it was successfully hijacking airliners in the 1970s, was communicating to the rest of the world that it was trying to call attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. Of course, as we can see that did not lead to the independence of the Palestinian people from Zionist Israel.
At the same time, carrying out an attack like this when it would obviously lead to severe Indian reaction against Pakistan shows that these terrorist killers were no friends of Pakistan. It would be foolish of us to argue that they did not come from, or have some support in, Pakistan - as my fellow Pakistanis tend to do. At the same time the jingoistic and "let's use this as an excuse to bash Pakistan" tone and tenor of India's words on the issue is not the smartest response either.
One hopes that saner heads prevail on both sides. Not that I am in any way advocating war, but India would be well advised to remember that Pakistan is its nuclear armed, capable and militarily strong neighbor.
Pakistan may not be able to "defeat" India in a conventional war, but any war that takes place because of the circumstances can easily spiral out of control and turn into a nuclear conflagration. In that, neither India nor Pakistan would win. They, and the whole world, would be defeated.
It is for this reason that it is essential for Pakistan and the Kashmiri people to immediately start using more effective tools of communications to call world attention to these issues. We are living in a connected age. Almost everybody has access to the global network, either through computers connected to the Internet or even through SMS on their cell phone.
Services like Twitter, which enable millions of people to have a real time conversation with short messages of 140 characters (called Tweets), are where the current and future battles for hearts and minds of the global audience take place.
In places like these Muslims in general, and Pakistanis in particular, are few and far between. People from, and supporters of, India and Israel are always active in general. They become even more hyperactive when Muslims, or Pakistanis, or Palestinians, carry out these types of murderous attacks we saw in Mumbai, which backfired on all of us.
If you have not already done so, and have Internet connectivity, I invite you to join up Twitter. Follow the conversation and respond to it. The easiest way to start is to go to http://twitter.com/imrananwar ,sign up and use the Follow button. This way you can see what I am saying in response to the attacks on Pakistan.
Then simply by clicking Reply you can join the conversation. In this case not only would your response come tome, but it would go on the "global public timeline" which means it is there for the whole world to see.
As you say interesting and useful things, or have interesting points and counterpoints, more and more people will begin to follow you. That enables you to build relationships as well as open doors of communication with people from all over the world.
Remember, just because you are not in the same room as the person you are responding to, don't lose your sense of decorum no matter how angry they try to make you.
Being abusive, narrow minded, or just plain offensive only ensures that your words reflect poorly on the very country or cause that you are trying to support. Or it will mean more and more people blocking your messages AND opposing whatever you were supporting!
Remember, a conversation is most effective when you are open minded and balanced. Even people with opposing, or somewhat negative opinions of your country or cause, can become more aware of your point of view, or even become supporters. Be opinionated, but be courteous. Be firm, but be open-minded.
That is the most effective way to communicate your point of view, as well as helping educate the rest of the world on what the root cause of the Pakistan and India problem is. In one word, it's Kashmir.
The only way to win that battle of hearts and minds in a global, interconnected, world is through using tweets instead of bullets to win your war. Get online, follow and tweet me!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Just Another Reason I Love Miami
Leaving Miami for Bahamas & US Virgin Islands 7-Day Cruise Norwegian Dawn 20080406 - 3 - IMRAN™, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.
I know it's extremely aggravating when people expect you to speak Spanish instead of English in Miami. And, the looney drivers in Miami remind me of driving in Pakistan. But, when you see the colors of the sky and water there - it's easy to see one of the many reasons I love Miami.
Web: www.imran.com
Blog: www.imran.com/media/blog/
Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/imrananwar/sets/
Follow Me: www.twitter.com/imrananwar
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=582866154
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/imran
Friday, November 21, 2008
Playing Games With The Future
Part 2: Playing Games With The Future
By Imran Anwar
In the previous column we were analyzing how the Republican Party and defeated politicians play the blame the media game. Even though President-elect Barack Obama has won the election, there are many months before he can even more into the White House. He is busy putting together his team and trying to arrange for a smooth transition from the current administration.
We are looking forward to seeing capable, strong, respected, intelligent and competent people to get lots of Cabinet and administrative positions. In other words, we are expecting from the Obama administration what we did not have in the Bush administration!
In the meantime, lame duck president George W. Bush cannot seem to wipe the glee of his face in that his disastrous presidency is coming to an end. He still does not seem to understand the serious damage he has done to America, Americans, the world and America's standing in the world. He is just acting as if a juvenile, who had been given the responsibility for managing a dorm for a few weeks, is glad that he can go back to partying and having a good time. Texas ranch, here I come!
His team of incompetent, and sometimes corrupt, officials continues to wreak havoc on the nation and the global economy. Secretary Hank Paulson in particular has been spectacular in his inability, apparent poor judgment and lack of good decision-making. It seems that every time he opens his mouth the stock market will drop 200-500 points. Call that the financial equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, another Bush disaster legacy of rewarding failure and incompetence.
As I have written before, the world faces grave financial crises, which need both liquidity and a return of credit and consumer confidence. Paulson does not seem to know how to provide either one. First he disagreed with the good decisions that were being made by other central bankers around the world. Then he agreed with them and said he would follow them.
Then he announced that the government would use the bailout money from taxpayers to buy bad assets, or bad loans, from banks and financial institutions. In effect, he proposed rewarding poorly managed companies run by greedy and crooked executives, while saddling the taxpayer and the American economy with trillions of dollars in liabilities.
When the market had finally adjusted to this, dumb as it was, idea - he roiled the markets again. He did this, in effect, by saying, oops, that's not what he was planning to do. He then proposed finding some new way to give the money not to the financial institutions that are melting, and could sink the entire global economy with them, but consumers who have high credit card debt.
As was to be expected, the bank stocks that were starting to stabilize took a massive new beating. The entire stock market dropped precipitously again. Thanks, Hank.
An interesting news item related to this financial crisis is that opinionated, big mouth, gold and daring movie producer Michael Moore (who had done great exposes on Bush, 9/11, the war on terror, the US auto industry, US health-care, etc.) has announced that he will be making another movie.
This time he will follow up to his previous successes with a movie exposing the games and players that made up the current financial mess. Hopefully, he will expose their endgame as being something that America and the world cannot afford to play.
News reports still continue to comment on how major American corporations, financial institutions, and insurance companies that have their hands stretched out asking for taxpayer bailout still continue to shamelessly spend money on unbelievable expenses.
AIG is the worst culprit of them all. There have been documented cases of more than one expensive, unnecessary and in your face lavish events that this company has continued to hold for its executives.
This company is getting some of the biggest handouts in corporate, financial and global history, already exceeding the $100 billion, yet its executives are dining out on $400 steakhouse dinners, staying in two-storey resort bungalows - while having massage and spa treatment instead of attending the so-called necessary conference costing nearly half a million Dollars! I wonder where I can apply for one of these jobs. I love steak, my shoulders are tight and I sure could use some R&R at taxpayer expense.
I have to give credit to my fellow media professional, the respected TV anchor, Lou Dobbs of CNN for not letting go of the story - despite the bold-faced explanations of the AIG CEO on the lame Larry King Show.
There is one story, however, that I do not think anyone is investigating at least now. It would be so great if CNN, the New York Times or the Washington Post - all the great American institutions - would spend some resources on investigating, in-depth, the major stock trades that took place during the last few months.
I do not have any proof to level a formal complaint or accusation, yet. But, I have a hunch that all was not as it appeared.
I hope that future historians, investigators, and congressional committees will investigate what I am going to say in more depth. I wonder, no, I ask: Was the stock market being manipulated by M/s Paulson, Bush officials and their cronies? What do you think?
While it seems hard to imagine, I do not put it past the friends of evil genius Karl Rove to let the United States economy fall into a new great depression.
Students of the Great Depression and its causes, including Secretary Paulson, and Karl Rove, know that it can take four years or more for an economy to come back from a giant depression.
That means, conceivably it is possible to sabotage an Obama presidency even before he takes office! They could do this while setting the stage for the economy to still be in bad shape when the Republicans make the next bid for the White House in 2012.
I hope I am wrong, but American politicians have been guilty of far worse crimes, against their own people.
Imran Anwar is a New York and Miami based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar
By Imran Anwar
In the previous column we were analyzing how the Republican Party and defeated politicians play the blame the media game. Even though President-elect Barack Obama has won the election, there are many months before he can even more into the White House. He is busy putting together his team and trying to arrange for a smooth transition from the current administration.
We are looking forward to seeing capable, strong, respected, intelligent and competent people to get lots of Cabinet and administrative positions. In other words, we are expecting from the Obama administration what we did not have in the Bush administration!
In the meantime, lame duck president George W. Bush cannot seem to wipe the glee of his face in that his disastrous presidency is coming to an end. He still does not seem to understand the serious damage he has done to America, Americans, the world and America's standing in the world. He is just acting as if a juvenile, who had been given the responsibility for managing a dorm for a few weeks, is glad that he can go back to partying and having a good time. Texas ranch, here I come!
His team of incompetent, and sometimes corrupt, officials continues to wreak havoc on the nation and the global economy. Secretary Hank Paulson in particular has been spectacular in his inability, apparent poor judgment and lack of good decision-making. It seems that every time he opens his mouth the stock market will drop 200-500 points. Call that the financial equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, another Bush disaster legacy of rewarding failure and incompetence.
As I have written before, the world faces grave financial crises, which need both liquidity and a return of credit and consumer confidence. Paulson does not seem to know how to provide either one. First he disagreed with the good decisions that were being made by other central bankers around the world. Then he agreed with them and said he would follow them.
Then he announced that the government would use the bailout money from taxpayers to buy bad assets, or bad loans, from banks and financial institutions. In effect, he proposed rewarding poorly managed companies run by greedy and crooked executives, while saddling the taxpayer and the American economy with trillions of dollars in liabilities.
When the market had finally adjusted to this, dumb as it was, idea - he roiled the markets again. He did this, in effect, by saying, oops, that's not what he was planning to do. He then proposed finding some new way to give the money not to the financial institutions that are melting, and could sink the entire global economy with them, but consumers who have high credit card debt.
As was to be expected, the bank stocks that were starting to stabilize took a massive new beating. The entire stock market dropped precipitously again. Thanks, Hank.
An interesting news item related to this financial crisis is that opinionated, big mouth, gold and daring movie producer Michael Moore (who had done great exposes on Bush, 9/11, the war on terror, the US auto industry, US health-care, etc.) has announced that he will be making another movie.
This time he will follow up to his previous successes with a movie exposing the games and players that made up the current financial mess. Hopefully, he will expose their endgame as being something that America and the world cannot afford to play.
News reports still continue to comment on how major American corporations, financial institutions, and insurance companies that have their hands stretched out asking for taxpayer bailout still continue to shamelessly spend money on unbelievable expenses.
AIG is the worst culprit of them all. There have been documented cases of more than one expensive, unnecessary and in your face lavish events that this company has continued to hold for its executives.
This company is getting some of the biggest handouts in corporate, financial and global history, already exceeding the $100 billion, yet its executives are dining out on $400 steakhouse dinners, staying in two-storey resort bungalows - while having massage and spa treatment instead of attending the so-called necessary conference costing nearly half a million Dollars! I wonder where I can apply for one of these jobs. I love steak, my shoulders are tight and I sure could use some R&R at taxpayer expense.
I have to give credit to my fellow media professional, the respected TV anchor, Lou Dobbs of CNN for not letting go of the story - despite the bold-faced explanations of the AIG CEO on the lame Larry King Show.
There is one story, however, that I do not think anyone is investigating at least now. It would be so great if CNN, the New York Times or the Washington Post - all the great American institutions - would spend some resources on investigating, in-depth, the major stock trades that took place during the last few months.
I do not have any proof to level a formal complaint or accusation, yet. But, I have a hunch that all was not as it appeared.
I hope that future historians, investigators, and congressional committees will investigate what I am going to say in more depth. I wonder, no, I ask: Was the stock market being manipulated by M/s Paulson, Bush officials and their cronies? What do you think?
While it seems hard to imagine, I do not put it past the friends of evil genius Karl Rove to let the United States economy fall into a new great depression.
Students of the Great Depression and its causes, including Secretary Paulson, and Karl Rove, know that it can take four years or more for an economy to come back from a giant depression.
That means, conceivably it is possible to sabotage an Obama presidency even before he takes office! They could do this while setting the stage for the economy to still be in bad shape when the Republicans make the next bid for the White House in 2012.
I hope I am wrong, but American politicians have been guilty of far worse crimes, against their own people.
Imran Anwar is a New York and Miami based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar
Friday, November 14, 2008
Playing The Blame Game
The historic election of president-elect Barack Obama is complete. Jockeying has begun for positions in the new Cabinet and the new administration - which will take oath of office in early 2009. Democrats who have worked hard for Obama's success are lining up.
On the Republican side, the blame game continues on who was responsible for the disastrous showing of the Republican Party in the recent elections. Not only did a relative newcomer to politics, but an African-American on top of that, manage to beat a far more established political rival John McCain, Democrats also increased their significant majority in Congress and now even the Senate. It’s going to be a difficult 2-4 years for the Republicans.
While the Republicans are still licking their wounds, they are still not an agreement on whether the defeated vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was an asset or a serious liability.
There are some who admit that Sarah Palin was a terrible selection. Even the unofficial mouthpiece of the Republican Party, and the ultra-right-wing as well as neo-con movements of the United States, Fox News Channel, had one of its reporters rattling off a litany of Sarah Palin weaknesses.
Of course this was done after the election. This included apparently amazing, and downright scary, facts like the candidate for vice president of the United States, one heartbeat away from the presidency if the physically challenged John McCain was to die while in office, could not name the three countries that make up North America! Canada is to the North of us Americans, and Mexico is to the South. She did not know that! She did not know that Africa is a continent and not a country. The list goes on.
What is even more shocking than such an apparent moron being a major political party's candidate is that some people still do not seem to have learned a lesson from this defeat. It appears that some part of the Republican Party still does not get it. There are people who are already positioning Palin for a presidential run in 2012. They seem to think that extreme right-wing ultraconservative bible thumping hockey mom small town Christian mentality is what America needs. Heaven forbid!
These people are quite clear in their thinking that she was a great candidate who was simply defeated because the media did not like her. Blaming the media is nothing new, as we know in all countries. Most parties and candidates do it, especially if they are falling behind or defeated.
However, even as a writer who worked for a newspaper (Jang Group & MAG Weekly) in Pakistan that was constantly attacked by the left and right asking for greater coverage than the other side, I find the Republican Party's blaming the media laughable.
I am all for being fair and balanced, for real, unlike just as a dumb slogan, and giving equal coverage to all parties - especially at the start of the race.
The media's job is not to be a mouthpiece of either party, nor should it try to influence people in one way or the other, when the choice is between two equally strong candidates.
But, it is ridiculous to assume that the media should be giving equal coverage, or writing equal number of "positive stories" if one candidate is running an awesome campaign and the other just cannot seem to get his foot out of his mouth.
Another amazing thing that is happening now, post-election, is that the same Sarah Palin who was unavailable to do any interviews, or take any press conferences except with carefully chosen friendly journalists, is now all over the media.
One of my favourite TV anchors is Campbell Brown over at CNN. She is bright, beautiful and bold. That is why it is great to see her run a show called "No Bias No Bull". In a recent episode I loved it when she declared that during the elections they could not get Sarah Palin to speak to them and now, post-election, Palin does not ever seem to "shut up!"
Suddenly the same Republican Party that was attacking the media elite, while not making its candidates available to speak to them, is actively courting the media.
John McCain made his first TV appearance after losing the election on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". To his credit McCain has been a gentleman in defeat. He has been gracious and even funny. He told Jay Leno that after losing the election he has been sleeping like a baby. He sleeps for two hours, wakes up crying and goes back to sleep.
In the meantime Sarah Palin, who was calling Barack Obama a socialist, is now gushing with praise and kind words for him and his family. The same man that she was trying to label a terrorist-friend is one she is suggesting should be selecting opponent republicans to be members of his Cabinet. Nice try.
Only time will tell if the Republican Party will continue down this destructive path of courting the ultra-right-wing, fundamentalist Christian, extreme elements of American society.
I, for one, am hoping that the American public and the American media will continue to keep an eye on what and how the Democrats do in the next two years. If it looks like they are foolishly squandering the historic opportunity that American voters gave them, it would be an opportunity for the Republican Party to find its footing, and its place in history again. But that cannot be done just by playing the blame-the-media game.
As a member of the media, I also feel it is our responsibility, to now report accurately, fairly and with an eye to the future. America, and the world, stand together on the brink of disaster but with great and bright future days still within sight. It is up to us to work together to make that brighter future a reality.
[Continued...]
---
Imran Anwar is a New York and Miami based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com . You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar
On the Republican side, the blame game continues on who was responsible for the disastrous showing of the Republican Party in the recent elections. Not only did a relative newcomer to politics, but an African-American on top of that, manage to beat a far more established political rival John McCain, Democrats also increased their significant majority in Congress and now even the Senate. It’s going to be a difficult 2-4 years for the Republicans.
While the Republicans are still licking their wounds, they are still not an agreement on whether the defeated vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was an asset or a serious liability.
There are some who admit that Sarah Palin was a terrible selection. Even the unofficial mouthpiece of the Republican Party, and the ultra-right-wing as well as neo-con movements of the United States, Fox News Channel, had one of its reporters rattling off a litany of Sarah Palin weaknesses.
Of course this was done after the election. This included apparently amazing, and downright scary, facts like the candidate for vice president of the United States, one heartbeat away from the presidency if the physically challenged John McCain was to die while in office, could not name the three countries that make up North America! Canada is to the North of us Americans, and Mexico is to the South. She did not know that! She did not know that Africa is a continent and not a country. The list goes on.
What is even more shocking than such an apparent moron being a major political party's candidate is that some people still do not seem to have learned a lesson from this defeat. It appears that some part of the Republican Party still does not get it. There are people who are already positioning Palin for a presidential run in 2012. They seem to think that extreme right-wing ultraconservative bible thumping hockey mom small town Christian mentality is what America needs. Heaven forbid!
These people are quite clear in their thinking that she was a great candidate who was simply defeated because the media did not like her. Blaming the media is nothing new, as we know in all countries. Most parties and candidates do it, especially if they are falling behind or defeated.
However, even as a writer who worked for a newspaper (Jang Group & MAG Weekly) in Pakistan that was constantly attacked by the left and right asking for greater coverage than the other side, I find the Republican Party's blaming the media laughable.
I am all for being fair and balanced, for real, unlike just as a dumb slogan, and giving equal coverage to all parties - especially at the start of the race.
The media's job is not to be a mouthpiece of either party, nor should it try to influence people in one way or the other, when the choice is between two equally strong candidates.
But, it is ridiculous to assume that the media should be giving equal coverage, or writing equal number of "positive stories" if one candidate is running an awesome campaign and the other just cannot seem to get his foot out of his mouth.
Another amazing thing that is happening now, post-election, is that the same Sarah Palin who was unavailable to do any interviews, or take any press conferences except with carefully chosen friendly journalists, is now all over the media.
One of my favourite TV anchors is Campbell Brown over at CNN. She is bright, beautiful and bold. That is why it is great to see her run a show called "No Bias No Bull". In a recent episode I loved it when she declared that during the elections they could not get Sarah Palin to speak to them and now, post-election, Palin does not ever seem to "shut up!"
Suddenly the same Republican Party that was attacking the media elite, while not making its candidates available to speak to them, is actively courting the media.
John McCain made his first TV appearance after losing the election on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". To his credit McCain has been a gentleman in defeat. He has been gracious and even funny. He told Jay Leno that after losing the election he has been sleeping like a baby. He sleeps for two hours, wakes up crying and goes back to sleep.
In the meantime Sarah Palin, who was calling Barack Obama a socialist, is now gushing with praise and kind words for him and his family. The same man that she was trying to label a terrorist-friend is one she is suggesting should be selecting opponent republicans to be members of his Cabinet. Nice try.
Only time will tell if the Republican Party will continue down this destructive path of courting the ultra-right-wing, fundamentalist Christian, extreme elements of American society.
I, for one, am hoping that the American public and the American media will continue to keep an eye on what and how the Democrats do in the next two years. If it looks like they are foolishly squandering the historic opportunity that American voters gave them, it would be an opportunity for the Republican Party to find its footing, and its place in history again. But that cannot be done just by playing the blame-the-media game.
As a member of the media, I also feel it is our responsibility, to now report accurately, fairly and with an eye to the future. America, and the world, stand together on the brink of disaster but with great and bright future days still within sight. It is up to us to work together to make that brighter future a reality.
[Continued...]
---
Imran Anwar is a New York and Miami based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com . You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Ripples On Golden (Pond) Bay - Stunning Golden & Red Sunsets Smith Point, Great South Bay, Long Island, NY - IMRAN™ - 27
Ripples On Golden (Pond) Bay - Stunning Golden & Red Sunsets Smith Point, Great South Bay, Long Island, NY - IMRAN™ - 27, originally uploaded by ImranAnwar.
The world is falling apart around us, but what a wonderful world we live in.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Random Thoughts, Comments & Quips On FaceBook
Seema Kalia wants volunteers who want to answer my 6 yr olds Q's on any of the following: Evolution, War, God's absence in the face of poverty and Civil Rights. Anyone?
35 seconds ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:51pm November 12
I can't answer but can tell you who can best answer:
Evolution: Sarah Palin
War: George W. Bush
God's absence in the face of poverty: Prada wearing Pope
Civil Rights: Any millionaire basketball player.
Hope that helps.
Imran
---
Ziana Bethune is thanking God for the wisdom to accept that which she cannot change, and the power to change that which she can...and for the gift of great friends.
15 minutes ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:52pm November 12
God said "You're welcome." According to George Bush, coz God doesn't call me directly.
---
Ninelle Efremova is excited to see a sky completely covered in stars. prettttyyy.
42 minutes ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:54pm November 12
A full moon here was making stars less visible but a short while ago I was enjoying looking at Orion's Belt. Good thing stars are not like men, or that waist would be expanding. Wait a second, the universe is expanding. Does that mean Orion's belt and waist are also expanding. OK, I give up. Back to seeing stars. LOL
Imran
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imrananwar/sets/
---
Malcolm Lawrence Begich leads Stevens by 3 votes with 10,000 ballots to be counted.
about an hour ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:37pm November 12
WOW. That's close. Can't believe Alaskans want a crook to keep representing them. Explains a lot
---
Malcolm Lawrence So satisfying to see "free marketers" try to fix YOUR mess with socialistic remedies before "socialist" Obama even starts his term. D'oh!
about an hour ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:37pm November 12
Yes, and making it worse by mucking up even the bailout. Is there a bailout possible for bailouts?
---
Steven Alexander : Can President-Elect Obama govern the way he Campaigned?
about an hour ago - 5 Comments
Imran Anwar at 9:38pm November 12
I just saw in my Inbox but didn't read yet an article (summary appeared to be suggesting he ran a No Drama campaign but to get people to do their best he may want to mix things up.)
Jose Outtellect Guzman III at 9:40pm November 12
Obama will do whatever illuminati tells him to.
Steven Alexander at 9:43pm November 12
"illuminati"?
Jose Outtellect Guzman III at 9:48pm November 12
Illuminati it's in the dictionary. Small group of wealthy individuals. Who own all the land, oil, gold, knowledge, information, corporations, media,resources, etc. Your rockefellers, buffets, murdochs,gates, etc.
Imran Anwar at 9:49pm November 12
I think supporters of current "administration" and Bush and Palin-2012 want dark forces (like Cheney), voices in the President's head (preferably Jesus now starts calling next Republican instead of Bush), and obliterati (bomb anyone to divert attention from domestic issues).
---
Miles O'Brien On the US-285 btwn Roswell and Albiquirky. Road flat and straight speedometer reads 90. Cell service spotty. Stars about to emerge.
2 hours ago - 8 Comments
Lisa Farrell at 8:45pm November 12
are you texting while driving 90?
Show 6 more comments...
Imran Anwar at 9:40pm November 12
Be careful, if you see large shiny object hovering in the sky - it may be Sarah Palin's halo.
---
Stephanie Green is disturbingly disorganized, and thinks Melissa Ethridge is a bad-ass. Power to the gays!
2 hours ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:40pm November 12
Maybe she has a constant craving to be organized. LOL
---
Harry McCracken Four words: WebEx on a Phone: http://tinyurl.com/59yltz.
2 hours ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:43pm November 12
Even better, 2 words - "WebEx iPhone" LOL
---
Malcolm Lawrence Gee, Detroit, maybe its time to start making Green cars and finally dealing with your labor costs mess. Immediately. Come on, get crackin'!
6 hours ago - Comment
Imran Anwar at 11:09pm November 12
Not until they get rid of the cancer of unions (which enable people barely qualified to flip burgers to make $100K) they can't be saved and I don't want my tax money going to bail them out.
---
Imran nytimesbusiness reports Glass Makers Fined $1.6 Billion for Price Fixing. High fine breaks glass ceiling? Glass half empty now? Cracks me up.via Twitter - 5:24pm - 5 Comments
Ziana Bethune at 5:47pm November 12
ROFLMAO! Cracks you up, Imran? Oh, God...maybe I'm twisted but I love your puns. lol!
Imran Anwar at 8:22pm November 12
Thanks, Ziana. It's CLEAR to me that you can SEE THROUGH my humor. LOL. Of course, I enjoy your POURING on the compliments into my JUG sized ears - hopefully without my getting GLASSY-EYED. I know you are TWISTED. But, are you twisted enough to want to be the PRETZEL that a certain President choked on? LOL.
Ziana Bethune at 8:55pm November 12
ROFLMAO! Uh...maybe I'm twisted enough to be the President that the pretzel fell prey to. lol. :) If you're nuts enough to prey to pretzels, that is. *Groan.*
Seema Kalia at 10:17pm November 12
GAWD. This is so transparent.
Imran Anwar at 10:48pm November 12
I can see clearly now.
---
From Frank:
re: Redistribution of wealth in simple terms
Give it some SERIOUS thought! Not far off.
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with
a sign that read 'Vote Obama, I need the money.' I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on a 'Obama 08' tie,
again I laughed as he had given away his political
preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and
explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution
of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him
that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who
I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The
server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to
thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the
money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I
realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not
earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money
he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in
concept than in practical application.
OR IS IT...REDISTRIBUTION OF SOMEONE ELSE'S
WEALTH IS A GREAT IDEA.....
Imran Anwar
November 4 at 1:14am
Frank, I am no Democrat, supported McCain in 2000 and proudly voted Obama in 2008. I am hoping my fellow Americans will vote to make history tomorrow. McCain's already history unless my countrymen are racist at heart and give false info to pollsters.
Imran
Frank Profeta
November 4 at 10:29am
Imran
There is much more at stake than the Presidency, don't forget about the supreme court, appx 2-3 justices. I just woke up, I'm our in Phoenix for another week. Weather is great out here.
Frank
Sent via Facebook Mobile
Imran Anwar
November 4 at 6:04pm
Like anyone could get bigger crooked judges like Roberts that Bush shoved in there. Enjoy Phoenix. My condolences (I hope ;-) ) to McCain. Weather cloudy in DC. I'll be here another couple of days.
Be safe.
Imran
Imran Anwar
November 5 at 1:50am
I'm glad the rednecks racists bigots Bush lovers were defeated by great Americans. Looking forward to people staying engaged in politics and elections n throwing Dems out if they do bad things.
Bush now officially the used toilet paper of American history.
Sent via Facebook Mobile
Frank Profeta
November 5 at 8:55am
Imran
I wouldn't call McCain supporters, "rednecks racists bigots Bush lovers," we are all great Americans and participated in a very intense campaign for many months. This kind of talk is what divides America, not unites America. You might want to reconsider your comments.
Imran Anwar
November 5 at 12:35pm
Hahaha, Frank. Really - now as losers even the bigots and racists and other regular Republicans like you yourself are all great Americans but your beloved Sarah Palin said Obama supporters were not real Americans or America loving. LOL
35 seconds ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:51pm November 12
I can't answer but can tell you who can best answer:
Evolution: Sarah Palin
War: George W. Bush
God's absence in the face of poverty: Prada wearing Pope
Civil Rights: Any millionaire basketball player.
Hope that helps.
Imran
---
Ziana Bethune is thanking God for the wisdom to accept that which she cannot change, and the power to change that which she can...and for the gift of great friends.
15 minutes ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:52pm November 12
God said "You're welcome." According to George Bush, coz God doesn't call me directly.
---
Ninelle Efremova is excited to see a sky completely covered in stars. prettttyyy.
42 minutes ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 10:54pm November 12
A full moon here was making stars less visible but a short while ago I was enjoying looking at Orion's Belt. Good thing stars are not like men, or that waist would be expanding. Wait a second, the universe is expanding. Does that mean Orion's belt and waist are also expanding. OK, I give up. Back to seeing stars. LOL
Imran
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imrananwar/sets/
---
Malcolm Lawrence Begich leads Stevens by 3 votes with 10,000 ballots to be counted.
about an hour ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:37pm November 12
WOW. That's close. Can't believe Alaskans want a crook to keep representing them. Explains a lot
---
Malcolm Lawrence So satisfying to see "free marketers" try to fix YOUR mess with socialistic remedies before "socialist" Obama even starts his term. D'oh!
about an hour ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:37pm November 12
Yes, and making it worse by mucking up even the bailout. Is there a bailout possible for bailouts?
---
Steven Alexander : Can President-Elect Obama govern the way he Campaigned?
about an hour ago - 5 Comments
Imran Anwar at 9:38pm November 12
I just saw in my Inbox but didn't read yet an article (summary appeared to be suggesting he ran a No Drama campaign but to get people to do their best he may want to mix things up.)
Jose Outtellect Guzman III at 9:40pm November 12
Obama will do whatever illuminati tells him to.
Steven Alexander at 9:43pm November 12
"illuminati"?
Jose Outtellect Guzman III at 9:48pm November 12
Illuminati it's in the dictionary. Small group of wealthy individuals. Who own all the land, oil, gold, knowledge, information, corporations, media,resources, etc. Your rockefellers, buffets, murdochs,gates, etc.
Imran Anwar at 9:49pm November 12
I think supporters of current "administration" and Bush and Palin-2012 want dark forces (like Cheney), voices in the President's head (preferably Jesus now starts calling next Republican instead of Bush), and obliterati (bomb anyone to divert attention from domestic issues).
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Miles O'Brien On the US-285 btwn Roswell and Albiquirky. Road flat and straight speedometer reads 90. Cell service spotty. Stars about to emerge.
2 hours ago - 8 Comments
Lisa Farrell at 8:45pm November 12
are you texting while driving 90?
Show 6 more comments...
Imran Anwar at 9:40pm November 12
Be careful, if you see large shiny object hovering in the sky - it may be Sarah Palin's halo.
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Stephanie Green is disturbingly disorganized, and thinks Melissa Ethridge is a bad-ass. Power to the gays!
2 hours ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:40pm November 12
Maybe she has a constant craving to be organized. LOL
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Harry McCracken Four words: WebEx on a Phone: http://tinyurl.com/59yltz.
2 hours ago - 1 Comment
Imran Anwar at 9:43pm November 12
Even better, 2 words - "WebEx iPhone" LOL
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Malcolm Lawrence Gee, Detroit, maybe its time to start making Green cars and finally dealing with your labor costs mess. Immediately. Come on, get crackin'!
6 hours ago - Comment
Imran Anwar at 11:09pm November 12
Not until they get rid of the cancer of unions (which enable people barely qualified to flip burgers to make $100K) they can't be saved and I don't want my tax money going to bail them out.
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Imran nytimesbusiness reports Glass Makers Fined $1.6 Billion for Price Fixing. High fine breaks glass ceiling? Glass half empty now? Cracks me up.via Twitter - 5:24pm - 5 Comments
Ziana Bethune at 5:47pm November 12
ROFLMAO! Cracks you up, Imran? Oh, God...maybe I'm twisted but I love your puns. lol!
Imran Anwar at 8:22pm November 12
Thanks, Ziana. It's CLEAR to me that you can SEE THROUGH my humor. LOL. Of course, I enjoy your POURING on the compliments into my JUG sized ears - hopefully without my getting GLASSY-EYED. I know you are TWISTED. But, are you twisted enough to want to be the PRETZEL that a certain President choked on? LOL.
Ziana Bethune at 8:55pm November 12
ROFLMAO! Uh...maybe I'm twisted enough to be the President that the pretzel fell prey to. lol. :) If you're nuts enough to prey to pretzels, that is. *Groan.*
Seema Kalia at 10:17pm November 12
GAWD. This is so transparent.
Imran Anwar at 10:48pm November 12
I can see clearly now.
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From Frank:
re: Redistribution of wealth in simple terms
Give it some SERIOUS thought! Not far off.
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with
a sign that read 'Vote Obama, I need the money.' I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on a 'Obama 08' tie,
again I laughed as he had given away his political
preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and
explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution
of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him
that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who
I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The
server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to
thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the
money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I
realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not
earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money
he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in
concept than in practical application.
OR IS IT...REDISTRIBUTION OF SOMEONE ELSE'S
WEALTH IS A GREAT IDEA.....
Imran Anwar
November 4 at 1:14am
Frank, I am no Democrat, supported McCain in 2000 and proudly voted Obama in 2008. I am hoping my fellow Americans will vote to make history tomorrow. McCain's already history unless my countrymen are racist at heart and give false info to pollsters.
Imran
Frank Profeta
November 4 at 10:29am
Imran
There is much more at stake than the Presidency, don't forget about the supreme court, appx 2-3 justices. I just woke up, I'm our in Phoenix for another week. Weather is great out here.
Frank
Sent via Facebook Mobile
Imran Anwar
November 4 at 6:04pm
Like anyone could get bigger crooked judges like Roberts that Bush shoved in there. Enjoy Phoenix. My condolences (I hope ;-) ) to McCain. Weather cloudy in DC. I'll be here another couple of days.
Be safe.
Imran
Imran Anwar
November 5 at 1:50am
I'm glad the rednecks racists bigots Bush lovers were defeated by great Americans. Looking forward to people staying engaged in politics and elections n throwing Dems out if they do bad things.
Bush now officially the used toilet paper of American history.
Sent via Facebook Mobile
Frank Profeta
November 5 at 8:55am
Imran
I wouldn't call McCain supporters, "rednecks racists bigots Bush lovers," we are all great Americans and participated in a very intense campaign for many months. This kind of talk is what divides America, not unites America. You might want to reconsider your comments.
Imran Anwar
November 5 at 12:35pm
Hahaha, Frank. Really - now as losers even the bigots and racists and other regular Republicans like you yourself are all great Americans but your beloved Sarah Palin said Obama supporters were not real Americans or America loving. LOL
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