Pay your taxes already!

So, that makes three people in the Obama administration who've had tax problems so far. Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer withdrew their nominations and Timothy Giethner went on ahead to become our treasury secretary anyway.

Politicians and tax avoidance seems to be go hand-in-hand with Wall St. execs and incompetence (with benefits) and homosexual Republican guy-bashers.

Democrats have had a particularly tough time lately. What with Rangel, Blagovich and now the tax-cheating trio.

From my perspective -- everyone cheats on their taxes. However, if you are going to try to become the treasury secretary or nation's health czar, does it not behoove you to have your minions run a check and confirm that everything is a-ok?

In other words -- it is not the corruption but the incompetence that these people should be punished for.

"...Like riding a tiger..."

It is quite reassuring to note that on a complete collapse of business ethics the United States does not hold a monopoly. Satyam, India's "premium" outsourcing company has shown the world and specially the United States how spectacular corruption can be done that would make the world take notice (made a big-fat headline on WSJ -- I don't remember seeing one on Indian business before). The petty corruption that has plagued India for years and earned it a bad reputation among the industrial ("civilized" world) can finally take a back-seat. Mr. Ramalinga Raju has finally created some sort of competition for Bernard Madoff, who, probably couldn't have come up with a gem like...

It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.

Very impressive indeed. 

"I want to make money..."

I don't think there is any political, commercial or moral corruption that would surprise me. However, I am still quite surprised (even shocked) by the amazing stupidity that once in a while surrounds corruption. Take the case of the Illinois governor. I mean how stupid do you have to be to sell, of all the seats in the world, the president-elect's seat? And that no -- no ordinary president-elect but the chosen one! Did not occur to him once that the media and the people will be over this replacement anyway? And then you take a hammer and swing it full-force right on to your tiny toe. Very sad -- not the corruption -- but the incompetence. If Mr. Blagojevich expects rewards for his gross incompetence then maybe he should've been heading a Wall St. bank and not a state.

“I’ve got this thing,” Mr. Blagojevich said on one recording, according to the affidavit, “and it’s [expletive] golden. And I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I’m not going to do it. And I can always use it. I can parachute me there.”

Ban Google Save India??

If this is what it would take to 'Save' India then it certainly must be done.

Walgreens - The Ministry of Truth

Photography is becoming difficult every day. Read this thread on Flickr. Apparently, if you tried to get Walgreens to print really good shots that you took -- they wouldn't do it because they wouldn't believe they'd be yours! You MUST be stealing someone's photos, you thief!

Wow!

What next? Should we be discredited of everything good we do?

In fact, now that I think about it -- something similar happened to me a long long time ago. I wrote a poem on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 (now that year couldn't possibly be mere co-incidence) and my Hindi teacher admonished me for stealing it from somewhere. I tried to convince her that I wrote it myself but no sir she would not have it. The poem was too good to be created by me. I was only 11 years old. How could I be 'good'? She wanted me to admit to my error of judgment in front of the class. I of course would not do it. I cried, I was young. I wrote even more poems after that. Some good, some bad but I guess most beyond my youth.

Frailty of moral compass

Every morning as I struggle to get out of the bed, I feel alright when I recalibrate my moral compass to the monetary north.