NPR actions

        It's interesting to see how this country needs a reason to find an escape goat in certain groups (wrong color, religion, sex etc) we speak of tolerance and democracy but damn if you go against me! In the past the "White" or so called Anglo-Saxon had slavery and considered themselves none Bigots, political correction came in and changed the name referring to salves from using the N word to African-American (1920 when they got their rights to vote). We also have the Anti-Japanese sentiment; this movement treated the Japanese similar to Slavery or Hitler for that manner (minus the gas chambers) by having "War Relocation Camps".

        Reading the Testimony of John L. DeWitt, April 13, 1943, House Naval Affairs Subcommittee to Investigate Congested Areas: "I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map." OH my how we have changed from those days, now we drive Japanse cars and play on Playstation.

         So to me it seems a natural reaction in this country if a small member of a group does something bad then it must be by default the entire group that is bad and we HAVE to hate them no questions asked. Pearl Harbor happened and by default we can't trust those "Japs", 9/11 happened and we can't trust ANY Muslim. This is a normal reaction to something we do not know or understand. With Black we used Skin color as differentiation with Muslims it's Religion!

        Let us assume the role was reversed and NPR had an Arab-American who said this:" When I fly and see Hasidic Jew I get scared".

Do you think Fox news would say this is his free speech right or would Fox have went on the attack? Would they have offered him $2 Million contract to give Fox a different point of view? Do I agree with NPR firing John Williams for speaking his personal views? No I do not. If Juan did say this is NPR views then NPR has right to fire him (if he was speaking outside NPR views). Just like any of us bad mouthing the company you work for in public, they can terminate your employment if they deem you not following their Vision. Yes what NPR did is wrong in taking this drastic action, but as a Muslim I want to thank them for taking a stand to support the minority group that is under constant attack.

I leave you with Mr. Jesse Ventura statement:" The First Amendment was not written to protect the popular speech but the unpopular one"

Stock picking

I was told Yahoo is good because of possibility it might be acquired. I tend to disagree even though I'm yahoo user and have been for long time.

Here is what I like and own:

Citibank – C

General Electric – GE, got to love this with nice yield also

Verizon ( I own) or ATT – VZ or T, talk about 6% yield, can't find that any saving     accounts

Want to diversify more how about some Phrama Stocks, Merck (MER), Eli Lilly (LLY) or Pfizer (PFE) all paying 4% + in yield.

 

Love to hear other inputs? Don't be shy

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Brad Ellsworth

I sent this letter to our U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Brad Ellsworth, regarding immigration issues. I liked the reply I got back from him. Talk about an automated reply, but at least I have to give him this he did reply while our President didn't (sent President Obama two letters). Please see letter below and reply I received. PS. Mr. President I'm still waiting for my reply.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE Brad Ellsworth

101 NW Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Room 124
Evansville, IN 47708

Ref: Immigration to the USA
To Mr. Brad Ellsworth,
    I'm puzzled and irate on how US current immigration system works, it seems to me that anyone trying to immigrate to the US in a legal way following the law, gets passed over by the illegal immigrants and their rights!
    Perfect example, when I became a US citizen over 10 years ago (that's another story), I applied for my father and he received his Green card. After that he applied for my siblings under his name. My sister gained her PhD from xxxx University in Chicago in Medical Physics (via Fulbright scholarship) and my brother is IT manager at biggest bank in UAE. After few years my father decided he has no need for the Green Card and gave up his right to it. His thinking was, I do not plan to migrate to US and use the resource that is meant for others.
    On the other hand my siblings continued the paper work and finally received this year a letter indicating need to pay $70 for AOS (Affidavit Of Support) that was paid, then another email came in to pay $400 For visa processing fee. My brother paid that fee and now we are told we need to fill form I-864 (Affidavit of Support) I was going to fill this form (since I'm the one residing in the US) but to my surprised only the person that applied for them (i.e. our father) has to fill it. Since he gave up his right for the Green Card he couldn't fill that form, therefore we inquired with an attorney about the next step? To my surprise again, I was told NOTHING we can do except start the processes AGAIN and Jordanian citizens have a wait of 9 years! In other words the time they waited and reached this approval process will not be counted! Interesting.
    How about when my brother came to visit in June got harassed by TSA (this was not his first entry) or my sister when she came to a conference and she was a presenter got also harassed by a TSA agent asking her if she is called a doctor in her country! What a sham, they come here for pleasure and spend $$ get harassed come here for a conference they get harassed!
    I travel a lot for work and as a matter of fact, at one of my trips we sat next to each other on our way to Detroit. I'm sure you can tell TSA screening needs to be overhauled; you have been to Israel and saw how it's done.
    What do you suggest? Ask them to cross the border illegally, carry with them drugs and sue the government or the state for trying to stop them at gun point? What do you think about using emotional distress from the ordeal for the case? (Similar to what an Arizona rancher faced when he got sued for $7.2 Million by illegal immigrants crossing his ranch!) Why is this country rewarding bad behavior while punishing people that follow the law?
    Do special interest groups carry better weight than the people in this country? We wonder why we have brain drain in this country, and jobs moving overseas, we do not make it feasible to hire the best. Soon India and China will surpass us and wonder why.

Sincerely yours,
Shadi Wadi-Ramahi
cc. President of the United States of America

Jesse Ventura

Here we have a person that to some can seem off the wall and way off his base. His comments can seem insulting and rude. To me the ex governor of Minnesota, Navy Seal, wrestler & actor is a person that should have ran for President, his no nonsense views and ideas is what this country needs. Too bad the media hounded his family like a fox ready to jump on hens, actually a better way to describe the media is a guy who just had Viagra and was thrown in a strip club. It's a sad state of affair when the Media stop concentrating on the good parts and attacks high profile personals family, can't they have respect to privacy?
Anyway, I wish our government took a lead from Jesse when he gave rebates to Minnesotan during their surplus years for the State. WOW what a way to return the money to the people who worked hard for it, instead we gave bailout to failed businesses. Let us think if that $700 billion bailout, what if the government issued checks to each person living in US that be almost $2300 per US citizen (300 million populations) or about $7000 per household. I think we all could have improved the country and got it out of recession by starting to buy products!
Or how about him spending only $300K on his campaign for governor versus rest of idiots out there that spends tens of millions (or in some extreme cases 100's of Millions) to sell us the idea they care! In the 21^st century utilize the internet and stop TV ads (heck we skip them using our Tivio or DVRs). Send the money to people in need, Mr. Ventura I wish you run for President, but I do understand how the Media will go after your family instead of concentrating on real issues.

Finally I would like to leave you with three quotes from the Ex Governor:

1. Government's role should be only to keep the playing field level, and to work hand in hand with business on issues such as employment. But beyond this, to as great an extent as possible, it should get the hell out of the way.
2. I also believe that government has no business telling us how we should live our lives. I think our lifestyle choices should be left up to us. What we do in our private lives is none of the government's business. That position rules out the Republican Party for me.
3. I believe in the America people's ability to govern themselves. If government would just get out of the way and allow them to lead their lives as they choose, they will succeed.

Branding Yourself

    In today's internet age and the information superhighway, where news travel across the globe while they are happening and companies no longer doing business within one region, one would need to think how to evolve around this technology.
    Let us think how companies communicate their image to us. Nike for example has the phrase "just Do It", Apple coined the phrase "Think Different", GE came up with "Imagination at Work", BMW has "The Ultimate driving machine". Even people came up with phrases we associate it with them, think President Obama "Yes We Can" campaign slogan, Dr. King "I have a dream" or how about Ronald Regan "Its Morning Again in America"
    What about individuals like you and me? The idea of coming up with catchy phrase or branding yourself seems…well…not right, or is it? Our evolution started from smaller communities (villages) where each person knew the other, to a larger city reading about our city news in newspapers, to regional/state and country where Television brought us together and now globally with 28% of population connected online and growing at an exponential rate. While online we leave traces behind be it starting a social webpage or writing a blog like this one (or publishing it in local newspaper), it is no longer limited to our small Evansville region. Once this information online it's accessible to anyone anywhere, therefore a careful thinking needs to take place on how your image is being perceived or what information you are trying to convey? At the same time, not having an online presence can be as detrimental as having a bad imagine online, of course it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
    In order to explain this let us take this as an example: We have three (3) individuals that moved to Evansville, one came from England, the other from Chicago and last one from Mexico. Those three individuals were highly respected in their community and great journalists in their small cities where they came from. They were different in the following areas:

• The Englishman while in his resume it said he interviewed royalties and wrote XYZ articles (references available upon request) but he has Zero on-line presence
• The Chicagoan has also a great resume, with on-line presence that showed the person partying , drunk with few quotes from his interviews that has few following
• The Mexican on the other hand, not only he had a great resume but a huge following not only within his region but globally on the issues he discussed online

Knowing that today's HR will search for you on-line (using various search engines) what do you think the initial reaction would be to the above candidates? Of course if we live in "fairy land" all three would be called in for an interview, references would be checked and everyone hired. But we live in high unemployment rate with intense competition. Therefore the HR person will be faced with this:

• Englishman requires more manual research to verify his stories
• Chicagoan while he has written few articles online he has small followers and has shown an imagine that doesn't go well with this Organization (party pictures)
• Mexican not only he has good writings but has a huge followers, which what this Organization needs to build its customer base and increase revenue. This person will gain an interview to investigate him further, while the other two will be eliminated.

To brand yourself and improve your image/reputation online for those who are looking for a job or might be looking for one here are few tips:

1. E-mail address, while "cute" email address can be amusing to your friends to an Organization it doesn't reflect professionalism. Your best bet is to have your first & last name as your email address (e.g. first.last@yahoo.com)
2. In the Social media front, join groups that relates to your field BUT at the same time connect with people outside your field. Let us say you are an Engineer, connect with marketing people for example to gain insight on various businesses. While you have a networked online keep this in mind:
   1. From time to time reconnect with your "networked" individuals, in other words do not treat it as Rolodex card to have when you need it, be active.
   2. Tell people about yourself and who you are.
   3. Avoid controversial images, quotes (unless you plan on making it a topic), associations with groups that will not aid your image. Let us say you want to apply for a job at Exxon but you are part of Greenpeace that protested against that company. Yes it's a free country and Exxon will also be free to toss your resume out.
   4. Leave insightful comments on related blogs using your name or the brand name you created for yourself. Hiding behind "Anonymous" name would convey the message that you are hiding something in your outside life.
   5. Stand out from the crowd. Facebook is more a social medium; create an account in LinkedIn and other professional sites to convey your professional image.
3. Find out what you are passionate about and what drives you to be your best. Maybe you are in the wrong field and would like to switch fields, but how can you relate that to a new employer and reduce the risk. Maybe you want to change from being a Pilot to a car mechanic for NASCAR. Well if you had a youtube video showing how your hobby on working on high performance cars and wrote about it, this will make future employer at ease knowing you have the proper background.
4. Make sure to stay constant to your message and even to your web name
5. Clean up your social medium by removing what can be perceived as unprofessional items
6. Check online for various branding techniques

A person must face the brutal fact of their reality and the truth of their current situation to make the right decisions. This would require you to focus on what you can do better than any other person to lead to the path of greatness.


Finally, if I have missed anything (I'm sure I did), please do include it in the comment lines to help others.
sjwadi.wordpress.com ß my other blog site

Suits over health care law heats up

From USA Today, October 6^th, 2010

First of all I would like to say I agree 100% with Matt Sissel from Iowa City about not having the government dictating his personal financial decisions. Mr. Sissel who is uninsured artist doesn't want to get health insurance and with new Obamacare he doesn't want to pay the penalty for not having one by 2014. Matt I agree with you, this is your right and right of everyone; I don't want to be penalized for something I do not want!!! I also would like to side with attorney general from Virginia to Florida who have filed law suits against this new health care coverage. This is America you can't tell me what to do about my health.

Now since this is our right to refuse (according to the arguments filed by some of the Attorney generals), then I would say it is my right and right of the other insured people out there to ask from the government to stop giving away free Medical Care (Medicaid), I will only agree to provide free health coverage to people who actually can't afford it. What I mean by that is a person that is working to provide good life for his/her family but still falling short. NOT a person that is working have extra cash but decides to spend that cash on body art, smoking, drinking (it's their right) or other none essential items (buying video games or iPhone!) and then decides when he/she gets sick ask us for free care? If they decides to go to ER for none life threatening illness they better give cash for that service, or show insurance card. Let us stop free loaders from our system and stop the abuse.

You cannot have it both ways, refuse health coverage because you know the State or government will bail you out later when you need it.

Rabbis replace Qurans in Mosque Fire

This news was in USA Today (October 6^th, 2010), the Rabbis presented 20 copies of Quran that was burnt in arson in West Bank (Jerusalem) mosque.

Sad part it was in page 16A in small blip on left.

This is the type of news Journalists needs to push to the front page, let us show there are good people who do good deeds regardless of religious beliefs. We gave the pastor in FL huge coverage for wanting to burn the Quran and he held the country hostage. But we can't give this news same treatment?

Thank you for taking care of your neighbors Rabbis, this is how peace in holy land can be accomplished by extending an olive branch.

Clean Energy Solution

Government trying to push for clean energy you says? They are looking at it upside down.

It's like asking the fox to protect the hens; do you really think Utility companies and Oil companies want to find an expensive solution for their current commodity (Oil, Gas, and Coal)? Please do not get me started on the argument about National Security and not depending on foreign oil. If people felt that strongly about it I would see less gas guzzler cars (similar to Europe) on our streets, but opposite is true SUV are back in fashion… I DON'T GET IT ß the argument that is.

You want clean energy from sun here is a solution. Instead of Shingles on the roofs of homes make it Solar wafers. If every new House being built has that part of it look at the new subdivisions that would be generating electricity when you connect all the homes together. Why can't utility companies utilize the roofs on all the industrial buildings out there similar to Edison Electric in California?

But nope as a government we would like to waste money and resources on Clean Energy that doesn't make sense. How is an incentive for electric cars at this time making sense in being Green? Think about it, to Charge your car you have to plug it to an outlet, mmmm this power is coming from "dirty" energy Coal for example and using the Batteries in those cars will let's just say they are not meant to be environmentally friendly. So no thanks I will stick with my good Ole gas engine until a true cleaner car is out in market. Hydrogen?

Elections Bonanza

I'm looking for inputs on why today's candidates spend so much money to be elected?

As my kids would say: I don't get it?

Let us take for example, Meg Whitman who is running for a CA governor position and so far has spent $120Million of her own money plus $20+ million from donations. According to Times magazine she has surpassed the candidates who spent on Presidential elections! For those of you who do not her she was the CEO of ebay and made that company to what it is now with 16000 employees and a reach all over the globe. I will take one point from Meg's website, creating Jobs for CA? The amount of money she has spent so far for this governor race, she could have started a company hired people and helped in CA unemployment. So I DON'T get it, she wants a governor job to help unemployment how?

I'm looking for everyone's input to help me out in this dilemma.

I'm reaching a point to create my own party called "mint tea party"