The Eagle Still Soars

Holly Garfield,

I am deeply touched by your story. And I appreciate that you helped your friends in need.

Best wishes,

Romi

Re-resopnse to Romiopines: It might be interesting to read, to get the non-US viewpoint. I don't write about life in the slums, I just live it. I grew up in the lower class, slowly got out of it for a few years, then went back when I lost the job that got me out. I am now back out, but only due to an inheritance from my brother. He got out himself only through talent and being born earlier than I. He was snubbed at college by the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity because of his origins, and ended coaching the people who snubbed him. He went on the engineer the software for the lunar lander, space shuttle and space station. I didn't get the breaks he did, but don't miss it. I did get to spend most of my teenage years in a mental institution because a high IQ didn't fit in with the neighborhood. The lessons I learned there are as valuable to me now as a college education. I still got to correct the errors of the PhD professor from India when she got into my area of experience in the course I took. There were two basic engineering errors, a textbook problem with a wrong solution and a final exam question with an impossible answer. I am still more at home in the 'slums' than I am around my new neighbors. It'll be interseting to see how well your novel matches up with my reality. I have an executive house and a new Maserati is currently somewhere on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. I still have one pair shoes, old running shoes, and my clothes are all Wal-Mart or running t-shirts. I have no suit, not even a dress shirt, and don't plan to change. My close friend, an Iranian soldier who was imprisoned for his artwork, then emigrated to Gernay, Japan, the UK then the US, got a job because I helped him get a computer graphics program working that the had bought. In a few weeks he had such a good demo that he received a job offer at a high class magazine, and is now working for a computer game designer. I have a house in the city where I lived for a while, and rent it, at cost, to a friend who has 5 kids, one newborn. So I guess I have been both a sufferer and a savior.

Response to Holly Garfield:
I do stand by human equality and fraternity. I expect my forthcoming novel The Storm Within, being published from Indiana, USA, will be out by March/April 2008. In this novel I have championed the cause of human dignity that ultimately triumphs. I hope if you go through it, you would appreciate the poignancy radiating from the speeches of both the sufferers and the saviors.

Romi Jain

Re-response to Romioppines: The use of the word 'trash' for anyone is something I find highly offensive. My words 'opressed' and 'downtrodden' refer to how their country of origin treated them, not me. Take a look at the pictures of overflowing shiploads of people, travelling as steerage, arriving at Ellis Island in New York harbor. We get all kinds of people here, not just the best and the brightest. We get a general selection of ordinary people as immigrants. The best and brightest are along with that group, but far from common. We succeed not because we get exceptional immigrants, but because we allow ordinary people to benefit from doing what they want. This is something that they do not get in their home country.

The vast bulk of our immigrants come from the local equivalent of your slums. A very large part of our success stories come from our own slums. Sam Walton grew up in a small town and I think he never even got a college education. Bill Gates and Michael Dell had better upbringing, but both dropped out of college. Humanitarian/boxer Muhammed Ali grew up in the worst living conditions in the country. Take a long visit to those slums. Look those people in the eye, at their eye level, listen to them with the respect that you would give to any of your friends. Treat them as equals. Remember that these are the kind of people that built the US. These people are the ones you refer to as the 'best and brightest', and they probably will be, if you let them.

A repeat reply to Romiopines. You state that the US is not receiving any trash. We do not get 'trash', or at least very little, But almost all of what we do get is the downtrodded and opressed people of other countries, and they clearly show when the get here that they are not 'trash'. As our Declaration of Independece, our first and still most valuable founding document reads in part,: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' Your comment that you consider anyone as 'trash' is the key here. The societies that view and treat some, often a majority, of people like trash is what is driving these people to the US. There are as many good, intelligent hard working people in this 'trash' as there is in any other group. The reason they come here is that in the US they are not 'trash', but equals.

I see you talk of the lofty goals and projects of India, but life is not lofty goals for the majority. India still has about 40% wastage of food because it has few refrigerated truck and few roads to the farms if it did have trucks. The basic retail system is still mostly family run businesses. Huge amounts of money is lost because a simple corporate retail system has been deliberately repressed. India has shown that it will protect the shopowners rather than allow knowledgable retailers in to show them how to run effcient businesses. India may be working on moon shots, but hungry people don't care about moon shots, they simple want affordable, fresh food to eat. It's not that India can't produce highly educated scientists that is the problem, it's that India can't produce a single Sam Walton. He took simple, easy to implement ideas and developed them into stores that are saving the US consumer countless billions of dollars including helping millions of US citizens get fresh food at low cost. And he, like many successful Americans, started out life as what you would consider 'trash'.

This is in response to Holly Garfield's comment. I am not blaming the US for the brain drain. I alluded to the brain drain to underscore that America is not receiving any trash but the best brains. So, people should realize that such immigrants are an asset and their contribution should be appreciated. And the immigrants, on their part, have an obligation to uphold the values on which the host country is founded.

I wish that India would turn into a land of abundant opportunity. It boasts of a huge youthful workforce and over 300-million strong middle class. Economic reforms are in place. India is one of the fastest growing economies and the tenth industrialized country in the world. Quite naturally, MNCs find it alluring to invest in India. India has produced world-class companies such as Reliance and Ranbaxy Labs. A young entrepreneurial class is emerging in India. Besides, India has achieved tremendous feats in space and civilian nuclear sector despite the technology denial regime in place, thanks to the committed scientists. In a largely knowledge economy of today, India is bound to excel in knowledge-based sectors such a biotech, nanotech and pharmaceuticals.
Given this, India and America have entered into a scientific and technological partnership. In 2004, President Bush announced Next Steps in Strategic Partnership(NSSP), paving the way for Indo-US cooperation in civilian space and nuclear technology, high-tech trade and missile defense. NASA administrator Michael Griffin visited India in 2006 and signed a MoU under which India???s satellite to the moon would carry US-made instruments. That???s a good development. Indo-US cooperation is not confined to these areas but extends across many and varied areas of mutual interest.

I have a good opinion of American system-it???s fair. I visited America in 2006 and stayed there for four months when my father was visiting professor there. My father received wonderful evaluation reports from his American students, all commending him for his extraordinary knowledge and grasp of the subject, his teaching and communication skills and the fair grading system.

I have mentioned these points in order to underline the importance of collaboration in the increasingly interdependent world order of today. Win-win is the norm. Strategic partnership is the mantra. At the individual level too, it???s time we shed our prejudices and stereotypical images of each other. We need to appreciate each other???s contribution and concerns.

Ms. Romi Jain
Jaipur, India

In reply to Romiopines from India: the saying 'give me your tired, your poor, ...' is not my saying, it comes from Statue of Liberty. We certainly attract energetic, highly talented and enterprising individuals, but we got where we are by attracting the downtrodden of the world first, and that continues today. One of my college instructors, with a PhD in HDTV, came from India. Her husband, with a PhD in photonics, was a lead scientist for the original optical disk project for the Air Force. They received their degrees in England, not India. Most of the immigrants here, however, are from the labor classes. One of my best friends, now a graphic artist, was an Iranian soldier. He was thrown in prison for drawing some pictures the Ayatollah didn't like. On 9/11 I was working in Wal-Mart with many Eastern Europe and middle east co-workers, most were Islamic. I felt very hurt and embarrasssed for them. I knew that what they stood for had nothing to do with the attacks. Many of the local car mechanics and factory workers are Eastern European. Many of the restaurants adn fast food places are Asian.

The vast majority of US immgrants from the beginning to today are driven out by opression, religious persecution, starvation and ethnic hatred. Study the history of Ellis Island, where most of the immigrants entered the US until recently, to find out about this. If you are in a country who is losing people to the US then look at your own society for signs of these problems. People emigrate to the US because their homeland is NOT a land of opportunity. This is the fault of the home government and society, NOT the fault of the US. These countries can stop emigration by becoming lands of oportunity in themselves, and nothing else will work. Only when these countries accept that they, and they alone, are responsible for their people leaving for the US will they be able to start the changes necessary to resolve the problems. Blaming the US will change nothing.

I commented on a comment posted by a member. Let me make a correction to the name. Horry Garrfield be read as Holly Garfield.

Holly Garfield, who has posted his distressing comment, must know that America is what it is- an unparalleled superpower-because of the immigrants. America is a land of opportunity. Swami Vivekananda, India's noble soul of the nineteenth century, said that America is a land where a novel idea flourishes. I admire America for it rewards merit and talent. It???s the land that fulfills the dreams of the immigrants. America stands to gain as well. Holly, you seem to be unaware of immigrants??? robust contribution to science, technology, economy, sports, health services, and education, including the field of literature. Just imagine what would happen if all immigrants were to go back to their homelands. To give another example, India is a major source of information technology(IT) skills for America. As the global demand for skilled expatriates surges, competition among developed countries to woo skilled expats would only escalate.
You write, ???the rest of the world has given us their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free.??? Correct yourself. The rest of the world has given America their energetic, highly-talented and enterprising individuals. Sadly, this has resulted in the brain-drain in their home country. Immigrants who come over to America are not a poor mass; they come from distinguished families and they bring along their rich talent.

Ms. Romi Jain
Jaipur, India

Horry Garrfield, who has posted his comment, must know that America is what it is- an unparalleled superpower-because of the immigrants. America is a land of opportunity. It rewards merit and talent. So, I admire America. It???s the land that fulfills the dreams of the immigrants. America stands to gain as well. Horry, you seem to be unaware of immigrants??? robust contribution to science, technology, economy, sports, health services, and education, including the field of literature. Just imagine what would happen if all immigrants were to go back to their homelands. To give another example, India is a major source of information technology(IT) skills for America. As the global demand for skilled expatriates surges, competition among developed countries to woo skilled expats would only escalate.
You write, ???the rest of the world has given us their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free.??? Correct yourself. The rest of the world has given America their energetic, highly-talented and enterprising individuals. Sadly, this has resulted in the brain-drain in their home country. Immigrants who come over to America are not a poor mass; they come from distinguished families and they bring along their rich talent.

Ms. Romi Jain
India

The so-called BRIC nations have severe internal problems that are not considered here. It will take more than 50 years before the U.S. has any serious competition from anyone. Russia will fall apart again long before it can compete with the U.S. It is a trouble-maker but that is all. Any severe recession in China will cause political instability probably leading to civil strife and possibly internal warfare in a struggle for power. NoN No

The so-called BRIC Nations have more internal problems than one can count on two hands. More than one will stumble and fall before they become any serious competition to the power of the U.S.

I love the journalists that don't study history. I live near a US battlefield where the most deadly weapons were stone tipped arrow, spears and hatchets. That was under 250 years ago. And I am not very far from the east coast. The US has advanced from the stone age to the world's only superpower in under a tenth of the time that the rest of the world's civilizations have existed. China, Russia and India have about 9 times the population of the US and total GDP of about a third of the US. The US GDP per person is over 25 times that of these other countries. A single US aircraft carrier has more military might than most countries. Only a couple of countries are even considering building one comparable carrier, and the US has 10. Over the last 3 months the Hang Seng index has fallen 2 1/2 times as much as the Dow industrials. When the US sneezes the world catches a cold.

The rest of the world has given us their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Those tired, poor, huddled masses turned themselved into by far the most powerful force the world has ever known. Almost the entire population of the US is either direct immigrants or within a couple generation of immigrants. The population where I live, Utica in central New York, is 20% immigrants. The refugee center changes interpreters every time a different region in the world has a flareup. The US is everybody else's rejects !!!

The US is nearer to it's maximim capabilities than other countries, so it has less room for improvement. The rest of the world is still catching up. Given the historic rate of progress in many countries, that will take a long, long time. The US got on top because the immigrants are starting fresh, and fully aware of the shortcomings of their country of origin. These countries have had much that is holding them back ingrained into their society for centuries. Changing something built in for that long will take a massive effort over generations. The US will lose the size of it's lead over other countries, but will remain the power to be reckoned with for quite a while. When the rest of the world catches up it will be a better place, and look a lot like the US when it gets there. The reason for that is not the influence of the US, but because the US has developed the best way to do things.

HERE'S yOUR pROOF HALLOW. I AM VERy GLAD yOU ASKED THIS QUESTION.
THIS pROVES THAT OBAMA IS THE REAL DEAL SON.

Obama proved persuasive enough that the bill passed both houses of the legislature, the Senate by an incredible 35 to 0. Then he talked Blagojevich into signing the bill, making Illinois the first state to require such videotaping.

Obama didn't stop there. He played a major role in passing many other bills, including the state's first earned-income tax credit to help the working poor and the first ethics and campaign finance law in 25 years (a law a Post story said made Illinois "one of the best in the nation on campaign finance disclosure"). Obama's commitment to ethics continued in the U.S. Senate, where he co-authored the new lobbying reform law that, among its hard-to-sell provisions, requires lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who "bundle" contributions for them.

Taken together, these accomplishments demonstrate that Obama has what Dillard, the Republican state senator, calls a "unique" ability "to deal with extremely complex issues, to reach across the aisle and to deal with diverse people." In other words, Obama's campaign claim that he can persuade us to rise above what divides us is not just rhetoric.

Avian flu: Obama was one of the first Senators to speak out on avian flu, back in the spring of 2005, when it was a quintessentially wonky issue, not the subject of breathless news reports. There's a list of Democratic efforts on avian flu here; Obama shows up early and often. He has sponsored legislation, including what I think is the first bill dedicated to pandemic flu preparedness. It's a good bill, providing not just for vaccine research and antiviral stockpiles, but for the kinds of state and local planning and preparedness that will be crucial if a pandemic occurs. (I was also very interested to note that it requires the Secretary of HHS to contract with the Institute of Medicine for a study of "the legal, ethical, and social implications of, with respect to pandemic influenza". This is actually very important, and not everyone would have thought of it.)
"We recommend that this administration work with Congress, public health officials, the pharmaceutical industry, foreign governments and international organizations to create a permanent framework for curtailing the spread of future infectious diseases.

There were death penalty abolitionists, some of whom worried that Obama's bill, by preventing the execution of innocents, would deprive them of their best argument. Vigorous opposition came from the police, too many of whom had become accustomed to using muscle to "solve" crimes. And the incoming governor, Rod Blagojevich, announced that he was against it.

THIS IS A pERFECT EXAMpLE OF WHAT OBAMA CAN DO AND HAS ALREADy DONE, BRING DIFFERENT FACTIONS TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE A COMMON GOAL.

"The really important question for America???and the world???is how Americans will manage this adjustment."

--Yeah, like no duh. I wish some of you big thinkers would learn to do arithmetic. In 2003 the US spent approximately $623 bilion of global military expenditures of $1.1 trillion.

Yeah, yeah, no price too great fot freedom and other poorly thought out patriotic drivel.

The ability to sustain such expendfitures (not to mention ongoing current accounts defecits) has been sustained by the "reserve currency" subsidy.

So what's the plan now.