The Indian Panorama

Month: January 2014

  • In Strategic Interest, and for Self-Respect

    In Strategic Interest, and for Self-Respect

    India must resist the unilateral US control of internet governance

    India’s long-term interests lie in advancing the cause of democratizing global internet governance. We need to free ourselves from the existing situation where advocates for the current model of unilateral control dominate the discussion and preclude any debate on efforts to make global internet governance truly “multilateral, transparent and democratic”, says the author.

    President Barack Obama’s remarks on the review of signals intelligence at the US department of justice on January 17 deserve close attention. Two conclusions suggest themselves. First, it is only “our close friends and allies” or “with whom we work closely”, the communications of whose heads of state and government would not be monitored.

    Clearly, unless we are explicitly told so, India cannot presume inclusion in this category. Second, the declaration by the president applies only to heads of state and government. It does not cover other leaders, such as the ministers of defense, home affairs, external affairs, finance, communications, the national security advisor, chiefs of armed forces, security and intelligence agencies and other functionaries handling sensitive portfolios – those who could be expected to be covered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its various subsequent revisions.

    Again, unless specifically advised to the contrary, there would be no basis to believe that the aforementioned are not covered. India’s deafening silence on the Edward Snowden disclosures has been noted and commented upon by observers the world over. Almost a year after the disclosures, a few reports appeared in the Indian media, based on official briefings and apologetic in tone, about how India had indeed made low-level noises both in New Delhi and Washington, DC, expressing concern. Strong encouragement from internet majors, both global and Indian, and industry associations, probably explains our silence.

    The matter has also received scant attention in Parliament or from other stakeholders; clearly, the damage that such silence can cause to the longterm strategic interests of the nation has not been fully comprehended. In a piece last year, this writer had argued (‘Wide asleep on the Net’, IE, June 27, 2013) that the disclosures by Snowden pointed to the urgency of overhauling the current system of global internet governance. The fact that some crumbs are thrown in the direction of developing countries in the form of participation in toothless advisory bodies does not alter this reality.

    In an interview earlier this month discussing his new book, which covered the process leading up to the 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), Richard Hill, formerly a senior official of the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has described how the proceedings of the conference were manipulated by both over-the-top [OTT] internet companies representing powerful economic interests and powerful nations, in particular the US. On why freedom of speech and expression was made into a make-orbreak issue at WCIT, Hill responded that “it is easier to generate support for a ‘stop censorship’ campaign than for a ‘save my profits’ or ‘let me keep invading privacy’ campaign”.

    Brazil cancelled a visit by its president, Dilma Rousseff, to the US in September 2013; media reports at that time indicated that major US companies lost contracts worth billions of dollars as a result of the cancellation. Even allies such as France and Germany registered public protests about the US. The government of India decided yet again to allow short-term private sector interests to trump public policy considerations. The implications for national security and long-term socio-economic development were sacrificed.

    These reasons explain why India has chosen to backtrack on the vital subject of global internet governance in the last couple of years, after taking a proactive stand in the first half of the last decade and in 2010-11. India had been pursuing the goal of making the international management of the internet truly “multilateral, transparent and democratic”, as provided in the Tunis Agenda adopted in 2005. Apologists for the current model of unilateral control soon occupied the space for discussion and thwarted all efforts to democratize global internet governance, even calling for the withdrawal of proposals made by India in this respect. A course correction is called for right away.

    It is high time that India embarked on creating the next generation of IT companies, which can move up the value chain. They should lead global innovation in IT by creating their own branded services and products and in the process, producing the next generation of Murthys and Premjis. For this, the current ecosystem, architecture and infrastructure need to be modified, both nationally and internationally, where such ventures can be grown and nurtured. At the global level, it is imperative for India to become a lead player and shape the global ICT industry architecture that helps Indian ICT companies of the future. India’s longterm interests lie in advancing the cause of democratizing global internet governance.

    We need to free ourselves from the existing situation where advocates for the current model of unilateral control dominate the discussion and preclude any debate on efforts to make global internet governance truly “multilateral, transparent and democratic”. The Khobragade episode, four months ahead of the general elections, is a wakeup call. As the non-reaction to the Snowden affair shows, if the former had happened one or two years earlier, the Indian establishment would have brushed it under the carpet in the name of the “larger picture”, “long-term strategic interests” and such like. Strategic partnerships cannot imply unilateral and premature capitulation.

    Equally, they cannot entail accepting non-reciprocal obligations and the selfrighteousness and exceptionalism of the stronger partner. Areas such as intellectual property and the internet have been identified as growth areas for the coming decades. They are the engines that could drive our quest to modernize our economy and leapfrog technological development. There are numerous examples such as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Israel and Taiwan for us to draw inspiration from. Developing and putting in place national ecosystems that would promote comprehensive development of these areas in a forward-looking manner, rather than preserving the narrow shortterm interests of a few current players, is a challenging task facing our policy and decision-makers.

  • Of hope and reality President Obama seeks to scale down expectations

    Of hope and reality President Obama seeks to scale down expectations

    Obama promised a ‘year of action’ during which he would raise the minimum wage and tackle economic inequality. US President Barack Obama also used his State-of-the-Union Address to bring in a dash of reality into the audacity of hope that aroused high expectations.

    He said he would revamp the US taxation system to decrease the gap between the rich and the poor in the US. He plans to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10. Naturally, this move is opposed by business leaders, but it would mean a major boost to household incomes across the US.

    The US President also plans to overhaul the country’s immigration laws, withdraw US troops substantially from Afghanistan and act aggressively on climate them. Over the years, President Obama has found his sweeping vision of bipartisan consensus swept away by the partisan reality of politics. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives and their ability to block or delay legislation in the Senate have created a situation where the Democrats have found themselves checkmated on a regular basis.

    No wonder, President Obama said that he would bypass the Congress, if necessary, to usher in the change that he wants. How this confrontational stance plays out remains to be seen; it certainly is going to bring about some interesting times ahead. In fact, confrontation was what the President’s supporters were looking for. In his second term, he can afford to take on the Republicans.

    By an executive order, a US President can make substantial changes in policy, even though these can be reversed by the next incumbent. The State-of-the-Union Address focused largely on domestic policies and many of the issues that President Obama raised find resonance among voters, especially his emphasis on pay-check parity. He will have to find ways to deliver his promises, even if it leads to some confrontation with the Congress, which has hobbled him since 2010 when the Democrats lost their hold.

  • Academy kills Oscars nomination over email gaffe

    Academy kills Oscars nomination over email gaffe

    LOS ANGELES (TIP): Oscars organizers have withdrawn a best song nomination from a composer in a rare move because he emailed voting members to highlight his candidacy, which is strictly banned for Academy executives.

    “Alone Yet Not Alone,” from the film of the same name, was a surprise inclusion in the five-strong shortlist for best original song unveiled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on January 16. But the Academy rescinded the nomination after finding that the song’s composer, Bruce Broughton, had emailed voting members “to make them aware of his submission during the nominations voting period.”

    Broughton, who wrote the song with lyricist Dennis Spiegel, is a former academy governor and current member of its music branch executive committee. “I’m devastated,” he told industry journal Variety.” I indulged in the simplest, lamest, grass-roots campaign and it went against me when the song started getting attention. I got taken down by competition that had months of promotion and advertising behind them.” His song was up against nominees from four far more high-profile movies: “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2;” “Let It Go” from “Frozen;”

    “The Moon Song” from “Her;” and “Ordinary Love” — by rock icons U2 — from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.” Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement on Wednesday: “No matter how wellintentioned the communication, using one’s position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one’s own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage.” “Alone Yet Not Alone” is a historical drama set in 1760s America.

    The academy did not replace the song on its shortlist, leaving only four best original song nominees in the running for the Oscars, the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season, on March 2. The decision is not without precedent, Variety noted, citing cases in 1953 and 1973, when the academy withdrew its nomination for the score for “The Godfather” because parts of it had been used in an earlier movie. The academy has even revoked an Oscar statuette itself: in 1969 the best documentary award went to “Young Americans,” but it was canceled after it was discovered it was released too early to be eligible.

  • 10 works of literature that were exceptionally hard to write

    10 works of literature that were exceptionally hard to write

    NEW YORK (TIP): THE WEEK magazine a leading weekly from USA and UK has selected 10 works of literature that were exceptionally hard to write.

    Among them Indian author and poet Sri Chinmoy’s book Transcendence Perfection is included. Some of the other books are Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, President’s Mystery Stories by President Franklin Roosevelt. Futility a prophetic work of literature by Morgan Robertson released in 1898 a full 14 years before Titanic incidence but resembling the story of Titanic.

    Before his death in 2007, Indian spiritual master Sri Chinmoy wrote at least 1,000 books, 20,000 songs, and 115,000 poems. Some he penned in his mother tongue, Bengali, and some in his second language, English. His poems won numerous awards and inspired countless writers and musicians. And while Sri Chinmoy was clearly a fast writer, he was never as quick as on November 1, 1975, when he wrote Transcendence- Perfection, a collection of 843 poems – all written in 24 hours.

    How was Sri Chinmoy so prolific? He believed the key was meditation. As he once explained, “The outer mind is like the surface of the sea. On the surface, the sea is full of waves and surges … But when we dive deep below, the same sea is all peace, calmness and quiet, and there we find the source of creativity.” Sri Chinmoy was nominated for Nobel Prize of literature and Nobel Prize of Peace. See www.srichinmoy.org

  • Terror suspect challenges NSA surveillance

    Terror suspect challenges NSA surveillance

    DENVER (TIP): Using evidence obtained under the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program violates a terror suspect’s constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the suspect argued on January 29 in a court document filed with help from the American Civil Liberties Union.

    In the motion filed in federal court in Denver, Jamshid Muhtorov also requested that prosecutors disclose more about how the surveillance law was used in his case. Muhtorov was accused in 2012 of providing material support to an Uzbek terrorist organization active in Afghanistan.

    “We’ve learned over the last few months that the NSA has implemented the law in the broadest possible way, and that the rules that supposedly protect the privacy of innocent people are weak and riddled with exceptions,” Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director, said in a statement Wednesday. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

    The challenge had been expected after the Justice Department in October said it intended to use information gleaned from one of the NSA’s warrantless surveillance programs against Muhtorov. It was the first time the department had made such a disclosure. The Supreme Court has so far turned aside challenges to the law on the grounds that people who bring such lawsuits have no evidence they are being targeted.

  • War hero’s story in speech draws standing ovation

    War hero’s story in speech draws standing ovation

    President Obama invoked the struggles faced by a wounded army ranger as he urged the US Congress on Tuesday to work with him to tackle big problems such as boosting the economy and promoting justice and fairness.

    Obama paid tribute to Sergeant First Class Cory Remsburg, who spent months in a coma after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Remsburg is blind in one eye and had to re-learn to speak and walk after he was left partially paralyzed. Remsburg sat next to first lady Michelle Obama in her box during the address.

    The president, who had met Remsburg before his injuries, described him as someone who “does not quit,” prompting a long standing ovation. The president told Remsburg’s story at the close of his speech, making the point that the country’s big challenges have “never come easy.”

  • Hundreds of living, dead pythons found in US home

    Hundreds of living, dead pythons found in US home

    SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA (TIP): A schoolteacher was arrested on January 29 after hundreds of living and dead pythons in plastic bins were found stacked floor to ceiling inside his stenchfilled suburban California home.

    As investigators wearing respirator masks carried the reptiles out of the house by the score and stacked them in the driveway, reporters and passers-by gagged at the smell. Some held their noses or walked away from the fivebedroom home to get a breath of air. “The smell alone, I feel like I need to take a shower for a week,” said police Cpl.

    Anthony Bertagna. “They’re pretty much in all the bedrooms, everywhere.” Officers found as many as 400 snakes, as well as numerous mice and rats, in the Santa Ana home of William Buchman after neighbors complained about the smell. He was arrested for investigation of neglect in the care of animals, Bertagna said. Buchman, 53, was still in custody Wednesday afternoon, Bertagna said. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where he works, declined comment, saying it was a police matter.

    Buchman has not yet had a court appearance or been formally charged and it wasn’t clear if he had an attorney. Authorities said he lived alone, and neighbors said his mother, who had lived with him, had passed away within the past few years. Sondra Berg, the supervisor for the Santa Ana police department’s Animal Services Division, said four of the five bedrooms in the home were stacked from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with plastic bins on wooden and metal racks.

    The bins were packed so tightly, Berg said, that they didn’t require lids because there was no room for the snakes to slither out. Each snake was catalogued by name and type, and Berg said Buchman told authorities he was involved in a snakebreeding enterprise. “House of Horrors: That’s the best way to describe it,” Berg said of the house. “I mean there’s so many dead snakes … ranging from dead for months to just dead. There’s an infestation of rats and mice all over the house. There are rats and mice in plastic storage tubs that are actually cannibalizing each other.” Some of the snakes were little more than skeletons. Others, only recently dead, were covered with flies and maggots.

  • Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton will not impact his 2016 choice

    Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton will not impact his 2016 choice

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not yet sure if he would run for president but that his decision would not be directly influenced by prohibitive Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton.

    The US vice-president was asked about his intentions for 2016 during a round of interviews to push the themes of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. “I haven’t made the decision what I’m going to do. I haven’t decided to run or not run,” Biden told broadcaster ABC.

    Many analysts believe that Biden, who has unsuccessfully run for president twice before, would not get into the field if Clinton — already the dominant potential candidate for the Democrats, gets into the race. “If I run, it won’t be because of who’s in the field. It’ll be whether or not I honestly believe I have a chance to be able to really move this country in a direction that is different than those who are running and that I can get that done,” Biden said.

    On CBS television, Biden said Clinton’s decision about her own potential race would “not directly” impact his own intentions. “The only reason a man or woman should run for president — I’m sure Hillary views it the exact same way — is if they think they’re better positioned to be able to do what the nation needs at the moment.” Biden is put on the spot by such questions because they leave him balancing a desire not to overshadow Obama’s current agenda and an imperative to keep his political options open.

    Biden, though fit and sprightly, would face questions over his age should he decide to run for president. He would be 74 in January 2017 and would become the oldest president inaugurated for a first term. Clinton, the former secretary of state, has said she will make a decision this year on whether to take aim at the White House again, after her 2008 primary loss to Obama. Her allies have already started assuming control of key parts of the Democratic Party infrastructure to prepare the way for a race, should she decide to go for it.

  • Rare ice storm grips US south, kills at least 6

    Rare ice storm grips US south, kills at least 6

    ATLANTA (TIP): Icy chaos gripped the US south on Wednesday after a rare winter storm that killed at least six people, stranded children in their schools overnight and paralyzed travel in several states, including hundreds of flight cancellations at the world’s busiest airport.

    The storm slammed a region largely unaccustomed to ice and snow – stretching from Texas through Georgia and into the Carolinas on Tuesday and early Wednesday. In Atlanta, motorists remained trapped in their cars on icy Interstates on Wednesday, some of them having spent as long as 18 hours on the road. Some 791 traffic accidents were reported in the city but there were no serious injuries, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in a Wednesday news conference, adding that the focus was now on rescuing stranded motorists.

  • US hopes Pakistan is aware of its nuclear responsibilities

    US hopes Pakistan is aware of its nuclear responsibilities

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The US has said that it is confident that Pakistan is well aware of its responsibilities regarding its nuclear weapons. “The United States is confident that Pakistan is well aware of its responsibilities with respect to nuclear security and has secured its nuclear arsenal accordingly,” the State Department said in a statement on January 29.

    The US has stated this clearly earlier too, including in a State Department press statement of September 4, 2013 and the October 23, 2013 US-Pakistan Joint Statement issued as part of the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This week’s Joint Statement was issued following the ministerial level US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue stated that “Secretary Kerry expressed confidence in Pakistan’s commitment and dedication to nuclear security and appreciated Pakistan’s efforts to improve its strategic trade controls.”

    He also recognised that Pakistan is fully engaged with the international community on nuclear safety and security issues, the statement said. The US statement came after a new report in The New York Times raised questions over the security of the Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals. In Islamabad, Pakistan claimed that it follows best practises and standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency to safeguard its nuclear assets and it has an impeccable record of safely operating nuclear power plants for over 40 years.

  • Obama to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah in California in February

    Obama to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah in California in February

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Barack Obama will meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II at an exclusive California estate next month, the White House said on January 29.

    The talks, likely to focus on Syria’s refugee crisis and Middle East peace moves, will take place on February 14 at the same desert resort — the Annenberg estate at Sunnylands near Palm Springs — where Obama met China’s President Xi Jinping for an informal summit in June.

    “The president looks forward to discussing with King Abdullah opportunities to strengthen the US-Jordan strategic partnership and how to advance our political, economic and security cooperation,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

    “The two leaders will also continue consultations on regional developments, including Middle East peace and Syria.” The Jordanian embassy in Washington said in a statement that the summit would take place as the king returned from a trip to Mexico and that he would also travel to Washington to meet key officials and lawmakers.

  • 250 million school age kids can’t read: Report

    250 million school age kids can’t read: Report

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): A report commissioned by the UN education agency says at least 250 million of the world’s 650 million primary school age children are unable to read, write or do basic mathematics.

    The report launched Wednesday found that 130 million are in primary school but have not achieved the minimum benchmarks for learning, and almost 120 million have spent little or no time in a classroom.

    The report for Unesco, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, by an independent research team said investing in teachers is key. In about a third of countries, it said, less than 75 percent of primary school teachers are trained according to national standards. “While more children are in school, it’s been at the cost of quality,” Unesco’s UN representative Vibeke Jensen said.

  • Skydiving Texas girl survives fall in Oklahoma hospital

    Skydiving Texas girl survives fall in Oklahoma hospital

    TULSA (TIP): A 16 year old Texas girl who plummeted more than 3,000 feet to the ground in an Oklahoma skydiving accident survived and is recovering from her many injuries, a doctor said Tuesday, January 28.

    Dr. Jeffrey Bender, a trauma surgeon at OU Medical Center who treated Mackenzie Wethington when she was flown Saturday from a skydiving school in Chickasha, said the girl hurt her liver and broke her pelvis, lumbar spine in her lower back, a shoulder blade and several ribs. She also has a broken tooth. “I don’t know the particulars of the accident as I wasn’t there.

    But if she truly fell 3,000 feet, I have no idea how she survived,” Bender said at a news conference at the hospital, where the girl’s parents also spoke to reporters. Not only did she survive, but she was in good condition Tuesday, Bender said, and was expected to leave the intensive care unit. Still, she has a long recovery ahead. Bender said it will be several weeks before she can bear any weight.

    The girl’s parents agreed to let her perform the jump, but her father, Joe Wethington, now says the skydiving company shouldn’t have allowed it. “I don’t think she should have been allowed at 16 to go up there and perform that type of jump, no matter what I say or she says, she shouldn’t have been allowed,” Joe Wethington said at the news conference. “I find it very hard to believe that the rules and regulations in Oklahoma are that lax. I think there is a flaw there somewhere, and I don’t think it’s through the state of Oklahoma. I think it’s the company.

    I’m not sure.” Nancy Koreen, director of sport promotion at the Fredericksburg, Va.-based U.S. Parachute Association, said its safety requirements allow someone who is 16 to make a dive with parental consent, though some drop zones set the age higher. Robert Swainson, the owner and chief instructor at Pegasus Air Sports Center in Chickasha, defended the company Tuesday. He noted that the father went up with his daughter and was the first to jump. Mackenzie, from Joshua, Texas, was making a static-line jump, where a parachute is connected to a lanyard that’s attached to the plane and opens automatically when a diver exits the plane.

    Swainson said Wethington’s parachute opened OK, but she began to spiral downward when the chute went up but not out in some kind of malfunction. Swainson said a parachute can develop such a turn for several reasons, but that Wethington and other divers were given instruction during a six-to-sevenhour training session beforehand on how to deal with such problems. He also said Makenzie had a radio hookup in her helmet through which someone gave her instructions. “It was correctable, but corrective action didn’t appear to have been taken,” said Swainson, who has run the skydiving business for nearly 30 years.

    Swainson said he did not jump out to help Wethington because there’s no way he could have reached her and another jumper got cold feet and refused to make the jump. Swainson said it was protocol for him to remain with the frightened person because instructors don’t know what that person will do. “The most I could have done is screamed,” he said. Koreen, from the U.S. Parachute Association, spoke generally about skydiving rules and didn’t want to directly comment on Makenzie’s case. However, she agreed that a reluctant diver can’t be left alone in a plane and that even if an instructor exited the plane, he wouldn’t have been able to assist the student. “You can’t fly over the parachute and help somebody,” she said.

  • Two Texas energy giants take multibillion-dollar dispute to jury

    Two Texas energy giants take multibillion-dollar dispute to jury

    DALLAS (TIP): Energy Transfer Partners of Dallas contends that Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners broke its commitment to jointly build a pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to Houston.

    Energy Transfer Partners argues that Enterprise and Enbridge Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, conspired to cut Energy Transfer Partners out of the deal. Enterprise and Enbridge, in court documents, say Energy Transfer Partners’ lawsuit is without merit because there never was an actual partnership or joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners.

    “Energy Transfer Partners is trying to get in the courthouse what it could not achieve in the marketplace,” lawyers for Enterprise said in court documents asking the judge to dismiss the case. Dallas County District Judge Emily Tobolowsky denied the request. Jury selection started Monday, and the trial is expected to last four weeks.

    “This is going to be a great case because the issues are important and there are so many great lawyers involved,” said David Elrod, a Dallas trial lawyer whose practice focuses on energy litigation. The case pits some of Texas’ most prominent trial lawyers against each other. Dallas trial lawyer Mike Lynn of Lynn Tillotson Pinker & Cox represents Energy Transfer Partners. David Beck of Beck Redden in Houston and Dick Sayles of Sayles Werbner are defending Enterprise.

    Dallas attorney Jeffrey Levinger and a team from Sullivan & Cromwell in California represent Enbridge. All of the lawyers declined to comment on the case. The trial is expected to provide insight into the business operations and strategic thinking of leaders at three of the largest and fastest-growing oil companies in North America. Top executives at all three companies are expected to testify. The issue is whether Energy Transfer Partners and Enterprise legally formed a partnership to build the pipeline from Cushing, which is a major oil hub, to Houston, where the crude could be refined or shipped.

    Energy Transfer Partners says yes. The Dallas-based energy conglomerate, which has about $50 billion in oil and gas assets, claims that Enterprise majority owner and chairman Dan Duncan of Houston approached Energy Transfer Partners about a joint venture in the months before he died in 2010. Enterprise, which has an estimated $38 billion in assets, and Energy Transfer Partners renewed discussions in spring 2011 and signed a nonbinding agreement a few weeks later. “ETP and Enterprise shared joint control over the partnership’s commercial activities, jointly meeting with potential customers, jointly marketing the partnership to potential customers and jointly making operational decisions,” Energy Transfer Partners’ lawyers say in court records.

    “The parties unequivocally and repeatedly told potential pipeline customers, regulators and investment banks in formal written materials that they had formed a joint venture and that the parties had agreed to share profits and losses on a 50-50 basis,” Energy Transfer Partners claims. The two companies, which called their new venture Double E Pipeline, even signed a deal in August 2011 with Chesapeake Energy to ship “at least 100,000 barrels of oil per day on the Double E Pipeline for a 10-year period.”

    Less than a month later, Enterprise announced that it was ending its relationship with Energy Transfer Partners to do a similar partnership with Enbridge, which has about $30 billion in oil and gas assets and annual revenue of about $11 billion. Energy Transfer Partners claims that Enterprise and Enbridge conspired to end the joint venture with Energy Transfer Partners, which is seeking more than $1.2 billion in actual and punitive damages. Enterprise and Enbridge argue that Enterprise legally backed out of the proposed joint venture. Enterprise lawyers, in court documents, point to the April 21, 2011, letter between the two companies as proof that their partnership had not been finalized.

    “No binding or enforcement obligations shall exist between the parties with respect to the [relationship] unless and until the parties have received their respective boards’ approvals,” the agreement stated. “The parties made crystal clear that they had not yet agreed to undertake the proposed joint venture,” Enterprise lawyers said in court records. “Despite months of hard work by Enterprise’s employees, Enterprise and ETP were unable to secure sufficient commitments from prospective shippers of crude oil to make the proposed joint venture with ETP commercially viable.” Energy Transfer Partners lawyers, in court documents, say the relationship between the two companies had moved well beyond the terms agreed to in the April 2011 letter. Lawyers for Energy Transfer Partners argue that Texas law liberally defines the existence of a business partnership, even in some cases in which the parties involved claim there is no such partnership, much like the existence of a common-law marriage under Texas family law.

  • On duty Dallas cop accused of forcing woman to have sex in back of his patrol car

    On duty Dallas cop accused of forcing woman to have sex in back of his patrol car

    DALLAS (TIP): A Dallas police officer accused of sexually abusing a woman while on duty and in uniform, has been arrested. Officer La’Cori Johnson, 28, allegedly forced a woman to perform oral sex on him before having sex with her in the back of his patrol car on Sept. 9, 2013.

    “You don’t have to go to jail if you do what I tell you to do,” he said, according to an arrest affidavit. The unidentified woman said she obeyed the officer’s demands because he was armed and she feared going to jail, reported NBCDFW. The Dallas-Fort Worth station said the whole incident started when Johnson pulled over the woman and another person, performed background checks on both and then told the friend to leave.

    The officer, who had been with the department since 2009, told the woman there was a warrant out for her arrest and told her to get into the back of his car, she said. Johnson drove the woman to a dead end behind the Pecan Square Apartments and parked. Then he got into the backseat and removed his gun belt, according to NBCDFW.

    At this point, he allegedly made his sexual demands. “With any sexual assault, the victim is going to have lasting damage from that attack; but in this particular case, the damage extends beyond the victim, and it impacts the entire public,” attorney Kimberly Priest Johnson told ABC affiliate WFAA. The woman reported the incident to police on Oct. 4, 2013. Johnson was immediately placed on administrative leave.

    At the same time, a criminal investigation by the department’s Public Integrity Unit was initiated. That investigation was followed by an Internal Affairs investigation that began on Jan. 24 of this year. On January 28, Johnson was questioned by Internal Affairs detectives. He later resigned from the department and was immediately arrested and booked into the Dallas County Jail. He was later released the following day after his bond was paid. The sexual assault charge is a 2nd degree felony.

  • Poorer school districts still shortchanged in Texas, expert says

    Poorer school districts still shortchanged in Texas, expert says

    AUSTIN (TIP): The state only slightly reduced big funding gaps between richer and poorer school districts last year, a representative for hundreds of districts told a judge Wednesday, January 29.

    Wayne Pierce, executive director of the Equity Center, testified that elementary schools in wealthier districts still have an average $73,000 more per classroom to spend than schools in the state’s poorest districts. That funding advantage exists even though the poorest 15 percent of school districts have significantly higher tax rates than the wealthiest 15 percent, Pierce said. “The [funding] gaps remain exceedingly large,” he said.

    “We have an irrational system with layers of irrational funding factors.” Pierce, a former superintendent of the Kaufman school district, also said that lawmakers reduced the average gap between higher-wealth and lower-wealth districts by only $209 per student in the current budget. There is still a gap of nearly $2,000 per student between districts at the upper and lower ends of the property wealth spectrum, he said.

    The Equity Center represents low- and medium-wealth school districts. That includes 445 districts that are among the more than 600 suing the state. State District Judge John Dietz ruled the system unconstitutional a year ago. He is holding additional hearings to determine the effect of legislative changes made since his decision. Lawmakers increased funding and scaled back high school testing. School districts say schools still have inadequate resources and an unfair system for distributing funds.

    They also argue that the state has improperly limited their ability to raise enough revenue through local property taxes. Catherine Clark, a school finance expert with the Texas Association of School Boards, said that despite funding increases, nearly 40 percent of school districts still have less money this year than they had in the 2010-11 school year. Those 408 districts include Dallas and several other North Texas districts. Combined, they educate 2.3 million students.

    The Legislature slashed education funding by $5.4 billion in 2011 to help ease a state budget crunch. Lawmakers restored $3.4 billion last year. “The funding system is leveling down at the same time that standards are being raised,” she told the judge. “The funding has not responded to the increased standards set by the state.” The case is expected to wind up before the Texas Supreme Court later this year after Dietz issues his final decision.

  • AT&T creating new jobs in Dallas and around Texas

    AT&T creating new jobs in Dallas and around Texas

    DALLAS (TIP): Dallas-based AT&T Inc. said it was hanging out a help wanted sign. The company wanted to fill more than 1,800 jobs in Texas, including 770 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

    More than 1,000 of the positions statewide were newly created. Monday, AT&T said it was still looking to hire. Now it has more than 1,000 jobs to fill in Texas, just over half of them newly created. That includes 350 jobs to fill in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 61 of them new, a spokeswoman said.

    The jobs range from technicians to call center employees to retail employees. Applications can be done online. The company currently employs 36,000 in Texas, up 1,000 since June, the company said. It employs 246,000 nationwide, up from 240,000 in June.

  • Texas ranks No. 2 for human trafficking crime

    Texas ranks No. 2 for human trafficking crime

    DALLAS (TIP): The National Human Trafficking Resource Center has released its 2013 data and it may or may not come as a surprise to you that Texas ranks No. 2 in number of calls placed to the hotline.

    Texas maintained its No. 2 position, behind California, even as overall calls skyrocketed last year. It’s safe to say that a large number of those calls came from the North Texas region, as the Dallas-Fort Worth traditionally has been a relative hotbed for human trafficking.

    Experts have said that has to do with the convergence of highways in the region as well as the area’s proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border. While it’s difficult to capture the specific data because of the hidden nature of the crime, Mosaic Family Services in Dallas, for example, typically serves 100 victims a year. And in 2012, the national hotline received about 250 calls from the city of Dallas alone.

  • Texas woman charged with murdering 10-year-old son

    Texas woman charged with murdering 10-year-old son

    FRISCO, TX (TIP): A North Texas woman was charged with murder Thursday, January 30, in the death of her 10-year-old son, whose body was found in a bathtub in the family’s suburban Dallas home.

    Pallavi Dhawan was booked into the Frisco City Jail after her Wednesday night arrest. Bond is set at $50,000. Police said Sumeet Dhawan, the suspect’s husband of 15 years, called officers to the family home Wednesday evening after he returned from an out-of-town trip and could not find his wife. When officers arrived, the husband also expressed concern about the welfare of their only child, Arnav Dhawan.

    His father said he had received an email that the child had been absent from school for several days, according to a Frisco Police Department statement. At that point, Pallavi Dhawan arrived at the house. Officers asked where the child was, but she asked to speak privately with her husband first, according to the statement.

    During the conversation, her husband became visibly upset, called officers over and pointed toward a bedroom door. They found the door locked. “Officers asked Mrs. Dhawan if the child was in the room, and she nodded her head ‘yes.’ Officers asked her if she killed the child, and Mrs. Dhawan nodded her head ‘yes,’” said police Sgt. Brad Merritt at an afternoon news conference. Police said officers forced the door open and found the child’s body in the tub, wrapped in a cloth up to his neck and with plastic bags in the tub around him.

  • Mexican beauty queen arrested in South Texas for allegedly interfering with an officer

    Mexican beauty queen arrested in South Texas for allegedly interfering with an officer

    LAREDO, TX (TIP): Police say the reigning beauty queen from a Mexican state bordering South Texas could have avoided her weekend arrest for allegedly interfering with an officer.

    Laredo police spokesman Joe Baeza said Thursday, January 30, that 24-year-old Barbara Falcon Prieto and a friend were arrested in the early morning hours of Jan. 26. Falcon was charged with interfering with public duties, a class B misdemeanor. Police were called to a Laredo bar because people in Falcon’s group were trying to leave with alcohol.

    Baeza said that when police tried to interview one of the men, Falcon yelled at them, pushed an officer and tried to pull his hands away. Her friend also tried to intervene when police turned their attention to Falcon, Nuestra Belleza 2013 for Tamaulipas. The men were not arrested.

  • Texas Democrats back Obama’s call for wage increase

    Texas Democrats back Obama’s call for wage increase

    WASHINGTON (TIP): For the second straight year, President Obama called for an increase in the national minimum wage during January 28 State of the Union address. Texas Democrats expressed strong support for the proposal.

    “This has gained a lot of momentum,” said Rep. Al Green, DHouston. “Every poll that I see indicates that people are for raising the minimum wage. It can make a difference in the lives of people not only at the very bottom in the entry level jobs, but also in the lives of people up the ladder as well, because it tends to raise the other boats as it raises that boat that’s at the very lowest level.”

    Conservatives, however, say that raising wages would add more expenses for business owners already struggling to stay afloat. Many Republicans point to studies suggesting that raising the minimum wage will slow job growth. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Obama called for a boost to $10.10, spotlighting a bill by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and Rep. George Miller, DCalif. currently attempting to raise the national minimum wage to that level. The president also announced an executive order to raise the minimum wage paid to federal contractors, to $10.10.

    That came with pledges for other executive orders, drawing the ire of conservatives, who called such actions “imperialist.” “Shame on us,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, of Congress’ inability to raise the minimum wage. “The actions that the president is taking are not overbearing or far-reaching. They respond to the outcry of the American people for a decent wage and a decent quality of life.” Texas’ minimum wage is the same as the federal minimum. In 2013, Texas had more minimum wage workers than any other state – 452,000 of the 3.6 million nationwide.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a quarter of all Texas workers- more than 2.5 million- make less than $10 an hour. More than 700,000 workers in the Dallas metro area make around that level, or less. “I believe in a decent living wage,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas. She said businesses she’s spoken to in her district are on board with the boost. “They don’t have a problem with $10 an hour. I’ve talked with fast food owners [and] Costco…. They all feel it’s worthy to get the wages up, to get money in circulation so employees can live a decent life.

  • Doomsdayers’ underground survival shelters spread across Texas

    Doomsdayers’ underground survival shelters spread across Texas

    HOUSTON (TIP): Texas is a home for survivalists. Underground bunkers are being built faster here than in any other state. Doomsdayers see Texas as a safe haven for bunkers and guns. And a Houston man is responsible.

    His atlas survival shelters are among the most popular in the country, and now we’re getting to know him. Ron Hubbard may seem eccentric. He’s got plenty of weapons, ammunition, food, water and a secret bunker. “It’s strictly defensive. Nobody is looking for a fight,” he said. “A shelter is more secretive than a bank account.” But far from eccentric, Hubbard is a businessman. “The U.S. Constitution is under attack,” Hubbard said.He’s selling bunkers to a booming clientele.

    “It’s got four bunks, it will have a couch, and a little entertainment center and a TV,” Hubbard said. And it all starts in Los Angeles, his construction hub. “They are afraid of the U.S. government and where this country is headed,” Hubbard said. “They see a battle in the future. They see the Constitution being trampled. They see the 1st Amendment gone, they see the 2nd Amendment gone.” That brings U.S. back to the Lone Star State.

    Hidden deep in the most remote areas of Texas are hundreds of survival shelters, secret bunkers. “People who have bunkers are not looking for a fight, they’re looking to sit a fight out,” Hubbard said. “You can drive within 20 feet of a bunker and not know it’s there.” The ideal setting for a bunker is in the middle of nowhere. It’s a secret location for most, surrounded by plenty of weapons, enough food, water and of course, ammunition to last for several years.

    “You have a sense that you’re invisible because nobody can get to you down here,” Hubbard said. The living quarters are like a regular home. You’re 20 feet underground, but the bunkers carry all the conveniences of home and much more. Their cost ranges from $40,000-$400,000. None of his buyers want to go on camera, but there reasons for buying a bunker are the same — they fear a collapse of the Constitution and a one world order. “The people who buy shelters are typically very professional, they’re very patriotic, they believe in the Constitution,” Hubbard said. And in the past year, sales have dramatically increased.

    “When they think of a zombie, they think of people that in the worst-case scenario are looking for food and water, they’re desperate. And they will look like zombies because they will be starving and desperate. They will be willing to kill you to take what you got,” Hubbard said. So, the Doomsdayers wait, prepared for the worst, hoping for the best. And they’re always ready for a fight.

  • Obama calls for action, with or without Congress

    Obama calls for action, with or without Congress

    WASHINGTON (TIP): He talked a good game of acting on his own if necessary, calling for 2014 to be a “year of action, but President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address showed he knows that true progress depends on cooperation with a divided and recalcitrant Congress.

    “Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged,” he said near the end of the more than hour-long speech, seeming to describe his bad 2013 that lowered his approval ratings. “But for more than 200 years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress.”It was vintage Obama, blending hopeful calls for a unified approach with declarations of presidential independence through executive orders.

    There were the now familiar calls to recalibrate the tax code, spend more to rebuild roads and bridges, bolster education and avoid war if at all possible. He brought many to tears with a tribute to Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg, a disabled war veteran who sat next to first lady Michelle Obama and waved with wounded limbs to a prolonged standing ovation. Even Republicans relentlessly critical of the President conceded his oratorical skill. “A speech by Barack Obama is a lot like sex,” said GOP strategist and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos. “The worst there ever was is still excellent.”

    According to a snap CNN/ORC International poll, 44% of respondents had a “very positive” response to Obama’s speech, while 32% described a “somewhat positive” response and 22% didn’t like it at all. Last year, 53% of respondents in a similar poll rated their response to the 2013 address as very positive. The underlying theme of Obama’s fifth State of the Union address was his call on Tuesday for the government to work on behalf of all Americans in 2014, and his pledge to do so even if Congress refused to join him in an election year. “Let’s make this a year of action,” Obama said. “That’s what most Americans want — for all of us in this chamber to focus on their lives, their hopes, their aspirations.”

    It’s an optimistic goal for a President with a 43% approval rating entering his sixth year in office and facing a determined opposition in the Republican-led House of Representatives with congressional elections looming in November. “What I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class,” Obama said. “Some require congressional action, and I’m eager to work with all of you. But America does not stand still, and neither will I.”

    On issue after issue, he invited Congress to work with him but said he also would go it alone. Obama called for more government support to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, but also said that “I will act on my own to slash bureaucracy and streamline the permitting process for key projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible.”The President also promised an executive order to raise the minimum wage for some government contract workers.While the action is relatively narrow and affects less than half a million people, Obama urged Congress to follow suit for all low-wage workers in America.

    Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner chafed at such unilateral action, telling reporters that Republicans are “just not going to sit here and let the President trample all over us.”In the official Republican response, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington complained that Obama’s policies “are making people’s lives harder.” “We hope the President will join us in a year of real action — by empowering people — not by making their lives harder with unprecedented spending, higher taxes, and fewer jobs,” she said. One area of possible progress is immigration reform. Obama got a long ovation when he urged Republicans in the House to join Democrats in passing a Senate plan that got bipartisan support.

    McMorris Rodgers also brought up the issue backed by some Republicans as a way to bolster their weak support among Hispanic Americans, the nation’s largest minority demographic. “We’re working on a step-by-step solution to immigration reform by first securing our borders and making sure America will always attract the best, brightest, and hardest working from around the world,” she said in describing the more limited GOP approach to the comprehensive Senate measure that includes a path to legal status for immigrants living illegally in the country.

    On another major reform issue, Obama chided Republicans for trying to undermine his signature health care law that passed in 2010 without GOP support. He cited the millions of people helped by the reforms that ended denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions among its benefits. “The American people aren’t interested in refighting old battles,” Obama said. “Let’s not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that’s already helping millions of Americans. …The first 40 were plenty. …We all owe it to the American people to say what we’re for, not just what we’re against.”

    In her response, though, McMorris Rodgers continued the GOP attack line on the health care reforms as big government run amok and causing harm to people by raising costs and limiting their personal choices of doctors and medical treatment.The CNN/ORC poll indicated 59% of respondents thought Obama’s policies as presented in the speech would help the economy, a lower figure than in recent years. Obama said he will order the U.S. Treasury to create a new federal retirement savings account called MyRA, a savings bond that would guarantee “a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in.”

    It will be available to those whose jobs don’t offer traditional retirement savings programs, he said. Additionally, Obama called for: — Eliminating $4 billion in tax subsidies for the fossil fuel industries “that don’t need it” and instead “invest more in fuels of the future.” — Equal pay for women, noting they make 77 cents for each dollar a man earns, which he called “wrong” and “an embarrassment” to prompt loud and long applause. — Setting new fuel standards for American trucks to help reduce U.S. oil imports “and what we pay at the pump.”– Reworking the corporate tax code.

    He urged Congress to work with him to close “wasteful, complicated loopholes that punish businesses investing here” and instead “lower tax rates for businesses that create jobs right here at home.”– Congress to lift restrictions on transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay so the prison cna be closed in 2014.Obama also reiterated that he will veto any new sanctions bill from Congress that would derail talks on preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, adding that “for the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.”

  • Dallas Indian American Community Celebrates Republic Day

    Dallas Indian American Community Celebrates Republic Day

    DALLAS (TIP): Dallas Indian community celebrated 26th January, the 65th Indian Republic Day at the Jefferson Park, Irving. A lot of individuals and families were a part of this celebration which was highlighted to “Celebrate the Spirit of India”.

    The event also emphasized on a corruption free India and various ways in which NRI’s can add value to this very cause. The Aam Aadmi Party of Dallas took a major initiative to spread the social messages through skits, and patriotic songs.

    Earlier in the day there was an online video session with Yoginder Yadav who is the think tank of Aam Aadmi Party. The event’s message of social awareness and national responsibilities was much appreciated by one and all.

  • Hillary Clinton has a Massive Lead in Early Primary Polling

    Hillary Clinton has a Massive Lead in Early Primary Polling

    NEW YORK (TIP): The Washington Post and ABC News, January 30 morning, bring an early look at the leader board for the 2016 presidential nominations. The fact that Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the Democrats will surprise absolutely no one-but the sheer size of her lead is something to behold: 61 points.

    If the 2016 Democratic primary were today, 73 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would vote for Clinton, according to a new Washington Post/ ABC poll. Just 12 percent said they would vote for Vice President Biden, while 8 percent said they’d vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. While Warren is a favorite among liberals, she is among the several lawmakers who have said they’d support Clinton if she were to run.

    Clinton’s lead in the survey, conducted Jan. 20-23 among a national sample of 1,003 adults, is the largest lead in an early primary match up that the Post/ABC poll has recorded in 30 years. The overall margin of error for the poll is 3.5 points. Over on the GOP side of things, meanwhile, we find a much more crowded field.

    Here’s the full breakdown of the Republican field: Paul Ryan, 20 percent; Jeb Bush, 18 percent; Chris Christie, 13 percent; Ted Cruz, 12 percent; Marco Rubio, 10 percent; and Rand Paul, 11 percent. 9 per cent had no opinion. 4 per cent said none of these. 2 per cent said favored other and 1 per cent would not vote. Meanwhile, reports are coming in that the major super PAC that supported President Obama’s re-election now will begin raising money to help elect Hillary Clinton to the White House if she chooses to run. CNN said the group confirmed its support for Hillary.

    Priorities USA Action is reaching out to major Democratic donors as it starts to build support for her potential run and plans to raise tens of millions of dollars to begin to lay the groundwork for a potential candidacy. But the big question is:Will Hillary agree to run? She has yet to say whether she’ll run for President in 2016.Vice President Joe Biden, who harbors ambition to be the President, says Hillary Clinton’s decision on whether she will or won’t run for president in 2016 will not directly impact his own decision on whether to launch another bid for the White House. And Biden, making the rounds on the morning network newscasts, said he thinks he’d “make a good president.”