The Bomb and The General V2.2009

Aditi Raychoudhury. Strawberries. 2009. 6" x 4". Adobe Illustrator CS.

The original ‘The Bomb and the General’ is a delightfully optimistic, anti-war children’s book – written by Umberto Eco (The Name of The Rose), and brilliantly illustrated by Eugenio Carmi. It was published in 1989 –

In Italian: By Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, Bompiani, Sonzogno, Etas S.p.A.;
and
In English: By Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

This version of “The Bomb and the General” weaves in some of the original text (italicized), which initially inspired this story. Like the original story, this version also maintains a naïveté to create an anti-war message for children, and for adults, a more complex tale about hegemony and insular faith.

Aditi Raychoudhury. Land of Plenty (In Green). 2009. 22" x 11". Adobe Illustrator CS.

The General of our story enjoys a life of utter ease and gluttony, till he is compelled to seek God, during a moment of personal crisis. This pivotal encounter awakens in him an unshakeable passion for God’s word. But his myopic obsession with the details of God’s message clouds its original intent, and provokes an ominous future. Will his country slumber on through the impending doom or will they arise to reclaim their right in a peaceful world?

Aditi Raychoudhury. Land of Plenty (In Pink). 2009. 17" x 14". Colored Pencils on Tracing Paper.

Aditi Raychoudhury. Land of Plenty (In Orange). 2009. 17" x 14". Colored Pencils on Tracing Paper.

Aditi Raychoudhury. Land of Plenty (In Orange). 2009. 17" x 14". Gouache on Paper.

Why Obama’s Tax Plan Will Help Us

Its Election day tomorrow. With the economy sliding faster than the downward spiral of a ride in “Great America”, we are justifiably nervous about the issues that have featured prominently on debates – albeit not always answered with clarity – the continuing war, government spending, tax reforms, jobs, education, mortages…

Sadly, in the Bay Area, even a 100k annual salary, can often, and shamefully, be short of a mortgage on a three-bedroom single family home, quality K-12 education, and some. The sad state of public schools in some of the Bay Area urban spots – San Francisco, Berkeley, and yes, the infamous Oakland School District, where I live, is testimony to the misplaced priorities even in this otherwise relatively liberal state

Besides, the crumbling public schools, Oakland, CA, also has the dubious distinction of being the homicide capital of America. But I disagree with such stereotyping. It is easier to stereotype than to look beneath that smug sentence and find a solution for change.

The Politics of Economy

I am enraged to hear the ongoing argument about tax cuts for big businesses helping the economy as a hardsell against Obama’s tax reform plan. I am not an economist, nor have studied the tax structure in great depth, nor can I say for sure that Obama’s tax structure is a win-win situation.

But what I can say with a great deal of confidence is that the last set of tax reforms have clearly shown us that bigger tax cuts for big business DO NOT help the economy. We are in the middle of an unending war, and we hear the word depression being thrown out with increasing regularity these days. One doesn’t have to be an economist to come to this conclusion. One only needs to be a US taxpayer and US resident for a few years to see this without a shred of doubt.

I fail to understand how ANYBODY well, that includes McCain-Palin) can be so ridiculously illogical to criticize the the Bush government, and yet refuse to accept that the last set of tax reforms (big tax cuts for big corporations) have not helped the economy at all!

I fail to understand why some people still believe in an ideology that has failed to provide jobs, or boost the economy – in short, a complete failure – over and over and over again. Or do they have simply too much spare change?

‘Nuf said!