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Michael Moore’s newest movie is called Sicko and will be released on June 29th. However, the movie is already on the BitTorrent network and I was able to download and watch it over the weekend. The movie is an expose into the American health care system and focuses it’s attention on people that HAVE health insurance and how broken the system is.

It talks about how the current system was created by the Nixon administration. On the secret audio tapes of Nixon that were released years ago you can hear Nixon talking to Edgar Kaiser (namesake of Kaiser Permanente) on what the role of managed care should be – make money for the providers.

The movie goes on to show how free universal health care works in other countries. They show a doctor in England’s NHS, that lives in a million dollar home, drives an Audi and makes around USD 200,000 – not bad for a government worker.

Sicko, as other movies from Michael Moore depicts how the government will say anything to get its ways, from lies about weapons of mass destruction to how bad free universal health care is.

BitTorrent link

For the past several weeks I’ve noticed some work being done to a building near Kemps Corner. I figured it would be another lame clothing store but today I drove by and saw them putting up the signage for Porsche. The last letter “e” was put up first, I’ll take some pics next week and post them to the blog. The picture at the top is an artists rendering of what it’s supposed to look like. If you are familiar with the area the showroom is on the same street as the Crossword bookstore and right next to the Maruti showroom. Ironic that one of the best looking sports car brands in the world is being sold alongside some of the crappiest cars in the world.

This week is the highly anticipated Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. All eyes will be on getting juicy bits of information on 10.5 (aka Leopard) from Steve. I’m also betting there will be an update on the iPhone launch which is all systems go for June 29. The new MacBook Pro’s are already out, there is talk about new brushed metal iMac’s. I’m looking for a revision of the Mac mini to contain the Intel Core 2 Duo chip, which would make my home theater complete. But, I guess the only think I know for sure is that Steve will be wearing jeans and a black turtleneck shirt.

What do those three things have in common…Cisco Systems. It’s been a pretty busy two weeks with a lot of news involving ex-Cisco people. First up is Mike Volpi who is now the CEO of Joost, which is a way to watch TV over the internet. At Cisco, Volpi ran the multi-billion Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, which sells switches and routers sold to the world’s largest telcos and cable companies.

Next up is Carl Russo of Calix. Calix is another company benefiting from IPTV, by providing the head end gear for homes. Rumor is that Calix is going to IPO very soon according to Fortune.com. Carl Russo was the CEO of Cerent when it got acquired by Cisco in 1999 for an obscene USD 6.9 billion. I still don’t get why Carl insists on having a mustache…so 70′s.

Lastly and most interesting is the Country Manager for Cisco India, Jangoo Dalal is gone, he was at Cisco for over 10 years. Prior to him was Rangu Salgame, who was also in the position for a short while. For a market that is supposed to be one of the biggest, there is a lot of turmoil at the top. I’m guessing with Cisco announcing that Bangalore will be it’s 2nd headquarters, that might be putting a lot of undue stress on the sales team as everyone is watching them much closer.

Equities markets around the world seem to be quite volatile as of late. The buzz this past week on Dalal Street is the monster IPO from construction kingpen – DLF (Delhi Land and Finance). I’ve heard some people say it will be the biggest IPO ever in India and then others saying it will be number 2 right behind Cairn. Whatever it is, i’m guessing it will be a bust. They are banking (no pun intended) on their land bank for justifying such a high valuation. This coming week June 11-16, will be the book building process where everyone will see how under or oversubscribe the issue is. I’m sure the lead bankers will be telling everyone how oversubscribed it is just like during the Cairn IPO. It was later revealed the lead bankers ate about Rs. 300 CR worth of Cairn stock – hope it was yummy.