making Arundhati Roy quake in her anti-global boots - Here we go again !!
Where are the rallies and commissions and editorials about the oppression of poor Dalits by ...what do you mean the culprists are not Hindu?.........Kill the story!
Main accused in Dalits rape held - [01/02/2003] - HindustanTimes.com
The main accused, Bhutto, in the Uldhan gangrape case has been arrested and raids are on to arrest his four accomplices.
Julfikar alias Bhutto Bhutto and his absconding accomplices had raped a Dalit girl, Suneeta (14), and then murdered her on January 26 in Uldhan village of Kharkhauda area, the constituency of minister and BSP MLA Yakoob Kureshi.
This is a paragraph that I will remember for a while - so poignant, so casual, so profound!!!
LILEKS (James) The Bleat
The very idea of the future is undergoing a renovation - its not a city on the other side of a wall. The best lesson may be this: there is no wall. In the end the very idea of The Future may turn out to be a 20th century conceit, the reason the globe churned itself up fighting one rancid conception of utopia after the other. The future is back to being what it always was: an accumulation of tomorrows, not a wholesale refutation of today.
It might as well be, says Krauthammer - U.N., R.I.P. (washingtonpost.com)
You couldn't make this one up either. It was no alphabetical accident. Libya was elected, by deliberate vote, by overwhelming vote -- 33 to 3. The seven commission members from the European Union, ever reliable in their cynicism, abstained. They will now welcome a one-party police state -- which specializes in abduction, assassination, torture and detention without trial -- to the chair of the United Nations' highest body charged with defending human rights.
That Saddam, he is a clever man, indeed - Iraq Joins 'Gang of 8' to Avoid 'Weasels' Association :):):)
Check it out and see the entries of people who nominated themselves and of those who were dragged hand and feet bound kicking and screaming by me and Ashwini (Evil Grin!).
RealWomenOnline.com - Bharatiya Blog Mela #1 - The Grand Opening
So many blogs so which ones do we read ? All if you had the time. But since you don't have all that time on hand we decided to bring to you a weekly collection of posts from across the Indian blogland. We had decided to open this with a grand party for all. We partied and left the ballons and the blog posts for you.
Trust HappyFunPundit to give a State of Happy Fun Pundit Speech, and to analyze reaction shots for the speech!
....I really respected this man! It is sad to see him resort to racist remarks to achieve....what exactly?
BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Mandela condemns US stance on Iraq
"Their friend Israel has got weapons of mass destruction but because it's their ally they won't ask the United Nations to get rid of them.Update: Some South-African reactions to Mandela's comments - Madiba's attack on Bush surprises opposition
"They just want the oil," Mr Mandela went on. "We must expose this as much as possible."
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"Is this because the secretary general of the United Nations [Ghanaian Kofi Annan] is now a black man? They never did that when secretary generals were white," he said.
MTV India sends stinker to MTV US on Gandhi spoof : HindustanTimes.com
An episode guide at the network's website describes Gandhi as "stupid enough to take a swim in its piranha-infested moat," where 'Special Education' kids are ostracised and imprisoned.
Sarcastically describing the attempts as a part of the world's most expensive and ambitious cloning project, the website said the project is about a group of scientists creating clones from DNA extracts of dead people who have changed the course of human history.
My blog-mom is picking on me again - help me, Meryl! All of you click over to her blog so that I send her more referrals than "salam", so I can be her favorite daughter again!
Head over to my blog-mom's place and read this - don't blame me for the song getting stuck in your head for the whole day!
Call Jihad!
A few days ago, someone posted a parody of "If you're happy and you know it" with the end phrase, "Bomb Saddam." Well, it's been rather sitting in my craw since then, and I finally got the cadence down and came up with one of my own.
I was extremely depressed by the time I had made it home last night. I never realized how emotionally invested I was in America, till last night. I am loyal to a fault, whether it be my friends, family or country of citizenship or country where I live in right now. Yesterday was almost the breaking point for me in a lot of ways especially as far as the war with Iraq is concerned. It is frustrating when you feel like you are fighting someone else's war with people who are supposed to be your allies, friends and family, and everything seems in vain. I am not going to name names, but when I see Indian bloggers writing odes to "human shields", and stuff like this - "Two planes crash into two towers. Bush declares war on terrorism and that the nation is at war.". That's it. It is all for Oil™. 9/11 was just that - two towers, two planes. I can tell them, they were not here in the US at that time. I can tell them how much it hurt. I can tell them how much I cried those two horrible days, even though I didn't know a soul in NY, DC or from Flight 93. I never even visited those places. But I still felt it. I felt the pain of it all. I saw the suffeing of innocent people and I stood with them, because doing anything else seemed so....wrong. I know what the rebuttsl would be - "paying for past sins".
If that is the situation with people who don't have much invested with America, the worst blow came to me on a "Survivor" message board, where we were debating the situation. People were comparing Bush to Saddam and said they were both threatening each other, so they are both equivalent, because the UN said so. UN is the God they live by and die by. I can point to those people that UN Human Rights Commission is chaired by a dictator responsible for shooting a civilan plane down and killing hundreds of people. I can tell them UN Disarmament Committee is chaired by Saddam, UNRWA teaches Palestinian kids how to hate Israel in their schools, how UN workers run prostitution rings, how UN has done jackshit to remedy the India-Pakistan situation, even though they wasted a ton of paper on resolutions they cannot enforce, and lots more. I didn't.
Here is why - there were other people on the message board. They were born and brought up Americans. Why were they not speaking up? I am not an American citizen, heck, I am not even a permanent resident. I am here on a temporary work visa. I have nothing to gain but everything to lose from the war and another ecession. I have already been laid off thrice, and another recession would ensure that my husband and I will both lose our jobs, which means we will have to leave the country at once. That is how transient my situation is here. If I have to I will pick up and leave and go back to India and still live happily ever after. Americans though, have nowhere else to go. This is your country. This is your motherland. If you don't defend it, why should I? You are so anti-Bush that you will suffer anti-American fools gladly, without a peep. I will tear to pieces someone who says anything bad about India. I did the same with people who said anti-American stuff, but more and more I think, why should I? May be you don't want confrontations, but I don't like them either. I hate fighting with people. I sick, tired and depressed of having to keep bringing out the same, old arguments and the other side just changing the subject when they cant answer my questions.
I was shaking by the time, I got home from work yesterday and changed and sat down in front of the TV. One of my Great Dane puppies then decided he found my face real tasty. I started playing with him and the tension of the day melted away. Then the basketball game on and my Mavericks beat the crap out of Houston Rockets and Yao Ming. Life is beautiful again, by the time I go to sleep with one Dane snoring into my ear and the other one at my feet, with my lab/hound-mix mutt curled into my stomach and my husband on the other side of the bed, holding in his arms, the black-and-white doggie. I am set to take on the world again.
Note: This was meant as a personal rant against certain people that I found very frustrating, even though it might seem like I am generalizing a bit. If this offends someone, I say "tough luck!".
And you can bet some Super Bowl producer somewhere said to these latter acts, hey, why not make it easy on yourselves and just lip-synch to a tape, like Shania does, no one will really care, ain't like it's Carnegie Hall or anything, not like anyone in the openly deceitful ShrubCo era expects anything more.Somebody, hurry up get this poor man some prozac. I have seen my share of bitter people but never someone so self-congratulatory, ill-informed, fact-twisting, I-said-Ha-Ha-I-am-so-cool person as this one. I feel sorry for him. I really do. As a person, I derive pleasure not from berating people or hating them passionately. I see the innate goodness in most people and even if I don't agree with some, I have no doubt as to their intentions, even if they are going about implementing them in a wrong way. I am a happy being. I get my joy and happiness from the people close to me, my pets and my friends. I don't need to call everybody who doesn't agree with me names to feel all intellectual and satisfied. I feel sorry for Morford. I really do.
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and of course there's not a single thing wrong with that, except that it's completely and depressingly disingenuous and hollow and sad and in an oil-drunk ShrubCo world, it feels like exactly the last thing we really need.
....................
Much like ShrubCo's blatant warmongering, much like Cheney barely trying to conceal the outright oily corporatization of our nation and its war interests, much like a gov't that doesn't even pretend to conceal its true draconian motives
.....while I wipe the "lavender tea" off of my keyboard - These people have got to be kidding us.
Dobby, the computer-animated elf in the new Harry Potter film, could be at the centre of a court battle over his resemblance to Russian president Vladimir Putin.(link via Easy Guru)
A Russian law firm is reportedly drawing up legal action against the special effects people who dreamt up Dobby, arguing that the ugly but caring elf has been modelled on Mr Putin.
Go here to read the Best of the Blogosphere of the week - at Ipse Dixit's place.
Next week's carnival is going to be hosted at Plum Crazy - so send your entries in.
All this gave me and Ashwini another idea (I know, we seem to be getting a lot of ideas lately, someone stop us from talking to each other) - We want to start a "Desi" version of the Carnival. It is going to be hosted at Real Women Online - So, friendly neighborhood Desi dudes/dudettes - Drop me or Ashwini a line every week with what you think are your best posts for the week and we will publish them together at RWO. Also, let us know if oyu can come up with a good name for the event.
Update: not that we don't trust you guys, but the only restriction we place on the Desi carnival submissions is that no personal stuff, please! Anything but personal stuff. Thanks you. Resume. I got it. How about "Desi Blog Mela" for the name?
Now I am in deep, deep trouble. Who said life with Jewish moms was easy! I think I am going to order myself some of this, to keep on hand.
Leave a comment here - let's have a campaign - We want comments!
The writer has excellent advice for BJP, Hindus and Muslims. A very well-written article that presents very balanced views without seeming to place the blame squarely on any one group's shoulders. We need more like this!
Sajid Bhombal on the fight against communalism
For too long the Muslim elite and those who have a voice have remained indifferent to the fate of the community, leaving the poor to find refuge in vote bank politics. They must now stand up and be counted. And they can do so only if they reclaim their right to represent their religion from the bigots who, it seems, are acting as the sole custodians of Islam.
In short, both Hindus and Muslims should get their basics right. Communalism only feeds communalism. India has to fight communalism -- whether Hindu or Muslim. Failure to do so will destroy the very concept of India.
I am really not sure how I feel about this - I am going to dig a little and find out who is behind this. I have found these people a little too militant for my tastes at times, but their heart seems to be in the right place, though I do not vouch for them.
Hindu World Wide Web -- News Update
Update: They seem to have a lot of info on the Israel situation - this article seems to be a couple of years old, Appeasement of Muslims - A United Nuisance , has the interesting tidbit that "Israel was the only UN member to openly oppose Syria's bid to join the powerful Security Council". I find that very interesting - Why didn't India speak up? Why are we keeping quiet about the inclusion of terrorist nations into the security council and then crying about no one helping us with Pakistan?
More Updates: This is a more recent article - A RELIGION OF PEACE? It's a contradiction in terms. written in response to Justin Raimondo (http://www.antiwar.com) calling Hindus, Nazis and saying that they are "natural" allies to Israel. Very good response. I think.
Seven Palestinians Killed as Israelis Vote
Three Palestinians were killed when an explosion levelled a house owned by an Islamic militant in Gaza. Palestinians said the house was hit by an Israeli helicopter missile. The Israeli army said the three were killed while making bombs.Question: How does the headline relate to the content of the story? Bonus points for explaining what the "killings" have anything to do with Israeli vote.
Palestinian medics said three Palestinian gunmen were shot dead in the northern West Bank city of Jenin during an exchange of fire with Israeli troops and that a 17-year-old was killed while running to the aid of one of the gunmen.
MJ, Shaq Lead List of All-Star Reserves
So, the NBA All-Star reserves have been chosen - no susrprises here - did anyone really think that they would have the All-Star game without Shaq and MJ? Nowitzki and Nash made it from the Mavericks, but I think it is unfair that Sacramento has only Chris Webber. I think Peja definitely desrved it. Sacramento deserves to have two All-Stars a lot more than Phoenix, which has Marbury and Marion making hte cut.
The INS will be putting in too much work and effort with extremely little to show for it, if they really include Indian and Chinese men in the registrants - we make up a huge chunk of immigrants, but we are not related terrorism in any way. How much sense does it make for INS to spend hours questioning my husband, who is from India and a Hindu. What sense would it make for INS to question the Chinese? How many Chinese hijackers were there? I will tell you - none! This is going to result in nothing but a PR disaster for INS and make it a little hard for people like me to defend the policies of national security.
I'm next
(link via Suman Palit)
Update: This is in response to PG's comment - It was getting too long, so I am posting it here -
"So, Hindus terrorize missionaries - If you dig deep enough, you will find that most of the clashes were results of tensions between the tribals that the missionaries were trying to convert and the missionaries.
As for the minister who is being asked to leave, he was in violation of his visa status, since he was not permitted to do any conversions while under his particular visa status. That doesn't strike as terrorism to me.
As for what happens within India, issues are a lot more complex than, he is a Hindu, he beat up a Muslim/Christian/who ever, ergo Hindus are terrorizing others. Fact is, it happens within India. How many Indian suicide-bombers are blowing up Pakistanis in ice cream parlors? It is easy to mouth platitudes about a country as huge and as diverse and as complicated as India. It is hard to back them up.
I am not saying Hindus have not committed crimes or that they are completely innocent in everything. I am saying that 80% of the terrorists in India are not Hindu, while 80% of the population is.
It is also interesting to note that the persecution.org website notes all the BJP's sub-orgs as extremist, but makes no mention of the Muslim terrorists - why? Where is the mention of Godhra where Muslims burned Hindu women and children alive? Another issue that the web site argues is for reservations for non-Hindu lower caste people - come again, how can the people be lower caste, if they have already converted into a caste-less religion? Why should they be treated any different from other people belonging to the same religion? If I wanted to throw around biased web sites as objective evidence, there are plenty of http://www.hvk.org would be a good one. Let's just discuss facts here, not one web site's agenda.
So your "selfish, narcissistic", QX4 driver is coming back home from working her "feminist-sellout" butt off at an "evil, capitalist" company. She is driving her "terrorist-supporting" gas-guzzler on the I-35 at 60mph, when a little-bitty, "environment-friendly. peacenik, driven-by-Jesus (TM)" Geo Metro driving at a peaceful pace of 45mph tries to and succeeeds in cutting in between. Now, an average, "vain, insecure" SUV-driver would have cussed her out or honked or in some cases tried to show her who da boss. But this one didn't do any thing - she just slowed down to a crawl to let the little one through and then resumed speed. How surprising!
model minority: Asian American Empowerment - In Our Own Language
Self-hatred is a complicated concept....or Inbonics, Pakinics, Japanics, whatever you call the idea, fact is it is stupid. Why is speaking proper English white? Why is it that you cannot assert your cultural identity without mandatory skewering of a good language? That aside, how are you going to decide on what language to get your street slang from? Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Urdu or one of the 14 official languages spoken in India? Why are all these so-called APAs "oriented" (according to them "oriental" is a slur, so obviously, I have to use forms of it) towards the "yellow" people? What about the brown ones? Aren't we Asians? We Indians already have "Hinglish", that is hard for any non-Indian, non-Hindi person to understand. Does that put us in a better position as minorities than other APAs who don't have a bastardized version of English to call their own?
Cowardly assimilation to white ideals is what immediately comes to mind. When we speak of Asian Americans abandoning their ethnicity, we tend to only consider complete cultural surrender to the white mainstream.
However, for many Asian Americans at Berkeley who posses a higher ethnic awareness, it's possible to go running to the other extreme. In a society ruled by white culture, it's tempting to latch on to African America as the only strong, identifiable alternative. But let's not fool ourselves. Jazz and rap are culturally ours as much as Bach and Brahms. James Baldwin speaks for Asian Americans as much as Shakespeare does. Taking African American culture as ours is a delusion and a violent misappropriation.
A community of color is an admirable long term long-term goal, but it is no excuse to be intentionally imitative and submissive.
Will the Indian media apologize for raking over coals, Bajrang Dal/RSS/VHP and by proxy BJP because of a crime that was committed by people who were not affilited to the organization in any way whatsoever?
Staines murder accused not Bajrang Dal activists: CBI
In a new twist to the Graham Staines murder case, a Central Bureau of Investigation officer on Monday told a court that none of the 18 persons chargesheeted in the case belonged to the Bajrang Dal.
Deposing before District and Sessions Judge M N Patnaik, investigating officer Joginder Nayak said he had found no link between the Bajrang Dal and the 18 persons chargesheeted in the case.
Rather than fight school segregation, the Bush Administration has been happy to exploit it. Its briefs in the University of Michigan affirmative action case now in the Supreme Court praise plans in use in Texas, California and Florida that guarantee admission to state universities to students who graduate in the top 4 percent to 20 percent of their class.So, let me get this straight, this editorial says that blacks and whites tend to attend black-majority and white-majority schools and that is somehow the Bush administration's fault? The U of Michigan kinda discrimination, er, I mean "diversity system helps reintegrate blacks and whites? Do these people ever stop to think before spewing this garbage anymore?
Such plans are only partly effective in integrating higher education. They do nothing for graduate schools, and they often shunt minority students to a system's least selective campuses. But to the extent they work at all, it is by harnessing segregation at the high school level.
Relying on segregation in K-12 education to integrate higher education is cynical and wrong. It also creates troubling incentives. By telling minority parents that their children's best chance of attending a good college is to attend a segregated high school, these programs exert pressure on minority communities not to fight for integration in court, or in their school districts.
In their public statements over the Michigan case, members of the Bush administration, including the president, have said they would like to see increased racial diversity in education. If that is indeed their goal, they should begin by coming up with a plan to reverse the current trend, and start integrating the public schools.
So, what were the inspectors doing for the last four years? Why couldn't the UN assert its will upon Iraq and keep the inspections going then? Now that the US forced the issue, they are able to get in, something they could not do by themselves. Now they want to impose restrictions on what should be the next step? Idiots!
Annan: Give Inspectors More Time in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Weapons inspectors should be given more time to do their jobs as the United Nations seeks to disarm Iraq peacefully, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday shortly before crucial reports from the chief inspectors assessing Iraqi compliance.
"They should be given the time to do their work and all of us, the council and the assembly, must realize that time will be necessary, a reasonable amount of time, I'm not saying forever, but they do need time to get their work done and I suspect the council will allow that to be done," Annan told reporters.
Yao power: Center gets starting call for All-Star Game
So, we now know that Western All-Star starters are Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers), Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) and Steve Francis and Yao Ming (Houston Rockets). Not a single starter form the team with NBA's best record, the Dallas Mavericks. Not a single starter from the arguably the best team in NBA right now, the Sacramento Kings. What is the Lakers' record in the seasoon? 19 wins and 23 losses. What about the T-wolves? 26-18, the Spurs are 28-15 and the team with two All-Star starters, Rockets have a pathetic 23-19 record.
I am all for fan participation in the All-Star ballots and stuff, but then we should probably call the All-Stars by a different name, maybe All-Fan Favorite or All-Hype or All-the-time-on-the-TV-but-cannot-shoot-10-feet-from-the-hoop, or something like that. Kevin Garnett has failed to take his team out of the first round of playoffs for what 5 seasons so far? And this guy makes half the salary cap's worth of money this year, so his team cannot even sign anyone else. Kobe, he puts up his numbers, but has so far failed to inspire his team mates to ratchet up their play and play like the defending champions that they are. Steve Francis and Yao are the most hyped team in the NBA history, but they cannot deliver on it and their record proves it. Tim Duncan is the only guy I respect to be slogging away and carrying his team on his solitary shoulders without a single complaint (see, Kobe). He deserves all the accolades he gets. The rest, All-Flash-no-substance.
The reserves are the only ones that deserve respect of any kind, since they are picked by people who know what they are talking about, the coaches. This is why I think a much fairer system would make the fans vote for the reserves and let the coaches pick the starters. It will not only make sense to real basketball enthusiasts (not the kids who see the athletes in commercials and think that that proves their greatness), but it will be a true measure of someone being All-Star calibre. As an example, how fair is it for Vince Carter to be staring in the East, even though he played only 10 games in the season so far? Start campaiging, people - let's get the NBA to recognize true All-Stars, not loo-at-me-I-am-so-cool-I-am-dunking flashes that cannot win a game for their team by themselves.
I just cannot quote any single line from this post without feeling bad about not including the others - read the whole thing. It is amazing, emotional and inspiring.
Eject! Eject! Eject!: WAR
(link via Tim Blair)
If you want your entries to be featured in the Carnival #19 which is hosted Ipse Dixit, please email Dodd Harris before 6 PM ET Tuesday afternoon.
Military prowess showcased on R-day
A grand spectacle showcasing the nation's awesome military might, economic growth, scientific and technological advancement and cultural diversity unfolded at the majestic Rajpath in New Delhi on Sunday morning, marking the 54th Republic Day celebrations.
"Real Women Online" is a blog/portal/meeting place for ideas was born out of a little idea that Ashwini and I came up with a little while ago.
There are a lot of bloggers around, and a lot of them write really good stuff, but we feel that many women, especially Indian women, are not opening up and talking the way they would like to about non-personal issues, like Politics, Sports, etc. We feel that many of the ladies are either intimidated by others or don't want to expend too much energy into maintaining a full time blog.
This blog is designed to help out in situations like that. We want women (and men) to use our space to post their thoughts, opinions and advice on any issue that is of interest to them, as long as it is not the recipe for the day's breakfast, or details of their love life (not that there is anything wrong with that).
We want women to speak freely here, like there is no one listening. We know they have a lot to say between friends and we want this to be a place like that, where people speak freely, and there is a free exchange of ideas.
This is still in Alpha but we decided to launch this to get some public feedback. We know nothing is perfect and that there is always room for improvement - Please feel free to email us or leave a comment with any suggestions you might have.
So, I get my first insta-link and it is to my backup site :( Please visit http://madhoo.blogspot.com for fresh content. Thanks, Instapundit!
This is my gloriously luck day, y'all!!! Ok, I am not native Texan, but I have been assimilated, OK? I got the instalink, then the "biasbump", and now I found Dave Barry's blog. He is my comedy God and I am so glad I can read him everyday now instead once a week. Cool!
Dave's Blog
(link via Tim Blair - Tim, all my love for you - thanks for the link!)
So I get my first Instalink. How cool is that? Unfortunately, it is to my mirror/backup site. I still love it!
So, this poor man thinks he is entering a safe haven when he rushes into a UN vehicle and asks them to save him. What do the $#%@^&s do? Why they hand him right back over to the people he was running away from. How much would you bet that the man is being tortured right now and his family is going to be murdered brutally? It makes me so mad to see these idiot-lily-livered-fit-for-nothing "officials" acting like this and sending people to certain death. More thoughts after I have counted till 10,000 - anything less will not do. Horrible!
CNN.com - Iraqi scientists refuse U.N. talks - Jan. 25, 2003
About 40 minutes later, another Iraqi man stopped a U.N. vehicle outside the headquarters pleading "Save me! Save me!" in Arabic, according to the U.N. The man, apparently unarmed, forced his way into the driver's seat of the stopped vehicle, as an Iraqi guard struggled to pull him out, while an unfazed U.N. inspector watched from the passenger seat.(link via Instapundit)
Appearing agitated and frightened, the young man, with a closely trimmed beard and mustache, sat inside the white U.N.-marked utility vehicle for 10 minutes, AP reported. At first, an inspection team leader sought help from nearby Iraqi soldiers, but the man refused to leave the vehicle as the uniformed men pulled on his sleeve and collar.
I am glad I have joined the deep-breathing-counting-till-100-when-you-are-so-angry-you-want-to-rip-someones-face-off club with JK and Ashwini. Or else, I would have called Emil a stupid jerk. I would have told him it is ridiculous to think that someone is going to come after Asians with knives in their hands ala Norman Bates, just because Shaq made fun of Yao (who supposedly represents the Asian-Americans, though he is a puppet of the Chinese Basketball Association). I would have also told him that constant race-baiting like his columns is what frustrates really sane people into believing that all Asians have to be inferiority-complexed, whiny, cry-babyish fools. I would have also told him to shut the fuck up and shove his columns where the sun don't shine. But I didn't now, did I?
AsianWeek.com: Opinion: Shaqs Taunt Prelude to Hate Crimes?
Shaqs words were hardly self-mocking fun. They were taunts. Taunts are preludes to hate crimes. Over the last few years there have been 400 to 500 hate crimes against APAs in America, according to the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. Two of the hate crimes since Sept. 11 were murders; and almost all of them stem from the same well that produced Ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-so.Update: Does Emil-the-dumbest-Asian-of-them-all really think that the murders after 9/11 happened because of stupid racial taunts and did not have anything do with the fact that the 9/11 terrorists were all Arabs, who look very much like most Asians?
Thats not exactly an innocent, Your mama wears combat boots.
Remark Outrages Pakistani Islamic Leaders
I was really intrigued when I read that headline. Oh, My! What must she have said that made the mad mullahs even madder (sounds like a tongue-twister I know). I was expecting to see a Falwell-esque "You are terrorists and your Gods are terrorists and sme goes for your preacher" comment. Atleast a mention of Muhammad, or Allah or Koran, you know, something that might make them really angry. And then I read this -
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani Islamic leaders demanded Friday that U.S. ambassador Nancy Powell be expelled after she said Pakistan must keep militants from infiltrating India-ruled Kashmir.So, let us go over it again - she asked that the Pakis keep their militants to themselves and not send them all over the world to fight their stupid "Jihad". That's it? Me thinks that the Pakis doth protest too much. Even funnier, is this last line in the article -
Pakistan officials objected to Powell's remarks, but said she wouldn't be asked to leave. The Foreign Ministry summoned her over the issue, underscoring the depth of sensitivity among many Pakistanis over perceived U.S. slights toward their nation, a key ally in the U.S.-led global campaign against terrorism.
"Bush is the biggest terrorist as he is attacking the Muslim countries to grab their natural resources," the theater group, Pattan, said in a news release.These people are accusing the poor lady of not being sensitive and claim they are allies with US? Hmmm, it kinda makes sense if you look at it this way - Is Pakistan allied with US in the "war against terror", or because they think "Bush is a terrorist"?
I was immediately interested when I sw this article in rediff, comparing "reservations" to "affirmative action", since I had done something similar in one of my posts below. Then I read the conclusion excerpted below -
Tanmaya Nanda on reservations
And that is precisely why the Indian American community needs to reach out to other minority groups, irrespective of nationality or colour. By not reaching out to other people of 'different' ethnicities or colour, we lay ourselves open to charges of racism as well.That's it. We need to reach out, just so we do not appear like racists. No serious discussion of how the system is abused, no pros and cons, nothing whatsoever, except filler. My advice, don't read it, nothing new here.
I am still not comfortable with the idea of 50 per cent quotas in India, but I have come to accept that if economic gaps are to be closed, we will need to keep some sort of equalising factors -- call them quotas or affirmative action. Whatever it takes.
Well, now we know UK and Australian troops are out to help the US in the war against Iraq. How unilateral is this? How come everybody counts France and Germany as allies who will not help but forgets to mention the ones that are actively invloved and will help?
AUSTRALIAN TROOPS MOVE
I really am! I would have been perfectly happy in my little universe, but then I had to go around trying to gather "other viewpoints", so I visited the blogs in the blogroll of a certain person...(Hint: I have a cat-fight going on with her in a post below). Blechh! I am at work, so I don't even have my toothbrush here to wash this dirty taste out of my mouth. I should have been careful when I saw "Guardian" as one of the favored links, but I was too naive. Usually, I stop reading blogs as soon as I see any mention to "Noam Chomsky" - I call it the nom-chom test. The minute I see his link on someone's blogroll, I flee like I am being chased by a thousand "peace-protesters" (isn't that an oxymoron? How can you be for peace if you protest all the time?) chanting "no blog for oil" and "kill SUV-owners".
So, my anti-idiotarian(TM) meter malfunctioned and like Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets, I wandered off into the blogosphere's version of "Knockturn Alley". I am exhausted, I am so tired and I am so sick of those posts that I read. All the blogs were literal copies of each other. Anti-war? check. Anti-Israel? check. Pro-Palestine? check. Hate Hitchens? check. Sanctimonious whining? check. Virulently Anti-Bush? double check. Always bitter with absolutely no sense of humor? triple check. Boring to the point of tears? checkcheckcheckcheckcheck!!! I have learned my lesson - I will never, ever visit The bittershack of resentment, Mighty Girl (warning, if you click on the link, see the owner's pic and get nightmares for a week, don't blame me), Things that piss me off or Free Pie again.
Warning: Said sites are full idiotarian rants and are known to increase blood pressure in sane people - click the links at your own risk [Ed- Well, you were dumb enough to click them; Me- If I am dumb, you are equally dumb because you are me, so shut up!].
Ok, tell me what is one issue that is always present in Praful Bidwai's essays, regardless of the topic of discussion?
Hint: Praful Bidwai: A confused NRI policy
At work here are mutually incompatible, notions of inclusion and exclusion. How can we extend citizenship to foreign nationals, but deny elementary civil and political rights to those who we vehemently claim are our citizens -- Kashmiris from the valley, Muslims from Gujarat, and for long years, people from the Northeast?Bonus points for those who can identify one truly oppressed group of Indian citizens that are living a refugee life in their own country, that Bidwai forgets to mention here.....
Pak is most dangerous country now: Report
Pakistan is the 'most dangerous' country in the world right now the New Yorker magazine, quoting an American non-proliferation expert, said.
It said if the United States is 'incinerated' any time it will be because of the highly enriched uranium that was given to Al-Qaeda by Islamabad.
So, there was a conspiracy between some DFW bloggers (Dallasites), who voted to get their friends into the top 5 of the Bloggie award nominations. That's awful, people! Don't you have a conscience? Didn't you know I am from Dallas too? Why am I not there in the top 5? You suck!
note: This post was intended to be purely sarcastic and a shameless plug for support from readers the next time there is an awards competetion. No real or imaginary DFW bloggers were harmed in the making of this post. We do not test our posts or other harmful substances on bloggers. We reserve the right to act like crazy fools on this blog, since we do own it. We thinks we might have had a little too much Starbucks coffee this afternoon.
A very interesting and thought-provoking essay about individual rights and Government's infringement upon them.
Who owns you? Pt.2
There is hope for common sense after all!
Judge dismisses McDonalds lawsuit
NEW YORK, Jan. 22 A federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of New York children that claimed McDonalds food caused them health problems that included diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Arundhati Roy chosen for US prize
The US-based Lannan Foundation has selected Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy for its fourth annual award for cultural freedom.Is this like the literary version of the Nobel Peace Prize? Global citizen, that is what Roy is, because every country would be ashamed to call her their own. Pathetic! Cultural Freedom, my foot! She will not even open her mouth about the things that Islamic radicals are putting Kashmiri women through. Here is what she said about 9/11 - The algebra of infinite justice
The award carries a cash component of $350,000.
"As both an artist and global citizen, Arundhati Roy writes about civil societies that are adversely affected by the world's most powerful governments and corporations. We are honoured to celebrate her life and her ongoing work in the struggle for freedom, justice and cultural diversity," foundation President J Patrick Lannan Jr said in a release from Santa Fe.
Blogger seems to have screwed up my archives - Thank God for backups. My backup blog is at http://madhoo.realwomenonline.com in case you are looking for something in my archives.
This place used to be my favorite hang-out back home in Vizag. Loved it! It was "the" place to be in and was really cool. Check it out when you have a chance, it has a good fusion of Western and Indian fast foods.
Hot Breads in Dallas
Dear Abby:(via Bargarz)
My husband is a lying cheat. He tells me he loves me, but he has cheated
our entire marriage. He is a good provider and has many friends and
supporters but they know he is a lying cheat and just avoid the issue.
He is a hard worker but many of his coworkers are leery of him. Every time
he gets caught, he denies it all. Then he admits that he was wrong and begs
me to forgive him. This has been going on for so long, everyone in town
knows he is a cheat.
He thinks that I am a lesbian, and he chooses to ignore me at home. I don't
know what to do.
Signed, Frustrated
Dear Frustrated:
You should dump him. Now that you are finally a New York
Senator, you don't need him anymore.
It is all there at Meryl Yourish's place. I have one entry in there that got just half a buttcheek, I guess I will have to try harder next time for a better rating.
(Note to self - buy more books for Meryl, or find those pictures of hers she was talking about in the post - Ha! Ha!)
Check out the highlighted portion of the MSN screen capture that I just made off of my MSN homepage. What is the headline supposed to mean?
While we are at it, another funny screen capture - it is not made up, it is real - I don't remember where I got this, but it was so funny, I just had to capture it.
How long will it take for this lady to die out? I doubt that moment would come soon enough - This is so twisted! I challenge her to heed her own advice and not marry and not have any children.
The Prairie Dog
I wonder how long the most dangerous species on earth would take to die out, even if no single new birth occurred from this moment onwards. A couple of hundred years I would think. By then, it would already be too late to save some places on earth, especially Bombay.Update: Ok, I know I was being really mean in the post, I really don't want her to die.....but my original challenge/hope/request that she not breed still stands. She will be doing the gene pool a really big favor if she accepts (fingers crossed).
The guys who run the web site say they aren't one of those weird suicide cults, in fact, they say the whole of industrialised civilisaton is a giant suicide cult.