Varsha's Baaack!

She is a breath of fresh air in the reeking confines of Rediff-these-days. She is back with plenty of thoughts on Rediff's ideology, the war on Iraq, Indian and other human shields, and a lot more. I might not agree with everything she says, but I admire her as a strong woman who is not afraid to say it like it.

Varsha Bhosle: Whaat "WMD," whaat "principle"...

India's. That's the only side I'm on.

If you press further, I'd say, yes, I absolutely want M/s Bush and Blair to win. For if they don't, there'll be a very different kind of blood raging through the veins of Al Qaeda -- which, for me, includes Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Al Barq, the ISI, SIMI and sundry sooar ki aulad. My rationale remains untouched by the bad vibes between Osama and Saddam, or the warmth between India and Iraq, or America's motives. It's more like, my worst enemy's worst enemy is my current friend. The defeat of the US-led coalition will mean the victory of Islamic terrorism -- everywhere.

Coupled with that is this conviction: Anything that the pinkos push must be very damaging for India. For instance, the call for a strong resolution condemning the US. I'm grateful that the government hasn't yet caved in to the dipweeds' demands. Arey, apun ko kya karnaay? Chup-chaap baitho, tamasha dekho...

Tallest player in NBA

OK, I have read this on Dean's blog, JK's blog and he got it from another blog - all of them saying that the tallest player in NBA is Chinese - I know it sounds clever and all and fits with the theme of the stuff it is included in - unfortunately, it is not true, unless you think 7'5" (Yao Ming, Houston Rockets) is taller than 7'6" (Shawn Bradley, Dallas Mavericks). Sorry, just a pesky little detail, but ruins the joke a bit.

Someone gets it!

Tavleen Singh puts into far more clearer and wise words, what I have been saying all along. It is time for India to rise up to the challenge of terrorism and face it. It is not enough to keep the fire burning and blaming everyone else for it, instead of being pro-active. It is also not enough to keep whining at everyone else and try to pull everyone else back, just because we Indians can't seem to be able to grow a backbone and fight our own good fight.

Is it any wonder that most in Pakistan still think that they won every single war with India including Kargil? When in history has the winner of a war ever ceded ground to the loser? The problem has been there since the beginning of India's modern history. Nehru allegedly lead India to victory in the first Pakistan war, but then landed the country in the mess that it is now, by taking the issue to the UN, that hasn't helped budge the issue one inch, but instead provided Pakistan more arms to propagandize with. If we took the whole thing to the UN, who is going to take us seriously when we whine about Kashmir being a bilateral issue?

Remember "Hindu, Chini, Bhai-Bhai"? And then China stabbed us in the back and beat us up till we ran with our tails between our legs and ceded territiry to them too. Our only seeming success has been the division of Pakistan into Bangladesh and Pakistan, which didn't really help us much, except to satisfy our ego.

And then the Sri Lanka Peace-keeping debacle and then more peace talk and then Kargil....Seriously, wasn't the Kargil war reason enough for the Indian Government to launch an attack on Pakistan and teach it a lesson to remember? Nooo, instead, we offered the surrendered enemy safe-passage, buried their unclaimed Pakistani soldiers according to the Muslim rites and then received tortured and mutilated bodies of captured Indian soldiers without a uttering a peep.

Where is the backbone? Where is the spirit? The public is absolutely right to feel disillusioned of such a government and look upon thugs as heroes. This is not something Tavleen is making up - check out the comments on this story by Shobha Warrior - almost all wonder where are the rallies supporting the murdered Kashmiri Pundits.

This is why it is totally laughable that Indian government and media are so obsessed with the war on Iraq. Yes, it is going to affect India - more than the slow-bleeding caused by Kashmir? More than the high cost of maintaining soldiers on the SiaChin glacier (the highest military post on earth)? More than the tens of thousands of people being murdered in cold blood over the decades and the hundreds of thousands being displaced from their ancestral homes? I don't think so. I really wish that the next time these people talk about those "poor Iraqis" and the "poor, poor Palestinians", they take off their ideological blinders and look around and see the state of the poor Indians in India sometime. Charity begins at home, you know - there is no credibility for someone crying rivers at a stranger's misfortune, while the someone's close relatives are being murdered in cold blood daily.

Why can’t we strike shock, awe?

It would not be untrue to say that there is widespread, silent support in India for the war on Iraq. Not only have there been fewer anti-war protests than in most other countries but, since the assault began, it is possible to meet in the Indian street an unusually large number of people who admit that they admire America for reacting forcefully to what happened on September 11.

It shames them, they add, that the Indian state is such a feeble creature that "anyone can come and slap us in the face and get away with it". They point out that it took less than 3,000 Americans to be killed in a terrorist attack for the US to take decisive action against its perceived enemies while we do nothing even after more than 30,000 Indians have died in terrorist violence in the past decade.

(link via UncleDuke)

Blog Mela

Next week's Blog Mela is going to be hosted at Ravikiran's place - go check out his cool observations and examinations of life, and if you are an Indian blogger, nominate the best one of your posts in the last week for inclusion into the Mela - The Examined Life - Ravikiran Rao's weblog.

The Iraqis

Looks like the Iraqis understand the Americans' problems a lot better than some Americans and most of the rest of the world. What else can you say? These are the people under the knife of the sword - they are not arm-chair generals like you and me. They accept and forgive the mistakes, because they know better than anyone else, whose fault everything really is. If only our know-it-allness were not so all-consuming, we would give a thought to those people being threatened the most, instead of assuming we know all the answers.

CBS News | On The Scene: Iraqi Forgiveness | March 28, 2003 19:45:46

It is exactly the type of mistake the U.S. military most wants to avoid, but knows it cannot. A civilian vehicle carrying a family of farmers was attacked by Marines on a road north of an-Nasiriyah.

Three people, the family patriarch and two brothers, were killed, but amazingly in their shock and grief the surviving family members turned to the marines for help.

"He says he knows it was the American military that did this, but he is not angry because Saddam is intentionally sending civilians down this road intentionally for this to happen," said Cpl. Jeff Lindsey, translating.

(link via The Command Post)

Interesting!

I find it very interesting that the final destination of the airliner is allegedly, Berlin, Germany - since when did Germany become a haven for terrorists? Oh! never mind!

Turkish airliner hijacked

What is wrong?

What is wrong with this huge big column in the SF Chronicle, arguing that poor Asan Akbar, who killed fellow American military personnel by lobbing grenades into their tent was comparable to Black soldiers in Vietnam who went berserk on their fellow combatants?

I know! Asan Akbar joined the army voluntarily - he wasn't drafted and was free to leave any time he felt that the Army life was clashing with his personal beliefs - how hard is that to understand?

Echoes of 'fragging'

The targets of the attacks were mostly junior field officers. The men who tossed grenades at or shot their officers in many cases were African Americans.

They were pushed over the top by what they considered the brutal, racist and dehumanizing treatment by white officers. Their hatred was fed by resentment of being drafted and forced to fight in what they considered a racist, senseless war, against oppressed colored people.

Good first step!

I think it is a good thing that US and UK atleast publicly placed the onus of stopping terrorist infiltration into Kashmir on Pakistan. I really hope that behind hte scenes, there is a lot more going on - like threatening to cut off aid or openly support India's position - something more pro-active than empty words, that might make Musharraf actually get up off his butt and do something positive with his power.

US, UK ask Pakistan to eschew terrorism

The United States and Britain on Thursday strongly condemned the recent massacre of 24 Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir and asked Pakistan to stop infiltration across the Line of Control.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, in a joint statement in Washington, said Pakistan should also do its utmost to discourage any acts of violence in Kashmir.

Wiggle like a worm!

Thanks to the Carnival of Vanities we hosted yesterday, Dancing with Dogs was ranked 9th on Blogdex, 4th on Popdex and now in the TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem, we have moved up from "Insignificant Microbes" to "Wiggle Worms". Yay! Here's to us - me and the readers and the linkers and the everybody else!

Update - we are also Top 50 in the blogosphere trends and number one(!) in the Technorati's Top 100 Interesting Recent Blogs.

Spring Time!

I must have been a plant in my last life time. Sunlight literally energizes me and brings me out of the most haunting depressions. I also mentally wilt and feel awful throughout dull, dreary winters. It was one of those days here in Texas - nice, warm, sunny day - light breeze blowing - clear skies and the temperatire well within the 70s. Ahhhh - it feels like the sunlight infused me with so much energy and happiness. I feel rejuvenated like the green and white-tipped trees around swaying gently in the breeze.

Today, I am going to be happy! I am going to keep smiling!

  

Ask and ye shall receive....

Apparently that is the case in Iraq, as seen in the story below. All the soldiers had to do was ask politely and they were told the information they were seeking. It would really be funny if it weren't related to such a dangerous situation. May be we should have sent these soldiers to negotiate with Saddam.

"Would you leave Iraq and run away into exile with your whole family of murderers?"

"Why, sure - let me call my travel agent..."

So what have you got? Explosives

According to an officer in the boarding party the interrogation went something like this: "So, mate, have you got any weapons or explosives on board?

"The captain didn't just say yes, he drew a picture showing how the 45-litre steel drums lined up on the deck had been welded together and then split down the middle to make a hinged shelter for dozens of mines."

"Explosive! Explosive!" the captain reportedly said, pointing to the drums and a raft towed behind the tug.

(link via The Command Post)

Count me in!

Blog-mommy (yes, the famous one) wants to boycott boycotts, and I think it is an excellent idea - especially since I happen to be working on a project involving a certain on-the-boycott-list-product right now, and I don't think my employers will take too kindly to my requesting off of the assignment. Diane, let me know when we start :-) Who is making the banners?

Letter From Gotham: BOYCOTT BOYCOTTS

Good Read

A very well-written article debunking the top ten myths about the war in Iraq. Also serves as a helpful primer to many issues that are currently being raised by both sides on the war.

Top 10 Lists: Top Ten Myths About the War in Iraq

(link via Vodkapundit)

Oh My God!

I wouldn't want to be in that mother's position ever. This was what I was talking about when I was defending America's position vis-a-vis the parading of American POWs and their dead bodies on TV. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror that mother must have gone through when she saw her son lying dead in a pool of blood in a foreign land - all that without any advance warning.

Slain Marine's Mother Saw Body on TV

RIALTO, Calif. (AP) -- The mother of a Marine killed in Iraq said she learned of his death only when she saw his face as an Iraqi soldier showed off bodies of American casualties on TV.

"I said poor, poor boys. They fell there. But when I saw the face, it was that of my son," Rosa Gonzalez told Los Angeles television station KMEX on Tuesday.

Bharatiya Blog Mela #5

Ashwini has done an awesome of job of hosting in the face of adversity in the form of apathy. Check out the posts by some Indian bloggers.

Bharatiya Blog Mela#5

Get your Carnival on!

I have been struggling for a while to come with an appropriate theme for the Carnival. I know this is war-time and there are people dying in the battle fields of Iraq, on both sides. I thought about it long and hard and decided - what the heck, life goes on and doesn't stop for anybody. Let us carry on and do our thing and make merry and pray.

As usual, the posts have been quite a collection - I got submissions from the left and the right with topics ranging from silly celebrities to the war on Iraq and the tone of the posts has been funny and juvenile to grave and serious. Let's look at them one at a time. The posts have been organized into broad categories. Please leave a comment below or email me if you want something changed in the blurb, category or image for your post. I hope you will enjoy this.

Note: I am not trivializing anything or anyone's posts - the icons are just part of my effort to keep this light-hearted.

The icons are clickable, so you can see the "big picture".
The next carnival is going to be hosted at The Go Fish - don't forget to send your entries in.

More Moore....

Aaron want to have an official BUY A GUN FOR (TO SPITE) MICHAEL MOORE DAY in the blogosphere on APRIL 15.

Matt of "Overtaken by Events" rips a letter written by Michael Moore to President Bush. In related news, his wife Vicky was seen searching for him as rumors of his wish to be a human shield in Iraq began circulating.

Kevin McGeHee of blogoSFERICS has reportedly been strangled by Michael Moore, just before Moore's scheduled appearance at UCLA.

Paul of "Smell the Blog" reports about Michael Moore's alleged suicide with a gun, while performing at the UCLA.

---

Funny Stuff

Kiril of "Sneakeasy's Joint" reports that Saddam's speech failed to affect the morale of America.

Vicky of "Liquid Courage" wants to kill her husband, Matt....really!

Dave of "SCATTERED.ORG" writes a hilarious account of his adventures with a "Diet Pepsi" bottle.

Acidman gave himself papercut....on his eye - we promised we will not laugh at his pain (giggle!).

Frank of "IMAO" has an exclusive trascript of a press conference held by Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice.

Vegard Valberg of "Norwegian Blogger" has the third installment of the series of adventures of Wally, the poor anti-idiotarian in Idiotaria.

Steve of "Little Tiny Lies" found a new use for the leaflets being dropped in Iraq by the coalition forces.

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Pro-war...

Zander of "Close Encounters of the Zanderkind" writes a heart-felt post about why he thinks America is right to go war with Iraq.

Steven of "The Grille" argues that even if the war against Iraq is being fought by America for pure self-interest, it might not be that bad for the world and Iraq after all.

Jim Spot of "MY take on things" is extremely angry at people who want "peace at all costs".

Charles of "You big mouth, You!" is angry too, at clueless people who cannot see why America's war against Iraq is moral and right.

Alex Knapp of "Heretical Ideas" has a very well-researched and informative series of posts about Iraq's links to terrorism and Al-Qaeda - part 1 and part 2.

Andrew of "la Blogatrice" wants us to "boycott the French" and gives a list of the companies to boycott.

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Peace protesters....

Edward Mick of "Revealed Truth" had a quite a dinner at a Denny's recently.

John Ray of "Dissecting Leftism" has an interesting post exploring the psychological causes of anti-war attitudes.

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Stupid Celebrities

Charles Austin of "Sine Qua Non Pundit" tries to teach Sheryl Crow a lesson or two.

Joe of "Attaboy" has a few choice things to say about Walter Cronkite and his opinions on world events.

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Pro-Peace

Tim of "The Road to Surfdom", explains how Eric Alterman is derailing the Pro-Peace movement with some of his recent comments.

Peter of "World of Pete" has a comprehensive roundup of the winners and losers in the war against Iraq.

---

Miscellaneous good stuff....

David Russell fisks an article by a Canadian college student taking nasty postshots at America.

Michael Finley has a beautiful photographic history of his mom.....

John Rosenberg has a well-reasoned critique of Lani Guinier's attempt to justify racial discriminations.

Jack Cluth of "The People's Republic of Seabrook" struggles over his stance on the war against Iraq and settles on supporting the troops.

Wylie of "Wylie Blog" wonders why people cannot just agree to disagree instead of losing age-old friendships over political issues.

Woo Hoo! James at the Elevenday Empire muses about "March Madness".

Mathew of "Photomatt" defends the PalmOS from a heavily biased reviewer.

Dean Esmay of "Dean's World" knows how it feels to fly - literally.

Seth Farber of "The Talking Dog" says that American Jews don't control America's foreign policy, after all.

Da Goddess asks us to spare a thought for children who don't fit in and are different on the outside - she asks us to give them a chance and try to look their inner beauty before passing any judgement.

Solonor of "Solonor's Ink Well" finds out he is not that cynical about yellow ribbons anymore -

Saddam's Blog

Looks like Saddam is taking Salam's lead and has taken up....blogging. Good read, for those who want to find out what makes an inhuman monster tick :-)

Saddam's Cyber Palace
(link via Blog-mommy(not them, the really famous one!))

Carnival of Vanities

Reminding you all once again, that I am hosting the Carnival of Vanities for this week, here tomorrow. Please email me your entries before 6:00PM Central today. I certainly appreciate your co-operation.

My mom's famous!

Er, I meant my co-blog-mommy, of course, so is Salaam. Here is to hoping he is alright and that we will know more about him once the war is over.

PS - don't ask me what I was doing posting ot the blog at this ungodly hour.

USATODAY.com - Web logs convey 'raw stuff' of Iraq war

"Reporters have an unparalleled ability to gather information," but blogs have the ability to convey unedited, raw personal drama as the war unfolds, says Diane, a New York blogger (gotham.realwomenonline.com) who has developed an e-mail friendship with Pax and is convinced he's real. (Like many bloggers, she does not use her full name.)

"Nothing really beats this raw stuff of life: What does bread cost? Where did you go to get it?" says Diane, who supports the war but is worried about her friend.

"When the whole (war) thing started, it was like fireworks far away," she says. But Pax's blog has changed her perspective. "It's strange to be in favor of a bombing campaign that could kill this guy."

More lies!

This article is filled with so many gross distortions of facts and lies - I cannot imagine it is masquerading as news instead of being filed under opinion, or at least terrible propaganda. I don't have the patience to "fisk" it the way it deserves to be. Have at it!

US remembers the law on POWs, belatedly - The Times of India

Moral relativism

I guess someone needs to tell the Red Cross that while the images shown of the Iraqi POWs were of them being helped, searched or just being led away - none of them is interrogated on camera, there is no violence against them and none of the prisoners are identified.

As for the Iraqi side, we have already seen that some POWs were executed summarily, those alive were not being treated, but were interrogated on camera forcibly, were made to identify themselves on camera. Also, the stuff shown about the Iraqi POWs, was shot and broadcast by independent news channels, while the American POWs were interrogated by "Iraqi TV" and shown on Al-Jazeera.

IOL : Red Cross reminds war parties of POW terms

The Qatar-based Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera and Iraqi state television on Sunday broadcast images and interviews of US soldiers held by Iraq, along with images of several bodies, apparently dead US soldiers.

In recent days, other television stations have also broadcast footage showing Iraqis captured by American-British forces.

Lies, lies, more lies

I have read all over the internet that Michael Moore's "oscar-winning" documentary mockumentary was based on completely fabricated statements, but I wasn't prepared for this level of disgusting lies and deliberate vilification of people just so he could make a few quick bucks. I remember talking to a colleague about ow deceptive this movie was, when he responded that there was nothing wrong with a few white lies if the movie makes you think - I thought the argument was pretty weird then, but now that I know how much of the movie is outright lies and deception, I think this movie makes you think as much about the "guns" as a Holocaust -denier would make you think about the suffering of Jews .

Stupid Academy Award

The Michael Moore production Bowling for Columbine just won the Oscar for best documentary. Unfortunately, it is not a documentary.

Bowling fails the first requirement of a documentary: some foundation in the truth. In his earlier works, Moore shifted dates and sequences for the sake of drama, but at least the events depicted did occur. Most of the time. Bowling breaks that last link with factual reality. It makes its points by deceiving and by misleading the viewer. Statements are made which are false. Moore invites the reader to draw inferences which he must have known were wrong. Dates are transposed and video carefully edited to create whatever effect is desired. Indeed, even speeches shown on screen are heavily edited, so that sentences are assembled in the speaker's voice, but which he never uttered.

Friviledge!!!

Friviledge! That's my battle cry for the day! :-) Lileks is awesome!

LILEKS (James) The Bleat: MONDAY

Was there ever there was a better description of the lives of the Oscar celebrants, and our betters in the entertainment word? Friviledge.

Bless the Beeb for that, however inadvertent it might have been. I’ll use the word. And just to annoy, I'll sound passionate and ever so genuine when I use it.

Damn!

Damn, Alex Knapp is good - I love the way he gets his point across wothout having to froth at the mouth at others. This is a really nice post about why, booed or not, Michael Moore and his ilk are really irrelevant an serious discussion of important issues.

A LITTLE INTELLIGENCE CAN BE A DANGEROUS THING...

Huh?

Gotta love these losers' way of thinking. They think it is American, patriotic even, to make anti-war comments. They are basketball players, not foreign policy analysts, but let's let it go, in the name of the freedom of speech. So what are disgruntled fans to do when they don't like something their team's player does? They boo them. They, as paying customers to the team, as the people who indirectly pay the players' salaries, if they want to boo the player, isn't that their right?

What makes these morons think that they can say anything they want and get away with it, never having to face any negative reaction for it?

Van Exel's night vexing despite solid play

The game also served to take Van Exel's mind off the tempest that he created when he said on his radio show Wednesday that President Bush "is giving American people a bad name." He was booed on a couple of occasions early in the game against the Spurs, presumably by those who had heard or read his comments.

"I was very shocked, and very disappointed because I didn't want that to happen," Van Exel said. "That was the last thing I wanted to have happen. It kind of hurt me because it was like I was anti-American. And that's not it at all."

Asked if he regretted saying it, he said: "That's not even the point. The point is I was upset with the reaction it had because I didn't want it to be a negative reaction."

Good News!

This illness was even more unsettling since they found some cases here in Texas itself. I am glad they now know what it is and can work to fix it and the people affected before it spreads even more.

Mystery pneumonia identified - theage.com.au

A team of scientists in Hong Kong said they had identified a new virus believed to be behind the outbreak of a mysterious respiratory illness as the global death toll climbed to 12.

Canadian health officials said a third person in Canada had died after contracting the mysterious respiratory virus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has infected hundreds of others around the world.

I love this

I am really liking this Jewish blog-mommy thing - you have no idea how easy it is to blackmail them emotionally (evil grin) - Next step in my conquest of "Gotham", helping her even more and keeping at it till she renames my link in her blogroll to "bestest blogger in the universe". BWAHAHAHA!!! I still love you, Diane, Meryl and Susanna.

Letter From Gotham: THANK YOUs

"Peace"

If this protest cannot be called "peaceful", I don't know what will. I mean, isn't "whirled peas" all that matters? Thanks, protesters! You are doing a great job discrediting yourself, without any of us warmongers having to lift a finger. You rock! BTW, if there is a terrorist attack now and the police and other services are not able to handle that in time, guess on whose hands the blood is.

"Peace"

(PS - It is incredible that the title of the post I linked to was the same as my title - I swear I didn't see it - I was looking at the picture).

Quotable Quotes

The first lesson reading teaches is how to be alone - Jonathan Franzen

Learn to enjoy your own company. You are the one person you can count on living with for the rest of your life. - Ann Richards

(Yes, I shamelessly plagiarized the quotes and the title from "Reader's Digest" - still my favorite publication - Enjoy!)

Last Call!!!

Anyone else who believes that their whole existence is being defiled by being in my blogroll, please feel free to leave a comment here asking me to remove your link and I will be happy to oblige you!

Update: BTW, I really don't think I should take myself that seriously - so here goes:
To get on the blogroll, $5US
To get off, $10US
For both together, $12US (best value for money)
The satisfaction of being delinked, priceless!!!

Horrific!

You go America! Go liberate the poor souls. Go give them back their lives.

United Press International: Lucky Break for Jordan

A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

It is true

So, I guess it is true that someone close to Saddam or Saddam himself did get injured and that too, pretty bad. I hope that family of snakes gets eliminated fast, so the war can be over already.

Letter From Gotham: SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO SOMEONE

Arvind, you are an idiot!

Man, where does this guy get off fabricating crap to further his own agenda?

Remembering and forgetting

In lecturing to us on all of the above and much more from time to time, the US forgets the events in its own land of

• black churches being burnt


• the prevalence still of the Ku Klux clan


• allowing all-white juries at trials of blacks


• cosying up to sycophantic dictators


• helping to create Frankenstein monsters like the Taliban


• denying the right to abortion to its women across the country


• forsaking international obligations on environment, ballistic missiles and criminal courts


• indefinitely denying access to lawyers and judges to 650 suspected terrorists and Taliban fighters held in a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and


• not even whispering about a dialogue with Saddam Hussein before setting out to finish him off.

Ok folks, let deal with this crap one point at a time -
Black churches being burnt? you mean 50 years ago during the civil rights movement? How about the burning of live people (Sikhs) a mere 20 years ago? Don't remember where?

Ku Klux Klan? Yes, they exist, because of the freedom of speech that this land has, that will not suppress any one, regardless of what they say. That doesn't mean they are supported and 1000s of people attending them, unless they are booing them, of course.

All-white juries sentencing blacks? examples, please! This is a land where OJ got away with murder literally because he was black and so was most of his jury.

Dictators, that I agree to an extent - that is called diplomacy, and btw, Saddam Hussein, the guy India is supporting right now, is a dictator in case you were not aware.

Creating the Taliban, agreed upto an extent again, and since they created the monster, it was only fair that they killed it too.

Denying rights to abortion? That's new for me - I will let NOW and Planned Parenthood know where that is, so they can go fight that "grave injustice".

Forsaking obligations - towards the world - nice words, man - you want them to send in a peace-keeping force for every damned thing and then stand trial for it in the International Criminal Court? You are nuts if you fell for it. There is a reason why there are different nations - an ICC would be as big a joke as the UN soon.

Lawyer access to enemy prisoners of war, who are technically not that, since they don't have a country they were fighting for. Instead of gathering intel from them, you want the US to pay for their lawyers and make a farce out of their trials - ha ha, funny!

Dialogue with Saddam Hussein? about what? wasn't the UN talking to him for the last 12 years? What else is there to talk about? If it were up to people like you, we would probably keep talking to Hitler, till he finished off the complete Jewish population on earth.

Seriously, Arvind, get your head out of your butt and think, man! I would have loved to see some coherent and rational arguments presented for your side, but when rely on absurdities and made-up facts to further your agenda, you lose your credibility.

Ron Artest

I hope someone rescues Ron Artest from Isiah and himself, before he goes too out-of-hand and hurts someone seriously enough to jeopardize that person's and his own career in the process.

ESPN.com: NBA - NBA slaps Artest with two-game suspension

INDIANAPOLIS -- Another flagrant foul, another suspension for Ron Artest.

The Indiana Pacers' swingman was banned for two games Thursday, raising the total of games he's missed because of NBA punishment this season to 10.

This time, the league upheld a flagrant foul call on Artest just five seconds into Wednesday night's game against Boston, calling for an automatic two-game suspension for exceeding the limit on flagrant-foul points.

My Prayer

Lord give me the strength to get through the day without losing my cool.

Give me the patience to explain to people that dictators are evil people and are not "elected" by any one, especially not by the people who they oppress daily.

Give me the strength to not roll my eyes when some one compares a democratically elected leader of a free country with Hitler, just because they don't agree with him.

Give me the calm of mind required to answer without flying to into a rage, that everything is not about "oiiiil", inspite of what the voices in their head told them.

Please let me reply without cussing out, to those who are all contempt, jeer and derision for a free country, but easily give the benefit of doubt to a murderous dictator who rapes wives in front of their husbands and flogs children in front of their parents to break their will.

Let me not feel too much contempt for people who think 3000 dead people deserved what they got.

Help me understand those that have lived too long under corrupt governments that they cannot fathom the existence of a truthful and a spine-ful regime in a free country.

"Damstraa karaalaani ca te mukhaani
drstveva kaalanala-sannibhani
diso na jaane na labhe ca sarma
prasida devesa jagan-nivasa"

Command Post

The Command Post is a war blog set up by Michele and Alan as place for bloggers to post links to breaking war news. I have been invited to join in, so I will be posting there too - check it out for the latest information about the war.

"Fasten your seatbelts. It is going to be a bumpy ride".

If you watch "Survivor"

Joanna writes absolutely hilarious recaps for Survivor episodes, so read up for a bunch of hearty laughs. This particular paragraph from her last week's episode's recap was just so funny - my face was turning red from all that noiceless chuckling I am trying to do in front of my computer at work. Just read it.

Television Without Pity » Survivor » Recaps & Extras » Season 6 Episode 5

Dave and Heidi, however, go off to find some firewood, and Dave makes his big move. Ew, not that kind of big move. Fortunately, because boy, would it be over between me and Dave practically before it began. Dave tells Heidi in the Reassurance Phase of his grand manipulation that he picked Heidi because he wants to take her into the merge. Then he tells her that he's talked to Butch and Roger, and she's going to go into the merge with the guys -- Christy and Jeanne will go next. Note that Dave does not quite say that Butch and Roger agreed to this -- he merely says he talked to them, and then he says this is the case. "If you were in my position, what do you think you would do?" she asks Dave. "I'd come with us," Dave says plainly. "You would?" Heidi says. Heidi, seriously. Did the pilot light go out again? I mean, throw some coal on the fire and poke your brain, girlfriend. What's the point of asking a guy who's trying to get you to do something to give you an honest opinion about whether he, in your place, would do what he's asking you to do? What's he going to say?"Well, if I were you, I'd go back to the women and try to come up with a way to eliminate me, because I'm clearly a bigger threat than Jeanne is, so yeah, you should probably ignore what I'm asking you to do here." That is not likely. Dave interviews that Heidi "needs to know" (and whether that's "needs to know" or "needs to think" is hard to say) that they intend to boot Jeanne and then Christy. He also mentions that Jeanne was next up on the chopping block at Jaburu anyway. Heidi laments her difficult position, saying, "I am really in just a rock and a hard stone." Way to miss the point of the entire cliché, there, dear. The point is that on one hand, there's a rock, and on the other hand, there's something that's also hard, not that there's another rock, or the saying would be "I'm between two rocks," which even Heidi must know doesn't really have the same kick to it. Ah, well. Either way, Heidi is out of the frying pan and into the skillet, because she still has to come up with a voting strategy and she has no idea what to do. And she totally can't stand having all this attention focused on her! Yeah, right. Self-described cute girls are always looking to avoid the spotlight.

Iraq's terrorism ties

This is kinda related to the discussion we were having yesterday about why Iraq and Iraq alone is being targeted by America right now in the war. Here are two excellent posts by another blogger Alex Knapp of Heretical Ideas - lots of good information - worth checking out.

IRAQ AND TERRORISM, PART ONE

IRAQ AND TERRORISM, PART TWO -- AL-QAEDA LINKS

Precendences and slippery slopes

Eugene Volokh of the "Volokh Conspiracy" blog has a very nice article in slate today. He is essentially arguing the case for America warring with Iraq, claiming how the precedent is not being set for other countries to use this as an excuse to go bomb other countries. He is making the point that it ia all about national interests more than a sense of justice or equality for most countries to decide to go to war against another country or not.

It caught my interest that he used India not invading Pakistan even after coming to the brink once too many and in spite of being seriously provoked by the latter. He seems to think it is because of Pakistan's army (a joke, really) and the nuclear weapons possessed (a likely reason). Is that it really? I wish it were, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that.

Let me explain - a populace living in fear follows any leader who seems to take charge. So, for the leader in power, it is more beneficial to keep the people afraid and in fear and pretend to be battling the big, bad demons than to really get rid of them. BJP and Congress have used the same issue in different ways. BJP used the Pakistani bogeyman to scare the average Hindus into believing that BJP is their sole protector. Congress on the other hand, did a similar thing to the Muslims, by making them feel like the Hindus are out to get them and that Pakistan is just an excuse.

All that wrangling led both the parties to strengthen their positions via their vote banks, but at what cost? Let's see - the BJP's campaign was run on the issues of solving the Kashmir crisis, dissolving article 370, putting forth the Uniform Civil Code, etc. How many of these have been achieved so far? Talking tough is different from acting tough. I have so far not seen a thng that would make Musharraf quake in his boots....That's the problem with India - politicians who would rather keep communal fires burning to stay in power instead of taking bold, risky steps to advance the nation's interests.

Unprecedented Logic - Why slippery-slope arguments against invading Iraq don't hold water. By Eugene Volokh

Others have suggested that India might pre-emptively attack Pakistan based on the alleged precedent of our attack on Iraq. India is a democracy, and its citizens may well care about consistency and respect America and its allies enough to be influenced by our judgment (especially if their own government ultimately endorses the allied attack). And India might have a plausible pre-emption argument against Pakistan.

But what is really stopping India from attacking Pakistan now, even though it feels that it's been seriously provoked? It's not concern about consistency or legalism—it's that Pakistan has a huge army and nuclear bombs and that India has little to gain from such a war. These factors will generally dictate national decision-making about war regardless of whether America sets a supposed precedent supporting pre-emptive attacks.

It started!

Just heard the President's speech on TV. Nothing new - not too long of a speech - same points as usual, with the additional information that the war has started upon his orders. It is definitely a nervous time for Americans and Iraqis. I am feeling very anxious too - it is going to be hard to go to sleep tonight and leave to work tomorrow as if nothing happened. Life is going to go on as usual - at least as much as we pretend that it is normal.

So far, they are saying that the strikes are being made surgically and decisively on military targets only. I hope the trend will continue. I know and understand that there might be Iraqi human shields in the military installations, placed there by Saddam, deliberately in an attempt to influence world view. I also believe that Saddam will try to make a last ditch attempt to gas anyone he can in a way to achieve maximum deaths. I pray and hope he doesn't succeed in that.

I wish it hadn't come to this. I wish that the whole world stood together as one and asked Saddam to step down, instead of choosing to target America and Bush. I believe that Saddam might have fled if he thought that there was no way he could stall, play games and try to get away with his bullshit. Well, it has finally come to this - I hope and pray that it is over with minimum casualties on both sides and as soon as possible.

Good words!

I just liked the last three paras of this column - they seemed to speak out to me.....

Francois Gautier: Iraq and Hinduism

In this light, the proposed war on Iraq takes another shape: men in their folly, think they are the deciders, the doers, the great arbiters, but who is pulling the strings from behind? Mr Bush and his generals believe they have planned every possibility, plugged every loophole. But there is no way they can control the consequences of the action they are going to undertake.

Who is right and who is wrong in this whole affair? There is no such thing as a good Bush and a bad Saddam and the tendency of the whole Western and Indian intelligentsia to portray America as an evil empire bent on hegemony and Iraq as an innocent, persecuted nation, makes one a little uneasy. After all, has not the United States risen up and paid with its blood every time the free world was in danger and is not Iraq one of the nations which has sponsored international terrorism, particularly against Israel?

Therefore, in the present state of human nature, with its ego, ambition, lack of love and brotherhood, war is still inevitable and we have to accept it. Awaiting better times, the 'supramental' which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of Pondichery came to usher, we should only remember what Krishna tells Arjuna on the eve of the Kurukshetra battle: 'You are not killing the soul, but merely the material body: we will all be reborn, again and again, till humanity understands that love -- and love only -- is the only answer to all our differences.'

Interesting!

A very informative article at Rediff about Saddam's various trials to get his hands on a nuclear bomb, even going to the extent of trying to "recruit" an Indian scientist to help him in his nefarious efforts.

Saddam's bomb

On May 18, 1974, Saddam Hussein was chairing a meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council in his vice-presidential office when a nervous aide slipped a single sheet of paper in front of him. It was a copy of a news story from Reuters that morning, confirming that India had successfully tested a nuclear bomb in the remote Thar desert of Rajasthan. Saddam was impressed, but not amused.

'If the Hindis (Indians) can do it, why can't we?' he asked those at the table.

He had already secretly spent millions on his bomb project and had precious little to show for it. And yet here was starving India, an inferior Third World country that had dragged its bomb to the test site on the back of an ox cart, banging on the doors of the exclusive nuclear club.

The Ba'ath Party had been trying to recruit nuclear experts from all across the Arab world since 1971. There was no reason for any sleight of hand as Iraq had signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1969. Saddam's mission was to get hold of the technology he needed without showing his true intent. He had two options: he could acquire uranium or he could acquire plutonium.

Because Saddam wanted the bomb and because India had succeeded in building and testing one, Saddam swallowed his contempt for the Indians and took a personal interest in the career of their chief nuclear physicist Raja Ramanna.

12 more years!

Poor man! We should have given him another 12 years to carry out his inspections - don't you know that nearly 4 months is too soon? Whatever! Here is an idea - how about the inspectors stay on during the war and catalog the "weapons" that Saddam "doesn't have", as he brings them out for use against the Americans and his civilians? They might actually find something this way!

Regrettable that inspection isn't over: Blix

United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday expressed regret that his teams in Iraq had no more time to complete their work.

"I naturally feel sadness that three-and-a-half months of work carried out in Iraq have not brought the assurances needed about the absence of weapons of mass destruction... and that armed action now seems imminent," he said at a Security Council meeting just hours before the American deadline for President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq expired.

Carnival

The carnival is up to at Wylie's place this week - check it out for classy posts from the week in one place. WylieBlog

BTW, we will be hosting the Carnival next week, so please send in your entries by emailing me. Thanks!

Blog Mela #4

Check it out at JK's place this week - varnam: Bharatiya Blog Mela #4.

We are still looking for volunteers for next week.

Say it aint so!

BBC is biased? and The Guardian is saying that? My, my. Now before some people jump on me for that, let me say that, yes, there exists a little spin and bias in every news organization. But for the sake of fairness, however shallow, every organization also presents the other view point once in a while. The ultra-liberal SF Chronicle publishes conservative Debra Saunders' columns. When there is absolutely no place for any contrary opinion and everyone and every report tows the same line without allowing for dissent, a "news" organization loses all pretenses of being even remotely credible.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | David Aaronovitch: We're not all peaceniks - but you wouldn't know it

In the same way reports from Baghdad have spoken about the fears of ordinary Iraqis, without reminding viewers and listeners that any traceable ordinary Iraqi who was to welcome the possibility of Saddam's removal would end up watching her husband and kids being garrotted down at the HQ of the mukhabarat intelligence service. That may not be a reporting restriction as such, but it is as sure as hell a restriction that is worth reporting.

In fact, with one exception, the impression has been given, on the BBC in particular, that public and expert opinion is strongly and almost exclusively opposed to military action. This expectation has entered the cultural stratum that the majority of broadcasters exist in, and so dominates that it has become that most dangerous of wisdoms - not so much orthodox, as axiomatic.

A senior figure in one broadcasting organisation emailed me a fortnight ago telling me that even to suggest that Blair might have a point about Iraq had "all the young executives in their expensive clothes" behaving as if he'd just broken wind. He wasn't talking about news people, he was talking about everyone.

(link via Andrew Sullivan)

The real Big Brother

Wow! I heard about this on the talk radio on my way to work in the morning. Couldn't believe my ears when the lady was talking about Benetton's idea of implanting little chips in their clothing that are scannable from a distance, so the people doing the scanning can find out all about whatever article of clothing it is that has the chip in it, and probably about you too. Very scary!

Boycott Bennetton - No RFID tracking chips in clothing!