The Comedy of the British Hostages?

I guess from the "tragedy" of the British hostage crisis arises the comedy of it....

A sailor compared to Mr. Bean...the story of the stolen IPODS...It is amazing how awesomely brave and "stiff-upper-lipped" the soldiers had to be. My heart bleeds for them...the horrors! Enough to keep my baby up at night! This comment at the Althouse blog pretty much sums up my feelings ;)

British hostages released

I know I am a little late to the game, but this is good news!

Iran to Release 15 Britons Seized at Sea in March - New York Times

I think Britain played this good and safe - they could have escalated this to no end, but restraint seemed to have helped towards a quick resolution in a way Iran's moron President could claim victory even while he gave the hostages up.

My only concern is that this might be seen as an actual victory and pay-off for stupid moves and might end up encouraging more of this nonsense from attention-seeking idiots like Ahamadinejad.

Another Iranian Hostage Crisis?

Looks like the Iranians got themselves a few British hostages this time (the link has a good roundup of reactions and reports). This is just so brazenly provocative towards England, I just cannot make any sense out of it. What are these people thinking? Especially dangerous is that this might exactly be the provocation the Bush administration is looking for to strike at Iran.

Think about it - if I were the Bush admin, I have a war in Iraq going badly, I have an ally in England trying to drop off from my war, I suspect Iran could be causing a lot of my problems in Iraq - this is the perfect excuse to not only strike back at an enemy, but to also turn British opinion and force against Iran.

Either the Iranians were incredibly stupid with this decision or incredibly foolhardy - something tells me they might have been both when they did something this open. I have a feeling at the end of the whole thing, Ahmadi-whats-his-name would have wished he had just stuck to organizing conferences for Holocaust deniers and weird fashion. He might have grossly miscalculated this decision.

Tolerance for you...not me

This comment by a certain Sanjay on Ann Althouse's blog prompted me to make a post out of something that I normally would simply ignore. The issue is a set of Muslims asking to be allowed to pray in a church that was apparently a mosque forcibly converted to a church many eons ago.

Althouse: Muslims praying in the cathedral.

(btw, "the tiger" is wrong: I'd have a hard time not assigning most of blame to "strife over holy sites in India" to Hindu nationalists --- NOT Muslims. I have vivid memories of dropping in on the normally freakishly calm and impassive Hindu holy man who married us, and seeing him choking and weeping over the pettiness of our co-religionists).

You know what is really interesting about the comment? The fact that the commentor thinks Hindu Nationalists are pigs for demanding essentially the same thing that the Muslims are in the linked story, and...he is defending the Muslims. Go Figure!

This is really true

How crazy is this? Seriously....what am I doing up this late? Definitely NOT watching the Mavs lose miserably to the Jazz :(

Fodor's Travel Wire | Japanese Tourists Suffer "Paris Syndrome"

It could only happen in France. MSNBC recently carried a story about Japanese tourists who become so overwhelmed by the contrast between the Paris they imagined at home and the real city that "psychological treatment" is required. "Paris Syndrome," as the malady is called, passes quickly for most, but others experience lingering psychoses and paranoid delusions. Indeed, MSNBC reports that four Japanese tourists this year required "repatriation" after complaining that their "hotel was bugged and that there was a plot against them."

Searching for Islam's soul

Here is part 2 of a soul searcher of an article from Dr. Alamgir Hussan about the "perpetual victim syndrome" that seems to have been infecting a lot of Muslims lately - Desicritics.org: Islamic Terrorism and the Injustice Myth, Part 2. There is a link to the first part within the post. I applaud this man's honest attempt to look inward and hope that other Muslims join him on the journey.

It was pretty interesting that the usual apologizers at DC were already scoffing at the effort or missing in action completely. Not exactly a heartening sign when people think that debate is somehow forbidden unless it is about someone else's faith.

Don't "Sheikh" it, baby!

Seriously, even if you don't shake it, it is your own goddamned fault if you happen to get raped! Don't you know you are just an "uncovered pice of meat"? Don't blame the "cat" for eating you. Not even if you are an Australian teenager who has been brutally raped by a few racist "cats". Don't you get it? You asked for it by being a woman, an Australian and by showing your flesh around!

I have absolutely no words for how angry this makes me! No more than for all the PC-police already out in full-force trying to explain the fucking shit away. Remember the double standard. Always do! Publishing of cartoons making fun of a religion? Horrendous and worthy of rioting and murders. Calling teenage gang-rape victims as brining this upon themselves? "Diversity"!

Do you think it will be worth it for me to try and hold my breath for the "feminists" who defended the hijab will be outraged at this misogyny? I don't think so!

Like, Duh?!!

Read the rest for some nanny-state stupid tricks in school...

Schools that have tried to win students over appear to have fared better than those that impose bans, Professor Morgan said.

Ghastly China

I guess today is one of those days when people like me and possibly a few more who will read the link below spare a few thoughts for the poor Tibetans who are being systematically massacred and kicked out of their lands by the Chinese - Massacre in Nangpa La.

I admit it - it is really hard for us to spare too much time and sympathy for those who are defenceless - maybe they need to strap on a few bomb belts and fantasize about eradicating the entire nation and population of China before the world takes notice...

San Francisco Rising?

San Francisco was a city that I was once proud of being able to live in for over a year - I am absolutely disgusted with stuff like this now - .

It is quite unsettling to see someone holding the Hamas flag and wearing a mask in such an admiring way. I guess it takes some guts to pay homage to terrorists who intentionally target civilians and try to kill as many of them as possible. More pictures like this at Zombietime... It is one thing to be pissed off at Israel - which is completely fine, mind you! Israel isn't perfect in any way and they have their own demons to answer for. What I find totally offensive is the pro-terrorist part. Does one really have to support cold-bloded killers to speak up against Israel?

Racism in Australia

Awesome post by Sakshi about racism in Australia at Desicritics - Desicritics.org: And Yes, Australia Is Racist. My sister lives in Melbourne and I have spoken to her multiple times about this issue and not too surprisingly, she feels the same way as Sakshi.

Gangraping 13-year-old white girls just because they happened to not conform to the rapists' sick views of what a woman should be wearing is not a culture that should be defended by any measure of intellect. The same situation has made appearances most famously in the case of the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was brutally murdered for the sin of making a movie with Ayaan Hirsi Ali - another brave woman who refuses to surrender. I am not saying all this to paint Islam in a bad light - I am saying that these ghettoized immigrants need to be brought back into the fold and their distorted views of reality be dealt with realistically and not be brushed under the mosaic carpet of multiculturalism or be explained away. Enlightened people, feminists and true liberals must stop aplogizing for bigots and work more to ensure equality for their sisters of different religions - be they Hindu ladies killing their female children in the womb, Muslim women dying to "preserve honor" or European women being humiliated for not being chaste enough while appearing in public.

Good reference to media on the Palestinian issue

Remember that post I wrote recently about the "myth of Al-dura" ? Here is a site that provides the background material for the article I quoted from. There is actual footage that was discussed in the article for us to see and evaluate for ourselves. I think this is great that we get see and decide who we choose to believe or not.

(much appreciated link via Solomon)

Spin City

And what does the filmed news report show? The answer is staring us in the face, cinched by the collapse of France-2's four-year concealment of its lack of evidence. As even Charles Enderlin has tacitly admitted, the al-Dura report was not some brief excerpt from a longer stretch of filmed reality but a scene with no depth, no duration, no origin, and no continuation. The 45 minutes? Gone. Abu Rahmeh's 27 minutes? Gone, too. We are left with approximately a single minute of Jamal and Muhammad al-Dura filmed in continuous time.


In that minute, the two crouch behind an upended culvert and contort their faces in fear. Guttural screams are heard, but they do not come from the man or the boy; they come from men standing within range of the France-2 cameraman's microphone. Jamal bobs his head. Muhammad stretches out at his father's feet. Then, in the brief portion that was carefully edited out but that can be seen in the outtakes, the boy changes position several times, using voluntary muscles that only living people can activate.

Isn't this rich!

The United Nations bankrolled the production of thousands of banners, bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts bearing the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," which have been widely distributed to Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.N. official.

The U.N. support of the Palestinian Authority's propaganda operation in the midst of the Israeli evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has provoked outrage from Israeli and Jewish leaders, who are blaming Turtle Bay for propagating an inflammatory message that they say encourages Palestinian Arab violence.

A UNDP spokesman, William Orme, said his office gave money to the Palestinian Withdrawal Committee to "help the Palestinian Authority communicate to the populace about the withdrawal and its economic and social impact."

Have another baby?

Does this mean I should just bite the bullet and have another baby? For the sake of saving the world?

(link via Instapundit)

Jokes aside, this article is probably the most heart-wrenchingly pro-life one I have seen in my life.

I had a baby just a few months ago. I saw him since he was nothing but a few cells of tissue at the age of 4 weeks. I have felt him move when he was 12 weeks-old, the usual time you get an abortion. I saw him move on the ultra-sound at my 12-week-exam. I saw his tiny heart beat hard and fast and I thought, this is my baby. I didn't know if it was boy or a girl - I had no name for him, yet he was my baby. He was not a fetus to me even at 8-weeks-old when I saw his tiny little self for the first time via ultra-sound.

I would ask you all to be very careful when you read the article I mentioned above - it is really hard to read, especially if you have had babies. I almost burst into tears and still cannot get myself to finish reading it. For the life of me, I don't think I could have an abortion now. I have seen my baby alive and kicking at 8-weeks. How can I try to kill him at 12-weeks or even later? How many women do you think would try to abort their babies if they were shown an ultra-sound of the little one before the procedure?

We live in a culture where people howl about the mistreatment of animals (I am one of them) - how can we let things like saline abortions and late-term abortions happen to little babies? Are we really that selfish as a group that we will kill living beings without any compunction just so we can carry on with our lifestyles? As mothers, we flinch when our baby gets a shot - what of the babies whose lungs are burning while dying slowly due to the saline injections? As pet owners and lovers, we feel bad and rush them to the vet the minute a little thing goes wrong with them - how can we let babies with a heartbeat and a life in them be torn apart in pieces?

I guess once I start, this is an issue I cannot stop talking about. Let me keep venting. Here is another thing - we women claim it is a choice - it is our body. Great! But about the choices of the baby? Did the baby ask to be conceived? You, consciously or not, voluntarily or not, made the decision. You decided you wanted to do something that ended up being a baby. As a woman, you are in a unique position of being responsible for not just yourself but for another life. Deal with it, or get your uterus taken out. I will not say every woman has to have and raise a child by herself - have it put up for adoption. Maybe, you will learn to be a little careful the next time around.

Yeah, I know there are people who will argue that it is better for a child to die rather than have a tough life growing up. That is a bullshit argument. There are also a lot of people who had a tough childhood but grew up to be great. Ultimately, the decision is to take a life or let it be. We cannot be crying out for the rights of convicted murderers while murdering our babies by the dozen without appeals or even a hearing.

p.s. I don't agree with a lot of things in the article linked above, but there were a lot of things in it that really moved me.

Big "EU" Brother

First they came for the cigarettes - they are planning to come for the drinks - now they are trying to come for the food. Seriously, doesn't the EU have better things to do than trying to play nanny to the Union's population? Honestly, I think advertising is such a big part of the free markets that bans like this seem stupid. Let them promote a healthy lifestyle - promote moderation, but don't take away a medium's freedom to advertise whatever it feels like.

Jan 20, 2005 (AXcess News) London - EU health commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, warned the food industry to stop junk food advertising aimed at children or face an ad ban.


The EU junk food ads are to stop within one year or face legislation that could ban junk food ads aimed at children all together.

Oil-for-food Scam

A private intelligence firm hired by the United Nations to look into corruption in the oil-for-food program provided valuable leads to U.N. investigators, but they were ignored, the company's director says. "We found it extremely frustrating to be in a position where we could do something significant to dramatically assist the investigation into the oil-for-food fraud and not be allowed to proceed," said Derek Baldwin, director of operations for IBIS Risk Management Services Inc.

Meanwhile, a U.N. panel investigating the humanitarian program yesterday refused to release documents to two U.S. senators, who last week accused U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a letter of blocking their subcommittee's probe into the matter. In his reply to the letter sent by Sens. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican, and Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, obtained by Agence France-Presse, U.N. panel chief Paul Volcker pledged to release "all evidence" bearing on its reports and findings but insisted that now was not the time to do so.

True Words!

After a rather bleak 2004 when the UN found itself squeezed out of Iraq and the lucrative multi-billion-dollar 'oil for food' programme, and scandal after scandal of financial malfeasance and worse surfaced, painting the world organisation, to quote a particularly colourful though apt description, as a 'miasma of corruption beset by inefficiency,' a 'Kafkaesque bureaucracy' that deliberately obfuscates the truth and maintains a conspiracy of silence, it is party time for Kofi Annan and his aid administrators.

All those who have pledged money to help the survivors of Black Sunday, Kofi Annan has been quick to tell them in Jakarta, should pay up and pay up fast. The party has begun, the bills can't be allowed to pile up.

Tsunami Help Blog

Check here for a roundup of all tsunami news and relief and aid efforts. Participate if you have the time and inclination - if not, atleast pass the URL around so others will have access to this information.

Kofi didn't know!

No, he didn't know a thing!

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday he was "disappointed" his son did not tell him the full story of his ties to a firm involved in the U.N. oil-for-food program, now under investigation.

I am sure Kofi Annan was shocked, shocked at the developments, I say! I bet his non-knowledge had absolutely nothing to do with the UN's efforts to stonewall investigations of the oil-for-food scam that stole billions of dollars fromt he starving Iraqi people!

The evil within...

I went to bed pretty depressed last night - I woke up about 3:00 in the morning and just could not fall asleep, I was so disturbed by the images of what was done at Fallujah. There are a few incidents that have disturbed me similarly through out my life -

- The stories of India-Pakistan partition, tales of massacred families. One book made me cry so hard for so long that my mom hid it fromm me for about three days.
- The Holocaust - especially the Diary of Anne Frank. In a creepy coincidence, I share my birthday with Anne Frank. I read the book in the Spring of the year in which I was due to turn 16, whioch was when she wrote the diary and died just before she could turn 16.
- The Lynching of the Israelis at Ramallah - I could not wipe away from my mind the glee with which people were showing off their blood-stained hands to the mobs.
- The Rape of Nanking - again, another situation where people forgot that the other side were people too and treated killing, raping and torturing them as a sport.
- Fallujah, where little kids danced around and poked burnt corpses as if they were nothing but rag dolls meant for play.

What was it about the most of these situations that really made me ashamed to call myself human? It was the pure joy and sadistic delight with which these sub-bestial beings acted and the way in which they treated their fellow human beings. It is the pleasure they took at the cruelty they inflicted on fellow human beings. I call it sub-bestial because animals wouldn't do that. They wouldn't kill another of their species to make a point or to just show how much superior they are to another of their own.

I used to buy into the thought that we human beings are somehow a much evolved species in the entire world and so deserve to lord it over all others. Now, when I see all this I am not so sure. It feels like evil is lurking in the heart of every human, simmering very close to the surface just waiting for a chance or an excuse to be unleashed. I maybe getting melodramatic here, but I really don't seehow we can call ourselves any better than animals when we act like this.

It is just so easy to lose hope for humanity when things like this happen. It is easy for us to believe that humanity is a lost cause and humans are going to be evil regardless of how much they evolve - some just manage to control the evil within a little better than otherrs because they probably have a bigger incentive to control it. If you were out in the wild, you can be sure you can be killed by a "hungry" animal. In the human jungle, you don't have to watch out for hungry humans, just a psychopath who finds happiness in carving you up slowly.

I keep thinking is this really the kind of world I am bringing my newborn into...then I realize he is human too as am I. Someday he is going to grow up and make his own decisions. He is going to touch some lives directly or indirectly. He is going to affect them in ways he might not even understand. Maybe if this one person can be a good and safe person to be around, maybe I will have done a little more towards pushing the evil side back down a bit...

Looong overdue!

Islamabad: Pakistan is very close to becoming a member of the US' "axis of evil" club because of its involvement in encouraging cross-border terrorism in India and being "the headquarters of a global mail-order business in nuclear-bomb technology", the Daily Times quoted an article in The Economist as saying.

Haiti - coup or civil war

Niraj has an informative post on Haiti's current situation - niraj: WHEN IS COUP NOT A COUP? - well worth a read!

Amazing!

CANBERRA, Australia - A snorkeler attacked by a shark off Australia's east coast swam to shore with the predator still gripping his leg and then drove to a lifesavers' club to have it removed. Australian Luke Tresoglavic, 22, was snorkeling on a reef off Caves Beach, about 75 miles north of Sydney, when a wobbegong shark about 2 feet long bit him just below the kneecap and held on.

Update: You thought this man was amazing? Anyone catch tonight's episode of Survivor? Richard Hatch had a similar thing happen to him - he was trying to catch a foot-long shark so his tribe can get something to eat and the shark latches on to his upper arm. He swam around with it for a while trying to get it off, bit at it and finally pounded its head against a rock to kill it and take it ashore. Wow! Oh, and considering Richard was swimming naked at the time, I am glad the shark latched on to his hand and not...ummm, anything else.

Great News!

This is just really good news! It is good on so many levels - Shirin is obviously a feisty woman to be in the filed of law and for having done well enough to have become a judge - she is a great role model for fellow Muslim women in that she proves to everyone that women are second to none - last but not the least, this is a good thing to stick it to the Mullahcracy of Iran by showing that they cannot keep a good thing like Shirin down forever.

An Iranian woman forced to resign as a judge after the Islamic revolution was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, the first Muslim woman to win the honour. Shirin Ebadi was recognized for her pursuit of human rights for women and children, and for her role in rebutting the argument that such freedoms are incompatible with Islam.

Honor killings and multiculturalism

Jivha has a good post on honor killings here - Jivha - the Tongue: "Honour killings" - where is the honour?. I would answer him there, but didn't want to take too much of his comment space. I think one of the biggest reasons for this ugly phenomenon is the balkanization of immigrant communities by nationality/religion/whatever in the name of diversity instead of assimilating all into the mainstream. Before you jump on me saying "culture-killer", hear me out.

I don't like the idea of having a society where everybody behaves the same and thinks the same. No way. What should happen when someone immigrates to another country though, is that even though the immigrant doesn't have to renounce his old culture, he should embrace the new one and try to find a blend of the old and new that will work for him. If not, immigrants will tend to withdraw into their own little communities and forget that they should be a part of the whole - not a separate entity. When there is no embrace of the new culture, there isn't a common bomd tying the immigrant to his chosen land and this leads to feelings of insecurity.

By insecurity, I mean feeling like you somehow are a representative of your culture in the foreign land (you forget you chose to leave your motherland and make a home in a foreign country)¹ and that embracing the foreign culture is somehow a stab in the back of your country. These people somehow feel like they need to keep their culture going or it will just disappear into the mainstream. This leads the immigrants to be more old-cultured than the people they have left behind in their native country. Unfortunately, I feel it is the in-betweens, these immigrants' kids who bear the brunt of this and are pestered to follow the old-fashioned ideals while being confused by the different way in which their friends and peers behave. I think diversity is a good thing when it isn't so bone-headed as to take on the form of complete suspicion of the culture you have chosen to immigrate to.

¹I am talking only about permanent immigrants here - not temporary workers or other such.

I have just one question...

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 19 - In his first interview with a Western reporter since the Israeli security Cabinet last week voted in principle to expel him, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat claimed he still has power to facilitate peace in the Middle East.

Awesome!

Every time I get cynical, depressed and in general bored with life around me, science and nature have ways of making me feel like a little girl again :)

Astronomers have detected sound waves from a super-massive black hole. The "note" is the deepest ever detected from an object in the Universe.
Sound waves ripple through the hot gas
The black hole lives in the Perseus cluster of galaxies, located 250 million light-years away.

It's a Party!

I guess this was the party Palestinians threw for the Israelis on the event of their (Palestinians) getting a new Prime Minister. How absolutely charming! I hope the a$$h__s who carried this out go directly to hell and burn there for an eternity.

Disturbing news from Iran

I wish atleast half of those millions of people who marched to protest "American Imperialism" would get off their butts and march against a truly imperialistic and oppressive regime, where demonstrating against the Government is enough to get yourself killed. It is a sad situation in the world when more people show up to protest against democracies than against theocracies and thuggish mullahcracties.

Some of the people arrested during antigovernment demonstrations Iran in June and July have been executed, according to reports from inside the jails of the clerical regime. Gholam-Hossein Mohammadi from Amol (northern Iran), who lived in Akbar-Abad district in the south Tehran suburb of Islamshahr, was executed together with two of his friends for participating in evening uprisings in June and July. The authorities informed their families a few days after they were hanged and warned them not to hold any mourning ceremonies.

Pakistan, Iran and Nuclear Technology

So, Pakistan seems to be complicit in provoding nuclear technology to Iran (obviously illegally, since I am sure both countries are in grave violation of various UN sanctions) - UN report points to Pak nexus in Iranian nuke programme : HindustanTimes.com, so what do Pakistanis do? Why, blame India, of course! - India’s share in Iran’s nuclearisation.

Iran threatens Britain

And what are they going to do to Britain? Oh, the same thing that Canada was able to do after the Iranian Mullarchy beat to death the Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi? I am glad that UK and Europe seem to be waking up to the vipers' nest that Iran is turning to, thanks to lovely regime ruling the country.

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran threatened "strong action" against Britain yesterday over the arrest of its former ambassador to Argentina.

Ironic

Awww, look what Israel did now - they hit at one of Hamas' leaders and apparently caused Hamas to abandon the truce - Hamas Abandons Truce After Israeli Strike - I mean, it isn't like a suicide bombing that kills kids traveling on a bus is not in keeping with the terms of the truce or something, you know...

Here is an LA Times editorial that doesn't mince words...

How can two groups compete to say they put a man on a bus carrying a bomb with, to make it more lethal, ball bearings? Yet both Islamic Jihad and Hamas boasted that the Jerusalem bomber was theirs. His widow did not ask how she would support their children; she exulted in his "martyrdom." The murderer was a preacher in a mosque. How twisted must a man be to find in a religion justification for slaying children? What leads another man to drive a truck into a Baghdad building filled with those trying to help people recover from war? Whether a Saddam Hussein loyalist or a foreign terrorist trying to drive out the United States, he murders people who for years have fed more than half of Iraqis and who work to put roofs on schools and to stop sewage from polluting drinking water.

She is angry

Diana is is angry...really, really angry - Letter from Gotham: ANGRY VENGEFUL RANT FOR WHICH I WILL PROBABLY BE SORRY ONE DAY - what she wrote what was what I felt when read about the most recent suicide bombing and the pictures of the tiny little dead and injured kids, whose only fault was being Israeli - they were unarmed, they are not fighting you - they are not soldiers. But of course, to the crazed lunatics that are Paletinians, it was a such a happy moment when 5 children were brutally murdered and tens more injured, they distributed sweets.

I hate what Pakistani insurgence is doing to my country - even then, I wouldn't feel a shred of happiness if I heard about innocent kids being murdered in Pakistan - I would feel as sorry for them as if they were fellow Indians - what do we call the Palestinians then? Are they fit to be classified as humans still?

Speaking of Independence...

Check out this site established together by some "American, Iranian-American students, Professors and others in an effort to educate, mobilize and lead the world's people in an effort that would support the aspirations and will of the Iranian people who currently suffer under a Theocratic Mafia Regime. " - IRAN NEWS [Project: Free Iran] by ActivistChat.com.

We support them fully in their efforts and hope they will succeed.

Bruce Allah-mighty

No, MadMan - this did not make me chuckle - it actually made me laugh out loud ;) I wouldn't worry if I were Jim Carrey, though. This just means there will be more people watching it surreptitously, than would normally. I watched "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in India, and that was supposedly banned too, in India.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian government minister has called on Islamic authorities to ban Hollywood actor Jim Carrey's latest film "Bruce Almighty," newspapers reported on Tuesday. In the comedy, Carrey plays the role of a television reporter who is given the power of God for a week.
...
"We cannot equate ourselves with God -- even as a joke," Abdul Hamid said.

Afghanistan news

Some good news from Afghanistan - I hope they will continue to do good and better.

Go Kids!

My thoughts, wishes and support for the Iranian students taking on the theocracy in hope and search for freedom and democracy!

Cox & Forkum: Strike!

Hinduism+Judaism = ?

TFF!

New Delhi, India (SatireWire.com) - Hinjew leaders today conceded the merger of Hinduism and Judaism has not worked out as planned, as instead of forming a super-religion to fight off the common Islamic enemy, they have instead created a race of 900 million people who, no matter how many times they are reincarnated, can never please their mothers. "On paper, this was a textbook alliance - two smaller competitors join forces to take on a larger adversary," said New Delhi resident Chandra Gopan. "But the synergies are just not there. For instance, I still believe I must pursue my own dharmic path to ultimate happiness, but when I get there, I just know my mother will find something wrong with it."

Crazy news of the day!

An 'ape-like' beast nearly 1.65 metres tall has been sighted in the forests of central China, a media report on Monday said. The grayish 'mythical ape-like animal', suspected by locals to be a 'bigfoot', was reported to have shoulder-length black hair, it said.

Indian Languages in South Africa

I don't see what is the big deal about this. Yes, it is great and wonderful for immigrant Indians to want teach their children languages of their (ex) homeland, but it is ridiculous to expect the South African government to pay for it. If these people love the languages so much, they can teach it to their kids by speaking them at home, reading to them from Indian books and teaching them how to read. I really don't think a foreign government is in anyway obligated to teach the myriad languages Indians speak, at their own expense.

Peeved at the South African government's decision to phase out Indian languages from the school curriculum, Indian Community leaders have threatened to move the constitutional court and also meet President Thabo Mbeki to register their displeasure. The National Education Ministry's decision to cull out foreign languages lacking sufficient enrollment means that Indian communities in South Africa who want to promote their mother tongue languages such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Urdu and Gujarati will have to find their own funds after 2006.

So?

Abbas has said he will not launch a crackdown for fear of triggering a civil war.

After meeting with Powell, he demanded Israel take immediate steps to ease restrictions on Palestinians and "change itself from an enemy into a partner."

Abbas also said Israel should release thousands of Palestinian detainees, lift travel restrictions, end settlement building and stop demolishing Palestinian houses.

Mr.Abbas, maybe your peoplw would have been a little more oriented towards peace if their textbooks did not call the Jews pigs and apes and idolize as martyrs, suicide bombers who blow up moms and babies and old men and teenagers. May be the general population wouldn't look up to terrorists so much if the PA wasn't such a bunch of petty thugs and crooks who funneled billions of dollars into their own accounts and lived in luxury, while their people starved - just a thought you know!

Yes!

Lileks makes points similar to what I said yesterday, only a lot more eloquently.

The top-of-the-hour radio news played today's news just as you'd expect - everything shoved through the tit-for-tat template. Israel attempts to take out a terror leader; Hamas "responds" with a bombing. As if they're equal. As if targeting the car that ferries around some murderous SOB is the same as sending a blissed-out teenager to blow nails and screws through the flesh of afternoon commuters so he can bury himself in the heaving bosom of the heavenly whorehouse. Cycle of violence, don't you know.

They don't have helicopters, we're told, so they use suicide bombers. If they had helicopters, they would have strafed the bus and everyone waiting at the corner. Give them a nation where Hamas runs unchecked, and they'll have helicopters. They won't be Apaches. The bill of sale will be calculated in Euros and the manual written in French. By then the excuse for the terror won't be oppression; it'll be "the legacy of oppression." Sometimes I swear the mainstream media won't take a look at the Palestinian's horrid death-cult subculture until we learn that a suicide bomber played "Doom" at an Internet cafe for five minutes. And then they'll blame Intel.

I turn 29 today :)

Fun, fun, fun!

Israel tries to kill a homicidal SOB standing in the path of peace, so the peace-loving Palestinian terrorists blow up more women and children. Bravo! Good Job!

Explosion rocks central Jerusalem

June 11 - An explosion rocked downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday as recent progress in the Middle East peace process appeared to have all but halted. Israeli radio reported that a bomb was detonated on a bus, killing several people.

Iran, Iraq and the WMD

I guess Iran would know Iraq better than anyone else, being as they are neighbors and all.....But this definitely helps the US Administration's story and kills Hans Blix's credibility - again - if confirmed. I haven't been saying much about this issue for the same reason - Saddam Hussein didn't exactly act like a guy with nothing to hide. I am sure he has something and I am also sure he will be found out sooner or later. Of course, it doesn't exactly tell us much about the people who will latch onto any straw they think they can beat up Bush with - remember the brouhaha over the looting in Iraq? turns out it wasn't 170,000 artifacts looted, but 33 - how about that, huh!

Iran agrees Iraq hid arms -- The Washington Times

NEW YORK - An Iranian government official with ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Tehran sides with the Americans on one big issue - Saddam Hussein's weapons.

"Yes, we agree with the Americans. Our intelligence indicated that Iraq did possess weapons of mass destruction and was hiding them from the U.N.," the official said.

Oh My God!

Horrible and disturbing, to say the least. What a fall Japan has taken, from being the leader in everything electronic and technical at one point in time to this! Chilling stuff!

Japan's chilling Internet suicide pacts

June 10 - The discovery Sunday of the bodies of four young Japanese men in a car at a vista point near Mount Fuji appears to be more evidence of a grim new trend in the prosperous country - group suicides of strangers who meet over the Internet. The suicide pacts, which have resulted in at least 18 deaths since February, are shocking to experts, even in a nation plagued by an astronomical suicide rate.

Why I admire the Jews - Part 1550

Of course, I could also have called this why the Palestinian idiocy pisses me off, but I am trying to stay positive here, alright?!

I had a very devout Christian Personal Trainer seeing a Palestinian Muslim guy a while ago. This lady showed symptoms of emotional abuse. She positively loathed her boyfriend and everything he did to her - we had long conversations during workouts - but couldn't get rid of him and kept taking hiim back time and time again. She spouted his ideology every possible time and it was just disgusting the excuses she made up to defend him. It was eery - it seemed very similar to the way the Europeans and the lefties defend the Palestinian cause - not out of real sympathy, but just because....

Strangers in a Strange Land / A fork in the Road Map

Nevertheless, the plight of the two refugee populations -- the Jewish and Palestinian -- is a comparative study in refugee resettlement. Israel absorbed 600,000 Jewish refugees. They now comprise over half the population and hold top positions in Israeli society. Other refugees went to the United States and Europe. We rapidly integrated in our new host society.

By contrast, many Arab countries to this day refuse to integrate Palestinian refugees into their own societies. Why is it that the Palestinians continue to live in squalid refugee camps -- a people homeless and on welfare for 54 years, even under their own Palestinian Authority?

Appalling!

Mad cow used for dog food?

WASHINGTON, May 27 - U.S. consumers are being asked to return dog food that may have come from a Canadian cow that tested positive for mad cow disease.

Palestinians against "militants"?

Now this is what I call good news :)

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Angry Palestinians Lash Out at Militants

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian residents of a northern Gaza town demonstrated Tuesday after Israelis destroyed buildings and farms there in a five-day invasion, but in a rare twist, their wrath was directed at Palestinian militants for firing rockets from their property, not at the Israelis.

Israeli forces pulled back to the edge of the town, Beit Hanoun, a letup that came despite a bloody wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed 12 bystanders, hinting Israel might not undertake a large-scale punitive military operation that would further weaken the new Palestinian premier, Mahmoud Abbas.

Why I don't talk about the ME

Yes, there is a reason why I don't talk about this. All I can say is, "what's new"? I know there was supposed to be this peace plan and people were all excited and crap, but did anyone with half-a-brain actually believe it would happen? I didn't. We have seen over the decades how the Palestinians have gotten better and better at saying all the right things and doing the exact opposite. Did the rest of the world catch on? Why would they? It is so much more fashionable to pick on the guy who works his butt off to get himself a comfortable lifestyle than one who is an expert at playing the victim card.

Oh, those damn Jews! Who would we have to blame for the troubles of the world if the Arabs got their wish of exterminating them off the face of earth? The Jewish people are such perfect punching bags for the Arabs that if they didn't exist, they would have to be invented. Oh, forget me - just go read Meryl - she is better at talking about this than I can ever hope to be. Me, I will just stay depressed for a while and then get over it.

Suicide bomber kills 4 at Israeli mall

JERUSALEM, May 19 - Continuing a wave of violence aimed at disrupting a new peace initiative, a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance of a shopping mall in northern Israel on Monday, killing himself and at least four shoppers, according to police and rescue workers. Even before the latest attack - the fifth in three days - the violence had thrown up the first major obstacle to the Bush administration's "road map" to peace, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to delay a trip to the United States and to reimpose restrictions on Palestinian areas that were eased last week at Washington's request.

Why is the International community ignoring Africa?

Oh, I know - I know!!! It's because it is going to be extremely hard to pin this one on the US.

Congolese Blood Bath By Nancy Palus

An op-ed in Congo's L'Avenir said the violence in Ituri destroys any hope created by the 2002 peace accord. The paper blamed Rwandan President Paul Kagame for supporting one of the militia groups. Despite their formal exit, Rwanda and Uganda are blamed for continuing to arm and otherwise support armed militias in the region.

With violence across the DRC intensifying in recent months, many observers have called it the world's forgotten war, saying the international community is too fixed on Iraq to pay attention to even the bloodiest of conflicts in Africa. L'Avenir said in an editorial, "What's happening in Congo, no one would tolerate in the US, in France, in Germany, in Brussels, or anywhere else." The paper said, "One cannot be an architect of peace and fight against terrorism in the world and stay silent in the face of the Congolese crisis."

Ineffective UN

A very good article in the New Zealand News about how the UN has sunk into an inertia that disables it from doing anything worthwhile to protect the poor and oppressed of the world that it was supposed to keep safe.

New Zealand News - Dialogue - Malcolm McPhee: UN just an excuse to do nothing

The United Nations was founded in the mid-1940s with the hope of avoiding "the scourge of war" and "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights".

But it has been pretty ineffective as terrors stretching from Iraq to Rwanda, Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya show.

Yet choruses calling for UN blessings on international actions abound, as well as talk of "international law". Only direct United States-led action stopped the internal butchery in Kosovo and Iraq.

Law on international sovereignty in fact shielded Saddam Hussein to pursue his horrors within the boundaries of his state.
.......
The UN was left incapable of doing anything more effective about Iraq's behaviour than pass resolutions numbers 600 (in 1990), 661 (1990), 678 (1990), 686 (1991), 687 (1991), 688 (1991), 707 (1991), 715 (1991), 986 (1995), 1284 (1999), 1382 (2001) and 1441 (2002). The last spoke of "serious consequences" for Saddam's defiance.
.............
And more: why did the French Government not seek UN approval to bomb the Rainbow Warrior and what account did it take of "international law" and New Zealand sovereignty?

By one reckoning only two "intervention" wars have had UN endorsement since its inception nearly 60 years ago - the Korean conflict and the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait.
..............
Ruth Wedgwood, a professor of international law at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, recalls that the UN Security Council did not bother to authorise interventions of the 1990s in civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone by west African states, including Nigeria and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Ghana.
.........
What did the UN do in July 1995 to prevent the separation by the Bosnian Serb Army of 7000 men and boys from their Muslim families and their slaughter around Srebrenica in Bosnia - the world's first United Nations Safe Area, scene of the worst genocide in Europe since World War II?

Check this out!

A very good, comprehensive and well-written article about the shooting Mohammed al-Dura, that little kid who cowered behind his dad just before he was fatally shot to death - the same kid who became a poster-child for the Palestinians trying to crucify Israel by pinning the murder on IDF.

The Atlantic | June 2003 | Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura? | Fallows

(link via LGF)

Uh-huh!

May be this clamp-down was due in fact to the recent shootings and suicide bombings by the Palestinians, doncha think? Oh, never mind, Palestinians said all the right things about wanting "peace" and all that - so what if they are the biggest hurdle in the implementation of the plans? Israel is responsible for everything and should just shut up and put up with it just because it is Israel, damnit!

Israel slams the door in setback for peace plan - smh.com.au

Just one day after an apparent breakthrough in the new Middle East push for peace, Israel has reimposed its ban on Palestinians and other foreigners entering or leaving the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday's clampdown effectively froze Israel's decision on Sunday to allow 25,000 Palestinian labourers to enter the country.

Awful news!

Terrible, really - it must have been awful being in that plane and be sucked out like that while you are trying to hang on to your seats and your dear life.

Passengers sucked out of plane

KINSHASA, Congo, May 9 - Scores of passengers aboard a Russian-built cargo plane flying across Congo were feared dead after they were sucked out of the aircraft when the rear door burst open in mid-flight, officials said Friday.

Kick the US out!

Like Niraj implied, all I say is, "please UN, please kick the US out!". Let us move the UN headquarters from NY to Dhaka and see how much more successful the organization and the whole world will be, without the US picking up the tab for every shithole country's aid.

niraj: UN WITHOUT THE US?

SARS Update

It is interesting that this virus is related to the Corona virus. My dogs are regularly vaccinated against this virus - maybe the next time we are at the vet's, we should ask for a couple shots for me and my husband too :) Jokes aside, I am happy we are coming close to cracking the virus before it spreads too much and causes more harm than it has already.

allAfrica.com -- PanAfrica: Corona Virus is the Cause of Sars - WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that a new pathogen, a member of the corona virus family never found in humans, is the cause of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

WHO said in a statement receiveD in Accra on Wednesday that the speed at which the virus was identified was a result of close international collaboration of 13 laboratories from 13 countries.

A moment of silence!

Take a moment of silence to contemplate "genocide"! The real "genocide" - not as it is bandied about carelessly by people to further agendas. No. I mean genocide as in the killing of the Jews by Hitler, Armenians by Russians, Chinese by the Communists (read about this in Dean's post too), Bengalis by the Pakistanis, Kashmiri Pundits by the terrorists..... Take a moment to try to wrap your mind around their pain - try to understand and to help and heal if you can, but never forget! Never, ever forget! It is important to remember so that we don't repeat these blots on the human civilization.

Dean's World: Genocide

Answer this!

A very good article attacking the current trend of blaming everything on the eeevil, "Zionist" conspiracy against the poor, hapless Palestinians. I know it is easy to say what do the poor Palestinians have except their bodies to blow up in the faces of children, women, elderly and the teenagers in discos, pizza parlors, Passover feasts and ice cream shops, but I wish for once people stopped repeating stuff they read around. I wish people would just sit down and think for a little while and make up their minds for themselves, without falling for propaganda.

Is it anti-Semitic to criticise Israel?

This begs the question: how does one distinguish between anti-Semitism and political comment?

The distinction: Ask yourself, is it fair political comment to single out Israel for a divestment campaign, to call it a pariah state and have it permanently denied a seat on the UN Security Council, but ignore the occupation by Syria (which currently chairs the Security Council) of Lebanon, Tibet by China, Northern Cyprus by Turkey, and Chechnya by Russia?

How many signs have you seen calling for freedom for these occupied lands, or indeed for independent Kurdish or Armenian states, in the recent anti-war marches?

Even drawing parallels with these occupations fails to recognise that Israel acquired the Gaza Strip from Egypt, and the West Bank from Jordan - not through aggressive expansionism, but when it was attacked by those and other Arab states in 1967.

(That is why, contrary to popular belief, there is no UN Security Council resolution requiring Israel to unilaterally withdraw from these lands.)

Silence

Silence in the face of real tyranny - hasn't that been the way of the world always?

Kin: Cuban Dissidents Sentenced to Prison

HAVANA (AP) - The first dissidents tried in a massive crackdown on Cuba's opposition will spend between 15 and 25 years in prison after being convicted of collaborating with American diplomats to undermine the socialist state, family members said Monday.

Prosecutors originally sought life sentences for at least a dozen of the 80 defendants, but no such sentences were among those announced Monday.

Opposition political party leader Hector Palacios, among those originally recommended for a life sentence, received a 25-year sentence, said his wife, Gisela Delgado.

"This is an injustice," Delgado said after leaving the courthouse. "We are as Cuban as members of the Communist Party."

Halliburton

Ok, first come the conspiracy theories about how the war against Afghanistan was all for the natural gas pipeline, and then the prime company behind the story, UNOCAL dropped its support for the project and is not involved with it anymore. Now, everybody started pointing fingers at Halliburton and they have dropped out of the Iraq bidding as well. Looks like it is time for the conspiracy theorists to go find fresh fodder - heh!

Yahoo! News - Halliburton Won't Bid in Iraq

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s former company has decided not to enter a controversial bidding process open only to a few experienced and well-connected firms for major Iraq (news - web sites) reconstruction projects. Instead, Halliburton Co. will focus on becoming a secondary contractor.

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.

Sad story of Olonga

This is what it has come down to for the Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga for daring to take a stand against the excesses and tyrannies of the dictatorial government of Robert Mugabe. I feel for him and hope that he can evade the thugs who want to kill him for treason for speaking up. I bet there aren't any "freedom of speech" proponents rushing to his aid. There are not going to be any processions and marches and protests against Mugabe - it just isn't fashionable to march against dictators any more.

Henry Olonga goes into exile

Zimbabwe pace bowler Henry Olonga's international career came to an end on Saturday night with a secret journey to a safe house in South Africa.

He will hide until he is able to start a new life in a different country -- maybe in Kenya where he was born and where he has his family, or England, where he can take advantage of asylum.

For sensitive people

If anyone is upset because of my previous post or 9/11, cheer up! There is hope yet, because it was all oil propaganda, see? There were no twin towers, there were no 3000 people. It has all been a case of mass hypnosis by the US Government that staged all this so that it could its dirty, little hands on the Afghan pipeline.

It is pretty simple if you think about it, really. It is just like all those Jews and their stupid Holocaust. Man, they must have done something to deserve it. We are all just so sick of the Jews laying the guilt on us for so long, that we are glad those Palestinian sickos are getting rid of those fools for us. Right? We are glad they are killing the heck out of those people. Who gave them the right to take a desert piece of land after those umpteen partitions and turn it into a blooming economy? All of that and a good spirit to boot, while the poor, wittle Arab kids have been doing nothing but attending hate-filled schools funded by UNRWA and learning that Jihad means chasing those "damned Jews" to the sea or at least to fill them with nails and shrapnel while they are eating ice cream and pizza with their parents and grandparents and little-bitty kids.

It is a sick world we live in, people - where failure is incentivized in the name of sensitivity. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for being successful. We are supposed to flog ourseves 10 times everyday for being the most successful, powerful and the richest nations in the world. I mean, how dare we? How dare we overtake the poor, befuddled masses of the world who find it easier to immerse themselves in fanaticism than to work for the good of the humanity? We suck!

What?

Musharraf fighting terrorism? Riiight!

Australian PM flayed for praising Musharraf

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has come in for sharp criticism from the Australian media for praising Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for his 'determined and courageous fight' against terrorism.

Disgusting!

This is disgusting and horrible. An appalling side-effect of the embrace of the multi-culturalism religion. Sometimes, some values in a culture are just outright better and good for humanity than others pure and simple. No excuses about how we are supposed to understand where somebody is coming from. If the somebodies cannot understand their host culture and mingle, and on top of that, try to force the brutal rituals and rites that they brought in from their homelands - it is an extremely scary situation. What is France's government doing about this?

Girls Terrorized in France's Macho High-Rise Ghettos

Imprisoned behind yellowed curtains that hang limply at windows, they stay indoors to avoid the jeers, bullying and the ominous risk of rape that lurks in dingy stairwells where gangs of boys of mostly North African origin hang out.

"It's everywhere, all the time. Beatings, rapes, the lot. The worst is the names they call you, especially if you're dressed in a girly way which makes you a slut," says Amel, 21.
.................

"The concept of women as objects is back, with trendy strip clubs and glamour magazines, and it's in underprivileged areas where women have less independence that they suffer from that."

Huh?

I thought he didn't have those thingies.....Wasn't that the whole point of the "containment works!" - "more inspections less accountability" - crowds? That he cannot possibly have the weapons that he is now threatening the poor things with.

We will gas you when US bombs fall, Kurds told

If war comes to Iraq, the Kurds of Kifri will be right in the line of fire. Iraqi officials have threatened that the moment the first American bomb lands, they will reply with a chemical assault on the town.

But in the entire place, there is not a single gas mask to be had, and no detection posts, decontamination centres or safe houses.

In lieu of proper protection, the residents of Kifri have been doing what they can to prepare. The women have baked high-energy biscuits that will keep fresh for weeks. The men scour the town's bazaar for extra blankets and plastic sheeting.

Good news from Afghanistan

Looks like all is not really as lost in Afghanistan as some would like us to believe - Some highlights from the Washington Post article - Now, It's Business That Booms:

The day Taliban soldiers fled this capital, Sabir Latifa had $9,000 in savings from his dried fruit exports and a head filled with ideas about how to do business in a changed Afghanistan.

He started small by fixing up some guesthouses for the journalists and aid workers who flocked to Kabul when the Taliban left in November 2001. Then he branched into cars and a hotel and the capital's first private Internet cafe. Fifteen months later, Latifa has a business empire he says is worth $500,000, and he hopes to build a water bottling plant, more hotels outside Kabul, a computer store and even a chain of Internet cafes around the country.

In a city that had a handful of shopworn eating places two years ago, a new Chinese or Italian or American hamburger restaurant opens almost weekly, as well as kebab shops by the score. Small hotels have sprung up, and a $40 million Hyatt is on the way. The food bazaars are bustling and there are downtown blocks filled almost entirely with bridal shops. Rebuilt homes are rising from the ruins, and every little storefront seems to be stuffed with bathtubs or fans or with men building and carving things to be sold.

Shair Bar Hakemy, the business adviser to Karzai and himself a refugee turned entrepreneur who made a fortune in Texas commercial real estate and hotels, said that the price of real estate in some parts of Kabul is now higher per square foot than in downtown Dallas. "My family and friends back in America have difficulty seeing past all the headlines about troubles here," he said. "But the truth is that Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan are changing quickly for the better."

Disgusting

This is what followers of the religion of peace(TM) did to the tomb of one of the founders of Judaism, Joseph - Joseph's Tomb in Shechem [Nablus]

These are the same people who started bloody riots in India because an old, unused mosque that was historically absolutely unimportant was razed to ground by Hindus. What would they do if Israel demolished Mecca? We would see a billion people foaming at the mouth calling for and getting "Jewish" (not just Israeli) blood and the world community suppporting the massacre. Why no peep from the usual suspects about thsi?

British reservations?

This is the first time I have been made aware of any such thing existing - maybe some of our England-dwelling readers (yes, Maltesh - you!) can tell us a little more about it.

British-Indian student victim of 'reservation'

Nineteen-year-old Rudi Singh, the brother of Worcestershire opening batsman Anurag Singh, was refused admission to Bristol University despite securing five "A" grades in the advanced level school examinations, which confirmed him as one of Britain's brightest youngsters.

Singh's problem was that he had been a student at the fee-paying King Edward's Boys School in Edgbaston, Birmingham, which marked him out as the privileged son of well-off middle class parents (both his mother and father are doctors).

It is the end of the world.....

....and there is still 57 years to go!!! That's plenty of time for me :-)

Telegraph | News | Newton set 2060 for end of world

Sir Isaac Newton, Britain's greatest scientist, predicted the date of the end of the world - and it is only 57 years away.

Not enough!

I don't think any kind of jail term punishment is enough in the case of these monsters. Death penalty is the only choice.

CNN.com - Pastor guilty of aiding genocide - Feb. 19, 2003

Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gerard were accused of herding large groups of Tutsi men, women and children into a church and hospital compound in the Kibuye region of western Rwanda in 1994 and then calling Hutus to come and kill them.

The 78-year-old Seventh Day Adventist pastor was found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide, a U.N. spokesman at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said. His 45-year-old son Gerard, a doctor, was found guilty of the same charge and of genocide. The verdicts were unanimous.

Like this is surprising.....

There is a reason why there is a major influx of illegal immigrants into the eastern parts of India from Bangladesh - similar situation exists in Pakistan too. Where are the protests by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch? Why is it that they go only after democratic governments that they think can bully into submission and let the really religiously fundamentalist and dictatorial governments do as they choose? Sad state of affairs indeed.

Bangladesh ruling party accused of ethnic cleaning

The campaign (against minorities) entered an extremely violent phase in October 2001, forcing 25 million religious minorities to flee to India after being subjected to relentless discrimination, torture, gang-rape, and dispossession of their properties," according to a position paper read out at the conference. "We stand before you with heavy hearts and high hopes, presenting our collective grievances and seeking your help to prevent further misery, torture, death, and exodus from Bangladesh by devising an effective mechanism that will lead to a permanent solution," the paper said.

Chowdhury, who expressed his firm conviction that Hindus and other minorities are very much part and parcel of Bangladesh and that they have every right to fight for their survival, said those who are ruling Bangladesh now are serving the interests of Pakistan and not of Bangladesh

Oh My God!

This is horrible on so many levels, it just makes me want to throw up.

Clapping

The Muslim form of approval is to praise Allah( Subhan Allah, Allahu Akbar, Masha Allah) and wish well but sometimes Muslims forget that they are the best (crown) of creation (ashraful makhlooqaat) by aping non-Muslims. Deplorably, clapping is a regular feature at entertainment shows and other religious functions attended particularly by bearded gentlemen, conveying the impression of reputed Islamic scholars.
Have the Muslims to be reminded what is mentioned in the Holy Quran? (About the Jews) "So when they exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited, We said to them: 'Be you monkeys, despised and rejected.' " (Al-Araf:166) (About the disbelievers) Their prayers at the House (of Allah, the Kaaba) was nothing but whistling and clapping. Therefore taste the punishment because you used to disbelieve. "Al-Anfal:35)"-ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL, Karachi, via e-mail, February 3.

Verrrry Interesting!

I guess it was really all about the money all along - not oiilll!

The Inspections Dodge - Why are France and Germany pro-Saddam? Follow the money.

In the two decades before the Gulf War, I played a role in Iraq's efforts to acquire major technologies from friendly states. In 1974, I headed an Iraqi delegation to France to purchase a nuclear reactor. It was a 40-megawatt research reactor that our sources in the IAEA told us should cost no more than $50 million. But the French deal ended up costing Baghdad more than $200 million. The French-controlled Habbania Resort project cost Baghdad a whopping $750 million, and with the same huge profit margin. With these kinds of deals coming their way, is it any surprise that the French are so desperate to save Saddam's regime?

Germany was the hub of Iraq's military purchases in the 1980s. Our commercial attaché, Ali Abdul Mutalib, was allocated billions of dollars to spend each year on German military industry imports. These imports included many proscribed technologies with the German government looking the other way. In 1989, German engineer Karl Schaab sold us classified technology to build and operate the centrifuges we needed for our uranium-enrichment program. German authorities have since found Mr. Schaab guilty of selling nuclear secrets, but because the technology was considered "dual use" he was fined only $32,000 and given five years probation.

Meanwhile, other German firms have provided Iraq with the technology it needs to make missile parts. Mr. Blix's recent finding that Iraq is trying to enlarge the diameter of its missiles to a size capable of delivering nuclear weapons would not be feasible without this technology transfer.

Russia has long been a major supplier of conventional armaments to Iraq--yet again at exorbitant prices. Even the Kalashnikov rifles used by the Iraqi forces are sold to Iraq at several times the price of comparable guns sold by other suppliers.

Hmm....

So I guess England and the "White people" are not only ones displeased by Mugabe's dictatorship, er, sorry, rule.

Zimbabwe pair make brave stand - smh.com.au

By Alex Brown in Johannesburg
February 11 2003

Andy Flower and Henry Olonga undertook the bravest stand in World Cup history on Monday, sporting black armbands in protest at Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's oppressive regime for their opening World Cup match against Namibia.

Flower, the former Zimbabwean skipper, and Olonga, the national squad's first black player, surprised tournament organisers when they released a joint statement 30 minutes prior to taking the field in Harare, stating they would wear the armbands throughout the tournament.

All hail UN!!!

Shame on the UN, but then of course, if they weren't ashamed by the elections of Gaddhafi and Saddam to the Human Rights and disarmament commissions, I don't think they are capable of shame.

Bosnia sex trade shames UN

A SENIOR United Nations official is demanding that her colleagues involved in the sex trade in Bosnia should be stripped of their immunity and prosecuted.

Madeleine Rees, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bosnia, has broken ranks to demand that UN officials, international peacekeepers and police who are involved in sex crimes be brought to justice in their home countries.

Cool!

Did the Swiss design Stonehenge?

LONDON, Feb. 10 — Stonehenge, the renowned and mysterious ancient monument seen as symbol of Britain, may actually be a marvel of Swiss or German engineering.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS STUDYING the remains of a wealthy archer found in a 4,000-year-old grave exhumed last year near the renowned landmark said Monday that he was originally from the Alps region, probably modern-day Switzerland, Austria or Germany.

You tell them!

SMCCDI: European Union Must Put a Stop to Duplicity!

While the tyrannical religious government in Iran, in line with its merciless violations of human rights and suppression of any freethinking voices within its own society, continues to pursue fundamentalist anti-national turmoil and continues to support terrorism on the diplomatic scene in the region; while the dark-thinking religious zealots of Hezbollah continue to plunder the national wealth and destroy all the proverbial columns of civilization in Iran, the EU countries, in pursuit of their short term economic self-interest, continue to persist in their duplicitous support of the Islamic Republic.

This anti-Iranian policy is actually a political shield for defending inequitable economic contracts on the one hand, and a tool for European strategy to counter the Atlantic Pact within the framework of the new world order on the other hand. Such a policy will not only encourage the Islamic Republic rulers to shamelessly continue their fascist policies in the short term, but will also make the EU a partner-- more so than before-- in the crimes of this inhumane and undemocratic regime, both domestically and internationally, in the long term.

I am dumb-struck!

This shuttle was carrying among others, Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-American lady.

Report: Shuttle crashes in Texas

SPACE CENTER, Houston, Feb. 1 Â? The space shuttle Columbia exploded over central Texas on Saturday soon after reentering the atmosphere en route to a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NBC Dallas affiliate KXAS reported. Video images obtained by the station showed the doomed shuttle descending at a severe trajectory and breaking apart as it plummeted to Earth. Officials in Texas dispatched search and rescue teams to the town of Palestine, southeast of Waco, the presumed point of impact. NASA, not yet confirming a disaster, announced it would hold a news conference shortly.

Is the UN dead?

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.

I am not sure.....

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.

Pop Quiz

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.

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.

Oh, No!

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.

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.

Duh?!

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.

Don't mess with Pak

Islamabad, Oct 15
Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has lashed out at European Union observers' flaying of his controversial changes to Pakistan's constitution, the country's official news agency reported on Tuesday.

"Cushanan should have confined his remarks to the holding of the national elections," Musharraf was quoted as saying by the state Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) at the end of a three-day trip to Istanbul.

"He had no business to interfere in the international affairs of Pakistan."

Pro-Taliban alliance makes major gains in Pak election

I don't really know what to think of this story - on one side there is a megalomaniacal dictator who almost brought the two coountries (India and Pakistan) to the brink of an all-out war, and on the other hand we have the Islamic fundamentalists. I guess as long as Pakistan is Pakistan and it's people dont change more fundamentally, India's fate is going to be "damned if you do and damned if you dont".

No Israelis need apply

No Israelis need apply

Meryl Yourish writes about anti-semitism in Ireland -

Over in Ireland, Israeli tourists have been told to stay home.
   "Ma'ariv correspondent Arik Bender tried make a reservation with Killarney Lakeland Cottages in Muckross, Ireland, but the cottage's owner, Brian O'Shea, told Bender that his request was denied. "We are sorry, but we are not accepting bookings from Israeli citizens due to the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government," the e-mail stated. "We realize and abhor the suicide bombings also but feel that Mr Sharon's policy is unwise, unhelpful, and counterproductive." "

Free countries and the not so free

Suman Palit has a post showing a map of the world with the "free" countries, "partly free" countries and "not free" countries marked out. Interesting is the fact that the color GREEN was used to represent the "partly free" countries.....(Hint: Green is also the color of the "religion of peace")
Freedom is a shrinking place on earth

Temple burnt, idols destroyed in Bangladesh

Temple burnt, idols destroyed in Bangladesh

In the northern area of Kishoreganj, a temple was set ablaze and badly damaged Saturday. A leaflet left behind called for an end to "idol worship" and for a mosque to be built in the temple's place, the Sangbad newspaper reported.
One day later, a group destroyed statues of deities, made ahead of the major Hindu festival of Durga Puja on Thursday, in Narayanganj near the capital Dhaka.

So, where are the rampaging mobs trying to avenge the destruction of their worship place and trying to kill as many non-believers as possible - Oh, I forgot, mosques are the only holy places that should never be demolished - all other places of worship are fair game.

Muslims "mad" again!

Muslims "mad"...again!

Note this in an article on BBC about how Iranians are mad some inane comments by Jerry Falwell -
"This insult to the holy Prophet Mohammed by a Christian priest is part of a propaganda war by the US mass media and the Zionists," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said.

Those damn Zionists! They sure do influence a lot of people, don't they! How do you get to Zionists from Jerry Falwell, is something that I really don't understand... now that I think about it, I don't think I want to know.

UN and the World

Earth Summit benefited the rich: no relief to poor

Outraged...yawn!

Malaysia outraged at US 'insult' to Dy PM

Compare and contrast the comments in the sme story from the Malaysian Prime Minister -
Malaysia accused the United States of "anti-Muslim hysteria" on Tuesday after it was revealed that the deputy prime minister had to remove his shoes for a security check on arrival in Los Angeles.
"Of course I'm upset -- I'm not a thief, I'm not a terrorist," Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters in response to a question about the US having placed Malaysia on a list of 15 states regarded as "terrorist-risk" countries.

"There is already a general anti-Muslim hysteria. Because of the acts of a few people the whole Muslim world seems to have been labelled as they have to be checked to ensure that they are not terrorists," said 76-year-old Mahathir, who has led Malaysia for 21 years.

and from a "ruling party lawmaker" -
Abdullah was subjected to the treatment on September 16 as he headed for New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, ruling party lawmaker Zulhasnan Rafique told Parliament.

He called for similar treatment of US leaders and VIPs when they arrive in this mainly-Muslim Southeast Asian nation.

to those of the Deputy Prime Minister, the actual person who went through the shoe-search ordeal -
Abdullah, however, downplayed the incident, which he said took place at his port of entry to the US in Los Angeles before he flew on to New York. "I was going through a metal detector and suddenly the alarm went off and I had to take off my shoes. But in other places there was no noise and I did not have to take off my shoes," he told reporters on Tuesday.

He said he had seen pilots and "so many people" also having to take off their shoes, adding that Malaysian ministers would continue to visit the US on official business and for UN meetings.

Another gun attack in Pakistan

This time in a girls' school, no less. Fortunately, only one girl seems to have been injured and none killed - CNN.com - Gun attack on Pakistan girls' school