tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111930312024-02-28T07:05:22.457-08:00eCriticsSome news catches my eyes and makes me think. I either support or oppose the views.
Passion: Bangladesh, Bangla, Dhaka, California, United States, Muslims, IslamUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-71787737398909876662009-08-08T12:31:00.001-07:002009-08-08T12:31:20.059-07:00FW: China's Public Enemy[Here is a very good article on Rebiya Kadeer, once `China's fifth richest person`, now only an exile activist for her people. I hope you will enjoy it.]<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574334482235596544.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574334482235596544.html</a><p>China's Public Enemy <br>The alleged instigator of the Uighur riots doesn't talk like a terrorist. Demonizing her may backfire on Beijing.<br>Article Comments (26) more in Opinion »Email Printer <br>By HUGO RESTALL <br>Washington, D.C.<p>Rebiya Kadeer is undergoing a Chinese version of George Orwell's "Two Minutes Hate." Separatist, extremist, terrorist-China's state-run media has pulled out the rhetorical big guns to put her beyond the pale of civilized society. By condemning her as the mastermind of last month's riots that killed 197 people in the northwest region of Xinjiang, Beijing has transformed an exiled businesswoman and dissident into public enemy No. 1 for 1.3 billion people.<p>Even Ms. Kadeer's family in China has joined the campaign-under duress, she says. After blaming her for the loss of innocent lives, several of her children and other relatives exhorted her in an open letter, "Don't destroy the stable and happy life in Xinjiang. Don't follow the provocation from some people in other countries." In scenes reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, the signatories have appeared on state television to publicly disavow Ms. Kadeer.<p>This blood-stained image is hard to reconcile with the diminutive grandmother, dressed modestly in black, who bustles about a cramped, U.S. government-funded office a block from the White House. Ms. Kadeer may be hated by many Chinese, but the president of the World Uighur Congress inspires admiration among the nine million ethnically Turkish Uighurs in Xinjiang and two million-strong diaspora. An indication of why she inspires such strong emotions comes as she responds to the first question; she speaks with a startling intensity, perching on the edge of a folding chair.<p>First of all, Ms. Kadeer denies she instigated the July 5 protests in her home town of Urumqi: "I did not tell them to come out on that day or that particular time to protest. It was the six decade-long repression that has driven them to protest."<p>Ms. Kadeer's own life is a graphic illustration of that repression's ebb and flow. In the 1980s and early '90s, she and her fellow Uighurs benefited from Deng Xiaoping's loosening of controls in all areas of life. Like business pioneers around the country, she overcame obstacles created by Chinese officialdom to build a market stall into a business empire encompassing retail, real estate and international trade.<p>View Full Image<p>Zina Saunders<br> Just as difficult was overcoming the Uighur community's resistance to the idea of a woman taking the lead. Ms. Kadeer's nickname was djahangir, a word of Persian origin meaning one who pushes forward regardless of the consequences.<p>The Uighurs are a fiercely independent people who have eked out a living in the arid Central Asian lands along ancient caravan routes and converted to Islam in the 15th century. During the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), China's Manchu rulers managed to subjugate the Uighurs and other local tribes but had to fight off periodic revolts. After the collapse of the empire, the region briefly became the East Turkestan Republic before falling under the thumb of Mao's People's Republic. Many Uighurs still harbor dreams of eventual independence.<p>Once Ms. Kadeer succeeded in business, both the Communist Party and the Uighurs embraced her as a leader. In the mid-1990s she became China's fifth richest person, and the party gave her a seat in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, part of the country's rubber-stamp legislature.<p>But the tide was already turning against the Uighurs and other minorities. New policies and appointees from Beijing led to campaigns to assimilate the Uighurs and root out all dissent. That prompted Ms. Kadeer to make a fateful choice about where her true loyalties lay. She became increasingly outspoken about policies preventing Uighurs from sharing in the fruits of economic development. Finally, in March 1997, she gave an impassioned speech before the legislature enumerating the burdens faced by her people. <p>Immediately the party struck back. It took away Ms. Kadeer's positions, then destroyed her businesses. Having once held her up as a model citizen, the official media tossed her accomplishments down the memory hole. Her rise from rags to riches is now said to be the result of "economic crimes," including tax evasion and swindles. In 2000, a court sent her to prison for divulging "state secrets" for trying to send newspaper clippings to her exiled husband in the U.S. In 2005 she was allowed to emigrate to the U.S. in return for a promise not to engage in politics, a promise she promptly broke.<p>Now Ms. Kadeer is trying to garner support for the Uighurs from that most elusive of friends, the "international community." Even as other parts of China continue to liberalize, she says, repression is intensifying in Xinjiang. She explains, for example, that there is new pressure to use Chinese rather than the Uighur language: "Even during the Mao years, he was a brutal dictator of course, but at least the Uighur people spoke their own language, and at least the Uighurs were free to live in their own courtyards." Today, the government is flooding the region with Chinese immigrants, making the Uighurs a minority in their own homeland. <p>Uighurs face discrimination in education, employment, religion and even the ability to move around the country or travel abroad. Farmers are losing their small plots of land and being forced into the cities. Downtown Kashgar, the Uighurs' cultural capital, is being demolished to make way for Chinese-owned real-estate developments.<p>But the final straw may have been a measure ostensibly designed to alleviate poverty: "Now the authorities force young, unmarried women to go to eastern China to work as cheap labor in sweatshops," Ms. Kadeer says. "And this is a really provocative policy because it is against Uighur people's culture, religion and way of life to send their unmarried daughters to far-away places they themselves have never heard of. This policy has tremendously backfired."<p>One such deportation (villages are required to fill a quota) provided the spark for the July 5 protests. In April, some 400 Uighur men and women were sent to work in a toy factory in the town of Shaoguan in Guangdong province. At the end of June, after a disgruntled Chinese worker circulated a rumor that the Uighurs had raped Chinese women, a mob killed at least two of the outsiders.<p>Video of the riot quickly circulated on the Internet within Xinjiang, along with comments by Chinese that more Uighurs should be killed, while the authorities failed to announce measures to bring those responsible to justice. The city of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, become a powder keg of discontent.<p>According to Chinese accounts, protests began at around 5 p.m. on July 5 in the center of Urumqi and only turned violent more than three hours later. Whether or not this shift was sparked by the police attacking protesters remains in dispute. What cannot be disputed is that Uighur rioters killed Chinese, smashed windows, and burned cars in a shocking orgy of violence.<p><br>The intensity of the anger says much about the pent-up resentment of the population, and seems to have taken the authorities by surprise: "After six decades of repression Chinese officials had become confident they had control, and they were shocked at how quickly they lost control," Ms. Kadeer says. "They realized what six decades of repression and fake autonomy could lead people to, and of course that's the failure of their policies . . ." The Party's unwillingness to accept that failure meant it needed Ms. Kadeer as a scapegoat.<p>The best evidence Ms. Kadeer did not instigate the riots paradoxically comes from the Chinese themselves. A documentary provided by the Foreign Ministry entitled "July 5th Riot and Rebiya Kadeer" makes it clear the Chinese were listening to Ms. Kadeer's phone conversations to China and Europe. The most damning evidence the government propagandists could come up with is that she telephoned her relatives in Xinjiang to warn them that something big was brewing.<p>It seems more likely the protests were organized among residents of Urumqi using cell phones and the Internet. Immediately afterward, the government shut down all telecommunications and is only now reopening the networks.<p>Ms. Kadeer denies having the ability to orchestrate events within Xinjiang, but she freely admits that she maintains contact with family members and friends. "Of course we have some influence, but we did not influence what took place. There is no organization there."<p>Two of her sons have been jailed, she says, in a bid to stop her from speaking out. "Because the Chinese government failed to silence me by imprisoning them, now they are blaming me for the protests to silence my voice in the world."<p>The same documentary contains a disturbing clip of Ms. Kadeer's forced confession on the eve of her release in 2005, a scene reminiscent of the war crimes confessions of American soldiers captured by the Chinese during the Korean War: "My motherland is like my parents. I was born after the Liberation, the Communist Party is an eternal benefactor. Whoever seeks to separate his country will be the enemy of his nation. . . ."<p>The government's insistence that any dissent is equivalent to separatism, which in turn is evidence of terrorism, explains why Uighurs have been driven to such desperation. "When Uighurs who are not happy about policies stand up to say something," Ms. Kadeer explains, "the Chinese label them as terrorists, separatists or extremists, and arrest them and in some cases execute them." <p>Yet she does not rule out Xinjiang remaining part of the Chinese state-so long as Uighurs have self-rule within a democratic polity.<p>Demonizing Ms. Kadeer as a separatist may end up backfiring on Beijing. Uighurs had failed to attract as much international support as Tibetans because they lacked a figure like the Dalai Lama to speak on their behalf. Now they have a spokeswoman who is attracting angry démarches from Chinese diplomats as she travels the world.<p>In the last couple weeks she has visited Tokyo and Melbourne, Australia. In Melbourne she spoke at a film festival where a documentary about her life, "The 10 Conditions of Love," was shown for the first time. After Beijing failed to convince festival organizers to withdraw the documentary, Chinese filmmakers withdrew their own movies in a move widely seen as government-orchestrated.<p>Ms. Kadeer is not phased by the pressure, and indeed her stubbornness is again coming to the fore. She seems to have drawn a lesson from the failure of the Dalai Lama's softly, softly approach: Beijing only respects strength. She is determined to stir the pot, not turn the other cheek, in order to force China to the negotiating table.<p>Asked whether Uighurs should wait for the advent of democracy in China, she answers that by that time they may have lost their cultural identity. As difficult as it may be, the onus is on her and other Uighurs abroad to pressure the Chinese government into talks on greater autonomy: "I urge peace to the Uighurs," she says, "they should remain peaceful no matter what happens, because the Chinese government will use any excuse to further crack down on them. So it is up to us, it is our responsibility to negotiate with the Chinese government to resolve the situation on the ground."<p><br>But the immediate outlook for the Uighurs looks bleak. as China's top government official, Nur Bekri, has promised to crack down with an "iron hand." Ms. Kadeer claims that 10,000 Uighurs were rounded up after the violence.<p>Perhaps even more frightening is the way in which the government's efforts to obscure the real roots of the riots are stirring up Chinese nationalism. The day after the Urumqi protests, a Chinese mob took to the streets looking for Uighurs. "The . . . Chinese government is indoctrinating its own people with ultranationalism," Ms. Kadeer says. "It used to be the security forces arresting and killing Uighurs. Now it is the Chinese mobs themselves [who] are after Uighurs, both in Shaoguan and Urumqi. They know they can kill Uighurs and the police will turn a blind eye and just say it is a clash between peoples."<p>Perhaps the worst-case scenario for China is the possibility that some other individual will emerge as the "mastermind" of the Uighur movement. As a religiously moderate and largely secular figure, Ms. Kadeer is somebody Beijing might negotiate with. <p>But Beijing's efforts to portray resistance in Xinjiang as another front in the war on terror could become a self-fulfilling prophecy if Islamic fundamentalism takes root among the restive Uighurs and the global forces of jihad begin to target China. The need to avert that tragedy is the best argument for China to acknowledge its past mistakes in Xinjiang and end the campaign to demonize Rebiya Kadeer. <p>Mr. Restall is the editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review and a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-47177554966330556152009-04-03T14:53:00.000-07:002009-04-03T14:54:02.119-07:00Our begums and their hair pulling still continuesYou would think that enough has happened in the past two years and with all that is happening in the country, our begums (I call them our Pharaohs) might have superior things to do. Yet the `chul tana tani` continues.<p>None was to be surprised to see that the things in grand scale have not change a bit. With return of the Pharaohs to the throne, there come all the monsters crawling back to the capital. Some came just before the elections. Others, relatively more decorative monsters, came just after the election from their hiding place overseas. This was long predicted, no bingo moment there.<p><br>Even so, what's up with this petty leg pulling? Or Should I say girl's hair pulling fight? In local language it is called `chul tana tani`. <p><br>Apparently, over 300 roaring voice (or should I say ba ba) with over 90% majority in the parliament is not enough. Seeing two golden boys of her twin Pharaoh feeding away from country (in local language it is called `desh chara`) in their own merits is not enough. Must she be evicted from the home with memories of her late husband?<p><br>I hope this is just a girl fight. I hope this is not any deeper then that. I am very optimistic, but I have to confess that things are not looking good. Some are already seeing the Deja Vu of 1973 election. Here we see another Sheikh, another election with ultimate majority. Will Bangladesh face the same old fate? We will see.<p><br>Babu Solaiman<p><br>[In the news]<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jV7QZLkGTlgfTHaBmwDMBr3BaHwA">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jV7QZLkGTlgfTHaBmwDMBr3BaHwA</a><p>Bangladesh PM threatens to evict archrival<p>DHAKA (AFP) - Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken her feud with nemesis Khaleda Zia to a new level by threatening to evict the former premier from her home.<p>The two women, who have ruled the nation alternately for almost two decades, are frequently referred to as the "battling begums" for their longstanding personal animosity.<p>Hasina, who came to power with a landslide victory in December elections, told parliament late Wednesday that Zia was living in her house illegally.<p>"I will request her to leave her house in the (army) cantonment in Dhaka," the premier said.<p>"No member of parliament, no leader of the opposition should live in the cantonment. She should not keep the house ignoring the law. She should leave the house willingly."<p>The government would build apartments in the grounds around the house and give the homes to families of army officers who were slain in the February mutiny at another military base in the capital, Hasina said.<p>Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has lived in the army base since 1981 after her husband Ziaur Rahman, a former military chief and then president, was killed in an attempted coup.<p>Before the recent elections, Bangladesh was ruled for two years by a military-backed government which jailed both Hasina and Zia for a year on charges of corruption.<p>They were released on bail in deals with the army to ensure they took part in the elections.<p>The army took control because squabbling between their party supporters degenerated into deadly street violence.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-60576095680899032632009-03-24T22:32:00.001-07:002009-03-24T22:32:20.733-07:00The tax deductible debate: I am sold, how about you?<div class=Section1> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>When the idea first surfaced by WH, like many I was skeptical at least, stunned almost. You know that news about how ultra rich folks can get tax deduction on their charitable contribution. Obama wants to cut short the amount you can deduct by limiting the effective percentage of the contribution you can deduct. I was skeptical thinking about possible negative impact that may have on the amount those people will be contributing. Not fully, but almost stun thinking about how outraged our friends in the wrong side (not the right side, lol) with a big wallet will be. You know, people like Carly Fiorina. Of course, I was equally stunned when, just before 2008 election, she demanded absolution of progressive taxing system that we have for so long. Forget rollback of bush tax cut for the rich, she wants her tax rate to be same as Joe the fake plumber. So any tax cut or roll back issue, her dumb friends in Foxy Noise would argue “well, rich get more tax cut because they gave more tax in the first place”. I say, well, what gave “in the first place” is what we call progressive tax. That is well settle reality, there is no point going there. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>But today in presidential press conference, Obama was asked the very same question. I had to shift focus from playing with my two year old to TV screen. Obama’s answer was to the point and in plain English, almost custom made just for me. Basically his point is, if Warren Buffet and his secretary both donate $100 to Red Cross, why would Warren Buffet get 39 dollars of it back, while his secretary get only say 20 dollars back? That is not fare, is that? I am sold by his argument. How about you?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>Here is Obama's little long answer on the question from Politico's Mike Allen. Okay, I know, it is kind of long. By now we are getting used to this type of extended press conference form our new president. I know, he is trying to sell his product, but never the less I am enjoying it. It is better to here from the man in charge than those pundits in the Pandora box.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>QUESTION: Mr. President, are you -- (takes mic) -- thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Are you reconsidering your plan to cut the interest-rate deduction for mortgages and for charities? And do you regret having proposed that in the first place?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>PRESIDENT OBAMA: No, I think it’s -- I think it’s the right thing to do.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>Where we’ve got to make some difficult choices -- here’s what we did with respect to tax policy. What we said was that over the last decade, the average worker, the average family have seen their wages and incomes flat. Even at times where supposedly we were in the middle of an economic boom, as a practical matter their incomes didn’t go up. And so (what/well ?) we said -- let’s give them a tax cut. Let’s give them some relief, some help -- 95 percent of American families.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>Now, for the top 5 percent, they’re the ones who typically saw huge gains in their income. I -- I fall in that category. And what we’ve said is, for those folks, let’s not renew the Bush tax cuts. So let’s go back to the rates that existed back in -- during the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:City> era, when wealthy people were still wealthy and doing just fine. And let’s look at the level at which people can itemize their deductions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>And what we’ve said is let’s go back to the rate that existed under Ronald Reagan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>People are still going to be able to make charitable contributions. It just means if you give $100 and you’re in this tax bracket, at a certain point, instead of being able to write off 36 (percent) or 39 percent, you’re writing off 28 percent. Now, if it’s really a charitable contribution, I’m assuming that that shouldn’t be the determining factor as to whether you’re giving that hundred dollars to the homeless shelter down the street.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>And so this provision would effect about 1 percent of the American people. They would still get deductions. It’s just that they wouldn’t be able to write off 39 percent. In that sense, what it would do is it would equalize. When I give $100, I get the same amount of deduction as when some -- a bus driver who’s making $50,000 a year or $40,000 a year gives that same hundred dollars. Right now, he gets 28 percent -- he gets to write off 28 percent, I get to write off 39 percent. I don’t think that’s fair.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>So I think this was a good idea. I think it is a realistic way for us to raise some revenue from people who benefitted enormously over the last several years. It’s not going to cripple them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>They’ll still be well-to-do. And, you know, ultimately if we’re going to tackle the serious problems that we’ve got, then in some cases those who are more fortunate are going to have to pay a little bit more.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>Full transcript:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'>http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/obama.news.conference.transcript/index.html<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Cheers<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 color=black face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Babu<o:p></o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> <p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size: 10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p> </div> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-76493830150579488202009-03-20T11:39:00.001-07:002009-03-20T11:39:06.938-07:00Excerpts from the Conversation on Kashmir with Arundhati RoyHere are some excerpts from the "Conversation on Kashmir with Arundhati Roy", an interview aired on February 4, 2009.<p>"I don't know if I need to keep on saying this because everyone knows it now, but still, for the record-more than half a million soldiers in the valley of Kashmir, which somebody in America wrote saying it was the equivalent of the entire U.S. Army and the entire Marine Corps deployed in Minnesota, sort of like that; 165,000 American soldiers in Iraq. Between 500,000 and 700,000 Indian security personnel in the valley of Kashmir."<p>"A lot of even liberal Indians say that the polls were free and fair. First of all, the first question you have to ask yourself is, when you have that kind of a densely deployed army, can you have free and fair elections? Is it at all possible?"<p>"In fact, the day I left Kashmir all these defeated independent candidates were having a press conference in this restaurant called Ahdoo's talking about how they had all been paid by the Intelligence Bureau sums of money to stand for election, and then some of them weren't given that money, so now they are disgruntled."<p>"But, then again, I don't think that it will always be possible to manage it, because eventually I do think that the price of holding down the Kashmir valley, which was being paid mostly by Indian soldiers, who are mostly poor people from India who don't count, was suddenly being paid by the Indian elite in five-star hotels in Bombay. That puts a totally different spin on things."<p>"It makes us complicit in the holding down by military force of a people, it makes us complicit in the propaganda, it makes us complicit in the lies. And eventually it makes us people who are unable to look things in the eye."<p><br>"So if you were to question the average Indian, the only thing they know is that there are terrorists in Kashmir. They wouldn't be able to tell you that 60,000 or 70,000 people have died in this war. They wouldn't be able to tell you about the dubious morality of India holding on to this place. They say Kashmir is an atut ang, which means an inseparable limb of India."<p><br>"And I did sense that there wasn't any possibility of the Indian state-and it's wrong for me to just say the Indian state, because Indian society in places like Gujarat and Maharashtra or even in Bombay-to continue to marginalize such a vast majority-only in India can 150 million people be a minority, 150 million Muslims in India-and to continue to bulldoze this population in Kashmir. Eventually all that can come out of it is destruction. All that come out of it is people wanting to take you down with them. If you push them to a stage where there is no possibility of any access to justice, even if 99% of them decide to put their heads down and suffer, 1% is enough to destroy life as you knew it."<p><br>Conversation on Kashmir with Arundhati Roy and David Barsamian<br><a href="http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2009/0509.html">http://www.radioproject.org/archive/2009/0509.html</a><p>Full transcript:<br><a href="http://www.radioproject.org/transcript/2009/0509.html">http://www.radioproject.org/transcript/2009/0509.html</a><p>Audio:<br><a href="http://www.radioproject.org/sound/MakingCon_090204.mp3">http://www.radioproject.org/sound/MakingCon_090204.mp3</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-38553495540744430352009-03-10T13:08:00.001-07:002009-03-10T13:08:36.788-07:00The rush to `resist the effort to group us`By now you probably came across some of the media lambo jumbo on Rush Limbaugh, the presumed `head of republicans party` or at least the `conservatives`. Not too bad, what you say? After Sharah the dumber and Joe the fake plumber, what else do you get?<p>However, one thing he said gave me a re-look on the whole idea about these `conservatives` or so called `religious right`.<p>On defining conservatives, Rush has said following.<p>"But we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us."<p>Later I found out, this is one of the core ideas behind conservatism. The conservative individualist philosophy is a conservative worldview that glorifies hyper-individualism.<p>As he said "when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups".<p><br>Some times we get confuse on how I can define me. Are we conservative or liberal? Are we conservative leaning or liberal leaning? Especially when you mix few sprinkle of religion on the mix, it become very confusing. Or that is what I thought!<p>So conservatives love the idea of individuals and want to `resist the effort to group us`. Wow! That is a polar opposite on where I stand.<p>That is not what my leader told us. Instead, in his last sermon, he told us that we are like brothers to each other. He told us that we from one brotherhood.<p>That is not what my God told us. Instead, He told us that we all are in a single entity, `a single brotherhood` (21:92) and (49:10). He told us that we `are protectors and supporters one of another` (9:71). He warn us by saying `be not like those who are divided amongst themselves` (3:105)<p><br>So, dare to be in `We resist the effort to group us`? That's your choice.<p>Thanks,<br>BabuUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-38214533707561478082009-03-09T18:18:00.001-07:002009-03-09T18:18:29.612-07:00ClimateWire's Flooding, Food and Climate Change in BangladeshLISA FRIEDMAN is writing a series of stories on Bangladesh and climate migration for ClimateWire. Here are some excerpts from first two installments of that series.<p>Thanks,<br>Babu<p><br>Bangladesh endures ugly experiments in 'nature's laboratory'<br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/03/09/09climatewire-ugly-experiments-in-natures-laboratory-10035.html">http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/03/09/09climatewire-ugly-experiments-in-natures-laboratory-10035.html</a><p><br>"Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries on earth, has almost no control over the cause. Here, the average person emits about 0.3 tons of carbon dioxide each year -- compared to about 20 tons annually for the average American."<p>"But when it comes to seeing the effects of climate change, Bangladesh has a ringside seat."<p>"Already, hydrologists in Bangladesh say, catastrophic floods that once were expected every 20 years are happening almost every four years."<p><br>The road from growing rice to raising shrimp to misery<br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/03/09/09climatewire-the-road-from-growing-rice-to-raising-shrimp-10034.html">http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/03/09/09climatewire-the-road-from-growing-rice-to-raising-shrimp-10034.html</a><p>"Water risks are a part of life in this low-lying country dominated by the reaches of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers. But scientists and environmental activists said the September flood, which happened during a lunar high tide, was deeply unusual for the time of year."<p>"For many years, floods have been bringing saline water further inland, destroying the rice fields that once sustained the villages. Shrimp farms, many built with World Bank investment, have rapidly replaced the rice paddies."<p>"But residents say the shrimp farms employ a fraction of the people needed to harvest rice. At the same time, a cheap form of food, rice, is being replaced with a pricey one. The Bangladesh government earns more than $400 million annually in shrimp exports, but few Bengalis can afford to eat it themselves."<p>"Now villagers in Gabura and parts of flood-prone southwest Bangladesh say it might finally be time to leave for good. Dozens of families interviewed along the coast said they have lived the close-knit village life for generations, and they're familiar with the rhythm of temporarily moving along when things get bad. The difference now, they say, is that brothers, husbands and uncles are leaving for the cities in greater numbers than ever before -- and this time, they're not coming home."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-59440265743677059732009-03-08T21:01:00.001-07:002009-03-08T21:06:44.323-07:00Breaking news: 2 more army officer killed in helicopter crash in TangailI did not see the whole news yet. Bangladeshi cable TV channel is showing text news in the bottom of the screen. <p><br />Army helicopter crashed in Tangail. Three army officers killed. Two of them are Major General Rafiqul Islam (GOC of Jessore) and lieutenant colonel Shahid. <p>Okay, now it is showing: Two army officer killed and one taken to the hospital. <p>Is this the beginning of the end? <p>Thanks,<br />Babu</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-40072662882942745402009-03-05T19:22:00.000-08:002009-03-08T11:41:50.490-07:00Sorry that we did not help you<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosvN7hAEQ3AkMDKfDNQjui9KqyCW_1d7LEQn_NxpR02_RC0q0677Jxh8q2eV9tU32HU8gTho2APtSXNO3IDI60XQua_ZiDbNKpwSxv9VPj6LWs6iRbqEELjS3TTSDxSPFaBdv4A/s1600-h/bdr3-750462.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310157334102302754" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjosvN7hAEQ3AkMDKfDNQjui9KqyCW_1d7LEQn_NxpR02_RC0q0677Jxh8q2eV9tU32HU8gTho2APtSXNO3IDI60XQua_ZiDbNKpwSxv9VPj6LWs6iRbqEELjS3TTSDxSPFaBdv4A/s320/bdr3-750462.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYWl8RBBwpW3TXtUnPl-mIua8b3vFf4-J-6fabxiXQExt6FY037sKuH8ZhZgb7FTFD82MrH3Qm9LFoMi5AVYzZfyjnKKmxl8S1y9NXOLByNsWHUFh5u4U-JVrj0jWV8mFsgboEQ/s1600-h/bdr1-751382.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310157342265592434" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYWl8RBBwpW3TXtUnPl-mIua8b3vFf4-J-6fabxiXQExt6FY037sKuH8ZhZgb7FTFD82MrH3Qm9LFoMi5AVYzZfyjnKKmxl8S1y9NXOLByNsWHUFh5u4U-JVrj0jWV8mFsgboEQ/s320/bdr1-751382.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntEd6Ccf4ipKupCKPlslcq_xplDMb0qgr5NRY3KFVSO_7hQHWk9VYPRHf3PqgQ2xGFOcpVfKDYm6AsfBIDZulzQZdjzDIngB6GlLwTM7fqC4Q0bkC0mCkmSj0LuD9dSuzSN-ung/s1600-h/bdr2-752144.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310157343324720946" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntEd6Ccf4ipKupCKPlslcq_xplDMb0qgr5NRY3KFVSO_7hQHWk9VYPRHf3PqgQ2xGFOcpVfKDYm6AsfBIDZulzQZdjzDIngB6GlLwTM7fqC4Q0bkC0mCkmSj0LuD9dSuzSN-ung/s320/bdr2-752144.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div class="Section1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">When we were threatened and ask your help<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">You put your life in the line<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">You came to rescue us<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">But when you were threatened inside that building,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">And ask for `our` help<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">We did n0t go;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">No one went in to rescue you<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">We played politics</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">SORRY<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">Justice? <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">Hmm, how could we talk of justice with any confidence?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">We are under the rules of Pharaohs<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">We seek justice from no one, but God Almighty<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">And be sure, He will provide<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;">Please forgive us<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-61937331286097139652009-02-24T18:55:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:25:46.458-08:00Dude, Where's My 'Alubokhra'?It's funny that I just started reading "Dude, Where's My Country?" by Michael Moore. (Yeah, I know, kind of late). With all my luck, here come this news. I wonder, what would Mr Moore have faced? Good thing he only wrote about `the leader of the free world`. Better yet, good thing that he wrote it in here, not there. Don't you think? <p>Thanks,<br /><p>------------ --------- --------- --------- -<br /><p>'Alubokhra'?Amar Desh 2009/02/24 (First page)<br /><a href="http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=213178&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&VJF=QBZRZZFZ&oldIssueID=2009/02/24">http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=213178&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&VJF=QBZRZZFZ&oldIssueID=2009/02/24</a></p><p><br /><br />Bangladesh official loses plum job over fruit jibe<br />"Bangladesh' s top information official was sacked Monday for ridiculing the country's founding leader in a poem which compared him to a dried plum"<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5icULUoHMVHS-S3q6q8OsFOfrzd0g">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5icULUoHMVHS-S3q6q8OsFOfrzd0g</a></p><p><br /><br />Bangladesh on Monday sacked its top information official for penning a poem comparing the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to a "dried<br />plum".<br /><br />Newspaper published excerpts from his 2006 poem that compared Rahman with a "dried plum"<br /><br />The publisher of the book has already closed its outlet at the annual Ekushey Book Fair on the Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka.<br /><br />Bangladesh sacks official for alleged remarks against Mujibur<br />23 Feb 2009<br /><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Bangladesh-sacks-official-foralleged-remarks-against-Mujibur/articleshow/4179153.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Bangladesh-sacks-official-foralleged-remarks-against-Mujibur/articleshow/4179153.cms</a></p><p><br /><br />Two sedition cases were filed yesterday against the force-retired information secretary on charges of writing a satirical verse on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members and publishing malicious remarks subversive to the state.<br /><br />One case was also filed against the publisher of the book 'Baganey Phutey Achhey Anek Golap', accusing him of publishing a controversial book about a great leader and his family.<br /><br />In the book, the writer referred to Bangabandhu as Latifur Rahman and also called him 'Alubokhra' (plum), he referred to Sheikh Kamal as Kamalakoli, Sheikh Jamal as Jamtoli and Sheikh Russel as Roskoli, the complainant said.<br /><br /><br />(No respite for Abu Karim, Wednesday, February 25, 2009)<br /><a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=77353">http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=77353</a></p><p><br /><br />(Amar Desh, 2009/02/25 First page)<br /><a href="http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=213355&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&GCT=AVNBHWKT">http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=213355&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&GCT=AVNBHWKT</a></p><p><br /> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-23432869745324985232009-02-23T12:17:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:09:58.419-08:00What's for dinner? Ask Dipu and HasanWhat's for dinner? Ask Dipu and Hasan. It looks like they are cooking up something. I hope it will be delicious. <p>Is Bangladesh backtracking from long held position? Are we willingly and foolishly admitting (without any sort of intelligence) that BD is involved? I remember when THE ADVISOR of current Prime Minister visited bay area few years back. He said Bangladesh is involved in almost all of the international T activity. Is this the implementation of that theory? <p>"Bangladeshi minister for foreign affairs Hassan Mahmud has hinted that terrorists, who launched the November 26 Mumbai attacks, may have<br />used Bangladeshi soil." What? <p><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2611-Bangladesh-minister-hints-at-Dhaka-link/articleshow/4155682.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2611-Bangladesh-minister-hints-at-Dhaka-link/articleshow/4155682.cms</a> <p><br />Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni is comparing Bangladesh-to-India with Mexico-to-USA. What? She is also giving up a long held position of Bangladesh on push-in issue.<br /><a href="http://ibnlive.in.com/news/stopping-illegal-migration-to-india-tough-bangladesh/85558-2.html">http://ibnlive.in.com/news/stopping-illegal-migration-to-india-tough-bangladesh/85558-2.html</a> <p>Few days back, Dipu Moni has agreed that Banladesh is a buffer state of Pakistan. AL spokesperson later tried to undermine that issue by saying Dipu may not have understood what a buffer state is. Give me a break. I am from her constituency. I can assure you with full confidence, what ever she might be, she is not a dumb girl. No sir, she is not. <p>I see a consistent propaganda from BD's own ministry (what used to be India's talking point). Is BD's Foreign Ministry now India's forward taking point? <p>Bangladesh's position in international policy arena will be diminished before you know yet. <p>She is saying "joint taskforce" more often then she is saying her own name. This is a very serious issue. What will that force be look like? Will Indian Army enter in BD? Will Indian air force round BD's air? Will their missile hit BD targets? If Dipu/Hasan continues to talk like this, in a few days, even I will start to agree with her, YES BRING THEM IN. <p>Am I being too skeptical? Could it be just a conspiracy theory? You may say that and I hope and pray that you are right. What if you are not? <p>Thanks</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-76366674925585718042009-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:32:59.873-08:00Back to the past and bipartisanship - Bangladesh style<div>"She said the media should compare neutrally and honestly the present situation with the post-election situation in 2001. After the 2001 election, she alleged, the winning BNP-Jamaat alliance carried out killings, grabbed lands, and occupied student dorms."<br /><p><br />Yeah, we are doing it mutually. I did it, she did it, he did it, we ALL did it. So we are doing it. We will be fine.<br /><p><br />That is what I call a true bipartisanship. Let us try to be happy!<br /><p>Thanks<br /><p><br />Student politics: a collection of reports and opinions<br /><a href="http://www.prothom-alo.com/sp.news.details.all.php?sid=OTI=">http://www.prothom-alo.com/sp.news.details.all.php?sid=OTI=</a><br /><p><br />Eyewitness report: Photo of Police as a friendly neighbor<br /><a href="http://www.prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2009-02-17&issue_id=1194&nid=MjE5ODY=">http://www.prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2009-02-17&issue_id=1194&nid=MjE5ODY=</a><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309402039686960258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 297px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 209px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgidlqzOtzWGRP2rGxqpE38opGk0XOTnqcOAgF2pjgHjh0oEWEDIUo_aHwXtqDShaFjOQ3U6gU4ZiVWsOaZK9ZFp4iQU0VuOXQXklUQdOM8-VkTyBWfHLnpgP_O4iurn5ZClU2ROA/s400/palo_2009_02_17.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p> <p>Jahangirnagar University<br /><a href="http://www.prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2009-02-17&issue_id=1194&nid=MjE5ODU=">http://www.prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2009-02-17&issue_id=1194&nid=MjE5ODU=</a><br /><p><br /><p>Chair @ Paltan Maidan<br /><a href="http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212409&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&VVT=HLKSFBBC">http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212409&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&VVT=HLKSFBBC</a><br /><p><br /><p>Minus two, dakhol and bedokhol<br /><a href="http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212408&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&QXS=WZFCHHSE">http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212408&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&QXS=WZFCHHSE</a><br /><p><br />Aladin vs inheritance<br /><a href="http://dailynayadiganta.com/fullnews.asp?News_ID=129818&sec=1">http://dailynayadiganta.com/fullnews.asp?News_ID=129818&sec=1</a><br /><p><br /><p><br />JU BCL continues to defy central leaders<br /><a href="http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=76581&cid=2">http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=76581&cid=2</a><br /><p><br />BCL dissolves JU unit, expels 2 leaders<br /><a href="http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=76587&cid=2">http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=76587&cid=2</a><br /><p><br /><p>Truck looted by Dinajpur 'BCL men'<br /><a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=76552">http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=76552</a><br /><p><br />BCL leader harasses DU teacher<br /><a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=75832">http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=75832</a><br /><p>BCL factional clash leaves 8 hurt at CU<br /><a href="http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/02/08/news0715.htm">http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/02/08/news0715.htm</a><br /><p><br />Activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of Awami League, also attacked the agitating students and issued threats to them.<br /><a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=73245">http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=73245</a></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-30765788195082088662009-02-18T11:15:00.000-08:002009-03-04T10:27:48.177-08:00FW: BANGLADESH: Report blasts primary school educationTo me, this is a very significant development. Around 70% of our 6th graders are "unable to read, write or count properly", that's a real problem. Most of the reasons behind this are known. We know that we have "Inadequate qualified teachers". We know that "many poor students come to school half-fed". We know that many classroom are "open air" or under the tree. In a country where 33% live under dollar-a-day poverty line and 66% live under 2-dollars-a-day poverty line, these are really tough hurdle to overcome.<br /><br />What is eye opener for me is the comment, "the government placed emphasis on enrolment without concentrating on the quality of primary education". I never think of this way, but that's make sense. We made huge progress in enrollment (percentage is as high as high-90s). UN officials going around other poor nations and citing Bangladesh as an example is brilliant. This is praise worthy achievement over last couple of decade. Even our high female enrollment (thanks to our array of affirmative actions) amused our neighbors. To me this is a great advantage. Going around villages and making people understand that `education is the only way out` is a monumental job. That is done, we did it! However, that's only the beginning.<br /><br />We must concentrate on the quality now. The task is twofold. First is how can we reduce drop out? There are significant developments going in this area. For example, early marriage is a significant reason for female drop out. There are laws in place to deter this, but law is not enough. Parent and community education on the issue are needed. Good thing that I see an increasing number amount of publicity are now aimed on the issue, and we are beginning to see the results. Government provided financial incentive for school attendee also paid up in big. However, there are no parallel programs aimed at boys. This is mostly because male drop out is very much tied up with poverty and child labor, and there is no near term relief in sight. If we can come up with a financial incentive program for boys that would definitely help.<br /><br />The second task is how we can improve the quality of those who are able to stick around and graduate from primary school. I know that the resource is inadequate. But if 70% of the graduate is unable to read, we must have a structured institutional problem. I am sure there is opportunity for improvement even with limited resources. Educators and researchers need to concentrate on this and review existing structure. More importantly a comparative analysis is needed where we compare similar data from other neighboring countries. Where does Bangladesh stand on the quality of primary education among south Asian nations? Figure out what we are missing and where we can improve.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Babu<br /><br /><p><br /><p><p>-----Original Message-----<br />Subject: BANGLADESH: Report blasts primary school education <p><br />DHAKA, 11 February 2009 (IRIN) - Around 70 percent of children in Bangladesh who complete their primary education are unable to read, write or count properly, according to an internal report by the Department of Primary Education (DPE). <p>Sixty-nine percent of students who had completed five years of primary school were unable to read news headlines in Bangla newspapers properly, while 87 percent of pupils failed to do simple mathematical calculations, the study, entitled National Assessment of Pupils of Grades Three and Five - 2006, said. <p>Conducted by the Second Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP-II) - a donor-assisted programme to ensure quality primary education for all children - the study reported that 72 percent of children were unable to write a short composition in Bangla - the mother tongue of over 95 percent of the population. <p>The report also found students "pitiably weak" in English, which plays a key role in day-to-day life, particularly in business, higher studies and technical education. <p>The quality of education in remote rural areas was far worse than in urban areas, largely due to a scarcity of English teachers and the predominance of religious schools (`madrasas') where English is not taught, the study said. <p>The report said students in the fifth grade completed only about 56 percent of the Bangla syllabus, 46 percent of the mathematics syllabus and 47 percent of the English syllabus. <p>Weak institutional framework <p>The PEDP-II study identified the weak organisational and institutional framework of primary education and the lack of a proper physical environment at school as leading causes of poor performance. <p>"Inadequate qualified teachers, lack of devotion on the part of the teachers, [and] poor support and monitoring from family largely contribute to the causes of weakness," Rawshan Ara Begum, head teacher of Chakhar government primary school in southern Barisal District, told IRIN. <p>"Many poor students come to school half-fed. They cannot pay attention to their studies in the afternoon classes as thirst for knowledge is replaced by hunger for food," she said. <p>According to Badrul Alam Tarafder, secretary in charge of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (PME), the government placed emphasis on enrolment without concentrating on the quality of primary education. <p>Insufficient contact hours <p>The PEDP-II study recommended that contact hours between teachers and students be increased and more attention paid to mathematics and literacy. <p>According to the DPE, children get only 500 hours annually to interact with their teachers in grades one and two. This increased to 700 hours from the third to the fifth grade. <p>This compared unfavourably to an international standard of 900 contact hours per year for grades 1-5. <p>One reason for the fewer contact hours was the running of double shifts in most government schools due to a lack of classrooms. <p>The low teacher-student ratio was another factor keeping contact hours down. <p>The study recommended that at least 90,000 new teachers be recruited and 60,000 new classrooms be built to enable the existing number of students to attend in a single shift. <p>Fewer holidays? <p>Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), a private research organisation, in its annual report for 2008 entitled Primary Education Halkhata (State of Primary Education), recommended reducing holidays. <p>"The future of the nation is dark because primary students lack adequate academic knowledge," said renowned academic Zillur Rahman Siddique. He attributed the low contact hours to long holidays. <p>At present in government primary schools, pupils get nine days holiday during the two Eid festivals, 15 days for the summer vacation and 20 days off for Ramadan. The report suggested seven days for the two Eids, five days in summer and 10 days for Ramadan would be more appropriate. <p>Some 200,000 teachers educate close to 19 million students in about 38,000 government primary schools country-wide. Teachers are paid by the government which also supplies free text books. At least 40 percent of students receive financial assistance based on their performance, attendance and the level of family poverty.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-56803767553265800402009-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:002009-03-02T11:43:13.223-08:00Hoirani?<p><a href="http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212282&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&TTX=YWQSKZEE">http://www.amardeshbd.com/dailynews/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=212282&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home&TTX=YWQSKZEE</a> <p>Hmm... I am still thinking about Spitzer. Now that Democrats got "landslide" victory in House-Senate- POTUS, can we declare that a "hoyrani" and drop the case? How about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick? <p>Or may be if Republicans got a "landslide" victory in 2012, we can unhook our beloved Ted Stevens. No? <p>Ohh, no, I forget. This is not Bangladesh. No queen or princess (aka Pharaohs) would come to rescue the monsters. <p>[No offence intended. Have fun.] <p>Thanks</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-5463075726233475452009-02-11T12:33:00.000-08:002009-03-02T17:18:12.635-08:00Good thing there‘s a new president in office, right?Here is Rachel Maddow's treatment on a news, see if you like it. In case you missed it lst night.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#29129616" target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#29129616</a><br /><br />MADDOW: And now it is time for another installment in our thankfully very infrequent series, the RACHEL MADDOW SHOW melodramatic re-enactment. First the setting. The Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in San Francisco . The occasion, a case involving the alleged transport and torture of five terrorism suspects who were picked up as part of the CIA‘s extraordinary rendition program.<br />The context here, the Bush administration‘s Justice Department getting the case dismissed last year using one of Mr. Bush‘s favorite tactics, claiming state secrets. They made the argument that even talking about this case in court, even with sensitive information excluded, would jeopardize national security.<br />Good thing there‘s a new president in office, right, with a new Department of Justice in place for when those five prisoners appeal that dismissal, right? Right? Because there‘s no way that the Obama administration would repeat the blanket state secrecy invocation, right? Right?<br />Let‘s take a look at what was actually said by the lawyer and a judge in the San Francisco courtroom yesterday. We now join the hearing already fake in progress.<br />(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)<br />KENT JONES, POP CULTURIST (on camera): May it please the court. I‘m Douglas Letter for the United States Department of Justice, which has intervened in this case to urge affirmance.<br />MADDOW (on camera): When was the district court decision?<br />JONES: Hmm, about a year ago, February.<br />MADDOW: About a year ago? Yes. Is there anything material that has happened since that decision in terms of historical stage that has any bearing here?<br />JONES: No, your honor. No.<br />MADDOW: The change of administration has no bearing?<br />JONES: No, your honor.<br />MADDOW: The government‘s position is the same?<br />JONES: Exactly, your honor. The positions that I‘m arguing have been thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration and these are the authorized positions.<br />MADDOW: So you represent that you are conveying the views of the present Justice Department?<br />JONES: Exactly, your honor. Absolutely. Absolutely.<br />(END VIDEO CLIP)<br />MADDOW: That scene is probably the closest we will ever get to seeing a federal judge, or at least a fake federal judge, doing a spit take.<br />Like most people who were conscious during the last election cycle, Judge Schroeder probably assumed that the person who spent the better part of two years campaigning against Bush-era secrecy and Bush-era detention, interrogation and torture policies, the man who is now president, Barack Obama, would not go use the exact same state secrets defense that the Bush administration used as a blanket shield from accountability.<br />A defense that means the government can do whatever it wants. It can break the law. It can avoid accountability by hiding behind state secrets. This provision intended to protect individual classified documents, but ballooned and mass-produced by the Bush administration to get entire cases preemptively dismissed.<br />Did that really just happen like we think it did? Or did Kent and I make it seem way worse than it really was?<br />Joining us now is Ben Wizner, the ACLU attorney who argued on behalf of the five plaintiffs and against the Obama Justice Department, and who will hopefully forgive me and Kent for acting out that hearing like idiots. Mr. Wizner, it‘s nice to meet you. Thank you for coming in.<br />BEN WIZNER, ACLU ATTORNEY: Thanks for having me and thank you also for not having somebody play me in the reenactment. I appreciate it.<br />MADDOW: We thought about it.<br />WIZNER: Yes.<br />MADDOW: And we realized you‘re going to be here in person. You might be mad.<br />Let‘s understand the context. Who are your five clients and why did you take this case?<br />WIZNER: These are five foreign citizens who were abducted off the streets of various countries, who had their clothes sliced off by CIA black renditions teams. These are people dressed like ninjas head to toe, who were chained to the floor of airplanes, dressed in diapers and flown to dungeons literally around the world.<br />Some of these were CIA black sites that were operated by our government. Some of them were prisons in countries like Egypt and Iraq that are absolutely notorious for their torture. And these flights were facilitated and organized by a private corporation that we sued in this lawsuit.<br />This isn‘t the first time that we‘ve tried to bring the administration into court on behalf rendition victims. We brought a lawsuit earlier on behalf of an innocent German citizen named Khalid al-Masri that was similarly thrown out on these bogus state secrets grounds.<br />We were hoping on Monday to have a different kind of experience with a new administration. But as you saw and as you reenacted, this is just a kinder and gentler version of “trust us.”<br />MADDOW: I know that the arguments in this case, the briefs had been fully prepared by the time that the Obama administration walked in the door here. All that was left to them was to do the oral arguments here. But did Obama really just take this and run with it? Did they have another option here? Couldn‘t they even just have asked for more time to come up with a different plan?<br />WIZNER: That would have been the obvious thing for them to do.<br />Remember, this is a motion to dismiss filed by the Bush administration. The basis for this motion to dismiss our lawsuit was a declaration filed by Michael Hayden, the current head of the CIA for maybe a few more days. I don‘t know how much longer.<br />And that declaration says that the CIA‘s detention and interrogation program is one of most vital tools in our war against terrorists. That if we let this case go forward, it will reveal classified interrogation techniques that will train enemies on how to resist it.<br />But on January 22nd, the actual president of the United States essentially ended that program. He banned those techniques. He closed the CIA prisons. He said that from now on, we‘re going to comply with our treaties that prevent transfer of prisoners to countries that exercise torture.<br />And so the question was, what is the Justice Department doing defending a declaration like that?<br />MADDOW: Right.<br />WIZNER: And why are they standing in the way of accountability? And I do want to say here that there is no moral equivalent between the two administrations. You know, we have the benefit no longer to have our country run by war criminals.<br />And it is terribly significant that the administration ended so-called enhanced interrogation. It‘s shutting down Guantanamo and the extraordinary rendition program. Where we differ is on another critical issue and that‘s the question of accountability.<br />And I think that this administration would prefer to sweep the last seven years under the rug and move on and get along. The problem is not a single torture victim, and there are hundreds, has yet had his day in court.<br />And you did a segment on prosecution - I understand that‘s a controversial issue. The other side of the coin is civil liability. And if torture victims aren‘t going to be able to go into court at all - and bear in mind these victims can‘t go into court. I don‘t know which victims will be able to go into court.<br />Then, really, you‘ll have an immunity regime for the perpetrators, for the violators and it will be impossible really to enforce the prohibitions that are in those executive orders and in our laws.<br />MADDOW: This is really important stuff. Ben Wizner, attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, who argued for these five plaintiffs in yesterday‘s hearing. I hope that we helped get the word out about this. It seems incredibly important to me. Thank you for working on the case.<br />Thanks for joining us.<br />WIZNER: Thanks for having me on, Rachel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-630971514236509762009-02-03T12:15:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:48:18.610-08:00FW: Tom Daschle Withdraws as Obama's Health Secretary NomineeCan anyone imagine a parallel scenario to this in Bangladesh? Can anyone block a nominee from madam/apa and still keep his head attached to his neck in following morning? Would anyone in BD withdraw? Was there even a question of block or withdraw? <p>The more I watch the political and governance process in US, the more I feel a growing respect. But more than that, a strange feeling trembled inside me. I find no words to describe it. Where did these guys come from? Where did I come from? Where did the leaders on BD that I supported or opposed come from? Did we born in the same world? <p>Do we live in the same world? <p>Why then we could not do a single thing to derail the Pharaohs and Monsters? <p>Moment like this invoke me to accept one conclusion. We are not even the same species. We may look like same, but we are not. I am convinced now. Why bother? Hakuna matata! <p>Thanks, <p><p>Tom Daschle Withdraws as Obama's Health Secretary Nominee<br />Obama Accepts Daschle's Withdrawal After Daschle Admitted He Failed to Pay Taxes.<br />By RUSSELL GOLDMAN<br />Feb. 3, 2009- <p><br />In a stunning setback for President Obama, Tom Daschle abruptly withdrew his nomination to become secretary of Health and Human Services today, following an admission that he failed to pay about $140,000 in back taxes. <p>In a joint Obama-Daschle statement, Obama accepted Daschle's withdrawal "with sadness and regret." <p>"Tom made a mistake, which he has openly acknowledged. He has not excused it, nor do I," Obama said. <p>Daschle, a former Senate majority leader from South Dakota, who had been one of Obama's closest advisers throughout his presidential campaign, said his tax problems meant he had lost the faith of the American people and was therefore unable to serve. <p>"This work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction," Daschle said in a statement released by the White House. <p>"Right now, I am not that leader, and [I] will not be a distraction," he said. <p>In addition to being nominated to be HHS secretary, Daschle was also slated to lead Obama's healthcare initative as health czar, a post from which he also withdrew. <p>Daschle's retreat raises questions about whether Obama can keep his promise to make more affordable healthcare one of the cornerstone of his agenda in his first 100 days in office. <p>Daschle's decision to quit the nominating process was surprising because Democratic senators had rallied around him Monday and Obama said he "absolutely" stood by Daschle. <p>Obama's backing didn't stop criticism of Daschle's fitness to join the White House cabinet. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said Obama was "losing credibility" by continuing to support Daschle. "Part of leadership is recognizing when there has been a mistake made and responding quickly," DeMint said. <p>Daschle's withdrawal came just hours after Nancy Killefer, Obama's nominee to be chief performance officer, withdrew her nomination following the revelation that she had a $946.69 lien on her property in 2005 for failure to pay taxes. <p>A third Obama Cabinet pick, Tim Geithner, admitted to Congress that he had owed and paid back more than $40,000 before he was confirmed as Treasury secretary last week, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination as Commerce secretary over questions about state contracts. <p>The setbacks are likely to embarrass Obama, who announced a "new era of responsibility" at his inauguration and are likely to embolden Republican opposition to the president and his agenda at a time when Obama struggles to get his economic stimulus plan through Congress. <p>After a closed-door session before the Senate Finance Committee Monday, Daschle apologized and said his failure to pay taxes was unintentional. <p>"I deeply apologize to President Obama, to my colleagues and the American people," Daschle said. "I would hope that my mistake could be viewed in the context of 30 years of public service." <p>The failure by the former Senate majority leader to pay taxes on the free use of a car and driver for several years was first reported by ABC News. <p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=6795650&page=1">http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=6795650&page=1</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-68560855186499639282009-01-06T12:51:00.000-08:002009-03-02T17:12:40.243-08:00Proposed Teacher/Stuff quota system in BUET admission<div><div><div>Recently a buzz is going on about a quota proposal to BUET admission system. The two option proposal is to add 2% of `normal intake` seats or 10% of an all new `evening program` intake seats as a quota reserved for BUET teachers (if unused can be forwarded to `officers and other staff`).<br /></div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><br /><p>I deliberately abstain from forwarding the opinion piece so you won't be affected by a particular view. May be you can just read the original proposal yourself and form an opinion of your own. (Please see the attachment)<br /><br /><br /><br /><p>Also, I neither verified the authority, nor the validity of this presented documents. So if we have a current faculty member in this list, please enlighten us.<br /></p><br /><br /><p>Page 1:</p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308759541625287682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 272px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcwgjVNtR-KkLR3cCv80kJZtzcX3GY6RXcgbpaYVCDp54YCepWFH9b2tGmF5-uGJ0Tsz_bRjaHDPBWLFWMFioc9FrAIiPGDrNqrn4B4ull-qqNQvIqHSVLcAd5wcSOYxyW_3TGA/s400/buet_teacher_quota1.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p>Page 2:</p><br /><br /><p></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308760396147750258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDTgvqiFFqhJ1NL0KhEML8WP2AzIGvK6AEI7YPS1sAS3wdxRqjx8LHPLh_yPN40v011u5835WeI4bUny7KBEiWQxN3sI60rG5gG5PlRCs_YFuStApQq23dlTmM6oVgf6an_eoBA/s400/buet_teacher_quota2.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><p>Page 3:</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308762221581121954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 259px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaVFrIJOpXDJQFSfhOp2PcsVU04nCmXFnXeHgc1yLdks1VfEW-qjsIwaZJye_o62-ii8wcHQ_zfGbqsAA_2k34iNPDy6MDinUwrHSYjTvoViIWGS0-bNvre3c5K0cdaIpflGht6A/s400/buet_teacher_quota3.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><p>Page 4:</p><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308762050602694562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 282px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFnf9751sZMfxj7WKDIz8pRMshkV1Z5PTTdafTvf7FEXMSirHVYbvmEvEQ3vgc34hKW9IgebsZkT1RqK00Th5vGPUCihlqnFcqeywhTd0PRbhyRVPUhnzXre6iUlqPC-mgiM4EA/s400/buet_teacher_quota4.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p></p><br /><p><br /></p><p><br />Thanks,<br />BB</p><br /><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p><br /><br /><div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-42527120390380562112009-01-05T18:20:00.000-08:002009-03-02T17:21:56.361-08:00'Try Not to Cry''Try Not to Cry'<br />(A song by Outlandish)<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpUC45vugdY<br /><br /><br />You, you’re not aware<br />That we’re aware<br />Of your despair<br />Don’t show your tears<br />To your oppressor<br />Don’t show your tears<br /><br />CHORUS:<br />Try not to cry little one<br />You’re not alone<br />I’ll stand by you<br />Try not to cry little one<br />My heart is your stone<br />I’ll throw with you<br /><br />Isam:<br />‘Ayn Jalut where David slew Goliath<br />This very same place that we be at<br />Passing through the sands of times<br />This land’s been the victim of countless crimes<br />From Crusaders and Mongols<br />to the present aggression<br />Then the Franks, now even a crueller oppression<br />If these walls could speak,<br />imagine what would they say<br /><br />For me in this path that I walk on<br />there's only one way<br />Bullets may kill, bones may break<br />Still I throw stones like David before me and I say<br /><br />CHORUS<br /><br />You, you’re not aware<br />That we’re aware<br />Of your despair<br />Your nightmares will end<br />This I promise, I promise<br /><br />CHORUS<br /><br />Lenny:<br />No llores, no pierdas la fe<br />La sed la calma el que haze<br />Agua de la arena<br />Y tu que te levantas con orgullo entre las piedras<br />Haz hecho mares de este polvo<br />Don’t cry, don’t lose faith<br />The one who made water come out of the sand<br />Is the one who quenches the thirst<br />And you who rise proud from between the stones<br />Have made oceans from this dust<br /><br />Waqas:<br />I throw stones at my eyes<br />’cause for way too long they’ve been dry<br />Plus they see what they shouldn’t from oppressed babies to thighs<br />I throw stones at my tongue<br />’cause it should really keep its peace<br />I throw stones at my feet<br />’cause they stray and lead to defeat<br />A couple of big ones at my heart<br />’cause the thing is freezing cold<br />But my nafs is still alive<br />and kicking unstoppable and on a roll<br />I throw bricks at the devil so I’ll be sure to hit him<br />But first at the man in the mirror<br />so I can chase out the venom<br /><br />Isam:<br />Hmm, a little boy shot in the head<br />Just another kid sent out to get some bread<br />Not the first murder nor the last<br />Again and again a repetition of the past<br />Since the very first day same story<br />Young ones, old ones, some glory<br />How can it be, has the whole world turned blind?<br />Or is it just ’cause it’s only affecting my kind?!<br />If these walls could speak,<br />imagine what would they say<br />For me in this path that I walk on<br />there’s only one way<br />Bullets may kill, bones may break<br />Still I throw stones like David before me and I say<br /><br />CHORUS<br /><br />lyrics: Isam Bachiri, Waqas Qadri, R. Lenny Martinez, Sami Yusuf, Bara Kherigi & Omar ShahUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-37393923084862462662008-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:002009-03-02T17:24:43.469-08:009 Is Not 11 (And November isn't September)[In case you have missed it]<br /><br />9 Is Not 11<br />(And November isn't September)<br /><br />ARUNDHATI ROY <br />Dec 22, 2008<br /><br /><br />We've forfeited the rights to our own tragedies. As the carnage in Mumbai raged on, day after horrible day, our 24-hour news channels informed us that we were watching "India's 9/11". And like actors in a Bollywood rip-off of an old Hollywood film, we're expected to play our parts and say our lines, even though we know it's all been said and done before.<br /><br />As tension in the region builds, US Senator John McCain has warned Pakistan that if it didn't act fast to arrest the 'Bad Guys' he had personal information that India would launch air strikes on 'terrorist camps' in Pakistan and that Washington could do nothing because Mumbai was India's 9/11.<br /><br />But November isn't September, 2008 isn't 2001, Pakistan isn't Afghanistan and India isn't America. So perhaps we should reclaim our tragedy and pick through the debris with our own brains and our own broken hearts so that we can arrive at our own conclusions.<br /><br />It's odd how in the last week of November thousands of people in Kashmir supervised by thousands of Indian troops lined up to cast their vote, while the richest quarters of India's richest city ended up looking like war-torn Kupwara—one of Kashmir's most ravaged districts.<br /><br />The Mumbai attacks are only the most recent of a spate of terrorist attacks on Indian towns and cities this year. Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Guwahati, Jaipur and Malegaon have all seen serial bomb blasts in which hundreds of ordinary people have been killed and wounded. If the police are right about the people they have arrested as suspects, both Hindu and Muslim, all Indian nationals, it obviously means something's going very badly wrong in this country.<br /><br />If you were watching television you may not have heard that ordinary people too died in Mumbai. They were mowed down in a busy railway station and a public hospital. The terrorists did not distinguish between poor and rich. They killed both with equal cold-bloodedness. The Indian media, however, was transfixed by the rising tide of horror that breached the glittering barricades of India Shining and spread its stench in the marbled lobbies and crystal ballrooms of two incredibly luxurious hotels and a small Jewish centre. We're told one of these hotels is an icon of the city of Mumbai. That's absolutely true. It's an icon of the easy, obscene injustice that ordinary Indians endure every day. On a day when the newspapers were full of moving obituaries by beautiful people about the hotel rooms they had stayed in, the gourmet restaurants they loved (ironically, one was called Kandahar), and the staff who served them, a small box on the top left-hand corner<br />in the inner pages of a national newspaper (sponsored by a pizza company I think) said 'Hungry, kya?' (Hungry eh?). It then, with the best of intentions I'm sure, informed its readers that on the international hunger index, India ranked below Sudan and Somalia. But of course this isn't that war. That one's still being fought in the Dalit bastis of our villages, on the banks of the Narmada and the Koel Karo rivers; in the rubber estate in Chengara; in the villages of Nandigram, Singur, Lalgarh in West Bengal; in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa; and the slums and shantytowns of our gigantic cities. That war isn't on TV. Yet. So maybe, like everyone else, we should deal with the one that is.<br /><br />There is a fierce, unforgiving fault line that runs through the contemporary discourse on terrorism. On one side (let's call it Side A) are those who see terrorism, especially 'Islamist' terrorism, as a hateful, insane scourge that spins on its own axis, in its own orbit and has nothing to do with the world around it, nothing to do with history, geography or economics. Therefore, Side A says, to try and place it in a political context, or even try to understand it, amounts to justifying it and is a crime in itself.Side B believes that though nothing can ever excuse or justify terrorism, it exists in a particular time, place and political context, and to refuse to see that will only aggravate the problem and put more and more people in harm's way. Which is a crime in itself.<br /><br />The sayings of Hafiz Saeed, who founded the Lashkar-e-Toiba (Army of the Pure) in 1990 and who belongs to the hardline Salafi tradition of Islam, certainly bolster the case of Side A. Hafiz Saeed approves of suicide bombing, hates Jews, Shias and Democracy, and believes that jehad should be waged until Islam, his Islam, rules the world. Among the things he has said are:<br /><br />"There cannot be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy."<br /><br />And, "India has shown us this path. We would like to give India a tit-for-tat response and reciprocate in the same way by killing the Hindus, just like it is killing the Muslims in Kashmir."<br /><br />But where would Side A accommodate the sayings of Babu Bajrangi of Ahmedabad, India, who sees himself as a democrat, not a terrorist? He was one of the major lynchpins of the 2002 Gujarat genocide and has said (on camera):<br /><br />"We didn't spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire...we hacked, burned, set on fire...we believe in setting them on fire because these bastards don't want to be cremated, they're afraid of it.... I have just one last wish...let me be sentenced to death.... I don't care if I'm hanged...just give me two days before my hanging and I will go and have a field day in Juhapura where seven or eight lakhs of these people stay.... I will finish them off...let a few more of them die...at least twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand should die."<br /><br />And where, in Side A's scheme of things, would we place the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh bible, We, or Our Nationhood Defined by M.S. Golwalkar 'Guruji', who became head of the RSS in 1944. It says:<br /><br />"Ever since that evil day, when Moslems first landed in Hindustan, right up to the present moment, the Hindu Nation has been gallantly fighting on to take on these despoilers. The Race Spirit has been awakening."<br /><br />Or:<br /><br />"To keep up the purity of its race and culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here...a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by."<br /><br />Of course, Muslims are not the only people in the gun sights of the Hindu Right. Dalits have been consistently targeted. Recently in Kandhamal in Orissa, Christians were the target of two-and-a-half months of violence which left more than 40 dead. Forty thousand people have been driven from their homes, half of whom now live in refugee camps.<br /><br />All these years, Hafiz Saeed has lived the life of a respectable man in Lahore as the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which many believe is a front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba. He continued to recruit young boys for his own bigoted jehad with his twisted, fiery sermons. On December 11, the UN imposed sanctions on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Pakistani government succumbed to international pressure, putting Hafiz Saeed under house arrest. Babu Bajrangi, however, is out on bail and continues to live the life of a respectable man in Gujarat. A couple of years after the genocide, he left the VHP to join the Shiv Sena. Narendra Modi, Bajrangi's former mentor, is still the chief minister of Gujarat. So the man who presided over the Gujarat genocide was re-elected twice, and is deeply respected by India's biggest corporate houses, Reliance and Tata. Suhel Seth, a TV impresario and corporate spokesperson, has recently said, "Modi is God." The policemen who<br />supervised and sometimes even assisted the rampaging Hindu mobs in Gujarat have been rewarded and promoted.The RSS has 45,000 branches, its own range of charities and seven million volunteers preaching its doctrine of hate across India. They include Narendra Modi, but also former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, current Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani, and a host of other senior politicians, bureaucrats and police and intelligence officers.<br /><br />And if that's not enough to complicate our picture of secular democracy, we should place on record that there are plenty of Muslim organisations within India preaching their own narrow bigotry.<br /><br />So, on balance, if I had to choose between Side A and Side B, I'd pick Side B. We need context. Always.<br /><br />In this nuclear subcontinent, that context is Partition. The Radcliffe Line which separated India and Pakistan and tore through states, districts, villages, fields, communities, water systems, homes and families, was drawn virtually overnight. It was Britain's final, parting kick to us. Partition triggered the massacre of more than a million people and the largest migration of a human population in contemporary history. Eight million people—Hindus fleeing the new Pakistan, Muslims fleeing the new kind of India—left their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Each of those people carries and passes down a story of unimaginable pain, hate, horror, but yearning too. That wound, those torn but still unsevered muscles, that blood and those splintered bones still lock us together in a close embrace of hatred, terrifying familiarity but also love. It has left Kashmir trapped in a nightmare from which it can't seem to emerge, a nightmare that<br />has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Pakistan, the Land of the Pure, became an Islamic republic, and then, very quickly a corrupt, violent military state, openly intolerant of other faiths. India on the other hand declared herself an inclusive, secular democracy. It was a magnificent undertaking, but Babu Bajrangi's predecessors had been hard at work since the 1920s, dripping poison into India's bloodstream, undermining that idea of India even before it was born. By 1990, they were ready to make a bid for power. In 1992, Hindu mobs exhorted by L.K. Advani stormed the Babri Masjid and demolished it. By 1998, the BJP was in power at the Centre. The US War on Terror put the wind in their sails. It allowed them to do exactly as they pleased, even to commit genocide and then present their fascism as a legitimate form of chaotic democracy. This happened at a time when India had opened its huge market to international finance, and it was in the interests of<br />international corporations and the media houses they owned to project it as a country that could do no wrong. That gave Hindu Nationalists all the impetus and the impunity they needed. This, then, is the larger historical context of terrorism in the subcontinent, and of the Mumbai attacks.<br /><br />It shouldn't surprise us that Hafiz Saeed of the Lashkar-e-Toiba is from Shimla (India) and L.K. Advani of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is from Sindh (Pakistan).<br /><br />In much the same way as it did after the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2002 burning of the Sabarmati Express and the 2006 bombing of the Samjhauta Express, the Government of India announced that it has 'incontrovertible' evidence that the Lashkar-e-Toiba backed by Pakistan's ISI was behind the Mumbai strikes. The Lashkar has denied involvement, but remains the prime accused. According to the police and intelligence agencies, the Lashkar operates in India through an organisation called the 'Indian Mujahideen'. Two Indian nationals—Sheikh Mukhtar Ahmed, a Special Police Officer working for the Jammu and Kashmir Police, and Tausif Rehman, a resident of Calcutta in West Bengal—have been arrested in connection with the Mumbai attacks. So already the neat accusation against Pakistan is getting a little messy.Almost always, when these stories unspool, they reveal a complicated global network of foot-soldiers, trainers, recruiters, middlemen and undercover<br />intelligence and counter-intelligence operatives, working not just on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, but in several countries simultaneously. In today's world, trying to pin down the provenance of a terrorist strike and isolate it within the borders of a single nation-state is very much like trying to pin down the provenance of corporate money. It's almost impossible.<br /><br />In circumstances like these, air strikes to 'take out' terrorist camps may take out the camps, but certainly will not 'take out' the terrorists. And neither will war. (Also, in our bid for the moral high ground, let's try not to forget that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE of neighbouring Sri Lanka, one of the world's most deadly terrorist groups, were trained by the Indian army.)<br /><br /><br />Afghan revenge: America’s debris, our headache<br /><br />Thanks largely to the part it was forced to play as America's ally, first in its war in support of the Afghan Islamists and then in its war against them, Pakistan, whose territory is reeling under these contradictions, is careening towards civil war. As recruiting agents for America's jehad against the Soviet Union, it was the job of the Pakistan army and the ISI to nurture and channel funds to Islamic fundamentalist organisations. Having wired up these Frankenstein's monsters and released them into the world, the US expected it could rein them in like pet mastiffs whenever it wanted to. Certainly it did not expect them to come calling in the heart of the Homeland on September 11. So once again, Afghanistan had to be violently re-made. Now the debris of a re-ravaged Afghanistan has washed up on Pakistan's borders. Nobody, least of all the Pakistan government, denies that it is presiding over a country that is threatening to implode. The terrorist<br />training camps, the fire-breathing mullahs and the maniacs who believe that Islam will, or should, rule the world is mostly the detritus of two Afghan wars. Their ire rains down on the Pakistan government and Pakistani civilians as much, if not more, than it does on India. If at this point India decides to go to war, perhaps the descent of the whole region into chaos will be complete. The debris of a bankrupt, destroyed Pakistan will wash up on India's shores, endangering us as never before. If Pakistan collapses, we can look forward to having millions of 'non-state actors' with an arsenal of nuclear weapons at their disposal as neighbours. It's hard to understand why those who steer India's ship are so keen to replicate Pakistan's mistakes and call damnation upon this country by inviting the United States to further meddle clumsily and dangerously in our extremely complicated affairs. A superpower never has allies. It only has agents.<br /><br />On the plus side, the advantage of going to war is that it's the best way for India to avoid facing up to the serious trouble building on our home front.<br /><br />The Mumbai attacks were broadcast live (and exclusive!) on all or most of our 67 24-hour news channels and god knows how many international ones. TV anchors in their studios and journalists at 'ground zero' kept up an endless stream of excited commentary. Over three days and three nights, we watched in disbelief as a small group of very young men armed with guns and gadgets exposed the powerlessness of the police, the elite National Security Guard and the marine commandos of this supposedly mighty, nuclear-powered nation. While they did this, they indiscriminately massacred unarmed people, in railway stations, hospitals and luxury hotels, unmindful of their class, caste, religion or nationality.Part of the helplessness of the security forces had to do with having to worry about hostages. In other situations, in Kashmir for example, their tactics are not so sensitive. Whole buildings are blown up. Human shields are used. (The US and Israeli armies don't<br />hesitate to send cruise missiles into buildings and drop daisy cutters on wedding parties in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.) But this was different. And it was on TV.<br /><br />The boy-terrorists' nonchalant willingness to kill—and be killed—mesmerised their international audience. They delivered something different from the usual diet of suicide bombings and missile attacks that people have grown inured to on the news. Here was something new. Die Hard 25. The gruesome performance went on and on. TV ratings soared. Ask any television magnate or corporate advertiser who measures broadcast time in seconds, not minutes, what that's worth.<br /><br />Eventually the killers died and died hard, all but one. (Perhaps, in the chaos, some escaped. We may never know.) Throughout the stand-off, the terrorists made no demands and expressed no desire to negotiate. Their purpose was to kill people and inflict as much damage as they could before they were killed themselves. They left us completely bewildered. When we say 'Nothing can justify terrorism', what most of us mean is that nothing can justify the taking of human life. We say this because we respect life, because we think it's precious. So what are we to make of those who care nothing for life, not even their own? The truth is that we have no idea what to make of them, because we can sense that even before they've died, they've journeyed to another world where we cannot reach them.<br /><br /><br />Gujarat ’02: The elephant in the room<br /><br />One TV channel (India TV) broadcast a phone conversation with one of the attackers, who called himself 'Imran Babar'. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the conversation, but the things he talked about were the things contained in the 'terror e-mails' that were sent out before several other bomb attacks in India. Things we don't want to talk about any more: the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the genocidal slaughter of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, the brutal repression in Kashmir. "You're surrounded," the anchor told him. "You are definitely going to die. Why don't you surrender?" "We die every day," he replied in a strange, mechanical way. "It's better to live one day as a lion and then die this way." He didn't seem to want to change the world. He just seemed to want to take it down with him.<br /><br />If the men were indeed members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, why didn't it matter to them that a large number of their victims were Muslim, or that their action was likely to result in a severe backlash against the Muslim community in India whose rights they claim to be fighting for? Terrorism is a heartless ideology, and like most ideologies that have their eye on the Big Picture, individuals don't figure in its calculations except as collateral damage. It has always been a part of—and often even the aim of—terrorist strategy to exacerbate a bad situation in order to expose hidden fault lines. The blood of 'martyrs' irrigates terrorism. Hindu terrorists need dead Hindus, Communist terrorists need dead proletarians, Islamist terrorists need dead Muslims. The dead become the demonstration, the proof of victimhood, which is central to the project. A single act of terrorism is not in itself meant to achieve military victory; at best it is meant to be a<br />catalyst that triggers something else, something much larger than itself, a tectonic shift, a realignment. The act itself is theatre, spectacle and symbolism, and today, the stage on which it pirouettes and performs its acts of bestiality is Live TV.Even as the Mumbai terrorists were being condemned by TV anchors, the effectiveness of their action was magnified a thousand-fold by TV broadcasts.<br /><br /><br />Forgotten man: Former PM V.P. Singh’s death passed without a mention<br /><br />Through the endless hours of analysis and the endless op-ed essays, in India at least there has been very little mention of the elephants in the room: Kashmir, Gujarat and the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Instead, we had retired diplomats and strategic experts debate the pros and cons of a war against Pakistan. We had the rich threatening not to pay their taxes unless their security was guaranteed (is it alright for the poor to remain unprotected?). We had people suggest that the government step down and each state in India be handed over to a separate corporation. We had the death of former prime minister V.P. Singh, the hero of Dalits and lower castes and villain of upper-caste Hindus, pass without a mention. We had Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City and co-writer of the Bollywood film Mission Kashmir, give us his version of George Bush's famous 'Why They Hate Us' speech. His analysis of why "religious bigots, both Hindu and Muslim", hate Mumbai:<br />"Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness." His prescription: "The best answer to the terrorists is to dream bigger, make even more money, and visit Mumbai more than ever." Didn't George Bush ask Americans to go out and shop after 9/11? Ah yes. 9/11, the day we can't seem to get away from.<br /><br />Though one chapter of horror in Mumbai has ended, another might have just begun. Day after day, a powerful, vociferous section of the Indian elite, goaded by marauding TV anchors who make Fox News look almost radical and left-wing, have taken to mindlessly attacking politicians, all politicians, glorifying the police and the army, and virtually asking for a police state. It isn't surprising that those who have grown plump on the pickings of democracy (such as it is) should now be calling for a police state. The era of 'pickings' is long gone. We're now in the era of Grabbing by Force, and democracy has a terrible habit of getting in the way.<br /><br />Dangerous, stupid television flash cards like the Police are Good, Politicians are Bad/ Chief Executives are Good, Chief Ministers are Bad/ Army is Good, Government is Bad/ India is Good, Pakistan is Bad are being bandied about by TV channels that have already whipped their viewers into a state of almost uncontrollable hysteria.<br /><br />Tragically, this regression into intellectual infancy comes at a time when people in India were beginning to see that the business of terrorism is a hall of mirrors in which victims and perpetrators sometimes exchange roles. It's an understanding that the people of Kashmir, given their dreadful experiences of the last 20 years, have honed to an exquisite art. On the mainland we're still learning. (If Kashmir won't willingly integrate into India, it's beginning to look as though India will integrate/disintegrate into Kashmir.)<br /><br />It was after the 2001 Parliament attack that the first serious questions began to be raised. A campaign by a group of lawyers and activists exposed how innocent people had been framed by the police and the press, how evidence was fabricated, how witnesses lied, how due process had been criminally violated at every stage of the investigation. Eventually the courts acquitted two out of the four accused, including S.A.R. Geelani, the man whom the police claimed was the mastermind of the operation. A third, Shaukat Guru, was acquitted of all the charges brought against him but was then convicted for a fresh, comparatively minor offence.The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of another of the accused, Mohammad Afzal. In its judgement, the court acknowledged that there was no proof that Mohammad Afzal belonged to any terrorist group, but went on to say, quite shockingly, "The collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital<br />punishment is awarded to the offender. " Even today we don't really know who the terrorists that attacked Indian Parliament were and who they worked for.<br /><br />More recently, on September 19 this year, we had the controversial 'encounter' at Batla House in Jamia Nagar, Delhi, where the Special Cell of the Delhi police gunned down two Muslim students in their rented flat under seriously questionable circumstances, claiming that they were responsible for serial bombings in Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad in 2008. An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mohan Chand Sharma, who played a key role in the Parliament attack investigation, lost his life as well. He was one of India's many 'encounter specialists', known and rewarded for having summarily executed several 'terrorists'. There was an outcry against the Special Cell from a spectrum of people, ranging from eyewitnesses in the local community to senior Congress Party leaders, students, journalists, lawyers, academics and activists, all of whom demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. In response, the BJP and L.K. Advani lauded Mohan Chand Sharma as a<br />'Braveheart' and launched a concerted campaign in which they targeted those who had dared to question the integrity of the police, saying it was 'suicidal' and calling them 'anti-national'. Of course, there has been no inquiry.<br /><br />Only days after the Batla House event, another story about 'terrorists' surfaced in the news. In a report submitted to the court, the CBI said that a team from Delhi's Special Cell (the same team that led the Batla House encounter, including Mohan Chand Sharma) had abducted two innocent men, Irshad Ali and Moarif Qamar, in December 2005, planted 2 kg of RDX and two pistols on them, and then arrested them as 'terrorists' who belonged to Al Badr (which operates out of Kashmir). Ali and Qamar, who have spent years in jail, are only two examples out of hundreds of Muslims who have been similarly jailed, tortured and even killed on false charges.<br /><br />This pattern changed in October 2008 when Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which was investigating the September 2008 Malegaon blasts, arrested a Hindu preacher, Sadhvi Pragya; a self-styled godman, Swami Dayanand Pande; and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, a serving officer of the Indian army. All the arrested belong to Hindu Nationalist organisations, including a Hindu supremacist group called Abhinav Bharat. The Shiv Sena, the BJP and the RSS condemned the Maharashtra ATS, and vilified its chief, Hemant Karkare, claiming he was part of a political conspiracy and declaring that "Hindus could not be terrorists". L.K. Advani changed his mind about his policy on the police and made rabble-rousing speeches to huge gatherings, in which he denounced the ATS for daring to cast aspersions on holy men and women.<br /><br />On November 25, newspapers reported that the ATS was investigating the high-profile VHP chief Praveen Togadia's possible role in the Malegaon blasts. The next day, in an extraordinary twist of fate, Hemant Karkare was killed in the Mumbai attacks. The chances are that the new chief, whoever he is, will find it hard to withstand the political pressure that is bound to be brought on him over the Malegaon investigation.<br /><br />While the Sangh parivar does not seem to have come to a final decision over whether or not it is anti-national and suicidal to question the police, Arnab Goswami, anchorperson of Times Now television channel, has stepped up to the plate.He has taken to naming, demonising and openly heckling people who have dared to question the integrity of the police and armed forces. My name and the name of the well-known lawyer Prashant Bhushan have come up several times. At one point, while interviewing a former police officer, Arnab Goswami turned to the camera; "Arundhati Roy and Prashant Bhushan," he said, "I hope you are watching this. We think you are disgusting." For a TV anchor to do this in an atmosphere as charged and as frenzied as the one that prevails today amounts to incitement as well as threat, and would probably in different circumstances have cost a journalist his or her job.<br /><br />So according to a man aspiring to be India's next prime minister, and another who is the public face of a mainstream TV channel, citizens have no right to raise questions about the police. This in a country with a shadowy history of suspicious terror attacks, murky investigations, and fake 'encounters'. This in a country that boasts of the highest number of custodial deaths in the world and yet refuses to ratify the International Covenant on Torture. A country where the ones who make it to torture chambers are the lucky ones because at least they've escaped being 'encountered' by our encounter specialists. A country where the line between the Underworld and the Encounter Specialists virtually does not exist.<br /><br />How should those of us whose hearts have been sickened by the knowledge of all of this view the Mumbai attacks, and what are we to do about them? There are those who point out that US strategy has been successful inasmuch as the United States has not suffered a major attack on its home ground since 9/11. However, some would say that what America is suffering now is far worse. If the idea behind the 9/11 terror attacks was to goad America into showing its true colours, what greater success could the terrorists have asked for? The US army is bogged down in two unwinnable wars, which have made the United States the most hated country in the world. Those wars have contributed greatly to the unravelling of the American economy and, who knows, perhaps eventually the American empire. (Could it be that battered, bombed Afghanistan, the graveyard of the Soviet Union, will be the undoing of this one too?) Hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of<br />American soldiers, have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The frequency of terrorist strikes on US allies/agents (including India) and US interests in the rest of the world has increased dramatically since 9/11. George Bush, the man who led the US response to 9/11, is a despised figure not just internationally but also by his own people. Who can possibly claim that the United States is winning the war on terror?<br /><br />Homeland security has cost the US government billions of dollars. Few countries, certainly not India, can afford that sort of price tag. But even if we could, the fact is that this vast homeland of ours cannot be secured or policed in the way the United States has been. It's not that kind of homeland. We have a hostile nuclear weapons state that is slowly spinning out of control as a neighbour, we have a military occupation in Kashmir, and a shamefully persecuted, impoverished minority of more than a hundred and fifty million Muslims who are being targeted as a community and pushed to the wall, whose young see no justice on the horizon, and who, were they to totally lose hope and radicalise, end up as a threat not just to India, but to the whole world. If 10 men can hold off the NSG commandos and the police for three days, and if it takes half-a-million soldiers to hold down the Kashmir Valley, do the math. What kind of Homeland Security can secure<br />India?<br /><br />Nor for that matter will any other quick fix.Anti-terrorism laws are not meant for terrorists; they're for people that governments don't like. That's why they have a conviction rate of less than two per cent. They're just a means of putting inconvenient people away without bail for a long time and eventually letting them go. Terrorists like those who attacked Mumbai are hardly likely to be deterred by the prospect of being refused bail or being sentenced to death. It's what they want.<br /><br />What we're experiencing now is blowback, the cumulative result of decades of quick fixes and dirty deeds. The carpet's squelching under our feet.<br /><br />The only way to contain (it would be naive to say end) terrorism is to look at the monster in the mirror. We're standing at a fork in the road. One sign says 'Justice', the other 'Civil War'. There's no third sign and there's no going back. Choose.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-33730210980751745812008-12-06T12:17:00.000-08:002009-03-02T17:27:37.407-08:00Election, secularism, and us war policy in south asiaHere is a column by Farhad Mazhar which I found very interesting. If you have some spare time, you might want to check it out.<br /><br />http://dailynayadiganta.com/2008/11/22/fullnews.asp?News_ID=115284&sec=6<br /><br /><br />ThanksUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-3442521937406652322008-11-02T10:02:00.000-08:002009-03-03T06:34:06.539-08:00Not giving your vote simply means you are voting with the majorityNot giving your vote simply means you are voting with the majority whatever they decide.<br /><br /><br />With lot of things and rights that democracy gives us, it takes away a very big right: that is the right of not participating. At least all the various form of democratic society that we have, none have preserved this right.<br /><br /><br />So what do you do? Not registered to vote? Not going to poll?<br /><br /><br />And you thought that you did not participate? With all due respect, I don’t understand how a bunch of engineer can make such a profound logical mistake. Please think again, you will see it. It’s a no brainer.<br /> <br /><br />By not exercising your right to vote, you have already cast your vote. You cast your vote for majority decision in advance. You are saying that I trust all the people who do give vote. That’s all.<br /> <br /><br />There is no option for not giving your vote. Your options are as follows:<br /> <br /><br />1) Vote YES on propX<br />2) Vote NO on propX<br />3) Vote with majority decision (you don’t have to vote, just relax and watch CNN)<br /><br /><br /><br />Same goes for president candidates:<br />1) Mr X<br />2) Mr Y<br />3) Mr Z<br />4) Majority decision (you don’t have to vote, just relax and watch CNN)<br /> <br /><br />If there were a democratic election that required 50+% of possible voters (not only the actual voters) to be elected, then and only then not voting means not participation. For all other case, you have already casted your vote to go with majority decision by default. Now all you can do is to change that vote the way you want (if you want).<br /><br /><br />Thanks,<br />Babu<br /><br />[Okay, so looks like few countries are experimenting with idea of a "NO vote". For example, Bangladesh's December 2008 parliament election may have an option of "NO vote" in the ballot. If number of NO vote is greater than 50% of total given vote, election result will be rejected and a new election will be held. This will give you an opportunity to "participate" in a negative way. Then again, it will take you to square one where you face another election, so not much success there.]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-79252295147274682252008-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:002009-03-02T17:33:02.921-08:00"No, ma'am. He's a decent family man""No, ma'am. He's a decent family man"?? That's all?<br />Few commentary I found interesting.<br /><br /><br />-------------------------------------------------<br />Los Angeles Times<br />Opinion<br />'Muslim' shouldn't be a slur<br />Both McCain and Obama should condemn implicit attacks on Muslims and Arabs.<br /><br />http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rice15-2008oct15,0,5744288.story<br /><br /><br />That was a good step one -- until McCain blew it. A woman stood up in the audience and said that she just couldn't trust Obama because, as she put it, "he's an Arab." McCain shook his head, took the microphone and said: "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."<br /><br />So, what is he saying? Arabs aren't decent family men? They can't be citizens?<br />-------------------------------------------------<br />CNN<br />October 14, 2008<br />How Being Called An Arab Became A Slur<br />http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/middle.east/blog/2008/10/how-being-arab-became-slur.html<br /><br />What if the woman had said she didn't trust Obama because he is Black? Would there have been outrage then? Would McCain's answer had been different?<br /><br />The truth is that, throughout this campaign, the term Muslim or Arab has been routinely used as a slur. And both parties are playing the game.<br /><br />-------------------------------------------------<br />Huffington Post<br />October 11, 2008<br />Is Muslim The New Queer?<br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hanna-ingber-win/is-muslim-the-new-queer_b_133870.html<br /><br />Just yesterday an elderly woman at a campaign event with John McCain rambled into the microphone about how she doesn't trust Barack Obama and then said, as if it were her kicker, "HE'S ARAB."<br /><br />McCain took the microphone back, shook his head, and acting like he is suddenly better than gutter politics, said something along the lines of, "No, no, mam. He's a decent, family man."<br /><br />What?! That old lady did not say Obama is a terrorist. She did not say he is a murderer or a rapist or a drug dealer to little children. She said he is "Arab." And yet, McCain automatically understood her point and equated "Arab" with "bad man."<br />-------------------------------------------------<br />CNN<br />By Campbell Brown<br />Commentary: So what if Obama were a Muslim or an Arab?<br />http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/campbell.brown.obama/index.html<br /><br />So what if Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter?<br /><br />When did that become a disqualifier for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical?<br />-------------------------------------------------Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-76209224266621901892008-10-08T12:57:00.000-07:002009-03-03T06:58:16.570-08:00Monsters on the phone: Who wants to answer them?Monsters on the phone: Who wants to answer them?<br /><br />I guess, it would be who does NOT? Once you see the consequence, you wouldn't dare to ignore.<br /><br />I don't want to get into any argument, but just to release some of my frustration I would like to congratulate.<br /><br />I would like to congratulate those who, by some magical way, succeed to bring back Pharaohs in the land.<br /><br />Sure enough the phones are ringing. Guess who is on the other side? Yeap!! It's the monster himself. Live for a hiding place near you! There are many of them. Not to worry, we got lot of phones as well.<br /><br />Welcome to the land of Pharaohs.<br /><br />I hope some of us are happy!<br /><br />If you can't see the attachment, you may access it here:<br />http://prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2008-10-08&issue_id=1065&nid=MTkyMTU=<br />Prothom Alo, October 8, 2008<br /><br /><br />Thanks,<br />BabuUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-86458539557787458042008-08-29T17:01:00.001-07:002008-08-29T17:01:40.458-07:00Recap: Democratic Convention 2008Obama's acceptance speech:<br>--------------------------<br>Transcript:<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/obama.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/obama.transcript/index.html</a><br>Video:<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/obama.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/obama.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p>Sen. Joe Biden's acceptance speech<br>----------------------------------<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/biden.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/biden.transcript/index.html</a><br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/biden.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/biden.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p><br>John Kerry's DNC speech:<br>--------------------------<br>Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, "My country right or wrong." Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/27/john-kerry-democratic-con_n_121944.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/27/john-kerry-democratic-con_n_121944.html</a><p><br>Bill Clinton's DNC speech:<br>--------------------------<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/bill.clinton.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/bill.clinton.transcript/index.html</a><br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/bill.clinton.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/bill.clinton.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p><p>Al Gore's speech<br>------------------<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/gore.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/gore.transcript/index.html</a><br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/gore.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/28/gore.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p><p>Hilary's DNC speech:<br>-----------------------<br>"But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama the next president of the United States.<br>We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.<br>Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance."<br>Transcript: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/clinton.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/clinton.transcript/index.html</a><br>Video:<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/clinton.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/clinton.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p><br>Michelle Obama's DNC speech:<br>-----------------------------<br>Are we nominating the `wrong` Obama? I mean, she was so good. She over shadow her husband's 2004 keynote speech.<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/michelle.obama.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/michelle.obama.transcript/index.html</a><br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/michelle.obama.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/michelle.obama.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a><p>Ted Kennedy's DNC speech:<br>--------------------------<br>"And nothing -- nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.<br>I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States."<br>Transcript: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html</a><br>Video:<br><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo">http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html#cnnSTCVideo</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-63426066411901382972008-07-09T19:05:00.000-07:002009-03-03T07:06:20.333-08:00Look who failed the Wiretap testFull Senate Roll-Call Vote - H.R. 6304 (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 )<br /><br />Yeas - 69<br /><br />Alexander (R-TN)<br />Allard (R-CO)<br />Barrasso (R-WY)<br />Baucus (D-MT)<br />Bayh (D-IN)<br />Bennett (R-UT)<br />Bond (R-MO)<br />Brownback (R-KS)<br />Bunning (R-KY)<br />Burr (R-NC)<br />Carper (D-DE)<br />Casey (D-PA)<br />Chambliss (R-GA)<br />Coburn (R-OK)<br />Cochran (R-MS)<br />Coleman (R-MN)<br />Collins (R-ME)<br />Conrad (D-ND)<br />Corker (R-TN)<br />Cornyn (R-TX)<br />Craig (R-ID)<br />Crapo (R-ID)<br />DeMint (R-SC)<br />Dole (R-NC)<br />Domenici (R-NM)<br />Ensign (R-NV)<br />Enzi (R-WY)<br />Feinstein (D-CA)<br />Graham (R-SC)<br />Grassley (R-IA)<br />Gregg (R-NH)<br />Hagel (R-NE)<br />Hatch (R-UT)<br />Hutchison (R-TX)<br />Inhofe (R-OK)<br />Inouye (D-HI)<br />Isakson (R-GA)<br />Johnson (D-SD)<br />Kohl (D-WI)<br />Kyl (R-AZ)<br />Landrieu (D-LA)<br />Lieberman (ID-CT)<br />Lincoln (D-AR)<br />Lugar (R-IN)<br />Martinez (R-FL)<br />McCaskill (D-MO)<br />McConnell (R-KY)<br />Mikulski (D-MD)<br />Murkowski (R-AK)<br />Nelson (D-FL)<br />Nelson (D-NE)<br />Obama (D-IL)<br />Pryor (D-AR)<br />Roberts (R-KS)<br />Rockefeller (D-WV)<br />Salazar (D-CO)<br />Shelby (R-AL)<br />Smith (R-OR)<br />Snowe (R-ME)<br />Specter (R-PA)<br />Stevens (R-AK)<br />Sununu (R-NH)<br />Thune (R-SD)<br />Vitter (R-LA)<br />Voinovich (R-OH)<br />Warner (R-VA)<br />Webb (D-VA)<br />Whitehouse (D-RI)<br />Wicker (R-MS)<br /><br />Nays - 28<br /><br />Akaka (D-HI)<br />Biden (D-DE)<br />Bingaman (D-NM)<br />Boxer (D-CA)<br />Brown (D-OH)<br />Byrd (D-WV)<br />Cantwell (D-WA)<br />Cardin (D-MD)<br />Clinton (D-NY)<br />Dodd (D-CT)<br />Dorgan (D-ND)<br />Durbin (D-IL)<br />Feingold (D-WI)<br />Harkin (D-IA)<br />Kerry (D-MA)<br />Klobuchar (D-MN)<br />Lautenberg (D-NJ)<br />Leahy (D-VT)<br />Levin (D-MI)<br />Menendez (D-NJ)<br />Murray (D-WA)<br />Reed (D-RI)<br />Reid (D-NV)<br />Sanders (I-VT)<br />Schumer (D-NY)<br />Stabenow (D-MI)<br />Tester (D-MT)<br />Wyden (D-OR)<br /><br />Not Voting - 3<br /><br />Kennedy (D-MA)<br />McCain (R-AZ)<br />Sessions (R-AL)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11193031.post-44720826998400389412008-06-30T12:13:00.000-07:002009-03-03T07:08:53.463-08:00“Hussein” could be a common household middle name!I am fascinated by this guy’s ability to inspire people.<br /><br />This is a preemptive strike in good sense. Come this fall, it’s obvious that the right wing will use Obama’s middle name in a very ugly way. They don’t want to pull the trigger too early. Well, as it seems, they may have missed the train.<br /><br />Nice move!<br /><br />-Babu<br /><br /><br />Obama Supporters Take His Name as Their Own<br />http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/politics/29hussein.html?bl&ex=1214971200&en=442dcec2d2792561&ei=5087%0A<br /><br />The NY Times<br />June 29, 2008<br />Obama Supporters Take His Name as Their Own<br />By JODI KANTOR<br /><br /><br />Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.<br /><br />“Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads.<br /><br />With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.<br /><br />The result is a group of unlikely-sounding Husseins: Jewish and Catholic, Hispanic and Asian and Italian-American, from Jaime Hussein Alvarez of Washington, D.C., to Kelly Hussein Crowley of Norman, Okla., to Sarah Beth Hussein Frumkin of Chicago.<br /><br />Jeff Strabone of Brooklyn now signs credit card receipts with his newly assumed middle name, while Dan O’Maley of Washington, D.C., jiggered his e-mail account so his name would appear as “D. Hussein O’Maley.” Alex Enderle made the switch online along with several other Obama volunteers from Columbus, Ohio, and now friends greet him that way in person, too.<br /><br />Mr. Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim. Hussein is a family name inherited from a Kenyan father he barely knew, who was born a Muslim and died an atheist. But the name has become a political liability. Some critics on cable television talk shows dwell on it, while others, on blogs or in e-mail messages, use it to falsely assert that Mr. Obama is a Muslim or, more fantastically, a terrorist.<br /><br />“I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama’s name like it was some sort of cuss word,” Mr. Strabone wrote in a manifesto titled “We Are All Hussein” that he posted on his own blog and on dailykos.com.<br /><br />So like the residents of Billings, Mont., who reacted to a series of anti-Semitic incidents in 1993 with a townwide display of menorahs in their front windows, these supporters are brandishing the name themselves.<br /><br />“My name is such a vanilla, white-girl American name,” said Ashley Holmes of Indianapolis, who changed her name online “to show how little meaning ‘Hussein’ really has.”<br /><br />The movement is hardly a mass one, and it has taken place mostly online, the digital equivalent of wearing a button with a clever, attention-getting message. A search revealed hundreds of participants across the country, along with a YouTube video and bumper stickers promoting the idea. Legally changing names is too much hassle, participants say, so they use “Hussein” on Facebook and in blog posts and comments on sites like nytimes.com, dailykos.com and mybarackobama.com, the campaign’s networking site.<br /><br />New Husseins began to crop up online as far back as last fall. But more joined up in February after a conservative radio host, Bill Cunningham, used Mr. Obama’s middle name three times and disparaged him while introducing Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, at a campaign rally. (Mr. McCain repudiated Mr. Cunningham’s comments).<br /><br />The practice has been proliferating ever since. In interviews, several Obama supporters said they dreamed up the idea on their own, with no input from the campaign and little knowledge that others shared their thought.<br /><br />Some said they were inspired by movies, including “Spartacus,” the 1960 epic about a Roman slave whose peers protect him by calling out “I am Spartacus!” to Roman soldiers, and “In and Out,” a 1997 comedy about a gay high school teacher whose students protest his firing by proclaiming that they are all gay as well.<br /><br />“It’s one of those things that just takes off, because everybody got it right away,” said Stephanie Miller, a left-leaning comedian who blurted out the idea one day during a broadcast of her syndicated radio talk show and repeated it on CNN.<br /><br />Ms. Miller and her fellow new Husseins are embracing the traditionally Muslim name even as the Obama campaign shies away from Muslim associations. Campaign workers ushered two women in head scarves out of a camera’s range at a rally this month in Detroit. (The campaign has apologized.) Aides canceled a December appearance on behalf of Mr. Obama by Representative Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim congressman.<br /><br />Mr. Obama may be more enthusiastic, judging from his response at a Chicago fund-raiser two weeks ago. When he saw that Richard Fizdale, a longtime contributor, wore “Hussein” on his name tag, Mr. Obama broke into a huge grin, Mr. Fizdale said.<br /><br />“The theory was, we’re all Hussein,” Mr. Obama said to the crowd later, explaining Mr. Fizdale’s gesture.<br /><br />Some Obama supporters say they were moved to action because of what their own friends, neighbors and relatives were saying about their candidate. Mark Elrod, a political science professor at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., is organizing students and friends to declare their Husseinhood on Facebook on Aug. 4, Mr. Obama’s birthday.<br /><br />Ms. Nordling changed her name after volunteering for Mr. Obama before the Kentucky primary.<br /><br />“People would not listen to what you were saying on the phone or on their doorstep because they thought he was Muslim,” she said.<br /><br />Ms. Nordling’s uncle liked the idea so much that he joined the same Facebook group that she had. But when her father saw her new online moniker, he was incredulous.<br /><br />“He actually thought I was going to convert to Islam,” Ms. Nordling said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0