Response to Daily Show interview of Anna Baltzer & Dr. Mustafa Barghouti

Last night, I watched Jon Stewart's interview of Anna Baltzer & Dr. Barghouti.  The TV version was significantly cut down, so I wacthed the full version online, please watch the first part and the second part of the interview online.

This is what I sent The Daily Show in response:

"I just wanted to thank you for your brave decision to address the all-the-more obvious yet mysterious facet of Palestine/Israel conflict.

The fact that you, of ALL the prominent America media, has the courage and the character to bring into light a perspective that, although uncomfortable, addresses the heart of the issue- speaks volumes of your commitment to the truth VS propaganda.

Kudos to you and your staff for showing the courage that has been almost nonexistent in the US media for 60 years."

Show had their first heckler in 11 years and is now getting a LOT of hate-mail for bringing these guests on the show, so please show support, even if you don't agree with the guests, but for the sake of democracy and open media.  You can send your comments here:

http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml

Pakistani military's assault in Waziristan

I am surprised by the lack of coverage of this significant event in the mainstream media, so I decided to keep track of it on my own:


Background:

On October 17, 2009, Pakistani military launched a massive operation, code-named Rah-i-Nijat (path to deliverance), with jets, helicopters, tanks and artillery in South Waziristan at US's behest.  During its previous three such operations in South Waziristan, — in 2004, 2005 and early last year -- military suffered heavy casualties before striking a peace pact.


Some Facts:

• South Waziristan has an area of about 6,620 square km (2,550 square miles).
• Population of about 500,000, (mostly Pashtuns) according to the most recent figures.  Largest tribe is of Mehsuds.
  
• A senior security official told Dawn that the estimated number of hardcore militants in South Waziristan was 10,000. The number includes 1,000 to 1500 foreign militants, most of them Uzbek.
  
• Approximately 30,000 soldiers were taking part in the operation, which is a combination of ground offensive and aerial strikes.
• No media coverage is allowed inside the affected territory.
  

Goal:

Isolate the Pakistani Taliban in their stronghold and hope other militant factions, including a Wazir-dominated faction led by commander Maulvi Nazir in South Waziristan, and other factions, will stay out of the battle.

Timeline (will try to update this daily as long as I can):

11/4/2009:

Since the last updates, there have been almost daily bombings in Pakistan, killing civilians and security personnel.  Sigh.

10/22/2009:

• The Karachi Stock Exchange KSE-100 Index today closed at 9,144, declining 103 points
• Illegal Afghans given 72 hours to leave the capital city Islamabad by Interior Minister Rahman Malik  and ordered a door-to-door search in five major sectors of the capital. 

10/21/2009:

Head of the United Nations peace-keeping mission in Sudan and former deputy director general military operations Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed is assassinated, along with another army official in a shootout in Islamabad on Thursday. 

10/20/2009:

• International Islamic University, Islamabad is bombed killing three girls were among six people.
• Iran ramps up pressure on Pakistan over Jundallah bombing.

10/19/2009:

• In an open letter to the Mehsud tribes, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani seeks support of Mehsud tribes in the operation and expresses the hope that the tribes would fully back the army in the operation.
• The alleged Amir of the Karachi branch of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and his three accomplices are arrested on Monday. Police seizes a large cache of arms and ammunition.
• An insurgent Sunni organization called Jundallah associated suicide bomber kills seven commanders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and up to 42 other people on Sunday in an attack that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charges has been plotted from Pakistan.

10/18/2009:

• Security forces claim on Sunday to have made steady gains and were surprised by low level of resistance (I'm not sure why surprised, they withdrew to avoid being bombed, like w/ the US in 2001).
• The Taliban spokesman claims that militants’ supporters were joining from religious organisations and madressahs in Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP, including Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Sangeen's 1,500 fighters.
• An anti-Baitullah militant group offers support for security forces against the TTP, “We are with the security forces and, if called, we would fight alongside them against (former TTP chief) Baitullah’s men,” a spokesman for the Misbahuddin group says.

10/17/2009:

250,000 IDPs from Waziristan, says UN (that's apparently half of the total population), while some sources put that number at 150,000

Better CPR technique, mouth to mouth not 'always' required!

I came across this new development in CPR techniques on CNN today, and thought was really cool! Mouth to mouth is not always necessary (children and drowning cases, it still is), simplifying the process in many cases.

Although, it's not really new, Arizonians were talking about this a year ago where "survival jumped from 4.7 percent with the old CPR to 17.6 percent with the new CCR".

The American Heart Association says bystanders who witness an adult's* sudden cardiac arrest can opt to perform hands-only CPR and skip mouth-to-mouth breathing. If someone collapses, stops normal breathing and is unresponsive to shaking:

First, have someone call 911, or call yourself.

Put the victim on the floor, face up.

Put one hand on top of the other in the middle of the victim's chest.

Push hard and fast, 100 presses a minute.

If there's another bystander, take turns.

Continue until paramedics take over.

Use an automated external defibrillator if available.

* Children and drowning victims still need mouth-to-mouth.

American healthcare reform and Autoimmunity

The on-going outrage of American public (mostly Republicans) against the recent healthcare reform is fascinating to me. It reminds me of a  medical condition called Autoimmunity where the body attacks and destroys itself from within.

The very same middle-class Americans who are in the most dire need for this reform, (one study shows 45,000 Americans die every year partly due to lack of health insurance), have been brainwashed into thinking that this is somehow "bad" for them. I saw on a doctor friend's facebook status a while ago that a lady patient of hers who had gone bankrupt for paying for her healthcare after losing her insurance was STILL against the healthcare reform!  The reform which makes a point to help people in exactly the situation like hers.

Classic three "arguments" that are put against the reform:

1) It'll put a beaurocrat between me and my doctor!

There is already a beaurocrat between you and the doctor- your private insurance company.  The only difference would be, with the reform, you would have at least some level of influence since government, at the end of the day, is accountable to the public.  Privately owned companies are only accountable to the Wall Street.

2) It'll turn us into a Socialist country!

From your complete judicial system, to law and enforcement, to military - they are already "socialized" institutions.   You wouldn't even dream (I hope) about putting these institutions that are in-charge of your physical-care, in the hands of private companies. But somehow, you think the same private companies should be the only in-charge of your health-care??

3) It'll drive private insurance companies out of business in the long run!

And I should care, because?  Taking more from people + giving back less, while keeping the difference as profit is a fine business model for car/home insurance companies, but not when comes to human life.  It is sacred, unless you disagree?  So if we consider human life to be a lot more than a mere commodity like a car/house etc., then how could we treat them all the same?

As history has shown, current private health insurance for-profit business model is neither economical nor moral, as Wendell Potter, former Vice President of Corporate Communications for the CIGNA corporation, discusses. Private health insurance deserves to go out of business ASAP.  This is not to be confused with the pharmaceutical companies, whose sole incentive to R&D is profit, which make sense.  They are creating tangible products to save life, rather than just bartering it.

Healthcare, is a right, especially in a civilized society, just as justice and physical security is.  It's not a privilege or a business.  So if there is anything outrageous about the healthcare reform, it's that it's taken so long for Americans to take it seriously.

Given how weak the anti-reform 'arguments' are, it shows no matter how technologically advanced or well-educated we become, propaganda will remain a force to reckon with.

A must-watch racism exercise for kids (and adults)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

Obama, as the president of the US, was recently called a liar on national TV by senator Joe Wilson , while Kanya West recently sabotaged Taylor Swift's MTV video award speech .

Racism is probably the most abundant -ism in the world today, and this Frontline video does a marvelous job exploring it.

"This is one of the most requested programs in FRONTLINE's history. It is about an Iowa schoolteacher [Jane Elliott] who, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, gave her third-grade students a first-hand experience in the meaning of discrimination. This is the story of what she taught the children, and the impact that lesson had on their lives. "

Ms. Elliott's experiment lead the children to discriminate against each other based on their brown and blue eye color and then analyzed their reaction.  The experiment was such a success, that it was adopted by various business, government and correctional institutions, where adults were subjected to similar experiments.

A very interesting bit about the kids' experiment was that a Yale research team found consistent long-term better  academic performance among the kids after the experiment!

It's a 46 minute 5-part video, worth watching every minute of it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

Sting supporting the 3 Million+ Pakistani refugees in dire need!

Sting dedicated this touching song called "Fragile" to the helpless 3 million Internally Displaced People (IDP) from Swat, Pakistan.  He did this in collaboration with his friend Salman Ahmad from Junoon.

Background: Swati IDPs are a result of a military campaign that Pakistani military launched against Talibans in April '09 at US's behest.  The basic sustenance for these people was farming, which was essentially completely destroyed by the time the fighting ended in July 2009.

One example of problems facing the IDPs: http://www.chowrangi.com/swat-idp-camp-uprooted-in-islamabad.html

A heartening story of a little girl and his family as IDPs: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/10/world/1247465107008/a-schoolgirls-odyssey.html 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHYmL48ZVxE

Links mentioned by Sting:

http://www.ssgwi.org/index.html

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016

Lyrics to the song "Fragile":

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are

Werd up! @ Obama's speech

Obama's address to the Joint Session of Congress on 09/09/09.

The last video at the bottom: http://tinyurl.com/healthyObama

Nice line: "I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last".

Hope healthcare, like justice and physical security, is finally regarded as a right than a privilege in this country.

Ambulance and politics

A friend just sent this to me, it encapsulates the relationship between civic and politic societies so well, that I had to post it here. The song is in Urdu and is called Umeed-e-sahar, with English captions, and the lyrics are by a famous Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjaNQFChkCY

For the Left, war without Bush is not war at all

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/For-the-Left_-war-without-Bush-is-not-war-at-all-8119694-53506047.html

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
August 18, 2009

Remember the anti-war movement? Not too long ago, the Democratic party's most loyal voters passionately opposed the war in Iraq. Democratic presidential candidates argued over who would withdraw American troops the quickest. Netroots activists regularly denounced President George W. Bush, and sometimes the U.S. military ("General Betray Us"). Cindy Sheehan, the woman whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, became a heroine when she led protests at Bush's Texas ranch.

That was then. Now, even though the United States still has roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq, and is quickly escalating the war in Afghanistan -- 68,000 troops there by the end of this year, and possibly more in 2010 -- anti-war voices on the Left have fallen silent.

No group was more angrily opposed to the war in Iraq than the netroots activists clustered around the left-wing Web site DailyKos. It's an influential site, one of the biggest on the Web, and in the Bush years many of its devotees took an active role in raising money and campaigning for anti-war candidates.

In 2006, DailyKos held its first annual convention, called YearlyKos, in Las Vegas. Amid the slightly discordant surroundings of the Riviera Hotel casino, the webby activists spent hours discussing and planning strategies not only to defeat Republicans but also to pressure Democrats to oppose the war more forcefully. The gathering attracted lots of mainstream press attention; Internet activism was the hot new thing.

Fast forward to last weekend, when YearlyKos, renamed Netroots Nation, held its convention in Pittsburgh. The meeting didn't draw much coverage, but the views of those who attended are still, as they were in 2006, a pretty good snapshot of the left wing of the Democratic party.

The news that emerged is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have virtually fallen off the liberal radar screen. Kossacks (as fans of DailyKos like to call themselves) who were consumed by the Iraq war when George W. Bush was president are now, with Barack Obama in the White House, not so consumed, either with Iraq or with Obama's escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan. In fact, they barely seem to care.

As part of a straw poll done at the convention, the Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg presented participants with a list of policy priorities like health care and the environment. He asked people to list the two priorities they believed "progressive activists should be focusing their attention and efforts on the most." The winner, by far, was "passing comprehensive health care reform." In second place was enacting "green energy policies that address environmental concerns."

And what about "working to end our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan"? It was way down the list, in eighth place.

Perhaps more tellingly, Greenberg asked activists to name the issue that "you, personally, spend the most time advancing currently." The winner, again, was health care reform. Next came "working to elect progressive candidates in the 2010 elections." Then came a bunch of other issues. At the very bottom -- last place, named by just one percent of participants -- came working to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's an extraordinary change in the mindset of the left. I attended the first YearlyKos convention, and have kept up with later ones, and it's safe to say that for many self-styled "progressives," the war in Iraq was the animating cause of their activism. They hated the war, and they hated George W. Bush for starting it. Or maybe they hated the war because George W. Bush started it. Either way, it was war, war, war.

Now, not so much.

Cindy Sheehan is learning that. She's still protesting the war, and on Monday she announced plans to demonstrate at Martha's Vineyard, where President Obama will be vacationing.

"We as a movement need to continue calling for an immediate end to the occupations [in Iraq and Afghanistan] even when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office," Sheehan said in a statement. "There is still no Noble Cause no matter how we examine the policies."

Give her credit for consistency, if nothing else. But her days are over. The people who most fervently supported her have moved on.

Not too long ago, some observers worried that Barack Obama would come under increasing pressure from the Left to leave both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, it seems those worries were unfounded. For many liberal activists, opposing the war was really about opposing George W. Bush. When Bush disappeared, so did their anti-war passion.

Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blog posts appears on www.ExaminerPolitics.com ExaminerPolitics.com

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/For-the-Left_-war-without-Bush-is-not-war-at-all-8119694-53506047.html

Israel, eviction and the "demographic bomb"

story: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/2009825148146153.html
video: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/2009829211514936.html

This news story reminded me of the ticking "demographic bomb" that more and more Israelis, including the current PM Benjamin Netanyahu, consider to be an existential threat to "Jewish Israel" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=OUE&q=demographic+bomb+israel&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g1

In simple terms, it's established by many reliable estimates like http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3367706,00.html, that non-Jewish Israeli population (Muslims, Christians, Druze Arabs etc.) will exceed the Jewish population by 2035, currently their number stands somewhere around 20% according to Israeil sources, although some claim that the actual percentage is higher and is deliberately underrepresented by Israel.

Israel now seems to have only a few options, none of which, could be considered desirable by a decent soul:

1) Illegal eviction of rightful citizens
2) Put legal and social pressures on Arabs to decrease their numbers
3) Genocide

Since option 3 is worse, and 2 is rather 'iffy', it seems like Israel has embarked upon option 1, this story being just the beginning ... I wonder if the "free world" is going to stand around as it did before or will there be a change this time around?

story: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/2009825148146153.html
video: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/2009829211514936.html

Free calls for all - almost! Google rejected by Apple.

With the advent of VoIP and magicjack types, and widespread proliferation of smartphones at the same time, it was only a matter of time that people would stop paying for regular phone calls. Lo and behold, with "Google Voice" like apps, people are now able to use a single number for multiple phones and pay nothing for sms messages. International plans are included for apparently a low fee.

Seems too good to be true? It is :D As you could imagine, phone carriers were not too happy since GV was providing features for free that they, AT&T in case of iphone, charge for. Ergo, the perception that iphone's recent decision to pull GV from apple app store was because of AT&T's pressure.

I guess, Apple had to succumb to AT&T for all the $400/phone money they have been making off AT&T. It seems like a losing battle though, especially since Google will be incorporating GV in the web browsers. What's AT&T going to do? Block VoIP service or IP addresses altogether?

I really want to have some anti-Google posts here, but it's so difficult, damn it!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/google-voice-iphone-app-rejected-current-gv-apps-lose-connectio/

Google, exactly eight years ago from today.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/3017

Larry Page, and Sergey Brin on Charlie Rose on July 26, 2001.

I remember thinking to myself back then "what could possibly overpower a behemoth like Microsoft?", not knowing the answer was right there in front of me. I still wonder the same, but about Google, although I must admit, I love Google.

American version of "Al Kayda"?

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07242009/watch2.html

As I was watching Bill Moyers Journal on the right wing factions in the US, I couldn't help noticing the uncanny resemblance to the "Al Qaida" fanatic rhetoric in the Middle East:

• Michael Savage's comparison of liberals to Hitler, and liberalism to AIDS
  
• Glenn Beck fantasizing about murdering Michael Moore
• Michael Reagan (son of the former president) asking for shooting and killing everyone who took part/believes in the "9/11 being an inside job" conspiracy theory.
• Neal Boortz calling New Orleanians/Katrina victims "useless, worthless, parasites" and Muslims "cockroaches" for fasting during Ramadan.
• Jim Quinn calling "National Org. for Women", National Org. for Whores".
• Jim David Adkisson's reasoning behind shooting "liberal" church goers "I couldn't get to the generals & high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people.". Al Qaida justifies killings of innocent Americans in the exact same way.
  

Interestingly enough, other than Reagan's, none of the wiki pages mention these instances, enforcing my opinion of wiki that it's essentially just a collaboration of the opinion of the loudest and the most persistent, but I digress...

I am personally not alarmed since they make up a tiny minority of American population so far, as 2008 elections have recently shown, but can you imagine if they gained actual prominence on American political and cultural scene ? :)

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07242009/watch2.html

Spirit of Humanity (Aid carrying Ship) & Israel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWuULTcmQmo

This is a video recorded on-board the boat called "Spirit of Humanity" carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza on June 30, 2009. The ship was intercepted by the Israeli Navy and everyone on-board was imprisoned for a week (for carrying aid!). I am not sure what happened to the aid or the ship afterward.

The aid was in response to "over 2,400 homes were destroyed in Gaza during the Israeli massacre in December/January, 490 of them by F-16 airstrikes, as well as 30 mosques, 29 educational institutions, 29 medical centers, 10 charitable organizations, and 5 cement factories." http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/2009/06/free-gaza-boat-spirit-of-humanity.html

I hope the video is not taken down from youtube due to pro-Israel protests, but if it is, then the original video is here: http://www.ricenpeas.com/2009/July/cynthia_mckinney_intvw.html

CIA and Iranian elections

Ever since the Iranian election fiasco started, I found it very interesting that the mainstream American media has been nearly perfectly homogeneous about the outcome of Iranian elections, from Charlie Rose to Fox news, i.e., current Iranian administration are the thugs, Mousavi is the liberator. I don't remember hearing much from Ahmedijinad's supporters on any media outlet. Not that there was anything new about it since if American media and American gov't (in terms of Int'l issues) were a couple, they'd probably be ranked as the most harmonious couple ever lived! But I digress...

Here are a couple of links about CIA financing anti-state factions in Iran, during and before elections. I guess some things never change..

http://www.turnerradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60:iran-election-turmoil-financed-by-cia&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/cia-has-distributed-400-million-dollars-inside-iran-to-evoke-a-revolution/

Imran Khan, defeating Taliban, in Washington DC

For anyone interested in understanding the complex dynamics of Pakistani struggle with the Taliban, here is a crash course 101 http://pkpolitics.com/2009/06/20/defeating-taliban-imran-khan/

As they say, it's common sense stupid!

Note: I believe this is the article by Graham Fuller that Khan repeatedly refers to (which apparently disappeared from the US version of Int'l Herald) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/global-viewpoint-obamas-p_b_201355.html

Womenomics

If I were a reader, I'd read this book :)

I came across this interview on Charlie Rose and realized that these two women Katty Kay and Claire Shipman are saying pretty much what I have personally observed in work places.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10349

Something along the lines of "women are different than men, we should not shun the differences but leverage them to our benefit".

By the way, I have never seen Charlie interviewing in this manner, seemed excited to the extent that he was cutting off the interviewees! Hahaha!!

Can Google wave be that wave of fresh breeze? Yes it can :D

Google wave is inarguably the best form of communication and collaboration tool that I have yet seen. I think, it has laid the foundation of beginning of the era where "email" as we know it today will become as redundant to our next generation as snail mail has become to us today.

I can't wait for it to roll out later this year!

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of limited capability of emails to effectively communicate and collaborate (including gmail), and having the need to go to tons of different websites and portals to evite, blog, send emails, chat and collaborate. Google wave seems to have addressed all of that in one!

To genuinely appreciate it you would have watch the demo, it's one hour 20 minute long http://wave.google.com/ but totally worth the watch! Mind you, this is probably the first over an hour long demo that I have actually watched. Otherwise, you can check a pretty well detailed review here http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-drips-with-ambition-can-it-fulfill-googles-grand-web-vision/

To highlight some of the features:

• Replacing current email + chat type applications with one called app "wave" and a neat way to have a group conversation, at an easy way to add/unadd/readd etc. individuals as appropriate
• Dynamically embedded polls and forms inside the message!
  
• 'Play' feature is like watching a little movie of what went on in terms of who responded to what/when etc.
• Drag and drop attachments!
• Collaboration of docs considered no different from sending a regular message (although I think this might have to change in the future)
  
• Real time updates of messages is simply beautiful, i.e., after you send a message, any changes you make to it will show to all the recipients in real time and vice versa!
• Contextualized spell checker
• And more...
  

There is so much more to it, I just can't wait for its release :)

Bill Moyers reporting on "Secret Government"

Secret agencies are known to be a necessary component of governments these days, be it the CIA of the US, ISI of Pakistan, RAW of India, Mosad of Israel, GRU of Russia and so on. Ideally speaking, there very existence is contrary to truely democratic spirit of nations, since what/how they do is meant to be hidden from the very people they represent, by definition.

However, even if we were to accept their existence on 'pragmatic' grounds despite their moral dubiousness, then the question becomes, where do we draw the line of what should be off limits even for these secret organizations?

As horrendous as things are that are reported in this 1987 video about Iran, Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Vietnam and others, it's no consolation that things have only gotten progressively worse since then. In today's context, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the 'hot topic' of political discussions. Ironically enough, CIA blames Pakistan's ISI for playing "double game" with the Taliban and the US, conveniently keeping silent over the latter's concerns over her largest rival's, India, newly found rapprochement with Afghanistan.

Secondly, while Obama has declared Iran to be a critical concern to "Middle East's, especially Israel's security", it was the CIA in 1953 that overthrew a perfectly legitimate and democratically elected government of Mosaddeq, leading to a religoius revolution in the country, resulting in today's Iran. All because Mosaddeq wanted to keep Iran's wealth to her own people by ending forgein oil companies' hegemony on their soil? Can we imagine what Iran would be today, had CIA not meddled in their affairs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sstDwKTCpM

Will Farrell on Man VS Wild, LoL!

I can't wait to watch Will Farrell on Man VS Wild, coming Tuesday 6/2/09 at 10 PM, PST on HD Discovery:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/discovery-channel-screening-room/

Stewart at his humorous best :D

Gotta appreciate Larry King papa bear's tolerance with Stewart's cheekiness!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=228043&title=larry-king

What should Pakistan do? Seriously.

This is a great discussion on Pakistan's issues as of May 18, 2009. It tackles the Taliban issue and provincialism in a way that you barely ever see out in the open.

The program is in Urdu, I hope pkpolitics will soon start adding subtitles for multiple languages, including English.

I particularly liked Mahmood Khan Achakzai's (Pakhtoon Khaw Milli Awami Party) input.

http://pkpolitics.com/2009/05/18/kal-tak-18-may-2009/

Why and how the poor pay more in the US.

A great insight into the lives of those to whom most of us cannot relate.

One interesting statistic from the article was about a "payday advance" business where the average annual interest rate was a whooping 806%! Imagine living on paycheck to paycheck and having to pay that kind of interest, even occasionally ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17/AR2009051702053.html?g=0

Using SMS to donate for Swat Crisis

This is so awesome!

Just text 'swat' to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution which will show as a simple $5 charge on your next bill.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2009/05/text-swat-to-20222-to-donate-5.html

The Pakistan Relief program is administered by the UN, Secretary Clinton said:

"Pakistan is facing a major humanitarian crisis. Approximately 2 million people have fled their homes, and Pakistan's government, their military, and relief organizations are working to meet the needs of these displaced persons. So many are finding refuge with family members, or in schools or mosques; they are relying on the generosity of relatives and friends. And I'm confident that Pakistan's institutions and citizens will succeed in confronting this humanitarian challenge if the international community steps up and provides the support that is needed. ... Providing this assistance is not only the right thing to do, but we believe it is essential to global security and the security of the United States, and we are prepared to do more as the situation demands."

The Secretary also invited the American people to join in the world-wide effort to bring stability to Pakistan: "Now, Americans can use technology to help, as well. Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word 'swat' -- to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people. And before I came over here, we did that in the State Department. So we are making some of the first donations to this fund."

An Encounter

I was on a flight back from Dubai to Los Angeles on March 8th when I came across a man, probably in his mid-late sixties, sitting next to me. He was kind of struggling with operating the little gadgets on the plane so I offered to help. He thanked me, and went on to watch some TV. Last thing I remember him watching was Quranic recitation.

We did not speak much after that, but toward the end of the 16 hour long flight, we chatted a little. I found out that he was coming from Pakistan to visit his daughter. He said, at his age, it gets a bit hard to travel on such long flights VS young men like myself. We talked about my aging father. He also talked about some immigration related issues.

When we got off the plane, he used my cell phone to call his family to let them know we had landed a bit early. Since I had to go through some special immigration process, I told him that I'd have to hurry, and may be we could catch up outside, I didn't see him after that.

A couple of days later, I came across someone on facebook who had the same last name as him, Dadabhoy, so I just randomly inquired about him. To my shock and despair, I found out that Mehmood Dadabhoy passed away yesterday morning due to a heart related episode.

This was just over a week since he had landed on US soil.

I spoke to his sister and son-in-law yesterday (since I had the number saved in my phone), who told me that he passed away while sleeping, in peace.

Mr. Dadabhoy had a certain glow to himself. Even in such a brief encounter I couldn't help but notice that he was a very intelligent and refined, loving and considerate man. Part of how I gathered this was not just by his words, but by everything else that's part of a live conversation.

This is the first time I have ever written about something like this, and I'm not sure what to make of it, but this incident fills me with humility, for lack of a better word. I had virtually no connection with him, yet I feel some sort of a void knowing he is gone.

May his soul rest in eternal peace...

Yet Pakistan exists...

Since it's Obama's Presidential inauguration today, I thought I would share this timely email with everyone, it's so sad that it's almost funny ... in a sickening way.
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Here is a comparison of the Resumes of the heads of states of two neighboring countries that achieved independence together.


Chief Executive of India
Title: Prime Minister
Name: Dr Manmohan Singh

EDUCATION /Qualification:
1950: Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh ,
1952; Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University , Chandigarh,
1954; Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College,Cambridge,
1955 and 1957; Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge ,
1957; DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness

Working Experience [Teaching]
Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics, 1959-63;
Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,Universit y of Delhi, 1969-71;
Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, 1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and Civil Servant

Working Experience [INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS] :
1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human Rights World Conference, Vienna
Working Experience [Government Positions]:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: - Director, Reserve Bank of India; Director, Industrial Development Bank of India;
- Alternate governor for India , Board of governors , Asian Development Bank;
- Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD
- November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs);
- Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission ; Member,finance, Space Commission
April 1980 - September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committee
September 16, 1982 - January 14 , 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15 , 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva
December 10 , 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4 , 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, general purposes committee
2004: Prime Minister of India

BOOKS:
India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press, Oxford University, 1964;
also published a large number of articles in various economic journals .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Adam Smith Prize , University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan , 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia , 1993 and 1994


Chief Executive of Pakistan
Title: President of Pakistan
Name: Asif Ali Zardari

EDUCATION /Qualification:
High School from Cadet College Petaro
Details of higher formal education not known; Claims graduation from London but not available to be verified. As per some account. His official biography says he attended a commercial college called Pedinton School. But a search of tertiary educational institutions in London showed no such school.

Working Experience:
Early days: Working at the family owned Bambino Cinema at Karachi. Some accuse Mr Zardari of small-time ticket frauds to steal money from the family business.
Up till 1987 (marriage to the future Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto): No record.
1988 to date: While no official record of any business exists, Mr Zardari is widely believed to be one of the (if not the) richest man in Pakistan. An unofficial list of family owned businesses, property and accounts exists but the completeness of the same cannot be verified. Mr Zardari has however been involved in various national and international cases relating to his businesses. The most significant European cases are a Swiss money-laundering inquiry and a British civil cases.

Working Experience [Politics]:
1988-1990: Husband of the Prime Minister
1993–1996: Minister of Environment during his wife's second term as the Prime Minister
Un till 1999: Senator
30 December 2007: Appointed himself as the co-chairman of the PPP, along with his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
September 9, 2008: Zardari was elected president of Pakistan. Sworn in by Abdul Hameed Dogar, whose position as the Chiefe Justice of Pakistan remains a contested issue by an overwhelming majority of the Pakistani legal fraternity.

Working Experience [Other]:
Other experience of Mr Zardari includes his widely believed but not proven involvement in
- Several murders - most famously of his brother in law, possibly his wife
- Wrapping a bomb to the leg of a famous UK businessman to ask for money
- Embezzlement & looting of Billions of Pakistan's wealth

BOOKS:
None on record

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Marrying the then future and now ex (RIP) Prime Minister of Pakistan
Only serving politician to have spent 10 years in Jail
Told the US VP Candidate that she is "gorgeous" and said : "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you". When the photographers asked the two to keep shaking hands, he replied : " If he insists, I might hug you". This was one day after the President delivered an emotional speech at the UN in new York waiving a photograph of his deceased wife only months after the murder of his wife.

Vote on Obama's site about aid to Israel.

This is apparently an effort where the significant/most voted on/ ideas will be presented to Obama after his inauguration on January 20, 2009.

Someone had the courage to ask whether to re-evaluate US's aid to Israel; by Sunday afternoon 1/18/2009, it seems like only half of the total 36740 votes were in favor of such re-evaluation.

Pro-Israel factions never cease to amaze me with their resilience.

http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea.apexp?id=087800000004lmt&srPos=1&srKp=087&srS=1

PS: It takes about 10 seconds to sign-up to be able to vote and comment.

CNN reports Israel lieing?

Rick Sanchez reported that Israeli claim about breaking the recent truce was actually a lie and the Palestinians were telling the truth.

What I found more interesting was Rick's overall defensive tone; as if he was doing the "forbidden". Although to be fair, he WAS doing the forbidden, so nevermind my surprise ...

As expected, after proving Israeli government had just openly lied to everyone, his guest goes on to claim "there was no real deal" anyway and there were "eminent security reasons" etc. for Israel to lie/attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntmpoRXFX4