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...