RaneForrest

Dev Anand

2011-12-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a very sweet eulogy to Dev Anand, who died recently, by Shireesh Kanekar.

Anna or democracy? Anna AND democracy??

2011-12-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

With Anna Hazare's new one-day fast, I've begun to wonder if standard democratic institutions alone can "do the needful" in India. When they don't work -- and we all know they haven't worked well enough, hence the massive corruption and lack of safety net for millions of poor -- an infusion of meta-democratic-institutional mechanisms like the Anna movement may indeed work. It's a dangerous game to play, if it results in completely upchucking democracy and replacing it with total anarchy. But if that doesn't happen, it just might improve things a bit. It's amazingly exciting to see what'll happen. Where will this current Anna movement take India in 5 - 10 years? Will there be less corruption? Will democratic institutions -- and law and order -- take a further plunge downwards?

Clementine Metamorphosis

2011-12-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Huh ONE:
Oh My Darling Clementine
By Percy Montrose or Barker Bradford, 1884, (based on Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden by H. S. Thompson)

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Chorus:
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine. --Chor.

Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine. -- Chor.

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine. -- Chor.

(I don't like the final "her little sister" part, and so I omitted it!)

Huh TWO:
माझी लाडकी सुशीला
By Moi, circa 2000! (Except for the first line, heard in my childhood)

माझी लाडकी माझी लाडकी माझी लाडकी सुशीला
ह्या जगाला आणि मजला सोडुन गेली सुशीला । धृ ।

एक होता सावकार इस्टेट त्याची लाखाची
माझी लाडकी सूशि सुंदरी कन्या होती ती त्याची । १ ।

हरणी डोळे केस काळे ओठावरली लाली फार
चाल सरकी नागासारखी रूपसुंदर माझी नार । २ ।

रोज उठोनी भरे पाणी हळू हळू घागरी
एके दिवशी खाली पडशी पाणी वाहे सागरी । ३ ।

खद्खदा हासूनी झरा घेउन गेला माझी नार
एका क्षणी होती हासत दुसऱ्या क्षणी दृष्टीपार । ४ ।

Huh THREE:
ऐ दिल है मुशकिल
By Majrooh Sultanpuri, 1956

ऐ दिल है मुशकिल जीना यहाँ
ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के
ये है बंबई मेरी जाँ

कहीं बिल्डिंग कहीं ट्रामें, कहीं मोटर कहीं मिल
मिलता है यहाँ सब कुछ इक मिलता नहीं दिल
इन्साँ का नहीं कहीं नाम-ओ-निशाँ

कहीं सत्ता, कहीं पत्ता कहीं चोरी कहीं रेस
कहीं डाकें, कहीं फाँकें कहीं ठोकर कहीं ठेस
बेकारो के हैं कई काम यहाँ

बेघर को आवारा यहाँ कहते हँस हँस
खुद काटे गले सबके कहे इसको बिज़्नेस
इक चीज़ के हैं कई नाम यहाँ

बुरा दुनिया जो है कहता ऐसा भोला तू न बन
जो है करता वो है भरता ये जहाँ का है चलन
तदबीर नहीं मिलने की यहाँ
सुनो मिस्टर, सुनो बन्धु
ये है बंबई मेरी जाँ

ऐ दिल है आसाँ जीना यहाँ
सुनो मिस्टर, सुनो बन्धु
येह है बंबई मेरी जाँ

ऐ दिल है मुशकिल जीना यहाँ
ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के
ये है बंबई मेरी जाँ

A couple of odes to Sanskrit

2011-12-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

First, the better-known, by Vasant Gadgil (वसंत गाडगीळ):

नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना

सुरससुबोधा विश्वमनोज्ञा
ललिता हृद्या रमणीया ।
अमृतवाणी संस्कृतभाषा
नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना ॥धृ॥

कविकोकिल-वाल्मीकि-विरचिता
रामायण-रमणीयकथा ।
अतीवसरला मधुरमञ्जुला
नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना ॥१॥

व्यासविरचिता गणेशलिखिता
महाभारते पुण्यकथा ।
कौरव-पाण्डव-सञ्गर-मथिता
नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना ॥२॥

कुरुक्षेत्र-समराञ्गण-गीता
विश्ववन्दिता भगवद्गीता ।
अमृतमधुरा कर्मदीपिका
नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना ॥३॥

कविकुलगुरु-नव-रसोन्मेषजा
ऋतु-रघु-कुमार-कविता ।
विक्रम-शाकुन्तल-मालविका
नैव क्लिष्टा न च कठिना ॥४॥

Next, one by my erstwhile Sanskrit teacher, Saraswati Mohan (सरस्वती मोहन):

जय संस्कृति (In the tune of जन गण मन)

श्रित बुध जन शुभ कारिणि जय हे सर्व प्रपंच सुभाव्या
संस्कार सिंधु बुध राज सुभूषा मंगल शब्द सुलिंगा
देशे देशे संस्कृत भाषा उच्चल संस्कृति रंगा
तव शुभ नाम्ना जननी
तव शुभ राशि समूहे
गाहे तव जय नादे
तव गुण गण शुभ दायकि जय हे भारति भाग्य विदायि
जयताम्
जतताम्
जयताम्
जय जय जय जयताम्

Lost and Found in Translation

2011-11-25T21:10:00.000-08:00

Remember Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass? Remember Jabberwocky? Here’s the well-known poem, and then my translation of it in Marathi:

Jabberwocky

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

जबडोबा

प्रकाळ होती चिकळे बोळी चक्रत होते चिखलाती
बोरग कापत मातर रापत इथुनी तिथुनी बाहरती.

बाळा! भिउनी जबडोबाच्या दात-नखांना सांभाळा
जबजब पक्षी मक्कड कुक्षी मागे असती, पळा!पळा!

नायक तलवारीला हलवे, शत्रू फारा दिवसांचा
तमझाडाच्या खाली बसुनी विचार करितो क्षणिकाचा.

तितुक्या वेळी भडकत डोळे कडकत जबडोबा आला
सरकत झाडीमधुनी घुसला,बुडबुड तोंडी करी साला.

असा हाणला! तसा मारला! घावाने केले तुकडे!
जबडोबाचे डोके घेउनी नायक परते घराकडे.

"जबडोबाची मात जाहली का रे माझ्या प्रिय पोरा?
शुभ दिन आला! तमस निघाला!" आनंदी हसती जोरा.

प्रकाळ होती चिकळे बोळी चक्रत होते चिखलाती
बोरग कापत मातर रापत इथुनी तिथुनी बाहरती.

How do you translate a nonsensical poem like that into Marathi? To answer this question, let’s first ask the question: How does the human mind work? Many theories exist. Multiple disparate models of the human mind may all be valid in describing different aspects of its behavior. When asked to translate a word such as “orange” into Marathi, we could say the mind just looks it up in its associative memory, and out pops the answer “संत्रे”. If the something is an idea, however, then a more elaborate neuron-network model of the brain is useful.

According to this model, human memory is composed of a network of billions of neurons, each one connected to many others via synapses. The firing of a given neuron produces a bit of memory recall. Whether that neuron fires at a given time depends both on which of the neurons connected to it fire into it at that moment, and how intensely they do so. In lay terms, the sum total of the most salient associations made in the brain at a given moment will determine how an object or an idea is perceived. Or translated.

Take the title of the poem, for example. We know from reading the poem that the Jabberwock is the horrible monster which has to be destroyed. Now who could jabber but a jaw-like monster? And not only is “jaw” जबडा in Marathi, but जबडा even shares two (or almost three if you pronounce the ड as in the Hindi ड़!) consonant sounds with “jabber”. Finally, जबडो"बा" rounds out the size and monstrosity of the Jabber“wock”.

As anoter example, look again at the entire first stanza. You will notice a slight attempt at alliteration within the first two (brillig, gyre, gimble) as well as the last two (mimsy, mome) lines in the original song. In the Marathi version, this is countered with a more extensive – and, if I may say so, quite successful – attempt (3 ळ’s, 3 च’s, and 4 र’s, not to mention the “इथुनी तिथुनी”). Further, slithy reminds one of चिख्खल, and “mome” sounds close enough to “mom” to fire the मातर neurons in one’s brain, especially when aided by the sound of “raths” following the “mome”, so that “mome raths” = मातर. In translating a serious work, semantic associations, i. e., associations of meaning, predominate. Translating an irreverent work such as the Jabberwocky is even more fun because associations of syntax (i. e., form) and sound can also be made, constrained only by the expediencies of rhyme, meter and, of course, the translator’s creativity. As a final example, “bander” sounds like “बंदर”, which means “माकड”, which, following the mock-serious style of the translation is changed to “मक्कड”. You get the picture.

Here’s a reverse translation example, of a ditty I heard from my cousins during my last trip to India:

अक्कडबक्कड बंबा भो
अस्सी नब्बे पूरे सौ
सो में लग्गा धागा
चोर निकलके भागा
राजा की बेटी सोती थी
कुल्फ़ी मारा रोती थी
मोम खाये गुड गुड
साब बोले व्हेरी गुड

Yabber Jabber firetruck dead
Eighty ninety full hundred
Hundred wound up in the string
Thief absconded from Sing-sing
Princess used to sleep and scream
Cried all day for icecream
Ma’am mumbles, “Good, good.”
Sir, too, rumbles, “Very good.”

You might have noted another aspect of translating songs. The meters of some songs can be retained in the translation, while those of others are best replaced. It just felt right to introduce जबडोबा in a common Marathi meter (Readers: Do you know what it is called?), instead of staying with the more prosaic meter of Jabberwocky. अक्कडबक्कड, however, translates quite well in the original meter. (Note, however, the “tribute to Lewis Carroll” neuron at work in the use of “Jabber” in the English beginning for this song!)

Let me close by dedicating this article to the hope that at least some of you will attempt your own translations. But not before I pay my debt to a second man as well, Douglas Hofstadter, who wrote “Goedel, Escher and Bach,” a book full of wondrous ideas about verbal, musical and philosophical transformations.

THE END

Libya -- Another Misadventure

2011-03-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

Are we stupid, or are we stupid?

(1) We don't have the moral authority to be the world's policeman -- not with what we have wreaked on the world in our self-interest.

(2) We're not there to stop civilian lives and spread democracy. We're there thirsting for oil, indirectly.

(3) It doesn't work. It hasn't worked, and it won't work. It will take many lives, theirs and ours -- more than if we left Gaddafi to his own devices.

It won't be over in a week or two. It never does.

And I thought Obama was a different kind of President.

Here's a good analysis of the dangers that lie ahead.

Beyond Dai-Ichi Fukushima: Nuclear Power in the 21st Century

2011-03-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

As the world grapples with the daily updates of disaster containment, radiation levels, casualty numbers and the tumbling markets, I wonder if I'm capable of deciding about the safety of nuclear power.

The problem is that there is no objective way of deciding for two or three reasons:

1) It is hard -- and perhaps impossible -- even for the experts/insiders in the nuclear industry to identify all the likely failure modes. An expert friend of mine believed, I now know falsely, that the damage from the power failure at Dai-Ichi was not going to escalate the way it has. And if the experts don't know what they don't know (in Rumsfeld's words), what can we laypeople know?

2) Even if it were possible to identify the probability of disaster, i. e., the risk, here is no objective way of weighing the risk against the reward of relatively inexpensive power. For each of us, it is different, depending on our risk-averse-ness.

3) Finally, our risk-averse-ness is subject to many psychological factors and fluctuates over time.

There was a study about Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in history (as we all hope to god that the current one doesn't reach that level!), which showed that of the thousands of people affected, the subsequent psychological trauma (depression, fear, etc.) far outweighed the physical damage suffered by the few hundreds. It is apparently in human nature to react to man-made (vs. natural) disasters like a meltdown at a nuclear power plant in more panicky ways than "one oughta". But this is no consolation. Human nature is what human nature is, and in a similar disaster, people will always suffer BOTH the physical as well as psychological trauma. So we must add both those numbers to identify the total risk from such a disaster.

This introspection requires a lot more thought -- and at a future time, when our collective consciousness has stopped panicking from the current ongoing developments. Yet I can't but help state my misgivings about nuclear power. If there is to be a disaster like Chernobyl (consisting of deaths in the hundreds from various cancers, psychological trauma for thousands lasting decades and disruption in world economies lasting months) every 25 years, I would vote to do away with nuclear power.

"Barkis is willin"

2011-02-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

I'm moved today to sing the praises of the age of internet, search engines and online literature.

Out of the deep recesses of my shallow mind, I remembered today a line from David Copperfield I had read in childhood. It was a marriage proposal to be conveyed by David from a horsecart driver to a servant girl called Peggotty whom he fancied. I didn't remember the man's name very well, but thought it was something like "Harkiss". And the message, as I remembered it, was: "Harkiss is willing." Well I googled for that phrase, and, Voila!, I got this:

http://books.google.com/books?id=JqsYAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=harkis+david+copperfield&source=bl&ots=McSFt_pZCj&sig=uRm5XItIctP2n51pLFIR4YfKmsA&hl=en&ei=cnFsTZ7SKoz6sAPQodi6BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=harkis%20david%20copperfield&f=false

Thus, I learned that the phrase was "Barkis is willin'" Armed with the correct phrase, I then reached the online chapter of the book:

http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/dickens/david-copperfield/6/

and could immediately immerse myself in nostalgia.

If this isn't literary heaven, it is something very close to it. And for this, I must thank all the people who ever worked on this wonderful web of technologies, from transistors to integrated circuits to computers, from DARPA networks to the World Wide Web, from proprietary communication protocols to acronym-rich open-system communication stacks, from microcode to operating systems to web-enabling browsers and applications.

We've come a long way, babies!

Moammar by any other name ...

2011-02-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

Or, two-hundred-sixteen ways to lose a ruler!

I'll feel terrible when they finally overthrow the despot in Tripoli. He is the ruler with by far the most English spellings of his name.

I'm counting 216, but there could well be multipliers I'm either missing or under-counting.

al | al- | = 3*
G | Gh | K | Kh | Q | Qu = 6*
a = 1*
d | dd | dh = 3*
a = 1*
f | ff = 2*
i | y = 2

3*6*1*3*1*2*2 = 216

Paul Simon, eat your heart out!

- Ajit.

Here comes Dea!h

2010-11-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

One of the most poignant pictures from the early days of American adventures in Afghanistan: Two boys watching American planes come by for bombing.

Thank you, Suresh Kalmadi!

2010-11-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Suresh Kalmadi!

I apologize for not thanking you earlier for running a grotesquely corrupt and inept office as chairman of the organizing committee for the Commonwealth Games. If it wasn't for you, it's just possible we may not have had a scapegoat to blame for our endemic corrupt and jugaad tendencies.

In secondary schools we learned of the life of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He had won a scholarship for higher studies in England. But his brother, also a V. Patel, expressed interest in going in his stead. So, we learned in our lesson, Vallabhbhai sacrificed his own chances for the honor of a British degree by letting his brother go in his place. (Vallabhbhai eventually got to go himself the next year anyway, by winning another scholarship.) And our great country's textbook writers had wanted us to get this lesson in selflessness. The stark dishonesty of one of Mahaan Bhaarat's founding fathers was expected to be not just forgivable, but actually to be exalted! So like good children we learned the lesson: Honesty doesn't matter so long as you don't get caught. I think we also learned that this is even more true about "us" -- high caste and/or socioeconomic class people.

As for ineptitude in public project, well, we own the corner on that, don't we? We congratulate ourselves for our ability to make things work with jugaad. After all, isn't the country prospering because of it -- save the bottom half (about whom we don't give a damn, since they don't deserve to exist and malign the nation's honor)?

I would say, Mr Kalmadi, you've actually set another shining example, of how to reach the highest rungs of political and financial ladders in India. Well, not the highest: that honor was taken up by our Shrimati President, whose nefarious corrupt activities have been wiped from collective pubic consciousness now that she's President.

So the bottom line is that CWG were a success, Kalmadi is my hero, and Bhaarat remains Mahaan.

Glenn Beck "sorry for personal attack on Pelosi"

2009-08-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

The only way I can fight THEM!

"Hannity is an idiot!," says O'Reilley

2009-08-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

The only way I can fight THEM!

FOX News finally apologizes for calling Obama a terrorist

2009-08-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

The only way I can fight THEM!

Lamar Alexander will vote for Sotomayor!

2009-07-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Republican Senate Conference, announced today that he will vote for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. He says he will back Sotomayor even though he believes her judicial and political philosophy is different from his.

"Courts were never intended to be political bodies composed of judges 'on your side' who would reliably tilt your way in controversial cases," he said in a speech this morning on the Senate floor. "Courts are supposed to do just the opposite: decide difficult cases with impartiality."

Wow! My hat off to him!

The Hindus: An Alternative History - Wendy Doniger

2009-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

There's a new book out this year by the western doyenne of South Asian Studies, Wendy Doniger. It's called "The Hindus: An Alternative History". This thread may turn out to be my syncopated musings as I read it.

You want non-fiction to be written by an outsider, who can be neutral and dispassionate and can see the forest despite the trees.

But you want non-fiction to also be written by an insider, who has the intimacy and the lifelong and visceral understanding, and can see the individual trees as they should be seen despite the forest.

Unfortunately, you can't have both.

Doniger, IMO, clearly suffers from the limitations of an outsider, despite her scholarship/erudition. So many examples! Starting with a map of the subcontinent “from 2500 BC to 600 CE” in which Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, etc., compete with Gandhara, Mithila, Videha, Magadha, etc.!

Another example, from linguistics: She starts, “Many modern Indian languages often drop the final short a of the Sanskrit, so Rama becomes Ram, Hastinapura becomes Hastinapur.” So far, so good. Then she says: “Dharma often becomes Dharam.” When Dharma becomes Dharam, it is NOT an instance of the phenomenon she's talking about earlier, of dropping the final short "a". What it is, requires a fairly basic understanding of linguistics which she, as a Sanskrit scholar, must possess.

Some writers writing about arcane subjects for the general audience try to liven up the discourse with irreverent, humorous examples and anecdotes from common life. Steven Pinker does it marvelously in all his books about linguistic psychology. Doniger also tries to do it but more often than not it comes out horrible. For example:
“This book attempts to set the narrative of religion within the narrative of history, as a linga (emblem of the god Shiva, often representing his erect phallus) is set in a yoni (the symbol of Shiva's consort, or the female sexual organ) …”

What on earth is the point of this simile, other than to egregiously drag in a sensational topic grotesquely (where it doesn't help make any point at all)? Is this the propensity of Doniger's to harp on sex that some of her critics have mentioned?

Or this: In describing the Sanskritization phenomenon (i. e., the seeping of Vedic social values, Vedic rituals and Sanskrit learning into local popular culture), Doniger says, “Indian society is a permanent floating game of snakes and ladders (or, perhaps, snakes and ropes, recalling that Vedantic philosophers mistake snakes for ropes and that you can climb on ropes in the Indian rope trick).”

Shivalinga and rope tricks? Remember, this isn't a provincial western ignoramus's musings about India, limited to elephants and rope tricks and suttee and a couple other things; it is Wendy Doniger, the renowned Hinduism scholar writing about India! And all this in the Preview chapter!

When I get farther into the book, I hope to be able to list some positive examples of her incisiveness and her ability to weave a whole bunch of small narratives into a whole. But so far it's not looking great.

Mercy Mercy Me

2009-06-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

Is there a more melancholy yet beautiful ode to the environment than this Marvin Gaye song?

Woo ah, mercy mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east
Woo mercy, mercy me, mercy father
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury
Ah oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
Oh, na na...
My sweet Lord... No
My Lord... My sweet Lord

And here's a really interesting new take on it by the chamelion-like musician Susan Werner, from her new album "Classics".

Stupider Than Limbaugh

2009-06-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

Can anyone with human DNA be stupider than Thrush Limbaugh, you ask.

Turns out, the answer is Yes!

The story is fully reproduced here, because it's wildly and darkly funny in the same manner as every one of Limbo's utterances:

(CNN) -- A man accused of making threatening statements about killing President Obama has been arrested in Nevada, the Secret Service said Saturday.

Daniel James Murray was arrested Friday night in the parking lot of the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, said Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley.

Murray recently withdrew $85,000 from a bank in St. George, Utah, in two separate visits and told a teller, "We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States," according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Utah.

According to the complaint, Murray opened an account at Zions First National Bank on May 19 with an $85,000 check.

"With all this mess going on under President Obama with banks and the economy, I'm sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths," he said, according to the complaint.

On May 27, he returned to the bank and tried to withdraw $12,000, but lacked proper identification.

"Not to be disrespectful, but if I don't get this money, someone is going to die," Murray said, according to the complaint.

A bank manager was summoned and Murray was allowed to withdraw the money without proper identification.

Murray would not accept a check and demanded bills no larger than $50, the complaint says.
"We are 94 million miles from the sun, and are in-between the sun and moon, and the eagle that flies between them and it's a giant step for mankind. ... I have traveled thousands of miles to be here and know things that are going to happen. ... the banking system will fail and people will die. ... there will be chaos in the world," Murray said, according to the complaint.

He then made his threat against the president, the complaint says.

The next day, Murray returned to the bank, withdrew the rest of his money and closed the account, a bank teller told authorities.

Same Sex Marriage

2009-05-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

It looks as though the will of the people triumphed today -- however wrong it may be. That's what democracies are about -- Power to the People.

Gays in civil unions retain all the rights enjoyed by married couples; they just can't call it marriage.

Until the people say they can.

A couple more years, and I'll bet we can reverse Prop 8.

Gays ran an effete campaign to defeat Prop 8. They're getting to live with its rewards now. Hope they learn from their mistakes the next time around.

Master Orator in British Parliament

2009-03-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Bravo! Bravissimo!

Runs circles around Obama, IMO! And he's only talking from brief notes; no monitors.

Now, if we had a GOP opponent who was capable of anything like this, we'd have a viable two party system. Instead we have Rush-to-judgment Limbo and the Obsequious Wimps making up what passes for conservative opposition.

Father Idiot, Hallowed Be Thy Ignorance

2009-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Bishop Richard Williamson believes the Holocaust didn't happen.

To take him to task is not about the tussle between free speech and hurting the sensitivities of the Jews. It's about whether a total idiot ought to be allowed to practice as a bishop.

I say, Book him!

Iran

2009-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

If you want a wonderfully fresh lesson about the pitfalls of ethnocentrism, listen to this!

Pakistan, a Careening State

2009-02-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

These days Pakistan reminds me of the high speed car chase of a renegade car on a TV show such as Caught on Camera, where the driver on drugs or alcohol or both careens from side to side and finally either crashes into an embankment or drives his car into a swampy field.

Today's Dawn has an editorial claiming Pakistan is going through the worst times in its short history. What's even more interesting is another editorial in the same issue quoting three different high level Pakistani officials making wildly opposing statements about Pakistan's response to India's dossier on the Mumbai terrorism -- on the same day! The high commissioner to Britain claimed Mumbai wasn't planned in Pakistan or Britain. The prime minister said the investigation was still underway. He claimed he hadn't seen the dossier as "it wasn't my job"! And the foreign minister claimed the Indian home minister had been briefed on Pakistan's investigation!!

All of this, along with earlier similar fiascos, of course speak of a political system in disarray. Pakistan is a nation almost of constitutions du jure. It's had three so far -- one with Ayub Khan, one with Zulfiqar Bhutto and one with Zia ul Haq. And further modifications to suit the whim of Musharraf. All of them have attempted to wrest real power away from legislatures and the prime minister and bequeath it to the president, with the result that today no one outside Pakistan or even within it knows who's responsible for what.

The one immovable force through all the political turmoil has been the army, which maintains its substantial hold on the reins in several important ways. I (and almost most of the Free World) suspect it, either directly or through its ISI agency, is implicated in Mumbai. And that is the other reason why Pakistan can't figure out how to respond to the Mumbai dossier.

In spite of all this, I hope America under Obama's stewardship doesn't deal with Pakistan and Afghanistan the way the Bushies dealt with Iraq -- with raw, ignorant muscle power. If it does, god help the world!

Pope Maledict

2009-01-26T08:31:00.000-08:00

Roman Catholic popes have almost without exception been no different than rogue mullahs or saffronists -- full of religion (their religion) and callous about anything else. John Paul was a bit different -- he seemed to actually love people regardless of their religion -- but he, too, was centuries behind his times with his opposition to abortion and his views on homosexuality. Mother Teresa, the Popes -- the Christian world -- and therefore the rest of the colonized world -- chooses to venerate these fools and self-aggrandizers and hatemongers simply because they are religious, not because they're good people.

Benedict has now gone and rehabilitated an English Bishop who denies much of the Holocaust. What an idiot.

He and Ahmadinejad ought to write a book of history together.

God

2009-01-21T12:34:00.000-08:00

""We know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and nonbelievers," Mr. Obama said in Tuesday's inaugural address." -- President Barack Hussain Obama in his inauguration speech

Obama is among the misguided legion who are believers, but his nod to nonbelievers, probably the first in American presidential discourse, is a harbinger of the era when religion as a marketing topic will be absent from such discourses -- as it is in the more progressive and civilized societies of Europe.

Of course, his more-than-ecumenical message was sullied somewhat by Rick Warren's mention of Christ, but we'll let that pass.

This week!

Living Side-by-side

2009-01-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

A real possibility of a cessation of killing in Gaza!

Hamas:
“We want an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops that entered Gaza. ... [We] would be willing to negotiate a yearlong cease- fire during the cessation.”

Israel:
“Israel seeks a sustained and durable calm in which there will be a total absence of hostile file from Gaza into Israel and the end of arms transfers to Hamas. ... On these principles Israel is ready for a long-term period of quiet.”

And this, from a group who has avowed destruction of Israel until recently, is very encouraging:
“[The Palestinian State's] relationship with Israel would be one of a truce like that which exists today between Lebanon and Syria and Israel - not a relationship of mutual recognition,” Palestinian spokesman Muss Abu Marzuk said.

A demigod can suck, too

2008-12-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

This really, really sucks: Obama has selected Rick Warren of Saddleback for delivering his invocation address -- a man who opposes gay marriage.

There are ways to be inclusive. There are ways to reach out to the conservative base. But this is not it.

I'm majorly pissed.

Two shoes for the American dog

2008-12-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

If I were an Iraqi, I would exult in the shoe-throwing episode, even though it's small retribution for what Bush has done to that country. If I had an opportunity, as an American, to do the same thing to Bush once he's a private citizen, I just might try to do it.

But I think it's a tragedy that it happened. Even though the Bush administration has raped American reputation and goodwill across the world, TV footage of a sitting American president dodging an Arab's shoes will crystallize the solidarity for hatred for America, especially in the Arab world, in a way that bodes ill for America -- and therefore also for the whole world. We still have a role to play beyond what's good for America -- I believe this even as a staunch opposer of the neocons' foreign policy. And if the Bush administration murdered that role, such an incident as the Al Baghdadiya reporter's shoe-throwing is like one more nail in the coffin of that role. And we can do without it.

It's been a horrible, horrible eight years, and this episode is the poignant, if unfortunate, exclamation point at the end of it.

Mumbai: Not Pakistan's Fault

2008-12-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

You know the old joke?:

When I told my neighbor to return the $100 he had borrowed, he replied, "I didn't borrow it. And even if I had, I returned it. And even if I didn't return it, I've already spent it. So there's nothing to return."

That always comes to mind when Pakistani officials respond to information India provides on insurgents and terrorists directed from Pakistan: "Pakistanis didn't do it. And even if they did, they were stateless actors. And even if they were guided by the ISI in the past, they are not anymore. And even if they still are we are helpless to do anything about it."

"And, besides, we're doing it on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Kashmir!"

"Progress the nation" -- she said it again!

2008-11-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

I can be gracious toward women, especially if they're Governor of a state very close to Russia. But if Sarah Palin uses "progress" as a transitive verb one more time, I swear I'm going to kick her in the teeth. I can forgive her her g-droppings, her gosh-darns and even her eye-winks; but this one aspect of egregious populism I will not put up with.

Just warnin' ya.

Studs Terkel Is Dead

2008-10-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

Another liberal giant is dead.

I didn't experience Studs Terkel a whole lot -- just a few interviews seen on public television. But his liberal spirit and empathy for people -- all people -- was indelibly etched in my mind.

The passing away of a liberal legend never fails to move me deeply, because that is where humanity lies -- not in correct maximization of the benefits of free enterprise, nor in muscle-flexing patriotism, nor in foisting one's own ideas of freedom on others.

Of Gaffes and Loose Tongues

2008-10-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

I spoke to Barack and Joe together last night and asked them if they could jointly tell me whether Biden’s “crisis in the first months of Obama’s presidency” trumped Obama’s “spread the wealth around”. They glowered at each other for a time, but then went into a huddle. When they came out, they said they had agreed that “spreading the wealth around” was the juicier gaffe.

Do they have any more zingers like that, I asked. No, Barack said. He’s going to tape Biden’s mouth with masking tape until Election Day. As for himself, he’s going to become even more thoughtful and professorial, just repeating Bush McCain Bush McCain Bush McCain until it’s time to vote.

Tell ‘em you heard it here, folks.

Let the robocalls come; we’ve got an unassailable double-digit lead!

Hailin' Palin

2008-10-22T00:13:00.000-07:00

I had concluded Palin was such an ignorant, little-read person with ultra-rightist political views that once McCain lost the election, she would fade into obscurity. However, the following quote from Lorne Michaels, the producer of Saturday Night Live, really made me sit up and take note:

I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful. Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she's had a huge impact. People connect to her.

Wow! It's a quote not likely to be noticed much but, coming as it does from an ostensibly liberal TV producer, it's quite possibly his honest opinion with some truth in it. If so, then maybe we will NOT have seen the last of Palin after this election.

It's only ONE data point, of course, and I do continue to think that the Republican party is likely to veer closer to the center after the election and hence farther away from Palin's politics. And I also think that her lightweight-ness has turned off enough of the elite in the party to let her have a future at the national level once the election is over.

But there is still that small chance that her ambition, combined with her charm, might win some people over in her party and that she may have a future beyond her current governership.

Only time will tell ...

McCain's Swan Song?

2008-10-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm finally getting a teeeeensy weeeeeensy confident of an Obama election win, I find myself looking for that possible way McCain might make a comeback. He didn't today during the last debate, of course, but one possible way that McCain's ratings might get a boost after today's debate is that McCain did clearly not appear erratic -- something he's been appearing for quite a while now. And because I think that part of the reason for McCain's poor showing in the polls is his appearing erratic, his non-erratic debate appearance just might swing some of the voters back in his camp.

I hope to high heaven that doesn't happen, of course. But we will see ...,

Boorish

2008-10-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

It just occurred to me what was spectacularly wrong with Sarah Palin. The word that describes her better than most others is "boorish". She's not highly intelligent, but she's not dumb, either. You sum up the sparks of intelligence coming out of her mouth and you realize she earned her governership with enough smarts to be the "chief executive" of a minor state. But she clearly is poorly read. The question which bubbled up in the minds of many of her detractors -- What newspapers does she read? -- might seem rude to ask of a state governor, but it didn't spring out of a vacuum. She -- always -- comes across as though staying abreast of U. S. events -- let alone world events -- could never have been one of her occupations.

But there's more. Her reaction to Tina Fey's impersonation genuinely seems one of adulation and of feeling honored that a celebrity would be impersonating her. That the impersonation makes her (Palin) look utterly dumb AND uninformed seems of little concern to her. Well, it did register in her mind as something less than laudatory, but look how she dodged questions about it: she claimed to have seen the impersonation with the sound turned off! Who would believe such a thing?? And even after she was ridiculed for claiming experience in foreign affairs on the basis of the geographical proximity of Alaska to Russia, she continued to bring it up as though she didn't understand the slight.

Boorish. That's it.

Suppose the unthinkable happens. Through the Bradley Effect or some other phenomenon, McCain is elected. And dies in office and Palin becomes the President of the United States of America -- I want to savor the pain of that: Palin becomes the President of the United States of America -- what will the world think of us?

Bush has made the world lose most of the respect it had for us. But that was out of a belligerent foreign policy. If she follows him and begins to meet with world leaders with that vacuous head on her shoulders, what will that do to our prestige?

McCain is not totally evil!

2008-10-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

I was THIS close to concluding, based on the McCain-Palin campaign's horrible tactics calling Obama a terrorist and inciting people in their rallies to shout "Kill him!", "Terrorist!", etc., and doing nothing to stop these reprehensible mobsters. And then --Surprise! -- he stops not one but two questioners from spewing out more of this bile.

One guy called Obama a terrorist on the way to asking McCain for a response. McCain said, "No, Obama is a decent person with whom I happen to disagree." Another woman called Obama an Arab. McCain told her, "No, he is not an Arab; he is a decent American." Or words to that effect.

Having conducted a horribly negative campaign way beyond any norms of decency, McCain's responses were shocking. Did he do it because he concluded the negative impact of letting his bigoted followers go unchallenged will be worse than keeping up whipping the hateful xenophobia? Maybe. But, even so, it still marks McCain as something less than the ultimate evil politician. He is to be commended for taking the high road.

Will he lose his way again? Only time will tell.

Zardari: Opening a New Leaf for Pakistan?

2008-10-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

I’m speechless! BBC News reports today that Asif Ali Zardari, the late Benazir Bhutto’s husband and the newly elected President of Pakistan, said that India has never been a threat to Pakistan.

To my knowledge, no Pakistani politician has ever admitted this simple truth until now.

So what has caused this thoroughly corrupt man to come out and voice it now? Did his new exalted position make him think, “I think now that my Swiss bank account is a billion dollars strong, it’s time to do some real good for my country, instead of towing the same old line befitting the old identity of Pakistan?”

He also appears to have given tacit, if not official, consent to the U. S. for air strikes within Pakistan.

Is all this a passing blip? Or could it foreshadow a welcome change in Pakistan’s political personality – obviously for the better?

Only time will tell.

Palindrome

2008-09-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

It's not really Sara Palin's fault. She's an energetic, success-minded, reasonably smart young woman, significantly misguided about the environment and gender politics, but half the country is, too. But WHAT ON EARTH was McCain thinking in choosing this inexperienced Russia's next door neighbor as his running mate?

McCain is supposed to have wanted a VP who'll shut up, do nothing and smile. And McCain is a bit of an MCP. And McCain is likely to want to attract those of the Hillary Clinton white women who are bigoted enough not to be thrilled about an African American candidate. A woman with little experience -- and zero, zilch, nada experience in foreign affairs -- like Palin fulfills all three of those criteria.

Could that be it? If so, what a travesty, what mockery of the presidential election process!

Olympic Obscenity

2008-08-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt – these are obscene people.

The People’s Republic of Phelps, a fully owned subsidiary of the United States of America, single-strokedly won eight golds, ALL the races he participated in, and seven of them world records! A feat that may never be equaled. As of now, Phelps is ahead of all but fourteen countries in Olympic medals!

Usain Bolt, of Jamaica, became the Fastest Man in the World, winning the 100 meters sprint in a world record 9.69 seconds. As a college track runner, I cannot comprehend how a sprinter can ease up fifteen meters before the tape, as Bolt did, spread his arms, pump his chest, and still win the race in world record time!

As I say, downright obscene.

Scats R Us

2008-08-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

It appears as though scatological humor is as human as religion and language. A university in England did some research on jokes and found the oldest joke known to man. It's a 4000 year old Sumerian saw: "Ain't gonna happen -- a young woman farting in her man's lap." (See here for the full article: http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKL129052420080731)

It's hard to articulate what it is about toilet humor that's so attractive to make it span over millennia and across the globe. (Steven Pinker devotes some time describing it in his latest wonderful book, The Stuff of Thought, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBpetDxIEMU) But we can rest assured that in another 4000 years our descendants living on Mars (Scientists just found water on Mars this week. Yippee, here we come!) will be guffawing about flatulence and excretion and copulation and such -- just as much as the Sumerians did and we're doing today.

Republicans United to Defeat Obama

2008-07-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

You've got to give the conservatives one thing: For being stuck with a once-maverick, pro-choice nominee, they sure have managed to close ranks and start firing in unison against the may-be-Muslim-Who-knows?, definitely Black and resoundingly anti-war Democratic candidate. And since Obama doesn't seem to be committing any missteps, they have to resort to weird reasons to claim his inferiority, but that hasn't stopped them from trying.

Let's see:
- They've faulted him for not going to Iraq.
- They've faulted him for going to Iraq.
- They've faulted him for meeting troops in Kuwait.
- They've faulted him for not meeting troops in Germany.
- They've faulted him for aggressively telling Europeans what America expects from them.
- They've faulted him for not aggressively telling Europeans what America wants from them.
- They've faulted him for not wearing a lapel pin, without which one's patriotism is unproven.
- They've faulted him for wearing a lapel pin and showing his fake patriotism.
- They've faulted him for appearing to believe that America is a member of the comity of nations and must (Heaven forbid!) work with others to further common interests.

This last one doesn't have a yin-yang counterpart. But Glenn Beck's tortured yakking yesterday made me realize how autistic and self-centered bullies the conservatives have become. FOX News, of course, exclusively hires people whose notion of patriotism is synonymous with xenophobia and jingoism. (Note how they reduce the number of his German audience in half; how they report on his speech by quoting a dismissive think tank that calls his speech "mere campaiging"; how they make more of McCain's campaign even when he's done little more than to visit a Ma and Pa restaurant in Ohio.) But this cancer of petty nationalistic frothing has now apparently metastacized to CNN and other normal networks, too.

Obama in Europe

2008-07-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Obama is wildly popular in Europe; McCain is just as highly un-popular. What does this portend?

I think it means Europe is sick of our self-centered, belligerent hegemony and our abject ignorance of and callousness toward the rest of the world. While McCain asserts his long experience as someone who's been bent on preserving our bully status in international affairs, Obama offers a more enlightened view of citizenship in the world.

This difference doesn't escape the Europeans, who've always been more in tune with the rest of the world than we have.

I wish Obama had said, in his speech at the Tiergarten Park in Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner nicht, aber wir sind Weltbürger zusammen!"

Obama Visits Afghanistan and Iran

2008-07-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Old man McCain is looking more and more like how my son used to look when he had to go pee-pee -- smarting, chafing, scowling, walking around in circles not knowing what to do. A lawyer usually knows not to ask a question he doesn't already know the answer to. In a similar vein, a politician shouldn't be claiming bragging rights because his opponent hasn't gone to Afghanistan and Iraq. Once the opponent goes to those places, then what? McCain and his people are now reeling in misery -- looking desperately for a wedge with which to cleave Americans from their young new leader-to-be. He's trying every tack. First he faults Obama for not having gone to Afghanistan and Iran. Then he faults him for going. Then, when he finds no one's listening, he breaks the news to his waning support base that Obams will reach Iraq Sunday -- something that's a bad idea, because of security concerns.

I have traveled all around the world -- multiple times. I was shot down in Nam, tortured, and spent years in North Vietnamese prisons. So why won't you listen to me, America, when I say we need more war, not less? I know how to win wars -- um, Vietnam, er, Iraq. Etc. And now that the Surge is working, you want to leave in favor of Afghanistan? Okay, we want to fight that war, too, but it's not the case that we want to leave Iraq and fight in Afghanistan; we want to fight in Iraq AND Afghanistan. Aren't two countries better than one?

What? Terrorism? Yes, that's what I'm talking about -- terrorism and Nine-Eleven and Al Quaeda and Saddam and Czechoslovakia and Taliban and Pakistan and Sunnis and Shias and Obama bin Laden. We want to go after all of them.

What? Yes, that's what I meant, Osama Hussain. I mean Osama bin Laden.

Europe Welcomes Obama with Open Arms

2008-07-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

But, the editorial in Britain's Guardian recognizes that his popularity in Europe would not help at home: "To be seen as Europe's pet is the last thing a presidential candidate needs -- especially one who wants to shed his elitist image with white working-class American voters."

In other words, we're viewed as a bunch of uneducated rednecks all over Europe. I wonder why! Is it because

- we like to sling guns as we talk to one another in our houses and as we walk down the streets?

- or think a Muslim president would be an unspeakable horror?

- or burn up non-renewable energy sources at four times the rate of the rest of the world and don't give a hoot about the perilous effects on the planet?

- or invade countries to exercise our hegemony and thirst for oil?

- or torture our prisoners?

- or ignore our own citizens without healthcare coverage?

- or like to bash gays?

One wonders.

Rev. Jackson's Nutty Remarks

2008-07-10T08:32:00.001-07:00

Jesse Jackson's testy, um, cular remarks, when he said Obama talks down to the Black community, were clearly unfortunate, but they will actually help Obama's campaign by keeping his stand on the issues of personal responsibility in the minds of the electorate.

It's unclear what prompted Jackson's, um, crotchety irritation. My bet is on the envy of the Old Guard for the sudden and unexpected success of the New Guard. But I agree a hundred per cent with Jackson's statement: "[Obama is] running the last lap of a marathon ... and I was part of that race." Obama is standing on the shoulders of Shirley Chisolm, Jesse Jackson -- along with a host of others -- to be where he is today, and to where he's taking the country.

Whither the Internet?

2008-07-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

A basic flaw was discovered early this year in the design of a part of the internet technology called Domain Name System (DNS) which compromises the internet in a big way. The guy who discovered it (Dan Kaminsky) immediately reported it to the Computer Systems Response Team (CERT), a division of Homeland Security. They alerted the major technology vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco and Sun Microsystems so a patch could be created and applied to most of the Name Servers around the world in a coordinated fashion before any damange could be done by malicious hackers getting wind of the flaw and coming up with ways to exploit it.

The patch was provided by the vendors yesterday to be applied to all Name Server computers and other equipment which hosts databases of internet names and resolves such names. "Leaf" computers, such as our desktops and laptops, will get upgraded automatically: we need do nothing. Details of the flaw will be reported to the internet community in a month, by which time all Name Servers are expected to have upgraded. Disclosure of the flaw is useful to let the internet development community to be warned about it. The monthlong delay is expected to help prevent hackers from exploiting it while some Name Servers are still patchless.

Those are the facts. Two things occur to me about all this.

One: DNS, and several other aspects of the Internet, remain exploitable to this day. Now that our life has become so thoroughly dependent on it, it is scary that components of it still operate without security provisions, as DNS apparently doesn't.

Two: In the meanwhile, plugging holes such as this one will continue to rely for the foreseeable future on the good guys prevailing over the bad guys most of the time. That is to say, that we must assume that most of the experts are good guys and hence most of the flaws will be discovered by good guys and will be fixed before the bad guys can wreak havoc.

We have no option than to assume so, of course. But I do believe that this is a reasonable assumption.

Isn't it??

Williams Sisters Reach Wimbledon Finals

2008-07-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Richard Williams, their father, said he would fly back to the United States on Friday and doesn't plan to watch a single point of the final on television, saying he can't bear to watch his daughters playing against each other.

I don't blame him! If two of my boys were to play in any tournament against each other, I, too, wouldn't be able to bear watching them. No way!

Texas Grand Jury Clears Man for Killing Men

2008-06-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

What a State, this Texas! A guy sees two men crawling out of his neighbor's house and so he shoots them to death to protect his neighbor's and his property. That'll teach 'em!

It surely teaches me not to go near Texas.

If the men weren't Hispanic illegal aliens but White teenagers -- say, White friends of the neighor's son -- would the Grand Jury have had a different reaction?

This is most definitely your land, Texas. And these are certainly your laws, Scalia.

Long live America! The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and Trigger-happy Cowboys.

Of Black Jokes and Glass Ceilings

2008-06-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

Do you even remember that once upon a time, in our own lifetime, Jewish jokes were verboten? It appeals to me tremendously that when Obama becomes the next President, that will be the end of the era when all of us, Black or White or whatever, not only need to walk on eggshells about Blacks, but even care about having to be sensitive. That an African American can hold an important position in American life will have become commonplace and we can collectively say goodbye to political correctness, sensitivity and fear. Racism will not have disappeared, but it'll definitely have received a tremendous jolt. The theory of behaviorism holds that attitudes can follow repeated behavior. When, day in and day out, it is impressed on our collective psyche that the most important job in America, and perhaps the world, is held by an African American, it would be hard, though not impossible, to hold on to all the aspects of racism against Blacks.

Of course, all the above could've been said about women, if Obama and Clinton hadn't happened to America in the same election year. It is our misfortune that they did. As a result, it will be some time before we can shed our reputation in the world's eyes as one of the most retrograde among nations. I for one have been desperately waiting for the day when we can establish to the world that we are ready to lose our misogyny and racism. In 2008, it'll be a big nail in the coffin for racism. In 2012, for misogyny??

Between those two glass ceilings, I believe the one for Blacks has been the more impenetrable one in America. I've had women bosses and worked at companies, small and big (including very big!) with women at the top. But no big company, to my knowledge, has given the top job to an African American. So while I can sympathize with Clinton supporters for missing this chance to break that glass ceiling, I wish they would recognize that the one that's about to be shattered is at least as crucial -- if not more so.

Supreme Court Rules for Individual Gun Rights

2008-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

Bad decision! Yet another nail in the coffin, for me, of the decent America I had imagined when I came to its shores.

But I cannot lie: I believe that the second amendment was intended to give people the right to bear arms -- not just intended to give states the right to maintain militias. That is, I believe that, in today's written English, the first comma in:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

would be removed. "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State" would thus be the qualifying clause, followed by the unfortunate edict that damns our country into being a bunch of gun-toting cowboys.

Never having had the deep respect for history and conservatism, however, I believe that the supreme court must interpret laws in today's context. And that context includes the noblest wishes of a progressive State. Dissenting Justice John Stevens would obviously be uncomfortable with this reasoning for his disagreement; the judicial branch's job is not supposed to be that activist. Nonetheless, I entirely agree with his opinion, that the court's majority “would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons.”

The fact is, we never were a people who believed peace was attainable without the capacity for being physically violent. Gandhi, for example, is not for this land. At least not in this century.

Come back in the next century. If by then our belligerent foreign policy hasn't annihilated our entire species, then perhaps the pendulum may swing the other way and we may choose a peaceful path to peace.

One hopes.

Obama opts out of public financing

2008-06-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

It pains me to criticize my hero, but I think Obama is committing a mild hypocrisy here. Not in rejecting public financing, but in stating the reason to be "because the system is broken".

The system IS broken, as he says. It allows lobbies to feed money to the campaigns of helpful politicians. But the system was broken when he offered to forego private money if his opponent, McCain, did the same.

So why did he back out now? Because his campaign is rich now and will be able to muster a lot more than McCain's. If he accepted only public financing ($80 million) then McCain would have an edge over him because Obama's campaign would have at its disposal the $80 million, plus another $4 million which the Democratic National Committee has, while McCain would have his $80 million, plus the $40 million that the Republican National Committee has.

So why not state the real reason for not going the public financing route? The honesty wouldn't avoid a Republican charge of flip-flopping, but would avoid a charge of hypocrisy, wouldn't it? Yes, but then Obama risks his donors being reluctant to donate at the rate they have been, thereby reducing his kitty.

A bit of hypocrisy. Something politicians can't completely avoid. Is he still god's gift to mankind -- or at least to America this election year -- in my opinion? Absolutely. But I can't help calling a spade a spade. Ahem.

Of Pluto and Eris

2008-06-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

A "plutoid" is what Pluto is
And Eris, too, is a plutoid
Eris, though, is bigger by a kiss:
The naming should be void!

All blobs in the Kuyper Belts
"Blankoid" should be called
Anyone calling them something else
To the prison should be hauled!

"What's in a name?" You may think
"A dwarf by any other name ..."
But monikkers do matter, Fink!
"Astronomy" & "Distant Rock Science" are by no means the same!

Bush Sorry for His Bellicose Rhetoric

2008-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

Latest news: "President George W Bush has admitted that his bellicose rhetoric about Iraq encouraged the world to form a mistaken impression of him as a warmonger."

Now, is that funny or is that funny? Did he merely talk bellicose, or did he, like, actually invade a country -- just because?!?

It's unlikely Kucinich's articles of impeachment will go far in Congress, but I sure hope they go far enough to strip Bush of any remaining dignity he may possess in this sorry saga.

Other than Bin Laden -- no, including Bin Laden -- there's no one person who has been the greatest threat to world peace than George W. Bush. And now, all he does is apologize for his rhetoric??

रेनफॉरेस्टचा मराठी ब्लॉग

2008-06-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

असे कुणी आहात ज्यांना मराठी वाचता येतं? असलात तर कॉमेंट करून सांगा, म्हणजे एखाददुसरी पोस्ट करीन मराठीमधे.

"Disgruntled Clinton Voters"

2008-06-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

When I hear about disgruntled Clinton voters who'd rather vote for McCain than Obama, I suspect racism. Obama's and Clinton's stands on issues are very similar. Doesn't that count for something? Or were those stands immaterial, and all the Clinton voters wanted was a woman President?

Obama couldn't've disgruntled the Clinton voters by his behavior. In politics, people behave nastily with their opponents. But for every nastiness entered into by the Obama camp toward Clinton, there must've been four nastinesses perpetrated by the Clinton camp toward Obama -- another way of saying that Obama has behaved quite graciously through his campaign. So the only cause for disgruntlement can be either Lady Fate or the Democratic Party machine which wouldn't be persuaded by the Clinton camp that their candidate was somehow more important than her rival. That's no reason to be disgrunted at Obama; certainly no reason to abandon the party.

Unless, of course, one is racist and can't make oneself vote for an African American -- even an African American whose politics jibe with one's own.

This will be a test this election year: Have we become sufficiently non-racist as a nation to overlook someone's skin color to vote him President?

Scott McClennan - What Happened?

2008-06-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

From excerpts of the book in the news and from his interviews with various talking heads, it's apparent that Scott McClennan wasn't the brightest bulb in the Whitehouse Bush. Someone with adequate smarts would've taken more pains to avoid appearing either as an opportunist trying to cash in with a book crticizing his former bosses or as a buffoon who couldn't figure out for years that they were feeding him a whole set of lies and only caught on by reading about them now. And it's clear there's nothing new in the book that's not already been reported or speculated. So the only value in the book is that even someone so close to Bush for so long is willing to concede the well-circulated facts about the Bushies making up a case for invading Iraq by talking up WMDs, ignoring contrary evidence, never self-doubting, etc.

And so much for Bush staffing the Whitehouse with smart people. Granted, a press secretary needn't be a rocket scientist and only needs to excel at stonewalling, but a thinking, breathing press secretary can nonetheless add worthwhile introspection and a distinct perspective -- which McClennan was clearly incapable of doing.

Poor Musharraf!

2006-09-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Poor Musharraf! He thought he would write a book and make some money while he had the world's attention. He may well have received a fat advance for his book, but what his publicity tour has caused to happen is that (as they say in the Indian subcontinent) he's "getting it left, right and center." His countrymen, including the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, are blasting him for lying about his past achievements and his disclosing of state secrets, the ex prime minister of India, Atal Behari Vajapayee, is criticizing him for mis-attributing the failure of their 2001 summit talks, the lawyer of the convicted killer of Daniel Pearl is considering using the general's book to open a new line of defence for his client, and Wolf Blitzer got him to agree that he lied about the Pakistani government receiving rewards for the capture of Al Qaeda terrorists!

As an unelected military man, Musharraf is far from the best leader for Pakistan, but he's all they have between themselves and either extreme Islamic fundamentalism or extreme third world corruption of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

His revelation in the book, that it was really heavy-handed post-9/11 U. S. pressure that made him do an about-face regarding Al Qaeda, and not really because of the "principled stand" he's boasted about in the past, is probably true. But that only provides one more example of his, and his country's, schizophrenia about themselves and their relationship with Islam and with the world.

I wouldn't be surprised if the publication of the book leads to another wave of anti-Musharraf feeling, leading to more assassination attempts, civil unrest and an actual replacement of him.

Which would be a real shame. Pakistanis deserve better. If only they could rid themselves of the grip of Islamic fundamentalism and elect a reasonably uncorrupt civilian leader, there's no reason why they can't begin to take their place, along with India, among the up and coming countries of the world. Unfortunately, the chances of this are dim, because Pakistan's very origins lie in its Islamic identity. Because of this, every time civilian and military leaders alike have got into trouble in Pakistan, they've invoked the Islam card and legitimized and fed the Islamic fundamentalist monster. To abdicate that identity would mean starting at first base, with trying to define who, or what, they are as a people.

Poor Musharraf! Poor Pakistan!

Crack Found on Shuttle -- Today's News

2006-07-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Figures. All this anxiety over safety of the flight has turned even the once-sqeaky-clean astronauts into drug addicts. Next we'll hear it's the mission project manager who supplied the crack to the "space cadets"!

Oh.
It's a deformity in the foam around the fuel tank.
Never mind.

2006-06-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Haavid Grad with Destitute Dad

Zarqawi Beaten to Death?

2006-06-11T17:11:00.001-07:00

Today's news: An Iraqi claims to have seen a man with an al Zarqawi beard being beaten and stomped on by American forces.

That doesn't seem like something American soldiers would do. Enraged and crazed by the war experience, open fire at insurgents and ordinary citizens alike? Yes. But beat a wanted madman and stomp on him until he dies?

U. S. authorities had initially said Zarqawi died in the raid before they arrived, but changed the story later to "He died soon after".

Like the administration they serve, the armed forces routinely lie in order to put what they believe to be their best face forward, without often having a clue what their best face is. The question, though, is: What may be the truth behind this particular zig-zag?

One possible conjecture is that, contrary to their repeated assertion that the people involved in the Zarqawi operation didn't know who the target was until the day after the bomb raid, they did know, and were told to make sure Zarqawi was dead. It would be a giant headache to deal with a captive Zarqawi. But they couldn't possibly shoot him dead if he survived the 500 + 500 pounds of explosives, because forensics would point the finger at American forces. On the other hand, a torso already rattled half to smithereens wouldn't tell any revealing truths if you stomp on it until it breathes its last breath.

What do you think?

Kaavya Viswanathan

2006-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

On reading about wunderkind Kaavya's alleged plagiarism in her debut How Opal, etc., I took it upon myself to look for any similarities between her book and other books. While the known number of books she's unconsciously and unintentionally borrowed from is growing by the google click, I'm here to report that she has almost definitely not borrowed from at least the following:

St. James version of the Bible
Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

So I would advise fellow bloggers to moderate their gleeful invective against this budding writer.

The Evil of Religion

2006-04-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Religion is evil. It leads to violence and hatred among people.

A religion is not history; it is the embodiment of the metaphysical and spiritual thoughts of a society at the seminal point in the course of that religion. In this socio-anthropological perspective, Man created religion out of the twin needs for (a) a code for moral or ethical thought and behavior and (b) spiritual tranquility and salvation. The major religions of the world evolved out of these needs felt by various societies over the millennia. The creation of each religion was, of course, not a conscious act, and each was influenced by the particular socio-cultural milieu out of which it arose.

Our tribal ancestors had to struggle to survive in the face of limited resources. Separated from other tribes by distance and culture, they often took recourse in violence against members of other tribes in order to protect their own kind. As human societies grew in size, the notion of "we" (vs. "they") had to be constantly expanded. Different religions codified this tension between "we" and "they" in words specific to that society at that juncture in time. In addition to the various edicts prescribing or proscribing violence in the name of goodness, other culture-specific trappings also found themselves in each religion in the form of additional verbiage.

We humans are creatures of our evolution. Personal behavior which helped one’s kin and fellow tribesmen was conducive to our survival as a species and so has become etched in our genes. Our religions reflect these attributes of ourselves - morality, compassion, love, etc. - which can be generically called humanitarianism. Unfortunately, most religions have a lot of other baggage in them beside a codification of these human values. Some of this baggage may have occasionally been marginally useful when that religion served a small society isolated from others, but in these modern times, of a single worldwide society, the non-humanitarian aspects of the world religions are inimical to that global society. In this sense, religions are like cancers attached to the healthy tissue of humanitarianism.

Many people think of their religion as being full of peace and brotherly love but imbue other religions with some kind of fault. More than xenophobia is at play here: it is easy for an outsider to spot the arbitrariness, internal inconsistencies and the lack of logic (the "mumbo-jumbo") in other religions. However, since such mumbo-jumbo is always intertwined with messages of love, compassion and goodness (values humans are inherently attracted to by virtue of their evolution), when people learn their own religion they become blind to the mumbo-jumbo of that religion. In fact, many become enslaved by the mumbo-jumbo and imagine the humanitarian values as actually arising out of, or at least being inherently part of, the mumbo-jumbo. Further, many consider their religious tracts as actual, authentic history and become zealots over these religious idiosyncrasies.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks by Muslim terrorists, Islam especially has come under scrutiny by non-Muslims. To Muslims, the concept of jihad signifies the struggle to overcome oppression within or without. Because the extremists among them can interpret the concept of jihad to sanction wreaking unspeakable horror on fellow humans who the jihadi decide to be the perpetrators of the oppression, jihad is often sighted by non-Muslims to justify their non-tolerance or hatred of Muslims. But there are many other concepts in Islam which to the non-Muslim appear just as silly, inhuman, arbitrary or internally inconsistent.

The problem, however, is not with Islam alone. The other religions that originated in the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity, are equally riddled with their versions of mumbo-jumbo. Inherent to Christianity, for example, are concepts of "Original Sin" and hellfire and damnation. Believing Christians have rationalized and reconciled to these concepts in a variety of ways, but to non-Christians they do not follow logically from any fundamental principles necessary for human survival or understanding.

But it's not as if these three so-called "Abrahamic" religions are the only ones that mix moral messages with irrational gobbledygook. The other two major religions of the world which originated in Asia, Hinduism and Buddhism, also have their own healthy (or unhealthy!) share of tortured logic. For example, Hinduism in its most essential tract, the Bhagwad Geeta, goes to some length to explain monotheism embodied by thousands of avatars, "justified killing", and "dispassionate need-fulfillment" - concepts which evoke skepticism, distrust, or ridicule among non-Hindus.

Some religions not only prescribe personal thought and conduct but also the interpersonal behavior in a society, and thus butt heads with the civic laws of a nation and those between nations. Some strict adherents of Islam, for example, think of partitioning religion and civic codes (i. e., "separating Church and State") as antithetical to religion itself. This further complicates the orderly government of people because the question of who should call the legal shots is never resolved.

World's great religions are good and desirable precisely to the extent that they embody brotherly love, compassion and good deeds. Beyond that boundary, they only divide people and confuse ethical and logical thought processes by injecting silly drivel or downright violent orthodoxies in human discourse and interaction. But the invention of god and the creation of religion are unnecessary to promulgate the virtues of love, compassion and good deeds. These virtues are inherent in our common humanity, not in religion - let alone in a particular religion. All we need to do is to articulate these universal virtues without the trappings of religion, in a sort of least-common-denominator version of the Ten Commandments of all the great religions of the world.

But what about the spiritual hunger that impels many to follow their religions? How can this hunger be satisfied in the absence of religion? While not everyone feels this hunger, a vast majority appears to, so this hunger must also be considered part of our evolutionary make-up. And following the codes of thoughts and behavior of a specific religion appear to satisfy the spiritual needs of many people. If religions are abandoned, where can these people turn for spiritual peace? It is true that other behaviors such as meditation and social service satisfy the spiritual needs of some people. But why should these behaviors replace religious practices for those people who are perfectly content with their religion?

The problem is the one we started with: Praying to different gods divides people. While a majority of people is perfectly content with letting others pray their own way, a sizable minority is not. What the world needs, therefore, is a new overarching religion, or a non-religion, which codifies the spiritual aspirations of Man. Is the creation of such a religion practical? Of course not. But that doesn't stop the humanitarian dreamer from dreaming of a new order when religion stops being a destructive, divisive influence on the modern world.