Sunday, November 26, 2006

Fwd: Trust this invisible advice

nov 25th, 2006

entertaining ghostwriting by jerry rao for milton friedman.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
Trust this invisible advice
Jaithirth Rao
Posted online: Saturday, November 25, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST

Dear Dr Singh: As you have doubtless heard from the press, I have entered the Great Beyond and have had the privilege of meeting up with the father of our profession, Adam Smith (if I remember correctly, you earned a prize named for him during your university days). As it happens, one of our first topics of conversation was about your grand country — a country of so much promise and potential, a country unnecessarily cursed with widespread poverty, a country where we all hope you will leave behind a legacy of freedom and prosperity. If you remember, Adam Smith had been an early opponent of the East India Company (a state-sponsored monopoly house) which did so much economic damage to your country and incidentally to Britain, which would have been much better off with India as a prosperous trading partner rather than as an impoverished dependency. Monopolies and quasi-monopolies, be they state-owned or state-sponsored, work arduously to stifle economic competition to the detriment of large numbers of people and for the benefit of a select cozy oligarchy. I don't need to tell you this. Your government has been trying against great odds to dismantle state monopolies. You have had some success in the airlines and telecommunications industries but you are still struggling with coal, electricity distribution and so on. Where you have succeeded, prices have dropped, employment has shot up, consumers have benefited, wealth has been created, citizens are better off. Where you have been held back, the country too seems to have been held back.
 
... deleted

next step, ask the indian army to grovel

nov 25th, 2006

the main goal of the UPA government is to demoralize the indian army. after all, their godfather nehru said and i quote,
'we don't need an army'.

the punjabi mohammedans who run pakistan will take this as further evidence of the cowardice of those who run india. and they should.

has appeasing mohammedans ever worked anywhere at any time? i think not. they are like oliver twist. they ask for more.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ga

china's national newspaper wants to give arunachal to china

nov 25th, 2006

to be expected. now harish khare will publish xinhua propaganda pieces under his byline, too.

how much do they pay you, neena dear? is it, like, 30 silver coins? or has the price of treason gone up a lot (ah, inflation, i guess)?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: thehindu@web1.hinduonnet.com < thehindu@web1.hinduonnet.com>
Date: Nov 24, 2006 2:29 AM
Subject:
To:

THE HINDU BUILDS A CASE FOR GIVING ARUNACHAL AWAY; WHAT BETTER WAY TO DO THIS THAN BY INDULGING IN BJP BASHING!!!
=============================================================
This article has been sent to you by Sh
=============================================================
Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2006/11/24/stories/2006112403601100.htm )
Opinion
-
News Analysis
&nbsp;&nbsp;

BJP ups the ante on Arunachal Pradesh



Neena Vyas


Why does the party now want Parliament to pass a resolution on the issue?




IN ITS eagerness to portray the Left parties as "anti-national" and corner the Government simultaneously, the Bharatiya Janata Party is now bent upon activities that can only be described politely as not in the best interests of the country.

A controversy over Arunachal Pradesh was unfortunately started just ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit by China's Ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi, through his remarks in a TV interview. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quick to respond, stating that the border State was an integral part of India. One would have thought better sense would prevail and political parties and the media would let matters rest. For, as everyone knows, Mr. Sun and Mr. Mukherjee were only stating the four-decade-old positions of their own countries.

The Hu Jintao visit is over and, by all accounts, it has furthered the bond between the two Asian giants. However, the principal Opposition party is clearly not happy that Mr. Hu went so far as to declare that the growth of Beijing-New Delhi relations could help accelerate the process of settling the boundary issue. The BJP has now declared its intention to bring the Arunachal Pradesh issue to Parliament in the form of a resolution. Its calculation &#151; clearly expressed by some of its leaders &#151; seems to be that the Left would not support such a resolution and the Government would also try to wriggle out of it. The BJP would then present itself as the only "national party" that keeps the supreme national interest in mind.

... deleted

Saturday, November 25, 2006

'dravidians' acting all imperial

nov 25th, 2006

there is a dam in kerala, at mullaperiyar in the western ghats.

the dam stores water from a kerala river.

if the dam bursts, the damage will be in kerala.

the water stored in the dam goes to tamil nadu.

the dam stands on land leased by tamil nadu from kerala.

the dam is in bad shape, and is suspected to be crumbling.

water flowed over the dam and caused a highway in kerala to be washed away.

the reaction of the neo-semitic 'dravidians'? they dont want navy experts to inspect the dam for possible damage. they destroyed 40 kerala state buses.

really smart guys, these.

this is exactly why the entire south is just dying to secede from india to form 'dravidastan'.

the same guys have been up in arms (the famous christist-paul-dhinkaran-pal and ports minister t r baalu, 'dravidian' minister at the center) about preventing vizhinjam port from coming up in kerala. however, they have quietly initiated work on the competing colachel port.

'dravidians' are totally insane. it might be a good idea to eject any 'dravidian' and ship him off to a new 'dravidian' homeland, to be created in pakistan. or in palestine. or the arctic.



christists in the central government

nov 25th, 2006

i have learnt reliably that the following are christists. no wonder they are so anti-hindu.

1. ambika soni
2. arvind sharma
3. arjun singh's wife (and therefore by injection, probably arjun singh as well)

add to this vincent george, tom vadakkan, hormis tharakan, ak antony et al. and we have a government for christists, of christists, and by christists.

supported by a bunch of guys who are for china, of china and by china.

no wonder the country is being screwed. the last time the christists were in power, they took out $10 trillion and murdered 30 million people through famine. the current christists are probably gunning to do more.

india does not have any 'friends of india' in power. there are 'friends of america', 'friends of the vatican', 'friends of saudi arabia', and 'friends of china' in power.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

interesting hindu site

nov 23rd, 2006

lots of podcasts as well (many of dr. gopalakrishnan's speeches are in malayalam, btw).

http://www.nandanmenon.com/

thanks to ram for the pointer

real estate in india

nov 23rd, 2006

the new growth story.

can we say 'bubble', boys and girls?

but then the chinese bubble has been going for some time with all those empty but goodlooking skyscrapers in shanghai and pudong and shenzhen and all that. and lots of smart chinese cleaned up by screwing dumb chinese or foreigners.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/21/business/reindia.php

the atlanticists of the 'economist' had better watch out: that giant sucking sound, eh?

nov 23rd, 2006

pink slip time may be sooner than they think.

quite honestly, there are quite a few people in india who could write the economist's stuff better than yonder limeys can. or at least as well.

simon long, economist correspondent in delhi, a word to the wise? you might want to think of a new line of work, although admittedly you are a pretty smart guy :-)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/19/business/outsource.php

Europe Is Growing Skeptical Of Dialogue With Muslims by BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM

nov 23rd, 2006

yeah, white guys feeling the pinch when mohammedans are hurting them in their own countries.

but watch, they will be full of advice to india to keep on appeasing mohammedans.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AH

Europe Is Growing Skeptical Of Dialogue With Muslims
BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM
October 6, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/41106

After years of dithering over political correctness with Muslims and
Islam, Europe is waking up to a different morning.

A three-week tour of Italy, France, and Britain last month was enough
for me to conclude that Western Europeans have moved way beyond
dialogue. Confrontation, indeed even provocation, is their preferred
approach to the Muslims in their midst.

Long before Pope Benedict XVI's scathing comments in mid-September on
the fallacy of phony Muslim-Christian dialogue, signs of hardening
European views toward current Islamic values were plentiful on the
Continent.

It was telling, for example, to see how Europeans greeted the naïve
commentary that surfaced in America's National Intelligence Estimate,
titled "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United
States." The NIE told bemused Europeans, among other things, that
"greater pluralism and more responsive political systems in Muslim
majority nations would alleviate some of the grievances jihadists
exploit."

.... deleted

happy thanksgiving to all in the us

nov 23rd, 2006

enjoy turkey (which i have eaten a couple of times, and found to have all the taste of cardboard) and all the fixin's.

and more than that, happy black friday shopping :-)

i am told laptop computers are particularly cheap this year. walmart is rumored to have a unit for $199; dell is rumored to drop its $499 model's price dramatically. and you can shop for these from the comfort of your internet connection! now who could ask for more. thank you, fry's, thank you, compusa, thank you, best buy!

i have my little heart set on a digital camera. my old hp camera is still a trooper, but alas, it takes only 2.1 megapixel shots, way behind the state of the art. i'll go for a 6MP or better canon, i think. i have always been a nikon man, i have had several nikon film cameras and still have a good one, but i think canon is the way to go for digital cameras.

and btw, the international film festival of india is about to start in goa also on the same day, i think.

human rights watch Letter to Indian PM

nov 23rd, 2006

these human rights cottage industry guys very seldom say anything sensible. this may be one of those times.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Friends of Tibet

China-India: Letter to Indian Prime Minister about Upcoming Visit of Chinese
President

November 17, 2006

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

We write on the occasion of Chinese President Hu Jintao.s visit to India later
this month. We recognize that your administration has many urgent issues to
discuss with President Hu and his team. Nevertheless, we urge that you raise
China.s grim human rights record in its treatment of Tibetans during all your
meetings and public appearances. With the further deterioration of human rights
there, we ask that the issue be a priority during your meeting with President
Hu Jintao, and that all your public statements reflect your concerns.

You have recently reiterated India.s commitment to human rights and have
entered into a partnership with the US to promote democracy. Those commitments,
and India.s long history with Tibet, oblige India to do all it can to defend
the human rights of Tibetans. For decades, India has demonstrated that
commitment by hosting a large community and government-in-exile, including many
Tibetans fleeing political, religious, and socioeconomic repression. But the
situation inside Tibet is worsening, and your government.s deepening
relationship with China offers an unprecedented opportunity to press China for
change.

We particularly draw your attention to the recent shooting on the China-Nepal
border. On September 30, the Chinese People.s Armed Police (PAP) shot dead a
17-year-old girl named Kelsang Namtso from Nagchu. At least one other Tibetan,
23-year-old Kunsang Namgyal from Kardze, was shot twice and arrested, and is
feared dead. The two were part of a group of 73 Tibetans who were attempting to
cross the border into Nepal through the 6,000-meter-high Nangpa Pass.
Survivors, once they reached New Delhi, said that there was no warning of any
kind and that the soldiers were shooting to kill. Witnesses reported seeing
Chinese soldiers marching at least 10 children and up to 20 adults, at least
one of whom appeared to be injured, down from Nangpa Pass later that day.
Forty-three people reached Kathmandu, Nepal, where the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sheltered them at the Tibetan Refugee Transit
Centre (TRRC). The whereabouts of 32 members of the party, including 14
children, who did not reach Nepal, is still unclear.

We ask that you urge President Hu to permit an independent investigation into
the incident. In addition, the Chinese government should to allow an
international agency with expertise in the rights and well-being of children to
determine whether any of the 10 children reportedly apprehended by the border
guards were separated from their parents against their will and, in accordance
with the principle of the best interests of the child, to reunite them with
their families.

In addition, we draw your attention to escalating repression in Tibet. Tibetans
are increasingly concerned about the consequences for religious, cultural, and
socioeconomic freedoms following the July opening of the Lhasa-Qinghai
railroad, and by the recent appointment of the smallest number of Tibetans
since 1966 to powerful bodies such as the Lhasa City Party Committee. Protests
have erupted recently over apparently preferential treatment given in Lhasa to
ethnic Chinese university graduates, and Tibetan nomads are systematically
being forcibly resettled into urban areas where they cannot compete
economically with ethnic Chinese. Efforts to engage in public discussions of
such developments have resulted in the abrupt closure of websites. Such
developments may, among other consequences, lead to an increasing flow of
refugees to India. We hope that India will publicly reaffirm its commitments to
support them.

We also ask that all Indian officials reiterate their expectations that China
will abide by its commitments as it agreed to when it ratified the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in
2001, and signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) in 1998, and under domestic law, with respect to the treatment of
Tibetans.

Finally, we urge you to uphold India.s own protections on free expression and
permit peaceful protests of President Hu.s visit. India.s decision to restrict
the free speech of activists who have stated their intention to protest
peacefully, and the Dharamsala police superintendent.s threat to deport
protestors, are shocking encroachments on basic human rights. If India is to be
taken seriously as a defender of human rights, these decisions must be reversed
immediately and publicly.

India has quietly shown its support for Tibetans. human rights in the past. It
is our hope that a more public demonstration from your government will make an
important contribution to securing those rights.

We appreciate your attention to these matters.

Sincerely,

Brad Adams
Executive Director,
Asia Division, Human Rights Watch

...
Friends of Tibet, PO Box: 16674, Bombay 400050, India.
...
Friends of Tibet is a global movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet
through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's
occupation of Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of
Tibet supports the continued struggle of the Tibetan people for
independence. To know more, visit: www.friendsoftibet.org
...

More Examination Centers for Indian Students Planned

nov 23rd, 2006

oh, so aligarh mohammedan univ gets an iit. but not benares hindu university, although bhu-it has been using the JEE since the time of jambavan.

mohammedan appeasement never ceases. (i am reminded of the album "rust never sleeps" :-)

and fat lot of good it is going to do for the appeasers, as the multi-cultural europeans are now finding out.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
Thursday, 23, November, 2006 (03, Dhul Qa`dah, 1427)

 
More Examination Centers for Indian Students Planned
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News —
 
RIYADH, 23 November 2006 — Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development M. A. A. Fatmi has vowed to provide better access to education through distance learning programs and by establishing examination centers for various professional courses in Saudi Arabia.
 
"Centers for medical examination will be opened soon, while a center for engineering entrance test has already been opened in Riyadh," said Fatmi, who wrapped up his weeklong visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
 
"Since Muslims or other minority groups in India lag behind on almost every measure of well-being including education, my ministry is making efforts to serve them with added incentives and preferences," he said addressing a crowded community reception hosted in his honor at the Marhaba Restaurant.
 
The reception was co-chaired by Nadeem Tarin, chairman of the Riyadh-based Delhi Public School Managing Committee and Dr. Dilnawaz Roomi, a social worker and prominent physician. Tarin and Mohammed Qaiser, Indian Airlines country manager, spoke on the occasion and drew the attention of the visiting minister toward the hardships faced by students in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
 
During his stay in Riyadh, Fatmi held wide-ranging talks with Indian Ambassador M. O. H. Farook with an aim to identify the problems faced by students in Saudi Arabia. The minister said that he is carrying with him a list of demands made by the ambassador and his countrymen living in the Kingdom.
 
Referring to the recently released Sachar panel report, Fatmi said that the report has revealed the pathetic situation of Muslims concerning different issues like income, work participation rates, representation in public institutions, access to credit, health care and housing.
 
"Muslim leaders agree that Muslims need better access to education," said Fatmi, while noting that the Engineering College at the Aligarh Muslim University has been upgraded to IIT status.
 
Fatmi, however, regretted that Muslims did not care much about education, which can be substantiated by the fact that only 57 percent of Muslims in India can read and write against the national average of 64.5 percent.
 
"Hence, the HRD ministry has decided to deploy one teacher to every 40 students in over 100,000 madrasas across the country to impart modern education," he said.
 
"We have been giving millions of dollars to the state governments to spend on elementary education under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, but states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal don't utilize the money," he added.
 
He also warned that if the state did not open the remaining Kasturba schools soon, the funds under the head would be stopped, a fact he had conveyed to the state government.
 
Fatmi also added that the Indian government was implementing a program to upgrade the quality of technical education. The World Bank-assisted Technical Education Quality Improvement Program is currently in first phase and under the project, the government had received proposals from 132 institutions in 13 states.
 
Copyright: Arab News © 2003
 

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

godman ratzinger explodes kerala christists' fond hoax

nov 23rd, 2006

never thought i'd see the day when godman ratzinger actually does something useful.

but, "sweet jesus, it's a miracle! i can see!" (tm, eddie murphy pretending to be blind in 'trading places'), yes. the godman has put the kibosh on the intricately-planned fraud about an alleged 'saint' thomas. to be fair, the vatican has long said this business about this thomas arriving in kerala is bunkum. but kerala christists and their pals among the marxists have long proclaimed as fact the idea that christism was introduced into kerala in 52 CE by this alleged thomas.

the fact of the matter is that there was no 'saint' thomas in india. the fellow died in ortona, italy, and the vatican has certified his bones are there. fraudsters in india have long claimed that 'saint' thomas died in chennai, and therefore they destroyed the old kapaliswara temple that stood on the beach in mylapore and built their san thome cathedral on top of it. i have mentioned the 'two skeleton miracle' many a time (ie. the skeleton of thomas as a young man is in mylapore, and the skeleton of thomas as an old man is in ortona, italy. now isn't that simply miraculous?)

please refer to the fabulous work by swami ishwar sharan at http://hamsa.org

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/nov/22pope.htm


a nice indicator of the status of women in saudi arabia

nov 22nd, 2006

good mohammedans treat women like pond scum. clearly some mohammedan women just love it. ask ayesha andrabi of the dukhtaran-e-millet of jammu and kashmir.

ps. that always sounds like 'daughters of millet' to me, btw, sort of like that awful horror flick 'children of the corn'.

pps. also like 'insaniyat': what a close analog of 'insanity'!

ppps. welcome back, shahryar. you have been missed around here.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar 
 
Wednesday, 22, November, 2006 (02, Dhul Qa`dah, 1427)
 
Women Asked to Leave Seminar
Raid Qusti, Arab News —
 

 
Copyright: Arab News © 2003


Win tickets to the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany with Yahoo! Messenger.

more from the 'religion of peace': "State Bulldozes Hindu Homes in Kazakhstan"

nov 22nd, 2006

what mohammedans do to hindus all the time.

the really ironic thing is that the *british* govt, chivvied on by british hindus, has protested this outrage.

the indian govt protested the danish cartoons about mohammed, but is totally silent about this. manmohan and cronies are currently also too busy kowtowing to the chinaman.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: arun

MEDIA RELEASE - ISKCON COMMUNICATIONS

STATE BULLDOZES HINDU HOMES IN KAZAKHSTAN
Claims of religious tolerance laid
bare by aggression against religious minorities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 21, 2006

Contact: Anuttama Dasa  -  (301) 299-9707; info@icinternational.org
    Vineet Chander - (201) 925-4973; vineet@iskcon.com

Almaty – Earlier today in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan, several
busloads of riot police and two bulldozers demolished eleven homes owned by
members of the Hare Krishna religion, a Vaishnava Hindu tradition, leaving
multiple families homeless in freezing temperatures and winter snow.

The surprise demolition is part of what human rights organizations have labeled
a land-grab by local government officials against a religious minority.

Incredulously, the bulldozing began even while a state special commission –
appointed to investigate allegations of religious harassment against Hindus in
Kazakhstan – has promised that no government action would be taken until the
commission made its findings public.

"I have no words to describe what I have seen," said Ninel Fokina, head of the
Almaty Helsinki Committee, an international human rights organization,
monitoring the police action.  "They have no right to put people out of their
homes in winter."

Forum 18, a religious rights watchdog group, has documented a long history of
intolerance towards Hindus and other religious minorities in Kazakhstan. South
Korean Pastor Kim U. Sob, who led a Presbyterian church in the country for
eight years, was expelled on November 14th for "missionary activity without
registration." Even members of minority Muslim groups, like the international
Tabligh Jama'at, are regularly fined for giving lectures in mosques without
state registration.

The demolition has evoked outrage from the worldwide Hindu community.

"National Hindu organizations from the UK, United States, Canada, Australia,
and other countries condemn this injustice, and call upon the Kazakhstan
government to immediately stop the persecution of Hindus," said Ramesh
Kallidai, Secretary General of the Hindu Forum of Britain.

Krishna members own several dozen private family homes along with a hundred
plus acre tract of undeveloped land in the Almaty region. Disputes began months
ago when Krishna believers attempted to privatize their land per Kazakh law
allowing private ownership in the former communist state.  Registration
attempts were denied to Krishna believers who then sought court protection;
those efforts too were repeatedly frustrated.

Ironically, Kazakhstan recently hosted the "Congress of the Leaders of World
and Traditional Religions," a conference on religious diversity, and is
pursuing the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), an international human rights commission.

"Today the homes of innocent people of faith have been destroyed, and women and
children put out into the snow, at the hands of a government that claims to
value religious freedom," said Anuttama Dasa, spokesperson for the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).  "Such aggression
against innocent people, coupled with blatant governmental hypocrisy, should
not be tolerated by the international community, Dasa said.


  For more information about the persecution of religious minorities in
Kazakhstan visit: www.Forum18.org.


Wednesday, November 22, 2006

me on how india lost tibet

nov 21st, 2006

i posted an article on how we contrived to lose tibet, and the lessons therefrom now that the butcher of tibet is doing a victory tour of india.

please take a look:

http://rajeev2007.wordpress.com/2006/11/21/the-sacrifice-of-tibet-extraordinary-delusions-and-temporary-insanity/

Re: the travails of living as a linguistic minority person


nov 20th, 2006

i got the following interesting mail from alakananda regarding her life as a malayali in what was formerly part of the kingdom of travancore, and which has now become a part of tamil nadu.

kanyakumari district has the former capital of travancore, padmanabhapuram, also one of its most historic locations, kolachel where travancore vanquished the dutch, etc.

it is sad for malayalis to see this land, which was once the granary of travancore, become part of tamil nadu. on the other hand, because it is not part of kerala, kanyakumari district *still* has acres of paddy fields and other agriculture. the marxist destruction of agriculture in kerala has not affected kanyakumari, which now sends to kerala much of its rice and vegetables.

as usual, it's a story of pluses and minuses.

i know people in kanyakumari district who were formerly malayalam-speaking, but who have now 'converted' to tamil, and have become 'dravida-kazhagam' members! see, conversion can happen even to a neo-semitic ideology like 'dravidanism' :-)

it's like the janissaries and so forth, it makes sense to do what the powerful people want you to do.

here's alakananda's mail:

=============

Reading about what you 'd written about the Nov.1st . Kerala Piravi celebrations, makes me hope that you would read my blog. I wrote about it too, but from a different perspective-that of a Kanyakumari mallu. I know you are a busy person, but it would really make my day if you read it. Please find it at http://alakaananda.rediffblogs.com.



Tuesday, November 21, 2006

scientists bashing (semitic) religion

nov 20th, 2006

all the blind faith stuff they talk about is relevant to semitic 'religions' or ideologies. the eastern religions -- the only true religions -- are not subject to the same idiocies, as they allow you, nay require you, to question and seek, rather than believe some stupid priest or pathetic book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/science/21belief.html?ei=5094&en=00e467bc164dff88&hp=&ex=1164085200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all

here's more from dawkins' book, on that 'god' creature from the old testament: the tribal, jealous yhwh of jews, christists and under a different name, of mohammedans as well --

richard dawkins in the 'god delusion':

"the god of the old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

couldn't have put it better myself. i do like this guy's take-no-prisoners attitude. also, note his emphasis that this is a character in 'fiction' -- gotta love it.

Monday, November 20, 2006

capital generation in india

20th nov 2006

dear professor vaidya

i am taking the liberty of posting this reply to your mail to my blog, as i think it demonstrates a startling fact: the enormous capital generation that goes on in india. you have shown how this is based on the thrift of the humble housewife, rather than some white guys sending money here.

i have been thinking of this from a different angle, namely the concept that india has *always* been an incredible generator of capital. of course this is why every barbarian from alexander the macedonian onwards to the europeans invaded india -- there was enormous wealth there.

it was only during the interregnum of 1757 to 1991 -- a very long 250 years, admittedly -- that this economic engine was brought to its knees. First, by thieving europeans, who simply stole the wealth through a variety of means. Second, by idiotic stalinist economists, who thought they could second-guess the million micro-decisions made by economically rational human beings.

once this straight-jacket was thrown off, there is enough capital generation to sustain double-digit growth. in other words, FDI is immaterial to india, unlike china, which i suggest subsists on large amounts of FDI, which may not be sustainable. (of course, they have built up a trillion dollars of reserves, but i also suspect the americans will do something to devalue the worth of this fairly soon, which suggests that it is time to exit the dollar. do you accept this hypothesis?).

anyway, you're absolutely right: the indian government has shown its utter incompetence at economics, it should confine itself to guarding the borders. alas, it has shown utter incompetence there as well. in fact, it may be the case that whatever the indian government touches, it destroys -- the 'bhasmasura syndrome', perhaps?

thanks
rajeev


On 11/20/06, Vaidyanathan R wrote:

For your information

 

Why the Indian housewife deserves paeans of praise

 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/11/16/stories/2006111600500800.htm

 

R.Vaidyanathan

 

 

____________________________
R.Vaidyanathan
Professor of Finance & Control
Indian Institute of Management
Bannerghatta Road
Bangalore--560076
India

 


sounds like a great movie! 'fast food nation'

nov 17th, 2006

would like to see it as soon as possible. anybody who sees it please post a review. this could be future of indian food consumption as well: high in fat, high in high-fructose corn syrup, animal offal, etc. pretty scary thought.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/movies/17fast.html?8dpc=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1163776510-ZXy0TicK33jtUejbSfWEDw

Sunday, November 19, 2006

'I am macaca' -- Sidarth

nov 19th, 2006

a high point in an otherwise gloomy month: the likelihood that the 'macaca' comment put paid to allen's presidential plans. it's amazing how a single indiscretion can destroy a lifetime of careful preparation.

lest indian-americans think they were solely, or even largely responsible for this, i suspect jewish-americans, far better organized, must have campaigned hard against allen when it came to light that he had some jewish ancestry (grandfather?) which he had basically hidden and which he was uncomfortable about.

intriguing. because he was part jewish, this allen fellow wanted to act like a serious redneck white guy, to be 'one of the good ole boys'. much like musharraf, who, being of indian origin, works doubly hard against india. also like how any hindu converted to mohammedanism or christism is a very bitter enemy (eg. malik kafur in the past, dhiren barot now).

A VIRGINIA WELCOME

I Am Macaca

By S.R. Sidarth
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page B02

This past summer, between my third and fourth year of college, I decided to volunteer for the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb in my home state of Virginia. For most of the summer, I worked behind the scenes at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, helping set up field offices statewide and performing other odd jobs. In the second week of August, I was dispatched by the campaign to serve as Republican Sen. George Allen's tracker on a "listening tour" across the state. Tracking was a rather solitary pursuit; I videotaped Allen's public appearances whenever I was admitted into an event and killed time between stops in places I had never been to before.

Then, on Aug. 11, my experience took a strange -- and now famous -- turn. On that day in Breaks Interstate Park, located on the Kentucky border, Allen acknowledged my presence for the first time in one of his stump speeches. I was singled out at a GOP picnic, identified as "macaca or whatever his name is" -- despite the fact that Allen knew my name, as we had been traveling the same route for five days -- and then "welcome[d] to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen's actions that day stood out because they were not representative of how I was treated while traveling around the state. Everywhere I went, though I was identifiably working on behalf of Allen's opponent, people treated me with dignity, respect and kindness. I cannot recall one event where food was served and I was not invited to join in the meal. In southwest Virginia, hospitality toward me was at a high point.

The night before the incident in Breaks, I stayed at the home of Jewel Jones, Webb's aunt, in Gate City on the Tennessee border. I was treated like family even though I was a guest for only half a day, and I received a grand tour of the area where Webb's ancestors have lived for more than a century. The following day, at the picnic in Breaks, even after Allen's comments highlighted my outsider status, I was not allowed to depart without eating, because as one woman put it, "Political differences are set aside at the dinner table." In the same spirit, I was given accurate directions to Allen's next event, held in Bluefield the following morning.

After Allen's remarks, my heritage suddenly became a matter of widespread interest. I am proud to be a second-generation Indian American and a practicing Hindu. My parents were born and raised in India and immigrated here more than 25 years ago; I have known no home other than Northern Virginia. The hairstyle inflicted upon me by two friends late one night also became newsworthy; for the record, it was intended to be a mullet and has since grown out to nearly the appropriate length.

The larger question that this experience brings up is: How far has society progressed on the issues of race and openness? By 2050, according to most projections, the United States will be a minority-majority nation. But the fact that Allen believed I was an immigrant, when in fact I am a native Virginian, underlines the problems our society still faces.

Then again, Webb's victory last week gives me hope that Virginia will not tolerate playing the race card. It is still hard for me to accept that I could have had a pivotal role in the election results; I would not wish the scrutiny I received on anyone. But I am also glad to have helped Webb. Every little bit counted, especially in an election decided by about 9,000 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.

The politics of division just don't work anymore. Nothing made me happier on election night than finding out the results from Dickenson County, where Allen and I had our encounter. Webb won there, in what I can only hope was a vote to deal the race card out of American politics once and for all.

sr.sidarth@gmail.com

S.R. Sidarth is a senior at the University of Virginia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001381.html


--
s. kalyanaraman

Saturday, November 18, 2006

a disastrous november

nov 17th, 2006

this is turning out to be an especially bad november.

1. maoist prachanda is welcomed with state honors in delhi on the 16th. this, one has to remember, is the chief missionary for the chinese in the region, including for india's maoists

2. the us senate approves the bill that turns india into a nuclear slave on the 16th which means it will be defenseless against the chinese and its proxies

3. the imperialist power that is the latest to take over india sends its dictator on a ceremonial imperial visit on the 20th. this must be like oh, victoria's coronation or something in their minds. as far as the chinese are concerned, india is a minor nuisance, just like tibet and nepal. easy meat for their infiltrators and military might. and manmohan's troupe of invertebrates (latest additions -- ak antony, and shiv shankar menon the spiritual heirs of other disastrous malayalis like vk krishna menon and k m panikkar -- once defense minister and ambassdor to china respectively) see no reason to demur

4. the chinese viceroy declares that arunachal pradesh is his, with not a peep from anyone in india. the thing to do would have been to instantly kick the blighter out, and if the chinese dictator cancelled his visit based on that, to say, up yours too. in any case, the chinese dictator's visit in india is pure formality. on the other hand, in his hyphenated visit to pakistan, he's going to announce a bunch of nuclear transfers and his undying commitment to gwadar port. so what does india lose if the butcher of tibet skips india? nothing. but the kaangress is as usual confused: must do nothing to disrupt the dictator's visit. and why is that? nobody knows.

5. the chinese declare their intent to dam the brahmaputra, with nary a peep from anyone in india

see an emerging pattern? china and its friends and vassals are now overwhelming us

6. and forgotten amongst all this: the last stand of 13th kumaon, on nov 18th, 1962, when they died to the last man fighting off the chinese

this is really bad.

there, according to legend, is a temple in central india where there is wall-painting of three figures. these are supposed to be the conquerors of india. one a mohammedan, one a christist, one a chinaman.

looks like we are making the last happen.

significantly, after the chinaman conquers there is no india left for anyone else to conquer. chinese are like locusts. they destroy everything.

the mohammedan destroyed civilization but did not destroy the economy.
the christist destroyed the economy but did not destroy the spirit and intelligence of the people.
the chinaman will destroy that too. they are absolute fascists



stanford academics on oil independence

nov 17th, 2006

interesting conversation about oil and the power of suppliers and buyers, among other things

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2006/novdec/features/energy.html

more on the end of fish

nov 17th, 2006

prof palumbi gave a great talk as part of the stanford summer science series, on the recovery of monterey bay (the one with the famous aquarium) after it had been devastated by canneries and overfishing (see by the way john steinbeck's cannery row and log from the sea of cortez, the latter especially is a non-fiction classic on marine biology).

what prof palumbi basically said -- i paraphrase from memory -- was that the disruption of the food chain was what caused the collapse of the ecosystem in the bay. that is, sea otters were captured and killed in large numbers for their pelts. sea otters are the natural predators of abalone and other such crustaceans. the crustaceans feed on the main biomass, the giant seaweed of the bay (rough analogue of the rain forest's tree biomass).

once otters were decimated, abalone populations exploded, and they ate up a lot of the seaweed. this caused the entire food chain to be disrupted. the population of sardines etc. collapsed (of course also from overfishing). the area became the equivalent of a marine desert.

then what happened is that people simply left the ecosystem alone, and wonder of wonders, it has now come back!

the answer seems to be to protect the entire ecosystem, not just individual species.

this has relevance to india's vanishing tiger and elephant biospheres, as well as the western ghats ecosystems that have been decimated with plantations.

it may not be too late yet, but it's rapidly getting there.

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/november8/ocean-110806.html

Fwd: McMahon Line

nov 17th, 2006

very germane and timely articles from claude arpi, who is india's foremost tibetologist. he runs the tibetan pavilion at auroville, among other things.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Claude

 
I have opened a new page on my website on McMahon Line
Claude

Friday, November 17, 2006

kishore mahbubani of singapore in Newsweek on asian secularism

nov 15th, 2006

there is a possibility that mahbubani is going against the tide of history. religion is going to be an increasing influence, i think.

however, the religious right in the US took it on the chin last week. from the total humiliation of ted haggard to the fact that karl rove's holy christist warriors didnt count for squat, this election has shown the hollowness in the claim that there is a permanent christist fundamentalist majority in the US.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Manju

Hi Rajiv,
  You may like this article by Kishore Mahbubani a
person of Indian Origin and who was a foreign service
officer in Singapore Govt about religiousity in US.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15564787/site/newsweek/

christist bashing mohammedans in kerala

nov 17th, 2006

this is good. i hope christists put their money where their mouth is and start using their specialty -- subtle brainwashing -- against mohammedans. christists are getting scared of mohammedans capturing their coastal strongholds -- ironically areas where 'saint' francis xavier performed his own jihad to convert fisherfolk at gunpoint. this led to a most interesting mohammedan-christist riot in vizhinjam, trivandrum last year. of course, the media didnt know what to say about it. but the christists noticed that after they burned a bunch of mohammedan houses, the (christist oommen chandy) kerala government was very quick to go rebuilt mohammedan houses.

of course, no such luck for hindus whose houses were destroyed by the tsunami.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AH

http://johncheeran.blogspot.com/2006/09/trouble-with-muslims-in-kerala.html

Friday, September 29, 2006

Trouble with Muslims in Kerala

By John Cheeran
What's wrong with Muslims in Kerala?
Muslims in India are considered to be a economically weaker section.
They are poor, and largely illiterate.
The leaders of Muslim community would like us to believe that a Hindu-majority state is responsible for the pathetic condition of Muslims, conveniently ignoring the past of Mughal emperors. Think Taj Mahal!
Arguments can go on and on this subject.
But let me quickly take you to Kerala where a lot had been done by the Left front governments to uplift Muslims. Communist Chief Minister EMS Namboothiripad was instrumental in carving up country's first Muslim majority district, Malappuram, in 1957 so that the community could gain from a sustained development programme.
And even now only two districts enjoy a Muslim majority in India, the other being Murshidabad.
Now Kerala is fearing that Malappuram is on the path to become an Afghanistan.
Why is it so?
Muslim League, a party led by a religious leader, owes its political existence to the simple fact that Malappuram has a Muslim majority. There are more Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal than in Kerala but Muslim League cannot win a single seat in those states.
In Kerala, Muslims have amassed considerable political and financial muscle thanks to its youth working in Gulf countries.
But this political and financial muscle have not forced Kerala Muslims to look forward and mesh with other sections of the society.
And fault for this squarely lies with Muslim community; not anyone else.
Muslims demand democracy when they are short in numbers; in such scenarios they fear they will be swamped by the majority. That's why Muslims want a democracy in India whereby they can still practice sharaiah laws.
Please look across the border to Pakistan. There is no democracy in Pakistan and the reason is clear to you.
In Malappuram, the sheer dominance in numbers game has empowered the Muslim community. To be specific, the male Muslim.
Also the money orders from Gulf countries add the financial muscle to Muslims there. Travel through Malappuram district and you will likely to get a sneak peek into what life could be in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Young Muslim women are walking the streets, clad in burqas.
It was an uncommon sight in the Kerala of 60s and 70s and 80s.
What's so special about Muslim women that they have to be converted into mobile tents? What do they have which Hindu and Christian women haven't got?

... deleted

video cd into an uploadable mpeg?

folks
thanks for the great info about podcasts -- including a couple of offers by email to host my podcasts-to-be! i should start something soon, an irregular set of short podcasts.

another question: i have this great video from francois gautier, but it's on a VCD -- about brahmins and upper caste hindus working as coolies, toilet-cleaners, farmhands, etc., giving the lie to the idea that they are all living off the fat of the land.

i think it's a pretty good polemic. i'd like to get it uploaded to youtube or something as san suggested. (is youtube the same as google video these days? i am not into video -- don't even have a digital camcorder, although years ago i was one of the early adopters of the sony camcorder in the bad old analog days (that poor camera, which was great, died, alas, in the middle of a trip to bali, which was rather unfortunate to say the least).

how can i turn this VCD content into mpeg or whatever and upload it to youtube? any technical advice received gratefully

obsession, the movie

nov 17th, 2006

a couple of observations.

1. the west had a hand in creating these radical mohammedans by generously funding jihad against the soviets

2. odd, isn't it, that this film never mention terror attacks on india?

3. odder, isn't it, that they do not show any of the terrorist antics in the epicenter of mohammedan terrorism, pakistan? enquiring minds want to know why

4. india should be grateful to bush for having engaged the mohammedans in a crusade, thus diverting a lot of their attention to himself

5. it's not islamo-fascism, it's islamo-stalinism. this is a slightly more extreme variant of the stalinism practiced by you-know-who in india

6. most frightening thought: see those brainwashed children? that is exactly how *chinese* children are brainwashed. and unlike germany that is a small country hemmed in by hostile neighbors china is a vast, fascist, imperialist power. the only thing the chinese understand is naked power applied to their bottoms. they are very quiet then.

so instead of worrying about the mohammedans, whose imperial pretensions will come to an end as soon as hydrocarbon substitutes are found, or the yanks nuke mecca and medina, whichever is sooner, we should be far more worried about the inscrutable yellow peril.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sri
Date: Nov 7, 2006 2:50 AM
Subject: Very intresting video on Google
To:

Hi Rajeev,
If any idiots are still thinking that Islam is a peaceful religion, here is an eyeopener;
 
This is a trailer of a new movie ( http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/).
 
Regards,
Sri
 
 


Sponsored Link

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Thursday, November 16, 2006

podcasts, uploads etc.

folks,
i am thinking of starting to do podcasts. i have acquired a piece of software called Audacity which makes it easy to record stuff as mp3 or wav files. tried this and it works just fine.

now the next problem is, i will need to set up a place where i can upload stuff so that the podcast can point to it. any idea of what good free services exist? is googlepages good? is yahoo's service (forgot its name) good? i just saw an ad for something called esnips -- 1 GB free storage: is that any good? i tried to get an account on xdrive but it was too flaky and i was unable to register.

once i create the podcasts and upload them somewhere, i'll start posting links to them on this or my other blog. san has been suggesting for a long time that i do this, i guess i am not a very early adopter of technology. has anybody tried to put their podcasts on itunes? was it successful?

israel strikes a blow for solar power

nov 15th, 2006

they are even more keen than india to get out of the stranglehold of the arab OPEC types.

this is good news. solar is the answer!

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/11/13/israel-could-run-completely-on-solar-power-in-30-years

Re: 'The largest mass migration in history is unfolding in India'



On 11/16/06, Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com> wrote:
nov 15th, 2006

i used to have some respect for p sainath. but now he has become one of the mouthpieces of the left. he's pandering to the usual group of clueless anti-national elements.

i agree on one point: the continuing devaluation of agriculture as a priority sector will spell doom for india. san will disagree, but india's future is tied to agriculture, nothing else. as ghostwriter said, the cow and the brahmin, agriculture and intellectual property, this is what we have as our patrimony.

sainath's rhetoric is alarmist and ridiculous. china has pushed 150 million people off its farms. this floating population is unemployable. *that* is well known. of course no left-leaning person will mention this, as their handlers in peking would get upset with them.

india's agricultural problems today are nothing compared to what happened in colonial times: 20 million dying of famine in the 1850-1900 CE timeframe. part of the problem is farmers being tempted to abandon traditional crops and run after new crops, as pushed by the market. eg. vanilla in kerala, a disaster except for the first few clever folks who jumped in, made their money, and jumped out.

but i agree, no indian farmer should have to commit suicide. compare india's unhelpful attitude to america's $18 billion in subsidies to rich farmers.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: yash

http://ia.rediff.com/money/2006/oct/19bspec.htm
'The largest mass migration in history is unfolding in India'
-Suman Guha Mozumder

Wellknown journalist P Sainath told an audience in New York on Wednesday that while food courts are springing up almost everywhere in India's big city malls catering to the palates of well-off Indians, an average family in the country's rural areas has less to eat today than it had six years ago.
"The average rural family today is eating nearly 100 grams less of foodgrains than six or seven years ago and the average per capita availability of food grains has declined sharply. In 1991, when reforms began, availability of food per person was 510 grams, today it has fallen to 437 grams," Sainath said.

... deleted


me on rediff on the south's ascent

nov 15th, 2006

i forgot to post it here. please take a look at the column and the comments on it at my other blog rajeev2007.wordpress.com

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/nov/08rajeev.htm

Fwd: News/ Indian Security Tense Over Protests Against Hu

nov 15th, 2006

why on earth doesn't india make it formal and accept that it is china's 25th state or something?

the bloody chinaman acts like he's king of india anyway and his ass-kissers in india accept it.

who is he to say democratic protest should be prevented in india?

who is his viceroy (let's use the applicable term, not ambassador) to make obnoxious statements? furthermore, why isn't be put on a plane forthwith along with his sidey in bombay?

manmohan and company are invertebrates.

with these in charge, india does not deserve to be a superpower. indians deserve these creeps in power. oh, for good old fernandes, who's now being subjected to the usual tejovadham!


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Friends of Tibet <support@friendsoftibet.org>
Date: Nov 16, 2006 12:05 PM
Subject: News/ Indian Security Tense Over Protests Against Hu
To: "TSG-L: Tibet Support Groups" <TSG-L@lists.mcgill.ca>

Indian Security Tense Over Protests Against Hu
(By Murali Krishnan | IANS | November 16, 2006)

With China insisting it does not want any Tibetan protest during President
Hu Jintao's four-day visit to India next week and the Tibetans determined
to prove a point, Indian security agencies are in a tizzy. 'We are trying to make sure Hu's
visit is not marred by protests. But considering that Tibetan
demonstrators have an uncanny ability of sneaking past cordons in two's and three's and holding
impromptu sit-ins, we are taking all precautions,' a senior security
official told IANS.

Already, New Delhi has served Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan poet and general
secretary of Friends of Tibet group, with an order barring him from
leaving the town of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh until Nov 25. The hill town is home to the
Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader. The order, issued by the office
of the superintendent of police, threatens Tsundue with prosecution under the
Foreigners Act of 1946 if he fails to obey the fiat. Tsundue had led
high-profile protests during the visits of Chinese Premiers Zhu Rongji and
Wen Jiabao in 2002 and 2005 respectively. Officials of China's Department
of External Security Affairs and the Central Security Bureau have had
discussions with their Indian counterparts to finalize Hu's itinerary and
look into the arrangements made to keep protesters at bay.

Nearly 150,000 Tibetan refugees have made India their home and have been
protesting against China's 'illegal occupation' of Tibet. But despite
giving the Dalai Lama sanctuary, India, like all countries, does not recognize his
government-in-exile. And Tibetans in India are known for the daring
protests.

"We are not going to be cowed down by security restrictions on us. We will
see to it that our voices are heard and we will demonstrate," Baldeo
Pandey, spokesperson for Friends of Tibet, told IANS on telephone from Chandigarh. "Hu's visit
is a great opportunity for those in exile to rise up and perform our duty
as citizens of Tibet by reminding him that we will not rest until Tibet is
independent," he added.

During his stay in the capital, the Chinese president is scheduled to stay
in the Taj Palace Hotel. But unlike during US President George W. Bush's
visit in March when the hotel was out of bounds for both guests and visitors, there will be no
restrictions on movement of guests. 'We have instructed the hotel
management and police to be strict on entry of persons,' said a home ministry source. This will not
be the first time President Hu might encounter opposition. During a visit
to the US in April, Hu faced protests from supporters of Taiwan and the religious movement Falun
Gong as well as Tibetans.

Considering that Chinese leaders place high importance to symbolism and
protocol, it remains to be seen if Hu's visit in India remains incident
free.

...
Friends of Tibet, PO Box: 16674, Bombay 400050, India.
...
Friends of Tibet is a global movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet
through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's
occupation of Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of Tibet supports the continued struggle of the Tibetan people for
independence. To know more, visit: www.friendsoftibet.org
...

Hindu American Foundation Press Release: HAF Condemns Texas Governor's Religious Bigotry

nov 15th, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hindu American Foundation
Date: Nov 11, 2006 1:12 PM
Subject: Hindu American Foundation Press Release: HAF Condemns Texas Governor's Religious Bigotry
To: info@hinduamericanfoundation.org


www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

HINDU AMERICAN FOUNDATION
PRESS RELEASE


HAF Condemns Texas Governor's Religious Bigotry
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 9, 2006) – The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) strongly condemned the egregious and bigoted remarks by Texas Governor Rick Perry wherein he said that non-Christians are doomed and condemned to go to hell.

According to The Dallas Morning News (November 6, 2006), Gov. Rick Perry, after attending a sermon with nearly 60 Republican candidates on Sunday, November 5, 2006 said that he concurred with the Rev. John Hagee's comment during the sermon, in which Rev. Hagee said, "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God almighty through the authority of Christ and his blood, I'm going to say this very plainly, you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket." The Governor told reporters that, "In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that."

He is later said to have remarked, "Before we get into Buddha and all the others, I get a little confused there. But the fact is that we live in a pluralistic world but our faith is real personal. And my Christian faith teaches that the way is through Jesus Christ."

"Such remarks are not only divisive but silly," said Ramesh Rao, HAF Executive Council Member. "In times when interracial and interfaith dialogue are imperative, it's shocking that a high-level elected government official should abuse the state's podium by using it as a pulpit to spread contempt for non-Christians."

The Governor's remarks are not the first to be considered an affront to religious minorities under his governance. In 2005, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) spearheaded the filing of an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief with the United States Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Gov. Perry, a case involving the State of Texas defending its placement and management of a permanent monument of the Ten Commandments on government property.

HAF also expressed deep concern at the Governor's efforts in organizing the Texas Restoration Project, in which ministers are encouraged to get their congregants politically involved in their communities. "It is unfortunate that Governor Perry has not learned from the mistake of his predecessor governor, George W. Bush, who was roundly criticized for his 1993 statement that 'those who do not accept Jesus as their personal savior cannot get to heaven'," said Aseem Shukla, member of the HAF Board of Directors. "We hope now that the mid-term elections are over, and the results are in, better sense will prevail among religious fundamentalists in the United States. We are a multi-faith, diverse nation, and we believe that people will not countenance such bigotry, especially from those who hold high office."

The Hindu American Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, non-partisan organization promoting the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism.
  Contact HAF at 1-877-281-2838 or on the web at www.hinduamericanfoundation.org.

 

 

unusual book about indian americans

nov 15th

the alliterative title itself sounds a little corny (and maybe a put-down) but ram narayan swears this is a great book. however, ram is known for his boundless enthusiasm :-)

also, i am not very sure of pratap bhanu mehta. he's from jnu and thus automatically suspect (although there is at least one person from jnu who's all right -- makarand paranjape. i don't know dr. paranjape is surviving in the hostile, highly nuke-able environs of jnu. tca srinivasa-raghavan makes sense most of the time, though.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ram Narayanan

Dear Rajeev:

Dr Harold A Gould is Visiting Scholar in South Asian Studies at the University of Virginia. He has written extensively on India and has just published a book titled,
"SIKHS, SWAMIS, STUDENTS, AND SPIES: The India Lobby in the United States, 1900-1946."

The book was released in India in September, 2006 and recently in the US.

I have started reading it.

As the dust jacket claims, it's indeed

"a fascinating and absorbing history of the Indian lobby 
in America during the pre-independence era".


I have also seen FOUR reviews of the book. The first is by Francis C Assissi in INDOLINK ( http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=100906114336 ). It says, in part:


A second review has appeared in THE INDIAN EXPRESS -- It's by Pratap Bhanu Mehta (
http://indianexpress.com/story/13281.html ). An excerpt:


The third review, published in the BUSINESS STANDARD, is by TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan (
http://www.business-standard.com/lifeleisure/storypage.php?tab=r&autono=264062&subLeft=6&leftnm=5). It says:



The fourth review appeared in the HINDUSTAN TIMES -- It's by Pramit Pal Chaudhuri. This review (scanned) can be read at  http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=29_10_2006_016_003&typ=1&pub=47

Cheers,

Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship 

__________________________________________________

PS: The 460 page book is priced $39.95. However, it's being offered at a promotional sale price of $31.95 (20% discount), free shipping. To take advantage of the promotional price, the number to call is 1 800 818 7243 or visit  http://www.sagepub.com/gould and quote N060910.             
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

NGOs: One chapter from the vigil book online

nov 15th, 2006

radha has put one chapter of the vigil book (NGOs, activists and foreign funds: anti-national industry) on the web.

this one deals with my favorite ngo, ASHA, and my favorite ngo vampire, sandeep pandey.

the limeys have a great work, quango, for quasi-ngo. ASHA is a quango, for it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but it ain't no duck: it's a scheme for personal aggrandizement for pandey and for advancing the cause of the chinese. ASHA the quango.

please forward this widely. and if possible, buy the vigil book and donate it to various libraries and to editors and so forth, it's great stuff.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Radha Rajan

Friends, after Sandeep Pandey's ridiculous asertion that he doesnt get foreign funds because "as a principle" he is against foreign funds, I decided that Chapter 8 of the Vigil book, which deals only with Sandeep Pandey's foreign funds and his accounting malpractices, must be made public. therefore pl find the chapter, the deccan chrionicle news report which carried Pandey's liberties with truth and Vigil's response all on the vigil website. thank you, regards, RR
 

sun puts java into open source

nov 13th, 2006

after resisting this for years, sun has finally open-sourced java.

this could mean either that sun has realized that java will do well with open source's many developers, or it could mean that java has become irrelevant as a competitive differentiator. i don't know which of these is the truth.

aren't all the smart developers now into ajax, asynchronous javascript and xml, which has nothing to do with java per se?

kick out the chinaman!

nov 14th

it's come time to declare the chinaman, their ambassador, persona non grata and kick him out.

nowhere else in the world will an ambassador be tolerated if he claims chunks of a country's territory as his own.

so this is what it has come to after years of 'talks' with the inscrutable chinese. they have not moved one inch from their contention that arunachal pradesh is theirs. while india has appeased them by giving in more and more and more on all sorts of things. i'd like to know where india has gained. answer: nowhere.

bloody idiots!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

the demos feel their oats: a very good sign, this

nov 13th, 2006

i am reduced to reading the tea-leaves, alas!

but the defeat of this innocuous vietnam bill means the democrats, newly triumphant, are planning to give bush no quarter at all.

this is good news as far as the indo-us nuclear agreement is concerned. these atlanticist non-proliferation ayatollahs will hopefully spike that too.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-US-Vietnam-Trade.html?hp&ex=1163480400&en=ba29d1bc573c23a4&ei=5094&partner=homepage

sandhya jain in pioneer: Saddam-14nov2006





 

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nov 13th, 2006

sandhya jain's latest

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sandhya Jain

 

Pioneer-14November2006

Ambushed in Iraq

 

Sandhya Jain

 

            The mills of god grind slowly, the Bible says, but they grind exceedingly fine. The inexorability of this process ensured that the perfect timing of Saddam Hussain's death sentence could not check the Republican Party's freefall in America's mid-term Congressional elections. Nemesis is a double-edged sword.

 

            Convicted with two others for the retaliatory killing of 148 Shia's in Dujail for an abortive attempt on his life in 1982, the deposed Iraqi dictator's punishment has drawn Western comparisons with the Nuremberg trials after World War II. This calls for deeper scrutiny. The Nuremberg trials against former Nazis have long been touted as the most exalted example of White Man's Justice, where Adolf Hitler's appalling atrocities against European Jews were dubbed a crime against humanity and meted appropriate retribution.

 

            I have always wondered if this was the truth behind the Euro-American denigration of Hitler. The Inquisition and similar acts of bloody persecution in many 'civilized' European countries never yielded a similar quest for justice. Indeed, Europe's dislike of Jews led many nations to "encourage" their Jewish populations to migrate to the newly created State of Israel in the Muslim heartland, concurrently with the conduct of the Nuremberg trials. Moreover, many high and middle level Nazis who escaped before the Allies landed in Germany found safe havens with Latin American dictators supported by the United States. Some circles acknowledge that America made good use of the 'research' that the cold-blooded Nazis conducted on their hapless Jewish victims.        

 

            I believe Hitler's boys were punished for what his opponents could legally crucify them with, rather than for his really indigestible, unforgivable sin, which was politically unmentionable. This is that he breached the tacit accord of the White Colonial People (that dog does not eat dog) and practiced imperialism upon the White Christian peoples, bringing France, Austria, Poland, and virtually all of Europe under his heel. His invocation of a mythical non-Christian, Aryan ancestry for the German people must have enraged the epoch's dominant colonial power, Great Britain, which took pride in its Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) origins, which were being undermined by the 'Aryan' hogwash.

 

The Italian windbag, Mussolini, may have seen profit in going along with Hitler, and the then Pope may have felt comforted by the persecution of Jews, but Western Christians as a whole knew an unacceptable transgression had taken place. The Second World War was fought for the liberation of Europe alone; White Anglo-Saxon Protestant America joined it to stave off a godless communist takeover of the continent which was also the religio-political fountainhead of Christianity. This is evidenced by the fact that after the war, every colonial country tried to hold its non-European colonies for as long as possible. The once-occupied France fought a bitter war in Algeria; Portugal stuck to Goa till 1960, to cite just two examples.

 

Interestingly, the Teutonic Pope's controversial Regensburg speech makes amends for 'Aryan' Germany by reaffirming Western Christianity's racist core. This is the only meaning of his claim that the convergence of Biblical faith, Greek philosophy, and Roman heritage gave Christianity it's historically decisive character in Europe, and forms the continent's religio-cultural foundation. In other words, Christian Europe's White racial ethnicity makes it the dominant face of the faith, despite Christianity's Eastern origins. 

Returning to Saddam, he has been punished for the Dujail massacres because trying him for the 1980-88 war against Iran would open the proverbial can of worms. This is because the arms, including chemical weapons, used against Tehran came from Washington. Little wonder that the Bush administration's kangaroo court, plagued by delays and discredited by the murder of defence counsel, change of judges, courtroom chaos and overt bias, has not inspired confidence in any world capital, must less on Arab street. The external forms of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence are not enough to convey the spirit of justice, much less erase the international conviction that the trial is a sham to cover the corporate rapacity of oil traders from Texas. It is now to be hoped that the Democratic domination of Congress will quickly expose how America was pushed into war, who profited from it, and how much.

New Delhi's declaration that the death sentence to the deposed President required "credible due process of law" and should not appear to be victor's justice reflects the sagacity of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Although it has been criticized by some for appeasing domestic pressure groups, the truth is that Iraq is an occupied country and the trial was conducted through a collaborator regime. It is providential that as home minister Mr. L.K. Advani failed to send Indian troops to assist the American occupation of a friendly nation.

 

Pakistan's Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition claims American forces have caused more deaths in the past three years than Saddam did over a 23-year reign. The accusation that Texan oil merchants, including President Bush, are even guiltier of war crimes than Saddam is not without merit. Further, ten years of UN sanctions have seen an appalling decimation of the Iraqi people, for which Mr. Kofi Annan must be held accountable; an independent tribunal should at least record these crimes.

Europe, frozen with fear of its radical Muslim population, has reacted with typical schizophrenia. Britain and Australia stand by the United States. The European Union has welcomed the verdict, but said Saddam should not be hanged. The Vatican's top prelate for justice issues has dubbed the sentence an example of "eye for an eye" justice. Reflecting widening geo-political faultlines in the West over the Iraqi invasion, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero commented that conditions have deteriorated after the US occupation.

Actually, Saddam's fate is not a Muslim problem, but a problem of America's domestic-corporate political culture, which counts success in dollars and disregards costs exported to other shoulders. The fact that an ally like Egypt has spoken against the hanging, while major capitals like Riyadh maintain silence, suggests a serious re-think among the ummah about its attitude to the West. Russia doubts the sentence will be carried out, especially after the Republican eclipse in Congress. But a judicial reprieve given for political reasons, albeit through the agency of the automatic appeals process, will not assuage international Muslim sentiment because the new Iraqi regime and constitution are illegitimate, the handiwork of occupation leader Paul Bremer.

EOM