Posted in politics, tagged assasination, benazir, benazir bhutto, bhutto, daily times, musharraf, najam sethi, pakistan, suicide attack on December 29, 2007 | 3 Comments »
Najam Sethi writes in the Daily Times, Pakistan,
Most Pakistanis are by instinct inclined to believe that the “agencies” did it. This is the easy explanation for anything that happens in this country which is either inexplicable or unpalatable. All political assassinations in Pakistan remain inexplicable since the truth about them has never been investigated or [...]
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After much empirical evidence I have come to the following conclusion:
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP sucks. It is insecure, clunky and really slow. And it actually gets worse with time. Go with Firefox any day.
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Vista rocks (and is arguably superior to Firefox 2).
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Benazir Bhutto is dead.
The history of the Bhutto family is a tragic one and the assasination of Benazir, who recently returned from exile so that she could take part in the elections, is emblematic of the deep quagmire Pakistan is in.
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Shiv Sainiks vandalise paintings in Hussain exhibition.
This couldn’t have been a surprise -the exhibition was initially suspended due to vandalism threats and opened only after additional security was provided.
I’ll make an exception from my usual distaste for such measures and propose a new law. One that will provide for immediate non-bailable arrest and expedited trials [...]
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Posted in sports, tagged australia, cricinfo, dravid, india australia, indian cricket, manjrekar, mcg, rahul dravid, sports, test cricket on December 27, 2007 | No Comments »
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, in an excellent article on Cricinfo, says that Dravid’s painstaking innings and the subsequent Indian batting collapse is just the latest evidence for an old truth: the wait-and-watch approach does not work against Australia.
Sixteen years ago Sanjay Manjrekar came to Australia as India’s best batsman. He had enjoyed a wonderful series in Pakistan [...]
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Posted in India, news and links, politics, tagged blasphemy, God, hindu extremism, Orissa, parody, religion, religious riots, religious violence, riots, tongue-in-cheek, VHP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad on December 26, 2007 | No Comments »
The VHP mob has been killing Christians, burning churches in Orissa.
I have an idea. Let’s explain to the VHP that they should go to Iraq. After all, Iraq currently has Christians and Muslims. Whats more, they are already killing each other every day. The VHP can just go and kill a few more. It would [...]
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Posted in India, libertarianism, politics, tagged constitution, democracy, freedom, India, indian constitution, politics, US constitution on December 26, 2007 | 1 Comment »
I was a young lad once and like most kids was susceptible to the perceived infallibility of the written word. To give a relevant example, it wasn’t apparent to me that our civics text-books were less fact and more a bunch of Nehruvian platitudes. But even then, I often wondered about the role of the [...]
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Posted in India, politics, tagged godhra, gujarat, gujarat elections, gujarat polls, gujarat riots, India, modi, narendra modi, secularism on December 24, 2007 | 9 Comments »
Narendra Modi is back in style, winning 117 out of the 182 seats in the Gujarat assembly.
There are many legends about Narendra Modi. One is that he works sixteen hours every day, election or no election. Another claims that he is a loner to the extent that he always eats alone and never entertains any [...]
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Aamir Khan’s brother wants freedom.
Freedom. It’s so hard to come by, isn’t it?
Also read my earlier post: The dad, the brother and schizophrenia
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Posted in libertarianism, politics, tagged anti-discrimination, civil liberties, civil rights, civil rights act, david bernstein, discrimination, fair housing act, freedom, liberty, offended feelings, property rights, right to associate, ron paul, volokh on December 17, 2007 | 6 Comments »
Rights and “Rights”
John and Terry Hoffius own an apartment building in Jackson, Michigan. In the summer of 1993, they had a vacancy and advertised it. They were contacted by a couple, Kristal McCready and Keith Kerr, who expressed interest in renting it. When asked if they were married, McCready and Kerr replied in the negative. [...]
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Posted in belles-lettres, personal, tagged beauty, cafe, children, coffee-shop, life, morning, outdoor cafe, pasadena, personal, sunshine, winter on December 8, 2007 | No Comments »
It’s a brilliant morning. The air is cool and fresh, the sunshine abundant and there’s not a cloud in the sky. I sit on a metal chair outside Corner Bakery sipping my coffee.
The road is full of colourful kids. It’s the annual parade day. They walk, they smile, some wobble along on their tiny bikes wearing their impossibly cute red [...]
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The people who suffered (the violence unleashed by CPI(M) cadres and the police) were paid back in their own coin.
-Buddhadeb Bhattacharya , the Chief minister of Bengal, justifying the brutality in Nandigram.
I was astonished and aghast when Buddhadeb Bhattacharya made the above statement two weeks ago. He also referred then to the CPI(M) supporters who [...]
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Posted in India, libertarianism, politics, tagged Arundhati Roy, Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, corruption, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, Nasreen, offended feelings, religious fundamentalism, Taslima, Taslima Nasreen on December 4, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Arundhati Roy is a powerful writer and while I disagree with many of her political stances, I have always admired her for her passion and her courage. In this highly readable interview, her comments on the Taslima Nasreen fiasco and the related issue of free speech are bang on the money.
Freedom of expression has always [...]
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