Crackergate — Part 2

I really don’t have much to add to what insanity I had reported on the post titled “Crackergate“. This follow up highlights a comment made by one “/ehj2” in a Cosmic Variance thread (also titled “Crackergate.”) Every once in a while I come across something that I wish I had written. This comment is one of those. Here it is, for the record.
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The BBC is Biased

A BBC report on the recent Ahmedabad bombs concludes with:

Mr Modi has been accused of failing to protect Muslims in the riots in Gujarat during 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died, including many in Ahmedabad. The violence erupted when a fire broke out on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, killing at least 59 people.

I suppose BBC had reported the American attack on Afghanistan in 2001 with something like:

The US invaded Afghanistan after the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NY collapsed after fire broke out killing over two thousand people.

Mysterious fires suddenly erupting in building and trains. So mysterious that even the BBC has no clue how or why the fires started. Truly astonishing.

What is interesting is that the BBC is not reluctant to report an accusation — almost as if it were an established fact — but cannot bring itself to report an established fact that the torching of the train was a premeditated act of Islamic terrorism. I wonder if the BBC reporters get funded by Islamists.

In Chennai for a CSR Event

I don’t think that I have ever had a more hassle-free flight ever than the one that I had last night. I left home around 9:45 after dinner. It was drizzling a bit. (Thanks, Raj, for the ride.) At 10:15 I was at the Spicejet counter and got a printout of the e-ticket. Was the flight on time, I asked. “It is before time,” I was told. By 10:25, I had a boarding pass and had gone through security. At 10:30, I was on board the flight. I have never ever gone from the kerb to my seat on a plane in 15 minutes.
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We have met the enemy and he is us

The events of the last few days which ended with the UPA government winning a vote of confidence yesterday in the Indian parliament demonstrate something quite dramatically. Rajinder Puri’s editorial in today’s Free Press Journal goes a little bit into the matter but not far enough, in my opinion.
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Plagiarism on blogs

The bad news is that it is easy enough to get a free blog (wordpress, blogger, blogspot, etc) and it is easy enough to cut and paste stuff to the blog. The good news is that if inexpertly done, plagiarism is easily noticed.

Here’s a case in point. This post on DKSHAMLI’S BLOG (July 5th, 2008) is an exact copy of my post titled “Unfair and Unlovely” (April 20th, 2007). This is done without the slightest nod to the original. Nowhere on the dkshamli blog is there any indication that it was not written by dkshamli.

Not very nice. A real shame.

Update: (6 PM IST 22nd July) I had reported the matter to WordPress.com. I got an email from tosreports@wordpress.com saying, “The blog has been deactivated, and the user will be forced to get in touch with us and remove the post.“

About the Nuclear Energy Deal

One has to defer to experts when it comes to matters that one does not know much about. I don’t know what the deal is with the nuclear agreement with the US is and over which the UPA government is possibly going to fail tomorrow.

In the mail today was a piece by a retired chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. It is reasonable to suppose that he knows what he is talking about. So here’s what he calls “Ten misconceptions about the nuclear deal” by P. K. Iyengar below the fold.
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Data on Criminals in the Indian Parliament

Anyone familiar with the disastrous state of India should not be overly surprised to learn that the Indian parliament has an overwhelmingly greater percentage of criminals than the general population. How effectively a nation functions and how successful it is depends on its leaders who make public policy and thus critically determine the outcome. India’s failure to develop and achieve its potential is proof positive that its leadership is lacking.

Underdevelopment, poverty, and all other ills that plague India are an unavoidable consequence of poor public policies and choices.
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Convicted Criminals as Members of the Indian Parliament

Is this the much tom-tommed Indian democracy? The convicted 6 who may decide UPA’s fate:

Among those who hold the key to the survival or fall of the government on July 22 are six jailed MPs, some convicted on serious charges like murder, others accused of heinous crimes. Check out the men who both sides are seeking to woo to win that day.

  1. Pappu Yadav alias Rajesh Ranjan

    RJD, Purnea, Bihar

    SENTENCED in Feb 2008 for life for murder of former CPM MLA Ajit Sarkar in 1998.

  2. Suraj Bhan

    LJSP, Balia, Bihar

    SENTENCED To life last month for murder of a farmer in 1992.

  3. Ateeq Ahmad

    Phulphur, Uttar Pradesh

    Charged in: 21 criminal cases, including some involving murder. One such was the murder of Bhartiya Samajwadi Party MLA Raju Pal in 2005.

  4. Afzal Ansari

    Samajwadi Party, Ghazipur, UP

    Brother of Uttar Pradesh don Mukhtar Ansari. In jail facing charges in murder of Bhartiya Samajwadi Party MLA Krishanand Rai in 2005.

  5. Umakant Yadav

    BSP, Machhlishahr, Uttar Pradesh

    Jailed for allegedly razing shops and houses while trying to forcibly occupy land in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.

  6. Mohd Shahabuddin

    RJD, Siwan, Bihar

    Convicted in: 3 cases between March and August 2007: life term for kidnapping leading to murder of a trader in 1999, 10 yrs for attack on Siwan SP in 1996 and 2 yrs for attack on CPI(ML) office in 1998.

I think it is a cargo cult democracy. I have long maintained that the Indian government is the real enemy of the people of India. This is not at all remarkable considering that it comprises mostly of criminals and other low life.

Crackergate

The world is going to hell in a handbasket. That’s what you’d think if you consider all the bad news coming at you from all quarters — inflation, the rising price of food and fuel, the commies taking their ball and going home (you wish), the possibility of a disappointing monsoons, sundry acts of terrorism, and so on. Comic relief is what one sorely needs to lighten the doom and gloom.

So here’s some news of the weird that fits the bill. It comes from the University of Central Florida. (You have to take what you get — even if that is half-way around the world in some godforsaken state.)

‘Body Of Christ’ Snatched From Church, Held Hostage By UCF Student, reads the headlines.
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