Whose money and face is the blackest -Congress or Ramdev?

Congressi big mouth Digvijay Singh-

Senior Congress leader, Digvijay Singh on Monday said yoga guru Baba Ramdev should prove that money used to make his ashram is not black money and tax has been paid on it.

Ironical in the extreme. And that itself is an understatement. Which gangs organizations need huge mountains of black money to function at all -political parties! And the Congress party has been the premier party since forever. It is doubtful if any individual or corporate could have consumed as much black money as the Congress has over its history.

Not only that -the black money used by the political parties is of the worst kind. It is unearned, quid pro quo and of course criminal but not just because there is a law against it. It is the blackest money.


Yes, there is black money, there is blacker money and then there is the blackest money.
This needs some explaining as there is a lot of confusion regarding black money.

Black money at root is simply wealth that has escaped paying the cut demanded by the government. Which by itself does not make it immoral. Unlawful, yes, immoral, no.

Types of black money on the scale of immorality

 Let us take the main examples of black money and we shall be able to perceive the differences in 'immorality' -

1) Black Money - You expend sweat and tears to earn a living for your family, to keep them off poverty. Say your tax liability is 15,000/- but you pay 13,000/- and decide that that 2000/- you unlawfully keep is better spent on your mother's medical bills than on the foreign junket of a creep minister or become infinitesimal part of a giant scam. And there are many such scams. You have no faith that the government will spend wisely your hard earned money and not, like thieves, divide it among corrupt politicians and their boot-licking bureaucrats and politically favored contractors.

You are a criminal now and you have black money. And there are millions of 'criminals' like you.
But you earned your money. You produced wealth.
Who can call you immoral? Not me.


2 )  Blacker Money - this is simply loot. Money stolen, extorted by thugs and criminals doing criminal things like burglary, bank dacoity, things that mafiosi do etc. Nothing complicated about it. Obviously, very high on the immorality scale.


3) Blackest Money -  this is the loot of the worst kind because it is looted by those who are the custodians of the law. From the lowest corrupt sarkari peon to the bribe taking traffic inspector to the corrupt Commissioner of police to the dishonest joint secretary to the minister in spotless white clothes but with a lot of filth inside to the 'decent' prime minister who knows all but does nothing.The amount of wealth looted in corruption is huge. It is ENORMOUS.

Add to that the HUGE amount of illegal funds collected, extorted by the political  parties from corporates etc, often as exchange for later favors.  The very functioning these parties depends on such criminality. And yet they lecture us, harangue us, rule us, control us, loot us - while dressed in impeccable, well creased and starched whites.

They did not 'earn' all this loot. They created no wealth. They consumed what others produced. Like parasites that they are.

This is the Blackest Money and the politicians and the bureaucrats have it in truckfuls.

There is no reason not to consider political parties as criminal gangs since their very existence as viable power seekers depends upon large scale criminality.
 
On my scale of immorality, this ranks the highest.





Thus, we implore Diggie Singh to dig a little and tell us-

Who has the most black money - Baba Ramdev(even if he has any) or the Congress Party - and whose is the blackest?

Kiska mounh jada kaala hai?*

*The colorful Indian language translator-

      Kiska mounh jada kaala hai?  - Who has the blackest face (i.e. is the most disgraced) ?

"Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart."

What happened (my own remarks are in italicized brackets and bold is mine)-

Police lobbed teargas shells apart from carrying out a "mild" truncheon charge (Ed -which didn't happen) on the protesters on Sunday. Many fainted because of the gas engulfing the covered venue and minor fires erupted.(what if they had turned into major fires or a stampede happened and killed hundreds? It was very possible.Wouldn't have meant anything to this 'compassionate' government.'Inclusive growth' is for those who don't get in the way.Those who do risk being excluded all the way to the other world.) "There was complete chaos. People could neither open their eyes nor keep them shut," recalled Shiv Kumar from Saharanpur. Protesters alleged that women and girls were manhandled. ( Bravo, Sonia, you go fight for women's rights!)

"First, people tried to stop the security personnel from reaching Ramdev. A young man took him away on his shoulders. But later he returned to address us," said Swami Akhandanand from Haridwar. He said about 1.20am things went out of control, "We had no report of where Ramdev went. He was asking everyone to maintain peace."

Eyewitnesses said by 1.30am, there was unrest in the camp with cops almost taking over the entire venue. "There was no provocation. What threat could women, children and men who came to participate in a satyagraha would pose?" asked Anita, a Ramdev follower from Sikkim.(The threat to gaddi*, no doubt)

Cops, however, said Ramdev's supporters pelted bricks and threw flower pots on them. Half an hour after the eviction operation began, the venue was full of smoke and it was difficult to anyone inside to breathe. Volunteers were seen taking out people who had fainted. Many were complaining about their missing belongings. But none was willing to leave Delhi before getting the order from the yoga guru.

"We will not go home. We need to see Baba," said Monika, a young supporter from Rohtak. Amid anti-government slogans, a woman shouted out to the cops, "Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart." (Bandits and dacoits do this)

At 3am, most Ramdev supporters were on streets around the ground, especially the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg. People had taken over the entire pavement outside the MTNL office. But within minutes, a platoon of cops started driving them away.(Scram, you dogs! Fighting for your rights,bloody hell!) The police brought buses for volunteers to take people away.

"They can throw us out of Delhi by using force. But we will take this protest to villages and cities. The government has crossed all limits," said Sudha, who had come from Jharkhand. (Take that and remember next time -Delhi belongs to the Congress!)

The police kept driving away protesters until they had cleared the stretch between Ramlila Maidan and the Kamla Market roundabout.

Since police had also sealed Jantar Mantar (no shelter for you!)to avoid any gathering there, the exhausted protesters headed to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara beyond Connaught Place.

Timeline of events by News X

*The colorful Indian language translator-
        gaddi - seat, here it means the seat of power
       

From the LNC Quote Shop

Bill O’Reilly on Obama's new slogan "Winning the future" (or WTF, as pointed out by Sarah Palin) -

Didn’t the Soviet Union want to win the future? The pinheads in Moscow spent gazillions of dollars trying to dominate the world. And exactly how did that giant central government-run operation turn out? I believe it evaporated, did it not?

Huge bureaucracies are not set up for winning the future. They exist to tell folks what to do and to take their money.

And didn't Nehru intend to win the future over 60 years ago? And we ended up with one of the most criminal and corrupt bureaucracies in the world. Thank you, Chacha*!




*The colorful Indian language translator-
              Chacha -  Uncle, here referring to the appellation commonly used for Nehru, as in Chacha Nehru.
    

Tunisian style revolution from Paypal users?

The relationship between the State and the citizen is one between a helpless, bound and gagged damsel and her rapist captors. And everyday the captor devises a new way to violate his victim. Thus while I was jolted, but not really surprised when a mail arrived from Paypal announcing new RBI 'guidelines' (Disclosure -this blog manages to make some nickels via Paypal). Notice the Orwellian use of the word 'guidelines' -as if the RBI is cajoling you to do something nice when in fact it is simply asking you prepare yourself for more screwing:

Here is the impact of amendment:

PayPal will not allow users in India to receive more than US$500.
Starting 1 March, 2011, PayPal customers in India will not be allowed to receive payments for any export-related goods or services for an amount exceeding US$500 per transaction. This change is to ensure that we continue to comply with the RBI Guidelines.


PayPal will not allow Indian users to keep money in PayPal balance.

Starting 1 March, 2011, PayPal customers in India will not be able to keep money in their PayPal account balance. Instead, all money received into a PayPal account must be transferred to a customer’s India bank account within 7 days from the receipt of confirmation from the buyer in respect of the good or services. This change is to ensure that we continue to comply with the RBI Guidelines.

Customers in India will NOT be able to complete their checkout with their PayPal account balance.

“We’re glad that you offer PayPal to your customers. Unfortunately, we will not allow customers in India to send money from their PayPal account balance starting 1 March, 2011. This means that your customers will need to link a credit card to their account in before sending you money with PayPal. This change is to ensure that we continue to comply with the RBI Guidelines.

Overseas customers will not able to complete purchase or pay via PayPal for amounts above $500.

Starting 1 March, 2011, PayPal customers in India will not be allowed to receive payments for any export-related goods or services for an amount exceeding US$500 per transaction. If you are listing products greater than US$500 per transaction then you may need to seek alternative methods of payment. This change is to ensure that we continue to comply with the RBI Guidelines.

Is Indira Gandhi the prime minister again? Is Nehru still frolicking at the Teen Murti Bhavan with Edwina? Is Soviet style planning back in fashion?


The prospect of getting screwed in such creative ways has evoked some colorful comments(from the same link)(screenshots)-?

 

In particular, from Debasish-

RBI governer, PM, FM, President ki maa ki aakh.

 Indians may be oppressed but we are expressive!
Does anybody smell a Tunisian style revolution welling up from the Paypal users?

Even if all the CONgressis and other gangs politicians fled by planeloads with tonnes of gold(a la Tunisian President's wife), we would have got by cheaply. Free of the scum, we can then at least build a truly free India. Who prefers to live under Manmohan Singh's boot and Sonia Gandhi's jooti*? Not me.




Original Paypal announcement here.


* The colorful Indian language translator-
                Jooti or Jutti- a traditional Indian shoe.
 

Nehru-Gandhi household cutlery goes far

In India, chamchas(sycophants)* do well, especially if they belong to the de facto rulers the Nehru-Gandhi family. However so far Home Minister P Chidambaram has kept up a sober, sophisticated image and one supposes that any chamchagiri(sycophancy) on his part  is discreetly undertaken.

However, at the Congress Plenary Session(yes, the same event that took the life of an innocent Indian citizen so that the Prime Minister could have his way), the facade crumbled under the pressure of bubbling sycophancy.

Video

Perhaps Chidambaram couldn't help it. Or perhaps it was coldly calculated -

“Close your eyes, listen to Rahul, you will hear (former Prime Minister and Rahul's father)Rajiv’s echo!” Chidambaram thundered during his address on Monday, proving that he can when necessary outdo any ordinary or garden variety of Congressman when it comes to in-your-face sycophancy. While his words were greeted with cheers and applause from the hoi polloi, observers noted that both Sonia and Rahul sat in frozen silence. This is being widely interpreted among political observers as a sign that Chidambaram’s days in the Cabinet may be numbered.

Just some loyal congressmen. Which is Chidambaram? The one on the farthest right -the biggest spoon?

 
Whatever the motive, Chidambaram tinkled loud and clear, even among that much cutlery assembled. As for Rajiv's echos, they must be of a very soothing frequency as the Home Minister

fell asleep while Rahul Gandhi was delivering his speech. At least three senior Congress members seated on the podium next to Sonia Gandhi confirm that Chidambaram’s gentle baritone snores were clearly audible even over Rahul’s high-pitched voice.

 And speaking of certain spoons, while I was researching for the earlier post I came across this from November, 2009 -

VIP security must be more sensitive, says Chidambaram

VIP security must be sensitive to the “emergency needs” of the people, union Home Minister P.
Chidambaram said here Friday while describing as unfortunate the death of a patient outside a Chandigarh hospital when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was visiting. Chidambaram hoped that the Special Protection Group (SPG) and state police had learnt their lesson and that such incidents would not happen again.

“The SPG is under the control of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). I think the Prime Minister’s Office said what needs to said that VIP security must be sensitive to concerns of people and emergency needs of people.

And yet, over a year later another two citizens are dead.
So what happened to that 'sensitivity'?  It seems that neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister could impart it to the forces under their order. Or cared to.

That makes them useless and/or callous.

Japanese had an honorable custom for those officials who failed their country. I am not suggesting that our masters(let's not insult our intelligence by calling them 'public servants') take that route. They may however, in true and tested Indian tradition, look for some chullu bhar paani* and quietly slink away into obscurity.

Only they are too shameless to do the right thing.



*The colorful Indian language translator-

     chamcha-

       In Hindi, a sycophant is called a chamcha. Chamcha is also the Hindi word for spoon. Thus, a  common wordplay in India is to call a sycophant(often in the context of politics) a spoon, say- "X is Minister Y's spoon."

Thus, the wordplay in the title of this post. 

chullu bhar pani -
refers to the colorful Indian expression -'ja, chullu bhar pani mein doob mar' which "which essentially says that the concerned person who has incidentally done something shameful should go drown himself in a handful of water"

Exposing environmentalist's bitches -The Hindustan Times, part 2

Part 1 of this post below.

The amazing story of Climategate broke 7 days ago. Indian media has been carefully avoiding it, just as if it were cow shit strewn on the road. I call these media whores environmentalist's bitches.Among the bitchiest is the Hindustan Times.The following is what it has 'reported' on climate change and related issues in the last 6 issues after the exposure of the climate scandal, starting from the 22nd of November(the story was too late to be included in the 21st's issue). These are from the Delhi print edition, not all of them available online-
(this is a really long post out of necessity, I apologize)
(if you want a quick summary -just scroll to the last)

22nd November

1) Page 1
             A story on 'green Tihar jail', conserving energy, bio-mass,solar,yada,yada,yada -surprisingly, the reporter manages avoiding any mention of global warming.



2) Page 11
            Inderjit Hazra attempts a humorous take on global warming-

Exactly a fortnight away from the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, the organisers have banned conference ‘gift bags’ and bottled water to conserve energy. But apart from a few who will be cycling, para-gliding, walking and crawling to Copenhagen, most of the 14,000-odd delegates, media, industry lobbyists and environmental activists descending on the Danish capital will be transported into the city by airborn e vehicles that burn a lot of jet fuel. Apart from the hot air to be generated, that’s a lot of carbon emissions for one event. I implore the powers-that-be (including the forest deity of the Sunderbans, Bon Bibi) to submerge Copenhagen by a freak tsunami. And what is the reason for hosting this catastrophe-triggering summit? Yes, global warming.

This is something many have pointed out again and again -that Global Warming is a religion of sinners. In fact, some really big sinners.We must reduce our carbon footprint drastically or else -except the saints of this religion who are exempt.Rajendra Kumar Pachauri will jet set all over the world endlessly even if his emissions(carbon emissions, that is) are killing the planet. Al Gore will live in a energy-gobbling huge mansion and flit about in private jets to give speeches on environment. UN will organize huge jamborees in top hotels at beautiful locations -the carbon footprint of which could exceed emissions of some countries.

As Andrew Bolt put it-

No one is gassier than a global warming alarmist

But hey, sinning  for a good cause is just fine.

This issue has never been raised in the Hindustan Times,AFAIK. Just as only a court jester could say inconvenient truths about the king and escape execution, so it is only in jest that a writer in Hindustan Times can take potshots at the climate scare industry.Because it is understood -it's all tongue-in-cheek, it's a joke, not to be taken seriously, nod-nod-wink-wink...

Hazra continues-

After a suggestion by the wise and wisecracking Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, beef-eating will stop in the West so as to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions, a-fifth of which comes from meat production. As a result, rich westerners will move to a corn-based diet triggering a global food crisis that will wipe out poor people.

Is this an allusion to the food crisis that many said was caused by the idiotic policy of diverting farmland to produce bio-fuels instead of food? Those idiotic policies had been advocated by environmentalists for years.If you read the Hindustan Times then that fact might not have reached you.They don't like to cast greenies as meanies.They were too busy blaming and snickering at George W.Bush.

Again Hazra gets away because he is the court jester.

 Nothing this day on Climategate -maybe the HT is getting its facts right before reporting the story -although that never has stopped the media from headlining something sensational.

23rd November

1) Page 2
             A lament that not many people buy and drive electric cars in Delhi (cannot find this article online)-

We might take the HT more seriously when all the large luxury sedans parked in its office's parking lot are replaced by tiny joint-pain inducing Revas.




2) Page 10
          Environmentalist Darryl D'Monte gets the prime op-ed space to assault the very inconvenient study of the Himalayan glaciers by V.K. Raina, a former Deputy Director General of the Geological Survey of India, that says that "it was premature to make a statement that the glaciers were retreating abnormally because of global warming".

The study by V.K. Raina, a former Deputy Director General of the Geological Survey of India, has apparently not been peer-reviewed. No less a person than R.K. Pachauri, who chairs the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has rubbished the report as “totally unsubstantiated scientific opinion”.

 That the study apparently has not been peer-reviewed should interest the HT in more ways than one.Along with fudging and cherry-picking of data, the tight control of the peer-review process is the heart of Climategate.As Robert Tracinski says-

If it is corrupted, peer review can be a mechanism for an entrenched establishment to exclude legitimate challenges by simply refusing to give critics a hearing.
And that is precisely what we find.
In response to an article challenging global warming that was published in the journal Climate Research, CRU head Phil Jones complains that the journal needs to "rid themselves of this troublesome editor"-hopefully not through the same means used by Henry II's knights. Michael Mann replies:

I think we have to stop considering "Climate Research" as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal.

Note the circular logic employed here. Skepticism about global warming is wrong because it is not supported by scientific articles in "legitimate peer-reviewed journals." But if a journal actually publishes such an article, then it is by definition not "legitimate."

Also interesting is that D'Monte resorts to argument by authority - the great maharaja-dhiraj* "R.K. Pachauri, .............. has rubbished the report." It's like Moses himself pronouncing the word of God!

So R.K. Pachauri must be a top-notch climate scientist -right?
Wrong!! He studied Industrial Engineering and Economics.

But don't worry - he can rubbish any report he doesn't like - he's the chairman of IPCC. And that is as close to God as it comes nowadays(after Obama, that is).


Just to note-
Activists of extreme left  -from greenies to marxists- regularly get large space in the HT. I have never seen a libertarian getting major space in this paper - it might have happened, but must have been a blink-and-miss-it moment.



 3) Page 13
             A moronic piece on turning veg to save the planet by Bharati Chaturvedi - I have read her for years (just don't ask why) and not once has she risen above parroting greenie talking points in an dull, schoolmarmish manner.


Still nothing on Climategate. Maybe the HT is working on it.Maybe.





24th November


Still nothing on Climategate!
At this point the climate scandal has become huge around the world -there are demands for investigations, there are chances of  U.S. congressional hearings, a flurry of articles from all sides all over.Accusations and calumny are flying thick and fast. But the Hindustan Times sleeps on the job -press, they say, is the watchdog of democracy. This dog lies and sleeps among the thieves.

But it gets worse!

One of the worst things about the Global Warming scare is the traumatization of young minds -whole countries will drown,  giant walls of water will engulf skyscrapers, millions will die in famine, floods,droughts, hurricanes, desertification(all of them at the same time  -somehow they left out the locusts) - all this cannot but leave deep psychological scars on kids.This is psychological terrorism practiced on children!

This is one of the worst forms of child abuse.

 Brendan O’Neill in the article Panic, little ones, it's the Carbon Monster-

In 2007, a survey of 1150 seven to 11-year-olds in Britain found that more than half had lost sleep as a result of worrying about climate change. The children were most likely to be kept awake thinking about “the possible submergence of entire countries” and the “welfare of animals"…

And the Hindustan Times is fully complicit in it -not only by publishing screaming headlines in super-large font about the end of the world. Not just by shutting out reports and research and views that contradict the narrative.

It is now sending out its top honchos to schools to propagandize on Global Warming! This is criminal!

1) Page 4

India must show responsible leadership and go out of its way to act as a pioneer in the fight against climate change since it has begun to affect our lives directly.
This is the agreement a group of 25 Sanskriti School students belonging to Classes 8 to 12 arrived at during a discussion on climate change held in the school on Monday.

Hindustan Times managing editor Samar Halarnkar interacted with the students and discussed various ways and means — such as recycling and reusing — to reduce the climate change impact.

And the Hindustan Times is furiously peddling its narrative -

Halarnkar also discussed on the official stand India must take in the Copenhagen Summit to be held in December in Denmark.

Wow!No wonder this newspaper cannot be honest about climate change.It's not news but activism that clouds their minds -saving the world is so much better that just the facts, thank you ma'am.

And just for laughs-

“The discussion was very informative and it opened our minds to many things related to climate change which we were unaware of,” Aishwarya Shekhar, a Class 11 student, said.

In today's Orwellian times, group-think is debate, all agreeing with each other is 'opening our minds'. But Samar Halarnkar wouldn't know much about open minds anyway.He is an HT man.


Now for one of those regular end-of-world-is-approaching-faster-than-we-thought-so-give-us your-trillions-now! screamers-


2) Page 19

Scream of the day is -

Antartic ice loss vaster,faster than we thought

So is this study peer-reviewed? Darryl D'Monte wouldn't trust it, if not. The HT doesn't tell us. It also doesn't tell us that-

The latest data uses observations taken monthly between 2002 and 2009 from a pair of satellites flying in formation measuring gravity perturbations. Analysing data from the GRACE satellites is tricky and relating them to ice sheet mass estimates involves several steps and assumptions.
--------------------------------
The importance of this research is that it highlights the close scrutiny needed of the region, especially for the East Antarctic ice cap, to see if its rate of loss increases. At present it is not known if the loss is due to climate change or if such losses are in any way exceptional or cyclical. If the changes persist, and accelerate, then, “Antarctica may soon be contributing significantly more to global sea-level rise”, the researchers write.

Others have expressed surprise at the results. A study in 2005 suggested that the East Antarctic ice sheet was actually gaining mass. What this latest work indicates is the need for more observations, an appreciation of the large uncertainties in individual measurements and the problem of relating them to each other. Overall it would be unwise to draw strong conclusions from this research.

Try telling that to the editors of HT!

Just curious - did that 2005 study about increasing Antarctic ice get screaming headlines?Small headlines?Really small headlines?Any headline at all? I didn't think so.We all know why -doesn't fit the narrative.

The HT also didn't tell us that(from the above link)-

East Antarctica, the researchers(of this study) say, is losing mass at about 57 +/-  52 GT/yr (note large uncertainty - it could be consistent with zero ice loss)

This is like saying my mother is 57 years old +/-  52, that is she could be 109 or she could be just 5, who knows but trust me I do!

Such 'research' is enough to get environmental 'reporters' howling away in their headlines.
They and their editors want to make an impact, save the world - no doubts will be admitted.To them, all 'studies' support the narrative. Those that don't, don't exist.(That's Kafkaesque)






25th November

No sign of Climategate in the HT. There is no doubt now. They are not reporting what they do not want to report.


1) Page 15
Environmental poodle Chetan Chauhan carries on the assault on V.K.Raina's study, this time in form of a 'report', not an opinion column.In our media, news and views mix freely.So who is saying that V.K.Raina is wrong?  -a  joint team of WWF-India and Birla Institute of Technology.

I suspect WWF have something to do with environmentalism and so have an agenda.But you wouldn't know it from the 'report'.


Mercifully that is all of climate change for this day.






26th November


I don't expect the Hindustan Times to honestly report on Climategate -but I thought they would do either a small side-column one paragraph whitewash or a little longer one minimizing the whole thing. But there is dead silence.The HT wants to pretend that Climategate didn't happen.Heads in sand. Will blow over,no publicity to the skeptics, storm in a tea-cup .....I can imagine what goes for thoughts in those crusading heads.

Meanwhile, business as usual continues-

1) Page 14
          Top HT honcho Samar Halarnkar continues his brainwashing of school kids, this time at the Tagore International School(cannot find this article online) -

I feel sorry for these children -so sincere, so full of passion to do the right thing.....and so brainwashed. They are unaware that they have become foot-soldiers in the war of Greenies against freedom and capitalism.



2) Page 17
            A small item (again cannot find this online) that tells us the solutions to climate change are good for India -we will get money!Lots of it! Other people's money! All free!
Hey, that's what we all dream of, no?

27th November


Still nothing on Climategate. Keep those heads in sand, guys, and have a nice time in there.But the fire is spreading. I expect a white-washing piece any day now.Even Moses R.K. Pachauri has issued a white-wash of a statement -all is well, nothing to see, move along.

Business as usual continues(this now has the quality of the band playing on a sinking Titanic)-

1) Page1, top news 
               The climate change is the main news -but not, as one would expect from objective journalists, about  Climategate.

Ramesh will meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Friday, a day after Beijing announced a “voluntary” and “binding” national goal of a 40-45 per cent cut in carbon intensity below 2005 levels by 2020. Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth or GDP.

“China has given a wake-up call to us,” Ramesh told Hindustan Times
--------------------------------------------


“Biggest step forward,” said R.K. Pachauri, head of the UN’s panel on climate change. “Now rich countries should declare a financial commitment for saving the planet so that we can have a treaty at Copenhagen.”

Sounds impressive, no? A really serious commitment to cut emissions? Something substantial? That's the impression the writers(among them Chetan Chauhan again) seem to want to leave.

But- as with much about global warming 'reporting' -it's more smokes and mirrors.
After several such paras , the most revealing part is kept for towards the last part of the piece-

China’s new goal does not mean its emissions will reduce. With the new carbon-intensity cuts, Chinese emissions will keep growing with the economy, and faster than India, till 2020 or 2030 when emissions are expected to peak. Chinese officials have avoided announcing a year when emissions will peak before they start to decline.

So no effect on climate change(except the one of keep increasing it). So all that praise is for.....for what exactly? intentions?chanting the right mantra? Actually it's more devious than that. Planet Gore has the goods.



2)  Page 7
             Samar Halarnkar, Managing Editor, Hindustan Times , continues his whirlwind crusade through schools.This time hurricane Halarnkar hits Amity International School, Saket.I'm sure he had an open debate discussing all points of views.(Heh,heh, just kidding)

There are some sad stories of lost childhood due to global warming scaremongering - though I'm sure the HT does not see it that way-

As a school project, a group of students has meticulously calculated the carbon footprint of each student, faculty member as well as that of the whole school -- all in a pioneering environmental endeavor, now on display as a neat and structured report.

I remember, as kids we had much more fun.


3) Page 13
          Uh-oh.
               Here comes that full page scaremongering again. They love doing this.

This includes a softie interview with Dr.R.K. Pachauri in the style of a school master instructing a pupil.(No, the interviewer is not the schoolmaster).
No question of asking some real.....questions.About Climategate, for instance.About "hiding the decline".About a corrupt peer-review process. About why the earth hasn't warmed in the 21st century.About the quality of code. About the quality of surface station data. About the rise of CO2 historically following the temperature and not the other way round. About lucrative incentives to scaremonger -lots of free money.No way. That won't happen.

 Maybe the answers are so obvious to the HT that they assume that everyone knows. Maybe that is why they won't tell us -or ask questions.

Mr. Chetan Chauhan (yes, him again!), could you consider us all as all-out, full-scale, no-good ignoramuses and next time get us some answers? Of course, Mr. Pachauri may never speak to you again but.....or is it all about protecting the narrative?






 Whew, finished! This concludes my review of HT's marvelously biased coverage of climate change.And possibly the longest post on the LNC.

To summarize-

In 6 days-

1) 19 articles on climate change (including 1 related and 1 a satire)(note -there are multiple articles on pg19,on the 24th Nov and on page 13 on the 27th Nov)

2) 18 of them are scaremongering, follow the narrative,crusading to save the planet kind

3) no mention of Climategate -anywhere

4) No clue that not everyone believes the narrative -that there are thousands of scientists who are 'sceptics'

5) no questioning of the climate orthodoxy as represented by the IPCC.


No wonder, the Hindustan Times makes a splendid environmentalist's bitch.




*The colorful Indian language translator -

             maharaja-dhiraaj - king of kings


Update-
      4 ''it's" changed to "its" on the cue of the keen eyed Samar Halarnkar in the comments. Thanks, Samar.

Will India be like(gasp!)California?

No, this is not a compliment -

California vs. Texas: The Verdict Is In

-----------------

Texas has usurped the leadership position that, decades ago, belonged to California. Today California is in decline, likely irreversibly so. William Voegeli draws the sad but instructive comparison in the Los Angeles Times:

In America's federal system, some states, such as California, offer residents a "package deal" that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. These alternatives, of course, define the basic argument between liberals and conservatives over what it means to get the size and scope of government right. ...

California and Texas are not perfect representatives of the alternative deals, but they come close. Overall, the Census Bureau's latest data show that state and local government expenditures for all purposes in 2005-06 were 46.8% higher in California than in Texas: $10,070 per person compared with $6,858. ...

Confronted with a stark choice between government dominance and freedom, Americans are voting with their feet:

One way to assess how Americans feel about the different tax and benefit packages the states offer is by examining internal U.S. migration patterns. Between April 1, 2000, and June 30, 2007, an average of 3,247 more people moved out of California than into it every week, according to the Census Bureau. Over the same period, Texas had a net weekly population increase of 1,544 as a result of people moving in from other states. During these years, more generally, 16 of the 17 states with the lowest tax levels had positive "net internal migration," in the Census Bureau's language, while 14 of the 17 states with the highest taxes had negative net internal migration.

So are higher taxes and greater public expenditure in California worth it?-

But those higher taxes in California must be going somewhere. Why aren't they benefiting those many thousands of citizens who are leaving the state for greener pastures?

In what respects, then, does California "excel"? California's state and local government employees were the best compensated in America, according to the Census Bureau data for 2006. And the latest posting on the website of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility shows 9,223 former civil servants and educators receiving pensions worth more than $100,000 a year from California's public retirement funds. The "dues" paid by taxpayers in order to belong to Club California purchase benefits that, increasingly, are enjoyed by the staff instead of the members.

I'm afraid the dynamic 2-in-1 do-badan-ek-jaan* superhero team of Chacha Manmohan S.Gandhi(as Sauvik Chakraverti so wonderfully likes to put it) is rushing India towards the failed California model -a numerous high-caste of sumptuously paid and pampered inefficient and corrupt public employees, large-scale(rather, huge-scale) spending on 'social' sectors in the name of the poor, higher taxes whether directly or indirectly(see all the goverment controlled charges increasing all around you -from transport to vegetables to electricity).The 2-in-1 team likes the 2-step tango -massive amount of spending(as if it is their baap's* money) and massive amount of debt(which we and our children's and our grandchildren's baaps will have to pay off).

We have only just begun to nibble on the fruit of partial liberalisation of the Indian economy. The 2-in-1 team is poisoning the fruit with it's 'social' obsessions.

Only it will be much worse in India because-
the size of Indian babudom is much larger and their predatory grasp much stronger,
their level of corruption and venality cannot be matched (not even close) by the Californian babus,
all of India will be California and there is no Texas to escape to.
(emphasis mine)



*The colorful Indian language translator-
       do-badan-ek-jaan - two bodies but one mind

       baap - father
       babu - (derisively) bureaucrat

Environmentalism is unhealthy for the humans and the environment

Environmentalism is unhealthy for the humans –just ask all those millions who died from malaria after the DDT was banned to soothe the feelings of the environmentalists(rhetorically speaking, of course since one cannot query the dead –though some people claim to).

 

But environmentalism is bad for the environment too. Just a couple of instances.

First-

Windmills Are Killing Our Birds

One standard for oil companies, another for green energy sources.

On Aug. 13, ExxonMobil pleaded guilty in federal court to killing 85 birds that had come into contact with crude oil or other pollutants in uncovered tanks or waste-water facilities on its properties. The birds were protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which dates back to 1918. The company agreed to pay $600,000 in fines and fees.

                ------snip---snip----

Yet there is one group of energy producers that are not being prosecuted for killing birds: wind-power companies. And wind-powered turbines are killing a vast number of birds every year.

A July 2008 study of the wind farm at Altamont Pass, Calif., estimated that its turbines kill an average of 80 golden eagles per year. The study, funded by the Alameda County Community Development Agency, also estimated that about 10,000 birds—nearly all protected by the migratory bird act—are being whacked every year at Altamont.

                  ------snip---snip----

The number of birds killed by wind turbines is highly variable. And biologists believe Altamont, which uses older turbine technology, may be the worst example. But that said, the carnage there likely represents only a fraction of the number of birds killed by windmills. Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy estimates that U.S. wind turbines kill between 75,000 and 275,000 birds per year. Yet the Justice Department is not bringing cases against wind companies.

"Somebody has given the wind industry a get-out-of-jail-free card," Mr. Fry told me. "If there were even one prosecution," he added, the wind industry would be forced to take the issue seriously.

                     ------snip---snip----

Why aren't wind companies prosecuted for killing eagles and other birds? "The fix here is not easy or cheap," Mr. Lee told me. He added that he doesn't expect to see any prosecutions of the politically correct wind industry.

This is a double standard that more people—and not just bird lovers—should be paying attention to. In protecting America's wildlife, federal law-enforcement officials are turning a blind eye to the harm done by "green" energy.

 

 

And then this(this is actually two instances)-

When Renewable Is Not Sustainable

Ethanol and solar power deplete land and water resources.

It takes 2,500 gallons of water to grow enough corn to refine a single gallon of ethanol. Congress has mandated the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2022.

                 ------snip---snip----

Energy production requires water. Producing petroleum, natural gas, coal or methane consumes a lot of water, but much less than it takes to make ethanol.

                ------snip---snip----

Consider the implications for California, which aspires to produce 1 billion gallons of ethanol annually. To grow the necessary corn would require using every drop of water currently diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. That water irrigates 7 million acres in the Central Valley and provides critical supplies to Southern California’s cities—uses that can hardly be superseded by those of growing and refining corn for ethanol.

                 ------snip---snip----

The solar energy industry is similarly benefiting from federal legislation that paid no attention to water and land availability.

                 ------snip---snip----

For commercial power plants, solar companies use a technology known as “concentrating solar thermal” (CST). The sun heats a fluid that boils water. The steam spins a turbine that generates electricity. All thermal power plants produce waste heat as a byproduct and use cooling towers to release the waste heat to the ambient atmosphere—usually by the evaporation of water. Apart from the first step that uses the sun’s heat, CST is an old-fashioned thermal power plant that consumes vast quantities of water.

 

If these were ‘normal’, ‘non-green’ industries there would be such a hue and cry among the usual suspects –Sunita Narain would be issuing indignant reports and Vandana Shiva would be bouncing up and down in outrage. But environmentalist’s pet projects are unaccountable and untouchable.’Green’ rules do not apply to the ‘green’ programs. No wonder so many traditional businesses are jumping on the green bandwagon(among other reasons).Who can resist the no-questions-asked means of making easy money –especially if it is being subsidized by the taxpayers(ullu ka patthas* like you and me) as most green schemes are?

 

(emphasis mine)

 

*The colorful Indian language translator-

ullu ka pattha -“The phrase 'Ullu Ka Patha' is generally used as a curse and is considered a superlative degree of just the word 'Ullu' which is translated to a mild 'fool'.”

Is Newsweek demented?

I often tear into the media for their biases, ignorance, agendas,cluelessness, idiocy….the list is long.(John G. Winder has something to say on this in the context of today’s events)

To this one might add dementia –I’m inclined to agree with Cliff Thier-

Mark today as the date that the mainstream media put a gun in it's mouth and pulled the trigger.

The cover of Newsweek:

IS YOUR BABY RACIST?

Illustrated with a close up photo of a (white) baby. To ask the question is to answer it. Welcome to the post-racial world of Barack Obama.

This is ghor kaljug*- how long before a baby fuehrer rises up ?

 

What next –is your dog racist?

 

 

*The colorful Indian language translator-

 

 kaljug - “Kalyug is the fourth and final era in the spiritual evolution of man” when “it becomes common for tyrants to be accepted and approved”

ghor –absolute,utter,complete

Where are all the anti-war jholawalas?

Where are all the anti-war activists? Is the Russian invasion of Georgia not a war worthy of their attention? Or are they selective in being 'anti-war'?

Imagine if it was America bombing a small country on some pretext - there would would be such a din of protest in many cities all over the world.

Now we have an authoritarian, imperialistic superpower which has a horrendous past of occupying, brutalizing and even decimating whole of nationalities -and not a squeak out our professional keepers of conscience.

Where are the Indian politicians- they were pretty quick to lacerate Israel over Lebanon, even going to the extent of passing a resolution in the parliament?

What about our 'anti-imperialist' comrades? Or is their 'anti-imperialism' just a charade? (They never had a problem with Soviet and Chinese imperialism)

Where are those bearded jholawalas* and jholawalis*, who when you shout 'America' begin to bark like rabid dogs?

Still waiting for shrill condemnations of Russian aggression from seasoned anti-imperialists like Chomsky, John Pilger , Robert Fisk and Arundhati Roy.

Tiger Hawk asks the same question-

Of course, the Russians have no meaningful justification under international law, far less than the imperfect case the United States and its coalition built to justify regime change in Iraq.

That caused me to wonder, where are the anti-war groups?
----------------------
So far, at least, it is safe to conclude that these organizations are not so much anti-war as they are anti-American and anti-Israeli. It is useful to clear that up. And, by the way, if they decide to organize massive anti-war rallies against Russia and belatedly reveal themselves as intellectually honest, I will be the first to say so.

(emphasis mine)

C'mon guys, where are you? There is a war on you know. Just go out and do what you do best -protest a small country from being bombed by an imperial superpower. I'll throw you another juicy bone -there is even oil involved. You must be drooling by now and I am sure we can expect massive street protests, burning of Russian flag and trashing of the Russian embassies anytime.
You won't disappoint me, won't you?

Won't you?


*The colorful Indian language translator-
jholawala -a scornful term for leftists in India, who have the reputation of dressing sloppily, often in kurtas and carrying a shabby, shapeless bag called a jhola, giving a general impression of poverty and simplicity. However, as in many things concerning the left, impressions can be misleading. Their 'simple' kurtas are often sourced from choicest of trendy(and expensive) boutiques, and the 'ethnic' look that is so sought after is achieved by burning a fair amount of moolah.

There is an interesting page about the jholawalas here.

jholawali -female of the above species, often giving the impression of being aggressive and querulous(think Vandana Shiva)

Note -I do not condone trashing of any embassy. I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy involved.

Indian artists in support of a murderer, part 2 -Che myths

Continued from part 1 below-

What is it about the Che iconography that is so resistant to facts? Alvaro Vargas Llosa takes apart the Che myths-

1. HE WAS AGAINST CAPITALISM. In fact, Guevara was for state capitalism. He opposed the wage labor system of 'appropriating surplus value' (in Marxist jargon) only when it came to private corporations. But he turned the appropriation of the workers 'surplus value' into a state system. One example of this is the forced labor camps he supported, starting with Guanahacabibes in 1961.

2. HE MADE CUBA INDEPENDENT. In fact, he engineered the colonization
of Cuba by a foreign power. He was instrumental in turning Cuba into a temporary beachhead of Soviet nuclear power (he sealed the deal in Yalta). As the person responsible for the 'industrialization' of Cuba he failed to end the country's dependency on sugar.

3. HE STOOD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE. In fact, he helped ruin the economy by diverting resources to industries that ended up in failure and reduced the sugar harvest, Cuba's mainstay, by half in two years. Rationing started under his stewardship of the island's economy.

4. HE STOOD UP TO MOSCOW. In fact, he obeyed Moscow until Moscow
decided to ask for something in return for its massive transfers of money to Havana. In 1965 he criticized the Kremlin because it had adopted what he termed the 'law of value'. He then turned to China on the eve of the Cultural Revolution, one of the horror stories of the twentieth century. He simply switched allegiances within the totalitarian camp.

5. HE CONNECTED WITH THE PEASANTS. In fact, he died precisely because he never connected with them. "The peasant masses don't help us at all," he wrote in his Bolivian diary before he was captured, an apt way to describe his journey through the Bolivian countryside trying to stir up a revolution that could not even enlist the help of Bolivian Communists (who were realistic enough to note that
peasants did not want revolution in 1967; they had already had one in 1952).

6. HE WAS A GUERRILLA GENIUS. With the exception of Cuba, every guerrilla effort he helped set up failed pitifully. After the triumph of the Cuban revolution, Guevara set up revolutionary armies in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Haiti, all of which were crushed. He later persuaded Jorge Ricardo Masetti to lead a fatal incursion into that country from Bolivia. Guevara's role in the Congo in 1965 was both tragic and comical. He allied himself with Pierre Mulele and Laurent Kabila, two butchers, but got entangled in so many disagreements with the latter and relations between Cuban and Congolese fighters were so strained that he had to flee. Finally, his incursion in Bolivia ended up in his death, which his followers are commemorating this Sunday.

7. HE RESPECTED HUMAN DIGNITY. In fact, he had a habit of taking other people's property. He told his followers to rob banks ('the struggling masses agree to rob banks because none of them has a penny in them') and as soon as the Batista regime collapsed he occupied a mansion and made it his own, a case of expeditious revolutionary eminent domain.

8. HIS ADVENTURES WERE A CELEBRATION OF LIFE. Instead, they were an
orgy of death. He executed many innocent people in Santa Clara, in central Cuba, where his column was based in the last stage of the armed struggle. After the triumph of the revolution, he was in charge of 'La Cabaña' prison for half a year. He ordered the execution of hundreds of prisoners, former Batista men, journalists,businessmen, and others. A few witnesses, including Javier Arzuaga, who was the chaplain of 'La Cabaña', and José Vilasuso, who was a
member of the body in charge of the summary judicial process, recently gave me their painful testimonies.

9. HE WAS A VISIONARY. His vision of Latin America was actually quite blurred. Take, for instance, his view that the guerrillas had to take to the countryside because that is where the struggling masses lived. In fact, since the 1960s, most peasants have peacefully deserted the countryside in part because of the failure of land reform, which has hindered the development of a property-based agriculture and economies of scale with absurd regulations forbidding all sorts of private arrangements.

10. HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE UNITED STATES. He predicted Cuba would
surpass the GDP per capita of the U.S. by 1980. Today, Cuba's economy can barely survive thanks to Venezuela's oil subsidy (about 100,000 barrels a day), a form of international alms that does not speak too well of the regime's dignity.

Humberto Fontova (linked in part 1) has an excellent article on how the myth of Che is maintained and propagated in popular media. Excerpts-

The History Channel Shills For Che Guevara

[Humberto Fontova is the author of Exposing the Real Che Guevara and the
Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him.]

The regime Che Guevara co-founded stole the savings and property of 6.4 million citizens, made refugees of 20 per cent of the population from a nation formerly deluged with immigrants and whose citizens had achieved a higher standard of living than those residing in half of Europe. Che Guevara's regime also shattered through executions, jailings, mass larceny and exile virtually every family on the island of Cuba. Many opponents of the Cuban regime qualify as the longest-suffering political prisoners in modern history, having suffered prison camps, forced labor and torture chambers for a period THREE TIMES as long in Che Guevara's Gulag as Alexander Solzhenytzin suffered in Stalin's Gulag.

----------------------------------------------------------

One signed his name "Stalin II," professed that "the solutions to the world's problems lie behind the Iron curtain," and boasted that "if the nuclear missiles had remained we would have fired them against the heart of the U.S. including New York City." He also professed that the victory of socialism was well worth "millions of atomic victims."

----------------------------------------------------

Immediately upon entering Havana Che Guevara stole and moved into what
was probably the most luxurious mansion in Cuba. The rightful owner fled
the country barely ahead of a firing squad and a reporter who wrote of Che's new house in a Cuban newspaper was himself threatened with the firing squad. A year later thousands of Cubans were sent to forced-labor camps on Che's orders, based on his whim to fashion "a new man,"

----------------------------------------------------

During a 1961 speech in Cuba, Che Guevara denounced the very "spirit of
rebellion" as "reprehensible." Earlier he had cheered the Soviet
invasion of Hungary and the concurrent slaughter of thousands of
Hungarians who resisted Russian Imperialism. According to Guevara, these
freedom-fighters were all "fascists and CIA agents."

--------------------------------------

On his second to last day alive Che Guevara ordered his guerrilla charges to give no quarter, to fight to the last breath and to the last bullet. With his men doing just that, a slightly wounded Che snuck away from the firefight and surrendered with a full clip in his pistol, while whimpering to his captors: "Don't Shoot! I'm Che! I'm worth more to you alive than dead!" He then groveled shamelessly, desperate to ingratiate himself. "What's your name, young man?" Che asked one of his captors.
"Why what a lovely name for a Bolivian soldier!"

"So what will they do with me?" Che asked Bolivian Captain Gary Prado. "I don't suppose you will kill me. I'm surely more valuable alive....And you Captain Prado," Che commended his captor. "You are a very special person ...I have been talking to some of your men. They think very highly of you, captain! And don't worry, this whole thing is over. We have failed." Then to further ingratiate himself, "your army has pursued us very tenaciously....now, could you please find out what they plan to
do with me?"
----------------------------------------

So far, subjective matters. Now on to more objective ones.

Despite numerous attempts, nobody has managed to locate any record of
Ernesto Guevara's medical degree. Shortly after his capture Che admitted to his captor's commander, Captain Gary Prado, that he (Che) was not a doctor but "had some knowledge of medicine."

Nonetheless The History Channel refers to Ernesto Guevara as a "newly
qualified Doctor."
------------------------

"The Black Book of Communism," written by French scholars and published in English by Harvard University Press (neither an outpost of the vast right-wing conspiracy, much less of "Miami maniacs!") estimates 14,000 firing squad executions in Cuba by the end of the 1960's. "The facts and figures are irrefutable," wrote the New York Times (no less!) about "The Black Book of Communism." A Cuban prosecutor of the time who quickly defected in horror and disgust named Jose Vilasuso estimates that Che signed 400 death warrants the first few months of his command in La Cabana. A Basque priest named Iaki de Aspiazu, who was often on hand to perform confessions and last rites, says Che personally ordered 700 executions by firing squad during the period. Cuban journalist Luis Ortega, who knew Che as early as 1954, writes in his book "Yo Soy El
Che!" that Guevara sent 1,892 men to the firing squad.

Read the whole thing.

Is the terrible state of modern/post-modern art, the utter irrationalism and lunatic-asylum quality about it -I wonder if that because it is people like Suneet Chopra who are it's thekedars *. Historically, the descent of art into irrationalism has followed the descent of intellectuals into the embrace of utopian totalitarianism.

(emphasis mine)

*The colorful Indian language translator-
thekedar - One who decides and sits over judgment(literally- someone who has been given a contract to do something)

Next- in part 3: tired of that 'iconic' image of mass-murderer staring from trendy t-shirts.Here are some Che images we would like to see more of.

See part 1 here

Will Obama vaporize Osama?

There has been much commotion in the Indian media about the US presidential candidate Barrack Obama's remarks about Pakistan. The impression we get is almost as if finally there could be an American president who would take on Pakistan, even invade it if necessary. Believe me there are many people who think invading Pakistan would be a good thing -the khaki-nicker*(BJP-RSS) crowd was hankering for it after the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament in December,2001. While I don't agree with their agenda, this sentiment (to go after Pakistan) is at least understandable, given that that land to our west has been the source of much pain and trouble. India's impression of Pakistan is that it is a land of a people who can't live with each other or with their neighbors peacefully. Na hum chain se jeeyenge na sale tumhe jeene deenge.*

Indians also have the impression that America is not doing enough about terrorism emanating from Pakistan, something many Indian security experts have been wailing about. So will Obama be the one to get to the mothership of the jihadis-the hiding and breeding grounds in the north-west of Pakistan- and blow it up? Will Obama vaporize Osama?

Let's hear some skeptics weighing in-


Paul Mirengoff:

Barack Obama on "the war we need to win."As is almost always the case with Democrats, it's a war other than the one we're fighting and (to the extent that Obama is really talking about war) it would involve taking military action in a country --Pakistan -- that has been our ally in the fight against terrorism, at least to some degree.

It's also a war that no one can reasonably believe Obama would initiate. Note that, while he has sponsored a resolution to give up in Iraq thus handing al Qaeda victory there, he has sponsored no resolution to send troops into Pakistan . In fact, even his speech is ambiguous on whether he would send a substantial force there. The deployment of significant troop levels is what folks ordinarily mean by "war," but perhaps Obama means war in the Bill Clinton sense -- lob a few missiles at a suspected hide-out.

In sum, this is your standard Democratic attempt to sound tough while effectively advocating defeat in Iraq and ignoring the mounting threat posed by Iran. Obama is smart enough to know that his speech is nonsense. But the fact that he would indulge in this sort of posturing should disqualify him from the presidency.

JOHN adds: Obama's statements remind me very much of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign, when he kept saying that Iraq was the "wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time." This implied, of course, that there was some other war--the right one--that Kerry would support fighting. But no one believed that; Kerry's willingness to fight any war anywhere, like Obama's, was entirely theoretical. At the time, I thought that if Kerry had been serious, and if he meant to say that we should be fighting Iran rather than Iraq, he may have had a point. But of course that wouldn't have been the "right" war either.

John Podhoretz:

Obama is full of it. This country is never — never — going to stage a major military action against Pakistan. Pakistan is a nation of 170 million people that has nuclear weapons and whose admittedly problematic and troublesome regime has, to some extent, cooperated with the United States in the war against Al Qaeda both in ways we know and ways we have no idea about. The concern that this strategically vital county might become an Islamic fundamentalist state is, should be, and will be paramount in every and all discussions about how to conduct the fight against Al Qaeda.

What's more, every serious person knows the United States won't invade Pakistan, even with Special Forces — since the reason we cancelled the proposed action against Al Qaeda in 2005 is that it was going to take many hundreds of American troops to do it. This isn't 15 people dropping like ninjas in the darkness. It's an invasion, with helicopters and supply lines and routes of ingress and escape. It would have had unforseen and unforeseeable consequences, but it would have been reasonable to assume the Pakistanis would have turned violently against the United States and hurtled toward Islamic fundamentalist control.

If the evil Bushitler Cheney Rumsfeld Monster wouldn't do it, nobody will do it. And you can bet there isn't a single person in line to run a Democratic State Department or Democratic Defense Department who would give the idea three seconds of thought. Obama is using Pakistan to talk tough, in the full knowledge that he will never actually pull the trigger.

ABC News:

In many ways, the speech is counterintuitive; Obama, one of the more liberal candidates in the race, is proposing a geopolitical posture that is more aggressive than that of President Bush. It comes at a time in Obama 's campaign when the freshman senator is drawing more financial support from more voters than any other candidate, though he has yet to vault from his second-place position in the polls. One of the reasons for that is that the Democratic front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, is seen as more experienced and in some ways stronger, a perspective Obama wishes to change.

Victor Hanson David:

Obama has criticized Sen. Clinton for her approval of that Iraqi authorization, but the sort of action he is envisioning involves crossing into a nuclear Islamic country, one bullet away from an Islamic republic, and surely should be a question for Congressional approval.

Others have pointed out that his criticism of Musharref is contrasted by his willingness to parley with far worse in North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. And what were his reactions to our prior Predator strike on al Qaeda notables inside Pakistan-approval, criticism, or mere silence?

Ed Morissey:

One of the reasons that Democrats insist that the war in Iraq was a mistake was because it unnecessarily radicalized Iraqis into jihadists. What does Obama think an invasion of Pakistan will do to its population? And if the former was a mistake, consider that Pakistan has a population of over 160 million people. How does Obama think they will react to a military invasion by a putative ally?

For those who think that Obama's remarks do not imply an invasion but some other action, Ed points out-

To those insisting that this is nothing different than what Bush and Rumsfeld proposed -- using covert teams to infiltrate across the border -- let me quote directly from the news report that theObama campaign chose to highlight on its website:

The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under anObama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.

That's definitely not the same as what Rumsfeld considered and rejected in 2005. It's a declaration of war, pure and simple.
(emphasis in the original)

*The colorful Indian language translator-

the khaki-nicker crowd- refers contemptuously to the followers of the RSS, who can been seen doing P.T. in the morning, training to save the country in their khaki nickers(shorts) and spindly legs. Pictures here and here .

Na hum chain se jeeyenge na sale tumhe jeene deenge -neither shall we live in peace nor bugger will we let you.

(emphasis mine unless stated otherwise)


Update- Colby Cash also weighs in: Obama goes to war

Update 2- nicker, of course, means knickers(half-pants). I haven't used the latter spelling because while in India knicker(almost always pronounced without a 's') means shorts, in many other places it most often means ladies panties or such! Can't have our nationalistic manhood marching in those!