Accidental Blogger

The Lebanese Smoke Screen

While most of the world watches helplessly, the war in Lebanon and Gaza rages on and Condoleeza Rice shuttles back and forth uselessly between the mideast and the White House with the pretense of diplomacy supposedly aimed at bringing about a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and the Hezbollah. (Cool as a cucumber, Rice described the conflict in Lebanon as “birthpangs of a new Middle East” and some are now calling her the Midwife from Hell) We and the rest of the world believe that one phone call from the US could stop the war although Bush would have us believe that Syria is calling the shots here. (And we refuse to talk to Syria.) One doesn't have to be a cynic to suspect that at least part of the reason why Israel is being encouraged in its prolonged and relentless attack on Lebanon is to keep the eyes of the world averted from Bush's failed war in Iraq. While the news media are focused on Israel and Lebanon, we hear little about the deadly conflict that continues unabated in Baghdad and its vicinity. In the run-up to the 2006 elections, it is politically prudent for the Bush White House to distract us with someone else's war.

Americans were beginning to clamour for a swift end to the Iraq war and troop withdrawals. Now we aren't hearing much of that any more although nothing has improved in Iraq. Instead, troop levels in Iraq have quietly gone up with more increases to follow. Iraq is no less dangerous and ungovernable today than it was a few months ago. But Bush does not mention Baghdad much any more while we watch Beirut, Haifa and the Gaza strip with growing trepidation. How's that for a sleight of hand?

US in quiet U-turn on Iraq troop numbers

"'The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November.

A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week – the highest since late May – from 127,000 at the start of the week. The spokesman said troop numbers often fluctuated and “there might be temporary spikes during periods of troop rotation”.

However, analysts said an increase in troop numbers was more likely than a reduction because the number of sectarian killings in Iraq had almost doubled since the start of the year. The rise will prompt fears that the US is becoming increasingly bogged down in an unwinnable conflict.

On Thursday, the Pentagon said it would extend for up to 120 days the 3,700-strong deployment of the 172nd Stryker brigade in Iraq, among other rotations. There were 3,169 Iraqis killed in June, compared with 1,778 in January.

The rise in US troop levels comes as the world’s attention is on Lebanon but also coincides with a reported upsurge in anti-US sentiment in Baghdad’s Shia neighbourhoods following the launch of the US-backed Israeli campaign against Hizbollah.

This week Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, agreed to a joint US-Iraq military operation to regain control of Baghdad.

George W. Bush, US president, also faces growing difficulties with Iraq’s new government, which is making anti-US noises to shore up its credibility with Iraqis. Mr Maliki is under domestic pressure to demand that trials of US soldiers take place in Iraq. The US says this is not possible.

However, US officials deny that the new campaign to stabilise Baghdad undermines Mr Bush’s promise that “as the Iraqis stand up we will stand down” – a phrase he has almost stopped using. In a departure from Mr Bush’s normally upbeat language, he this week said the violence in Baghdad was “terrible”.

When Life imitates Literature (Sujatha)

Curious news about Naveed Haq, the suspect in the Seattle Jewish Center shootings- he was a convert to Christianity, by this account.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I finished reading the parable-like novel "God's Little Soldier" by Kiran Nagarkar (in my opinion, one of the brightest stars in today's Indian-English literary firmament) in which he describes an Indian protagonist named Zia of a very similar middle-class highly educated background, initiated to the strict Islamic tradition by his aunt. He becomes a Muslim terrorist, followed by a strange conversion to Christianity and eventually becomes a Christian terrorist as well. His final dabbling in Hinduism doesn't quite reach a terroristic mode, but karma strikes and just desserts are served to him.  How odd it feels when life imitates art (or literature)!
( Nagarkar's book which was available till about a month ago on amazon.com is nowhere to be found on it now, though it is still widely available in India)

Another must read: the transcript of Bill Moyers interviewing author Margaret Atwood on PBS, where she talks about extremist religious influences on contemporary society, viewed in the light of her eerily prescient classic "The Handmaid's Tale.
The same link above lists the transcript of Martin Amis' interview with Moyers, further down the page and discusses his post-9/11 attempt to delve into the mind of Atta published in the New Yorker magazine (for which I couldn't locate a link). According to Bob Woodward, we do have these writings found by the FBI in Atta's luggage to cast light on the Muslim terrorist mindset.

More Fodder For End Timers

Ever since the twin towers crumbled in NYC on 9/11/2001 followed by the upheaval and bloodbath in the middle east, Iraq included, the believers in the Biblical prophecies about Armageddon have been all atwitter. The latest standoff between Israel and the Hezbollah and the systematic destruction of Lebanon have only added fuel to the religious fire. Every rocket fired, every loss of life and limb, every failed attempt to secure world peace make those who await Christ's Second Coming and  Judgement Day, shudder with ecstasic anticipation. According to End Timers - the true believers and those who make millions selling the idea, the signs are all over the middle east that the Armageddon and the ensuing Rapture are indeed imminent. One of the reasons why George Bush is so loved by the Christian right is that he is widely seen as the world leader who will facilitate the Biblical Apocalypse.

The recent discovery of a thousand year old Book of Psalms in an Irish bog is sure  to add to this fervor.  The leather bound book with pages of vellum (parchment made of animal skin) has remained in good shape in the peat bog which contains tannic acid, a preservative for leather and skin. Ominously, the book was found open on a page containing Psalm 83 which includes the message to the Biblical God that attempts are afoot to obliterate Israel! With raging hatred and distrust among nations, widespread religious convictions that supercede reason, belligerent and reckless leadership in the highest seats of world power, an ancient man made story could indeed become a self fulfilling prophecy.  And just in case things don't go according to the Good Book, some right wingers want to take matters in their own hands.

(Photo from National Geographic. Click to enlarge) 

"A thousand-year-old Book of Psalms has been discovered by a construction worker in a bog in Ireland.  The eagle-eyed worker was using a backhoe to dig up potting soil in central Ireland last week when he spotted the leather-bound book.

Experts called to the site were amazed to find an ancient Psalter Book of Psalms lying in the mud. The archaeologists won't say exactly where the book was found until they are finished investigating the site.

About 20 pages long and written in Latin, the book has been dated to between A.D. 800 and 1000.

It is the first early medieval text to be discovered in Ireland in 200 years, the archaeologists say.

The book was found open, perhaps rather portentously, to Psalm 83, in which God hears of nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel. ... "

Sanity Prevails

The second criminal trial of Andrea Yates is over and the jury has spoken - this time with compassion and rationality.  I had written about Yates earlier this year when her re-trial began. You can find the gist of this tragic and grisly event here. (Sorry, the Houston Chronicle links to that post have all disappeared.)

Andrea Yates should never have gone to jail in the first place.  She is a very sick woman who is in need of medical care not incarceration. The case against her was not about whether she methodically killed her five small children but why.  Yates never denied the killings but she also gave bizarre reasons for doing so. In fact if her illness had been taken seriously by those around her, especially her husband (now ex-husband) Rusty Yates and she had been afforded proper and timely psychiatric care, this heartbreaking event may have never come to pass. During the second trial, the jury saw and believed that Yates was in a highly disturbed state of mind when she killed her children and found her not guilty due to reasons of insanity. After five years, justice has indeed been served.  Hopefully, this tragedy and the verdict will shed much needed light on the urgency of medical care for the mentally ill.

"A Harris County jury has found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity during her second capital murder trial for the drowning deaths of her children in the family's bathtub in 2001.

The verdict upholding Yates' insanity defense comes after the jury deliberated more than 12 hours over three days. The decision also underscores the emotional debate on mental illness within the criminal justice system since Yates' first trial in 2002.

"It's a shame it took us this long to get the right verdict,'' said Wendell Odom, one of Yates' attorneys.

Yates appeared shocked and sat staring wide-eyed with her lips slightly parted as State District Judge Belinda Hill asked each juror individually shortly after noon today whether they agreed with the verdict.

The acquittal in Yates' second capital murder trial followed nearly a month's worth of exhaustive testimony, capped by four hours of emotional closing arguments Monday, during which Yates broke down in tears and her former husband, Russell Yates, abruptly left the courtroom.

The jury's verdict means Yates, 42, will be sent to a state mental hospital for treatment, rather than be sentenced to life in prison. Yates and attorneys will return to Judge Belinda Hill's courtroom at 10 a.m. Thursday for a hearing, formalizing the details of Yates' hospitalization. She will go to a maximum security hospital initially.

"I just want to get her back home to Rusk,'' said George Parnham, Yates'  lead attorney, in reference to the hospital where Yates had been  receiving care before the start of her second trial.

The children's father said outside the courtroom the jury had reached the right conclusion.

"The jury looked past what happened and looked at why it happened,'' Rusty Yates told reporters outside the courthouse. "Prosecutors had the truth of the first day and stopped there. Yes, she was psychotic. That's the whole truth.''

Yates, a former nurse and housewife with a history of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide attempts, called police and led them to the bodies of her five children  Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and 6-month-old Mary  after drowning them in a bathtub at her Clear Lake home on June 20, 2001.

Defense attorneys had urged jurors to find that Yates' mental illness led to the children's deaths. Experts testifying for the defense said Yates drowned her children in an act of love to save their souls from eternal damnation.

Prosecutors did not dispute that Yates was mentally ill, but argued that her condition did not keep her from knowing right from wrong."

Activism - Big and Small

Power hungry,  unethical bureaucrats, big and small, have been on my mind for  quite some time, more so since the super secretive, scofflaw, vindictive Bush administration has had us on pins and needles for more than five years with its shenanigans. But it is not just those with overwhelming powers over others such as national and state governments who are to be feared and suspected. Given the opportunity, even bodies with limited and informal mandates, can turn draconian and fascistic. Exercising power over fellow citizens is a temptation that few can resist when the opportunity becomes available to them. Corporations, Little Leaguers, PTAs, neighborhood associations, all try to wield the stick over those who need their services. In fact, the organizations that most closely mirror Nazi like totalitarian regimes in modern day USA may be the Homeowners' Associations of suburban America.

All power plays consist of gathering as much personal information about others as possible and keeping one's own game plan as secret as possible. Dictating and limiting the operational field of others and expanding one's own is what totalitarian bodies thrive on. Some parents do it with small children, some teachers do it with students, many corporations do it to workers and customers and most governments would try to do it with the citizens if they could get away with it. Transparency and sharing of information is the biggest foe of fascistic tendencies. Book burning, telephone tapping, having access to finacial and personal data of others contribute to the strength of those who want to control our lives.  The internet with its fast and furious mode of information sharing, is now the new frontier that the power-hungry types would like to control. They want to find new ways to tax, limit and control our access to this vast and amorphous source of news and information - literally an open book for all those who want to know. It is up to us to make sure that we do not unwittingly give up our right to know and disseminate information via this universal and highly accessible medium which has empowered the ordinary citizen like nothing else before.

Devanshu Mehta who runs the interesting blog Science Addiction, is a blogging friend and I have turned to him on more than one occasion for technical help.  Devanshu's technical blog is devoted to "a little activism and a lot of geek." (Geek is a compliment in Devanshu's high tech lexicon) Three days ago he posted a heartfelt article about the urgency for heightened activism on the part of internet geeks. Following in the historical activist footsteps of Martin Luther, he came up with 95 Theses of Geek Activism towards this effort.  His post struck a chord among geeks and bloggers. The article got linked by numerous blogs, brought in thousands of readers and generated a lively conversation at Science Addiction. In fact it is fair to say that Devanshu has the blogging equivalent of a bestseller with his modern day Theses.  All 95 theses may not be of interest to the non-technically minded among us. But there is much there about freedom of expression, privacy and the need for activism to protect our individual rights and freedoms. This is particularly important when we have a government led by dangerous leaders like Bush and Cheney and their willing, goose-stepping neo-con lieutanants in all branches of the government.

All Eggs In One Leaky Basket

Since the start of the bellicose reign of cocky Prince George, we have seen the world become a deadlier place. Although George Bush and his cohorts keep reassuring us that they are making it safer for us, the news reports from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon don't inspire confidence. How many more axes of evil have been added to the original three?  And how many of those are of our own making?  Had the war on terrorism been spearheaded by people with a modicum of decency and intelligence instead of foul mouthed hotheads, some of whom also entertain Biblical fantasies, we might have had hope and patience. The clueless bunch which sees ever widening belligerence as a means to world peace, promises us the delicious omelette of security at the end of their egg smashing rampage. And we find ourselves walking wearily on eggshells amidst the stinking gooey mass of destabilized and dangerous enemy nations.

(cartoon by Tom Toles of the Washington Post - click for enlargement)

Note:  I just came back from a short vacation.  Hope to start blogging in earnest soon. In the meanwhile, this wrap up of recent events is all I have for now. 

Guest Authors

Although the majority of articles that appear on Accidental Blogger are posted by me (Ruchira Paul), the principle author, A.B. does have five guest bloggers who post from time to time.  Since guest posts are infrequent here and though the authors' names do show up at the bottom of every post, readers often do not take note of the authorship. To avoid this oversight, from now on a guest author's first name will appear in parenthesis after the post's title on top.  Articles posted by me will carry my name only at the bottom.

Assigning Value to Life and Death

Did John Bolton say aloud what many think privately?  And doesn't this mindset lie at the root of most human conflicts, oppression and exploitation?

Lebanon civilian deaths morally not same as terror victims -- Bolton

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in Israel from "malicious terrorist acts".

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he said: "it is a matter of great concern to us ...that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

The eight dead Canadians were a Lebanese-Canadian couple, their four children, his mother and an uncle, said relatives in Montreal.

The Montreal pharmacist and his family had arrived in Lebanon 10 days earlier for a vacation in his parents' home village and to introduce his children to relatives, they said.  Three of his Lebanese relatives died too, a family member told AFP.

"It's simply not the same thing to say that it's the same act to deliberately target innocent civilians, to desire their deaths, to fire rockets and use explosive devices or kidnapping versus the sad and highly unfortunate consequences of self-defense," Bolton noted.

The overall civilian death toll from the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon since last Wednesday reached 195, in addition to 12 soldiers, officials said. Twenty-four Israelis have also been killed since fighting began last Wednesday, including 12 civilians in a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire across the border."

Note: Since this report, the death toll has risen on both sides of the border.

MacKinnon, Women, and International Law (Dean)

Courtesy of Prof. Thomas Nadelhoffer at Leiter Reports, notice of Martha Nussbaum's review in The Nation of Catharine MacKinnon's latest collection of essays and articles, Are Women Human?: And Other International Dialogues.  MacKinnon remains one of the most important legal scholars, advocates, and activists of our time.  Nussbaum's favorable review captures much of what has made MacKinnon so compelling and provocative, although I think she fails to make the connection between her observation that MacKinnon is a skilled lawyer and the criticism of "antiessentialism."  MacKinnon is playing Samuel Johnson kicking the stone to prove it's not merely Berkeley's mental phantom. She's arguing her case in legalistic, black and white terms to demonstrate that some essences are palpable and therefore unavailable to coy philosophical or theoretical finessing.  I just don't see how this rhetorical strategy--and I don't mean "rhetorical" to be disparaging--undermines the "antiessentialist" argument.  Nussbaum also neglects to mention Andrea Dworkin, who worked closely with MacKinnon on, inter alia, In Harm's Way.  That's not a serious lapse, of course, but as a writer and activist, Dworkin was at least equally as effective as MacKinnon.

Update:  See these remarks regarding Nussbaum's review by Peter Spiro at Opinio Juris.

How to Bring Terrorists to Their Knees? Take Away Their Blog Access!

Guest blogger, Sachin is planning to join us here on A.B. from India. He was getting ready to prepare a story for posting pretty soon. I just received the following email from him. I guess this should qualify as his first blog post !

"I don't believe this!

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/17/report_indian_gov_bl.html

Initially I had thought that maybe the services were down, as I had been trying to reach your blog for quite a while and saw this only tonight. I am amazed and shocked, to say the least!"

After receiving Sachin's e-mail, I checked the Stat Counter and indeed there has been no visitor here from India since midnight - a time when readers from India usually come in.

An Update from Sachin:

"I'm now able to access the blocked blogs after using a web proxy service appropriately entitled 'Hide My Ass."
<http://w2.hidemyass.com/index.php>

Solution to World Problems: Think Outside the Biblical Box

The last few days' events involving senseless civilian deaths in the Mumbai train bombings, Israel's escalating war in Lebanon in search of Hizbollah militants and the usual bad news from Iraq, have me despairing once again, about the state of the world. I feel anger, fear and hopelessness. I can point fingers at those who qualify as guilty in my mind and the various tangled "root causes" of  terrorism, aggression and religious intolerance that are involved in this horrendous mess of geopolitics. In the past few days I have written my own commentary here, exhorted other bloggers to write and commented copiously on this matter at different forums. What I was unable to do, was to put forward any cogent thought about what might lead to a solution to the problems facing the world today.

Wanting to address this issue once again, I found myself hitting a brick wall for ideas. I wanted to make a post where I offered up a solution rather than just complain. But I have no idea - only confusion and backing and forthing from one unsatisfactory conclusion to another. Then I heard world leaders, political pundits and commentators all day long and realized that they too are just as clueless as I am.

So I have decided to post a private email I had sent to my son and daughter more than three years ago, during a particularly turbulent period of terrorism and warfare. Sad to say, things are no better today. The letter to my children was written half in jest. It is sure to ruffle many feathers because I slaughter more than one sacred cow here. But honestly, those who are annoyed at my frivolity, can you please tell me what solution you might have in mind?  I invite readers to read this with an open mind. 

"As the world goes up in flames, my brain is roiling with ideas - some rational and some truly fantastic.  I thought I would put some of my "original" thinking into writing in order to get them off my chest.  But hey, as the politicos are offering nothing better than drivel, my ideas are as good as any.  If put into practice, they may actually be better.

Let me say why I am well qualified to put forward suggestions in a relatively dispassionate way for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict resolution. (The solution I have in mind will also simultaneously clear the India/Pakistan quagmire).  I am not religious and whatever tenuous religious roots I have, they are not of the "Abrahamic" variety.  I am also not a Biblical scholar which in this case is a necessary qualification.  The current problems need a person outside the "Book" (all three volumes) to be a mediator.  That is why I said the other day that in the absence of wise Martians, we need countries like China, Japan, Korea and Myanmar to be the arbiters in the mideast.  USA, Europe, the non Palestinian Muslims and non Israeli Jews should have very little say in this matter. The mediators need to be those who give no credence to the "holy" nature of the conflict and treat this purely as a real estate dispute resulting in war or peace.  But that may not work either.  I therefore have a whole new idea.

Let us examine the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the simplest Biblical terms as I understand them and you will see why it will never be solved as long as the parties look to their religious histories. Both groups feel besieged by real and perceived threats and disrespect directed towards them for centuries (Jews more than the Arabs). Both have lived in relative peace with each other at different times and have had their most humiliating experiences at the hands of Christians. Each group traces its historical root to the same patriarch but the fates of the two branches of the family are dramatically different.  Ishmail, the ancestor of the Arabs was Abraham's first born from his concubine Hagar. According to the ancient laws of primogeniture, he should have been his father's rightful heir.  However, when Sara, Abraham's legal wife gave birth at an advanced age to Isaac (the forefather of the Jews), what did Abraham do?  He banished Ishmail and his mother to the desert to die.  Right there you have the first wrong against the Arabs in favor of the Jews.

The plight of the Jews on the other hand was the result of God's wrath who exiled them (I am vague on the details) to many years of wandering, away from the homeland. Therefore, the Arabs blame a man for the unfair treatment meted out  to them and the Jews ascribe their suffering to God.  This distinction explains how the two groups came to view themselves.  The Arab culture is infused  with a sense of "shame" about what other men think of them and whether they were treated with respect or contempt. The Jewish psyche on the other hand is largely concerned with "guilt" - an examination of their  own failings and how they are perceived by God. And the Christians hated them both and proceeded to mistreat them equally.  Now these two tribes of cousins have been pitted against each other in the Biblical land because the Christian Europeans needed to ease their conscience for their inability to endure a Jewish presence in their own midst.

But it is not going to work.  Much as I support the existence and sustenance of a Jewish state, it won't happen at the present location.  There is no denying that the creation of Israel is rooted in an unjust act (like that of the US) - that of uprooting an existing population to make room for a new one.  You can never make the usurper and the usurped live in peace and harmony and neither the Palestinian notion of "violent coexistence" nor the Israeli fantasy of a "peaceful occupation" is a viable one. And how far will Israel drive the Palestinians? Its next door neighbor will always be an Arab and one with a renewed sense of "shame" to boot. So the carnage will go on with no preponderance of guilt or virtue ascribable to either side.

It is interesting to see the reaction of the Christian west to the mideast crisis both in Europe and the USA.  Europe is perceived to be pro- Palestinian but it is not because of their love for the Arabs and nor is it due to some indelible anti-Semitism.  Israel's actions have made the Europeans uncomfortable by reminding them of their own not so distant "glorious" colonial days.  The Americans are pro Israel for more complicated reasons.  Some see themselves as truly supporting the only democracy in the mid-east.  Some are worried that being critical of Zionism may be (as it often is) interpreted as being anti-Semitic.  Some just hate the Muslims. The most interesting are the right wing conservative Christians who at present constitute the most monolithic pro-Israeli bloc.  Privately, they cannot brook either Jews or Muslims. Yet they believe that the state of Israel must remain in its current location for the Armageddon to occur, therefore ensuring the second coming of Jesus Christ.  Do the Jewish people again want to be a pawn in the games of the Christian world?  But where should Israel go?  This time it should be by invitation and not by occupation. Here is my wishful thinking.

India should step forward and offer Kashmir to the Israelis.  This solution has many advantages, not the least of which is that it will eliminate the Biblical angle for ever and that in itself will be a major step forward.  And there are others.  I will list them numerically but not necessarily in the order of importance.

1. India and Israel are both aspiring democracies and should therefore get along for the most part.  I say "aspiring" because Israel is in reality a theocracy and India has been a functioning anarchy for a very long time.  But they both have free elections and free press.  The citizenry elects inept and/or corrupt leaders in both countries based on hope, fear and narrow allegiances and then proceeds to criticize them viciously when they fail to deliver peace (in the case of Israel) and prosperity (in the case of India).

2. Judaism and Hinduism (the religion of the majority in India) are both "original" religions of their time with no culture of proselytizing.  Since both groups hold that they thought of everything first, they share a snobbery of ancient wisdom and derision for their latter day offshoots like Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. This smugness alone will make them good neighbors!

3. Israel and India are hated by the Islamic world and that makes them natural allies.  The stereotypes - both good and bad of the Jews perpetuated by the Christians (and now the Muslims) are almost identical to those of the Hindus (ask the East Africans and the Muslims in India and Pakistan).  And if Israel needs any historic connection to Kashmir, they can take one not so well known myth to heart - that the Kashmiris are the lost thirteenth tribe of Israel! (I didn't make that up - it really is believed to be true by some).

4. By establishing Israel in Kashmir, three of the four warring factions in the world's two hottest hot spots will be concentrated in one region.  (The Palestinians, having got back their home, will no longer be a headache for the rest of the world but will quibble only with their Arab brethren, resulting in no "new" shame since Muslims dissing other Muslims never counts towards the shame quota).  The problem of Pakistan will remain of course.  But with the Indian as well as the Israeli army at its doorstep, Pakistan's enthusiasm for warfare will be much dampened if not totally extinguished.  Even if an occasional skirmish does occur and a UN mediation is needed, the peacekeepers from Canada and Japan or the peace observers from Burundi and the Netherlands will have to patrol a much smaller area. 

5. Israel will have to give up its beaches on the Mediterranean but will in the bargain gain some of the most spectacular Himalayan landscape and top notch ski slopes. And with no restriction on entering India, the beaches surrounding the three sides of the subcontinent will be just a short trip away.

6. And last but not least, how can Israel say no to relocating to a region where there is always a New Deli (!) close by?

All jokes aside, I really think that the above may be the right solution to the intractable Israeli/Palestinian and India/Pakistan problems.  While I was putting into words my two rupees/shekels' worth of ideas, Sharon was promising more incursions into the West Bank and a suicide bomber blew herself up in Jerusalem.  My idea looks better by the minute.

Love,
Mum "

Why censor when we can just execute? (Joe)

I feel the need way to work my way through this one, because it just seems so incredibly outlandish to me.

You see, The New York Times is apparently guilty of treason.  Or if not the Times, then at least its editor.  Precision, clarity of thought, is not necessary if you are a conservative, after all.

Of what, precisely, is the Times guilty?  Or executive editor Bill Keller?  Well, the newspaper ran a story revealing that the US Administration kept tabs on suspected terrorists by tapping into bank records which track global transactions.

This reminds me of the "scandal" where the NY Times earlier revealed the illegal NSA program.  Of course, President Bush is quick to draw a distinction: "What we did was fully authorized under the law."  He's still maintaining that as King he has the constitutional authority to violate the constitution, mind you, but this is at least a tacit concession that there's a real difference between this program and the nominally not-fellonious NSA program.  But the reason I see a similarity here is stunningly obvious: it's not a secret.  NOT. A. SECRET.  Seriously, "the terrorists" think that they're not being spied upon?  Just because we're led by stunningly incompetent buffoons doesn't mean that they are.

But back to the Times and treason.  I'm hearing a backlash against the New York Times.  The liberal, purportedly anti-Chimperor paper.  You know who else ran stories about the bank monitoring program on the same day as the NY Times?  The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.  Funny, I haven't heard any calls for the execution of the WSJ--or at least, of its editor.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't treason a capital offence?

So that means, if we take seriously the hyperbole of Republican congressmen and screaming pundits, that they would actually EXECUTE the New York Times.  For publishing a story which effectively says, "Hey, we're watching you and monitoring your activity."

Fascinating.

The scary thing is, I'm actually somewhat frightened for Bill Keller (editor).  Why?  Because the outlandish, the absurd, the nonsensically insane has a way of happening these days, especially in this country.

Type Pad Messed Up

Type Pad experienced some serious downtime yesterday.  Due to resultant glitches, some data from the published posts and comments were lost.  Also, if anyone tried to post a comment yesterday during that period, you probably were unable to do so. I also noticed this morning that a couple of the recently published comments have disappeared. I do not know how to recover them.  I want to assure readers that those comments were NOT deleted by the author - Type Pad lost them. Any difficulty in subsequent posting was entirely due to technical problems at the TypePad site, not on Accidental Blogger. 

Good Question!

India's encounters with Islamic terrorism perpetrated by home grown militants supported by Al Qaida and its subsidiaries, has a long history.  Long before Osama Bin Laden was a glint in the evil eyes of Bush-Cheney, India had been targeted for civilian deaths by Kashmiri militants, Al Qaida, Taliban and assorted Pakistan sponsored terrorists. Ironically, these holy warriors (then known as the freedom loving Mujahedins)  had been armed to a large extent by the US government during the '80s and the '90s to fight the godless Russian commies in Afghanistan. Predicatably enough, once the Russians had packed up and left, those weapons were pointed towards India (at that time, enemy # 2 on the Islamic radicals' list of "things to do", after Israel . India was subsequently relegated to third place once the US went to the top of the list as Satan #1). Having rid the region of Russian influence and scored cold war points, the US cared little if the natives slaughtered each other and shrugged off the Indian-Pakistan problem as a historic and intractable cultural war.

Although there never was anything as spectacular as the one day event of 9/11, India's brush with terrorism has been more like Chinese water torture. Numerous incidents, including an Indian Airlines plane hijacking, spread over many years, at many different geographic locations. It was always clear to India that its neighbor and long time adversary, Pakistan has played a major role in this matter. Pakistan too was armed to its teeth by the US for decades in order to keep democratic India from becoming too big for its boots - until the twin towers in New York were hit and American politicians could no longer turn a blind eye to Pakistan's sponsoring role in global terror. The Indian government so far, unlike Israel, has shown remarkable restraint in retaliating against the menace of cross border terrorism.

The bone of contention between India and Pakistan is the disputed territory of Kashmir which both nations claim as theirs and from where Kashmiri Hindus have been methodically cleansed in order to make the Kashmir valley into a virtually all Muslim region.  Kashmir is a long and complicated story whose roots go back to India's partition in 1947 into secular India and Islamic Pakistan. This blog post does not lend itself to recounting the historic aspects of the problem. But after yesterday's bomb blast in Mumbai where more civilians died than did in the London subway blast, many in India and the US are asking how long can India be asked to keep calm, faced with such provocation.  Today's Washington Post asks this pertinent question :  "How Much Will India Endure? Pakistan Needs to Respond to Militants"

"Yesterday's awful rush-hour bombings of trains in Bombay raise an important and ominous question: How far can India be pushed?

In December 2001 India and Pakistan almost went to war when a group of militants, based on Pakistani-controlled territory, attacked the Indian Parliament, killing nine people. India's response was to mobilize forces along its border with Pakistan. Predictably and understandably, Pakistan followed suit. The U.S. State Department ordered all non-vital personnel out of both countries, and the world prepared for what could well have been the first war ever between two nuclear powers.

But due largely to extensive, active and exhaustive mediation by central figures from the West, tensions were ratcheted down, and in time forces were demobilized.

This time, it is not the West that needs to show leadership but the two countries themselves. They need to back up their words with actions. The leaders of India and Pakistan stated in April 2005 that "the peace process was now irreversible"; unless they both take action, this is now in question.

Three years ago, at first very quietly and with great sensitivity, India and Pakistan launched what was called the "composite dialogue." The subjects ranged from economics to land to water to drugs to security. While many have suggested that these talks are going nowhere, they have led to some small but tangible progress.

This is all good. What hasn't happened is arguably even more impressive. Despite an attack on a religious complex in Ayodhya last July, again by militants based in Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that the dialogue would continue.

But -- and here's the crux of the matter -- how long can India, Indians and the Singh government withstand the constant pressure from militant groups before they have to react? By any measure of international diplomacy, they've already been extraordinarily patient; compare their restraint with Israel's response to the kidnapping of its soldier or to the U.S. and Japanese responses to North Korea's missile tests... "

Nobody Is Immune

CNN is calling it India's 7/11.  There is no need for designating numerical symmetry to terror and horror for the sake of catchy news headlines. This is despicable any where, any day, against anyone.  Some pictures of the Mumbai devastation here. 

An Update: Here is an interesting aside on the American right wing's naive and self serving take on the Mumbai blast with commentary from Curious Gawker.

"Many right wing bloggers in the US are somehow trying to link these bomb blasts with their own selfish pro-Bush agenda...  The rest are engaging in highly clueless analysis of the events. For example Captain Ed of the prominent right wing "Captain's Quarters" blog. Here is his erudite commentary :

It looks like al-Qaeda or an Islamofascist offshoot has decided to add another nation to its blood enemies. 

What motivated AQ to go after India? It's hardly the first country one associates with the West, and many Muslims live within the majority-Hindu nation.

It's almost as if Captain Ed woke up today, discovered the existence of a country called India through CNN and decided it was time he graced us with his expert opinion on Indian politics. Dear Captain Ed, India has been afflicted by Pakistan and Al Qaida sponsored terrorism long before the US stopped supplying Al Qaida (and Pakistan) with arms and weaponry. Then, the learned Captain opines :

But mostly AQ and other Islamist terrorists have targeted tourists, and India is in the middle of its tourist season.

Uh what? Tourist season in mid-monsoon? Can't get any more clueless than that. Furthermore,

AQ wants to destroy India's economy, fragile enough as it is, by keeping tourists away from the country.

It looks like India will have a 7/11 to match Madrid's 3/11 and our 9/11.

No more special dates for us, thank you. We've already had too many of those."

The right wing jumping on the Indian band wagon is pretty infuriating and sadly ironic. India is an "ally now with an economy fueled by western tourism?" Should I laugh or cry?  Hasn't the idiot read the great Indologist, Sir Thomas Friedman?

Is there any use in reminding these numbskulls how misdirected and corrupt their war on global terrorism has been?  If in 2001, the US had indeed allied with India in putting a two pronged pressure on Al Qaida (and its alphabet soup of satellite terrorist outfits) in Pakistan (yes, the granddaddy of all terrorist sponsors), Afghanistan and Kashmir, we may not have had Madrid, London and Mumbai.  Heck, had they gone after the true miscreants, we wouldn't have had Iraq!

Goose Stepping Through Baghdad

The news from Iraq,  Afghanistan and North Korea has been uniformly disconcerting over the past few weeks and months. Reports of gross criminal conduct by US troops in Iraq are the most disturbing of all.  There is a lot of speculation about what prompted these young men to rape and murder Iraqi civilians. Reasons ranging from revenge, stress and mental disorder have been cited. The explanation may be simpler than that.  Garden variety  criminal mentality may have been responsible for the cold and calculated brutality.

Motivations to enlist in the armed forces vary from soldier to soldier.  Some do it for sincere patriotic reasons, some are adventurers and others do it for pride and tradition. But the overwhelming number of soldier recruits join sign up it for economic reasons. The armed forces offer many young men and women opportunities for education, job security, benefits and a structured life that they could not have otherwise afforded.  However, there is a little known fact not advertized widely.  The armed forces also attract their fair share of sociopaths with criminal tendencies. Men with anger and a penchant for breaking the law often enlist as cops and soldiers in order to find a socially sanctioned cover for their cruel and anti-social behavior. Even more worrisome than individual sadists and miscreants wearing lawful uniforms is when organized groups with violent philosophies do so for collective ulterior motives.  When the  government's own motives for warfare are corrupt, recruiting honest citizens to fight that war becomes increasingly more difficult. The ranks of the armed forces are then filled by individuals with corrupt motives of their own. Here is a truly scary story based on a report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks and fights domestic extremists groups in the US. SPLC reports that white suprmacist extremist groups have found a convenient way to train their own soldiers in combat at the expense of Uncle Sam.  It is possible that Bush's dishonest claims of fighting terrorists there is proving to be a boon for terrorists here.

Racist extremists active in U.S. military

July 7, 2006 -- Under pressure to meet wartime manpower goals, the U.S. military has relaxed standards designed to weed out racist extremists. Large numbers of potentially violent neo-Nazis, skinheads and other white supremacists are now learning the art of warfare in the armed forces. Department of Defense investigators estimate thousands of soldiers in the Army alone are involved in extremist or gang activity. "We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," said one investigator. "That's a problem." Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to adopt a zero-tolerance policy regarding racist extremism among members of the U.S. military. "Because hate group membership and extremist activity are antithetical to the values and mission of our armed forces, we urge you to adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to white supremacy in the military and to take all necessary steps to ensure that the policy is rigorously enforced," Cohen wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld. Military extremists present an elevated threat both to their fellow soldiers and the general public. Today's white supremacists become tomorrow's domestic terrorists. "Neo-Nazi groups and other extremists are joining the military in large numbers so they can get the best training in the world on weapons, combat tactics and explosives," said Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project. "We should consider this a major security threat, because these people are motivated by an ideology that calls for race war and revolution. Any one of them could turn out to be the next Timothy McVeigh."

It Is Italia!

So, I was wrong in my prediction - all of them.  None of the five teams that I thought might become the 2006 World Cup Soccer champions, did. Italy won the cup for the fourth time, trailing only Brazil in the number of championships won. I must add though that when Italy (the Azzurri) and France (Les Bleus), two teams who wear blue jerseys reached the finals, I hazarded a guess that the team that gets to wear blue on game day will win. Italy wore blue today. So I was right on my sixth attempt.

The match was not pretty or terribly exciting but it was not dull. The championship was decided on penalty kicks after a 1-1 score during regulation time and OT.  The operatic Italian side did not indulge in as much drama as many expected and feared. And their defense played unbelievably well as expected and feared.  The main drama of the game centered on the French star Zinedine Zidane - the beloved Zizou. This was Zidane's last World Cup appearance and after France made it to the finals (rather unexpectedly), many fans all over the world wanted to see him go out on a high note - with his second World Cup (France won in 1998 when Zidane was a key player). Instead, France lost and this is how Zizou exited the world stage of soccer. Unfortunately, instead of a spectacular header into the goal, this non soccer head butt will go into the history books as the defining moment of the 2006 World Cup Soccer. (To those readers, who have not paid attention to WCS, DO take a look).

Now I'll wait for 2010 when WCS goes to South Africa. 

Blue states don't do gay rights, either

My friend and former roomate, Justin, recently started a blog ("More Cowbell").  It reminds me of Accidental Blogger on the days when we are not all ranting about George W. Bush, in that a number of interesting topics are discussed.

What I like about it is that Justin has completed one year of medical school at (The) Ohio State University--much like with Ruchira and her science background, he brings a different perspective than my own as an English/philosophy major and to-be law student at the University of Minnesota.  Justin self-identifies as a conservative, but not of the crazy "I'm Dick Cheney and I will shoot a 78-year-old man in the face because he looks like a small, wingless, pen-raised quail-tard" variety.  What does this mean?  That he's on the right side of important issues, such as global human rights--or more recently, the nonprotection of gay rights in the New York courts:

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of the State of New York rejected claims stating that a domestic relations law interpreted to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry violated the New York constitution and the federal right to due process and guarantee of equality. The court's leading opinion was that children should be reared with a mother and a father and nothing requires the state to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This is a strong blow to the pursuit of gay rights in America.

While I have several grievances with this decision, I want to concentrate on the argument that same-sex couples are not as capable of rearing children as are opposite-sex couples. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released research results indicating that this is not the case; sexual orientation alone does not determine if someone is capable of being a good parent, and sexual orientation does not determine the success of a couple in raising children.

I am especially distraught that New York of all places would reject gay marriages. Gov. Pataki further supported the decision of the New York Supreme Court. Legislation is coming up in Washington and California. Originally, the campaign for legalization of gay marriage was supposed to be an updraft in raising awareness for improving gay rights among the public; the push has certainly raised awareness of gay rights, but also has hindered the push for improvement of gay rights.

It is a popular notion in public policy that, oftentimes, the side of a debate with the simplest argument is the one that wins out. Unfortunately, the LGBT community has the more complex argument going. It has research statistics and logical discourse explaining the importance of granting gay rights and equality, whereas the conservative community has Bible thumpers, who are loud and simple and shout their claims from the hilltop. Hopefully, as the push distills itself further, the LBGT community will be able to have its argument heard more clearly by a public that does not want to listen, and will have more victories soon.

(Ruchira, I hope you don't mind that I've done a bit of other-blog-promotion in this post.  I'd have just linked to and quoted from his post on why gay people are also capable of being good "family people," but this way seemed better!)

Fast Track To Merriam-Webster

When a word enters the dictionary it is an honor of sorts, one would think.  Not if the word is a commercial product with a trademark .  When a commercial name enters the common parlance and is used as a generic noun or verb, the word loses its legal trademark protection.  Which is why the same companies, which go to great lengths to advertise products in order to make them household names, also try very hard to prevent them from becoming a part of our everyday vocabulary.   

"Branding experts said such notoriety is hardly a blessing for a corporate trademark. Companies go to extremes to prevent their trademark from falling into "common parlance" — a word that's in everyday use, and no longer enjoys legal protection, said Rob Frankel, a Los Angeles consultant who has advised the Walt Disney Co., Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. on branding issues.

Xerox Corp., for instance, ran an ad campaign imploring people not to refer to every photocopying machine as a "Xerox." Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson advised the company to change the jingle for its adhesive bandage from "I am stuck on Band-Aid 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me" to include the word "brand" after the corporate name — in the interest of safeguarding its trademark.

"It goes 'I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me,' " said Frankel. "That is why they did that."

Most commercial words take from ten to twenty years to make it into the dictionary. But the power of the World Wide Web has shortened that waiting period considerably.  Newly coined technical (and cultural) words are now propagated at a much faster rate and gain acceptance almost instantly. An example of such rapid recognition and wide usage is "Google" which entered the 2006 edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary as a verb - with a small "g".

"Google is officially a verb.

Google Inc.'s eponymous search engine became a sanctioned part of the English language Thursday when "google" — small "g" — earned an entry among the 165,000 or so terms in the 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

The definition: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information ... on the World Wide Web." As in, "let me google that."

Linguists said google is among the fastest words to enter the lexicon. It reached the pages of the dictionary just five years after its first known reference as a verb in a New York Post article. Usually, it takes 10 to 20 years for a word to enter everyday use."

A sampling of a few (all nouns) among the nearly 100 words to have entered Merriam Webster in 2006: (If you go to the M-W Inc. website, you can check out a partial list. To get the full list, you must read the book!)

biodiesel:  a fuel that is similar to diesel fuel and is derived from usually vegetable sources (as soybean oil)

drama queen: A person given to often excessively emotional performances and reactions

dreamscape: A dreamlike, usually surrealistic scene

empty suit : An ineffectual executive

himbo: An attractive but vacuous man (a male bimbo).

mouse potato: a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer (after couch potato)

polyamory: The state or practice of having more than one open romantic realationship at a time

sandwich generation: a generation of people who are caring for their aging parents while supporting their own children

soul patch: a small growth of beard under a man's lower lip 

It's Raining Frogs and Mice!

(Click for larger image: courtesy National Geographic )

The Indian monsoon is an object of much love and sometimes fear and awe. Indian poets through the ages have sung its praises as ardently and enthusiastically as do western poets about spring.  The monsoon brings much awaited relief from the unrelenting Indian summer heat which desiccates the body and demoralizes the soul. The first fat drops which fall on the parched ground are greeted with unrestrained joy by farmers and city folks alike. In fact, references to the monsoon season in Indian poetry and music far exceed those made in honor of spring, which is a short lived season in India before summer's onslaught begins in early April. But when the rains continue unabated, that can give rise to difficult water logged situations requiring some unusual animal and human ingenuity.   

"—It could be the most spirited interspecies escape since The Rescuers. But unlike the 1977 Disney movie, this situation is anything but fun.

Photographed Friday in the northern Indian city of Lucknow (India map), a mouse perches on a frog in waist-deep (for a frog, anyway) floodwaters—a small sign of the early arrival of annual summer monsoon rains.

So far, more than 30 people have died in India as a result of this year's monsoon-driven landslides and floods. Last year's deluge killed some 1,000 people in the financial center of Mumbai (Bombay) alone. Today polluted, knee-deep waters are raising fears of a repeat disaster among the city's roughly 17 million inhabitants.

In drought-stricken areas, too, frogs were playing the role of rescuer.

According to the Indo-Asian News Service, some rural Indians are holding frog weddings in the hopes that the amphibians' bliss will inspire farm-saving storms. After marking the bride and groom with vermillion and turmeric—traditional adornments in human Hindu nuptials—villagers take the supposedly happy couple to a nearby pond to honeymoon.

"If we get the frogs wedded, the Varuna, the god of the oceans, will bless us with rains," Beni Prasad, a farmer in the village of Khapa, told the news service on Sunday."   

Bush-Cheney Psychic Hotline

The NSA may have approached AT&T to set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before September 11, 2001. Very interesting.  Whenever challenged about its illegal snooping activities, the Bush administration has repeatedly insisted that such surveillance is an essential tool in the fight against global terrorism. Now let me get this straight. As I understand this report and Bush's assertions about NSA snooping, Bush knew beforehand that we were going to be attacked on 9/11/2001? And like a good psychic boy scout, he was preparing for domestic surveillance against terrorists well before catastrophe struck?  Boggles the mind! What else don't we know about this scoff-law administration?

" The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''

Coulter's Crib Sheet (... It's Long!)

Those who had a hard time telling Ann Coulter and Adolph Hitler apart, now will know the reason why.  Ann Coulter, the foul mouthed right wing diva may not be liberal in her politics but she is not above liberally lifting material for her books and columns from other published sources. So reports the New York Post. Perhaps she pilfered from Der Führer too.

"Conservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in the leggy blond pundit's "Godless: the Church of Liberalism" after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.

He also says he discovered verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column, which is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers, including the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel and Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle.

Barrie, CEO of iParadigms, told The Post that one 25-word passage from the "Godless" chapter titled "The Holiest Sacrament: Abortion" appears to have been lifted nearly word for word from Planned Parenthood literature published at least 18 months before Coulter's 281-page book was released.

A separate, 24-word string from the chapter "The Creation Myth" appeared about a year earlier in the San Francisco Chronicle with just one word change - "stacked" was changed to "piled."

Another 33-word passage that appears five pages into "Godless" allegedly comes from a 1999 article in the Portland (Maine) Press Herald."

Sources from which Coulter may have lifted material for her syndicated columns include the L.A Times and the Heritage Foundation among others. The NY Post report moved Universal Press Syndicate which syndicates Coulter's columns to seek a copy of Barrie's report. Fearing exposure, Coulter has lashed out at the New York Post in her characteristic vicious manner. It is interesting to note however, that there is no denial contained in the diatribe.

"....Today, the latest installment of Coulter's column takes aim at the New York Post, although her July 5 piece doesn't mention the Post's July 2 plagiarism story.

Coulter wrote: "Once considered a legitimate daily, the Post has been reduced to tabloid status best known for Page Six's breathless accounts of Paris Hilton's latest ruttings, and headlines like 'Vampire Teen -- H.S. Girl Is Out for Blood.' How crappy a newspaper is the Post? Let me put it this way: It's New York's second-crappiest paper."

She added: "Maybe the Post's constant harassment of me is an attempt to shake me down for protection money like they did with billionaire businessman Ron Burkle. I have sold a LOT of books -- more books, come to think of it, than any writers at the New York Post."

Keep a lid on your operatic outrage, Ms Coulter. Or see Rush Limbaugh's doctor for a prescription.

Carnival of the Liberals # 16

The Carnival of the Liberals # 16, the Independence Day edition is up at the Uncredible Halqq. Please visit to get the sane perspective on things in a mad, mad world.

"The fastest way to send money -- worldwide." Not if your name is Mohammed.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Western Union routinely refuses or delays money transfers based on recipients' names - especially when the name is Mohammed or Ahmed. (via Sepia Mutiny)  Western Union's action is in accordance with the US Treasury Department's attempt to monitor and restrict cash flow to terrorist organizations.

"Money transfer agencies like Western Union have delayed or blocked thousands of cash deliveries on suspicion of terrorist connections simply because senders or recipients have names like Mohammed or Ahmed, company officials said.

In one example, an Indian driver here said Western Union prevented him from sending US$120 to a friend at home this month because the recipient's name was Mohammed.

"Western Union told me that if I send money to Sahir Mohammed, the money will be blocked because of his name," said 36-year-old Abdul Rahman Maruthayil, who later sent the money through UAE Exchange, a Dubai-based money transfer service.

In a similar case, Pakistani Qadir Khan said Western Union blocked his attempt this month to wire money to his brother, Mohammed, for a cataract operation.

"Every Mohammed is a terrorist now?" Khan asked.

Western Union Financial Services, Inc., an American company based in Colorado, said its clerks simply are following US Treasury Department guidelines that aim to scrutinize cash flows for terrorist links. Most of the flagged transactions are delayed a few hours. Some are blocked entirely.

In many cases, would-be customers like Maruthayil simply find another way to send the funds - often through informal exchanges with less stringent monitoring.

But critics of the program say it is far too broad. The number of people inconvenienced in the Emirates alone, which closely cooperates with US counter-terror operations, is thought to be significant. One Western Union clerk said about 300 money transfers from a single Dubai franchise were blocked or delayed each day - none of which ever turned up a terrorist link.

In Washington, US Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said foreign banks have used the department's list of terrorist names to freeze US$150 million in assets since it was released after Sept. 11. Millerwise didn't know the value of money transfers blocked using the list, but she said frustrations endured by those with certain names were regrettable but necessary.

"We have an obligation to do all we can to keep money out of the hands of terrorists," Millerwise said....

"Mohammed and Ahmed have become problematic names because they are so common on the list of terrorists," said Nixon Baby, who runs a Western Union franchise in Bur Dubai, a neighborhood packed with South Asian businesses. "These are regulations that Western Union is required to obey. We do not have any control."

"Oh, say, CAN'T you see.."

A flag story before the 4th of July, 2006 is history. 

RICHARDSON, Texas — Imagine singing "Oh, say, can you see" to a flag you can't see. That's what graduate students at the University of Texas at Dallas had in mind when they created the likeness of an American flag so small it would take more than 10 to span the width of a human hair.

While the work of electrical engineering students Jang-Bae Jeon and Carlo Foresca has so far been rejected by the Guinness Book of World Records, they hope the process will lead to advances in nanotechnology, a world of creations viewed only through microscopes.

"Most of this nanotechnology is two-dimensional," said Moon Kim, the engineering professor who oversaw the project. "This gives the opportunity to build three-dimensional stuff."

The image of the flag _ complete with all 50 stars and 13 stripes _ is 7 microns tall, compared to the 100-micron width of a human hair. It was transferred onto a silicon wafer using a machine that follows the shape of any bitmap image file. The flag and its pole were cut using an ion beam _ a microscopic version of a laser _ and lifted to a standing position by a nano manipulator.

Jeon and Foresca spent months working on the U.S. flag and a Texas flag even smaller _ 4 microns. They used equipment from Zyvex, a nanotechnology company based in Richardson.

"We were trying to show what capabilities our machine had," Foresca said.

And Kim said they would probably try Guinness again sometime.

"They told us they don't have a method to actually see the flag," Jeon said."