The Tattler

Give Pakistan a Break!

2011-05-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Facts:
Pakistan did NOT create Osama Bin Laden. CIA did.
As for Osama and other Al-Qaeda operatives found in Pakistan: Well, most of the 9/11 hijackers got their training right here in the US of A. Heck, INS even issued a visa to Mohammed Atta AFTER 9/11! Pakistan's border with Afghanistan is porous and it is easy for people to cross it and once they are in Pakistan, they can get on a bus or a train and just about go anywhere inside Pakistan. And if you have some connections and money for bribe, then even Osama can hide anywhere in Pakistan.

So, please get off the Pakistan case, will ya?

First "Droned", then Drowned! Who Shall Help the Flood Victims in Pakistan?

2010-08-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

While the scope of the destruction caused by the floods in Pakistan is heart-wrenching, the relief efforts are even more frustrating. The way the worst crisis in Pakistan was handled by the government, especially, our President, Mr. Zardari, you'd know that they are simply not competent to deal with the scale of the disaster.

I am afraid our leaders are politicizing this disaster and some are probably even drooling over the prospects of more riches as international aid arrives in a country where the corruption runs deeper than the rising water of the worst flood in its history.

Today, Mr. Zardari vowed to take the country out of this grave challenge, adding: “I know the losses suffered by growers because I am also a farmer.”

Just for the record, Mr. Zardari is NOT a farmer. He is a wadera - a landlord who collects whatever the farmers harvest! While the real farmers are the ones who have lost their homes as well as their livelihoods, waderas like Mr. Zardari will resume their earnings the next season after the water recedes. Historically, the waderas' job was simply to collect taxes from farmers on behalf of the government, a remnant of the colonial era.

And where is the international community? It seems that we have become desensitized to natural disasters that have swept across the globe in recent times.

“This has been a heart-wrenching day for me,” UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, said after visiting the flood-hit areas in Punjab with President Asif Ali Zardari.

“I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this.”

The world body has appealed for an initial $460 million to provide relief, but only 20 per cent has so far been promised.

The people of Pakistan have found themselves between rock and a hard place following the Afghanistan war - with all the deadly drone attacks. But what is ironic is that one of the first organizations to have pledged meals for the displaced victims is Jamaat-ud-Dawa - an organization that features on the UN terrorism blacklist.

When the international community is slow to respond to a calamity that is more devastating than the 2004 tsunami, the victims have every right to feel betrayed by both the government and the international community at large.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/un+chief+pledges+to+speed+up+pakistan+aid

A Ramadan Experience

2010-08-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

When the school is in session, you might run into her on the Bruin Walk. The school is UCLA and the place is near the Ackerman Hall.

She is found there sharing ideas with inquisitive folks and guiding new students - in between her insanely busy class schedule. So, what is so special about that?

Flashback to 1991. Date is April 13. And the Islamic Calendar reads 27 Ramadan, 1411. They have been up all night. But they are not in a customary Muslim's prayer posture for the night of the 27th. They are in labor. Well, in fact, the wife is in labor and her husband is beside her praying with one hand while his other hand is being squeezed by her with each contraction. The contractions are becoming less and less apart.

Finally, the baby, their first born child, arrives around the dawn prayer time (Fajr).

Was the baby born in the night of Qadr? Quite possibly. The eve of the 27th day of Ramadan is widely believed to be the night of Qadr.

The baby's name is Hana Mariam Khan and yes you might just run into her near the Ackerman Hall busy spreading the Word of God; And at the same time helping orient new students. Esp. guiding new Muslim students who otherwise might go astray.

She has accomplished something at her tender age (of 19 at the time of this writing) what most folks are unable to do in their entire lifetime. Assuming an average lifetime of a human being of around 80 years, and converting it into months we get around a thousand months. And Allah SWT Says in The Quran: "The night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months" Surat- ul-Qadr; Chapter 97, Verse 3.

It computes! The gift we received from Allah SWT, at the end of that night's vigil back in 1991, and for which we are eternally grateful to Him, is indeed more precious than a lifetime. May Allah SWT Grant her, and all our children and youth, protection and Shower them with His boundless mercy, Ameen.

FIFA

2010-06-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

FIFA
Is
Feverishly
Awaited

I guess no total is Un-Hussey-lable!

2010-05-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well played Pakistan! You gave it all you got. Considering the fact that Pakistani players were snubbed by IPL and champions league, and had little exposure other than the drubbing they got during the Australian summer down under, they played like the champions that they are.

They have been marginalized by the world. And they came roaring back and almost brought the world to its knees. The reporters and commentators had indigestion for 39 overs today, as they spent all that time eating their own words.

Pakistan missed Umar Gul's reverse-swinging yorkers that were the hallmark of Pakistan's bowling in late overs last year. Nevertheless, we are proud of their effort today and the courage they showed despite everyone (including us fans) writing them off. They peaked at the right time and almost pulled off a repeat of their giant killing performance that took them past South Africa in last year's T20 World Cup semifinal.

The fearsome twosome who can help Pakistan beat Australia in the Semifinal.

2010-05-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Fri May 14
15:30 GMT | 11:30 local
11:30 EDT | 10:30 CDT | 08:30 PDT 2nd Semi-Final - Australia v Pakistan
Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
26 - 30°C Forecast Showers

Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.

More famously known by their last names in Duckworth/Lewis.

And even more famously known by their combined lastname initials "D/L" or Dreadful Loss Method. Formally known as Duckworth/Lewis Method. It has helped beat the hitherto formidable England. And even overcome the luck of the Irish.

With showers forecast, D/L Method migt be another clause that you may want to add to your prayers.

Another Financial Meltdown?

2010-05-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

So sad on the financial power-house collapse.

India on the brink at the T20 World Cup. Thanks to all the IPL franchises for snubbing the best players in the world during the auction earlier this year, hiring old farts frm down under for gazillions and marginalizing the whole sub-continent.

Gul, Afridi and Sohail Tanwir (purple hat holder in IPL 1 who helped Rajhastan win) were all left out in sheer arrogance. How could Afridi reproduce the 2009 magic If he can't play in IPL and champions league and keep sharp?

Meanwhile IPL and the champions league have produced absolutely nothing for India and in the process screwed thy neighbor!

Can You tell me how to get... how to get through Wall Street?

2010-05-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Brought to you by the letter "M" and the letter "B".

M is for "Mojo" and B is for "Bailout":

Wall Street seems to have lost its Mojo, when a trader entered "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million.

That sent the stock market into a frenzy.

Are you serious?!!

Security Measures for IPL

2010-03-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

One of the steps being proposed to make IPL immune to security threats is to change it's name to something else. But the problem is that IPL is already a registered trade-mark. The branding of IPL is already done and the ink on the logos distributed and printed has already dried. So, the next best thing is to change what IPL stands for.

Well that should be easy for Lalit Modi for he is an expert on mutilating what Indian Premier League stands for in a jiffy.

But we digress.

Here are the top 10 entries submitted for what IPL should now stand for:

10) Intimate Paraya League
9) In-your-face Preity (Zinta) League
9) Instant, Paid Lavishness
7) Is it Premier League?
6) Incentive to Play for Leeches
5) Insaan vs. Paisa League
4) Imported Pompoms & Legs
3) Itna Paisa Lalit?
2) Imbecile Politics League
1) It's Pakistan Less

The Fanatic Fourteen

2010-01-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

New York Times reports:

"Citizens of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, countries that are considered “state sponsors of terrorism,” as well as those of “countries of interest” — including Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen — will face the special scrutiny, officials said.

Passengers holding passports from those nations, or taking flights that originated or passed through any of them, will be required to undergo full-body pat downs and will face extra scrutiny of their carry-on bags before they can board planes to the United States."

Now my 2 cents:

I must say I expected better from the Obama administration. In a show of stubbornness, we are refusing to learn from our own mistakes - especially the mistakes that were made in foreign policies - and therefore we are bound to repeat them. One could almost imagine the brain-storming sessions in one of the NSC meetings in the aftermath of the failed airplane bombing on the Christmas day.

"Mr. President, the American people want to see some action taken by this administration. Shall we bomb Iraq or Afghanistan?".

"Nah, I am for a change. Remember my campaign promise? Let's not try to bomb the same 'communication building' in Baghdad that we bombed over and over again during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I need something that caters to liberals yet calms the public down. And don't give me that 'color coded security alert system' BS again, shall we?"

"A list...", murmurs someone from the dark corner of the table, "Give the American people a list. After all they like lists. From high-tech IT personnel programming the next big software application to soccer moms pushing shopping carts in a grocery store, we like 'lists'."

"Okay. A list of what?", Mr. President leans forward, now interested.

"I get it... A list of countries!", the secretary of state jumps in. "I once kept a list of planets I wanted to send that Lewinsky girl to!"

"Alright. I want names of the countries we want on the list.", Mr. President leans over a blank piece of paper, "And don't try spelling out the names of those countries like you did for Bush. It's time for a change. Would be nice if you could name the capitals, their current head of state and a good book to read on each though."

"Nigeria!", every one shouted in chorus.

"Good work, everyone. You all have done your homework and watched CNN last night, haven't you?" Then Obama murmurs to himself, "Welcome to the club, Nigeria...".

The rest of the countries' name needed no introduction and everyone repeated those names almost in unison.

"The easiest NSC meeting I could ever imagine", thought Obama as he sprung out of his chair and announced, "This is good! I have something to tell the American people. Good work folks!"

Of course, we don't know what transpired in such meetings but we all can see the outcome, can't we? Here we go again down the beaten path of paranoia with the same old mantra: "You are either with us (not in the list) or against us (in the list)."

A real change in our foreign policy and the way we run our government would be to abandon these "knee jerk" reactions that have gotten us absolutely no where.

One major problem with the list we see in the news is that it will also be available to Al-Qaeda. And you don't have to be a world class chess player to figure out their next move. See, Al-Qaeda operatives have all the time in the world when it comes to carrying out a suicide mission. Do you think a terrorist won't break his journey to enjoy the local pubs in a country not on the list, then purchase a brand new ticket - and maybe even a new passport to go with it - and will then waltz right through the security holes as big as our discriminating egos?

Meanwhile, we are busy strip searching everyone from these "Fanatic Fourteen" countries. The odds of catching the next terrorist in this manner are slim to none. A terrorist will have to be living in a cave during the past month to fall for this trap. Although, I am not too sure if those living in caves in Afghanistan are completely cutoff from the news and even the Internet. So, forget it!

This latest dropping of the proverbial ball exposes for all to see one glaring mistake that we have been repeating despite a supposedly complete overhaul of our intelligence agencies post 9/11: The fact that we had the pieces of information sufficient to stop an attack yet we couldn't. Sounds familiar? Recall that we said the same thing after 9/11. We discovered that various tell tale signs of an impending hijacking were there. A person of interest (Al-Hazami) was being tracked. He ultimately entered the United States under the radar and was one of the 9/11 hijackers. Various intelligence reports of suspicious enrolling of would-be hijackers into the flying schools existed but never followed up on. Even though some of it is hindsight but the pieces of information do strongly suggest that we should have been able to stop the 9/11 plot in its tracks, yet we could not collaborate among our various bureaucracies. These bureaucracies exist to date.

Instead of unnecessarily (and 'unnecessarily' is the keyword here because if you can establish that it is absolutely essential that we strip search a person of interest then we must and do screen that passenger) screening passengers en mass at the countries level - effectively profiling Muslim countries - if we fix the way we process the pieces of information we readily have, I believe we can achieve air-tight security without having to seal all airports and frisk anything that moves!

Peace.

-- ARK

We Didn't Start The Fire...

2010-01-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

The song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m50p-XScreM

Now, my additions for the 2000 decade:

Bush, Gore, Florida race, hanging-chads, fallen grace
Recount craze, legal maze, lawyers all over the place!

(build-up music)...

Neo-cons power. Rumsfeld, Powell
Lieberman's devoured, Gore throws in the towel
Democrats go down, Tricky Dick's back in town!

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.

Terror, horror, suicide. Human race's ugly side
Twin Towers, Pentagon. Death, war, devil won
Anthrax or powder white, hurt pride, Bush decides
Sweet, crude oil supplies. Kill Saddam, let Osama hide!

We didn't start the fire…

Rumsfeld, Shock-n-Awe, Rice, smoking gun and all
Wolfowitz Baghdad bash, Fallujah's backlash
Defense stocks on the rise, security bought for genocide!

We didn't start the fire…

We are in Afghanistan, party moved to Pakistan.
Planned to fail? Or failed to plan? Talibans in Waziristan!
Missiles, drones, Osama's clones, even they are never home
In for the kill, Tora-Bora hill, then we took the blue pill!

We didn't start the fire…

Palestine, Middle East. Arafat rests in peace
Israel builds a wall. Lebanon war, hits a wall
Hezbollah managed to shine, Ehud could only resign
Gaza, Hamas inter-twined, Netanyahu umpteenth time!

We didn't start the fire…

Katrina. Earthquakes. Tsunami, tidal waves
Nature's fury to the fore. Earth shaken to the core
Parents dead, kids survived. Homes destroyed, beaches shined
Global warming on the rise, truth or convenient lies?
Arctic melt, doomsday clock. A prophecy or just a crock!

We didn't start the fire…

Wall Street too big to fail. Build your bubble we shall bail
Banks bankrupt, without a trail. Tap the TARP, break out of jail
Toxic assets up for sale, Enron looks so bloody pale!

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.

W finally got his ducks in a row!

2009-01-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

It is 2006 all over again!

2009-01-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

Don't you wish you could turn back time? (No, I am not talking about that mortgage commercial!)

Well thanks to Israel - and to some extent, Hamas - your wish has been granted. We are turning back the clock to a warm summer! Yep. It was summer of 2006, when Israel went on an incursion into Lebanon to stomp out Hezbollah guerrillas and ended up retreating with its tail between its legs while Hezbollah went on to attain widespread popularity and a share of power in Lebanon.

This time, Israel is using the same rhetoric and the same - disproportionate - use of force. The airstrikes, the ground incursion, rebuffing the calls for ceasefire, and saying that it would be a "lengthy operation". Great!

I guess now we know what the term "lengthy operation" means. The term gives one the feeling of "no end in sight". A feeling of deja vu. It seems like the summer of 2006 all over again! Also, when you stare down the horizon and have trouble finding your enemy - and Israel, like America, always has trouble defining who is it that they are really fighting against - then it does seem like a "lengthy operation". You just get in your F-16, fly out there and sort of look for any abstract target. You dump your payload on that imaginary target and report to the world that you just hit a "Security" building or "Command and control" center. BS! 25% of the more than 450 dead so far are innocent civilians. And for every innocent child and woman you murder, you end up creating dozens hard-nosed, suicidal, life long enemy for yourself. If you keep this up, then yes it would seem like a very "lengthy operation". Even though you are dealing with a mere few miles wide "strip" called Gaza.

The American media points to December 19 and say that's when Hamas decided not to renew the six-months long truce and just started lobbing rockets into Israel, when in fact it was Israel who broke the treaty on November 4.

If you ask Ehud Olmert, he would probably have not gone after Hezbollah back in 2006. That war heralded turbulent times for his premiership. And it was not entirely his fault. How could he win a war when there is "no end in sight"? For Olmert this certainly could be "second strike and you are out"! Well, if Arik (Ariel Sharon) could talk, he would tell Israel not to go down this path again. It's a no-win situation and certainly with "no end in sight".

Hamas is also partly to blame for the Gaza crisis. Any way you cut it, they should have refrained from escalating the situation unless they have the means and resources to defend Gaza militarily from the impending onslaught. The key term is "militarily". They know Israel full well. And they also know that they will have to resort to a guerilla war amongst the civilian population. Yet they proceeded to go down the collision path with Israel from which there was only one outcome: War. Mere unguided missiles, booby traps and suicide bombers can not be considered as the means to protect the Palestinians in Gaza strip that was already reeling from economic crisis, let alone wage a war. True that Israel broke the treaty on November 4. But Hamas could have taken a higher ground, respected the sacred month of Muharram and refrained from firing rockets into Israel. More importantly, they must never target unarmed civilians. If you want to fight a war, please do it on a battle field proper. Islam has no place for terrorism.

So, instead of partying like it was 2009, the two parties are doing a throw back to 2006. And the rest of the civilized world is just letting it all unfold as if it is all happening for the first time. Well... Hello, World... It's not!

Peace on Earth.

-- ARK

What? Paying the Bills, a sport?

2008-12-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

That's right! Paying the bills is a sport! And it should be in the Olympics. Because, if you are good at it, you surely deserve a medal!

Have a prosperous 2009!

-- ARK

Pakistan and India need to seize chance to shape ties

2008-12-14T12:43:00.000-08:00

Great article!

Pakistan and India need to seize chance to shape ties
[http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/-/1068/502016/-/sdvwjn/-/index.html]

MemChu

2008-12-12T15:36:00.001-08:00

The beautiful mosaic on the front of the Stanford University Memorial Church (affectionately known as MemChu).

http://www.stanford.edu/group/religiouslife/memchu.html

Salaam Bombay!

2008-12-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that we have been sort of desensitized to violence over the years, the massacre in Mumbai shocked us all. Our hearts go out to the people of Mumbai who went through another terrible nightmare at the hand of terror that has become so frequent in the sub-continent.

We feel helpless. The trust that we have been trying so hard to rebuild is shredded to pieces by the terrorists' bullets along with the brave souls who had nothing to fight back with.

The feeling of helplessness was there when we suffered from bombings while growing up in Karachi. Now the violence has spread to the rest of the Pakistan and beyond and we all gasped in shock and horror when our very own Benazir was slain in Islamabad. No place is safe anymore. And no one is safe anymore. It will remain like this until we do something about the cancerous "terror" that is spreading fast inside of us.

Blogging surely does not count as any kind of action against the terror. See this for some real action taken by Pakistani men in uniform! But that old adage, "Pen is mightier than the sword", does indeed apply here. We need to make some noise. We just have to bring out our best "pen" to fight the level of weaponry and carnage that has ripped our society with such vengeance. We must expose the terrorists and their recruiters until they feel the might of our collective "pen". Our collective message to these coward terrorists is, "Pakistan will NOT let you get away with this heinous crime! "

Mumbai (Bombay) is my kind of town. How can I say that? Well Mumbai is a lot like Karachi and Karachi of course is my town. And for that matter, India is my kind of country. Someone once asked me, "Which part of India are you from?" - People often mix Indians and Pakistanis up over here - And who can blame them? We belong to the same people. I instinctively replied, "I come from Pakistan part of India!" It is not that I am being unpatriotic. I was playing with words. Pakistan once was part of India. So I could technically say "Pakistan part of India".

But beyond just the words, the people from the two countries share so much that they practically are the same people. Quite literally, half my family lives in India. They all support India with the passion that matches what I have for Pakistan.

So when I say "Salaam Bombay", it is as if I am saying, "Salaam Karachi". And to the terrorists I say, "When you mess with Mumbai, you mess with Karachi!"
-- ARK

Cowards!

2008-11-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

I'm mad as hell and won't take it anymore!

Not sure what these cowards, who have nothing better to do with their guns and munitions than to come out and commit such heinous murder against innocent civilians, want to accomplish. They just end up proving, yet again, that they are indeed cowards!

If they want to look for "westerners", I suggest they go on a proper battlefield and fight like real men. And stop, once and for all, killing innocent civilians.

Peace on Earth!

-- ARK

Dow Jones Index should be renamed Rise! Index

2008-11-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

They say the Wall Street does not like uncertainty, etc. I say, "What a crock!"

Back in October, the market was in an "uncertainty" due to the upcoming November presidential elections. Obama got elected and "analysts" started saying, "OK, we got the election out of the way... Now the Wall Street shall focus on the economy..." Great!

Well... How come the traders on the Street were NOT focusing on the economy BEFORE the election? I mean, if you have been going to work before the election, your boss expects you to focus on your work, doesn't he? Yeah sure you can take the morning off on the day of the election - to vote of course - but other than that you pretty much have to "go to work", right? Americans work hard and don't ever give excuses such as "Well I am uncertain these days... So I will just stop working hard", etc. No! We will be out of work if we start thinking like that. But, it seems the Wall Street, while working with our hard-earned retirement money seems to do just that: take days, weeks and months off just because they feel "uncertain" or "afraid".

Once the election was over, the folks on the Wall Street - now quite certain who the next President of the United States would be - still managed to slide to new lows in record speed! They started saying, "Well we are not certain who the treasury secretary will be! So we slide..."

What???! You are going to refuse to buy just because you can't figure out the name of the next treasury secretary? Even though you are absolutely sure it will NOT be "Paulson"?

What gives? I am not sure I understand these fellas. And I wonder if we should stop calling them Bulls and Bears (Bullish and Bearish) and start calling them Chickens and Turkeys: You know what I mean? So, we go like, "Ladies and gentlemen, the market was 'Turkish' today" (to indicate its was cold as a turkey and "gobbled" up our 401k savings) or "The market rallied in a Chicken Run fashion!", etc., etc..

Well if that is too far fetched, how about this: The word "Dow" seems to have "Down" connotations to it - esp. in the last few months. I suggest we change the name "Dow Jones Industrial Average" to something like "Rise Index".

May be, just may be, bearing a more positive-sounding name will cause a Chicken Run... err... a Bullish market!

-- ARK