Honey, it is just money

It was not very long ago that Amazon.com upheld the right of their customers or their right to choose within the world's largest democracy by the following statement:

Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts; we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions,"

And if some of you missed this news and failed to see the kind of privilege/freedom it offered  to it’s valuable customers,

It was the following electronic book,

"The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct," by Philip R. Greaves II, went on sale on Oct. 28 and cost $4.79 to download.

But sane customers were quick to lodge their protest:

The book quickly sparked a massive protest online, with thousands of Twitter users and Amazon customers calling for Amazon to remove the book, and some threatening to boycott the company altogether until it did.

Even if Amazon.com was not forthright in its intention, the author was, since he did not mince his words:

"I can see where they would come to that kind of conclusion and to a certain extent I wanted that kind of notoriety to affect the book. ... I wanted it to effect sales," he said.

But I am glad that this world still is still sane since only one book was sold.

Not sure if those aspiring pedophiles were scared to download fearing watchful eyes, but it seems before Amazon pulled the book, it apparently shot to #96 on Amazon's Top 100 list.

And now Amazon.com has chosen to block wikileaks and  most of it's sites are under attack by hackers.

Source:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/amazon-removes-pedophilia-book-store/story?id=12119035&page=1
http://www.dailypioneer.com/303373/Amazon-sites-down-after-WikiLeaks-supporters-threat.html

The leaks...

Against the backdrop of wikileaks and after reading the following from Pioneer, thought I would re-post what I had posted earlier.

Secret cables, which were leaked by WikiLeaks, show that US diplomats and spies believe Pakistan army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continue to quietly back four militant groups -- the Afghan Taliban, its allied Haqqani and Hekmatyar networks on the western Afghan frontier, and LeT on the eastern border with India.


Some ISI officials "continue to maintain ties with a wide array of extremist organisations, in particular the Taliban, LeT and other extremist organisations," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in December 2009.

Resolving the 63-year-old Kashmir conflict "would dramatically improve the situation", Patterson said.

Click to read the full article.

As for wikileaks, I continue to believe that nothing new has been revealed. Whatever is in black and white now has been leaked earlier in the media. Some believed while some did not. And now one can either take the stand of Mrs. Clinton and call them terrorists or one can call them a whistle blower. But even if it is late, America can now publicly acknowledge what they really think of Pakistan and it's leaders.

I also believe that the ones on the banks that are yet to come may be of help to the US citizens themselves. Are they not interested in knowing how the financial crisis came about and how those who are responsible for it are still being protected? As an Indian citizen, I would love to have the same leaks on my own government especially after the recent scams.

The following was a comment from my friend when I posted on FB that if US has done nothing wrong then why they should fear the leaks. 

That is very easy for you to say. It is like you having a frank, private discussion with your husband about all your neighbors and then find out that someone has recorded the conversation and given it to the whole neighborhood. The point is that the cables are and were meant to be confidential communications and diplomatic missions require such internal information to function well.

I did respond thus and further chat did not reach anywhere

Well, you can put it thus if you think you have been given the moral right to control every neighbour that lives around you..



nd feels it is right to maintain diplomacy/silence as you deem, even when you know that one of your neigbour is s...ending a dagger right through the heart of the other :)

___________________________________________________________________________________
My earlier posts on US's obsession with Pakistan and Kashmir.

For the carrot - dated 2-Feb 2010

Thus blogs the great enlightener of the masses..


Wow!

Nd why in the world should India be obsessed with Pakistan?

Oh yes… they have an answer to that too.. The much coveted seat in the great UN besides the great US.

And hence, US is dangling this carrot and sweet talking to India so as to end its stand with Pakistan since the great citizens in the US thinks and is made to think that all the problems in Pakistan ( Afganisthan , Bin Laden, Islamic terrorism) is only because of Kashmir (India). Literally speaking, every Pakistani wakes up in the morning and was waking up since Pakistan’s independence and thinks and was thinking only about Kashmir and the myriad ways to save the multitude of suffering souls in Kashmir. And now it seems US is also thinking along these lines!

And it is only we stupid Indians who is yet to realize this great truth… but let us not be discouraged since our government has realized it too..

Did anyone say that Bombay.. sorry Mumbai was attacked?

Another one posted on India Tweets

What an idea! (Dec 14, 2009)


Pakistanis should thank their government for their brilliant idea of nurturing terrorists; if their soil had not bred them would the US part with so much money?

Would their houses light up and would their thirst be quenched if not for the terrorists?

WASHINGTON - Electricity and water projects will be an early priority for nearly $1.5 billion a year in new U.S. non military aid for Pakistan expected to be passed by the Senate on Sunday, senior U.S. officials said.

The aid is included in a $7.5 billion, five-year package proposed by President Barack Obama as one tool to combat extremism in Pakistan. He has called the region the "epicenter" of violence and Pakistan is seen as critical to U.S. efforts to fight the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

Kasab can have a few friends.. if not Biriyani or the noose.

Tomorrow would be yet another anniversary of that terrible day in November.


All is well, says State home minister R R Patil and opposition leader Eknath Khadse who visited Kasab yesterday. His mood swings continues to keep the media engaged. If one day he lunges at the camera, another day he complains of the food served to him and was heard asking for mutton biriyani. Yesterday he seems to have said “I have reaped what I sowed.”

But then, he was only a petty criminal willing to kill for a few more dollars. He had already made his pact with the devil. But now I am glad that he survived, else like many other confused Indians, it would have been hard to believe he was not made in India.

I know I am blabbering, but hasn’t the events that unfolded the last 2 weeks reduce us Indians to blabbering fools. What else should we call ourselves when we are robbed of Rs 1,76,000 crores! (not including the CWG, the flat and now the Mumbai land scam) Like a swishing sword, scam after scam has wounded us left and right and one has never felt so low in life. Should we continue to believe in our honest Prime Minister when he is more interested in being meek? The Congress needs to go, along with the Sonias and Rahuls even if the next could be BJP with the Yedurappas, Reddy’s and Modi’s. But let it be so. The country badly needs a change. But before you step down, if you still believe you are a man of integrity, please clean up the mess. Mess would be a mild word, with the media and even the judges now being implicated.

"With the CVC headed by former telecom secretary P J Thomas non-suited to supervise CBI in 2G spectrum scam, the SC should choose an officer of unimpeachable integrity to monitor the probe," he said. Upset at his offer being spurned, senior advocate K K Venugopal said he would rather argue for dismissal of petition than make any further concession.


You may bring back a few crores if you can, but more than that, it would heal the wounded nation if one could see a few give Kasab company. Kasab murdered Indians in cold blood while the elected leaders have killed the spirit of millions of Indians.


Edited to add the following:

Corrupt India: $462 billion illegally transferred overseas between 1948 and 2008



The poor state of governance is reflected in a growing underground economy which in turn has fueled more transfers of illicit capital from India. This analysis is cast in terms of a pre- and a post-reform period spanning a total of 61 years since independence.

The Gender Gap

After the CWG fiasco here comes another disheartening report which should wake us up.

The Global Gender Gap report by the World Economic Forum.

The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and healthbased criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

As always, curiosity made me look into the report, to try and understand what I can.

India has been ranked 112 (out of 134 countries).

Also, like many I wondered why India went below Philippines (with rank 9 and highest amongst the Asia and Pacific countries) and also Kuwait (women were given voting rights only recently) and UAE, specially when India has a woman in three of the most important positions, namely Sushma Swaraj of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and currently the Leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi, President of the Indian National Congress and Prathiba Patil the Indian President. Sonia Gandhi was also ranked 13th in the Forbes most powerful women in year 2009, although they have not ranked her this year. But the report has taken into account this factor and hence India ranks 23rd in the political empowerment. Yet, this seems to have made no impact on other crucial areas namely, Literacy Rate, Infant Mortality, Maternal Mortality and even Wage Equality for Similar Work.

Now if you are wondering why this should bother us:

For instance, the United Nations estimates that, only in the Asian region, about $47 billion of yearly output are lost every year from a lack of female participation in labour markets, as reported in United Nations (2007).

Gender discrimination has widespread ramifications and clear economic and social costs. The Asia-Pacific region has made good progress in reducing gender discrimination in recent years, but appalling disparities remain. The region is losing $42-$47 billion per year because of restrictions on women’s access to employment opportunities – and another $16-$30 billion per year because of gender gaps in education. Those are just the economic costs – added to them are social and personal costs.

In some countries, one in every 10 girls dies before reaching the age of one, and one in every 50 women dies during pregnancy and delivery.

India and also Philippines falls under the Lower Middle Income Group of countries and this may be one reason why India (with a larger population) lag behind countries like Kuwait and UAE who are grouped under the High Income.  Sri Lanka has retained it's position and is doing well despite the turmoil it went through. And these countries are much ahead when it comes to educating their females. And education seems to be the crucial factor. In terms of literacy, India has only 51 females (out of 75 men) while more women than men gets the basic education in Philipines (95 female and 93 men). Even China's literacy rate is excellent 91-97. Sadly Pakistan is ranked the lowest in the Asia and Pacific region and those dollars which came in has not done it any good and for that matter it may go down further if the Taliban get's it's way.

There is also one more interesting fact that I noted; if one assumes that there are smart men and women who are equally good at their jobs, then when lesser women are getting educated, some jobs are being filled up by the not so smart men :)  We are aware of some of those women who are doing very good.  Indira Nooyi  who is ranked 6^th  in the latest report (Forbes most powerful women)  maybe ignored since her field is not India ( situation is not favorable ?) but yet there is still Chanda Kocchar  who runs ICICI, India’s second largest bank and she is ranked #92. I am sure she deserves a better rank since this bank seems to be standing up quite well when others elsewhere keep tumbling down occasionally. (103 failures in the period Jan-Jul 2010). Now I am not sure if women are better or worse  in jobs, although my blogger friend seems to have an opinion on them. I think it is because they need time to get used to the idea. But there are international companies who have made it a policy to hire 50% of women since it works better for them.  PWC is one example.

Klaus Schwab, the chairman of the WEF, said: "Low gender gaps are directly correlated with high economic competitiveness.


"We still need a true gender equality revolution, not only to mobilise a major pool of talent both in terms of volume and quality, but also to create a more compassionate value system within all our institutions."

Many analysis shows that gender inequality in education prevents progress in reducing fertility and child mortality rates, thereby compromising progress in well-being in developing countries.

First, gender inequality in education and access to resources may prevent a reduction of child mortality, of fertility, and an expansion of education of the next generation.

Greater education increases her health knowledge which improves her ability to promote the health of her children (World Bank, 1993), and greater bargaining power increases her say over household resources which often leads to greater allocations to child health and nutrition, compared to their husbands. For example, Thomas (1990) found that the impact of unearned income on child survival was 20 times greater if the income was brought in by the mother than if it was brought in by the father.

And, gender gap can also affect the Total Fertility Rate.

Total fertility rate


The total fertility rate (TFR) is an important determinant of development because the resources available per capita are fundamental to the development process. A high TFR squeezes resources (per capita) within a household, as well as at the national level, diminishing the health and education of children and the wellbeing of families. High fertility leads particularly to poor health and education of women and children, creating
a vicious cycle. A low TFR, however, enables countries to spend more on health and education, leading to improved social welfare.


There is a high correlation between TFR and per capita income, with higher TFR leading to lower incomes figure 3.10). The TFR is also a good indicator of women’s control over their reproductive rights and  health, of progress in gender relations, and of education, particularly that of women.

Now, to reduce population some may want to go the Sanjay Gandhi way (though it may have appealed to at least a few if he and his brother had set out an example themselves!). But if educating the female population can indeed bring down the overall population and much more, then it is time India spend more money on this than affairs like CWG's. CWG did give us Indians a high for a few days but I do not think it has done much for the long term.

Source:
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2010.pdf
http://www.unescap.org/pdd/publications/survey2007/01_Survey_2007.pdf
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDER/Resources/wp7.pdf
http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/women-at-pwc/assets/closing_the_gender_gap_companion_guide.pdf

Of roads, cars and faith..

This time I travelled up and down the MC road (Main Central Road) or the alternate road to the NH 47. The road is too good after it was repaired and at times it looked like an airport runway! I also discovered that the Ambassador car which once proudly owned the Indian roads have now become a rarity. I couldn't spot one even among the taxi stands. This old and trusted friend just couldn’t keep up with the changing times and I think have lost the race to the racier, sleeker ones.

Having seen almost all models of foreign cars here in Kuwait, it was easy to spot the same in Kerala too. And I think this time I spotted many of them. Yes, luxurious cars have always been a weakness to many. For the rich it is another status symbol and one which can keep them apart from the ordinary folks. I remember how my very earthly cousin brother used to tell us that his dream is to drive a BMW. I am sure he is driving one now since he holds a very good job in the UK. He deserves it since he did burn much midnight oil for his earthly degrees.


Anyway this is not really about cars or roads. This time we saw a beautiful Mercedes s-class car on the road and while we were admiring the same, we tried to have a glimpse of the proud owner.. it was a Christian priest. And if it was not enough, we saw yet another costly foreign car being driven by the same clan.

I am not saying that there is a rule that says Priests are not allowed to own or drive expensive cars but as a Christian, I am offended and ashamed.

From the pulpits they preach. They tell us mortals to give (the 75 + lakhs could have made a lot difference to the needy), not to indulge (an ordinary car can also take them to their destination), not to covet, not to be greedy , not to incite etc etc….

Now, I am not sure why I myself am indulging in a very non Christian act, i.e grumble/judge when I am sure no priest is ever going to read me. But since even they have become very net savvy one can never be sure. Hence there is just one request from this confused mortal; next time you wish to indulge in earthly pleasures, please DUMP that priestly garb for something more appropriate and the next time you stand on the pulpit, please try to refrain from PREACHING what you yourself cannot practice.

And there is another rumbling on the horizon.

Some of us are yet to recover from those scenes on TV when 2 factions of the Church had fist fights amongst a falling corpse from a funeral march. Those days, most of us like Peter  denied to our co-workers and friends that we belonged to this Church. It was too shameful.

Trouble seems to have erupted again and at Parumala where one faction already has a Church while the other is aspiring to have a new one.

Can one own a saint?

If so, Parumala Thirumeni  seems to be wholly owned by the Orthodox faction while the Jacobite faction thinks otherwise, since when Parumala Thirumeni was alive the Church was one. Now I am not sure who should take credit for the solace and blessings given to those who sought this Saint; is it the Saint himself or the Church? And since the Church encourages the weak and heavy laden to seek blessings from this Saint should they not be happy to know that they have one more location to receive these blessings?

Or shall I,  like many others with more of an earthly sense think that there is some other underlying reason for all this saintly love, be it from any faction? $$$

Anyway, let me pray that those who are supposed to be leading these Churches would for once show some heavenly sense and stop inciting the weak and confused believers who may be excused for exhibiting an earthly sense.

Picture Source: Hindu & Cartrade

Time to return..

Think I have neglected this blog enough! Was much shocked and sad to read about IHM’s daughter and I had no idea about it until I returned from vacation. This life is indeed strange and nothing seems to be constant. One needs to try hard to stay unruffled and it is not easy.


Had a restful vacation this time. Restful only since I was forced to take rest owing to a surgery to remove a part of me or as per my son – his first home.

It was at the end of my last vacation and during a routine check up that I discovered that I had fibroids growing in and out of my uterous. It was a rude shock since I never had any other medical problems and no physical symptoms normally associated with fibroids. Did search low and wide but knew it was a lost cause since the stuff had already grown much. It was getting too comfortable inside me specially since I never knew of it’s existence. Thought of leaving it there but it was not easy to brush away my own fears as well as that of my loved ones. The doctor who discovered it first asked me to take it out immediately while others asked me to wait and watch. Hence I waited and watched for a year. I was also searching for a doctor who could do the operation in a non-invasive way and this seemed an impossible task since the size of the fibroids were too big. Finally it was done at Paul’s hospital – Ernakulam. A wonderful doctor is all I can say and an operation which should normally take only 1 hour or less went on to four hours leaving everyone [except me :) who was blissfully lost to the world] anxious and worried. But except for the first few days of minor pain, I felt perfectly fine and so far so good. Hats off to technology and to our wonderful doctors.

I hope to return to blogging or rather grumbling more often now.