Accidental Blogger

I am a bit "blogged" out. So here is a quick summary of some interesting items in the news.

Benchmarks: George Bush’s garage must be overflowing with useless campaign signs which were discarded after the abysmal failure of each presidential plan.  To date, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Mushroom Cloud, Mission Accomplished, A Free and Democratic Iraq and most recently, Stay the Course are slogans that have all fallen by the wayside after being proven spurious. Now Bush wants Benchmarks on Iraq. There is just one problem. The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki would have none of that.

"I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it," the prime minister (al-Maliki) said.  The prime minister dismissed U.S. talk of timelines as driven by the coming midterm elections in the United States. "I am positive that this is not the official policy of the American government but rather a result of the ongoing election campaign. And that does not concern us much," he said."

No-Brainer: Water boarding for terrorism suspects is a no-brainer for Dick Cheney – the Geneva Conventions be damned.

Vice President Cheney said this week that dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a "no-brainer," prompting complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing the use of a controversial technique known as waterboarding on prisoners held by the United States.

"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" [Scott] Hennen asked.

"Well, it’s a no-brainer for me," Cheney said, "but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in."

Back Off: In today’s press conference on the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld was his old self – rude, dismissive and condescending. He asked reporters to "back off" from their criticism of the Iraq war and also implied that better minds than theirs were hard at work in solving the problems.

"With his chorus of critics expanding deeper into Republican ranks, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told detractors yesterday to pull back as U.S. and Iraqi officials grapple with the uncertainties of laying out Iraq’s course.

"You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it’s complicated, it’s difficult," Rumsfeld said, appearing unusually combative as he sparred with reporters at the Pentagon. "Honorable people are working on these things together," he said, adding emphatically that "no daylight" exists between the U.S. and Iraqi sides."

So will the violence come to an end in Iraq soon?  Will US troops return home in the near future?  Will voters elect a Democratic majority on November 7 because of Iraq?  Echoing Rumsfeld, my answers are "no, no and I don’t know."

Cats and Uncovered Meat: A conservative Muslim cleric in Australia has made the outrageous claim during a sermon that immodestly dressed women who are assaulted "are asking for it." Coming on the heels of Jack Straw’s objection to the veil and the subsequent uproar in England, the cleric’s statement has caused a stir. It is being widely seen as a justification for rape. I hope Muslim men will join the women in expressing their outrage. Not only did the cleric compare women to "meat" but  also drew a parallel between the nature of men and that of hungry alley cats.

THE nation’s most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don’t wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attaracts voracious animals.

In a Ramadan sermon that has outraged Muslim women leaders, Sydney-based Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali also alluded to the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the attackers were not entirely to blame… While not specifically referring to the rapes, brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilali said … "But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he asked.

In the religious address on adultery to about 500 worshippers in Sydney last month, Sheik Hilali said: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?   The uncovered meat is the problem."

Cell Phone and Sperm Count:  A couple of studies have linked low sperm count in men with cell phone use. One of the studies seems to suggest a correlation between reduced sperm count with prolonged time on the phone. Another study finds that carrying a cell phone in hip pockets or on holsters near the waist cuts sperms production by 30%.  Fertility experts are skeptical. There is no study of the effect of cell phones on female fertility. But most women tend to carry their phones in their purses.

The Indian Happiness Index:  A few days ago, I published a link to the book, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Utility" in which the authors correlate public contentment to well functioning public utilities. Namita Arora has a post up on his blog where he enumerates the pluses and minuses of living in India. There are several references to public utilities and other conveniences of daily life. Namit has lived in India and in many other countries. So his views have the special advantage of being an insider and an outsider to India.  (Sanjay, it is up to you now to calculate the Indian Happiness Index !)