Faith as Political Weapon * An Evening with AmanpourPolitical expediency, taking a page out of the Republicans' work book or the Democrats have seen the light and taking their faith public ? Daniel Burke in the Post: "Gone are the days when "faith outreach" meant visiting African-American churches two weeks before an election, party leaders say. Instead, Democrats are seeking -- and getting -- regular meetings with megachurch pastors T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen and Rick Warren."Excerpts:Some at Democratic Party headquarters are taking an under-the-radar approach to religious outreach and are reluctant to divulge all the party's plans and advisers. ...

Soon after President Pervez Musharraf's failed attempt to amend Pakistan's rape laws (under Hudood Ordinances) in the face of opposition from Muslim religious groups, comes news from India about a woman who was raped by her father-in-law and is now considered by some Muslim clerics and scholars to be unfit to live with her husband. Amazing that such cave-age customs are still alive and well. What is it about Islam that condones grossly repressive practices against women -- hatred or fear ? The heinous custom of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is still prevalent among Muslim communities in Sudan and other African countries. It is said to be a "cultural practice, not a religious practice".This is from Times of India: LUCKNOW: Muslim scholars and clerics in Uttar Pradesh have expressed diverse opinions over the court verdict on Imrana that sentenced her father-in-law Ali Mohammed to 10 years in jail for raping and attempting to murder her last year.While some clerics including those representing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have welcomed Thursday's order of the Muzaffarnagar district court, there were others who feel that young Imrana, mother of five children, was still not entitled to live with her husband Noor Ilahi."After being raped by her father-in-law, Imrana ceased to remain Noor Ilahi's wife. Instead she acquired the status of Ilahi's mother. So irrespective of the court order, the Shariat would not permit her to cohabit with Ilahi," Maulana Imrana, who heads the Shariat court in Muzaffarnagar, told reporters."The court verdict could not override the view of the Shariat and according to that Ilahi must leave Imrana."Said AIMPLB member and head of the Lucknow-based Firangi Mahal Islamic seminary Maulana Khalid Rashid: "I welcome the court verdict and it must be followed in true letter and spirit."While declaring Islam favours capital punishment for rapists for whom it prescribes stoning to death, he, however, did not elaborate on the key question of letting Imrana stay on with her husband."That is a question which I am not empowered to decide, it can be dealt with only by a Darul-Qaza, which is the highest Islamic court."

What did they die for and how many more must die ?Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties Chase A. Haag, 22, Army Corporal, Oct 01, 2006 Mario Nelson, 26, Army Sergeant, Oct 01, 2006 Denise A. Lannaman, 46, Army National Guard Sergeant, Oct 01, 2006 Justin D. Peterson, 32, Marine Captain, Oct 01, 2006 Christopher B. Cosgrove III, 23, Marine Reserve Lance Corporal, Oct 01, 2006 Aaron L. Seal, 23, Marine Reserve Corporal, Oct 01, 2006 Raymond S. Armijo, 22, Army Specialist, Oct 02, 2006 James D. Ellis, 25, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 02, 2006 Satieon V. Greenlee, 24, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 02, 2006 Justin R. Jarrett, 21, Army Specialist, Oct 02, 2006 Joe A. Narvaez, 25, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 02, 2006 Michael K. Oremus, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 02, 2006 Joseph W. Perry, 23, Army Sergeant, Oct 02, 2006 Kristofer C. Walker, 20, Army Specialist, Oct 02, 2006 Daniel Isshak, 25, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 03, 2006 Jonathan Rojas, 27, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 03, 2006 Dean Bright, 32, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 04, 2006 Timothy Burke, 24, Army Specialist, Oct 04, 2006 Christopher O. Moudry, 31, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 04, 2006 George R. Obourn Jr., 20, Army Specialist, Oct 04, 2006 Edward M. Garvin, 19, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 04, 2006 Benjamin S. Rosales, 20, Marine Corporal, Oct 04, 2006 Nicholas A. Arvanitis, 22, Army Corporal, Oct 06, 2006 John Edward Hale, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 06, 2006 Bradford H. Payne, 24, Marine Corporal, Oct 06, 2006 Brandon S. Asbury, 21, Army Sergeant, Oct 07, 2006 Carl W. Johnson II, 21, Army Corporal, Oct 07, 2006 Lawrence Parrish, 36, Army National Guard Sergeant, Oct 07, 2006 John Edward Wood, 37, Army National Guard Specialist, Oct 07, 2006 Shane R. Austin, 19, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 08, 2006 Timothy Fulkerson, 20, Army Specialist, Oct 08, 2006 Stephen F. Johnson, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 08, 2006 Derek W. Jones, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 08, 2006 Jeremy Scott Sandvick Monroe, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 08, 2006 Robert M. Secher, 33, Marine Captain, Oct 08, 2006 Phillip B. Williams, 21, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 09, 2006 Julian M. Arechaga, 23, Marine Sergeant, Oct 09, 2006 Jon Eric Bowman, 21, Marine Lance Corporal, Oct 09, 2006 Shelby J. Feniello, 25, Marine Private 1st Class, Oct 09, 2006 Shane T. Adcock, 27, Army Captain, Oct 11, 2006 Nicholas R. Sowinski, 25, Army Sergeant, Oct 11, 2006 Justin T. Walsh, 24, Marine Sergeant, Oct 11, 2006 Gene A. Hawkins, 24, Army Sergeant, Oct 12, 2006 Johnny K. Craver, 37, Army Lieutenant, Oct 13, 2006 Thomas J. Hewett, 22, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 13, 2006 Kenny F. Stanton Jr., 20, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 13, 2006 Leebenard E. Chavis, 21, Air Force Airman 1st Class, Oct 14, 2006 Joseph M. Kane, 35, Army Staff Sergeant, Oct 14, 2006 Charles M. King, 48, Army 1st Sergeant, Oct 14, 2006 Timothy J. Lauer, 25, Army Specialist, Oct 14, 2006 Keith J. Moore, 28, Army Private 1st Class, Oct 14, 2006 Jonathan J. Simpson, 25, Marine Sergeant, Oct 14, 2006 Jr., Lester Domenico Baroncini, 33, Army Sergeant, Oct 15, 2006 Stephen Bicknell, 19, Army Private, Oct 15, 2006 Joshua Deese, 25, Army 1st Lieutenant, Oct 15, 2006 Jonathan E. Lootens, 25, Army Sergeant, Oct 15, 2006 Mark C. Paine, 32, Army Captain, Oct 15, 2006 Brock A. Babb, 40, Marine Reserve Sergeant, Oct 15, 2006 Joshua M. Hines, 26, Marine Reserve Lance Corporal, Oct 15, 2006 Christopher E. Loudon, 23, Army 2nd Lieutenant, Oct 17, 2006 ...

The Baker Mission * Surprise Around the Corner ?Ann Telnaes - Slate Magazine"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi insurgents killed 10 U.S. soldiers in a single day, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, in the latest of a surge of attacks on American forces battling soaring sectarian violence and a Sunni Arab revolt."No secret that former secretary of state, and a friend of the Bush family, James Baker is involved in backchannel negotiations to resolve the crisis in Iraq -- pull chestnuts out of fire for Junior. The Guardian reports that leaks about the Baker Mission were timed for the midterm elections. This could be the October surprise that was expected to be sprung or an attempt to allow the president a face-saving exit from the mess he created. Can it save the Republicans ? By now American voters know enough about the Bush Administration not to be duped by this ploy but one can never tell.The GuardianOctober 18,2006A radical change in US policy over Iraq after the November elections appeared increasingly likely yesterday after reports that a bipartisan commission headed by a Bush family confidant will recommend an approach to Iran and Syria for help or a withdrawal to bases outside Iraq.The Iraq Study Group is chaired by James Baker, who was the first President Bush's secretary of state. It is not due to deliver its findings until after the congressional elections on November 7 because of their potentially explosive political impact, but the panel's proceedings have been leaked to the press.In recent interviews, Mr Baker said the group has taken no firm decisions but made it clear that the current US strategy was no longer an option. "There'll probably be some things in our report that the administration might not like," Mr Baker predicted in a TV interview. He said: "Our commission believes there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate of 'stay the course' and 'cut and run'."He made it clear he believed there should be approaches to Iraq's neighbours, including those the White House has accused of fomenting the insurgency. "I believe in talking to your enemies," he said. "Neither the Syrians nor the Iranians want a chaotic Iraq ... so maybe there is some potential for getting something other than opposition from those countries."In a BBC interview yesterday, the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, expressed support for such a move, saying it would "be the beginning of the end of terrorism".Mr Baker has also suggested that the US might have to give up its long-term war aim of democracy across the Middle East. Instead he suggested that the US define success as achieving "representative government, not necessarily democracy".According to leaks published first in the New York Sun and then in the Los Angeles Times, the Iraq Study Group, which has consulted 150 outside experts including Syrian and Iranian representatives, is focusing on two broad options.One is entitled "Stability First" and it would involve focusing the military effort on pacifying Baghdad while attempting to draw some insurgent groups into the political process and opening talks with Syria and Iran.The second has been called "Redeploy and Contain", pulling US troops back to bases outside Iraq and conducting military operations from there in support of Iraqi government forces.However they were spun, both would represent a measure of defeat for President Bush, but with a American death toll fast approaching 3,000, the new report may reflect a realisation he has no choice. Comments Anonymous — 2006-10-18 If Baker telling Bush to change tactics is the "October surprise," Rove is slipping... ...or more like finally listening to the critics that have been saying this for two years. musafir — 2006-10-20 Thank you for visiting from Japan. Comments shed light on views of readers. Not all of them support my position and that is how it should be. I was amongst those who opposed the the war before the first pair of boots landed in Iraq. We feel vindicated but the costs -- especially in human terms -- give no cause for joy.

Bob Woodward's "State of Denial" * India's Dubious Honor * Google/YouTubeIn a lead article titled Cross Eyed and Clueless, The Economist commented about Bob Woodward's "State of Denial". "Mr Woodward's critics on both left and right have complained that this is all old hat. '“We've read this book before,'” says Tony Snow, Mr Bush's press secretary. But it matters, because Mr Woodward can hardly be classified as a Bush-hater. '“Bush at War'” painted such a flattering portrait of the great leader that the Republican National Committee sold it on its website. And it matters because the Woodward publicity machine is a mighty engine. '“State of Denial'” has already sold out its first printing of 750,000 copies, and Mr Woodward is omnipresent on cable TV." Iraq continues to plague the president. Attacks against U.S. soldiers have increased; 56 more died between October 1-15. Three weeks before midterm elections, if they are having nightmares at Pennsylvania Avenue there is more than Woodward's book to account for them. Putting it mildly, the projections don't look encouraging. No less a source than the Congressional Quarterly's Weekly Report (for the period Oct.9-13) presents a bleak landscape for the G.O.P. However, Democrats have reason to be wary. The backlash against Republicans does not mean approval for Democrats; currently they are being seen as lesser of two evils and that is not something to bank on. *India Ranked No.1 In BPIBPI is the acronym for Transparency International's Bribe Payer's Index ! In a report datelined 5 October, Times of India/India Times reported "India World Leader In Greasing Palms"" LONDON/NEW DELHI: India doesn't just have loads of corruption at home, it is also the world leader in exporting graft. Months after Transparency International ranked India as among the more corrupt societies in the world, the NGO'’s Bribe Payer's Index 2006 shows that Indian exporters are more willing than their counterparts from other countries to pay overseas bribes to secure business, clinch contracts, do deals and generally get on in the world. Of the 30 countries surveyed by the index, India was the worst '— or most willing to give'— followed by China and Russia.The BPI ranked Swiss companies as least likely to use brown envelopes and backhanders to get the job done. No Asian country figures in the list of the ten cleanest countries. Japan figures eleventh followed by Singapore.While corruption exists in most countries, the degree of it varies -- the developed nations in the west generally more clean in comparison with the rest. Also, the nature of bribery is different. Here in the United States influence peddling by lobbyists is a fact of life. Award of billion-dollar contracts are based on contributions (in cash or kind) to political parties and legislators. It is a form of legalized bribery and practised at the highest levels of government.Swiss companies might not pay bribe to get contracts today but they were certainly involved in the Bofors scandal in India in the 80's (the investigation is still continuing). The Swiss banking system is known to promote and encourage stashing of money from illegal transactions, whether bribes or narcotic traffic. Switzerland has been a haven for dirty money for years. * "Down the tube"?From across the Atlantic, The Scotsman had this to say about Google's acquisition:"What if Google deal is '£880m down the tube'?BUSINESS FOCUSGRAHAM STEWARTIT SOUNDS like a tale from the dotcom boom and bust era. Technology giant buys a website that's never made a penny of profit for an eyewatering sum which it is never likely to recoup. After Google paid $1.65bn (£883m) for the video sharing site YouTube last week, analysts have been wondering whether history is about to repeat itself.While the California-based YouTube offers nothing unique in technology terms, it has one commodity which all online media companies covet: a mass audience." Comments Anonymous — 2006-10-17 Comments on the Indian BPI story. Text within quotes are excerpts from the Times story: "The BPI ranked Swiss companies as least likely to use brown envelopes and backhanders to get the job done." --> the swiss dont use 'brown envelopes', the swiss ARE a giant brown envelope, used by bribers and bribees from around the globe to pass vast monies too large to fit inside quaint brown envelopes. The swiss dont need to give bribes, their reputation preceeds them. Why mess around with brown envelopes when every drug dealer, arm dealer, war profiteer, oil baron, pimp, pusher and kleptocrat of note simply hand you the fruits of their tireless pursuits for you to squirrel away in giant underground security vaults, far from prying eyes. "The newest league table was compiled after asking 11,000 top business executives in 125 countries" --> I wonder how many of these "top business executives" were government officials with the power to hand over oil-drilling rights to foreign companies. I dont suppose Chevron and Shell won their oil rights in Nigeria in some sort of an open, transparent auction. You dont suppose the Nigerian government officials are protecting Cheveron's assets from marauding oil workers out of the goodness of their hearts. You dont suppose Mr. Nazarbayev, the president (for life) of Kazakhstan won his fortunes in a game of poker, or had the werewithal, on a government paycheck, to send his kids to expensive swiss, yes swiss, finishing schools, now do you. I wonder how many of these "top business executives" were government officials with the power to hand over arms contracts to foreign companies. Didn't we have those nice swedes filling vast trust funds controlled by certain indian politicians in return for the right sell a few hundred pieces of artillary equipment. And as for mundane items of commerce such as aircrafst and genetically modified seeds and power generation centers, Boeing does not need to hand over a brown envelope when it has the US Secretary of State making a business pitch on its behalf to recalcitrant foreign buyers; sundry private nuclear companies dont need to hand over brown envelopes to sell heavy water to third-world power generators when the threat of sanctions can be dangled; Monsanto does not need to hand over brown envelopes when the US Secretary of Commerce can make noises about your textile export quotas. Different strokes for different folks. Some people hand over brown envelopes, others simply move an aircraft carrier into your neck of the woods. -kcr

"Memory, you have the key" wrote T.S. Eliot (Rhapsody on a Windy Night, Prufrock and other Observations). There are times when memories come crowding in without explanation. I don't look for the key; it is not important.Sunday doesn't have that special meaning for me that it has for those who are employed. But on Sunday mornings I spend more time listening to music than on other days. I enjoy Bach -- both his choral and secular compositions; the blues, and unusual musicians like Anouar Brahem.Sidney Bechet is on, playing "Nobody Knows The Way I Feel Dis Mornin". Earlier I listened to Bach's Cantata BWV 82 (Ich habe genug) by the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Lieberson died of breast cancer in July 2006. She was fifty-two. Santiniketan in West Bengal, India, is a long way from the San Francisco Peninsula. Perhaps it was Lieberson and Bach's music that made me think of a friend who died there a few weeks ago. He had lung cancer, suffering from pain and the degradation that the disease causes and didn't want to continue with medication. I don't believe in an "after life", in tomb stones, or urns full of ashes. I accept the "blank certitude of death". Yet the loss of a friend is painful.....it lingers. And sometimes memories of days long past are triggered by a soundtrack on an album, a sentence in a book, or a flower in my garden.Shibji died surrounded by people who loved him. In the October 10th issue of New York Times there was an essay (Friends for Life: An Emerging Biology of Emotional Healing) by Daniel Goleman that resonated. The essay included the following:"My friend has reached that point where doctors see nothing else totry.On my last visit, he and his wife told me that he was startinghospice care. One challenge, he told me, will be channeling the river of people whowant to visit into the narrow range of hours in a week when hestill has the energy to engage them.As he said this, I felt myself tearing up, and responded: "You know,at least it's better to have this problem. So many people go throughthis all alone.He was silent for a moment, thoughtful. Then he answered softly, "You're right." *Anthropologist Theodora Kroeber ,author of Ishi In Two Worlds, was an extraordinary woman. She died of cancer on July 4, 1979. Here is a poem that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle some years back.Poem for the LivingWhen I am deadCry for me a little.Think of me sometimesBut not too much.It is not good for youOr for your wife or your husbandOr your childrenTo allow your thoughts to dwellToo long on the Dead.Think of me now and againAs I was in lifeAt some momentit is pleasant to recall.But not for long.Leave me in peaceAs I shall leaveyou, too, in peace.While you liveLet your thoughts be withthe Living.---Theodora KroeberLorraine Hunt LiebersonBach Cantatas BWV 82 and BWV 199Craig Smith, ConductorOrchestra of Emmanuel MusicLabel: Nonesuch

Ogden Nash's Senator SmootThe inimitable Ogden Nash wrote about uptight Republicans 75 years ago. Watching them in action today makes it apparent that they haven't changed much. If anything, they have gotten worse as they strut around blathering about moral values."Senator Smoot (Republican, Ut.)Is planning a ban on smutOh rooti-ti-toot for Smoot of Ut.And his reverent occiput.Smite. Smoot, smite for Ut.,Grit your molars and do your dut.,Gird up your l--ns,Smite h-p and th-gh,We'll all be KansasBy and By." -- Ogden Nash, "Invocation," 1931 * Foaming at the MouthRemember the late Spiro Agnew's "Nattering nabobs of negativism" ? Spiro Agnew was Richard Nixon's vice president until he resigned after pleading "no contest" to charges of tax fraud. He will be remembered for his attack of the administration's critics in a speech on September 11, 1970, at Republican State Convention in San Diego, California. The journalist William Saffire is reported to be the author of the phrase. "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the 'hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history'." Music to my ears. Usually Vice President Cheney plays the attack-dog role but our commander-in-chief has been going a bit shrill against his critics. R. Jeffrey Smith in the Washington Post: "But a survey of transcripts from Bush's public remarks over the past seven years shows the president's worsening political predicament has actually stoked, rather than diminished, his desire to proclaim what he cannot abide. Some presidential scholars and psychologists describe the trend as a signpost of Bush's rising frustration with his declining influence. Watch the bloodpressure.In the first nine months of this year, Bush declared more than twice as many events or outcomes "unacceptable" or "not acceptable" as he did in all of 2005, and nearly four times as many as he did in 2004. He is, in fact, at a presidential career high in denouncing events he considers intolerable. They number 37 so far this year, as opposed to five in 2003, 18 in 2002 and 14 in 2001.Through a spokesman and then in a televised statement, he declared North Korea's claimed nuclear test "unacceptable" before and after it occurred Oct. 9. But he could also be heard on Jan. 9 lecturing students at an elementary school in Glen Burnie, Md., that their recent scores on math and reading proficiency tests were "unacceptable."Having a president call something "unacceptable" is not the same as having him order U.S. troops into action. But foreign policy experts say the word is one of the strongest any leader can deploy, since it both broadcasts a national position and conveys an implicit threat to take action if his warnings are disregarded.Bush's use of the term "reflects in some ways his frustration with a world that doesn't seem as amenable to his policies as he would like them to be," said Stanley A. Renshon, a political scientist at the City University of New York. Bush "has strong views; he believes in doing what is right. All of those things give an emotional force to his response" to events he often sees and describes without nuance.

Iraq - The Bombshell from Britain * The Gorilla On Bush's BackIf British forces pull out of Iraq that would be much more than the proverbial 'straw' that breaks the camel's back. It is no secret that the much-vaunted "coalition" in the war against Iraq consisted mainly of British and American forces. Australia still has a presence -- a somewhat insignificant presence -- total of under 2000 armed personnel. Poland and Italy have announced withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2006. Therefore, British army chief Sir Richard Dannatt's blunt statement for withdrawal from Iraq must have sent shockwaves all the way across the Atlantic. Stretched, as the American soldiers now are, without support of the British army their situation would be untenable."Dannat's comments are certain to infuriate Prime Minister Tony Blair who is President Bush's key ally in the war in Iraq. He described Blair's policy toward Iraq as "naive." No doubt Downing Street will issue clarifications and assurances. But Sir Richard's statement is on record. No amount of dancing around it will lessen its impact.U.K. Troops in Iraq Said Hurt SituationThe Associated Press/Washington PostThursday, October 12, 2006; 5:59 PMLONDON -- The head of the British Army said British troops in Iraq are making the situation worse and must leave the country soon, according to a newspaper interview published Thursday.The British military should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems," Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt told the Daily Mail in the interview released on the tabloid's Web site."We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear," he added. "As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time."Dannat's comments are certain to infuriate Prime Minister Tony Blair who is President Bush's key ally in the war in Iraq. He described Blair's policy toward Iraq as "naive."It is highly unusual for a sitting military commander to publicly criticize the government's foreign policy."Whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance," he said."In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, Gen Dannatt said the continuing military presence in Iraq was jeopardising British security and interests around the world."See detailed report in The Guardian.

Midterm Elections * The Unaware (of Guns in Schools) PresidentThe message is loud and clear. The voters have had enough of the party in power and its arrogance; its unhealthy relationship with the lobbyists of 'K' Street; and its "bridge to nowhere" pork-barrel legislations. Twentysix days before mid-term elections there can be no doubt about the Republicans' fall from grace. They are vulnerable and they know it. The fear is palpable. Even the God-factor is not doing them much good. Now,as David Broder commented in his column in the Post, all that remains is for the voters to 'pull the trigger'. "The old theater adage demands that if you show a pistol in Act 1, you'd better fire the gun in Act 3. That same wisdom applies to politics. The voters have been pointing a symbolic gun at the Republican regime in Washington for many months now. All that remains is for them to pull the trigger on Election Day."When you examine the latest round of preelection polls, what is striking is the stability of public attitudes over the preceding months. In this week's Post-ABC News poll, for example, President Bush has a job approval score of 39 percent, with 60 percent disapproving. Eleven months earlier, in November 2005, the scores were identical. ...

Thirty Days Before Midterm Elections A typical October in the San Francisco Bay area. A few showers followed by warm, sunny days. The leaves,however, make it clear that it is fall. You don't see piles of them under the trees yet but the colors have started to turn. A friend who recently returned from a trip to Eastern Sierra and Nevada said that the fall colors were "spectacular". Here in the Silicon Valley we rarely see that kind of foliage but there are pockets of blazing colors along Skyline that can surprise hikers and drivers. ...