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*The Morality Brigade from MadrasaPakistan's President Musharraf has a new problem to deal with. Female students from Jamia Hafsa Madrasa, an Islamic school, brought attention to his government's failure to curb immorality by raiding a massage parlor and taking hostages. General Musharraf's administration is far from clean but the action of the morality brigade makes one think of the stone ages. My Iraqi blogger friend would say "Ya Habibi".The New York Times:Militant Students Capture Masseuses to Make a PointBy JANE PERLEZISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 24 — Dressed from head to toe in an all-enveloping black burka, Umm-e-Okasha joined a pack of students from her militant Islamic school on Friday night, and at midnight they drove to a massage parlor here in the Pakistani capital and rang the bell.“There were about 25 Chinese women, dressed only in underpants and bras,” recalled Ms. Okasha, 24, a muscular high-school badminton champion who had shed her black garb for soft mauves, her face uncovered, during an interview inside the women-only confines of the school. “They scattered, but we managed to grab five.”The vigilantes, including students from an affiliated school for men, shoved the skimpily clad Chinese masseuses into a car, gave them shawls for modesty and hauled them back to the school as hostages, she said.Under pressure from Pakistan’s government, concerned about maintaining its friendly relations with China, the school released the Chinese masseuses on Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours later.

* The brouhaha over the Danish cartoons is a thing of the past, so Islamic fundamentalists needed another cause. They found it.....in the Queen's birthday honours list! The author Salman Rushdie was awarded a knighthood. The awards might mean something to the citizens of the United Kingdom. The rest of the world does not give them much attention; they are a relic of the days when Britannia ruled the world. But to some rabble-rousing mullahs it was an opportunity to issue the call to the faithful to rise against the infidels and they responded in the usual fashion. Let's hope that saner voices in the Muslim communities would prevail over the fanatics.Excerpts from a report in The Guardian:While some British Muslims protested against the award of a knighthood to the writer Salman Rushdie yesterday, amid reports of strikes and demonstrations in India, Iran and Pakistan, others distanced themselves from the effigy-burning and calls for violent reprisals.About 20 demonstrators protested at Regents Park mosque in London after prayers yesterday afternoon. Men with their faces covered to avoid identification waved placards, one of which read "God curse the Queen", and shouted slogans."We've come to demonstrate against the apostate Salman Rushdie," said one. "He has insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Salman Rushdie is the devil. We have a responsibility - he should be punished, he should be attacked. We should not be afraid of the kuffar [non-believer]. They say Tony Blair is going to be sent to the Middle East as a peace envoy. We hope he comes back in a box."The protesters also burned a homemade St George's flag, to the cheers of some and the dismay others. "It is disrespectful to behave like this outside a mosque," said Mohammed Ahmed, a 24-year-old part-time charity worker. "This protest will do nothing to change the negative perceptions people have about our religion."Mosque staff also distanced themselves from the demonstration. "We do not sanction this protest or the views they are expressing," said a woman from the director general's office.*In Srinagar, in India, shops and offices were closed yesterday in protest. In Iran, worshippers at Tehran university chanted "death to the English" as clerics claimed the fatwa against Rushdie was still in force.

* More Collateral Damage in Afghanistan * Blues On BachYesterday, the morning after Father's Day, the following news item made me pause and think about the slaughter of innocents that is taking place while major powers go about establishing democracy (that is what they say) in various parts of the world. If that is their objective it is often not supported by facts. One gets the feeling there is more to it. Seven children in a school building in Zarghun Shah, in the province of Paktika, Afghanistan, got blown up. Officials issued the usual platitudes. No doubt there will be some appropriate noise from Prime Minister Karzai. He is a puppet, powerless to do anything and the world knows it. What has become evident during the past years of warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan is that to us the loss of civilian lives there does not mean much. It is almost as if they are lesser human beings. There is no outcry; the public remains apathetic; the media gives such news scant coverage. And the insurgents, whoever they are -- fundos, Taliban, al-Qaeda, get more recruits to fight for their cause.Fisnik Abrashi, Associated PressJune 18, 2007KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition jets bombed a compound suspected of housing al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing seven boys and several insurgents, officials said Monday.Clashes in the south left dozens more suspected insurgents dead, officials saidExcerpts:Paktika Gov. Akram Akhpelwak said there normally is strong coordination between the government and the coalition and NATO, but that he was not made aware of the missile strike on the madrassa beforehand, resulting in the death of seven boys, ages 10 to 16.Local authorities are working with NATO and coalition troops "to have better coordination and to not have these misunderstandings, but today we had a misunderstanding and the people will be unhappy," Akhpelwak told The Associated Press by telephone. "We will go to the area and discuss the issue with the people and apologize to the people."Coalition troops had "surveillance on the compound all day and saw no indications there were children inside the building," said Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition spokesman. He accused the militants of not letting the children leave the compound that was targeted."If we knew that there were children inside the building, there was no way that that airstrike would have occurred," said Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, another coalition spokesman.The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it has sent a team with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission to investigate.Afghan officials have recently said that civilian deaths are the main concern of Afghans, and President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called for foreign troops to do more to prevent civilian casualties.*Listening to Blues On Bach by Modern Jazz Quartet. The disc includes Tears from the Children based on Prelude No.8 from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.John Lewis, Piano and HarpsichordMilt Jackson, VibraharpPercy Heath, BassConnie Kay, Drums and PercussionLabel: AtlanticASIN: B000002I6B

*And a ButterflyFather's Day came and went. Summer Solstice is three days away. We have had a few days when daytime temp. went well over 90°F but, overall, June has been unusually cool. Here in the San Francisco Peninsula there are still some wild flowers to be found. The display at Russian Ridge, however, has been far from spectacular due to sparsity of rainfall.Purisima Creek Redwoods PreserveCanopy of Redwood Trees ©Musafir 5-28-07Yellow Lupine ©Musafir 5-28-07Serrated Onion ©Musafir 5-28-07White Thimbleberry ©Musafir 5-28-07Scotch Broom ©Musafir 5-28-07Horse Parsley ©Musafir 5-28-07Blue Eyed Grass©Musafir 5-28-07Wild Iris ©Musafir 5-28-07Variable Checkerspot ©Musafir 5-28-07 * Palo Alto Foothills Park - Los Trancos TrailMorning Glory ©Musafir 6-6-07Common Bluecup©Musafir 6-6-07Indian Pink ©Musafir 6-6-07Mustang Mint ©Musafir 6-6-07Clarkia (Farewell to Spring)©Musafir 6-6-07Long Ridge - Peters Creek Loop TrailVetch©Musafir 6-10-07Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) trees in bloom ©Musafir 6-10-07Columbines ©Musafir 6-10-07"The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life."--- Jean Giradoux

* The Ugly, Depressing Truth Behind the Praise for the TroopsDana Priest and Anne Hull -- the same team that exposed the terrible conditions at Walter Reed in February -- have collaborated on another report published in the Washington Post today. This time it is about the lack of care for veterans suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) . There are thousands of them caught in the bureaucratic jungle. Some have given up seeking help. The next time you hear the president or a politician talk about the sacrifice of our soldiers, think about what is being done for them when they return home wounded physically and/or mentally.ExcerptsArmy Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents' home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone.But a "black shadow" had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children.In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.*Veterans Affairs will spend $2.8 billion this year on mental health. But the best it could offer Cruz was group therapy at the Bronx VA medical center. Not a single session is held on the weekends or late enough at night for him to attend. At age 25, Cruz is barely keeping his life together. He supports his disabled parents and 4-year-old son and cannot afford to take time off from his job repairing boilers. The rough, dirty work, with its heat and loud noises, gives him panic attacks and flesh burns but puts $96 in his pocket each day.Once celebrated by his government, Cruz feels defeated by its bureaucracy. He no longer has the stamina to appeal the VA decision, or to make the Army correct the sloppy errors in his medical records or amend his personnel file so it actually lists his combat awards.*By this spring, the number of vets from Afghanistan and Iraq who had sought help for post-traumatic stress would fill four Army divisions, some 45,000 in all.They occupy every rank, uniform and corner of the country. People such as Army Lt. Sylvia Blackwood, who was admitted to a locked-down psychiatric ward in Washington after trying to hide her distress for a year and a half ; and Army Pfc. Joshua Calloway, who spent eight months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and left barely changed from when he arrived from Iraq in handcuffs; and retired Marine Lance Cpl. Jim Roberts, who struggles to keep his sanity in suburban New York with the help of once-a-week therapy and a medicine cabinet full of prescription drugs; and the scores of Marines in California who were denied treatment for PTSD because the head psychiatrist on their base thought the diagnosis was overused.*They represent the first wave in what experts say is a coming deluge.As many as one-quarter of all soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq are psychologically wounded, according to a recent American Psychological Association report. Twenty percent of the soldiers in Iraq screened positive for anxiety, depression and acute stress, an Army study found.But numbers are only part of the problem. The Institute of Medicine reported last month that Veterans Affairs' methods for deciding compensation for PTSD and other emotional disorders had little basis in science and that the evaluation process varied greatly. And as they try to work their way through a confounding disability process, already-troubled vets enter a VA system that chronically loses records and sags with a backlog of 400,000 claims of all kinds.

*A Cardinal of the Catholic Church issued an edict to the faithful to stop contributing to Amnesty International because of its support of abortion rights. It is no different than fatwas issued by Islamic mullahs when they perceive something to be against their interpretation of the sharia (Islamic law). It must be welcome news for the Bush Administration which has been very active in taking away not only women's right to choose but also in restricting means of birth control and propagation of sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. The holier than thou hypocrites have a simple message: "Don't do it." Did they commit what President Bush once described as youthful indiscretions? Don't ask. The GuardianA senior Vatican cardinal said yesterday that Catholics should stop donating to human rights group Amnesty International because of its new policy advocating abortion rights for women if they had been raped, were a victim of incest or faced health risks. Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, accused Amnesty of turning its back on its mission to defend human rights. Comments Anonymous — 2007-06-14 This really makes me sad ... Currently, I am enrolled in a Catholic course called "Just Faith" ..that our faith must encompass social justice..what is just about this? But hopefully, most Catholics will do what we do with a lot of other stuff the Pope and the Vatican say... just ignore it..This Catholic will

* What do the Albanians know that we don't ?You could've knocked me down with a feather. Albanians like George Bush. No, Albanians love George Bush. Perhaps the only place on earth where he received praise. After being booed everywhere he went it must have given his ego a much-needed boost. What is he going to do when he returns to Washington,D.C ? He always claimed he paid no attention to polls. Now, with the Albanians solidly behind him, the president wouldn't give a hoot about what we Americans think of him and his presidency.Jennifer Loven, Associated PressJune 10, 2006Nearing the end of an eight-day trip, Bush got a hero's reception in this desperately poor country, still struggling to recover from being cut off from the rest of the world for four decades under the harsh rule of dictator Enver Hoxha. Hoxha died in 1985, and Albania emerged from isolation in 1990 but still is one of Europe's most impoverished lands.Cannons boomed salutes from mountains overlooking the capital. Huge banners proclaimed "Proud to be Partners," and billboards read "President Bush in Albania Making History."At home, Bush's job approval rating stands at its all-time low. But here, Prime Minister Sali Berisha said Bush was Albania's "greatest and most distinguished guest we have ever had in all times."Throngs of people grasped Bush's hands, arms and fingers on the streets of Fushe Kruje, a small town near the airport where he stopped to chat in a cafe with business owners. Unused to such adoring crowds in America, Bush reveled in the attention. He kissed women on the cheek, posed for pictures and signed autographs. Someone reached out and rubbed his gray hair."Bushie, Bushie," people shouted. Some of the business people have received small loans under U.S. government programs.The scene was uncharacteristically wild for a presidential crowd. Bush spokesman Dana Perino said later that the Secret Service assured Bush's safety, as always. "If they didn't think the president was safe, obviously they wouldn't have put him in that position," she said."Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense."---The Mock Turtle, Alice in Wonderland

* I. "Scooter" Libby Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for LyingIf it were not for the appointment of Patrick J. Fitzgerald as special counsel to investigate the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, Mr. Libby would have continued to serve his boss, the vice president, and hatch plots/strategies to support the war in Iraq which they foisted on our nation.Mr. Libby could still escape time in prison if he is pardoned by the president. One gets the feeling that the president is sympathetic. After all he,too, played a role in hyping Iraq's non-existent WMD to justify the war and it was former ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of Valerie Plame, who incurred the wrath of the warmongers by his op-ed article in The New York Times. Perhaps the only thing deterring President Bush from granting a pardon is his abysmal rating in the polls. Pardoning Libby isn't going to make him look good, especially after what U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said: "He acknowledged Libby had been a public servant for years, foregoing income he could have obtained in private practice. But, the judge noted, "we expect a lot" of senior government officials. Libby's high position, Walton remarked, came with high obligations. Walton derided the attacks launched by Libby partisans and commentators against the CIA leak investigation, the trial, and the verdict. "The evidence overwhelmingly indicates Mr. Libby's culpability," he declared. He blasted Libby for discussing Valerie Wilson with reporters without considering that she might have been an undercover officer. "Government officials must realize," he said, "if they're going to step over the line...there are consequences." Source: Yahoo NewsThe president,however, might succumb to pressure from Vice President Cheney and other conservatives. As the saying goes, on this issue he is between the proverbial a rock and a hard place. He is probably praying for Libby to succeed in staying out of prison until the 2008 election as the appeals process moves through the courts.The late Senator William J. Fullbright was a giant. The fact that he supported racial segregation is a black mark against him. He was an outspoken critic of the war against Vietnam, and his 1966 book Arrogance of Power, is a classic.Reading about Libby's jail sentence reminded me of passages from the book.The attitude above all others which I feel sure is no longer valid is the arrogance of power, the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission. The dilemmas involved are preeminently American dilemmas, not because America has weaknesses that others do not have but because America is powerful as no nation has ever been before and the discrepancy between its power and the power of others appears to be increasing....We are now engaged in a war to "defend freedom" in South Vietnam. Unlike the Republic of Korea, South Vietnam has an army which [is] without notable success and a weak, dictatorial government which does not command the loyalty of the South Vietn amese people. The official war aims of the United States Government, as I understand them, are to defeat what is regarded as North Vietnamese aggression, to demonstrate the futility of what the communists call "wars of national liberation," and to create conditions under which the South Vietnamese people will be able freely to determine their own future. I have not the slightest doubt of the sincerity of the President and the Vice President and the Secretaries of State and Defense in propounding these aims. What I do doubt - and doubt very much - is the ability of the United States to achieve these aims by the means being used. I do not question the power of our weapons and the efficiency of our logistics; I cannot say these things delight me as they seem to delight some of our officials, but they are certainly impressive. What I do question is the ability of the United States, or France or any other Western nation, to go into a small, alien, undeveloped Asian nation and create stability where there is chaos, the will to fight where there is defeatism, democracy racy where there is no tradition of it and honest government where corruption is almost a way of life. Our handicap is well expressed in the pungent Chinese proverb: "In shallow waters dragons become the sport of shrimps."The Bushies, of course, remain oblivious. They live in a sort of dreamland of their making. But lately things have not been going well for them.....perhaps occasional nightmares haunt their sleep.

*Latest polls reflect the growing dissatisfaction over Iraq. It seems as though the Democrats' period in the sun is fading fast. They failed to counter the president's tactics -- that funding cut off would leave our soldiers out on a limb. Republican lawmakers, of course, stood solidly behind the president. So, they got the money to continue.....for a while. 18 more soldiers died in the first four days of June. Source: Iraq Coalition CasualtiesWashington PostGrowing frustration with the performance of the Democratic Congress, combined with widespread public pessimism over President Bush's temporary troop buildup in Iraq, has left satisfaction with the overall direction of the country at its lowest point in more than a decade, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.Almost six in 10 Americans said they do not think the additional troops sent to Iraq since the beginning of the year will help restore civil order there, and 53 percent -- a new high in Post-ABC News polls -- said they do not believe that the war has contributed to the long-term security of the United States.Disapproval of Bush's performance in office remains high, but the poll highlighted growing disapproval of the new Democratic majority in Congress. Just 39 percent said they approve of the job Congress is doing, down from 44 percent in April, when the new Congress was about 100 days into its term. More significant, approval of congressional Democrats dropped 10 percentage points over that same period, from 54 percent to 44 percent.Much of that drop was fueled by lower approval ratings of the Democrats in Congress among strong opponents of the war, independents and liberal Democrats. While independents were evenly split on the Democrats in Congress in April (49 percent approved, 48 percent disapproved), now 37 percent said they approved and 54 percent disapproved. Among liberal Democrats, approval of congressional Democrats dropped 18 points.Bush's overall job-approval rating stands at 35 percent, unchanged from April.Many Democratic activists have complained that the 2006 midterm election results represented a call for a course change in Iraq and that so far the Democratic-controlled Congress has failed to deliver.Then there is the high cost of gasoline. We are heading for a summer of discontent.Washington PostAmong the nearly three-quarters of Americans expressing a pessimistic viewpoint, about one in five blamed the war for their negative outlook, and about the same ratio mentioned the economy, gas prices, jobs or debt as the main reason for their dissatisfaction with the country's direction. Eleven percent cited "problems with Bush," and another 11 percent said "everything" led them to their negative opinion.The Congressman Who kept $90,000 in his home freezerDemocratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana has been indicted on bribery charges. From what is known, he followed the path of some Republican lawmakers who are now paying for their venality. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are reported to be "strongly" supportive of Rep. Jefferson.If convicted on all counts, Jefferson could face more than 200 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines the term would probably be much less. The 94-page indictment details 11 alleged bribery and fraud schemes involving his business interests in at least seven West African countries, including telecommunications deals in Nigeria and Ghana, oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea, waste-recycling systems in Nigeria and the Nigerian sugar plant for which he sought Export-Import Bank financing.

*News about arrest of Robert A. Soloway caused quite a few headlines in the past week. "Soloway, 27, used his empire of hijacked "zombie" computers to send tens of millions of unsolicited e-mail messages over the past four years, prosecutors allege. Described as a spammer since he was a teenager, he allegedly covered his digital tracks using Chinese servers, fabricated Web sites and the purloined identities of hundreds of Internet users whose names and e-mail addresses were slapped on the bulk mailings. He opened and closed bank accounts faster than creditors could track them, prosecutors said." - The Washington PostSoloway and others like him certainly deserve to be punished. But it would be naive to think that our computers would be spam-free after he is put behind bars. Spam is here to stay not only because it provides a source of livelihood to unscrupulous people but also because there are millions of computer users who, for some reason, open spam. Call it an irresistible impulse -- the hope of getting something for nothing or for a pittance. The baits range from winning lottery tickets in UK; unclaimed million dollar bank accounts waiting for you in Nigeria; cheap drugs without prescription for erectile dysfunction, to amorous females pining for your company. We read about victims of spam being mostly the lonely, elderly people who are not savvy about the Internet. Yes, there are those but there are many others. If most of the victims were ignorant or senile retirees the spammers would have gone out of business a long time ago. The number of such victims is not large enough to sustain the multi-million dollar business in which spammers are engaged. And it is a global scourge.Before Alan J. Soloway there were other "spam kings". Sanford Wallace thrived in spamming back in the 90's. In 2005, Scott Richter settled a $7 million law suit by Microsoft. Then there was the case of Alan M. Ralsky (I"m not a spammer," Ralsky said. "I'm a commercial e-mailer.") of West Bloomfield, Michigan. Before long a new kid will appear to claim Soloway's mantle.Now, go open the message from Violet M. Box (I'm waiting for you) or from SCC (Our company has announced additional openings for new employees). Good luck."There is a sucker born every minute"---Joseph Bessimer or David Hannum