A VERY SCARY DREAM WITH HOPE AND WARNING!!

 
LONDON: Ariel Sharon arrived on Monday in New Delhi bearing arms, or more precisely, $1bn worth Israeli spy planes. In doing so, the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to the subcontinent threatens not only to accelerate the arms race between nuclear rivals, India and Pakistan , but also marks the emergence of a new US-backed coalition of the willing in a region whose influence stretches from the Bay of Bengal to the Dead Sea. The 150-strong Israeli delegation underlines how far both countries have travelled since they established full diplomatic relations with each other in 1992. But it was the re-ordering of the world since 9/11 that has seen both nations' interest converge to such an extent the Delhi government's national security adviser speaks of America, Israel and India being part of an "alliance (which) would have the political will and moral authority to take bold decisions in extreme cases of terrorist provocation". Seen in this light, Sharon's visit is a triumph for the Bush administration and India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, which rose to power after its footsoldiers wrecked a 16th- century mosque in northern India and sparked religious riots across the country 10 years ago. Whereas once India, the world's biggest democracy, was the self-styled leader of the third world and lectured rich nations about ills of colonialism and perils of capitalism it now acts much like any other nation: as a selfish state pursuing its own interests above all others. This modus vivendi has been cast while India's political conversation of has become dominated by the perceived threat of terrorism. These changes, coupled with peace deals between Israel and Arab neighbours Egypt and Jordan, have made it easier for New Delhi's historic antagonism towards Israel to be replaced with more friendly relations. Diplomats say New Delhi's support for the Palestinian movement remains undimmed - India was the first non-Arab nation to recognize Palestine's independence and first country to offer the PLO an embassy - but it is more muted than in the past. Without a lasting peace in the Middle East, India, which imports a quarter of its oil requirements from the Gulf and has 3 million citizens working there, will not give up casting its ballots with the pro-Arab majority at the UN against Israel. But after Sharon's visit, New Delhi is unlikely to be leading the criticism. India, despite being home to a third of the world's poor, spends $2bn annually on Israeli military equipment. This figure is set to rise - and will see Israel replace Russia as India's biggest arms supplier. On India's shopping list are three Phalcon airborne early warning systems - an Israeli version of America's Awacs jets - and the $2.5bn anti-ballistic Arrow missile. Both operate with hi-tech US components and sale of these require Washington's assent. Significantly the Bush administration has given a green light for deal involving the Phalcon spy planes, which would enable India to survey secretly Pakistan. It is worth noting that when China asked to buy the same system, Washington blocked the purchase. India has yet to secure permission for the Arrow system, which many fear might see Pakistan expanding its ballistic arsenal. Again the decision will not be made in New Delhi or Tel Aviv but in America. Although India risked US ire ever since it conducted its first overt test of nuclear weapons in 1998, the arrival of George Bush in the White House made it easier for New Delhi to promote itself as America's "natural ally". The turning point was the Bush initiative on national missile defence, an ambitious but unproven space-based shield. This was met with suspicion by Russia, New Delhi's old patron, but embraced by India's defence establishment, who were worried about nuclear weapons spreading to groups of terrorists not bound by international treaties on nuclear deterrence. As Indian analyst C. Raja Mohan in his book, Crossing the Rubcion, notes "India seized the opportunities opened by the Bush administration's comprehensive overhaul of the notions of arms control and nuclear deterrence". This does not mean that the US and India see eye to eye about all things: India's refusal to send 20,000 troops to Iraq without a UN mandate angered many in Washington. Also New Delhi's warm relations with Iran perplexes George Bush's team. Still the benefits of engagement with Tel Aviv have not gone unnoticed by Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel. President General Pervez Musharraf recently called for a debate on whether relations should be established with the Jewish state. It would certainly be a coup for Sharon if a Muslim nation of Pakistan's size were to recognize Israel. For now Pakistan is warning of the dangers of close Indian- Israeli engagement - which have already seen New Delhi supplied with surface-to-air missiles, robot drones and unmanned aerial vehicles for use along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Coming so soon after Britain's own decision to sell $1.5bn of Hawk jets, Israel's new arms deals underlines how lucrative new the markets in Asia have become. A cross party group of British MPs earlier this year raised concerns about UK arms exports to India and Pakistan, questioning whether the government took "sufficiently into account the risk of regional instability on the subcontinent when making export-licensing decisions". It appears the risks of arms sales have been eclipsed by the diplomatic opportunities they offer.-Dawn/The Guardian News Service.

[View/Post Comments]   posted by aziz @ 9:27 PM

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH OF THE U.S.A REFUSES TO LEGALIZE FILTHY SCUM GAY MARRIAGES !!!!!!!   BRAVO TO PRESIDENT BUSH!!!! GOD BLESS HIM !!!

Bush says he is exploring legal steps to define marriage as a union between man and woman By Scott Lindlaw ASSOCIATED PRESS 2:49 p.m., July 30, 2003 WASHINGTON – President Bush said Wednesday he respects homosexuals but draws the line at gay weddings, and he disclosed that government lawyers are exploring measures to legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. "I think it is very important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts, to be a welcoming country," Bush said. "On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage," he added. "I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman, and I think we ought to codify that one way or the other." Bush said, "That is the definition of marriage, and we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that." His remarks seemed to signal a shift from his position earlier this month, when he said a constitutional ban on gay marriage that has been proposed in the House might not be needed. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., was the main sponsor of a proposal to amend the Constitution to read: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman." It was referred on June 25 to the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution. Bush ran as a "compassionate conservative" in 2000, and is still trying to bridge the gap between his conservative base and critical swing voters. Some advisers fear any hint of intolerance will alienate middle-of-the-road Americans. Recent polls have shown that just over half of Americans oppose gay marriage, and about four in 10 support it. "I am mindful that we're all sinners, and I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own," the president said, invoking a biblical passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew. Despite his calibrated language, Bush's statement touched off passionate responses from groups with an interest in the issue. "There is a real movement for same-sex marriage, and if the president doesn't intervene, and if he doesn't take leadership in this area, we could lose marriage in this country the way we know it," said Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the son of the Rev. Billy Graham. "I think the president is doing the right thing." The Rev. Pat Robertson agreed. Both ministers spoke in Orlando, Fla. at the memorial service for Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright. "I applaud the president's movement on this," Robertson said. "I think it's absolutely important that the American people defend the institution of marriage. It's foundational to our entire society, and I think in order (for) this to be effective, it's going to have to be a constitutional amendment." Gay-rights activists took offense at Bush's comment that "we're all sinners," interpreting the remark as directed at them. "While we respect President Bush's religious views, it is unbecoming of the president of the United States to characterize same-sex couples as 'sinners,'" said Matt Foreman, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's executive director. "It's also sad that, at a moment in history that cries out for leadership and moral courage, President Bush has instead opted for the divisive, anti-gay politics of the past." White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had not meant to single out homosexuals as "sinners." "The president doesn't believe in casting stones. He believes we ought to treat one another with dignity and respect," McClellan said. The Human Rights Campaign, which says it is the nation's largest gay and lesbian political group, called Bush's exploration of a law on gay marriage a "call to codify discrimination." In 1996, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages and allowed states to ignore same-sex unions licensed elsewhere. Bush's aides have said they are studying ways to strengthen the law. "We ask the president to explain to the American people why DOMA does not already meet the objective he set this morning," the Human Rights Campaign said. The group also pointed to a statement by Vice President Dick Cheney that suggested he had a different view than Bush's. Asked during an October 2000 debate whether homosexuals should have all the constitutional rights enjoyed by each American citizen, Cheney said: "I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area." "People should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It's really no one else's business, in terms of trying to regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard," Cheney said. Cheney's daughter Mary is a lesbian.

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DIVORCE VIA CELL PHONE !!!!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian (Reuters) -- Malaysian Muslim men can divorce their wives through text messages on mobile telephones, the New Straits Times daily reported on Saturday, quoting a religious adviser to the government.

Hamid Othman, adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said divorce via SMS or short messaging service was in accordance with sharia law if it was clear and unambiguous.

"SMS is just another form of writing," the daily quoted Hamid as saying, following an Islamic court decision on Thursday that ruled in favor of a man who served divorce on his wife using SMS.

Islamic law permits a man to divorce his wife by declaring "I divorce you" three times.

 
Pop legend Michael Jackson on Monday slammed a new bill that seeks prison time for file-swappers, arguing that music fans are the ones who drive the success of the music industry. "I am speechless about the idea of putting music fans in jail for downloading music. It is wrong to illegally download, but the answer cannot be jail," Jackson said in response to legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday by John Conyers (D.-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D.-Calif.) that would make illegal file swapping a felony. The Authors, Consumer and Computer Owners Protection and Security Act of 2003 (ACCOPS Act) carries penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for uploading a copyrighted file to a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Jackson, the former child phenom who ruled the pop music charts in the 1980s, called on the music industry and consumers to find a solution together. "Here in America we create new opportunities out of adversity, not punitive laws and we should look to new technologies, like Apple's new Music Store for solutions. This way innovation continues to be the hallmark of America. It is the fans that drive the success of the music business; I wish this would not be forgotten," he said. The ACCOPS Act also bans the practice of videotaping a movie in a theater and calls for an additional $5 million to augment the current $10 million allocated to the Justice Department to investigate copyright crimes. The bill requires that file-sharing sites get consumer consent before searching a computer for content or to store files. In addition, the legislation would enable better information sharing between countries about copyright piracy. A further provision of the bill would make it a federal offense to provide false information when registering a domain name.

[View/Post Comments]   posted by aziz @ 7:26 AM

 
KARACHI, July 9: The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan is on a collision course with the Pakistan Telecommunication Company over frequent suspension of Internet connectivity. Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, the Ispak secretary, V.A. Abidi, took the phone utility to task over its inability to resolve what he termed the recurring problem promptly. He disclosed that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the city had suffered a loss of approximately five million rupees because of the PTCL fault. He added that those who were into e-commerce must have suffered more losses. He urged the government to involve the private sector while formulating a strategy to resolve the problem once and for all. Mr Abidi said: "It is a great pity that the PTCL has been trying to downplay the issue of frequent suspension of Internet connectivity. A top-ranking PTCL official said that only voice traffic was affected during the breakdown of the Internet network last Monday. This is wrong and misleading." He referred to an email sent by the PTCL network operations centre to ISPs which says: "We highly regret the inconvenience for the interruption in services due to yesterday's heavy rain and storm, causing the following outages: SMW3 cable damage at hawks bay outage from 1540 July 7 till 0723 July 8 and antenna problem at Dahmandro Earth Station outage from 1805 July 7 till 0711 July 8. All circuits have been restored and are working well." Mr Abidi said that if both the networks were down, how could the PTCL suggest that only voice traffic was affected. He pointed out that the suspension of Internet connectivity did not only affect consumers in the country. "All those who want to be in touch with Pakistanis from abroad lose their contact. The PTCL often says that because of a suspension in Internet connectivity users browsing the Internet face problems. They must realize that the Internet is not all about surfing. Money transactions also take place through the Internet. And people all over the world place orders through the Internet." Mr Abidi demanded that the private sector be allowed to set us four telecommunication gateways in the country. "India allowed eight gateways to be established in the private sector four years ago. The department entrusted with the task of keeping Internet connectivity operational should be outsourced to Ispak. We will ensure no loss of revenue and adequate efficiency of manpower and protect the system from internal and external cyber attacks." He said that the episode brought to light the inability of the PTCL to look after modern systems yet another time. "It is understandable that the PTCL does not have another undersea cable, because it is very expensive. However, it does not stand to reason why the PTCL does not have a spare critical unit whose breakdown results in the suspension of Internet connectivity." He recalled that an accident in the same area had brought about the suspension of Internet connectivity in the past. "The PTCL should have marked the area as vulnerable and sought to shift the cable to some other locality. But this was not done. Routing this all-important fibre cable with such high capacity through a 16-year-old duct of a non-significant analog single digit connection is a poor example of planning. Throughout the suspension period last Monday the PTCL did not the real cause of the breakdown till a patrolling party saw the old duct sunken somewhere." Mr Abidi said that Ispak had written letters to President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Minister for Science and Technology Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari.

[View/Post Comments]   posted by aziz @ 11:40 PM

 
LAHORE, July 8: The countrywide breakdown of Internet on Monday night cost the service providers (ISPs) over Rs5 million and the dependent businesses at least 10 times that much. According to ISP sources, the breakdown that lasted for around 17 hours - from 2pm on Monday to 7am on Tuesday - snapped the country's cyber-connection with the rest of the world. The submarine cable of Pakistan TeleCommunication Company (PTCL) developed some fault due to power fluctuation, which could not be removed in time because of heavy rain. "The situation was due to PTCL monopoly over the business," said one of the ISP owners. Resilience to faults has never been a hallmark of government-run organizations, and the PTCL is no exception. The government must learn from Monday's breakdown and loosen PTCL's hold over the business. It must allow the industry to develop alternative means for getting Internet signals, he maintained. At present, the government has a monopoly over Internet signals over a certain bandwidth that it passes over to the ISPs. Another ISP owner lamented that the PTCL had persistently refused to sign a service-level agreement (SLA) with the ISPs which would include penalties for such breakdowns. The industry had approached the ministry and was given the deadline of May 30 for the agreement, but the PTCL avoided it. An SLA is the only way to force the PTCL to develop alternatives for emergencies, he maintained. "It was the most unfortunate time for such a major breakdown to occur because the government was offering the PTCL for privatization," said an official of the company. He insisted that the company was trying to cope with an aging system, had improved the system and was able to contain the damages when hackers attacked it. The Monday's breakdown was a wakeup call and the company would do whatever was needed, he hoped. "ISPs were flooded with complaints due to the breakdown," said an employee of one of the biggest ISPs in the city. The corporate world could do without browsing for a few hours but not without e-mail. This is precisely what happened on Tuesday - no e-mail meant no business and a lot of pressure on ISPs. The ISPs suffered a loss of around Rs5 million, but the loss to businesses dependent on the Internet was at least 10 times more as linkages among all stock exchanges, B2B and electronic mail broke down. Meanwhile, according to a PTCL press release on Tuesday, the Internet capacity of the submarine cable became inoperational due to a power problem at the Karachi terminal of SME system. The only backup, satellite connectivity, was also not available due to heavy rain and strong winds.

[View/Post Comments]   posted by aziz @ 10:59 PM

 
SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Court decision protects bloggers from libel lawsuits SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a case involving a North Carolina man, a federal appeals court has extended the First Amendment protections of do-it-yourself online publishers. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation's largest appeals court, said that online publishers can post material generated by others without liability for its content — unlike traditional news media, which are held responsible for such information. "It clarifies the existing law," said Eric Brown, who represented the defendant in the suit. "It expands it in the sense that no court had really addressed bloggers, list serve operators and those people yet, certainly not on the level of the 9th Circuit Court." Blogs, short for Weblogs, are online diaries updated frequently by tech-savvy writers who use the medium to comment on current events and everyday life. Online publishers and free speech advocates lauded the court's decision. "The decision is a real victory for free speech," said Jeralyn Merritt, a lawyer and blogger who manages talkleft.com, a Web site about crime-related news and politics. "Now we can publish information we receive from someone else without fear of getting sued." Merritt said it would be impossible to monitor the nearly 200 messages posted on her site every day. "I can't be responsible for the content of those comments," she said. The decision recently was the most discussed topic according to Daypop.com, a current events search engine that crawls the Web and reflects its collective conscience, identifying the topics that are generating the most interest in the blogging world. The decision last week was based on the 1996 Communications Decency Act, Brown said. Other cases have said commercial service providers on the Internet are not responsible for information posted by a third party. And this decision says noncommercial Web site hosts are only liable when they post information that a reasonable person would have known wasn't meant to be published. This case involved a handyman, Robert Smith of Asheville, N.C., who said he'd overheard a lawyer, Ellen Batzel, say she was the descendent of a top Nazi politician. Smith said Batzel also had what looked like old European paintings in her house. Smith e-mailed Ton Cremers, who runs the Museum Security Network, sharing his suspicion that the paintings in Batzel's house were looted Nazi goods. Cremers' Web site tries to find stolen artwork by sending information to museums and law enforcement personnel. Cremers posted Smith's e-mail to his listserve — and Batzel saw it. She disputed the claims, sued Smith, Cremers, and the Museum Security Network for defamation, and won. Cremers appealed, and the federal appeals court found that "a service provider or user is immune from liability when a third person or entity that created or developed the information in question furnished it to the provider or user under circumstances in which a reasonable person in the position of the service provider would conclude that the information was provided for publication on the Internet." It was significant that even though Cremers made minor edits to Smith's message, he was still entitled to the immunity, said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit concerned with the protection of digital rights. "It was a reaffirmation of this trend in other cases," said Tien. "You don't have to be a passive conduit to have this protection." The decision is a relief for bloggers and other online publishers. "We write for the enjoyment of it," said Merritt. "If we could get sued, I'm not sure it would be worth it."

[View/Post Comments]   posted by aziz @ 11:19 AM

THESE FUCKING MULLAHS,

THE CANCER  OF  THIS AND ALL

THE KNOWN/UNKNOWN UNIVERSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The one thing I really hate and have always hated on this earth are these big bearded islamic fanatic mullahs. I hate fanatism which only distorts and destroys the image of Islam and it's glory. These fucking mullahs and fanatics have nothing to do GENUINELY with Islam. They proclaim various interpretations of THE HOLY QURAN and try to impose their illiterate,narrowminded,dark,backward taliban type viewpoints on the people. To me these FANATIC'S BEARDs are like germs of sin nothing else. They think that wearing long  flowing robes, growing beards, holding a tasbih (rosary) in hand, wearing a turban on their silly heads and chanting allah allah makes them pious????????????!!!!!!! FUCKING BULLSHIT !!!!! GOD OR ALLAH DOES NOT  GIVE A DAMN HOW YOU LOOK OR HOW YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE OR HOW YOU WANT TO APPEAR, GOD IS ONLY CONCEREND WITH THE INTENTIONS AND CONTENTS WE HAVE IN OUR HEARTS AND MIND, NOTHING  ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a way, I am glad that USA governemnt is after this fucking  asshole fanatics of Islam and I pray to GOD that USA government will be successfull in wiping out all these fucking taliban type fanatics from the face of this Earth.

Look at Iran now, those students protesting against their FUCKING MULLAH GOVT are the most brave people in the world and I HOPE AND PRAY TO GOD THAT THOSE IRANIAN STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO CRUSH THOSE FUCKING BASTARD MULLAHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE BRAZILIAN MUSIC

There is something about Brazilian music which really captivates and bewitches me! So far I have listened to ROSAS PASSOS, BEBEL GILBERTO, GAL COSTA, JIAO GILBERTO, CAETANO VELOSO and many many others and I am still discovering more and more wonderful singers and their scintillating music and mind soothing rhythms and soul satisfying melodies. I would really like to thank AMAZON.COM for making it  easier for music lovers to search and choose the stuff they like. Small samples of music which you can listen before you buy at AMAZON.COM is a great feature and it really helps in deciding your choice.

There is a brazilian store in culver city where I live. One day I went in and asked for some brazilian music and that lady looked at me with a wierd stare, she was wondering what the heck a Pakistani guys has to do with brazilian music. Anyways, she did not have any good stuff and I just ran out from there and promised myself I will never buy music from any store and since then I have never looked back and I always use the AMAZON.COM website!

After the decline of 70s music, this brazilian music is a great discovery for me. It fills the emptiness and the void within my mind body and soul and keeps me in a kind of trance as this kind of DRUNKENESS is necessary to survive in this world of extreme stress and suffering!!!!!!!

THOSE ARROGANT RICH ASSHOLES WHO DRIVE RICH CARS.!!!!!!!

I have a message for all those rich assholes who drive rich cars like BMWs, Lexus, etc etc etc: PLS LEARN SOME MANNERS AND ETTIQUETTES BEFORE DRIVING AND TRY TO BE A LITTLE HUMBLE !!! – I am saying this because more and more I am beginning to note this trend that these rich assholes drive cars with an very arrogant attitude. They drive rudely, they drive too fast and the most worst thing these FUCKERS do is that they tailgate behind your car. They don’t want anyone to be in front of them when they bring out their expensive cars, they think that all the roads belong to them. Whenever any of these fuckers tailgate behind my toyota corolla, I make sure to slow down my car more and more just to let them know that they should obey the traffic laws. PERSONALLY, TO ME, THEY ARE ALL FUCKING BASTARDS WITH THEIR BRAINS IN THEIR ASSHOLES AND THEIR HEADS FULL OF COW DUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These MOTHERFUCKERS should realise that all their fucking wealth, their cars, their houses, their bank balances and all their possessions are temporary things and one day IT WILL ALL TURN TO DUST. In the end, all these fuckers would have is THE FOUR CORNERS OF THEIR GRAVES where they will lie DEAD AND LIFELESS!!!!!!!!!

THIS WAS HIGHLIGHTED USING THE WORD software!

FIRST I WROTE THESE WORDS IN THE WORD, HIGHLIGHTED IT, THEN CUT AND PASTED HERE THROUGH BLOGWEAVER BLOG POSTING SOFTWARE!!!!!   I AM SO GLAD IT WORKS HERE !!!!

TESTING, testing, TESTING : TESTING THE BLOGWEAVER PROGRAM which i just downloaded from http://oneseek.com - It is supposed to help post my thoughts on my blogs easier and faster. It does all the html stuff automatically and there are lots of typical word processing type options like aligning text, text sizes, different colors, bold, underling, inserting images etc. So let's see how this works out! it also has different text colors to chose from. I wish there was highlighting options also!