French soldier commits suicide live on webcam

London, Nov 3 (IANS) A 22-year-old French soldier shot himself in the head while showing himself live on a webcam as he chatted with another user, a media report said.

The soldier, identified as Jean-Edouard A., killed himself at his uncle's home in Marseille, during an online chat on health forum Doctissimo.fr, the Daily Mail reported citing French newspaper Le Parisien.

The footage of the dead man could be seen on the website for several hours after his death.

The other user alerted other people after witnessing the horrifying event. One user got in touch with the website's administrators in Canada, who identified the address of the computer the soldier was using. The website alerted Interpol and the French police.

NYC Protesters to Deliver 6,000 Angry Letters to Bank CEOs

By Lauren Kelley, AlterNet Posted on October 28, 2011, Printed on October 31, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/686501/today%3A_nyc_protesters_to_deliver_6%2C000_angry_letters_to_bank_ceos At 1pm Eastern today, Occupy Wall Street and other protesters will gather in New York's Bryant Park to start a march to the headquarters of Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. At each location, they'll hand deliver thousands of sad and angry letters submitted to OccupytheBoardroom.org. More details, via OccupyWallSt.org: WHAT: Mass march to deliver 6,000 letters from the 99% to the 1% WHEN: 1pm, Friday, October 28 WHERE: Meet-up at Bryant Park (6th Ave. & 42nd St.), march to Bank of America headquarters, Morgan Stanley headquarters, Wells Fargo headquarters, Citigroup headquarters, JP Morgan Chase headquarters. See map for target locations. WHO: Foreclosure victims, unemployed New Yorkers, students with debt, Occupy Wall Street protesters, members of Strong Economy for All, UnitedNY, New York Communities for Change, ALIGN, The Yes Men WHAT: Thousands will march to the headquarters of five major banks to deliver over 6,000 letters to the 1% submitted to occupytheboardroom.org, concluding with a general assembly at which a foreclosure victim from Southeast Queens will read a letter through the people’s mic inviting Jamie Dimon to tour her neighborhood. VISUALS: Thousands of people trying to throw paper airplane letters up to the top floor of the BofA building, thousands of people delivering a singing telegram to Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit led by a choir and marching band, poster oard blowups of letters from the 99%, giant mailbag full of letters from march participants. ACTION DESCRIPTION: (1) Throughout the march a flyering team will be handing out copies of the letters that have links to the website at the bottom. Both marches will be accompanied by (a) a team of bicycling pirates, (b) a choir, (c) a marching band, (d) a set of "postmasters" with stenciled OTBR logos to guide the march and lead group activities. At the top of the march, postmasters will distribute "mailing instruction" 8.5x11 sheets with (a) the march route, (b) description of activities, (c) song lyrics, (d) a space for marchers to write their own letter. (2) Group 1 and 2 march to first banks, at which we will have a mass paper airplane throwing event. (Postmasters to instruct crowd in paper airplane folding and throwing via people's mic.) After airplanes are thrown, postmasters will help crowd collect all planes and put them in a big mailbag, which will be left in the lobby of the bank. (3) Groups 1 and 2 march to second bank at which the choir leads everyone in a unison singing of one of the letters. The text for that letter will be printed on the "mailing instructions" handout and on giant (6' x 8') posterboard blow-ups so that everyone can sing along. At the end of the song, we attempt to leave the giant letters in the lobby of the banks. (4) Groups 1 and 2 converge on Chase HQ at which we sit down and convene a special reading and writing GA. Austin will (tentatively) MC. The main event will be three letter-writers reading their letters to Jamie Dimon over the people's mic. After the letters are read, there will be a brief writing exercise in which the crowd is given 5 minutes to write a letter to the 1% on a detachable portion of their "mailing instructions" sheet. After 5 minutes, we will leave all our letters in or outside of Chase's lobby and leave. TIMELINE: Group 1: Meet 1pm at Bryant Park, march to Citigroup, Wells Fargo, end at Chase Group 2: Meet 1pm at Bryant Park, march to Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Chase Groups 1 & 2: 3pm converge on Chase for 3:30pm letter reading © 2011 All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//

4 Simple Steps for Taking Your Money Out of the Vampire Banks

4 Simple Steps for Taking Your Money Out of the Vampire Banks By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet Posted on October 30, 2011, Printed on October 31, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/story/152893/4_simple_steps_for_taking_your_money_out_of_the_vampire_banks Can't pitch a tent at Zuccotti Park? Not to worry. There's something meaningful you can do to stand up to vampire banks that bleed the economy -- and your wallet. The feeling of satisfaction amply rewards the inconvenience. I know. I decided to break up with my bank this week. The whole thing was an arranged marriage from the start. HSBC and I were joined because it gobbled up Marine Midland, the bank I actually signed up for in the late 90s. The truth is that my bank was taking advantage of my trust and abusing my loyalty. So I said sayonara. Does my bank care? From a financial perspective, not really. (Although if enough municipalities, states and big pension funds move their money, that could start to hurt.) But breakups are bad for PR, and the symbolic action against the menace of Too Big to Fail is good for citizen morale. Bank Transfer Day is the brainchild of Kristen Christian, a 27-year-old Los Angeles art-gallery owner who picked Nov. 5 as a hat tip to British folk hero Guy Fawkes. In 1605, Fawkes attempted to blow up the House of Lords and was captured and executed, but not before impressing King James with his "Roman resolution." (When asked what he was doing with so much gunpowder, Fawkes memorably replied: "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains.") If the 28,000 likes on the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page is any indication, Christian's idea has sparked a wave of populist enthusiasm. We're in a season of inspiration, and it feels good to stand up and be counted. By something other than your vampire bank's actuary. Let's get started. 1. Facing Reality If your institution's name is Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, or Chase, you may skip this step. Your bank is a Too Big to Fail behemoth that helped tank economy and used your tax dollars as a life preserver. It's time to sail on. Otherwise, do a little research. My own bank, HSBC, is a bit lower down in the list, but according to Forbes magazine, it's the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company -- what William K. Black calls a "systemically dangerous institution" (SDI). In other words, a Too Big to Fail poster child. HSBC is guilty of several crimes against humanity, including star billing in the subprime crisis and a penchant for fighting regulation that would make the banking industry safer. Furthermore, HSBC is currently making mind-blowing profits (they doubled in 2010). Yet it has recently sent letters informing me of jacked up fees on ATM usage and line of credit accounts. Why? Could it be that HSBC is colluding with Bank of America, which recently announced open season on customers with its new debit card fee? Something sure smells rotten. I therefore proclaim HSBC unworthy of our relationship. If you're not sure about your bank, there's a handy tool available to help you make an assessment. In partnership with the Move Your Money campaign kicked off in '09 by Arianna Huffington, economist Rob Johnson, and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, Chris Whalen's firm Institutional Risk Analytics offers a proprietary system that grades banks using FDIC data. Simply enter your zip code and you will find a list of high quality banks in your area. If your bank is not on that list, take a long, hard look. Small doesn't necessarily mean better, which is why Whalen's tool only lists banks which are financially sound and FDIC insured, no matter what the size. And consider the financial advantages of escaping the clutches of monster megabanks. Smaller banks and credit unions usually give you better deals on credit cards, for example, because their business models have not relied on penalty fees and the shady practices that go along with them. They also often superior rates on loans and other services. 2. Finding a New Dance Partner Whalen's tool will also help you find a new institution. When I typed in my zip code, a constellation of banks and credit unions popped up on a New York City map. My next steps were to make a list of the things that are important to me (easy walking distance, free checking, low ATM fees, etc) and start shopping. There were a couple of credit unions in my hood, but not really close enough to be convenient. Even in this era of electronic and online banking, I prefer a bank I can walk to in a jiffy. Some of the small banks nearby required minimum balances on checking accounts, which spells fees, so I crossed them off the list. After comparing offerings online, the bank that seemed to fit my requirements was Amalgamated Bank, with two branches within 10 blocks. Other than its extremely ugly name, Amalgamated is known as America's only union-owned commercial bank, started in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to serve working people. Labor unions, despite their flaws, remain a key force against plutocracy. So Amalgamated certainly beats HSBC in terms of social value. It also has free checking, lower out-of-network ATM fees ($1) and no minimum balance required on either checking or savings accounts. You may fear a lack of ATMs with smaller banks, but Amalgamated, like many, is part of a huge, surcharge-free network called AllPoint, with machines at Target, CVS, Walgreens, and other common retail outlets. There are over 4,000 Allpoint ATMs in New York and New Jersey, and there's a web tool and mobile app that allows me to search for nearby machines wherever I am. With the ridiculous $2.50 charged by HSBC on out-of-network ATMs, I'm actually a lot less likely to incur fees with Amalgamated. The deli right across the street from my apartment has an AllPoint ATM. Yippee! Bonus: Amalgamated is actually the bank used by the Occupy Wall Street movement, and advertises signs supporting the protesters at locations near Zuccotti Park. This cheered me as I headed to the not-so-fancy main branch on 7th Avenue in Manhattan. To my surprise, no one at Amalgamated had ever heard of the Move Your Money campaign. The young manager who helped me stared blankly as I told her all about it and peppered her with questions. An older manager quickly appeared explaining that the young woman was a manager-in-training who likely did not have Protest 101 as part of her curriculum. The more experienced manager had not heard of the campaign either, but she was vaguely aware that some folks were upset about "uh, which bank was it with those debit fees?" Okay. A little cluelessness and a surprising lack of PR acumen. But there were pro-labor signs on the wall and I got lots of spiffy brochures on services like free checking -- which includes actual rebates on debit card use rather than fees. Sold! 3. Planning Your Exit You'll want to keep your current checking account open for a little while in order for any outstanding checks to clear and to allow time for a new account to be set up. But you can go ahead and close down your savings account. It took me exactly ten minutes to do that at HSBC and put a stop on the automatic monthly transfer from my checking to my savings account. You can get your money in cash or just transfer everything over to your checking account. I had a fantasy of going all 99 percent on the folks at HSBC, but the only people at my branch were two friendly women behind the counter and a couple of tellers. When asked why I was closing my savings account, I politely mentioned the new fees and noted the rather low (practically non-existent) interest rates. They just smiled and assisted me. It was that simple. The next step was to open a checking and savings account at Amalgamated. If you do automatic bill paying, you will have to switch those systems over, and that's a bit of a hassle. Banks know this, which is why they encourage customers to use them. If you have allowed any businesses to directly debit your account, contact those businesses and provide them with your new bank's information. You'll also want to ask your employer to reroute your paycheck if you use direct deposit. Your new bank will provide you with an authorization form. Then you can order your new checks and debit/ATM cards, which will typically arrive within 1-2 weeks. You should also consider ordering a new credit card and getting rid of your old one. 4. The Final Good-bye Once direct deposits are going into your new account and you've made sure that there are no outstanding checks or automatic debits that need to clear, go ahead and close your old checking account. But make sure you follow your bank's produces for doing this or you could end up with fees for having an empty of inactive account. I found that the whole process was actually pretty painless. Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) has introduced a bill  to ban nasty practices like exit fees to make ending your dysfunctional bank relationship even easier. Having taken the plunge, I invite you to join me. The water feels good. And even better, no sharks. Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet contributing editor. Follow Lynn on Twitter: twitter.com/LynnParramore © 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152893/

How Companies Are Fooling You Into Thinking Their Products Are Healthy

Corporate Crimes In the Cereal Aisle: How Companies Are Fooling You Into Thinking Their Products Are Healthy By Ida Hartmann, AlterNet Posted on October 26, 2011, Printed on October 31, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/story/152878/corporate_crimes_in_the_cereal_aisle%3A_how_companies_are_fooling_you_into_thinking_their_products_are_healthy A trip to the supermarket is an adventure into a tempting and treacherous jungle. The insatiable hunger for a ready-made breakfast that nourishes our bodies and our social conscience has made our morning bowls of cereal a hiding place for corporate charlatans. A new report, Cereal Crimes, by the Cornucopia Institute discloses the toxic truth about “natural” products and unmasks corporate faces like Kellogg’s hiding behind supposedly “family-run” businesses such as Kashi. When these breakfast barons forage for profit, we eaters are the prey. But what are the laws of this jungle? And how do we avoid being ripped off by products that are hazardous for our health and our environment? Let’s have a look at some of these corporations’ sneaky strategies. First, there is intentional confusion. With so many different kinds of cereal lining the shelves, figuring out which is the best requires detective work. Many make claims about health, boasting “no trans fats,” “gluten-free,” and “a boost of omega three.” Others play to environmental concerns declaring “earthy harmony,” “nature in balance,” and “sustainable soils.” With the legion of labels, separating wheat from chaff seems impossible, but the report offers one rule of thumb: Don’t confuse organic with “natural.” Organics, certified and recognizable by the green USDA label, are required by federal law to be produced without toxic inputs and genetically engineered ingredients. “Natural,” on the other hand, is defined by the producers themselves to mislead shoppers and protect shareholders. Cornucopia’s report found that, “When determining their ‘natural’ standards, companies will consider their profitability. Environmental concerns are unlikely to weigh heavily, if at all, in this profitability equation.” Too bad we’ve been falling for it. The report cites a 2009 poll showing 33 percent of the public trusts the “natural” label while 45 percent trust the organic label. Generally “natural” is thought to imply the absence of pesticides and genetically engineered organisms, but a closer look at the crunchy goodness inside the boxes reveals the content of both. Tests run by the institute showed as high as 100 percent genetically engineered (GE) contaminated ingredients in popular products like Kashi GoLean, Mother’s Bumpers, Nutritious Living Hi-Lo, and General Mills Kix. Even the brands explicitly claiming to be “non-GMO” failed the test, some of them containing more that 50 percent GE corn. Organic products, such as Nature’s Path certified organic corn flakes, were GMO and GE free when tested. Moreover, conventional ingredients, which “natural” products contain, have been found to hold traces of pesticides. The USDA found detectable neurotoxins in popular breakfast ingredients like oats, wheat, soybeans, corn, almonds, raisins, blueberries, honey and cranberries. New studies are constantly finding new health risks associated with exposure to pesticides. One such found that exposure during pregnancy increased the risk of a pervasive developmental disorder and delays of mental development at 2 to 3 years of age, while another found postnatal exposure to be associated with behavioral problems, poorer short-term memory and motor skills, and longer reaction times among children. Adding to the picture, a recent study by University of Montreal and Harvard University found association between organophosphate in children and ADHD. It is time for us to reconsider what we associate with the term "natural." In his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan sends out a warning against health claims on food: “As a general rule it’s a whole lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a raw potato or a carrot, with the perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as stroke victims, while a few aisles over in the Cereal the Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming their new found ‘whole-grain goodness’ to the rafters.” The same applies to “natural.” Labeling broccoli "natural" would offend common sense. This is the irony of marketing: On a spectrum between whole foods and processed products, the loudest “natural” claims sound from the latter end. So why do we eaters swallow these cereal scams? The report exposes how breakfast barons intentionally blur the line between organic and natural. The “natural” products are predominantly camouflaged in brown and green boxes, mimicking the colors of nature, creating an association between “natural” and sustainable agriculture. Packaging images such as rolling fields, grazing cows or smiling farmers give us the impression that by throwing these products in our basket we take a stance against industrial agriculture. And the producers market themselves as family-run, small-scale business. The Kashi Web site reads: “We are a small (after 25 years, still fewer than 70 of us) band of passionate people who believe right down to our bones that everyone has the power to make positive changes in their lives.” Conveniently absent from packages and Web site is the fact that Kellogg, the largest cereal manufacturer in the country, acquired Kashi back in 2000. Kellogg also owns Bear Naked. General Mills, the second largest breakfast company in the country owns Cascadian Farm, and Back to Nature is run by Kraft Foods, a company with almost $50 million revenue in 2010. Why does it matter? Because these companies exploit consumers' desire for conscious consumption and make us feed the system we think we are taking a stance against: Industrial agriculture. But this is only the beginning of the scam. The report reveals another strategy: Bait-and-switch. Peace Cereal eloquently performed the maneuver. The brand started out organic, but in 2008 switched to cheaper conventional ingredients and adopted the “natural” label, without changing packaging, pricing or barcode. Many shoppers and retailers did not notice that the USDA label quietly disappeared from the bottom right-hand corner. Similarly a number of brands market their names as organic by loudly promoting the few certified products on the shelf, ignoring the fact that most of their products are mere conventional ones labeled as “natural.” Annie’s Homegrown, for example, was featured in a 12-page advertisement section in the Washington Post, paid for by the Organic Trade Organization and aimed at educating consumers on the benefits of organics. Nowhere did it mention that only one of five cereal products made by Annie’s Homegrown is organic. That takes an investigation of the fine print on the box many of us don’t perform as we race through the aisle in the short minutes we often have to shop. But if these natural cereals are nothing but cheap conventional ones in fancy dresses, one would at least expect them to be cheaper than organic products. The report, however, shows just the opposite, and suggests that, “some companies are taking advantage of consumer confusion regarding the difference between the meaningless natural label and certified organic claims.” So next time you find yourself with a box of organic cereal in your right hand, and a box of natural cereal in your left, remember to read the fine print. Don’t be fooled by labels that are meant to sell products, not look after your health or the environment. Ida Hartmann is a student of anthropology at the University of Copenhagen and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. © 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152878/

RESCUE ROAD VICTIMS

Anna Hazare’s Campaign

[Radha Rajan in Vigil Online 11th April 2011]

Anna Hazare’s Campaign - truly Gandhian, truly evil - I

The End Result
The truth is simple and direct. Anna Hazare has replaced Baba Ramdev as the central figure in the nation’s war against corruption in exactly the same way that Gandhi replaced Tilak and Aurobindo within the Indian National Congress; and for the exact same reasons: no people’s movement in Hindu bhumi will be allowed to be led by a conscious Hindu, no campaign in this country will be allowed to wear a Hindu face; the critical difference being as events proved, Ramdev is no Aurobindo.

Aurobindo, having studied and judged Gandhi for what he was, was not impressed by Gandhi’s premature, motivated and imposed mahatma-hood, was not intimidated by his undeserved stature and refused to meet Gandhi anytime in both their lifetimes. Not so Baba Ramdev and as we read from newspaper reports, not the RSS either. Living up to the writer’s firm and disheartening belief that Hindu organizations and Hindu religious and political leaders doing politics, armed with nothing more than their colossal egos

1. have no political sense;
2. can be intimidated into compliance
3. can be coerced into proving their imposed inclusive credentials by being seen in the company of non-Hindus and anti-Hindus in their work,
4. can be pressured into sailing with the wind even if the wind is leading them astray

Baba Ramdev belittled his saffron robes and the RSS demonstrated appalling poor judgment by visiting the hero of the Cheltenham tragedy at Jantar Mantar to extend their support - support which he did not need, did not acknowledge or respect.

Baba Ramdev and the RSS, who stood in Hazare’s shadow and sang the chorus to his NGO-authored song, urgently need lessons in political history - the Hindu view of the freedom struggle and its end result to be exact.

Sonia Gandhi and her minions in English television news channels were taken aback when Baba Ramdev galvanized the nation against endemic corruption afflicting every arm of the state and every aspect of public life. Reeling under the still unfolding saga of meta-corruption, the Congress party denounced Baba Ramdev’s foray into politics and advised him to confine himself to giving tummy-tucking lessons in Yoga.

Baba Ramdev’s campaign against corruption, which was seen as attacking the Congress and its imported President, had an explosive beginning on February 27 at Ramlila grounds in Delhi with a blood-curdling mammoth gathering of around two lakh people; but all major English newspapers and English TV news channels, in stark contrast to their contrived hysteria over Anna Hazare’s campaign, either blacked out entirely or made only passing reference to the start of what would soon become Baba Ramdev’s cataclysmic campaign against corruption in public life.

Baba Ramdev followed Delhi with Goa, Chennai and Bangalore and at every stop the movement against corruption gathered unstoppable momentum. Sonia Gandhi and her handlers in the Generic Church had to move fast to stop the Ramdev juggernaut and contain the damage.

The writer had observed on an earlier occasion that the Church has the unmatched capacity to turn all events, including adversities, adroitly in its favour. In less than two months the Church changed the face of the people’s movement against corruption. The saffron-clad Hindu religious face of the movement was replaced by the Gandhi cap; and Baba Ramdev’s movement which was aimed directly at Sonia Gandhi was now turned into a movement directed by Sonia’s minions in the NGO industry.

The Church and the world feel safe again as idiot Hindus - film stars, students, upwardly mobile professionals, lawyers, judges and politicians - indulged their craving for catharsis to cleanse their corrupt, guilt-ridden souls and gathered penitently around Anna Hazare’s toothless belligerence under the Gandhi cap.

Breaking his thunderous ‘fast-unto-death’ in just 97 hours, the first thing that Anna Hazare said was, "The most significant thing about this movement was that it had no religion". What Sonia Gandhi and her NGO industry speaking through Hazare actually meant was Baba Ramdev and by extension all Hindus had been effectively de-fanged and marginalized. This was now Sonia’s show all the way.

In light of this wholly Freudian slip Baba Ramdev and the RSS must ask themselves and tell us why they extended support to this man. It would be well for Baba Ramdev to observe silence for a fortnight and introspect upon why the campaign he had launched with such fanfare and success came to such an ignominious end; as for the RSS it has proved yet again that it lacks the drive and the will to equip itself with the intelligence and skill to do even simple politics and succumbing yet again to the pressure to sail with the wind, the RSS placed itself with eyes wide open on the wrong side of an important issue.

The RSS is still laboring without direction stuck with antediluvian ideas and methods because it has not summoned the courage to discard powerbrokers doubling as in-house intellectuals.

The fatal weakness of sailing with the wind afflicts not just the RSS; it afflicts all Hindus without exception. The Hindu competition to Reliance-funded think-tank, the Observer Research Foundation, called Vivekananda International Forum (tired old faces manning a new desk) conducted a two-day seminar in Delhi last week and invited Arvind Kejriwal as one of the speakers.

Yet another RSS affiliate, India Policy Foundation, not to be left behind the mainstream which was sailing furiously with the wind, also invited Kejriwal to speak about corruption. Vivekananda International Forum and India Policy Foundation invited Kejriwal because Baba Ramdev showed off the Magsaysay awardee as a prize catch in his movement; and these are Hindu think-tanks. Talk about oxymoron.

The writer has come to the conclusion that Hindus doing politics do not think, do not read and do not listen. The Vigil book on NGOs detailing the lives and deeds of NGOs and a certain species of social activists, published in 2006, had entire sections and even chapters dedicated to Arvind Kejriwal, Harsh Mander, Sandeep Pandey and others of their ilk; and yet even Baba Ramdev relied on these very personages to adorn his movement - Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh, Arvind Kejriwal and Mallika Sarabhai, to name just four.

It has to be repeated and repeated yet again, that when the RSS sent its letter of support to Anna Hazare it chose to ignore the explosive material contained in the Vigil book on NGOs and despite knowing the unhealthy company which surrounded and powered Anna Hazare’s hunger strike, the RSS went ahead and announced their support to the man.

The writer will bet her last pair of dog-eared shoes that the RSS had not read the fine print of the papers that Hazare’s NGO friends were shoving in the face of the nation and its in-house intellectuals in the Vivekananda International Forum and India Policy Foundation had not read it either or if they had, did not understand the import of what they were reading.

Headlines Today, CNN IBN and my favorite-for-all times Times Now in the last three days competed fiercely to project three-year and nine-year olds with balloons and ice-cream in hand and earnest-looking bespectacled management graduates from Pune and Penzance as the face of mass frenzy to tell us why we must all march to Jantar Mantar or at least allow our soul to take wing and fly there, or at the very least, like the RSS, send letters of support because, and smile when you say it, ‘Anna is doing it for me and you’.

Remember Jesus died for your sins and mine and those of our great grand fathers and mothers and great grand sons and daughters, be they Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsi or Jew? Just as bizarre is the generic Church’s propaganda that Anna Hazare is doing Gandhi-like fast-unto-Jesus-like death for me and my great grand sons and daughters.

Anna Hazare’s actions will therefore be judged by -

• The end result
• His inspiration/role model and
• The company he keeps

While the entire episode beginning with Hazare’s threat to fast-unto-death and the course the melodrama traversed until the moment Hazare broke his fast will come in for ruthless analysis, the end result of the Cheltenham melodrama-turned-farce merits immediate attention. The end result is that the Government of India for the second time in 12 years succumbed to blackmail which was instigated, goaded, aided and abetted yet again by English TV news channels. The UPA government, like the NDA government in 1999, capitulated to a bunch of anti-national blackmailers.

It is hard not to question the timing of it all. Just as Baba Ramdev’s anti-corruption juggernaut seemed like gathering greater momentum with every passing day, Anna Hazare, out of the blue, one fine day, announced that he was going on a fast-unto-death until the Lokpal Bill was passed or whichever happened first.

Surrounded by familiar, notorious and discredited NGOs, social activists, one disgruntled lady police officer and one activist danseuse, Hazare put on his Gandhi cap, climbed up the well-arranged and well-equipped dais and sat himself down on a hunger strike. To retain the focus on the end result of the media-driven blackmail, we will telescope the events between Anna Hazare sitting down on day one with microphone in hand to day four when microphone in hand Hazare announced he would end his hunger strike because the government spine had finally been broken.

The writer is convinced that Anna Hazare was the single stone useful instrument with a colossal ego, chosen for his Gandhi cap, to bring down two mangoes - one, push the Prime Minister into a corner and send him the unmistakable signal not to think or act independently of the imported Congress President; two, resurrect the defunct NAC by pushing some member NGOs and activists to center-stage by staging this dangerous blackmail melodrama. Needless to say, both mangoes were intended for Sonia Gandhi’s consumption.

By handing over the letter of support to Anna Hazare through their ubiquitous spokesperson, the RSS has only strengthened Sonia Gandhi vis a vis the Prime Minister and the Indian parliament. Anna Hazare and the bunch of NGOs and activists blackmailing the government from behind Hazare in the Gandhi cap, have demanded that the government should pass the Lokpal Bill with draconian provisions which will give them the right to usurp the powers of parliament, judiciary and the police and make them a three-in-one monster body with vast scope for misuse and abuse of power.

There are two drafts of the Lokpal Bill - one that has been drafted by successive governments, a version that is available with the incumbent government in some form and the second which has been drafted by Hazare’s foreign-funded NGO camp. Just so did the same group of NGOs and foreign-funded activists act through the Lawyers Collective to get the Domestic Violence Bill amended and passed in 2005 by the UPA government as the Domestic Violence Act.

When Baba Ramdev and the RSS went to Jantar Mantar to express their solidarity with Hazare and these NGOs and when they extended their support, what exactly were they supporting?

The draft Lokpal Bill, as crafted by Kejriwal, Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi, in collusion with Prashant Bhushan an activist lawyer, demands that members of Lokpal be conferred with judicial and police powers. These appointed members will form their own investigating team, will summon persons to depose before them, will initiate action, will order prosecution and will also mete punishment. Sonia’s NGOs and foreign-funded social activists with the full support of all English Television news channels were all pushing Hazare to fast-unto-death to impose an oligarchy under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership to rule the country, by-passing every and all national democratic institutions! This is what Baba Ramdev and the RSS supported -

Section 12 of Hazare’s draft Bill states -

Lokpal to be deemed police officer

• For the purposes of section 36 of Criminal Procedure Code, the Chairperson, members of Lokpal and the officers in investigation wing of Lokpal shall be deemed to be police officers.
• While investigating any offence under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, they shall be competent to investigate any offence under any other law in the same case.

Section 10.2 of their draft Bill says -
We are also deemed judiciary

(2) For the purpose of any such investigation (including the preliminary inquiry) the Lokpal shall have all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, in respect of the following matters, namely:-

1. Summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
2. Requiring the discovery and production of any document;
3. Receiving evidence on affidavits;

(3) Any proceeding before the Lokpal shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 193 of the Indian Penal Code

Lokpal, after getting such enquiries and investigations done as it deems fit, may take one or more of the following actions:

1. Close the case if prima facie, the complaint is not made out or
2. Initiate prosecution against public servants as well as those private entities which are party to the act
3. Order imposition of appropriate penalties under CCS Conduct Rules Provided that if an officer is finally convicted under Prevention of Corruption Act, major penalty of dismissal shall be imposed on such government servant.
4. Order cancellation or modification of a license or lease or permission or contract or agreement, which was the subject matter of investigation.
5. Blacklist the concerned firm or company or contractor or any other entity involved in that act of corruption.

Baba Ramdev and the RSS have supported Anna Hazare’s fast-unto-death whose end objective is to force the government to accept this blackmailing group’s version of the Lokpal Bill arrogating to themselves unbridled powers of parliament, police, CBI, CAG, judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one as shown above. Sonia Gandhi’s NGOs have forced Manmohan Singh’s government to accept all their demands which essentially renders the Indian Parliament, the highest democratic institution of the country with powers to impeach judges and even the President of India, totally redundant.

The generic Church is selling gullible idiots in the nation the lemon that what the nation’s investigating agencies, police, parliament and judiciary have failed to do, Lokpal can and will do - impeach judges and Presidents for dessert even as they punish politicians and bureaucrats for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Such was the media-instigated hysteria over the fasting Gandhi cap that the nation collectively put its brain to sleep. Subjecting the components that will go to make the Lokpal to intense scrutiny is in order. The three core components of the Lokpal are -

• Who are the people constituting Anna Hazare’s drafting committee which will draft the Lokpal Bill
• The law itself (assuming the Bill is passed by a frightened and cowering parliament) and its provisions
• Members of Lokpal who will enforce and implement the law
• The selection panel which will appoint the all-important members of the Lokpal

The melodrama has already turned to farce with Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and co. bickering fiercely over who should form part of the drafting committee and who should become members of the supra-god selection panel which will select members who will constitute the Lokpal. Greed and overarching ambition lie at the root of all corruption and these have already given the country a preview of what lies in store for the nation if this group is allowed to become the ruling oligarchy under Sonia Gandhi. The fight to squat on the floor in the corner in the same room as Sonia Gandhi can only get bloodier and noisier.

We have already seen the relevant sections of Hazare’s draft Bill which confers upon our foreign-funded activists who aspire to become Lokpal Members, the high status of deemed police and deemed judiciary. Now the norms for constituting the selection panel which will appoint the members is even more of a give-away of what really is the real intention behind this melodrama to pass the Lokpal Bill. Hazare, Kejrival, Agnivesh and co. have listed -

• The Chairpersons of both Houses of Parliament
• Two senior most judges of Supreme Court
• Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts.
• All Nobel Laureates of Indian Origin
• Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission
• Last two Magsaysay Award winners of Indian origin
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India
• Chief Election Commissioner
• Bharat Ratna Award winners

Baba Ramdev and the RSS Sarsanghachalak really should tell us if they saw this before offering their support to Hazare. Did Shri Mohan Bhagwat know that Hazare came with a huge baggage which also included this draft Bill and Hazare’s views on who should be made members of the Selection Panel? Let us cast our eyes back to 2004 when Sonia Gandhi rode piggyback on the Congress and its shameless Hindus to rule the country as de facto Prime Minister. There is no UPA, no INC, no Cabinet and no Government of India. There is only Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi made the choice of who will sit in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The distasteful controversy surrounding Sonia Gandhi’s choice is of her making

Sonia Gandhi appointed the CEC
Sonia Gandhi appointed the CAG
Sonia Gandhi appointed the CJI
Sonia Gandhi appointed the Director of the CBI
Sonia Gandhi appointed the CVC

Every constitutional office, every high institution has been defiled and diminished because of the choices that Sonia Gandhi made. The NAC is also a creature of Sonia Gandhi’s making. Members of the NAC are the personages around Anna Hazare on the issue of the Lokpal Bill. While most categories for consideration to choose members of the Selection Panel have a direct or indirect Sonia Gandhi connection, the Magsaysay Awardee and Nobel Laureate suggestion is downright Machiavellian. There is a Rothschild and Rockefeller connection in these categories

Considering the sweeping powers that Hazare, Agnivesh, Kejriwal and idiot Hindus want for the Lokpal, considering that the Lokpal wants to be judge, jury, police and parliament in their dealings with politicians, bureaucrats and judges, to insist on foreign entities having a say in constituting the Selection Panel must cause grave disquiet in every thinking nationalist mind. Amartya Sen is married to Emma Rothschild who is a member of the Jewish Rothschild banking family in England while the Magsaysay Award has a direct Rockefeller connection.

The Magsaysay award may sound Asian because it is named after the late Ramon Magsaysay of the Philippines but the award is all American and the money component of the award is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Vigil book on NGOs exposed the intent behind the selection of persons for the Magsaysay award. Like the Nobel peace Prize, the Magsaysay too, no matter for what reason and in which category it is awarded, is political in its ultimate intent. To have a Rothschild and Rockefeller connection to the Lokpal no matter how distant and how remote is still nothing to laugh about.

There is no doubt in the writer’s mind whatever that forces outside the country instigated these NGOs and social activists, Sonia loyalists all and the English print and electronic media to select a Gandhi cap to stage a drama whose purpose is ostensibly to pass the Lokpal Bill. If the ruse succeeds in parliament, and it will not succeed, not in its current form, then the Lokpal is the least of our worries. Like the arrest of the Kanchi acharyas, this melodrama, in the view of the writer, was a test case. This experiment was conducted to test -

If Hindu can be replaced by Gandhi in 2011 as was done in 1909
How Hindu organizations react in times of mass hysteria
The power of the media in setting in motion a course of events to move in a specific direction

The capacity of the Indian government to withstand pressure - pressure from blackmail and pressure of public opinion even when the opinion is manufactured by the media

Anna Hazare was foisted on the nation by unseen forces; these forces used NGOs loyal to Sonia Gandhi to conduct this experiment and the writer’s worst nightmare turned real. Hindus and Hindu organizations failed and failed roundly to read the situation correctly from start to finish. Hindus proved yet again that they will readily pant behind every red-herring shown to them as long as it wears the Gandhi cap; the RSS and Hindu religious leaders being no exception. It is left for India’s parliament to defeat this diabolic plot by not allowing the Lokpal Bill to be tabled by these forces. By all means let us have a Lokpal Act but it has to be national and nationalist.

The writer is left with a question that will not go away. Did Baba Ramdev’s overseas constituency goad him to choose corruption over cow slaughter, over the alarming imbalance in religious demography and over the state of Hindu temples? It would seem so. The last three could not have been hijacked by Sonia Gandhi and her minions to her benefit. Corruption, as was proved, was a different matter. (To be concluded)

Radha Rajan
11th April, 2011.

The $1 Trillion Student Loan Rip-Off

The $1 Trillion Student Loan Rip-Off: How an Entire Generation Was Tricked into Taking on Crushing Debt That Just Enriches Banks By Alex Pareene, Salon Posted on October 20, 2011, Printed on October 24, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/story/152809/the_%241_trillion_student_loan_rip-off%3A_how_an_entire_generation_was_tricked_into_taking_on_crushing_debt_that_just_enriches_banks USA Today says that at some point this year, student loan debt will exceed $1 trillion, surpassing even credit card debt. Felix Salmon says the number is closer to $550 billion. Either way total student loan debt is rising as other debts have tailed off. Delinquency has increased, too, since the height of the financial crisis. It’s a huge mess. Some people have noticed that “student loan debt” comes up a lot among the Wall Street Occupiers and the members of the 99 percent movement. Often, older people, who either attended school when tuition was reasonable, or who didn’t attend college at all in an era when a high school diploma was enough of a qualification for a stable, middle-class career, tend to think this is all the entitled whining of spoiled kids. They don’t understand that these kids accepted a home mortgage worth of debt before they ever even had a regular income, based on phony promises, and that the debt is inescapable, regardless of life circumstances or ability to pay. Thanks to the horrific 2005 bankruptcy bill, one of the most nakedly venal modern examples of Congress serving the interests of the rentiers and creditors over the vast majority, debtors cannot discharge student loans through bankruptcy. The government is shielded from the risk, and creditors are licensed to collect by almost any means they deem necessary, giving no one in charge any real incentive (beyond basic human decency) to fix the situation. In other words, this is unprecedentedly awful for an entire generation of young people just entering adulthood. “It’s going to create a generation of wage slavery,” says Nick Pardini, a Villanova University graduate student in finance who has warned on a blog for investors that student loans are the next credit bubble — with borrowers, rather than lenders, as the losers. Even if by some miracle our unemployed and underemployed debt-laden graduates all win decent jobs tomorrow, the money they make will go into paying off these now-delinquent loans instead of anything productive for the economy as a whole. Banks will continue to see massive profits, in other words. The impossibility of escaping student loan debt is why an industry sprang upto foist useless, overpriced degrees on vulnerable people. It’s a scam, but a profitable one, and respectable enough for major establishment players to feel comfortable making a killing on it. Like, for instance, Kaplan University, a chain of for-profit colleges built onwinning free government student aid money and attracting suckers to borrow small fortunes. The crooks are shameless. The Fiscal Times asked a bunch of predictable brain-dead airport bookstore luminaries (Dr. Oz! Mort Zuckerman!) to share one idea to “solve our fiscal crisis.” Here’s my favorite entry: If I could do one thing, it would be to ensure the future of for-profit education companies, which this administration seems bent on eliminating. The Washington Post Company has struggled hard to be a good and decent company, but our for-profit education division is under fire by the administration, as are other for-profit education companies like Apollo and Strayer. (Full disclosure: I and my family have an ownership interest in WPO.) The majority of students in for-profit education companies are minorities, which makes you wonder how shutting down these companies will help achieve the president’s goal of having more college graduates in the U.S. This wisdom comes from Lally Weymouth, “Senior Associate Editor” at the Washington Post and also part owner of the Washington Post Co., owner of for-profit college company Kaplan, the exploitative education corporation that subsidizes the money-losing newspaper. Lally’s idea for solving America’s “fiscal crisis” is to allow her to continue enriching herself by burying already poor people in paralyzing debt. But, of course, she’s only doing it to help those poor creatures who otherwise couldn’t attend schools! If she happens to make a killing doing so, then the market is working its magic, I guess. This is the same argument used by exploitative payday lenders — loan sharks in ghettos — to justify predatory lending habits targeted at impoverished and vulnerable communities. Only it’s coming from one of the most respectable members of Washington’s elite, and not the proprietor of a check-cashing joint. Of course, you know an industry is generally bad for the world as a whole once Goldman Sachs gets into it. Goldman bought part of predatory for-profit college chain EDMC in 2006, and it’s already made a killing driving random people into crushing debt. EDMC uses sales tactics taken directly from subprime mortgage hustlers to find and retain customers. But employees recounted a distinct culture shift once the company went private under Goldman Sachs and the other private equity investors, as day-to-day operations warped from a commitment to students and their success into an environment laser-focused on hitting mandated enrollment targets. New recruits were viewed simply as a conduit for federal student assistance dollars, the employees said, and pressure mounted from management to enroll anyone at any cost. So we have incredibly rich and powerful elite institutions joining forces to bleed youths and minorities and poor people dry. And people wonder why there’s marching in the streets. Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene © 2011 Salon All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152809/

Bishops Are Behind the 'Let Women Die'

Bishops Are Behind the 'Let Women Die' Act and the Push Against Birth Control--Even As They're Under Fire for Sex Abuse Scandals By Sarah Seltzer, AlterNet Posted on October 17, 2011, Printed on October 24, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/story/152765/bishops_are_behind_the_%27let_women_die%27_act_and_the_push_against_birth_control--even_as_they%27re_under_fire_for_sex_abuse_scandals Last week, the House's passage of the now-notorious H.R. 358 -- also known as the "Let Women Die" bill -- caused deserved outrage. But the bill's connection to the high-ranking Catholic group that fought for its passage, even while the American church is fighting a horrific new sex abuse scandal, hasn't been given the attention it deserves. The new bill (which the president has vowed to veto) would essentially obliterate abortion coverage by both public and private insurers, and most egregiously get hospitals off the hook for refusing to perform abortions for women whose lives are in immediate danger. It would literally allow hospitals to let women die with impunity. H.R. 358's easy passage by a majority in Congress (with some defecting Democrats in the ranks) delivered another shock of sexism in a political landscape that has been assaulted by one anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-women's health measure after another, all firing in a succession of rapid shots from statehouses across the nation as well as from DC. Helping to man the artillery is a largely disgraced Catholic hierarchy. This momentum for misogyny has been painted as having mostly arisen from the Tea Party and the extremist evangelical megachurch Pat Robertson types. But these anti-choice forces are not alone, and they are not solely responsible: rather the (all-male, it should go without saying) Council of Catholic Bishops has aggressively, relentlessly, and successfully lobbied for many of the worst of the measures in the "War on Women." During the health care debates of 2009, this group was instrumental in pushing for anti-abortion language. At the time, NPR reported that Democrats found them to be "a lobbying force of unexpected influence" that had decided after budget cuts to focus their "strongest efforts" almost entirely on abortion issues rather than waste time on say, helping the poor. Specifically, their aims have included the one-two punch of pushing for the "let women die" clauses and anti-abortion measures of H.R. 358, as well as the alarming new fight against coverage for contraception, which would deprive the overwhelming majority of the Catholic public that uses birth control with coverage for birth control. The council has done this without being questioned by the mainstream media even in the long shadow of scandal, even though much of the American Catholic hierarchy's capacity to treat issues of sex appropriately has been thrown into serious question by the seemingly never-ending child sex-abuse travesty. Jodi Jacobson at RH Reality Check (who has been on this story for years) points out the obvious connection that many are missing. The very same week a bishop was indicted for failing to report sexual abuse in his diocese in Kansas City was the week that H.R. 358 came through Congress with heavyhanded lobbying by that very bishop's colleagues. Taking lewd photographs of young girls and covering it up. Raping young boys and girls and covering it up. Getting women pregnant and covering it up.  There is a sustained pattern of institutionalized corruption and immorality by any measure and these men are allowed to declare themselves the moral arbiters of the most private decisions made by women and their families? Here is the dramatic opening of the news story about the indictments in the Kansas City Diocese from the New York Times: A bishop in the Roman Catholic Church has been indicted for failure to report suspected child abuse, the first time in the 25-year history of the church’s sex abuse scandals that the leader of an American diocese has been held criminally liable for the behavior of a priest he supervised. The indictment of the bishop, Robert W. Finn, and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph by a county grand jury was announced on Friday. Each was charged with one misdemeanor count involving a priest accused of taking pornographic photographs of girls as recently as this year. Earlier in the autumn, a similar court case occurred in Philadelphia. (A monsignor, not a bishop, was the highest-ranking official there to be charged.) The major revelation during these proceedings was a secret file of sexual abuse the church kept from the public; a quietly institutionalized method of covering up crimes instead of protecting the most vulnerable. So yes, bit by bit, there are beginning to be legal ramifications beyond shame for these coverups. But why doesn't the stigma extend to the bishops' lobbying efforts? Jodi Jacobson is right. It's been years since the systematic coverup of these kinds of cases (and far worse ones) in the Church was exposed, and yet this story shows the pattern persists. Nonetheless, instead of focusing on reform from within, Robert Finn's fellow bishops seem intent on womb-policing and urging elected officials to carry on a policy of disregarding women's lives. Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, wrote about why American Catholics are for the large part at odds with their clergy: The Catholic bishops’ actions show an unhealthy obsession with sexual issues. They appear to be hell-bent on wasting real and political capital on dictating to all Americans what their sexual choices should be. In their campaign to impose their will on others, they are willing to stoop to new lows. The arguments that the USCCB has made are not scientifically, medically or legally sound. The bishops, having failed to convince the majority of Catholics on issues related to reproductive health and sexuality, are attempting to use Congress to impose their personal beliefs on all Americans. The bishops should stop forcing their personal beliefs on others and allow women and their doctors to make healthcare decisions. It’s time for us to respect the consciences of all and support people’s right to make their own decisions about their lives and health. If you think these kinds of laws being passed are symbolic posturing, think again. They have real-life effects. Consider the case last year of the Arizona nun who was excommunicated from the church after approving one of the life-saving abortions being targeted by H.R. 358. Last November, a 27-year-old woman was admitted to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. She was 11 weeks pregnant with her fifth child, and she was gravely ill. According to a hospital document, she had "right heart failure," and her doctors told her that if she continued with the pregnancy, her risk of mortality was "close to 100 percent." The patient, who was too ill to be moved to the operating room much less another hospital, agreed to an abortion. But there was a complication: She was at a Catholic hospital. The hospital officials knew that church doctrine would have them let both mother and child die. But they searched for an exception and thought they found one: "Sister Margaret McBride, who was an administrator at the hospital as well as its liaison to the diocese, gave her approval" for a lifesaving abortion. The woman survived, but the nun was excommunicated. A nun who saved a woman's life was excommunicated. Many of the priests implicated in sex abuse scandals -- priests accused of child rape -- have not been excommunicated. The church devoted time and money to the nun's case, while sparing the priests. And the governing bodies in charge of these decisions are walking the halls of Congress, pushing for policies that "protect life" by ruining the lives of women and children. Sarah Seltzer is an associate editor at AlterNet, a staff writer at RH Reality Check and a freelance writer based in New York City. Her work has been published in Jezebel.com and on the websites of the Nation, the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal. Find her at sarahmseltzer.com. © 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152765/

“I Had To Tell Kejriwal That, In Hisar, We Had Jumped The Gun”

	EXCLUSIVE interview “I Had To Tell Kejriwal That, In Hisar, We Had Jumped The Gun” The former Karnataka Lokayukta expresses anguish on how how Anna Hazare’s ‘apolitical’ movement may be perceived Sugata Srinivasaraju Justice Santosh Hegde, who stepped down as the Karnataka Lokayukta in August and joined the India Against Corruption movement, has not exactly disassociated himself from Team Anna, but appears sufficiently disturbed by his colleagues’ move to oppose the Congress party candidate in the Hisar bypolls in Haryana. Speaking to Sugata Srinivasaraju, he expresses anguish about how people, who so far thought of Anna Hazare’s crusade as an ‘apolitical’ movement, may perceive it from now on. Excerpts: Have you developed differences with Anna Hazare and his team? There is no difference of opinion. I have accepted Anna’s movement against corruption, but that does not mean I’ll support everything that is said and done by other members of the team.     “It’s not just Congress which has corrupt people, other parties do too. I am not in favour of the idea of opposing candidates in an election.”     Does it mean you are uncomfortable with your colleagues’ acts in Hisar? Yes. I am an apolitical person and I believe the movement too is, and should be, apolitical. Even before Parliament could debate the Lokpal Bill, they have gone to Hisar and campaigned against the Congress. I don’t think it was the right thing to do. It’s not just the Congress which has corrupt people, other parties do as well. I don’t know much about the Congress candidate, but Kuldeep Bishnoi’s notoriety is well known. Similarly, Ajay Chautala is not above board. How then can we ask people to vote against the Congress? Even as I say this, let me be clear, I’m not pro-Congress. If Anna and the other team members felt compelled to intervene in the electoral process in Hisar, they could have just asked the people to choose the best candidate. That would have been the ideal thing to do. Anyway, this is my thinking. The others are free to do what they want to do. Were you consulted before Anna and his team began the Hisar campaign? There was no specific consultation. After my statement of disapproval appeared in the newspapers, Arvind Kejriwal called me to clarify that Team Anna’s plan to oppose candidates had been shared and discussed earlier. But to my knowledge, that was to be done only if Parliament and political parties had reneged on their promise to pass the Lokpal Bill. I had to tell Kejriwal that, as far as Hisar was concerned, we had jumped the gun. Now, what happens if the Congress passes the bill during the winter session? By the way, it is not just about the Congress, it is the UPA. However eager one may be to bring about change, we should allow the system to work. We should be patient.     “People should not think of the anti-corruption movement as a political movement. But I’m afraid they’ve already begun to speak of it in those terms.”     What is your feedback on Team Anna’s Hisar strategy? People should not think of the anti-corruption movement as a political movement. But I’m afraid, they’ve already begun to speak of it in those terms. It’s not a good sign. Arvind Kejriwal has said ‘Anna is above Parliament’.... I wouldn’t like to comment on this. It was unwarranted. This is what happens when you talk too much. Let me remind you that when politicians said that Parliament is supreme, I opposed it. That is because the Supreme Court can strike down any unconstitutional move by Parliament. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that the Sangh supported the Anna movement. What’s your view on that? In our part of the world, there is a saying that everybody likes to catch the tail of a winning horse. How do you see your future role in the movement? I am committed to the Lokpal Bill and will fight until it is passed. But I may not be in favour of this particular thing of opposing candidates in an election. What is the future of the movement? We’ll have to wait and see. There is a lull now. Anna has given his suggestion to Parliament, let’s see what it does. We want the system to work. I read in the papers that intellectuals have written to the PM on the

Human Development Index in India Up By 21%: Report

The Human Development Index (HDI) in the country rose by 21 per cent, says a report while cautioning that health, nutrition and sanitation remained key challenges for India.

India Human Development Report, 2011, prepared by Institute of Applied Manpower Research, placed Kerala on top of the index for achieving highest literacy rate, quality health services and consumption expenditure of people.

Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Goa were placed at second, third and fourth position respectively.

The report was released today by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in the presence of Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.

It said, as on today, two-thirds of the households in the country reside in pucca (cemented) houses and three-fourth of families have access to electricity for domestic use.

According to the report, India's HDI has registered an impressive gains in the last decade as the index increased by 21 per cent to 0.467 in 2007-08, from 0.387 in 1999-2000.

However, it noted that Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Assam are those states which continue to lag behind in HDI and remain below the national average of 0.467.

At the same time, the quantum of improvement in HDI in some of the poor states was higher than the national average, the report said, citing the cases of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Assam.

The overall improvement in the index was largely attributed to the 28.5 per cent increase in education index across the country. It ranges from 0.92 for Kerala to 0.41 in in the case of Bihar.

The improvement in the education index was the "greatest" in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to name a few, the report said.

The analysis also indicates that improvement in the health index, as compared to education, has been lower. It ranges from 0.82 in Kerala to 0.41 in Assam.

It observed that despite the Right to Education Act, school education faces challenges of quality and employability.

The report also said that despite improvements, health, nutrition and sanitation challenges are most serious.

21st October 2011

A doctor in Kozhikode remembers Gaddafi

“Learn Arabic fast and start reading Quran.” Dr Mundol Abdulla got this advice from, perhaps, the most unlikely person - Libyan autocratic leader Muammar-al-Gaddafi, about 38 years ago.

It was Abdulla’s first meeting with Colonel Gaddafi, around two months after taking charge as the physician of a medical clinic at Abuhadhi, around 15 kilometres south of Sirte in Libya, the hometown of Gaddafi.

‘Diabolic’ is the term Dr Abdulla would like to use to better describe the Libyan dictator. “Ironically, this scare-monger was also extremely security conscious. I was told that he never slept on the same bed twice. He constantly changed his tour plans. First he would announce six venues and the luxury buses, in fact moving palaces, would ply to those venues. But, Gaddafi would appear at an entirely different spot,” says the 70-year-old physician from Kozhikode, who was one among the 17 doctors deputed to Libya in 1973.

Abdulla recalls that there had been several attempts to assassinate Gaddafi even then and that made him increasingly security conscious. “Then, Cubans were in charge of his security. He used to drive a Fiat car. Sometimes, he walked freely in his hometown beside the agriculture fields. Once rebels shot down his plane while he was returning to Tripoli from Moscow. But, he made a miraculous escape. After this, he became increasingly security conscious and I lost touch with him,” he said.

The medical clinic at Abuhadhi where Abdulla worked was part of a mega agriculture project. “It was a U-shaped building. Gaddafi used to visit the site once in every month. His office and the clinic were at the far ends of the building.� One day, his cousin Hasan Ishkaal, came to me and asked to meet the Colonel. Gaddafi was in a military attire. He shook hands with me, offered a black tea and asked if I had learnt Arabic and advised me to learn Arabic fast and read Quran regularly,” said Abdulla, leaning on the bamboo chair taking long puffs of his favourite ‘Sadhu’ beedi at his residence in Kinasseri here.

Abdulla, who is penning a book - ‘Gaddafiyude Maruvasham’ (the other-side of Gaddafi), says that he was hardly aware of Gaddafi’s terror regime then.

“Once I became close with the people, a few of them described the other side of their ruler. Everybody was afraid and nobody dared to utter a word against him. And none among the Gaddafi tribe spoke against him,” he said.

Colonel Gaddafi hated democracy and was against election. He even brought torture experts from Egypt, said Abdulla.

“The accused were shot down, sometimes by Gaddafi himself at once without trial. The deadbodies were kept hanging at public places for seven days. Even university students were hung inside the campus. His cousin Ishakaal himself was a victim of the gruesome torture. His feet were as thick as wooden plank as he was put to stand on red-hot iron plank.”

Before returning to Kerala in 1980, Abdulla and his wife Dr Vilasini had several meetings with the Libyan leader, who once asked about how he could help the Muslims in India.

“By that time, there had evolved a number of sarcastic jokes related to his cruel regime. Here is one: a recently bought television was returned by a Libyan saying that it did not work. The operator said it was working fine. But, the customer complained that there was a mechanical error that every channel shows the image of Gaddafi all the time. In fact, the Libyans hardly enjoyed freedom or the privileges of democracy,” Abdulla said.

And what about the present war in Libya? “Gaddafi would neither be captured nor hurt.� It would not be a repeat of Saddam Hussain. The present war is part of the United States’ game plan to ensure unhindered flow of Libyan sweet oil.

America needs Libya’s fuel as it contains minimum amount of sulphur. Even if Gaddafi dies, they will make him a hero as they want another Gaddafi to emerge in the Arab countries that serve American purpose,” adds Abdulla, who also served in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

However, he is unhappy over India’s stand on the issue. “It was inappropriate that the Centre sent a state minister to an international conference to decide the fate of Libya. Post-Gaddafi Libya is going to be a goldmine. And India has got enough capacity to export manpower, both skilled and unskilled, with professional help. S M Krishna made a mistake by not attending the meeting,” he added.

Sep 08, 2011

10 Craziest Things Said About Occupy Wall Street

10 Craziest Things Said About Occupy Wall Street By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet Posted on October 18, 2011, Printed on October 19, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/story/152782/10_craziest_things_said_about_occupy_wall_street Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. -- Proverbs 26.5 What an embarrassment of riches we found in compiling this list. So far, Occupy Wall Street has outlasted, outmaneuvered and generally flummoxed critics at every turn. The peaceful, patient protesters march on, while those who support the status quo turn apoplectic. The following selections are by no means comprehensive, but here, in no particular order, are 10 of the craziest things we've heard so far about the movement that has taken an abusive system by its lapels and said: "Enough already!" 1. What, Me Worry? The out-of-touch medal must go to Wall Street financiers whose tenuous grasp of reality leads them to conclude that the protests have nothing to do with them. You might think that the name of said protest would serve as subtle hint. But apparently obtuseness is as plentiful as arrogance on Wall Street. The smartest guys in the room have taken a smoke break. In a recent New York Times report, one Wall Street champion sums up his view: "'I don't think we see ourselves as the target,' said Steve Bartlett, president of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the nation's biggest banks and insurers in Washington. 'I think they're protesting about the economy. What's lost is that the financial services sector has to be well capitalized and well financed for the economy to recover.'" What's lost, Mr. Bartlett, is your mind if you think that the protests have nothing to do with you and your rapacious clients. 2. The Anti-Semitic Meme David Brooks earns a slot here for promoting this nasty little meme, having launched it on the op ed page of the New York Times, no less. After dismissing the protests as "inconsequential," he observes that "this uprising was sparked by the magazine Adbusters, previously best known for the 2004 essay, 'Why Won't Anyone Say They Are Jewish?' -- an investigative report that identified some of the most influential Jews in America and their nefarious grip on policy." Hmm. The movement seems to be "consequential" enough to panic Brooks into scaring up a seven-year-old magazine article in support of his smear campaign. Accusations of anti-Semitism are a tired ploy of conservatives who have severe allergic reactions to popular movements. Perhaps if Brooks actually attended any of the gatherings and marches, he might ask the Jewish OWS protesters how they feel about his charge. They are plentiful in the 99 percent. 3. The Billionaire's Lament It took the high-rolling mayor of New York, whose fortune has levitated from sale of his "Bloomberg boxes" to Wall Street, to accuse the protesters of picking the wrong target. Guess you gotta defend your constituency! In a mind-bender of an interview with radio host John Gambling, Mayor Bloomberg complains of unfeeling attacks on the impoverished souls toiling in the financial district. "The protesters are protesting against people who make $40,000 and $50,000 year and are struggling to make ends meet." Really? It should be pretty obvious that the protesters are not pointing the finger at Wall Street receptionists. The median salary of a stockbroker is $80,000 per year, and of course it only goes up from there. Memo to Mayor: Gargantuan Wall Street salaries helped tank the economy. And even as regulators have tried to rein in bonuses, banksters simply jack up base pay rates. At Goldman Sachs, the base salary for managing directors has jumped to $500,000 from $300,000 since the crisis. If that's "struggling," we'd like to sign up for it. 4. The Communist Conspiracy Kooks Deserving of a whole list all his own, the certifiable Glenn Beck serves up the latest in a long history of right-wing attacks on anything that ordinary people do to improve their lot. In the world according to Beck, the protesters are card-carrying Communists who wish to destroy the global economy. But that is not all. They are planning the "violent overthrow of the United States government" and are bent on killing Democrats, Speaker Pelosi, and basically "everybody." Warming to his theme, Beck offers a sinister prediction: "Capitalists, if you think that you can play footsies with these people, you're wrong. They will come for you and drag you into the streets and kill you...they're Marxist radicals...these guys are worse than Robespierre from the French Revolution...they'll kill everybody." Never mind that the protesters are nonviolent and express no allegiance to any political group. If you like your lunacy served undiluted, it's hard to beat Beck. 5. The Muslim Brotherhood Cometh Wherever you find wingnuts, chances are you'll stumble on somebody obsessed with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Cairo-based Islamist group that looms larger in the psyche of American paranoids than it does in that of Egyptians. But to a certain stripe of conservative, the Brothers are poised to take over the planet. Starting with sunny Orlando. The Tea Party Tribune alerts readers to what "may be a move by a Muslim activist to take over control of 'Occupy Orlando,' in the 'spirit of the Arab Spring.'" This suspicion gives rise to grave -- if somewhat incoherent -- concerns: "Is it really possible for a 'strange' group of Muslim Brothers to take their anti-American, anti-Jewish hatred into our country and be welcomed, even into meetings with President Obama...ah...yes, it's happening right under your nose, folks! And it may be happening in Orlando, Florida." The "intel" proving this nuttery consists of a video featuring Tom Trento, the leader of anti-Muslim group United West, following around American-Muslim attorney Shayan Elahi at an Occupy Orlando gathering. (The Florida Independent reports that GOP Senate hopeful Adam Hasner calls Trento a "good friend." Yuck.) Helping readers to "connect the dots," Trento links the man's presence to references to the Arab Spring on the Occupy Orlando website. Bingo! The whole movement must be a nefarious plot for the Muslim Brotherhood to take over America. "Something to think about," says Trento. Yep. And the fact that Trento is bonkers. 6. Secret Funding Aggravated by the well-established fact that right-wing billionaire David Koch has backed the Tea Party, conservatives are predictably trying to claim that liberal billionaire George Soros is secretly financing Occupy Wall Street. It's no surprise that Rush Limbaugh would jump on this wagon. But Reuters lent credibility to this baloney with a widely criticized report. The evidence? Reuters reporters Mark Egan and Michelle Nichols claimed that some people sort of said something about Soros: "There has been much speculation over who is financing the disparate protest, which has spread to cities across America and lasted nearly four weeks. One name that keeps coming up is investor George Soros, who in September debuted in the top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda." (Note: this excerpt is reprinted from Alex Pareene's Salon report as the original story seems to have been scrubbed). Plus, they claimed, Soros gave some money to the magazine Adbusters a while back (Pareene debunks this) and "some of the protesters share some ideological ground" with the billionaire. So there! The news wire reversed the story when more thorough journalists called bullshit. Then it tried to bury the whole shameful episode. But here's betting on Dawn of the Dead returns of the lie throughout the right-wing media machine. 7. Cosmic Convergence On to the "Dirty Hippies/Druggies" caricature. We might easily paint Wall Street as playground for cokeheads and hookers, but we will refrain. Perhaps the suggestion that the protests are Woodstock Redux suggests a lack of imagination more than insanity. But pundit Lowman S. Henry, writing for the PennLive.com news organ of Central Pennsylvania, drives this meme all the way to Crazyville: "The Occupy Wall Street protest is the latest incarnation of the Haight-Ashbury gang transported from San Francisco to New York. Loosely gathering under a mutual disdain for the nation's financial community, the group appears to be a hybrid between Woodstock and a college political science class. The lawlessness and arrests have it tilting more toward the former." There's more. According to Henry, the protesters have been paid to call for a change in "cosmic consciousness" by union organizers. Moreover the public has been horribly deceived by the media into believing that Occupy Wall Street is a "spontaneous outpouring of Plebian anger aimed at the rich in America." The idea! Henry sure looks like an expert on psychedelics. What we'd like to know is, what is he smoking? 8. All the President's Protesters Spend five minutes at Zuccotti Park, and you will notice that many of the protesters are openly critical of Obama -- as they are of a whole swath of politicians. Nevertheless, people like presidential hopeful Herman Cain, aka "The Herminator," are painting the movement as a tool of the Obama reelection campaign. He plainly admits that his evidence for this is exactly zilch. But does that stop the Herminator? Of course not! In a Wall Street Journal interview, Cain asserts: "I don't have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself...." Sounds like 99 percent crap to us. 9. This is What Ignorance Looks Like The rejection of business-as-usual politicking among Occupy Wall Street protesters has quite a few knickers in a twist. Observing the recent Occupy the London Stock Exchange rally, Slate's Anne Applebaum blanks out on her country's own history and accuses the protesters of undermining democracy: "In New York, marchers chanted, 'This is what democracy looks like,' but, actually, this isn't what democracy looks like. This is what freedom of speech looks like. Democracy looks a lot more boring. Democracy requires institutions, elections, political parties, rules, laws, a judiciary, and many unglamorous, time-consuming activities, none of which are nearly as much fun as camping out in front of St. Paul's cathedral or chanting slogans on the Rue St. Martin in Paris." Mm-kay. Last time we checked, American democracy kicked off when protesters demonstrated in the streets against an unjust system. They distributed pamphlets. Gathered at rallies. You know, roused the rabble. Applebaum might wish to peruse the Declaration of Independence, which OWS's Declaration of the Occupation of New York City echoes in many ways, such as its focus on abuses of power. The author of the original document, Thomas Jefferson, thought that a rebellion every 20 years or so was just the thing for a democracy: "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical....It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."-- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (Jan. 30, 1787). And just when did using the bathroom at McDonald's become glamorous? 10. Conservatives Like Us The Occupy Wall Street protests have become sort of a Rorschach test in which people tend to see their own grievances and philosophies. That's one of the strengths. But staffers at the American Enterprise Institute? Whoa! But it's true. The conservative think tank sent a couple of fresh-faced, polar-fleeced staffers to find out just what the heck was going on down in Zuccotti Park. Surprised at how "articulate" and "concerned" the protesters seem to be, the staffers chat up protester Edward T. Hall, who seems to advocate state's right in matters like health care. Conclusion? The entire movement is "a bunch of people that are conservatives, they just don't know it." Finding evidence of their free-market fundamentalism everywhere in the camp -- from its "order" to its water filtration system -- the staffers praise the can-do spirit and "entrepreneurship." They ride away -- is that a taxi or a limo? -- resting easy that the movement will soon embrace the wisdom of Ayn Rand. Their feeling of solidarity is not altogether silly. Until they rise up the think-tank career ladder, they, too, are in the 99 percent. Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet contributing editor. © 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152782/

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