In today's news-Chindu laments Prachanda's exit, LiC vs. DMK, Omar Abdullah and sanity, Madrasas in Pak

The conflict between the Army Chief and the PM of Nepal Mr.Prachanda took an unexpected turn with Prachanda's resignation after the President decided keeping the Army Chief was in the nation's interests. You may ask why is this important?
Nepal is the world's only Hindu nation prevents the Chinese mongrels from knocking on India's northern borders.
LiC in his policy of sucking up to his Chinese masters denounces the actions of the Army Chief:

In defiance of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the army chief pushed ahead with inducting thousands of new recruits, unilaterally extended the tenure of eight senior generals, and withdrew the army from the National Games on account of the PLA’s participation. No democracy can tolerate such insubordination from its army chief. Worse, General Katawal lobbied for support with foreign countries and there was even talk of a coup d’etat.

How can the rag tag PLA a Maoist militia be integrated into a standing army fully is inexplicable.

LiC probably under pressure from his Commie masters has taken the sword against the DMK. After weeks of silence when the DMK flouted every rule under the Election rulebook (Including nominating Azhagiri the Frankenstein) Chindu decides to take the offensive shouting hoarse about the changes in bus fares, bribery in Madurai and other issues.

Madurai, where M.K. Azhagiri, son of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, is contesting on the DMK ticket, is witness to money power and muscle power undermining the democratic process. Ruling partymen have been distributing money to voters and attacking political opponents who objected to their ways.

If the DMK in some machination gets to be part of the next Central Government where the Left is absent, expect swift retribution on LiC.
Chindu often has interviews with odd politicians who have contributed little to the country. One such example is Omar Abdullah, a separatist by heart, a scoundrel by example. In the foreword to the interview Chindu writer Shujaat Bukhari wrote,

While campaigning for his candidates, the NC chief talks about his dreams of making Jammu and Kashmir a model State. Targeting the People’s Democratic Party, his arch rival, is the focal point of his campaign.

Nice! Problem is there is not one response which explains those dreams. Neither is the fight against the PDP explained. Ridiculous waste of newsreel is what I think.

Chindu finally gives the problem of Islamic terror madrasas some space in an article by Sabrina Tavernise 'For many Pakistani children, madrasas fill a void' This is the scary part as Amritsar is less than few hundred kilometers from Lahore and people like Mulayam Singh Yadav want to open up the borders.

Request from CBCNN team: There is new section called Swine of the Week where we target the most ridiculous quote of the week on the Chindu. Please feel free to post your thoughts on who should be this week's Swine. Also please nominate the writer of a 'secular' story for the Jackass of the week.

The sad case of surrogate mothers in China

In many countries across the world, thanks to the miracles of modern science, couples who are incapable of bearing children often use surrogate mothers to have their babies. Apparently this is becoming common in China too with the rising affluence among its young rich. However unlike most countries China holds an iron fist when it comes to birth of children and I was surprised to read the draconian measures being taken to control their birth,

In the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, three young surrogate first-time mothers were discovered by authorities hiding in a communal flat. Soon afterwards, district family planning and security officers broke into the flat, bundled them into a van and drove them to a district hospital where they were manhandled into a maternity ward, the mothers recounted to Reuters. "I was crying 'I don't want to do this'," said a young woman called Xiao Hong, who was pregnant with four-month-old twins. "But they still dragged me in and injected my belly with a needle," the 20-year-old told Reuters. ... Another of the surrogates, who said she'd come from a village in Sichuan province, recounted how officers made her take pills then surgically removed her three-month-old fetus while she was unconscious.

Again I don't have statistics currently about how widespread the crackdown on these cases, but hopefully will be able to provide some soon.
Very sad but I'm sure something like this will not be reported in the Chindu which publishes only the happy tales of the Chinese.

Chindu reports world wide swine flu epidemic

Chindu reports that the swine flu epidemic has spread world wide. The solution:

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, health officials said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent hand washing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well.

I'm sure lots of school kids would want to follow the last part judiciously.
Chindu's investigative reporting found airports using scanners like this one,

In an related incident, Chindu found the perpetrator of the Swine Flu:

No more words need be said.
In other news, Lic fave hotshot, Brinda Karat breaking a vow of silence, predicted that a dumbass will be chosen as PM,

This time round the people will prefer a more democratic fashion, when the non-Congress, non-BJP parties comprising the Third Front will decide in a democratic way who the Prime Minister should be

Really why doesn't the Third Front nominate a single be the face of the campaign if its so confident about victory?
Why are the Mufti's being branded communal? Mehbooba Mufti's answer:

It is very unfortunate to see us through this prism. When any leader in Jammu and Kashmir talks about keeping in mind the aspirations of people, they are branded in the manner you describe.

How I wish the Government did not release those terrorists to save this b1t(h's sister's life. (Correction: Thanks to a reader's sharp observation)
If Kashmiris wan't self determination, they should first repay the people of India the money they've swallowed in the last 60 years plus interest. Then we should talk about self determination.
Final word:
Election commission has wizened up to the act of the Communists. They are sending 220 companies of Central forces for this elections.
I would love to see some Communist a-holes shot doing booth capturing this time around.

Pakistan's clock is ticking

Apparently somewhere Indian politicians and bureaucrats found some b*lls to force Pak into action.
I never thought, I'd read these words in the Chindu,

Islamabad to formulate plan to act against Lashkar-e-Taiba

After all the apologetic positioning by Chindu about Pakistan's so called innocence in the whole sordid affair, with the metaphorical gun being put to Pak's head by both India and the US, Chindu reports the obvious that LeT was involved with the ISI in planning and operating the Mumbai terrorist attack.
Even US politicians like McCain are sympathetic to India and appear resigned to the fact that India would retaliate.

This is India’s 9/11. We cannot tell India not to act when that is what we did, asking the Taliban to hand over Osama Bin Laden to avoid a war and waging one when they refused to do so,

However that article written by Nirupama Subramanian titled, McCain warns Pakistan of Indian air strikes does not have a single statement direct or implied where there is evidence of India's retaliatory air strikes. Such articles steaming with lack of logic appears to be Chindu's style these days.

Mu Ka's senile rants on the Maran brothers

The Mu Ka (CM of TN) vs. Maran brothers feud is something worthy of a Ekta Kapoor or Radhika mega serial coverage. For those unaware of this issue the gist being the Maran brothers owned TV Channels and newspapers conducted some polls last year which showed the DMK party in poor light and the portrayal of Stalin as heir apparent. For any unbiased observer this would appear to be a realistic portrayal of the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu. However elements within the DMK (i.e. people who were shown in bad light) raked up dissent with Mu Ka(Emperor Palpatine) that the Maran's were abusing their influence. So Mu Ka promptly showed the brothers the door in an effort to keep his family united.
Now yesterday Mu Ka in an early celebration of
Festivus decided to air the grievances against his grand nephews.
Chindu being the canny cat decided to favor Mu Ka against the Sun TV owners.
It gives a detailed coverage to Mu Ka but restricts Kalanidhi Maran's detailed statements to a paragraph.
With the ejection of Vaiko first and now the Maran brothers, DMK is following the most honorable of Indian political traditions, nepotism. And thanks to Chindu for not pointing out the obvious.

Chindu discovers pyramids in Tamil Nadu

Based on today's online version of Chindu, there were Pyramids discovered in Tamil Nadu as per the headline One more pyramid site. The image below is a sight to see,

However reading the article reveals that the pyramid was found near Cairo which is not yet part of Tamil Nadu (but Mu Ka wishes it were). The glorious days of doing editorial reviews are long gone.

Countering Islamic terrorism - II

This post is a continuation of the earlier post Countering Islamic terrorism.
As my fellow blogger rightly said,

Khare must be the face of Chindu's journalistic stupidity.

There are several instances in this article alone where Khare exhibits: journalistic ignorance, blatant majority baiting, lack of common sense and a big ego, to overcompensate for a lack of some other muscle, to write his thoughts in an ignorant passage he calls, a coherent anti-terror framework
Reading his tenets, exposes his lack of understanding of what terrorism is and a feeble mind incapable of putting forth ideas to tackle them.
Lets review a few samples,

First, the state is supreme and it can and will make equal demands on all citizens

Or,

That means no group is entitled to claim a right to redress through violent means perceived grievances or injustices

Or this nugget,

Once a consensus is forged on the elements of fight against terror, the citizens, across communities and faiths, will learn to see through the politician’s designs, and only then will we be able to discover ways and means of escaping the small politician’s smallness

small politician’s smallness

Now who really is paying you to write such ignorant crap?
The entire tenets are too generic, totally irrelevant to the problem (other than showing a secular agenda) and have no roadmap or any actions either from the state or the public to handle the terrorists and their agenda.
While you and your secular friends are walking the court houses demanding justice from the terrorists, hundreds of thousands will be blown up in their neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, places of worship etc.

Nirupama proves she's Pak's dhimmi

Thanks to Schuncher for pointing this recent article in the Chindu.
The theme is a common occurrence in Pak-land in recent times. There are a bunch of soldiers loitering around and suddenly they are ambushed either by 'miscreants' or by an American smart bomb. The Pak military then decides to play the blame game blaming everyone but themselves for the cause of this issue. However that is not the issue with the article.
The Chindu's esteemed Ms. Nirupama Subramanian(a wannabe Pallavi Aiyar) is the official correspondent for Pak affairs. Giving her insights on this issue, NV claims,

The intriguing incident in which four Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush by unidentified “miscreants” on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control last Thursday, will help Islamabad rebut Indian claims that the Pakistan Army, or elements in it, are once again assisting cross-LoC infiltration.

Thanks NV, that puts our hardworking Armed forces to rest easy that the Pakistan military is not sponsoring the infiltration. While you are at it, I have some Nigerian oil bonds worth about 15 billion euros I would like to sell to you, if you could kindly provide your bank information. There is very little analysis of the issue and she swallows the Pak official line hook and sinker.
The Pak official spokesman then hilariously states,

“The attackers disappeared after dark, and we could not really trace them or get hold of them,’ he said. The Pakistan Army often uses the term “miscreants” to denote militants.

Mr.Spokesman did they not leave a call back number or perhaps a visiting card? The miscreants are becoming very unreliable these days, makes one look back to the old days when they would wait and give their version before heading out for dinner. Then NV goes on to state the Indian POV,

New Delhi has also been concerned about the recent increase in the activities of banned groups in Pakistan.

Well that seems kind of logical when terrorists decide bomb peaceful civilians like those in Jaipur and other places and most of the attacks seem to have some cross border ties.
In her zeal to provide analysis about foreign affairs she forgets one minor fact, she holds an Indian passport! Reading this article makes one feel as if we are in fact reading 'The Dawn'.

The art of writing a poor movie review.

There are some simple rules when it comes to writing a movie review things like understanding the audience, provide some original opinions, most importantly to summarize the movie than spoil the film.
Given the fact that Dasavatharam is one of the biggest releases this year it serves any large newspaper or media outlet to come up with a review to match the audience's expectations. The Chindu lets Malathi Rangarajan, definitely not the most creative of reviewers, to write a review on this film. She starts off decently providing a high level view of the film production and some platitudes towards the star and the director.
Spoiler Alert
Then she decides to expose the key twist of the plot under the section 'Simple Plot'. Another spoiler which could've been avoided is the fate of the second most promoted artiste (after Kamal) in this film and I'm not referring to Asin. As usual the Chindu takes unnecessary potshots at one of the religious characters,

a 12th century temple priest, whose insular faith ends on a tragic note.

Last I heard in the 12th century, most religions were insular, like the Muslims were massacring Kafirs in the hundreds of thousands, the Christians were fighting their hundred year wars and so on. The analysis of the various aspects of the film is very disjointed skipping between the actors to the technical aspects then back to the actors and so on making for very difficult reading.
Last word
Writing a good review is tough given that the writer often has to observe and capture a lot of diverse facets of film making into a one-page review. Given the amount of work the filmmakers have put in, the investment made by the producers and the expectations of the audience it would seem becoming of the reviewers and editors at Chindu to write a decent review and not let the cat out of the bag. Unfortunately for all of us, they have dropped the ball again.

LiC rants on intolerance

Recently there were a couple of incidents where the members of media were attacked by goons and activists. LiC having experienced some of the medicine first hand courtesy of JJ few years back decides to rant against the atmosphere of intolerance.

Similarly, the proper course for those activists who vandalised the residence of Loksatta’s Kumar Ketkar was to write ‘Letters to the Editor’ disagreeing with the newspaper’s stance.

I'm sure there are thousands of readers of Chindu whose letters to the Editor were not published simply because the newspaper felt those opinions ran counter to the newspapers arguments. How about giving a few of those readers a chance to express their opinions before preaching a course of action to the goons?
Also does LiC know for a fact that those activists did not write to the editor or talk to him politely before engaging in vandalism? Does anyone think that Mr.Sherlock Ram would've done his due diligence?

Newspapers have a right — indeed also a duty — to express themselves strongly and unequivocally on matters of public interest. They are not expected to stake out positions that please those in political life, those in power, or even those who constitute the majority. Intolerance against the written word is commonly justified in this country by invoking hurt sentiment.

This statement defines what a newspaper should and must be. Unfortunately this is a case of a quack claiming to be a registered physician just by reading the hippocratic oath. There have been numerous incidents over the recent past, many covered in detail by the writers of this blog, where Chindu has written articles with a serious lack of journalistic integrity. Hence for LiC to preach from his mountain in Anna Salai that newspapers should talk about the common man's interest is laughable.
The conclusion deserves some thought,

The sorry truth is that hurt sentiment in this country has become a cynical justification for those who want to bend the law or to take it into their own hands.

I would like to ask a simple question. There have been numerous incidents where Communists have taken the law into their hands (Nandigram, Kerala, Tripura, New Delhi the list goes on) and attacked common civilians, other party activists and even bureaucrats.
Where is LiC and Chindu's sense of duty towards the common man when these incidents happened?

Lets wait until the next terrorist bomb explodes.

The Chindu is often a picture of unintentional comedy. It charges windmills, tries to rail against phantoms of its imagination and more often than not makes a big fool out of itself. One of the key writers who ensures time and again that the Chindu appear like a dunce to the world is the Hon. Harish Khare. Readers of this blog know Harish and his pompous grandstanding ways filled with apathy and bigotry. Recently leaders of the Islamic community in Delhi decided to condemn terrorism by what else but reading out another pointless but laughable fatwa. (The concept of fatwa's and its relevance in modern society is another topic for discussion).
Harish takes this as an occasion to filibuster the audience with his standard litany of complaints against everyone and sundry. He starts of ranting against the BJP who happened to hold their national conference a day after the Deoband fatwas,

and the party found itself welcoming the fatwa. L.K. Advani even felt it expedient to exhort his party to reach out to Muslims.

Then he goes on to establish the Darul Uloom Deoband as the most respected Islamic seminary. But he does not care to define respected. By all rational standards, the institution is a Madrassa and has links to some of the recent terror attacks around the world including the Taliban. Given that they have given no indication of any internal cleansing this statement seems quite hollow. Check out the Deoband's website for more details including a one-page vitriolic article against Christianity.
Harish then goes on to group the canny terrorists, the communal Sangh Parivar, the imperialistic US, incompetent UPA Government for all the problems Indian Muslims are facing today.

With some help from a bumbling Bush administration, the terrorists have succeeded in their game plan: of generating irrational fears and a sense of insecurity among the majority community, and of invoking ham-handed administrative response from incorrigibly incompetent police personnel to create resentment, which in turn is used to find potential recruits in Muslim bastis and kasbas.

Isn't the responsibility of every active citizen to inform the law and order officials any information about potential terror activities? He then shifts his attention to the rapt reader his grand plan for how the Muslim leaders could integrate their flock into the mainstream. He talks about leaving the traditional secular camp (aka Congress) to better alternatives. Wonder who that could be? (If not the communal NDA, incompetent Congress then who?)
To Harish's credit he does make a couple of good points about how Muslims should avoid international distractions and focus on domestic issues. He also points out the obvious fact that Muslims should reject the oil money from the Sheiks. However the larger fault is that he paints Muslims as victims and giving them a free chit to escape what has happened over the last few decades with stupid statements like these,

The rest of India needs to summon responsible politics to help the Muslim discover the joys of harmonious co-existence.

Another irresponsible quote blaming the media is,

Admittedly, the media and other public opinion forums are dominated by non-Muslim personnel; but that need not be a discouragement to correcting institutionalised biases in an unrepresentative media profession.

Does he not read the "secular" media which from time to time fills the airwaves with pro-minority news?
There are several questions left unanswered as to how the religion should transform to adapt to a modern democracy and adopt a uniform policy towards other religions and women.
There are several communities which have similar social and economic conditions and are trying to adapt and come into the mainstream. Why is it that one specific community should be given a free pass?