<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Human American Foundation Highlights Plight of Hindus in South Asia at Congressional Human Rights Caucus Briefing</b>
<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b>
For Media Inquiries contact:
HAF Executive Director
Ishani Chowdhury
Office: 301.770.7835
Fax: 301.770.7837
Email: ishani at hafsite.org
Washington, D.C. (July 18, 2007) -- In a first of its kind, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) was invited by the House of Representatives Congressional Human Rights Caucus to testify at a briefing on human rights in South Asia yesterday. The briefing, held at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, was co-sponsored by the Task Force for International Religious Freedom and the India Caucus. The panel discussion was entitled, "Religious Freedom Conditions in South Asia: The Treatment of Religious Minorities."
"Our annual Hindu human rights report is widely seen as a credible resource on a topic often overlooked by many human rights groups and the international press and we have been exploring ways in which we could bring more attention to this urgent situation," said Ishani Chowdhury, the Foundation's Executive Director. "We are pleased that our interactions with the Congressional Human Rights Caucus brought the issue of Hindu human rights to the forefront at this briefing." Â
Highlighting the plight of Hindus in Afghanistan and India's state of Jammu and Kashmir specifically, Chowdhury urged assembled political leaders, human rights groups, and the media to focus on what she described as the non-proselytizing, peaceful populations of Hindus who are facing persecution and discrimination in South Asia and in other parts of the world. She alluded to the more serious human rights abuses in Bangladesh and Pakistan briefly, as other panelists described conditions in detail in those two countries, and focused on the HAF report's assessment of Hindu human rights in Afghanistan and India's state of Jammu and Kashmir. Sadly, with the lack of media attention, documentation by human rights organizations, think tanks or a voice from our leaders, the future of the Hindu populations in many of these countries can be considered tenuous at best," Chowdhury said. "Hindus, as adherents of a tolerant faith that accepts a multiplicity of paths to realizing Truth, carry an important message of pluralism and understanding that is a critical element of the global dialogue today."
Among the panelists were Tad Stahnke - Deputy Director of Policy at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Patricia Carley - Associate Director of Policy at USCIRF, Rosaline Costa of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops of Bangladesh, Angela Wu - International Director at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and Imam Daud Hanif - missionary in charge at the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, USA.
Stahnke, while acknowledging the positive aspects of Bangladesh society -- democracy, active media, and judiciary -- alerted the audience to the extremist Islamist influence on politics and society since the election of the BNP-led government in 2001, and the postponing of general elections which was scheduled to be held in January 2007. He mentioned the attacks on minorities, especially the largest minority -- Hindus, and of the rape, murder, confiscation of land and property, and attack on temples that led USCIRF to declare Bangladesh as a country of particular concern.
Discussing anti-blasphemy laws in Pakistan and anti-conversion laws in India and Sri Lanka, Wu also expressed deep concern at the push by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to have the United Nations pass a resolution urging a global prohibition on the public defamation of religion. Wu urged the U.S. State Department to provide mandatory training to its officers in engaging and negotiating with religious leaders.
Rosaline Costa, a native of Bangladesh, highlighted the demographic trends in Bangladesh which has seen a 219 percent growth in the Muslim population and the "loss" of 20 million members of the minority religions, the majority of them being Hindus. According to Costa, the mass rape and gang rape of women, in front of their male relatives, was a grave human rights abuse that has devastated the Hindu population in particular and minorities in general. Describing increasing attacks also faced by the Christian minority, Costa spoke of gangs of Muslim men forcing Christians either to pay protection money or demand that they give away their daughters. She said she was witness to such events on Bhola island. Costa added that tribal people who mostly follow animistic, Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian traditions were also brutally victimized, subject to gang rapes, evicted from their lands, forcibly converted to Islam, and dropped out of voter lists.
Imam Hanif echoed the reality of similar persecution faced by minorities in Pakistan, and said that the majority of Muslim countries not only discriminate against minorities, but their laws on apostasy and blasphemy have targeted the Ahmadis as an apostate Muslim group. He said that Islam as practiced and propounded in Muslim countries is a distorted form of the "religion of peace".
Dr. Rahul Pandit, President, Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF), one of the attendees at the briefing lauded HAF for highlighting the fate of Kashmiri Hindus. "Given the 10-minute time frame per speaker, it was not enough to fully describe the Kashmir situation. However, the conditions leading to the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in 1990 were reviewed, as well as their status in refugee camps in Jammu. HAF related the details of the horrific torture and murder of a family member of one of IAKF's directors, which along with other details of the gross abuses against Pandits (Hindus) and the further dwindling of the Pandit population in the Valley drew the audience's attention."
"Our efforts at tracking human rights abuse of Hindus in South Asia and the global diaspora are finally getting the attention we feel they have always merited," said Ramesh Rao, lead author of the HAF human rights report and Executive Council member of the foundation, who attended the briefing. "It is with a great sense of responsibility and strong resolve that the Hindu American Foundation will continue in its role as an emerging and persistent professional organization giving voice to Hindu concerns around the world."
The Hindu American Foundation is a 501©(3), non-profit, non-partisan organization promoting the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism. Contact HAF at 1-301-770-7835 or on the web at www.HAFsite.org.
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<b>$40 million temple ready to open its doors</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A Hindu temple in Toronto that cost $40 million to built, one of the largest initiative of its kind ever undertaken by the Indian Canadian community, is all set to open its gates to the general public.
The Swaminarayan Mandir to be inaugurated in Toronto on Sunday has been completed in 18 months without government funding by craftsmen who used 24,000 hunks of Italian marble and Turkish limestone.
<b>It is also the first Hindu temple in Canada to be built according to ancient Indian Vedic principles. Most of the temple was carved using hammer and chisel by close to 2,000 craftsmen, 100 of them flown from India,</b> the National Post reported.
The local Hindu community offered up about 400 devoted volunteers and footed the bill for much of the temple.
<b>"It gives me a sense of pride, a reputation for first-generation Indian Canadians that we are integral members of this country," </b>said activity co-ordinator Aarti Patel.
<b>"In addition to Canadian winters, another major hurdle was convincing Toronto city officials that the temple, a completely steel-free structure, was sound engineering," </b>said Naren Sachdev, project manager of construction.
Virtually every inch of the place is embellished with carved deities -- cavorting horses, peacocks, elephants, lotus flowers and vines -- each representing different Hindu virtues.
"For me to try and describe it in words is not possible. It is something one has to experience. When you do enter the temple, you will see how <b>the whole atmosphere and ambiance creates that atmosphere within oneself," </b>Sachdev added.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Bhagavad Gita, Lord Ganesha took care of me in space: Sunita </b>
link
By IANS
Friday July 20, 09:13 PM
New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) Back from her record-making 195-day space odyssey, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams said Friday the Bhagavad Gita and Lord Ganesha took care of her during the journey and said she will come to India this year to share her experiences.
'My father gave me a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and an idol of Lord Ganesha to take them along with me to space and they took care of me in the sky,' Williams said through video conferencing from the Johnson Space Centre in the US.
'My father is a Hindu and mother a Catholic. I am close to both religions. I have read the Gita earlier and Lord Ganesha was looking after me above,' she said, interacting with Indian scientists, journalists and school students gathered at the four American Centres in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Williams returned to earth June 23 after a 195-day space odyssey, the longest ever by a woman astronaut. On June 16, she surpassed US astronaut Shannon Lucid's 188-day 4-hour mark set on a mission to the Russian Mir space station in 1996.
With four excursions in space spread over 29 hours and 17 minutes, she also topped Kathy Thornton's 21-hour record to become the world's most experienced woman space walker.
Sporting a red T Shirt and her hair trimmed, a smiling Williams thanked every single Indian for praying for her safe return.
'Thanks to my family in Gujarat, Gujaratis and thanks to everyone in India for showing interest in me and praying for my safe return.
'I am coming to India later this year and would like to share my experience with as many people as possible. I will visit my cousins in Gujarat and friends in Delhi and do many more things,' she said.
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<b>Jersey City Woman Finds Missile Launcher On Lawn</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->(CBS) JERSEY CITY A Jersey City woman made what to her and her neighbors was a shocking discovery Friday morning when she noticed a military rocket launcher lying in the grass.
Niranjana Besai was leaving her house, located at 88 Nelson Street, to go to work just after 8 a.m. when she spotted the launcher on her front lawn.
"I read it and it [said] 'missile,'" Besai told CBS 2 HD. "There was little 'missile' [writing] on it."
She immediately called police.
Sources tell CBS 2 HD that the device is an AT-4 missile launcher that is used to fire against tanks and buildings. The device was first approved by the U.S. Army in 1985 and its very powerful warheads can penetrate through more than a foot of armor.
Each launcher can be used only once, however, and the device found on Besai's lawn was said to have been used previously. It was deemed inoperable and not a threat before it was turned over U.S. Army officials at the New Jersey's Fort Monmouth.
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Either govt is checking whether NRI are jihadi after involvement of three Indian Muslim jihadi in UK and Australia or some Paki kept there to use it later.
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> <b>Rectifying erronous passport entries may become easier </b>
Passport Office New Delhi
New Delhi, July 22, 2007
Last Updated: 12:27 IST(22/7/2007)
Passport holders, including non-resident Indians (NRIs), may soon be rid of the trouble of running around in courts to get erroneous entries in their passports rectified.
The Ministry of External Affairs told a court in New Delhi that earlier court orders that led to the creation of a rule of the Passport Manual requiring an applicant to seek modifications in passport entries to be armed with a judicial order, could be in for a re-look.
The MEA's contention came during a recent hearing before a magistrate in New Delhi on a complaint filed by an NRI schoolboy from Switzerland, Arvind Srinivasan, who wanted the date of birth in the passport corrected before shifting to the US for higher studies.
So, be it a change in a passport holder's date of birth or a rectification of a miss-spelt name, the days of passport holders running around in overburdened courts to fulfill the conditions laid down in the Rule may well be numbered.
The development could prove significant for NRIs as the simplification of the Manual Rule, if taken to its logical conclusion, may rid them of the trouble of returning to India for approaching the passport office, which issued their passport, for rectifications.
The Ministry's counsel, AK Wali, conceded before the magistrate -- hearing Srinivasan's complaint due to his jurisdiction over the passport office here -- that there seemed to be no statutory law which authorised magistrates (in Delhi) to issue a declaratory order as required under Rule (item 8.1) of the Manual.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>NRIs raise voice against anti-dowry law misuse </b>
Pioneer.com
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
The growing 'abuse' of Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code seems to have raised alarm bells among abandoned non-resident Indian husbands and their relatives. They have demanded that the Centre adopt a judicious approach to check the abuse of law and expose the organised scandal.
Section 498A of the IPC which entails punishment of upto three years, aims at protecting women against harassment or cruelty at the hands of spouses or their relatives.
<b>"The law is being blatantly abused by unscrupulous elements. The non-resident Indian (NRI) husbands are being duped, cheated, humiliated, harassed and ruthlessly exploited for immigration purposes by the so-called vanishing wives. In many cases, the husbands are blackmailed, subjected to financial extortion and are even put behind bars on false charges,"</b> Anupama Singh of Rakshak Foundation said on Thursday during a media interaction.
<b>Rakshak is currently looking into the complaints of around 700 abandoned NRI husbands and there are another 3,000 cases involving resident Indians</b>. The Foundation on Thursday also organised a tele-conference with family members of abandoned husbands from the US, the UK, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. They narrated harrowing tales of torture and torment heaped on them.
The family members of abandoned husbands alleged that instead of looking into the veracity of the allegations of harassment, the Centre was considering further gender biased legislation based on faulty assumptions and unsubstantiated statistics. "The Centre claims that there are 30,000 abandoned brides, but the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has only 150 complaints," the sister of an abandoned husband said.
An alumnus of the Capital's Maulana Azad Medical College where she currently teaches as assistant lecturer in the Department of Medicine, Singh said her colleagues at Rakshak Foundation and 498a.org, another organisation, would intensify their concerted efforts to expose the racket behind the vanishing NRI brides.
"Many of abandoned husbands end up losing their jobs, social status, visas and in some cases even their lives, apart from the trauma that their families suffer. There is hardly any attempt on the part of the Centre to look into the different aspects of charges of harassment by women against husbands," she said.
The participants felt that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, expected to act as a liaison between NRIs and the motherland, is steadfastly pursuing an anti-NRI agenda by acting under undue pressure and influence from different quarters.
"The Ministry's persistent refusal to even consider the issue of abandoned and cheated NRI husbands comes as a shock and surprise to the NRIs. The Government must respond to the situation judiciously. The law is being abused like anything," Satya, an abandoned husband said from California.
Rakshak is now contemplating a series of meeting and representations to the different authorities in Government. Simultaneously, she and her colleagues wish to create awareness about the situation by bringing abandoned husbands and their families together.
"The Centre does not listen to the voice of the harried husbands' conscience, but prefers going by baseless and false allegations. Let's not alienate the NRIs from the nation," she said.
"<b>Things are assuming a critical proportion. It has become a scam in which these NRI women first marry the rich and later abandon them by taking recourse to anti-dowry and other gender biased laws. We urge the Government to adopt a holistic approach to the problem. The vanishing NRI wives are an industry in which the men are the losers. The Government must wake up before it is too late," </b>Singh warned.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Does Britain want Indian doctors out? </b>
Pioneer.com
Nandini Jawli | London
They face competence inquiry despite years of practice in UK
Indian doctors alongside other overseas doctors are being investigated for competence to practice in Britain's National Health Service (NHS). They are facing competence inquiry, following an increasing number of complaints registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (Bapio) calls it 'prejudice against overseas doctors.'
<b>The GMC inquiry comes at a time when foreign doctors are subject to further checks in the wake of the recent foiled terror attacks in London and Glasgow. </b>Prime Minister Gordon Brown had pledged to tighten checks on overseas trained medical staff, after three NHS doctors were charged in connection with the blasts.
The junior doctors from India are already struggling to get jobs in the NHS, as they contest the new rules, giving preference to doctors from European Union.
According to figures given by The Times, the number rose three times in 2006 of foreign-trained doctors, who were struck off the medical register.
More than 5,000 cases were dealt with by the GMC in 2006. Around 303 of these cases, culminated in fitness-to-practice hearings and 54 doctors were struck off. Of these, nearly two thirds- 35 doctors, had trained outside the UK.
GMC has given a notice of inquiry to sixteen doctors this week, seven are from South Asia. This month's fitness to practice hearing by the GMC has involved at least five doctors of Indian origin.
Dr Ramesh Mehta, Bapio president told The Pioneer that the number of cases against Indian doctors is on the rise. "I think it is more to do with prejudice and discrimination against them," Mehta further tells, "The complaints mostly involve junior doctors from India and most of the cases are minor issues like communication related errors or mistakes in writing notes."
He points out that the number of cases reported to the GMC, which involve Indian doctors come not from patients but mainly from professional sources, often within the NHS.
Mehta said, "We are extremely worried that there is a broad climate of discrimination in the management, many of whom appear to take it for granted that overseas-trained doctors are somehow inferior and not up to the job."
<b>The British Medical Association said that the pattern might be accounted for by a culture of institutional racism within the NHS.</b>
<b>Some 16,000 doctors recruited from South Asia mainly from India are facing the non-renewal of both contracts and visas now that demand for their services is no longer acute. They face the risk to be used to support claims that foreign medical training is somehow inadequate</b>.
Now GMC has commissioned seven research projects, which will cover issues including the competence of foreign doctors and whether they are subject to institutional racism within the health service. The academics will investigate how doctors come to work in the UK and which of them might present a particular risk to patients.Â
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http://www.mercurynews.com/alamedacounty/c...?nclick_check=1
<b>In Bay Area, two groups' relationship mirrors Israel-India friendship</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-Viren+Dec 20 2006, 06:43 PM-->QUOTE(Viren @ Dec 20 2006, 06:43 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Un-freaking-believable!
Mumbai immigration deports children!
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Latest India Abroad reports of another kid (about 12 years old) denied temporary transit visa at Indian airport. Apparently the kid is US based grandchild of some former Lok Sabha MP (Samar Guha) who died about 3 years ago and kid's been visiting India every year for past 10 years or so. This time, her parents forgot to take with them the older/expired passport with Indian Visa in it.
Mother and daughter had to fly back to US on very next flight!
Things might be changing in India, NRIs strongly recommended to check their paperwork before leaving for India.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Things might be changing in India, NRIs strongly recommended to check their paperwork before leaving for India.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It depends who is sitting behind desk and whether he had fight with his/her wife/husband before reporting to work.
I know, couple of months back someone was able to get visa/permit at the airport.
Whenever travel, its better to have all travel papers in order. Always keep check list. In case you get stuck, use your charm not contacts at the airport, sweet chit-chat takes you long long way <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Sep 15 2007, 03:27 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Sep 15 2007, 03:27 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>Vandals strike Hindu temple</b>
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check out the newspaper's partners!
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo--> Big Apple dances to Indian beat, asks for more
25 Sep 2007, 0123 hrs IST,Charles Assisi ,TNN
NEW YORK: Imagine this. You're in New York's theatre district â home to Broadway, the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world and of cult musicals like Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and Lion King. Then, on a Sunday evening, an entourage of Indian dancers walk into the Lincoln Centre â ostensibly to celebrate 60 years of Indian Independence. By the time they're ready to perform, the Avery Fisher Hall is packed to capacity with three thousand people inside â and, heaven alone knows how many more outside hoping to get in.
When the show finally started, those inside the hall were witness to a 45-minute performance that assaulted the senses mercilessly with sound and colour only India can think up. It is unclear whether veterans on Broadway had seen anything like this before â but, then, it's unclear whether many Indians had either. It is not everyday that all of the five major Indian dance forms fuse into one performance explained Kabir Bedi, master of ceremonies at the show. "I was once married to a dancer, so I know," he said.
Without doubt, the performers deserved a standing ovation. They got it and the Incredible India@60 campaign in New York City was finally off to the dream start it was hoping for. Outside the hall, a dinner created by five chefs flown in from India was laid out. "We worked really hard for this one moment," said Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman, Infosys and part of the committee that organised the event.
Those who wanted more took taxis to the New York public library a few blocks away where sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and a formal sit-down-dinner waited. The cream of Indian policy makers including P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Montek Singh Ahluwalia broke bread with Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state, Senator Charles Schumer and Brazilian trade minister Celso Amorin.
Ironically, Henry Kissinger had once said "The Indians are bastards." That was shortly before India went to war with Pakistan in 1971. "So if you ask me what about the things I said in 1971," Kissinger said at the dinner, "I now say, I am a convert," to applause.
"Since then, the centre of gravity of the global financial system has shifted to the Pacific from the Atlantic and we want India to be part of it," he added. "Correction," said Kamal Nath, minister for commerce and industry.
"The centre of gravity is now shifting to the Indian Ocean and South China Sea and we want the US to be a part of it" to equally loud applause from an audience that had all of India's corporate heavyweights in attendance including Sunil Mittal of Bharti, Deepak Parekh of HDFC, Gautam Thapar of BILT and C K Birla of Hindustan Motors.
Earlier in the day, curious New Yorkers spent time at Bryant Park near Times Square where a perky Indian compere kept telling everybody that India has arrived. Her hyperbole was interrupted by loud Bollywood music and more traditional dance performances from every part of the country. "Don't forget," she kept insisting, "everybody on stage here has come from India to give New York a taste of what India is like."
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09-25-2007, 06:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-28-2007, 10:05 PM by Husky.)
<!--QuoteBegin-Capt Manmohan Kumar+Sep 25 2007, 06:44 AM-->QUOTE(Capt Manmohan Kumar @ Sep 25 2007, 06:44 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->The cream of Indian policy makers including P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Montek Singh Ahluwalia broke bread with Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state, Senator Charles Schumer and Brazilian trade minister Celso Amorin.
<b>Ironically</b>, Henry Kissinger had once said "The Indians are bastards." That was shortly before India went to war with Pakistan in 1971. "So if you ask me what about the things I said in 1971," Kissinger said at the dinner, "I now say, I am a convert," to applause.[right][snapback]73516[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What <i>I</i> find <b>ironic</b> is that these Indians eating with him have such short memories. Guess they'll do just about anything to be accepted and fit in.
Here we go - from one of IF's main page articles itself:
http://www.india-forum.com/articles/170/1/...ulty-of-Bigotry
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kissinger, famed for his âI wanna p*ss on those Indians! Indians are all bastards, the most aggressive people on earth!â<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Do Kamal Nath, Montek and Chidambaram want to be urinated on at lunch? Possibly. Perhaps they'd even consider it a compliment: a top US dude actually urinated on them! Ain't it all special? They'll never want to wash their clothes again...
Me, I'd never eat with any such mlechcha who was involved with terrorising Cambodians and Laotians and who sat back and let W Pukestani genocidal-terror loose on Dharmics in E Pukestan:
http://www.india-forum.com/articles/170/1/...ulty-of-Bigotry
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Harvard professor who got paid millions for his brilliant advice, that led the US to carpet-bomb Cambodia and Laos? And to ignore the desperate pleas from the US Consulate in Dacca to stop the genocide unleashed by Yahya Khanâs West Pakistan Army?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/history/nixon.html
"Nixon's War: The American Bombing Begins"
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The idea was pitched to Nixon, who quickly approved the bombing with the assistance of his national security advisor Henry Kissinger. The first airstrikes were set for March, barely one month after the initial intelligence reports. In honor of the breakfast meeting at the Pentagon that led to Nixon's approval of the strike, the assault was codenamed Operation Breakfast.
As suggested by Kissenger, Nixon ordered that the attacks occur in secret, and all attempts to expose the bombing should be stopped. General Wheeler informed his staff:
<i>"In the event press inquiries are received following the execution of the Breakfast Plan as to whether or not US B-52s have struck in Cambodia, US spokesman will confirm that B-52s did strike on routine missions adjacent to the Cambodian border but state that he has no details and will look into the question." (Shawcross, p22)</i>
On the 9th of March, 48 boxes - approximately 48 square miles of Cambodian territory - were carpet bombed for Breakfast.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And here:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Yet despite the months of airstrikes, the bombings did little to curb NVA activities. On the contrary, communist forces crept further and further into Cambodia. The US bombers followed suit. Significant populations of Cambodian peasants were now at risk, though no one knows how many of them were killed during the campaign.</b> And the Khmer Rouge, previously a weak guerrilla force run by disenfranchised leftist politicians, grew in the wake of the bombings, as each attack on Cambodian land legitimized their virulent hatred of Sihanouk. They would still need more fighters and weapons if they ever wanted to rule Cambodia, but at least the bombings reinforced the Khmer Rouge's taste for violence. The war in Cambodia was escalating, spiraling out of control. (King) Sihanouk, whose greatest evidence of his mandate from heaven was that he had kept his people out of the war, no longer had the right to that claim. His days were numbered.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The above page is from the site "From Sideshow To Genocide".
http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/history/index.html
Trigger-happy US govt/communist murderers Khmer Rouge - quelle difference? Terroristas.
http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/history/end.html
"The End of Cambodia; The Beginning of a Nightmare"
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>On the morning of April 12, Ambassador John Gunther Dean and the US embassy staff boarded a series of US transport helicopters to evacuate</b> to a navy ship waiting in the Gulf of Thailand. Khmer children observing the evacuation waved to the Americans, calling out "OK, bye-bye, OK, bye-bye" to the departing embassy staff. As the helicopters departed Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge shelled the evacuation zone, firing mortars into the crowd watching the departure. <b>The civil war was coming to an end.</b>
Five days later, on April 17, 1975, Khmer Rouge forced marched unopposed into central Phnom Penh. At first the residents of the city celebrated - the siege was over, there would be no more fighting. <b>But within hours, the joy would turn to horror as the Khmer Rouge began to implement their barbarous plan for a utopian communist society. April 17, 1975 was Day Zero for the new Cambodia - two thousand years of Khmer history were now meaningless.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Eating with KKKissinger (the Hateward professor, how consistent!) - or the Khmer Rouge or hitler or mohammed or any other maniac for that matter - is kinda tasteless. When you eat with Kkkissinger, it means you approve of what happened to the Buddhists of Cambodia and the genocide of the Dharmics of E TSP.
Frankly, it's embarassing that anyone from our country should be lunching with said mlechcha. But then, them psecular Indians do so love the people who loathe them.
<b>Berlin to get largest Hindu temple in Europe outside Britain</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Berlin - Europe's second biggest Hindu temple is to be built in a Berlin park, according to plans announced in the German capital on Monday. Construction work on the temple dedicated to the <b>elephant-headed deity Ganesha is due to begin on October 28 at Hasenheide in the suburb of Neukoelln.</b>
The local mayor, Heinz Buschkowsky, handed over a 73-year-lease for the site to the Sri Ganesh Hindu Temple committee on Monday.
<b>The temple is expected to act as a place of worship and cultural meeting point for the 6,000 Hindus living in Berlin</b>.
A 17-metre ornamental tower dominates the entrance to the complex, which will contain one large temple with seating capacity for more than 300 and four smaller temples.
There will also be a community centre, kitchen and storage rooms.
<b>The building, costing 850,000 euros (1.12 million dollars), will be financed almost exclusively by donations, according to the temple trustees.</b>
Committee president Avnish Kumar Luganis said consumption of meat, tobacco, alcohol and other intoxicants would be expressly forbidden on the premises.
In addition to daily prayers and religious services, the temple will also be used for weddings and birthday celebrations. Yoga and meditation courses will also be offered, the president said.
Europe's biggest Hindu temple is the Shri Venkateswara, which opened near the English city of Birmingham in August 2006.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>'Proud to be from an RSS family'-Sunitha Williams</b>
9/28/2007 12:00:20 AMÂ Media Input
AHMEDABAD: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams said while addressing a Rotary Club function in Ahmedabad in the presence of her father:
<b> "When I landed up in Naval academy I had to adjust to military discipline. The RSS culture of discipline in our family came in handy for me at that stage since my father had been associated with the RSS."</b>
While addressing a meet under the aeges of the Ahmedabad Managament Association she also spoke on Ram Setu. She said :
âI took pictures of the bridge between India and Sri Lanka from the space station".
Sunita Williams, whose father Dr. Deepak Pandya hails from Gujarat, arrived in Ahmedabad last week on a week-long visit to India.
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Pepto-Bismol time for FOSA, QUEEN and Commies of india
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Sep 28 2007, 10:46 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Sep 28 2007, 10:46 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> "When I landed up in Naval academy I had to adjust to military discipline. The RSS culture of discipline in our family came in handy for me at that stage since my father had been associated with the RSS."</b>
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I'm not surprised. Her father did time in '47-'48.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In 1947-48, I was in jail for five months for participating in a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh programme
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Listed on Rediff
<b>'What if Mike Huckabee were a Fundamentalist Hindu?' </b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/080106/43/6pa3g.html
By IANS
Sunday January 6, 10:55 AM
Washington, Jan 6 (IANS) An American cartoonist has taken a dig at US media and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who won the party's first caucus in Iowa, by likening him to a fundamentalist Hindu.
'Today's cartoon responds to the generally respectful tone accorded Mike Huckabee, who does not believe in evolution and is therefore, by definition, a lunatic,' says Ted Rall, whose work appears in about 100 US newspapers, on his blog.
The first panel asking, 'What if Mike Huckabee were a Fundamentalist Hindu?' has Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist preacher, in a TV studio with 'Decision 2008 BC' in the backdrop. He is telling the anchor: 'I believe in traditional cosmology. The earth is held up by four elephants, which stands on a turtle, which is balanced on a cobra. Obviously.'
The next panel suggests, 'Commentators would give his beliefs a fair hearing.' It shows a female commentator saying: 'Feminist extremists are attacking Huckabee - just because he wants his wife to leap into his funeral pyre!' To which her male counterpart responds: 'He is running for president, not professor of women's studies!'
Rall then surmises, 'His affable personality and weight loss skills would be enough to convince voters' in a panel showing a voter telling a reporter:
'He exudes optimism. He's witty. So what if he recoils in horror at the human waste that are the untouchables?'
If Huckabee indeed makes it to the White House, the cartoonist suggests in the last panel, 'Anyone who called him a lunatic would be out of bounds'.
It shows Huckabee sitting in the oval office with the US flag on one side and a framed 'Om' sign on the other saying in a broadcast to the nation:
'My fellow Americans, the earthquake was caused by the shifting of the great cobra. Please join me in a ritual chant.'
The cartoon drew some early comments from a few Indian American with one 'PS' saying: 'I will groan if this blows up into a controversy. We Indians, especially Indians abroad, need to get a life and along with it, a sense of humour.'
'Even though it is cartoon and treat it like that, still it gives an impression that Hindu fundamentalists believe in whatever stated therein,' responded Mukesh.
'I'm Hindu and I have no idea what the 'Great Cobra' is. I think this only emphasises on how much white journalists know about Hinduism,' said Vivek. 'So in my opinion, the jokes not on Huckabee or Hinduism. It's on Ted Rall.'
Re above post about Ted Rall
Rall is seems to be the long lost brother of Chris Hitchens, who, in a moment of white man's lucidity, decised that Krishna must have been born of a virgin to for the pattern of the old "pagan" Gods.
The west seems full of long lost brothers. And India has many budding dircetors wanting to make films on these long lost brothers..
Even the CM forum has an expert who believed in the AIT..mercifully, he straightened up once he was shown that he was wrong. But they also contend that "religion came from kings". Maybe, in a semitic context. But to strut about like a cockatoo claiming that, as if it applied to the whole world, more than smacks of "white guys are the best and no one else exists" syndrome....
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