Afghan President Hamid Karzai was accused of fraud in elections, but now the U.S. and allies have accepted him as a legitimate elected leader of Afghanistan. The runoff, in an effort to correct massive fraud and voter intimidation, was canceled after Karzai's challenger backed out. So now Karzai wins the elections in spite of committing fraud.

It is clear that America and its allies are more concerned about winning a war than doing the right thing. Don't be surprised if this war drags on for another ten years because you cannot expect to win a war by accepting a fraud.

Bhumika Ghimire

In the lawsuit, Jess Zimmerman is accused of posting "defamatory and libelous" statements against the school in his blog.

Stu Kriesman at Huffington Post describes the situation as "Guantanamo Bay: College Division" and says that, despite announcing that they will drop the lawsuit, the school  is still pursuing the case:

"Once word of this abuse of the legal system spread outside the tight-knit world of academics and into the main stream media, plus seeing the outrage of its own students, Butler backed off and announced that they would drop the questionable lawsuit against Jess Zimmerman.

Wrong! They were kidding! The lawsuit is still on and just in case, the Butler administrators are also going to hold their own "Kangaroo Court" to make sure Zimmerman gets what's coming to him. If they can't kick his keister legally, they'll take the law into their own hands and dish out their own punishment. All this because the administration can't take criticism on the Internet."

In Zimmerman's blog, you can read reaction from some local leaders and members of academia who are outraged at the way the university is trampling on the free speech rights of this student. I am posting one here:

"Too many colleges and universities are using their resources to bully and intimidate their faculties and students. This case appears to be an egregious example that is a disgrace to Butler University and the whole of the Academy."

-Bruce A Voyles, Ph.D., Grinnell College

Please spread the word and, if you can, contact Butler and let them know what you think of their actions against this student.

Bhumika Ghimire

The Taliban and its militants are stepping up attacks against Pakistan, and how does the country respond? By acting like a scared chicken. Instead of insuring security for school children and universities, the government is bowing to the Taliban and closing education institutions. What kind of message does this send to the children of Pakistan? That what the Taliban wants the Taliban gets.

I am against putting children in danger, but closing schools to hide your ineffective security is not the way to deal with terrorists. Pakistan should launch an even stronger offensive against the Taliban and, if needed, close the border with Afghanistan (the main entry points because large parts of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are rugged mountainous areas impossible to police). Do what it take, but please do not stop children from learning.

For more on the attack on the Islamic university, here is the BBC's report.

Bhumika Ghimire

Here is a short background on Blog Action Day from MadMikesAmerica:

"Blog Action Day takes place annually on October 15, 2009. This gives us one day a year for bloggers to focus on just one topic. This year's topic is Global Climate Change. So far, 5,464 sites have registered to participate with a reader following 10,453,869 from around the globe. If participation is anything like last year those numbers will swell dramatically as we get closer to Blog Action Day 2009.

Blog Action Day 2009 is the largest social change event on the internet. It began in 2007 when Australian Bloggers Collis & Cyan Ta'eed (along with help from Envato) decided to have a day when bloggers could focus on one subject. The chosen topic was the environment. That first year over 20,000 bloggers participated."

 

The initiative is not limited to the United States or Western nations. Bloggers in the Philippines are using this day to draw attention to recent natural disasters in the region.

"Bloggers Kapihan is hoping it will and urges Filipinos worldwide to join “Blog Action Day” on October 15 by publishing blogs, podcasts, and videocasts on why there is a need to reintroduce the discussion about climate change and actions to mitigate its effects, said its member and blogger/journalist Anthony Ian Cruz.

Cruz said the massive flooding, death, and damage caused by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng,” which hit the Philippines in the last three weeks reflected the urgency in which the issue of climate should be addressed."

If you would like to participate, then please visit Blog Action Day's website here and start blogging about climate change.

Bhumika Ghimire

 According to the BBC:

"The cleric, Sheikh Saad al-Shethry, said the mixing of sexes in any university was evil and a great sin.

He demanded the curriculum should be vetted by Islamic scholars to prevent teaching of 'alien ideologies.'"

On its website, KAUST describes itself as "an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom that will also benefit the region and the world."

At True/Slant, author Jessica Faye Carter has posted on co-education in the country and also has a video from Al-Jazeera on the university.

It remains to be see weather the conservative kingdom and its clerics with strong opinions will be able to accept the university and the openness it promises.

Bhumika Ghimire

According to a Thomson Reuters survey, most Americans are willing to pay for healthcare reform.

"The telephone survey of 3,003 U.S. adults conducted by Thomson Reuters (TRI.N) (TRI.TO) found 63 percent willing to pay for healthcare reform, though most also said they are happy with their own doctors, insurance plans and out-of-pocket costs."

But the conservatives have been saying the opposite all along — that people are okay with the present system and don't want it fixed. They are lying.

And how about the loonies who are comparing healthcare reform to a way to have "death panels" and "rationed care"? The crazy one up in Alaska uttered some sentences on her Facebook page and the lunatics accepted as fact. What is even more baffling is that some people are comparing the proposed reform to the Nazis.

Here is Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission:

"I want to put it to you bluntly. What they are attempting to do in healthcare, particularly in treating the elderly, is not something like what the Nazis did. It is precisely what the Nazis did."

And this man leads a group on ethics and liberty? He is better suited to be the Alaskan crazy one's propaganda director. Since he knows the Nazis so well, he is suited to do the job.

The way people like Land, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Steele have polluted the healthcare reform debate, "scam" is a light word to describe it. I prefer to use another word; it starts with a "t" and rhymes with "reason."

Bhumika Ghimire

 According to the The Huffington Post:

"Rush Limbaugh couldn't resist trying to connect the brutal beating of one student by another on a school bus to President Obama, using it as an example of how Obama is somehow causing racism throughout the U.S."

Only in Lambaugh's stinky books is it racism when students fight on seating choice. Local police clearly say that the fight was not racially motivated, but our dear one is not going to believe the police. He sees a white boy getting beaten up and he sees Obama's hand behind the incident.

I am not saying that the incident should not receive any attention. I am a parent, and to hear the kids are getting into serious fights in a school bus is scary, but let us keep things in perspective. Rush Limbaugh is a nut.It is funny to see how low can this man go. There is no bottom to this pit; it keeps expanding like his gut.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/16/rush-limbaugh-obamas-amer_n_288371.html

""

Bhumika Ghimire

Why would he not support a public option that will allow millions to have access to health care? What does Michael Steele have against a plan that will give the poor and the needy a chance for a healthier life? I know why — because he and his party and those blue dog Democrats have sold their souls to the devil named "insurance industry."

They do not want a sensible healthcare reform bill. All they want is to kill any prospect for reform so that their masters in the insurance industry will continue to fund their campaigns.

It is clear: the GOP deserves to be lead by an incredily arrogant man. After all, the party itself is so out of touch with reality on healthcare crises.

Bhumika Ghimire

•  With 19 children, the Duggars will be using resources roughly 17 times more than an average family. Who cares about global warming or climate change or depleting natural resources? Let God figure that out.
• Michelle Duggar has already spent 12 years of her life pregnant. How about her health and well being? No forget that — they have to obey God and have as many kids as possible. No qualms putting the mother's health and well being of the kids at risk.
• And let us not forget the 18 kids that are already here. They have to enjoy not getting enough personal time and attention from parents too busy handling a mini-township.

Yes, let us be happy for Michelle Duggar. She is having her 19th child, and the only question people can think of asking is if there is a plan for more.

Bhumika Ghimire

Now that is a bunch of you know what. Releasing a murderer on compassionate ground! What about his crime? Did he show any compassion or regard for human life when he committed the cowardly acts? No. 

Al-Megrahi is a criminal and has blood of 270 on his hands and deserves no compassion. I am sorry, but I don't think there is anyone on this planet, with a functioning mind and reasoning, who would vouch for his release.

Come to think of it, al-Megrahi's bosses in Libya control the country's oil resources. According to the Energy Information Administration's website:

"Libya holds close to 44 billion barrels of oil reserves, the largest in Africa. EIA data indicate that 2008 total oil production (crude plus liquids) was approximately 1.88 million barrels per day (bbl/d)."

Is Scotland's compassion another name for its interest in Libyan oil?

Bhumika Ghimire

Now the Nepalese government has taken the torment faced by widows a step further by offering men NRs. 50,000 ($650) if they marry a widow. A strange way to encourage  widow remarriage, you say? I agree. Women in Nepal are up in arms against this.

Guardian UK reports:

"Women's groups have condemned a Nepalese government plan to pay men for marrying widows, describing it as contrary to human rights law and humiliating for single women.

Under the proposal, contained in the government's annual budget last week, a lump sum of 50,000 Nepali rupees (£388) would be given to men who marry widows."

 

Widows are also angry at the government for putting a price tag on their dignity. The Times of India says:

"Dama Sharma, a Maoist MP whose husband was killed during the insurgency, says her party is also opposing the offer. "What about the children of a widowed woman?" she asks. "How many men in Nepal are broadminded enough to accept a widow along with her children? Instead of advocating re-marriage as a panacea, the state should provide her vocational training and a job so that she can stand on her own feet."

A Nepalese women's group based in the United States, Nepali Women's Global Network, has released a statement calling for a "comprehensive plan to address the need of widows" instead of focusing on re-marriage.

Bhumika Ghimire

 According to The Jerusalem Post,

The Society for Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the religious police arrested the two sisters, aged 19 and 21, thus putting their lives in danger.

Their brother shot them to death in front of their father when they left a women's shelter in Riyadh on July 5, according to Saudi news reports.

I have wasted lot of words on the way women are treated in Saudi Arabia. I say wasted because nothing ever changes there. It is the same, over and over again. Today there is this shameful killing, and tomorrow another woman will be held in her home and not allowed to pursue her goals, and the tale of Saudi women held hostage by the regime and culture goes on.

A ray of hope I found online: read this article and you will understand why. It is at Saudi Gazette. 

Bhumika Ghimire