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Saturday, November 1, 2008

[chottala.com] McCain's veep choice sailed into a holy gale

 
 

McCain's veep choice sailed into a holy gale

By CALVIN WOODWARD – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The lower 48 haven't seen the last of Sarah Palin, win or lose.

The presidential campaign has had an odd effect on Palin's unsettled place in political life. It punctured down-home myths about the Alaska governor and trimmed her down to size. Yet it may have helped her to be taken more seriously as a candidate in her own right, in a future election.

Palin came to the country's attention as a woman in the mold of the man at the top of the Republican ticket. Reformer, independent operator, foe of the status quo. You know, maverick.

What's the difference between pit bulls John McCain and Sarah Palin?

Lipstick.

So it seemed.

Scrutiny dulled the shine on McCain's nugget from the north. The crusader against the "bridge to nowhere" actually supported it. The clean-hands governor ended up the subject of legislative inquiry that found she abused power as governor. The woman who "took on" the oil companies also cries "drill, baby, drill."

She was Katy Couricked, Tina Feyed, dressed to the nines, wrapped in a kind of campaign bubble-pack lest she break, finally to break loose — or looser — from the McCain campaign's control. At which point frustrations by Palin allies over her rocky introduction to the public and by McCain backers over the Alaska governor's unscripted moments spilled out through anonymous quotes in news stories.

It's all a long way from Wasilla, Alaska.

"Holy cow," said Chuck Heath, her dad, when he got word McCain had chosen his daughter as vice presidential candidate. That pretty much summed up the reaction of the country.

McCain's bold stroke brought the first woman ever to the Republican ticket, a strongly anti-abortion, anti-gay-marriage candidate who was one of the nation's most popular governors. But she was new to foreign affairs and the full sweep of national issues. She knew more about catching fish, which she once did for a part-time living, than about most of the policies in play.

But she was not a complete surprise to the political class. Democratic operatives had her on their radar screen for several months. She made them a bit nervous.

"She's exactly who I need," McCain said in introducing her. "She stands up for what's right, and she doesn't let anyone tell her to sit down."

Said Palin: "I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built."

Out she sailed into the gale.

Palin has done the star turn at Republican rallies since her auspicious speaking debut at the Minnesota convention. On the stump, she's been the most biting critic of Democrat Barack Obama, a man she claimed — without factual basis — was "palling around with terrorists."

Social conservatives, lukewarm about McCain, came on side with her selection and finally showed enthusiasm for the fray. This, as Palin's popularity fell among Americans at large. After her fumbling interview with Katie Couric, the rap against her hardened that she was unqualified to step in to the presidency if needed.

Alaska's first female governor arrived at the state Capitol in 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections. Her prior political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla's mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In the primary, Palin defeated incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski, who also had 22 years of experience in the U.S. Senate.

Her task didn't seem any easier in the general election, but she handily beat Tony Knowles, a popular Democrat who had served two earlier terms as governor.

During her first year in office, Palin moved away from the powerful old guard of the state Republican Party and presided over a tax increase on oil company profits that now has the state's treasury swelling.

But she is a bullish proponent of petroleum development, in tune with McCain, although the two disagree on drilling in Alaska's protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She favors drilling there; he opposes it.

The governor also opposed designating polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, fearing that step would threaten offshore drilling.

She came into office preaching reform at a time when a federal corruption investigation dogged a number of Alaska's Republican elected officials. One such powerhouse, Sen. Ted Stevens, was convicted in the week before the presidential election on seven counts of trying to hide more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor.

To rid the Capitol of the appearance of undue influence, she kept lobbyists out of her office. And after two years as governor, her popularity reached 80 percent in approval ratings.

Still, she was shadowed through the presidential campaign by an inquiry that found she violated state ethics laws by letting a family dispute influence her decision-making as governor. Specifically, she had fired Alaska's public safety commissioner after she and her husband Todd had pressed him to dismiss her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.

Palin still makes her home in Wasilla, a town of 6,500 about 30 miles north of Anchorage, with her husband, a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who four times has won the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snow machine race. He is part Yup'ik Eskimo. The two used to spend summers fishing commercially for salmon, an enterprise that once left her with broken fingers.

The two met at a high school basketball game and they eloped in 1988, six years after graduation, to avoid the cost of a wedding.

"We had a bad fishing year that year, so we didn't have any money," Todd Palin told The Associated Press last year. "So we decided to spend 35 bucks and go down to the courthouse." They have five children.

Even before McCain picked Palin, people outside Alaska were beginning to notice the young governor with the bright smile — runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest — whose good looks spawned a bumper sticker that read: "Coldest State. Hottest Governor." In December, she posed for the fashion magazine Vogue but says she declined to don runway attire.

"At first they had me in a bunch of furs," she said of the photo shoot. "Yeah, I have furs on my wall, but I don't wear furs. I had to show them my bunny boots and my North Face clothing."

She did the photo shoot while just a few months pregnant, which the public did not know.

What she knew and others didn't at the time was that her son, Trig, would be born with Down syndrome. There was never a doubt that she and Todd would have the child, she told the AP earlier this year.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro life," Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

Trig Paxson Van Palin (in homage to the rock band Van Halen) was born in April. With Trig in tow, Palin returned to work a few days later, for a meeting of her energy team. Trig and siblings were by the Palins' side or in their arms at the convention and many campaign events since.

Along the way, she proved a more divisive figure than McCain might have hoped — turning off many moderate independents and apparently failing to draw those who supported Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, the other woman of history in Campaign '08, in the primaries.

But she developed a following among social conservatives — as McCain needed. And as she will, too, if she hears the call to run, baby, run, another time.

From:

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-voter-emotions

 

Palin: "Government Is The Problem, Doggone It!" CBS News

Across the Pond

Sen. Barack Obama speaks during a 30-minute infomercial

Obama's 'infomercial'

Watch video and read views from the blogosphere

A scary Halloween with Sarah Palin
Salon - 1 hour ago
Editor's note: Read Salon's full coverage of Sarah Palin here. By Rebecca Traister AP Photo/York Daily Record, Bil Bowden Republican vice presidential ...

 Poll shows Obama backers gleeful, McCain's glum

Polls

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-voter-emotions


Palin continues to paint Obama with socialist label Jamaica Observer
Calgary Herald - Los Angeles Times
all 1,794 news articles »


NDTV.com
Will Sarah Palin's charm work in US polls?
NDTV.com, India - 9 hours ago
From a local beauty queen to a sportscaster to Governor of Alaska and now a heartbeat-away from the White House, Sarah Palin has come a long way. ...
Blame Palin at Your Own Risk National Review Online
McCain's veep choice sailed into a holy gale The Associated Press
Will She Ever Get There? Washington Post
The Age - CBS News
 

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[chottala.com] Tainted Milk and our Responsibility

Here is my comments published in the FeedBack column of NewAge dated
Friday 0ctober 31,2008.

Tainted milk and our responsibility

Apart from the melamine scare on powder milk there is also the rumour
that most of the fruits found in different markets are also hazardous
to health because chemicals are injected either to make them big so
that they weigh more and/or they ripen fast. Besides, the nation
hasn't forgotten the contribution of Magistrate Rokonuddowla who had
found many restaurants and other food producing/dealing businesses
violating standards.
The businessmen are thinking in terms of loss of their profits
without thinking about the value of a human life but they are morally
bound by religion and legally obliged by the constitution to provide
goods pure and not poisonous to the health status of the humans. I
wonder what would be the condition of a businessmen if he found that
his imported milk powder containing melamine is the cause of death of
one of his children or that of a close relative of his. Would his
greed for money supersede his human feelings?
Lastly, the politicians of the country who are preparing for the
elections to form the next government and opposition in the
parliament must take note that they are to revamp the BSTI and get
rid of the entire corrupt and useless staff and make at least
four/five more institutions that would be able to monitor the food
standard of all locally-produced and imported food items. Also banks
must be instructed that while receiving the LCs from importers they
must attach with the LCs results of chemical tests and certificates
from both national and foreign parties. The present interim
government, especially the chief adviser, commerce, food and legal
advisers, should sit with all the importers in the country to discuss
the following points:
1. That they will jointly remove all milk powder declared unfit
for human consumption and destroy those in the presence of a
committee that should comprise members of the judiciary, print and
electronic media and any other as suggested by the importers'
association.
2. That the importers' association would provide the government
their undertakings and/or written assurances that they would not
import food items for human consumption without first checking and
comparing the chemical test of all their imported items and that one
of their representatives would remain present in the country of
origin to ensure shipment of those tested food items.
3. That the importers wouldn't wilfully create a `crisis' of other
imported items and/or increase their prices causing hardship to the
consumers.
If those above three points are not followed, we shall see that
all the powder milk that the stores are now `hiding' will soon emerge
at a later date in different packaging and brand names and the people
are yet again buying the same tainted items.

------------------------------------

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[chottala.com] FW: Interesting Statistics about Muslim World


 
 

 

 

 

Some thoughts: Extracts of speech by Hafez Adv. AB Mohamed: Director Al Baraka Bank, South Africa 


  
Demographics: 
o  World Jewish Population.  14 million 
o  Distribution: 7m in America 
                       5m in Asia 
                       2m in Europe 
                       100 thousand in Africa 
o       World Muslim Population: 1.5 billion 
o  Distribution: I billion in Asia/Mid-East 
                      400 M in Africa 
                      44 M in Europe 
                       6 M in the Americas 
o  Every fifth human being is a Muslim. 
o  For every single Hindu there are two Muslims 
o  For every Buddhist there are two Muslims 
o  For every Jew there are 107 Muslims 
o  Yet the 14 million Jews are more powerful than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims 
  
                            Why? 
  
Here are some of the reasons. 
  
Movers of Current History 
o  Albert Einstein             Jewish 
o  Sigmund Freud            Jewish 
o  Karl Marx                    Jewish 
o  Paul Samuelson           Jewish 
o  Milton Friedman 
  
Medical Milestones 
o  Vaccinating Needle: Benjamin Ruben     Jewish 
o  Polio Vaccine          Jonas Salk             Jewish 
o  Leukaemia Drug     Gertrude Elion           Jewish 
o  Hepatitis B             Baruch Blumberg     Jewish 
o  Syphilis Drug         Paul Ehrlich             Jewish 
o  Neuro muscular      Elie Metchnikoff       Jewish 
o  Endocrinology         Andrew Schally       Jewish 
o  Cognitive therapy. Aaron Beck               Jewish 
o  Contraceptive Pill  Gregory Pincus         Jewish 
o  Understanding of Human Eye. G. Wald  Jewish 
o  Embryology.         Stanley Cohen          Jewish 
o  Kidney Dialysis     Willem Kloffcame      Jewish 
  
Nobel Prize Winners 
o  In the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 180 Nobel prizes whilst 1.5 billion Muslims have contributed only 3 Nobel winners 
  
Inventions that changed History 
o  Micro- Processing Chip. Stanley Mezor            Jewish 
o  Nuclear Chain Reactor  Leo Sziland                  Jewish 
o  Optical Fibre Cable       Peter Schultz               Jewish 
o  Traffic Lights            Charles Adler                    Jewish 
o  Stainless Steel         Benno Strauss                 Jewish 
o  Sound Movies          Isador Kisee                     Jewish 
o  Telephone Microphone Emile Berliner                Jewish 
o  Video Tape Recorder Charles Ginsburg             Jewish 
  
Influential Global Business 
o  Polo             Ralph Lauren                  Jewish 
o  Coca Cola                                          Jewish 
o  Levi's Jeans    Levi Strauss                  Jewish 
o  Sawbuck's      Howard Schultz             Jewish 
o  Google          Sergey Brin                    Jewish 
o  Dell Computers  Michael Dell               Jewish 
o  Oracle       Larry Ellison                      Jewish 
o  DKNY       Donna Karan                      Jewish 
o  Baskin & Robbins     Irv Robbins          Jewish 
o  Dunkin Donuts   Bill Rosenberg           Jewish 
  
Influential Intellectuals/Politicians 
o  Henry Kissinger , US Sec of State                     Jewish 
o  Richard Levin, President Yale University             Jewish 
o  Alan Greenspan , US Federal Reserve               Jewish 
o  Joseph Lieberman                                           Jewish 
o  Madeleine Albright , US Sec of State                 Jewish 
o  Casper Weinberger , US Sec of Defence            Jewish 
o  Maxim Litvinov , USSR Foreign Minister             Jewish 
o  David Marshal , Singapore Chief Minister            Jewish 
o  Isaacs Isaacs, Gov-Gen Australia                      Jewish 
o  Benjamin Disraeli, British Statesman                Jewish 
o  Yevgeny Primakov, Russian PM                       Jewish 
o  Barry Goldwater , US Politician                         Jewish 
o  Jorge Sampaio, President Portugal                    Jewish 
o  Herb Gray, Canadian Deputy - PM                    Jewish 
o  Pierre Mendes, French PM                              Jewish 
o  Michael Howard, British Home Sec.                  Jewish 
o  Bruno Kriesky, Austrian Chancellor                  Jewish 
o  Robert Rubin , US Sec of Treasury                    Jewish 
  
Global Media Influential 
o  Wolf Blitzer,  CNN                                             Jewish 
o  Barbara Walters   ABC News                             Jewish 
o  Eugene Meyer , Washington Post                      Jewish 
o  Henry Grunwald, Time Magazine                        Jewish 
o  Katherine Graham , Washington Post                 Jewish 
o  Joseph Lelyeld, New York Times                       Jewish 
o  Max Frankel, New York Times                           Jewish 
  
Global Philanthropists 
o  George Soros                                                  Jewish 
o  Walter Annenberg                                            Jewish 
  
Olympic Gold Medallists 
o  Mark Spitz     7 Gold Medals                             Jewish 
o  Krayzelburg                                                      Jewish 
o  Boris Becker 
o  Stars and TV Producers and 
o  Personalities                                                     Jewish 
  
Why are they powerful? 
  
So why are Muslims powerless? Here's another reason. We have lost the capacity to produce knowledge. 
  
o  In the entire Muslim World (57 Muslim Countries) the re are only 500 universities. 
o  In USA alone, 5,758 universities 
o  In India alone, 8,407 universities 
o  Not one university in the entire Islamic World features in the Top 500 Ranking Universities of the World 
o  Literacy in the Christian World  90% 
o  Literacy in the Muslim World     40% 
o  15 Christian majority-countries, literacy rate 100% 
o  Muslim majority - countries ,       None 
o  98% in Christian countries completed primary 
o  Only 50% in Muslim countries completed primary. 
o  40% in Christian countries attended university 
o  In Muslim countries a dismal 2% attended. 
o  Muslim majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims 
o  The USA has 5000 per million 
o  The Christian world 1000 technicians per million. 
o  Entire Arab World only 50 technicians per million. 
o  Muslim World spends on research/development 0.2% of GDP 
o  Christian World spends 5 % of GDP 
  
Conclusion. 
o  The Muslim World lacks the capacity to produce knowledge. 
  
            Another way of testing the degree of knowledge is the degree of diffusing knowledge. 
  
o  Pakistan 23 daily newspapers per 1000 citizens 
o  Singapore 360 per 1000 citizens. 
o  In UK book titles per million is 2000 
o  In Egypt book titles per million is only 20 
  
Conclusion. 
o  Muslim World is failing to diffuse knowledge 
  
Applying Knowledge is another such test. 
o  Exports of high tech products from  Pakistan is 1% of its exports. 
o  In Saudi Arabia is 0.3% 
o  Kuwait, Morocco and Algeria 0.3% 
o  Singapore alone is 58% 
  
Conclusion. 
o  Muslim World is failing to apply knowledge. 
  
What do we conclude?

 

 



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[chottala.com] Pakistani Police Break up Children's Marriage

Pakistani Police Break up Children's Marriage

Pakistani Police Raided a Child Marriage Ceremony in the City of Karachi

October 31, 2008

 

pakistan child marriage
Seven-year-old groom Mohammad Waseem (R) sits with his four-year-old bride Nisha (L) and his father... Expand
(Reuters)

 

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani police raided a child marriage ceremony in the city of Karachi and arrested a cleric who was presiding over the wedding of a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, police and residents said on Friday.

Pakistani law says people must be 18 to marry but some Islamic laws allow girls to marry after puberty. Despite the laws, young girls are often given away in marriage to settle disputes or pay off debts.

RELATED:

child bride

Eleven-year-old Anita, standing right, and her groom Birbal, 16, pose for a photograph after their marriage, as a priest looks on at Jalpa Mata temple in Rajgarh, about 155 kilometers (96 miles), northwest of Bhopal, India, in this file photo.
(AP Photo)
 

Yemen's 8-Year-old Divorcee

Child Bride 

Forced to Marry, the Newly divorced Yemeni Girl Looks Forward to a Normal Childhood

Eight-year-old Nujoud al-Ahdal, whose marriage was terminated by a court last week, attends a news conference with her lawyer Shatha Nasser in Sanaa April 21, 2008.
(Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)
Pakistan 'child wedding' halted
BBC News, UK - 19 hours ago
By M Ilyas Khan Police in southern Pakistan have arrested two people for attempting to wed a seven-year-old boy to a four-year-old girl, officials say. ...
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