Non-Existent Cleavage

* Tamil Nadu has the highest AIDS population in India (link)

Tamil Nadu had reported 52,036 AIDS cases to NACO by July 2005, which is by far the highest number of any state.

* Female Foeticide and Infanticide on a rampage: Tamilnadu, inspite of being second in literacy rate in India and having a decent range for the social index indicators, it still kills just for being female. This in itself should make everyone hang their heads in shame. This leads to a huge imbalance in the male-female ratio. (link)

In infanticide hotspots like Salem, the sex ratio has improved from 890 to 912, but in places like Elampillai, where the ratio was already low (819), it has become lower still, 746/1,000 male births.

The problem continues to persist in Chellampatti region of Madurai where female births have declined further.
In places like Powerkadu, in Namakkal, where for every 1,000 male births there were 1,176 girl children in 2001, only about 702 are born now.

* Child Labour is still an issue (link). Though this is prevalent in many parts of India, that doesn't absolve anyone on this issue.

* India still has one of least literacy rates in the world, which is exacerbated manifold when only the female literacy rate is taken into account.

Why am i talking about all these stuff which are quite obvious to most? Because, for Hindu Makkal Katchi of TN, all these issues are not an insult to the so called "Hindu culture". People can kill infants for being of the wrong sex. Children can be exploited with impunity. Women can go without education and be treated like an animal. But, God Forbid, exposing a non-existent cleavage by Shriya (no wonder there was a huge issue on the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction), is a big affront on Hinduism. What a bunch of perverted, sick SOBs? The hypocritical bastards should be neutered, so they don't use a woman and a great religion (despite all its faults) to gain political mileage.

SCHIP and the Stock Market

Today, the US House voted to confirm the veto on the SCHIP program by Bush. This can only infuriate people who want to see people without the means to get healthcare in this country get it. By the way, for people who don't know, SCHIP is a govt sponsored health insurance program for children of poor parents who cannot afford it. Naturally, Bush vetoed it. The supporters of the veto had the gall to say that when the economy is in a precarious condition and when there is a need for a economic stimulus package (i think of around $145 Billion), they cannot afford to squander money.

SCHIP

If you have been following the subprime crisis, you would by now know that this was a result of pure, unmitigated GREED on the part of wall st honchos. And the govt pumps in 145 billion to save their ass, while a program costing $35 billion gets vetoed in the name of fiscal prudence. It says a about the Republican leadership. Believe me, I dont know enough profanities to fully describe what i feel about the republicans.

For people who follow US politics, apart from the primaries and all the squabbles between Hillary and Barack, the most important topic for the next few days will be the FISA bill with retroactive immunity for the Telecom Companies that will come to the Senate floor tomorrow. The Blogosphere led by Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald are asking Hillary, Barack and John to show some leadership here instead of just preaching it. Lets see how it goes. But I don't expect anything from Hillary or Barack. I guess it will be mostly left to Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold to fight it out. I will be following it very closely.

Background: FISA Bill seeks to give retroactive immunity to Telecom Companies like Verizon, AT&T etc., for breaking the law by tapping into phone calls of American Citizens without warrants when asked by George Bush. Now, the Republicans along with complicit Democrats want to give retroactive immunity to Telecom Companies for breaking the law back in 2001, 2002 etc., The supporters of the bill argue that the companies should not be punished for helping the govt in its fight against terrorism. The ones against it say that you cannot retroactively give immunity for breaking the law knowing its illegal to wiretap phone calls (we all have an idea about how many lawyers these companies have in their payroll). Furthermore,the phone companies stopped their wiretap when FBI delayed the payments. So, this flies in face of the argument that the Telcoms were bound by their patriotism and did so in good faith for national security. There are other provisions within the FISA bill which when kept next to the US Constitution would seem to nullify the amendments there. For more on this you can follow closely in
SALON
FIREDOGLAKE

The final test between India and Australia will probably be one of the most looked forward to test match in a long time (atleast for me). I expect the Indian team to play with five bowlers. The batting is strong enough and if it came through in Perth and Sydney, it should also come through here. But what won the match for us in Perth was the ability to take 20 wickets. So, i expect/want them to go in with 5 bowlers.

The coverage of the Indian PMs visit to China was one of the worst I have seen. I understand there was nothing big that came out of the visit. But given our media's inherent capability to hype up inanities, i expected atleast some "HINDI CHINI BHAI BHAI" bullshit if not a decent coverage of the issues that confront the countries. I had to get a decent account on Al Jazeera in Youtube. However, i was hit in the face about whether Sarkozy's GF is going to make it to India or not. Talk about priorities!!!!

Middle at Last

Now that Bush's namesake mideast trip is over, its time to have a succinct recap of the trip. Who best to remove all the fluff and give it than Jon Stewart. Here it is.


The highlight of a Presidential visit is the sword dance (not sure if Bush did a belly dance as well!) and weeping in Jerusalem. He comes back to an economy thats ready to shrink (not least because of greed of the wall st.), with a war going on and what does he propose - to make his tax cuts for the top 1% permanent (which still has 3 years to expire by the way) among other things. Like many I too look forward to Jan 2009, though i am not an American.

Yet another start

Here is yet another blogging attempt. Lets see how it goes!!

Cheers