Images from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

I had a really good time at Jon Stewart’s rally recently. It was great to see and talk to american citizens, who were being so passionate about their political beliefs. There was an enormous crowd at the national mall, and some very witty signs as well!

 

Storm – Tim Minchin

Worth watching, if you haven’t seen it before.

This blog temporarily resurrects itself to share this awesome video

This is incredibly good. PMQs in the US!!

I think it shows how intelligent a man Obama is. Also, what’s annoying is the incredibly retarded questions that some of those senators ask, given this incredible chance to have a live televised debate on policy! (example, Senator Tom Price at ~ 40 min).

The best sci-fi series in the history of television

If you’re unlucky enough to share my misfortune of not having coming across this series before, then you just have to watch the 14 episodes of Firefly, which is quite possibly one of the greatest television series of all time.

Words cannot describe how good this series is. Just go watch it.

Superstition kills : Part II

Praying man let his daughter die

A US jury has found a man guilty of killing his sick 11-year-old daughter by praying for her recovery rather than seeking medical care.

The man, Dale Neumann, told a court in the state of Wisconsin he believed God could heal his daughter.

She died of a treatable disease – undiagnosed diabetes – at home in rural Wisconsin in March last year, as people surrounded her and prayed.
…

“If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God,” he said. “I am not believing what he said he would do.”

Superstition kills

Indian man ‘sacrifices’ five-year-old girl for male child

A rural Indian witch doctor beheaded a five-year-old girl as part of a bizarre ritual to help a villager produce healthy male heirs, police said Thursday.

Vandana Kumari was murdered on Tuesday in Lakhimpur Kheri district, 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the Uttar Pradesh state capital Lucknow, police officer Ravi Srivastava told AFP by telephone.

Occult practitioner Mewalal Chauhan recommended the “human sacrifice” when the child”s neighbour Ram Niwas came to him for help, Srivastava said.

Terror in Mumbai by Dan Reed

You should watch this revealing documentary by Dan Reed on the recent Mumbai terror attacks. From the Mirror,

Dan Reed’s exhaustively researched film builds up a chilling, detailed picture, using CCTV footage, survivors’ testimonies and from police on the scene – who, with their outdated rifles, were powerless to stop the gunmen.

As compelling as these accounts are, it’s the phone conversations between the gunmen and their controllers back in Pakistan – recorded by the Indian intelligence services and aired here for the first time – that are the most revealing.

I have a lot of emotions right now, but I’ll try to keep this short. The actual recorded telephone conversations and CCTV images are gruesome to watch, but highlight the complete lack of preparation our security forces had in tackling such an attack. There’s footage of atleast a dozen police officers running away in the train station together, instead of trying to fire at the terrorists.

It’s also almost surreal listening to the recorded conversations between the terrorists and their handlers, as they receive *live* instructions on where to attack and what to set on fire *after* getting into the hotel. Was this information even available during the counter-terrorism response? If this was known, why were live feeds of the security activities allowed to be broadcast by the TV networks? I can only hope that our security forces have learned a lot from this incident.

There’s also a conversation with Kasab which is shown, where the police questioner asks him about his motivations. It’s easy to label the terrorists as inhuman, and devoid of human emotion, but the religious conviction which they’ve been brainwashed with in order to justify their acts is incredibly sad to watch. The recorded telephone conversations show how they are repeatedly reminded by their handlers that they should not get arrested and should die, and that God will reward them. It’s going to be education, rationalism and literacy which can prevent such people from turning into terrorists.