An Almanack

Shah Rukh Khan, the hero of many Bollywood movies, was detained by US immigration for two hours because his surname popped up on a watch list. Khan is the most common last name among South Asian Muslims; there are more Khans in the world than Smiths. Even in the US, it is the 665th most popular name.

Khan was an honorific title of Mongol tribes, and eventually was adopted as a surname by many people who are descended from a Khan or wanted to be associated to the name. Indeed, 0.5% of all men in the world carry a genetic marker believed to be passed on by Genghis Khan. There were strong selective pressures to help propagate the Khan name when the Mongols dominated the whole of Asia.

One among the hundreds of millions of people with the surname Khan is a very bad guy: AQ Khan, the man who built the Pakistani atom bomb and sold nuclear secrets to Libya and North Korea. But the surname alone has very little value in identifying a person in this case: US immigration should have known how common it is.

On the other hand, Indians tend to be overly sensitive in such matters. Only a month ago there was a furor because Indian employees of Continental Airlines frisked former President Kalam. This was considered an indignity: all Indian airports post a list of VVIPs (Very Very Important Persons) who are exempt from security procedures, a list that starts with the President and former Presidents. Indian culture accepts such special treatment for celebrities and retired politicians. (more…)

My life has meaning now. KO quotes a diary from DKos on his show. OK, it wasn’t my diary, but I read it. Before KO quoted it. On TV! Yes, sometimes if you live a good life and work hard it all pays off in the end. Life is not all unfair.

A celebrity quoted the diary. Someone who is actually paid to be on TV. Just think of that. I am dumbfounded. Or something.It was like the time I was at a concert and a drop of Sting’s sweat fell on me. I didn’t wash for a week. Didn’t want that celebrity saltiness to wash off my skin. Another time I was at a restaurant in Connecticut and someone told me Paul Newman had eaten there the week before. Yes! Just one week before I ate there, Paul Newman had sat at the same table. OK, may not be the same table. Same room. Or general area. Or something. (more…)

Gov. Sarah Palin has a short announcement to make, after which she will be answering your questions.

Hi America, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, over the heads of the Liberal Media. People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing’s more important to me than our troops who are serving so well defending freedom in Kosovo. And it is in honor of those troops that I announce my withdrawal from the Presidential race of 2012.

And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY independence… no more conventional “politics as usual”. Real winners make up their own rules, instead of playing by the rules or the constitution or whatever you call them over at your Department of Law in Washington. We broke ground on the new prison. The more people we put in jail, the greater our security will be. I can think of one or two reporters I would like to have as guest in our new prison.

Make no mistake about it. I am no quitter. I am a fighter. Which is why I will be resigning as your President effective the year 2012.

Q: If you are quitting the race how can you resign from the Presidency? (more…)

10. Wants to go hiking the Appalachian Trail.

9. This is not a retreat. It is an advance in the direction opposite to forward.

8. Wants to be appointed Ambassador to Africa. She still thinks it is a country.

7. Will be appearing on Wife Swap, with Jenny Sanford.

6. Michelle Bachmann was getting too much attention for being batshit crazy.

5. Thought she could put her job up for sale on EBay.

4. Palin is the sole beneficiary in newly found Michael Jackson will.

3. Took career advice from President Dan Quayle.

2. John McCain bailed out five times too.

And the number one reason why Sarah Palin quit as Governor of Alaska:

1. Wants to move to Chicago and become a Community Organizer.

Duh. Next week’s revelation: Water is Wet. Really.

The Liberal blogosphere has turned Green. TPM and Rachel Maddow have become cheerleaders for what they think is the democratic movement of Iran. Obama and Kos have decided to stay out of the fray, while not criticizing others for commenting on the situation. On the Right Wing, there is talk that this cautious approach is somehow a betrayal of our allies in Iran. Remember how well McCain’s meddling in Georgia worked out.

As someone who grew up in another country (India) awash in conspiracy theories of American involvement in local politics, I believe that the best thing for Americans can do right now to support democracy in Iran is..nothing. Stay out of it. Obama, having lived abroad, understands this. As does Kos, for the same reason. Any whiff of American support for Moussavi will undermine him. The crowds in Teheran, chanting “Allahu Akbar”, will themselves turn against Moussavi if the US voices support for him.

As I write this, the Supreme Leader is giving a sermon in Teheran. Darkly warning against “arrogant Western powers” and asking for “prayer” and “divine guidance”. Even if the US Government stays out of it, if American media is involved, such as through blogs, it will be used against Moussavi and his party. In other words,

Don’t just do something. Stand there.

Besides, we may not really understand what is going on. (more…)

Nobody speaks of Bush anymore. It is Cheney who haunts us as the ghost of errors past. Hard to believe that a little less than half of voters went for Bush in 2000, and then again a slight majority in 2004. Right after 9/11, Bush had the support of 90% of people. Even as he limped out of town, about a third of Americans approved of him. That is after the Iraq debacle, after the Katrina disaster,after the disclosures of torture at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. Some one must have supported torture back when Bush and Cheney were waterboarding prisoners. Someone other than just Bush must have thought that Brownie was doing a heck of a job in New Orleans.

It is not just evil people who cause great harm to the world. It is well meaning people who try to fit in, somehow contorting their thoughts to fit the conventional wisdom of the day. Many of these same people are now for Obama, fitting into the new CW,forgetting where they stood back in the brief dark age after 9/11. “The Google”, which just happened to come online about the same time, allows us to look up the celebrities among us.
(more…)

That sound you are not hearing is the roar of conservative activist groups enraged at the progressive in the White House. Other than a few buffoons like Limbaugh, right wing activists are demoralized, without a target to hit at.
The Globe

The arrival of a big-city liberal president backed by Democratic majorities in Congress should have given single-issue conservative interest groups concerned with guns, abortion, and religion a lot of new material. Yet only four months after taking office, Obama appears to have already fulfilled one of the murkiest pledges of his candidacy: to declare a cease-fire in the culture wars.

Rich Lowry is despondent that the new President is not waving the red flag at the conservative bulls:

Rhetorically, he is in the middle of any debate, perpetually surrounded by finger-pointing extremists who can’t get over their reflexive combativeness and ideological fixations to acknowledge his surpassing thoughtfulness and grace.

This is how Obama, whose position on abortion is indistinguishable from NARAL’s, can speechify on abortion at Notre Dame and come away sounding like a pitch-perfect centrist. It’s natural, then, that his speech at the National Archives on national security should superficially sound soothing, reasonable, and even a little put-upon (oh, what President Obama has to endure from all those finger-pointing extremists).

Many liberals also seem angry that Obama is not being more provocative. But that was Obama’s style all along.
(more…)

The Cheney-Churchill comparison has not yet been made. But it is coming. Sooner or later every conservative thinks he is the next Churchill.

Dick Cheney is on TV every day. Even calls in to a radio talk show in North Dakota. Not only is it out of character for him, it is against the conventions of American politics for a former VP to criticize a new President so soon after the election. Perhaps Cheney is scared that he will be indicted for war crimes and is offering a pre-emptive defense.Torture is not just any war crime: it carries the death penalty. Maybe it is not his own indictment that he fears but that of his former aides like Addington. Or he is drumming up publicity for his book. He could just be bored after his retirement. Is Lynne Cheney making him mow the lawn, if he stays home?

But I think it is something else. (more…)

Look at 6:14. Condoleeza Rice says:

So by definition-it was authorized by the President- it did not violate our obligations under the convention against torture

It is a long video, but watch the rest of it for context. She claims she did not authorize it, only conveyed the authorization.

I didn’t rob the bank. I only carried the bags of money.

So when will that Presidential authorization of torture (”enhanced interrogation techniques”) be released?

Drip, Drip Drip… the Chinese water torture continues.