Lt. Col. Malalaï Kakar . . .

Image: www.cbc.ca

Malalaï joined Kandahar's police force in 1982 and her father and brothers were also police officers. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan, like other women, she was prevented from working. She was well known for her bravery in fighting criminals. She has been on the hit-list of the Taliban as they were scared of this courageous cop.

Watch a video about this slain heroine . . .

(If the video does not load, you can watch it here.)

The Taliban killed her as their primitive minds could not tolerate a lady police officer who opposed their barbaric practices. Shame on the mediæval male-chauvinist morons! :-x

May the soul of this brave daughter of Afghanistan rest in peace!

Mobs of uncivilised goons are attacking the helpless Christian minority in different states of India . . . 8-O

Image: http://0-99.com

First, it was savage violence unleashed on thousands of Christians in Orissa by mobs of disgusting thugs. Read this post to know more. The violence in Orissa shows signs of flaring up again 8-O The Kandhamal district in Orissa is worst affected by the heinous crimes of the loathsome scum beings owing allegiance to the notorious Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. They and their covert supporters seem to be determined to destroy Orissa with their hate crimes. These vile organisations are the Hindu equivalent of despicable organisations like the Indian Mujahideen that carry out terror bombings across India.

(If the video does not load, you can watch it here.)

Then the violence spread to other states in India like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. All these states have governments run by the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political party which is a part of the umbrella of organisations known as the Sangh Parivar which includes organisations like the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Sri Ram Sena. The Sri Ram Sena is a new Hindu terrorist organisation that provides training in arms and explosives to the goons, thugs, scoundrels and criminals in its ranks. The government in Orissa is a coalition government in which the BJP is the junior partner. The scum beings belonging to vile organisations like the Sri Ram Sena and the Bajrang Dal are emboldened to carry out attacks on Christians in states ruled by the BJP because they believe the administration will be deliberately slow to respond in containing the violence. In some places in Mangaluru (Mangalore), the police even beat up Christians who were protesting against the violent attacks with lathis (long wooden batons) while they were lethargic in arresting the violent barbarians who attacked and destroyed churches.

When the Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yeddyurappa, went to meet the Archbishop of Bangalore, Dr. Bernard Moras at his home, he was greeted at the doorstep by an angry Archbishop who expressed his hurt in front of the media at the attacks and the failure of the administration to prevent the attacks. Taken aback, the Chief Minister gave orders to use the Goondas Act (a tough law against goons, thugs and other anti-social elements) against the culprits. Karnataka is one of India's most progressive states and it is home to a large number of India's technology industries located in and around Bengaluru (Bangalore). But the despicable goon squads want take India's Silicon Valley back to the Stone Age with their brand of filthy fascism.

(If the video does not load, you can watch it here.)

Indians would like the world to believe that India is a rapidly developing country. But there are always people with extremely backward, feudal, casteist and communal mindsets who have nothing but hatred in their hearts for India's minorities. Such people and their covert supporters (even if they claim to be "educated") who see nothing wrong in horrible acts of violence (including direct and indirect state-sponsored terrorism, brutal repression and heinous crimes) against helpless people are the curse of India and of humanity as well. Such hate-spewing scoundrels :-x have mindsets that would make Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals and even apes look like highly civilised beings. Shame on the barbarians! :-x

Related posts:

Thousands hide in forests as mobs of savages unleash terror in Orissa

Despicable acts of cowardice!

Serial blasts kill dozens in Jaipur

Criminal scoundrels have done irrepairable damage to India's image as a secular, tolerant country . . .

Image: www.timesofmalta.com

A Hindu religious leader and four of his associates were gunned down in the state of Orissa. The Maoist guerrillas are reported to have carried out the killings. A person who identified himself as Azad, a leader of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army, a Maoist outfit, has claimed responsibility for the killing. The Church and Christian leaders had condemned the killings in the strongest terms. But this was exactly the opportunity that hordes of blood-thirsty thugs were waiting for. The criminals were not going to let go of this opportunity to indulge in some obnoxious acts of barbarism. The disgusting scum beings have gone about it systematically. The result? Two dozen dead, a nun gang-raped, thousands of homes destroyed and the belongings of the owners looted, more than a hundred churches and prayer halls burned down, hundreds of others attacked, beaten, humiliated and tortured with the law enforcement machinery either completely absent or in a few cases just looking on as the scum beings went about indulging in acts of savagery. Thousands were forced to flee their homes and hide in the forests of the eastern state to save their lives. Many are still hiding in the jungles, while others have moved into overcrowded "refugee camps" with pathetic facilities.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has called the violence against Christians in Orissa "a national shame". And a shame it is! A shame on humanity! No civilised person would ever approve of such filthy crimes. But unfortunately, the world (including India) is not short of people with sordid, disgusting, backward, regressive, savage mindsets. They would be quite pleased to hear this. They would be happy that helpless people are being killed. These filthy acts of violence against innocent people would warm their hate-filled hearts as it fits in well with their despicable ideology of hate.

Civilised Indians are extremely worried about the turn of events. A citizens' delegation has met the President, Pratibha Patil, and presented a memorandum to her. Here are some excerpts:

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Memorandum to the President of India

September 1, 2008

Shrimati Pratibha Patil
The President of India

Your Excellency,

You are aware of the still continuing carnage against the Christian community, mostly Dalits and Tribals, in the Kandhamal district of Orissa and in several other districts including the state capital of Bhubaneswar since 23rd August 2003 following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, reportedly by Maoist groups who have been operating in the state for some time. The violence has now spread to some other states, especially Madhya Pradesh.

Nine months after attacks in Kandhamal District on Christians of Dalit, Hill peoples and Tribal ethnicity celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are deeply saddened by a repeat of the violence in the month of India’s Independence. The Christmas 2007 attacks claimed the lives of at least four Christians, and we verified the destruction of at least 105 churches and 730 Christian homes. The current spate of violence will exceed these totals as it continues to spread into other districts. Our estimate from Ground Zero is of close to two dozen people dead, one a Hindu girl burnt to death working for a Christian orphanage, a Nun has been gang raped, religious men and women personnel humiliated, beaten, tortured, some close to death, while policemen have looked on, or have been absent. We appeal for the restoration of law and order. But the root cause must also be addressed.

We, the secular civil society community, perceive that the great nation of India is at a tipping point. The groups, which favour a “Hindu Rashtra”, have made Orissa their laboratory, as they earlier did Gujarat. The so-called saffronisation of the state has been the subject of well-documented academic and socio-political studies. We entreat you, as President of the Republic, to enforce the rule of law upon Sangh Parivar organisations which blatantly flaunt their divisive agenda. Specifically, we call upon you to bring the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and Bajrang Dal under the rule of law.

As Orissa authorities have repeatedly said there was ample circumstantial evidence of Maoist involvement in the killing of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others on August 23rd. Additionally, someone who identified himself as Azad, a leader of Maoist outfit, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army claim responsibility for the killing as Times of India carries the news on August 30 referring to an interview with a leading Oriya daily on August 29.1 Yet Praveen Togadia, VHP general secretary, told an international journalist on August 27, “It is clear that the church killed the Swami.”2 Gouri Prasad Rath, Orissa state VHP secretary, said, “This attack is the handiwork of the Christians.”3 Subhash Chavan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, said, “The police are trying to hide the truth by blaming the Maoists.”4 An unnamed RSS spokesperson said, “This is an attack by the agents of Christian missionaries, whose attempts at forcible conversions the Swamiji countered.”5 RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav told CNN IBN on Tuesday night6 that Christians were behind the murders. Perhaps based on a media report7, Madhav The final word lay with RSS supreme Kupahalli Sudershan who in a Press Statement faxed to the Media called the late VHP vice President a martyr for “stopping Christians from carrying on coversions.” These types of irresponsible statements must be met with the full force of the law. They are all culpable for penal action under IPC 295A for the crime of creating enmity between communities and religions. This would benefit not only Orissa, but the nation. We sincerely wish Swami Saraswati was not murdered and he still might be alive if the state government had followed the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities. The NCM urged the authorities to examine the speeches of Swami Lakshmanananda to determine whether they amount to incitement to violence.8 9 We are confident that, if this had been done, the swami would have been jailed and protected from coming to any harm.

Your Excellency, the violence in Orissa continues without adequate police forces to stop mobs which break curfew and harm innocent civilians, chasing our fellow countrymen and women like animals in the forests where they have taken refuge since August 24. Today the irresponsible leaders of hardliner Hindu nationalist groups are damaging our great democracy and secularism of the nation. We request you to order the Union Government and the State Administration to take legal action against the irresponsible organisations which called the bundh on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 and have passively watched their members wreak havoc. They must, of course, fully investigate the murder of the VHP vice President. This is to request you to use your powers as President of India, and the tremendous force of your good offices, to impress on the Central Government to rush adequate Union forces, including contingents of the Armed Forces if required, to restore law and order and governance in the Kandhamal region.

The consequences of any further delay, we the secular civil society fear, may be catastrophic for the small Christian community in the State in particular, for peace in Orissa in general, and for the fair name of India as a secular country.
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These criminals have brought shame upon Hinduism, Orissa and India! The killers are India's equivalent of the dreaded Taliban scum beings! Shame on the barbarians!

-Franz Boas, 1928 (Anthropology and Modern Life.  New York: Dover Publications Inc.  Pg 11)

In fact, after seeing live footage of this, I'm sure of it. Clamoring, maniacal faces deeply saturated in vindictive indulgence. These are the same type of faces that were present at town hangings, guillotine showcases, and who'd spit and throw at "witches" burning at the stake. These are our savage faces.

I don't feel sorry for the mother, but... I thought a girl had gone missing. There's a less volatile way to show disapproval. I don't even know what they do this for. Is this vengeance? Because it does nothing. Is it harassment? Because they certainly add hardship to a family that's already going through a far-reaching loss. 

A girl has gone, and she may not be found. If she's dead, what is justice? You can't right something that is already unjust. There's only grief. And in grief, there can also be respect. Pain itself is sometimes also a resolution in situations like this.

In 1981, Westwood began a new phase of her career. Her store was renamed ‘World's End’, a name it retains to this day. She had become increasingly interested in historical dress, and her first attempt at redefining a historical culture came with her acclaimed Pirate collection. This was followed by Savages, Hoboes and Witches. In 1985, she explored the Victorian crinoline in her Mini-Crini collection, and two years later she explored traditional British tailoring in Harris Tweed.

This interest in traditional British themes led her to the Anglomania collection of 1993, which included designs using a tartan that she designed. In the same year, the Red label was started as a younger, sassier version of her gold label. Today, Vivienne Westwood continues to create clothes that are sexy, inventive and fresh.

Extract taken from the Label Resource Library at VFG Vintage Fashion Guild (www.vintagefashionguild.org)

We dance wild

Rattle our bones

Like sparks in the night

We dance wild

Catching fire

Little sparks in the night

Restless savages

Catching fire

Hearts burn bright

Just restless savages

Mad indians, strange in the light

08.12.2008

Zero Anon

This work by Zero Anon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Now we can see results of Affirmative Action, so called Native American scholars are now accusing European people of scalping, when in reality it was their primitive custom and Europeans never practiced it. But when university has “culturally enrich” “scholar” from minority, they just cannot disqualify their so called academic work, because they would be called racists, so most of universities just accept every “study” that these quota minorities manage to cobble together.

Reality is that Iroquois were brutal savages and they enjoyed killing people and scalping White people, which of course caused lot of angriness among White people. Europeans had many negotiations with savages, but because of their dreadful nature, everything Chiefs promised was just typical Native American lies, they betrayed Europeans so many times that only solution to Indian problem was fighting against these savages and protecting women and kids from begin kidnapped, raped and eventually scalped by savages.

Indian culture never reached any high level in North America, in South America Indians managed to build some houses made of stone, but their inferior armies lost to Europeans even they were bigger in numbers and still they were defeated by only few hundreds of European soldiers.

What we have learnt from African savages, that savages are no use to Europeans, they are just burden to White society. When Indians tasted western alcohol it became their overlord immediately, just as crack is God to Negroes. These filthy savages cannot live in modern technologically advanced society, because of their primitive savage urges. We can see Chief “Running After Your Kids” drunk as a thousand Apaches, oh wait, all our metaphors of drunkenness are made out of Indian savages, wobbling to Wal-Mart to buy some beer with money that they stole from innocent elder person. After Chief has had some booze, then he’ll go to teach some Indian traditions to his daughter in her bedroom, of course Jewish infested police system will look the other way, when savage minorities like these rape their own children.

Many rich Jews used to rape Indian girls and their Chiefs said nothing and accepted money they were offered by filthy Jews. So we can see that modern savage is not only “missing link”, but also evolved in mixture with spawns of Satan’s, Jews. So now they have their own casinos, where savage Indians can run Casinos, while all the real money is going to pockets of Zionist Jews. But how could Chief notice that, while he is so drunk all the time?

Air conditioning is an expectation and no longer a luxury for sure.

Oh yeah, the GM was in the suite next to us. He must appreciate cool air, too.

All the pics here - http://gallery.me.com/sooners0

-Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 2003 (Global Transformations.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  Pg 24.)

IMDB

Release: (2008 )

Runtime: 152 Minutes, PG-13

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman,

This film presented complex issues of justice and human nature though the interaction of a deep cast of characters in a captivating environment.  Though it is disguised as a comic book film, do not confuse the Dark Knight with those campy versions you might have grown up with.  I would say that the themes of this film if presented in an equally realistic manner by characters not in the batman universe, would cause that film to be noted as one of the best gangster/ crime movies ever made and it would certainly be praised all around.  The fact that it is the Joker and Batman might actually hurt the credibility of this piece.  I enjoyed every minute of the film, hardly relied two and a half hours had passed, (even at the midnight showing) and will certainly be seeing it again.

The overarching theme presented by the film is the question, "how will people react when pushed beyond their limits."  The most brilliant directorial choice was to not give any back story to the Joker.  He is presented as an entity on its own that needs no cause or reasoning.  We all know Gotham City is in the middle of a battle between the mobsters and the police.  With all of the corruption, the good guys need Batman to gain the upper hand.  Enter Joker, who has no purpose but to mess with the equation and stir things up.  He is an agent of chaos.  Pure insanity.  He doesn't really care what happens to him or anyone else, as long as there are long lasting consequences.  Throughout the film he tests the limits of various police officers, criminals, and citizens along with Harvey Dent and Batman.

Rather than having this movie be about Batman facing a villain, it is the story of an internal conflict that happens to arise from the presence of that villain.  That is why I feel it is completely necessary to have the Two-Face character introduced.  I've read reviews where people say they wish that was in the third movie, but that is totally missing the point.  See there is a balance created between Lt. Gordon, Dent and Batman.  They are all fighting for the same thing, but each has to make a different sacrifice in order to succeed.  Batman works with fear and at night, but works alone avoiding the corruption of the city.  Lt. Gordon works from within the system, but because of limited resources, he must work with Police officers that he knows are corrupt.  Harvey Dent tires to work from within and to avoid corruption.  This naive idealism makes him many enemies, but seems to be working with the help of the other two.  Joker pushes all three to the limit though.

Through elaborate and exciting circumstances, the Joker creates situations where Batman can not work alone, Lt. Gordon can not trust a large team and Dent is pushed to the edge of his limits.  Because of this, Gordon has to fake his own death, so the information does not get to any moles, Batman almost turns himself in, to save lives, and Dent is repeatedly pushed up to take justice into his own hands, even to a further point than Batman.

This is why Two-Face is needed.  He serves as a foil to the Batman character, who we all know will not kill villains.  That is Batman's one rule, and everyone knows it.  The Joker wants to make him break it, just to stir things up.  If Batman starts killing, the rules are changed, and the police will not longer be able to work with him, the people won't trust him and criminals will fight that much harder because being tied up isn't their greatest fear.  When Harvey Dent looses Rachel, he is put in the same situation as Bruce Wane was.  He is now alone in a city where corruption rules and he is going to do something about it.  Dent chooses the dark path however and takes the lives of criminals.  Two-Face is in no way a villain in the Dark Knight, he is an anti-hero at worst.  We have all asked why doesn't Batman just kill the bad guy.  I think that is why we get to see the Scarecrow at the beginning.  To remind us that Batman doesn't kill and because of that, the criminals will always break free and continue to do evil.  The presentation of Two-Face in this way is brilliant, they make it completely realistic and even work in the coin.  He is able to remove the guilt from himself by flipping the coin.

This is the biggest internal issue Batman faces and this film presents it brilliantly!  Will you kill in order to save lives.  The fairy scene shows us a man almost willing to kill the criminals to save himself, but that is not an easy thing to do.  As we saw, most of the boat voted to do it, but no one could.  The Joker further pushes this issue by telling people they must kill the guy on TV or he will blow up a hospital.  The issue is one of boundaries and systems of trust.  Who is to be the judge when the system is corrupt, is there a time when it can't be trusted, who are you to decide the fate of lives.

Numerous times there are moments when everything is blowing up and the Joker takes away all chances of hope.  It is at once as if the Joker is not there, and in fact Bruce Wane's metaphor for the Devil and at the same time Heath Ledger takes over the movie.  My favorite plot twist was that the Joker told Batman the opposite addresses of Rachel and Dent so that whoever he wanted to save most died, and he would have to live with that.

There are some things the movie could have done without, but none, I felt were story wise, just details in the action and logistics of fleshing out the story.  Bat-sonar, awesome idea, fits in with the character, but it removes the movies from its own sense of reality.  The whole mob thing could have been fleshed out more as well, I wasn't really sure what they were doing most of the time or why they didn't react more and become a entity of their own.  That really would have added to things because then you have; Batman, the Police, the citizens, Joker, Harvey Dent and the Mob, all with different motives that conflict and intertwine.  Complexity of that sort is rare in Hollywood and for it to be in a comic book movie is awesome.  Really there was a lot to chew and I will have to see it a couple more times to wrestle with the issues.  I will probably post more then.

As you might have noticed, I got away from a straight up review of the acting and how much I liked it, I think that is cover thoroughly by other people everywhere, so I will be moving more into a presentation of key themes and how they tied together.  I would love to hear comments on what I thought, what you thought and if those were the biggest issues, or if I missed any details that add to the complexity.

Accessibility: 9

Technique: 8

Thought Provoking: 9

Originality: 8

Entertainment: 10

Just as utopia itself can be offered as a promise or as a dangerous illusion, the Savage can be noble, wise, barbaric, victim, or aggressor, depending on the debate and the aims of the interlocutors.  The space within the slot is not static, and its changing contents are not pre-determined by its structural position...a critique of anthropology cannot skirt around this slot.  The direction of the discipline now depends upon an explicit attack on that slot itself and the symbolic order upon which it is premised.  As long as the slot remains, the Savage is at best a figure of speech, a metaphor in an argument about nature and the universe, about being and existence - in short, an argument about foundational thought"

-Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 2003 (Global Transformations.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan Pg. 22-3.)

As it turns out, the "lost" tribe isn't lost after all.  The photographer that took the infamous pictures is now saying that we've known about the tribe all along (funny, that I don't remember knowing about them all along...) and he lied to the world in an effort to bring attention to the dangers of logging in the Amazon.

As punishment, the photographer has been ordered to personally cut down the last remaining Redwood tree, which is positioned to fall on the last remaining bald eagle, who is strapped to a case of explosives which inevitably will somehow kill a bunch of puppies.  Way to go, Einstein.

finally watched all of them and here are some random reviews:

Transformers: why does the black robot always have to die?

Dr Strangelove: My favorite out of the group, felt embarrassed for not watching it sooner. It reminded me of the book Fail-Safe from high school reading lists. Thanks to wiki I got to read some drama about Peter George. Good stuff.

The Prestige: I thought this was a great summer flick. I appreciated how it didn't treat the audience like an idiot. In the end I was sort of shocked, but afterward it's hard to suspend disbelief. I also enjoyed how this movie is Batman Begins' little brother. Is it just me or is Michael Cane in every movie ever?

The Mist: Why does the black robot always have to die? I am such a sucker for Stephen King, Lovecraft, and stories that take place in one room. I was surprised to actually like the hand-held camerawork and in the end I think the finale won me over.

Savages: I wanted to see this movie based on the movie poster alone. I heart Chris Ware!

Cabaret, Darjeeling, Cinderella Man, and Rocket Science... meh.

William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them - the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories - and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible.

William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. --Jennifer Hubert

Order Lord of the Flies from Amazon for $3.95

Don't have Amazon Kindle? You can always purchase it from here
Or if you prefer to read the Print editions instead, you can get it from here

Other Kindle Books of Interest
1984
The Old Man and the Sea
Julius Caesar
Brave New World
Macbeth

El cineclub de l'Associació Cultural de Granollers, l'Auditori Alcúdia de Mallorca, La Factoria Cultural Coma Cors de Salt, el Cineclub Vilafranca, el Cineclub Diòptria de Figueres, i Xisc de Cerdanyola del Vallès han programat per aquesta setmana algunes de les propostes cinematogràfiques més interessants:

• La Familia Savages
• Asuntos privados en lugares públicos
• El Festival Africat
• 12:08 al este de Bucarest
• Lo mejor de mi
• The Monastery
• En un mundo libre

També podeu consultar la web de la Federació Catalana de Cineclubs per trobar el vostre cineclub més proper i la seva programació.

La setmana vinent tornarem amb el format habitual!

Primera part:

Segona part:

Old English to pacify

Restless savages

Drink ‘til amnesia takes hold

Trying to forget ourselves

04.15.2008

Zero Anon

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Una pel·lícula sobre els fets de la vida, sobre el cicle vital, les responsabilitats paterno-filials i el sense sentit de l'existència. Tot plegat a un ritme lent, de vegades excessivament lent, amb circumstàncies previsibles que freguen a vegades el sentimentalisme i l'anunciada crisi existencial. En definitiva, dos bons actors per a un guió sense ritme, amb apunts interessants que recorden el tipus d'introspecció de Entre copas, però que a nivell d'entreteniment, diversió o reflexió filosòfica, queda a anys llum.

Valoració: Massa actor per tant poca pel·lícula

6/10

I el trailer: