Category: USA

What Christian Nation?

When Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., gave the brief prayer that opens each day’s Senate session, his prayer was disrupted by some anti-abortion activists who shouted “No Lord but Jesus Christ”, “There’s only one true God,” and ”this is an abomination.” 

Representative Bill Sali from the “wide-stance state” too was upset about this and wrote an article in which he did not want principles outside the Judeo-Christian tradition to be promoted in the Congress. According to Rep. Bill Sali, United States was founded on the principles found in the Scriptures and the future of United States should depend on the Judeo-Christian convictions of the founding fathers.

Senator John McCain, ran as the maverick politician in 2000, but in 2007 he is looking more like the mango peel. To boost his campaign he has decided to suck upto the evangelicals whom he once called “agents of intolerance” and “corrupting influences.” He too declared that the constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.

In an op-ed piece in New York Times, Jon Meacham sets the record straight.

The only acknowledgment of God in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God’s authority, but the effort failed.

In the 1790s, in the waters off Tripoli, pirates were making sport of American shipping near the Barbary Coast. Toward the end of his second term, Washington sent Joel Barlow, the diplomat-poet, to Tripoli to settle matters, and the resulting treaty, finished after Washington left office, bought a few years of peace. Article 11 of this long-ago document says that “as the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries.

The treaty passed the Senate unanimously. [A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation]

At present it looks like Rudy Giuliani, a man who supports abortion rights, would be the presidential nominee of the GOP and the evangelicals have warned that if that happens, they would back a third-party candidate to stop him. Thus sensing an opportunity, McCain has decided to sell his soul to a bunch of folks who literally believe in the Bible, want to prevent stem cell research and think that man was created by God.

This just proves that politicians are all the same, irrespective of whether they are in a developed country or a developing county. They all need to sing and dance for the vote bank.

Understanding anti-Hindusim

When Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., gave the brief prayer that opens each day’s Senate session last month,  his prayer was disrupted by some anti-abortion activists who shouted “No Lord but Jesus Christ“, “There’s only one true God,” and ”this is an abomination”. To understand the hatred of the hecklers, Rajiv Malhotra writes that one should understand that there is a systematic creation and distribution of misinformation by an army of “scholars”.

The denigration of Hinduism influences the way Americans relate to Indians. Andrew Rotter, an American historian, in his book on the US foreign policy’s tilt against India and towards Pakistan during the Nehru era, cites declassified documents revealing US presidents’ and diplomats’ suspicions of Hinduism. They regarded “Hindu India” as lacking morality and integrity, and its “grotesque images” reminded them of previous pagan faiths conquered by Christians, such as Native Americans. American ideas about India are intertwined with stereotypes about Hinduism.

There are domestic implications concerning the diaspora as well. The great American meritocracy has enabled us to succeed as individuals, and many Indians see American Jews as a role model. But it took the Jews over half a century of organized lobbying and litigation by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, to establish their religious identity in public life. The lesson Jews had learnt in the European Holocaust was that their individual success could easily be used against them if their civilizational identity was defamed. Indians also faced hate crimes in New Jersey when the Dotbusters targeted Hindus. Recent rants by Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs generate xenophobia against Indians for “stealing” jobs from “real” (i.e. white Judeo-Christian) Americans.

As Indian-Americans stand out for their individual success, while US economic standards deteriorate, we may one day regret having neglected the projection of a positive civilizational image. Unlike many other ethnic and religious groups, we have not adequately engaged US universities, schools, media and think-tanks deeper than the pop culture layer of cuisine, Bollywood and fashions. On the contrary, many Indian writers have fed the “caste, cows, curry” images of India. [Was the US Senate Attack on Hinduism an isolated Instance?]

CNN's World

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Some of the major headlines in United States today are related to the war in Iraq,  the Lal Masjid siege,  the presidential candidate parade in Iowa, the heat wave striking the west coast, the new al-Qaeda video, and the terrorist attack in Scotland. For some reason, CNN thinks that the top story of the day is the plight of Hindu widows (not South Asian widows), in Vrindavan.

Why is this the most important story in the United States today? 

UN: Dictator love and Human Rights Fraud

Adrianus  Melkert, a Dutch politician who is also an associate administrator at United Nations Development Program has threatened to retaliate against the United States if it tries to get to the bottom of what UNDP was doing in North Korea. The UN Board of Auditors found that the UNDP violated many rules by  hiring staffers selected by the North Koreans, paying their salary directly to Pyongyang, and inspecting only a few projects. UNDP had no idea for what purpose the North Koreans were using the money for and Melkert did not like the American enquiries into the gory details of what his organization was doing and hence the anti-American stand.

When it comes to human rights activism, the United Nations would give the Booker prize winning verbal terrorist a run for her money. The UN’s new Human Rights Council, formed last year to replace the much discredited UN Human Rights Commission,  has decided to halt all investigation into Cuba and Belarus while continuing investigations of Israel. In fact  Israel is the only country mentioned by name by the council.

The very notion that Israel, a vibrant democracy surrounded by fanatical religious dictatorships seeking to hurl it into the sea and the only nation ever formally censored by the HRC, is a bigger threat to human rights than the totalitarian dictatorships in Cuba and Belarus is a crude slur on the intelligence of every person whose tax dollars fund the United Nations. How can the UN possibly claim any moral legitimacy to address human rights issues if it proceeds in this manner? The saddest thing of all is that this salaciously fraudulent enterprise is actually a replacement of another UN group that was so corrupt it had to be abolished.[Annals of HRC Fraud at the UN]

Isn’t it time the UN is moved from New York to Pyongyang or Havana?

Switching to Organic Foods

With their testing  CSE has bought into discussion the amount of pesticides we consume in Colas. Though the war fought by CSE was against Coke and Pepsi, it has provoked discussion and bought into focus the issue that we consume larger quantities of pesticides in daily foods such as milk, tea and sugar than Coke and Pepsi.

To avoid pesticides either we will have to harvest our own crops or switch to organic foods. Currently in United States, organic food and organic farming are gaining ground. Apart from health conscious stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, you can get organic food in regular grocery stores like Safeway and Albertson’s also.

The United States Department of Agriculture sets very strict standards for food which can be labeled organic. First, the farmers must avoid chemical fertilizers and pesticides for three years. There are strict rules for transporting, processing and selling food. Factories that process both organic and non-organic food need to stop their machines and clean them with an organic solvent before the organic processing starts. Even in stores, non-organic food cannot be store above organic food since the water that drips through non-organic food can pollute the organic food.

Though expensive compared to non-organic food, the prices are expected to fall soon as Wal-Mart is planning to enter this market a big way.

Wal-Mart says it wants to democratize organic food, making products affordable for those who are reluctant to pay premiums of 20 percent to 30 percent. At a recent conference, its chief marketing officer, John Fleming, said the company intended to sell organic products for just 10 percent more than their conventional equivalents.

Food industry analysts say that with its 2,000 supercenters and lower prices, Wal-Mart could soon be the nation’s largest seller of organic products, surpassing Whole Foods. Already, it is the biggest seller of organic milk. [Wal-Mart Eyes Organic Foods]

With the pesticide-in-food issue getting coverage, wouldn’t this be a good time to start an organic brand in India?.

A Civil Rights Racist

Here is what Andrew Young, who was hired by Wal-Mart to improve its image had to say about the closing of Mom and Pop stores.

“Well, I think they should; they ran the `mom and pop’ stores out of my neighborhood,” the paper quoted Young as saying. “But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs; very few black people own these stores.” [Andrew Young steps down from Wal-Mart committee post]

Andrew Young was an associate of Martin Luther King and is known as a civil rights leader. Last year during the funeral of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s daughter Bernice came out against idolaters and clubbed them along with perversions and cancer. Why are people associated with Dr. King such racists?

Academic Hypocrisy

You probably have heard of the California textbook controversy where a bunch of Americans are teaching Hindus about Hinduism. The controversy is over what should be taught in a sixth grade textbook on religion. Should it talk about all evils of Hinduism or should it present a sanitised version?
Rajeev Malhotra in an article with Vidhi Jhunjunwala argues that if other religions like Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are allowed to present sanitised versions of their religion, Hindus should also be allowed the same rights.

For instance, the textbooks say that Hinduism considers women to be inferior to men, but ignore biases against women in Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The textbooks focus on “Hindu atrocities” against certain groups, but do not point out that Islamic, Christian and Jewish societies have similar issues. The clergy in Islam, Christianity and Judaism are treated as credible experts and their religious texts are assumed to be stating historical facts, while Hindu texts are depicted through the pejorative lenses of critics and called “myths.”
While attempts are being made to teach about “Hindu horrors” against minorities, the same academicians are not lobbying to add textbook sections on “Islamic genocides” in South Asia, “Islamic terrorism” worldwide, or “Christian holocausts” of Native Americans: The non-Hindu religions are coddled with political correctness and “sensitivity.” In order to be true to their field of study, academicians should apply the same “human rights” criteria to all religions equally.
The controversy of the Mohammed cartoons should compel concerned citizens everywhere to balance intellectual freedom with intellectual responsibility. Whatever may be one’s position in this debate, it must be equally applied to all religions or else it would be hypocrisy[Academic Hinduphobia]

The shrinking newspaper business

Bloggers are heavily dependent on mainstream media, for ideas and for use as a football. The newspapers benefit a lot from the increased traffic sent by the bloggers and many columists get wider audience due to discussions in the blogosphere. But now New York Times has decided to make people pay for reading Friedman and Dowd

Beginning Monday, the Times will begin charging $49.95 a year to people who don’t get the paper delivered at home for access to those writers as well as other columnists for the Times’ business, metro and sports sections.[N.Y. Times website to charge for access to featured columnists]

They need to pay their bills, but I don’t know if many people will subscribe to their online service. Both San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle too are shrinking their newsrooms.

Religion on the rise

Discovery Times Channel had a documentary investigating the the roots of 9/11 and as part of that project they visited a madrassa in Indonesia. The children in the school, thought that Jews were behind 9/11 and America was out to destroy Islam. But when asked if they would like to study in United States, they said yes.
Now if a madrassa educated Islamic student comes to Kansas, he will find that they teach the same stuff he wanted to avoid. Kansas Education Board wants to teach Bible as science and creationism instead of evolution. Kansas has been desparately trying to go back to Biblical times since 1999 and now Darwin’s theory is not being challenged in scientific papers, but in a Kansas court. This is a time when scientists and engineers from India and China are competing with Americans for their jobs and Bill Gates is complaining about American Education.
Now if you think this is bad, Pharmacists around the country are not giving certain medication to people, because of their religious beliefs.

Need more geeks

One of America’s most important entrepreneurs recently gave a remarkable speech at a summit meeting of our nation’s governors. Bill Gates minced no words. “American high schools are obsolete,” he told the governors. “By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed and underfunded. … By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they are working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.
“Training the work force of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. … Our high schools were designed 50 years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting – even ruining – the lives of millions of Americans every year.” [‘What, Me Worry?’]

Bill Gates thinks a cap on H1-B is a bad thing for United States, as more smart people is needed here and the American education system is not able to produce enough of them. With sufficient lobbying H1-B cap can always be increased and more and more engineers can be imported, even though many of them now prefer to stay back. This will solve the problem for now in hi-tech field.
Many defence contractors are now facing the problem of baby boomers retiring and not being able to find their replacements. To work in defence companies you need to be an American Citizen with clearance. H1-B’s do not qualify for that and such jobs cannot be outsourced. So the solution in the long run for the security of America as a nation is to strengthen its education system and get to a point where being a geek is considered “cool”.