If the right wingnut bloggers want war then the lefty bloggers should oblige.
Like a crying baby awaiting a bottle or with a wet diaper drooping full and needing change, the right is whining again. They have it down to a science. Still smarting from November 4th’s thumping — word is they are retooling, trolling and trotting out actual ideas to be on par with lefty blogging fools. Imagine that, trying to beat the liberal masters at their own game? I don’t think so. But Heloise doesn’t care how many blogs the right blows up, one can’t catch fire after being burned — bring it! …
Article comments
26 - Ruvy
Heloïse is the only person here (other than me) to seem to take active note of the continuing hostage/terror situation in Mumbai.
It appears to involve a group tied to Al-Qaeda, a group which has targeted Jews/Israelis, Americans and Brits in this attack. They identify themselves as Deccan Muhajedeen.
There appear to be no problems with Desicritics or its comments line, and there are presently three articles on the matter.
Another interesting event for you to wake up to on Turkey Day in the States.
27 - CCTV License Training
There's not always a black and a white. I hate to sound obvious but the truth is behind the reasons for our behavious. Everyone has his/her purposes and grounds to do something...
we should try and be more tolerant, I guess! [Third comment gratuitously promoting my own services deleted by the Comments Editor]
28 - Cindy D
B,
Yes, a president can be impeached after leaving office.
29 - Heloise
Maybe it's my dsl because I can never leave comments at Desi and I've tried like for hours to do so, then gave up. They have highlighted my book review of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by McWhorter because India used to be the England's jewel in the crown and many many were educated in England and speak RP.
My own guru's English teacher was educated in England and my Punjabi guru (died in 1991) spoke immpeccable English. One thing I learned from having so many Indian friends is that Punjabi and Hindi and other languages give equal syllaballization and don't have the crazy accented words that English has.
I digress, yes the news is 24/7 covering the Mumbai situation. And they said the same thing I said that it seemed akin to the Kasmiri stuff.
I was met with armed guards when I went to Punjab in 1989/90 because of the terrorists who were Islamic fundamentalists and some Sikhs and I was to visit the Taj and take train or taxi but that same day some idiots blew up the train station in New Delhi...so I've never been to Taj Mahal but nearby.
The problem with Indian administration is that it responds way, way too slow on issues such as safety. The Sikhs are the lions the warrior class and they might need to turn the military over to them a bit more. They are fierce. India is like a slow-motion postcard...stuff moves slowly there the wheels of justice grind slow there too. So, we will have to just watch and see how they handle this crisis and those in the future.
Heloise
30 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
We do take notice - the situation in Mumbai's been all over the news networks here.
But there's not a whole lot that can be done about it. India and Pakistan hate each other and fight the occasional war. One can only wonder if this particular group is truly allied with Al Qaeda, or if they were instigated (and manipulated) by the Pakistanis to create disorder in India while pointing the apparent blame to Al Qaeda.
Not everything is what it seems over there. I learned a long time ago that in Asia, it's often unwise to take words and actions at face value. What the West says or does is more obvious, but those Asians (including Israel) have a much longer history than we do...and are much more adept at hiding true intentions than younger cultures such as is found in America.
"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."
Churchill's quote could easily apply to all of Asia, don't you think?
31 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
I just checked on the Huffington Post, and they linked to an article on the New York Times that indicates that doubtful that Al Qaeda or their close associates had anything to do with the Mumbai attacks.
Like I said - if it happens in Asia, it's often not what it seems....
32 - Heloise
Heloise calls another one: just watched my recorded news and the "experts" said the same thing I did--it's the Kashmiri separtists again. But the twist might be that Pakistan (earlier articles I pointed out the Pakistan is really NOT our friend) is involved in the funding or oversight of this attack.
They learned from TV that soft targets that involve whites, rich, Westerners or Americans will get everybody's goat and attention. They were right.
I immediately said "it's the Kashmiri struggle" because why it has NOT yet been solved or settled.
It seems that they found a fresh new crop of young, jobless or whatever folks who were willing to make the news. The separatists are rather bent on being separate state. Check the map both Kashmir and Pakistan are in northern India--on either side of the northern part.
Not exactly close but closer than Mumbai is. In the north is where lots of stuff has happened in the past especially in New and Old Delhi. The problem and what they have in mind? I think they plan to terrorize as much of India as possible making them hard to find.
That's what guerrila warfare and terrorists are all about...hiding/striking when least expected. That's why I hate the gun rights stuff, maybe it's the answer maybe not. But unless the people attacked could carry concealed weapons what's the use in loose gun laws? And bringing a weapon to another country just won't work.
Having loose gun laws here makes it bad for everyone out there IMHO.
Just asking...seems Dave knows best about guns.
Heloise
33 - Dave Nalle
Heloise seems to have missed the part of the news reports where multiple eyewitnesses identify the attackers as fair haired and light skinned.
Dave
34 - Dr Dreadful
Just read your new article, Dave. So you weren't being sarcastic.
I'm not surprised, though, that Heloise missed it, because I can't find any reference to fair-haired, light-skinned attackers either. I noticed that you didn't link to any of these supposed multiple eyewitness reports.
All the CCTV pictures of the terrorists I've seen have been of dark-haired, distinctly South Asian-looking men.
35 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
"Heloise seems to have missed the part of the news reports where multiple eyewitnesses identify the attackers as fair haired and light skinned."
Like Doc, the videos I saw were of dark-skinned, dark-haired men, and you posted no link showing otherwise.
As before, Dave, if you've got something to say, make sure you're able to back it up...because we WILL call you on it.
36 - Dr Dreadful
I found one report of an eyewitness describing the gunmen as 'fair', but it's important to note that the witness was Indian, and also said that they were 'chikna', which means 'well-to-do'.
I think that when an Indian says someone is 'fair', they do not mean it in the same sense that we do.
37 - Dave Nalle
Dr. D. If you use the links in my article on the Mumbai attack, you'll get a BBC story which cites two different witnesses at two different locations saying that the attackers were fair.
And yes, I'm aware that standards of complexion are different in India from what we're used to in the west, but I also know that there are european muslim terrorists, chechins and northern Afghans and Pakistanis who are fair by most any standards.
Look, Alex Jones is already claiming the attackers were US/British covert ops units, so cut me some slack here.
And for the record, I didn't come up with the fair-haired bit out of the blue either. To quote the BBC article, an Iraqi witness named Gaffar Abdum Amir said:
As an Iraqi he ought to have a pretty good idea what westerners look like.
So how about, before we all start jumping on me, we take a moment and follow the links I provide and avoid looking foolish?
Dave
38 - Christopher Rose
Dave, apart from this one remark, there doesn't seem to be anything else to support you. It doesn't seem like reasonable practice to attach too much importance to one remark and there hasn't been anything else to support it, so I wouldn't be too hasty to cast the good Doctor as being foolish...
39 - Dave Nalle
It's foolish to accuse someone of lying when they can back up their facts so easily, and when a search easily turns up the eyewitness quotes in question. Why attack me in the first place? It's not like having some fair-skinned or fair-haired attackers is that big a surprise or that controversial. Dr. D. is the one who assigned the significance to it, not me. I just observed and remarked on it. It was hardly the thrust of my article.
As for sources, as I said in my article, in addition to the Iraqi I cited above, there were also other witnesses at other locations who said the attackers were 'fari skinned'.
Dave
40 - Heloise
Dave et al read the long post I just posted to Dave's article. Once again he is wearing rose colored glasses. And yes Heloise and the others here got it right.
I saw the pictures on TV. One of them was fair but he had on a hat. There are blonde Indians and Middle easterns can be quite fair. They are white but not Anglo Saxon. But there is an old English saying that if you put a hat or cover the hair of an Indian they are INDISTINGUISABLE from English folks. Now that came from white folks not Heloise.
And since you are in Texas Dave I know you've seen lots of Indians, many here are from the south however. The Indians I know in Chicago are from the Punjab or New Delhi.
Dave, talk what you know even though I NEVER do.
Heloise
41 - Heloise
Dave you ignore the fact that I said EXPERTS agreed with me! Before I heard or read the details I said it was the Kashiri folks, then HEARD on CNN that their "Expert" said yes it was probably a new group of people fighting re Kashmir homeland.
So, you ignore what I said Heloise and the experts agree here. Now, Dave that seems to let you out as an expert...do tell.
Heloise
42 - Dave Nalle
I saw the pictures on TV. One of them was fair but he had on a hat. There are blonde Indians and Middle easterns can be quite fair. They are white but not Anglo Saxon. But there is an old English saying that if you put a hat or cover the hair of an Indian they are INDISTINGUISABLE from English folks. Now that came from white folks not Heloise.
Since I rely on written reporting from reporters in the field, rather than TV, I was going by that. TV can distort perceptions. Just because there was video of some of the terrorists and they were dark, doesn't mean that others looked just like them. Most of the terrorists have not even been caught, so basing your assumptions about them on videos of a small portion of them seems a bit presumptuous.
As for 'experts', they weren't there. I referenced accounts from people who saw the terrorists with their own eyes.
And why is the appearance of the terrorists such a big deal to you guys? The only reason I even mentioned it in my article was to point out that terrorists come from all over the place.
Dave
43 - Dr Dreadful
I don't think it particularly matters whether the terrorists are fair, dark or paisley. I was merely a little surprised by Dave's claim of multiple eyewitness reports when I had neither read nor seen anything of the kind. I have now read the testimony of the Iraqi witness (who is probably now wondering why India seemed like a good place to go for some peace and quiet...), as well as the local witness in the Guardian report I linked to above.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. If you remember back to the day of the 9/11 attacks, there were all kinds of stories and rumors flying around both on and off the airwaves and cyberspace, most of which turned out not to be true. Once this has all died down, it's going to take some time to sort out what actually did happen, who was involved and why.
And Dave (on his own thread) is right that the reported European appearance of some of the gunmen doesn't rule out their being Muslim: they could be - for example - Bosnian, Syrian, Chechnyan, Turkish or even Iranian.
44 - Dave Nalle
Speaking of ethnicity, I went out lookiong for pictures of blond-haired, blue-eyed Afghans, Iranians and Pakistanis. And as I knew from reading National Geographic, those coloration variations do show up in those and other central asian populations. But what I found amusing was that almost all of the photo links were to Stormfront or other white supremacist websites, which seem to have a rather twisted obsession with cute 'white' looking muslim girls.
Dave
45 - Cannonshop
Um, does it really matter what colour the shooters were, Heloise? Terrorist=Terrorist, and yes, there are Syrians, and Afghans, and Iranians and even folks from Turkmenistan who're fair haired, fair skinned, etc. etc. Islam is NOT a racial religion, violent kooky fundamentalist nutballs are NOT confined to Wogs and people from the Bible belt.
Chechens are ALSO largely fair-haired and fair-skinned, you know.
The reports I've seen indicate that the attackers were after specific targets-namely, Americans and British targets. These same reports indicated that the shooters demonstrated marksmanship and some training, that their deployment was well coordinated, and there is some speculation that the attackers had military training (not just "bullet comes out here" training, but tactical training and some discipline).
Niggling over what colour they are is pretty empty.
46 - Dave Nalle
The only reason I see appearance as significant, is in heightening awareness here in the west that profiling based on appearance is relatively useless.
Dave
47 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
Man, but that is sick - and that's not the current meaning of 'sick', but as in 'perverse' and 'insane'.
Your comment about profiling based on awareness is absolutely true - in fact, I suspect the next Republican nominee for president will NOT be a WASP, but Indian-American Bobby Jindal from Louisiana...but if he were wise, he'd wait until Obama wasn't in the running anymore....
48 - Les Slater
"I suspect the next Republican nominee for president will NOT be a WASP, but Indian-American Bobby Jindal from Louisiana."
Sure, a Jindal/Palin ticket would make a lot of sense if the Republican party moves much further to the right.
49 - Dave Nalle
I wonder what I'll do for a political party if the GOP nominates Bobby Jindal. I've got no problem moving right on fiscal issues, but Jindal is such an unrepentant theocrat that I can't see voting for him.
Dave
50 - Heloise
Cannnon Heloise did not bring up the issue of skin color per se or color for the sake of color. I was pointing out to Dave that these people can look as white as anyone especially with a hat on.
I see, as for my other point--you are restating, was that terrorism WAS NOT a matter or color or ideology. If someone kills up a bunch of folks in asymmetrical warfare in public then it is terrorism, domestic or otherwise.
I was making an anthropological argument, not a political one. There's a difference.
Cannon: "Niggling over what colour they are is pretty empty."
I beg your pardon because you MISSED MY whole entire complete point. And if your statement has any merit then it throws out the entire social science of anthropology. So, guess who's right? One guess, not you.
Heloise is the FIRST one here and elsewhere who immediately said it was the Kashmiri separatist folks looking for DEAR targets (i.e., Americans, Brits and Jews). Now, some are TRYING to correct her. Heloise doesn't like that especially when she is the one with answers...real answers.
Cannon reread the posts: Dave argued me down, others defended my position, including TV experts!!!! So you are a johnny come-lately.
You people, yes you people parrot Heloise and then DON'T give her credit. My word.
Heloise
51 - Lumpy
speaking of yourself in the third person is the sign of a dissociative personality disorder. For that matter so is your disjointed half-literate wtiting style. classic sign of schizophrenia. seek help, heloise. they have excellent drugs for the voices in your head.
52 - Cindy D
Lumpy,
Did you select your name by viewing a topographic map of your head? Did someone drop you a few too many times?
Too bad they don't have any good drugs to help people with brain damage.
53 - Jet
I thought it was from "Leave it to Beaver"?
54 - Cindy D
Jet,
That is unlikely. I found Leave it to Beaver amusing. Not likely I'll ever find this Lumpy amusing.
55 - Lumpy
Cindy. I chose the name years ago because of how I looked after the car accident which left me partially crippled and somewhat misshappen. Now some years later I at least look normal, so I guess I could go by Gimpy instead. Oh yes. The brain damage was minimal, but thanks for your concern. And yes, for about a decade and through many operations the drugs were very good.
56 - Cindy D
Lumpy,
Am I supposed to feel bad?
Most serial killers had a rotten life filled with abuse.
Call yourself anything you wish. I don't care about being politically correct. It wouldn't matter to me if you had one eye and were a quadriplegic. [Personal attack deleted. Cindy, I'll let your preceding comment stand - but you're skating on thin ice. Please try to be civil with other commenters, especially when they haven't provoked you. Dr D (Asst Comments Ed)]
57 - Lumpy
Cindy. I'd be much more concerned about your inezcusably naive political neliefs than any offense you might give me over my physical shortcomings.
58 - capitalist
""But Heloise doesn’t care how many blogs the right blows up, one can’t catch fire after being burned " bring it!""
What kind of a self obssessed weirdo addresses themselves in the third person??
59 - Cindy D
No problem Dr.D. I knew I was skating on thin ice. But, he certainly did provoke me. It was just that he happened to be speaking to Heloise and not me. I found what he said to her quite provocative.
60 - Heloise
Heloise is on a vastly different plane...if you want to go there she will take you there...if you dare...enough said? I wrote about, found really the Hale-Bopp comet before the astronomers and documented it in my journals with pin-point accuracy.
As for disabilities, the masters do not accept those with severe disabilities, especially congenital ones. But accidents that lead to same are considered really bad karma for the "victim." I rest my case on Lumpy's head.
Yes, I hear headlines such as "I'll Take One Hot Palin..." while I am raking leaves. Is that a crime?
Heloise
61 - Heloise
My Sunday headline: Yes, I am also tired of Tom. I was reading on Daily Kos what I've been thinking since the election was over...when will they replace Tom and put us out of our misery?
Does such thinking out loud work? Damn skippy it does. I wrote an obscure as hell comment on a blog that I was sick of Barbar Walters, we needed fresh blood, and voila she announced her "retirement" and was replaced by Vargas who is hot.
Now that being said Barbar is yet ubiquitous (sp) but then she is married to some big shot I think. She does not bother me nearly as much as when she was the queen of 20/20. More power to her and the "Jewish" media. I'm over that. Heloise told Netemara to take a break on the Jewish tip so forgive my revisiting it.
As for those who call me crazy: too late. Netemara has been called everything in the book. Beyond crazy actually. But the first thing that the enlightened do is laugh. I'm still laughing and I have a responsible job, been fingerprinted and background checks galore that prove I have absolutely NO CRIMINAL records, not even a traffic ticket and hold a responsible job, two degrees, two teaching certifications, speak two languages fluently, invented the 70s style of dress, voracious reader and prolific writer.
Now, my ex husband is bipolar, crazy, and I can tell you crazy people are NOT too terribly productive and tend REALLY TEND TO have committed crimes especially related to use of street drugs.
Did I do some stuff at the behest of my ex I'm not proud of? Yes, have I been anti-semitic in the past, rabidly so, yes, I plead guilty to the above.
Heloise
If you can understand Heloise then you are on a different plane.
62 - Heloise
Note to Lumpy and those who think like him: As for my disjointed half-literate style that Lumpy thinks is a revelation, again too late. When I was Russian I had to learn English ASAP. My writing style is a holdover from that lifetime. But I think if you are talking bout my comments, well my response "who the heck are you?"
My articles and comments are often written stream of consciousness, then I have to edit it. Because the "VOICES" in my head dictate faster than I can type. I see things too Lumpy.
I sat up in bed half out of a dream and then I actually saw the TV News announce Obama as the president-elect sometime before it happened. I've seen the words that I end up putting in my articles...scary stuff.
BTW Lumpy people who try to hurt Heloise have all too often experienced the "boomerang" effect. It ain't pretty. I try to control it, but not always successful...just a word to the wise. On the other hand if you are merely trying to ameliorate your karmas then that is understandable too, unfortunately only to Heloise.
You forgot about Heloise "Seeing things" as well as "hearing voices." Now the list is complete.
Heloise gets the last laugh however.
63 - Heloise
Eric Michael Dyson was on Sunday talking heads, forgot which one I watch them all. It's about time they put somebody a person of color who is liberal, progressive, and brilliant. It was the Meet the Press, I think, book show and his King book was highlighted. I am glad they reminded me about it. I have to read it over the holidays.
Note to Rachel ask Dyson to be on your show to talk about anything, because he can.
I don't think he is homophobic either.
Heloise
64 - Heloise
What no articles on swine flu. I just wrote a breaking alert in the pig trough. Who knew, I would need a pig trough?
All FWISD schools are closed until May 8th. The teachers are devastated I can tell you that.
Heloise