low-key? more like low, for keyes.

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alan keyes just got on my last nerve. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that two days ago, the carpetbagging hypocrite from the great state of maryland called women who get abortions and the doctors who provide them…”terrorists”. now i don’t care where you stand on this excruciatingly personal issue, you just don’t go there.

when the wrong-reverend jerry falwell blamed sept. 11 on “the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians” just days after the horrifying attacks of 2001, the white house reprimanded him and he apologized a few days later. i’d hope for a similar outcome now, but i’m not holding my breath.

to suggest that there is some similarity between someone in al-qaeda who plots the murder of innocent americans and an american woman who requests an abortion from a doctor who will provide one is disgusting. no matter where one stands on this litmus-test of an issue…i really think that anyone with half a brain would find the would-be senator’s comments deplorable.

The remarks came as Keyes was explaining why three months ago he said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a “warning” from God to “wake up” and stop “the evil” of abortion.

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well, we were all pre-med when we *started* college…

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from the Toronto Star, an article that discusses canada’s medical status quo– apparently they don’t have enough doctors.

this made me choke on my chardonnay. not enough doctors? there are one billion indians walking the earth! :p how is ANYONE lacking doctors?

is dr. sunil patel (who is quoted below) the only brown person in canada? 😉 no, that can’t be. CANADA has TEN brown legislators! so where are all the doctors? and more pressing than that, what on earth do canadian uncles and aunties brag about at parties if their kids aren’t in med school? anyone? buehler??

Canada needs to invest $1 billion over the next five years to reverse its serious shortage of doctors and ensure there will be enough health-care providers in future to reduce long waiting lists plaguing hospitals, the Canadian Medical Association says.
The association wants Ottawa to create a national health human resources reinvestment fund, which would plan for future personnel needs and “help end the health human resources boom-and-bust planning cycle,” outgoing president Dr. Sunil Patel told a news conference at the annual meeting in Toronto yesterday.

Pakistani made out to be the new Willie Horton

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A candidate in a North Carolina Republican congressional primary baselessly calls Pakistani immigrant Kamran Akhtar a terrorist (via Shashwati’s Blog). Here’s what the TV ad says:

“When Vernon said our unguarded Mexican border was a threat to our national security, the liberals laughed… They’re not laughing anymore. This is Pakistani terrorist Kamran Akhtar. He got arrested videotaping targets in Charlotte, North Carolina. He came here illegally, across our Mexican border… I’m Vernon Robinson and I approve this message because Akhtar didn’t come here to live the American dream. He came here to kill you. In Congress, I will shut that border down.”

Here’s what law enforcement says:

Last month, 35-year-old Kamran Akhtar was arrested while filming Charlotte’s downtown skyline… A high-ranking law enforcement official in New York said investigators there view Kamran Akhtar as a “video buff” with no links to terrorism… “At this point, there is nothing to connect this individual to any terrorist plot or organization,” Beatty [North Carolina’s head of homeland security] said Wednesday.

Vernon Robinson’s primary opponent, Republican Virginia Foxx, complained: Robinson is pulling accusations out of his colon.

Update: Robinson lost his primary to Foxx today, so his ad smacks of a last-minute Hail Mary. But he had 45% of the vote, which is just scary.

You must know some Vedic methods?

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It is bad enough that the women I meet at bars sexualize me by assuming that just because I am brown, I must have Tantric skillz. NOW my collegues at school are going to ask me, and all of you other brown scientists and engineers, if we are skilled in the Vedic methods as well:

What is the square of 85? In an instant, a 17-year-old boy said without blinking, “7,225.”
Kamlesh Shetty had used a trick from a quaint concept called Vedic math, a compilation of arithmetic shortcuts believed to have been written by ancient Indians who lived centuries before Christ, during a glorious period in Indian history called the Vedic Age. Its math has now crawled into the 21st century to further Shetty’s dream of cracking a nasty engineering entrance exam.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the word “nasty” was used in the above paragraph.

Dan Froomkin’s White House Briefing

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For those of you interested in the election, life in Washington D.C., and the politics of the White House, not only should DC blog (and gawker family blog) Wonkette be on your blog radar, Dan Froomkin’s White House Briefing should be a regular on your internet explorer’s history bar.

Froomkin’s most recent commentary has focused on the “Ask President Bush” events conducted by the White House and has pointed to two quite interesting pieces (among various others) on what appears to be quite misleading events. The first is from Yesterdays Times by Elisabeth Bumiller and another article by the Associated Press’s Scott Lindlaw.

First Indian-American Olympic medalist!

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A huge congrats to Mohini Bhardwaj on medalling in her first, and probably only, Olympics! The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won silver today, 2nd to Romania and ahead of Russia. This is a historic day: Bhardwaj is the first Indian-American Olympic medalist ever, and as far as I know, the first Indian-American Olympian. She’s been working toward this day off-and-on for 21 years.

The U.S. team leaned heavily on the veteran Bhardwaj in their medal quest. She competed in every finals event except uneven bars:

[T]hey could also be proud of the way 25-year-old Mohini Bhardwaj came in at the last minute to replace Kupets on the balance beam, allowing Kupets to nurse her sore right leg a little longer before performing on the floor. “For Mohini to come in like that, with three minutes warning, that shows the preparation this whole team had,” Bela Karolyi said.
They used her in as many events as the team star, Carly Patterson, and more events than any other team member. Poor Courtney McCool was benched entirely due to preliminary round jitters.

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Dumbo’s not so cute anymore…

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From CNN’s World report –

AGARTALA, India (Reuters) — Authorities in northeast India have urged Bangladesh not to kill about 100 wild elephants that have strayed across the border and gone on a rampage, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.
“We are very sympathetic about the elephants’ plight and we will not take any steps to kill them,” Munshi Anwarul Islam, Chief Forest Conservator of Bangladesh, told Reuters.
“But these elephants are destroying our houses and trees and are a threat to the local people. They are not finding a corridor to go back to India.”

Funny how the wild elephants get far more consideration from CNN/Reuters than the 13 “villagers” they killed….

Wanted: Non-descript brown guy

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wanted.jpg
The FBI is looking for this man, Adnan el-Shukrijumah in connection with a future terrorist attack. The Bush Administration is pretty worried about him. According to TIME Magazine he attended a recent terrorist summit in Pakistan’s badlands.

It was a gathering of terrorism’s elite, and they slipped silently into Pakistan from all over the world in order to attend. From England came Abu Issa al-Hindi, an Indian convert to radical Islam who specializes in surveillance. From an unknown hideout came Adnan el-Shukrijumah, an accomplished Arab Guyanese bombmaker and commercial pilot. And from Queens in New York City came Mohammed Junaid Babar, a Pakistani American who arrived with cash, sleeping bags, ponchos, waterproof socks and other supplies for the mountain-bound jihadis.

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Kathmandu blockaded by Maoist rebels

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Maoist rebels, inspired by the shining path, in a bid to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy, have launched an indefinite blockade of Kathmandu. An indigenous Maoist movement in this day and age? The basis of their support appears to be resentment by lower caste Nepalis “against the authority wielded by the higher castes.” Nor is the King very popular. (He came to power when the crown prince supposedly ran amok, high on drugs, and shot the previous King and Queen, leaving the King’s brother as the new King). I don’t have anything snarky or witty to say about this — both sides routinely violate human rights and neither is democratic. It’s a real Charlie Foxtrot.

Mutineer in Battle

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I generally avoid posting overtly political stuff here BUT, I figured at least a few of y’all might be interested in my other blog persona – The IronBlogger Libertarian.

I’m currently debating “The Purpose of Arms” against a challenger and my opening statement is up –

The ultimate goal of arms is for the individual to defend himself, his rights, and his property against other individuals through the credible threat of mortal force. This is a very complex topic so I’ll expend some effort here to crisply articulate a small number of core points and avoid the statistical barrage that characterizes so many gun debates.

1. Violence is an intrinsic part of human nature…

Check it out if you’re interested in this sort of stuff.

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