Escalating Tensions--India and Pakistan

Tensions continue to soar on both sides of the border amid reports of troop movements. Both countries are apprehensive and wary towards each other. India has taken strides to garner support for its cause--its most recent ally being Saudi Arabia. Pakistan under tremendous international pressure is being pushed to act against the extremist groups operating within the country. The Indians still feel that Pakistan isn't doing quite enough. They have accused Pakistan of promoting War Hysteria in a bid to divert attention. Pakistan, meanwhile has accused India of attacking its sovereignty. Their premiers have made numerous statements to the same declaring how the country stands united against any external aggression.

The apparent boiling tensions simply cannot be disregarded by the international community for quite obvious reasons.

In Memory of Mumbai 26/11

Let those who perished be remembered eternally.

"An American Crime" II

On October 26, 1965, Indianapolis police answered a call saying that a girl had died. The call came from a pay telephone in front of a Shell station in a poor section of the city. The caller was a teenaged boy whose voice had not finished changing into that of an adult man. He sounded very nervous and directed the police to the address, 3850 East New York Street, at which they would find the dead female.

When the cops got to the dingy, rundown, clapboard home to which the anonymous caller had directed them, they found the emaciated dead body of 16-year-old Sylvia Marie Likens. She was covered with bruises and small wounds, later revealed to be cigarette and match burns that numbered over 100. There were also large areas where the outer layer of skin had peeled off. Likens also had a large letter "3" branded on her chest.

However, the most remarkable injuries, by far, were the words in block letters that had been burned directly onto her stomach: "I'M A PROSTITUTE AND PROUD OF IT!"

The Room where Sylvia's body was found.

Thus ended one of the most horrible crimes ever committed against a single victim.

source: trutv.com

"An American Crime" -- The tragic life of Sylvia Marie Likens

Sylvia
R.I.P

Sylvia Marie Likens (January 3, 1949 - October 26, 1965) was an American murder victim from Indiana. She was tortured to death by Gertrude Baniszewski (née Van Fossan), Gertrude's children, and other young people from their neighborhood. Her parents, carnival workers, had left Likens and her sister Jenny in the care of the Baniszewski family three months before her death in exchange for twenty dollars a week. Baniszewski, two of her children, Paula and John, and two neighbor youths, Coy Hubbard and Richard Hobbs, were charged and convicted of the crime. Her torture and murder were described by the prosecutor in Baniszewski's trial as "the most terrible crime ever committed in the state of Indiana."

Orissa--Religious Politics

The chief minister of Orissa must step up to restore normality in the wake of the grim series of events in his state. What is happening there is quite frankly disgraceful. All communities must come together to strongly resist the grotesque decadence prevalent in Orissa; to save secular India from ravenous communal forces.

With the violence against Christians in Orissa creating widespread condemnation across the country, a prominent religious leader said on Friday that the attacks on the minority community were "very similar" to the 2002 Gujarat riots.


"The killing of Swami Laxmanananda is being used as an excuse to target minorities in Orissa like the Godhra incident was used in Gujarat to fan the communal cauldron," Swami Agnivesh, President, World Council of Arya Samaj, told reporters in New Delhi.


The killing should be properly investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) so that the real culprits are apprehended, he added.


"The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrag Dal are getting tacit support from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) which is part of the ruling coalition in the state to instigate violence in the state," he alleged.


A fact-finding team of Swami Agnivesh, Shabnam Hashmi and Vimal Thorat recently visited the state to enquire about recent violence in Kandhamal.


"To some extend, the repeat 2002 Gujarat riots are taking place in Orissa. With the same preparedness and planning," claimed social activist Shabnam Hashmi.


"We heard reports there that the attackers had lists with them while targeting the victims," she alleged.


"It is very surprising that while we were not allowed to go into area, but were asked to wait till September fourth. VHP leader Pravin Togadia was allowed into the region with full police protection," Agnivesh said.


"What is more strange is that the Union Home Minister for State Sri Prakash Jaiswal was turned back as state refused to give him any security to the troubled area," he added.

source: NDTV

The BMW case--A Background

Sanjeev Nanda, the main accused in the case (born 1978) is the grandson of an ex-Chief of Naval Staff-turned businessman from New Delhi who is the prime accused to have run over and killed six people, including three policemen, in a drunken state when he drove his BMW car at high speed through a police checkpoint. The incident occurred at 4:50 AM early morning of January 10, 1999. After running through the policemen, he allegedly stopped the car to check the damage, saw people under the car, and according to the prosecution, at this point co-passenger Manik Kapoor said: ‘‘Let’s go,’’ and they quickly drove away. The car was later cleaned up by servants at a friend's house.


Sanjeev Nanda's father, Lt. Commander Suresh Nanda (ex-Indian Navy), heads the arms supply firm Crown Corporation. His grandfather S.M. Nanda, was once India's Chief of Naval Staff; after retirement he joined the arms trading business. Sanjeev Nanda is a management graduate from INSEAD and Wharton.


Subsequently Sanjeev and five others were tried in a high profile court case that dragged on for many years. Ultimately the court did not find any of the witnesses reliable and the defense was able to make the case that it was perhaps a truck and not the BMW that had caused the deaths. All the accused were released, resulting in a sharp drop in public confidence in the legal system, since it was widely believed that the witnesses had been bought off.


Sunil Kulkarni is a witness that didn't turn hostile in a Delhi Additional sessions court. The case is continuing in Delhi at present.

The Joker--Why so serious? (a repost)

The Joker is a fictional character and super villain that appears in the comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, with contributions by artist Jerry Robinson, the Joker is the archenemy of the superhero Batman and first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). The Joker is a master criminal with a clown-like appearance, including bleached white skin, red lips, and green hair. Initially portrayed as a violent sociopath who murders people and commits crimes for his own amusement, the Joker, later in the 1940s, began to be written as a goofy trickster-thief. That characterization continued through the late 1950s and 1960s before the character became again depicted as a vicious killer.

He has been responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle) and the murders of Jason Todd (the second Robin) and Jim Gordon's second wife Sarah Essen.

In 2006, Wizard magazine rated Joker as the greatest villain of all time.