Congress Party panders to muslims for vote: Digvijay Singh
Posted by: r1b2 on: September 6, 2011
- In: India | Terrorism
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From newly leaked US Cable: Congress leader Digvijay Singh told US diplomats in 2007 that the Congress pandered to Muslim fundamentalists. Singh also maintained that it is irrelevant whether Manmohan Singh survives as prime minister, emphasizing that the Gandhi-Nehru family is the heart and soul of Congress and party members will accept anyone as prime minister if he/she is selected by Sonia Gandhi. Link US cable 2007
Then here is another leaked US cable from 2008 which illustrates how the Congress party panders to muslims with its vote bank politics. Former US Ambassador to India Robert Mulford’s comment from the cable,
Comment: While the killing of three high level law enforcement officers during the Mumbai attacks is a remarkable coincidence, the Congress Party’s initial reaction to Antulay’s outrageous comments was correct. But as support seemed to swell among Muslims for Antulay’s unsubstantiated claims, crass political opportunism swayed the thinking of some Congress Party leaders. What’s more, the party made the cynical political calculation to lend credence to the conspiracy even after its recent emboldening state elections victories. The party chose to pander to Muslims’ fears, providing impetus for those in the Muslim community who will continue to play up the conspiracy theory. While cooler heads eventually prevailed within the Congress leadership, the idea that the party would entertain such outlandish claims proved once again that many party leaders are still wedded to the old identity politics. The seventy-nine year old Antulay was probably bewildered to find that his remarks, similar in vein to what he would have routinely made in the past to attack the BJP, created such a furor this time. End Comment.
Link to the cable Congress party stung playing religious politics with terrorism
India, China were the biggest economies pre-20th century
Posted by: r1b2 on: August 17, 2010
Would you believe that for most of the last 2000 years, India and China were world’s biggest economies in terms of the GDP ?
Data compiled by Angus Maddison, an economist who died earlier this year, suggest that China and India were the biggest economies in the world before 1900 AD. Here is the chart of world GDP for last 2000 years….
Chart courtesy of The Economist magazine.
4500 year old Dholavira-A well planned ancient city of India
Posted by: r1b2 on: June 16, 2010
- In: India
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Dholavira, one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in India, belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization. It is located on the Khadir bet island in the Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India.
The remains of Dholavira, a major city of the Harappan civilization, were discovered in 1967-68 by J. Joshi. The Archaeological Survey of India started excavation in 1990 under the directions of Dr. B.S. Bisht. The excavation at Dholavira brought to light a remarkable city of exquisite planning, monumental structures, aesthetic architecture and amazing water management system.
One of the unique features of Dholavira is the sophisticated water conservation system of channels and reservoirs, the earliest found anywhere in the world and completely built out of stone, of which three are exposed. They were used for storing the fresh water brought by rains or to store the water diverted from a nearby rivulet. This probably came in wake of the desert climate and conditions of Kutch, where several years may pass without rainfall.
Besides reservoirs, every house in Dholavira had well, drains, bathroom with sewage system. It is a remarkable feet of town planning and engineering for an ancient Indus valley. Even after 60 years of independence, India still doesn’t have well planned cities/towns, let alone access to clean water.
Below is very informative video about Dholavira.
Computer graphics reproduction of Dholavira:
Time-scale in Hinduism
Posted by: r1b2 on: June 9, 2010
- In: India
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Most cultures imagine the world to be few hundred human generations old. Hardly anyone guessed that the cosmos might be far older, but the ancient Hindus did. -Carl Sagan, the distinguished Cornell University astronomer, astrophysicist and Pulitzer prize-winning author in his award winning TV series Cosmos episode 10 The edge of the forever.
Video excerpt from the 80′s TV series:
He further goes on to say,
The Hindu religion is the only one of the worlds great faiths dedicated to the idea that the cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, no doubt by accident, to those of modern scientific cosmology.
Its cycles run from ordinary our day and night to a day and night of Brahma. 8.64B years long. Longer than the age of the earth or the sun and half the time since big bang and there are much longer timescales still.
I doubt that the Hindu time-scale which corresponds with the modern science is just a coincidence. Carl Sagan hesitated to state it clearly in front of western audience that Hindu time-scale is huge and compatible with the modern scientific theory. But in the early eighties, Sagan met then Indian diplomat Placido P D’Souza and in a conversation explained about the TV series Cosmos….
….. the main reason that we oriented this episode of COSMOS towards India is because of that wonderful aspect of Hindu cosmology which first of all gives a time-scale for the Earth and the universe — a time-scale which is consonant with that of modern scientific cosmology. We know that the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the cosmos, or at least its present incarnation, is something like 10 or 20 billion years old. The Hindu tradition has a day and night of Brahma in this range, somewhere in the region of 8.4 billion years.
As far as I know. It is the only ancient religious tradition on the Earth which talks about the right time-scale. We want to get across the concept of the right time-scale, and to show that it is not unnatural. In the West, people have the sense that what is natural is for the universe to be a few thousand years old, and that billions is indwelling, and no one can understand it. The Hindu concept is very clear. Here is a great world culture which has always talked about billions of years.
Finally, the many billion year time-scale of Hindu cosmology is not the entire history of the universe, but just the day and night of Brahma, and there is the idea of an infinite cycle of births and deaths and an infinite number of universes, each with its own gods.
And this is a very grand idea. Whether it is true or not, is not yet clear. But it makes the pulse quicken, and we thought it was a good way to approach the subject.
Now lets look at the scale of Hindu time measurement.
Reckoning of time for Brahma.
* 1000 Mahayugas = 1 kalpa = 1 day (day only) of Brahma (Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma)(1 kalpa =4.32 billion solar years)
* 30 days of Brahma = 1 month of Brahma (259.2 billion human years)
* 12 months of Brahma = 1 year of Brahma (3.1104 trillion human years)
* 50 years of Brahma = 1 Pararddha
* 2 parardhas = 100 years of Brahma = 1 Para = 1 Mahakalpa (the lifespan of Brahma)(311.04 trillion human years)
One day of Brahma is divided into 10,000 parts called charanas. The charanas are divided as follows:
The Four Yugas
4 charanas (1,728,000 solar years) Satya Yuga
3 charanas(1,296,000 solar years) Treta Yuga
2 charanas(864,000 solar years) Dwapar Yuga
1 charanas(432,000 solar years) Kali Yuga
The cycle repeats itself so altogether there are 1,000 cycles of mahayugas in one day of Brahma.
* One cycle of the above four yugas is one mahayuga (4.32 million solar years)
* as is confirmed by the Gita statement “sahasra-yuga paryantam ahar-yad brahmano viduh”, meaning, a day of brahma is of 1000 mahayugas. Thus a day of Brahma, kalpa, is of duration: 4.32 billion solar years. Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma
* A manvantara consists of 71 mahayugas (306,720,000 solar years). Each Manvantara is ruled by a Manu.
* After each manvantara follows one Sandhi Kala of the same duration as a Krita Yuga (1,728,000 = 4 Charana). (It is said that during a Sandhi Kala, the entire earth is submerged in water.)
* A kalpa consists of a period of 1,728,000 solar years called Adi Sandhi, followed by 14 manvantaras and Sandhi Kalas.
* A day of Brahma equals (14 times 71 mahayugas) + (15 x 4 Charanas) = 994 mahayugas + (60 Charanas) = 994 mahayugas + (6 x 10) Charanas = 994 mahayugas + 6 mahayugas = 1,000 mahayugas
Links:
Hindu units of measurement
More info about Carl_Sagan
Lost discoveries by Dick Teresi
US deficit
Posted by: r1b2 on: August 19, 2009
Here is a graphical representation of US deficit. Just think about it, ponder over it and ask where are we going with this.
Double click on the image to view a big picture.
Goverment spending
The Big Lie : Stress Test Optimism Just Wall St. Propaganda Former Bank Regulator Says
Posted by: r1b2 on: May 8, 2009
How the Geithner plan “works”
Posted by: r1b2 on: March 31, 2009
Another related post of mine here about the plan.
Taxpayer dollars going down the drain
Posted by: r1b2 on: March 23, 2009
Just yesterday President Obama said the bank assets/derivatives are worthless. Today according to Geithner’s plan government is going to buy them with private investors with government buying about 95% of any assets that bank want to sell.
Here’s is an example from marketwatch.com
How the plan would work
The Treasury’s ambitious program would revolve around five steps:
1. A bank decides what pool of assets they would like to sell.
2. After determining that it would be willing to leverage the pool, the FDIC will conduct an auction. For instance, mortgages with $100 face value would be bought for $84.
3. Of the $84, the FDIC would provide guarantees for $72 of financing, leaving $12 of equity.
4. The Treasury would then provide 50% of the equity financing. In this example, Treasury would invest $6 and the private investor would contribute the other $6.
5. The private investor would manage the servicing of the asset pool using managers approved by the FDIC.
ABC news video about Geithner’s plan. Good questions by Diane Sawyer.
I liked Mish’s quote here.
Somehow, Geithner (and Obama by implication) believes that igniting a bidding war between hedge funds and private equity over a bag of cow manure will inspire confidence that there’s gold in the bag. Such insanity cannot possibly work, which means it won’t.
Here is the link to PAUL KRUGMAN’s column in NYtimes.
Spring is here!
Posted by: r1b2 on: March 21, 2009
- In: Uncategorized
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Spring flowers
CDS regulation? Dream on…..
Posted by: r1b2 on: March 19, 2009
Credit default swaps (CDS) are insurance against default of debt, which currently trade in unregulated, over-the-counter markets. It will start trading on Intercontinental Exchange’s platform. But it will be still remain unregulated and under control of the same 11 big players because the exchange got an exemption from SEC. May be SEC doesn’t want more work 
In October, Intercontinental Exchange(ICE) became the first regulated exchange to gain SEC’s approval to begin clearing CDS, beating out rivals like Chicago’s CME Group. ICE purchased The Clearing Corp.which was previously owned by 11 financial institutions that are the primary CDS traders. So the same players who controlled the CDS market are still dictating rules of the game. On top of that ICE got an exemption from regulations for CDS trading.
Fed believes SEC has the authority with respect to CDS. SEC which granted exemption says that its authority is “limited.” So neither the Fed nor the SEC is taking much responsibility for regulating CDS. The CME Group had created an index of CDS that proved to be unpopular with the existing CDS players.
Intercontinental Exchange wrote in its exemption request letter that regulations “would create a significant and burdensome dislocation of this market and, of greatest concern, would almost certainly present an extremely significant obstacle to the adoption of clearing for the CDS market”.
Allan Grody of Financial Intergroup Advisers, said the system is built upon controlling self-interests.
“They are trying to preserve some semblance of revenue stream,” he says, noting the 44-page exemption request from ICE focuses on the costs of clearing the CDS and not what it costs to do it right.
Taxpayers have poured $160B into AIG because of its massive CDS assets. And AIG is turning out to be a black hole for taxpayers money.
Gita verses
- Chapter 4 Verses 2424. Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman in action.
- Chapter 4 Verses 2323. To one who is devoid of attachment, who is liberated, whose mind is established in knowledge, who works for the sake of sacrifice (for the sake of God), the whole action is dissolved.
- Chapter 4 Verses 2222. Content with what comes to him without effort, free from the pairs of opposites and envy, even-minded in success and failure, though acting, he is not bound.
- Chapter 4 Verses 2121. Without hope and with the mind and the self controlled, having abandoned all greed, doing mere bodily action, he incurs no sin.
