Brown's Daily Word & India update12-5-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord that it is Friday and Sunday is coming. With Rand McNally in hand, Alice and I are driving down to Washington, DC this morning to visit Sunita and Andy. We are planning to attend the performance of Handel's Messiah at the National Cathedral in Washington, this evening. It is an early Christmas gift, to be celebrated with the givers. We are looking forward to getting a couple of days with Sunita-Sweet, and helping her to deck her halls and walls. We will be back home tomorrow evening by the Lord's grace.
The National Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in the World. It took over 100 years for its completion. According to some reports, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Upper Manhattan is the largest Cathedral in the world. It will be open this month from end to end for the first time since its restoration following a devastating fire that damaged ancient tapestries and a 8,500-pipe organ.
One of the readings for the second Sunday in Advent is Isaiah 40. With words of incredible power the prophet, Isaiah, proclaimed the good news God's people had been waiting long to hear: Deliverance is at hand. God's people are to be brought home to Jerusalem. It is God who is doing this, as a shepherd leads his flock homeward at the end of the day. Anyone who has sung or listened to Handel's "The Messiah" will recognize that he took the opening recitatives for his majestic oratorio from this passage. The words of this Hebrew poetry are music in themselves. Yet the poem contains a panoply of references to Hebrew history and theology. The opening words of comfort also contain the promise of deliverance. The long period of incarceration in a foreign land is ending and the prisoners are to be set free. Retributive justice has been fulfilled, twice over (vs. 2). Ahead lies the yet another desert trek, but on this road travelers will encounter no wandering as did the Israelites of the Exodus long ago. Rather the high road leads straight home to Jerusalem and traveling will be easy along level ground (vs. 3-4) because this is the highway of Yahweh. This message comes direct from Yahweh and is now revealed to everyone. But there are still many questions. Is this message of comfort and deliverance trustworthy? Are the Israelites themselves to be trusted? Their loyalty has been as ephemeral as the grass and flowers of the field, which blossom today and vanish tomorrow(vs. 6-7). This is the word of the Lord, however, and it stands forever; it can be trusted eternally (vs. 8). These good tidings must be broadcast from the highest point on Mount Zion to all of Judea at the loudest possible volume: "Yahweh's glory is fully revealed in these momentous events" (vs. 9). What is about to happen is like the captain of a mighty army returning from a great victory bringing his reward with him (vs. 10). No, it is not like that so much as a gentle shepherd leading his flock home at evening carrying newborn lambs in his arms with the ewe following faithfully behind.
Please, those who live around us, join us for our television broadcast tonight at 7 PM on Time Warner Channel 4. One week from tonight, join us for the St. Petersburg Men's Ensemble at 7 PM.
Please pray fervently, interceding on my brother Potel's behalf, that he will be freed from his captivity. In Christ,


Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CM4TtRmn7k
Fri, 05/12/2008 - 12:39pm Hotel Taj : icon of whose India ?
Gnani Sankaran- Tamil writer, Chennai.
Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another kind. The terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Taj the icon of India.
Whose India, Whose Icon ?
It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists - the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with the Marathis and Kolis
But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkha dutt went there to tell us whothey were. But she was at Taj to show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital to find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.
In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CST without cell phones and pancards to identify them. Even after 60 hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail what transpired there.
The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident closing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them was the stoppage of BESTbuses and suburban trains even for one hour. But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack. Such information at best merited a scroll line, while thecameras have to be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman Bhavan.
The so called justification for the hype the channels built around heritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that Hotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not India. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. The Mumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST and Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded power over these mass of labouring classes. Leopoldclub and Taj were the haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive their vehicles over sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai forever financing theglitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) , Political brokers and industrialists.
It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that the terrorists chose to strike. The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam Aadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains. He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can even survive.
Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pranoy Roy's channelon the left side of the channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in this game of one-upmanship over TRPs ? They allattacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terror.
The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the ordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or manufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now to protect their private spas and swimming pools and bars and restaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank,General Motors and the ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied by their own ideologies.
The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government sponsored inflation and marketsponsored exclusion, pain is something he has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are facing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as the middleclasses of India learnt about violation of human rights only during emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.
And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip at times of terrorism. Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those champions of human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selfless police officers who gave up their life in fighting terrorism. Well, the counter question would be where were you when such officers were violating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there everbeen any 24 hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of this country?
This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra legal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but Arnabs don't miss a singleopportunity to serve their class masters, this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the entire uniformed services.
The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down dying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending but in vain in a situation which needednot just bran but also brain. Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplanned resulting in the death of its nationals here.
Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the mistake of traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in management that the top brass should never travel together in crisis. The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would have laughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, an elite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-through cloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about the structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying toliberate. But the terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering? This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had to fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel. Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to thecommandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at his and government's disposal? Are satelite pictures only available for terrorists and not the government agencies ? In an operation known to consume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improved the efficiency of execution.
Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But the Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning than terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not raise any question about any of these issues.
posted in: Current Issue, Misc, West India
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Fri, 05/12/2008 - 8:03am A Man from Utter Pradesh found digging pits to plant idols/bomb near a mosque in Udupi
GCIC urges police to take strong action .
Uchila (Udupi District): The police arrested a man who was found digging pits in the compound of Sayyed Arabi Jumma Masjid here early on Thursday.A person heard someone digging the ground around 1.45 a.m. The man had dug two pits in the compound of the mosque. On enquiry, the man claimed that his name was Budai.
Meanwhile, people in the neighbourhood were alerted. When they confronted Budai, he said that he was originally from Uttar Pradesh.
Budai told them that he had dug the pits to install an idol. He later changed his version and said that the pits were dug to plant bombs.
The people handed him over to the police around 4.30 a.m. Two other persons who were around when Budai was digging the pits fled from the sceneA protest meeting over the incident was held at Uchila.Remanded
posted in: Current Issue, Religion, South India
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Thu, 04/12/2008 - 7:33pm Petition in SC seeks federal agency to take on terrorists,national and International
Petition in SC seeks federal agency to take on terrorists
New Delhi : A writ petition seeking direction to the Union government to constitute a national investigating agency to combat growing incidents of terrorist violence in the country has been filed in the Supreme Court.
The petition filed by advocate Abani Kumar Sahu has submitted that existing investigating agencies like CBI, ATS squads and other intelligence concerns have failed to serve the purpose, and cited the recent mayhem in Mumbai to buttress the argument.
Sahu suggested that this nodal agency should collect inputs from various intelligence and investigating agencies like IB, RAW, CBI, State intelligence bureaus, besides, the anti-terrorist squads to launch a concerted action for preventing and combating the challenge posed by terrorists.
According to Sahu, during the past four years 20,000 people lost their lives to terrorist violence, which includes violence perpetrated by anti-national elements, left, right wing religous and extremists in the north-eastern region.
posted in: Current Issue, Misc, East India
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Wed, 03/12/2008 - 10:05pm A Dalit teenager was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh
Rae Bareli-Utter Pradesh,3rd Dec08A Dalit teenager was beaten to death in an Uttar Pradesh village after he allegedly stole sugarcane from a field, police said Wednesday.
The incident took place in Rae Bareli district Monday evening when 14-year-old Shailendra Paswan allegedly committed the theft from the field of Ram Prasad Pathak.
"Pathak thrashed him badly and threw him on the road. Paswan was taken to hospital by his family and succumbed to injuries Tuesday night," Inspector Sanjay Maury
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, North India
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Wed, 03/12/2008 - 10:00pm killings and terror continue ahead of Christmas in Orissa
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13918&geo=2&size=AOrissa,by Nirmala CarvalhoA woman has been cut into pieces and thrown into the forest. Another has disappeared. Both of them had returned to the village to try to harvest rice for their families. The government is incapable of guaranteeing security. So far, no arrests have been made for the violence in recent months.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) - There is still widespread terror in the district of Kandhamal (Orissa), where for months attacks and killings have continued against the Christians. The government of Orissa is forcing Christians to return to their villages, but is not guaranteeing them any security.
In recent days, two Christian women have been killed in the district. They had returned to the village to try to harvest rice from their fields, hoping to provide food for their family.
One of them, Bimala Nayak, 52, was hacked to death with axes and thrown into the forest. Her body was found in three pieces, outside the village of Gubria. She had left the refugee camp of Nuagaon to harvest the rice from her plot of land.
The other, Lalita Digal, 45, was killed in Dodabali last November 25. She was staying in the refugee camp of K.Nuagam, and on November 21 she had left to return to the village and harvest the rice. She was staying with some Hindu friends in the village. Witnesses say that the woman was taken away from the house where she was staying. Her body has not yet been found.
Other episodes of violence have taken place in the village of Tiangia. On the night of November 25, two homes belonging to Christians were burned, as was one belonging to a Hindu who had dared to welcome Christians. On November 25 in Tiangia - the birthplace of Fr. Bernard Digal, who died months after being beaten and tortured - the authorities of the district had gathered the residents of the village, where six Christians were killed, and celebrated a "peace encounter," at which they guaranteed the return of the Christians who have fled.
The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) is accusing the local government of being unable - and perhaps unwilling - to stop the violence. Speaking to AsiaNews, Sajan George, the president of the GCIC, says that "fear still lurks in the Christian community in Kandhamal, and as Christmas approaches, they are traumatised not only by the memory of the anti-Chrsitian violence last December, but also by the failure of the administration to contain the larger scale violence unleashed upon the Kandhamal Christians after the unforturnate murder of Swami Laxamananada."
The killing of the Hindi leader of the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad), which took place last August 23 on the part of a Maoist group, was the spark that ignited the pogrom against the Christians of Orissa. Sajan George says that "after three months, no arrest has been made of those responsible for the violence," although the administration is forcing the Christians who have fled - about 54,000 of them - to return to their villages. He recalls that more violence was seen against the Christian communities in recent years and in December of 2007, when three people were killed, and 13 churches and hundreds of homes belonging to Christians were burned.
posted in: Current Issue, Persecution, East India
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Wed, 03/12/2008 - 4:29pm First Christmas celebration in the Himalayam Kingdom of Nepal
The Himalyan kingdom of Nepal is all set to celebrate first ever Christmas in its long history.Gloria Deo, a world class music group is performing in the first Christmas celebration. The Hon. speaker of the Parliament will launch the christmas programmeThis year Gloria Deo have initiated a Gloria Deo World tour '08 which began at Berlin on the 15th of November, moving across Kathmandu on 6th of December and finally having its finale in the city of New Delhi on the 7th of December. This is the first of its kind international event in the city of New Delhi for the Christmas season; bringing ahead a wide range of musicians, singers, bands, prominent actors, actresses and sports stars. Gloria Deo World Tour '08 is ready to capture Delhi by storm.GCIC jointly with Gloria Deo held a concert during Christmas in the city of Bangalore
posted in: Current Issue, Beliefs, East India