Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

Connect the dots. Children are going hungry in the most powerful nation of our world. And some of these same children end up in prison after reaching or even before reaching their adulthood. Connect the dots. The current Bush Administration's reluctance in investing for the long-term sustenance program in favor of short-term gain, and more children shall be going or remain hungry. American children are going hungry, and the neocons claim to bring democracy and liberty for the more poverty and war stricken children around the world. Connect the dots to irrational absolute! Regards, Sohel Children Going Hungry By David K. Shipler Sunday, February 27, 2005; Page B07 If you spend a day in a malnutrition clinic, you will see a dismal parade of babies and toddlers who look much younger than they are. Underweight and developmentally delayed, they cannot perform normally for their ages. Some are so weak that when you hold them in a standing position, their knees buckle. When they lie on th...

Though the investigation still is in its infancy, this gruesome murder of an American nun who fought for the voiceless peasants against the powerful loggers and ranchers tells the story of courage of an ordinary person doing extraordinary works among the oppressed and forgotten. Let's hope that Brazilian government takes necessary steps to apprehend the culprits behind the murder. Regards, Sohel American Nun Shot to Death in Brazil By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 7:01 p.m. ET SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- An American nun was shot to death in northern Brazil on Saturday, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said. Dorothy Stang, 74, was shot in the face three times near the town of Anapu, about 2,100 kilometers north of Sao Paulo in the Amazon region, federal police officer Fernando Raiol said. Stang, who had lived in Brazil since 1996 and worked in the region for more than 20 years, was headed to a meeting with local ...

Writings and Struggles By Mahbubul Karim (Sohel) January 27, 2005 I. Writing is powerful. From the history immemorial writings of various kinds by writers of prominence and now forgotten names had and have influenced major and minor policy decisions around the globe, especially so in nations where freedom of speech is considered as the cornerstone of their progress and pride. In places where dictatorship, monarchies and also the theatrical “democracy” remained unshakable, writers with unblemished pens are more often considered threat to the interests of the rulers and powerful, and hence most often than not they are put into the darken corners of prisons; sometimes even harsher treatments befallen them, in the form of facing the deadly firing squads or other gruesome life ending scenario, like being stabbed or beaten up by hired thugs and hooligans. It is not to say that all the writers take up the pens to fight against injustices. It is also not to deny the facts that write...

There are some good points that this Washington Post editorial illuminates, and the first and foremost is that the developed world must raise their aid effort for the poorer nations, coordinating with the international organizations such as U.N. and others, but must do so in effective manner so that these aids can maximize benefits to larger number of poor people in the developing world rather than filling the corrupted government officials' ballooning fiefdom. Scholarly reasearches on this very issue already established this fact that "aid does boost growth and reduce poverty in countries with reasonably good institutions and policies." Even with effective government structure in place, how the aid money is spent determines whether poverty for a nation is reduced or not, " because bad aid can actually entrench poverty." Here is one example: "When aid flows into a country, it can drive the exchange rate up, harming the producers who are the only hope o...

It seems promising. I have known friends and relatives who had repeatedly said that their cholesterol level was normal but still they had suffered heart attacks and some even died from that deadly disease. Hopefully, the new discovery and the eventual treatments related to C-reactive protein would alleviate sufferings of millions of people world wide every year, soon. Regards, Sohel The New Heart Disease Threat he evidence has gotten much stronger that a substance known as C-reactive protein may be every bit as important as cholesterol in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Back in 2002, a thought-provoking study found that a blood test for C-reactive protein, called CRP, was actually better than the standard cholesterol test at predicting the risk of a heart attack or a stroke. Now two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine have shown that drugs that reduce the levels of that protein in patients with severe heart disease can slow ...

The Year the Earth Fought Back By SIMON WINCHESTER ondon — LIKE two bookends of calamity, earthquakes at Bam in Iran and off Sumatra in Indonesia have delineated a year of unusual seismic ferocity - a year, one might say, of living dangerously. Twelve months, almost to the very hour, before Sunday's extraordinary release of stress at the India-Burma tectonic plate boundary, a similar jolt at the boundary of the Arabian and the Eurasian Plates devastated one of the most celebrated of Persian caravan cities. The televised images of Bam's collapsed citadel and the sight of thousands of bodies being carried from the desert ruins haunted the world then just as the images of the drowned around the shores of the Bay of Bengal do today. But that has not been the half of it. True, these two disasters were, in terms of their numbers of casualties, by far the most lethal. But in the 12 months that separated them, there have been many other ruinous and seismically...

Sometimes, the words just dry up, like the severe droughts. Sometimes, painful images of natural disasters, wars and violence, make one cringing or exhaling indomitable sigh, amidst the barren eyes and the choking lungs. Earth wobbled around its axis of rotation as that devastating earthquake and the following tsunami ripped apart and washed away thousands and thousands of human beings and other animals, the counting is still climbing up with an all knowing alarm. This time around last year’s earthquake in Bam, Iran unfolded, as if replaying its previous cruel destruction this year, but in grandeur stage with leaping ferocity. For a person with little or no faith in any religion or divine being, this catastrophic episode is a random event, a natural phenomenon, and a small blip in the geological time scale. Seismologists and the geophysicists explain that the Indian plate dived below the Burma plate and lifted it up, causing the colossal tectonic plate fracture that created tre...

Common Sense dictates promoting freedom in nations where the dissidents mostly pay heavy price for just speaking out against the rigid theocracy, blatant or hidden injustices and all forms of suppressions. Shirn Ebadi has been a valiant fighter for many decades of her life, even when she was not in the lime light as she is now after receiving the prestigeous Nobel Prize for peace, she was one of the forefront women in the struggle for human rights in Iran. Preventing Ms. Ebadi from publishing her book in the United States is a major blunder and it should be corrected without any delay. Regards, Sohel Will Her Voice Ever Be Heard? By Ellen Goodman Saturday, December 11, 2004; Page A23 BOSTON -- Ever wonder what happened to the State Department's chief of propaganda? The head of public diplomacy was supposed to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim street. After all that fanfare, the PR seat has been empty lo these many months. Is it possible ...

"To quote the words of Shahidul Alam, the man who established Drik and who remains its driving force, "Resistance has been there in different forms and against various established norms -- political organisations, religious zeal, media propaganda and commercialism to name a few." "And throughout this resistance, pioneer photographers have continued their struggles amidst adversities to create an identity for professional photography in Bangladesh," continues Alam. His reference is to the struggle that led to independent Bangladesh and to the people's resistance to oppressive regimes." Read the full article with excellent photos from this The Daily Star Link .

How can a corporation deny its responsibility from one of the world's massive industrial disasters? And how come a democratic government elected by its own people does not take adequate steps in protecting and compensating its own citizens from the apparent maleficence of multinational company? The Dow Chemical that had purchased Union Carbide in 2001 now says the following in its website: "Dow never owned or operated the Bhopal plant." -- Is it so easy to wash one's hands by just restructuring or rearranging a corporation? Till to date, not a single upper echelon person is held responsible for this horrendous episode? How could that be? Amnesty International states the following: "The Bhopal case illustrates how companies evade their human rights responsibilities and underlines the need to establish a universal human rights framework that can be applied to companies directly. Governments have the primary responsibility for protecting the human rights of com...

A dismal condition for the Kashmiris for so many years, and so many deaths, thousands of them, in addition to rapes, disappearances of civilians, that a solution to this lingering problem is the key for a lasting peace in the Indian subcontinent. Let's see what the South Asian politicians do in resolving this issue, or whether it would be the same empty promises and decorated maneuverings for their own political gains, will be observed by the international community. Regards, Sohel Solving Kashmir requires India to offer up more than cash Simon Tisdall Wednesday November 24, 2004 The Guardian Kashmir will be the elephant in the room when Pakistan's prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, meets his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, in Delhi today. Both sides know that, without a Kashmir settlement, the peace process launched this year cannot succeed. But neither has a clear idea how to proceed. The temptation is to ignore the elephant. Mr Aziz is the highest-rankin...

This is not to ignore that there are plenty of dissimilarities between 1946 and 2004. The Cold War is considered a thing of the past. The old Soviet Republic were fragmented in dozens of smaller nations, even mother Russia does not show the same super power status as it used to in its hay day of cold war. But, arguably, things have beginning to taken the shape of old history, as if 1946 is turning the screw of time in a new clothe. Anne Applebaum observes the following on the recent Ukrainian election disputes: "Polls taken before and after the vote showed a large margin of support for Viktor Yushchenko, a pro-Western liberal. Nevertheless, victory has been declared for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow candidate. He has already received warm congratulations from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who backed him with praise, money and, possibly, some advice on how to steal elections. It can't be a coincidence that if the Ukrainian election is settled in Moscow's fa...

Here is Dr. Ellen Pikitch's comment: "This study demonstrates that overfishing of one species of fish, such as sardines, can profoundly alter an entire marine ecosystem". When Sardines are abundant, they eat up phytoplankton in larger quantity than when there are less Sardines in any particular area. If there are phytoplankton uneaten, they sink to the bottom and eventually get decomposed and produce large clouds of Hydrogen Sulfide and Methane gas that surface to the atmosphere above the water line. Why is this important to note? Because "methane is arguably worse, at least for world climate. Pound for pound methane traps 21 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas." Next time we open a can of delicious sardine to make our salivating appetitie pacified, perhaps we need to think of the consequences. Regards, Sohel Earth's Uncanned Crusaders: Will Sardines Save Our Skin? By CORNELIA DEAN Scientists working off t...

Of Mice, Men and In-Between Scientists Debate Blending Of Human, Animal Forms By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 20, 2004; Page A01 In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their veins. In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely human. In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells firing inside their skulls. These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896 novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research. Biologists call these hybrid animals chimeras, after the mythical Greek creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. They are the products of experiments in which human stem cells were added to developing animal fetuses. Chimeras are allowing scientists to watch, for the first time, how...

A more democratic Iran is desired by many, especially by the Iranians, in their home and abroad, but that democracy should be coming from within their own political process, not by guns and tanks or military planes flying overhead, bringing deaths and destructions as it is continually unfolding in Iraq. Regards, Sohel Overthrow Tehran? Hey, Not So Fast *Iranian Americans are dismayed by glib neocon talk of regime change. By Jeet Heer and Laura Rozen, Based in Toronto, Jeet Heer frequently writes for the Boston Globe and the National Post. Laura Rozen reports on foreign affairs and national security issues from Washington, D.C. With President Bush elected to a second term, and the neoconservative architects of the Iraq war firmly in the driver's seat of U.S. foreign policy, Iranian Americans are contemplating a stark choice similar to that faced by Iraqi Americans a few years ago — whether they want to work with Washington to liberate their home country. Although...

November 14, 2004 FRANK RICH On 'Moral Values,' It's Blue in a Landslide AREWELL to Swift boats and "Shove it!," to Osama's tape and Saddam's missing weapons, to "security moms" and outsourced dads. They've all been sent to history's dustbin faster than Ralph Nader memorabilia was dumped on eBay. In their stead stands a single ambiguous phrase coined by an anonymous exit pollster: "Moral values." By near universal agreement the morning after, these two words tell the entire story of the election: it's the culture, stupid. "It really is Michael Moore versus Mel Gibson," said Newt Gingrich. To Jon Stewart, Nov. 2 was the red states' revenge on "Will & Grace." William Safire, speaking on "Meet the Press," called the Janet Jackson fracas "the social-political event of the past year." Karl Rove was of the same mind: "I think it's people who are concerned about th...

Now that the election in U.S. is over, perhaps the Bush Administration could depoliticize its disastrous environmental policy, to make it come to term with the growing environmental anxieties resulting from all the available scientific data. The impact from the arctic thaw mostly arising due to global warming will be catastrohpic unless the course of our world is altered drastically, especially lessening dependance on fossil fuel that is one of the major culprits in contributing greenhouse effect. The Christian Science monitor listed the trend of Arctic thaw in this report as the following: • Rapid melting of Arctic glaciers, including the vast sheet of ice that covers Greenland. The sheet locks up enough fresh water to raise sea levels by as much as 27 feet over the course of several centuries. The group calculates that during this century, Greenland temperatures are likely to exceed the threshold for triggering the long-term meltdown of the island's ice sheet. • Arctic...

It will be a tough battle, but the battle has already begun. Consumers needs more choices in browser market that has so far been overwhelmingly dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer with its all sorts of security holes unplugged. The best thing about Firefox and Mozilla overall is that it is free with lots of features that can compete with Microsoft nicely. Hunting with Firefox Today marks a milestone in the history of the "open source" movement, the extraordinary unpaid community of volunteers all over the world who work together to produce software which is placed in the public domain without commercial gain. Today sees the official launch of Firefox ( www.getfirefox.com ), a free internet browser that is daring to take on Internet Explorer, owned by Microsoft, which until recently had a market share of over 95%. It roundly beat Netscape (originally known as Mosaic) during the late 1990s in what became known as the browser war. W...