Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Google launches Business Photos in India


MAY 22, 2012 

Today Google launched Business Photos in India, a concept that puts businesses on the map – virtually and literally. In a pilot run, Google will take 360 degree pictures of businesses and will allow owners to upload them to their location on Google Places.
Google India’s official blog talks about the concept of taking pictures of business interiors to add to a business’ credibility. The concept stems off the idea that a business cannot always be judged by how its office looks on the outside.
After taking permission of the business owners who want their interiors to be photographed, Google’s certified Photographers will work directly with them. The 360 degree pictures of the interiors of businesses will be posted online via Google Places. This feature was originally available only to users in USA, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, France and UK. Countries recently added to its kitty are Ireland, Netherlands and Canada. Now the service has been finally launched in India.
Google Business Photos Google launches Business Photos in India
Google Places allows owners to promote their businesses by providing detailed information to prospective customers, finding niche audiences and enhancing brand visibility through increased searchability.
Owners can also promote their ventures by posting photos, videos, coupons and even announcing special deals. On the other hand, customers can benefit by ranking and rating these business, finding the right offers and being armed with better information.
Google’s Business Photos complements Google Places and adds value by showing the customers the interior and the ‘feel’ of the business from inside. Business can now be ready to bare it all – the décor, the buzz, the merchandise, the display, the cleanliness, innovation in design et al.
Google Business Photos are in addition to the pictures owners can upload on Google Places. However Google Business Photos will be more detailed, higher quality and panoramic. Both will appear side by side in a Google search.
Currently Google is going to begin the pilot program in Hyderabad. It is inviting business owners in India to send in applications. Their premises will be photographed by Google appointed photographers, free of cost. From a business owner’s perspective, many scenarios come to mind. What if the owner of a gymnasium could display the interiors of a gym to give customers a great idea of what to expect when they walk in through the doors? What if spa owners could let potential customers get a feel of their services by putting their facilities up on a virtual display? Would it help if the owner of a car showroom could put up a virtual display of the actual showroom?
Many questions from a customer’s perspective come to mind too. What if a customer can simply go online and decide whether Spa A has better ambient lighting than Spa B or whether the tables at Café Z are not as crowded as in Café Y without actually visiting the shop front? How convenient would it be for a customer to simply go online and decide which night club to go to, just by comparing the Business Photos of 2 popular ones?
The answer to all these questions lie in one simple fundamental question – Can Google bring more Indians online? India has the world’s youngest population. This came at the back of reports that the Indian population will soon be amongst the top 3 in the world.
If tech savvy Indians begin previewing the services offered by businesses in India, Google may very well have created a monster platform that benefits both, businesses and customer. Not to mention, yet another possible revenue stream for the internet giant.

Reebok India alleges Rs 8,700cr fraud by former MD, COO



Wed, May 23, 2012
In what could the second biggest corporate scandal after Satyam, Reebok India has alleged a Rs 8,700 crore fraud by its former Managing Director Subhinder Singh Prem and former Chief Operating Officer Vishnu Bhagat.
Reebok lodged an FIR with the Gurgaon police alleging that Prem and Bhagat had 'stolen' products by setting up 'secret warehouses', fudged accounts and indulged in fictitious sales to cause a multi-crore dent to the company.
When the alleged scam came to light in March 2012, Singh, who had been made the Managing Director of Adidas India in 2011 as a part of an integration of the businesses of both Adidas and Reebok brands, was dismissed from the company. Bhagat's services were terminated too.
The company's financial director, Shahim Padath, later lodged a formal complaint against the duo. The economic cell of Gurgaon police conducted a probe and found that Singh and Bhagat had allegedly rented four warehouses without informing their seniors and used them to store goods and claimed they were supplied to genuine dealers.
They also allegedly siphoned off goods to ghost companies and distributors across the country, claiming they were defective pieces.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Join in Solidarity with Malmö's Embattled Jewish Community



"...Ever since I came here people have been shouting 'F***ing Jew' and 'Heil Hitler' at me."
                                                                - Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, Malmö, Sweden 
May 17, 2012
Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city was once a haven for Holocaust survivors. In 2012, its rabbi and his family suffer continual anti-Semitic abuse and hate attacks which Malmö’s police ignore. At the same time, Malmö’s powerful mayor, Ilmar Reepalu scapegoats Jews as loyal only to Israel. Instead of protecting the small Jewish community, he denies any responsibility for the outrageous situation, dismissing criticism his record as the work of the "Israel lobby". 
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called out Reepalu’s bigotry and stood with Malmö’s tiny embattled Jewish community. In the last few years, the SWC has:


• Met with Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask in Stockholm in 2010 to express our concerns for the Jewish citizens of Malmö 
 
• Confronted Mayor Reepalu in a face-to-face meeting, and also met with Malmö’s Police Chief Ulf Sempert (middle) and other senior officials
 

• Issued a travel advisory to Malmö urging extreme caution as a result of the failure of Malmö’s officials toprovide basic protection to its Jews—the travel advisory remains in place.
 

• Urged measures be taken against rampant anti-Semitism in Malmö during an address in Prague delivered to the 56 country Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
 
• Helped secure government funding for Swedish Jewish institutions to better protect the community from potential terrorist threats
  




• Briefed the US State Department Special Envoy on Anti-Semitism in Washington, DC and in Malmö prior to her meeting with Malmö’s mayor
 

• Published articles and op/ed pieces on the situation in Malmö in blogs, through social networking, and in newspapers and publications around the world
 
 
• Screened the Center’s Academy Award™-winning documentary, Genocide to community activists in Malmö

 
• Participated in a seminar at Malmö University on "Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia" which prompted a heated debate
 
• Distributed Swedish language brochures of the Center’s Top Ten Anti-Israel Lies 
All of this has been accomplished against the backdrop of meetings with Jewish, Muslim, and Roma community leaders, city officials, and Malmo’s Police Chief.  

Americans Losing Free Speech to Islam



Acting on a tip from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), police shut down a private event in a rented room that was promoting the American constitution and the “American Laws for American Courts” legislation initiative.

Amid calls of “What about free speech?” the Allegan Police Department entered the room in the middle of the event and ordered it shut down.

Police originally gave as their reason for the shut-down the appearance of Kamal Saleem, a former Muslim terrorist who converted to Christianity and who was a featured speaker at the event.  However, the chief of police later admitted to a reporter that he was acting on no specific threat or danger being posed by the event.

The event was located in the Allegan High School auditorium which had been rented by Willis Sage, an Allegan County commissioner.  Sage is the author of “Constituting Michigan – Founding Principles Act,” which would require Michigan public schools to teach the history and constitution of the United States.

No specific threat of violence was received by either the City of Allegan
Kamal Saleem
, the police department, the Allegan Public School District or the Allegan Public High School.

However, school officials had notified police that they had received a letter complaining about the event from Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR - Michigan.  The letter asked the school to cancel the event despite an existing contract.

CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism funding trial in U. S. history, U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation.

A civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR- MI), its Executive Director, the City of Allegan, the Allegan Police Department and the School District for violating the constitutional and contractual rights of the event organizers and participants. The lawsuit was filed for the plaintiffs by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Law Center commented, “It’s amazing how much clout CAIR has with the political establishment of both parties in Lansing [Michigan’s capital] and throughout Michigan and the nation -- this, despite the fact that CAIR has its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, and the FBI’s  former chief of counter terrorism noted that CAIR, its leaders and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups.


Richard Thompson
“Press accounts make it clear that an indictment naming CAIR as a defendant in the Holy Land Foundation trial was squelched by Attorney General Holder’s office despite vehement objections by FBI agents and the federal prosecutors in Dallas.”

The purpose of the event was to inform the public about the importance of honoring the United States Constitution, to recognize the internal threat to America posed by radical Muslims and the dangers to American society posed by the imposition and insinuation of Islamic (sharia) law.

Saleem has spoken at numerous high schools and universities, Christian churches and Jewish institutions across the nation.  He has also spoken at the U. S. Air Force Academy, Michigan’s State Capital and Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.  At no time before or after the Allegan event has an event where he has spoken been shut down by law enforcement.

Commissioner Sage had notified the Allegan police chief ten days before the event and invited him to check out the background of Saleem, which he never did.

In addition to Sage, plaintiffs in the case include Michigan State Representative David Agema, sponsor of the “Restriction of Application of Foreign Laws Act,”, which bans the use of foreign laws including sharia by courts and administrative bodies of the State when those laws conflict with fundamental rights protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Michigan.

CAIR is an outspoken opponent of the act.

The American Laws for American Courts act is designed to protect American citizens’ constitutional rights against the infiltration and incursion of foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines, especially sharia.

Foreign laws are frequently at odds with U.S. constitutional principles of equal protection and due process, and freedom of religio
n, speech and assembly. They typically enter the American court system through the principle of comity (mutual respect of each country’s legal system). Granting comity to a foreign judgment is a matter of state law. Most state and federal courts will grant comity unless the recognition of the foreign judgment violates an important public policy of the state.

The “American Laws for American Courts” act has been passed into law in Tennessee, Louisiana and Arizona. To find out more about the law, a Forty Minute Course is available online.



Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mamata Banerjee wants to give reservation to all Muslims


Kolkata: There is no division in West Bengal Muslims. All are backward. The Left Front government tried to divide the community over OBC Muslim issue saying most of the Muslims do not come under OBC category, but our TMC government of Mamata Banerjee thinks that reservation should be given in a straight way to the whole Muslim community, said Sultan Ahmed, Union Minister
Speaking at the conference of Teachers of Madrasa Siksha Kendra at Moulali Youth Centre here on 12th May 2012, Ahmed, who represents Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee in the Central Government said: With a special initiative of Chief Minister, West Bengal Government has started a survey among the Muslims. After getting the survey reports ascertaining Muslims as a backwardclass community and according to Indian Constitution, West Bengal Government wants to give reservation to the whole Muslims. He claimed in his speech that, according to Census 2011 Muslim percentage in West Bengal is 26, so, atleast 18% reservation should be given to Muslims. He criticized the Union Minority Minister Salman Khurshid andformer Chief Minister of West Bengal late Jyoti Basu.


Sultan Ahmed
Sultan Ahmed said,Salman Khurshid tried to give 4.5% reservation to the Minority community before the election of Uttar Pradesh. Among the Minority communities enlisted in OBC are Jain, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi besides Musims. So, if government gave 4.5% reservation for Minority, then Muslins will get 0.3%, he said. That was not accepted by the Muslims society, and the results of UP elections have proved it. Salman’s assurance to Minority Community was to target UP election only, not for real sympathy to Muslims. Muslims are not tolerating this kind of assurance. Sultan Ahmed warned, any political party cannot play now with Muslim, If they did they will get the results which Left go in West Bengal and Congress in UP.
He said, `Few years ago, when JyotiBasu was Chief Minister of West Bengal, I urged him after a massive gathering in Netaji Indore Stadium on reservation of Muslims that, Please give the reservation to the West Bengal Muslims on the pattern of Kerala. He told me, don’t play a communal card, reservation on religious basis is not possible, so reservation in West Bengal for Muslim separately is not possible. But on the eve of last Assembly election in May last year in West Bengal,how did CPIM led Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya declare 10% reservation for OBC Muslim.?’
Sultan also said that 10% OBC Muslim reservation was not in proper way. Mamata led government will pass that reservation bill in proper way and government wants to give reservation directly to the whole Muslims after getting the survey report as all Muslims are backward in West Bengal.
He appealed to Muslim to organize meeting on reservation in the light of Andhra, Kerala reservation. “Sultan will reach the message of Muslim as a `peon of Muslim community’ to the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.”
Sultan also claimed, this is first time in West Bengal when a Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee goes to the Muslims for their Development, she thinksbetter, Minority Ministry is in her own hands. So, Mamatahas already given Rs 33 cr to State Waqf board to given to Imams of West Bengal.
About the Madrasa Shisha Kendra (MSK) under the SarvoSikshaAbhiyan, he said, government will think about the MSK. But it is fact, some MSKs have no infrastructure but he was silent on why Mamatagovt not opening more MSKs.

All Bengal Minority Council had called that conference of the Teachers of MSK. Secretary of All Bengal Minority Council MdKamruzzaman said, “In the month of February of 2011 Left Front government recognised 139 Madrasa Siksha Kendra (MSK) &SishuSiksha Kendra(SSK), but 138 teachers of MSK have not yet got appointment letter till now.
Kamruzzaman also said, Minority Affairs department of previous left front Government accepted application of both Senior & Junior type 300 MSK and 200 SishuSikhsha Kendra (SSK). After the visit of Government official only 100 Sr&Jr type MSK and 39 SSK were recognized. He said his Council wants recognition of the rest also.
They placed demands before Sultan Ahmed:
1. Immediate appointment letter to the138 Sr&Jr type MSK and SSK from the present government.
2. Government should allocate Mid-day meal & Uniform, Books to that all 138 Madrasa.
3. Recognition to Left Front Government declared MSKs and SSKs
4. To maintain normal works in district Minority Office, at least one WBCS (West Bengal Civil Service) officer should be placed in every district.
5. Government should conduct training for all MSK & SSK teachers.
Beside the Minister, other personalities present in the conference included State Minority Commission Chairman Entaj Ali Shah, MaulanaSharful Amin, State chairman of Trinamul Congress Minority cell Advocate Idris Ali, leader of the MSK teacher organization Abdul Momen, EducationistJahidulSarkar, Minority council president Salauddin Ahmed.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Vatican eyes Legion priests on abuse


May 11, 2012 3:14 AM

Photo credit: AP | FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2004 file photo, Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to late father Marcial Maciel, founder of Christ's Legionaries, during a special audience the pontiff granted to about four thousand participants of the Regnum Christi movement, at the Vatican.The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors and another two for other alleged crimes, The Associated Press has learned. The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests for alleged sexual assault following the scandal of the Legion's founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations _ later proven _ that he raped and molested his seminarians. The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of its late founder, the Rev. MarcielMaciel, were his alone. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)
VATICAN CITY - (AP) -- The Vatican is investigating seven priests from the troubled Legion of Christ religious order for alleged sexual abuse of minors -- evidence that the scandal over the order's pedophile founder doesn't rest solely with him, The Associated Press has learned.
Two other Legion priests are being investigated by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for alleged sacramental violations, believed to involve abusing spiritual direction and other pastoral care to have inappropriate sexual relations with women.
The investigations mark the first known Vatican action against Legion priests following the revelations of the Legion's founder, who was long held up as a model by the Vatican despite credible accusations -- later proven -- that he was a drug addict who raped and molested his seminarians.
The Legion, which is now under Vatican receivership, has insisted that the crimes of the Rev. Marciel Maciel were his alone.
But the Vatican investigation of other Legion priests indicates that the same culture of secrecy that Maciel created within the order to cover his crimes enabled other priests to abuse children -- just as abusive clergy of other religious orders and dioceses have done around the world.
In a statement Friday to the AP, the Legion confirmed it had referred seven cases of alleged abuse to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that investigates sex crimes. All but one involves alleged abuse dating from decades ago; one case involves recent events, the Legion said.
"Over the past few years, in several countries, the major superiors of the Legion of Christ have received some allegations of gravely immoral acts and more serious offenses ... committed by some Legionaries," the statement said.
It said it was committed to examining the accusations and reaching out to victims while safeguarding the rights of all involved. While the priests are under investigation, their access to children has been restricted, the Legion said.
The Legion issued the statement to the AP after the news organization approached it with the allegations; the Legion simultaneously sent the statement out to all priests in the order.
The steps the Legion said it had taken follow the norms required of religious orders, the Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Friday in confirming the investigation. That said, the investigations have only recently begun and many of these accusations are old and presumably were previously known to its leadership.
In addition to referring the cases to the Vatican as required by church law, the Legion said it had referred cases to police where civil reporting laws require it. It's not clear, however, if any law enforcement action was taken given the statute of limitations may have expired for such old cases.
Preliminary investigations of an unspecified number of other priests accused of abuse found them innocent, the Legion said.
The scandal of Maciel and the Legion ranks as one of the worst of the 20th-century Catholic Church, since he was held up as a model for the faithful by Pope John Paul II. The orthodox order, which has about 900 priests around the world, was praised for attracting both money and vocations to the priesthood.
Documentation from Vatican archives, however, has shown that as early as the 1950s, the Vatican had evidence that he was a drug addict and pedophile.
Only in 2006 did the Vatican sanction Maciel to a lifetime of penance and prayer for his crimes. He died in 2008 and a year later the Legion admitted he had fathered three children with two different women and had abused his seminarians.
The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 and is pushing through a process of reform.
Aaron Loughrey, 35, was a 17- or 18-year-old Legion seminarian in Ireland in the spring of 1995 when he says he was forced by a superior to masturbate him in bed. Loughrey, who left the Legion before being ordained, says he has been in counseling almost ever since as he seeks justice from the order.
He said that the vow he took as a seminarian never to criticize the or deeds of a superior made him unable to question what the priest had told him to do. In a parallel to the way Maciel abused his seminarians, Loughrey says his superior had told him that an unnamed illness gave him terrible cramps in his lower abdomen that could only be eased with massage.
"In my heart and in my conscience I believed that I had acted that night like a true Legionary -- putting my superior's needs before my own -- and I stuffed the unsavory thoughts and feelings to the back of my mind," Loughrey has written.
The priest has since left the priesthood. Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 ordered the Legion to remove the so-called fourth vow never to criticize a superior -- precisely because of the abuse of authority that it had created in the order.
In an email Friday, Loughrey said he was certain there were more than just these seven abusers in the Legion. Those currently under investigation represent about 1 percent of Legion priests.
"I would like to say I am glad about this (investigation), but I am honestly not hopeful that anything will come of it," he said.
Author Jason Berry, who with Gerald Renner first revealed Maciel's crimes against seminarians in a 1997 Hartford Courant article, said there certainly were more abusers in the Legion and that the Vatican knows well who they are.
"The Vatican should stop this charade of secrecy, identify the perpetrators and provide the victims fair compensation," said Berry, author of "Render unto Rome," an award-winning book on church finances with a section on the Legion.
Genevieve Kineke, who runs a blog about the Legion and its lay movement Regnum Christi, said the investigations confirm that the problems within the Legion did not die with Maciel and are still hurting the order today.
"For all the good that the Legion has done, this must also be considered as 'fruit' associated with the group, for that is how they justify their ongoing existence," she told The Associated Press. "Surely now, they will stop recruiting for the time being to be sure that they have the proper foundation to support healthy vocations." 

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Former Nun Mary Johnson Criticizes Vatican Crackdown on U.S. Sisters



Apr 27, 2012
Mary Johnson served for 20 years in Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. She tells Abigail Pesta that the Vatican’s recent probe of American sisters is an “insult.”

American nuns have remained mostly mum in the wake of the recent Vatican assessment that they are being disobedient, showing signs of “radical feminism,” as the Vatican says, for views that contradict church teachings on issues such as homosexuality, abortion, and the ordination of women. But one former nun has a few things to say. She says the crackdown is “an insult.”


Mary Johnson served for 20 years in the Missionaries of Charity, a group founded by Mother Teresa. Johnson worked in Rome for 15 years and in North America for the other five; she came to know Mother Teresa personally. Johnson had joined the convent as a 19-year-old college student in Texas. Her inspiration: an article she read in Time magazine about Mother Teresa’s work in Calcutta, India.

As a Missionary of Charity, Johnson vowed to follow strict orders. She and her fellow sisters wore white saris, as Mother Teresa wore; they refrained from becoming close friends with other nuns or anyone else; they distanced themselves from their families, spending just two weeks of every 10 years with relatives, per the rules. They spent their time helping the poor, working in soup kitchens and shelters, and teaching catechism.


Johnson’s days as a nun came to an end when, she says, “I decided I needed more intimacy than the rules allowed.” While in the convent, she had grown close to a fellow nun and even canoodled with a priest. “We just had a few kisses,” she says. She left the convent in 1997, went back to school, and later wrote a memoir about her experience, An Unquenchable Thirst.

She says she’s not surprised by the Vatican’s probe of American nuns, which began three years ago amid concerns that the sisters weren’t backing the views of the church, particularly at general assemblies held throughout the year.

The Vatican launched two studies to look into nuns’ activities. One, called a Doctrinal Assessment, conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, looked into the main umbrella group of U.S. nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or the LCWR. The group, established by the Vatican, represents around 80 percent of American sisters, allowing them to train leaders and hold general assemblies to discuss relevant issues.

In the results of that study, released last week, the Vatican acknowledges the “great contribution” of nuns in “schools, hospitals, and institutions for the poor,” but says that nuns have “stayed silent on the right to life from conception to natural death, a question that is part of the lively public debate about abortion.” Further, the study says, "issues of crucial importance to the life of the church and society, such as the church’s biblical view of family life and human sexuality, are not part of the LCWR agenda in a way that promotes church teaching.” The study also cites a reluctance among some sisters to embrace the “reservation of priestly ordination to men.”

The Vatican study points out that all nuns agree to take a vow of obedience, noting, “the teaching of the church calls for the religious submission of intellect and will.”

To remedy the situation, the Vatican said it will appoint an archbishop to oversee the nuns’ organization for as long as the next five years, providing guidance and reviewing plans and programs, including general assemblies and publications.

“The sisters have been grounded,” Johnson says.

“Sisters deserve to be treated as adults. The average age of an American sister is 65.”
The other study, called an Apostolic Visitation of Women Religious, looked into the lifestyle of all American nuns—both at the LCWR and a second, more conservative group, called the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. In that study, a superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mother Mary Clare Millea, observed and questioned sisters in 400 institutions across the country, asking questions such as how a nun is disciplined if she doesn’t follow church teachings, according to Johnson. The study has been completed, according to the Vatican; the results have not been released.

Johnson acknowledges that sisters take a vow to obey, but she believes it’s time for the church to modernize.

“The main complaint is that sisters are thinking for themselves,” she says. “No one says it in those words, but that’s the bottom line: you’re thinking for yourself, and we don’t like that.” She adds, “It’s an election year and bishops are becoming more political. When sisters don’t agree, they sometimes raise their voices. The Catholic Church has long recognized that an individual’s first duty is to obey his or her conscience, but the bishops say that any conscience that conflicts with their teaching is a conscience in error. Any questioning is seen as disloyal, even heretical—bishops aren’t used to being questioned. It’s easy for bishops to get an overblown sense of their own importance.”

She says she finds it ironic that bishops have been calling for religious libertyamid various political debates about contraception and abortion. “But they’re denying their sisters religious liberty,” she says. “They’re saying, ‘You must respect our religious liberty, but we won’t respect yours.’”

Johnson says there are “two different ideas” of what the church is. “First, there’s a hierarchical church that starts with the pope and the bishops, and in this model all truth flows from the top down. Then there’s church as the people of God, where the spirit blows where it will.” She says nuns had “a chance to explore new ideas” at their general assemblies, but now, with a Vatican-appointed overseer, their freedom to explore will be seriously curtailed.

Johnson says she has been in touch with many nuns in the wake of the Vatican crackdown. Their response at first, she says, was shock. “But there is such a sense of centeredness. I get the sense that the sisters are women with vision,” she says. “They aren’t going to be bullied. They’ve stayed with the church out of real conviction, lifelong commitment. They’ve worked through things. They know who they are.”

The sisters of the LCWR released a statement Thursday saying they will meet from May 29 to June 1 to discuss the Vatican study. “The board will conduct its meeting in an atmosphere of prayer, contemplation, and dialogue,” the statement says. “The conference plans to move slowly, not rushing to judgment. We will engage in dialogue where possible and be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. We ask your prayer for us and for the Church in this critical time.”

Says Johnson, “They told me that they’ll find some way to be true to themselves.” She adds, “I’m not sure exactly how they’ll do that, with an archbishop over their shoulders, approving or disapproving everything they do, rewriting the rules of their assembly.” Because of church law, she says, the nuns’ options seem limited.

She says she finds the appointment of the archbishop “disrespectful.” Sisters “deserve to be treated as adults,” she says. “The average age of an American sister is 65. They are influential throughout the world. Women look to them, how courageous they are, how they stand with the poor, how they are faithful to the Gospel and to the church. Telling these women what to say and think is insulting.”

Johnson points out that there are more nuns in the U.S. than priests, with 55,944 sisters and 39,466 priests. “But all the institutional power is in the hands of ordained men,” she says. “The Vatican works like a dictatorship. They want blind obedience, as opposed to thoughtful ideas. The bishops insist that a faithful Catholic must submit to them. But people need to be able to think for themselves, and the church needs insight from all quarters if it’s going to grow.”

Of course, women don’t have to sign up.

Johnson says she did it because she “wanted to belong to a group that was significant.” She recalls, “I was convinced that my life could best be spent in loving service of the poor who needed it most, but I never expected I wouldn’t be allowed to bring my intelligence and creativity to my work. When I joined the Missionaries of Charity, my sister cried all night, telling me I was wasting my life.”

She adds, “I might still be a sister if I had joined a more progressive group. I didn’t see the point in remaining in a group that didn’t want anything of me but my obedience. Rebuilding my life after 20 years in the convent wasn’t easy. But knowing that I can now make any contribution I want to make, that I am free to think my own thoughts, establish my own relationships, get to know my family again—there’s a new love and truth and fidelity there that I didn’t have when obedience was the primary virtue.”

She notes that the church could modernize if it wanted. “It’s not like the teaching of the church has never changed,” she says. “At one point the church was behind slavery.”

Friday, May 11, 2012

Biggest ever mandate for Modi and another shock for Congress-Forecasts Poll



K Balakrishnan, LensOnNews 
May 09, 2012
THE NEXT ASSEMBLYelections in Gujarat may be more than six months away, but the ruling BJP and the main challenger, the Congress party, are both already actively canvassing the electorate with their yatras and campaigns. The recent upset win that the Congress was able to score in the Mansa assembly by-election has boosted the party’s morale and made it hopeful of improving its performance considerably over the last time and giving a real fight to the BJP chief minister, Narendra Modi.
However, an intensive survey of the Gujarat electorate undertaken by LensOnNews finds that, if the elections were held now, Narendra Modi will romp home for an unprecedented third term, with a two-thirds majority possibly larger than the 127 seats he had won ten years ago in 2002.
According to the LensOnNews poll, the BJP is likely to poll 50 per cent of the total votes (a gain of 1 percentage point over its vote share in 2007), while the Congress is likely to get a vote share of 37 per cent (a loss of 1 per cent). Thus the gap in the vote shares of the two parties is likely to widen from 11 to 13 per cent.
The BJP is likely to win a historically high tally of between 127 and 138 seats (compared to 117 in 2007) in the 182-seat assembly, while the Congress tally is likely to drop to between 36 and 46 (as against 59 seats the last time).
Many have conjectured that it was the polarization following the post-Godhra riots that helped Modi win a two-thirds majority in the 2002 polls. Be that as it may, the record of ten riot-free years since then has certainly contributed to the even stronger position of Narendra Modi today.
Clearly, however, it is the all-round performance of the state government and the feel-good factor that it has created among the people that is likely to prove decisive. The LensOnNews poll finds a very high level of satisfaction with the government’s performance in all fronts: sixty-nine per cent of those polled say they are satisfied with the pace of rural development; 79 per cent with the progress in industrialization; and 75 per cent with job creation.
Our survey finds that the people in Gujarat are as much concerned about the issues of corruption and galloping inflation as the people elsewhere in India. However, they blame the Central government squarely for these problems. Sixty-one per cent hold the Centre to blame for both corruption and price rise, while a much smaller number (22 and 24 per cent respectively) lay the blame on the state government for these maladies.
There are several other factors that seem to be working in favour of Narendra Modi this time. For one, the Congress party has not been able to latch on to any issue that finds resonance with the people. The cotton export ban had caused considerable disquiet among the farmers in Saurashtra and elsewhere across the state, and though the state Congress leaders tried to take credit for prevailing upon the Centre to eventually lift the ban, the ban itself and Narendra Modi’s attacking the policy meant that it was an overall negative for the Congress.
Further, the attempts to implicate Narendra Modi in a host of riot cases, and the international campaign to ostrasize him which resulted in the denial of a US visa to him, are now unraveling; and Modi’s regular invoking of Gujarati asmita (hurt Gujarati pride) never fails to resonate with his people.
While there is no state-level anti-incumbency against the Modi government, there is likely to be a localized anti-incumbency sentiment against non-performing MLAs. However, the delimitation and rotation of reserved constituencies will unsettle about a third of the incumbents in the normal course, considerably blunting this factor. Delimitation has also increased the weight of the urban vote, thus playing to the strength of the BJP.
Finally, and most decisively, it is the Congress party’s failure to come up with any leader having credibility among the people that is rendering it unable to put up any kind of real challenge to Modi.
Thus it is no surprise that the LensOnNews poll finds that 61 per cent of the respondents say that is the BJP that can provide a better government in Gujarat, as against only 32 per cent rooting for the Congress. Again, when asked whether they would like a change of government or the present government to be returned to power, as many as 61 per cent want the Modi government to be re-elected.
And, asked who they would like as their next chief minister, 65 per cent plump for Narendra Modi and only 20 per cent name the Congressman, Shankersinh Vaghela, a former chief minister and Union textiles minister who had failed to retain  his seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
The LensOnNews survey was carried out between April 25 and May 7 among a representative sample of 5890 voters spread across 32 assembly constituencies. The results are subject to a margin of error of 3 per cent.

K. Balakrishnan is Editor, LensOnNews and was formerly Research Editor, The Times of India.
E-mail : balakrishnan@lensonnews.com

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Nevada driving license for Google's self-drive car


Google's driverless car
Google has been experimenting with driverless Toyota Prius cars in the US

Driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada after the state approved America's first self-driven vehicle licence.
The first to hit the highway will be a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google, which is leading the way in driverless car technology.
Its first drive included a spin down Las Vegas's famous strip.
Other car companies are also seeking self-driven car licences in Nevada.
Accident The car uses video cameras mounted on the roof, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic.
Engineers at Google have previously tested the car on the streets of California, including crossing San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge.
For those tests, the car remained manned at all times by a trained driver ready to take control if the software failed.
According to software engineer Sebastian Thrun, the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, other than a bump at traffic lights from a car behind.
Human error Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles, says he believes driverless vehicles are the "cars of the future".
Nevada changed its laws to allow self-driven cars in March. The long-term plan is to license members of the public to drive such cars.
Google's car has been issued with a red licence plate to make it recognisable. The plate features an infinity sign next to the number 001.
Other states, including California, are planning similar changes.
"The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error," said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation.
"Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely."
 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Russia threatens to strike NATO missile defense sites



Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov threatens "destructive force" on NATO missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe.


Russia’s top military officer warned Thursday that Moscow would strike NATO missile-defense sites in Eastern Europe before they are ready for action, if the U.S. pushes ahead with deployment.

“A decision to use destructive force pre-emptively will be taken if the situation worsens,” Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov said at an international missile-defense conference in Moscow attended by senior U.S. and NATO officials.

Gen. Makarov made the threat amid an apparent stalemate in talks between U.S. and Russian negotiators over the missile-defense system, part of President Obama’s policy to “reset” relations with Moscow. The threat also elicited shock and derision from Western missile-defense analysts.

“It’s remarkable,” said James Ludes of the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. “That Makarov would make this kind of threat in a public forum is chilling.”

“He must have been drunk,” said Barry Blechman, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center think tank.

Calling the threat “crazy,” he said, “I hope the Russian political leadership takes him to task for it.”

But that seemed unlikely Thursday as Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov dismissed the missile-defense talks as fruitless.

“We have not been able to find mutually acceptable solutions at this point, and the situation is practically at a dead end,” he said.

The press office at the Russian Embassy in Washington did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment.

The U.S. repeatedly has said the European missile-defense system is designed to fend off an attack by Iran, but Russia has insisted that the system would blunt its own arsenal. Moscow has proposed to jointly operate the missile shield, but NATO has rejected the offer.

Ellen Tauscher, the U.S. special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense, insisted the talks on NATO plans for a missile-defense system using radar and ground-based interceptor missiles stationed in Poland, Romania and Turkey are not stalemated.

But she acknowledged Wednesday in Moscow that recent elections in Russia and upcoming elections in the U.S. make it “pretty clear that this is a year in which we’re probably not going to achieve any sort of a breakthrough.”

In March, Mr. Obama privately told outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more “flexibility” to make a deal on missile defense after the election in November. Mr. Obama’s comment was captured accidentally by a live microphone during a summit in Seoul.

Many critics interpreted the remark as a promise by Mr. Obama to give in to Russian demands once the political danger of doing so during an election campaign had passed.

Ms. Tauscher did not answer a question about the meaning of the president’s Korea comment, but said the two leaders agreed in Seoul to continue technical-level discussions.

“We’ll spend the next nine to 10 months trying to work through some of these technical aspects of what’s a very complex proposal,” she said.

She reiterated that the U.S.-built system is designed to shoot down only Iranian intermediate-range missiles that could hit Europe, and would not be effective against Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

In the initial stages, the system will use radar based in Turkey and ship-based Aegis missiles. In the later stages, new radar stations and ground-based interceptors in Poland and Romania will be integrated into the system.

The system, which still is being developed, is a scaled-back version of the missile shield proposed during the George W. Bush administration.

But Russian officials insist the missile-defense system will rob their nuclear deterrent of its credibility and destabilize the balance of mutually assured destruction that has persisted since the Cold War.

“A thorough analysis by the Defense Ministry’s research organizations showed that once the third and fourth stages are deployed, the capability to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles will be real,” Gen. Makarov said.

Robert L. Pfaltzgraff Jr., a professor of international security studies at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, noted that while ICBMs fly faster than shorter-range missiles and the technology to intercept them is different, the Kremlin sees these deployments as providing a basis for a better system later.

“The Russian concern is that these systems could be upgraded in the future,” he said.

But Mr. Pfaltzgraff said the fact that Moscow is thinking in these terms proves Russia is not a U.S. ally and has “divergent interests from us and to pretend otherwise to try and placate them is a fool’s errand.

“Russia wants a deterrent relationship with the United States,” he said. “Why? Is Canada worried that they don’t have an effective deterrent against our nuclear weapons?”

In Moscow, Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov indicated that the “red line” for Russia would be the deployment of ground-based interceptor missiles, estimated to happen in 2018 at the earliest.

“Red lines are a dangerous game,” said Mr. Ludes. “This has been simmering for years.”

“The Russians have opposed U.S. plans, whether offered by the Bush administration or the Obama administration. But the fact that they would make this kind of public threat gives us an idea of just how strongly they feel about it,” Mr. Ludes said.

Gen. Makarov said the Russians have set “only one condition [to agree to NATO deployment of the system]: the zone of possible interception for current and future missile-defense weapon systems should not cross the border of Russia.”

U.S. officials have rejected any deal that would put limits on the capabilities of the system, or on how many would be deployed.

“We’ve made very clear that we will not accept any limitations on either the number or the capabilities of these [missile-defense] systems,” said Madelyn Creedon, the Pentagon’s assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs.

Ms. Tauscher also said the U.S. and its allies are not interested in a treaty or similar arrangement that would limit the use of the system and that they will push ahead with testing and deployment.

“We cannot and will not make any legally binding agreement that includes limitations on our ability to protect ourselves,” she said, before Gen. Makarov spoke. “There is nothing I can imagine that will stop us from making those deployments on time.”

Responding to the general’s comments, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States has “made clear for many years now that there’s no intent, desire or capability [for missile defense] to undermine Russia’s strategic deterrent.”

Asked whether he was “alarmed” by the general’s threat, Mr. Toner replied: “I think we’re just going to redouble our efforts to seek common ground on this and to seek understanding.”

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain, traveling in Lithuania, accused the Russians of using missile defense as an “excuse to have a military buildup in this part of the world, which is at peace.”


The Arizona Republican, who once referred to the look in longtime Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s eyes as spelling out “K-G-B,” called Kremlin saber-rattling”an egregious example of what might be even viewed as paranoia on the part of Vladimir Putin.”

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