Straw Republic

Hi!
I received this wonderfully written article...
I share this with you...
A reminder to all of us...
Of the men of Straw in our midst..ruling our destiny...
When those who matter fade away...the Men and women of Straw can as usual only have words to give...
I remember reading, that ' A Country that does not honour its Heroes is doomed'...
Isnt this a cause for worry?


FIELD MARSHAL MANEKSHAW..

WE, THE PEOPLE, SALUTE YOU…

The passing away of the only Indian to be appointed Field Marshal when in active service has been remarkable for the warmth of the ordinary men and women, who queued up to say meebeenamet to the adorable dikra who put his life on the line for them.

It has also been remarkable for the complete lack of grace and gratitude, civility and courtesy, decency and decorum on the part of the bold-faced names rapaciously grazing the lawns of power in Delhi and elsewhere, for the brain behind India's only decisive military victory.

Sam, the Bahadur, had been unwell for a while now. From about 1000 hours on June 26, reports of his being 'critically ill' had appeared in the media. Yet, when the 'expected tocsin' sounded at 0030 hours till the guns were fired in salute around 1500 hours on June 27, 'civil society' chose to show its incivility.

Pratibha Patil , the commander-in- chief of the armed forces with all the time in the world: Absent
Hamid Ansari: Vice-president releasing books and writing reviews of books by fellow-travellers: Absent
Manmohan Singh , the prime minister who could do with a bit of the field marshal's charisma and heroism: Absent
Sonia Gandhi : daughter-in- law of the woman the field marshal called 'sweetie': Absent
L K Advani: prime minister in waiting of the party which would like to do to Pakistan what Manekshaw did: Absent
M Karunanidhi and Surjit Singh Barnala: chief minister and governor of the state which Manekshaw had made his home for 35 years: Absent
Politicians may have their reasons. They always do. Maybe, there are issues like protocol. Maybe, this is one way in which 'civil India' shows the armed forces its place. Maybe, this is why we are not as militaristic as Pakistan. Maybe, the knees are just too old to climb the hills.



But what about the armed forces itself?

A K Antony: the defence minister 'now behaving like the chairman of the confederation of the armed forces' trade unions: absent 'due to prior political engagements'.
The chief of army staff: absent (away in Russia )
The chief of navy staff: absent
The chief of air staff: absent
The fact that the defence minister was represented by his deputy Pallam Raju, the fact that the navy and air staff sent two-star general rank officers, shows that however high or mighty, however rich or powerful, civilian or military, if you should die as you must, you should do so somewhere in the vicinity of New Delhi -- or Bombay.

Or else, they must have some use for you.Or else, too bad.

As he rightly surmised once: 'I wonder whether those of our political masters who have been put in charge of the defence of the country can distinguish a mortar from a motor; a gun from a howitzer; a guerrilla from a gorilla -- although a great many of them in the past have resembled the latter..'



The contrast couldn't be starker:

When Amitabh Bachchan was ill after being socked in the stomach during the shooting of Coolie, Indira Gandhi flew down to Bombay to show her concern.
When Dhirubhai Ambani died, L K Advani cut short his Gujarat tour to pay his respects to an 'embodiment of initiative, enterprise and determination'.
When Pramod Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekawat had the time to attend the funeral.
Our VIPs and VVIPs have time for dead and dying celebrities, charlatans, fixers. Not for a field marshal?

In his biography, K M Cariappa, the son of the only other Field Marshal India has had (and who too died at age 94), writes of his father's cremation in May 1993:



'Honouring him in death as they did in life were Field Marshal Manekshaw, the three service chiefs all of whom belonged to the same course and at whose passing out parade from the joint services wing, his father had presided, the gracious chief minister M Veerappa Moily and C K Jaffer Sharief, Minister for Railways representing the President as the supreme commanded of the armed forces.'



Somebody should have told the geniuses in Delhi that Sam, the Bahadur, passed away in Wellington, Ooty, not Wellington, New Zealand . The nearest civil airport is Coimbatore, just 80 km away.

If this is how we say goodbye to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, any wonder why Rang de Basanti could successfully tap into the angst of an entire generation?

Krishna Prasad, former editor, Vijay Times and one of India's finest young journalists, is the guiding spirit behind www.churumuri. com

Indians are the new Jews of Britain

Indians are the 'new Jews' of Britain, which will one day day be ruled by an Indian prime minister, according to disgraced Tory peer Lord Archer.
Archer, who is touring India to promote his latest book, said Indian businessmen are 'taking over' Britain and that Indian mayors and councillors are taking over local government throughout the country.
His comments were made following a number of Indian takeovers of major British companies, such as Jaguar, Land Rover, Corus Steel and the Scottish whisky giant Whyte and Mackay.
In a television interview staged in a glitzy new shopping malls near Delhi, Archer said India's impact on Britain will be 'massive'.
'It is going to be taken over by Indians, and I don't joke,' he said.
'Now what you [Indians] are doing is what the Jews did 30-40 years ago when they came to England after the war.
'They took over the local councils and they became mayors. Now they are in Parliament.
'The Indians are now taking over the local councils. There are mayors all over England who are Indian.
'You are young enough to live to an Indian prime minister in England,' he said.
The number of Indians living in UK according to 2001 Census is 1,051,800.
The interview took place at a bookshop in a mall in Gurgaon, a new city outside Delhi, where Lord Archer was promoting his latest book 'A Prisoner of Birth'.
The novel is based on the time the former Conservative Party deputy chairman spent in Belmarsh Prison after being sentenced in 2001 to years in jail for perjury and intending to pervert the course of justice.

Cancer gene test for all women

A new, simple genetic test could improve the way breast cancer screening is approached in the UK, according to leading Cancer Research UK scientists. In a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Cambridge University-based research team identified seven new gene variants that are associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer. They found that by examining which of these variants a woman carries, they could classify the likelihood that she will develop breast cancer as being low, moderate or high. They suggest that this could affect the age at which a woman is encouraged to start having mammograms, and how frequently she subsequently has them.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK affecting both men and women, and the risk of developing it is known to be partly influenced by an individual’s genetic makeup. Two well-known but rare gene variants in the genes BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 carry with them between a 36 and 85 per cent chance of developing breast cancer. Screening for these gene variants is currently offered to women with a strong family history of breast cancer. In the new study, the researchers pinpointed seven additional gene variants that are also associated with an increased susceptibility to breast cancer. Importantly, they found that although each of these gene variants individually carries only a mildly increased risk of developing breast cancer, having two or more of these gene variants in combination carries a much greater increased risk.
Currently, NHS mammograms are offered to all women over 50. The researchers propose that testing women for these genetic variants would enable a more targeted approach to breast cancer screening. Dr Paul Pharoah, a member of the Cambridge team explained: ‘We believe genetic testing has the potential to enable doctors to identify a woman at an increased risk of breast cancer who would benefit from mammography at an early age… and would also identify a 55-year-old woman with a low chance of breast cancer who possibly wouldn’t need such regular checks’.
The genetic test would involve just a simple mouth swab and the technology required is already available. However, the proposal was met with some caution. The researchers estimate that these seven gene variants account for only a third of the genes that influence the risk of developing breast cancer, so the test could not be considered to be comprehensive. Dr Sarah Cant of Breakthrough Breast Cancer commented that the study ‘raises interesting questions about how information on risk could be used to help decide who is eligible for screening’, adding: ‘However, breast cancer risk is affected by lifestyle and environment as well as genetics. These also need to be taken into account when determining risk’.

Misguided fertility beliefs common in young people

Young people are aware that negative lifestyle factors reduce fertility but falsely believe in fertility myths and the benefits of healthy habits, say researchers.

The UK-based team used a 21-item questionnaire to assess fertility knowledge in 110 female and 39 male under- and postgraduate university students, with an average age of just over 24 years.

Participants were far better at identifying fertility risks than myths, and better at identifying the latter than illusory benefits of healthy habits, with average correct scores of 90.70 percent, 41.53 percent, and 26.46 percent, respectively.

All risk factors, such as smoking and being overweight, were correctly identified, report Laura Bunting and Jacky Boivin from Cardiff University.

However, participants mistakenly believed that they could increase their fertility, for example by moving to the countryside, using specific coital techniques, eating fruit and vegetables, or adopting a child.

They also believed that "not doing" something unhealthy, for example never drinking alcohol, could increase fertility instead of simply reducing exposure to risk and its effects.

"Together these results would suggest that people could, if faced with a fertility problem, engage in ineffective behaviors that could delay seeking effective interventions," the researchers conclude.

One In Ten

A South Carolina couple, both rednecks, had 9 Children. They went to the doctor to see about getting the husband 'fixed'. The doctor gladly started the required procedure and asked them what finally made them make the decision. Why after nine children would they choose to do this.
The husband replied that they had read in a recent Article that one out of every ten children being Born in the United States was Mexican, and they Didn't want to take a chance on having a Mexican Baby because neither of them could speak Spanish.

Tired old dog

An older, tired looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well fed belly, that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me and I gave him a few pats on the head, whereupon he followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in a corner and went fast asleep.

An hour later he went to the door and I let him out. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and slept for about an hour.

This continued off and on for several weeks. Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is, and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house to take a nap'.

The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note attached to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, two under the age of three - he's just trying to catch up on his sleep.'

HDL linked to oocyte health and embryo development

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) in follicular fluid (FF) and its component proteins appear to have protective roles in the health of oocytes and early embryo development, US study findings indicate.

R. Browne, from University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and colleagues determined HDL lipids, apolipoprotein (Apo)AI, paraoxonase (PON)1, and PON3 activity in serum and FF samples obtained from 60 women undergoing IVF.

Embryo cell number (ECN) and embryo fragmentation score (EFS) were used as embryo morphology parameters and surrogate markers of oocyte health.

In FF, all biochemical parameters were significantly lower than in serum, aside from PON3 levels, which were significantly higher in FF than in serum.

EFS was negatively predicted by HDL and ApoAI levels in FF, at respective odds ratios of 0.66 and 0.13. However, their effects were not independent, with levels of one moderating the effects of the other.

In addition, when the analysis was restricted to day 3 embryo transfers, PON1-arylesterase activity in FF was a significant predictor of ECN, at an odds ratio of 1.09.

"Our pilot study establishes the possibility that HDL and/or its component proteins have the potential to predict embryo fragmentation and cell number in women undergoing IVF," the team concludes.