Mother Of Exiles, By The Golden Doors

Mother Of Exiles, By The Golden Doors

By Imran Anwar

The Statute of Liberty, in New York, is one of the best recognized symbols in the world. Less known are the full words of the poem found there. See it larger.

On a heavily clouded day in Manhattan, the often blue sky filled with shades of gray was burdened with the weight of a golden red sunset they were trying to conceal.

The light was the worst it could be for a great traditional photograph. But, as I caught the patina of Lady Liberty through the architectural frame painted Gold by the falling sun..... it provided the perfect backdrop for me to remember, and share, the words that hold so true today, and forever.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

© 2009 IMRAN
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Fire Bird Birth From Fiery Sun & Dark Clouds, The Razor's Edge Of Hope & Miracle

Fire Bird Birth From Fiery Sun OR Flying Into A Dark But Bright Future?

Is it the birth by fire of a new Fire Bird? Or a dark angel looming above, bringing misgivings? Or the power of dreams flying into a dark, monstrous, malevolent cloud formation -- just beyond which is the promise of pure light and brightness. And just beyond that, visions of God?

The thunder cloud's malevolence separated from the life-giving sun by the razor edge of hope and miracle. A possibility of coming out from storms into the light, however briefly, at least until the final sunset on a life of fantastic flights of fantasy.

Or a little bit of it all?

Smith Point Beach in Long Island, NY is a favorite place of mine to catch sunsets over expansive vistas of water. This time we were there ahead of time and I shot some pictures waiting for the sun to set.

As this bird came towards me, somewhat like the apparition of one Alexander the Great sees in the movie ALEXANDER, the silhouette came into focus. I clicked and snapped a mesmerizing image.

© 2009 IMRAN
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The Good News About The Bad News In Pakistan

An old adage is that bad news sells. But there comes a stage in societies and countries, as well as the minds of news-readers and TV-viewers, when they just get sick of bad news.

I think it is no exaggeration to say that Pakistanis in general have gotten used to bad news, negative publicity, adverse editorial opinion and just general anti-Pakistan sentiment every day, everywhere, from New Delhi to New York.

That is why it was such a happy occasion to see the current Administration of Pakistan, opposition leaders, the military as well as the Chief Justice of Pakistan doing their part to literally bring Pakistan back from the brink of total chaos.

The reinstatement of the Chief Justice, as well as other political institutions and Punjab government, were also much awaited good news for Pakistanis. You could feel and hear the actual sense both of pride and hope in the eyes and voices of Pakistanis of all walks of life, from Karachi to California.

Obviously this was not detracting critics of Pakistan, as well as Indians and their lobbyists, in addition to Pakistan-bashers in general from continuing their attacks on Pakistan.

It even seems that American Administration officials, in particular the military men responsible for Afghanistan and Pakistan, also have a vested interest in giving the impression of an unstable Pakistan almost on the verge of total collapse.

I don't know if that would be to give them the excuses to continue with their missile strikes or for some other nefarious purpose. Or just to make themselves look like heroes when things get better in 6-12 months.

One can understand their fear, that nuclear-armed Pakistan, with internal strife, daily terror attacks, especially with a perceived internal support for the Taliban among certain government agencies, could become a nuclear nightmare for the United States. But, their own pronouncements have the risk of becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.

However, their pseudo-intellectual analysis of Pakistan being on the verge of collapsing as a country within six months is hardly the way to go about expecting positive change in Pakistan, or Pakistanis attitudes towards America and its representatives here. Nor is it helping bring about economic prosperity, or at least stability, when that is most needed to ensure a prosperous future for Pakistan and Pakistanis.

Keep in mind that any criticism of Pakistan also has a multiplication factor of actions by the Taliban as well as Al Qaeda, which seems to have made parts of Pakistan their head office. Throw in the general fear, mistrust and perhaps even sheer hatred for the concept of militant Islam and Muslims, and you can see why Pakistan gets perceived even worse by Western media, politicians and the public in general.

Sadly, it is supposedly our fellow "Muslims", whether they are brainwashed or willing hell-bound murderers, who take away the brief moments of joy and good news that Pakistanis begin to enjoy.

To make matters worse they kill and maim innocent people, destroy families and malign, damage and even insult Islam by carrying out the most despicable, dastardly and disgusting acts of horror. They blow themselves up in mosques, even in funeral processions, where the only thoughts most people have in their mind at that time are of God and of the day when we all have to return to Him.

I believe that the word suicide bomber is totally insufficient to describe these forces of Evil, these representatives of Satan, these worshippers of Lucifer, these children of Shaitan.

I believe we Pakistanis, and Muslims, as well as the media have to start calling them by their real name. they are not "jihadis". They are not suicide bombers. They should be referred to as "jahanummi qaatil kuffar" - because that is what they are – hell-bound murderer infidels.

And, we need scholars of Islam, religious leaders and decent Imams and Ulema to give fatwas against every jahanummi qaatil kuffar who carries out such attacks.

Let the ones following them know that they will not go to heaven with 72 virgins waiting for them. Let them hear they will go to hell, with the entire Ummah spitting on their names and dead bodies with 7200 curses lashing their souls for eternity.

The recent events and terror attacks in the last few days have left no doubt in my mind that these are the worst enemies of Islam and Pakistan. And the sooner Muslims and Pakistanis unite t exterminate these vermin, the better off Islam, Muslims, Pakistan and the world will be.

From their actions aiming to kill worshippers in a house of God, to the shameless, spineless, disgusting torture and whipping or public flogging of a young woman (regardless of whether the video was made recently or months ago), they show themselves to be the animals that they are.

They are even worse than the pagan Arabs that our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made it his mission in life to try to first show the light of true Islam and later to defeat in battle. Fighting these true enemies of Islam is true Jihad.

How shameful that these people, whom even the Quresh tribe of pagan Arabia would spit upon, are the ones claiming to do what they do in the name of God, religion and Islam.

But like many Pakistanis, and many Americans, who believe that the future is always going to be bright, I refuse to give in and give up hope. Even in these terrible, and dark, days I see good news.

I felt proud to be part of the Pakistani media, both through the pages of the magazine and newspaper chain that carry my outspoken opinions, to my own blog and new media, as well as the TV channels that I also appear on. Each one of them went above and beyond to expose the evil, dastardly, cowardly, woman-flogging Taliban for the vile scum that they are.

I am proud of my fellow Pakistanis, here in Pakistan or living abroad, doing their bit to spread the word of this heinous crime - using every tool available to them, from e-mail to Twitter, FaceBook, etc.

I felt pride in the Chief Justice of Pakistan taking notice of this grave injustice and jumping into action. I am even appreciative of usually spineless, two-faced, politicians who spoke up against this cruelty.

In all these things I feel Pakistan and Pakistanis have turned yet another positive corner. I see this as yet another positive sign. I see even more light at the end of the tunnel than before.

I see a nation not falling apart in six months. I see a newly rejuvenated nation. I see Pakistan coming together closer, more united, with greater faith and higher discipline than ever before.

I see a new willingness in the psyche of formerly apathetic Pakistanis finally starting to speak up. Much that I would like to take credit for having written the article asking people not to be silent anymore, in reality my recent article was written knowing in my heart of hearts how great a future we all want for Pakistan.

I know in my heart, mind, body and soul exactly what greatness lies within the hearts, minds and souls of my fellow Muslims and Pakistani people.

Pakistanis taking a stand, and speaking against the evil-doers and the bad news, is the good news, even the best news, we have heard all year.

==
Imran Anwar is a New York and Miami based Pakistani-American entrepreneur, Internet pioneer, inventor, writer and TV personality. He can be reached through his web site http://imran.com and imran@imran.com . You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/imrananwar

Tommy, Frankly, Boy, In General, You Don't Know A Damn

My FaceBook connection "John Adams" posted a status update


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"It will be interesting to see if the moderating qualities of the office temper Obama’s views or empower his ego. http://formykountry.com.via Twitter - 12:12am - 3 Comments

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And I commented following that.

Imran Anwar at 12:28am November 11

Ego is a good thing, if connected to a hunger to leave a positive mark. It is a terrible thing when it is an "I am right and the decider in chief though I don't know what to do, let me ask Cheney who to bomb next."

---

John followed up with:

John Adams at 1:00am November 11

What I have seen so far I fear is the ego of Obama will just be to big for him to really do what is best for America.

I hear General Franks on Fox news state that Obama will change his views on Iran after he is briefed. When asked are you sure he responded he will or their will be an uprising of the people.


---
to which I had to respond.


Dear John,

Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

Good source, Fox News, to get the views of the general who "managed" the hunt for Bin Laden in 2001 (still going great I hear), the "mission accomplished" in Iraq in 2003 (not so sure we found WMDs he said he was sure we would find). He's the same guy who endorsed George W. Bush (true War Zero) in 2004 after retiring and becoming a security consultant - gee I wonder where he makes his money.

Glad you rely on reliable and obviously objective sources to worry about Obama's ego. Last time I checked, it was not Obama who claimed to talk to God and be doing Jesus' work on the planet. LOL.

BTW, "according to Time magazine, on November 21, 2003, Tommy Franks said that in the event of another terrorist attack, American Constitutional liberties might be discarded by popular demand in favor of a military state."

He must actually be Dick Cheney's secret 'don't ask don't tell' lover or something!

Let's talk in 2 years and see how Obama is doing and how Franks' consulting gigs are going selling fear and 'security' solutions.

He's just another Giuliani but in a military cut suit, cashing in his accidental place in history with businesses cashing in on the fear they monger while sucking up to George W. Bush, easily the worst President in this country in 100 years.

If the Dems screw up, we throw them out in 2 years, and Obama can go in four years if he is not a good President. But, even with both hands tied behind his back, duct tape over his mouth, three injections of morphine, codeine and heroin in him, Obama would be smarter and more lucid that George Bush on his best day.

And, to the good old General, I say, "Tommy boy, Frankly, in General, you don't know a damn thing about what you're talking about now."

Regards

Imran


What do you think? Comments welcome!

Can Bush Push Mush? Another Legacy Leaving Opportunity Lost

For all the years I have followed Pakistani politics, from the inside as a student political leader, or from the outside as a media person, I have always been amazed by the huge number of historic opportunities squandered by Pakistan, Pakistanis and Pakistani generals, judges and politicians.

From the dictator Zia having an opportunity to clean up the country of corruption, to Benazir Bhutto doing something for womenkind and education, history was wasted. Ghulam Ishaq Khan was thrust into the role of President and blew a historic opportunity for him to be apolitical, and have a chance to be someone Pakistanis would remember as a hero.

Alas, once in power in most countries, and especially in Pakistan, elected and unelected heads of state, regardless of being 40 years old or 70, seem to live in the moment, for the moment, and moment by moment. Even the aged Ghulam Ishaq Khan did more to enrich his relatives, and play political games, than grab the incredible opportunity he had to become a new father figure in Pakistani history.

It is amazing that in Pakistan's 61 years, there is not a single head of state who has tried to, or left, a legacy good enough for Pakistanis to consider adding his (or her) photo on even a (now defunct) One Rupee note.

We now have a situation that is eerily similar to what we have seen before. A dictator, even more unpopular than Zia, is clinging to power, simply because one of the most unpopular American Presidents, ever, George W. Bush's grand foreign policy for the South Asian region is --- 'we stand by Musharraf.'

Perhaps Bush supports Mush because it ensures there is at least ONE President who is more unpopular than Bush himself is! But, jokes aside, even a tragic accident of history like George W. Bush is trying, belatedly and with no success, to spend the next 6 months trying to "leave a legacy."

I can easily say Musharraf is a far smarter and more cunning man than Bush ever was, or will be. But, one thing they both share in common besides the sound of their names - no understanding of how legacies are left.

They do not understanding that a legacy is not created by clinging to power, or failed ideas, but by doing things in the greater interest, things bigger than what even our biggest admirers could imagine us doing. Legacy and history smile on us when we do things even we could not imagine being selfless, brave and visionary enough to do. When we become bold enough to stop living for our own egos today, but to step aside now, so the future can look back on us with respect.

Alas, neither Bush, nor Mush, get the concept, which is why they are both close to each other in how history will not remember them. They are among the most unpopular, ineffective, and impeachable Presidents - though they rule over countries thousands of miles apart, and worlds apart in political, religious and social systems.

Economy, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan - Bad News All Around

Everywhere, on every news site, it seems there is nothing but conflict and bad news. The good news is... hold on, I am looking. Nope, I did not find any.

Just the top stories in "MyYahoo" is a litany of bad news, followed by worse.

It appears that the economic crisis we are facing today, with bank stocks melting (don't even ask how much I lost on Citibank alone), hundreds of thousands facing foreclosure, credit cards and others squeezing customers, oil trying to hit $200, is not going to get better any time soon.

Item one, at least on my view of "Top News from Reuters", is a report saying the government is mulling taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What that means is that despite recent claims by their management, and top Bush economic officials, that the organizations have enough money, they in fact are preparing for a bailout. What that means for the rest of the economy, and for the American tax-payer, remains to be seen.

The second item shows that the Russians, still following the policies of Mr. Putin (whose eyes and soul apparently Mr. Bush seems to know intimately well), are actually using the recent Iranian missile tests as a reason for the USA NOT to deploy a missile shield. I am not quite sure I understand the "logic" of the Russians. I can understand them not wanting the US to deploy weapons systems that negate Russian military power, but using the (fairly) successful Iranian missile tests as a reason against that defies logic.

Wait, there is good news. The new iPhone is being snapped up by customers around the world. Great news. But, much that I love Apple and the iPhone, in the grand scheme of things, and in the serious issues we face, it is kind of silly for that news item to be displayed at par with the economic meltdown in America, the Russian military grumbling and the roar of Iranian rockets and potentially soon, Israeli jets.

The next item has me scratching my head. The Mexican government, which does not want to take back its 12 million illegal immigrants (including the many criminals and gang members they sent over), nor wants us to build a fence to keep these illegal hoards out of America, is taking us to court! And, not even our courts, but the 'World Court', where they are fighting to save five Mexican criminals from execution for deadly crimes committed in the USA! So, not only are we supposed to welcome their illegal riff-raff with open arms (doing which both Obama and McCain are falling over each other to show love for illegals), we are also supposed to welcome, and allow to roam free, those among them who commit murder or heinous crimes. Amazing.

For a second, my attention was caught by the next item - which could qualify as good news. Lebanon may be able to form a unity government. Whether that is good news or bad depends on which side of their internal strife you are on.

But, before I could dwell on that item, the last news item in that list of six top stories was just more bad news on several fronts.

Things in Afghanistan, the place where Bin Laden and his henchmen hid and planned their attacks on America, are getting worse. The Taliban are resurgent in Afghanistan, and we are losing soldiers in Iraq. The Afghan government is getting weaker and Bin Laden is nowhere to be found, and we are preparing for an attack on Iran.

And, what did we just manage to do? Our mistaken bombing just killed 47 civilians there, including women and children. Surely not a sign of success in winning hearts and minds. Bad, very bad, news.

With Bin Laden still out there, the Taliban attacking us and our allies more and more, Iraq still a morass, our economy in meltdown, and oil aiming for $200, what is a President to do... why, start a new war of course! Hello, Iran. Hello, $300 oil. Hello, total economic meltdown.

What do you think?

In Defense Of Self Defense & Supreme Court Shooting Down DC Gun Laws

It was a split decision, but at last and at least the Supreme Court of the United States has taken a stand on the American Constitution.

Sadly, it has not had much to say on violations of the Constitution carried out by the Bush regime, nor taken any stand on the daily decline in our constitutionally protected rights.

More important to them than the Constitution being torn to shreds were Washington, DC (District of Columbia) gun laws that ban legal ownership of guns by DC citizens.

Mind you, DC, among other cities, has often vied for the Murder Capital of the World title. So, I can see the local law enforcement's logic in trying to ban guns (for the last 32 years). But, both as someone born in Pakistan and having been taught to handle my father's favorite Webley & Scott revolver, and now as an American with an affinity for Smith & Wesson/Walther devices, I fully support the right of Americans to bear arms.

Of course, the NRA, of which I should be a member but am not, would probably disagree with my contention that there do have to be some limits on the types, and possibly even number, of guns we can or should be allowed to own.

I support the right to bear arms for several reasons.

My interest in owning weapons includes having them for target shooting, self-defence and all that the Constitution intended as good reasons to bear arms.

However, I also do not think we, or any non-law-enforcement citizen, need some sort of 3000 rounds per minute assault rifle or machine gun to do all of the things above.

We live in unsafe times. Security of the homeland means protecting ourselves not just from would be suicide-bombers but also from armed home invaders, drug dealers, road-rage-warriors, thugs, muggers, petty criminals, gang members, and so many other types of vile scum that can easily snuff out our lives for a few Dollars, or on a whim.

So, I do support the Supreme Court decision shooting down the DC gun laws, but I also hope for two more things.

The Supreme Court, and American courts in general, should also not hobble American law-enforcement from coming down hard on hard core criminals who often brazenly conduct their business better armed than our Police officers.

Of course, it would also be nice if the Supreme Court actually did something more to protect the whole Constitution itself from our increasingly fascist dictatorial executive branch and lame, crippled Congress, and spineless Senate, and not just try to address one particular aspect of the Constitution. What do you think?

Snooping On Big Brother Snoops So Easy

I am a frequent reader of ComputerWorld for many years. It often offers good news and analysis on technology as well as technology related issues. One of the areas that is of interest to almost everyone with a job that requires using a computer (isn't that everyone these days?) is employers needing to or choosing to monitor on (or spy on?) the PC and net activities of employees. Jaikumar Vijayan has written an interesting article in the April 7, 2008 issue of ComputerWorld, titled "IT 'Big Brothers' trying to keep internal users under control".

One thing most of my readers know quite clearly, is that I am a big proponent of personal liberty, freedom of speech and privacy - citizen rights that the Bush administration has worked hard to destroy for the last eight years. However, on the topic of employers' rights to monitor to employees' use of the computer and network, I fully support employers. A PC is given to employees to do work for the business, not as a personal tool.

Sure, most, if not all of us, have had to use the office computer to login to a bank's web site to pay a credit card bill, or to send a quick email from hotmail or mac.com Mail. However, that is quite clearly not abuse and I know of few employers who would target such use as abuse. (I am sure if the email being sent was sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate, employers could find that objectionable).

But, such one-off "urgent issue" type personal use does not mean an employee has the right to be sitting writing personal emails, trading stocks, watching online videos, visiting porn sites or chatting with buddies during the hours he or she is being paid to do work.

That means more and more companies are using automated and semi-automated tools and policies to monitor use of their IT resources. ComputerWorld's article (currently available at this link) makes some great points and talks about some products. It starts off by speaking about a technology manager named Tom Scocca at some big company that he did not want identified.

But even before reading the complete article I had to laugh at the silliness of stating "Scocca, (who) asked that his employer not be named."

Don't these "Big Brother" snoops know that anyone with a PC can be snooping on them as easily. Suppose one of the people mentioned in this story was really protecting something seriously important. It is laughable to think that a person seriously targeting him or his company can not reverse snoop on him.

Tom Scocca is most likely the same person who can easily be found on the Internet as being the Senior Security Manager at Applied Materials. Since it can established that this person worked at Cisco, and may have attended Santa Clara University.

We can easily see the company proudly tell us that: Applied Materials, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductor fabrication equipment worldwide. It operates in four segments: Silicon, Fab Solutions, Display, and Adjacent Technologies. The Silicon segment provides a range of manufacturing equipment used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.

Even without us feeling like being in a Mission Impossible type movie, an attacker could even speculate or analyze what Tom's attitudes or exposure to technology or even technology philosophy is by doing further research on his past job and even the courses he may have taken in the past. I think the biggest problem is that our IT managers today may be so focused on targeting small fish, they may not even know they are in the bite-path of hungry data sharks themselves.

Food for thought.

Rude Giuliani Out, Florida Voters Got This One Right

While Florida voters may have been the butt of many jokes for the last 8 years - that just happen to coincide with the George W. Bush presidency - at least the Republican primary voters got one thing right.

They brought to an end the implausible, and frankly, embarrassing, attempt of a third-rate politician like Rudy Giuliani to run for President.

Most people know where I stand on that, as I wrote less than one year ago.

Nothing can make up for the damage my Floridian friends did to the USA in enabling Bush to get selected by the Supreme Court. But at least the Republican voters in Florida sent Giuliani packing, back to New York.

Now he can go back to making money by cashing in on 9/11 some more.

Ideally, he and Kerik would both be cell-mates somewhere.

But that may only happen in some parallel universe somewhere else.

For now, Giuliani Out is the best piece of news for our nation.

Real World News Of Real World News Media Making News In Virtual World

Recent news items mention how CNN, the global, respected, cable news leader, has established a presence in Second Life, a virtual world online.

Even though I have cautiously resisted jumping on the Second Life bandwagon (for fear of wasting time even more than I do at present), this seemingly innocuous news item has far greater long term impact on an industry, and society, than, say, Citibank or McDonald's creating a presence.

For the most part, even large companies like these are merely touching the tip of the benefits iceberg that a real viable virtual world presence will bring businesses in real world terms.

News, by its nature, is the most well suited to that virtual world being leveraged in the real world.

A virtual burger sold by McDonald's will not fill my hunger, virtual or real. Sure, some bank's virtual branch could lend me virtual money in Second Life to buy some virtual property there - while they could charge me a fee in the real world, costing me real Dollars.

But, a virtual CNN reporter asking me a question of my virtual persona (especially if it is based on my true identity) can get the same valuable (or useless) insights as if they had met me in Atlanta or New York.

A citizen journalist in Pakistan could provide detailed accounts of dictator Pervez Musharaff's latest hooliganism against journalists, judges and the Constitution of Pakistan in a virtual world, far quicker, safer and better than than it could be done in the real world.

That is one small aspect and there are many more. Here are the key points to keep in mind particularly for large businesses:

- Real world businesses can be in virtual worlds merely for appearing virtually cool

- Some large businesses can make small incremental revenues quickly in the real world by leveraging "services" delivered in the virtual world

- News media are ideally positioned to leverage virtual world presences for real world benefits far greater than other industries can experience at this stage.

What do you think - "really"?