Shivraj Patil is out of his job and it is immaterial whether he resigned on his own or was asked to go. What matters is that it was long time overdue and it has taken seven terror attacks in seven months causing the death of thousands of innocent people. The UPA government has as usual refused to take collective responsibility and made Shivraj Patil as a scapegoat, like how it made Natwar Singh

The terror attack in Mumbai has claimed the lives of almost two hundred people including those from the security agencies and maimed more than three hundred people. The entire nation condoles the death of innocents and prays the Almighty to give enough strength for their family members to bear the unbearable loss and for the speedy recovery of those injured. This is the 19th major terror

From: Sanatan Dharma To: hindu-religion Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 1:56 AM Subject: Hindus, Jews, and Jihad Terror in Mumbai:American Thinker Sixty hours of jihadist terror depradations throughout India's financial capital, Mumbai -- during which nearly 200 innocent victims were murdered, and 300 wounded -- apparently ceased this Saturday, November 29, when Indian commandos slew the

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/11618?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+100+countries+join+clamour+for+global+ban+on+cluster+bombsch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=World+news%2CIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CDefence+policy%2CUK+news%2CPoliticsc5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Norton-Taylorc7=2008_12_03c8=1127765c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territoriesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories" width="1" height="1" //divpMore than 100 governments, with some notable exceptions, will sign an international convention today banning the production of cluster bombs whose unexploded canisters have killed and maimed thousands of innocent civilians and are dangerously scattered over more than 20 countries./ppThe convention is enthusiastically welcomed today by the Red Cross, and on the Guardian's website by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, his German counterpart. The weapons had "rendered huge tracts of land unusable, cutting farmers off from their crops and visiting further suffering on families forced to risk their lives simply to pursue their livelihoods", said Matthias Schmale, international director of the British Red Cross./ppMiliband and Steinmeier said their goal was a "truly global treaty on cluster munitions". They noted that "many of the major users, producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions" had not yet agreed to sign it. These countries include the US, China, Russia, India and Pakistan as well as Israel, which fired many cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon war. /ppUp to 1m devices failed to explode during the 34-day conflict and this summer more than 40.6m square metres were identified as still being contaminated, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). More than 200 civilians died in the year after the Lebanon ceasefire. Cluster bombs also caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system./ppAt least 75 countries currently stockpile cluster munitions. More than 30 have produced the weapons. Unexploded cluster bombs have also killed civilians in Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Chechnya, Sierra Leone and Vietnam./ppDespite initial misgivings within the military, Britain, which fired Israeli-made cluster bombs in its attack on Basra in 2003 and had been the third biggest user of cluster bombs after the US and Israel, has agreed to get rid of its stockpiles of land-fired and air-launched cluster weapons. British diplomats are trying to persuade the US to get rid of stockpiles at its bases in the UK, officials said yesterday./ppToday's convention excludes weapons which fire fewer than 10 explosive submunitions designed to locate a "single target". /ppOne of the most difficult issues during the negotiations in Dublin this summer leading to the convention was whether troops from countries who signed up to it would be criminally liable if engaged in joint operations with countries which had not signed such as the US for example . The text does not prohibit such "military cooperation". But British forces, like those from any other country which had signed the convention, would be required to discourage the US from using the weapons, and not stockpile them./ppThe convention will become part of international humanitarian law once 30 countries have ratified it./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/defence"Defence policy/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/R3nv3_x62cIa5bTp6V3FS6YzOu4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/R3nv3_x62cIa5bTp6V3FS6YzOu4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Amid the sadness and shock at the Mumbai attacks, bloggers across the Arab world are posing many questions.

Bahraini Hasan Hujairi is very saddened by the news. He writes:

I’ve been very saddened by the news of the recent terrorist attacks in the city of Mumbai. I cannot imagine any reason that would justify carrying out such a terrible and mindless act.
My heart goes out to those affected both directly and indirectly by this tragedy.

From Dubai, UAE, Seabee poses a lot of questions and here are some of them:

I simply don't understand anything to do with the obscene killings in Mumbai.

I don't understand the mentality of people who randomly take innocent lives. The vast majority of the dead and injured are Indians, hotel workers, train travellers, people simply going about their daily business.

We're told that Americans and British tourists were specifically singled out in some instances. Yet many of them may well have opposed their governments' policies, so what does the simple fact of citizenship have to do with anything?

I don't understand how a country which has had so many terrorist attacks over recent years can have been so unprepared.

Rantings of an Arab Chick too is annoyed and writes:

It goes without saying that my heart goes out to the victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai, those who made it and those who didn't. I don't believe that justice is always meted out and that punishment always falls upon those who deserve it, but I can sure as hell wish for it.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia wonders:

In any hostage situation there should be hostages , kidnappers, negotiators and demands where as in the latest Mumbai terrible terrorist acts there were hostages,Kidnappers and forces but no negotiators or demands !!??

What were the kidnappers demands ?? They did not take that big number of hostages for nothing !!?? The demands will indicate the identity of the kidnappers so why the Indian government does not announce these demands now !!??

There is something I don’t understand and Please Pardon my question but how on earth 10 people only cause all that destruction in Mumbai in one day or rather three days or even how 10 people can control a hotel in the size of Tag Mahal for three days !!?? This is what the authorities in India said !!??

An Egyptian [Ar] is appalled with the lack of interest among bloggers from Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. He notes:

انا بتابع اكتر من 100 بلوج مصري و عربي طبعا 99% منهم بتوع مسلمين
ماشÙتش ولا واحد كتب عن هجمات مومباى ياترى عاملين ودن من طين Ùˆ أخرى من عجين ليه؟
بس بصراحة سمعة المسلمين بقت وحشة اوى بعد الموضوع ده I have been following more than 100 Egyptian and Arab blogs, and of course 99 per cent of them, belong to Muslims. I haven't seen a single one of them writing about the Mumbai attacks. I wonder why they are totally ignoring it?
The truth is that the reputation of Muslims has become very bad after this attack.

Still in Egypt, ~W~, who writes at I Wanna Hold Your Hand, posts a discussion she had with her neighbour on the attacks. Here's the beginning of the discussion:

Me (pointing to the newspaper on her coffee table): Terrible events. I am so upset. I do not know what these terrorists are thinking when they kill innocent people in the name of Islam.
AS : They think they are fighting in the name of God, and they may have a point.

Follow the link above to read the rest of it.

At the online forum, Omania2.net one reader writes:

كم هو مخجل ألا يدين الأÙراد والمجتمع والمؤسسات وعلماء الدين الأعمال الإرهابية التي يرتكبها بعض الوحوش بإسم الإسلام …. هناك بعض الدول أدانت التÙجيرات مثل قطر والإمارات وباكستان ولكن على الصعيد الشعبي لم نرى شيئا …. بينما الواجب أن يستهجن المجتمع المدني ÙÙŠ الدول الإسلامية هذه الأعمال وأن يتبرأ المسلمون من مثل هذه الأعمال التي تلصق على الإسلام والإسلام براء منها …. It is a shame that individuals, society, organisations and clergymen have not condemned the acts of terrorism committed by beasts in the name of Islam. There are some countries like Qatar, the UAE and Pakistan, which have condemned the attacks, but on a public level, we didn't see anything. It is our duty as Muslim communities to condemn these actions and Muslims should renounce these actions as they have nothing to do with Muslims and Islam.

Another commentator, Ibn Al Rahbi, said he sent cables and letters of condolences to all his Indian friends and acquaintances.

Writing on American-Palestinian Kabobfest, Will, links to the following Al Jazeera report, and says:

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/I_suxZSOzo4&hl=en&fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/I_suxZSOzo4&hl=en&fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

The violent ideology behind such senseless attacks belies the emptiness of the group's claims to be defending Muslims. While they are correct that western media and publics are generally blind to and complicit in Muslim suffering, such tactics are unjustifiable in religious, moral and political terms.

And in Kuwait, which had eight women taken as hostages at the Oberoi, bloggers breathe a sigh of relief when their hostages returned home safe.

DiLLi O MiLLi posts a newspaper clipping showing the women being recieved by officials and family at the Kuwait airport. Q8ia Mamloo7a too shares the news on her blog saying:

الحمد والشكر لله سبحانه
قرت عينكم يا أهل الكويت بسلامة المحتجزين
تم الاÙراج عن جميع المحتجزين الكويتيين
والامير يأمر بإعادتهم بطائره خاصه Thanks to Allah Almighty, Kuwait rejoices at the safety of its hostages, who have been released, and the Amir (Ruler) ordered that they be returned [to Kuwait] on his private jet.

Who can frown at these round, bouncy, smiley, critters? Apparently, some people can. Crispy Gamer puts span style="font-style: italic;"LocoRoco/span game designer a href="http://pspupdates.qj.net/tags/tsutomu-kouno/11806" id="tag" title="LocoRoco director"Tsutomu Kouno/a in the spotlight and got some info about his cute creations, and critics that call them racist, even going as far as claiming they look like penises.brbrSo what exactly are they? Called a "yellow garbage bag" by a Crispy Gamer interviewer in jest, Kouno clarifies that his funny creation isn't a waste receptacle. "No. He's not a garbage bag. He's nothing," he says, adding that it's alright if span style="font-style: italic;"LocoRoco/span is seen that way.brbrApparently, a yellow garbage bag is not the only thing that these guys look like. Critics have gone as far as claiming that the innocent little blobs are "racist" and they look like penises. "Honestly? I haven't thought about that at all. In fact, the characters that some people have said are racist are among my favorites," he said. "If the characters make people uncomfortable, I feel sorry for them. Me, I just think they're really cool."brbrAs far as the market goes, Kouno doesn't mind that a href="http://pspupdates.qj.net/tags/sony/880" id="tag" title="Father of PlayStation"Sony/a'sspan style="font-style: italic;" LocoRoco/span has cute competition out there, saying, "I think that there should be more simple games like this out there. We should have a lot more of them." It's also possible that span style="font-style: italic;"LocoRoco/span can come to the PS3, but that hasn't been decided yet.brbrp style="text-align: center;"a href="http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126939/locorocobanenr_qjpreviewth.png?775095" rel="lightbox[article126939]" title="LocoRoco 20- 20Image 201 20 26nbsp 3B 20 20 26nbsp 3B 20 3Ca 20href 3D 22http 3A//img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126939/locorocobanenr.png 3F775095 22 20target 3D 22_blank 22 3E 3Cimg 20src 3D 22/img/newwindow.png 22 20title 3D 22Open 20in 20new 20window 22 20border 3D 220 22 3E 3C/a 3E"img style="margin-top: 3px; margin-bottom: 3px;" alt="LocoRoco - Image 1" title="LocoRoco - Image 1" src="http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126939/locorocobanenr_qjpreviewth.png?775095" align="" border="0"/abr/pbrInspiration-wise, Kouno recalls that there was really no basis from his life experiences that led to the creation of a href="http://pspupdates.qj.net/category/Loco-Roco/cid/1196"span title="Read more on LocoRoco" style="font-style: italic;"LocoRoco/span/a. When asked if there was anything at all that might've contributed, this was his reply:brbrp style="padding-left: 40px; padding-right: 40px;"You know, honestly, I don't think so. I've just loved games since I was very small. I started writing little programs when I was very young. I think maybe the only constant outside influence for me has been music. And my love of music came from my mother, so maybe that would qualify. Ever since I was a child, I've loved to create things. So every time I create a game, I get that same sense of satisfaction. My two goals are to feel that sense of satisfaction, and to surprise people. Whenever I make something, my goal is always to surprise people with something new. /pbrThere you have it - span style="font-style: italic;"LocoRoco/span is a fun game born out of fun, and a gamers love for video games. To me, they look like blobby smileys with ears. As far as penis-resemblances go, well, don't blame the game if your member is yellow and swollen. brbrhr style="width: 100 ; height: 2px;"brspan style="font-weight: bold;"More on LocoRoco:br/spanullia href="http://www.qj.net/Video-LocoRoco-2-Japanese-Spills-trailer/pg/49/aid/126740"span title="LocoRoco Japanese spills trailer" style="font-style: italic;"Video: LocoRoco 2 Japanese Spills trailer/span/a/lilispan title="LocoRoco Japanese spills trailer" style="font-style: italic;"a title="LocoRoco 2 squeezes into Europe today" href="http://www.qj.net/LocoRoco-2-squeezes-into-Europe-today-four-new-gameplay-vids-to-roll-into/pg/49/aid/126530"LocoRoco 2 squeezes into Europe today, four new gameplay vids to roll into/abr/span/li/ulbrbrdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=vJLc1qeI"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=D7pPMCGD"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=50" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=LEA49FB0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=43" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/QJ/PSP/~4/KAtd3zlsPdY" height="1" width="1"/

Author, Dentist Dr Garth Pettit claims, in his latest book STOP THE ROT Stop Telling Children Brush Your Teeth, the dental profession and dentifrice manufacturers have been perpetrators of oral diseases by advising children Brush Your Teeth. Parents and teachers, he says, have been innocent perpetrators by following their advice. Dr Pettit claims recent research has confirmed direct links between gum diseases and heart diseases and also with atherosclerosis. He also claims the current world wide economic crisis has made dental treatment un-affordable for many more people. He states the need now for more reliable oral disease prevention advice has never been greater.In his book Dr Pettit announces a new membership website www.MouthWiseMouths.com where parents, teachers, schools and individuals can access his MouthWise Oral HealthCare Education Resources that are based on his oral hygiene instruction "Treat Your Whole Mouth". (PRWeb Dec 2, 2008)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008stoptherot/11brushyourteeth/prweb1615734.htm

Embedded above, and in glorious technicolor downloadable MP4 here: this week's Boing Boing update on Boing Boing tv. diams; We begin with a video chat about O'Reilly Media cofounder DALE DOUGHERTY's guestblog post on why television networks, including CNN, seem to be struggling to cover "The Economic Panic." Why is the current "this great-or-not-so great depression" such a difficult story for TV? Dale believes part of the challenge is that it's big, slow-moving, and abstract. There are no videogenic focal points, no crash scenes or hurricanes for which to don yellow jumpers, no perp mugshots (well, okay, there was this, video here.). We're also in the middle of "a peculiar period inbetween an election and an inauguration," Dale says -- more from him in today's video review, and don't miss the comment thread on the post, either. diams; Next, we speak with JULIE AMERO, the 41-year old Connecticut schoolteacher accused of showing porn to students on a classroom computer when a computer with malware displayed popup windows with sexual content. Last week, she accepted a misdemeanor plea deal to avoid felony charges, despite proof she was innocent, and that her case was mishandled. The deal allows her to avoid a previously-imposed jail sentence, but means she has to surrender her teaching credentials. A forensic report showed Amero was not responsible for the infection of porn pop-up windows on the PC in question. There is also ample proof that the school district's IT manager, detectives and prosecutors misled the court. Here's last week's post by Rob at Boing Boing Gadgets about the plea bargain reached in her case, and here are earlier Boing Boing posts by Mark, starting back in 2007: one, two, three, four, five. I'll be posting the full audio and transcript of our phone interview this week on boingboing.net. diams; Also in today's BB Update: my co-blogger Cory has been posting some HOLIDAY GIFT ROUNDUPS (so far: DVDs and CDs, kids' stuff, fiction, gadgets, comics and nonfiction.) diams; And finally in today's episode, eyewitness snapshots from the MUMBAI TERRORIST ATTACKS, shot by 27-year-old amateur photographer Vinu Ranganathan. He lives in the Colaba distict, near the attack sites. WIRED's Threat Level blog has an interview up with him. Snip: "For hours [on the day of the attacks], his graphic photos of the destruction wrought by the terrorists in the Colaba district on the photo-sharing site Flickr seemed to be the only relevant ones available online." Related Boing Boing posts: Mumbai Attacks: Day 1, Mumbai Attacks: Day 2. Previous Boing Boing updates on BBtv: * Boing Boing tv Update: Virgin WiFi, Obfuscated Code, Comment Poetry, Downfall Housing Remix * Boing Boing tv Update: OFFWORLD, YES MEN, and THIS IS THE FIRST....br style="clear: both;"/gt; a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=2f364ee823d403a53b1cdaf3f88c37e5p=1"gt;img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=2f364ee823d403a53b1cdaf3f88c37e5p=1"/gt;/agt; img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=2f364ee823d403a53b1cdaf3f88c37e5" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/gt;

"He did not commit these crimes," says the estranged brother-in-law's attorneyimg src="http://feeds.people.com/~r/people/headlines/~4/472848736" height="1" width="1"/