came across this sumwhere...cudnt be more apt for me.

"I don't believe in superstars,
Organic food and foreign cars.
I don't believe the price of gold;
The certainty of growing old.
That RIGHT is right and LEFT is wrong,
That north and south can't get along.
That east is east and west is west.
And being first is always best.

But I believe in love.
I believe in babies.
I believe in Mom and Dad.

Well, I don't believe that heaven waits,
For only those who congregate.
I like to think of God as love:
He's down below, He's up above.
He's watching people everywhere.
He knows who does and doesn't care.
And I'm an ordinary woman,
Sometimes I wonder who I am.

But I believe in love.
I believe in music.
I believe in magic.

I don't believe virginity,
Is as common as it used to be.
In working days and sleeping nights,
That black is black and white is white.
That Superman and Robin Hood,
Are still alive in Hollywood.
That gasoline's in short supply,
The rising cost of getting by.

But I believe in love.
I believe in old folks.
I believe in children.

Irony is the synonym for life. I experienced that first hand while I was in Scotland last week. I was sorrounded by beautiful lochs (lakes), monroes, rolling green, the North sea, aristocratic manors, ancient castles, stags and cattle grazing along side in pastures and quaint little towns. It was my idea of heaven.
The purpose of my trip? I was a part of a media exercise for the NATO units present in Northern Scotland. Ground Based Air Defence Units (GBAD), mine sweepers, mine divers and missile launchers completed rest of the landscape. Each morning I awoke to slivers of sunshine in a quaint B n B in the sleepy town of Aultbea with a population of not more than 200. The town has one post office, one store and of course the local pub descended upon by most Aultbeans each evening.Its existence is mostly unheard of, which is probably why it was chosen as a base for NATO units. It is remote and an ideal dock. I was left pondering over how one of the ugliest realities of our world today- war, could find base in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Sure its just a training ground, but one cannot help but wonder how missile launchers can share green fields with cattle and sheep. Aultbea shares many memories with world war 2 and its association with conflict dates back several decades.
The place has a soul. Its beauty is alive. I felt an instant connection to it and I know that this was not my last visit there. I will return someday. Hopefully, a day when the cattle wont have to share their pasture with the launchers anymore.

Dont mean to sound like a stuck record but I guess Al Jaz is everywhere! Last week I chanced upon a documentary called "Control Room", by Jehane Noujaim. It was made about 3 years ago, during the Iraq war. Jehane basically struck on a simple albeit brilliant idea.
She decided to cover those who covered the war. She covered the behind the scenes of "Cent Comm" or Central Command which is the US's middle east head-quarters and also the media headquarters for the US military. As is evident, it was a media circus where the jokers, acrobats and Lion -tamers were all in the act.

Jehane followed Al Jazeera's correspondents in Baghdad as well as their Doha operations. The documentary was drawing comparisons between the war's coverage by the American and British media and the Arab media's new face, Al Jazeera.
The documentary showcased quite brilliantly how no modern day war can be fought sans media propaganda. It went to to raise various questions for journalism as a profession, like news management, spinning of stories, major cover-ups by the powers that be and most importantly, how truth is the first casualty of war.
It also made me realise that the school of thought that affirmed objectivity as a basic tenet of journalism, is quite endangered in this era of the profession. And more so in the context of war reporting. Just like everything else, there are 2 sides in a war. If a media organisation happens to originate from one side, their target audience automatically plays a decisive role in its editorial policies and content. Playing to public sentiment of the target audience during time of war ensures higher TRPs than confirming to the "so-called" foundation of journalism- pure dissemination of information or objective reporting.

Journalism, unfortunately is a part of a larger scheme of things and cannot survive without the shenanigans of the media industry. It ultimately boils down to the economics of entertainment. While FOX, SKY, CNN played to American patriotism, Al Jazeera catered to the Pro- Arab pro-muslim sentiments, of which Anti- Americanism is an integral part.

Al Jaz blues

I identify myself as a "democratic" journo of the capitalist west. I have the natural right to look down upon any news or views expressed in third world country media. Especially Arabic.
I consider myself slightly more informed and in synch with what it takes to be a true scribe, reporting the truth and nothing but the truth. I call that unbiased Pentagon reporting. This is as good as it gets.
Pentagon, the mecca of classified reports and the hub of American military intelligence of a country, which was the birth place of human rights and the very idea of freedom of speech. So in a country which has 200 years of establishment behind them, free press is a given.

Cut to Doha, Qatar.

A new voice is born. Al Jazeera shocks the world with its coverage of the Afghan war and 9/11. the Gulf war seals its fate and image in the eyes of the politically correct western media and audiences. By showing images of dead soldiers of the allied forces, Iraqi civilians and guerillas and messages from Al Qaeda, Al Jazeera managed to stir up enough controversy and curiosity to ensure audiences' attention the world over. The world wanted to know. It wanted to know how a middle eastern, Arabic news channel could claim to be the unadulterated voice of the Arabic public? How could a region with a tradition of suppression possibly foster a phenomenon like Al Jazeera?

The Bush administration blamed the channel for being Osama's mouthpiece. Middle Eastern countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and Iran banned it for being anti-establishment. Al Jazeera continued its operations, just like before. It roused the interests of Governments and media establishments. The channel was raising new questions, albeit quite unconsciously, for journalists, media analysts, intelligence agencies, democrats, republicans and audiences.

The buck does not stop there. Al Jazeera is now opening up to global skies. The launch of Al Jazeera International (AJI) in June 2006 is an even more interesting case study. It is set to start operating from Doha, Washington DC, London and Kuala Lumpur, the anticipation is unbearable. However one of the biggest problems AJI has been running into is that of finding distributors in the US. Not very surprising considering the sentiment it arouses in the American public and establishment alike. Josh Rushing, an ex- US marine and now the poster boy for AJI's US operations claims that its not Al Jaz's parentage that is solely responsible for the phobia. According to him, cable operators do not see a market for international news in the US. The Americans are not quite interested in international news according to them.

Al Jazeera has by every measure a long way to go. AJI's reception is open to speculation, but it is evident that Al Jaz will not go down without a fight.

think you can tell?


the good from the bad, the right from the wrong.
the sane from the deranged.
the traditional from the pathbreaking.
life from existence
love from need
ambition from greed.
god from scum.
cant figure out what it means to be loved from possessed,
shadows from reality
illusion from rationality.
crowds from lonliness
silence from thunder
truth from gospel
true calling from a living
death from blessing

us from them
me from you