The Vatican moves moves an inch .. oh well almost

Today morning on the subway I was actually awake enough to flip through the Time magazine I had brought along with me. I read an article about how the Vatican had not changed its stand on contraception. It was mostly about a move by the moderates in the Vatican to move towards a position which would acquience to the us eof contraception in certain situations such as "condom use in a marriage to prevent the spread of HIV" .
The article went on to talk about how this move was struck down by the conservatives who had earlier wrested control with the election of Pope Benedict.
I find it shocking that the Catholic Church or for that matter any other authority feels its competent to tell people how to fight a deadly disease such as HIV. I don't understand how you can preach to the rest of the universe when the Catholic Church has such a hard time keeping their flock in line. People in other spheres of life have been dealt far more harshly even if a hint of a charge of child molestation was brought against them.
Well what do I know I am destined to eternal damnation for not worshipping at the Catholic Churh anyway.

Workout in the park

I recieved a free pass from someone I know, so I'll be heading to the the workout in the Park.
Hope to keep up considering that it looks like a punishing schedule.

Narasimha Rao how should we remember thee

Like Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned if you believe the prevailing view in the ruling Congress regime. This article says the same.
I believe (maybe with a little bias), that he was one of the shrewdest politicians ever to walk this land.
In one fell swoop , he took away (or rather the BJP)the major issue that threatened to catapult the BJP to power. As was proved later, the BJP needed a, bumbling coalition that ruled at the center to capture powert for a year and a war against Pakistan in Kargil to propel them into power for a full term. The BJP's limitations stood exposed both after the demolition of the Babri masjid(they lost all the assembly elections that followed soon after) and a their rule over 5 years. Had the mandir-masjid issue stillbeen festering, the BJP would have still been making capital from it. Even now they are trying to revive the issue. Narsimha Rao might be unung, unloved and unwept in the upper echeleons of his party but then he led his life that was as well. So Mr Aiyar don't be too shocked when 30-40 yrs from now somebody writes a similar epitah for you.

A well written defence of Kavyaa Vishwnath

I have no sympathy for kavya's plight but I loved the way this piece was written.
article.

A day without illegal immigrants

May 1st has witnessed large scale demostrations in opposition to the new proposed laws which would make illegal immigration a felony. This is a sensitive issue requiring way more time than I have. One observation I'd like to make is that I wonder wether these protests might have the opposite of the desired impact. For many states that do not have a large illegal immigrant population, there was ample evidence of the magnitude of the issue.