This Week’s BidenismsCollecting the vice president’s gaffes and head-slappers. By Jeremy Stahl Vice president Joe Biden produced three fresh Bidenisms this week. Please continue to send your nominations (with a link, please) to slatebidenisms@gmail.com. For more, and our stab at a definition, see “The Complete Bidenisms.” Biden: “It’s easy being vice president—you don’t have to do anything.” Interlocutor: “It’s like being the grandpa and not the parent.” Biden: “Yeah, that’s it!”—Explaining his job during a casual, off-camera conversation, caught by a C-SPAN mic, at the Blair House health care summit, Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2010 Click here to listen to audio of Biden’s … Continue reading JOE BIDEN ZINDABAD!

Fatwas can be a force for good Sadly, we all remember the death warrant on Salman Rushdie but next month a fatwa against terrorism will be delivered Ed Husain guardian.co.uk Following the Salman Rushdie affair, the word fatwa became commonplace in our vernacular – it, lamentably, became associated with death, killing, and censorship. But to most Muslims, the word fatwa is not a political term, but an unbinding religious edict issued by erudite scholars who take into consideration the needs of the modern world. While most of us remember the Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa of death, how many remember … Continue reading Muslims lets stand together on Tuesday in London with Dr Tahirul Qadri!

Dawn Editorial  Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar celebrates after scoring a century during the second ODI cricket match in Gwalior. — AFP There are many truly wondrous things about Sachin Tendulkar breaking the world record for the highest one-day score and becoming the format’s first double centurion, in effect cracking one of cricket’s many four-minute miles. He is months away from turning 37 and he batted through 50 overs. He has now been in the game for over 20 years. He did it not against minnows but a top side and the best fast bowler today. And for years he has … Continue reading Terrific Tendulkar!

Dawn Editorial The deadly virus is poised to spread like wildfire in a country where many children have not been inoculated. — Photo by APP Media Gallery 1,000 faces for 1,000 tigers 1,000 faces for 1,000 tigers The detection of this year’s first polio case in Sindh is significant in two respects: first, it has been reported from the relatively upscale locality of Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal and, second, the infected 18-month-old boy had reportedly received six doses of anti-polio vaccines as well as polio drops during routine immunisations. Just a few years ago we were beginning to hope for the complete … Continue reading How Mullahs encouraged polio in Pakistan. Who should be held accountable?

By Ayesha Siddiqa The story about the historic American let-down does not mention that our own leadership was equally responsible for serving the interests of foreign states in return for both ‘cash and kind’. – File photo I COULDN’T believe my ears when responsible quarters informed me of an American-Blackwater conspiracy to isolate Pakistan. According to this heinous plan the objective will be achieved by infiltrating the media, specifically through placing people in responsible positions in the print and electronic media. These plants will then be made responsible for freaking out ordinary people. While some Blackwater agents are said to … Continue reading Conspiracy theories orgy!

Posted by Aroosa Masroor After a wave of ethnic tension and political violence that gripped Karachi earlier this month, Rumana Husain’s book ‘Karachiwala’ comes as a relief. With over 60 different ethnicities converged in the 330-page book, she aptly describes Karachi as a “sub-continent within a city” and focuses on the personal stories of ordinary individuals. The book elaborates on the lifestyle, language and values of all the communities residing in Karachi and attempts to reveal how they create a cosmopolitan character of the city that gives Karachi its resilience amidst the ethnic tension and social disparities. But while ‘Karachiwala’ … Continue reading Celebrating diversity – Karachi!

Posted by Mary Bowers dawn “Can we do anything in Pakistan without it being linked in some way to either appeasing the Taliban or kicking sand in their faces?” asked blogger XYZ on CafePyala.com, who also had a few choice words to say about my methods of journalism (which incidentally I would gladly tackle off-pitch if I know the name of the faceless cackler to whom I make my argument). Mr or Ms XYZ was writing in reference to an article I wrote over the weekend for The Times entitled “Pakistan fashion week pushes back boundaries”. In it, I couched … Continue reading Framed by the Taliban