From Dalrymple:

Benazir Bhutto’s death is, of course, a calamity, particularly as she embodied the hopes of so many liberal Pakistanis. But, contrary to the commentary we’ve seen in the last week, she was not comparable to Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms. Bhutto’s governments were widely criticized by Amnesty International and other groups for their use of death squads and terrible record on deaths in police custody, abductions and torture. As for her democratic bona fides, she had no qualms about banning rallies by opposing political parties while in power.

…
Benazir Bhutto was certainly a brave and secular-minded woman. But the obituaries painting her as dying to save democracy distort history. Instead, she was a natural autocrat who did little for human rights, a calculating politician who was complicit in Pakistan’s becoming the region’s principal jihadi paymaster while she also ramped up an insurgency in Kashmir that has brought two nuclear powers to the brink of war.

From BHL:

They have killed a woman. A beautiful woman. A visible, indeed a conspicuously, spectacularly visible woman.

A woman who made a point not only of holding rallies in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, but did so with her face uncovered, unveiled–the exact opposite of the shameful, hidden women, the condemned creatures of Satan, who are the only women tolerated by these apostles of a world without women.

They killed a Jew, Daniel Pearl. They killed Ahmed Shah Massoud, the great guerilla leader against the Taliban, a moderate Muslim, a cultivated man and free spirit. They tried for years to kill a man, Salman Rushdie, who dared say that to be a man is also sometimes to choose your own destiny.

And now they have killed Benazir Bhutto–killed her because she was a woman, because she had a woman’s face, unadorned yet filled with an unswerving strength, because she was living out her destiny and refusing the curse that, according to the new fascists (the jihadists) floats over the human face of women. They killed this woman incarnation of hope, of spirit, of the will to democracy, not only in Pakistan, but in all the lands of Islam.

This is listed on YouTube as being by a user called CamPain2008 … I’m not sure if that’s just the name of the page where they have assembled Campaign 2008 videos or the actual videomaker. Anyway as I said … genius Pure Genius …

Fr those of you who want the lyrical love translated Here are the lyrics to chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey in English … bumpy, aged, dated Hinglishy English.

chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unbeknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of us will convey our hearts feelings
chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unbeknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of is will convey our hearts feelings

aane waali, kabh aayegi koi de bataa
When will someone tell me when she will walk into my life
dhoond rahe hain, jaane kabh se, hum uska pataa
I am searching for her address, since ages back

aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja aa
Come! Come! …

chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unbeknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of is will convey our heart feelings
chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of is will convey our heart feelings

mahiyaa, mahiyaa
Dear one, dear one
jaldi se aa ja sun mahiyaa
Please, come soon, dear one
mahiyaa, mahiyaa
Dear one, dear one
doli mein le ja sun mahiyaa…
Dear one, lead me to the altar

ooo hoo hoo
ooo hoo hoo

ek na ek din mil jayeegi
I will get her, some day
humko bhi sapno ki rani
My dream girl

Hmm hmm hmm
hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm

ek na ek din mil jayeegi
I will get her, some day
humko bhi sapno ki rani
My dream girl

aise shuru phir ho jayeegi
And this is how it will start …
pyase dilon ki prem kahani
The love story of two thirsty hearts

apni bhi shaamein rangeen hongi
My evenings will also become colorful
apni bhi subhein hongi suhaani
And my mornings will be beautiful

pyaare pyaare dekh na pyaare
Oh you romantic, don’t see …
din mein taare
Stars in daylight
dil ki baazi koi na jeeta
No one has ever one in the matters of the heart
saare haare
All have lost

mar jayeega, mit jayeega
You will die, you will disappear …
kar na aisi khataa
Commit not this foolish act …
nahi mili hai, nahi milegi
Never have people met and, never will …
are teri woh dilruba
Their sweetheart

aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja
Come! Come! …

jaa, chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of is will convey our heart feelings

chorus:
chakh le, chakh le
chakh le, chakh le

kitney haseen hain saare nazaarey
How beautiful are the surroundings
kitney haseen hain jag ke isharey
How beautiful are the signs of this world

aa aa aa
aa aa aa aa aa

Hey hey, kitney haseen hain saare nazaarey
How beautiful are the surroundings
kitney haseen hain jag ke isharey
How beautiful are the signs of this world …
jis ki tamanna hai is dil ko
The signs that the hearts desire …
aayengi jaane kabh woh bahaarein
When will those times arrive

koi to ho jo raha mein roke
There must be someone who will stop me on my path
koi to ho jo naam pukare
There must be someone who will call my name

pyaare pyaare, o mere pyaare
Romantic! Oh romantic …
tu ruk ja re
Stop right there
tere jaise aashiq phirte, maare maare
Romantics like you are roaming all over
lut jayega, bik jayega
You will be looted, you will be sold
de na aisi sadaa
Stray away from your foolhardy deeds
is dharti pe kahin nahin hai
There is not one in this world
teri woh dilruba
Who will be your sweetheart?

aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja

jaa, chori chori hum gori se pyaar karengey
Unknownst to all, I will love the fair one
chupke chupke dil ki baatein yaar karengey
Hidden from all, the two of is will convey our heart feelings
aane waali, kabh aayegi koi de bataa
When will someone tell me when the “fair one” will walk into my life
dhoond rahe hain, jaane kabh se, hum uska pataa
I am searching for her address, since ages

aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja aaja…

Depending on whether you go with gori as  ‘fair one’ as in

Mirror Mirror on the wall,

Who’s the fairest of them all

or a little more brutal  to the ‘white girl’ side … could tweak your reading.

Here’s a little something from an unrealized T-shirtI was working on for South Asians for Obama just to round out the love.

Sometimes a punning title is just too hilariously awful (or awfully hilarious) or just too smutty genius to resist.  When CelebNewsWire titled their coverage of the of Marcia Cross’ naked nude photo brouhaha The Red Vadge of Furrage … well there was just no way to stop the ensuing madness.

We’ve classied up the smut with a Da Vinci reference … or we’ve smuttied up ole Leonardo … you decide.

Gaywired.com broke down the basics of the tale for those of you who missed this important tale for the curtains and drapes industry.

The naked photos of Marcia Cross, supposedly found in her trash more

than a year ago, finally have made it onto the Internet.

The photos, apparently taken by her husband, show the red-headed star enjoying an outdoor shower. Apparently they were thrown in the trash at

some point, as that’s where they were found last year by a firm hired to remove garbage from Cross’s LA home.

The firm, now represented by Phoenix-based agent David Hans

Schmidt, is now attempting to sell the photos to the highest bidder.

“There are some pictures of her showering outside,” Schmidt said in a

recent release. “She looks absolutely gorgeous. And yes, the carpet does m

atch the curtains. The pictures were not stolen. When you throw something away, you forfeit that property. We recognize the copyright

issue, but U.S. copyright law stops at the border. I’m not looking to mortify Ms. Cross, I just want the most money for my client.”

Ahh well … there’s more punning to be done I’m sure … Something along the lines of the old Big Red Chewing Gum jingle.

So kiss a little longer,

hold hands a little longer,
hold tight a little longer.
Longer with Big Red.