In Boston, the manhunt ended yesterday evening with the capture of the second suspect in the Marathon bombings of Monday last. Just as we saw with war in Mali, this was a textbook example of proper and efficient Police work. The response was immediate. The treasure trove of images modern surveillance means procure was gathered and analysed. The infos were carefully weighed before release to the press and even in some cases as CNN, the media made a conscious choice of not divulging sensitive bits of it. The public lending a helping hand as with that ultra-clear IPhone amateur picture where the Close-circuit cams lacked definition, the fact that leads were valid and the officers nearby when the second part of the drama unfolded on the MIT campus, played a role but maybe more than these, it was easy for a trained mind to read between the lines or perceive in the interviews that the agencies cooperated better than they ever have in America. That is one positive point that should be stressed and recognized more. After 9-11, the need was there for an effort to bring forth that type of confidence that allows information/Intelligence sharing and coordinated actions between organizations that after all share the common goal of defending the people and country, if at varying levels or in different fields. Other Western nations had actually learned it from the 2001 events in the States and corrected their ways first. That it did come out as a functional trait is laudable : Kudos, Police, FBI, ATF etc
Also in the news this morning was the release of the French family, 3 adults and 4 kids that were kidnapped two months ago in Cameroon and Nigeria by the terrorist organization Boko Haram. All are apparently doing well enough.
Pakistan and China are actively trying to help the people hurt by two different earthquakes in their respective lands with intent so that things should get better for those people too. At the same time in the USA, if the dead are still at 14, the missing persons tally was brought down on the industrial accident in rural Texas as they are found alive and elsewhere. Yeah again!
Iraq is voting ( Hurrah! ) just as Italy’s President decided to run for a second term which might ensure enough stability to go over the bump of the last legislative elections when that nation could not wrangle a majority from the polls. Maduro is now President of Venezuela but there is an active opposition which almost won too and that is good for democracy. Paraguay is also nearing a vote and it had calls for returning land to spoliated farmers. Again, Way to go, gang! Things are not that clear in other elections such as in Malaysia where change could be good but hey, fingers crossed.
And in orbit, the Herschel telescope that was going blind is doing a darn good job of taking better than ever before pictures as seen here with the Horsehead Nebula :
Click on pic to reach the European Space Agency site.
So, why would I not be enthralled, ecstatic and so on?
Because in India, a 5-year-old is fighting for her life. Just as the poor kid in Boston, right? No! Just as those kids in Pakistan or China that died from the quakes right? No! But at least alive then like the four boys of that released French family of hostages. No! Not close.
That 5 year-old was the victim of kidnapping and rape.
I expressed outrage as the Indians themselves did back in December when another such sexual aggression claimed the life of “India’s Girl”.
But this is no girl? 5 YO! That’s a small kid, a mere child!
And the problem does not rest solely on age either but rather in the fact that we saw many many such instances reported between both attacks in the four months that went by. So that again, as you saw me do with the Gun Debate in America and as I then had in fact said about both problems that the National Discussion should not be allowed to relent before some solutions were found, I am voicing my dismay. Let me find a not too disrespectful or injurious way to put it … okay, here we go :
I am extremely sorry to have to say this to you Bharat citizens but, if respect of life is your cultural heritage but that as result a 5 year-old cow is safer on your streets than a five year-old girl, how about some more human life respect, please? Until that is achieved, those nearly ten thousand years of civilization are clearly still not enough? Speed it up?
I’ll go clear my head, in the wind, on the bike, sorry, Tay.
Definitive Lapse of Reason 
Love this post!! macboud
To thank you then, Mary, find 2 useful links in our next Post. Tay