Desertpeace repeats the popular headline in today's news, “Heavy machinery attack injures 2 near Obama’s Jerusalem hotel,” then asks:

THIS ONE still hasn’t been reported…. and it happened almost a month ago.

Israelis Assault Award Winning IPS Journalist

~~~ WHY??? ~~~

KABOBfest is perplexed at the focus on Obama's whereabouts:

The New York Times and world press covered today’s bulldozer attack in Jerusalem, the second in a month. The frame was typical: enraged Palestinian used construction equipment to attack Israeli civilians. The extra spice in the article is that it occurred “near” where Obama will be staying soon. Wow, what a news hook!

The blogger then remarks:

Pundits were alarmed by the last bulldozer attack, saying Palestinians were finding new ways to try to destroy Israel – yet Palestinians are in the stone age compared to Israel’s advanced killing technology. The bulldozer is now the Palestinian Merkava.

An anonymous commenter on the post showed concern:

A few more attacks like this and they will purge Palestinians from construction duties and replace them with Filipinos. Same quality of work, no political baggage. Construction is the last industry in Israel that still relies on Palestinian labor, but not nearly as much as it once did. If you go to Netanya, the entire city was built by Palestinian labor in the 1970s. A lot of Palestinians are going to lose their jobs over this.

Another commenter, uday, was alarmed at Obama's response to the incident:

Speaking at a news conference in Amman, Obama said “Today's bulldozer attack is a reminder of what Israelis have courageously lived with on a daily basis for far too long.”

What colonialist Israelis have “lived with”?! And what about the helpless Palestinians being crushed daily by the Zionist Boot?! Are they not courageous? Is 60 years of occupation, humiliation and oppression not long enough for Obama to notice?!

Following the bulldozer attack, it was reported by the Jerusalem Post that a group of angry yeshiva students attempted to lynch two Palestinians. Of this story, blogger Chet points out:

Dear friends,

Here is the other event in Jerusalem today that your media will most likely ignore. Guess how this would be covered if the roles were reversed.

Times are tense.

This madness is man-made,
Sam

For more on this story, read Maya Norton's coverage of the Israeli blogosphere on Global Voices.

‘It’s my trust vote and I’ll shout if I want’ – Mahima Kaul titles her post at her blog ‘The life and times’ , introducing us to the scene at the lower house in the Parliament of India. She writes:

They came from everywhere; wheelchairs and stretchers – jail. And the anticipation of drama delivered! From the moment a crore of rupees was placed in the House by three BJP MPs – everything changed. Read on to see how the BJP's staged drama did not hold a trust vote down.

Phoenix recaps the political setup on his blog ‘Public diary…” , under the post, ‘The Great Indian Drama: What's the big DEAL about?’

The Left withdrew support as the UPA refused to back out of the 1-2-3 agreement with the US and thus began the numbers game…. If anything, Left leaving was slightly relieving as it brought hopes that maybe, if the Govt survived, some reforms would go ahead without the political compulsions that Left's persistent threats gave rise to. Afterall, the last four years India has hardly seen an Opposition, with the NDA mostly asleep, and the Govt had to keep fighting tooth n nail within itself thanks to the communist parties.
…
When the political scene heated up with BJP finally seeming to wake up a little…

There was money up for grabs just to vote against the N-deal. And Nita tells you why, in her post – ‘Between the horse traders and traitors who is left’ on her blog, ‘A wide angle view of India’ .

There is so much corruption amongst politicians that some of our MP’s make petty money (Rs 30,000/- and above) from just raising questions in parliament and the BJP has such MP’s too.
….
The fact is that India is number one when it comes to money in Swiss bank accounts and we have no way of knowing who doesn’t have an account there. While people from all walks of life probably have accounts there, I am sure our politicians lead the pack. People who are there to make our country prosper are looting it!!

Also giving us estimates on the total amount India is said to have in the Swiss banks, “India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world COMBINED.” But she is disgusted:

As for the live proceedings of the Nuclear Deal Debate in the Lok Sabha on television (just before the Trust vote) that reality show should have got an “A” certificate. If children see this how do you think they will behave in class…! But this time there was no violence…throwing of chairs and pushing and shoving, all of which I have seen on live TV in parliament. I guess we should be grateful.

In conclusion to it all, Yossarin has few things to tell the Prime minister of India, against the speech Manmohan Singh was said to have had ready, but did not deliver. Yossarin writes in the blog ‘Offstumped’ in the post, ‘Manmohan Confidence Vote - A Pyrrhic Victory’ :

You were right to pursue the strategic intent of getting India out of the nuclear winter it has been in. But sir you did not convince any political formation to express confidence on the merits of your record. You did not convince a significant number of individual members cutting across party lines to express confidence on the voice of their conscience. Rooted in questionable abstentions this is a pyrrhic victory and it is beginning of the end of your Ultimate Perverse Alliance that saw you accidentally occupy this august office.

You can find the Prime Minister’s speech here . Who are the real winners? – the question is answered here . Neha, our South Asian Blogsphere Editor for GVO, comments here .

The following video which is from a major TV news channel, shows the chaos in the Parliament when some of the members alleged bribery and started waving big piles of cash around.

Her words will shed a light to the ever demanding corporate culture in Bangladesh which is taking toll on the private lives of the employees. Here is a translation of some excerpts from her post:

“The monthly meetings usually start after 9-10 hours of office work and it is like the women's menstruation period. Some months it bleeds a little more and some months less; the meeting's duration varies like this…..

I have been listening to this for the last five year: we have to increase our clients, we have to increase the deposits, increase the quality of service. How many people are in Dhaka? How many from them can be ushered under the Bank's umbrella? It annoys me.

One stupid suggests we should organize a rally to introduce our Bank to newer communities. We should walk in the streets one to two hours after the office hours to develop public relations and increase clients. I usually can come home after six pm. Why don't I sleep with clients or my colleagues as they are my family now! (They tell) I should not forget that I am a banker even when I am buying small things like socks. I have to befriend the seller. Job is life, job is death.

……..

In one branch of the bank two female employees of the same department got pregnant almost at the same time. The branch manager scolded them and accused that they have done this intentionally so that he will not be able to run this branch smoothly. I think they can introduce a rule of submitting a roaster at the start of an year scheduling when female employees will have sex and become pregnant. I feel like vomiting hearing about targets now and then.

………

My mind is distracted today. This job has taken everything from my life, sound sleep, time to love, time to think, everything. I am unable to find any alternative. I could not write any short story last two years. Many plots play in my mind but as I come home very tired I can't put them on paper. I am forgetting to sing. I feel I will never be a singer. Someday I will forget how to write too.

I am becoming normal then… ha ha ha..I will go to office everyday, come home, have sex, have babies, will be busy with children's school, will always be at husband's disposal.

I piss on everything.”