Pakistan’s top court has summoned former President Pervez Musharraf to explain his 2007 decision to impose emergency rule and fire several independent-minded judges.

The 14-member Supreme Court panel, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, is calling for Mr. Musharraf to appear in person or through counsel on July 29.

The case centers around the legality of Mr. Musharraf’s decision on November 3, 2007 to declare a state of emergency, suspend the constitution and dismiss several top judges, weeks after a controversial presidential election.

A ruling on the case could pave the way for the former president to face a future trial.

Musharraf was not hanged. He was not forced into exile like his predecessor Nawaz Sharif. He wasn’t jailed indefinitely without charges. He’s been asked to answer questions before the Supreme Court. And all this in Pakistan for God’s sake.

Politicized? Maybe. Will this query make a difference? No idea. But at least he’s being forced to answer some questions the people of Pakistan deserve an answer to.

Sometimes “moving on” just doesn’t cut it.

“Slumdog Millionaire” child star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and his mother moved into their new home Tuesday, leaving behind a corrugated metal slum shanty for four solid walls, doors that lock and an indoor toilet.

“I was shocked when I saw this house,” Azhar, 11, said, before turning on one of his favorite Hindi songs and dancing around the living room. “I want to thank Danny Boyle for giving us this flat.”

Boyle, the director of the Oscar-winning hit, and producer Christian Colson will transfer the $50,000 one-bedroom apartment to Azhar’s name when he turns 18, provided he finishes school.

Officials from the trust the filmmakers set up to secure an education, housing and a living allowance for Azhar and his co-star Rubina Ali, 9, is actively searching for a new home for Rubina as well.

At the moment, Azhar has several new challenges to ponder — chief among them, what to put on the walls, and how not to forget one’s house keys.

He held up sparkly “Welcome” posters against the apartment’s cheery yellow walls, considering whether a pink, blue or shining red rendering of Mecca might be best.

The apartment is on the ground floor of a seven story brown concrete apartment building called “Harmony,” which sits on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Santa Cruz West section of Mumbai, not too far from where Azhar attends school.

The windows look out on a leafy courtyard. Outside are the sounds of birds and the occasional passing train.

Azhar’s mother Shameem Ismail said she is looking forward to their first night in the new apartment.

“God has given me so much,” she said. “We will sleep very well tonight. There is no water leaking, no bad environment, no quarreling.”

In Garib Nagar (“City of the Poor”), one of Mumbai’s more wretched slums where they used to live, there were only public toilets, and many people used the train tracks or trash piles instead.

“There we have to give 2 rupees for the bathroom every day,” she said. “My toilet is my own here.”

She and Azhar will share the main room, while Azhar’s brother Irfan Ismail Sheikh, 22, and his wife will sleep on a mattress in the kitchen, she said.

The boy’s father, whom we last saw beating the child like a drum in front of photographers, has not moved into the new apartment.

I’ve read too many comments stating that people who live in the slums remain because they prefer the living conditions, the sense of community and the business opportunities. No doubt some do wish to stay. But generally I’ve found that those who profess the “nobility in poverty” line are trying to make excuses for government, social and societal inaction and neglect.

But for God’s sake, if slumdwellers want a clean, peaceful – and a private toilet – why deny them the chance?

I also hope that this story puts an end to the nonsense that Danny Boyle exploited these children. The cold hard reality is that he cast them in a film and paid them for their services. His obligation to the children would have ended there. It was kind and thoughtful of Boyle to go the extra mile to provide for their futures in this fashion. In a business full of selfish, greedy and grasping egomaniacs Danny Boyle is a mensch in my book.

And then there’s this. Lovely.

Before any of you post comments accusing me of not Supporting The Troops, I hope it’s obvious that I’m not implying that ALL fighting men and women are criminals. Imagine, if you will, the difficulties professional soldiers face when they try to control these men and/or issue orders, or when they expect these soldiers to behave professionally. The simple truth is that some of these soldiers are dangerous, pose a threat to their fellow soldiers and certainly are capable of committing violence when they return.

So gays have to adhere to “don’t ask, don’t tell” but neo-Nazis get to proudly wear their racism on their sleeve. FUBAR.

…about right-wing extremists posing a national security threat, how’s this working for you? Oh, and remember him?

And to all the Bill O’Reilly apologists, how do you defend this?

The point is not singling out one particular group. It’s being aware that threats could come from any and all ethnic groups and political affiliations.

Limbaugh even thinks anal rape is funny when it’s no joke. He’s played testimony from a rape trial just for laughs; here he is talking about a rape victim:

LIMBAUGH: Now she’s on the stand in our first video clip here trying to explain when this happened. I think she got raped or some such thing like that, and — and she’s trying to explain to the jury and the judge and all the lawyers, everybody in court, how it happens. And — well, just watch. It speaks for itself.

Unidentified Woman: He lifted my nightgown and he put his finger in my rectum …

Falls forward

Laughter

Unidentified Voice: … unintelligible

End of excerpt; laughter

LIMBAUGH: I’m so — I’m so — I’m trying not to laugh, as you can see …

I would hope that those of you who are proud to consider yourselves feminists, as I do, find this sort of thing repellant.

And for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone finds this man “entertaining”. I don’t find the term “Feminazi” entertaining. Is it just “entertainment” when he referred to Chelsea Clinton as the White House dog? Or boasted that he had a sign on his office door that reads “Sexual harassment at this work station will not be reported. However…it will be graded!!!” (USA Weekend, 1/26/92)? Or trivialized poverty by saying “$14,400 for a family of four. That’s not so bad.” (Radio show, 11/9/93), after saying just a few months earlier “I know families that make $180,000 a year and they don’t consider themselves rich. Why, it costs them $20,000 a year to send their kids to school.” (Radio show, 8/3/93)?

To answer the question Russell Crowe shouted in Gladiator, “Are you not entertained?” My answer: Not at all.

“I can’t make it any more clear,” Reid said. “We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.”

Never mind that most of the inmates at Guantanamo haven’t been tried, or that many were sold into captivity by warlords and others eager for the hefty rewards the military was offering for captured “al Qaeda terrorists”. We won’t know who’s guilty of what, if anything, until actual trials are held. Don’t hold your breath.

Harry Reid, you’re a moron.

Hey Harry and other pandering idiots in Congress, ever heard of “Bomber’s Row”?

Zacarias Moussaoui, the 911-hijacking conspirator sentenced to life in prison yesterday, will now become a new resident of the Rocky Mountain West, according to an LA Times story today. Moussaoui will spent the rest of his days high up in the Rockies at the “Supermax” federal maximum-security prison in Florence, Colorado.

Moussaoui will join a notorious collection of prisoners–a veritable terrorist Who’s Who–already serving time in Supermax, including: Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the key player in the 1993 World Trade Center blast, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry L. Nichols, “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph.

Incidentally, all the above were tried and found guilty in a court of law. Just sayin’.

Pakistan is in trouble, but it’s necessary to analyze the situation intelligently. I’ve pretty much given up on getting news from American, Indian and Urdu television outlets. With very few exceptions, the American press has fallen into the trap of endlessly flogging the exciting “24″ plotline “the-Taliban-are-going-to-seize-the-nukes”, rather than focusing on the seriousness of what’s happening on the ground in the here-and-now and, just maybe, questioning how likely it is that the Taliban actually could get ahold of the nukes. Urdu TV is embarrassing, rife with defensive hosts and guests, rampant denial, conspiracy mongering and shifty-eyed paranoia. Indian TV (both English and Hindi), when not blathering on endlessly about cricket and the latest Bollywood news, treats news from Pakistan like a made-for-TV drama, featuring television packages with sinister music, biased and grossly inaccurate “reporting”, and a healthy dose of schadenfreude mixed with, yes, conspiracy mongering (one anchor speculated that the aid President Zardari was requesting was earmarked by Pakistan and the United States to attack India). So nobody wins here.

It’s a damn shame that a show meant to be a spoof is the program where the host has actually done some reading and preparation beforehand.

The introduction of the AfPak plan — so named because rather than focus on Afghanistan it also incorporates Pakistan and the Pashtun populated border — seemed a big step forward for the Obama administration. According to South Asia experts, this plan was bound to succeed and seemed to have it all. But as time elapses the realities on the ground are raising questions about the wisdom of the plan — even if it was meant to be.

This proves that charting out a plan is different than implementing one. It’s certainly a positive step that Obama has “thinkers” on his side, but the reality is that academics, experts and academics are a dime a dozen. The US needs an implementation strategy, as well as someone willing to take charge and responsibility. Right now the plan has been to combat the Taliban. But if you want to kick the Taliban out of Pakistan, you need to understand Pakistan as well the NWFP, the intra-tribal friction, FATA (the Federally Administered Tribal Area), and of course the Arab influence.

The reality is the FATA has always been “sharia inclined”, meaning that the stage was set for what the Taliban were trying to gain. The society is already conservative. But the more cruel face of “Taliban-introduced Islamic law” started taking root during Musharraf era. Sufi Mohammad, the founder of Tehreel-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), a Pakistan militant organization vying for implementation of Sharia law, was not confronted then and is not confronted now. I mentioned Musharraf because that was the time when the army should have acted to stop the radicalization of the area, but they did not are now finding it difficult to prevent rapid seepage. So technically the infamous Swat “peace” deal is with the TNSM and not Taliban. It is also pertinent to clarify that the deal was signed by the President Asif Ali Zardari after it was passed by the parliament and under a lot of pressure by the NWFP’s provincial government. Though the provincial government is led by a center-left ruling party, they have been acting in diametric opposition to their stated position and beliefs. Their submission to religious parties or groups shows that they have lost control and are operating at cross purposes with the locals.

This is the same Sufi Mohammad, BTW, who was financed the overthrow Benazir Bhutto’s first government. This indicates that this problem has a history prior to the events of the past several weeks. Reports in the Pakistani media confirm that the provincial bureaucracy has been involved in protecting Sufi Mohammad and his like-minded minions. In fact, the Commissioner of that area is considered one of Sufi’s followers. Why hasn’t the Pakistani state government acted against such people? The growing strength and influence of Taliban proves that Pakistan government is not able to take any actions.

It is important to point out that this radical interpretation of Islamic law is a transplant of Arab, Tajik and Uzbek influence. This form of fundamentalism, which is not to be confused with the religious conservatism of the Pashtuns, is not Pakistani in origin.

So, the US strategy should not be to force the government of Pakistan to “do more” but rather to do what has already been asked of it. There is still time to confront Sufi Mohammad in Swat, instead of striking out peace deals, given that Sufi Mohammad is the leader of TNSM and not the Taliban, a misunderstanding which has been propated in the media. Sufi’s son-in-law, however, is the leader of the local Taliban, which makes him like-minded of their ideology.

Not many know that when the Taliban try to took over Buner not only did they faced resistance from the locals but that again neither the state nor the US were there to support them. The Taliban were kicked out but were called back in by the help of the local bureaucracy, contrary to the will of the people. During their week-long takeover, they helped strengthen their local supporters in Buner, not only taking out their “enemies” but established headquarters in their homes. The idea that the Taliban have left Buner is a hoax. But there is still time to take on the insurgents before they move on somewhere else.

What needs to be done – along with military action by the US (and only when it is absolutely necessary and there are no options) – is to pressurize the Pakistani government to support the locals against the Taliban.

The absence of local leaders – whether they were killed or fled the area because of threats from the Taliban – has created a leadership vacuum. This needs to be filled by educated and broadminded individuals to represent the local sentiment but instead is being filled by the power hungry, illiterate Taliban.

While we wait for that to happen, let’s turn our attention to a verifiable slur, brought to us by (of course) Ann Coulter:

Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom I suppose I should note was the first Indian-American to give the Republican response to a president’s speech, began with an encomium to the first black president. (Wasn’t Bobby great in “Slumdog Millionaire”?)

Shorter version of this “uplifting” movie: A woman has a sexual relationship with a fifteen year old boy. Years later she goes on trial. Turns out she was a guard at Auschwitz, during which time she helped ensure 300 Jewish women locked in a burning church would die. And all this because she didn’t know how to read. The end.

So are we to conclude that all those who commit genocide or crimes against humanity are illiterate, and if only they were taught to read the world would be free of mass killing? Or that the (many) educated Germans — doctors, lawyers, judges, priests, authors, and composers, just to name a few – who enthusiastically jumped on board the National Socialist train were telling the truth when they claimed “they just didn’t know”? But I guess that because Hanna was illiterate she had an excuse for not knowing the difference between right and wrong — even though she was a guard at Auschwitz.

“Redemptive”? How about disgusting?

But blame should be assigned to all the guilty parties. Jindal jumped at the chance to deliver the response and, like a good conservative Republican, displayed congitive dissonance in all its glory. He seems to have forgotten that when Katrina hit Republicans were in charge of the federal government he so disparages. But never mind that. And never mind the tiresome, cliche-ridden pap some hack wrote for him.

While you can’t stop Republicans from returning to the tax cut well, how about a moratorium on trotting out racial bona fides to make your point? Obama is a black man. I get it. Bobby Jindal is Indian-American. I get that too. But what does that have to do with the price of eggs, so to speak?

But ultimately the high expectations for Jindal are the fault of the so-called political press corps. They were the ones who sold each other this bill of goods, convincing each other that Bobby Jindal was the New New Thing while ignoring some basic facts, like that pesky exorcism experience Jindal himself proudly wrote about, or how he has negative charisma and that he’s kind of irritating. Despite his complete lack of experience, Jindal was seriously talked about as a potential McCain running mate. Now that Jindal has laid a massive egg, maybe even the press will understand that all this talk of Jindal 2012 is, shall we say, a bit overwrought and premature.

Let the backlash continue! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people.

I want to clarify a couple of points:

I wrote that the term “walla” is a derogatory one, much like calling a black man “boy”. Someone posted a denial, saying that “walla” is not like calling someone a “n****r” . Well, I agree. I never suggested it was. What I wrote was that it’s a derogatory and demeaning term IN THE CONTEXT OF THE REGION. To call someone a “server” here is not considered insulting – when have you ever heard anyone speaking unkindly about a “barrista”? But in South Asia, where caste and social standing are all-important and your lot in life pretty much determined at birth, being referred to as a “walla” is most certainly an insult. And by the way, whoever it was who commented that discrimination against the servant/working class is a Western construct (implying that servants and working class people are somehow treated with respect in South Asia) is smoking crack.

Another commenter insisted on steering readers to a photo essay about the slum depicted in “Slumdog”, trying to advance the tired and dangerous cliche that there is some inherent nobility in poverty, that the slums have a vibrant entrepreneurial class and that slumdwellers don’t need no stinkin’ help from the West. Interesting. Considering the feeding frenzy that’s broken out over who is entitled to the money paid to the children in “Slumdog Millionaire” and whether or not those children were paid a living wage, and how the parents of the children burned through the money given to them by the filmmakers, it seems that slumdwellers aren’t self-contained to the point where they’ll turn down filthy Western lucre. How shocking that the Indian poor want money! This person was also quite adamant that I read the captions. Well, I did read the captions. The one that sticks with me was that there is one toilet for every 1,400 or so people. Now, maybe the poster thinks that there is something exciting and vibrant about that many people living in unsanitary conditions. Never mind that waterbourne diseases are exceptionally dangerous and rampant in developing nations.

As to the point about the “entrepreneurial” spirit of the slumdwellers, perhaps it’s worthwhile pointing out what that means. I happen to think that people deserve better than to make a living sorting through garbage to find a few discarded items to sell for pennies. But I guess that POV is symptomatic of my arrogant, elitist Western frame of mind.

So instead of steering you to a photo essay, I refer you to the following quote:

Slum life is a cage. It robs you of confidence in the face of the rich and the advantaged. It steals your pride, deadens your ambition, limits your imagination and psychologically cripples you whenever you step outside the comfort zone of your own neighborhood. Most people in the slums never achieve a fairy-tale ending.

The octuplet family will have a place to reside if they lose their home. A California-based nonprofit called “Angels in Waiting” offered Suleman round-the-clock care and a place to stay with her 14 children. It would cost about $135,000 a month to provide the 12 caretakers necessary for the children, money that would have to come from public donations, founder Linda West Conforti said in Los Angeles.

Oh yes, you read that right. $135,000 a month, which the organization hopes will come out of our pockets.

This after the revelation that the family is in arrears on their mortgage to the tune of $23,224. Yet there seems to be money available for acrylic nails, repeated IVF treatments and multiple plastic surgeries.

And now we have Octograndpa, who until now has maintained a Gabor-like silence, telling Oprah that he questions his daughter’s sanity but that the grandchildren are “a gift from God”. Sorry, no. Octomom was infertile. The children are a gift from the IVF clinic.

Are there any actual adults in that house in Whittier?

At this point it’s not worth going over the details of this repellent story. It’s hard to tell which family member is telling the truth about anything. Their Rashomon-like , contradictory accounts boggle the mind.

So why inject the much beloved Slumdog Millionaire into this morass of lies, greed and cynicism?

There’s a simple reason this movie is likely to sweep the Oscars this weekend: Word of mouth. Simply put, people LOVE this film (myself included). If this film were a person it would have been hugged to death some time ago.

But what’s really striking, beyond the wonderful story, the brilliant editing, the gorgeous cinematography and the fantastic score is the appealing, childlike innocence of the lead character, Jamal, a Muslim orphan who overcomes his bleak, Dickensian childhood and despite the unimaginable hardships he suffers pulls himself up by his bootstraps, gets job at a call center, puts up with the indignity of being called a “chai walla” on television (“walla” being a term equivalent of calling a black man “boy”) and, in the end, triumphs. He could have stayed on the street. He could have pursued a life of crime like his brother. But by virtue of, well, virtue and hard work, Jamal succeeds. Hell, that an illiterate boy from the street could get a job serving tea at a call center is reason enough to celebrate, the “Millionaire” plotline notwithstanding.

So on the one hand, you have a poor teenager who overcomes adversity the honest way while hanging on to his self-respect. That’s the movie version of life. On the other, you have a profligate, selfish woman, born into the middle class but now dependent on handouts to support a family she deliberately chose to keep adding to despite her lack of resources.

There’s something very, very wrong with this picture.

But there’s nothing wrong with “Slumdog Millionaire”. Best of luck to this wonderful film at the Academy Awards…and if you haven’t seen it yet, please see go. Now. Stop reading my Octomom rantings, log off your computer and GO NOW. You’ll be glad you did.

Nadya Suleman is unemployed and on foodstamps but somehow has $500 a week to pay a nanny.

Despite the fact that it’s obvious to the naked eye that Suleman has had collagen put in her lips, her nose operated on at least once and what appears to be a forehead lift/Botox and cheek implants, she not only denies an Angelina Jolie resemblance, Suleman insists that facial changes are a result of facial swelling brought on by pregnancy (although that doesn’t explain why her nose is half the size it was when she was pregnant the first time).

PR people out. Agent in.

Officials at her church – you know, the church that’s supposed to be helping her out – never heard of her. On this nifty page you can read the church’s statement AND check out Octomom’s face many surgeries ago, er, I mean, pre- or post-pregnancy swelling since she actually DIDN’T HAVE any work done…or something.

Meanwhile her Web site is going over like a lead balloon.

It would be funny if it weren’t so damn serious. And who knows what tomorrow will bring.

No corporation wants to give this woman a free ride while laying their own people off. And I venture to guess that if you’re sitting in a house that’s about to be foreclosed, or you’re barely able to make the mortgage payments, or you’ve lost or are about to lose your job, or if your health insurance has been yanked you’re probably not reveling in Octomom’s joy. If you’re a taxpayer in the state of California, thanks for picking up the tab for Suleman’s “obsession” with children. I’m sure you’re happy to help, what with all the spare cash you probably have lying around.

Last night I went to buy a Valentine’s Day gift at a popular shopping mall outside Washington, D.C. When I arrived at around 7 p.m., the parking lot was practically empty. The stores were deserted. People are too frightened to spend money on themselves. So now is not the time to assume that your self-indulgence will be subsidized. Those of us who are expected to pay up just aren’t in the mood.

If you’re a right-to-lifer, what do you have to say for yourself? Have you opened up your checkbook to help care for these children? Or does her single mother status turn you off? How do you square that circle?

If you’re a couple desperately seeking medical help to have a child, what to make of the doctor who implanted Suleman’s embryos, who appears to be a conman, fraud and crook, whose chief success was with one client – Suleman?

How about following the money? Why is it that Suleman had cash for IVF treatment and what appears to be extensive plastic surgery, but not to pay her mother for food or rent for the children? Why did Suleman lie about receiving public assistance? And why oh why did she continue to pump out children when half the ones she’d already had are disabled?

Will the fact that her food stamp payments totaled a whopping $490 per month finally put to rest the absurd notion that single mothers have more babies to live high on the welfare hog?

It’s no secret that there are many, many unethical, sleazy doctors in Beverly Hills, from the garden variety Dr. Feelgoods with their prescription pads at the ready to plastic surgeons who will accomodate any outrageous demand, even when the results are pretty damn scary. Is it safe to assume that given the fertility doctor’s lousy track record he implanted Suleman’s embryos in order to get more publicity for his ineffectual clinic? Is it ethical for a doctor to “just keep going” when he’s familiar with his patient’s medical history and knows that his patient is indigent and trying to raise three disabled children?

And finally, when will the media learn to stop treating multiple births as a reason to celebrate?

The bottom line is that there are now 14 children who are at the mercy of a woman who appears to be mentally imbalanced, whose sense of entitlement has cost the taxpayers plenty at a time when too many of us are feeling the sharp pinch of unemployment, bankruptcy and foreclosure.

Anyone who’s adopted a dog or cat from the local shelter can tell you that you can’t take your pet home until your home has been inspected. Are we to believe that 14 innocent children deserve any less?

UPDATE: Suleman continues to deny she’s on welfare despite evidence to the contrary, and:

She said she has no income but would go back to school and use student loans to help support her 14 children. She said she now has an “alternative source of income” that would probably run out before she returns to school.

“So I have my own way, an alternative way, but it works,” she said…

She said she has spent close to $100,000 in in vitro procedures at West Coast IVF Clinic in Beverly Hills, run by Dr. Michael Kamrava.

All the lies are making me dizzy.