"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" That question, posed to McCarthy by Army special counsel Joseph N Welch, was a turning point for the trials. The LA Times (requires registration) has a report on what the newly released McCarthy transcripts contain. Odd how much those trials resemble a very contemporary trial taking place in India right now. (N.B. The Babu is not and has never been employed by Tehelka. He just doesn't like it when the government starts leaning on independent media, and considers it his right as a citizen to protest as loudly and as often as possible.)


Two more links on Mohit Sen, both from the Business Standard: a review of his memoirs, and a brief obituary notice.

"Have a laugh!" says the Indian Express report blithely. The Babu kind of lost his sense of humour, though, when he learned that Roli Books advertises Shock and Aw, a slim collection of George Bush jokes, in these terms: "A joke book rises from the ashes of the burnt books in Baghdad...”